April Reading Favourites

I'm not a huge fan of instalove, but a monster instantly deciding she's found the body she wants to plant her eggs inside of? Yeah, I'm intrigued.

Shesheshen is an amorphous shapeshifter who keeps to herself, but when she gets attacked because apparently she put a curse on a family, she's stuck pretending to be human to stay safe. Then she meets Homily, and she knows immediately that she's the right person to plant her eggs in, which will unfortunately kill her in the process. But as she spends more time with Homily, she learns more about what it is to be human and love, and maybe they can fall in love and she won't have to lay her eggs at all. But first she might have to get revenge on Homily's terrible family. 

This book is super gross, with vivid descriptions of Shesheshen eating people and using their bones and organs to form her own organs. It was pretty awesome. I also really enjoyed Shesheshen's observations about the monstrosity of humans and bad attempts at socializing. It was really fun, and weird, and definitely memorable.

This is about Maeve, whose hands were badly burnt as a child and so has lost the use of them. She has spent the last ten years with her aunt and uncle, who were healers, but now she's finally returning home to the family she barely knows anymore. She feels misplaced as they're still adjusting to how she needs to do things now, but she finds solace in her youngest brother and the stray dogs she adopts. When they all disappear into the forest one day, she goes after them, and adventures begin. 

In a lot of ways this is typical Irish-inspired fantasy, but this time it felt nostalgic and lovely instead of boring. I think it was because I loved Maeve so much, and her personal struggles with confidence and finding her place were so compelling. The side characters were great, and the world of Sevenwaters really came alive. And I really liked the inclusion of Maeve's disability, and the way she and other people reacted to it were realistic. She made some people uncomfortable, but the people who loved her worked hard to give her the accommodations she needed. I'm now tempted to go back and read the entire series! 

Set in Winnipeg, this is about a set of interconnected Indigenous characters living in the North End. A core aspect of it is the hockey team that hasn't had a win in years and is at risk of being excluded from the league next year, but it's really about the whole community surrounding the team, and not much about hockey at all. The central characters are Tommy/Tomahawk and Clinton, two of the players, but we also get to know their family members and other people in their lives, with chapters from multiple POVs that switch between first, second, and third person. 

This is a really beautifully written book, giving an in-depth look at so many different issues facing this Anishnaabe community that I'm sure are relevant to most North American communities. I felt like I got to know and understand each character through what felt like a series of interconnected short stories. The character work was impressive, and I immediately felt attached to so many of them, especially Clinton and Tommy. Fair warning, though, it can get pretty bleak, and expect it to be more realistic than heartwarming.

Danny moves to Rome with his mom for the summer, and soon he meets a mysterious boy he calls Angelo. They spend the summer exploring Rome together, as well as learning about several different stories of lovers throughout history, and falling in love themselves. It's very romantic, more about being in love than falling in love. The book also includes some really gorgeous illustrations by the author, mostly of Rome, and paired with the vivid descriptions, the book does a wonderful job at making Rome come to life. I just went to Rome, so I loved seeing and reading about some of the places I just saw on the page.

This YA horror follows two girls who both attend St. Bernadette's in Malaysia, where suddenly there's a phenomenon of girls spontaneously screaming. It's a mystery as to whether it's mass hysteria, a haunting, or just girls doing it for attention. Khadijah's sister is one of them, and although she hasn't spoken since a recent traumatic event, she wants to investigate what's happening. Our other MC Rachel's mother is overbearing and puts a lot of pressure on her to be perfect, but when she breaks the rules and starts practicing a monologue, she starts feeling like the girl she's portraying is taking over her.

There are a lot of moving elements to this story, with hints and clues and red herrings all over the place, and I was invested very quickly. I was eager to see how all these little patterns would come into play, and how the girls' stories would intersect. It has some pretty heavy subject matter, but it's not graphic at all, as it all happens off page. There's also some really lovely friendship representation. There's no romance at all, which was refreshing, but Khadijah's friends and their support of her is really central, as is Rachel's loneliness and longing for friendship. 

I was enjoying pretty much everything about this book, but I do think the ending let it down. Regardless, my overall experience was very positive.

A book about time management, but kind of anti-productivity. It focuses on how we have limited time and we will never be able to do it all, so it's better to accept your finitude and do what you can. This is pretty much exactly what I struggle with, so that was appreciated. I thought he laid out his points clearly and with compelling reasons, and I highlighted a lot of lines that felt important. I really want to revisit this one regularly, because I want its lessons to stay with me.