I have been trying to read some Netgalley books I have had around on my TBR for a while. In April I shared 3 Netgalley mini reviews and I’m back again with 3 more.
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie GonzalesPublished by Wednesday Books
Published: March 3, 2020
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SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA meets CLUELESS in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease
Summer love...gone so fast.
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling―he's fun, affectionate, kind―but just when Ollie thinks he's found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it's the same school Will goes to...except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted―and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn't ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts "coincidentally" popping up in every area of Ollie's life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Right? Right.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I have always been a fan of retellings. I love seeing an author take an older idea and making it their own. It is fun as a reader to have that comfort of something you know but with a twist. When my friend told me about Only Mostly Devastated and that is was a spin on the musical Grease, I was in. Fast forward to it being released and another friend reading it and loving it. I knew immediately that I had to add it to my month TBR list and I was so happy I did.
Only Mostly Devastated is an emotional rollercoaster of a read. I laughed and I swooned and I cried my face off. It was the perfect mesh of all feelings and emotions. And the use of Grease as inspiration really made it all the better. Even if I didn’t know Grease was part of the inspiration I would have known it was based on the musical. It was really done well and kept me wanting to read and find out how things would turn out for this two lovable and confused characters. Definitely one to add to your TBR, but be warned this isn’t a light read.
The Grace Year by Kim LiggettPublished by Wednesday Books
Published: October 8, 2019
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No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I came across The Grace Year after a friend has read it. I read the description and was immediately intrigued. It has been a long time since I read a dystopian novel but I missed them and The Grace Year seemed to fit the bill. So time passed and I forgot about it but then I came across it again and knew I needed it read it and man was it one messed up book. I mean it was deeply messed up. The fact that females were treated so poorly just blew my mind as did the writing.
The Grace Year is a really crazy look at how women are perceived. I was so disturbed by how these young girls were treated and what they were forced to do to one another. Instead of being able to support other women they were made to turn on one another and that was hard to read. I had such a hard time seeing how violent these girls were made to act based on something they were told needed to happen because a group of man decided it so. It’s really hard to put into words how it made me feel to see these girls so into madness. So hard to explain it will just be easier to tell you to read it and you will then understand what I mean.
Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers
Published: May 19, 2020
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Random House has acquired debut author Kevin van Whye's Date Me, Bryson Keller! Everyone at Fairvale Academy knows of Bryson Keller's pledge: that for one week— Monday to Sunday— he will be the perfect boyfriend to the first person to ask him out, but when closeted Kai Sheridan asks him out, everything changes. This #OwnVoices YA romance featuring a biracial main character is pitched as an LGBTQ To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Publication is planned for summer 2020.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
It is no secret I love a good contemporary YA. There is something so comforting about the normalcy of it all. The high school setting, the friendships, the relationships. So when I heard about Date Me, Bryson Keller it was a must read for me. It seemed like it was going to be a fantastic book and I was so right. This book was EVERYTHING! It had all the things I love about a high school love story book and more.
I loved so much about it. Date Me Bryson Keller is probably one of the cutest, most heartbreaking YA contemporaries I have read in a long time. I went from swooning with love for Kai and Bryson and their relationship to sob crying for some of the things they went through. Honestly I don;t know if I was more in love with Bryson. Bryson’s family, or Kai, or a combination of all 3. It was the perfect emotional YA read that I just love and I know you will love it too. Make sure you read this book ASAP so you can too fall in love with this amazing boys and their crew of friends.
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