What We Left Behind by Robin Talley | Book Review + Tour

Recently, like six months or so ago, I read Robin Talley’s debut, Lies We Tell Ourselves about two girls who fall in love during the Civil Rights Era, one white and one black. I loved it and so, was beyond excited to have the chance to read What We Left Behind, her sophomore novel. Overall, I like what […]

Rapture Practice: A True Story About Growing Up Gay in an Evangelical Family by Aaron Hartzler | Book Review

I have literally had Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler on my TBR for over a year. I mean, my actual write it in the composition this is serious I mean business TBR. What is not to intrigue me? Hartzler’s memoir promises to be about a person growing up in an evangelical family who happens to be […]

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli | Audiobook Review

Why Did I Listen To This Book? After finishing the audiobook of Encore To An Empty Room by Kevin Emerson, I was on an audiobooks high. And lucky me I had Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli all queued up on my phone and ready to go. Apparently Harper Audio practices witchcraft because I […]

Rumble by Ellen Hopkins | Book Review

When a copy of Hopkins’s latest book, Rumble, arrived in my mail I was so excited. I was excited because it was on a topic that I could really relate to, losing your faith. I mean, I can’t relate to drugs or prostitution, but I can totally relate to going from being religious to being not-so-religious. Yet, Rumble goes a little deeper than the whole question of having faith vs. being faithless.

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan | Book Review

The very first BEA book that I chose to read and finish this year was Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan. The book is pink and purse sized with lots of chapters, easy to read font and plenty of blank pages between the chapters. I decided I wanted Farizan’s book to be my first BEA read because I was feeling all kinds of We Need Diverse Books enthusiasm and what better way to feed into enthusiasm for such a great project than by reading a book that totally exemplifies diversity. Farizan’s Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel hits check boxes on two points – the main character is Iranian American AND happens to be a lesbian. I mean, books with Arab-American characters are rare enough, but with lesbian Arab-American characters? I have found the unicorn of diverse books and that is a very, very good thing.

Far From You by Tess Sharpe | Book Review

The thing about books that are murder mysteries is that I am the most oblivious person and never able to figure out who the murderer is until the main character figures it out. This holds true for every mystery thriller book ever and also holds true for Far From You by Tess Sharpe. I went into Far […]