Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar, Michelle Schusterman
Series: n/a
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Point
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
Drummer Phoebe Byrd prides herself on being one of the guys, and she's ready to prove it by kicking all their butts in the snare solo competition at the Indoor Percussion Association Convention.What do you get when you gather four different cons under one roof? You get a fun story of friendship, which simply charmed the pants off of me.
Writer Vanessa Montoya-O'Callaghan has been looking forward to the WTFcon for months. Not just because of the panels and fanfiction readings but because WTFcon is where she'll finally meet Soleil, her internet girlfriend, for the first time.
Taxidermy assistant Callie Buchannan might be good at scooping brains out of deer skulls, but that doesn't mean it's her passion. Since her parents' divorce, her taxidermist father only cares about his work, and assisting him at the World Taxidermy and Fish-Carving Championships is the only way Callie knows to connect with him.
When a crazy mix-up in the hotel lobby brings the three girls together, they form an unlikely friendship against a chaotic background of cosplay, competition, and carcasses!
- Pro: Books featuring female friendships always rank high with me, and I really felt the love among these three. It didn't matter that they were so different from each other or not even attending the same convention, they saw someone in need, responded, and a friendship grew from there. Girls supporting girls for the win!
- Pro: The cons were pretty awesome. I learned so much "attending" the percussion competition and taxidermy convention. These are worlds I am not too well versed in, but the information was shared in such a way, that it was quite fascinating.
- Pro: WTFcon was also a ton of fun. This was more in my comfort zone, and I could totally relate to all the con related talk. The contests, the panels, the nerdy talk, and all the events brought back memories of all the fun conventions I have attended in the past, and it really made me want to attend an event again soon.
- Pro: The main characters in the book was simply wonderful. They were teens, who were still figuring stuff out. They made mistakes, and learned from those mistakes. Each character grew, and learned to see things a little differently, and be a little more open minded. They forgave and atoned, and I am all about people being able to do those things.
- Pro: The three authors did a wonderful job tying their three stories together. At first, each characters' story plays out on its own, but then, worlds collided, and that's were it took off for me. I enjoyed flipping between the three POVs and absolutely adored the interview portion of the story.
- Pro: There is like zero lag in this story. It was highly entertaining, amusing, heartwarming, and adorable.
- Pro: I love people who chase their passion, and these three each had something they were super passionate about. It was awesome to see them working towards these dreams, and was sort of inspiring too.
*ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
Elizabeth Acevedo
Series: n/a
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Verse fiction
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.I know a lot of people are not huge fans of verse fiction, but I really enjoy it. Combine evocative poetry with a great story and an incredible heroine, and you would have The Poet X.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
- Pro: Xiomara's was always being made to feel ashamed and "less than", but she was so much "more than". I had no idea where she got it from, but this girl dug deep within herself for the strength she showed. She had little to no support, yet she was able to keep her head on straight and rise to the occasion.
- Pro: Acevedo takes on a lot of issues pertaining to abuse, sexism, rape culture, body shaming, cultural norms, and religion among others, which she approached honestly and thoughtfully.
- Pro: The romance was quite sweet. It had its ups and downs, but eventually, Aman won me over.
- Pro: My emotions! My emotions! I was happy, sad, mad, glad. I wanted to do a happy dance, punch the wall, and cry a river. So many feels.
- Con: I developed an early distaste for Xiomara's family. They were harsh, judgmental, emotionally unavailable, hypocritical, abusive, and stifling.
- Pro: BUT, they grew a little during the story, and the changes were positive.
- Pro: Xiomara felt like she had no voice, and was waging her war with her fists instead. It was incredible to watch her transform, and see her utilize poetry as a way to explore her emotions and express herself.
- Pro: Thank goodness there were some characters in this book, who were team Xio. I especially loved Ms. Galiano and Father Sean. Ms. Galiano was a source of encouragement and fostered Xiomara's love for poetry, while Father Sean listened to her and offered advice.
- Pro: I really liked the ending. I felt like I saw the direction that many of these characters were moving it, and it was all positive, which always makes me happy.
I got a little emotional as Acevedo talked about why she wrote this book.
Have you read any of these books?
Let us know in the comments!
The Pros of Cons looks so cute! I love the female friendship idea and it looks like the story is very upbeat! Great review!
ReplyDeleteIt was lots of fun, but each young woman had a serious issue they were struggling with and I loved that they were able to confront it with the help and support of their friends.
DeleteI love novels in verse. I’ll have to check out The Poet X. Great reviews!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Me too, and this one was so strong and emotional. I sort of wish I had gone with the audiobook, because I just found out Acevedo narrated it, and I don't think my delivery in my head was as powerful as her's would have been.
DeleteNovels in verse have been some of my favorites so The Poet X is on my Mother's Day wish list. I love Kwame Alexander's and Jason Reynold's books in verse.
ReplyDeleteI finally read my first Jason Reynold's book this year, and it delivered the emotional gut punch I was expecting. I like Sone and Hopkins a lot too.
DeleteBoth these reads sound great to me. I love this format of reviewing. You totally convinced me to pick up The Pros of Cons even thou I had never even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteYeah! It was a fun and heartwarming read. If you are looking to laugh, smile, and feel happy, you should give it a try.
DeleteBoth of these are books that I really want to read, so that's awesome that you enjoyed both of them. The Pros of Cons sounds great for a summer read.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
The Pros of Cons would definitely fit the summer read category, because it takes place outside of school and it's fun and fairly light.
DeleteThe Pros of Cons sounds pretty adorable. I think I'll definitely have to check that one out. Love the idea of all of those different cons!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
It was terribly adorable and fun. I loved every second of it. There were the three cons the characters attended, and then a fourth, a toddlers in tiaras type pageant, which provided lots of comedic moments.
DeleteThe Poet X has been on my radar for awhile now, and I cannot wait to read it! I've only heard wonderful things about it, but it also sounds like a really beautiful book. I'm so happy to see you liked it, too!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of the other book, and probably wouldn't have picked it up based on the cover alone, but I love what you said about it. Strong female friendships are always fun, and I love reading about them! Thanks so much for sharing. :)
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?
The Poet X is so worth your time. There is a lot of really powerful stuff in there, which I connected to as a women. I guess this was sort of my girl power edition, because both books focused on females and issues pertaining to females in particular.
DeleteThe Pros of Cons sounds fun. :) I love how it's centered on cons... and not just one but multiple cons. And the fact that it seems like it all wove together seamlessly is definitely a credit to the authors!
ReplyDeleteAll sorts of adobe fun was had. Considering this book was written by three different people, they blended the stories of these three young women very well.
DeleteThe Pros of Cons! That made me smile soooo much! It sounds utterly wonderful and the premise! Be still my fangirl heart, I love cons!
ReplyDeleteI sort of thought it would be fun and cute based on the cover, but it had a lot of depth too. Dealing with feeling disconnected from a parent, first love, self introspection. I thought it was done well, and liked that the authors were able to keep the book fun and light, while still delivering some heft.
Deleteboth look so interesting and very different of each other, I now really want The Pros of Cons, it looks like such a fun read for the summer. Will keep an eye out for Poet X as well!!
ReplyDeleteThese books were different from each other in style and weight. The Poet X is a more serious book, The Pros of Cons a LOT lighter, but both examined issues pertaining to women and I am a fan of that.
DeleteI have read The Poet X and I agree with a lot of what you said! I didn't think about it, but you're right - the fact that we have an early distaste for her family is already a bit of a con because we can never learn from those characters in a positive way. The judgment is already there. But I did love a lot of the topics discussed and how well the poetry form fit into things too!
ReplyDeleteAcevedo did an incredible job addressing so many pertinent issues, and I loved the voice she gave Xiomara.
Delete