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Here We Are Now – Jasmine Warga (ARC Review)

It felt like thousands of question marks were floating in the air, and instead of grabbing them out of the air and shaking them for answers, we were simply accepting the uncertainty of the moment. This was actually a 3.5 star read for me, but the more I pondered it over the two-day span between finishing it and reviewing it, I realized it wasn’t quite remarkable enough for me to round up. Here We Are Now tells the story of Taliah,...

Starfish – Akemi Dawn Bowman (ARC Review)

But some people are just starfish – they need everyone to fill the roles that they assign. Kiko’s story is so tough to read at points – not only due to her childhood trauma, but also due to her struggles as a biracial young woman in a rural town. Her father is Japanese and her mother is white, and her mother has spent Kiko’s entire life shaming her half-Asian appearance, name, and culture. She once told me she wished she...

Moxie – Jennifer Mathieu (ARC Review)

“This is what it means to be a feminist. Not a humanist or an equalist or whatever. But a feminist. It’s not a bad word. After today it might be my favorite word. Because really all it is is girls supporting each other and wanting to be treated like human beings in a world that’s always finding ways to tell them they’re not.” A book about a teen girl coming into her own as a feminist and learning how to...

They Both Die at the End – Adam Silvera (ARC Review)

“Maybe it’s better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs.” This was my first ever Adam Silvera book, and I’d been warned by so many people to prepare myself for ALL OF THE FEELS, but nobody could have really made me understand just how fast and hard I would fall in love with Adam’s writing voice. This book made him an auto-buy author literally by the 25% mark, and...

Sharing Sam — Katherine Applegate

Alison believes that everyone finds their "Mr./Mrs. Right" eventually, but until their times come, she and her best friend Isabella are focusing on their studies, their bright futures, and their families. Of course, a wrench gets thrown in that plan when Alison's "Mr. Right" turns out to be the motorcycle-riding new kid at school that Izzy is crushing on... and the plan is completely thrown out the window when Izzy tells Alison she's been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

In a last-ditch attempt to make her best friend's last days as joyful as she can, Alison begs Sam to leave her behind and to spend time with Isabella, just until everything is over. Romantic feelings are unpredictable things, though, and aren't meant to be toyed with.