Review: Keep me in Mind by Jaime Reed

Publisher: Point
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: 4 stars

Ellia Dawson doesn't recognize the handsome boy who sits in tears by her hospital bed. He claims he's her boyfriend, Liam. But to Ellia, he's a stranger. She remembers her name. Her parents. Her best friend, Stacey. But Liam is a total blank in her life.
Liam McPherson is devastated. His girlfriend, Ellia, suffered a terrible accident--maybe because of him--and now she's lost her memory. But the harder Liam tries to reach Ellia, and remind her of what they had, the more she pulls away. As Ellia begins on the slow road to recovery, Liam begins work on a secret project that he hopes will bring back the girl he loved.
But can there ever be a future when the past is in pieces?


I think I saw this book in the back of another book, and as someone who's always looking for books featuring African American females in non urban settings (basically people I can pretend to be) the cover of this book is what did it for me. Ellia had an accident while running with her boyfriend and can't remember the last two years of her life. If that's not bad enough, during those two years, Ellia did a lot of changing. It was during those two years that she met and began dating her boyfriend Liam, it was when she decided she wanted to make and design clothes as opposed to being an engineer like her dad wanted her to, she had also began to sneak around and act in ways that no parent would approve of. What's interesting about this book is that, as Ellia begins to learn more about who she became over the two years that she didn't remember, she didn't the "old Ellia" and wasn't sure how to handle it.

Liam... that poor kid. I'm honestly not sure what to say about him. So let me sum it all up. This is a great book. Ellia and Liam are incredibly realistic characters. I like that their racial differences were acknowledged, but didn't take over the book (FINALLY!). Learning about Liam and Ellia's relationship from the book that Liam was writing was a nice twist although I wish we could have seen more though. SPOILER. We learned that at one point Ellia and a friend ran off to a frat party and had to call Liam to pick them up and I guess there were covered in feathers. And Ellia and Liam drove around with a homeless man in the trunk. Where were those stories!!!

Anyway. This is a good book. Everyone should read it. While the ending squished my heart a bit, I thought it was 100% appropriate, realistic, and very mature. This book is appropriate for younger teens. I would have no problems giving this book to a 6th grader.

Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: April 6, 2016
Rating: 2.5 stars

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.
She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.
In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything. (Goodreads)


I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. From the description the book was a dystopian (which I like although I know some people are over it) and from the cover, the main character was a POC and being a POC myself, I really try hard to find characters that I can relate to on a physical level (particularly with all of this election foolishness). However, though I tried, I didn't like this book at all.

Celestine followed all of the rules of her society until she didn't, (MINI SPOILER BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY SEE THIS COMING FROM THE BOOK DESCRIPTION) and she's found Flawed. I must say, the part where Celestine is branded flawed is actually my favorite part of the book. Judge Craven is a pretty awesome and malicious villain, everything else, was less exciting. Celestine seeing a guy through the glass of her prison wall and although they never speak except for one line of his, she's obsessed with him, he's constantly on her mind. I didn't buy it. I'm honestly pretty forgiving with things like this, but not this time, the author wasn't convincing at all so it got to the point that every time she though about this guy I wanted to throw my tablet across the room. If all of that had been left out (or done) I think I would have liked the book more. The scenes with the reporter... great. The mom... weird but amusing. I also liked the Celestine's perfectionist personality is at times what makes her leader and hero for the flawed people. I can't say I was a big fan of Art though, he just felt like a flat character.

*sigh* I wanted to like this book, I really did, it just wasn't well done in my opinion.

Review: The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher:Doubleday Canada
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Rating: 1 star
Riley Vasquez is haunted by the brutal murder of the couple she was babysitting for.

Max Cross is suffering under the shadow of a life-altering diagnosis he doesn’t dare reveal.

The last thing either of them wants is to spend a weekend away at a therapy camp alongside five other teens with “issues.” But that’s exactly where they are when three masked men burst in to take the group hostage.

The building has no windows. The exits are sealed shut. Their phones are gone. And their captors are on a killing spree.

Riley and Max know that if they can’t get out, they’ll be next—but they’re about to discover that even escape doesn’t equal freedom.(Goodreads)

I love Kelley Armstrong. I've read her entire Women of the Otherworld series and her two YA trilogies that take place in the same world and I devoured them. But I couldn't even make it to page 100. This book was ridiculous. The kids kept saying the same thing over and over they was so much silly internal monologue that I didn't know what to do. I didn't feel sorry for anyone. I had no sympathy for any of these characters and without that, why both reading the book.

Snaps on the main character being Latina though!





I quit. But don't worry Kelly, I still love you.

Review: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: June 2, 2015
Rating: 4 Stars

The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak.

Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one.

Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life.

When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . .(Goodreads)

I've held off on this review because I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. I liked it. That's for certain. I have a musical theatre background and although I never made it as far ans I secretly wanted to I loved/ love to sing. I can't imagine being o the verge of stardom, and losing that. Being inside the mind of Elyse broke my heart sometimes. She was lost. Every dream she'd ever had for herself was gone forever. When you really stop to think about that, it's jarring.

Christian... I liked him, but I felt like he could have been better developed in some way. I don't know what that way was, but I still feel it. His relationship with his parents was the worse. I'm not surprise he took whatever he could get from the random girls he encountered throughout the Summer. Christian's with his brother was brilliant. I couldn't have asked for better, and speaking of that HUGE snaps to Sarah Ockler fort challenging gender roles.That along gives the book extra stars in my book. I think Ockler did a great job creating the supporting characters. Vanessa was brilliant and I want her to be my best friend, although sometimes I think I am that friend. Kirby, Lemon, Noah... I really liked them all.

I also appreciated learning a bit about Elyse's culture and past. She spoke of the festivals, the coca coca fields, and the island of Tobago which I'd never even heard of. There aren't many books that expose you to a new culture, so this was very refreshing. Not to mention the interracial relationship, although I do on occasion like the books where to people from opposing backgrounds find a way to be together, this world will only fully be past racial inequality when to people from opposing background can be together, and it's so normal, that no one thinks twice about it. I wish for that day, which we got a taste of in this book.

I still feel like something was missing, but I did like this book.

Positive message/ negative message. I don't even know

So I just read the blurb for this new book coming out called Dumplin'. Here it is:

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

It sounds great right, heck I almost can't wait to read it. Now for those of you who wondered why I used the world "almost" here's the section that drew me up short, o show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Now I'm a size 6 in most things, but I was a very late bloomer in high school so I was very very very small. I for one, as I'm sure most of you are as well, am 100% pro #weneeddiversebooks. I love that we're including everything under that hashtag. We're including LGBT, people with mental disorders, those who are physically disadvantaged, those who don't fit gender norms, those who are varying races, and yes, those with varying waistlines. 

Now a reoccurring theme that I have seen in books, movies and so forth is something I like to call thin shaming. Twigs. Bony. Skinny minnie. Unhealthy. Skin and bones. And from a song "All That Bass,"(a song I really like Skinny Bitches). I have noticed that at times, while trying to show full figured women that they are indeed beautiful, we can at times, use negative terminology with regards to those who aren't full figured, and basically... that irritates the hell out of me. One day my friends said that in Easy A Emma Stone looked unhealthy.

  

She looks fine to me, she's just little. And I really like Meghan Trainor and I'm not trying to slam her or anything, but skinny bitches? Really. I'm just not a fan and I don't even consider myself skinny. I consider myself average, and yet I'm still insulted. Everybody can have body image issues, no matter what their pant size, and calling people twiggy or skinny bitches isn't doing anyone any good.

Now I haven't ready Dumplin' because it isn't even published yet, but that one word in the descriptor got my juices flowing, and this is what poured out. I don't think authors, song writers, or script writers, or even the every day average Joe means to be insulting when they make passive aggressive statements about someone being thin, but just like the word fat can jump out at a person and make them defensive, so can the many comments a person makes about someone being on the smaller side.

So basically I think using fiction is a great way to empower someone, but let's make sure that we're not tugging others down along the way.


If anyone cares to read a little more, here's a blog post called Don't Call Me Skinny that I stumbled across, it's blunt, but interesting.