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A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy Book Tour Post

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Book Description

A Little Bit Country Brian D. Kennedy

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Publishing Date: June 7, 2022

Synopsis:

Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar – a far reach when you’re seventeen and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs.

Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family. But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World.

Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet – and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything.

Will Emmett and Luke be able to get past the truths they discover…or will their relationship go down in history as just another Sad Country Love Song?

Book Links

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo~ IndieBound

Review

Thoughts and Themes: I wanted to read this one because I love country music and theme parks, so this seemed perfect. I am so glad this was the first book that I read for pride month because it killed me with cuteness. I was trying so hard not to squeal from the cuteness while reading this at work.

There was just so much that I loved about this book even the parts that I kind of saw coming. All I wanted for both of these boys throughout the whole book was happy because they both deserved it. There are parts of this book that break your heart for all of the characters but then this author knows how to take those pieces they just broke and make your heart whole again.

Characters: In this book, you are introduced to a few characters through their interactions with Luke and Emmett. You get to meet Luke’s ex-girlfriend, Luke’s family, some of the people in the Jamboree, and Emmett’s aunt.

I really liked getting a glimpse into Luke’s home life and how that dictated his every move. I liked that we got to see what it was like for him to be poor and feel responsible for taking care of his family, and what that all meant for his dreams of being a chef and coming out. I also liked how seeing a glimpse of his home we got to see his mom who has a chronic illness and how that impacts her life as well as Luke’s life.

I liked getting to see how they each viewed their relationship with each other and the fears that they both had about that relationship. The relationship between Luke and Emmett was my favorite part of this book. I liked how Luke calls Emmett out about what it would mean if he was out and how it isn’t always easy for everyone to be out. I also like how they both get in their heads about things and how if they would just communicate things would be so much easier for both of them.

Writing Style: This book is told from a dual perspective going back and forth between Emmett and Luke. I thought this was a great choice for this book because you needed to know what was going on in both of these boy’s heads. I think hearing things from both sides and getting to know them as individuals made their love story so much more precious.

Author Description

Brian D. Kennedy writes books for young adults. Born and raised in Minnesota, he occasionally elongates his vowels still. He now lives in New York City with his husband and their very photogenic dog. When he’s not writing, Brian can be found working at the LGBTQ Center, sitting in the audience at a Broadway show, or out buying more books—despite the stack of unread ones he has at home.  

Author Links

Website: https://www.briandkennedybooks.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bdkennedybooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bdkennedybooks/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20814893.Brian_D_Kennedy

Tour Schedule

https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2022/03/25/tour-schedule-a-little-bit-country-by-brian-d-kennedy/

Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass Book Tour Post

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Book Description

Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary

Publishing Date: March 22, 2022

Synopsis:

Rain Reign meets Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World in this heartfelt novel about a neurodivergent thirteen-year-old navigating changing friendships, a school trip, and expanding horizons.

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday. Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps. A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track.  Except it doesn’t. Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary.

Book Links

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo ~ Indiebound

Review

Thoughts and Themes: I was so thrilled when I saw this book was coming out because it has an Autistic main character and a non-binary side character. I was so excited to sign up for the tour for this book and so happy that I was admitted onto the tour. This is a book that I winded up hugging when I was done with this book because of how much it made me feel seen.

I really liked how throughout this book Ellen is teaching others what it means to her to be Autistic and Isa is teaching others what it means for them to be non-binary. I liked how each of them breaks things down for each other, and how they both allow each other to have questions but are honest if the questions are too much.

Something else that I really enjoyed about this book is how Ellen is exploring who she is and how her teammates just allow for this exploration while Laurel seems to not be on board with these changes. I really loved how Ellen just freely said that she thought Meritzcell is cute without thinking what others would say but then we see how madison’s reaction changes how Ellen navigates these feelings.

There is so much that I could say about this book because of how much I really loved it and all the little pieces that make up this book. I liked that the book was about Ellen’s trip to Barcelona and we see how her being Autistic affects this trip but it isn’t completely centered on this part of who she is.

Characters: In this book, you get to meet several characters through their interactions with Ellen. You get to meet Ellen’s dad, her best friend, Laurel, and her teammates, Andy, Gibs, and Isa. You also get to briefly meet some of Laurel’s teammates and new friends, Madison and Sophie-Anne.

I really loved everyone on Ellen’s team and how they supported her throughout her time in Barcelona and how they just seemed to understand her. I was frustrated with Laurel throughout this book because it seemed that she didn’t really know Ellen or care about her since she had these new friends and Ellen didn’t really fit into that new life. I really enjoyed that Ellen’s teammates accepted her for who she is but still hold her accountable when she does something to hurt her teammates.

I really enjoyed Ellen’s relationship with her dad and how he is around but not really interfering in Ellen’s exploration of the city. I like that he treats her in the same manner that he treats the other students on the trip. I also really liked the conversations that they have about faith and how Ellen goes to her father to discuss what she did to potentially ruin her friendships.

Writing Style: This book is written in first person through the perspective of Ellen which I thought was great. I liked to see how she was experiencing this trip through her perspective rather than what others thought was happening. I thought it was great to know things based on what our main character actually thought was going on rather than have outside input.

Author Information

A. J. Sass (he/they) is an author, editor, and competitive figure skater who is interested in how intersections of identity, neurodiversity, and allyship can impact story narratives. He is the author of Ana on the Edge, a Booklist Editors’ Choice 2020 and ALA 2021 Rainbow Book List Top 10 for Young Readers selection, and Ellen Outside the Lines (Little, Brown, 2022), the co-author of Camp QUILTBAG* with Nicole Melleby (Algonquin, 2023), as well as a contributor to the This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us (Knopf) and Allies: Real Talk about Showing Up, Screwing Up, and Trying Again (DK US & UK) anthologies. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his boyfriend and two cats who act like dogs.

Author Links

Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook

The Night When No One Had Sex by Kalena Miller Blog Tour Post

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Thank You to TBR and Beyond Tours for having me on this blog tour for the book The Night When No One Had Sex by Kalena Miller. Check our the tour schedule here.

Book Description

The Night When No One Had Sex by Kalena Miller

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publishing Date: September 7, 2021

Synopsis:

It’s the night of senior prom, and eighteen-year-old Julia has made a pact with her friends. (Yes, that kind of pact.) They have secured a secluded cabin in the woods, one night without parental supervision, and plenty of condoms. But as soon as they leave the dance, the pact begins to unravel. Alex’s grandmother is undergoing emergency surgery, and he and his date rush to the hospital. Zoe’s trying to figure out how she feels about getting off the waitlist at Yale–and how to tell her girlfriend. Madison’s chronic illness flares, holding her back once again from being a normal teenager. And Julia’s fantasy-themed role play gets her locked in a closet. Alternating between each character’s perspective and their ridiculous group chat, The Night When No One Had Sex finds a group of friends navigating the tenuous transition into adulthood and embracing the uncertainty of life after high school

Book Links

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo ~IndieBound

Review

Thoughts and Themes: As this book has four different point of views as well as four different couples, I will review each of those storylines separately and then review the book as a whole.

Zoe and Morgan

Zoe and Morgan have been together for a while now and are the only two of the group that have already had sex so this night should be no big difference to them. I really liked how this night goes for both of them and how they are both forced to confront their fears about the future. I like how they not only are forced to confront those fears but how they do this all together and help each other through those fears.

Julia and Kevin

These two made me laugh throughout this whole book and I loved reading their parts because of how funny it was. I loved how comfortable these two are with each other and how much they clearly love each other. I loved how all of this was Julia’s plan but nothing goes according to what she has planned.

Madison and Jake

As much as I wasn’t invested in this relationship as much as the rest of them, I still really liked seeing how things played out for them. I liked seeing the way that Madison navigates her relationship with Jake and what her needs are. I thought it was great that we got to see everyone telling Madison what she should want and what her needs are but she stands up against them because of what she wants.

Alex and Leah

This pairing was my favorite of the whole book and I loved how wholesome it all was. I liked seeing how Leah supports Alex through what is probably the scariest night of his life. I like that they don’t really know each other but spend this whole night learning about each other. I also like how we get to see Leah interacting with Alex’s family and love getting to see who these characters are when they are alone.

Overall

I loved the friendships between all of these characters and was laughing during the scenes that you get to see their interactions through the group text. I would’ve loved to see these characters interacting more with each other throughout the night.

I loved that this book was about fearing the unknown in so many different ways and the transition from being a teenager to being an adult. I remember being that age and then going to community college so I didn’t feel like a full adult yet until I left home a few years later. I remember trying to decide which college was the best choice for me and thinking about what leaving friends or friends leaving me meant for my future.

Characters: In this book you get introduced to four main characters, and their partners. I loved getting to learn more about each of the main characters as well as read about their relationships. I loved reading about the separate couples but also the relationships they had with the others in the group.

There were some moments in which some of the characters were frustrating me but then I reminded myself that these are teenagers and this was typical behavior for this age. I liked that this book has Sapphic representation as well as chronic illness representation (Lupus).

Writing Style: This book is told through four points of view in first person which I really enjoyed. I was a bit concerned that I would get confused between all of the points of view but they were all distinct enough that you are able to tell the difference between who is speaking. I liked that you got to see things from each of these perspectives because you got to be in the characters head but also follow along as they are figuring the night out.

Author Information

Kalena Miller grew up in College Station, TX with her mom, dad, and the most photographed hamster in history. After high school, she moved a thousand miles north to attend Carleton College, where she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Religious Studies. After a brief stint working as a paraeducator in Seattle, Kalena decided she missed school too much, so she spent the next two years pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University.

Kalena currently lives in Hopkins, Minnesota with her husband, Kenny, and Toy Australian Shepherd, Toshley. She writes middle grade and young adult fiction and co-authors narrative nonfiction with her mom, Kathy Miller (check out her website here). She loves books that make her laugh and make her cry, preferably at the same time, and she firmly believes all quality novels should feature a cat.

Author Links

Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Goodreads~ Facebook

The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life by Dani Jansen Blog Tour Stop

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Author Information

Dani Jansen is a teacher and writer who lives in Montreal. She should probably be embarrassed to admit that she has performed as part of her school’s Glee Club for eight years. She should probably also be ashamed to tell people that she named her cats after punctuation symbols (Ampersand and Em-Dash, in case you’re curious).

Author Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaniAJansen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniannejansen/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20027034.Dani_Jansen

Book Description

Alison Green, desperate valedictorian-wannabe, agrees to produce her school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That’s her first big mistake. The second is accidentally saying Yes to a date with her oldest friend, Jack, even though she’s crushing on Charlotte. Alison manages to stay positive, even when her best friend starts referring to the play as “Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster.” Alison must cope with the misadventures that befall the play if she’s going to survive the year. She’ll also have to grapple with what it means to be “out” and what she might be willing to give up for love.

Pub Date: September 22, 2020

Giveaway Information

US/Canada Only

Two Finished Copies of The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life. The giveaway ends on September 15th. Click here to enter.

Review

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to be a part of this book tour, and thank you to Netgalley,and Second Story Press for the advanced reading copy so I could share my review with you all.

I was a bit worried about reading this one because of the focus on Shakespeare and knowing how much I am not a fan of him. I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed this book even if I’m unsure if this book resembles the Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night Dream.

Thoughts and Themes: I actually really enjoyed this book and liked the struggle that Alison has with being out but also being closeted. While she is out to her best friend and family, they are the only ones who know about this. I know one of the issues that people may have with this book is the lack of the use of the word lesbian but I felt that this is a choice that was made because of the main character.

I thought it was important that Alison never really referred to herself as a lesbian and just kept saying gay or referencing that she didn’t like men. I think that this really added to the complexity of her figuring out how to let others know and how her being unable to put the label on herself contributes to this.

Characters: In this book you get a range of characters and I thought that was great. I thought it was good to see that you had different races/ethnic groups represented through the different characters. I really like all of the characters that are introduced throughout the book and especially enjoy their interactions with each other. I liked the relationship that Alison has with her friends and how supportive they are of her in the thing that she enjoys.

Something else that I liked is the way that Alison has to deal with the mistakes that she makes with her friends and others. I like reading as she deals with this and grows as a person through these errors that she makes. I like how you get to see the complexity behind some of these characters anger towards Alison and how she doesn’t seem to always understand their anger.

Writing Style: This book is told in the perspective of Alison and you don’t really get to know anything from the others. I thought this was great because you get to see a lot of the things that are happening in her head as it is told in first person.

You Can Find this Book at:

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo

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