Memento - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"AIDAN is the AI you'll love to hate. The advanced AI system was supposed to protect a fleet of survivors who'd escaped the deadly attack on Kerenza IV. AIDAN was supposed to be infallible. But in the chaotic weeks and months that followed, it became clear that something was terribly, terribly wrong with AIDAN..."

I have been waiting to read this novella for SO. LONG. I'm still a little in disbelief that it actually happened. Some background: this is a prequel of sorts to Illuminae, and it was initially offered as an incentive to preorder the first book in Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's newest series, which, heartbreak of heartbreaks, I was unaware of. Consequently, while I knew it existed, I couldn't find it ANYWHERE. 

At long last, though, it was released for everyone to enjoy, and I couldn't be happier. It came at the perfect time, too, because I've been rereading the series, so I was able to listen to Memento and then return to Gemina with new knowledge of AIDAN's journey. And what a journey it has been! As if AIDAN's character weren't chilling enough, some of the background you get on what goes down immediately after the attack on Kerenza IV, WHEW! Just...incredible writing. I can't even handle my love of this series or these authors, how are they so good?

Honestly, need I even tell you to read this? Do it. And if you haven't read the Illuminae trilogy, get on it. Fantastic.

One to Watch - Kate Stayman-London

My rating: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers - and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: The hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition - under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale. In this joyful razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men - and herself - for a chance to live happily ever after."

I was pretty eager to read this one, but it fell flat for me. Spoilers ahead, so beware.

Things get off to a rocky start when toward the beginning of the story, Bea sleeps with her "best friend" WHO IS ENGAGED, and then proceeds to moon over him and whine about how he disappeared after that went down. Uhh yeah, he's very clearly a garbage person, and I officially have zero sympathy for you now that you've somehow managed to convince yourself that you're the wronged party here. Following this, the entire book centers around Bea talking about how closed off she's kept herself because of all the bad things that have happened to her, but literally nothing has happened to her that she didn't do to herself! It was really hard to feel any kind of sympathy for her. 

Added to that, for a book that is about body positivity, it's uh...a little rough. Bea spends a significant portion of the book basically being like "I know my body isn't attractive, but I've accepted that and I'm happy." Which...what? She also spends the bulk of her time on Main Squeeze griping about how the guys they chose for the show are people who would never date someone like her, because they're hella attractive and she's *gaaaaasp* fat. Obviously attractive guys don't date women in larger bodies! Bea, you need to watch some fucking Shrill. You're the one with the fat ass and the big titties, so you get to decide what y'all do.

While we're talking about the fatphobia included in a book supposedly celebrating larger bodies, let's talk about the choice to include several excerpts of the truly repugnant shit being said about Bea online. I understand the thought process behind it, but honestly, all women are familiar with the vitriol directed at women by gross men online, and larger-bodied women in particular are intimately acquainted with the awful things some people say to them behind the shield of keyboard anonymity. Do we really need multiple scenes featuring such vile comments? Yuck.

Next up, there were some weird, jarring stereotypes included (in addition to the many, many stereotypes about fat people, which...ugh). For starters, it felt like the author was trying to shoehorn in "diversity," which not only fell very flat but also resulted in shitty generalizations for several of the characters, including three of the four main love interests, her best friend, and the son of one of the love interests. Representation is great when it's good, but this was not it. There was also a lot of reinforcing traditional gender roles, like when her family gets together and the men gather to watch football while the ladies drink wine, because obvi women no likey the sports ball. 

Finally, and this is petty, but I have to get it off my chest. Toward the end of the book, Chris Evans makes an appearance. When one of Bea's love interests sees him, he comments that he looks vaguely familiar, but he doesn't know who he is. Perhaps by then I was just thoroughly over this book, but that irritated the shit out of me. He's CHRIS FUCKING EVANS. Even if you aren't a fan, how do you not know who Captain America is? Get out of here with that shit.

Bottom line, if you're looking for a book celebrating bodies of all sizes with a main character who owns her hotness and doesn't let diet culture dupe her into thinking she is somehow less than because she lives in a larger body, look elsewhere. This one isn't going to do it for you.

Star Daughter - Shveta Thakrar

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"If the night sky holds many secrets, it holds Sheetal Mistry's secret the closest. A secret that explains why her hair is the silver of starlight, or why some nights the stars call Sheetal by name. Stars like her mother, who returned to her place in the constellation Pushya years ago. Since that day, Sheetal has been forced to hide.

But as her seventeenth birthday draws near, the pull from the sky is growing stronger. So strong that Sheetal loses control, and a flare of starfire burns her human father - an injury only a full star's blood can heal. Sheetal has no choice but to answer the starsong and ascend to the sky. But her celestial family has summoned her for a reason: to act as their human champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of the heavens. 

Desperate to save her father, Sheetal agrees. But nothing could have prepared Sheetal to face the stars' dark history - or the forces that are working to shut the gate between the realms for good."

Try to resist diving into this book after taking in the beautiful cover. I couldn't do it. We all know I'm a sucker for a gorgeous cover.

The story is also different from a lot of what I've read before, so I was really intrigued getting into it. A teenager who is half mortal, half star...what does that even mean? As it transpires, one of the things it means is that she has out-of-this-world glowing silver hair, which, I'll be honest, I am very jealous of. Something else that it means is that Sheetal has star fire, which, as the description indicates, gets her into some hot water after she accidentally uses it on her dad.

Things get a little strange after Sheetal's father is injured. Journeying to the star world and learning about what it means to be a star was pretty fascinating, but I wish there was a little more action, particularly in the second half of the book. The world-building and descriptions were vivid, but the bulk of the book takes place over the course of two days while Sheetal trains for a contest, and it got a little thin after a while. Still, though, at the end of the day it was a worthwhile read, and I enjoyed it.

Yes No Maybe So - Aisha Saeed and Becky Albertalli

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"YES.

Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate - as long as he's behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let's face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie's a choke artist. There's no way he'd ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes...until he meets Maya.

NO.

Maya Rehman's having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing - with some awkward dude she hardly knows - is beyond her.

MAYBE SO.

Going door to door isn't exactly glamorous, but maybe it's not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer - and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely."

I've been reading this out loud with my husband, and we are both in love. I am a well-documented fan of Becky Albertalli, and her strength remains developing characters that pull you in and immediately have you falling in love. I really thought I had read Aisha Saeed before, but after double checking it turns out I haven't - better believe I'll be reading more of her stuff after this. Yes No Maybe So pulled me in right off the bat, and part of me wishes I wasn't reading this with someone else, because it's hard to put down. The husband really needs to get on my level when it comes to staying up late reading.

Things I loved: 

1. The characters. Basically everything about Maya, how up-front she was, that she calls it like she sees it with zero self-consciousness. I aspire to be more like her. Jamie pushing himself out of his comfort zone. As a fellow painfully awkward person, I saw a lot of myself in Jamie, and I wish I had his courage when I was in high school. Jamie's little sister. It thrills me that there are so many books coming out with confident, empowered young characters to serve as role models. 

2. The empowering message. Maya and Jamie are both too young to vote, but they're canvassing for the election, engaging with their representatives, and standing up for what they believe in. Sophie and her friends are even younger, but Sophie is researching the policies being introduced in her district, talking to her friends about what they think of those policies, and making her voice heard. It's easy to tell ourselves what we think doesn't matter and give up on trying to make a difference, and this book was a powerful reminder that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that our efforts to make a difference are the difference. 

3. Jamie's grandma. I know I already said the characters, but InstaGramm gets her own shout-out.

The one gripe I have is that I wish we dug a little deeper into Jamie and Maya's lives. We spend a lot of time with them both and get to know them and their banter pretty well, but despite a portion of the book being set during Ramadan and the majority of the book taking place leading up to Sophie's bat mitzvah, we really didn't get far beneath the surface of either teen's religious beliefs and upbringing. That's a huge part of their lives that basically just gets left out, and it would have added even more depth to the characters.