#readdiverse2017

[bertielikesbooks]

Currently Reading: Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie This is beautifully written and I’m particularly enjoying reading Ifemelu’s experiences in America. Really looking forwards to seeing Chimamanda speak at Women of the World in London in March!

[mevaughan]

Book Review: I Am the Silence by J.A. Ironside

Genre: Supernatural Drama, Urban Fantasy, Y.A.

My Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Goodreads Synopsis: A year after breaking the Pattern, Emlynn no longer fights her gift. She’s become adept at sending the Dead on to rest. Perhaps a little too good – her overconfidence is about to lead to a fall... Sent to investigate reports of a haunting, Emlynn finds herself facing a crushing embarrassment, and worse, a deep betrayal. Deciding it’s time to leave the supernatural alone for a while, she travels to Dorset to stay with her childhood best friend, Beth. The Milton Abbey festival of music should take her mind off everything; Ghosts, betrayals and disappointments. Except Beth has changed. She’s definitely running with a new crowd – a cooler, dangerous group whose leader, Rhys, has an unhealthy interest in Emlynn. As if that isn’t enough, Emlynn’s violin tutor turns out to be a young man she used to know. Lucas has definitely changed – hostile, volatile and rude, but also intense and disturbingly compelling. That’s one mystery Emlynn can’t leave alone. Torn between her connection with Beth’s troubled younger sister and the terrifying black beast that stalks Emlynn in her dreams, there’s no rest for the weary psychic. Facing the reality of what Beth is mixed up in, Emlynn may have finally picked a fight she cannot win... 

My Review:   

It’s taking me an appalling long time to write this review, possibly because I’ve found it difficult to express how I feel about this book. After several failed attempts to get it onto paper in an orderly fashion, I have decided to just splurge and see where that goes. Before I begin, it’s important that I give you some context to my feelings: I have an aversion to unplanned sequels. In my experience they tend to spoil the ending of the previous book, usually because there’s been no room left for plot or character growth. As such, we often have characters just falling back into old habits (like they didn’t just spend a whole book getting over them), and undermining their own happiness in order to create a forced drama. This infuriates me. There have been plenty of books where I haven’t touched the sequel, simply because frankly—I don’t want to know. If it ended happy, let’em be happy. Right—now that I’ve got that off my chest, you can now understand the magnitude of what I mean when I say that I loved I Am the Silence. And I mean—I loved it. From the moment I started, I could barely put it down. Whilst the first book was planned as a stand-alone, Ironside left plenty of room for growth and development in world and her characters, all of whom are complex and endearing. I was sucked straight back into Emlynn’s life and was pleased to discover a new side to the heroine we had left in I Belong to the Earth. Gone is the frightened young woman who wanted nothing to do with the supernatural. This Emlynn is now in the full-swing of her new occupation. Confident, with a renewed (if still, a little strained) relationship with her family, Emlynn is practically throwing herself into danger. Which is fine, until she gets in too deep. Heading back to Dorset to take part in a music festival, Emlynn reconnects with her old childhood friend Beth, only to discover Beth has…changed. Now Emlynn is up against something she’s never faced, and she’s more alone than ever. Big Black Dogs, terrifying new villains and a dark, ancient magic – this book has got everything. What really sells it to me, however, is how Ironside couples the supernatural with the stark realities of life, which she writes with refreshing originality and perception. For me, it was as if she was drawing on actual events in my life—though I hasten to add, nothing of my life actually resembles the events in this book! Frustration, loneliness, excitement, grief, the cold feeling of reuniting with someone you used to love and no longer recognising them – Ironside understands and writes emotions beautiful. Nothing is ever over-dramatic or undersold. These are characters with personality, faults and virtues, so real they could be the people we pass on the streets. The people we know. They could even be us. So, in short – how would I review I Am the Silence? Utterly engrossing. Totally unique. A brilliant addition to the series.

[ultrabookgeek]

So excited for #DiverseAthon this year! It’s running from Jan 22nd to Jan 29th. This event simply asks readers to “celebrate diversity in literature by reading diverse books all week”. You can get ideas for reads and participate in discussion on social media by using and following the hashtag #diverseathon and #readdiverse2017 and the @diverseathon twitter.

Some of my picks are these two fantastic books that were released recently Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson and Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins.

Are you participating? Let me know and show me what you plan on reading!!

[kaylarosenzines]

"All in Your Head" #3 Smoothly Navigates the Intersections and Ambiguities of Disabled Queer (A)sexuality and Intimacy

“All in Your Head” #3 Smoothly Navigates the Intersections and Ambiguities of Disabled Queer (A)sexuality and Intimacy

All in Your Head Issue #3: (A)sexuality, Intimacy, and Identity has some of the most consistent quality I’ve seen in an edited zine. This is what an anthology should be. The content (poetry, prose, visual art) is all great, and each piece impresses me for different reasons. And there’s a lot in there! If I’m counting correctly, it’s 94 pages long, which in my zine collection is only rivaled by…

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[crumbcatbooks-blog]

The Reader

After a brutal murder orphaned Sefia as a child, she has lived her life running from authorities and anyone who may get too close. But when her mentor  is taken, Sefia is left to fend for herself using the only clue she has, a rectangular object full of paper. In Sefia’s world, reading and writing don’t exist, and Sefia does not know how important the book in her hands is to the people who killed her parents.  Along her way, Sefia saves and befriends the loyal Archer, a traumatized young gladiator whose past has rendered him mute, but not unable to communicate. These two friends face magical and violent foes, battles on the high seas, and slavery- all while Sefia teaches herself to read.

I highly recommend this book to anyone* looking for something fresh in the YA fantasy genre, especially if you’re looking for gorgeous style and diverse characters (Sefia is described as asian, Archer has a disability, and there are women and people of color in power positions throughout the story).Scent Notes: gun oil, freshly carved bark, and a well tended library

[crumbcatbooks-blog]

Under a Painted Sky

Samantha, a Chinese American, and Annamae, a runaway slave, flee West towards California. Annamae is running from slavery and to find her brother, while Samantha is fleeing an accidental crime. Both girls are looking for a new start and freedom that they just can’t have in Missouri in 1845. This is a fun adventure that has a diverse cast of characters, explores time period issues through a race and gender lens, and shows the power of female friendships! A great book for teen readers* and adults.

*CW: Book has more than one attempt at sexual violence perpetrated by adult men against young women. Also death, slavery, and murder are a regular element.

[kaylarosenzines]

[image description: The cover of Juliet Takes a Breath, an illustration of Juliet Palante’s head and shoulders from behind. She has medium brown skin and long black hair put up in a bun, with an undercut. The title of the book is shaved in her hair.]I’ve always struggled with the coming-of-age genre. From my complete alienation from Holden Caulfield to my disappointing disconnects with lesbian…

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