JULY READING WRAP UP

    July was a pretty good reading month. It had a great start and then I was hit with a slump and I read some books that I was really excited about but my slump affected my reading experiencing. I'm still not fully back into reading but I'm slowly trying to ease myself back into books. I read ten books in July so this is a fairly big post.

Not The Girls You're Looking For by Aminah Safi 3/5

"Lulu Saad doesn't need your advice, thank you very much. She's got her three best friends and nothing can stop her from conquering the known world. Sure, for half a minute she thought she’d nearly drowned a cute guy at a party, but he was totally faking it. And fine, yes, she caused a scene during Ramadan. It's all under control. Ish.

Except maybe this time she’s done a little more damage than she realizes. And if Lulu can't find her way out of this mess soon, she'll have to do more than repair friendships, family alliances, and wet clothing. She'll have to go looking for herself."

    - First YA contemporary in a while and not going to lie, I did a lot of whining when I first started reading it. This is one of those stories where there's no solid storyline, it just feels like we're following the character go through their life and stuff happens. Lulu is half-Arab and I really enjoyed the parts where she and her family were around their Arab family friends. Something I really like when books do is include characters speaking in different languages and not include translations. It just adds something more special to the story for me, and I don't mind having to look up the translations myself. There were quite a few instances where Arab was spoken and the author didn't give us any idea on what was being said. On the authors website, they said that this book was an "ode to mean girls, messy friendships, and bad decisions" and those are definitely all within the book. Lulu's friends, specifically one of them whose name is escaping me right now, annoyed me throughout the novel. This friendship made no sense to me. I didn't understand how they were all friends. Lulu, herself, was a character I enjoyed reading. She felt like a real teenager; part willful, part filial, part confused.

I have a separate blog post for the next four books, which were books all recommended by Lala from BooksandLala. Spoiler: They're all great!

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

The 100: Homecoming by Kass Morgan 3/5

"Weeks after landing on Earth, the Hundred have managed to create a sense of order amidst their wild, chaotic surroundings. But their delicate balance comes crashing down with the arrival of new dropships from space.

These new arrivals are the lucky ones—back on the Colony, the oxygen is almost gone—but after making it safely to Earth, GLASS’s luck seems to be running out. CLARKE leads a rescue party to the crash site, ready to treat the wounded, but she can’t stop thinking about her parents, who may still be alive. Meanwhile, WELLS struggles to maintain his authority despite the presence of the Vice Chancellor and his armed guards, and BELLAMY must decide whether to face or flee the crimes he thought he’d left behind.

It’s time for the Hundred to come together and fight for the freedom they’ve found on Earth, or risk losing everything—and everyone—they love."

    - I read the first two books years ago and I really should have reread them before getting into this. But it worked out fine because there was a small recap at the beginning. It was just a character's inner monologue on what had happened but it was enough to jog my memory. Right from the start, I was reminded that this series is so different from the show. The writing is very simple and easy to get through. It doesn't have the same high stakes feeling the show does so don't expect a flushed out world when you read this. There are romances in this which kind of made me roll my eyes because hi hello, things are a mess. Please focus! But because the world isn't super flushed out, the romance added something to the story I guess. This has the trope of adults not listening to the "kids" and just trying to get over and that was annoying, but that attitude worked into the plot and the changes that happened so it was fine. I don't know what else to say about this. I got through it very quickly and it was just a quick and fairly enjoyable read.

The 100: Rebellion by Kass Morgan 4/5

"Centuries after nuclear war destroyed our planet, humanity struggles to rebuild. It’s been a month since the dropships landed and the Colonists joined the Hundred on the ground. The teens, once branded juvenile delinquents, are now leaders among their people.

The Colonists and the Earthborns are celebrating their first holiday together when, to everyone’s horror, they’re attacked by a group of strangers whose unusual battle cries fill the air. The newcomers kill scores of people, seize prisoners, and pillage crucial supplies. When hotheaded Bellamy and his analytical girlfriend Clarke discover that Wells, Octavia and Glass have been captured, they vow to get them back at all costs. But as they go after their new enemies, Bellamy and Clarke find themselves increasingly at odds, unable to agree on a plan to save their friends.

Meanwhile, Wells, Octavia, and Glass are being slowly brainwashed by their captors, religious fanatics with one goal: to grow their ranks and “heal” the war-ravaged planet… by eliminating everyone else on it.

But centuries of radiation exposure have taken their toll, forcing the cult to take drastic steps to survive. And unless the rescue party arrives soon, the teen captives will face a fate more terrifying than anything they could imagine. In this thrilling fourth installment, the hundred fight to protect the people they love on the dangerous planet they always dreamed of calling home."

    - This was a better book than the last, plot wise. It's that typical "some people get kidnapped, there's a plan to break them out, they try to break them out, will they or won't they?" The cult-ish people made the book much more interesting. It made things more urgent and like there was something the characters really had to go up against. Oh! It just came back to me but there was angst in this book and I loved it. It has been a hot minute since I've read anything remotely angsty and it really made me want to read some angsty romances. The Clarke and Bellamy in the book series? Clarke and Bellamy in the show COULD NEVER.

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 4/5

"Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods."

    

    - This was my first time reading the book and no one told me it was funny?? I kept giggling as I was reading it. Even the chapter titles made me smile! I can definitely see why so many people love this series, from when they were younger and as adults. The writing is simple and feels appropriate for the age range, especially since Percy is literally twelve, a detail I did not know. I loved the part where Percy met his dad, and "whatever else you do, know that you are mine"? Mayhaps I teared up.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust 4/5

"Sixteen-year-old Mina is motherless, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story."

    - I love a retelling and this one did not disappoint. I loved the added element of Lynet being made of snow and Mina's glass heart giving them powers. You would have thought they'd have an epic face off where they try to defeat the other to be the real queen but nope, that's not what happened. Lynet went to the southern territories to look for the magician that created her, Mina's father who is also the same one who cut out her heart. Lynet didn't look for him for herself though. She went to him hoping that he'll have a "cure" for Mina and get back her loving stepmother. I love that even though there were moments where Mina showed hatred for Lynet, those moments were cut short with genuine concern for her. 

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon 3/5

"Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy-a.k.a. Sahil's twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man N begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it's Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she's fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she's got is not the one she's scripted. But will it be enough?"

- I loved When Dimple Met Rishi so I was so excited to read this. I guess it wasn't fair to put that expectation on a book, especially when it's not from the same series or anything. This book felt very young. I know I'm not the target demographic but Twinkle felt much younger than her 16/17 years. Like when she argued with Sahil about the backdrop and thought that he was being unreasonable and she just wanted him to agree with her. Some of her reactions made me raise my eyebrows like girl what. The romance part of it all was great. A fluffy, quick read in that aspect. Just like me liking Rishi more than Dimple, I liked Sahil more than Twinkle. I find the characterization of the boys in Sandhya Menon's novels to be more consistent throughout. 

Phew. Life kind of got away from me and now we're halfway through August. Going to try and do mid-month wrap ups starting next month so I'm not scrambling to remember what I thought about books I read a month ago.

iscelle robee