‘Cool for the Summer’ by Dahlia Adler

 5 stars!

Book Blurb:

"Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life.

Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.

Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl?

Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It’s about the things we want and the things we need. And it’s about the people who will let us be who we are."

Review:

LOVE this book! Love everything about it; Lara's narrating, the interactions with her Mom and her friends at school, as well as with Jasmine, and their friends over the summer. I love that Lara is questioning and figuring herself out, and realizing that she can be more than what she has been up until this point. We watch as her eyes are opened to countless possibilities; that there are more career choices than being a doctor or lawyer, that there are more hobbies and interests folks can explore than fashion and boys. I love that we get to watch her grow and realize how big the world is, in a positive way.

‘Cool for the Summer’ will be available on May 11, 2021 – run, don’t walk!

Highly recommended LGBTQIA YA Contemporary read. #NetGalley - I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

'Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices' - Edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

 5 stars!

Book Blurb:

"Featuring stories by a bestselling, cross-genre assortment of the most exciting writers working today, an anthology of gender-bent, race-bent, LGBTQIA+, and inclusive retellings from the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table.  

Here you'll find the Lady of the Lake reimagined as an albino Ugandan sorceress and the Lady of Shalott as a wealthy, isolated woman in futuristic Mexico City; you'll see Excalibur rediscovered as a baseball bat that grants a washed-up minor leaguer a fresh shot at glory and as a lost ceremonial drum that returns to a young First Nations boy the power and the dignity of his people. There are stories set in Gilded Age Chicago, '80s New York, twenty-first century Singapore, and space; there are lesbian lady knights, Arthur and Merlin reborn in the modern era for a second chance at saving the world and falling in love--even a coffee shop AU.

Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Sword Stone Table will bring fresh life to beloved myths and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in their favorite legends."

Review:

This collection of re-tellings of King Arthur and Merlin tales is an absolute must-read for all fans of Camelot!  With so many stories to choose from, there's something for everyone. These are LGBTQIA+ inclusive re-tellings, set in the past, the present, and the future, which also stand on their own and are enjoyable fantasy tales for readers without any knowledge of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, or the others.

My favorites: 

Passing Young and Fair by Roshani Chokshi

The Bladesmith Queen by Sarah MacLean

Jack and Brad and the Magician by Anthony Rapp

Flat White by Jessica Plummer

'Sword Stone Table' will be available on July 13, 2021.

#SwordStoneTable #NetGalley - I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

'The Princess Game' (Faraway, #3) by Soman Chainani

5 stars!

'The Princess Game' is an excellent commentary on toxic masculinity and groupthink in the form of a short story. Fairy tale elements include character names and elaborate death scenes, but this is by no means a fairy tale re-telling - and it wasn't meant to be. Those elements only enhance the story, but this tale would stand on its own, too.

Read/Listen via Kindle Unlimited