If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Summary: Sahar has been in love with her best friend Nasrin since they both were little girls. Unfourtatley, in Iran, being gay is illegal but being transgender is not. When it's announced Nasrin is betrothed Sahar thinks a surgery may be the only way to keep them together. 

3/5

I had a few problems with If You Could Be Mine. The plot was lackluster, average, predicable, slow and strung out, and didn't really keep my attention. I think the trans storyline was more focused on and forced than it should've been. I don't think it should really be the marketing point. The writing, like the last book I read of hers, Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel, was average but my main problem with that one wasn't as big of a problem in this one. 

However, I did enjoy the characters and the culture and I must admit, I did cry a little at the end. 

Empress of the World by Sara Ryan

Summary: Nicola is spending her summer at a Gifted Youth Summer Program to study archaeology. But what she digs up is a girl who makes her question her sexuality and a group of friends to last her a lifetime. 



3.5/5

I found this when I was looking for lesbian boarding school books (which the world is quite void of and this should be fixed asap) Good characters. Okay plot. A little annoying angst. Not very thought provoking. Didn't have many feelings on it. 

Everyday by David Levithan

Summary: Everyday A wakes up in a new body. Everyday A is trying to get back to their love. 

3.5


Didn't really have many feelings on this book. It was an okay read but i seemed kind of repetitive after a while. It was interesting, the magical or whatever, elements and I may look up what happiness in the next book to fulfill my curiosity on the reason but I'm not sure yet. It was just there and although I enjoyed it I'm not sure I'll be reading the next one. 

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Rating: 3 Stars
Leila is a Iranian american high school student lesbian. Thankfully, she has gone through high school without crushing on any girls. That is, until Saskia shows up.

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel  at first glance I thought was a good read but then I realized it felt like this book was written for a 12 year old. I liked the characters and it was surprisingly entertaining.  The story was also slow and I wish it had more depth. My major complaint with this book though is, Leila the main character is on the, as they said, theater tech crew, and I, as some body who is also on theater tech crew, was just cringing a lot by how wrong the author got it.

Overall, this book was an okay story with okay writing.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Rating: 4 Stars

Simon is being blackmailed. He's also exchanging emails with a boy he goes to school with with the code name blue. When he leaves an email open, revealing that he's gay, things start to change. 

This book was one of the cutest things I've ever read. Like, can't stop smiling even when it's over , giggling out loud cute. I read it in one sitting, a few hours in a long car trip spent well. There's also some special about a book that just came out and all the references are super current that I always love. Some things did annoy me, but it was just characters being stupid. Still super super cute. 

This book wasn't groundbreaking or thought provoking or monumental but it was sure as hell cute and for that is recommend it immensely. 

Ask The Passengers by A.S. King

Ask the passengers. 

4.5 stars 

Girl is stuck an unhealthy family and in the closet. 

A. S. King is a goddess. I've heard for a while that her books are amazing but never picked one up, but after Glory O'Brien's History of the Future I can't stop reading her. This one wasn't as good as Glory but still definitely great. I was surprised by how she was gay, which is the best. One of the best things is to be reading a book and then the main characters turn out gay and you never saw it coming. I know this isn't particularly right, but it automatically makes the book a lot better (Except you House of Hades, except you). 

My only problem with Ask The Passengers was the fantasy, magical realism aspect. It was inconsistent and I think there should've only been one, not too battling fantasy aspects. There are two, Socrates who follows the main character around, and air plane passengers that have a connection with her. 

I really enjoyed this story overall, it was a great read. 

The Summer I Wasn't Me by Jessica Verdi

Summary: When lesbian, Lexi, is outed to her mother she goes to a pray-the-gay-away camp and falls for someone she shouldn't.

Stars: 4

I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 for little reasons. The writing isn't the best, it's a little cheesy, but I went into it knowing that. The ending was a little rushed, the beginning a little long but it wasn't a huge deal.  Also, the romance trope- angst-for-the-entire-book-and-then-they finally-get-together-and-the-last-page annoyed me. I wanted a sneak off into the woods, making out behind the bible, and in the church attic, passing dirty notes when pastor isn't looking type of thing but alas, I was let down. 

Overall, it was a great read. It was funny, touching, and the characters were great. Every single one of them were fledged out and intriguing. It was a quick read too. I read it in one sitting, refusing sleep until I finished it.  Some of the figurative language was so unique I did a double take, but it seemed like that only happened in the beginning chapters. I would definitely recommend this to someone who doesn't read much, as it was quick and easy, yet still really good. 

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

Rating: 3 Stars

Summary: Kid gets left alone for the summer and falls in love with someone he doesn't expect to.

There were parts in this that were really good. So cute I have to smile, laughing, my heart is swelling moments. But then there were moments where I moaned out loud and/or had to set the book down out of annoyance. This book would get so preachy and cliche and cheesy it made me wanted to throw up. It was such a up and down roller coaster my feeling are so conflicted. This is so short of a review because I dont know what to say.

Was this a bad book? No? Was this a good book? I don't know? Did I like it? Who knows??

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Two stories, one about a girl who drops out of college to publish and rewrite her novel in NYC, the other story, the novel she's writing

     Rating: 4 stars

     After hearing about this books months ago, I was hooked. Even though I HATED Uglies, another book by Westerfeld, I knew a lot of people loved it and wanted to give him another chance, especially with this plot. This won't be a long review as even though I really liked it, I don't have many strong feelings.

  I really enjoyed Darcy's POV, the realistic one. I thought I was really real, relateable, and funny. Lizzie's however, i didn't like. It was kind of confusing and felt rushed. I think I missed something because the couple met and then their next meeting they were making out. Insta love on steroids. Although, the novel did have one of the best first chapters.

  Overall, even though one story was a lot better than the other, I still really enjoyed it, thought it was really cool and would recommend it.

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

         Two stories from the point of view of twins, one story from the point of view of 13 year old Noah, the other from 16 year old Jude. Rating: 5 Stars

Beauty in the form of a book. The whole entire book I was on the edge of tears, but only now as I am writing this do I actually begin to cry. This book is so beautiful I don't know where to begin. Reading most of it I was in 40 degree weather with barley a jacket on, but I didn't care. This book consumed me, and I am internally grateful.

   This book had dual-POVs, which I love in general, and only increases my love of this book. I would hate the current POV I was in a few pages into it, yearning to get back the previous one, but the hate was gone within 10 pages and it only restarted the next transition. I think overall I liked Jude's better, I think I related to it more. Both Jude and Noah were amazing characters and so relateable and when they were together my heart grew 10 sizes. The supported characters where also always so complex and fully fledged you couldn't help but fall in love with them, except a certain bastard I can never forgive, but let's ignore that.

  The mystery unraveled itself so slowly but so quickly it was breathtaking. The interchanging of knowledge switching between POVs was such a perfect example of dramatic irony that I've never seen before. I didn't think it was too obvious, but I think some of them you were meant to conclude.

  I think the thing I love most about I'll Give You The Sun, other than the beautiful characters was the writing style. Each POV was so much different from each other, not just in maturity, but in tone and personality and word choice.  Each twin had their own little quirk which made the writing different from the usual, which i loved. Especially how Noah would title situations like they were a painting. They're really good writing/ drawing prompts, my favorite being,

(Self portrait: Boy Rowing Madly Back Through Time).

To sum this up, go read I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Rating:5 stars

An Iliad retelling, Patroclus is exiled from his kingdom and soon finds Achilles as a best friend and then lover. In the backdrop of the Trojan War you can hear my tears.

I loved, loved, loved this. I loved everything. The characters, the writing style, the setting of war. I don't even want you to read this, I want you to go read this book now and then come back and cry with me.

The Song Of Achilles made me very emotional. Going in I knew basic Greek mythology, including the ending, which only made it that much sadder. So even during the cute parts I was crying about how the ending. I loved the writing style and the description, it was almost lyrical and felt like I was dreaming. Patroclus descriptions of Achilles were amazing and perfect and heartbreaking. Achilles character development, the way Patroculs realized he was slowly turning into a complex person, was so good. The war backdrop made the story so much more epic and much more deep (and heartbreaking).

The few unfavorable things were the lack of structure of time, but I think it's like that in the Iliad too and sometimes I got the minor characters confused.

  I've been meaning to pick The Iliad up as I love Greek mythology and I think this is the motivation I needed. It drew me in from the first chapter with the beautiful writing and had gotten me out of a reading slump that was sufocating me.This also isn't my usual get-out-of-a-slump book. I usually read cute contemporary romance things. It wasn't as I expected either, I thought it was a young adult romance and it was so much more and so much more complex, which made it so much more great.

If you love Greek mythology read it. If you don't, still read it. If you don't even know who Zeus is, still read it. It was good at explaining the more obscure and not common knowledge myths and there was a glossary at the back, but I didn't know about untill I finished the book.  

P. S. I started to cry in the middle of class when I read the ending, not a good idea. I was also disappointed I didn't get the full crying effect.