July's Monthly Recap

Inspired by Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts's Weekly Recap, here is a recap of my posts over the last week, and anything else I found interesting.




Reviews:

• 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger - Oh my god, this book was so good! A brilliant feminist dystopian YA novel where the matriachy are in charge, and still screwing everyone up.
• Horns by Joe Hill - An awesome dark fantasy that really gets you thinking about good and evil, and the depravity of human thoughts.
• The Awesome by Eva Darrows - A great urban fantasy novel about a teenage monster hunter, but I found Maggie too snarky, and didn't like her crappy attitude towards women.
• George by Alex Gino - A beautiful and incredible powerful LGBTQ novel about a ten-year-old trans girl. SO, SO GOOD! (Not pictured - I borrowed this book, and have given it back.)
• Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb - An incredible new high fantasy novel about such beloved characters! It was wonderful being back in this world again with Fitz, and seeing how his life gets turned upside down, again.
• I'm a Girl! by Yasmeen Ismail - A wonderful picture book that challenges gender-roles for children!
• Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper  - My first colouring book review! Full of photos! I enjoyed this colouring book, but I think it's more the kind I'd want to dip in and out of, than complete before moving on; some of the illustrations are a bit samey.

Other posts:

• Movie Review: Boy Meets Girl - An incredible LGBTQ love story about a transgender woman. It was brilliant, so sex positive, and so funny!
• The Top Ten Tuesday topics I took part in are Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters and Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds.

Elsewhere online:

Inspired by Cait at Paperfury and the awesome links she shares.

• This month I was interviewed by the Jasmine Denholm of Wenlock Books in their Seven Questions With... series, talking about book blogging and reading.
• Cait over at Paper Fury gives a tutorial on how to create black and white photos with a colour accent on PicMonkey.
• Check out this awesome review of Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill over at The F Word.
• Book Riot talks about Five Novels That Illustrate Rape Culture. And Tammara Webber writes a fantastic response about Easy being on this list.
• Twitter shared an article on the US' Huffington Post, How Young Adult Romance Novels Are Giving Young Girls a Misguided View of Romance, written by an actual teen. In response to this, YA author Holly Bourne share her article from 2013 on the subject, Are Happily-ever-afters in YA Novels Bad for Teenagers'  Love Lives? Both really interesting!
• If you didn't attend YALC and missed the live tweeting, there's an article on the BBC that has a summary of the main points of one of the panels, Let's Talk About Sex - in Young Adult Fiction.
• For her 50th Birthday, a beautiful profile has been written about J.K. Rowling in the Irish Examiner, by YA author Louise O'Neill.
• Candice at O Ye Scribbles talks about the bookish wreaths she creates, and they're just beautiful!
• On Free Word, Sarah Odedina, former managing director of Hot Key Books and now publisher of the children's list at Oneworld, writes a fantastic post about the importance of YA fiction in young people's lives and why YA isn't afraid to tackle heavy subject. "YA fiction is more than a story. It is the opportunity to find out who you are and what you believe in from the safety and security of a book."
• Courtney Summers' YA novel, Some Girls Are, has been banned from West Ashley High School's summer reading list after a parent caused an outcry about it. Read the post, read the book, and support.
• As I'm starting to review adult colouring books, and have been reviewing a few more movies, I decided I wanted to create pages for those reviews separately, and have a drop down menu from my "My Reviews". A quick Google search led me to Monika at Lovely Bookshelf's post, How to Create Drop-Down Menus in Blogger - it's easy to understand and very easy to follow. If you want a drop down menu, I'd highly recommend this post.

My writing:

As you may or may not know, I have another blog, Jo's Journal, where I write about topics that are important to me, and I'm trying to get my writing out there to be read by more people. I was at The Coven this month, asking if offensive jokes can be funny. I also blogged about body shaming slim girls in We're Real Women, Too: On Sizeism and Skinny Shaming.

Review: Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper

Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper (review copy) - Life is a wonderful adventure, and all of our dreams can come true! Hold on to your dreams with Creative Coloring Inspirations, the coloring book that offers hope and encouragement on every page. Inside you ll find 30 relaxing activities designed to motivate your creativity and stimulate your spirit. Team up with talented artist Valentina Harper as you personalize her exquisite line drawings. Valentina combines exhilarating words with flowing, intricate, and highly detailed patterns. Best-selling craft author Marie Browning joins in with beautifully colored examples of finished work. Printed on high quality extra-thick paper that won t bleed through, all pages are pre-perforated for easy removal and display. They're perfect for decorating with markers, gel pens, watercolors, or colored pencils. From Goodreads.

The adult colouring craze has become a big deal recently, so I thought I would see what it's all about. GMC Distributions sent me a copy of Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper, from Design Originals, to review.

There are four colouring books in the Creative Coloring series; as well as Inspirations, there's also Flowers, Animals and Mandalas. I love a good inspirational quote, so I went with this colouring book hoping that, as well as having the calming and stress relieving affect colouring is supposed to have, the quotes would give me something additional to smile over.

The colouring book starts off with some notes and tips from Harper. Over and again she emphasises that there is no right or wrong way to colour in, and we are free to experiment and try different things with our colouring - something I was quite pleased with; having not coloured since I was a child, and seeing just how amazing some people can colour in (seriously, just look up #adultcolouring on Instagram and prepare to be amazed!), I was feeling a little disheartened, knowing I'm not that good. So I was glad to be reminded that whatever the result of my colouring, all that mattered was that I had fun with it.

Harper goes through the different media that can be used, and shows how each would turn out, to help you decide which look you want to go for, and which medium to use.


She then discusses basic colour ideas, and different ways to colour in the shapes in her illustrations, helping you choose which you prefer.


Harper talks you through basic colour tips, going through the primary, secondary and tertiary colours, and different combinations that work together - or contrasting colours depending on the affect you're after.


And then we have some examples of Harper's illustrations coloured in by fellow artist and author, Marie Browning. Here are two examples



With each example, we're told not only what media was used, but what makes, as well as the kind of tones Browning went for.

And then it's on to choose which illustrations you would like to colour. Originally, I was a bit daunted by some of the illustrations, because they were quite detailed, busy and complicated. For me, this seemed the opposite of calming and stress-relieving, seeming a bit chaotic and the tiny shapes would do my eyes in, causing me to have trouble focusing on the image. But for those wanting to challenge themselves, they're great. Fortunately, for those of us who are newbies just starting with adult colouring, there are smaller, simpler, cleaner illustrations to get going with.



The inspirational words to colour are pretty great, a nice little reminder while you're colouring to keep you chin up and remember the good things in life. Each page is perforated, so once you're done, you can pull them out to hang up, put on your fridge or share with a friend. On the reverse of each page, there is an inspiring quote by various well known people, giving you a reason to pause, reflect, and smile.


After flicking through, I decided on an illustration to colour and got to it. I didn't realise just how long it would take! I got engrossed in what I was doing, and time flew by without me realising.


If you're going to colour, you really need to have a spare few hours in which to do it in. I kept thinking about how it was taking so long, and how I was hoping to do some reading, but that didn't look like it was going to happen, and so I tried to be quicker - until I decided to stop for the day, as it started to feel slightly like a chore.


But by the time I finished it the next day, I found I enjoyed the whole experience. I'll just have to make sure I have more time to simply colour next time.


Please excuse the smudges.
I used the advice Harper gave to try and see what worked for me. I both coloured individual shapes in different colours and I coloured some sections all the same colour. Some of my art lessons from school came back to me, such as things on tone and shading, though I forgot until later that it's better to start from the top left and work your way down and to the right to stop smudging what you've already coloured with your hand when colouring elsewhere. So yeah, a few mistakes there which you can see. But I'm generally quite happy with what I did, and really enjoyed it!

Despite how much I enjoyed it, while flicking through, I did feel that the illustrations where kind of samey; although the illustrations as a whole were each very different, the patterns used - especially all the circles - were repeated too often for my liking. Although I'd be colouring a different illustration, I'd still be colouring the same patterns, and I think I'd get a lit bit tired of the same thing over and over. It's great to have to dip in and out of, but I don't hink it's the kind of book I'd enjoy completing all at once.

Creative Coloring Inspirations is a great and enjoyable colouring book, with great tips and ideas to inspire and encourage experimentation as you colour.

Thank you to Design Originals and GMC Distribution for the review copy.



Buy from:




Published: January 2015
Publisher: Design Originals
Valentina Harper's Website

Review: I'm a Girl! by Yasmeen Ismail

I'm a Girl! by Yasmeen Ismail (review copy) - I'm supposed to be made of sugar and spice
and all things nice.
But I'm sweet and sour
and not a little flower.

I'm a girl! I'm a girl! I'm a girl!

The girl in this book likes to win, she likes to be spontaneous, fast and strong, and because she also likes to dress in t-shirt and shorts, she is forever getting mistaken for a boy. And when she meets a boy who likes wearing dresses and playing dolls, they both quickly discover that they share interests that are wide and varied.

I'm a Girl! is a wonderful celebration of being who we are and not being pigeon-holed or restricted by gender stereotypes. Most of all it is full of energy and laugh-out-loud funny. Who says that pink is for girls and blue is for boys? From Goodreads.

I'm a Girl! by Yasmeen Ismail is brilliant! I knew I had to read it as soon as I heard about - a picture book for children that challenges gender roles and stereotypes!

This little girl likes to play however she wants, whether it's loud or fast, whether she makes a mess, whether she's a little rough and tumble. But because of the things she likes to do, people keep thinking she's a boy. Instead of not doing the things she enjoys because of what people think, she continues to do the things she loves, proudly declaring that she's a girl to those annoying people who get it wrong. While she's playing, she meets a boy who likes playing with dolls, and another boy who likes to wear skirts, and together they have fun, embracing who they are.

I am a massive believer in that children should be allowed to be children, and play however they wish rather than be forced into gender roles, only allowed to play in a way that's "right" for their gender. There is no right or wrong when it comes to playing, gender shouldn't come into it, and this book shows exactly that.

I love how the little girl keeps doing what she's doing. She's not cowed by the opinions of others, but stays true to herself. She gets annoyed by these people and defends herself. She doesn't doubt for a second that there's anything wrong with who she is and how she plays, and she is sets such a wonderful example for children reading.

I would have liked there to be a little more about the boys in the story though. When the girl is playing with dolls with a boy, another boy disparagingly says, "Dolls are for girls," to which the boy replies, "No they're not!" looking a little sad, while the little girl says, "I am a girl!" angrily. And with the boy who wears a grass skirt over his shorts, there's no reference to it, just the two characters being happy about how brilliant they are. If there isn't going to be a version of this book for boys, then I wish there had been a little more about boys playing in supposedly "girlie" ways/with "girls'" toys, as I think, generally, boys get the flak for stepping outside their gender roles more so than girls do.

A really fantastic book that every child should read if not own, to see it's ok for them to just be theselves.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the review copy.



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Published: 13th August 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Yasmeen Ismail's Website

Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds.
At first I thought I was going to have trouble with this one. I could only think of a couple off of the top of my head. Then I lookedthrough my reviews. Turns out I've met several book nerds while booknerding!


Hermione from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (Goodreads) - The obvious one to start with. Hermione is more of a book nerd than I am, memorising books like she does. But so much knowledge and smarts! And how often has her knowledge got her, Harry and Ron out of sticky situations? Reading books can save your life, people!

Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Goodreads) - Being a Fangirl, Cath is addicted to the Simon Snow series written by a fictional author Gemma T. Leslie (the story Rowell decided to write herself and will be published later this year. Confused?), and writes her own fanfiction based in that universe. Cath takes booknerdigans to the next level.


Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Goodreads) - Hazel is equally obsessed as Cath, but with An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten (also fictional). However, instead of writing fanfiction Augustus uses his Wish to take them to Amsterdam so Hazel can actually meet the author. Every book nerd's dream! (Unless the author is going to be not a great person, like Van Houten.)

Katy from the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Goodreads) - Katy is a book blogger! Yessss, she's one of us! And mourns the death of her computer countless times when she's unable to post her reviews or read her comments or take part in Waiting on Wednesday! She just gets it. And she dates a hot alien. Yup, definitely just like the rest of us (though our hot alien dates tend to be fictional. Siiiigh.)


Claire from the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine (Goodreads) - Claire is attended Texas Prairie University early, because she's super smart. And she just loves to learn. So much so, she reads her texts books for fun (though admittedly, not much on the page). Like Hermione, accept it's Claire being generally intelligent that saves the day most of the time rather through something she read in a book.

Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Goodreads) - Charlie gets extra assignments from his Literature teacher, and extra books, because he enjoys reading so much. Extra homework, for fun. Most definitely a fellow book nerd.


The young boy in When It Snows by Richard Collingridge (Goodreads) - Yes, this is a children's picture book, but I had to include it. BECAUSE IT'S MAGICAL! This little boy goes on adventures when it snows, meeting giant reindeer and Father Christmas, riding a polar bear, and, if I remember correctly, having a snowball fight with snowmen. There's an amazing twist at the end; how does he do this, through the power of reading. The whole story is about a boy reading a book! This beautiful picture book shows exactly why I'm a reader. And the boy in the book is a wee book nerd in the making!

George from George by Alex Gino (Goodreads) - Wee ten-year-old transgender George has fallen in love with the story of Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and now wants to play Charlotte in the school play. As well as being a wonderful LGBTQ novel, George shows just what a beautiful thing reading can be for young people.


Sydney from the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead (Goodreads) - Sydney is another character who loves to learn and longs to study. She doesn't get up to much reading in the book, but she so wants to immerse herself in textbooks and study. She wants to do required reading! It's unfair her life as an Alchemist won't let her.

A.J. from The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (Goodreads) - A.J. owns and runs a bookshop. His whole life is books (and, eventually, his daughter). He loves short stories, and each chapter starts with a recommendation for a short story for his daughter, along with his reasons for choosing it. A.J. is awesome, even if he wasn't so much at the beginning.

Have you read any of these books? And who is your favourite book nerd? From this list, I've got to say either Hermione or the little boy. Who did you choose for this week's topic? Link me to your posts!

Review: Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb - Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house at Withywoods with his beloved wife Molly these many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.

But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more…

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe. From Goodreads.

Oh, I have been dying to read Fool's Assassin, the first book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy,  ever since I first heard Robin Hobb was returning to these characters! It's been out for over a year already in hardback, but it's such a big book, and I do a lot of my reading to and from work, and I didn't want to lug such a heavy book around. I patiently waited for the paperback, and oh my god, it was amazing! And now I don't know if I can wait for the second book to come out in paperback!

I can't even begin to summarise this book like I do all others because there's so much that would be such massive spoilers. As it is, the description above only covers the first two chapters. Seriously. But I will try and give a vague and bare-bones summary.

An aged Fitz. A Fool gone for decades. A strange, mysterious child. Two apprentice assassins; one failed, one entitled, both in danger. Two messengers, visiting years apart; one disappearing and presumed dead, the other mortally injured. Fitz's quiet and contented life as the Holder Tom Badgerlock of Withywoods, with his wife Molly, is to be disrupted, and he will have to fall back on lessons learnt long ago. The assassin FitzChivalry Farseer is needed once again.

Vague enough? Reviewing this book is going to be difficult because a large part of this book revolves around a character who to discuss would just be the biggest spoiler. But I shall do my best.

The very last line of the description from Goodreads - which is also on the blurb - is a little misleading. The book spans a number of years, starting when Fitz is 49, ending he's around 61. So although Fitz is suddenly thrown into a upheaval, it happens several years after the missing and presumed dead messenger comes to Withywoods. There is this huge event that happens that changes Fitz life, though not how you would think, about a quarter to a third of the way in. As soon as it was mentioned, I knew what it meant. As soon as I read the words spoken to Fitz, it was clear to me just how important this news was, on a wider scale than the immediate smaller scale, before the events that followed. And it had me so excited!

However, from about half way onwards for a fair while, I was questioning whether something else of consequence was going to happen in this book. There were smaller things happening, the arrival of various characters into Fitz life, and the mystery surrounded them that I cared about less and less as they became increasingly more unlikable, but nothing major enough to warrant a book this long. Or so I thought. Having finished the book, I understand why the book was written as it was. Although it might not seem so at the time, it's all very important.

There were moments when I wanted to prod Fitz and get him to wake up, and say, "Come on, Fitzy Fitz!" (as the Fool once called him in the very first book, Assassin's Apprentice, during a tongue-teaser of a prediction). There were things happening that he didn't seem to question, or at least not very long, when he most definitely should have, and a conversation should have been had. Events were similar enough to things he had experienced before for them to ring a bell for him, and at the very least, he should have been concerned for a character's sanity, but it didn't really happen. I understand that it probably didn't occur to him, and he had so many distractions in his life, but I do think there should have been at least some worry on his part. If only Fitz had thought about it, he might have worked a few things out sooner. But I guess, then, we would have a completely different story. It just seemed odd; I know he's a lot older now, and it's proven he's been away from an assassin's life so long he's not quite as sharp as he used to be, but it's still Fitz! It just didn't seem like him.

The last quarter of the book is incredible! The pace picks up, and I was turning the pages as fast as I could read them, dying to get through it quickly, because time was definitely of the essence, and I needed to know what would happen! And then, unrelated, something also huge and terrifying happened, because of course it would, Fitz, how can you be so stupid! Such joy and fear and terrible anguish and sadness, and then the book ended! And I am so desperate to know what's going to happen next! The ending so made up for the parts I thought were flagging - even though, as I said, I now know how important they were - and, oh, I have fallen in love with Hobb's mastery all over again! And these characters, I love them so much, and it's so amazing to have a new story to immerse myself in, new adventures to share with them! It's fantastic, and I know, I just know, I will bear the weight of a heavy tome in my work bag to discover what happens next. Incredible story! Robin Hobb fans will not be disappointed!



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Published: 16th July 2015
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Robin Hobb's Website

Review: George by Alex Gino

George by Alex Gino (proof) - When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.

George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her (4th grade) teacher announces their class play is going to be "Charlotte's Web." George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part ...because she's a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte - but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all. From Goodreads.

My head of department at work knows how much I love reading LGBTQ YA, so after she had a meeting with a rep from Scholastic where she heard about George by Alex Gino, she told me about it. It sounded amazing, so as soon as she had read the bookseller proof she was provided, she lent it to me. And oh my god, this book is so good!

Ten-year-old George has always known she is a girl, despite the fact that she has a boy's body. She knows there are other people like her from using the internet, but she just doesn't know how to broach the subject with anyone. Her class are reading Charlotte's Web, and George really loves it, especially Charlotte, so when it comes to auditioning for a part in the school's production of the book, she knows she has to be Charlotte. But Ms. Udell, her teacher, tells her that she can't be Charlotte because she's a boy. With George getting increasingly more upset with being treated as the boy she isn't, her best friend Kelly comes up with a brilliant idea, an idea that will change everything.

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this book is. I'm not one for young fiction, I tend to find it's much too young for me to enjoy, but George is such an incredible story! I've read a few YA stories with transgender characters, and George doesn't really cover anything new, but it's written so beautifully, and does something those other books don't - George introduces LGBTQ characters to younger readers.

Let's take a moment to think about just what a big deal that is. When we think of YA, the intended audience is around 12+. YA misses those younger children who aren't ready for YA reading levels or some mature themes they cover. So those younger children don't really get those LGBTQ stories - except maybe when they were younger and read some picture books with same sex parents, which are, of course, important, but there's still this massive gap. And now we have George, a book for children around the same age as the title character, helping those who are cis-gendered understand what it means to be transgender, showing those who are transgender that they're not alone, that there are others out there like them, and that things can change. They see themselves represented in the fiction they're reading, and I cannot stress how important that is, nor how emotional with joy it makes me. Also, I think it's important to point out that if children are taught at a young age about many different things, including about LGBTQ lives, it will encourage understanding and acceptance as they grow and mature, creating a much more accepting world with the next few generations.

Back to the story. This is the first book about transgender characters I've read that's told in third person, and the whole way through Gino uses female pronouns for George. Normally, the books I read are generally told in first person, and I use the correct pronouns for the characters' gender identities in my reviews. But it's great to actually see "she" and "her" used in relation to George like this - of course they would be as the story is from George's point of view, it was just wonderful to see.

George is such a sweet girl, and oh my god, I wanted to give her a hug so much! She tries so hard, but she just isn't a boy. It hurts her so much whenever she's called a "young man" or "my little boy", but whenever she tries to talk about it, the words just won't come out. It's heartbreaking to read about this generally, but to read about it happening to a child! I just can't even begin to tell you how emotional it is.

But she has an incredible friend in Kelly. When George finally tells Kelly about the real her, it takes her a while to get used to the idea, because it's a bit of a shock, but once she does, she is all about treating George like the girl she is. She keeps it quiet when necessary, but when it's just the two of them, George is as much of a girl to Kelly as she is, and her acceptance is so beautiful! But even before she's told, Kelly is completely supportive in George wanting to try out for the part of Charlotte in the play. I just love her!

What was more difficult to stomach were the reactions from Ms. Udell and George's mum. Ms. Udell isn't pleased when George auditions for the part of Charlotte, and thinks it's a joke. Of course she can't play Charlotte, especially when there are so many girls who already want the part! She offers George the chance to audition to play one of the male characters, but completely dismisses the idea that George can play Charlotte, or really any female character. Let's put aside that George is trans for just one moment, because even if she wasn't, I think this is just so wrong! George is ten-years-old, she's a child still, and yes, it's school, but a production is still a part of play, and children should be allowed to play, and not have gender-roles forced onto them! Oh my god, this wound me up! I can't tell how angry this makes me. But this book is about George, and all she wanted was for a chance to show who she really was; if she got to play Charlotte, maybe people would see she was a girl! But that opportunity has been taken away from her, and it's so upsetting.

Then we have George's mum. When she discovers certain secrets George has been hiding, she talks about how George dressing up in her clothes used to be cute when she was a toddler, but it isn't now,  and when George tries to broach the subject of her being a girl, she doesn't want to talk about it right now. And it's not just dismissive, it's annoyed, like her "son" is purposefully misbehaving and being naughty, rather than trying to have a serious conversation with her mother. Her mum isn't like this the whole way through the book, but it happens enough to really wind me up. There's no effort to understand and listen for a fair while, and it bugs me so much. If anything, this book is teaching me about the kind of parent I want to be when I am one, so I suppose George's mum's behaviour works; if parents read this and change their thinking when it comes to how they may react to any serious conversation with their child, then it can only be a good thing.

The ending of this book is far too beautiful for words. It's completely uplifting, and so emotional! It brought tears to my eyes! I'm not going to go into the specifics, because the beautiful wonderful things that happen not just in the story, but in the writing, are things to be discovered and felt by you as you read. But it's so completely wonderful!

George is undeniably one of the most incredible LGBTQ books I've read, and maybe one of the most important. Every child should have a copy of this book, every school library should stock it, and every parent should read it with their child. I know once it's published, I'll be buying myself a copy, and a copy for best friend's baby. It will be waiting for her for when she's old enough to read this beautiful, powerful, uplifting story.

Thank you to Scholastic for the bookseller proof.



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Published: 25th August 2015
Publisher: Scholastic
Alex Gino's Website

Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters.
Oooh, this is my topic! It's going to be hard to narrow it down to just ten... I'm only going to talk about books I've read this year to make it easier. Here it goes...


Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (review) - Let's start off with an intersectional diverse book, huh? Lies We Tell Ourselves is an incredible novel set during the integration of black students into white schools, and follows Sarah as she experiences desegregation, and falls for Linda, the daughter of one of the most powerful influencers for segregation. So a LGBTQ YA novel with a POC main character!

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Nevin (review) - This book really got to me. This is an amazing story of love and mental illness. Finch has undiagnosed bi-polar disorder, and Violet is grieving the death of her sister a year ago. The story opens as they meet for the first time at the top of the school tower, contemplating suicide. A very powerful, emotional story, loosely based on the author's own experiences, and one I highly recommend.


We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen (review) - This is a wonderful book about family. Stewart's dad has been dating Ashley's mum, and now they're all moving in together. Ashley is beautiful and popular, Stewart is geeky and incredibly smart. Stewart is looking forward to having a sister, but Ashley can only think of one thing worse than having Stewart and his dad move in and possibly ruin her reputation; what it might do to her reputation if it got out that her dad is gay. A beautiful story.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz (review) - Another intersectional book, this is about Etta, a black bisexual teenager, who is trying to recover from an eating disorder. Etta isn't gay enough for her gay ex-friends, isn't skinny enough to be diagnosed as anorexic, and isn't white or small enough to be a ballet dancer. There's quite a lot covered in this book; sexuality, friendship - the good and the bad kind, going for your dreams, and Etta dealing with her own and Bianca's eating disorders, but it's all works together brilliantly. It's a completely fantastic book, and you all need it in your lives.


The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brokenbrough (review)- Set in the 1930s, Love and Death are playing a game, and they each have a player; will love conquer all or will death tear them apart? Oooh, how I loved this book! It really is awesome, and so orginal! We have a POC in Flora, and LGBTQ characters in Love and a side character. Reaaaad it!

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone (review) - A wonderful story about Sam, who suffers from Purely-Obsessional OCD, and how the friendship and acceptance she finds in the Poet's Corner, a secret group held at school, helps her to control her obsessive thoughts. There's a very sweet romance, a wonderful frienship, an incredible twist, and beautiful poetry! I loved it!


Panther by David Owen (review) - Derrick's sister, Charlotte, suffers from depression, and the lives of everyone in the family have been turned upside down because of a traumatic event involving Charlotte before the book starts. Everything going wrong in Derrick's life is down to his sister. Why won't she just pull herself together? When there's a sighting of the Panther that escaped a while back, Derrick comes up with a plan. The panther first appeared at the same time as that awful event, so if Derrick can catch the panther, Charlotte will get better, and everything will go back to normal. A really fantastic story that shows how someone's mental illness can affect the whole family.

One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart (review) - This book, set in Florence, Italy, covers mental health, and is absolutely brilliant, but to disclose the mental health issue would actually spoil the story. Nadia is having trouble communicating. The words just won't come out. She's become obsessed with birds nests, and has become a thief, compelled to steal, using the stolen items as materials for the intricate and artful birdnests she makes. And there's a boy, a boy who speeds his way through Florence on his scooter, stealing flowers, who nobody seems to see but her. A really fascinating and intriguing story, of a girl who's coming apart at the edges.


The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle (review) - This is such an incredible novel! It's an atmospheric and errie story, about a family who will, without fail, fall prey to accidents every October - some merely bruises and scratches, others much worse. And when Cara discovers that a fellow classmate, Elsie, appears in every single one of her photos, she wonders why she's been following her? Intent on confronting her about it, Cara is even more confused when Elsie seems to have disappeared, no-one really knowing who she is. This book is amazing, and features an LGBTQ romance.

5 to 1 by Holly Bodger (review) - Set in a future dystopian India wheren there are more men than there are women, but women rule. Teenage boys must take part in tests to discern their future; marriage to the girl they're competing for, or a hard life at the fence that will lead to death sooner rather than later. Sudasa, a girl who must pick her future husband, feels like a caged bird in the society she lives in; she must choose a husband, and she must choose him out of the five "randomly" chosen to compete in the tests. But not everyone taking part in the tests is hoping for marriage. A wonderful feminist dystopian that shows only equality will work.

So those are my ten! Have you read any of these? What did you think? And what's on your lists? Link me up!

Review: The Awesome by Eva Darrows

The Awesome by Eva Darrows (review copy) - Seventeen-year-old Maggie Cunningham is tough, smart, and sassy. She's also not like other girls her age, but then, who would be when the family business is monster hunting? Combat boots, ratty hooded sweatshirts, and hair worn short so nothing with claws can get a grip, Maggie's concerns in life slant more toward survival than fashion or boys.

Which presents a problem when Maggie's mother informs her that she can't get her journeyman's license for hunting until she loses her virginity. Something about virgin blood turning vampires into pointy rage monsters. Insides being on the outside and all that.

Maggie's battled zombies and goblins and her fair share of house brownies, but finding herself a boy proves a much more daunting task than any monster hunt. Did you know normal girls don't stuff their bras with holy water balloons? Nor do they carry wooden stakes in their waistbands. And they care about things like "matching" and "footwear." Of course, they also can't clean a gun blindfolded, shoot a crossbow, or exorcise ghosts from a house. Which means they're lame and Maggie's not. Because Maggie's awesome. The Awesome, in fact.

Just ask her. She'd be more than happy to tell you.

After she finds herself a date. From Goodreads.

When I was contacted about reviewing The Awesome by Eva Darrows, I was drawn to two things; the amazing sounding plot - Maggie has to lose her virginity in order to fight bigger monsters? Whaaat? - and how it was described as being a feminist story. That was me sold! However, although The Awesome is a good story, I did have a few issues with it.

In a world where monsters exist, though most try not to think about it, Maggie Cunningham is a confident, snarky, no-holds-barred, kickass hunter. Well, almost, as she is informed by her mother she can't get her journeyman's license until she's lost her virginity. Vampires can smell virgin blood, and can send them into a blood lust craze, so until Maggie has had sex, she can only help her mum out with the easy jobs. There's no way Maggie is going to accept not getting her journeyman's license and becoming a proper hunter, so she's on a mission to have sex as soon as possible. Any available guy will do, so long as she gets rid of her inconvenient virginity. What she doesn't expect is to start having feelings for the lovely if a little awkward Ian. But things don't go quite to plan, and soon her inexperienced state gets her into a whole heap of trouble; a vampire dies, a first born to a vampire prince, and now Maggie and her mum are in serious danger.

I had some trouble with Maggie. She's snarky, which, generally, can be quite funny, and I'm sure went towards this book being considered hilarious by all the authors who blurbed it. Her voice is completely different to what I normally read in YA, but once things started getting into the urban fantasy side of things, I was reminded a lot of the amazing adult urban fantasies I read. Maggie is like a cross between Cat from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series and Dorina from Karen Chance's Dorina Basarab series. Her voice was easier to get used to when I took myself out of the YA reading frame of mind and into urban fantasy reading frame of mind, but still, I found her too snarky. She verges on having an attitude problem, and I found her really frustrating and her voice a little annoying.

The Awesome does have it's feminist elements, which I'll get to, but at times it almost seemed to have the opposite. Maggie's attitude towards women got my back up from the beginning. I can understand that, with her job, she'd have little time for those horror movie cliches, but her language towards women - and women who have sex - is pretty appalling.

'You know those horror movies where the silicon-inflated babe totters down the street in stilettos while a werewolf lopes after her at six thousand miles an hour? All I have to say to that is, "Bitch would have gotten away if she'd picked better shoes."' (p21)

'I, Margaret Cunningham, would try my hand at being a slutbag.' (p27)

'But he was cannon fodder, a victim waiting to happen. He might as well be the token slut in a horror movie with a sign that said 'Me First' hanging around his neck.' (p89)

These aren't the only times she talks about women in such a derogatory fashion, and it really bothered me. Maggie's attitude is all wrong, and for a book, that is being marketed as a feminist story, to be using words like "slut", and having Maggie obviously judge people who enjoy casual sex, is such a problem, in my opinion.

And it's odd. Because this book does have it's feminist values. This attitude from Maggie totally goes against what her mother tells her during a discussion about sex, but it doesn't change her attitude.

'"You realize it's totally screwed up that you're fine with me finding a piece of random ass, right? You should be going on some spiel about self-respect right now."
"Why's that?"
"I dunno. Most mothers would."
"Well, then most mothers think sex is shameful for a woman and I think that's a heaping pile of shit. As long as you're okay and your boy treated you right, no spiel. If he treated you bad, I'll cram his dick down his throat and watch him choke."' (p57)

Pretty wonderful words from Janice, Maggie's mum. A really wonderful way to bring up teenagers, I think. Yet Maggie still says awful things, as shown by the last quote above, which came after this conversation with her mum. It's partially sex-positive, partially sex-shaming, and I don't know what to do with that.

Janice is a funny character, because I find some of the things she said awesome ('"Nudity's a beautiful, natural thing. Be proud of your body, Margaret Jane. You only get one this life. No point in getting all hung up about it."' (p123)), and her strong relationship with Maggie is admirable, yet I really wasn't a big fan of her swearing at her own daughter. I'm not a big fan of swearing in books in general, but I tend to let it go as it's real, most people do swear. There is quite a lot of swearing going on here, but I'm just not for books showing parents swearing at their children. I don't really care how old Maggie is and how she may behave, I think it's wrong, and really quite shocking. But that's just me, and I was brought up by people who felt strongly that you don't swear at your children, and swear as little as possible around them when they're growing up. You might think differently, so this might not be a problem for you.

Although it's made a major part of the description, Maggie needing to lose her virginity becomes a smaller matter as the book progresses. Trouble is caused because of her virginity, but the focus then switches, mainly, to the trouble. I got really into this side of things, as I just love a good, fast-paced, action-packed urban fantasy, and oooh, for the most part, The Awesome delivers! There's a little vampire politics, some awesome twists, and a really interesting set up for more books, if they're to come. The main fight scene of the story wasn't quite as tight as it could have been, but it was still pretty awesome; violent and a little gory. There's a mystery surrounding Jeff, Janice's vampire boyfriend, that I think will end up being really amazing and wowsome.

As for the contemporary (ish) side of things, I loved Maggie's relationship with Lauren, a newly awoken zombie. Lauren isn't your typical zombie; eating your brain isn't her sole-focus. In actual fact, she doesn't want to eat humans, even though they smell so good, she doesn't look too dead, and she still acts and feels like a normal human (despite her developing the taste for raw meat, as well as making do with killing ducks and pigeons), rather than an incomprehensible, rotting, hunger-crazed human-flesh-eater. Seeing as she doesn't seem too dangerous just yet, Janice has to zombie-sit her until the Department of Paranormal Relations can decide what to do with her. Maggie and Lauren form a tentative friendship, with Maggie having to fight her suspicion and edginess around her, and it's great watching that develop. It's sweet.

There are also two sex scenes in The Awesome, and Darrows does a great job with them. Realistic without being clinical; not hiding away the awkward and the embarrassing, and showing equally that some things can feel good while other things, maybe not so much. It was definitely different to read about a character trying to get her virginity out of the way for a specific reason, rather than just to say she's done it. I was surprised about but admiring of Maggie's almost nonchalance about the whole thing until it got down to the actual event. Maggie might not be quite as confident as she'd like people to think she is. Really well done.

So, all in all, The Awesome isn't awful, there are some really fantastic elements to it. I just really didn't like Maggie's attitude to women and how she had to be snarky all the time. I'll probably read the next novel if there is to be one, and just hope her attitude improves. Others have really loved this book, so do check out a few more reviews, don't make a decision based on my review alone.

Thank you to Ravenstone for the review copy.



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Published: 7th May 2015
Publisher: Ravenstone
Eva Darrows' Website