The Cost of Knowing is a young adult novel that follows sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus, a black teen, and his twelve-year-old little brother Isaiah whose parents were killed in a car accident a few years prior. Alex isn’t quite like other kids because ever since the accident, he has the gift of psychometry – that is to say, he can see the future whenever he touches an object or a person. For instance, if he touches an ice cream scoop at work, he sees himself using it to scoop ice cream a few minutes later. If he touches his car, he sees it wrecked and underwater a few years from now.

He also saw his childhood best friend’s death a few years prior, so since then, he lives in pretty much a constant state of anxiety surrounding his gift. This burdensome ability also makes it challenging for Alex to maintain relationships because since he foresaw his friend’s death, he’s generally avoided touching the people he cares about, which isn’t always easy to accomplish and has led to additional complications for Alex. For instance, it’s caused conflict between him and his girlfriend, who isn’t aware of Alex’s “gift” and doesn’t understand why Alex won’t hold her hand.

But one day, his world turns completely upside down when, after picking up an old family photo, he sees the funeral of his little brother, Isaiah. Alex knows that the events of his visions cannot be prevented — what he sees has always come to pass. So now, Alex is determined to be the best brother possible during Isaiah’s remaining days and to do everything in his power to ensure that his days are safe and happy.

Though this is the story of two brothers, at its core, the book is also about what it means to be a young Black man today. In fact, the author dedicates the book: “To all the Black boys who had to grow up too early.”

As Alex attempts to protect his brother, we witness how the boys have to deal with the realities of racism, stereotypes, and constant microaggressions, especially given that they live in a primarily white neighborhood. We see their continuous fear and anxiety of being targeted as criminals because of the color of their skin. The author illustrates nicely how people can be racist without believing they’re racist and addresses several themes such as the effects of trauma, systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, intimacy, grief, fear, guilt, toxic masculinity, mental health, Black history, ignorance, privilege, power, and more. Additionally, there was the compelling theme of Black ancestral pride in which the legacy of Alex’s ability is explained through the lens of familial history and heritage. I also enjoyed the underlying theme of the necessity of working through our traumatic experiences.

I loved the beautiful relationship that developed between the two boys. Up to this point, they were mostly estranged because Isaiah spent all of this time hiding in his room (as it turns out, Isaiah has his own secrets). It warmed my heart to see the boys open up to each other and experience joy together. They even discover that they have the same musical tastes, a scene which brought a smile to my face.

Though at times heartbreaking, The Cost of Knowing is also uplifting. It’s a gripping and magical book that’s relevant, moving, and poignant. Though the narrative does examine several serious themes, the powerful and addictive plotline, as well as the relatable characters, made this a page-turner for me. I loved this brilliant book and give it 5 Stars.

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Blurb:

In Sophie Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

Review:

This was such a fun book! The story follows a bisexual high school girl named Darcy who, for the past two years, has secretly run a relationship advice service from Locker 89 — an abandoned locker at school to which only she has the combination. One day she gets caught red-handed retrieving letters from the locker by a stuffy upperclassman named Alexander Brougham. In return for keeping her secret, Darcy agrees to help him win back his ex-girlfriend. Of course, things don’t go smoothly, especially when her own love life stirs up a conflict of interest between her “Agony Aunt” duties and her friend Brook, a friend on whom Darcy harbors a secret crush. As it turns out, Darcy has made some poor decisions — selfish decisions — which, if came to light, would no doubt ruin her friendship with Brook forever.

I really appreciated the conversion about bi-phobia, both internalized and external, once Darcy begins having feelings for Alexander. She begins to ask herself whether she’s can still call herself queer if she dates someone of the opposite sex. Would falling in love with a guy erase her as a bisexual? Could she even call herself bisexual in such a case? There was a lot of compelling discussion around this topic in the book, and it illustrated how painful and damaging bi-phobia can be — and how it can even be perpetuated by the Queer community.

The book also delves into many other important themes such as romantic relationships, friendship, being part of the queer community, family, and coming out. There was also plenty of horrible decisions leading to much drama, which was a lot of fun. But though Darcy does mess up horribly and makes some pretty terrible decisions, she’s quite an admirable character overall. She takes her role as a relationship advisor seriously. Thus, she spends a lot of time researching relationships, helping her provide better advice to her “clients” (even though she’s never been in a relationship herself). Darcy actually gives quite impressive and well-researched advice, tacking such topics as consent, boundaries, communicating your feelings, sexual identity, appropriate expectations, and not allowing others to take advantage of you or belittle you.

I also loved how diverse the cast of characters was. Our main character, Darcy, was bisexual, the male hero was heterosexual, Darcy’s friend/love interest is a lesbian, and several supporting characters were trans, non-binary, and gay.

All in all, this novel was a delight to read. I loved the way it combines the bitterness of adolescence with the sweetness of friendship and young love. The characterization in this book is really powerful, and I thought that this novel is populated with wonderfully complex, dynamic, and empathetic characters, displaying the perfect balance of heartbreak and hope.

The plot itself was phenomenal, and I loved the premise of giving out secret relationship advice via a school locker. But this was much more than an enjoyable story. Perfect on Paper makes us think about who we are and how we want to live our lives and does in a way that’s skillfully presented and eloquently narrated, ending up being a tale of courage, love, and carving your own place in the world.

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This follows a high-school girl named Rowan, who is seen as kind of an oddball, given that her mother is a famous paranormal author who writes about ghosts. Rowan is a pragmatist and doesn’t believe in anything supernatural.

Rowan then ends up paired with her nemesis — the popular girl named Abby — for a school project for their marketing class. Abby’s idea is to sell love spells to the other students in order to raise money for their teacher’s favorite charity. Rowan agrees to write the spells, mainly because she feels guilty for ruining Abby’s science project years before, so it’s her way of making it up to her. The kicker, however, is that every spell Rowan writes actually works — the people for whom she writes the spells are quickly paired up with their dream person/crush. But as Rowan and Abby quickly learn, the spells only work if Rowan is the author. Abby then becomes more than a bit exploitative, taking advantage of Rowan’s guilt.

Of course, as is often the case, the love spells, things backfire in a significant way, and all sorts of hijinks ensue.

This ended up being a fun witchy story with plenty of drama and a touch of romance. I enjoyed seeing Rowan navigating her friendships (which strained because of the magic), her relationship with her mother, her newly discovered magical abilities, and her new relationship with the hot school jock, Luca. Speaking of Luca, I enjoyed how Rowan came out of her shell once they began dating and loved the tender relationship that developed between the two of them.

All in all, I found Love Spells and Other Disasters to be a light, entertaining story with a sweet romance at its core. It’s clever and engaging with an inventive plot and an admirable heroine that grabbed my attention right from the get-go.

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Synopsis:

From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord’s You Have a Match, a YA novel of family, friendship, romance and sisterhood…

When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.

But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.

When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents—especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.

The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby’s growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.

But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones.

My Review:

I loved the premise of this — the idea of discovering a sister you never knew you had as a result of a DNA test. I also love stories set at summer camp, so that was another massive plus for me — and that aspect of it was very well done, with plenty of zany camp shenanigans, witty banter, and quirky hijinks included.

As for our main two characters, Savvy and Abby, I loved how utterly different they were from each other, with Abby being an artistic, rule-breaking, consequences-be-damned rebel who’s not all that concerned about academics, and Savvy, a social media-obsessed, always-in-control, play-by-the-rules type of person. I loved how obsessed with Instagram Savvy is, and though it seems as though that obsession is a bit over-the-top, I know people in real life who are just like this (okay…maybe without the 500,000 followers!), so it not unrealistic.

Though there was a romance aspect to this, it took a back to the newly discovered sister relationship, and it was so much fun watching the girls get to know each other and begin to understand the other. I felt that their characters were well-fleshed out and realistic, complete with flaws, doubts, and insecurities. I enjoyed how they put their heads together to try to discover why their parents gave Savvy up and uncover the reason why they never told Abby she had a sister. The big reveal regarding that mystery was well done and a lot of fun.

I loved how complicated and messy all of the relationships in the book were, all of which had not only a compelling dynamic but also changed and evolved as the narrative progressed, complete with all the related angst, raw emotions, tension, and anxiety that come with it. I especially enjoyed the awkwardness of Leo and Abby’s relationship because of the BEI (Big Embarrassing Incident) as they danced around their true feelings for each other and suffered through all sorts of miscommunications.

You Have a Match is a beautifully rendered and unique exploration of friendship, with all of its exhilaration, disappointments, and mistakes, with a fair amount of melodrama thrown it. And it is through friendship that Abbey learns some of the most important truths about herself and the kind of person she wants to be.

My only niggle with the book was the excessive Harry Potter references, something I always dislike in novels. That’s just a personal pet peeve of mine, but I wish authors would move past this already…so that part of the book was a bit eye-rolling. But apart from Harry Potter, I enjoyed this little gem of a novel, and I would definitely read more of this author’s work.

Release Date: January 12th

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The story, originally written in Portuguese, takes place in Brazil follows seventeen-year-old Felipe, a fat gay kid who is relentlessly bullied at school because of his weight and has some several body image insecurities. He’s looking forward to school break — 15 days of quiet and solitude: no kids, no teasing.

So when his mother informs him that Caio, the handsome neighbor kid from apartment 57 will be staying with them while Caio’s parents are out of town, Felipe panics – not because Caio has ever teased him, because he hasn’t. Rather, Filipe is distraught because he’s had a crush on Caio for years and has no idea how he’ll manage being with the boy in close quarters for 15 days.

But as the story progresses, Felipe begins to realize that Caio staying with him might not be a much of a disaster as he’d originally thought. In the coming days, the two boys learn about each other and also learn about themselves in the process.

It was fun discovering how each of them totally changed their perception of the other once some of those self-imposed walls came down. I loved how clumsily they acted around each other in the early days.

Now it was heartbreaking to read Filipe’s insecurities about his body, his self-loathing and the anxiety he experienced. We also learn that Caio has his own issues to overcome and it was endearing to see how together, they each began the healing process as the story moved forward.

There were so many great and positive messages in this book regarding body image, sexuality and even therapy. I loved the character arcs in this story and adored seeing the natural transformation of both of our characters throughout the pages especially with Felipe, as he came to realize that this body size or size is not that which defines him. It was a delight seeing both boys emerge stronger and more confident at the end of the book.

So in this way, I loved tender conversation around body shaming and body insecurities, and the positive manner in which the author illustrates how people see what’s inside a person. The author also tackles the topic of bullying in a heartfelt way and I enjoyed seeing the bullies put in their place.

The ending was absolutely lovely and it warmed my heart to see all of Felipe’s deeply entrenched insecurities come crashing down and how both boys end up overcoming their fears and discover their inner strength.

The romance here was so sweet and tender — absolutely perfect — and each boy finding his own self-confidence added to the perfection. There were also some compelling family dynamics going on, between Felipe and his mother as well as between Caio and his mother.

All in all, this is a endearing, wholesome feel-good story with a huge, huge heart that I’m so glad I read.

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