Clap When You Land - Elizabeth Acevedo

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Camino Rios lives for the summers, when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this year, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people...

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality, in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything, they learn of each other.

Papi's death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now Yahaira and Camino are both left to grapple with what a new sister means to them and what it will take to keep their dreams alive."

Everything Elizabeth Acevedo writes is impossible to put down, and Clap When You Land is no exception. This book is beautiful, breaking and warming your heart at the same time. The alternating perspectives of Yahaira and Camino were handled beautifully, and I loved the way the two narratives came together at the end. Even though they've been apart their whole lives, their voices intermingle, and without a clear distinction like in earlier pages, sometimes it's hard to tell who is speaking until we get context. It reminded me of how sometimes when one of my siblings is speaking their voice sounds so similar to another sibling that I can't be 100% sure who it is until something they're saying gives it away. (Or let's be honest, how sometimes I'll play a video of my sister talking and for a second think it's me and I just forgot I said that.)

There are a lot of complex emotions at work in this story, and you will feel every single moment along with the characters. When Yahaira's mom tells her she has a sister, I was angry on her behalf. When Camino talks about being mad at her father for his lies and also shattered that she'll never talk to him again, I felt that mixed-up grief. I am blown away by how real these characters became and how their experiences leapt off the page. Also, I know there are lots of conversations and jokes about how New York is the "fifth" character in Sex and the City, but for real, the Dominican Republic felt like a character in this book, and I loved it. The personality, the vibrancy, the feel of Camino's home was all around me as I read. Just...incredible, the magic Elizabeth Acevedo is able to weave with her words. Read this book. Read all of her books. Read her grocery lists if she decides to publish those at some point. I will read anything Elizabeth Acevedo gives me.

One of Us is Next - Karen M. McManus

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Come on, Bayview, you know you've missed this.

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one's been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it's not an app, though - it's a game.

Truth or dare.

Phoebe's the first target. If you choose not to play, it's a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve, and she should know better - always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it's that they can't count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon's gone, but someone's determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there's a whole new set of rules."

My reading experience with this book on three acts:

Act One - Let's take this slow. Read a chapter or two a day. Let the suspense build.

Act Two, maybe a day later - Ok, this book is incredible, but I'm only about halfway through. I am definitely not going to stay up late and finish this tonight.

Act Three, several hours later - Hot fuckin damn, that ending!

Bayview High is back on their bullshit, but something about this time is different. For one thing, Phoebe knows she didn't tell anyone her secret, and there's no reason the only other person who knew about it would either...so how did Simon's copycat find out? For another, why turn it into a game at all? Most of the dares are fairly tame, and isn't the whole point of a stunt like this to out people's shameful secrets? Then there's everything going on outside the game - Phoebe's sister suddenly acting out of character, Knox's boss getting repeated death threats, and a mysterious man showing up at the restaurant where they all hang out.

Maeve, who helped unravel everything that happened the year before, is sure she's onto something again when she stumbles across a web forum exactly like the one Simon used to post on before it got shut down. Is the copycat following in Simon's footsteps? Or is she just seeing what she wants to see? Only time will tell...but how much time do they have left?

WOO! Karen McManus can write a book, y'all. At one point I literally clutched my chest and gasped out loud. And there were so many times where I thought I had things all figured out, only to have another curveball lobbed at me. What a ride. If you haven't read One of Us is Lying, read it, then read this. If you have, then what are you waiting for? Read this!