eBook Review - If This Gets Out

As you can probably guess, after watching series one and reading all Alice Oseman's Heartstopper over the early May Day Bank Holiday weekend, I craved more queer romance. I didn't expected to find anything close to the light, almost wholesome-ness of Heartstopper but I wanted to carry on riding that wave. So, when I remembered I had If This Gets Out on my kindle (gifted to me by publisher via NetGalley), I decided that it was time! And I was quite excited to dive in. 

Title and Author: If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich & Sophie Gonzales

Publisher: Holder Children's Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley inn exchange for an honest review/reaction

Ruben and Zach are two members of the boy-band Saturday, with Angel and Jon. The four are close in front and behind the camera, but cracks are appearing behind the scenes. The one easy banter between the four are strained and Ruben confides in Zach that he's feeling smothered about how management and their pressure to keep his sexual identity a secret. 

As the band go onto their European tour, Ruben and Zach begin to rely on each other more and more till, one night, the pair share a kiss. What will happen next to them after that night and how can they move forward with a relationship when they realise that the support they desperately need is never going to come?

Self-Isolations Mini-Reads - A Taste of Honey & HeartStopper

Oh, the joy of thinking you are on a verge of a reading slump: you are never sure on how you feel about the book and if you should do a small write-up about the stories you have read. I’m probably going against my better judgement and I am going to do a two mini-reviews in one post. Which isn’t going to be a difficult thing to write as one ebook I read, I had a blast with and the other… not so much. 

Might as well get them out of the way now! 

• Title And Author: A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
• Publisher: Tor
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 162 Pages

I had such high hopes for this. Such high hopes. I mean, LOOK AT THAT COVER! Yes, I did buy this because of the cover. Plus, part of the book’s blurb catch my eye and I went “YES!”. Aqib, fourth-cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of the Hunt, finds himself falling for a handsome Daluçan soldier named Lucrio. As the two start a star-crossed whirlwind of a romance, the two don’t know if their love cam survive all the hardships the world has planned to throw at them… 

Like I said earlier, I had such high hopes. An adult fantasy novella with a black queer romance at its heart? SIGN ME UP! And yet… and, sadly, yet, this didn’t work for me. There’s nothing wrong with this - the writing and world building were on point, though a tad confusing at times if you’re not on the ball. Plus, maybe it’s because I am on the verge of reading slump that I felt that this was a tad dense for my brain. But the main reason I went into this novella - the black queer romance - while there, often felt overshadowed by the writing and the world-building. 

Ok, so I had a tiny misfire as I judged a book by its cover (DON’T!), but I thought I would try something with kissing. So, when I saw an eBook version of Heartstopper: Volume 1 on my kindle for 99p, I “ooh”ed and “ahh”ed over it. I have read the webcomic for a few years now, but kept putting off buying the first volume. Not sure why, but I did. So, I got Volume One now (AT LAST!) and, oh, hang, I need to do the links/essential info! 

• Title And Author: Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman
• Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 288 Pages

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s chat graphic novel/webcomic! Charlie and Nick go to the same school, but have never met. Until they made to sit next to each other in class. The two become friends, and soon Charlie finds himself falling hard for Nick, though he’s sure he has got a chance with Nick. But Nick might be more interested in Charlie than either of them realise. 

This is wonderful, feel-good graphic novel. The art might not be as polished as other graphic novels, but this has a lot of heart and does wonders for representation within the LGBTQ+ community. Plus, if you follow the web-series, this series does tackle some issues with sensitivity and care, but this is very much setting up Nick and Charlie’s friendship and slowly growing romantic relationship and it’s wonderful! 

I had to jump onto the web-series once I had read the volume to double-check what happened next as it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. But this was exactly what I needed after reading A Taste of Honey. 

Speaking of this, this might be my last bookish-review/write-up for a while as life is slowly trying to return to normal plus reading slump so going to give myself a few weeks off blogging my reading and my thoughts (though not for long. I just need to find my feet again and then, can hit the ground running again. And oooh, I have titles I want to read that I can’t wait to sink my teeth into!!!) 

eBook Review - Songs About Us

I have been waiting for quite a while to read the sequel to Songs About A Girl (review for when I read it last year is here!), so when I get my hands on a eProof/NetGalley edition, I had to wait a few weeks to clear my reading out (BOOKS EVERYWHERE!).

It's two months after the events of Songs About A Girl and Charlie is trying to get normal back into her life. She's rebuilding a relationship with her father, try and hang out with her best friend and worry about GCSEs.

But soon, she is taken back into the world of Fire&Lights, the hottest boyband on the planet. But things are different between the four now. Aiden is in a relationship, but is uncomfortable with it. Yuki is drinking and no one can understand why. And tension between Gabriel and Olly are running at an all-time high and they are close to coming to blows with each other.

When you're as successful as Fire&Lights, there is two ways you can go: up or down. And either way, they're going to take Charlie and everyone around them with them. Whether they want to or not...

Am going to say it: out of the two, I think I prefer Songs About A Girl over Songs About Us. But Songs About Us is still a really good read.

It's a sugary, fun summer read. You can whizz through it and not come up for air for a while. You get sucked in. Plus, with some of the elements Chris tackled (LGBT+, mental health, etc), it was good to see it and go "YES!" over it. It's nice to have these characters and have them and their problems fleshed out.

But, at the same time, I didn't fly through this book as quickly as I did with Songs About A Girl. Some of the darker elements added to this annoyed me and slowed my reading down. Like I said, some elements I was for and most/all, I completely got why the book was taking us in that direction. But there were one or two elements/chapters/moments, where I would have to put my kindle down and leave it for a while, but I was getting frustrated over the characters and their reaction.

An example is one character. In the previous book, he was one of my faves because he was fun. I liked reading him. But, in this book, he changed. Of course, I got why at the end of the book, but there were several strong moments while reading, I was getting hugely annoyed over this character and the way their behaved.

While there were moments I got frustrated with the book, I did enjoy it. Maybe not as much as Songs About A Girl, but I am very much going to continue with this series when Songs About A Boy come out next year. Plus, with Songs About Us ending on that cliffhanger, I will be very intrigued how Chris is going to explain everything...

Book Review - Songs About A Girl

After taking nearly two months (TWO MONTHS!) to read To The Bright Edge of the World (review for that is here) and trying to find my groove with The Muse on audiobook, I needed something light. Something fun! I needed a fun read! So, I grabbed this and blitz through.

I would have read it quickly, but my work has changed times of when I work due to the heat (Oh, the messed-up British summer!)

When Charlie Bloom gets an email from Olly to take photos of his band, she's surprised. She spoke to  Olly once (to her knowledge) and he left school two years ago. But she has to take the job - it's the once in a lifetime offer. And Olly isn't just Olly - he's Olly Samson, lead singer in the internationally famous boy band, Fire&Lights!

Overnight, Charlie is thrown into the world of music, backstage bickering, paparazzi and somehow caught in the middle between Olly and his fellow bandmate, Gabriel.

But soon, things turn sour. At home and within her life within the band, but not before Charlie discovers that Gabriel has written songs for Fire&Lights - and those lyrics are in her late mother's notepads...

This book was so much fun. I whizzed through this (yes, it took me two weeks, but if it wasn't for work and the weather, I would have read this within a week!) as it's quite addictive. A fun, sugary read that's perfect for this time of year. I mean, who doesn't want to hang out with the band?

Yes, it's not perfect - a bit cliche in places (a shy, insecure girl hooks up with the most popular boy band and oh my, she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with a boy-next-door type and the mysterious, dark brooding loner) and at times, a bit too simple a resolution is used, but with this book, you have to go with it. It's a fun, read by the pool book.

I keep thinking this would be good for readers who like "clean teen" reads (though there is swearing - but this happens once in a blue moon) so I compare this to Geek Girl by Holly Smale (which I shouldn't as I haven't read Geek Girl yet, but both seem to have that playfulness to them).

There is a sequel coming next year (which I hope is just as addictive, maybe with a hint of grit) and I am intrigued to see where Chris Russell takes this series. But yes, fun summery read that One Direction fans will devour.

GoodRead - Adaptation

I was trying to do a NetGalley ban on myself. I seem to be one of those bloggers than requests books that sound interesting, then get surprised when I'm approved then I NEVER GET ROUND TO READING THEM! I know. I am a bad blogger. According to NetGalley, you should have a "Recommended Feedback to Approval Ratio is at least 80%". When I started reading this, mine was 28.1% (just check it now - 27.3%). Ooops!!!

I blame LukeLaneReads for reminding that this was on NetGalley! CURSE YOU!!! (If you want, go check his YouTube out. He always seems to know/discovers books that I go "Ooooh!" over.)

When birds start suddenly dying, causing flights to be grounded, Reese and David decide to drive back home. But when a bird flies into the car, Reese loses control and the car flips. Almost a month later, she and David wake up in a military hospital from their comas, and the doctors refuse to tell them what happens...

But that's only the start, when she gets home, Reese realises that something has changed within her. As she's trying to figure out what happened to her that can't be humanly possible, she finds herself torn between David, a longterm crush, and Amber, a whirlwind of a girl that crashed into her life.

But what is going on? And who can she trust?

Ok, I am going to admit this. This is one of those books that, when I first heard of it, I was hugely excited over. So to hear that Hodder Children's was publishing it in the UK, made me very happy. We don't have any bisexual characters in YA/New Adult so this would be a breath of fresh air. I mean, we always seem to have gay or lesbian characters but when it comes to the LGBT community, the rest seem to be ignored or they are the sidekicks or background character.

And it was. Up to a point. But more on this later.

I am going to be honest with you. I was a little disappointed over this book. There was good points to this, but there was several bad points. A mixed bag.

Ok, the good. I couldn't stop reading it. Even when I was frustrated with it, I had to know what was going to happen next. Malinda's writing made it effortless and I just kept clicking my kindle, wanting to know what happened next.

And the last 20-odd percentage made me read very late into the night!

But, this book isn't perfect. I have two real issues. Characters and genre.

With the three main characters (Reese, David and Amber), I never felt like I "clicked" or connected to them. These are our main leads so we should be rooting for them, but I felt very detached from them. Maybe this is Malinda's point because of what they went through, but still... I want to connect to these characters on some level.

My second issue was a huge problem and it's genre. The book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Was it a sci-fi novel? Was it is a love triangle story? Was it a conspiracy theory story? It kept changing every other chapter. It only felt like Adaptation only figured it out in the last 20-odd percentage, but seeing as this is a duology (with an eNovella), I fear that it will fall back into this "What am I?".

Also, the twists in this book, I kinda saw coming. A few felt very obvious to me. I was expecting a lot of moments where I was genuinely shocked. Maybe I did have my expectations over this book too high...

While I'm not 100% certain if I will read the sequel, Inheritance, I am quite happy that, finally, there seems to be a book out there that has a bi love triangle and that YA readers are treated with respect over how it was written. We YA readers are smarter than most people give us credit for.