Book review: Running With Lions by Julian Winters

Running With Lions by Julian Winters
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: June 7, 2018
Source: Purchased at BookCon!

Bloomington High School Lions’ star goalie, Sebastian Hughes, should be excited about his senior year: His teammates are amazing and he’s got a coach who doesn’t ask anyone to hide their sexuality. But when his estranged childhood best friend Emir Shah shows up to summer training camp, Sebastian realizes the team’s success may end up in the hands of the one guy who hates him. Determined to reconnect with Emir for the sake of the Lions, he sets out to regain Emir’s trust. But to Sebastian’s surprise, sweaty days on the pitch, wandering the town’s streets, and bonding on the weekends sparks more than just friendship between them.

So, basically, I’ve been counting down the minutes until this was released ever since I first saw it pop up on a list of Becky Albertalli’s diverse YA recommendations. I also saw early reviews and was denied for it on Netgalley (still crying, honestly) but it’s all good because I bought it at BookCon! Ahead of publication, even!

While I was at BookCon, I met Julian Winters. He’s the only author I actually interacted with there, and he was so nice. He personalized my book for me, we had a little conversation about how I’m Sara with no H, and he told me to tag him in my review if I love it and just throw away the book if I hate it. I’m not throwing away the book, Julian. It was so cute.

I’ll be honest, it took me a minute to adjust to the writing style. I’m not really used to third person present tense narration, but it’s okay. I got used to it. And, honestly, this is what a YA sports romance should be like. None of the petty arguments and random physical altercations that plagued my last attempt at the genre. I’m not a big sports person (much to the dismay of every elderly man that tries to talk about the Green Bay Packers with me), but I’m like 99% sure this is how a team is supposed to function. These kids make such a great team. Even the conflict (Emir not quite fitting in) feels really realistic and I thought the whole thing was just very well-done.

The romance itself was super cute, and I guess we can safely say that I have a thing for friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romances, because I almost always enjoy them. Sebastian and Emir were so cute together (how many times can I say cute in one review??) and I was rooting for them the whole time. I loved how accepting the whole team was and how much they stood up for each other.

The last thing I want to say is that I loved all the music references! The team is always listening to some kind of good music, be it Fall Out Boy or The 1975 or fun. There are also a couple Taylor Swift references, and if that’s not the way to my heart, I don’t even know what is.

I would definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a cute (there’s that word again!) M/M YA romance.

Goodreads summer reading challenge: sports-a-holic

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Have you read Running With Lions? Is it on your TBR?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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ARC review: The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie

The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie
Series: The Raging Ones #1
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: August 14, 2018
Source: ARC from publisher (via Netgalley)

In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds.

Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday.

Until the day she does.

Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.

Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny.

With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do.

Back in the day, I used to read a ton of YA sci-fi and fantasy. I think I kind of burned myself out on it because, recently, I really haven’t had much of a desire to read most books that fall into that category. But it’s no secret that Krista & Becca Ritchie are two of my favorite authors of all time, so The Raging Ones ended up at the top of 2018’s most anticipated list. I honestly wasn’t expecting to be approved for an ARC of this book, but it happened and I can’t thank St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley enough for the opportunity. I also went ahead and preordered it anyway because this is a book that I need to have on my physical bookshelf.

To start off, let me just say that I love the aesthetic of this world. It’s freezing cold, it has a lilac sky, and everybody knows exactly when they’ll die. Half of the world lives in opulence while the other half is fated to live fast and die young, all of this decided by their predetermined deathdays. This is such a concept and not one that I’ve really seen before. Leave it to these authors, I swear to god. Everything they write is gold.

One thing that I really dislike in a sci-fi/fantasy book is a lot of infodumping. It’s overwhelming, it takes me out of the story, and it’s often just unnecessary. I much prefer to be immersed in the new world and left to figure it out for myself. That said, I might’ve preferred a bit more information here because even after finishing the book, I’m unclear on how exactly a lot of things work. I mean, no spoilers, but I’m not sure that I 100% understand why the Saga 5 thing had to be a competition, how the emotional and physical link between our three main characters works, and how the whole deathday thing came about. Really, though, that’s a pretty minor criticism when you consider how much I truly enjoyed this book.

If you’ve read anything else by the Ritchie sisters, you’ll know how talented they are at writing three-dimensional characters. They could make me care about anybody, and that’s really saying something. I loved Court (I got a bit of a hybrid Moffy/Farrow vibe from him) and Franny, but Mykal was my favorite. I always root for an underdog, and I just wanted to protect this big, burly kid from all of the pain and suffering in the world. I love that this book focuses on a friend group of two males and one female and there’s no love triangle whatsoever. THANK YOU.

It’s so weird to me that this is considered Krista & Becca Ritchie’s debut novel when I’ve previously read fifteen of their books, but I guess that’s how it goes since this is their first traditionally published novel. For me, this really showed in the editing. It’s not that Krista & Becca’s books are usually poorly written or anything (they’re really not!) but everything in this book felt so much more polished. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s traditionally published and has therefore probably gone through a lot more rounds of edits or if it’s just because I’m used to reading a totally different style of book from them.

My mind is blown by that ending and I don’t know if I can reasonably be expected to wait until next year for the sequel. This book completely reignited my spark for fantasy and I honestly can’t recommend it enough.

Previously: Addicted To You • Ricochet • Addicted For Now • Thrive • Addicted After All • Kiss the Sky • Hothouse Flower • Fuel the Fire • Long Way Down • Some Kind of Perfect • Damaged Like Us • Lovers Like Us • Alphas Like Us • Amour Amour • Infini

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Have you read The Raging Ones? Are you a fan of Krista & Becca Ritchie?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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Debut Author Challenge Check-In

The Debut Author Challenge is a yearly reading challenge hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Participants are encouraged to read twelve or more middle grade, young adult, and new adult debuts. To count toward the challenge, the books must be published in the year they’re read. Jana provides a helpful list of debuts if you’re interested in participating!

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My last Debut Author Challenge update was kind of disappointing. It was back in March and I’d only read three books toward my goal of twelve, which I suppose means I was on track, but it still felt wrong. Now, I’m happy to report that I’ve read a whole bunch of debuts and I have a whole bunch more waiting to be read.

Read so far: 

• I Stop Somewhere by T.E. Carter
• Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
• A Conspiracy of Stars by Olivia A. Cole
• Frat Girl by Kiley Roache
• The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
• Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga
• Love Scene, Take Two by Alex Evansley
• Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Not yet read, but next up:

Taunting me from my nightstand–

• The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross
• The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
• How to Breathe Underwater by Vicky Skinner
• Running With Lions by Julian Winters
• Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi

Taunting me from my library–

• People Like Us by Dana Mele (which has been on hold forever)

Still hoping to read:

• You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
• Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
• Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
• Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

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Have you read any debuts this year? What’s been your favorite so far?
Am I missing any great debuts or should I strike some of these from my list?

ARC review: Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga

Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
Source: ARC from publisher

In the war against the Forces of Darkness, the Royals are losing. Princess Ivy is determined to end this centuries-long conflict once and for all, so her new battle partner must succeed where the others failed. Prince Zach’s unparalleled skill with a sword, enhanced by Ivy’s magic Kiss, should make them an unstoppable pair—but try convincing Zach of that. 

Prince Zach has spent his life preparing for battle, but he would rather be branded a heretic than use his lips as nothing more than a way to transfer magic. A kiss is a symbol of love, and love is the most powerful weapon they have—but try convincing Ivy of that.

With the fate of their world on the line, the battlefield has become a testing ground, and only one of them can be right. Falling for each other wasn’t part of the plan—but try convincing their hearts of that.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book, a magical world in which Kisses with capital Ks have almost limitless power, but after finishing the book, I’m not just not convinced. The story itself is kind of cute, sort of like a fairytale with its princes and princesses and witches and dragons.

That said, I didn’t feel like the overall story was particularly unique and it took quite awhile for me to care about what was happening. More than anything, I just felt burned out by reading the word Kiss eighteen times on each page. I’m in a bit of a reading slump as it is, which didn’t help.

I think this is partially a case of me not really being in the mood for this sort of fluffy fantasy, so I’m rounding my rating of 2.5 stars up to 3. It’s an interesting concept, for sure, and the ending was cute. It just wasn’t for me.

Book review: The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: March 8, 2018
Source: purchased

Izzy O’Neill is an aspiring comic, an impoverished orphan, and a Slut Extraordinaire. Or at least, that’s what the malicious website flying round the school says. Izzy can try all she wants to laugh it off – after all, her sex life, her terms – but when pictures emerge of her doing the dirty with a politician’s son, her life suddenly becomes the centre of a national scandal. Izzy’s never been ashamed of herself before, and she’s not going to start now. But keeping her head up will take everything she has…

When in doubt, always do the least amount of work possible, in order to preserve energy for important things like laughing and sex. Don’t look at me like that. This is a book about a sex scandal: did you really expect me to be a nun and/or the Virgin Mary?

I had seen this book floating around the book blogoverse for a bit before I decided that I wanted to read it. What tipped me over the edge was a tweet from the author about, of all things, a negative review. You see, in this review, the book was described as “Recreational outrage for misandrist feminists. Absolution & promotion of slutty behaviour.” I usually don’t like it when authors address negative reviews, but Laura’s response convinced me to pick up this book.

Anyway, this book was really great. It’s a YA contemporary focusing not on romance, but on the perception of women in the media and the way that women are vilified for the same thing that men are celebrated for. Because what does Izzy do to cause all of this commotion? She has sex with a senator’s son. God forbid. Do you think the boy in question has to deal with any of the fallout? Of course not. He’s an absolute angel that’s simply been dragged down by a lying, publicity-hungry teenager.

The thing here is that none of this is Izzy’s fault. She’s 18. She has consensual sex with appropriately-aged classmates. She doesn’t sell her story to the press. Her sex life should be her own business, but all of a sudden, it’s plastered across the internet and sleazy tabloids. Her classmates turn against her. Male teachers leer at her in the hallways. Her life is forever changed.

One of the things I most appreciated about this book was that the author never once blamed Izzy for her predicament. Are there a lot of things that Izzy’s done wrong in her life? Yes. Are there things she probably should’ve fully thought through before doing them? Of course. Is the reaction to her actions at all warranted? Nope. The mere fact that Izzy is sexually active should not be national news.

Hidden among the pages of the sex scandal are wonderful examples of character development and important lessons on friendship and the friend zone. Izzy is forced to grow up quite a bit over the course of the book and she makes some discoveries about why she acts the way she does. (Not necessarily relating to the sex scandal, just in general.) She also makes some regrettable decisions regarding her best friend and has to deal with that inevitable explosion of consequences as well. I’m trying so hard to avoid spoilers in this review, so I just want to mention that I was a little worried about how things would work out with Izzy’s other best friend, Danny, but I’m really satisfied with what happened.

The one thing keeping me from rating this book a full five stars was the setting. This is a book by a British author that takes place in the Bible Belt of the USA. This is totally fine and I can definitely see this kind of thing happening in that area. The problem I had was that I was constantly pulled out of the story by all the British terminology, like Izzy sitting in a toilet cubicle (bathroom stall) or being stopped by a prefect in the hallway (hall monitor, maybe).

Overall, I really loved this book. It’s about a pretty heavy topic and it has some pretty heavy scenes, but the humor comes through so much that it’s never overwhelming. I feel like Laura Steven is probably hilarious in real life and I’ve already decided that I want to be her friend. And, side note, I’ve never before seen a book reference Cute Is What We Aim For, so bonus points for that flashback to my high school years.