shayboote's reviews
2187 reviews

This middle grade book did so much so right. I know it can often be difficult going into a middle grade book as an adult with the intention of reviewing it. Our standards of plot and character development is on such a higher scale. For me though, many years of reading bedtime stories and buddy reading with my daughter as she grew, gave me the opportunity to see this kind of writing though a different lens. That being said, George blew me away.

George is transgender and this is the story of her coming to terms with the realization of who she is not in a world that defines her based on her appearance, typical stereotypes and gender roles that are prevalent in society. George experiences the world through a role she was born to play, a role that society has deemed appropriate for a boy/man. George knows that how she feels is not congruent with what she experiences or what is expected of her as a son, male student, or a boy friend. This book follows George through one week of her life, one week that will change forever how she feels about herself and the world around her.

The toughest parts of this book are not what George feels, but lets be clear what she feels is very important, because for me children realizing who they are is a natural evolution. The tough parts are seeing how others, mostly adults, react to George. The reactions of George's brother and mother were both well portrayed, his brother being a surprise stand out. But it was George's best friend Kelley who got me in the feels. This book just shows, even though it is in the smallest way, that kids are more accepting and unfazed by George's secret than all of the adults were. It shows how much of the biases that children grow into come from the adults who refuse to educate themselves or who are not above spreading hate as long as it serves their narratives.

This snippet is such a small window into George's life, one that had been hard up until the point we joined her. I am sure that she would continue to struggle if the story were to span her getting older because sadly, society isn't catching up fast enough. This book is important because it gives kids, who may be silently struggling with similar things, the knowledge that they are not alone and that in itself is worth spreading this book to anyone who will read it. This books is excellent for any adult trying to educate themselves or any adult reading it with or to their children to expand their own empathy and understanding of those deemed different. In the end, George wants what everyone, adult or child, wants... Acceptance.

For me personally, my daughter could tell me she was a rock and I would do everything in my power to help her be the best rock she can be. I only hope for a time when being gay, transgender, non-binary and the like won't be a big deal. A time when what our children, friends, and family identify as has no barring on the beautiful people they are. Books like George take us one more step in that direction.

Simmer is the second book in the Midnight Fire series by Kaitlyn Davis. Like the first book, this one was predictable, but when you are writing vampires and magic it is hard to find a unique angle, but I have found books like Claudett Melanson’s, Maura DeLuca Trilogy that was able to find that unique angle. While the whole conduit thing in this series is good, building toward the point of it all is slow and kind of like waiting for an elderly woman in front of you in line who decides to pay with ten dollars in pennies. While, I get building the back story and the current story and meshing them together is important, I think that lack of real understanding about so many different things may have been improved by a little more focus on one aspect or another. That being said, another similarity to the first book was the poor editing job, although this one was a little better it still had me jerking to a stop at big mistakes. The editing job may have compounded some of the other issues because it was so poorly done.

What I liked about Simmer is again the characters. I will say it till I am blue in the face, love the characters and you get me to read on. Luke, again is a shining star that deserves so much more emphasis and would require writing Kira as not the predictable idiot that she is. I do see that a shift may be coming and with it a bigger role for Luke, which I think is needed because he is one of the most likable characters. While Tristan is the heartthrob and the vampire it is tired. I also liked the introduction of Sonneyville and finally getting into the sticky past that includes Kira’s grandparents. The town is surprisingly lost in a time warp not in its technology but in its ideologies. Another good addition is the side effect from saving Luke’s life. Kira can feel his feelings and hear his thoughts. This of course adds a whole new level of screwed when her best friend is flirting with her via mind meld and her boyfriend the vampire doesn’t know. All in all, the jury is still out on this series. I like it and will finish the series just because it is an okay story, unfortunately I don’t see it being one of those stand out series for me unless the next two books knock my socks off. I hate giving anything three stars or less so this doesn’t make me feel good.

Rating 3.5 - One of the best translated recent works I have read recently, You Should Have Left was creepy in a very subdued way. The actions that move us towards the end of the story are not rushed and allow the reader to resonate in the quiet, desperate reality that is building around our narrator who is also the main character. A screenwriter and his family take a little excursion to a secluded house in the mountains so that he can work on his writing, which he has been struggling with. What we find quickly on is that he is struggling with aspects of his marriage as well. His paranoia builds throughout creating this atmosphere of internal panic that feeds into a growing anxiety surrounding the narrators work, wife, and their vacation rental. What I did not like about this was obviously the length, the world building even the aspect of the house itself seemed very two dimensional at times and I think that was a result of it being such a short story. For readers like me that easily predict endings, world building that allows us to really create a substantial picture in our heads is important, the meat and potatoes of the story, if you will. The characters were the main focus here, but I think if we were able to get a little less about the story he was writing and more imagery set around and in the house then I think this book would have been a home run for me and as a result would have gotten 5 stars. That said it is still a great, creepy novella for the spookiest month of the year.