Tag Archives: YA Anthology

June 2025 Reading Round-Up

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Hello dear readers!

I can’t believe it’s July already!  This year has gone by so fast, and I can’t believe we’re half-way through the year.  Reading this month was weird for me.  I felt like I started and stopped a ton of books, and some of the ones I did read, I barely remember, so I don’t have much to say about some of the books I read.  And I have quite a few ARC’s to get through, so over the next few months, you’ll be seeing some longer, individual reviews come through.  I’ll still talk about them in my monthly recaps, but they won’t be super detailed.  Not that I’m super detailed in these posts to begin with, but I definitely won’t be talking about them in the same way as the other books.  Let’s get to the books I read last month!

  • The Moth Girl by Heather Kamins.  I liked this YA contemporary!  Though Anna is diagnosed with a fictional illness, everything that Anna experiences is very real as she adjusts to a life-changing diagnosis.  It’s also nice to see chronic illness that’s not mental illness in a book, and I think that’s something we don’t see a lot of, especially in YA.  I loved the setting, though I’m curious about when the book takes place.  I’d say 90’s, based on the mixtapes and calling people on their home phone, and I can imagine that a mysterious illness pre-internet would be especially scary.  If you’re looking for chronic illness rep, this is a good one to check out.
  • Fools In Love: Fresh Twists On Romantic Tales edited by Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake.  This YA contemporary anthology was okay.  There’s a wide variety of stories, but as I read the stories in this anthology, I found that I felt ambivalent about most of the stories.  Even though I like some of the authors featured, the two stories that I really liked were authors who were new to me: Boys Noise by Mason Deaver and Disaster by Rebecca Podos.  I love that each story focused on a different idea.  Boys Noise was one bed at the inn and Disaster was second-chance romance, but also had themes like fake dating and mutual pining.  It’s cute and great to read around Valentine’s Day, but maybe I just didn’t read it at the right time.
  • Wishing Upon The Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman.  I loved this Middle Grade contemporary!  I loved Yasmeen and her family, and I really felt for them.  I understood where her parents were coming from, particularly with some of their neighbors, but I also understood where Yasmeen was coming from as well.  She had a lot going on, from moving to bullying to racism, and I just wanted to give her a hug!  She found some great friends along the way, and I enjoyed seeing her give San Antonio a chance.
  • Fit For The Throne 3: The Season Finale by S. McPherson.  I liked this Adult Romantasy.  Things ended the way I thought they would, but it was a fun read and a pretty good conclusion to this trilogy.  I had a little trouble getting into the book at first, and I had a hard time remembering who a lot of the supporting characters were.  But that didn’t take away my enjoyment of the book, and it’s a pretty entertaining series to read.  Varialla was great, and I really liked seeing her journey throughout the series.  I think she’s going to do a lot of good in this world, and I’m glad that things worked out between her and Exequiel.  There was no doubt in my mind it was going to work out, but it’s still good to see them get their happily ever after.
  • Shadow City by Francesca Flores.  This YA fantasy was okay.  I read the first one a long time ago, and re-read before picking this one up.  I didn’t like it as much as I thought it would, but I loved the world.  Maybe it’s another one that I didn’t read at the right time, but maybe it’s just not for me.  It is a good sequel to the first book, and I liked Aina, who was just trying to get by.  I get why she worked with Kohl, but he is not a good guy.  Other than that, I don’t have a lot to say about this one, because I don’t have a lot of strong feelings either way.

  • Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli.  I really liked this YA contemporary!  After reading Break The Fall, I knew I had to read this one.  This book focuses on an ice-skater, and it’s definitely not as technical as Break The Fall, but it was still enjoyable as someone who watches ice-skating every few years during the Olympics.  There’s drama and romance and family issues, and I loved every second of it.  If you like cute, YA romance, this is a good one to check out!
  • Lore Of The Wilds & Lore Of The Tides by Analeigh Sbrana.  Lore Of The Wilds was a re-read for me, and I wanted to re-read it before reading the ARC of Lore Of The Tides.  I’m not going to talk much about Lore Of The Tides here, since I plan on a doing a longer review in the next few days, but I will say that this is a great duology, and the world is amazing!  I also loved the characters, and I’m so excited that Sbrana is coming to San Diego for one of her bookstore stops.  This Adult Romantasy is worth reading!
  • An Ocean Apart by Jill Tew.  I got an ARC of this YA dystopia, and like Lore Of The Tides, a longer review will be coming.  This book comes out in October, so that review will be coming out sometime in the next few months.  This is a world ravaged by climate change, which doesn’t surprise this Southern California girl.  It shouldn’t surprise any of us, but there are people who would find it surprising.  It’s a future I can envision, because we’re already living it to some degree, and this world was so easy to picture.  I’ve already pre-ordered this book, which comes out October 15, 2025.
  • Exactly Where You Need To Be by Amelia Diane Coombs.  I loved this YA contemporary!  I was absolutely crying by the end of the book, and I loved seeing Florie stand up to her mom and take control of her life.  Though I understand why her mom acted the way she did, there were times were I absolutely hated her, starting in San Francisco and up until the end of the book.  I was glad Florie’s therapist was able to help mediate some of the issues, and advocate for her.  I was sad that Florie made it all the way to San Francisco for the live show of a My Favorite Murder-type podcast, and didn’t get to meet the hosts, but I was glad that there was an open invitation for tickets at a future stop.  I was hoping that would happen for her, and I’m glad it did.  I really felt for Florie, and she has a good friend in Kasey, and I’m glad they got to go on an epic road trip together.
  • The Art Of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson.  I loved this Adult Contemporary Romance.  I don’t normally read sports romances, especially ones written for adults, but I saw this one of the displays at the library, and decided to pick it up.  I’m glad I did, because I loved Daphne and Chris.  There’s miscommunication and secrets, of course, but I loved seeing how both of them felt about things, and how they met!  It’s such a cute book, and the romance between them was so fun to read.  And it is incredibly sweet, if you ask me.  While Chris didn’t find out about Daphne’s hidden identity in the best way, I also understood why she kept not telling him.  I think that’s why I was glad that we got both of their perspectives.  It’s a super-cute romance, and the perfect book for summer!

That’s all for today!  A longer review for Lore Of The Tides will be coming soon, and I’m thinking about doing a mid-year recap, so you’ll be getting an extra post or two from me soon.

See you around!

April 2025 Reading Round-Up

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Hello!  We’re back with my April Reading Round-Up.  I’ve read some great books this month, and read several on audio, so let’s get started!

  • Ebony Gate by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle.  I have mixed feelings about this adult urban fantasy.  I haven’t seen John Wick, so I don’t know how this book compares to that movie, but a female retired assassin getting pulled into the world she left behind is absolutely something I’m going to read. I thought the magic system was really cool, especially because it involves dragons.  It was explained pretty well, in my opinion.  I thought that Emiko’s backstory could have been a lot less vague, because her story and how she ended up in San Francisco could have been a lot more direct.  That made this book seem more like the second book in a series, not the first, and I did have to double check to make sure I wasn’t reading the sequel.  It’s also really slow-paced, which is weird, because the book takes place over a couple of days, so it should have moved at a much faster pace.  There was a lot of information at the beginning, and it felt like everything was going to be important, only to not be as important as I thought.  The ending was pretty drawn out as well.  I’m definitely interested in seeing what happens next, but I’m also not rushing out to pick up the sequel.
  • Mall Goth by Kate Keth, Diana Sousa (colorist) and Robin Crank (letterist).  I loved this YA contemporary graphic novel!  It’s set in the early 2000’s, and it brought back a lot of memories for this millenial!  It reminded me of the times I’d wander around the mall in high school, which wasn’t a lot, but something I still did.  The mall was such a big thing, and 20 years after graduating high school, the mall is a place I rarely frequent.  There’s family drama, friend drama, and being the new kid.  Plus, creepy English teachers, and I kind of wish we got some resolution on that, but at the very least, Liv did tell her mom, who was going to go to the principal, so at there is that.  If you’re nostalgic for the early 2000’s and mall culture, this is a good one to read!
  • The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt.  I liked this YA historical fiction, but not as much as the first one.  It looks like this is a duology, but I think there is room for more stories set in this world if Marquis ever wanted to revisit it.  I loved seeing what was going on with Helen, Olivia, Ruby and Amy-Rose, and I was definitely rooting for Helen and Ruby.  I was glad everything worked out for all of them, especially Helen and Amy-Rose.  I think the wait between finishing the first book and starting the second didn’t really help with my ambivalence towards the sequel.  As much as I loved seeing them get their happy endings, especially with how the first book ended, I also thought the first book worked pretty well as a stand-alone.  I mean, I’m glad I got another book set in this world, I just didn’t have the same excitement for the sequel.  I think it’s still worth checking out, because I did like it.  It’s a solid sequel.
  • A Queen’s Game by Katherine McGee.  This one is a YA historical fiction, and while I wasn’t sure about it at first, I ended up really liking it.  I loved her American Royals series, and I think McGee is great at writing about powerful young women.  Alix Of Hesse was the only one I had heard of before this book, but Helen and May were interesting to read about, and I definitely want to know more about them.  The story is pretty resolved, and it works well as a standalone, but I think there is a lot of potential as far as sequels go.  None are currently listed, so it’s a standalone for now, but I’d be curious to see where the story goes, should McGee return to this world.  I loved that McGee talked about the secrets these young women have, and how much they stood to lose because of it, especially in comparison to the young men they fall in love with.  There are some things mentioned by all three women that I’m still thinking about.
  • Most Likely by Sarah Watson, narrated by Christie Moreau.  I loved this YA contemporary!  I loved seeing who ended up as president, and it really could have been any of the four girls we see in the book.  I wasn’t surprised by who it was, but it was still great seeing who it was.  I really want to read it again, because I think it would be cool to re-read it knowing the big reveal.  I wasn’t trying to figure it out, because I was just along for the ride.  I was sad that they had to take their husbands last name just to get votes, but considering we haven’t elected extremely capable, qualified and competent women in real life, it’s not that surprising.  It was an interesting, fun read.
  • Momo Arashima Steals The Sword Of The Wind by Misa Sugiura.  This middle grade fantasy was fun!  There was a lot going on, and I didn’t help that I was reading as fast I could before I had to return the e-book to the library.  I’ll have to check it out again and actually read it way before the due date.  Momo has a lot going on at home, and fitting in seems to be really hard for her.  I think that’s something we can all relate to, and she grew a lot over the course of the book.  It is the first book in a series, so it’ll be fun to see what adventures she has in the rest of the series.

  • The Scorpion And The Night Blossom by Amelie Wen Zhao, narrated by Annie Q.  This YA fantasy was my book club’s pick for April, and the group was pretty split in how we saw the book.  I liked it, but I wasn’t surprised by any of the plot twists.  The concept is cool, but I wish we had more of the trials.  The audio book was pretty good, but I was listening to it at work, so there were chunks of time where I wasn’t paying attention.  I definitely missed out on some things because of it, and I’ve forgotten most of it already.  But if you like YA fantasy with elements of Chinese mythology, this is going to be up your alley.
  • Break The Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli, narrated by Emily Zoo Weller.  I loved this YA contemporary!  It’s definitely for the gymnastics fans out there, and I loved the detail in Audrey’s routines.  I’ve never done gymnastics, but I’ve watched it enough over the years that I could picture all of her routines.  If gymnastics isn’t really your thing, it might be a little too detailed.  While I didn’t mind the detailed routines, I did find that the scenes where we had the updates to the rankings to be really tedious and repetitive.  It definitely captured the ups and downs of the Olympics, and Iacopelli definitely drew from the Larry Nassar case, so that is something to keep in mind with this book.  I also want to note that the book was published in February 2020, so the fictional 2002 Tokyo Olympics were not affected by COVID.  It is pretty predictable, and while I wasn’t surprised by how some of the events went, or by certain secrets some of the characters had, I still enjoyed the book.
  • Accidental Demons by Clare Edge.  This Middle Grade fantasy was great!  It’s about Ber, a pre-teen, Type 1 diabetic blood witch, who summons a demon virtually every time she checks her blood sugar.  She, along with her family, stumbles into a mystery with a nearby coven, and it’s a race against time trying to solve it.  Ber learns a lot about magic, other witches and magical creatures, as well as learning to manage her diabetes.  I was also sad that a continuous blood glucose monitor wasn’t covered by her insurance (because America has an absolutely ridiculous healthcare system), and she had to deal with identifying and banishing demons multiple times a day.  It’s easily one of my favorites from April.
  • Wild Tongues Can’t By Tamed, edited by Saraciea J. Fennell.  I really liked this YA essay collection, and there were some really good essays!  I loved Haitian Sensation by Ibi Zoboi, Cuban Imposter Syndrome by Zakiya N. Jamal, and Invisible by Ingrid Rojas Contreras.  It’s hard to pick the stand-outs, because there are some great essays, but those three are the ones that have stuck with me.  I loved reading their experiences, and while they all had very different experiences, we also saw how they struggled with their identity and fitting in.
  • Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn.  These two books are actually re-reads for me, but I wanted to read them before starting Oathbound.  This series is so good, and if you haven’t read it, please run to your nearest library or bookstore and get them!  I love Bree so much, and I just want her to be okay, and make it through everything okay.  I’m only a few chapters into Oathbound, but I can’t wait to see where her story goes in Oathbound.  Am I being really vague?  Absolutely, but I don’t want to give anything away.

That’s all for today!  I’m headed up to YALLWEST on Saturday, and I’m super excited since the only time I’ve been in-person was back in 2019.  I did a few of the virtual ones they did during COVID, and it’ll be fun to wander around!  I’ll probably post a recap sometime next week, but until then, happy reading!