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.

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.

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.

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.