YA Contemporary

Contemporary-A-Thon TBR

~ megs14malloy ~ 2 Comments

Hi all! It is time for another round of Contemporary-A-Thon hosted by a great group of gals over on BookTube. I will link all of their announcement videos at the end of this post, if you would like to check them out and hopefully join us in the fun!

There are 7 challenges in this round and you can double up on challenges so you don’t necessarily have to complete 7 books. Although, honestly, that would be great and I do have B-plan books in addition to the ones listed below. I am going to put the books I am currently reading on hold for the duration of the Readathon and read exclusively the books on this TBR.

The dates of the Readathon are from Monday, February 11th, running through Sunday, February 17th. Without further ado, let’s get into the challenges and thus my TBR for next week:

  1. Read your most recently acquired Contemporary – For this challenge I am going to be reading Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, Candlewick Press, so a big thank you to them. This sounds like a hard-hitting story following Angie as she struggles to live beyond the negativity of her surroundings. This book also involves an RV road trip. I am definitely down for that!
  2. Read a book with blurple (blue or purple) on the cover – For this, see above, because I am counting Fat Angie for this challenge as well!
  3. Read a diverse Contemporary – For this I am planning to read Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann. This story follows, Alice, a black asexual girl, as she works her way through a surprising summer friendship. This book also features one of my favorite book covers of 2018. It’s gorgeous. I had this on my TBR last year for Pride Month but never ended up getting to it. I am really looking forward to this one!
  4. Read a dark or taboo Contemporary – Someone grab the tissues because for this challenge I am planning to read Adam Silvera’s, They Both Die At The End. This futuristic YA-Contemporary imagines a world where a company, Death-Cast, lets people know the day they are going to die. When Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio get their Death-Cast calls they both decide to seek a new friend for their ‘death day’. Using the app, Last Friend, they find each other and set out on one last adventure. I know this book is going to crush me but it has been sitting on my shelves for way to long and I need to get it read. My eyes fill up with tears just thinking about it.
  5. Read a Contemporary you meant to read in 2018 but didn’t get to – For this challenge I am going to double-up and count either Let’s Talk About Love or They Both Die at the End. Both of those books made it onto monthly TBRs last year but never ended up being read. Let me tell you, they are excited for the opportunity!
  6. Read a Contemporary in a non-traditional format – For this I am going to listen to the audiobook of Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch. I just read Love & Gelato by Welch last month and absolutely adored the humor and the topics of family and love that it touched upon. I am really looking forward to this one as it is set in Ireland, which if you know me, you know I am pretty much obsessed with.
  7. Read a Contemporary with a picture on the spine – Again for this one, I get to double up. The hardcover edition of Love & Luck, which I do own, has a completely adorable little shamrock on the side with leaves configured of heart images. It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever and I thought of it right away when they announced this challenge!

Alright you guys, that is it! That wraps up my Contemporary-A-Thon February 2019 TBR. Are you participating in Contemporary-A-Thon? If so, are any of these books on your TBR? What books are you including to go with what challenges? I really want to know. Leave a comment below or contact me through any of my social media links.

Also, guys, don’t forget to watch the BookTube Announcement videos linked below! Give the videos a like and be sure to subscribe. These four are seriously some of my favorite BookTubers ever. They are constantly uploading new, fun content and I don’t think you will be disappointed!

Julie @ Pages and Pens

Chelsea @ chelseadolling reads

Natasha @ myreadingisodd

Melanie @ meltotheany

Cheers y’all & Happy Reading~

Review: The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

~ megs14malloy

The Wicker KingThe Wicker King by K. Ancrum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Original and hard-hitting.

Punch you in the gut and face. Mmmmm. This one, I felt it in my heart, my bones and my head hurt.

August and Jack. This is the story of their relationship but at its heart, it is so much more than that. The overwhelming emotion I had during this story was anger.

I wasn’t angry at August and Jack though, I was angry at the characters we didn’t really know. The absent adults: the parents, the teachers, the counselors. Where were all the people who should have been helping, leading and influencing these boys lives?

Anyone?

The story closely follows August and Jack during the course of their increasingly codependent relationship.

Is that relationship good?
It’s powerful. I wouldn’t call it good.

Is that relationship confusing?
Darn right, it is.

Is that relationship healthy?
Definitely not.

Jack is suffering from hallucinations that are getting worse. He confides in August, his best friend and together they try to navigate this new and disordered world. We get a lot of insight into Jack’s world and it is chaotic and bizarre. It was very sad to me to consider how scary and desperate that must be.

August, who cares not only for himself but his completely useless mother, is used to the role of caregiver and he throws himself into that role in his relationship with Jack. You see, Jack’s parents are also missing in action, ALL THE TIME. Both boys have essentially been abandoned by their parents so it is not surprising that they turn to one another in their darkest hours of need.

While I think it would be easy to focus on the codependency of the boys relationship, I think it is important to see the details of what is going on behind the scene. What propelled the boys into the circumstances we find them in during the course of the book. The absentee adults are the real villains here and I think it is significant to recognize how their choices influence the kids around them.

The story itself, although not literally ‘stream of consciousness’, reminded me a lot of some stream of consciousness works that I have read, in that it was disjointed and muddled. I think that makes sense though as a way to tell this story. The story of Jack and August is disjointed and confusing. They are experiencing their life this way. Why shouldn’t the reader go along for the ride in the same vein?

I also found the format of the book itself, how the pages get increasingly darker the farther you get into the story (Hardcover Edition) contributed to my overall enjoyment while reading. It was a very unique way to experience a story such as this and I really want to applaud whoever was responsible for coming up with that concept. Whether it was the author herself or someone at the publishing house, I found it super effective and impressive.

Overall, I was very moved by this story. It felt so original and like it was an important (I feel like I have been using that word a lot in this review) story to tell. I was hovering somewhere around a 4-to-4.5-star rating throughout the course of the story but after reading the Author’s Note, I had to bump it up to a 5. I will definitely pick up anything else K. Ancrum writes. Very impressive.

Original: I am very excited to be picking up this beautiful book tomorrow as part of the Dragons & Tea Book Club

Anyone else joining in the fun??

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Review: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

~ megs14malloy

Bellweather RhapsodyBellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


**A quirky and oddly compelling tale**

Bellweather Rhapsody was like nothing I have ever read before. I really enjoyed it. It was 100% unique and read like a Wes Anderson film.

The setting is the Bellweather Hotel: large, a bit in disrepair and possibly haunted. The cast of characters: flawed, nerdy, dangerous and dramatic. The plot: a weekend music gathering for the most talented young musicians in the state of New York; obviously dramatics ensue.

Two of our main characters from the high school perspective are Alice and Rabbit Hatmaker, a brother and sister duo, who are basically the novel interpretation of what would happen if Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel were brother and sister.

Aspirations and attitudes are high both among the kids and the adults. This was completely entertaining even though I can hardly form into words an accurate description of what I just read. There is a lot going on including murder, hauntings (both external and internal), disappearances, shouting matches, a love affair, self discovery, robbery and so much more.

I am so glad I picked this up. It was as random as this storyline and I’m down for that. I would recommend this for any music geeks out there – you know who you are. Be proud and read this book!

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Review: Love a la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

~ megs14malloy

Love à la ModeLove à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“…part of the magic of food. It didn’t last. It couldn’t. Each bite was only a moment transformed into a memory.”


FOODIES REJOICE!!!

This book stole my heart right out of the gate. A departure gate at O’Hare International Airport to be specific. We meet our main characters, Rosie Radeke and Henry Yi, aboard a plane to Paris. Both teens have been selected to attend the very prestigious Ecole of Chef Laurent. The program is part competition, part culinary school, open to only 20 students per year. Being selected is an honor in itself and both Rosie and Henry are full of excitement and trepidation on their flight.

This book was absolutely adorable ((one of the best ‘Meet Cutes’ I have ever read!!)) and reminded me that sometimes it is okay to just read something that makes your heart happy. There was nothing complicated, no horrible hidden secrets or murders or deceptions, just love, reflection and growth…oh and a heck of a lot of fun, food and friends!

In addition to Henry and Rosie, the story incorporates quite a few of the other students who are from different areas around the world and brought such unique personalities to the story. If you are someone who enjoys stories with a strong friendship group you should definitely pick this one up. I loved the support and camaraderie amongst the main cast. Yumi in particular, loved her so much!! The banter between the characters is great; I was laughing out loud by only 3% into the book.

“There’s no one else I’d rather eat with.”

As a romance-heavy YA Contemporary will do, this book is replete with the angsty sort of romance tropes that you would typically find in a YA but, that being said, they were really well done here. It never felt cheesy to me or overplayed, just nice, steady and sweet. I loved watching the evolution of the relationship between Rosie and Henry, even through the miscommunications that made me want to scream, I just truly felt filled to the brim with warmth from this story.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney-Hyperion, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my feedback and I look forward to hearing what other readers think of this one! Well done, Ms. Strohm. Very well done.

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Review: Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

~ megs14malloy

Letters to the Lost (Letters to the Lost, #1)Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“I feel like a bad friend, but I can’t help it. I can’t force what I’m feeling to fit between chapters two and six in some handbook dealing with the death of a loved one.”

Vivid and heartbreaking, Letters to the Lost, follows the lives of two teenagers in the wake of personal tragedies. Through very odd circumstances they begin a correspondence, initially through handwritten letters left in a local cemetery, and eventually through dummy email accounts. Since they are unaware of the identity of the other, they feel completely able to be open and honest about their feelings and what they are going through and what transpires is absolutely stunning.


Juliet
 – After the loss of her mother in a tragic car accident, Juliet shuts herself off from pretty much the entire world, except her best friend, but even their relationship is not as it once was. She is struggling with an overwhelming sense of grief combined with guilt and fear of never being able to live up to her mother’s legacy. Every day she goes to the cemetery and visits her mother’s gravesite and even leaves letters there for her.


Declan
 – Declan is the quintessential ‘bad boy’ or so he would have you believe. He is dealing with his own personal tragedy, the loss of his sister and his father ending up in prison for the drunk driving incident that killed her. Declan, feeling abandoned by his mother, who has since gone on to remarry (a prick), struggles with his own feelings of guilt and isolation. He is holding onto a lot of anger as well and tends to lash out at those around him without necessarily intending to. Declan, forced to do community service work for his own drunk driving incident, ends up working at the local cemetery where he stumbles upon on of Juliet’s letters.

Watching the relationship between these two develop is absolutely beautiful. I cannot express it any better than that. I was completely blown away by Brigid Kemmerer’s writing. She is so talented and I already picked up the companion novel to this one, More Than We Can Tell, which follows one of my favorite characters from this book, Declan’s misunderstood best friend, Rev.

If you have been on the fence about picking this one up, please do. It is really just so stunning and for anyone who has lost anyone under tragic circumstances, I think a lot of the text surrounding those feelings of grief and guilt are just so relatable and really, cathartic. That’s the way it felt for me anyway. This is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone and will probably end up reading again someday. Well done!

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Review: Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

~ megs14malloy

AllegedlyAllegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Allegedly was Tiffany D. Jackson’s debut novel. I am still reeling from this book. I finished it last week and have been thinking about it ever since. It is hard for me to wrap my head around this being her first book. I have already purchased Monday’s Not Coming and am really looking forward to reading that as well.

This novel follows, Mary Addison, after being released from ‘baby jail’, she is living in a group home and trying to get her life on track. Mary was sent to ‘baby jail’ for killing a baby that she was helping her Mom take care of. Allegedly. The majority of the book is stream of consciousness narrative which can be very hit or miss for me. This is how it should be done.

It was incredibly moving to hear Mary’s remembrances of various parts of her childhood, her challenging relationship with her mentally ill mother, and of her ‘crime’. The rest of the book cleverly fills in the blanks with an excellent assortment of mixed media sources such as police interviews and court transcripts. I thought the blending of these two styles together was executed perfectly to reveal the ‘truth’ behind the story.

The thing I appreciated most about this book was the way it reflected upon the juvenile justice system and the hopelessness and desperation these kids are experiencing; the problems with that and the systematic failures put forth onto hundreds to thousands of kids. Behind every case number, inmate number, statistic, is a story. This is just one. Of Mary Addison, a smart, mixed race girl, who struggles with feeling self worth and who never really had a chance. Her codependency with her mother and her mental illness was so raw and real. I felt for this girl. I was drawn into her story. It was such a struggle to get through some sections but worth it. It was so well done that at times, I would be so wrapped up, I had to remind myself…this is FICTION. But for a lot of kids out there, too many kids, this story would be all too real.

I did listen to the audiobook for this and DAMN, Bahni Turpin can make you feel all the feels. She is so talented and truly brought the story to life for me. I was listening to Mary as far as I was concerned. I could not recommend this audiobook more highly. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Previously: Chills. That ending was a complete surprise – not at all what I expected but in the brief time I have had to reflect on it, I think it is actually perfect. Anything else maybe would have seemed false – too good a conclusion or too bad…I do need to think more on this one before I write my final review. Tiffany D. Jackson is one hell of a writer – I will leave it at that for now.

Original: Starting this audio tomorrow for Contemporary-A-Thon! This will be counting for my dark book, as it is definitely not a light-and-fluffy contemporary, and my non-traditional format book ( = Audio )! I could also count it as a diverse book but I have another one I think I will use for that challenge.

🤓📚🤓

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Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

~ megs14malloy

Publication Date: June 7, 2016   |   Rating: 5-glorious-stars

Why did I wait so long to read this? Bad life choices, I guess. I loved this so much – now I can FINALLY watch the movie! There really isn’t too much I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said. I think pretty much everyone knows the basic premise of this so I won’t reiterate that here. What I do want to touch on is how this book made me feel. I am in a long-term relationship, having been with my partner for 11-years this month. In the beginning of our relationship we were long-distance. A lot of our initial ‘getting to know you’ period was perpetuated through online correspondence, via email. I absolutely adored the use of mixed media in this, showing the emails between Simon and his love interest, known as ‘Blue’. It just made my heart sing reminiscing on that feeling you get when you see a new email has come through, opening it up to behold what the person you are crushing on has written you, seeing the initial low-key flirting and how that grows into more and more over time.

Ugh, I just can’t. It was so freaking great and I thought the transformation as they explored the boundaries of their relationship was really well handled. I liked Simon’s family a lot and in particular, I felt his relationships with his sisters were supportive, well-formed and great examples of kind sibling relations. I also enjoyed his interactions with his parents, in particular, his father. As far as Simon’s closest friends are concerned, I really enjoyed those relationships as well. At times I got a little frustrated with a couple of them, particularly Leah, for the way they were treating Simon. I felt at times he was treated a little unfairly by them, held to a higher standard so to speak, but maybe that was just because I was so attached to him, I instantly took a Team Simon stance. He was like a sweet, precious baby bird I wanted to put in my pocket and protect from all harm. If you have read this book, you can probably relate. If you haven’t read this book, what are you waiting for? 🌈💖☆☆☆☆☆

Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

~ megs14malloy

Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Rating: 3-stars!!

What that means in my parlance for rating is, this was a good book. I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away by it and didn’t have too many strong feelings on it once it was over. This book was released in 2015 and is pretty popular in the YA-contemporary genre. They even turned it into a movie! (which I have not seen). I really did not know too much about it going in besides that fact that it was ‘boy-meets-girl’ where one of the characters was sick. I figured it would be short and sweet and I would cry. It did give me two of those things: it was short, it was sweet but I did not cry. In fact, my feelings upon the ending were more of anger and frustration for the MCs than anything else, but I am getting ahead of myself…
If you haven’t heard much about this story, like I hadn’t, it follows our MC, Madeline Whittier, who is a teenager with a compromised immune system. Due to this, she has been unable to leave her house her entire life and isn’t allowed visitors without very strict protocols being followed prior to letting them in their house. Mainly, her entire life revolves around her Mother (who coincidentally is a doctor) and her nurse, Carla. One day, a new family moves in next door, who have a son, Olly, about Maddy’s age. Well, you will have to read it to find out what happens after that but keep in mind this is a love story. The romance was super cute. Olly is as sugary sweet as teenage boys can be in this type of book and their interactions were fun and witty. The nurse, Carla, was my favorite character – a real gem and a very important part of Maddy’s life.
I was quite impressed with Nicola Yoon’s writing style and definitely plan to read more of her work. The dialogue was clever and I felt the format was really unique and fun as well. So, yeah, overall a good book. It did not go where I thought it was going to go. I can say by the time that I got to the conclusion, I wasn’t surprised, but I was certainly super frustrated for Maddy. I’m glad I read this, now I know what the hype is all about as far as Nicola Yoon goes and I plan to pick up, The Sun is Also a Star very soon!

Leave a comment below if you have read this book, what were your thoughts? Do you like Nicola Yoon’s writing? Who are some of your favorite YA-contemporary authors? Leave them some love below!

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

~ megs14malloy

Publication Date: May 13, 2014

Star Rating: 3.5-stars!

We Were Liars is a book that is going to be hard for me to review. I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to come up with something of substance to write about it. I think part of the difficulty for me lays in the fact that there was a disturbing situation in this book that really, really, really made me uncomfortable – basically bringing one of my worst nightmares out of my mind and onto the page; because of this, I felt like my mind kind of turned off to this book after that. I was enjoying it a lot but that one aspect of the story was really very hard for me to move past.

The bulk of the action takes place mostly on a private island off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. I live on Nantucket, so literally, this story hit very close to home for me. A large number of the population of my community consists of summer families very similar to the one in this story. I felt like I knew these people, like I had heard many of the gossips and complaints and recriminations that flow throughout the family drama. The book itself, is actually hard to classify in my opinion. Is it a Thriller, is it a YA Contemporary? It really had aspects of both but I am going to call it a YA Contemporary. There was one really big plot twist that I definitely did not see coming even though I thought I had it all figured out. However, even with this taken into account it isn’t really ‘thrillery’ enough to earn that classification in my opinion.

I listened to the audiobook and one of the main reasons that I did was because Ariadne Meyers was the narrator. She also voiced Lydia in The Serpent King and I absolutely adore her work. She is so fabulous. She definitely did not disappoint with this one. In fact, the end was bloody brilliant. Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit but I definitely feel like it is a book that is only impactful your first time through.

Review: Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

~ megs14malloy

Publication Date: December 5, 2017

5-stars!!! Luxury. Affordable. Industry standard. (inside joke, read the book!)

I received Foolish Hearts in one of my OwlCrate subscription boxes and I am so glad that they brought this book to us. This is a YA-Contemporary, which isn’t a genre that I would generally chose for myself, I tend to gravitate more towards YA-Fantasy or Science-Fiction. After completing Foolish Hearts however, I am all about the YA Contemporary and have been scooping them up left and right!
I was blown away by how smart, witty and downright hilarious the dialogue in this book was. The banter back and forth between the characters had me literally laughing out loud on multiple occasions. Our MC, Claudia, was such a good, sweet girl – not in a naive or annoying way but in a really good, goofy and endearing way. I found her to be absolutely relatable and loved her story arc of finding herself, releasing herself to be free to give and receive love….arghhhh, it was so good.
The relationships between so many of the side characters were amazing as well – the relationship between Gideon and his best friend – I loved that one – definitely a great male/male friendship; it played out so well. Also the relationship between Paige and Iris and eventually Claudia and Iris. The added bonus of having the story center around a high school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was just icing on the delicious YA-Contemporary cake. I would give this book ten stars if I could and will probably read it again someday. In short, I loved it!