I have so many Netgalley reviews to post, especially after reading 10 of them during my Netgalley readathon, so here’s another batch of 4 mini reviews!
You can find my previous Netgalley reviews here:
- Netgalley Mini Reviews #1
- Netgalley Mini Reviews #2
- Netgalley Mini Reviews #3
- Netgalley Mini Reviews #4
TJ Klune – The Extraordinaries
This was exactly what I needed right now, such a delight. It has to be the funniest book I’ve read in a while.
Granted, this book won’t be for everyone. It’s not to be taken seriously, and the brand of humour is one that likely won’t work for everyone. It worked really well for me though, and I ended up crying laughing a bunch of times. It’s such a ridiculous book, but in the best way imagineable.
I shipped Nick and Seth right from the beginning, they are so very precious. And so very dense and so very clueless, especially Nick. It takes him ages to realize he even has a crush, and it’s amazing.
Something that made this book extra special was the own voices ADHD rep.
CWs: violence, past death of a parent/grief, homophobia, internalized ableism, use of the d slur, hospital
Adiba Jaigirdar – The Henna Wars
There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding this debut, and it’s so well deserved. This book deals with Nishat, who comes out to her parents and has to deal with them struggling to accept her, as well as cultural appropriation at her school, when she starts a henna design business for a school assignment but one of her classmates does too. It was a fairly heavy book at times, between Nishat’s family’s homophobia, the racist bullying Nishat deals with at school, and her being outed at school, so please be aware of that. But it also had many cute moments, and I really enjoyed it.
What I especially appreciated about this book, is how realistic the relationships between the teenagers are. I vividly remember being a teenager and not really having friendships extend beyond school, and how easily friendships could change and end.
I also really appreciated the sibling relationship in this book. I always love seeing sisters in books who love each other and have each other’s backs.
Rep: Bengali/Bangladeshi lesbian main character, Brazilian-Irish (Afrolatinx) bisexual love interest, Bengali/Bangladeshi side characters, Korean side character
CWs: racism & racist bullying, homophobia & homophobic bullying, public outing, cultural appropriation
Isabella Rotman – A Quick & Easy Guide to Consent
These “Quick & Easy Guides” are so helpful and they tackle difficult subjects in a really lighthearted way. I would very much recommend this new one, which is all about how consent works and why it’s important. I especially appreciated that it distinguishes between basic consent (the right to say no), which is important, but also a pretty low bar, and affirmative consent, which is about more than just saying “yes” or “no”, and is all about communication and sharing wants and needs. I would say this is a must read for anyone, because understanding consent is a must for anyone, not just when it comes to sex.
Rep: non-binary main character, characters of colour, same-gender couples
CWs: discussions of non-consent and sexual violence
Mia Siegert – Somebody Told Me
Somebody told me this book had a non-binary MC, and honestly, that was all I needed to know. The rep was unlike anything I’ve read before and I loved it. It was a very prominent part of the book as well, because Aleks/Alexis changes gender quite frequently, and they discussed their gender feels a lot, which was amazing to see represented.
I did feel like this book was really slow to start. Halfway into it, I still had no clue what direction the book would take, or what exactly the plot was.
That said, the tone of the book really appealed to me, and I had a really hard time putting it down. So despite the plot being slow to start, it was a very quick and engaging read.
CWs: trauma, pedophilia, murder, abuse, sexual assault, (internalized) transphobia, misgendering, (internalized) homophobia, fetishization, bullying, menstruation
Have you read any of these books? Are they on your TBR?
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