katiemack's reviews
1404 reviews

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From a gaming standpoint, I think this book does a good job of conveying the seriousness of online trolls a la Gamergate. The terror and anger I felt while reading the harassment Divya and Rebekah went through was palpable, though Divya's ultimate resolution seemed like she was giving up, conceding to what her harassers wanted. The romance was also pretty well done--Aaron and Divya's relationship was a nice, slow burn, and Aaron was a sweet and genuine foil to other shitty male characters like Jason and the Vox Populi.

My main problem was with the unresolved subplots. There were a lot of little events with Aaron's Dad and his online gaming, with Aaron's mom wanting him to be a doctor, with Divya's mom's education and financial situation, etc. that were only briefly mentioned or were not resolved. I also felt like Divya was whitewashed; there was no discussion of her cultural background aside from the fact that she experiences harassment as a non-white gamer, and her father (and her parents' separation) is only briefly mentioned. We also don't see much of her mother. Conversely, as other reviewers have mentioned, Aaron's family and heritage is more fleshed out.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The anger and hostility Riad Sattouf depicts regarding his surroundings and his family is still intense. It's the fourth volume of the series, and Riad's father is still terrible and racist, and it's hard to read about Riad's identity struggles (doesn't belong in Syria, but also doesn't belong in France), especially in his adolescence.

I was intrigued by the idea of an alternative history of the late Tudor reign, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I thought Meconis' illustrations were really striking (especially the facial expressions of the characters), and it was a fun read, but I was expecting a little more depth to the story. I also felt like it tried to appeal to both middle-grade and YA readers but didn't have a firm foothold with either age group. (Our library cataloged it as YA, but it felt a little more middle-grade based on the way Meconis told the story.)

While I appreciate the author's sensitive portrayal of one of the characters with high-functioning autism, I was disappointed that this relationship contained few of the nuances of the one in Anna and the French Kiss. It developed incredibly quickly, so much so that I didn't feel invested in it, nor was I as drawn to the characters as I was in the first book.

This is a beautiful ode to storytelling. I wish I had devoted more time to it (I had to return it to the library) because it's really dense.

“Lies and half-truths fall like snow, covering the things that I remember, the things I saw. A landscape, unrecognizable after a snowfall--that is what she has made of my life.”

Gorgeous gothic illustrations to go along with one of my favorite Neil Gaiman fairytale re-tellings. Perfect for the spookiest month of the year.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up. This was such a difficult read.

As the summary suggests, at fifteen years old Vanessa enters into a sexual relationship with her English teacher. The rest of the book outlines the multi-year relationship while flashing forward to her teacher dealing with multiple allegations of sexual assault of girls. Vanessa's initial (and sustaining) romanticized acceptance of her teacher's actions is heartbreaking, as is the culmination of her analysis of her relationship. It was a little annoying how much Russell wanted to hit the reader over the head with the Lolita comparisons, though; Vanessa's constant references to it got old quickly.

Overall, I can't, in good conscience, recommend it to anyone because it's a horrific exploration of abuse (and it is abuse, even if Vanessa or Kate Elizabeth Russell say otherwise) and how abusers manipulate their victims.

2.5 stars.

It took me longer to read this than I thought. In theory, this is a great set-up--a South Asian woman tries to combat her Nani's matchmaking attempts--but Lalli could have executed it better. Her attempt to make the novel more interesting by adding third-person narration did not work for me at all; I would have preferred she kept Raina's first-person view because I think that's where she excels. I also had a HUGE problem with

Spoiler

Raina's going along with her Nani's assumption that she is gay to get out of going on dates. That trope is incredibly harmful in so many ways.

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I was glad to see a fresh idea in the YA realm, though the tonal shift 3/4 of the way through the book was confusing.