Tag: Young Adult

Book Review

Moon Reads: Squire

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Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: A copy of this book was provided upon request from the publisher but I also bought a final copy, which is packed somewhere in a box currently.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I’ve been following Sara and her artwork for ages, and when I found out Squire was in the making, I was super excited about it.

Let me tell you, it did not disappoint and I can’t wait for more of it to come!

Squire follows Aiza, who dreams of becoming a Knight because it is a huge honour and also because it will probably mean people bully her less and she will be popular and a heroine. And finally, because she can then achieve Knighthood and have full citizenship. Initially, her parents are against it, reminding her of her heritage and why she is shunned, but in the end, they let her go.

At the training, she meets up with a few rivals and several other hopeful youngsters wanting to be knights. But as much as the training is hard, she is keeping her identity secret and this causes tensions.

To say much more would be to spoil the plot but I loved the many characters shown through it and their own unique stories and motivations, but not only that, the artwork is fun, the story has a lot to tell and it is, in general, a good read that I breezed through.

If you want new adventures of someone dreaming of becoming a Knight, of defending their country and the conundrum of their identity against what the values of this knighthood are, look no further, with fascinating and intricate artwork [some of those backgrounds are stunning] and a cast of characters that would provide you, someone to cheer for regardless of what your personal favourite type of character is, this I a book not to miss and read as soon as possible.

Book Review

Moon Reads: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Copy provided by the publisher. They asked if anyone wanted one to review and I felt I had to given I am Mexican and I knew this would be a book I could talk about. I just didn’t realise how much I would understand this book.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I have just finished reading this book, and woah. I will start by saying that the whole fact that Julia’s mum expects her daughters to be perfect and to behave as if they were in Mexico and everything as she wanted to, is very much something I get. My own mum had her dreams of what my future should look like and it had incredibly intense consequences on the decisions I made around Julia and Olga’s age, and that in turn caused consequences I wish I could have avoided. Sometimes Mexican mums think they know best because they have imagined a full future and suddenly something clicks and they hold unto that.

But our story starts after Olga dies, the perfect daughter who is always helping her mum, who is studying to be a secretary and has a job but still lives at home, everything Julia is not. And without Olga to hold the high standards of their mother, Julia’s world quickly becomes suffocating and even harder to live in. And not only that but there are small hints that maybe Olga was not exactly who she said she was, that maybe she had carefully constructed a bunch of lies and there was more to what Julia considered a boring meek life as the perfect daughter.

Overall, the book is quite intense and paints a picture that I actually never felt was not Mexican enough or that was trying to romanticise it or anything. Instead it was factual, you can see how Julia judges some of it because she doesn’t understand the reasons, the culture, the traditions behind, or the hardships. And you can also see how the family does not get Julia and this American dream they hoped for either. The dream was not actually a dream, and in a way they are too afraid to make it be more. But you get all the little details that make it be true, be real, be genuine, and I liked that. I had no complaints on how Mexican this felt.

Overall, the one thing I have to say is that this book deals with a lot of intense topics and therefore it is worth coming to it prepared. Among them it deals with depression, death, attempted suicide, drugs, drug dealers, violence, pregnancy, abortion, affairs, parental abuse. There is a lot going on and it is an intense book, but it is also very nice to see Julia slowly find herself, and get out of the shadow of her perfect sister that was not actually that perfect or good and was trying just as Julia was, to live a life that would make their parents proud and make her happy, and that is a very hard balance and a lot of pressure to be under.

Book Review

Moon Reads: I am NOT Starfire

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I am NOT Starfire by Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read Before: No

Ownership: Preordered because I like Starfire and the art fo Yoshi Yoshitani

Spoilers: Free of spoilers but will discuss plot.

I was really into Teen Titans when I was younger (the original Cartoon Network ones were so cute) and therefore I have a soft spot for them and when I saw Yoshi Yoshitani was the artist for this I had to get it.

The premise is that Starfire’s daughter is most certainly not like Starfire. Mandy is more of an outcast, less of an extrovert, prefers black and darkness and not the fame and bubbly spirit that her mum is. And also, she is keeping secrets form Starfire who is trying to save the world and keep her daughter well.

Things suddenly get in motion when Mandy gets paired up with other class crush, Claire for a project and therefore starts to feel like she’s making friend,s but also, Starfire’s past is catching up with her and may affect Mandy, and Mandy may have to make big decisions before she feels ready.

If anything this comic is a love letter to Starfire, to not knowing fully your identity, maybe of being first-generation and trying to figure out how to fit in the world but also with the expectations of your family. And it is about being mixed and having doubts, cracks in your identity. It was a very interesting exploration of various themes and at the same time you could see it as a very cute romance and fun superhero book. To me it was both and the art was amazing, alongside a very interesting plot.

Recommended for Teen Titans fans, and anyone who wants a wacky fun superhero and family, and identity graphic novel. I sped through this one and then shared with my friends so they could enjoy it too.

Book Review

Moon Reads: What Big Teeth

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What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Review copy from the publisher and preordered

Content warnings: There’s a lot of types of violence, manipulation, gaslighting and abuse, alongside disturbing scenery, basically this is a horror book and it should be read with that in mind, it is not a cute story.

I have seen this compared a lot to the Addams family and as much as it is about a family of monsters and misfits and the value of family, that is as far as it goes in the similarities. For the most part, Eleanor is unsure of her place in the family, and she is not even sure if it was worth coming back or if they are welcoming her, afraid of her or just don’t care at all. This means that the book is mostly very dark humour set into horror and creepy mode.

Because Eleanor is trying to piece together why her family is reacting to her the way they are, and why they first sent her away, there is also a lot of internal retrospection and the book at times can seem quite intense in how Eleanor feels, but that is part of the charm of it since we’re very much into her head and trying desperately to discover the truth against time and against forces trying to get rid of the family from outside and inside.

What Big Teeth relies a lot on atmosphere, a narrator that is trying to piece her life together and many elements of what sometimes can make you love your family but at the same time make it toxic and therefore it deals with very intense topics even if you take away the fantastical and horror part of it. It is the strength and probably weakness of the book, as it means it won’t be for everyone due to the particular way it depicts things and how it portrays the not so good parts quite heavily.

It is not that there is no love in the family, it is more a case of many secrets crashing against each other, some due to selfishness and some done in what a family member may have thought was a way to save the family or to protect them, and it shows that love sometimes is hard to show and it gets tangled with a lot of things when you live with your family for most of the time and it is the only thing you know.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Last Night at the Telegraph Club

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought for my personal collection

Lily Hu has questions, particularly about herself and why the idea of two women falling in love makes her heart race, or why she clips certain butch female looks, but she is Chinese-American in the 1950s where it is dangerous to seem a little too different and to risk her father’s deportation.

So Lily keeps her questions quiet until she starts hanging out with Kathleen Miller, who is not afraid to go to the Telegraph Club with Lily and hang out there to watch a show. As her world and friendships shift, and priorities change, Lily suddenly is asking more and more questions and saying no to things she might have just shrugged away, and yes to things she would have just wished she did say yes to before.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club, is a trip through the US at the time of red-scare paranoia, and particularly what it means to be defining your sexuality alongside your identity and how you fit in this world and country. The story is written with that everyday type of writing that makes you go through the day of Lily and through things as they happen and it all feels luscious and mundane at the same time.

There are so many details about what being in a country that sees you as different in not only one way feels, and what finding the deep secrets you didn’t even dare admit you kept suddenly are more accept or have somewhere to be not a secret anymore and how liberating that can be but also the risks of letting the truth show.

Wonderful read, and highly recommended overall. It is a very different feel to Malinda Lo’s fantasy books but it still ahs the beauty of being an easy read and yet telling a big story, like an epic poem that everyone knows the lines to and can recite as if it was what everyone does.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance

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Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance by Nisha Sharma

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Received a copy from the publisher after requesting it.

As per usual, just because a copy was provided by the publisher, it doesn’t influence my review and all thoughts here are my own.

Want a wholesome romance that you can actually wish you had and it is healthy rather than pining for the bad boy in the story? Add dancing and food to it and you have got Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance.

As I read this book, I kept loving it more and more with each new thing. We meet Radha first as she is in the finals for dancing and she finds out her mom is sleeping with one of the judges which then affects her confidence and means everyone thinks she’s made it by cheating rather than her own talent. Talk about a punch in the gut.

This destroys her love for dancing and causes her huge anxiety, as she has lost her dance joy. She moves schools and agrees with her mum that she will dance for one year only and then she is free to do whatever career she wants, as she is sure she doesn’t want to dance anymore.

Introduce Jai, who also likes dancing and suddenly desperately needs Radha’s help to make it to the Nationals of dancing.

This is a fun romance, with a lot of dancing, food making, negotiating boundaries and life, and a relationship. But it is also about having a healthy relationship where both sides are part of it and it isn’t just the bad boy and the girl pining after him. Honestly, one of the best and healthiest couples of YA I have read in a long time.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Incredible Doom [vol 1]

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Incredible Doom [vol 1] by Matthe Bogart and Jesse Holden

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought for myself

Content warnings: Violence, domestic abuse, drugs, alcohol, gaslighting, manipulation, bullying, the list is quite long

Accidentally I am doing a theme for the past few weeks of the choice of books to review, and Incredible Doom fits well as a graphic novel counterpart to Run Rebel.

Incredible Doom focuses on four teenagers discovering the power of the internet, old-style forums, and friendship in a harsh world.

If you wonder why a lot of people connected through the internet and it boomed quickly, or if you yourself used to spend your nights messaging virtual friends in forums and finding connections to them, this is a graphic novel for you.

We have Allison who has a manipulative abusive father that tries to keep her as a child and unable to leave, so she finds friends through the internet and her computer while complying with the demand of her father, until ti becomes too much and her new online friend agrees to run away with her, trying to escape her father.

On the other side of the story, we have Richard who has just joined a new school and makes friends with Tina, who is small but fierce and punk, and this will shake his whole world, the place he fits and potentially even more, but in turn, he will shake the world he’s been introduced to back.

A story that is in a way about old times but also that lives through time in the internet and may still apply even if it isn’t now forums but other apps and means to communicate, you may still find the connections that keep you alive while your world falls apart.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Run Rebel

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Run Rebel by Manjeet Mann

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Purchased to read

Content Warnings: Domestic abuse, violence, gaslighting, arranged marriage, racism, bullying, mental health, drinking/alcoholism

I don’t always start a review by comparing the book to others, but due to the huge amount of content warnings, I want to place it right. Rub Rebel is powerful, but it is as if you had mixed Poet X with Monday’s Not Coming or Fight Like a Girl.

Now, if you have read any of those books, you will know they are gritty intense books about the not so pretty side of being a girl and trying to live life in a complicated family situation. And Run Rebel is about a girl who loves running and is good at it but her dad expects her to marry and not go on studying and she struggles to keep rising through the world when she keeps feeling the punches coming down.

It is a story about reacting and then acting, being reactive to proactive, but also about appreciating the things you have, the small respites, the little things sometimes you don’t consider or how opportunities may come.

I had to take some time as I read this as it is intense and you really feel for the characters, so please read it carefully, but the poetry approach is intense and also good at conveying the story quickly, in a way that makes it understandable. In the poem form of the story, the verses take away the fluff and give the narrator a voice unique to them that is as if they are writing the poems to tell their story, to vent and to breathe, like bleeding on the page.

Recommended for readers of intense stories, fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and any for the titles mentioned above or the authors.

Book Review

Moon Reads: All Our Hidden Gifts

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All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Ownership: Came in a Book Box club box.

Spoiler Free: Mostly, there may be plot points discussed.

When we first meet Maeve, she’s having a hard itme and has to help clean a cupboard forgotten behind in school, so when she finds some tarot cards, and they keep coming back to her, she decides to do some readings for fun. All she feels is that she doesn’t belong in her family and that she doesn’t belong in school, and even then she has become slight enemies with the person that used to be her best friend.

And hey, reading tarot in school is suddenly making her popular and having friends, so why not? And if they decide to push for a reading for Lily, her ex best friend, it isn’ther fault Lily it ends in screams and ebign upset. So when Lily disappears, Maeve feels slightly responsible and puzzled, she is sure the cards have something to do with it, and the city is becoming a bit odd.

As she slowly tries to confront her own ghosts, what caused the rift between her and Lily, her growing feelings for Roe, who is Lily’s sibling, and her overall place in the world, will they find a way to bring Lily back and find out what happened to her?

At times this went a bit too intense but it was interesting to navigate it frm the point of view of Maeve, who I didn’t really vibe on initially, but as the story develops I understood it better and it made sense. I like how it touches on unusual ways and the characters aren’t the out of the box kind but have very particular quirks and elements to each of them touching on diversity in various ways.

If you like tarot, a bit of the mystical and also some queer representation this is a book for you.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Séance Tea Party

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Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Owned

Spoiler Free: Not entirely, major plot points will be mentioned or touched on but not the ending.

I have a fondness for graphic novels, and one about ghosts and tea parties sounded right up my street! Plus just look at the artwork and it becomes clear it was irresistible.

Séance Tea Party is in broad strokes about friendship, identity and that awkward stage between still being a child and becoming a teenager.

Lora is slowly seeing her circle of friends disappear as their interests just do not coincide. She prefers playing on the swings and using her imagination, while her friends suddenly are interested in romance and looks and other things she has no interest in. Tea parties are better, so why not host one for ghosts and maybe try to invite one to the tea party?

When this actually works and Lora discovers Alexa, the ghost of a young girl, her friendship problems are solved, or at least that’s what Lora thinks, but is a ghost that will not be able to grow up ever the kind of friend Lora really needs, or is there maybe more to just tea parties that make up a friendship?

As Lora and Alexa explore their identity, their past, present and future together and on their own, the story takes us through finding our place in that stage of growing up when we don’t want to grow up and yet we also want very much to be a grown up, and such contradictions can wreak havoc.

It is a sweet story with a hint of magic, ghosts and a lot of tea and imagination, which makes it an adorable read that will make you want to bake a cake and invite your friends over for a cup of tea.