Tag: diversity

Review of The Secrets I Keep by Alex Casso

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The Secrets I Keep by Alex Casso

Publication Date: May 23, 2017.

Publisher: Independently published.

Genres: Poetry and Abuse.

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Purchase here: Amazon

Synopsis: The Secrets I Keep is a poetry collection about mental illness, as well as child abuse and the lingering effects it has. Through it, Alex Casso bares their soul and proves that, despite everything, they are a force to be reckoned with.

About the author: Alex Casso is a bi aroace-spec and nonbinary SFF author and poet. They spend most of their time playing videogames or listening to podcasts like The Adventure Zone and MBMBaM. They’re also a baby DM for an amazing D&D group and enjoy making their players suffer (in all of the best ways).

You can find them on Twitter and Patreon!

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Thank you, Alex Casso, for my review copy of The Secrets I Keep. I really appreciate you sending it to me!

The Secrets I Keep is a beautiful poetry collection with 24 poems about abuse and mental illness. This collection is a fast read with poems that will really capture your attention. It’s a collection that’s heart touching and empowering. The poetry collection tells a story about surviving abuse and the strength that exists within the survive. The style of the poems in The Secrets I Keep is one I love and my two favorite poems from the collection are the following.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #5 with Aubrie Nixon

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Aubrie Nixon. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Aubrie, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

My name is Aubrie Nixon, and I am the author of the Age of Endings series. The first book in the series, Secret of Souls is due out this Fall and I am so excited! Its a dark fantasy about an assassin and her journey to bring balance back to her broken world. However she is the type who would rather burn it down. So, it’s definitely an interesting journey she goes on. To answer your question about 70s music, I love it! I often go on road trips with my grandma and we always have it on the 60s and 70s station.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #3 with Shira Glassman

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Shira Glassman. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Shira, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I’m a queer/bi Jewish violinist living in north central Florida. I’m best known for my fluffy queer fantasy series, but I also write f/f contemporary romance (usually equally fluffy) and the occasional SFF erotica.  I’m a gigantic nerd whose listening material is primarily classical music (and old-timey folk to fill in the cracks), so I’d have to think really hard about which pop songs I like even came from the 70’s to begin with! I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is the amazing soundtrack of Star Wars, and then the musical Sweeney Todd. Oh! I can say this. When we performed a medley of songs from Saturday Night Fever last year at the Mother’s Day concert, I thought it sounded really good with full orchestra because that kind of music already has a heavy string presence. That was pretty fun.

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Diversity Spotlight Thursday #3

Olivia Chanel1 Comment

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Hi readers, and welcome to my third week of Diversity Spotlight Thursday that was created by Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks. The point of the meme is to every Thursday feature three books that follow these points,

  1. A diverse book you have read and enjoyed.
  2. A diverse book that has already been released but you have not read.
  3. A diverse book that has not yet been released.

If you are interested in joining the meme, you can read the rules and see more of how the meme works here.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #1 with Dahlia Adler

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Dahlia Adler. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Dahlia, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I have six books out right now, all of them contemporary slash contemporary romance. Three of them are YA (Behind the Scenes, Under the Lights, and Just Visiting) and three are NA (Last Will and Testament, Right of First Refusal, and Out on Good Behavior), though all of the main characters are between 17 and 20, so that little age group is clearly my wheelhouse. I myself haven’t been in the age bracket for, uh, a little while now; I’ve been working in various areas for publishing since then, though, and am currently an Associate Editor of Mathematics at a STEM publisher and a blogger for the B&N Teen Blog. I also run LGBTQReads, which is a site for LGBTQIAP+ lit of all ages. I’m mostly a 90s grunge fan, so 70s music isn’t hugely on my radar in general, but there are always things I like from any era!

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Diversity Spotlight Thursday #1

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

diversityspotlighthursday1

Hi readers, I have decided to start the meme Diversity Spotlight Thursday that was created by Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks. I’ve seen it around a lot but never knew what it was, that has however now changed. The point of the meme is to every Thursday feature three books that follow these points,

  1. A diverse book you have read and enjoyed
  2. A diverse book that has already been released but you have not read
  3. A diverse book that has not yet been released

If you are interested in joining the meme, you can read the rules and see more of how the meme works here. It’s honestly just the best, and I’m excited to join.

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ARC Review of How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Olivia Chanel2 Comments
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How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Publication Date: May 2, 2017.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT, and Contemporary.

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Selling points: Bisexual representation, explores different kinds of grief and has an interracial relationship.

Purchase here: Amazon | The Book Depository

Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn’t have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace’s mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

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Thank you, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, for my eARC of How to Make a Wish. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Trigger warning for parental neglect and emotional abuse, as well as implied sexual assault (one of the characters implies they were inappropriately touched at a bar, but the scene is not on the page).

How to Make a Wish surprised me, and had a lot of the aspects I want and crave in an excellent book. All of my friends who read this book early swore it was amazing and How to Make a Wish really delivered, and then some. This book has complex and fully fleshed characters that you will instantly fall in love with. I laughed, I cried (more like bawled like a baby) and was filled with utter joy because of this book, because of Grace’s bravery and Eva’s strength, and their shared love for each other. This book really is something special and I would recommend it to everyone who loves a young adult book that doesn’t shy away from the sad and messy parts of life, the beauty that exists between all of it and the complexity of loving someone and still knowing they’re not treating you right.

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