If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

24 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, LGBTQIA, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 3rd May 2016 (print)/4 August 2016 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Flatiron Books /Macmillan Audio
Pages: 280/6 hrs and 59 mins
Narrator: Samia Mounts
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

A new kind of big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are.

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it.

Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It’s that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?

Meredith Russo’s If I Was Your Girl is a universal story about feeling different and a love story that everyone will root for.

I read this after Russo’s other book Birthday but while I liked this I think Birthday was a more powerful story. Even though some tough issues are raised here like transphobia, bullying, abuse and violence towards trans people, it was still a relatively minor part of the story. The main plot points are about Amanda at her new school, making new friends, falling in love and trying to reconnect with her estranged father.

There are stereotypes and easy roads taken to make Amanda’s story work which Russo admits to, but that is ok because this isn’t a story about Amanda’s transition (though we do get her full backstory through well placed flashbacks), this is about her life now and how she is navigating a new school, new relationships and her first love.

Russo’s author note at the end talks to her readers, trans and otherwise about how to approach Amanda’s story. She admits she took liberties and made the process seamless for Amanda where it otherwise shouldn’t have been to make the reader accept Amanda more easily, but she acknowledges that many other people don’t have such luxuries in real life. I liked this addition because it would be so easy to dismiss Amanda’s experiences because she had it easy and things were perfectly aligned for her, not to mention for people to assume this experience was universal when it isn’t. In doing so Russo makes the story afterwards the focus and Amanda’s life now rather than before where the main story lies.

Having said that, it isn’t a perfect road for Amanda – I hated that for the entire time I was waiting for the reveal about her past and for the town and/or her friends to turn on her. There are so many trans stories and they shouldn’t all end in revelations resulting in abuse and rejection but while some of Amanda’s story had rule bending, I appreciated Russo not sugar coating the entire experience.

Despite being #OwnVoices it still falls into YA tropes and stereotypes; it is cheesy and sappy at times, but if you’re after a sweet romance with the small town aesthetic that so many US YA books have then this is right up your alley.

You can purchase If I Was Your Girl via the following

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I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

02 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Audiobook, LGBTQIA, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 3rd May 2018 (print)/3rd May 2018 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Harper Collins/Harper Collins Audio
Pages: 395/9 hrs and 45 mins
Narrator: Aysha Kala and Huw Parmenter
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world.

Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare.

Because that’s the problem with dreaming – eventually, inevitably, real life arrives with a wake-up call. And when Angel and Jimmy are unexpectedly thrust together, they will discover just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.

Angel is living her best life as an Ark fan and when she gets a chance to meet the band she gets more than she bargained for. I was waiting for Angel to step over her boundaries as a fan but Oseman balances the line quite well. It was interesting seeing Angel’s mindset switch from thinking she knows everything about the band and its members to suddenly realising they are messy and complicated humans just like she is. I love how this is so intimate and yet not at the same time. It’s a snapshot in time where two paths crossed and they changed each other’s lives. I love that it is that simple.

At the same time though, the story is so much more than it first appears. The exploration about identity and expectation, as well trying to find your place in the world is incredibly well done. I loved the complex nature of the characters and how it never felt cliché or stereotypical, the pressures and realities were there and seeing such depth in the characters and their emotions is something Oseman is so good at. You get to be inside the head of these characters and they become real. The two points of view offer great contrast between the experiences of both Angel and Jimmy. Even overlapping the same events it was interesting to see the different perspectives and inner monologues and reactions. Oseman shows us the darker side of fame through The Ark’s experience and how each member copes with the stress and struggle and we see Angel’s life as a fan and her obsession with the band and the affect it has on her life. Each character stands on their own and even through Angel and Jimmy’s eyes we see their lives and struggles too.

Aysha Kala and Huw Parmenter do a wonderful job as narrators; having such an intimate book is helped along by having the voices in your ear like these characters are telling you the story themselves. It also helps bring out the emotion because this story is filled with emotions and with two first person narratives and heightened emotional subject matter there’s going to be a lot of them.

I was curious how the story would end but I think Oseman has perfectly wrapped it up. I was unsure if there would be a sudden shift but I found myself surprisingly satisfied with how the book ended and I’m still a little surprised at the impact it had one me. Oseman has written some beautiful stories and this is another one to add to the list. The complication of emotions, fame, friendships and life all come together all at once and the seeing it play out and aftermath of it all is a beautiful journey to go on.

You can purchase I Was Born for This via the following

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Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam (#10) by MC Beaton

27 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Agatha Raisin, Audiobook, Mystery Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 15th April 2001 (print)/26 July 2012 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks/Audible
Pages: 197/5 hrs and 56 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

When a fortune teller from a previous case informs Agatha Raisin that her destiny–and true love–lies in Norfolk, she promptly rents a cottage in the quaint village of Fryfam. No sooner does she arrive than strange things start happening. Random objects go missing from people’s homes, and odd little lights are seen dancing in the villagers’ gardens and yards. Stories soon begin circulating about the presence of fairies.

But when a prominent village resident is found murdered, and some suspicion falls on her and her friend Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha decides she’s had enough of this fairy nonsense and steps up her sleuthing for a human killer.

The prickly yet endearing Agatha will have fans dangling in suspense: Will she catch her crook–and a husband?

This is the story about Agatha and her desperate need for love and having someone in her life. Her own insecurities means she drops everything at the words of a fortune teller to find love in Norfolk. Thankfully the entire book isn’t about her finding love – there is a curious mystery going on and it was a fun mix of local lore and the entire village playing tricks on the newcomer.

The mysteries go from small and seemingly innocent to substantial and murderous. Of course as Agatha and Charles get embroiled in the accusations and suspicions but with their banter and comradery they make a good pair to start clearing their names and finding the truth. This is where Agatha takes off her lovesick hat and gets down to sleuthing. Even in a different village it was fun to get to know a new cast of characters, especially as they interacted with Agatha and the mystery at hand.

The mixture of real murder and magical fairies made for an interesting read and having Agatha alone by herself for a time gave us a chance to see her by herself and not performing for others. Even when she meets the villagers their interactions aren’t instantly accepting and it’s great to see this play out.

Then comes the downfall.

With a plot twist that comes from absolutely nowhere we also return once again to the story of Agatha and Why She Still Wants to be with James Lacey Because Every Single Person Thinks He Is a Terrible Human Being. I was so proud of her initially, her growth around him was making her mature and she had some grace and dignity back but Beaton tosses that aside in an instant for a relationship she herself isn’t even trying to orchestrate realistically.

I couldn’t quite see this relationship before they got together, I certainly can’t see it now, especially when Agatha appeared to be getting over her infatuation and the drama of the last time they tried this. James is cold and neglectful, he is dismissive and it frustrates me to no end because we see Agatha have a nice fun time with people like Charles Fraith, and how she is around other people but her life still will snap back to revolving around James in an instant and as much as she annoys me, she does actually deserve better. There is no cute “will they/won’t they” there is nothing riding on whether this might suddenly turn – Beaton makes it obvious they are a bad match so I don’t know why we must put up with this.

It goes beyond story because at some point you are being disrespectful of readers who can see this is unrealistic and trying to push the same failed relationship instead of letting characters move and grow into new relationships for the sake of main characters is insulting.

You can purchase Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam via the following

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You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino

25 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 2 Stars, Audiobook, Junior Fiction Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 25 September 2018 (print)/25 September 2018 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Scholastic Press/Scholastic Audio
Pages: 256/ 4 hrs and 59 mins
Narrator: Alex Gino, Nora Hunter and Blythe Auffarth
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Junior Fiction
★   ★  – 2 Stars

Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born Deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn.

A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is a Deaf Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn’t always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.

Coming off the back of Gino’s other works I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but I was surprised I didn’t love it as much as the others. While it covered important topics and explored a learning experience around important issues I couldn’t find a lot of love for the book overall.

As a character Jilly is young and naïve at 13. The way Gino has written her is hard to like, but you can see her good intentions behind her actions even if they’re wrong. Her perspective of her life and family as an only child becoming a sister and the challenges that brings was interesting and Gino gave her a good voice in that regard to capture her confusion, her good intentions and her sense of confusion as she navigates new ground.

I liked the online environment set up for the Roses and Thorns books Jilly loves and how the discussion forum is designed in the realm of the books. If you can get past that at 13 Jilly finds the ear of a person attractive, you can see how the friendships she’s formed on the forum are comforting but also how only knowing someone online can change how you see them because you’re only provided with the information they want you to see which can be different to who they really are.

Primarily this is a story about deafness, but it also covers racism too. I guess if you look at the surrounding characters like profoundinoaktown (aka Derek) and Alesha to be there to educate Jilly it helps but it isn’t their job to educate her about the Deaf or black community and in terms of story that is acknowledged in a small way which is commendable.

Jilly makes mistakes and learns from them, often when she is trying to help or through misunderstanding. I liked how Gino didn’t turn it into a huge fight or major issue, Jilly was wrong, she is corrected by someone who knows better and she accepts that even if she is a little hurt since she thought she was helping. Taking the time to listen to people when they tell you you’re doing or saying the wrong things is a great lesson to put in this story, especially one dealing with race and disability.

Having said that, there are other issues with this story away from the Big Important Topics that ruin this book without needing to delve deeper into meaning and intent and rights of authors. I felt the content, writing, and the characters all fell short. Even with Gino’s acknowledgement about their connection to the Deaf community it still feels like it is missing more substance. There’s a lot of unnecessary and annoying repetition around Jilly’s sandwiches and the conversations between Maisy and Jilly’s dad are incredibly irritating, and while I can see how Gino is trying to create a world around Jilly and these are the factors in it, it was too much at times to tolerate.

Despite the positive message I couldn’t get past the tedious repetition or the flat, one dimensional characters that are easily forgettable. In conjunction with the annoying writing which having to experience as an audiobook made it more noticeable and grinding, this story is average at best which is a shame considering Gino’s other works.

You can purchase You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! via the following

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Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (#9) by M. C. Beaton

19 May 2021 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Agatha Raisin, Audiobook, Mystery Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: June 15th 2000 (print)/ 1st July 2012 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Minotaur Books/Bolinda Audio
Pages: 196/5 hrs and 58 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season. Agatha Raisin, her hair falling out after a run-in with a hairdresser-cum-murderess from a previous investigation, travels to an old-fashioned hotel in order to repair the damage away from the neighbours in her all-too-cosy Cotswolds village. Unhappy about the slow results and prompted by the elderly residents of the resort, she consults the local witch for help. Agatha purchases a hair tonic (and a love potion, just in case!) and is soon sprouting hairs and capturing the fancy of the village police inspector. But the quiet town is stunned by the murder of the witch. Which one of the greying guests is capable of such a brutal crime? The brassy yet endearing Agatha won’t stop until she finds the culprit–and, of course, a little love, too.

This was a great story and I loved how Beaton plays with the events of the previous book, Agatha’s vanity and pride, as well as allowing readers to escape Carsley and the usual characters for a bit. Ironically, being away from Carsley has resulted in a decent story. I know in the Terrible Tourist being away from Carsley was its downfall, but this one works. The dynamics between characters is better, and having Agatha stop going on about James quite so much is a saviour. I enjoyed getting to know the new characters and seeing Agatha thrive on her own— she seems more sensible and less nosy than before. Honestly I wanted her to stay there and be free of James, she seemed a lot more contented.

Being away from home means when a murder occurs, as one always seems to do, Agatha is stuck there as a possible suspect until it’s solved. Beaton uses motives like this well because instead of Agatha just butting in, her incentive is to solve the murder so she can get home, meaning it makes slightly more sense.

Because Agatha is stuck we are introduced to the other residents of the resort with more detail. Aside from their peculiarities there is a nice relationship between her and Jimmy that could develop if we’d spent longer than a fortnight with them and rushed the relationship. This could have been a nice new direction for Agatha but Beaton rushes through and instead of being a sweet romance it ends up feeling sad and depressing because it’s so easy to see what could have been if Beaton had written it better.

There is a sweet storyline around Agatha and a cat and with the disaster of her hair as a focus there were a lot of smaller moments to engage with rather just a blanket overall plot. The small details filled the story a lot better and made it memorable and weaving each character organically into Agatha’s storyline was a great way to get to know everyone better.

You can purchase Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden via the following

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