YA lit and more!
Finally a good reading month! And a month where I actually remembered I have to do a wrap-up! (No I am not procrastinating the immense amounts of work I have for university, whatever are you talking about??)
Continue reading “November Wrap-Up! | finally a good reading month”
October 15, 2019, from Simon Pulse
YA contemporary
Goodreads | Amazon
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe, after the mountain in Taiwan.
Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the “they belong together” whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.
Initially, Our Wayward Fate caught my eye because I’d heard a lot about Gloria Chao’s debut, American Panda, and though I hadn’t read it I’m always excited to see new books from Chinese authors. Honestly, I was expecting a typical contemporary romance from Our Wayward Fate. What I got was an exploration of being the children of immigrants and reconnecting to your culture intertwined with the cute romance. Continue reading “Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao | a powerful story about diaspora”
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Today is a (thankful) freebie, so I’m talking about a few of my favourite characters a.k.a. the reason I breathe. This list is not comprehensive by any means! Just a whole bunch of characters I love from across the board.
October 9, 2018, from Doubleday
Young adult literary fiction
Goodreads | Amazon
The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.
At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.
The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?
Markus Zusak’s last book, The Book Thief, is one of my favourite books of all time. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting out of Bridge of Clay, but unfortunately, I was woefully disappointed by this book; other than the gorgeous writing, there was very little in it that I liked. I was bored, and disconnected, and confused throughout the entire book, which is not something I wanted to be.
Continue reading “Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak | a fractured book with gorgeous writing”
Fantasy subgenres fascinate me. There’s just so damn many of them, and it is my firm belief that there is a fantasy subgenre out there for everyone. And there are so many combinations of subgenres that you can smush together and create a brand new fantasy book out of.
So I am taking the jump and attempting to explain a few of the most popular subgenres in fantasy, though there are honestly so many and a girl only has so much time to read books, so I’ve certainly missed most of them. But I can get to some of my favourites.
Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This topic. Whoo boy. It’s making me think about my relationship with reading and books and how that has changed throughout my life. Listen: I’ve never not loved reading. I’ve loved reading before I can remember anything else. I was devouring Curious George books when I was two years old. In kindergarten my teacher caught me reading Charlotte’s Web under the table, something which frankly hasn’t changed much during university, except now I’m sneaking ebooks on my laptop. (I’m a bad student. Sue me.)
But yeah, things change, people grow up, and here’s my existential crisis in list form!
Continue reading “Top Ten Tuesday: Changes in My Reading Life”
October 8, 2019, from HarperTeen
Contemporary thriller
Goodreads | Amazon
Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world.
Athena operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill—so when Jessie can’t stop herself from pulling the trigger, she gets kicked out of the organization, right before a huge mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.<br< span=””> Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world.
Athena operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill—so when Jessie can’t stop herself from pulling the trigger, she gets kicked out of the organization, right before a huge mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.
Jessie needs to right her wrong and prove herself, so she starts her own investigation into the trafficking. But going rogue means she has no one to watch her back as she delves into the horrors she uncovers. Meanwhile, her former teammates have been ordered to bring her down. Jessie must face danger from all sides if she’s to complete her mission—and survive.</br<>
Spy thrillers will never fail to be straight-up cool, and The Athena Protocol is no exception to this. It’s a James Bond-esque story starring women and with lots of action and adventure from start to finish.
Continue reading “The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sharif | an action-packed spy thriller”
