Hey readers! It’s been a while! How are you?
Not gonna lie, working from home for the last year has really put a damper on my passion for blogging, but I’m ready to jump back in with some quick catch-up reviews for books I’ve read recently. To kick it off, I’ve got three quick YA contemporary novels.
What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume
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*I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was a really quick and fun summer read.
I loved the speedy pace of the epistolary style through Maisie’s discovery journal entries. Her romance was cute, though predictable, and I think it was well crafted.
I would definitely recommend this to teen readers for a quick escape into someone else’s mind during those formative years. This book was enjoyable for me (though I am a bit above the intended target audience age) and I would definitely read another book by Jenna Guillaume because her witty writing style really drew me in.
You Say It First by Katie Cotugno
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*I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Another quick read, this novel was cute but very predictable in that it didn’t present any ideas or character traits that I hadn’t read about before. An important trigger warning to mention is that the book tackles a heavy topic with a main character’s father dying by suicide and how that affected his family.
This was a very timely novel about the importance of U.S. youth harnessing their power to vote during what was an interesting 2020 presidential campaign season. I appreciated a lot of the points made by both main characters, with Meg firmly advocating that everyone who can vote should vote, and Colby on the side of “what impact would my vote even have in a sea of millions? What’s the point?” It’s an interesting base for a novel, held lots of political commentary about the way teens view the importance of voting and was overall an enjoyable read for me.
You Have a Match by Emma Lord
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*I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is a really sweet YA contemporary with a sort of Parent Trap vibe that I wasn’t expecting at the start. I enjoy Emma Lord’s candid writing style, it’s very timely and some of the references will easily become dated, but for the purposes of now, it’s a highly enjoyable read. The dynamics of grief, happiness, friends, siblings, and parents in this book felt so raw and real, and even as an adult I felt very immersed in this summer camp adventure that Abby experienced. I enjoyed that the main character didn’t have her whole future planned out, she was struggling while it felt like everyone else had it all put together already – or did they? And as she finds out that maybe everyone is struggling too in different ways, Abby is able to find the right path for her, not the one she feels that everyone expects her to follow. I would definitely recommend this book or buy it for a friend, and I look forward to seeing what Emma Lord writes next!
Have you read any of these novels? Let me know what you thought in the comments!
Katie x
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