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Goodreads Monday (6/8/20)–The Sound of Stars

Posted on June 8, 2020June 8, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

Continuing on with LGBTQ+ books, this one’s been on my TBR for a while. And from the description, it’s virtually everything that I’d ever want in a sci-fi novel. I am on an eternal search for quality YA sci-fi, so I REALLY hope to read this one soon!

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (6/8/20)–THE SOUND OF STARS by Alechia Dow

Amazon.com: The Sound of Stars (9781335911551): Dow, Alechia: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.

Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.

Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.

Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.

So why do I want to read this?

✅ Aliens

✅ Music

✅ Libraries

✅ LGBTQ+/POC representation

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I might be setting my expectations too high, but I might have just found another dream book…

Like I said, I’m a huge lover of sci-fi, and the addition of a secret library and a shared love of music seems like the exact type of thing that I would immensely enjoy in a novel. A friendship between a human and an alien and bonding over secret art is just the kind of content that I’ve been wanting to read for ages.

And in times like these (and all the time), it’s so important to support POC/LGBTQ+ authors, so I encourage all of you to spread the word about such novels, review them, and recommend them to friends. 💗

Today’s song:

(Why yes, I did watch Baby Driver yesterday, why do you ask?)

That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful day, and take care of yourselves!

Books

Pride Month Book Recommendations, Week 1: Sci-Fi

Posted on June 4, 2020June 29, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, everyone! 🌈

For this Pride Month, I’ve decided to do a batch of weekly recommendations of LGBTQ+ books. I’ll do a different genre each week (though they’ll all probably fall into the YA category), focusing on books with LGBTQ+ protagonists/casts of characters and themes. We’ve come quite a long way in YA, so why not celebrate it?

Let’s begin, shall we?

PRIDE MONTH RECS, WEEK 1: SCI-FI

Once and Future, Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta, Cori McCarthy |, Paperback ...

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: Pansexual protagonist, some of the side characters are gay, genderfluid, and asexual, respectively, wlw relationship with protagonist

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 (rounded up to 5)

Once and Future is a genderbent, feminist retelling of the legend of King Arthur (set in space!), and it’s an absolutely WILD ride.

2. Heart of Iron duology, Ashley Poston

Amazon.com: Heart of Iron eBook: Poston, Ashley: Kindle Store

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: mlm relationship between two of the main characters, wlw relationship between some of the side characters

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know I blab about this one quite a lot, but both Heart of Iron and Soul of Stars are truly masterpieces. Plus, Jax and Robb are one of my favorite couples in YA literature. Period.

3. Dreadnought, April Daniels

Amazon.com: Dreadnought: Nemesis - Book One (9781682300688 ...

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: Protagonist is a trans woman/lesbian

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A poignant and potent spin on the classic, superhero/coming of age story, as Danny comes to terms not only with her gender identity and sexuality, but with her newfound powers. I read this one a year or two ago and haven’t gotten around to reading book 2 (Sovereign), but I REALLY need to do that soon!

4. The Disasters, M.K. England

Amazon.com: The Disasters (9780062657671): England, M. K.: Books

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: Protagonist is bisexual, gay love interest, trans woman side character

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Again, it’s been over a year since I’ve read this one, but it was very Guardians of the Galaxy-esque, and an absolute joy to read!

5. Crier’s War, Nina Varela

Amazon.com: Crier's War (9780062823946): Varela, Nina: Books

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: wlw representation between the two protagonists

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Though I was initially hesitant about reading this one, it turned out to subvert all of my expectations and make for a lushly written novel with romance to DIE for! I suppose you could debate whether or not this is sci-fi or fantasy (I mean, there’s…androids? Basically…), but I’d say it’s a combination of both genres.

6. Aurora Cycle, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Amazon.com: Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle Book 2) eBook ...

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION: There’s 7 POVs/protagonists in the series (though it later gets knocked down to 6); one is bisexual, another is a lesbian

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You all knew I was gonna put this one in here…but hey, this series is genuinely masterful, and spoke to me on so many levels.

If you want more YA LGBTQ+ novel recommendations, I highly recommend visiting Queer Books for Teens! They have all sorts of recommendations for LGBTQ+ books of all genres, but mostly YA.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! WHAT ARE SOME LGBTQ+ SCI-FI BOOKS THAT YOU LOVED? TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS! 🏳️‍🌈

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Pride Month recommendations! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (6/1/20)–The Henna Wars

Posted on June 1, 2020June 2, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles, and happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

I’m going to try and do some more for Pride all through June–I’ll probably do some weekly recommendations, but I’ll start later in the week. I’m going to try and focus my Goodreads Mondays on LGBTQ+ books as well (starting with this one!). I’ve also started to get some eARCs ready–one of which is LGBTQ+–so I’ll be reviewing those once I read them!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

This one came out very recently, and not only does it have stellar representation (POC/Muslim/LGBTQ+), it sounds like an adorable, enemies-to-lovers rom-com!

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (6/1/20)–THE HENNA WARS by Adiba Jaigirdar

Amazon.com: The Henna Wars (9781624149689): Jaigirdar, Adiba: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.

Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.

SO WHY DO I WANT TO READ THIS?

Oh my goodness I NEED to get my hands on this!

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YA has made some incredible strides with representation in the last decade, with many LGBTQ+, POC, and Muslim characters now at the forefront. Not only does this novel feature a wlw romance, both protagonists are POC (Nishat is Bangladeshi, and Flávia is biracial), and the plot also seems to deal with the subject of cultural appropriation. Especially in times like these, this is such an important theme to be discussed, so thank you to Adiba Jaigirdar for writing a book that deals with this topic!

And other than that…I am a total sucker for enemies-to-lovers rom-coms. I mean, you all know how much I love Carry On. It’s a YA trope–and a trope in general–that I don’t mind at all, and that I enjoy reading a lot. Don’t get me wrong–there’s always the chance that it will be executed poorly, but when it’s done well, I love it. So of course I want to read this novel.

Oh, and can we talk about how adorable that cover art is? 😍

In short, The Henna Wars sounds like the perfect blend of rom-com and tackling social issues. Count me in!

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Today’s song:

This song brings back such good memories for me…I heard it a lot in the car as a kid, and now, I always associate it with being little.

That’s it for today’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (6/4/19)-Aurora Rising (+ a few quick updates and explanations)

Posted on June 4, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

It is I, fellow bibliophiles, back from the dead at last!

Again, so sorry for going M.I.A. for about a month there. AP exams and finals were weighing me down a little bit, and I was a little *busy* about a week ago (by “busy” I mean “converting some of my friends to X-Men before Dark Phoenix comes out”). But hey, I’m back now, and I’ve got a positively INCREDIBLE book to review!

(Oh, and HAPPY HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! 🏳️‍🌈)

Everyone’s got their dream book. For all bibliophiles, there’s always that one book that we sorely wish that we’d written, that we re-read endlessly without getting tired of it. There’s a few books for me that I feel that way about. Think…Heart of Iron, and a few years back, the Search for WondLa series. Now, Aurora Rising has stolen the title of dream book…yes, surpassing Heart of Iron.

And I thought that was the best book in the universe. MAN.

Aurora Rising is, in short, everything that I could possibly want in a book–downright lovable characters, a fast-paced, intricate plot, and some classic, high-stakes space adventure.

Without further ado, here’s the first Book Review Tuesday in…like, a month? Wow, I’m really in rare form…

Aurora Rising

Tyler Jones thinks he has it made–he’s about to graduate at the top of his class from the Aurora Academy, a school that trains humans and aliens alike for interstellar humanitarian missions. But on the day of his graduation, he finds a defunct ship drifting out in space. In it, he finds Auri O’Malley, a girl who has been frozen in a cryogenic pod for 220 years.

After rescuing Auri, Tyler is late to graduation, and ends up with a ragtag crew of misfits and delinquents, all of which will accompany him on his missions: Scarlett, his twin sister, Cat, his childhood friend, Finian, Zila, Kal, and now Auri. Though the unlikely group seems destined for anything but greatness, they soon find themselves embedded in a mystery involving the mysterious planet that Auri and many other human colonists were set to settle. And Auri herself is an enigma–with each passing day, new powers wake within her, putting a target on her back that everyone in the Milky Way Galaxy can see from miles away.

Now, presenting the reactions of my last brain cells, upon finishing this book:

AAAAAAH!!!

Aurora Rising truly has it all–aside from the factors that I stated above (incredible world-building, characters TO DIE FOR, and ✨SPACE FUN✨), there’s also:

-Not only do we have great characters, but the chemistry between them is FANTASTIC

-BEAUTIFUL writing. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are honestly gods…

-No spoilers, but MY DREAM SHIP IS *squeezes two fingers almost completely together* THIS CLOSE TO BECOMING A REALITY

-DIVERSITY! Let me elaborate–Zila is African-American (or British? I dunno, they didn’t specify, but she’s definitely poc), Auri is mixed race (half Irish, half Chinese), and Finian is definitely LGBTQ+ (again, no explicit explanations, but I think he’s either bisexual or pansexual), and also has a disability that requires him to wear a special suit for mobility. (MAN, and I didn’t think you could get such good representation with an alien, for God’s sakes, and here we are…and I’m HAPPY FOR IT)

I’ll say it once, and I’ll say it again. DREAM. BOOK. AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE. PLEASE, GO READ IT. I’d rate it a solid…however many stars there are in the known universe out of 10. I kid you not. 😉

Kaufman and Kristoff have confirmed that this is going to be a trilogy, but as this book only came out about a month ago, we have no information other than that. (*cries while re-reading it and waiting for 2020*)

I hope you enjoyed this week’s review! Have a great rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Oh, and don’t forget…DARK PHOENIX COMES OUT ON FRIDAY!!! I’m seeing it on Saturday, so I’ll DEFINITELY get to a review at some point…AAAH!