Quiver - Julia Watts

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Libby is the oldest child of six, going on seven, in a family that adheres to the "quiverfull" lifestyle: strict evangelical Christians who believe that they should have as many children as God allows because children are like arrows in the quiver of "God's righteous warriors." Like the other families who adhere to this philosophy, Libby's family regards the father as the "Christian patriarch" and leader and the mother as the "helpmeet" who gives birth to, cares for, and homeschools the children. 

Meanwhile, Zo is the gender fluid offspring of Libby's new neighbors who have moved to the country from Knoxville in hopes of living a slower-paced, more natural life. 

Zo and hir family are as far to the left ideologically as Libby's family is to the right, and yet Libby and Zo, who are the same age, feel a connection that leads them to friendship—a friendship that seems doomed from the start because of their families' differences."

Libby Hazlett and Zo Forrester meet when Zo and hir family move to the farm next door to Libby's after the property had been empty for more than a year. The Hazlett family is fairly sheltered, primarily spending time with each other and with members of their church congregation, so right away Libby finds herself intrigued by the new family and, in particular, Zo. 

The two families have radically different ideologies--Libby's father is a strict disciplinarian, unwavering in his ultra conservative principles, while Zo's parents are liberal and much more relaxed in their parenting style. As it turns out, though, they also have a lot in common, and everyone seems to hit it off...until, that is, their fathers getting into an argument at an ice cream party and Mr. Hazlett decides that his family will no longer associate with the Forresters. 

Alas, the damage Mr. Hazlett fears has already been done. Spending time with Zo has gotten Libby thinking, and it turns out she may not be as content with her life as she previously convinced herself. Will she risk angering her father and turning her back on the God she is supposed to believe in to continue her friendship with Zo, or will she bend to her father's will and allow things to return to how they used to be?

This book is like nothing I have ever read. Coming from a family who, while not evangelical Christians, were close enough for some of Libby's experiences to hit close to home made this a difficult read, but seeing Libby and Zo learn more about each other, grow closer, and take the time to understand the other's perspective was worth the discomfort. I felt connected to both of them right away, and watching them grow throughout the book warmed my heart. Not only that, but I found myself unexpectedly tugged into the friendship between their two mothers, rooting for Mrs. Hazlett's happiness as she struggled through a difficult pregnancy and, after their husbands' fight, losing her new friend. Julia Watts did a remarkable job bringing the Hazlett and Forrester families to life, and if you're looking for a book that allows you to experience worlds you aren't familiar with, I can't recommend Quiver strongly enough.

Four-Letter Word - Christa Desir

My rating: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Eight friends. One game. A dozen regrets. And a night that will ruin them all, in this high stakes gripping story of manipulation and innocence lost, from the author of Bleed Like Me.

Chloe Sanders has wasted the better part of her junior year watching her best friend Eve turn away from her for the more interesting and popular Holly Reed. Living with her grandparents because her parents are currently serving as overseas volunteers, Chloe spends her days crushing on a dark-haired guy named Mateo, being mostly ignored by Eve and Holly, and wishing the cornfields of Iowa didn’t feel so incredibly lonely.

But shortly after spring break, a new girl transfers to her high school—Chloe Donnelly. This Chloe is bold and arty and instantly placed on a pedestal by Eve and Holly. Now suddenly everyone is referring to Chloe Sanders as “Other Chloe” and her social status plummets even more.

Until Chloe Donnelly introduces all her friends to a dangerous game: a girls vs. guys challenge that only has one rule—obtain information by any means necessary. All the warning bells are going off in Other Chloe’s head about the game, but she’s not about to commit social suicide by saying no to playing.

Turns out the game is more complicated than Other Chloe thinks. Chloe Donnelly hates to lose. She's got power over everyone—secrets she’s exploiting—and she likes to yank their strings. Only soft-spoken Mateo is sick of it, and when the game turns nasty, he chooses Other Chloe to help him expose everything Chloe Donnelly has done. But neither realize just how much the truth could cost them in the end."

The blurb from the cover is a pretty accurate description of the book...the plot centers around this group of eight students playing multiple games of Gestapo, things progressively getting more tense until everything blows up, Chloe Donnelly ends up missing, and the other seven teens are implicated in her disappearance..dun dun dun! 

Obviously I did not enjoy this book, but good lord, where do I even begin? 

Main character Chloe is boring, sanctimonious, and incredibly judgmental. Even more irritatingly, most of her judgement is sandwiched in her self-pity over how everyone else is sooooo mean to her. Basically the entire book is her keeping up a running mental commentary of how useless and beneath her the people around her are, interspersed with self-satisfied reminders of how patient and tolerant she is. I don't understand if Desir wrote her as an unsympathetic character on purpose, but I couldn't stand her. Some particularly cringe examples of her awfulness:

"Eve smiled smugly as if she was the reason he'd agreed to play again, which I didn't believe for a second was the case. Chloe Donnelly must have talked him into it. Which meant she probably found out something about him. Or maybe they were hooking up on the sly, an she had him pussy-whipped or whatever that absolutely gross term was for when a guy did everything a girl said."

LMAO what?! Be a little more holier-than-thou in your feminism, right after throwing out the term "pussy-whipped" like you aren't sure you have it right.

"For a second I felt bad for him, for his small life filled with detention and post-lunch make-out sessions with his girlfriend. For his grudging promise to Holly of "no more girls" that made me wonder if he'd fooled around a lot and why. He was never going to leave Grinnell, no matter how often he took off in his car. High school was probably going to be the best time of his life. He'd be stuck in this town til he became like one of the old guys Pops hung out with at the farm store. Cam was nothing like his brother. All that wasted singing talent he'd never do anything with. Aiden would give up everything to get out of here, but not Cam. Too lazy or too defeated. It was sad, really. But before I could spend more time on the pity train, I shook myself and remembered how easily he dropped to his knees in front of Chloe Donnelly, and all my compassion stalled out."

Again, not sure if this is a deliberate choice on Desir's part or what, but holy shit, compassion? Is that compassion? Am I taking crazy pills? And finally...

"I sounded prudish and judgmental like the churchy girls who took "purity pictures" with their dads in this slightly gross way and then posted them online."

Providing the context for this was way too long a quote, but to set the scene, her friend reveals that she bought Ritalin from someone to help her focus on schoolwork after revealing what sounded to me to be some kind of learning disability, and Chloe tears her down and is horrible to her about it, then says this. This was far from the most sanctimonious bit of their conversation, but I had to go back and read it several times because.......what a weird comparison to make. Seriously, tell me. Am I supposed to like her?!

As if her preachy, hypocritical, self-satisfied judgement toward everyone else weren't enough, pretty early on in the book she stands there and watches her drunk supposed best friend get sexually assaulted and not only does she not say anything or try to help, she later (more than once!) throws the incident in her friend's face. Jesus H Christ, really? Are we supposed to like her?!

Moving past Chloe being the worst, this whole story was stuck in her head, and I feel like nothing got developed properly. It would be better, and maybe Chloe would even have seemed more likable, if more character and plot development had been described rather than narrated in Chloe's stream-of-consciousness litany of the faults of others and why nothing was her fault. I'm not averse to first person point of view, but this whole book was Chloe's self-narration, and not only did her mental voice get old fast, the limited description available meant that none of the other characters got any real development. Why should I care about Mateo when all I'm given about him is what benefits Chloe? What's the point of showing the soft side of douchebag Cam when it goes nowhere and leaves us picturing him as an irredeemable asshole? And finally, we spend the entire book on these games and trying to figure out what is going on with Chloe Donnelly, and then all that mystery is revealed in an epilogue? Really? There's not even any actual resolution, it's just "oh hey, you all got catfished by a 19-year-old computer genius with vague mental issues who catfished all of you for funsies, but there's nothing the police can do about it, sorry. The end." 

I read this book because the description and title were intriguing, but it was like reading the diary of a selfish, spoiled, overly-critical asshole, with absolutely no payoff at the end.

Moxie - Jennifer Mathieu

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Moxie girls fight back!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution."

I mostly loved this, so let's start with the good stuff. It was beautiful to read a book about young women pushing back against negative behavior, and it was particularly awesome to see them courageously do so even with the fear that no one else would be standing next to them when they did. Awesome. It's hard to do that, and women of all ages need to see more examples of badass women taking a stand. Additionally, I greatly appreciated that the tension between Viv and her BFF after Viv started spending more time with the new girl was resolved in such a sweet way (although I do wish it hadn't come at the hands of sexual assault. Grrrrr.). Just as we need more examples of fantastic, courageous, vocal women, the world could do with fewer catty, pointless fights between friends. Kudos to Jennifer Mathieu for writing characters with the maturity to resolve their issues through communication and trust. Finally, it was refreshing to see romance included that supplemented, but did not supersede, the main narrative. Feminists need love too, so I'm not opposed to romantic elements in stories like this, but so often the romance becomes the focal point. Mathieu did a great job of weaving Viv's young love into the story in a balanced way.

Now...a couple of things that really got under my skin. One, there's no superintendent or school district administration to go to? I get that douchebag #1's dad was the principal, so no one at the school could be gone to for assistance, but for fuck's sake go over his head! How did it get to the point where this crazy-ass principal was trying to suspend/expel a third of the school before something happened? Bonkers. Second, Viv's clashes with her boyfriend when he said stupid things. I have a husband, and said husband is not a lady, so on occasion it can be hard for him to fully grasp the difficulties of womanhood. Consequently, he says dumb shit sometimes. When he does, I have two options. Option A: Get mad at him because he just couldn't understand. Option B: HELP HIM BE AN ALLY. Why is what he is saying frustrating? How could he reframe his thinking to be supportive instead? There were soooooooo many chances for Viv to be like, "look, bud, I get that not all guys are bad. It's awesome that you have cool, super into baseball stats, bros to eat lunch with. Would said cool bros be interested in joining the cause?" Open up a dialogue, yo. Help him understand.

Anyhoo...overall, fantastic read. I highly recommend it.

Freshmen - Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Getting in is just the beginning. 

Phoebe can't wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she'll be free. And she'll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke. 

Luke didn't set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don't stop there. In fact, being on a soccer team is the only thing that stays the same. 

Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke's soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they'll ever make it through freshman year."

This book had its highs and lows, but I read it in less than a day so overall, I'd say it's a win. A book about college for young adults? Awesome. We need more post-high school books. And while I didn't drink or party in college because I was a Mormon nerd, so much of this book still managed to hit me in the college feels. It's such a weird time, going from basically having everything structured and controlled for you to.....I make my own choices? What? How? When did this happen? Which, hello, circles back to we need more post-high school books! Finally, I loved the character development and the relationships that developed between everyone. And the humor--I laughed out loud more than once, which I'm sure my husband really enjoyed listening to.  My only real complaint is that the story felt choppy at times. It wasn't terrible by any means, but some of the major moments ended up a little jarring because there wasn't much build up or development toward them. Smoothing out the flow of the story would have made it  five-star read, for sure. 

Spellbook of the Lost and Found - Moira Fowley-Doyle

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the front cover:

"One stormy Irish summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hairclips and jewelry, but soon it's clear that Rose has lost something much bigger, something she won't talk about, and Olive thinks her best friend is slipping away.

Then seductive diary pages written by a girl named Laurel begin to appear all over town. And Olive meets three mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel, and her twin brother, Rowan, secretly squatting in an abandoned housing estate. The trio are wild and alluring, but they seem lost too—and like Rose, they're holding tight to painful secrets.

When they discover the spellbook, it changes everything. Damp, tattered and ancient, it's full of hand-inked charms to conjure back things that have been lost. And it just might be their chance to find what they each need to set everything back to rights.

Unless it's leading them toward things that were never meant to be found..."

When I discovered that Moira Fowley-Doyle had another book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I loved The Accident Season, so I had high hopes for this book. Spellbook of the Lost and Found definitely lived up to my expectations. The book focuses on three groups of friends--Olive and Rose, Laurel, Ash, and Holly, and Hazel, Rowan, and Ivy--in the aftermath of their town bonfire as everyone discovers their things are going missing. As diary pages start popping up all over town and the lives of these three groups begin to intertwine, the reader discovers that something darker than missing trinkets might be going on... This world had the same spooky, other-worldly feel to it as The Accident Season, the characters were just as nuanced and captivating, and the story constantly had me wanting more.