This third and final book in the Simon Snow trilogy was everything I’d hoped for! I got so many wonderful SnowBaz moments, so many feels, and so many closures (both expected and totally unexpected ones). I was a bit nervous going into this book after the events in Wayward Son, but Rainbow Rowell managed to tie all lose ends together and give us a wonderful and completely satisfying wrap up.

After the road trip in Wayward Son, this book took us back to London again and the world of Mages from Carry On. Overall, this book felt very nostalgic (in the best possible way) and Rainbow Rowell brought back and connected characters and plots from Carry On, and just like I had hoped for, gave us so many adorable SnowBaz moments. That was something I missed in Wayward Son, but here their relationship was back in full throttle mood; so raw and hurting, desperate and intense, but also so tender and full of love.
 
As per usual, the story was told from different POVs and with parallel storylines. For example for Penelope and Shephard, for Agatha and even for Ebb’s goats at Watford! I’ve never rooted for Agatha in the other books, but I’m glad to say that I finally warmed up to her.
 
And, also as per usual, there were so many feelings, so much insecurity, so much dealing with the trauma Simon has been through, so much searching for your place and aim in life, which is what makes this series so utterly heartfelt. Rainbow Rowell has a unique way of describing feelings that sometimes when reading this book it felt like so was getting punched in my stomach. The intensity in Simon’s and Baz’s love was breathtaking at times, like how Simon struggled with intimacy and how he thought he would break and had to bite Baz since kissing or holding hand just wasn’t enough. I also really appreciated the deeper talks between Simon and Baz, especially about Simon’s sexuality and how he doesn’t need to label himself.
 
I have to admit that I didn’t care much for the subplot with the new chosen one cult, and the middle dragged a little for me.
 
But all in all, I am so very happy with this satisfying conclusion to this magical and wonderful trilogy! The absolute best part was all the adorable SnowBaz moments and their relationship growth! Just thinking about it makes me smile!

Rating:
5 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Rainbow Rowell

This is another unique, beautiful, sad and heartwarming story by T.J. Klune! I absolutely loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and am so grateful for the opportunity to read the wonderful Under the Whispering Door already as an ARC. (Thank you so much Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley! All opinions are completely my own though and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.)

The main character in this contemporary story full of magic and fascinating beings is the mean, selfish and obnoxious workaholic lawyer Wallace Price, who has ruined all relationships he’s ever had and is living solely for his work. Until he suddenly dies of a heart attack and finds himself at his own funeral. From there a wonderful, magical and empowering tale evolves, with Wallace meeting the mysterious Mei, who brings him with her to the tea shop Charon’s Crossing and its owner the ferryman Hugo, and his dead granddad Nelson and dog Apollo. Together they try to help Wallace come to terms with his faith and help him cross over to the afterlife, all the while Wallace also slowly starts to reevaluate his whole life and realize the bad choices he’d made while living.

I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this story compared to The House in the Cerulean Sea, which stole my heart from the very first sentence. Mostly due to the fact that the main character was so dislikeable, bitter and mean for a long time. He does undergo a remarkable character development, and in the end, I absolutely loved him, but it took a bit too long for that to happen. The story also dragged quite a lot in the middle.

But after that, it was all back to the best kind of T.J. Klune magic again! The last part of the book was absolutely amazing! It was just pure perfection and so full of emotions, and I loved the romance so, so much. It must be one of the best endings ever! It both broke my heart and put it back together. Even though it was so sad and gripping it was also so full of love and hope, healings and new beginnings.

“Because life is senseless, and on the off chance we find something that does make sense, we hold onto it as tightly as we can. I found myself because of you.”

​I also loved the whole concept of the story, and all the humor and the characters’ banter that is typical for a T.J. Klune book.

All in all, this was a beautiful, poignant and unique story about finding yourself and your purpose, and a homage to living your life to the fullest and the power of love and found families, no matter if they are alive or dead or somewhere in between.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
T.J. Klune

This was a powerful story about the abuse of women and the fight for freedom and for your own body, but it wasn’t as gripping as I’d expected. I really wanted to love this book, but sadly I ended up feeling slightly let down by it. It had so much potential, but it never fully met my expectations.

The story follows Argentinian teenager Camila, who lives a double life. At home, she’s the careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father, but on the soccer field, she’s “La Furia”, a rising soccer star.

I immediately rooted for Camila and her strong will, her dreams of a life as an American soccer professional, her determination and her passion. But sadly, what could have been a powerful, poignant story about standing up for yourself and going for your dreams, very quickly turned into a teenage romance cliché. The love interest, international soccer star Diego, felt like such a shallow character, just another good looking boy who miraculously falls in love with the ugly duckling, and the romance didn’t feel believable at all. The characters had been friends for a long time before the book started, so their romance was developed more like a matter-of-fact thing than based on feelings that would make the readers invested. The problem in addition to that, was that not even the friendship itself felt believable, and the way it all was narrated made this book felt like it targeted an even younger audience than YA. Camila was in a way very wise, strong and realistic, but at the same time she felt closer to thirteen than eighteen when it came to her feelings for Diego.

This story had so much potential and so many difficult and important themes, like domestic abuse, female oppression and sexism, but the romance part pulled it down. The parts I enjoyed the most were the descriptions of Argentina and life in Rosario. The author did an amazing job weaving the political atmosphere into the every-day life descriptions and the characters’ struggles with patriarchy and toxic masculinity, teen pregnancies and the constant risk of getting abused if staying out too late or taking the wrong way home at night. I also really appreciated the ending and the way it wrapped the story up.

If it hadn’t been for the main focus on the romance, it could have been such an amazing, gripping and empowering book. Now, sadly, it was only a half-decent three star read for me.

Rating:
​3 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Yamile Saied Méndez

This lovely YA anthology holds thirteen stories all taking place during the magical hours between dusk and dawn when just about everything can happen. It was such a sweet, well-written and wonderfully inclusive collection of stories, with characters that were non-binary, bi, gay and lesbian, disabled or dealing with mental health issues and problems like how to come out when you are a superhero. It was a very solid collection with stories that were all highly entertaining, yet all very different, and all with added depths or twists and with a wonderful flow.

I really liked the unique angle to focus on a specific time for all stories, and how they all managed to give you that feeling of being the only people in the world, the magic when the familiar drops away and how the night is a time for romance and adventure. As in all anthologies there were stories that I enjoyed more than others, but they were all very well written and added something unique. I especially appreciated the diversity of the stories and how they were all so different from one another, but how they all had some angle of queer or POC representation, disabilities or mental illness. Sometime as the main part of the story, but more often as a side detail or description of the characters without making a big deal of it, which I really found refreshing. My favorites were Creature Capture by Laura Silverman, When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Anna Meriano and Under Our Masks by Julian Winters.
 
Creature Capture by Laura Silverman was such a sweet story about the fear of making new friends, of showing your true self and taking chances. It had such a great friendship between Abby and Curtis without any hidden feelings. A boy and a girl really can be just friends. And I loved the important message about being true to who you are and not let anyone make you feel embarrassed for not wanting the same thing as everyone else.
 
When You Bring a Dog to Prom by Anna Meriano was a sassy second chance story about how “heteronormative bullshit” like proms can be the perfect kind of different and make dreams come true for real. Great queer representation and a wonderful non-binary character with an emotional support dog.
 
Under Our Masks by Julian Winters was the cutest of them all! It was such a sweet story about how superheroes get crushes too and feel vulnerable about coming out. “I’m Raven but I’m also a boy with a crush who’s scared to disappoint his family or end up alone.”
 
I also really enjoyed Never Have I Ever by Karen McManus, it was such an addictive story with a twist I never saw coming, Kiss the Boy by Amanda Joy, which was a delightful story about finally being brave enough to go after your all high school crush, and the cute second chance story Old Rifts and Snowdrifts by Kayla Whaley with its strong and lovable disabled bi main character.
 
I also want to mention Con Nights, Parallel Hearts by Marieke Nijkamp for being such a gripping story about the scars from child abuse, about friendship and found families and about the empowerment of sharing your darkest secrets and leave them behind. I only felt that I’d wanted a little more flow in the writing style for it to be fully as gripping as it could have been.
 
Another story with wonderful representation that deserves a special mention was A Place to Start by Nina LaCour. This was a story about new families, with non-binary and lesbian characters, and about how something you don’t think you want could turn into the best thing when Claude’s and Jamie’s mothers get married.
 
All in all, this was such a delightful, fun and sweet collection of YA stories that each had their distinct flavor and were all full of surprises, adventures, twists and with amazing representation and relatable characters! Highly recommended!
 
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and Algonquin Young Readers for the blog tour invitation for this wonderful book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4.5 dazzling stars rounding up to 5

Get your own copy:

Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Indiebound • Book Depository • Add on Goodreads

Connect with Laura Silverman:

Website • Twitter • Instagram

This was such a heartfelt, sweet and vulnerable story with a main character that immediately stole my heart! I know that this is a book that will stay with me forever and that I sincerely hope everyone will read. It was such an eye-opening and important story about a non-binary teen finding their voice, the agony of living a life that isn’t true to you and how much it hurts to be misgendered and diminished.

When Ben comes out as non-binary to their parents, they throw them out of the house in the middle of the night without shoes on their feet. Horrified, and panicked, Ben ends up at his older sister, Hannah, who left the mean and suppressing parents the second she could and hasn’t been in touch for ten years. It was so heartbreaking the way Ben’s parents acted and just tossed them aside with such horrendous cruelty. But I really appreciated the way Hannah took Ben in, and how she and her husband supported them, made them go to a counsel and made them able to focus on their art again.

Even though this book dealt with a lot of heavy topics such as mental health issues, panic attacks, anxiety and depression, parental abuse and neglect, the fear of opening up and being rejected, it was nevertheless a warm and hopeful story, showing the power of love. It was so amazingly well written that you could feel Ben’s emotions and pain, but also their passion for art and their dark, witty humor. And I absolutely adored Nathan! He was such a sweetheart and such a wonderful and supportive friend, and the way Ben slowly opened up and started to trust him was so beautiful and relatable. The best kind of slowburn relationship growing into trust, affection and maybe even something more…

All in all, this was such a gripping story with all the feels; sad but hopeful, painful but full of love and friendship, and just utterly wonderful! It’s a truly important story that I know will make so many readers feel seen, and that will teach us all the power of love and acceptance, and how everyone needs and deserves to be seen, worthy and loved for who they are, regardless of labels such as gender, sexuality and names.

Rating:
​5 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Mason Deaver

Thank you so much to the publicist Sabrina Dax and the author Laura Hall for sending me an ARC, it was a true honor reading this tender, touching and powerful memoir about life growing up with a closeted gay dad! 

At the age of 24, with a teen pregnancy and two failed marriages behind her, and trying to dig a little deeper into her background and reasons for her lack of trust in men, Laura finds out that her father Ralph is gay and has been closeted for all his life.

“I knew I was different,” he said. “I was also aware of the fact I should conceal it, that it was an affliction.”

This memoir is both a way of Laura trying to understand her father and the decisions he’s made - or been forced to make - as well as for Laura to understand her own relationship problems and what she might have subconsciously known all along. It’s also such an important background story to the LGBTQ+ rights struggle and a history lesson in its own right as Laura Hall seamlessly weaves in details about the mistreatment and police actions against gay men (setups really) that her father suffered from and the constraints he had to live within, as well as the birth of the gay right movement, the AIDS crisis and ACT UP activism, and at the ending her granddaughter’s open-minded approach that shows Laura right before her eyes how the world has changed.

The writing was very straightforward, compelling and easy to read, and I was immediately pulled into this story, reading it all in one sitting. It was such an honest and frank reflection about Laura’s upbringing, her father’s struggle and suffering but also his perhaps not always honorable actions as well as the impossible situation for Laura’s mother to chose to stay married and bring up a family with a man she knew didn’t love her the way she loved him. I was really impressed by the way Laura Hall didn’t shy away from the parts that were not very flattering to herself or her family, but how she nevertheless throughout the book always managed to keep the story telling so tender, loving and respectful.

All in all, this is a must read that I recommend with all my heart! Such a beautiful, warm, brave, moving and important family tale connecting the coming of age of both Laura and her father, with a wonderful mix of sadness and joy, resilience and love.

Rating:
​5 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Laura Hall

This book was my most anticipated read for 2021. Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue is one of my all time favorite books and couldn’t wait to read her new sapphic romance. I’d also heard so many wonderful things about One Last Stop from other readers that I was like a 1,000 per cent sure I would be even more obsessed with it than RWARB. So I’m feeling quite devastated right now for not loving it as I was expecting to.

What I absolutely loved about it was the found family; Myla, Isaiah/Annie, Wes and Nico just stole my heart from the very first moment they were introduced. And the love and support they all showed each other made me so warm at heart. I think that the diversity and representation in this book are some of the best I’ve ever seen. I so appreciated to see a transgender character being interesting on other merits and that the transgender part wasn’t made into a big deal.

“When did you know?”
“That I was trans?”
“No. That you were psychic.”
“Oh,” Nico says. “Whenever someone asks me personal questions, it’ always about being trans. That’s like, so low on the list of the most interesting things about me. But it’s funny, because the answer’s the same. I just always knew.”

The writing was great, the representation and inclusivity was amazing and the way parts of the LGBTQIA+ history from the 1970s New York was interwoven into the plot was so clever, but despite all that, I never connected with the story nor the main characters.

I wasn’t prepared for the sci-fi elements with the time-loop and the missing uncle mystery, and the whole thing with a girl lost in time, doomed to ride the subway for eternity, just didn’t work for me. The pacing also felt so much slower compared to RWARB and a lot of things felt repetitive and illogical. And I just couldn’t feel the chemistry between Jane and August. I really, really wanted to, but I just couldn’t get invested into the romance part. There were so many times that I found myself wishing for the story to focus on the other characters instead of August and feeling much more invested in the potential romance between other couples than Jane and August.

One Last Stop had such potential, and I know that most readers absolutely love it and I had hoped so much to feel that way too, but it just wasn’t for me. The whole concept of the story took so long to unfold and solve, and even though there were so many parts that I loved about it, I am so sad to say that for me, this book was quite a disappointment.

Rating:
​3 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Casey McQuiston