Mall Goth by Kate Leth

Mall Goth by Kate Leth

256 pages

⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Liv Holme is not exactly thrilled to be moving to a new town with her mother. After all, high school can be brutal, even more so when you’re a fifteen-year-old, bisexual goth. But Liv is determined to be who she is, bullies or not. Still, being the new kid and the only out student brings her a lot of unwelcome attention, and Liv flounders in her search for community. The only person who makes time for her is one of teachers, but Liv isn’t sure how to feel about the way he behaves toward her.

Thankfully, she’s found the perfect the mall. Under its fluorescent lights, Liv feels far away from her parents’ strained marriage and the peers who don’t understand her. Amid the bright storefronts, food court smell, and anonymous shoppers, Liv is safely one of the crowd and can enjoy the feeling of calling the shots in her own life for once.

With the help of her suburban refuge, Liv sets off on a journey of self-acceptance and learns to navigate the ups and downs of high school and to recognize true friendship.

The Well by Jake Wyatt

The Well by Jake Wyatt

176 pages

⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Li-Zhen’s life on the archipelago is simple. Known to friends and family as Lizzy, she takes care of her grandfather and their goats, she flirts with the woman who helps row the ferry, and she stays away from the fog that comes in the night―and the monsters hiding within it.
But Lizzy’s life comes apart when she steals a handful of coins from a sacred well to cover a debt. The well requires repayment, but it doesn’t deal in coins. It needs wishes, and its minions will drown Lizzy in its depths if she doesn’t grant them. Lizzy finds herself on a quest to uncover hidden memories, bestow great wealth, and face the magical secrets that nearly destroyed her family―and are now returning to threaten everything she has ever known.

My Hero Academia, Volume 19 - 21

My Hero Academia, Volume 19 - 192 pages

My Hero Academia, Volume 20 - 200 pages

My Hero Academia, Volume 21 - 200 pages

Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb D. Cook (Translator)

Series Summary (From Volume 1 on Goodreads)

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

Review

It's hard to believe I'm already halfway through this series!  The pacing is still medium to fast, balancing reflection and exposition with sequences of more intense action.  I'm glad each of the students in class 1-A (and beyond) get some time in the spotlight to showcase their growth and development as competent heroes.  I think I prefer this approach, rather than solely focusing on Izuku, or even just a handful of characters.  I can't really pick a favorite hero thus far, but I'd say my favorite villains are probably Gentle Criminal and La Brava.  I thought their arc did a good job at showing that even if someone has a Quirk that objectively seems like it could make them a great hero, they could still be dealt a bad hand by society and their peers, leading to them being cast aside and marginalized.  

Grim and Bear it by Juliette Cross

Grim and Bear it by Juliette Cross -- 364 pages

Not even Death can take her from him.

Clara Savoie is so confused. She is absolutely positive that Henry Blackwater is practically in love with her. But for some strange reason, he won’t even ask her on a single date. Time to take matters into her own hands.

When Clara shows up on his doorstep with an unusual invitation, tempting cupcakes, and naughty innuendo, Henry has no choice but to say yes. Now he’s the newest member of the High Tea Romance Book Club. While Clara learns the haunting secrets of her broody grim, Henry shows her what commitment from a necromancer truly means. But when his father is arrested for murder, Henry is dragged back into the nightmare he’s been avoiding all his life. When he steps back into his father’s world, he isn’t just endangering himself but also the bright, beautiful woman he can no longer live without. But he just might have to.

Cesaria Feels the Beat by Denise Rosario Adusei

Cesaria Feels the Beat - 40 pages

Denise Rosario Adusei, Priscila Soares (Illustrator)

Summary (From Goodreads)

Cesaria is going to perform for the seaside Carnival. She skips past the beach barefoot, dressed in her favorite peacock leotard.

But when her dance director tells her she must put on her shoes to go on stage, Cesaria signs, “Peacocks don’t wear shoes!”

You see, Cesaria hears the music through the soles of her feet, but no one seems to understand…

…That is, until all the dancers take off their shoes, and learn to feel the music, just like Cesaria.

Review

A nice story about experiencing the world through another point of view.  The author includes a story in the back about her deaf cousin that inspired her to write this book.  

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

451 pages

⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

The Seven Year Slip

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston | 336 pages | 2023

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again. Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed. After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)