The Names They Gave Us - Emery Lord

RATING: ★★★★★

I've read When World Collide before and I absolutely loved Emery Lord's way of writing and the complex characters she creates. The Names They Gave Us is no exception to that, with the main character Lucy stealing my heart from the very first page.

Lucy's summer before senior year of high school is unlike any she has had before - her mother has been diagnosed, for the second time, with cancer. However, unlike the first time when Lucy wouldn't leave her mother's side, this time her mother wants her to be a counsellor at Daybreak, a summer camp for troubled children. While Lucy initially doesn't want to do this, she does it for her mother, and discovers a lot about her own troubles through working with the kids.

A lot of reviewers bring up the faith aspect of The Names They Gave Us and yes, this is a book mostly about faith. I wouldn't even say religion, even though Lucy's father is a pastor and she helps her parents at church champ most summers of her life. While Lucy starts off very religious, her mother's reoccurring cancer makes her question everything she thought she knew. This book really cycles her person belief system and how to find the strength to overcome your worst nightmare. I actually thought this aspect was refreshing, since there aren't many YA novels that focus on religion, faith and inner spirituality. Emery Lord approached this topic in an open-minded way that I think can be really helpful for a lot of teenagers. 

The only thing I have to say negatively about this book is just a frustration at the ending. EMERY LORD, WHAT DID YOU DO? I won't say anymore, but be warned: the ending will leave you wanting more. In the best way possible, because it's hard to let Lucy go.

And even if you're not religious or too interested in faith, this book is a five star. Like I said, Lucy is so engaging, and as always with Emery Lord, there is a swoon-worthy boy in Henry who will make your heart skip a beat. It's filled with summer, friends, helping, swimming, music, dancing, basically anything a summer should be, contrasted with the harsh reality of the day-to-day life of Lucy and her family. I can't recommend this enough if you want to end your summer both laughing and crying. 

We Are Okay - Nina LaCour

RATING: ★★★★★

In case you don't know, I'll repeat it here: I love Nina LaCour! Everything Leads to You is one of my favourite YA novels and I am always at awe with how flawless writing seems when it's written by Nina LaCour.

So I was beyond excited when I bought her new novel We Are Okay. And as usual, this novel went beyond any high expectations I had.

The Goodreads summary of the novel is: 

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

While this is an interesting premise, I was worried the story would be cliché in either the way Marin's sadness is portrayed or how easy it can be fixed. 

However, Nina LaCour doesn't shy away at all from the difficulties Marin faces and how deeply rooted they are. You find out early on, this isn't really a spoiler, that Marin's grandfather died and that she grew up with him before that event. The way this book slowly uncovers the complex layers that made up the bond Marin had with her grandfather is amazing and really just a sign of amazing writing. Something starts out so simple and becomes more complex than I ever could have imagined.

Both Marin and Mabel are so easy to relate to. Marin's pain feels very real and the hopelessness Mabel feels is easy to imagine - how do you help someone grieve? How are you there for someone when they have pushed you away? How far can you push someone to let you in? These are all issues Mabel struggles with and I loved seeing her journey throughout the novel.

Overall, We Are Okay is not afraid to face difficult issues head on. Nina LaCour's amazing writing makes it easy for the reader to be guided through a journey that can sometimes be too close for comfort. However, We Are Okay also has a constant theme of love and friendship in it - how important we are to other people and how incredibly helpful we can be. This combination of sadness and happiness means this is a book I won't forget any time soon.

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

RATING: ★★★★★

One of the most expected and hyped releases this year in the YA world finally came out in the UK last week. In honour of its release, my review of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

The Hate U Give is the story of Starr Carter, who lives in a poor American neighbourhood, but goes to a rich kids school. One night, Starr's friend Khalil gets shot by the police while Starr is in the car with him. The shooting resolves in a police investigation, riots, protests, but also causes Starr to feel torn between the two worlds she has been navigating.

The Hate U Give has been given a lot of publicity due to the incorporation of the Black Lives Matter theme. When Khalil gets shot, for no apparent reason, the media immediately jumps to the police officer's defence by stating that Khalil was a drug dealer and a thug (the title of the book comes from a 2Pac song where he states that thug stand for The Hate U Give). Somehow, they use this to justify the shooting. While reading this from Starr's point of view, it seems borderline insane. She was there, the reader was there, we know Khalil didn't do anything. But much too often, if not always, this is the narrative that is used in police brutality cases.

This novel is not without controversy. I'm white and when I told my friends, who are also mostly white, a lot of them got defensive off the bat. Some common claims:

"Oh, so this author is going to claim all cops are bad?"

"I wonder if she gets her facts straight or if she's part of the media that says that cops are always to blame."

"Why isn't there a book that is about violence against cops?"

1. These claims are all ridiculous.

2. I can't refute them as well as Angie Thomas does in her book. The Hate U Give is a nuanced novel, with realistic characters who can be morally ambiguous. While we have the cop who shot Khalil for no reason, Starr's uncle, Carlos, is also a police officer. He also believes Khalil's murder was wrong and stands up for his niece and her friend. Angie Thomas never argues that all cops are bad - she argues that institutionally there are issues that need to be fixed, because they are costing lives. She's arguing that many people have a prejudice against African Americans, which makes it easier to justify police violence with irrelevant reasons such as "he was a dealer", "he was a thug anyway".

This novel reminded me so incredibly much of Louise O'neill's Asking For It. So many novels about serious society issue portray perfect characters who something awful happens to. These two novels don't- Khalil wasn't perfect, just like the main character from Asking For It was a bitch. However, and this is so important for people to understand, this does not justify what happens to them. They do not deserve it. They are still humans and deserve the same respect as everyone else. Khalil was a drug dealer who was trying to help his family get by and by no means does that ever justify him being murdered. 

I love that Angie Thomas didn't shy away from this topic and was able to present readers with such a nuanced view. As a white European, the Black Lives Matter movement often feels far away and it is a rare privilege to be allowed this insight into the movement and the reasoning behind it. It is a privilege to discover the dynamics between Starr and her family; Starr and her neighbourhood; Starr and her white friends. It is a world I am usually unable to enter and I am extremely happy that I could learn and grow from this book.

This isn't an easy read - it will break your heart and make you angry and feel hopeless and confused at time. But it is so incredibly important. In the end, Starr finds her voice and I hope this novel inspires so many people to find theirs too and to find the strength to stand up for what is right - no matter what the cost is.

Another Brooklyn - Jacqueline Woodson

RATING: ★★★★★

Jacqueline Woodson is a household name in YA, known for writing amazing books that are different from the majority out there right now. Up until last week, she was one of those authors that I knew I was supposed to have read, but never did. When I saw the cover of her gorgeous new novel, Another Brooklyn, I knew I had to read it. Technically, this book isn't sold as YA, but I'm pretty sure that any reader from 14 to 100 can enjoy and learn from this novel.

Another Brooklyn is the story of August coming of age. As August tells the reader at the beginning of the story: 'I know now what is tragic isn't the moment. It's the memory.' While this is August's story, it is also an ode to memories, tragic and not, and how our remembrances can shape us. August is an adult, thrown back into Brooklyn due to a tragic event, and tells the reader about her youth. She isn't reliable, but she is so lyrical and honest, that this book is a joy to read.

August grew up in Brooklyn with three close friends, Gigi, Sylvia and Angela. Throughout the novel, the backstory of all girls is revealed and their mutual, and very different, struggles are displayed next to each other. The book is an ode to the strength of girls, even if everything and everyone is against them.

There are a lot of time jumps in Another Brooklyn and the writing isn't a straight forward narrative. Things are left out or only alluded to, left there for you to fill the gap. However, that is what makes it so powerful. Filling the gap with an endless list of what possibly could have happened makes you relate to the characters so much more. The beautiful writing, mostly poetic throughout the story, makes it easy to relate to the girls.

I finished this novel in a day, but the story still hasn't left me. I want to know more about August. I want to hug her and Angela, Gigi, Sylvia. I want to crawl into the story and prevent certain things from happening. I want to protect them, but also experience with them. Another Brooklyn is unlike other books with its focus on memory and lyrical writing, but it is beautiful and I'm so glad Jacqueline Woodson shared this story with the world.

Heartless - Marissa Meyer

RATING: ★★★★★

At the end of the year, we always get some of the most anticipated releases! And I think that for most YA fans, Heartless by Marissa Meyer is right up there. We fell in love with The Cinder Chronicles and now she is back, taking on Alice in Wonderland in her own unique way.

Heartless is the story of Catherine, a young girl who lives in Wonderland and dreams of becoming a baker. However, Catherine's parents believe she is too good to work and needs to marry an eligible bachelor - and no one is more eligible than the king. During their courtship, Catherine meets the court joker, Jest, and the two start a secret relationship. Trying to open her own bakery, finding out how to be with Jest and living in a kingdom that is fighting the Jabberwocky is enough to make anyone go mad...

Heartless started off for me in the same way as Cinder did: cliché and slow. However, just as with Cinder, this works amazingly for the story in the long run. When you start reading the story, it seems like another cliché reworking with Alice in Wonderland characters and I was so sure I could predict exactly how Catherine's storyline would go. Shame on me for not knowing Marissa Meyer better than that by now. Just as with her other novels, Heartless is a rollercoaster from beginning to end and I really enjoyed the twists that were included.

It is no spoiler to say that Catherine becomes the Queen of Hearts (it is mentioned on the back of the book and the cover makes it pretty clear) and having that knowledge made this book very interesting to read. Catherine begins like any other girl from Wonderland, just one who happens to be an amazing baker and dreams about opening her own shop. Passages about her future dreams are heartbreaking, because as a reader, you know that it will never come true.

While I enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland references (I'm a huge Alice fan), I sometimes wished there was more description of them. On the one hand, it worked well to make Wonderland, which is a normal world for the characters, seem so ordinary. On the other hand, Wonderland is such an unique setting and it is a shame that there wasn't more detail about it. This tale takes place years before Alice shows up and it would be nice to see how Wonderland evolved during the Red Queen's reign.

Besides that, this book was an amazing read. It is original, yet is true to Lewis Carroll's world. It is in the same vein as the Cinder Chronicles, yet shows a whole new variety of characters. It is comfort reading with enough twists to keep you guessing. Just as her previous books, Heartless isn't absolutely perfect, but the characters are so engaging that you can't help but fall in love with them. Now if only someone could convince Marissa Meyer to make this a series too!

Update!

Hi everyone,

sorry I've been SO quiet! I moved from London to Belgium, I'm finishing my thesis and I'm trying to still vlog every now and then. I never expected vlogging to be such a great break from all the writing and academic reading! So though I've been quiet here, I have been busy!

My newest video are two mini reviews! I wanted to write these, but I really enjoyed talking about them, so let me know how my video reviews are!

Here's my summer bookhaul!

The mid-year book freakout tag!

Sing - Vivi Greene

Rating: ★★★★☆

GOODREADS

FIVE MOST IMPORTANT POINTS

1. ALL THE FEELS

2. Beach-summer setting

3. So many cute boys!

4.Great narrator

5. Predictable with a twist

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion of the book. 

I'm not sure why I requested Sing on Netgalley. Maybe it was the beautiful cover or the fact that I've read a bunch of bloggers rave about it, but when it came down to reading this book I wasn't excited. All my expectations were for a cliché, overromantized story that would just annoy me. I'm very happy to say that I was ABSOLUTELY wrong about this novel. Sing by Vivi Greene made me smile with every single page and there's not a YA-loving person I wouldn't recommend this for.

Lily Ross is a world famous singer that is under the scrutiny of the media on a Taylor Swift level. She constantly dates people, even though she always vows not to, and writes her most famous hits about said boys. When her perfect famous boyfriend breaks up with her, Lily and her two friends escape to a Maine island so she can reinvent herself, her love for music and figure out why she always seems to need a boy.

Vivi Greene successfully created a narrator who is at once very removed from the reader (who of us has the same issues as a Taylor Swift??), yet extremely relatable. When I was a teenager, I was the girl who hated the girls who always needed a boyfriend. WHY? Sing actually gives me the answer to this question - and I enjoyed reading it. In a genre where there are either really independent girls or girls who do everything for boys, I thoroughly enjoyed the complexity of Lily's romantic feelings. She knows she always needs a guy and writes her song about them, but she want to change that about herself. In the end, this is a story about whether or not we can change and how much we should listen to what society tells us. And spoiler alert: it's one of the most surprising endings I've read in a while.

The setting of this novel is also great. We go from the glitz and glam of famous New York to a quiet island in New England. Now if you know me, you know I love New England and the beachy, summer setting makes this book just perfect for this month. The descriptions are gorgeous and as Lily falls in love with the island, you can't help but do the same.

Non-surprisingly, I really enjoyed reading Sing. Lily made me smile a lot and I loved reading about her self-discovering journey and the amazing friends she has along with her. This is a feel-good book that lights up any rainy summer day (which I've had way too many of!) and will make you want to dance around in your room and be your own Lily Ross.