Author: lagabriela

I went into this book with doubts thinking it would be another sappy book about a long-distance romance after I saw it recommended under one of my favorite books “Close my Eyes” by Sophie Mckenzie. I started to read this book and I was honestly instantly hooked, the characters were instantly interesting and you slowly learn more about them through the whole book.

What we Left Behind is a novel that is based around two college-bound teenagers. The starting setting is their junior prom where the new girls, now moved to New Jersey originally from New York, show up to her new school’s prom in search of making friends. Her name is Gretchen, once described as a girl who gives off hippie granola indigo girl because of her Birkenstocks. Gretchen meets a genderqueer person named Toni or “T” at prom and they instantly crush on each other but each thinks they can’t talk to each other. Gretchen because she is with a guy making Toni think she is straight and Toni is with a girl so Gretchen thinks T is taken. But they end up dancing. They instantly click and it just goes to they’re a couple.

Toni is a genderqueer, queer. Known around the school for their protest about how the uniforms shouldn’t have to be skirts. Toni and Gretchen were supposed to both go to Mass for their colleges, Toni going to Harvard. Gretchen broke the deal and ended up going to New York making their long-distance longer but they decide to try and feel it out. While in New York Gretchen meets Carroll in an incident where a girl approaches him to flirt not realizing he’s gay. Carroll is very forward with Gretchen but they become friends.

while when Toni goes to college they finally find a sense of belonging with the transgender groups. Gretchen seems to begin to figure out how she didn’t know herself outside of her relationship with T and begins to be her own person again. This novel is really more into the characters finding themselves rather than just romance.

I will say disappointed, the queer representation may come off as a little offensive. So if that is the only reason you want to read this book, to “expand” into LGBTQ+ novels this isn’t the place to start.

Anyhow, I think I enjoyed Carroll’s character the most, even if he was kind of on the sidelines he was always honest and described well. I think the parts with him doing straight-up stuff like just going through Gretchen’s bags were very relatable for me. Robin Talley does a really good job with her character descriptions and makes you connect with the characters very well. She also did a lovely job at making an LGBT novel without screaming is was LGBT, I didn’t go into the book thinking with was a queer relationship and it was a lovely surprise.

I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a modern realistic fiction romance book, LGBTQ+ book or is just into romance.

This novel is deep and a borderline thriller with its hard topics like suicide and drugs. The author did well writing about topics such as grieving without letting someone know that someone had died to save their feelings.
This book focuses on a boy named Jack Dehl a 17-year-old who lives with his addict of a mother and a younger brother. His father has been in jail since a robbery that had happened years ago and everyone had judged Jack ever since for being the son of such a horrible man. One day when Jack gets home his mother is not where she normally is or even saying anything so he searches the house to find his mother hung on the ceiling fan, self-inflicted. Jack gets rid of her body and does everything to protect his younger brother from the hurting truth. Not to mention, he is running out of money.
While all of this is happening Jack meets a girl, which prevents her from being bullied. She realizes who Jack is and knows she can’t trust him all while feeling a weird attachment to him. The robbery where Jacks’ dad went to jail was the same reason Ava’s dad was involved and told her love was not worth anything. Ava is what is holding Jack and his little brother safe.
The ending was a bit confusing, it left me wanting more. I recommend this book for people who like emotional memoirs, mysteries, or thrillers because it gives the vibe of all that but in a realistic fiction young adult novel. I definitely understand why it won an award.

Ever wondered what it would be like to meet someone with the same exact name as you, first and last. If you think about it there are probably name doppelgangers all over the world. In this book Will Grayson, our main character(s) meet.
First, Greens ‘Will Grayson’ is the typical not quite normal, not quite popular quiet high school boy who is best friends with a guy named Tiny Cooper. The ironic thing about Tiny Cooper is, he’s the biggest guy at the school. This Will is an overthinker always thinking something could go wrong and doesn’t just dive into a situation. Will is the type of guy to observe little details about people, the way they bite their lips and the patches on the back of necks, he may find fond details about them like how they smell.

While, Levithan’s ‘Will Grayson’ the closeted homosexual, manic depression, and chic gothic type is soft-spoken and wholesome but always so sad and just a complex character. This Will takes a while to get to know but definitely has the biggest character development.
I think the author’s craft in this book is brilliant switching points of view, fonts, each chapter was perfectly timed. I enjoyed this book thoroughly although I don’t think it would be the same as an audiobook, reading, the old-fashioned way is strongly recommended. I do believe though, this book would make a brilliant tv series for teenagers, the perfect amount of twists and drama. The book even has a musical written by Tiny Cooper! Even the emotional poetry by Levithans Will.
I strongly recommend this book.

From the first page of this book, I was hooked. Mixed with mystery and detailed characters Bedford did amazing laying out the plot. The timing for certain scenes was amazing! From a person who doesn’t usually enjoy mysteries, this is one of the few mystery novels I enjoyed.
Alex Gray a year 9 boy from London wakes up in Philip another 14 year old from Leeds body. The worst part is the only thing they share is the same birthday, it’s not even the same month that Alex has last remembered. Alex ends up giving Philips’s life a try and begins to fit in at the school it turns out Philip had been struggling academically. Socially Philip is popular whilst again Alex and Philip are complete opposites.
When Alex calls his mum’s work saying it was him a coworker calls back and calls him a horrible person, what happened to Alex if he was in Philips’s body?

This book is an amazing read for mystery lovers, has lovely characters and themes.

“What would you do if you won sixty-seven grand? Use it for schooling? buy a car? Or maybe even “go somewhere, I guess sixty grand can buy a lot of gas.”

High school students who after graduation get the choice to participate in a game where they get the chance to win a prize pool. This game, Panic, has injured many students and even killed one in the past. But Heather caught love-struck signs up for the game. The book also focuses on a boy who is in love with Heather’s best friend Natalie.

The book focuses on two characters, Heather and Dodge,
Heather is super insecure and compares herself to everyone. After a day’s hard work she finally feels good about herself. I feel like her character development was well crafted as she becomes more confident.
Dodge Is in the game because he wants to win more for his sister. In years past his sister lost her legs competing in the game. Dodge is also crushing hard for Heather’s best friend Natalie. Natalie makes a deal (after getting trampled in the game so she can barely stand and realizes she’s not gonna win) with Heather with the idea that they’ve been best friends for years saying they’d split the prize money if either won. But then she uses the fact Dodge likes her and asks him the same deal. If either wins they split the money of course he agrees. I think Natalie is two-faced from that moment on and disliked her character.
The book is slow-paced but it a way worth it. The cheesy romance you’d expect from a book like this but the character development in the two characters is well written and worth the read. If you like romance, realistic fiction, or even books like The Hunger Games, I believe this is worth the read.