Different For Boys

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Thanks Tandem Collective and Walker Books for my review copy.

I can’t say that I would know what it’s like to come to terms with one’s sexuality and the prejudice that can come with identifying in whichever way you choose.

Throughout this story, Ant our MC, shows us that he comes from an area where being queer, isn’t necessarily going to be accepted. He has love for his friend Charlie and he can’t define if what they’ve done together counts as losing his virginity. It’s all very secret and Charlie’s homophobic language suggests that he can’t accept this within himself and/or he thinks he wouldn’t be accepted in the outside world. There’s so much internal conflict within him.

Ant is such a sweet human. Even after Charlie loses it at him, basically outing Ant at school, Ant chose to keep Charlie’s secret. Definitely some heartbreaking scenes during that moment and it makes you sympathise with those who may have to deal with such situations in real life. I think our world is very accepting these days, but there will always be someone out there in the community, who will make their hate known for those who are just trying to be comfortable in their own skin and their sexuality.

This is a very short YA story with much self discovery. The ending was a sweet interaction with Ant and his friend Jack. I also loved Freddie who was full of acceptance. What I loved about Ant was his patience throughout all that happened with Charlie. It was an emotional read and is more suited for teenagers and above.

Unbetrothed

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This author had reached out on TikTok about their book and I’m so glad to have checked this out! If you’re after a romantasy described as Encanto meets the Selection, then this may be for you.

Beatriz is set to be betrothed, though her love of her best friend Lux, stops her from choosing a suitor. She can’t have Lux as he’s already paired to another person. On top of this, Beatriz fails to possess a magical gift - everyone in her kingdom are usually bestowed a gift from the ages 1-5, though at 17, she is still not charmed and sees herself as useless in comparison to others. Marking her words via an oath to the ancient ones, she goes on a secret quest to be granted her magical gifts in the valle de los fantasmas, gets in a sticky situation and is saved by a group of men, who we find out are from a rival kingdom Himzo. As she embarks on her journey with these men, she realises that not everything is as it seems and she has much learning to do about herself and those around her.

This book was well written and I enjoyed the characters. Beatriz was always going to be a stuck up princess who thought she knew better. There was much learning she needed to do and I appreciated her journey. She was flawed and felt her shortcomings, more so than others, because she was in the spotlight.

I loved her maid Laude and cracked up a lot at the things she would say and do, especially when she was with the Himzo group. She was hilarious to read. I kept thinking about what was this Himzo groups angle - they could capture Beatriz at any point and spark some more conflict. All was to be revealed in time and I loved the developing relationships between all of the characters. Zichri was all things you would want in a man - gentle natured, kind, caring, good looking, would take a sword to the chest for you… like he was built to be loved.

Things really pick up around the 70-80% mark when we encounter some betrayal and deceit. I did guess who the culprit was as it was hinted earlier in the book.

This was a really good read and I would love to read more from this author!

Earth: Magic Rediscovered

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I really love the concept of this book as it’s unique to anything I’ve ever read. If you’re after a YA fantasy filled with adventure and magic then this book is for you.

The story follows a young teen Jon as he his forced through a portal by a mysterious man Alfred. Jon's told that he needs to retrieve the Earth magic core by Alfred and that only he can go through the portal. In this world, magic exists in elemental cores - earth, air, fire, water and spirit. Magic spread throughout the world by mages, but one mage wanted magic for their own personal gain, which then corrupted the core of spirit. It was then decided to protect the cores, that they be separated and hidden, though the corruption still impacted the world.

This book gave me lord of the rings vibes in the sense that Jon ventured to unknown lands, met people along the way that helped him on his quest and that he is the chosen one to restore balance in his world. The whole time I kept thinking his mum must be so worried because he went through a portal and the only way to get back was to find the Earth core to reopen the door. I am really not sure why that thought was lingering in my head lol!

I was not expecting the ending and the decision Jon had to make about giving the Earth core to Alfred or not. It seemed like Jon didn't understand the gravity of his decisions nor the consequences. To me, it would have been clear cut, but it makes for drama and now I'm wanting to read the second book. Hoping the author has a release date for it because I'm hanging for it!

All Our Hidden Gifts

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I read this book as it came up as a dark academia rec online. It’s definitely not dark academia and I would class it as more of a paranormal, witchy mystery with hints of horror and folklore.

I enjoyed the concept of this book when Maeve discovers a tarot deck and the mysterious housekeeper card appears in said deck, with a haunting vibe to it. When she gives a tarot reading to her ex best friend Lily and this particular card is drawn. There’s a fight and then Lily disappears. When Lily goes missing your immediate thought is how is this linked in any way to this tarot deck. What is so special about this card and where did it come from?

As Maeve tries to solve this mystery, she delves deeper into witchcraft and the paranormal. She was once a pretty normal teenager and she embraces the supernatural quite quickly. Maeve’s intuition is telling her the housekeeper is involved but she just has to convince her friends that this is real. There are nightmares involving the housekeeper that continues to haunt Maeve’s dreams.

I thought the characters had so much representation from the Filipina best friend Fiona, and Roe exploring his sexuality. There was definitely heavy topics covered in this story and considering this is a YA read, it gave the teenage characters more maturity. You will need to check the triggers as it does deal with homophobia in parts of the story, as well as racism towards the end when Fiona mentions her experience.

There were times when Maeve was frustrating and bratty but she’s a teenager, so I kind of expected it. I enjoyed Fiona and Roe more than Maeve. I thought the characters were developed well and I like them enough to want to keep reading the series.

The book was slow in some parts but overall the story flowed well. I am not sure how the story will continue as I can only suspect that we haven’t seen the last of the housekeeper. Liked how folklore was tied into the story which made it an interesting read.

This Place is Still Beautiful

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I really enjoyed this book as I could personally relate to it. From the racial slurs, to having a passive family that didn’t talk about serious issues, to wanting racism to go away, to feeling shame when I’d fallen to racist remarks, to wanting some form of justice or karma fall onto those that wronged me. It’s great to feel represented and this book highlighted not only a hate crime, but subtle racism or micro aggressions that people are ignorant to, or choose to gloss over, which can be offensive for some.

Didn’t read or watch any reviews on this book, so I was going off the cover, which was beautiful by the way. I wasn’t expecting the love stories for each sister, but I think it adds to the fact that even when falling victim to racism, life still goes on, even all the petty problems that any of us worry about interweaving throughout the day.

I understand the perspective of Annalie and the mum wanting to keep quiet and not deal with the issue - I’m used to this in the past with my own family. It highlighted for me that no matter how much you assimilate into a country, that there are still people out there that won’t like you just for being a particular race. Ignoring it and hoping it will go away, or even hoping it will never happen again, doesn’t really address the issue and discussion should be had. Everyone should feel safe, no matter where they live. With Margaret being a social justice warrior, it’s how I would defend myself these days. I’ve been in too many situations where keeping quiet and bottling these issues just leaves unresolved trauma. I guess I’m used to some Asian families sweeping issues under a rug and never facing a challenging or difficult discussion.

I did find it frustrating that Annalie took a long time to tell her loved ones of who committed the crime when she found out it was her boyfriend’s friends. Pretending everything is okay doesn’t make it okay. The fact that the culprits said because she didn’t look Asian (being half white) that they thought she wouldn’t get offended, touches on the ignorance that we still see today. Because they were targeting her sister who looked more Asian, didn’t make it okay in the slightest, even if a joke. Glad Annalie came to her senses in the end.

If the story continues, would love to know how Margaret and Rajiv go with their relationship, if their mum excepts Rajiv (since she has her own discriminatory tendencies), if we find out more about their dad that abandoned them, see if Annalie explores a relationship with Daniel, how they recover once the culprits are charged and just how life in general goes. I feel this was just a stand alone book so it may not ever happen.