YA Book Review- Adaptation by Melinda Lo

Reese is waiting at the airport, struggling with the loss of a debate tournament and letting down her partner and crush David, when flocks of birds all over the country start flying directly in to planes causing countless crashes and thousands of deaths. Everyone around them starts to panic and they are just in time to grab a rental car out of the area. The highways going towards their San Francisco homes are gridlocked, but when they take a deserted highway north they have a horrible car accident that leaves them unconscious for almost a month. When they wake up, they are in a strange type of hospital in the middle of the desert. It isn’t long before they are sent home to their parents, but not before signing an agreement that prevents them from saying anything of what they experienced in the desert. This doesn’t seem like a problem for Reese, who just wants to get back to normal, until she starts noticing that her body seems very different than it was before her accident. This, combined with how different the country is after the bird attacks earlier in the summer, prompt her to confide in her conspiracy-theory-loving best friend Julian. Meanwhile, she meets a beautiful girl named Amber who sweeps her off her feet- but can Amber be trusted? Are all of these strange things related? What exactly is going on?

Melinda Lo writes a great alien-centric mystery in Adaptation. Readers will be guessing throughout the whole book at who, or what, is behind all of the strange things Reese is coming across. There is also a love triangle, but definitely not your typical one. Hand this to sci-fi and mystery lovers who also enjoy a little romance!

YA Book Review: Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

In a sleepy small town, a Gay Prom is held where two technicolor-haired boys meet for the first time. In another town a young man who feels nothing but emptiness tries to meet a guy online that can spark some emotion in him. At the same time, two ex-boyfriends who are now best friends plan to take on the monumental task of breaking the Guinness World Record for kissing (for over 32 hours straight). As all of these stories unfold, the spirits of a generation of gay men who lost their lives too soon to AIDs watch over these boys and celebrate their happinesses while mourning their own lost chances.

The omniscient narrators lend a unique perspective to a story that would otherwise see to bounce around unrealistically. This story is filled with hope and heartbreak, suspense and predictability, and will take the reader through some seriously emotional moments. Hand this title to anyone who likes tales of love, triumph, and especially those who are interested in reading a great GLBTQ book.

YA Book Review- The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon

Once again, we have a review from our guest reviewer Sofia!

“The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to their Younger Selves is an inspirational book for LGTBI  teens. Sixty-four award winning authors and illustrators write a letter to them selves when they were a child, telling the younger versions of themselves how great they will be when they grow up. It was also written to lift up the self esteem of their younger selves, reminding them of the light at the end of the tunnel and that it is not a bad thing to still be searching for who you are, finding yourself as an outcast and looking for people like you. This book proves the point that we are just humans and things will always happen to us but it is our choice on how we should react to how the world treats us and that we should just go along with it and not force anything before it hurts someone. There are many funny and sad stories in the book, ones that even straight people can learn from.”