Howdy folks, hope you all had a literary summer. I, for one, read a truly obscene amount of romance novels, so unfortunately the majority of my reviews will be put on hold until my 2022 Rom-Com Round-Up next January. In the meantime, to satiate your desire for my unequivocally hilarious reviews, here are my thoughts on the few books I read this summer that weren't trashy romances from Kindle Unlimited. 

Truly, Devious by Maureen Johnson

Summary from Goodreads:

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.”

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. 

The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

My Thoughts:

Did I read this only because I was leading the summer reading presentation? Yes, yes I did. It was a cute idea, and the aesthetics were absolutely bomb diggity. However, the prose was iffy and much too YA for my tastes, accompanied by a subpar main character and wildly interesting side characters who were not explored quite as well as they could've been. The author also threw in about a million and one subplots in the last few chapters for seemingly no reason, especially since there are four more books in the series. By the end, the main storyline was too convoluted to keep track of, and the juvenile prose and characterization was not enough to make me want to keep up with all the subplots. Overall, this book was absurdly average; I would recommend it only if you're under the age of fifteen.

Circe by Madeline Miller

*Content warning: brief mention of sexual assault

Summary from Goodreads:

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.

My Thoughts:

Immediate five out of five stars. This book is a masterpiece. The prose was brilliant and fluid—overall a significant improvement from Miller's Song of Achilles, both in terms of prose and story as a whole. Unlike Song of Achilles, a book with which I have an exceedingly complicated relationship, Circe was definitively a good and solid take on The Odyssey. Besides the creepy, vaguely statutory rape-y stuff towards the end, Circe was a fantastic character to focus in on, given her plethora of mythology and lack of mainstream stories.

So, okay, yes. The weird age gap stuff. Greek myths are bizarre, incestuous, and incredibly unorganized, and Miller seems to want to focus on every aspect she can gather information on, rather than embellishing or leaving parts out. There is no true mythological accuracy, and I personally feel that she should lean into her often-criticized inaccuracy, if not only for the sake of not having her main character marry her son's half-brother. 

Heartstopper, #1-4 by Alice Oseman

Summary from Goodreads of Heartstopper, Volume 1:

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more...?

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie - the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months - but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...

My Thoughts:

Do I need to say anything other than the fact that I adore this series with my whole entire heart? It is absolutely a must-read for anybody, especially queer teenagers. Oh, how I wish I had read this when I was a young chap. 

Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford

Summary from Goodreads:

It's 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and fifteen-year-old Justine grows up in a family of tough, complicated, and loyal women, presided over by her mother, Lula, and Granny. After Justine's father abandoned the family, Lula became a devout member of the Holiness Church - a community that Justine at times finds stifling and terrifying. But Justine does her best as a devoted daughter, until an act of violence sends her on a different path forever. Crooked Hallelujah tells the stories of Justine—a mixed-blood Cherokee woman—and her daughter, Reney, as they move from Eastern Oklahoma's Indian Country in the hopes of starting a new, more stable life in Texas amid the oil bust of the 1980s. However, life in Texas isn't easy, and Reney feels unmoored from her family in Indian Country. Against the vivid backdrop of the Red River, we see their struggle to survive in a world—of unreliable men and near-Biblical natural forces, like wildfires and tornados—intent on stripping away their connections to one another and their very ideas of home.

In lush and empathic prose, Kelli Jo Ford depicts what this family of proud, stubborn, Cherokee women sacrifice for those they love, amid larger forces of history, religion, class, and culture. This is a big-hearted and ambitious novel of the powerful bonds between mothers and daughters by an exquisite and rare new talent.

My Thoughts:

Great idea, terrible execution. The idea of following multiple women from the same family and tracking their generational trauma as well as their respective situational traumas is absolutely stellar. The vision here is impeccable, but the actual story is so confusingly written. There are no years, no names at the start of a new section, no way to understand whose life you're supposed to be paying attention to until halfway through the chapter. I understand the argument behind a simpler structure and simpler prose for the sake of accessibility, but prose can be simple and accessible while also being understandable and pleasant to read. There were a couple of standout lines, but unfortunately they were so incredibly cliche that keeping note of them simply wasn’t worth it. The book was too short and the characterization was flawed, but with just a little more time and indulgence into each woman, this book really could have been amazing. 

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Summary from Goodreads:

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston's I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.

My Thoughts:

Yet another example that anything Casey McQuiston touches turns to gold. While obviously McQuiston isn't The Best Writer Ever, Shara Wheeler solidifies their spot at the top. I've grown out of YA in the past few years, but although this book was clearly meant for teenagers, the prose didn't read as such, which was so refreshing. The thing that bugs me the most about YA as a genre is writers’ tendency to dumb down the prose and not bother with complex literary devices on the young reader's behalf. McQuiston artfully incorporated a definitively YA novel with masterful prose and storytelling that made the book both accessible and enjoyable to an older audience. I love McQuiston's symbolism; while obvious, it was so much fun to track with my little sticky notes, and when I paid closer attention, it popped up in places I hadn't caught on my first read-through. Shara Wheeler perfectly portrays the reality of high school: teenagers absolutely suck, and I, for one, love it.

Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Summary from Goodreads:

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

My Thoughts:

I love historical queer people. I love complex family dynamics. I love tributes to hometowns. I love a young romance against the backdrop of a greater conflict. I love characters driven by both cultural and social factors. While this book was a little more obviously YA, I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at the prose or structure. I think it was a well-paced, well-thought out novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, and would definitely recommend. 

*QUICK DISCLAIMER: I haven't read most of the following books. They might be terrible. I apologize in advance.*

If You Want Another YA Thriller:

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass, The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto, White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson, They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodwin, Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

If You Want Another Mythology Retelling:

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips, Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin, Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes, Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma, Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi

If You Want Another Queer YA Romance: 

Any of Alice Oseman's books, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, Darius The Great by Adib Khorram, The Heartbreak Bakery by Amy Rose Capetta, Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes, Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie, We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds, How To Excavate A Heart by Jake Maia Arlow