Hey guys! Is anyone out there participating in NaNoWriMo next month? I’ve spent the last several years saying I would, but this year I’ve definitely got the time to do it, what with still being out of work and all. I even wrote and posted my first synopsis on the NaNoWriMo website the other day! Anyone else ever written a synopsis? It was an experience I’d care not to repeat, but I’m sure I will have to. Anyway, if you’re working on a book this month too, buddy up with me (my username is kjrogers3) on the website and make sure that I’m working!

And now, because the world is a trash fire with something new and shitty happening every day, I present you with a new picture of Mack the Adventure Pug, getting booped on the nose by a leaf, taken by the husband over the weekend that I hope will make you smile.

And finally, onto the reviews!

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story, by Kheryn Callender        
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Length: 304 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating:    

Mini Review: I liked this one, but the MC was too problematic for me to love it. Nate is kind of just a dick to everyone in his life for most of the book, and even when he recognizes that he’s doing it, he doesn’t stop. I also didn’t find the love story to be particularly epic, but I did love how the topic of consent and safe sex was handled in this teenage m/m relationship. I also super loved Oliver. He is the sweetest cinnamon roll and Nate does not deserve him. He is too kind for this world. Oliver also communicates through ASL, and I thought the sign language descriptions were great. I found myself practicing each one I came across.

“Having feelings for one person doesn’t automatically cancel out feelings I have for another.”

You Are the Everything, by Karen Rivers
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Algonquin Books

                                    Release Date: October 30, 2018
Length: 263 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating:  

Mini Review: Um. So. This one was not what I thought it would be. I was expecting a story about a girl and the guy she’s always had a crush on trying to survive in the mountains or wherever after their plane crashes and no one else makes it. That’s partly my fault, because the synopsis doesn’t technically say that’s what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t not say it, either. It’s very vague, and so is this book. It was almost a DNF for me, but by the second half there were enough clues for me to guess where this might be going, and I was willing to see how it played out. If you can go into it not expecting a teen survival story, you might fare better than I did.

“You don’t want to marry Josh Harris. You want to fall in love with him. That’s different.”

Come November, by Karin van Dam
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Length: 378 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating:    .5

Mini Review: Cult stories always get me, so I was super intrigued by this one. This one is extra interesting because our MC’s mom is involved in the cult, totally convinced that they’re going to “depart” Earth on November 17th, but to Rooney it’s just insane. She doesn’t believe in it at all, so she’s left trying to pay for groceries and get her little brother to school while her mother doesn’t think any of those are necessities anymore. Don’t even get me started on her shitshow of a mother, because I can’t even. I also take issue with her father, who, while rides back in to save the day, also somehow let his 10 year old daughter call the shots for herself and her 2 year old brother back in the day and just…let it happen? Kind of an easy way out of being a dad, isn’t it? Mercer, though, Mercer I love. Mercer, I adore. He is the best friend we all need.

“I feel a thousand times more myself than I did a minute ago. It’s not even anything he’s saying, it’s just hearing his voice. He’s the only person in the world who can snap all my pieces back together when I start to come undone.” 

Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), by L.C. Rosen
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

                                    Release Date: October 30, 2018
Length: 352 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating:    

Mini Review: I LOVE this book, and I want every high schooler to read it. Jack is out and proud and he loves casual sex, and there’s no demonizing that in this book. As long as all your partners are on the same page, there’s nothing wrong with this, no matter what your sexuality is, and it’s really nice to see it written that way. And that’s how everything is written. I wish I had Jack to empower me as a teenager. He’s full of fantastic advice that applies to anyone reading, and he makes it easy to apply the lesson he took from his situation to whatever yours may be. There is SO much about sex positivity and consent in here. There’s also plenty of graphic, unapologetic gay sex, with all the ~details~ left in, and if that’s refreshing to me as a 30-something white straight lady, I can’t imagine how it feels to someone who identifies as LGBTQ high schooler right now. Read this book. It’s fabulous.

“Know what you want. Ask for it. Be prepared for people to say no. That’s the best any of us can do.” 

Have you read any of these yet, or do you plan to pick any of them up? Let me know what you guys are reading now!