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by Carrie Mac

2.5 Stars

Are you in a reading slump, enjoy reading about sapphic relationships, a romance reader, figuring out your sexuality in terms of liking women as a woman/AFAB (and those who ‘appear to be a woman’), or looking for a quick read?

Well, if yes, I recommend this book: Crush by Carrie Mac. It is a 125-page novella (with big font) and takes place over the span of a week, I believe. Essentially, Hope, the main character, is left with her neglectful older sister while her hippie parents are in Thailand and she struggles with her new feelings for a girl named Nat. The book is extremely easy to follow and I promise you will breeze right through. I can’t recommend this book as a sapphic book alone because of how non-impactful it was but if you are in a reading slump and sapphic, or sapphic-questioning, I would definitely recommend it. I rated this book 2.5/5 stars but it was 5/5 for what I needed at the moment (a short, dumb, sapphic read).

Honestly, this rating will vary for each person who reads this and what they’re feeling so the only thing I can say is that you should read this book with low, very low, expectations in terms of plot, world-building, characters and basically everything else.

Representation: Bisexual/Pansexual/Sapphic main character, lesbian love interest, lesbian side representation, hippies.
 Age rating: 13+ (mentions of sex with older men and some more stuff for more mature audiences)

Jazleen H.

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by Leigh Bardugo

3 Stars

The young adult/fantasy/adventure fiction, Shadow And Bone, written by Leigh Bardugo, was a very mystical book. I am not the type of person to usually read any fantasy books, but I was a part of a book club and this was the book we were reading. This story is about Alina Starkov, all her life she felt as if she never belonged, she felt as if she wasn’t good enough, but thanks to her best friend Mal, the guy who she’s secretly in love with but won’t admit it.

But where she lives, the fold, gets attacked and Mal is awfully injured, she reveals a power that saves his life. Alina never knew she had a power like that, or maybe she did, but she kept it a secret and slowly forgot about it because she wanted to stay with Mal. Once her power is released, Darkling realizes she had a power that could save her town, take her to the royal court to be trained as a Grisha. As love sparks between the two, Alina doesn’t know the actual plan the Darkling has for her. Some parts of the book, as I was reading, was truly boring, but other parts of the book makes you feel as if you were right there or even more you’re Alina. Which by the ending of the book, you wouldn’t want to be in the position Alina was in. Either way, I would still recommend this book to people over the age of 12 and up. Overall, I rate this book a 3/5 stars!  

Hoda D.

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by Sophie Kinsella

4.5 Stars

Sophie Kinsella is a must-read author in my opinion. I’ve read several of her books; they are witty, funny, heartwarming and never disappoint. Can you keep a secret? definitely takes the cake as my favourite Kinsella novel. It had me giggling right from the very first page, and the more I got invested in the storyline, the more I found myself smiling and rapidly turning the pages! 

Can you keep a secret? follows the story of a young woman named Emma Corrigan, a girl with a big heart and a few little secrets… She has secrets from her boyfriend, her mother and secrets that she wouldn’t share with anyone. Or so she thought. Emma ends up spilling all her secrets to a handsome stranger on a plane. Knowing her luck, Emma should’ve kept it all to herself. After the flight, she realizes everything she told the handsome stranger and starts to have some regrets… however, she isn’t too worried… they will never see one another again, right? Wrong! Come Monday morning, Emma’s office is buzzing about the arrival of the company’s CEO Jack Harper… who also turns out to be the handsome stranger from the plane! 

I think that any YA reader will enjoy this novel. It is a charming and funny story! The characters are thought through and very relatable. It is a nice light read that keeps you hooked and interested until the last page. I definitely recommend this Kinsella book, whether or not you have read one of her novels before!

Emma O.

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by Urasawa Naoki

5 Stars

This crime, psychological, mystery manga is a very deep and twisted story that allows you to ask yourself philosophical questions you wouldn’t ever before. The Japanese manga Monster, made by Urasawa Naoki, was made for the sole purpose to make you question life and death and the value of a human being, as during the creation of this manga Urasawa was questioning this as well. 

The manga is about a young and brilliant doctor named Tenma who makes a moral decision as a doctor that affects the rest of his life. As said before, through the perspective of Dr. Tenma we see how he tackles certain moral obstacles and philosophical questions like; are all humans equal? What makes someone truly evil? And how one simple decision can change a man’s whole outlook on life. 

This manga does an excellent job of building up characters, and as a reader you feel like you are living their lives because of how invested you truly become. Every character is portrayed as so human and relatable that any one of the characters in the manga could be your favorite, it just depends on your preference. 

What I feel like the manga excels in is how the protagonist and antagonist interact with one another and how they are so similar yet so opposites. Each time Tenma and the antagonist (can’t say the name because of spoilers) interact it is always a big turning point in the story. Also, the way both of their moralities are opposites is brilliant, Tenma believes all lives are equal always while the antagonist believes otherwise. I believe a quote from the book describes it best “but, wouldn’t you say at death is when all human lives are equal?”

Ibrahim S.

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