aly_wang
San José Public Library
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aly_wang's rating:
Added Jul 06, 2021
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jul 06, 2021
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Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan is a contemporary romance standalone with the fake dating trope. The main character, Karina Ahmed, a reserved Bangladeshi high schooler, is asked to tutor the school’s rich bad boy, Ace Clyde, but she never expected or wanted him to lie and say that Karina is my girlfriend. Karina’s strict parents left for Bangladesh for a month, so she only agrees to “date” him for 4 weeks, in exchange for books. Counting down the days until her parents get back, she gets more nervous about their return, and worse, she doesn’t want to stop pretending with Ace. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It had great diversity and had a small cute lgbtq+ representation for the supporting characters. This book really delved into daily problems that come with having strict parents who control your future. This book is a great example of a short sweet book. Reading how the side characters and Karina’s grandmother and friends help her stand against her parents’ overwhelming control was really sweet. This book was so heartfelt, and I highly recommend it to anyone 11 and up, especially if they enjoy a cute contemporary, full of swooning romance.Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan is a contemporary romance standalone with the fake dating trope. The main character, Karina Ahmed, a reserved Bangladeshi high schooler, is asked to tutor the school’s rich bad boy, Ace Clyde, but she never…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Cinderella is Dead by Kaylnn Baron is a YA (young adult) fictional standalone, based on the classic fairytale of Cinderella and placed in a dystopian society. The main character, Sophia, lives in a society where the tale of Cinderella is their obsession and their role model. Teen girls are required to attend the Annual ball where men choose what wife they want to live their life with, similar to how Cinderella went to a ball and found her Prince Charming. And if a girl cannot succeed within three tries, they are never to be seen again. However, Sophia doesn’t want that. This year is her first year to attend the ball, but she doesn’t want to marry some random guy who will control her for the rest of her life. She wants to marry her best friend, but her best friend won’t break the rules for Sophia. Still desperate for a chance and a new life in a better society, Sophia decides to flee the ball, only to meet Constance, a bold and brave girl who is the last descendent of Cinderella’s stepsisters and the only one who knows the true “fairytale” of Cinderella. Together, they vow to take down the king and fix their messed-up government. I enjoyed reading this book a lot. The world-building was very descriptive, and the story and plot were very unique and refreshing. Baron put a whole twist on the classic sweet, soft fairytale with a princess and her prince charming and turned it into a harsh, dark, twisty fairytale with a queer black girl who wants to take down the patriarchy. It was so interesting, layered with shocking plot twists. There was great LGBTQ+ representation, as well, and Sophia and Constance’s personality is so powerful and well-crafted. My only issue with it is that I wish there was more character development as the book progressed and at some points, it could be too fast-paced. As a whole, the book was riveting, and I really enjoyed reading it. It is such a page-turner and is short and fast-paced - definitely something you can and would want to read in one day. I would recommend it to anyone, ages 12 and up, especially if you enjoy fairytale retellings with a dark twist.Cinderella is Dead by Kaylnn Baron is a YA (young adult) fictional standalone, based on the classic fairytale of Cinderella and placed in a dystopian society. The main character, Sophia, lives in a society where the tale of Cinderella is their…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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An Enchantment of Ravens is a YA (young adult) fictional standalone, placed in fairyland. The main character is Isobel. She lives in Whimsy, and she is human - a human painter for the fae. The fair folk absolutely love Human craft, especially since they cannot do it themself, and they crave Isobel’s stunning paintings, which they pay for with enchantments. When Isobel is ordered to paint for Rook, the autumn prince, she decides to do a portrait of him, but she makes a mistake. She paints him with sorrow in his eyes - a mistake seen as a weakness, a weakness that can cost him his title, his throne, and if things go really wrong, his life. As punishment, Rook takes Isobel away to his kingdom to stand trial, but on the way there, they get attacked almost every step of the way. Forced to depend on each other, Rook and Isabel learn to trust one another, and soon that trust transforms into love, something forbidden by fae laws and that will cost them their lives. In short, this book underwhelmed me, and I found the beginning boring. I think this book had a lot of potential, but I personally feel like the ending was rushed. I wasn’t able to connect with any of the characters, and Rook’s character development was so sudden, it happened in a few pages. There were many plot holes, and the character’s personality was inconsistent. The world-building also left me with a lot of questions that were left unanswered by the end of the book, and the romance, which I had high expectations for, was way too rushed. However, I think that Rogerson’s use of imagery was beautifully written. The flowery language she uses is captivating, and how she describes the magic is also well-written. The book got more interesting as it progressed, which was good. Overall, I think the book has its issues, but the writing language is beautiful, so it’s a plus. I would recommend this book to ages 12 and up, especially if you enjoy reading books with fae.An Enchantment of Ravens is a YA (young adult) fictional standalone, placed in fairyland. The main character is Isobel. She lives in Whimsy, and she is human - a human painter for the fae. The fair folk absolutely love Human craft, especially since…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin is a YA (young adult) paranormal fantasy novel with the enemies to lovers trope. The main character, Lou, is a witch who lives in a society that hunts and fears witches. The city, Cesarine, forsakes all magic and burns witches at a stake. The second main character and Lou’s enemy, Reid, is a Chasseur, sworn to the Church and living by the principle that witches should not live. These two were never meant to meet, as Lou knew Reid would kill her the moment he found out she was a witch, but a foul stunt brought these together - in marriage. This book and plot were pretty fast-paced, and in my opinion, this book was very bad and problematic. There was no representation or well-written diversity. Lou’s best friend, Coco, is the only colored person that had an important role in the book, and yet she was barely described at all. A white unimportant side character was better and more described than her. Everyone in the book was straight, as well. Another problem in this book was how Reid treats Lou. Reid was possessive, clingy, and sought power over Lou. Reid has anger issues, and although mostly sweet, their relationship was toxic. He uses the fact that they are married to command Lou to do or not do things. Another issue I found in this book is the poor way the Indigenous people and their history were represented. In the story’s world-building, it is emphasized that the land was stolen from witches by force, hunted them down and killed them, and colonized their land, which though most forget is similar to what occurred when foreign countries came and invaded the US, forcing the Indigenous people out of their homes and killing them. I found that whole thing to be a huge problem. If the author wanted to use the history of the Indigenous people as a huge part of their world, they should properly research the culture and history and include Indigenous characters in their book. The plot idea had a lot of potential, but the way it was written just let me down. There was barely any character development. Every character still had the same views on how the world should work and never viewed any of their ideas as wrong. The only thing that I slightly enjoyed while reading this book was the romance. I am a huge fan of the enemies to lovers trope, so I found the romance interesting and nice, but other than that, I can say that this book is trash. Overall, this book has so many problems (I didn’t even mention all of them); I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. However, if you really want to read it, I would recommend this to ages 15 and up, if you like reading paranormal fantasy with enemies to lovers romance.Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin is a YA (young adult) paranormal fantasy novel with the enemies to lovers trope. The main character, Lou, is a witch who lives in a society that hunts and fears witches. The city, Cesarine, forsakes all magic and…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is a play, full of legal drama. It is based on the Scopes Monkey trial of 1925, where a Tennessee high school teacher was tried for teaching human evolution to his students. This book follows the same legal case of the Scopes trial. A young high school teacher from Hillsboro, Bert Cates, is arrested for teaching Darwinism, the theory that humans evolved from monkeys to his sophomore biology class. He is looked down upon by the other citizens from his town, as everyone else in Hillsboro believes that people were created by God. During his court case, Henry Drummond is sent to defend Cates against Matthew Harrison Brady. This whole story shows the debate between the very opposing theories of Darwin’s theory of evolution versus the theory that God created the world and the people in it in seven days. I think this book is so interesting as we watch as these two great lawyers plead their case and how they refute the other’s claims. I truly enjoyed reading this book. The two lawyers’ beliefs were very different, and the debate was very engrossing. The only reason I would give this book a 4 and ½ star rating would be because I think Act one was a little boring, and there were many characters introduced at once, making it a little confusing. However, as the book progressed, it cleared up and became captivating. This book is pretty short and fast-paced, and the ending was very unexpected. I highly recommend this book to anyone, ages 11 and up, especially if they like legal action and debates.Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is a play, full of legal drama. It is based on the Scopes Monkey trial of 1925, where a Tennessee high school teacher was tried for teaching human evolution to his students. This book follows the…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Wit by Margaret Edson is a play. This book is about a very strict and renowned English professor, Vivian Bearing, as she is diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. The readers watch her as she views her illness and treatment with the same rational and methodical mindset the same way she directs her teaching. As the cancer advances and the symptoms and treatments grow more painful, Vivian goes through a character arc and begins to question the standards she has placed upon herself, her teaching, and her students and comes to terms with the meaning of life. I loved this book. It was very short and quick, yet still so meaningful. The ending was wonderful, the character development was amazing; I loved everything about this book. The author, Margaret Edson, writes Vivian as a cruel and harsh teacher and teaches us that the cruelty and need for power that one has, will wither away as a huge illness, nearing one towards death, leaves us in pain. She craves for someone to care and look after her, but when she had the opportunity to care for her students, she let it go to waste. Everything in this book held meaning, and the book, although very short, taught me so many lessons. This book is definitely more advanced; there is quite a lot of medical terminology that is hard for some to understand, but other than that, this book is fantastic. I would highly recommend this book for ages 15 and up, due to the sole fact of the terminology used, but if one enjoys fast-paced plays, this is a book that I would definitely suggest.Wit by Margaret Edson is a play. This book is about a very strict and renowned English professor, Vivian Bearing, as she is diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. The readers watch her as she views her illness and treatment with the same rational…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie is a YA (young adult) book, the first book in the duology, filled with paranormal fantasy and has the enemies to lovers trope. This book is placed in the narrative of 3 characters, Ailesse, Bastien, and Sabine. Ailesse and Sabine are Bone Criers, women who gain strength and power from dead animal bones to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Heaven or Tyrus’ Underworld. To keep their power, show they are ready to ferry the spirits and show dedication to the gods they serve, they are ordered to kill their soulmate. Ailesse is the heir of the Bone Crier’s matriarch, and she is almost ready to begin ferrying the spirits and soon, take the throne. The last step she needs to do is to kill her soulmate. Sabine is Ailesse’s best friend; she has been at Ailesse’s side since the beginning. But, she has no stomach for the Bone Crier’s work - she dislikes killing at all costs. The last main character is Bastien. He watched his father get killed by a Bone Crier and is out for revenge. He has set out to kill all the Bone Criers in the city, and he is confident in his ability. He has studied everything he can find about Bone Criers, and he has trained to be able to kill these women who killed his father in front of him. When Ailesse goes to meet and kill her soulmate, things don’t go as planned, and she gets kidnapped - by Bastien. Bastien can’t wait to kill Ailesse, but he realizes he has to wait because Ailesse and Bastien’s fates are intertwined - if Ailesse dies, so does Bastien and if Ailesse doesn’t kill Bastien within a year, they both die. When Sabine finds out Ailesse has been taken captive, she decides she will do anything, even killing animals and defying her matriarch, to save her best friend. I really enjoyed reading the book - the world-building was thoroughly written, and the plot was very riveting and well-detailed. Reading the POVs (point of views) from each character was also very interesting. The characters in this book are strong-minded, which is definitely a pro. The plot twists are very shocking, and this book is the total opposite of predictable. It will keep you on your toes as you see what happens to each character, and you won’t be able to put it down until you’re done. However, this book is pretty slow-paced and long, so if you are looking for a quick read, this book wouldn’t be it. Also, this book lacked representation and diversity; there were only white and straight characters. As a whole, I think this book is really good - I personally really enjoyed reading it. I highly recommend it to anyone, ages 13 and up, if they like reading magic and paranormal fantasy with enemies to lovers romance, and if they are in the mood for a slower read.Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie is a YA (young adult) book, the first book in the duology, filled with paranormal fantasy and has the enemies to lovers trope. This book is placed in the narrative of 3 characters, Ailesse, Bastien, and Sabine.…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera is YA (young adult) standalone which follows two boys after they find out they only have one more day to live. The main characters, Mateo and Rufus, are complete strangers with very different personalities - Mateo is reserved and shy, while Rufus is outgoing and bold. They only have one similarity - they both got a Death-Cast call which told them they were going to die the next day. They both decide they want to make a new friend on their last day, so they both apply for the app, Last Friend, and through it, they meet each other. Rufus and Mateo choose to meet up to live their last day together and try to have a lifetime of experiences and fun in one day. This book is a really quick and easy read, and I did enjoy it. The LGBTQ+ representation was good, and I really liked the romance in this story. It was cute, yet heartbreaking at the same time because we knew the future that would await them. However, I disliked a few things about it. The book is written from the POV (point of view) of many different characters, and I liked reading the narrative of Mateo and Rufus’ close friends and how they felt about the situation, but I think some of the characters’ POVs were unnecessary. These chapters were a bit boring, but besides that, I think the rest of the story was pretty interesting. Another thing I didn’t really like about the book was the ending. As we all know by the title, Mateo and Rufus are going to die by the end of the book, but we just don’t know how. However, the ending for these two was very different than I had hoped and let me down. I had expected to cry at the end of the book; I did feel sad, but I just felt let down that it ended the way it did. The book was a whole rollercoaster of thrills for the reader, as they didn’t know when or how these two were going to die, especially because there were numerous occasions where it could have happened. As a whole, I would recommend this book for anyone, 12 and up, if they want a fast and easy read, filled with bittersweet romance.They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera is YA (young adult) standalone which follows two boys after they find out they only have one more day to live. The main characters, Mateo and Rufus, are complete strangers with very different personalities -…
aly_wang's rating:
Added Jun 02, 2021
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Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas is a queer YA (young adult) book filled with adorable and fun romance, paranormal fantasy, a little bit of mystery, and a lot of anticipation. The main character, Yadriel, is a transgender 16-year-old Latinx from a traditional Latinx family. His main goal is to prove himself to his family and become a brujo (men who assure that dead spirits pass into the afterlife peacefully). His dad, the leader of the Brujx (group of brujos), doesn’t allow Yadriel to perform the becoming ceremony, due to the fact that they do not believe that the Saint will accept a transgender boy and are unwilling to accept his gender. Determined to prove himself, Yadriel and his cousin, Maritza, perform the ceremony behind his family’s back, and Yadriel successfully becomes a brujo. But when one of his other cousins abruptly dies and none of the Brujx can find his spirit, Yadirel takes it upon himself to find his cousin’s spirit and peacefully send him to the afterlife. However, instead of summoning his cousin like he wanted to, he summons the spirit of Julain Diaz, a reckless boy who has no clue how he died. Moreover, Julian won’t let Yadriel pass his spirit on. Left with no other choice, Yadriel, Julian, and Maritza team up to try and find out what happened to Julian and help Julian tie up some loose ends before he leaves the land of the living, in exchange for Julian’s cooperation in sending his spirit to the afterlife. But, as more time passes, Yadriel begins to dread the fact that Julian needs to leave. Overall, I, personally, have no problems with this book; I absolutely love the story, plot, romance, and characters. They all have so much personality, and this book will definitely keep you on your toes as you journey, alongside the three, as they try to find out the truth of Julian’s death, if they can find their cousin’s ghost along the way, and if Yadriel will be able to prove himself to his family in the end. This book is a fast and entertaining read, which you won’t be able to put down. Moreover, there is wonderful transgender and LGBTQ+ representation. I highly recommend this fictional standalone for anyone, ages 13 and up. If you are a fan of sweet slow-burn romance, accompanied with some mystery, fantasy, this is the book for you.Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas is a queer YA (young adult) book filled with adorable and fun romance, paranormal fantasy, a little bit of mystery, and a lot of anticipation. The main character, Yadriel, is a transgender 16-year-old Latinx from a…
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