Review: Behind Closed Doors

In all honesty, I cannot stress the importance of knowing your choice of life partner before three months. Google. Google. Google some more. Do you want children? Will you share errands? How much of their background do you know?

However, if Grace, the main character in Behind Close Doors followed my advice, we wouldn't have a story, would we? In this tale, Jack and Grace appear to be the "It Couple".  He's smart, accomplished, and well-mannered. She's pretty, elegant, and demure. But, what's behind her demure demeanor and how attentive is Jack? Perfect marriages don't exist and Jack and Grace hold a secret their neighbors want to explore.

No. It's not the perfect chocolate ganache frosting recipe either. Google. Google. Google some more.

Pros:

1. Nail-biting scenes. I'm glad my fingernails shortened prior to this book or else I would have none. Believable dialogue furthers the plot of an imperfect marriage. You want her to hurry, but you have to wait. So, you bite your nails more until they are nubs - not cute nubs, gnarly ones.
2. Fast pacing. Nothing makes me stop reading more than a slow story. Paris serves what we order. Keep the scenes moving. Keep us entertained. By the time you've checked your nubs, you turn the page and bite again.
3. Jack. Picture perfect charisma. Attractive. Well-off. Works in lawyer. Snatch him, people. He's red hot...except no. He's dangerous. Judge a dude by his cover and find a mindset guaranteeing a big nope after the first date. Of course, being the massive Benedict Cumberbatch fan I am, I substituted Jack for Ben and, by doing so, may have cast him in his next role. Make it happen!
4. Grace. Still waters run deep. At first, I assumed she was the dumbest woman walking. Who gets married after knowing someone after three months? Of course, if you check the latest divorce rates, more than one person. Who lets someone dictate their wedding plans, job continuance, and overall life plans? She missed all the signs. But, to protect her sister, Millie, she grew a backbone and devised a damn sweet plan. Good girl!

Review: The Education of Margot Sanchez

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Margot wants to be someone else.

However, her family, friends, and pseudo-community will guarantee her desire won't happen.

The Education of Margot Sanchez is a coming of age story featuring a Latina coping with two masks: the one she wears when she's at Somerset Prep and it's ritzy, privileged crowd and the one, more geared towards her true self, she wears around her father, mother, brother, best friend Elizabeth, and a guy locking her heart down without her permission, Moises.

Pretty in Pink meets the South Bronx it is not. Margot's dealing with deeper issues than homemade dresses and whether or not she'll choose Ducky over Blane.

Pros:
1. A Latina character, unsure of herself, while aware she wears two masks society forces her to wear (Another book discussing the masks/code-switching is Piecing Me Together). Can she be her true self around the popular, rich, and white crowd of her prep school while maintaining her roots back in the Boogie Down Bronx, and if so, when will they inevitably collide?

2. Complex issues: Colorism (her dad considers Triguenos bad luck and blanchquitos good luck), drug selling and use, marital affairs, "keeping it real", classism, gentrification, and one's place in society are shown.

I wonder what life would be like if I had a dream genie in my pocket whenever I needed her or him. Sure, I'd give my genie a day off to get over the crazy week they'd inherit. Warm tea at my beck and call. Erase my student debt. An infinite bank account. Just a few things I'd wish for.

Well, let's pretend my dream genie exists. What will I wish for on any given Wednesday? Wishful Wednesdays. That's the ticket.


What's my first wish?

Review: The Upside of Unrequited

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice. While normally not my book taste, I found with welcomed arms in The Upside of Unrequited. I might need dental work after reading this tale, but I'm not complaining.

Every teenager knows rejection once or twice during their adolescence. However, Molly Peskin-Suso cannot stomach - in her mind - the daily meal of the painful notion. Fat girls get picked last, if at all (Her mindset, not mine). While she comes from a loving family, especially her twin sister (the "beautiful one") Cassie. However, the latter experiences joy in a new girl, while Molly discovers potential in co-worker and in the new girl's friend. Who knew Molly have an opportunity to choose the owner of her first kiss? Will she finally accept that rejection is a common and temporary part of life or when she bundle good moments to prove unnecessary points?

Pros:
1. Character diversity
- body diversity. Molly's fat. She knows and loves herself for it. (So, does her family and friends. There's a scene of body-shaming that's quickly shut down by Molly in a great way. The girl can stand up for herself!) Reid, her (view spoiler)[ co-worker/friend/boyfriend (hide spoiler)] is too.
- people of color. Mina's Korean. Nadine, one of Molly's moms, Abby, and their family are black.
- LGBTQA representation. Cassie (Molly's twin sister) is bisexual. Mina (her girlfriend) is pansexual. They are the twin daughters of an interracial lesbian couple. Other characters are also on the spectrum.
- Religious diversity. Patty, the other mom, is Jewish, as are Reid and his parents.
2. Healthy family relationships (even the problematic members come around). Healthy female and male friendships. I loved Nadine more so than Patty because I saw more of the former than the latter.
3. The comedic moments ring natural, as do the dramatic ones.
4. A snazzy cover with a spin on the happy emoji alongside two arrows in opposite directions (I wonder if the symbolize Molly and Cassie's parents).
5. Quick pacing
6. An overall cute and modern coming of age story.

Every Tuesday I will do a Top Ten Tuesday post, selecting ten examples of whatever bookish (or non-bookish) topic out there.

For this week's Top Ten, I'm linking with Broke and Bookish to do my first Top Ten Tuesday meme. This week's meme is "Top Ten Things That Will Instantly Make Me Not Read a Book." 

Let's begin.

Top Ten Book Turn-Offs

1. Insta-love. Meet Sue. Meet Bob. Strangers in the first chapter, they find they cannot live without each other by second chapter. Does anyone know people like them in real life? No. I thought so. However, authors and publishers believe these cliche needs to continue, especially in young adult fiction. Give the trope a rest. Trust me.

No.

2. Books over 400 pages. Time's precious. Between raising two boys, sharing moments with my husband, working, and breathing, I prefer to use my time wisely. When I read, I don't want to feel as if I'm trogging along. I want a good plot, great characters, and special dialogue within 400 pages. No more, but maybe less.

3. Overused pop cultural references/slang I get it. You want to appear hip. You want readers to know you're connected, but guess what? Sometimes, you try too hard. You become that person. You know, the writer that researchs pop culture online and shoves every bit in. But, here's the thing. Those references must match the people and setting. Imagine reading a piece and being pulled out of the story when a suburban mother uses a term straight out of Oakland, CA. Nope. Uh-uh. Check your sources. 

4. Love triangles Meet Bob. Meet Sue. Meet Dave. She likes them both, and for three hundred pages and so, we'll read about them both CONSTANTLY, which may cost the book a proper plot, dialogue, and characterization. If we're really lucky, we'll get the same triangle throughout the series (See Twilight). I've never seen one in real life because that's not the drama for which I yearn.

Sure. Just keep them out of the books I read.

5.Societal isms (e.g. racism, sexism) played for drama without any lesson or resolution attached. Real life is hard, and in my body, it gets harder by isms, particularly racism and sexism. So, if you're going to use them, make sure you illustrate a point to be made as these topics are serious business and they often bring pain to your reader, particularly if they're not used responsibility (For example, the racist/sexist isn't knocked down a peg or two).

My lemonade cup is full, people.

Monday, Monday, Feels Read-y to Me...

I hope everyone's getting over their cases of  "the Moan-days". One good way to do so is to read great books to knock the droll hours away until quitting time. What's on my reading sphere today? Two books I picked randomly based on their inviting blurbs.

The first one is Behind Closes Doors by B.A. Paris.



Jack and Grace reads as the perfect couple. He's rich and handsome. She's elegant and pretty. But, their friends only see one mask. Within their lovely home, their relationship offers the perfect facade.

Ever read a story you wished you owned in its physical form? Alas, poor me, I have an e-book version, which is fine. No spoilers here. But, I must say, pertaining to this story, if you're dating someone new, Google, Google, and Google your date until your fingers hurt. 

Review: The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sixteen year-old Starr Carter wears a mask daily: one in her poor, black neighborhood and one in the rich and predominately white neighborhood where she attends an elite school. But, for unbeknownst to those around her, masks tire and tighten with each passing day. The balance between managing the tightness and fatigue comes to a head after witnessing the shooting death of her friend, Khalil, by the hands of a police officer during a traffic stop.

Once his death makes headline news, she battles assumptions from those ignorant of who Khalil was as a person. Everybody has an opinion - some good, some bad, others clueless. As those opinions come to a head, Starr wonders just how long she's willing to walk the tightrope others desire her to teeter.

Crafty Scribbles, How Do You Rate Books?

Nice question. 

With care.

Not enough of an answer?

I understand. 

Nothing's simple, and neither should book reviews. In a world of readers enamored with using five-stars and gushy reviews without a single critique, I guaranteed my place as an outlier - a rating rogue, if I may. 

Five-stars occasionally happen and one-stars, well, if I one-star a book, it's because I did not finish (DNF), or if I completed the book, I suffered devastating calamities. In my opinion, these two options should have limited life online and in print. You want readers to take ratings seriously, and when I venture onto book sites that have too much of these two ratings permeating the book in question, my eyes sweat as they roll to the back of my head.

Yet, I use a system based on fairness, honesty, and a bit of snark. Okay, I use a lot of snark. But, rating wouldn't be fun, if you eliminate sarcasm from the mix, right?

Without further adieu, let me present to you my rating system. 

Review: Love & Gelato

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4

Love & Gelato - two delicious items one can get in Italy. While I've enjoyed both in Venice, this story takes place in Florence. Lina visits Tuscany for the summer, despite her mother's dying wish, to live with her father. After all, he never played a part in her sixteen years of life, so why bother? But, after finding her mother's journal, she finds out that expectations aren't so black and white.

Quick wrap-up

Pros:

1. Quick pacing

2. A character that's pretty likeable. She's not dim-witted (though at times she was rather unobservant). Her confusion throughout her short journey is relatable. She's grieving her mother - a woman with secrets and facets unbeknownst to her daughter. While she loves her mother, she sometimes feels as though she never knew her.

3. I loved reading about some landmarks in Florence (I haven't visited yet). Vivid descriptions included throughout the pages helped me visualize the story.

4. A bit of Italian thrown in. While not exactly Rosetta Stone, you pick up a word or two for future reference.

Review: Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Joy. Tears. Remembrance. Urban. Rural. Racial strife. Racial connection. Sweet. Soulful. Glorious.

All of these words encapsulate my feelings toward this memoir of a brown girl's dreams, dancing during an era where a smile hid fears, pain, and simple pleasures from beyond.

Pros:

1. Connection. I immediately connected with Jacqueline's memories dressed in free verse. From her trips to the South to visit family in summer to her urban observations to simple smells kindled by mentions of hair grease and fresh linen. Her experiences mirrored mine, despite the thirteen year difference. She evoked images almost every black girl of a certain age (age 37 and over) could relate.

2. Free verse format. I love reading stories presented in different fashion from standard formats. While this book is nonfictional, her words never feel like I'm reading an informational avalanche. There's a beauty in her words, flowing with abandon, sends you on a journey, and while you're never sure the outcome, you're willing to go.

3. Quick paced. Reading this book shouldn't take more than two to three days (based on one's schedule).

What's Rhapsody in Hue?

What's Rhapsody in Hue?

Well, it's a portmanteau of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (which I adore) and the fact that I'm a writer and reader of color. In the book and writing community, sometimes I find voices of color (black, Latinx, Asian, Native American and so forth - so many colors, you know!) trampled. Take a look at the booktuber of color lack on Youtube. You'll see and understand.

However...

My point is that I like to read. I want my opinion out there like anyone else's. It's important as we only get one life to share our feelings about what we enjoy and do not enjoy. So yeah. I think that's a pithy statement about my blog's title. Everyone's welcome, black and white, Latino and Asian, and the many groups between. Let's take a breath and enjoy our books. Let's fangirl (or fanboy) over the words on page like goofballs.

What can I do to make my blog more inclusive? All tips are appreciated.

While you wait, here's Mr. Gershwin himself play the song inspiring my blog. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Crafty Scribbles

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Hello Everyone,

I'm Latanya aka Crafty Scribbles. I'm a reader. Well, obviously this is a book blog. Reading and enjoying the process is a must. Why not share my joy with others like me - or unlike me, pleasant conversation and all being key?

What's there to know? Well, along with reading, I write stories. I'd like to publish them (I've published poetry, which is cool, too). But, until I do, I hope to share my views on the writings of others.

In my personal life, I teach as well as work as a wife and mom to two boys (Yes, these count as work, too!). I currently live in a Los Angeles suburb, but I travel and my mind expands to to other places on the globe.

Care to join me?

I promise to be fair, honest, and respectful. I'm not here to cut fellow writers. But, I do believe in sharing critiques that help others to grow. So, if you're looking for drama, I'm sorry I can't help you with that request.

I hope you enjoy your stay whoever you are.

Sincerely,

Crafty Scribbles.