I've read so many great books this month! Despite abandoning a whopping five books, I couldn't narrow down my recommendations to just five. I mean, I finally got my hands on the new Angie Thomas book and A Court of Silver Flames came out at last--I feel like I've been waiting for that book forever. So I've got a few bonus books for you. I hope you don't mind.
1. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
When I picked up this book, all I knew was that it was an Angie Thomas book. I will read everything she puts out because she is wonderful. Turns out, this is a prequel to The Hate U Give and tells the story of Starr's dad when he was a teenager. It is fantastic. I didn't want to put it down and I didn't want it to end either.
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.
Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.
Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.
When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.
2. The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab
I have been aware of V.E. Schwab but hadn't gotten around to reading any of her work until a friend suggested The Near Witch. We are both very picky on witches in literature and are often disappointed by their portrayal. Personally, I dislike when witches aren't human or when they are pure evil without any depth. And I really dislike witches based on Christianity's definition of them. But my friend loved Schwab's witches and was sure I would too. She wasn't wrong.
The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
There are no strangers in the town of Near.
These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
3. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
I saw this young adult book and its raving reviews all over Instagram and decided to give it a try. It immediately brought me right back to high school-- the good and and the bad. It's clever and sweet and heart breaking and funny. I can't recommend it enough.
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?
Because it's time people did.
A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.
4. Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke
This one of those rare occurrences where the movie came before the book. I don't think I've ever read a book based on a movie, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But the book captures everything the movie did--the dark vibes, the magic, the history . . . I was thoroughly impressed. Now I'm going to have to read del Toro's The Shape of Water.
Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro’s hit movie Pan’s Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages, complete with haunting illustrations and enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world.
This spellbinding tale takes readers to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family.
A brilliant collaboration between masterful storytellers that’s not to be missed.
5. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
This book reminded me so much of Joss Whedon's Firefly! On the surface, the TV show and book don't have a lot in common other than being about a crew on a spaceship. But the well developed characters and the great banter had me constantly thinking about Firefly (and now I need to re-watch the show for the millionth time). I look forward to reading the rest of the Wayfarer series.
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.
Bonus Books
Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan
I have all of Levithan's book on my wish list at the library. At the beginning of the month, I found my loans empty and started going through my wish list to see what was available. This book just happened to be. I checked it out not bothering to see what it was about. I was hoping for a light book like the Dash and Lily series. Instead, I found a book about 9/11. It's emotionally heavy but beautiful written.
First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .
The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.
Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.
Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne
I found this book through Jason Reynolds' Instagram stories. It's another beautifully written novel-in-verse that explores teenage friendships.
She looks me hard in my eyes
& my knees lock into tree trunks
My eyes don't dance like my heartbeat racing
They stare straight back hot daggers.
I remember things will never be the same.
I remember things.
With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend.
A Sky Painted Gold By Laura Wood
Such a great, light read. I wish they would make Wood's books into miniseries. They are so vivid and fun and I desperately want to see the outfits in them. And I love how her coming of age stories focus on so much more than romance, though her young adult books are romances. Wood has become one of my favorite authors.
It is the summer of 1929. Lou Trevelyan is a small-town girl with big dreams of becoming a writer. Then she meets the Cardew siblings: the bubbly Caitlin and her handsome, enigmatic brother, Robert. Lou is swept into their glittering whirlwind of moonlit parties, unrivaled glamour, and whispered secrets. As she falls deeper into the world of high society, Lou must find a way to stay true to herself . . . and her heart.
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
Sarah J. Maas seems to be one of those authors you love or you hate. I happen to love most of her work and the Court series is my favorite. So I have been impatiently waiting for this one to come out for like two years, I think. There are problems with it, but over all I enjoyed it. and Nesta is now my favorite character in this universe.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.
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