Stacia Loves To Read

This book… this book!! Join me through a journey of bullets points, AAVE, and general gushing as I share with you the marvel with that is Leah Johnson’s debut novel: You Should See Me In A Crown.

• “I’m clutching my lunch tray with both hands, hoping that Beyoncé grants me the strength to make it to my usual lunch table without any incidents.”
Is that not the single greatest opening line you read?

• Black main character (pockets!! of confetti for representation). Black “weirdo” as the main character. Black weirdo who is also a band geek as the main character. Black weirdo who is also a band geek and suffers from anxiety (pockets!!) as the main character. Black weirdo who is also a band geek and suffers from anxiety and is Queer (pockets!!) as the main character. Black weirdo who is also a band geek and suffers from anxiety and is Queer with dreams of bettering the world as the main character.
This paragraph alone hit so many notes for me, another black weirdo with anxiety who loves music. Liz states in the first few pages that shes always felt like “too” much: too black, too poor, too weird, too queer, too caring….I felt that in my soul.

• Amanda “Mack” comes in H O T her very first day at Campbell High. She tells off the reigning Queen Witch of the West by informing her that, contrary to popular belief, affirmative action is more beneficial to “white women like herself”.
It was such a sick burn, a great entrance for a new character, and generally felt good.

• Britt is the type of friend you want in your corner! She’s got a level head and is honestly that b*tch. Plus, she considers putting sugar in someone’s gas tank or cutting their brakes “nothing drastic”.

• Despite her shortcomings, Gabi is a good friend too. She never backs down from a challenge and (usually) can be reigned in when she’s gone off the deep end. She’s a pitbull with a bone when it comes to an idea she has: it don’t stop until its done.

• There’s an Avatar: The Last Airbender reference on page 73. ‘Nuff said.
(ps, I’m definitely Katara. I wanna be a Toph, but we all know I’m a Katara.)

• My new favorite insult comes from a character called Lucas. He is engaged in a heated argument with another guy (a baseball player, actually) via food fight and refers to him as “sentient bellybutton crust”. I just —

• Aside from having some pretty decent burns in this book, there are two lines that stuck out to me so hard that cry just thinking about them. The first is the excerpt text: “I was born royalty. All I had to do was pick up my crown.” That line….it shook something in me. There are days that I feel less than, that I forget that I am a Queen (as are all of you, my royal siblings!). No one gives us permission to be amazing; we just are.
The second line that stuck with me is the final line in the book: “…here, always, we deserve this good thing.” Always. You, me, they, he, she, we, always deserve every good thing, no questions asked.

Though this book features a black, queer MC, I feel like there’s something here for everyone. A few issues arise that force Liz to decide if she’s okay with the way she’s being treated by her friends, teachers, and other people. Peer pressure. Bullying. Caring for your family. Homophobia. Finding your voice and then shouting it out until your throat burns. Finding love. Rekindling old relationships and making new ones.

You Should See Me In a Crown is set for release on June 2nd from Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Publishing. This is Ms. Johnson’s first novel. You can find her on the web @byleahjohnson. Thank you so much to Ms. Leah Johnson (and her publisher, Scholastic) for sending me this ARC, free of charge, to read and review. All opinions are my own and are honest. Me receiving a free copy of this book in no way impacts my thoughts.

This book was such a mind bend. I don’t even know how to describe it or where to begin….. TW: blood, death, sexual content, kidnap, cruising Grindr for love, and sex on top of, in front of, and in the presence of corpses. Its a little weird.

The main cast:
Todd Sweeney
– High school student
– Murderer…for a good cause
– Recently returned from an unjust imprisonment in a homosexual conversion camp (which is a whole other issue but, I digress)

Nellie Lovett
– Baker
– Do-gooder
– Kidnapper

Brief synopsis:
Our setting is the town of Fleet. Todd Sweeney has just returned from “boot camp”, a very tongue-in-cheek way of saying “conversion camp”. You see, Todd has had interest in members of the same sex, and in his ultra-conservative hometown, anything other than a man, wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and the white picket fence is dangerous and frowned upon.

A friend of Todd’s named Toby is about to face the same fate as Todd and Toby’s own boyfriend by being sent to conversion camp. But no, Todd has seen too much and he resolves to protect Toby.

The first opponent to Toby & Antonio reuniting is the new guidance counselor of the high school, Squeers (his name is a joke in and of itself). Not only is Squeers after “all the gays”, Mrs. Sweeney (Todd’s mom) reveals that while he was away conversion camp, Squeers may or may not (probably may) have tried to come on to her after being denied, forced himself on her.

Obviously this sets Todd off; but Squeers is soon dealt with. Then comes the school bully. He tries to get Nellie to go on a date with him with the promise of rocking her world via intercourse — consensual or otherwise. Nellie doesn’t like the bully, but agrees to play the bait so as to lure him to his death at the hands of Todd. If you’ve ever seen the Tim Burton directed version of Sweeney Todd, or any of the play versions, you’ll know that when people get killed, they end up baked into various food stuffs, traditionally meat pies. So naturally, Nellie Lovett’s empañada stand gains popularity and sales.

Eventually our two young protags and Toby go on a trip to rescue Antonio, and they may or may not be indirectly involved in yet another killing before fleeing the scene and heading west to evade the authorities.
Eventually, with the help of blackmail and various nefarious means, Toby and Antonio are okay. Nellie & Todd are on the lam…in the UK? Where there was mysterious one day only pop-up meat pie shop?

Overall, this was quite a read. I am a big huge mega fan of Johnny Depp’s interretation of Sweeney Todd, so naturally I *had* to have this one and I was graciously gifted this by one of my amazing bookstagram friends! I enjoyed this look at Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett as being felonious teenagers in high school. The writing style was a bit odd, stilted, and sometimes hard to follow but it works here. In general, this was a fun read, I think it took me a whole 4 days to finish it.

Greetings and salutations fellow book based life forms! I come to you with a review and some conversation about The Grace Year, released last in 2019 from Kim Ligget. As always, this review will contains spoilers as well as sass and trash, so if you don’t want spoilers, scroll to the bottom for a (probably) biased review with (hopefully) no spoilers!

The Grace Year is a book featuring a cast of young women cast out by their community to tame themselves to become ready for marriage. Our MC, Tierney, is the middle of five girls and is treated like the son her father never had. She’s taught to farm and fight and hunt and such. Nevertheless, her grace year comes and so she and the other 30-odd girls of the community that are of age are taken to a remote location to live and survive for the next year.

Sass:

Tierney is a BOSS. The resident mean girl decides to set her sights on Tierney to be her next target of torment and T is 👏🏽 not 👏🏽 having it. She stands up for the other girls that are being bullied and (honestly) is the only one that keeps her head in the midst of a stressful, otherworldly experience. Tierney is the only one who figures out the secrets of the Grace Year, and she’s quite possibly the only reason that the 15 or so girls that lived survived.

There was even a bit of romance in this book and it felt honest and sincere and genuine. I clapped so hard when our boy accepted Tierney as she was when she returned. He gave her space and time to heal from the horrors she’d seen and experienced and never faulted her for that.

Trash:

Kiersten is the absolute worst! But I think that’s a good thing. It helped to show the contrast between someone who is only seeking their own selfish gain and someone who is selfless in their motivation to help others.

Overall, this book was a ride all the way through. I’ve seen it pitched as horror, but I wouldn’t go quite that far…there are some slightly scary moments though. So like a thriller, maybe. And that’s just the way I like my reads….

The Grace Year was released in October of 2019 (right around spooky time here in the US!) and is just one in an impressively scary portfolio from Kim Liggett.

I read this book after seeing a l l the buzz and a l l the hype for the past year on bookstagram and I was pleasantly surprised! I don’t think I was super drawn into the book, but I did enjoy seeing things unfold…like a tv show that you don’t necessarily seek out but you watch when it’s on.

Eelyn is a boss Viking warrior girl and she is here to kill, slaughter, destroy and ask questions NEVER….until she sees her brother in battle. On the opposite side. Her brother who had supposedly died 5 years earlier.

I even liked the romance in this one! It wasn’t overbearing or unreasonable. Just two warriors falling in love. We approve. The only thing that was hard for me was all the names! I read this book in about 3 days but the names…I need a pronunciation guide, or to listen again on audio.

Young’s prose is neither overly wordy nor under descriptive…I could clearly picture so many of the scenes she described. In just a few words, I could smell the scent of Eelyn’s father…woods and dirt and smoky. I hadn’t read a book about Vikings or inspired by Vikings before but I may have to…

Similar books: Warrior of the Wild – Levenseller The Girl the Sea Gave Back – forthcoming from Adrienne Young

Factoid 1: I reviewed this book on Goodreads. Check it out here.

Tess is such a lovable character. She is a strong woman who’s had a bit of a darkened past that causes her to see everything as “temporary”; friends, happiness, relationships, everything. So when she ends up pregnant (a very not temporary situation), you’d think her outlook would change, right?

Factoid 2: If you’re a fan of Helena Hunting’s Pucked series, you’ll looove this book. Cole is a hot hockey player. He lives his life with a plan: eat breakfast, go practice, come home. Marry his long term on-again-off-again girlfriend. Have a couple kids…play some hockey. Throwing a baby in to the mix with the wrong woman wasn’t planned, but everyone has to adapt to change right?

Factoid 3: This book is already out for purchase! October 14 (yesterday) marks this book’s release. Hit up Amazon for an ebook copy, and also go to Ms. Flynn’s website to see all of her works!

Did you like my factoids? I thought they were a cute way to pay homage to the book and it’s main character: the bodacious blonde Tess. Awk-Weird was the perfect read for me! It’s sweet, sexy, and a quick read. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that (1) there’s a surprise pregnancy, (2) some v v steeeeeamy hookup scenes, and (3) a whole lot of heart. Definitely give this series of interconnected standalones a try if you like contemporary romance, hot hockey players, and witty banter between characters.

Extreeeeeme big thanks to Entangled Publishing for granting me this free ebook in exchange for an honest review. Awk-Weird releases October 14th. This is the second novel in Avery Flynn’s Ice Knights series. For more information about Ms. Flynn and her books, please visit http://www.averyflynn.com

Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters is a modernized retelling of the well-known Greek myth of Theseus vs. the Minotaur. Sure we all know he slays the Minotaur and that Princess Ariadne helps him out……but what if Ariadne didn’t want to help? What if the Minotaur had a heart?

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The Good

I loved the characters! Ariadne is presented as an unwilling but ever-present participant in the The Labyrinth Contest. She is the Keeper of the Labyrinth and the only person who calm the Minotaur…or visit him and live to tell the tale!

Theseus. The super hot, super new heir to the throne of Athens. I liked that he was a noble character: he didn’t know all the trickery that was going one but he wanted to stop it for the sake of his people. That’s commendable.

The Bad

Dear Old Dad & Manipulative Mom. I can’t even. I felt sympathetic for the mom at first (I mean, she fell in love with a bull FFS) but as things went along I saw that she didn’t really care for his children, any of them. She even admits it further along.

Dad is no better. His daughter came to him in confidence begging him to not do a thing for his other child. He agreed and then later went back on his word.

The Ugly

The father! Knowing the close relationship I have with my father and then seeing another man who is a father treat his children the way he does…I was so hurt. I wanted to slap King Minos when Ariadne went to talk to him about the “insurance” flash drive. It also made me sad to see that Ariadne’a sisters , the Paradoxes, has found ways (albeit unhealthy) to cope with the life that their father has forced them to live. Pills and drinking and television ratings….

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Overall

This was a wonderful read! The plotline moves along nicely and keeps you engaged and interested. I really loved the random cameos from mythology: Hippolyta the Amazon was there, as was Icarus (known for creating wings and then flying too close to the sun). I read this book in two days; I couldn’t put it down! Definitely look at putting this one in your list if you’re a fan of mythology and the reality show nature of the Kardashians.

Thank you so much to Farrar, Straus & Giroux (a division of Macmillan Publishing) for sending me this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Lifestyles is set to release October 20th. This is Ms. Roberson’s second novel. For more information about this book, Ms. Roberson, or purchasing, please visit https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374310622

I DNF’d (did not finish) this book. Usually that’s a bad thing, but not in this case. This book was visceral, so real, so true, I couldn’t continue. TW: this book features characters who struggle with mental health issues. Please consider yourself before reading this work.

I only got about 20% in, and in that small chunk of this work, I felt so validated. I struggle with MDD & GAD. Naima, one of the MC also struggles with GAD, and she has OCD on top of it. I have spoken with friends who have OCD, and based on their experiences, the author did well describing some of Naima’s ticks. Sorting things is a common trait of persons with OCD: it allows them to maintain control over something as small as M&M’s when it seems their life is uncontrollable.

The other character, Andrew “Dew” has a panic attack on the page. I cried reading that scene. I cried after that scene. Not because it was bad, but because it was so real and honest and true to myself. I have often tried to describe to my fiancé who doesn’t suffer with anxiety/have panic attacks what it feels like inside and how draining it is after but words never seem to be enough. Until that scene. I felt that in my bones. I cried with Dew as he was coming down. I felt myself going up as he did.

Overall, this was an amazing book. Though I didn’t finish it, I will shout about this one from the Midwestern rooftops.

Six Goodbyes we Never Said by Candace Granger is due to release on September 24 from St. Martin’s/Wednesday Publishing. I grateful to the publisher for granting me this free ebook via Netgalley for me to read and review. Please visit https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250116246 for links to pre-order the book and to learn more about the author!