Tag: YALit

Books

Book 968: Henry Hamlet’s Heart – Rhiannon Wilde

Geoff W

Book cover of "Henry Hamlet's Heart" with Amazon Affiliate linkI picked this review copy up a while ago and due to school and work being a bit much recently, I’m posting this almost two weeks late.* I really try to have my responses published the week of publication but that week was also the week my first big paper was due, which I did great on, but still better luck next time.

Henry Hamlet’s Heart is the story of Henry and Len, best friends that have been in each others’ orbit forever. Henry has existed as the non-sexual know-it-all brainiac and Len has existed as the sexually fluid footballer who does what he wants when he wants with whoever he wants.

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Books

Book 965: Flamer – Mike Curato

Geoff W

Book cover of "Flamer" with Amazon Affiliate linkI was not expecting this one to be such a gut punch. I don’t know why because looking at the cover with the flames, the derogatory name, and the unhappy boy scout it should’ve been obvious, but still it got dark.

There was so much in this that I identified with from growing up as a boy scout, being chubby, and figuring out my sexuality. It was like looking in a very unflattering mirror with added identities for the protagonist who was half Filipino and making the transition from private middle school to public high school.

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Books

Book 964: The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers – Adam Sass

Geoff W

Book cover of "The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers" with Amazon Affiliate linkI requested and received this up back in June in a NetGalley binge when I went through and looked at all the upcoming Young Adult LGBT fiction.* I loved the cover and the concept so thought why not? I missed the review deadline by a few weeks even though I started it with plenty of time. Thanks, school and life for getting in the way.

This is the story of Micah, Grant, and Elliot. Micah is the protagonist who has a really popular Insta account where he draws fantastical versions of the boys he crushes on around Chicago. One of those boys ends up being Grant and the first half of the story is Micah trying to find Grant again, his Cinderfella who disappeared off the train. He’s joined by his BFF’s other BFF Elliot, who has his issues but brings joy, light, and support to Micah’s journey.

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Books

Book 954: Heat Wave (The Extraordinaries #3) – T.J. Klune

Geoff W

Book cover of "Heat Wave" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter the cliffhanger of Flash Fire, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. I was approved for a copy a few months ago and of course, sat on it for too long and missed the archive date.* Thankfully, I had downloaded a copy so was able to finish it up on the plane flying out to Chicago earlier this week.

The beginning was a little bit rough as there seemed to be a key piece of information missing from the story, but I figured out pretty quickly what was going on. It was all connected to the cliffhanger of Flash Fire so spoiler warning for after the jump.

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Books

Book 936: Café con Lychee – Emery Lee

Geoff W

Book cover of "Café con Lychee" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhat another wonderful juxtaposition from Dream Boy with so much light and happiness and just pure wholesome queer joy, I’ve really been putting myself through an emotional rollercoaster these last couple of weeks. Seriously, emotional whiplash is not fun and thankfully I can work from home where tearing up on my lunch break is totally acceptable.

I requested a copy of Café con Lychee because 1) I love lychee, like seriously on everything and lychee candy is the best—I say “LIE-chee” not “LEE-chee”; 2) to BIPOC protagonists which YA Lit is a lot better about than MM Romance; and 3) New England.*

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