Reanna's Book Realm

Adam’s dad is the head of the church in his small, conservative town, which means he’s under constant scrutiny. His brother’s on his way to become a priest, but Adam can’t even think about the future. He’s still got one last year of high school, a hard enough feat without being gay. His parents seem to know about his sexuality but ignore it, he has a boyfriend that he thinks he loves, and a boss that’s sexually harassing him at work. Everyday stretches out to a lifetime in Adam’s world, and today is no different. I have mixed feelings about Patrick Ness’s work. Overall, he always has really good concepts for his books. He wrote a trilogy about a world where everyone hears each other’s thoughts and a book about all the sidekicks of superheroes. Yet, they all fall short for me. I was still drawn to Release because of the plot, the cover, and the quote from Andrew Smith on the front. After reading it, this could’ve been one of my favorite books of the year but there was one major is...

Eliza is a mystery to everyone, including herself. At school, no one dares talk to her, and at home, where her family is obsessed with all things sports, her parents assume all of her reclusive behavior is due to a “teenage thing.” Yet, inside her room, she is the mastermind behind the worldwide famous comic series, Monstrous Sea. The very people who call her weird at school are huge fans of her work, not knowing who she is. At the beginning of her senior year, Eliza meets Wallace, who not only wants to talk to her, but is a huge fan of Monstrous Sea. As their friendship turns into something more, Wallace starts confiding in Eliza all of his secrets, but she’s still hiding the fact that she’s the author of Monstrous Sea. Deeper and deeper their relationship goes and Eliza must decide when she wants to stop hiding. Right of the bat, the premise of Eliza and Her Monsters remind me a lot of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. In both books, the main characters are behind successful webstories/...

Justyce is not allowed to be a care-free, regular teenage boy. He’s not allowed to be these things because he is a person of color, and in present day America, that puts a target on his back. And on the night he’s arrested, it doesn’t matter that he’s on his way to Yale or that he is a loving person, all that matters is he’s a black boy seen with a drunk, white-passing girl at two a.m. He hasn’t done anything wrong, but he’s arrested and held for hours, only to not have any charges filed against him. In the months following his arrest, Justyce is forced to examine his relations with American culture while being in an environment that denies his struggles. The minute I heard the premise of Dear Martin I knew I wanted to read it. In the past years, the collection of published YA books has broadened in diversity, not to say that there isn’t always room for improvement. Originally, this book reminded me of The Hate U Give , one of my favorites this year. Now that I’ve read both books...

After a year of staying at the neighbor’s house, Eleanor is finally being allowed to come back to her house. Except, her house isn’t what it use to be. Now, it seems like all of her siblings worship her abusive step-dad and her family is even poorer than what they use to be. Across the neighborhood lives Park, a teenage boy who’s always had a stable family and loves all things punk. Eleanor and Park are total opposites so when they end up sitting next to each other on the bus they have nothing but displeasure for each other. But on the next bus ride, things change. Things change again on the bus ride after that and the bus ride after that. Soon they’re sharing comic books and then speaking to each other and even better, holding hands. Set in the backdrop of the late 1980s, Eleanor and Park’s relationship seems to come straight out of a movie. Unfortunately, it’s real life and it’s crashing down on them. Eleanor & Park is a really good concept for a book. What I mean is, it gli...

Carver’s life was going great. The Sauce Crew was all he needed- the crew that he was in with his three best friends Eli, Mars, and Blake. Now his life sucks, Eli, Mars, and Blake are dead and it’s his fault. Well, not really, but there’s still plenty of blame on him. He sent the text that Mars read at the driver’s seat of the car that Eli and Blake were in. The text that Mars was reading when he swerved the car, killing everyone in it. The only people who don’t blame him are his family, Blake’s grandma, and Eli’s girlfriend Jesmyn. To help the healing process, Blake’s grandma asks him to hold a goodbye day for Blake with her. A day to do all of Blake’s favorite things before saying one last goodbye to him. Soon, the other families are asking for goodbye days and the question rises: who really was responsible for their deaths?   I first became a fan of Jeff Zentner when I read his debut, The Serpent King . I loved how straightforward the book was on really intense issues and ded...

Mateo is going to die. Of course, he has to die sometime but he’s going to specifically die today. He knows because DeathCast called him at midnight letting him know. Mateo is eighteen. Rufus is seventeen and he is also going to die today. Neither of them are ready to go out. Mateo’s anxiety has made it so that he’s barely lived and Rufus is just rebuilding his life after his family died three months ago. Through the Last Friend app, Mateo and Rufus are able to connect and attempt to live their last day to the fullest, literally. Oh, and they might fall in love along the way. So my love for Adam Silvera is at full capacity right now. Not only is he basically the coolest person ever, he released two books this year. The first one, History Is All You Left Me was an automatic all time favorite of mine. Also, exciting news, he’s coming to my library in December (AHHHH)! Basically, my life is made. Of course, I had to read They Both Die at the End as soon as it came out and I feel like...

It’s been three years since Sam Walsh went missing on a bike ride to the mall. Since then, his best friend Josh and his sister Beth have been tormented with his disappearance, both blaming themselves for what happened. At this point, they’ve both settled into regular life, and while Sam is still on their mind, they’re able to move on. Then, Sam is found. Sam’s whole family is beyond relieved and happy to have their brother and son back, except Sam isn’t the innocent boy that they last knew. Now he’s a fourteen year old who is struggling with the present and isn’t doing so hot emotionally. Beth and Josh have no idea what to do, especially since Josh is hiding some information about what happened the day Sam went missing. They have to find some way to deal with it because regular life has now returned. Going into We Now Return to Regular Life , I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never read a book with a topic like this and I hadn’t read any other Martin Wilson book. Now, I am so glad...

There are two groups Ali is apart of: Ali, Noodles, and Needles and Ali, Jazz, and Mom. The two groups aren’t exclusive but there’s only so much Jazz and Mom know about what Ali does with Noodles and Needles. Sometimes, it’s better not to ask. No one asks about Needles anyway. Everybody knows he has Tourette’s Syndrome and the he has his ticks but it’s all good to everyone except Noodles, his own brother. Although he loves him, Noodles blames Needles and his disability for the reason why their dad left. So, when they’re all invited to the hottest party on the block with the condition that Needles comes with, Noodles can’t do anything but give in. But, like everything, it doesn’t go as everyone plans at the party and this time it might not be Needles fault. I got a chance to read When I Was The Greatest when it was my book club’s book of the month. Jason Reynolds has been an author on my radar for awhile now, especially with his new collaborative book All American Boys. I didn’t r...

Dill has a bad reputation around town and it isn’t his fault. All he’s done in his life is follow his parent’s rules and beliefs, even if it labeled him as an outsider. That was before his father got busted for being involved in some not-so-legal activities involving minors and left him and his mother with a pile of debt. Through it all, Lydia and Travis has stuck by him. Travis’ life isn’t going so hot either, so he spends all of his time in fantasy novels and carries around his staff in real life. Lydia’s real life is fantasy, internet famous and has a pass to any college she wants to go to. Right now, despite their issues, they’re comfortable. Although as they know too well though, nothing lasts forever and everything is going to come crashing down eventually. Ever since its release in 2015, The Serpent King has been both critically appraised and a favorite among book lovers. Being the stubborn person I am, I refused to give into the hype and read it. Plus, I never took the tim...

It’s been over six months since Tommy has vanished, literally. No one remembers him; not his classmates, not his parents, not his best friends. Ozzie still does. He remembers everything about their relationships. All the late nights and spontaneous trips to the beach? He remembers those. Everyone thinks he’s going crazy, that he should see a therapist, that he should get on medication but he’s not budging. Especially since the universe as he knows it is shrinking. Soon, not even his best friend, Lua, remembers what the sun is or what the stars are and Ozzie is somehow getting close to the golden-boy-gone-rogue Calvin. Every time the universe shrinks Ozzie loses more and more of what he considers normal and he might not even have time to figure out why because, well, the universe is shrinking. I have such a mixed relationship with Shaun David Hutchinson books because I absolutely loved We Are The Ants but I couldn’t even get through The Five Stages of Andrew Brawl. Luckily, not ...