Tag: post-high school and college

REVIEW: Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert

REVIEW: Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Conrad’s not in a great place when the trip first comes up. He’s barely getting by, and his landlord is putting her house up for sale. One of his newer jobs is making cuts, so he’s about to lose that gig too. He’d probably be better off if he scalped the ticket to Massive Odyssey Con West. But he knows if he could go – and win the tournament – it could change the trajectory of his whole life.

Alden also thinks MOCW could change his life. And he needs something. He’s still living in his moms’ carriage house, and since he didn’t get into medical school he’s feeling stuck and aimless. His moms are pressuring him to make a plan. “Win a deck-building tournament” probably isn’t what they had in mind.

Alden and Conrad can’t stand each other. But in order to get to MOCW they’ll have to grit their teeth because this is a cross-country trip. The two of them – and all of their animosity – alone in a car for days.

Review

Enemies to lovers is not a trope I seek out or gravitate toward very often. In fact, several chapters in I wasn’t sure I wanted to stick with this.  Con and Alden were both hard to like from the outside. Thankfully the author gave both of them point-of-view chapters which helped me stick with the book. The gaming angle was the main reason I picked this up – I adore con/convention stories, so I had to give this a try. This is a different sort of convention than what I usually attend, but the gaming and convention vibe worked for me.

I enjoyed watching Con and Alden work through both their assumptions about the other AND their personal challenges as they grew closer. And I appreciated the twists the author threw in to get us to a happy ending. (I also appreciated the lack of panicked shenanigans like lost bags or stolen money on the road trip. Every time they stopped, my anxiety ramped up. And then, happily, nothing like that happened. It was a relief!)

For Pride month, I am trying to focus on reviews of LGBTQ+ titles, and I enjoyed this one. I had no idea there was a sequel, but I found Out of Character recently and immediately picked it up. Check both of these out. If you are looking for other conventions stories, you can explore some other options here.

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good +

REVIEW: Finding Mr. Better-Than-You by Shani Petroff

REVIEW: Finding Mr. Better-Than-You by Shani Petroff

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Swoon Reads in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Camryn Roth has her heart set on Columbia for college. Her boyfriend, Marc, is a legacy, and they made a pact to attend together. Then Cam meets with her school counselor. Cam has been so focused on Marc and her friends, she’s neglected her extracurriculars. As things stand at the start of her senior year, she doesn’t have enough on her applications to get her into somewhere like Columbia. And there’s really no other school on her list.

That meeting with the counselor was bad. It threw Cam off and left her brain spinning. But she was going out that night with Marc. He would help her brainstorm some ideas to get back on track.

Only, he didn’t. He dumped her. Publicly. Not over the college thing, but because he wanted “some space.”

Cam is devastated. Marc is dating again in no time, eager to move on. But Cam’s whole life – her free time, her class schedule, her future plans – all revolved around Marc.

But with her best friends by her side, some new friends on her team, and a plan, Cam is going to get her life back on track. And she’ll show Marc what a huge mistake he’s made.

Review

This had a rough start for me. I did NOT like Cam. I felt there were huge, flashing “DANGER” signs in her thinking about Marc and their relationship. She hounded her counselor for the whole summer because she *had* to have at least one class with Marc her senior year. The activities she did as a freshman dropped off so she could focus on Marc. And it wasn’t because Marc made her drop those things. He wasn’t abusive or demanding. That was just what Cam thought it meant to be in a relationship – ignoring her ideas or her interests to focus solely on him. Every new glimpse into their relationship dynamic made me feel even more uncomfortable.

I do not enjoy characters and stories like that. I like strong, sassy characters who don’t put up with anyone’s guff. Cam seemed to be giving herself up for this relationship that started when she was 14 or 15. A lot can change about a teen from freshman year to senior year. And that’s often a good thing. But not for Cam. The big drama, the big feelings and the desperation were a turn off to me. If I had not committed to reading this, I probably would have stopped after a couple chapters.

Once I pushed through those initial feelings, I started to think that I was supposed to be uncomfortable with how Cam was acting. This whole book is about her finding herself again outside of this relationship. Cam kept sacrificing her wants and her options for guys – it didn’t just happen with Marc. And her head was so far in the sand of these “romantic” relationships, she missed out on some amazing friends until the break up set her on a new course.

It takes awhile, but Cam starts to listen to her own heart again. She prioritizes the things that have always mattered to her – having fun, being a little wild (like, school mascot wild), her friends – but got lost when she put other people’s preferences over her own. There’s still more of an emphasis on dating through the last half of the book than I would have chosen, but it’s probably more realistic this way. Cam needs time to realize what she’s doing in these relationships and start making her own choices again.

This is really NOT a romance, although it looks and sounds from the title like it might be. It’s really about Cam finding herself outside of a relationship and being okay with that, and with herself, for the first time in awhile. This could be a powerful story for teens exploring co-dependent relationships or  trying to figure out where their own romantic relationships fit in the balance of their lives.

Rating: ♥♥♥½

 

REVIEW: The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord

REVIEW: The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Paige and Max are back together again after a summer spent apart (The Start of Me and You – ♥♥♥♥). She went to New York for a screenwriting program, and when she returned, he had left for a study abroad program in Italy. They had become a couple and had their first kiss and then had gone their separate ways. But now they are together again in their Indianapolis suburb, ready to start senior year.

Senior year brings so many emotions, decisions and pressures. And those things start to weigh heavily on Paige. Is she doing enough with her extra curricular activities? Is her college portfolio strong enough? What should she write in her essays? And where does her relationship with Max fit into her decision making process?

As Paige tries to deal with these huge questions about her future, her anxiety starts to build. An accident triggers an even stronger response, and soon all of her relationships start to suffer. What if everything she thought was a strong foundation crumbled under her feet?

Review

As the mom of a high school student, Paige’s struggles with the weight of college decisions felt very real and absolutely accurate. I love that young people have access to this terrific story that could help them put into words the pressures they are feeling.

There are many moments I loved in this – the discussion of Max’s Hogwarts House, the way’s Paige’s friends see her and understand her and help her understand herself better, the love shown to The Phantom Tollbooth, and the ways that Paige fights for her friendships through hard things. (It reminded me of the book Love Lettering, which I’ll review next week – learning to have healthy conflict and stick with working through it.)

This is a quiet story – introspective and deep. And it took some work for me. There’s a lot happening for Paige emotionally. And she’s pressing through to discern what she thinks and feels. It doesn’t come easily to her. And the reader gets to wrestle through it with her. I loved it, but it’s not surface-y or breezy. It’s deep and rich. I didn’t click with this one to the degree I did with the author’s earlier book, The Names They Gave Us, which was one of my top books for 2017. But I feel like the author does an exceptional job of describing teen struggles so readers have a chance to identify with and feel seen with her characters.

Readers looking for a mental health angle in their books should be sure to check this one out. There are some good pieces here about anxiety (Language, drinking)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥