Unearthed - Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study... as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don't loot everything first. Mia and Jules' different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance.

In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race's secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race..."

Now this is how you do a gradual build-up to big reveals! Amelia and Jules end up thrown together on a strange, hostile planet, working together to navigate their way through a dangerous Undying temple to the secrets within. At first glance, the two couldn't have less in common...Amelia is an orphan who makes a living stealing, scavenging, and doing what she has to in order to survive, on the planet to steal enough alien technology to purchase her younger sister's freedom from a seedy nightclub. Jules is an Oxford-educated genius raised around the kind of opulence people like Amelia couldn't even begin to imagine, come to Gaia to study the secrets and knowledge left behind by the mysterious Undying. As they struggle their way across the planet's surface and begin to work their way past the challenges of the Undying temple, though, they begin to discover that they have more in common than first believed...and that they may have gotten themselves involved in something much more dangerous and insidious than they might first have imagined.

This story hooked me right away, and it had me dying to find out what happened next all the way up to the last page. Amelia and Jules are such easy characters to root for, I was on the edge of my seat over every danger they faced. I'm still a little in shock over the ending, and I don't know if I can wait until December for the next book. I guess it's a good thing I've got plenty of reading to keep me occupied while I wait.

Turtles All the Way Down - John Green

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship."

This book is wonderful in so many ways. A few of those ways: 

First, Aza and Daisy's relationship is so interesting...both the way they balanced each other out and the way they handled conflict. It's always refreshing when I read a book like this, with best friends who genuinely love and want the best for each other, even when they clash with each other. They got upset with each other, for valid reasons, but they never lost sight of how much they cared about each other, and they did their best to show that even when they were fighting.

Second, it was touching to see the relationship between Aza and Davis develop. The two of them were so unique and had been through so much, I was worried that their burgeoning relationship would end up being just like every other realistic fiction romance. Now, this is John Green we're dealing with here, so I'm not sure why I was worried, but of course I didn't need to be. The two of them together were just as one-of-a-kind as they are individually, and as bittersweet as it was to watch them struggle to find a balance as they grew closer to each other, I loved every minute of it. 

Finally, Aza's struggle with her mental health felt so real that at times it was difficult to read about. As hard as it was, though, we need more books like this. We need books that dig into what it's like to struggle with things like OCD, depression, anxiety...more books that help us realize that, while we may feel like everything is wrong with us and nothing about us is normal, there are people all around us going through that same struggle. The thing that particularly resonated with me was Aza's worry that if you need a pill to make you feel like yourself, then the self you are while taking that pill is not actually you. I know people who have struggled with this very thing, so to read a book with a character going through that hit me hard. Give me more books that help me understand what struggles like this feel like. I want them all.

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. "

Everyone should read this book. It might as well be non-fiction...it sure as hell felt like non-fiction. I don't live in Starr's world, and THUG is such an eye-opening glimpse into how differently kids in her situation grow up compared to how I did. I get nervous when there's a cop behind me in traffic because getting a ticket would be inconvenient. Kids like Starr grow up being taught how to behave with police officers to hopefully, fingers crossed, if everything goes well, not end up beaten or dead. 

Let that sink in, man.

Kids in Starr's situation are growing up legitimately afraid for their lives. Jesus Christ. 

Read this book. Then give it to a friend and get them to read it.

All American Boys - Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Rashad is absent again today.

That’s the sidewalk graffiti that started it all…

Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn’t matter what Rashad said next—that it was an accident, that he wasn’t stealing—the cop just kept pounding him. Over and over, pummeling him into the pavement. So then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again…and again…stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.

And that’s how it started.

And that’s what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend’s older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn’t tell a soul…He’s not even sure he understands it. And does it matter? The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when the school—and nation—start to divide on what happens, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like “racism” and “police brutality.” Quinn realizes he’s got to understand it, because, bystander or not, he’s a part of history. He just has to figure out what side of history that will be.

Rashad and Quinn—one black, one white, both American—face the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn’t die after the civil rights movement. There’s a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.

Cuz that’s how it can end. "

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." -Desmond Tutu

I wish this book wasn't so necessary, but god damn. It might as well be non-fiction. Rashad stops by the corner store on a Friday after school to get a bag of chips. When he bends down to get his cell phone out of his bag, a woman trips over him. When the shop owner and a police officer see a bag of chips fly out of his hands, they assume he was shoplifting, so naturally the police officer cuffs him and then proceeds to beat the shit out of him, landing the teenaage ROTC student in the hospital with broken ribs, a broken nose, and internal bleeding.

Quinn is waiting outside the corner store to score some beer for a party when he sees his best friend's older brother, a police officer, beating a black teenage boy outside the store. At first, Quinn can't come to terms with what he's just witnessed. Paul has been like a father to him since his own father died, and he wants to believe there was a reason for what went down. But what reason can there be that would explain what he saw? As much as he wants to support his best friend's family, Quinn has some difficult decisions to make about what he believes and what kind of person he wants to be.

This book might make you cry. Honestly, it probably should, for all the people who are #absentagaintoday.

Honestly Ben - Bill Konigsberg

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover: "Ben Carver is back to normal. He’s getting all As in his classes at the Natick School. He was just elected captain of the baseball team. He’s even won a big scholarship for college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg last semester is over now, and he just needs to be a Carver, work hard, and stay focused.

Except…There’s Hannah, a gorgeous girl who attracts him and distracts him. There’s his mother, whose quiet unhappiness he’s noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there’s Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else…and maybe the real normal that Ben needs."


I loved Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg, so I was excited to finally have time to read the sequel, Honestly Ben. Ben is a man after my own heart, a pusher and an over-achiever for whom no accomplishment ever feels truly like it's enough, and for the most part I loved his story. It pulled at my heart strings reading about him struggling to decide how he felt, whether he was gay, bi, or...something else? And I empathized with him pushing back against people who tried to label him. Being able to put someone in a neat little labeled box may make it easier for you to feel like you understand them, but not all labels fit so neatly, and sometimes telling yourself you understand someone when you don't causes more harm than good. Kudos to Ben for resisting the labels people wanted to slap on him and being true to himself.

That being said, I did have issues with a couple of things in the book.

First, Hannah. Were we supposed to like her? It seemed like we were, but my god...I did not find her endearing. I particularly didn't love her reaction after the dance. I get the frustration, but dude. Romantic history aside, Rafe and Ben are best friends and Rafe just got dumped. Roles reversed, Hannah wouldn't have wanted to be there for her friend? Not only that, but if she wasn't cool with going home early, she should have said so. It seemed like Hannah was meant to be this evolved, high-thinking woman, but she came off as incredibly childish and obnoxious. No thanks.

Second, Ben's dad. Um...are we just not going to address how abusive his behavior is? I was really hoping for some ending closure where his mom separated from him and told him he needed to sort himself out if he wanted them to be a family. But no...instead we get a letter to him from Ben and...nothing. As someone who grew up with a similar father, it was difficult to read about all the crappy things his dad did/said and then not see any resolution. I know there were a lot of important issues already being addressed, so throwing one more into the mix is tough, but good god, of all the things to gloss over, an emotionally abusive, controlling father/husband is not it. Gah.

Anyway...those two characters aside, this book was great. I love Ben and his friends, and Konigsberg did an awesome job of balancing emotions. There were parts that tugged at my heart strings and made me tear up, and then there were sections where I was laughing out loud ("is my life force shit?" was a big one). Fantastic read.