books by review

Emergency Contact  by Mary H.K. Choi   I loved this story.    It was relatable, hard, goofy and sad.  Penny leaves for college, and she is so ready, like most 18-year-olds are. To leave the town she’d grown up in and the people she’d grown up with. A fresh start, one that she chose. A break from her mother and boyfriend she doesn’t really like.  Sam gets a fresh start of his own. A baby with an ex-girlfriend isn’t what he expected, nor passing out in public from a panic attack, or the girl that was there for him. And stays there for him, the one who became his only emergency contact. Both think that the other only exist inside a screen, that a whole person out in the world can’t be in control of the words popping up. When meeting in person can’t be avoided, it ends their distant friendship and forces them to finally see each other and what they were becoming to each other. It’s a cute love story that gets heavy with real life shit. Bills, mother drama, work, and how a mental distractio

The priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon This story is as interwoven as a wicker basket. There are so many cultures, religions, royals, and bad-ass characters that make this story feel like the epic fantasy that it is.  There are about six sections of this tale, starting with  The Stories of Old,  which is all about setting up the exposition, and trust me, there’s a lot. Expositions are a readers nightmare, if you’re anything like me, you just want to already  know  what’s going on and to get to the ‘meat’ of the story, but you cannot enjoy the meat without understanding the table that it sets on. The exposition for  The Priory of the Orange Tree  is a testament to Samantha Shannon’s ability as a writer. Not only did she create all this lore from her imagination, but she also presented it in a way that is captivating and that inspires awe of these cultures.  We are introduced to two main religions/cultures. One worships the Saint, which was founded 1,000 years before the story