Family, food, and friends are the heart of Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp. The story alternates narrators starting with Pen who struggles with telling her parents that she would rather run her father’s restaurant, Nacho’s, than live out the dreams her parents have for her future. At Nacho’s, everyone is family, including newcomer Xander who wants to discover the secret of his father’s disappearance while keeping his immigrant status under cover.
In the third book in A.G. Gaughen’s reimagining of Robin Hood, the main character, Scarlet, previously known as both Maid Marian and Will Scarlet, has escaped imprisonment by her uncle, Prince John. Kept from her grandmother, Elinor of Aquitaine, and her love, Robin of Locksley, Scarlet must travel with new and old allies to stop Prince John from foiling King Richard’s return home.
“Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or performance. It's the closest you'll ever find yourself magic in this world.”
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West is an adorable YA contemporary romance that embodies a fluffy version of the enemies to lovers trope. In this novel, Lily, a girl who doesn’t quite fit in but is relatively comfortable with herself, starts writing notes to an anonymous pen pal. Lily is eventually torn between keeping the note-writing anonymous and trying to find the person that she’s fallen for through paper.
The third book in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series, Anne of the Island, follows Anne through her newly founded adulthood as she goes back to and graduates college, finishes growing up, and deals with the highs and lows of romance. This book perfectly captures the dream of what everyone wants when they move into adulthood; every obstacle can be overcome, and lots of fun.
I found the most compelling aspect of the book to be that I could almost escape from reality when reading it. The novel shows a plot told from 2 perspectives that are probably slightly unrealistic in today's time, but I found that to be an amazing part of the book. I could open the book, start reading, and imagine myself as a character in the story alongside Evie and Caleb. The 2 perspectives really helped that a lot in providing each event that occured with 2 different viewpoints, in some cases 1 positive and 1 negative.
The gay love story was by far the most compelling. I would say that most of the novel circulates on the trials and tribulations of Charlie coming to terms with who he is and wanting to be in a relationship with a boy.
I signed up for a love story, and I was handed just that. It's everything I wanted without lots of annoying stuff to get in the way. When reading the back cover, this is what I hoped for, and it's exactly what I was given,
Hollis Brite is a lady in the kingdom of Coroa, and alongside other young ladies of the court, seeks the King of Coroa’s heart, vying for his attention. When King Jameson finally chooses Hollis to become his wife and Queen, Hollis is ecstatic. But when a boy from a foreign nation comes to Coroa, Hollis doesn’t know what her heart wants anymore.
It is France, 1714, and a young French village girl named Addie kneels on the forest floor on the eve of her wedding and prays for freedom from an arranged marriage. She forgets, though, that it is after dark, and the gods that answer after dark never play fair. In a moment of desperation, she makes a bargain with the devil himself — freedom to wander, to explore, to dream, but with one catch: she will be forgotten by everyone she meets.
