Wow. I am blown away by this one. After reading these poems, I feel somehow that I know the author. The grief and contemplation in these books, as well as the humor really impressed me. It has got all of life in it. Never underwhelming and never overdone. This is a fantastic debut collection and I am excited to continue following this author.
I laughed at "So Long my Boy and Be Careful" in which Immergluck shares documents from his grandfather's desk – a stack of postcards from an academy he went to. And the narrative in "Watching the Fellowship of the Ring with Grandpa Near the End of his Life" was so familiar in my heart.
I could go on, but suffice it to say I loved this collection.

I hugged Make a Home out of You when I finished it. First of all, the memoir is enthralling right off the bat, and never ceases to be so. It never drags. No detail is ever arbitrary. The horrors that alcohol, sex, and drugs put Ginelle through are aching, but even through these maladaptive behaviors you see the intelligence, capability, and lovability in the author. You root for her. You sympathize. You cringe. You say "oh, honey..." you grip the book and hope she makes it out triumphant in the end. You bite your lip, tense, hoping this time she makes a healthy decision.
In this book, you get an understanding of one young woman's journey toward healing, and a glimpse into the way an addict percieves the world, what trauma does to a person. You come away believing in strength and healing, and wanting to reach out to this woman for a hug. To say "I am so proud of you," and "thank you for sharing your story with the world." You close the book, you hug it to your chest...

There are a lot of stories out there about diaspora, and every time I find my heart squeezing in my chest over it. But Hyeseung's story is not just that. It is her journey from childhood to adulthood, and how she was shaped by her parents. It is her journey to discovering herself, loving herself, and freeing herself, as we all must do.
Song learns that even she was lumping her parents in with all Koreans, and that really her parents are their own people. Along the way she navigates mental illness, landing herself in a psychiatric hospital, getting a diagnosis, going on with her life, and then the whole thing repeats years later as she gets a new diagnosis.

The book is as compelling as a contemporary fiction novel, so I found myself spending hours turning the pages, and by the end I was pretty emotional. I'm glad to have read it, and I am glad Hyeseung Song has shared her story with the world, because I know that there are so many of us with similar stories, and this connects us.

I found the tension between generation gaps really captivating, and it is what made me keep returning to the book after I had to put it down to do other things. These novellas are written with such humanity and I liked being in the minds of these characters so that I could understand them. They seemed so real and honest.
I think the pacing of each novella is just right, and the writing, while not outstanding, is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys literary fiction, but I only gave it three stars because I didn't find anything that stood out as special from other works of literature. It's not really quotable, there are no beautiful lines, the author didn't do anything daring or different. If those things don't matter to you, I would recommend reading it.

Dearest you, I suspect
we were made tentatively: an exact

assemblage of organs, emotions -
complete with little
phantom
pains.

These poems had me from the very beginning with their intimacy in poems like "Self - Study Through Daily Sustenance" in which the speaker tells you exactly who she is through stories about food. There are more "self-studies" and "self-portraits" like these. In "Self Portrait As Sister" the speaker creates "a world within this poem's mouth," a world without customs officers and separation.

Largely these poems are about diaspora. Being South Korean, growing up in Peru, then moving on to the United States where Ae Hee Lee says in (Dis)ambiguation: Please, I can't say America without noticing/its first button is in the wrong hole.

It is lines like that which pierced me, and this collection is full of affecting beauty.

I certainly might have liked this book a lot, I think there was potential. I like books that are a bit odd. But I had trouble getting into it. The choppy writing that jumped all over the place made me dizzy. I couldn't stay focused. I would check out newer books by this author, maybe but this one didn't do it for me. It's too bad because I loved the idea and the setting.

The book starts off with a story that made me feel a deep sympathy for a secondary character, watching as the main character and narrator did everything she could to hide her past.

In one story a student contemplates the question "is it worse to be cruel to a dog than to a flea?"

In another, a woman faces her ex husband's widow and just can't seem to forgive her for marrying her husband.

These stories are somewhat connected by a fictional book written by the fictional Chaykovskya, a character of Treadway's own invention.

It's clear in these stories that the author understands people and the things that make them tick. Characters are flawed. They hold grudges. They give into temptations. They fail. They grapple with themselves. They wonder "what kind of person am I?" In Divertimento, a character from an earlier story wonders if there is really any meaning to life, while her companion loses patience with her "pity party." I liked this story in particular because it is so similar to the conversations I have in my head with myself, that inner struggle to find meaning and hope, while pessimism tells me it's all for nothing.

I think Jessica Treadway's strong suit is the way she builds these realistic characters. And so I really liked these stories.

Just finished my advance copy of The Partition by Don Lee. It's short stories that explore Asian American identity. The reason I like them so much is because the characters are so flawed and real. I even sort of hated the main character in one of the stories. She was a piece of work, but I loved that the writing stirred those feelings in me.

It ends in a three-cycle story about an actor, which brought up a lot of the issues in the industry surrounding actors of color. In the very last one the actor wonders about his purpose in life which I found to be genuine and relatable.

Definitely recommend to those who enjoy short stories.

I'm writing this immediately after I've finished the book. I am emotional.

Kody is not like the other boys in his Kentucky town. He doesn't like sports, or hunting. Instead he likes to knit, crochet, sew, and watch The Golden Girls reruns with his nanny who is raising him because his mother had a drug addiction.
Kody is a character you root for the whole way. He is such a good, kind, loving teen. When he learns a family secret, his life changes, and my heart ached for him so much throughout this novel. I wanted to give the boy a hug.

Kody tries so hard to take care of his mother. Kody loves his grandmother so much. Kody has a secret, and it involves his love for Dolly Parton. I love this about him. I love everything about him. He goes to church every Sunday and has one good friend, but he knows the town wouldn't accept him if they knew who he really was. But would his grandmother still look at him the same way? Would his best friend understand?

Needlework had me hooked from start to finish. It's such a beautiful book with a beautiful emotional ending.

Here are letters from one woman to another woman - Naomi - whom she loves. The letters are in the form of beautiful poems. The letters are dated from 2016 to 2018, the narrator writing about her day, her life, her desires for Naomi. Some of my favorite lines:

"All my life, I have measured my days by the gestures of a beloved."

"When I imagine touching you I rename myself: animal."

"I long to trade our body heat back and forth, raising both our temperatures."

And a couple of my favorite overall poems:

December 11. 2016
A friend has just left her girlfriend.

Each time there is the beginning, she said, where I am best - where I am ways sure.

The trouble, she said, is with everything in between.

I once thought all I ever wanted was the trouble [...]

December 14, 2016
[...] Naomi I have built my life in the shape of a house that my grandmother would know how to keep.

Realizing this I long to unbroken it. [...]

*****
The Naomi Letters sings to me, and the sound is like no other. I adored these letter poems. I devoured them. I savored them and I will cherish them. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to read them.

A young woman named Ella goes missing in Thailand, and six years later the mother who gave her up propositions Elena, the daughter of a friend, to uncover what happened by rewriting Ella's journals. Ella took off to Thailand when she learned the truth about her biological mother giving her up. Siobhan, the biological mother, puts Elena up in Paris on a stipend, and Elena puts her dissertation on hold and dives right in.
The book goes back and forth between Elena's stay in Paris, and the rewritings of Ella's journals. Both of them are lost girls: Ella didn't know who she really was after she found out about her adoption, and Elena has gaps in her memory as she grieves her mother who died six years earlier.

The rewriting of Ella's journals were interesting, vivid. My desire to get to know Elena better also kept me turning the page, but there isn't as much of her as I would have liked. At times things felt very slow, but towards the end I couldn't put it down, and the last words on the last page were just beautiful.

Narcissus Nixon is about a Hope Townsend, a young woman who loves animals and isn't as great with people. The book follows her through a stretch of years spanning her adulthood from college age to 40. Throughout these years, Brooks Nixon makes appearances in the form of news headlines and interviews. Nixon wrote advice about love and how to get a man to commit, and then one day did a 180 and started promoting anti-monogamy. This has a bit of influence over Hope.
While nothing major happens in the book, Hope is a relatable character, and I felt understanding towards her with her jobs and her messed up relationships with men. I think a lot of people might see a little bit of themselves in Hope; years pass with Hope at the same jobs, involved in the same old relationships. It's not exciting, but it is believable. Though there isn't a great deal of growth for Hope, Narcisuss Nixon at least, isn't full of the clichés we're all used to, and for that I like it.

I'm writing this right after I finished reading Heart Sister. It's such a touching story. Emmitt's twin sister Minnie dies in an accident, and she was registered as an organ donor, so she saved lives after her death.
Emmitt's whole life is turned upside down. The people he thought were his friends stop talking to him. His father won't say Minnie's name, and his mother has completely clocked out - she won't get off the couch.

Emmitt likes to make films and comes up with the idea to track down the people who received organs from Minnie. He wants to make a film to help his parents feel better. He wants this so bad that he does some crazy things to track these people down. He imagines how inspiring the film will be, but when he meets each person, learning each story, things aren't so perfect.
It's his "heart sister" he is the most concerned with. Unfortunately, although they exchange letters, Emmitt's heart sister does not wish to meet him. But Emmitt won't give up that easy as he tracks down Minnie's heart despite the recipient's wishes, and he gets into a bit of trouble, only to find out something devastating.
Heart Sister is such a touching story filled with unique characters, and touching moments. I loved the idea for Emmitt's project, and I loved some of the people he met. It was heartbreaking that his parents essentially abandoned him, leaving him so desperate to fix things. In the end, Emmitt really needed to go on this journey to let go of his sister. I was so touched show more throughout the book, and I won't forget it. show less

The Theory of Flight has an undeniable magic realism quality to it without having much magic actually happen within its pages.

I like the interconnectedness of the various characters, though on that note there are a *lot* of characters; about six of them are introduced on the first page alone, so I had moments where it was tough to keep up; luckily there is a list of characters listed before the prologue, and I did have to go back and look at it a few times until I got into the groove.

Apart from that, there are a lot of big issues such as liberation, and HIV; the book takes place throughout different years in an unnamed African country (possibly Zimbabwe?), and is meant to center around Imogen Zula Nyoni - known as Genie - and the people who shaped her life. This is done really beautifully, but because of there being so many characters I didn't really find myself connecting with Genie. The back of the book says that Genie is "a woman with gifts that transcend time and space" and in the pages we are told over and over how special she is, but we are not shown enough what makes her so special until much later on.

In some ways, the book takes its time unfolding, as things occur that are not explained until chapters later, but in a way that makes sense and feels organic.

I think the book's true magic is in the interwoven storylines, the intimate look into the lives of the characters, learning more about each through the eyes of others. It's difficult to review this book without show more giving much away, but suffice it to say - despite my few qualms - it is a smart, unique read, beautifully told. Ndlovu's "voice" is distinct and unforgettable, and I would gladly read more of her work. show less

Allie is in her early forties working as a ghostwriter, with landscaping jobs in between. She loses a really big job that would have gotten her a better rental for herself and her young son Cassidy who she is raising on her own. Then she lands another job writing for Lana Breban, a high-profile lawyer slash women's rights activist. Lana needs a memoir written about raising her son in order to soften up her image, but she doesn't give Allie much to work with.

Feminism is a strong theme throughout the book, but the execution is not always great. I was getting the idea the author tried too hard, at times feeling forced.
This stops the book from reaching its full potential. There are times later in the book, however, when it's just right; when Allie grows as a character.

The ghostwriter plot is an interesting one. I felt engaged during these parts. It felt like a little inside look and made me wonder how many memoirs are ghostwritten and how much of what's in them is true.
Another thing I liked is the relatability of the main character. Allie, like a lot of us, is just trying to get her stuff together and make a good life for herself and her son. There are times when she feels left out and not at all like an adult, times when it seems everyone knows what they're doing except her. I think readers would feel sympathetic toward her and her journey. The relatability of the main character is really where the book shines, and Allie's growth makes it worth the read.

This coming-of-age story about a young black girl living in the racist south in the early 20th century is a gripping novel. From the beginning it took hold of me and did not let me go.

Ruth-Ann Weathering grows up, falls in love, and gets married to an older man, a man who pursues knowledge and strives for a better life. But it's not easy. There are men who won't stand for a black man trying to live a good life.

There are a few things in the book that make it feel less like a coming-of-age, and more like a thriller, but I don't want to give any it away. Suffice it to say, there are villains who very much come off the page, villains you can practically *smell.* When there isn't a lot of action, the novel is wonderfully descriptive. The writing style took a little bit of getting used to, but I really enjoyed it.

Gabriela gives great insight in Bewitching the Elements. She covers everything from tarot, meditation, and crystals, to chakras, herbs, and even fashion.

Each element of course gets its own chapter, and within each chapter are different journal prompts, and tarot spreads to try out. These things help you get in touch with not only the element you want to work with, but with your own self. In each chapter, Gabriela gives different meditations for working with the element, and she talks a little bit about a few tarot cards with the corresponding element, such as Swords for Air, and Pentacles for Earth.

Reading Bewitching is like being spoken to by a trusted wise and magical friend or mentor. The language is friendly; I felt like she was talking right to me, and like she liked and respected me.

I tried out each tarot spread and got some good readings out of them. I also thought the meditations were easy to do, and felt really good doing them. The journal prompts helped me look within and I got to know myself better.

All in all, the book was great at helping me work with the elements, and it gave me a lot of confidence in my craft.

Trowbridge Road by Marcella Pixley takes place in 1983 during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when not much was known about the disease. June Bug Jordan's father contracted the illness and passed away, leaving her with a frantic mother who fears germs and won't leave the house after his passing.
They spend hours cleaning the "disgustingness" around the house, using bleached, and going through many pairs of latex gloves. If June gets very dirty, she must bathe in hot bleach water.

One day June befriends Ziggy, a boy who moves in with his Nana Jean when his mother doesn't feel she can take care of him anymore, due to him being bullied, and her having her own issues.
He has a really big imagination, and offers June a beautiful friendship where the two of them can get away from the world and all their problems.

There is a big theme of love, of people caring for other people even though they themselves are going through hard times. That's what is really at the heart of this book. The love shown to June was so achingly beautiful, and the ending made my heart swell.

It was my favorite kind of book to read as a middle grade kid, and it is still my favorite. I found myself empathizing deeply with these characters. I found myself moved to tears. Trowbridge Road shows that there can be love and hope in the darkest of times.

*this review is also on my blog

I have never read a book quite like this. It has some post apocalyptic scifi vibes, with 13 year old Zert Cage getting in trouble with the law for playing "Trash War" with his best friend. He takes off his O mask briefly, exposing himself to smallpox, an epidemic killing people in Low City DC who can't afford the vaccine.
When Zert's father agrees to have himself and Zert shrunken down to thumb size in order to save Zert from the possibility of life in prison, everything changes.
I liked Zert as a character. He's a regular relatable 13 year old. It was interesting to see him adjusting to giving up technology completely to live outside where bugs are farmed, and eaten. He and his father had a difficult time fitting in, which is what the book mainly focuses on.
The characters are good, and the setting and circumstances made it a lot of fun to read. Toss in a family betrayal, and you've got a good book.

I requested this book because I am really interested in the topic of traveling carnivals in the time when the performers were made up largely of “freaks” (I love the 1932 film “Freaks”) – people born different, with deformities unnamed and misunderstood.

From the Midway is made up of a series of short stories – all connected – each one focusing on a different character from Beasleys’ Traveling Amusements, whether it be one of the Beasleys, one of the performers, or one of the workers. And each story gives us the background of the character – how they got to be in the show (or in the Beasleys’ case, why the carnival was started), and how they interact with others.

I enjoyed From the Midway for each personal story, and the way Seligman touched my heart with these characters who are so humanly flawed. There wasn’t anything I found wrong with the book; every story felt complete, from the story of the man covered in scales, to one of the dancing girls, to a man who bites the heads off of live chickens (the latter made me a bit squeamish). The reader even gets a glimpse behind the scenes, learning that what you see isn’t always what you get.

But the book isn’t about “freaks” or even the carnival so much as it is about redemption – people who were born in a cruel world, treated unfairly, misunderstood, and only seeking to escape to a place where they can turn their downfalls into their own triumphs, perhaps a place where they belong. It doesn’t show more always work out that way, but that’s what makes these stories so good. They are genuine. An excellent study in human nature.

(Review appears on my blog, paperbackpropensity.wordpress.com) show less

Nate and his friends Paul, and Dodge were supposed to go trekking to a remote campsite - his first time in winter without his father. Four months before the trip is supposed to happen, Dodge disappears in a boating accident on Ghost Lake. When the time arrives, Paul gets grounded and can't go, and Nate decides to make the trip by himself.

He is haunted by memories of Dodge, hoping to find him. What he finds is the place occupied by strangers who have escaped from a maximum security prison. Wondering how they knew where to find the cabin, Nate must now find a place to hide until a blizzard passes.

The Starlight Claim is paced well, and is suspenseful and thrilling. A big family secret is revealed, and unexpected things keep popping up, changing the game. Nate is a strong character - smart, and skilled. It's exciting to see how he survives, faces challenges, and tries to keep himself safe, all the while grieving his friend, facing flashbacks, nightmares, and guilt.
It's a quick and satisfying read, and if you're an adult who enjoys YA, you won't be disappointed in this one.

Confident Poppy is crushed when a photo of her as Rosie the Riveter is taken and Photoshopped on a nasty subreddit targeting fat people. She retreats, abandoning her awesome wardrobe, and leaving her roller derby team.
Chicken Girl is a heartwarming book that has a lot of really funny moments; every time Poppy told her twin brother Cam to tell her something funny, I had to write the joke down so I could laugh about it again later. Still, the book touches on a lot of really tough issues, managing to be 3 dimensional even though the book is so short.
Poppy becoming cynical and developing a habit of looking at videos of people doing horrible things is something relatable in today's world.
Though the book could have benefited from being longer in order to more fully flesh out certain things, Chicken Girl is deep and hopeful. When Poppy meets new people through six year old Miracle, Poppy's life is changed. She spends much of the book a bit of a naive teenager, but her new friends open her eyes. She learns that people have gone through worse and come out better for it. She learns you don't have to let the world make you bitter. She learns hope and friendship, and trust. There is some romance in the book, but it's Poppy's relationship with those around her that are the strengths in Chicken Girl. The heart, humor, and growth make this a great book for teens.

As I am writing this, I JUST finished reading A Divided Mind by M. Billiter.

Description: " What if the only friend you have isn't real?

When the voices in his head begin to make sense, high school senior Branson Kovac turns to the one friend he's still got... only to discover he's not really there."

Okay, so this book is being called a psychological thriller. I do not know why. It is not a thriller. It is about a high school senior with schizoaffective disorder (more on that in a sec), and his mother, who loves her children fiercely and would do anything for them; the book goes back and forth between Branson's point of view, and his mother Tara's.

While reading A Divided Mind, I found it really easy to sit there and keep reading without stopping to check my phone, or feed myself. It was gripping. Branson and Tara both have strong voices, and the pacing is just right.

Billiter dedicated the book to her son, who, like Branson, was a senior in high school when he confessed to his mother that he was hearing voices.
Because of this, I felt comfortable that the topic would be covered respectfully and realistically.
And it was.

I really liked this book, I loved Tara and her dedication to her children. Her kids are her world, and I really felt for her. Branson also had my heart. He was really a good kid.

I only have two problems with this book: The first is that it is said twice that Branson has schizoaffective disorder, but it was used interchangeably with schizophrenia. They are not show more the same thing.
The second is the epilogue. I wish I hadn't read it. It just hit me really hard, and not in a way that I liked.

But I don't want you to let that stop you from reading A Divided Mind, because it IS really good, and so worth it. show less

I loved this book. I loved the sibling relationship between the twins, their support, their loyalty to each other.
I loved the kindness they were shown from people they never would have expected.

And then there is the trauma Greta had. It was handled so well by the author, the anxiety, the shame.

This is a really touching book, and I loved it.

This Johnny Allan is magnetic, not just to the characters in the book, but to the reader as well.
The screen on his cell phone breaks one day, and he decides he isn't going to replace it. He starts noticing more details around him, and he finds that he likes not being able to be reached.
The book is being told from the point of view of Alan, married to Amelia, who believes a new age is coming. It is in their life he enters, and alters; he visits the couple so frequently, that his friends start turning up at their apartment when they can't find him.
There are parties, and day trips, and it is all very glamorous and bohemian. I was dazzled.
It's a pretty quick read, one that makes you look inside yourself, largely due to the talk of this day and age, where we are all glued to our smartphones, all of us accessible to our friends 24/7.
I can't help but wonder what freedom I would have if not for phones and tablets. I can't even remember the last time I went over to someone's house just to catch up.

The fun part about this book is that it releases January 1, 2019 which is an important date in the book. That day, you'll be able to find a playlist on YouTube of songs related to the theme of Johnny Allan.
I'll be tuning in, and I hope you will too.

This book about two young girls growing up in vastly different worlds (one growing up in a brothel, the other dealing with bullies) is an engrossing novel about the harsh realities of human trafficking, and rising above obstacles.

When Grace becomes the victim of an online attack, she has nowhere to turn to; she never was good at making friends, and the only one she had, Tina, has moved away. Trying to keep it together, she finds a way to cope, a way that she cannot share with anyone.

Then there is Noor, who grew up in a brotherly, but whose mother finds a way to send her to school despite also telling Noor over and over again that she cannot escape her fate.

Grace and Noor's path eventually cross, and their lives are changed forever.

Fifteen Lanes is an engrossing novel dealing with really tough, heavy issues, but still leaving some hope. I could not put it down, and yet my heart ached so many times.

Fifteen Lanes is a book that I will never forget.

*For anyone who needs trigger warnings, there is mention of sexual violence, and self harm

Picture it: an ex married couple going in holiday with their 7 year old child, as well as their new partners.

Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well that is exactly what happens in Caroline Hulse's novel "The Adults."

Though no one can agree on whose idea it was, ex married couple Matt and Claire book a trip to the cheesy Happy Forest with their seven year old daughter Scarlett (and her giant purple invisible rabbit named Posey), Alex, who is Matt's scientist girlfriend, and Patrick, Claire's boyfriend.

As you might expect, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Scarlett hates Alex, Alex finds it impossible to hate Claire (she's just so nice), and the list goes on.

Adding to the hilarity, there are samples of the Happy Forest brochure, a place that is a stark contrast to how this melded family really feel.

We get only Scarlett, Alex, and Patrick's point of view, never really knowing what is going on in the minds of the ex couple.
Alex is perhaps my favorite character, the one I found the most relatable; trying to be logical, trying to make sense of it all.

The book ends where it began which us with a call to the police. But I won't spoil it for you. Give it a read!

You know how you meet someone, they don't give you the best first impression, but after a while you realize that they are actually fantastic?

That's me with Amy Lilwall's The Biggerers. At first, I was bombarded with various character names and different points of view. I felt as though I'd opened up the book right in the middle. A worrisome thing for me, because A) I am a slow reader, and B) this book is over 500 pages. I did not want to have to sit through 500- plus pages of confusion.

But I stuck with it, because the concept of shrunken down people being kept as pets is way too cool a concept to not explore.

Yes, tiny calf-high people, called "littlers" are bought from a company called Billbridge & Minxus. Littlers are not considered people - they cannot even speak aloud in front of "biggerers" or communicate with them in any way.

The Biggerers takes place in a dystopian future. Instead of smart phones, they speak into their wrists, and "bleep" rather than text. Hardly anyone writes or uses paper. Hardly anyone has children. People live into their 130s.

The book follows littlers Jinx, and Bonbon, who spend their days collecting things like rocks, and feathers, depending on the day.

But, where do they come from? And if they're not human, then why do they look exactly like human beings, only smaller?

The littlers are lovable, and when they realize that they're just like the biggerers only smaller, things start Happening. Because there is something Billbridge & Minxus don't show more want people to know.

Though things aren't exactly clear in the beginning, it is definitely worth sticking to; more and more things begin to unfold, the story making more and more sense, all culminating to a conclusion that leaves hope for a brighter future.

*This review also appears on my blog, www.paperbackpropensity.wordpress.com show less

Jolene, named after the woman in the Dolly Parton song, has one best friend in life - her older brother Matt. Their parents are not together, and their mother, a wannabe singer, isn't the most stable parent around; Jolene doesn't even call her "mom," but by her name.
When Matt leaves, Jo finds trouble navigating his absence. She skips school, retreats into herself, and tries to find comfort in music.
How Far we go and How Fast is a story about loss, and the ways in which grief presents itself.
Jolene is a character to root for. She spends a lot of time in her head, but avoids the thoughts that she most needs to let herself have.
The winter setting perfectly reflected Jo's situation, as well as her state of mind, and I enjoyed the cast of characters - Ivy, who sticks herself to Jolene in the familiar way that an extrovert adopts an introvert.
Maggie, Jolene's mother, with all her drinking and karaoke; Jolene's English teacher, Ms. Groves, who doesn't give up on Jolene.
Finding herself with new friends, Jo begins to self destruct a bit, but one can only avoid the truth for so long; the book comes to a satisfying and hopeful conclusion, and Jolene's story is not one to forget.

In her first book, Never Have I Ever, Katie, still single and a virgin at 25, chronicled her unsuccessful love life.
In her second book, Would you Rather? she digs deep and realizes something big about herself: she is not straight.

In "Introvert Problems" Katie discusses her introversion and anxiety, the latter of which she sought professional help for.

I found this piece to be the most relatable for myself, underlining sentences and putting exclamation points in the margins. SOMEBODY GETS IT.

Katie also writes about her worries that she's "not gay enough," something that I think many people can relate to.

In Women's Studies 101, Heaney briefly talks about feminism, acknowledging how different it is for her as a cis white women than it is for women of color.

She explores how dynamics in friendships change when one enters a relationship, thinking that she wouldn't be one of those people who hang around less when they enter a relationship, and realizing it's not that simple.

Though I did not spend my life identifying as straight only to realize that I am anything but, Would You Rather? made a point for me that is the truth: that we can surprise ourselves, that getting to know yourself can happen at any age, and most importantly, everyone has a different path, and there is not one that is superior to others.
We are never really done growing up.