Book Review: "Ready to Rumba" by Megan Walker and Janci Patterson

Why is it you always find someone irresistible the minute you swear off dating? The main character in Ready to Rumba wants to know the answer to that question!

Nicole, or Nix, is an amazing ballroom dancer and she’s trying to bring her dance studio to the next level. But while she’s an excellent dancer and choreographer, she’s not been successful at all in the romance department.

Every guy she dates turns out to be a nightmare—they say she texts too much, doesn’t want sex enough, is obsessed with childish things, etc. So she vows to stay away from dating and sex and concentrate on her dancers’ upcoming European tour. She even bets her sister that she can go without sex for four months.

And on the first day of the tour she winds up stuck in an elevator with Marcus, the hot dancer from the rival studio. He’s exceptionally talented but he’s never struck Nix as particularly outgoing—but that all changes while they’re trapped. Suddenly they’re both overwhelmed by their chemistry together, although they both know what trouble their getting together might cause for their studios.

Nix and Marcus decide to dance together in an exhibition, but keep their practices secret. And of course, they can’t keep their hands off each other. Convinced the relationship will eventually implode, Nix decides to throw all of her crazy quirks—and then some—at Marcus all at once. She’ll see how quickly he runs from her and she can avoid heartbreak.

But of course, relationships never quite go the way you expect them to. Not when dishonesty and manipulative partners are in play. Do Nix and Marcus have a shot at a real, genuine partnership—on and off the dance floor? This is a STEAMY, fun, emotional book that had me laughing out loud.

Thanks to Megan Walker for the complimentary copy of Ready to Rumba in exchange for an unbiased review. I really enjoyed this!

Book Review: "Pretending" by Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne's new novel, Pretending, is a thought-provoking look at a woman’s struggles, both in dating and emotionally.

April wants to be in a relationship. She’s pretty, smart, kind, thoughtful, and tremendously empathetic, but she can’t seem to make it beyond the fifth date with a guy before they break it off or ghost her. It’s shattered her confidence and self-esteem, but it's also causing her hatred of men to grow, too.

On a whim she creates an alter ego, Gretel, who has tremendous self-confidence and knows how to hold her own when it comes to dating and romance. She thinks Gretel is the type of woman all men would like to date. When she meets Joshua, as Gretel she has control of the relationship for the first time, and she likes how confident she feels instead of constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But as they grow closer, when is the appropriate time for April to stop pretending and tell Joshua the truth? And if she’s able to pretend so successfully in this aspect of her life, what else isn’t she dealing with?

I liked the concept of Pretending as it captured dating in the #MeToo world. It’s humorous at times but also very emotionally powerful, and it definitely made me think.

While the book took a humorous approach to the whole “I hate men” thing, there were more serious things in play at the same time. I feel like April wasn’t dealing with some past trauma, and that was just as much an issue as the dating foibles she had to face. At times that put a damper on the book's sense of humor.

I was lucky to be on the blog tour for this book. Mira Books provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "They Wish They Were Us" by Jessica Goodman

High school melodrama, intrigue, and secrets? Sign me up every time. That's why I was excited for Jessica Goodman's new book, They Wish They Were Us.

It’s senior year of high school for Jill Newman and her best friends at Gold Coast Prep on Long Island. Freshman year was awful when her best friend, Shaila, was murdered, and Shaila’s boyfriend Graham confessed, but Jill and her friends have all (mostly) moved on from that tragedy.

Now they’re ready to rule the school.

Jill and her friends are Players, part of the exclusive, not-quite-secret society at school. There’s some serious hazing involved as a freshman, but when you’re a Player, your life—and in many ways, your future—are set.

When Jill starts getting texts proclaiming Graham’s innocence, she doesn’t know what to do. Her friends, who along with her were there the night Shaila was killed, tell her to leave it alone, let the past stay in the past. But if Graham really is innocent, that means someone else killed Shaila. Is it worth risking her friendships, her future, maybe even her life, to know the truth?

I don’t know why, but I really enjoy this type of book, with secret societies or cliques, the secrets and lies, one person searching for the truth. My high school experience couldn’t have been further from this, so I guess I’m just a sucker for melodrama. But this is a well-written book; it's not fluff.

This was a really good story that totally hooked me. Even though I figured out what happened early on, there still were a few twists, so I couldn’t stop reading. There were a lot of familiar elements but Goodman added her own spin to them.

I definitely think this could be a good movie!

Book Review: "Broken People" by Sam Lansky

What does it take to “fix” our problems? Is such a fix even possible? These questions are at the core of Broken People, Sam Lansky's debut novel.

Sam is a writer in Los Angeles. He wrote a memoir about his struggles with addiction in his teens and how difficult it is to stay sober. It sold modestly but it didn’t make him a household name.

Now 28, he can’t remember the last time he was happy. His ideas for a second book don’t work, he’s worried he might lose his magazine job, he can’t find a relationship, and he’s so unhappy with his body he’s convinced the entire gay community will reject him because he’s fat. His unhappiness is practically debilitating.

"Maybe some people are just born self-hating and self-destructive and we die that way. And so we go to therapy and twelve-step groups and we take antidepressants and anxiety meds and we journal and go to yoga and exercise and take baths and drink pressed juices and repeat affirmations to ourselves in the mirror and listen to Brené Brown podcasts. But we're just swimming against the tide, because the darkness always comes back. All we ever do is learn to manage the symptoms."

At a dinner party one night, he hears about a shaman who supposedly can fix people’s problems over the course of a weekend. It certainly seems too good to be true, but signs keep pointing him toward taking a chance.

He and an acquaintance spend the weekend with the shaman, and Sam hopes this will be the answer to his problems. But is the key to happiness reopening old wounds, prodding insecurities, and confronting hidden trauma, or is the shaman really summoning his power?

This was a thought-provoking, emotional book that raised some interesting questions. I honestly was expecting there to be much more trauma revealed than there was, and I don’t know that I bought the whole concept of “fixing.”

It’s a well-written book but I never quite connected with it as much as I would’ve liked. Still, it’s another intriguing book for Pride Reads!!

Book Review: "We Are the Wildcats" by Siobhan Vivian

Other people believing in you is important; believing in yourself is vital if you want to succeed. That's one message I got from Siobhan Vivian's latest book, We Are the Wildcats.

“Team first, always.” That’s the mantra of the coach of the West Essex Girls’ Field Hockey team. Some say he’s too hard on the team, some say he’s manipulative, even abusive. But this mantra seems to be working—the team has won four of the last five state championships.

Last year, however, things fell apart and they lost in the championship game. No one was even sure if Coach would come back this year, since he deserved to be coaching on the college level. The girls are all determined that what happened last year won’t happen again, and all battle to make the team for another year. They say, and try to prove, that they’re stronger, faster, tougher, and a few new, younger recruits show promise.

Coach doesn’t agree, though. He doesn’t believe this team is ready to go all the way. He doesn't even think they can win their first scrimmage. And over the course of one night—which is supposed to be the team’s traditional Psych-Up Party—Coach injects himself in ways that cause the girls doubt, yet they are even more motivated to prove, especially to him, just how much they want to win.

At the same time, though, Coach’s subtle manipulations magnify the girls’ vulnerabilities, and it’s not long before secrets are revealed (and discovered), lies are identified, and crucial decisions need to be made. It may be more than Coach bargained for.

I thought this was an interesting book but it was a little different than I expected. I was expecting more Mean Girls but it wasn’t cruel like that. The book was narrated by a number of team members so at times it was tough keeping everything straight.

Vivian did a great job creating tension throughout the whole book, and I was definitely hooked. I kept worrying that the plot might veer into uncomfortable territory, and there was lots of potential for that. But she remained true to her story, and while there might not be a lot of surprises, this was a good read.

Book Review: "Tell Me Three Things" by Julie Buxbaum

If only we could say the things we most need and want to, to those who most need to hear it.

"...I will continue to power through it—all the stagnant, soul-crushing grief—but it will never be okay that my mom is not here. That she will not be at my high school graduation; that she will never give me the lecture, and I won't be able to play along and pretend to be embarrassed and say, Come on, Mom; that she will not be there when I open my college acceptance letters (or rejections); that she will never see who I grow up to be—that great mystery of who I am and who I am meant to be—finally asked and answered. I will march forth into the great unknown alone."

In Tell Me Three Things, Jessie’s life has been totally uprooted. Her mom died, her dad has gotten remarried to a woman he met online, and has moved them from Chicago into her fancy Los Angeles home with her sullen, disapproving son. And perhaps worse than that, she has to start her junior year at a private high school where everyone is rich and confident and looks like a model.

On her first day of school already in the midst of embarrassing disaster after embarrassing disaster, insult after insult, she gets an email from someone calling themselves “Somebody Nobody,” or “SN.” They claim to be a fellow student and offer to help Jessie navigate the wilds of the high school, anonymously of course.

Little by little, Jessie starts to depend on SN, like him even, but she’s desperate to know who he is. She's finding it difficult to build her own life in California without him. And as she deals with bullying and self-confidence crises and unwanted attention from a friend and issues with her dad and the new life he’s dropped her in, she wants SN in real life more than ever, even as she’s fighting her IRL attraction to a classmate.

This is a sweet book with a lot of poignancy, and as with many YA novels, the characters are funny and far more erudite than typical teens. Julie Buxbaum knows how to tug at your emotions without getting maudlin. (Her latest book, Hope and Other Punchlines, really blew me away.)

I pretty much predicted how this would resolve itself early on, and while I wasn’t disappointed with that resolution, I thought it took a little too long for the payoff. But the book was still fun and a quick read.

Book Review: "The Flatshare" by Beth O'Leary

This book was just sweet and fun and it made me happy!

Tiffy is in need of a place to live, since she’s lived in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment for far too long, even after he’d begun dating someone else. But since she’s in a low-paying job, there aren’t a lot of options, so a flatshare opportunity makes the most sense.

Leon is a hospice nurse who works nights, and she works days, so they’ll literally never see each other, which is what convinces her to take this opportunity, even if it means sleeping in Leon’s bed (although never with him). Leon's no-nonsense girlfriend Kay handles the transaction, thus ensuring Tiffy and Leon don't even meet. And since Leon will be spending weekends with Kay, there's no reason for any interaction.

The two interact via post-it notes and memos, which grow from basic requests to much more personal conversations. And as each deals with their own crises—Tiffy’s ex can’t seem to let go and is becoming increasingly more possessive, and Leon’s brother is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit—amazingly, they are each other’s greatest support, despite having never met each other.

When a missed alarm clock leads to their meet-cute (and meet-wet), they begin to fall for each other. Tiffy brings a free-spiritedness to Leon’s methodical ways, and Leon helps stabilize Tiffy, especially as she begins to realize how much harm her former boyfriend was causing her.

Can love flourish when two people spend more time apart than together, and when they’re so different from one another? When you’ve been hurt before, can you let someone else in and let down your guard?

I really enjoyed this book. Sure, it was predictable, but it was just so (to use a British colloquialism) lovely. At first I was a little off-put at Leon’s way of speaking when he narrated, but ultimately it fit perfectly with his personality.

The Flatshare explored some important issues plus it charmed me completely. It was more than a typical rom-com but yet it never aspired to be anything lofty, just a good story. Can you ask for anything more?

Book Review: "The Shadow Girl" by Misty Mount

Have you ever felt invisible? Even though you may be speaking or doing something to get attention, have you ever felt like people just aren't hearing or noticing you?

Thirteen-year-old Zylia feels that way constantly. But it's more than being one of six kids, competing for the attention of her parents, and it's more than just adolescent insecurity or impatience. There have been times where her mother literally doesn't see her, doesn't serve her breakfast alongside her siblings. There even was a time when the kid sitting in front of her in class didn't pass her a quiz because he didn't see she was there, and the teacher didn't even notice.

Is she actually disappearing, crazy as it sounds?

There's one person who notes Zylia's presence, though—her grandmother, although she is in the throes of dementia. Zylia keeps hearing that she somehow resembles her great-aunt Angelica, who disappeared many years before, when she was Zylia's age. Anytime she goes near her grandmother, the woman becomes gets agitated, accusing Zylia of knowing where Angelica is. Her grandmother believes Zylia is keeping Angelica from her.

In her quest to understand what is happening to her, Zylia discovers that her fears are justified—she keeps inadvertently traveling into a shadowy "in-between" dimension. Can she stop this from happening permanently, before it's too late? Can she solve the mystery of what happened to Angelica, and perhaps give her grandmother some comfort? And perhaps most importantly, can she just start living a "normal" life, and focus on friends, and perhaps the boy she has a crush on?

I'm being a little vague in my description of the plot in an effort not to give too much away. This is a book that should be enjoyed as the plot unfolds for you.

I really enjoyed The Shadow Girl, and it surprised me tremendously. When I first started reading the book, I thought it was going to be a tale of adolescent woe, but it turned out to be something completely different, and beautifully imaginative. Misty Mount captured the buzz of a huge household, the sibling dynamics, the dialogue of school and home so perfectly, and yet as the plot shifted, her storytelling shifted with it. Her use of imagery is immensely lyrical, almost poetic.

This is a book about self-discovery, finding bravery when you think you have none, and trusting that those who care about you will stand by you. There are elements of fantasy which will require you to suspend your disbelief, but they so perfectly fit within the confines of the story Mount has created. Oh, yeah, and the names of the characters are awesome.

If you've ever struggled with being shy, feeling insecure, you'll identify with Zylia, and you may even cast a few wayward glances toward your reflection in the mirror, just to be sure.

The author provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Boys Keep Swinging: A Memoir" by Jake Shears

"Writing about your life is panning your imagination for shiny bits. Much memory is grimy and covered with fuzz, like a component of some unknown thing that was left under your couch for years, attracting dust bunnies. When you find it, you're unsure what it was used for in the first place. You do your best to wash the pieces off and line them up on a table, in hopes that with a little concentration they might be understood for what they were. And maybe you find that a couple of the pieces fit together."

I decided to read Boys Keep Swinging, a new memoir by Jake Shears, the lead singer of the musical group Scissor Sisters, both because I was a big fan of the group's music and because, well, I'm fairly enamored of Shears, who has a penchant for posing for and taking pictures of himself in various states of undress. (Whatever. We all have our Kryptonite.)

Beyond his music and his physical appeal, I honestly knew nothing about Shears. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that because of the intonation he uses in some of Scissor Sisters' songs (say that five times fast), I thought he was Australian. But as much as this book is about the rise of Scissor Sisters and how Jake dealt with finally achieving his dreams, Boys Keep Swinging is so much more than that—it's a poignant and entertaining look at one man's quest for happiness, a sense of belonging, and peace with himself.

Shears, born Jason Sellards, was raised in Arizona. From a young age he knew he wasn't like everyone else—he didn't like sports, he preferred the company of adults (particularly adult women) to his peers, and he had a talent for writing and telling stories. And as he grew into his awkward teenage years, and realized he was gay, he wasn't ready to acknowledge this fact to his parents or those who knew him, but that didn't stop him from dressing and acting flamboyantly. He just didn't care what people thought, although he feared how his parents might react.

The book follows his journey into adulthood and self-acceptance, and his desire to find his place. He tells of friendships made and those lost, sometimes because of his own actions, and his desire to find someone to love. He endures interesting work and living situations, but slowly begins to realize he feels most alive when in front of a crowd, whether dancing on top of a bar in his underwear, performing in drag, or finally, writing and performing music he wrote.

As Shears describes how Scissor Sisters came to be, and the struggles the band faced on its way to success, he also touches on the numerous people—famous and behind the scenes—who inspired and helped him. He also isn't afraid to shy away from discussing how even at the pinnacle of professional and personal success he had trouble being happy, instead worrying whether everything would fall apart and he'd be left with nothing.

Unlike some memoirs, Shears doesn't paint himself as perfect in any way—he's more than willing to enumerate his flaws and how he mistreated some of those people closest to him. He's not afraid to discuss his regrets or his insecurities, even those he still deals with. That made reading this book a much more moving and fulfilling experience.

I enjoyed this book for a number of reasons, but particularly because I identified with Shears' struggles growing up, dealing with the bullying of his peers and seeking the acceptance of his parents and others. How many young people trying to come to terms with their sexuality and wondering if they'll ever find happiness haven't felt the way he did? I also identified with his struggles to feel happy even amidst the success and fulfillment he had achieved, as I've been there, too.

I felt that the book dragged a bit in places, particularly in the lead-up to the birth of Scissor Sisters. There was a lot of the same story over and over again, just with different celebrities or men he knew mentioned. (At times it feels like he has met or knew nearly everyone in the music business, as well as some celebrities!!) But Shears' writing style is engaging and self-deprecating, which made this tremendously readable. (I'd imagine the audio book, if one is produced, will be terrific if he reads it himself!)

Even if you don't know his music or aren't tantalized by his physical appeal, Boys Keep Swinging is a worthwhile read. I don't often pick up celebrity memoirs unless I think there's some depth to be found, and there was lots to be found here.

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Art of Starving" by Sam J. Miller

"My sin, my condition, is way worse. I choose not to eat because I am an enormous fat greasy disgusting creature that no one will ever feel attracted to. Now you can't see me, but if you could, you'd probably say what everyone else says. 'What are you talking about?' 'You are so skinny!'"

When Matt looks at himself in the mirror, he doesn't see the attractive young man that everyone else sees. He sees a grossly misshapen, grotesque freak, with red hair and bad skin. He sees the kid that his high school classmates ridicule and abuse, the one they call "geek" or "faggot." So he's taken matters into his own hands, and he subsists most days on the barest number of calories he can consume without people noticing.

"My best guess is that a spell has been cast on me, so that everyone else sees me as a scrawny gangly bag full of bones, and I alone see the truth, which is, as I mentioned, that I am an enormous fat greasy disgusting creature."

Luckily for Matt, his mother works the overnight shift at the town's slaughterhouse, and she has more than enough issues of her own, including worrying about whether she'll get laid off, to monitor Matt's eating habits. Matt's older, take-no-prisoners sister Maya has disappeared, allegedly to record music with her punk rock band, and she only calls home or emails periodically, without sharing any information on her whereabouts. So there's no one really to watch Matt destroy his body.

Matt is convinced that Maya ran away because she was hurt, either emotionally or physically, and he's fairly certain that one of the three bullies in the neighborhood—Ott, Bastian, and Tariq—had something to do with her disappearance. He's determined to get to the bottom of what happened to his sister, and when he discovers the truth, he will enact cruel violence on those responsible to get his revenge. He decides to start with Tariq, as he was the last person to see Maya (at least as far as Matt knows), and while Tariq doesn't stop his friends from their cruelty, he's not as cruel to others himself.

What Matt finds is that not eating actually makes him sharper. It helps him hear people's innermost thoughts, smell their fears, know what they're thinking and what their next moves will be. Suddenly he can slow time down, affect gravity, and cause things to happen simply by willing them to be so. He knows it's his hunger that is responsible for these powers, because whenever he is forced or tricked into eating by his body, he feels slower, sluggish, unable to focus on what is around him.

But the more Matt sees and hears, the more destruction he is causing to his own body, his own psyche. While his newfound confidence makes him less of a target at times, it makes him more so at other times, so he finds himself doubting whether he'll ever find the truth about what happened to Maya. Yet Matt also discovers that everyone carries secret pain with them, fears and anxieties they keep hidden, and which manifest themselves in different and destructive ways. Can he help those in need of saving, if he is powerless to save himself?

"I had spent my whole life listening to stories about what a man was supposed to be. Do. Look like. How a man was supposed to act. It had cost me so much hurt and suffering and courage to come out of the closet, to reject a huge piece of The Masculinity Prison that I never noticed I was still stuck inside it."

This is such a powerful, moving, disturbing book, but one I felt suffered from a bit of an identity crisis. Was it the story of a young man's struggle for self-worth, to be loved and accepted, and to find answers, and the horrible eating disorder he tries to keep hidden? Or is it a story that plays with the supernatural, with fantasy, as Matt discovers his newfound abilities resulting from his intense hunger?

I felt that The Art of Starving works best when it steered clear of the fantastical elements of the plot. Now, I love a good fantasy novel, but I felt that Matt's "powers" distracted from the more moving and affecting core of the book. I wasn't even sure at times whether the things that Matt was seeing happen were actually happening, or if he was simply imagining these things in a hunger-induced fugue of sorts. That confused me more than a few times.

But when the story focused on Matt, his mother, Maya, and the others with whom he was connected—in good and in bad—the book really hit its stride. Sam J. Miller, who in the Acknowledgments section, divulges that he suffered from an eating disorder when he was 15, is a fantastic writer, and he has created some memorable, beautifully moving characters that I won't soon forget.

I've always struggled with my weight, and know what it's like to be a teenager struggling with keeping your sexuality hidden while you're hating yourself and what you look like. The Art of Starving really packed a punch for me; I just wish I didn't have to share the pieces of the story which resonated so much with me with elements that didn't quite mesh. But still, this is a book which will touch you with the raw power of its emotions.