Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

January 28, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape–perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adam Silvera.

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school.

There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.

Book Overview:

Author: Samira Ahmed | Series: None | Format: Hardcover | Length: 281 pages | Publish Date: January 16, 2018 | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

“These terrorists are the antithesis of Islam. They’re not Muslim. Violence has no place in religion, and the terrorists are responsible for their own crimes, not the religion and not us.”

This is probably the first #OwnVoices book that I’ve read – unless you include The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, then it would be the second – and I have made it my mission to read more of these books.

I hurt when I read this book. I hurt when I witness anyone being treated like crap for something utterly ridiculous. Whether it’s their skin color, their religion, their physical appearance, or even any disabilities, people do not deserve to be treated like a second class person because of it. Islamophobia is a real problem here in the United States, and this book showed what the aftermaths could be if a terrorist was assumed to be Muslim.

“It’s selfish and horrible, but in this terrible moment, all I want is to be a plain old American teenager. Who can simply mourn without fear. Who doesn’t share last names with a suicide bomber. Who goes to dances and can talk to her parents about anything and can walk around without always being anxious. And who isn’t a presumed terrorist first and an American second.”

Maya is the only brown girl at her school, and I know exactly how that feels. She is the only Indian Muslim girl at her high school, and while the majority of her classmates treat her with respect and enjoy her, there is one boy that is so full of hate whenever he sees her. He has even referred to her as the “help” in a local bookstore, completely disregarding her presence when she is standing right in front of him. He gets worse, and there is no evidence that he even gets better. It’s the kind of pure hate that this boy shows towards Maya, who has never done anything in her life to give him a reason to treat her this way, that hurts my heart.

All Maya wants to do is going to NYU to study film. She’s always carrying her camera around, her friends knowing when to get in their “acting poses” and when it’s just a time to be normal. She’s really good at what she does, and yet to her family, it’s just a “wonderful hobby”. Her parents do not see her dream as anything more than that. They would rather her stay close to home, go to school to become a lawyer and marry a suitable Indian, Muslim boy like they do in India. To them, anything less would make her less than a good Indian daughter, and they have commented on more than one occasion that they should have sent her to boarding school in India so she would have grown up to be a good daughter. It’s hard enough that being an Indian Muslim girl subjects her to racism and hate, but how can she break out of her shell and follow her dreams when her parents don’t understand?

I really enjoyed this book, and I felt that it was an important one to read if you have never experienced hate in this capacity. There was love in the book, between Maya and two boys in her life that represented the two paths she had in front of her. There was hate in the book, enough hate that Maya and her family were physically affected and traumatized. But there was good in this book too, and I am so glad that I picked it up to read and cherish forever.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: Bombay, India

Website: https://samiraahmed.com

Twitter: sam_aye_ahm

Genre: Contemporary

Goodreads Member Since: February 2016

SAMIRA AHMED was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri. She currently resides in the Midwest. She’s lived in Vermont, New York City, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, she taught high school English for seven years, worked to create over 70 small high schools in New York City, and fought to secure billions of additional dollars to fairly fund public schools throughout New York State. She’s appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, Fox News, NBC, NY1, NPR, and on BBC Radio. Her creative non-fiction and poetry has appeared in Jaggery Lit, Entropy, the Fem, and Claudius Speaks.

Her writing is represented by Eric Smith of P.S. Literary.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

January 26, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado – taking you with it – you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still a yellow brick road – but even that’s crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm – and I’m the other girl from Kansas.

I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I’ve been trained to fight.

“I hate to break it to you, but just because someone has pretty hair and a good skin tone and a crown instead of a pointy hat doesn’t mean she’s not the baddest bitch this side of the emerald city.”

Forget everything you know about Dorothy Gale and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Forget the movie, forget the book. This is not the same thing at all.

This is an all out disaster, in such a good way.

It turns out that Dorothy wasn’t going to be the only girl from Kansas to be swept away in a tornado and land in the world of Oz. Meet Amy Gumm, another girl from Kansas who also lives in a trailer. Unlike Dorothy, she’s a sarcastic and scrappy girl, who isn’t deemed beautiful or liked by anyone in her world. Not even her mother, who leaves her to deal with the tornado alone. Some kind of love, right?

So Amy and her mom’s pet rat almost die when they get to Oz, only to be rescued by some mystery person. When she looks around, she realizes that she’s definitely not in Kansas anymore, and this isn’t the same land of Oz that she remembers from the movie. This place has been pretty much destroyed, and nobody is happy here. If they are, it’s probably a fake smile to show face to the ruler of Oz.

Who’s that ruler, you ask? Why, none other than Dorothy of course.

Ding, dong. This bitch isn’t dead.

The entire world of Oz is a death zone, with munchkins and flying monkeys getting punished with pain or death. The friendly companions of Dorothy – the Lion, the Tinman and the Scarecrow – are evil and cruel. Just like their good pal Dorothy Gale, who definitely grew up and is not a sweet girl anymore. In this world, the good have turned wicked, and the Wicked may actually be the good guys. If Amy decides to trust any of them.

“Be brave. Be angry. Don’t trust anyone.”

So there’s only one thing that she has to do, after witnessing some terrible, horrible acts of violence.

She’s gotta kill Dorothy. And she needs to learn how to do it fast or risk dying herself.

Amy is not your typical superhero protagonist. She doesn’t come into some magical powers without realizing it. She isn’t the strongest person to come to Oz. She doesn’t even know how magic really works! But she’ll have to learn, and that’s what matters. She deals with everything in her typical sarcastic way, and she reminds all of us that Kansas girls aren’t to be messed with.

I actually enjoyed this book and thought that this new take on the beloved story I’ve come to know and love was a refreshing take. I may not have liked everything that happened in this book, but I definitely need to know what happens next.

Looking for the buddy read discussion? Stay tuned! It will be in a future post.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Twitter: daniellempaige

Goodreads Member Since: September 2008

Danielle lives in NY. Before turning to YA, she worked in television & was nominated for several Daytime Emmy’s. Dorothy Must Die is her first novel.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

January 24, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Book Overview:

Author: Kristin Cashore | Series: Graceling Realm | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: David Baker and the Full Cast Family | Length: 12 hours, 30 mins | Publish Date: June 30, 2009 | Literary Awards: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2009), William C. Morris YA Debut Award Nominee (2009), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2011), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2010), Sakura Medal Nominee for High School Book (2010), Florida Teens Read Nominee (2010), Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (ALAN/NCTE) Nominee (2009), Iowa High School Book Award Nominee (2011), Lincoln Award Nominee (2011), Cybils Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2008), Green Mountain Book Award (2011), Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2011) | Rating: ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

“How absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people – girls, women – went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill.”

So I have heard of this book before, and I was always told that I should read it right away. I received a lot of recommendations for this book throughout the years and I only now got to reading it. I must be one of the ones that weren’t completely blown away by this book, unfortunate for me because I really wanted to love it.

I would say that to me, the book moved too slow for me. I appreciate the action scenes and I can appreciate that there needed to be some story building, but to me, there were portions that took way too long to happen. A huge part of the book was Katsa, the main Graceling, and a little princess named Bitterblue traveling from one kingdom to the other. Since the distance between these two kingdoms is pretty big – at least, that’s the image I got reading it with how long it took them – I feel like those scenes could have gone much faster. What I thought was the climax of the story, the “showdown” if you will, was barely a blip compared to the journey. Was that the point, and maybe I just didn’t understand it? I’m not sure.

I apologize that this review is short. Other than the pacing, I wouldn’t say there was anything particularly wrong with this book. I enjoyed the premise, and I’m glad that Katsa was able to grow as a character, but there were times where I just wish I could have skipped some chapters to get on with the story.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: The United States

Website: http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks

So, here’s the short tale of me: I grew up in the countryside of northeastern Pennsylvania in a village with cows and barns and beautiful views from the top of the hill and all that good stuff. I lived in a rickety old house with my parents, three sisters, and a scattering of cats, and I READ READ READ READ READ. I read while brushing my teeth, I read while chopping parsley, the first thing I reached for when I woke up in the morning was my book; the only two places I didn’t read were in the car and in bed. What did I do then? The one thing I liked even more than reading: I daydreamed.

And so, without knowing it, I was planting the seeds. Reading and daydreaming = perfect preparation for writing.

At 18 I went off to college– thank you, Williams College, for the financial aid that made this possible– and it almost killed me. College is hard, man, and the Berkshires are cloudy. A (phenomenal) year studying abroad in sunny Sydney revived me. After college I developed a compulsive moving problem: New York City, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Pennsylvania, Italy, and even a short stint in London, where my showerhead hung from the cutest little stand that was exactly like the cradle of an old-fashioned telephone. The best phone calls are the pretend phone calls made from your telephone tub.

During my stint in Boston, I got an M.A. at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. (Thank you, Simmons, for the scholarship that made this possible!) Grad school almost killed me, but I felt a lot more alive than when I was almost being killed in college. The Simmons program is stupendous. It got me thinking and breathing YA books. It got me writing.

Am I getting boring?

Since Simmons, I haven’t stopped writing, not once. I’ve developed a compulsive writing problem that makes my moving problem look like a charming personality quirk. I can’t stop! But it’s okay, because I don’t want to stop. I’ve been writing full-time– well, more than full-time, really– for about 4 years now, first doing educational writing for the K-6 market and now working on my novels. It’s a dream job, which is another way of saying that when I shop for work clothes, I go straight to the pajamas section.

Should I say a little bit about what I’m like? I’m fiercely independent. I am sometimes a hermit, but never for very long. I am in search of the perfect cat. I’m a recovering Catholic. I meditate, and when I do, Prince Harry appears in my subconscious and meditates with me. It’s a little strange but I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it. Sometimes he’s not the only one; the other day it was me, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Mr. Rogers, Coco the gorilla, and George Clooney. We were all floating above the earth looking down at the continents as they passed. George Clooney suggested I visit Providence, Rhode Island. The Dalai Lama sighed deeply and said he’d really like to visit Tibet.

Poor Dalai Lama.

I recently moved from Jacksonville, Florida, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trading the St. Johns River for the Charles River and pelicans for geese. As a native northerner, it’s nice to be back in the land of four seasons. I feel as if I’ve come home. :o)

And that’s my story.