Books about coming of age – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Somebody’s Dilemma, by Joshua Valentine

The blue trade paperback of Somebody's Dilemma lays on a blonde wooden table top, next to a shirt with stylized drag eyes printed on it. Drag and scene stickers are laid on the shirt.

(Buy this book directly from the author here.) It’s 2347, and Earth is a polluted, barren wasteland. Exploratory research robots roam, collecting information and sending repetitive transmissions while they prepare to resurrect the human race more than 200 years after its extinction, using carefully banked embryos. Jacey-One is the first of the new humans, raisedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Somebody’s Dilemma, by Joshua Valentine”

[REVIEW]Remedies for Disappearing, by Alexa Patrick

The beautiful paperback cover of Remedies for Disappearing, featuring a collage in varying shades of blue, a dark-skinned serene Black woman in the foreground, is held up by a Black woman's(my) hand in front of a late summer garden. A family of small wooden bunnies in tuxedos is in the background.

(Buy this wonderful book here.) FINALLY AND AT LAST! It’s been (rightly) noted that I can be rather hard on Black woman writers. (Apologies to Tiffany D Jackson, Tracey Deonn, Jasmine Mans, and others…) I think it’s because I’m aching for us to truly center ourselves and our experiences as our frame of reference, ratherContinue reading “[REVIEW]Remedies for Disappearing, by Alexa Patrick”

[REVIEW] Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe

The paperback book Gender Queer is held up in between two evergreen trees. A cluster of daffodil blossoms peek up over the top of the cover in the space between the trees. Big symbolism here. Photography 101 game proper

(Buy this book here.) I’m back after a bit of unexpected hiatus. It’s Pride Month, and while I read queer stories whenever I want and not just in certain months, I think now is a good time to talk about this book. (I do have a sensitivity issue/unpopular opinion about some things in these pages,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe”

[REVIEW] La Bastarda, By Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel

The simple, solid blue cover of La Bastarda is displayed on a tablet, held up against the twilight sky with the moon high and tiny above it.

(Buy this book here.) This is the first book by a woman from Equatorial Guinea ever translated into English. It follows Okomo, a orphaned teen living in her grandparents house in a traditional village. With her mother dead and her father absent, she only has her favorite uncle to turn to when she begins toContinue reading “[REVIEW] La Bastarda, By Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel”

[REVIEW] Spare, by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex

The Kindle cover of Prince Harry's Spare, depicting his face in closeup, lies on a wooden table in between a glass of white wine and a burger.

(Buy this book from my shop.) I’m not much of a royal watcher, despite having lived in Britain for some years in my late twenties and early thirties. The only members of the family I’ve ever paid any attention to are the late Princess Diana and her youngest son, and I really only started payingContinue reading “[REVIEW] Spare, by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex”

[REVIEW] Too Much Soul, by Cindy Wilson

(Buy this book here.) It’s January 19th. I’ve read 6 books so far in 2022. I’ve reviewed one. This year has been MAD so far, y’all. How are you doing? Moving on to a review, I suggested this book as part of my January Equal Opportunity Reading Challenge and all I have to say is…canContinue reading “[REVIEW] Too Much Soul, by Cindy Wilson”

[REVIEW] Starlion: Thieves of the Red Night, by Leon Langford

A Black woman's hand holds up the colorful anime-style cover of Starlion: Thieves Of The Red Night in front of a office window overlooking the Boston Seaport district.

(Buy it here from Bookshop.) What do you get when you cross Sky High, The Avengers and Yu-Gi-Oh? Toss in a little Harry Potter and Percy Jackson too and apparently, you get this fun middle-grade superhero fantasy novel by indie author Leon Langford. It’s about Jordan Harris, a supernaturally gifted Black boy in an alternateContinue reading “[REVIEW] Starlion: Thieves of the Red Night, by Leon Langford”

[REVIEW] Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds up a black e-reader in front of a leafy green plant inside a sunny cafe. The reader displays the black and white cover of Cemetary Boys, which shows two cartoon-style Latinx teen boys standing back to back with Santa Muerta rising above them in the background.

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) What’s in the sociocultural water inspiring all these queer YA ghost stories lately? Yadriel is a brujo, born into a powerful family of Latinx witches in East LA. The problem is, no-one believes him. Yads is also a gay trans boy and his community’s magic is gendered–therefore everyone insists he’sContinue reading “[REVIEW] Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas”

[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass

A tablet is held up by a pale, ghostly arm in a dark cityscape. It displays the cover of The Taking Of Jake Livingston, which shows a terrified teenage Black boy in a school uniform staring off into space.

(Buy it from Bookshop) 16 year old Jake Livingston can see ghosts–but that’s not the most interesting thing about this book. Jake is also at the intersection of a lot of difficult life positions, and like most YA protagonists, his main goal is to figure himself out. He’s one of only two Black kids atContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass”