CBR15 Book 12: "Cemetery Boys" by Aiden Thomas

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 4 stars

#CBR15 Passport Challenge: Different genres (paranormal fantasy)

Being a queer teen can be difficult enough, even if you don't come from a long line of magic users with very traditional gender roles. In Yadriel's family, the brujos can summon the spirits of the dead and help them find peace in the afterlife. The brujas have tremendous healing powers. However, Yadriel's family won't let him go through the traditional rite for brujos, because of the gender he was born with. The only ones who seem to fully support him are his uncle, who never really seemed able to tap into the family's magic in the first place, and his cousin Maritza, who is vegan and refuses to use blood of any kind (chicken blood is traditional) to perform her healing spells. 

Yadriel and Maritza sneak into their church and perform the ritual themselves. Yadriel appeals to Lady Death, their family's patron saint to grant him the abilities of a brujo, and is both a bit shocked and elated when his chosen gender is accepted and he gains the powers to raise the dead. Of course, the first spirit he raises refuses to be sent off to his final rest - he wants to know both how he died so suddenly and unexpectedly and make sure that his friends are safe. So Yadriel is forced to hide the ghost boy from his family, who can all see the spirits of the dead, and help Julian (the ghost) try to figure out how his little gang/found family of outcasts is doing.

It helps that most of Yadriel and Maritza's family members are busy both preparing for the upcoming annual holiday that they all celebrate and trying to figure out what has happened to Yadriel's cousin Miguel, who seems to have disappeared without a trace. Of course, because this is a young adult novel, there is also the rather impractical and rather impossible attraction that Yadriel feels for Julian (who may not be gay, who may have an issue with Yadriel being trans, and most importantly, who is already dead and supposed to be sent on to his final resting place). Without spoiling too much, the first two issues don't turn out to be problems, the third is rather insurmountable. 

This was the February pick for my local fantasy/sci-fi book club, but I was unable to go to the meeting to discuss it, as my mother very suddenly passed away on the very day that I was going to help chair the meeting. So no book club for me that month. From what I gathered from the other members, however, the book was fairly well received, although some felt it was not exactly aimed at them. Trine, the lovely lady who founded the book club in the first place, said that she very quickly needed to find out more about the author and the author's background, as there is so much in this book about being Latinx, and also about being trans, and it set her mind at ease that this was very much an #ownvoices story based in part by the author's own experiences (pretty sure the raising the dead part is creative licence, though). 

I liked the central characters, Yadriel, Julian, Maritza (so great), Maritza's "boys", the little group of queer kids who Julian has been the leader of. It may be just that I've read a lot, but the overarching mystery of what happened to Julian, or what was up with Miguel's disappearance, and who was behind it all was not very difficult to figure out. It didn't really ruin the book for me that I had both the guilty party and the circumstances surrounding the crimes all figured out but to some readers, it might be annoying. I'm assuming some of it may come down to the fact that this is the author's debut novel. 

It should come as no surprise to anyone that a young adult novel about a gay, trans Latinx kid falling in love with a ghost boy has appeared on a bunch of Banned Books lists in the USA, especially in Texas. I hope it means that a lot more teenagers get tempted to read it because it was a very worthwhile read (even with the partially predictable ending).

Judging a book by its cover: I really like the cover, and the characters look very much like they are described in the novel. I think my favourite part is the rather macabre depiction of Lady Death in the background. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR11 Book 61: "My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Page count: 240 pages
Rating: 4 stars

#CBR11 Bingo: Pajiba (reviewed by Kayleigh here)

Official book description:

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works, is the bright spot in her life. She dreams of the day when he will realize they're perfect for each other. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.

This is not a mystery novel. It says right there in the title what the book is about. While Korede, our protagonist, tries to figure out the WHYs of the three men her young sister Ayoola has killed so far (until she calls Korede after the third time, Korede could at least pretend to herself that her sister just had very bad luck with men and had killed the first two in self defense), there is no question of WHO or HOW.

Korede may seem constantly frustrated by her younger sister, and at times rather jealous of her, but there is no doubt about the love the sisters share, or the harrowing upbringing that forged their relationship. Korede would clearly like a good man who loves her, but when the doctor she pines for falls for Ayoola after one brief meeting and becomes just as obsessed as the previous suitors, it becomes clear that he's really not looking for depth and personality and is no where near good enough a partner for Korede, really.

The novel is short and satirical and a lot of people a lot more clever than I have already talked about the way it challenges gender roles, beauty ideals and the like in modern day Nigeria. It's certainly very feminist, none of the men in the story come across particularly well, with the possible exception of Femi, but he's dead as the story begins. I thought this was an interesting portrayal of a very close, but complex sibling relationship. Korede keeps despairing that she needs to take care of her sister and (literally) clean up her messes, but for all her doubts, she keeps showing up and her loyalty to her sister trumps anything else in her life. She may feel frustrated that Ayoola have men falling for her and women clambering to be friends with her, just because of her looks and charm, while Korede works hard (even gets promoted to head nurse) and inhabits a lot of the virtues and skills a perfect wife should have, but keeps being ignored and overlooked. Nevertheless, she can't give up on her sister.The ending of the book, which almost seemed inevitable, made me rather sad.

This book has been reviewed by many Cannonballers already, and on the basis of several of those recommendations, I got the book in an e-book sale back in April. It seemed only suitable that I find a square for it somewhere on the Bingo card. I didn't love it as much as many have, but I thought it was funny and clever and it's such a very fast read.

Judging a book by its cover: I like the cover, with its contrast between the warm browns and the bright, almost neon green. I don't know if the rather elegant-looking woman on the cover is meant to be Korede or Ayoola, but she looks good.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 49: "If I Was Your Girl" by Meredith Russo

Page count: 272 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

#CBR11 Bingo: Own Voices (the book is about a trans girl, written by a trans woman)

Official book description:
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it. 

Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?

Amanda is going to live with her father and trying to start fresh, after having been beaten up in her former home town. She misses her mother a lot and as she starts to make friends feels guilty that she cannot share the big secret of who she is, and used to be.

Amanda was born Andrew, but from an early age knew that she was trans. Amanda tried to commit suicide, but was lucky enough to receive help and counselling and eventually, transition treatment and surgery. The only way anyone is going to know that she was born a boy is if they see her original birth certificate, or if she tells them her secret.

Making close friends and falling in love when you cannot be entirely honest about who you are and where you came from must be very difficult, as this book explores. As Meredith Russo points out in her afterwards, the trans experience she writes about in this book is far from the reality for a lot of teens and older people out there. Amanda knows from an early age, she has no doubts about her identity. Her parents are, after some difficulties coping, very supportive. She can "pass for female" and has the expensive surgery to make her transition complete. This is not the case with many trans people out there.

I am a nearly forty year old cis-gendered straight woman. I know very little about the trans experience, for all that I now know several trans people. I do know that for all that Norway is incredibly progressive and accepting of lesbian and gay rights, it's fairly deplorable when it comes to the rights and treatment of trans people. While being trans is no longer classified as a mental illness (no, really), I know for a fact that there is a lot of fear and discrimination, and that our glorious universal health care system isn't all that easy to manoeuvre for trans individuals. It makes me deeply sad. 

For Pride Month, I wanted to make an effort to read diversely on the LGBTQIA spectrum. I cannot say that I've read a lot of books with trans characters before (Courtney Milan's Hold Me being a notable and excellent exception), but I'm trying to continue to grow and explore more. This book was good, but for all that I'm glad Amanda's experience was largely positive and she was met with love and support, the book's conflict seemed to resolve a bit too easily (and I'm not sure that quite so many people in rural America are that progressive and open-minded). 

Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is simple, striking and lovely, and from what I gather from the author's acknowledgements, the model used for this photograph is also trans, which seems only right and fitting.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Book 52: "The Kiss Quotient" by Helen Hoang

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Stella Lane loves mathematics and equations and is extremely good at her job, which involves creating algorithms to predict customer purchases, It makes her highly valued by her employer and she makes more money than she has any idea what to do with. Stella has Asperger's, which means she's on the Autism Spectrum, and has not had a lot of success when dating in the past. She believes this is her fault (it's not, she's clearly dated some total loser creeps). So when her mother declares that she would like grandchildren, Stella tries to methodically figure out how to get better. How does one practise dating? Hire a tutor, of course.

Stella engages the services of escort Michael Phan. Half Vietnamese, half Swedish, Michael works as an escort every Friday night to help pay for his mother's medical bills (a side of his life he keeps completely secret from his family). He has a rule that he never sees the same woman more than once, but Stella isn't like most of his other clients and he is intrigued by her offer to teach her how to succeed in a romantic relationship, even though he's a little taken aback by her lesson plans (complete with boxes to tick once she's completed an objective).

Soon, what began as a business arrangement becomes something more emotional, but both Stella and Michael have baggage that make it difficult for them to fully commit to the other. Can they move past the negative experiences of their pasts to find a future together?

I've seen The Kiss Quotient mentioned on a lot of romance review blogs, both on "Can't wait to read" lists and generally very favourably reviewed. It's rare enough that romance feature South Asian characters, or feature a positive portrayal of sex work, but neuro-atypical characters are even fewer and far between. Way back in 2011, I read Jennifer Ashley's The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, which features a hero who is Autistic, and I seem to recall that was a pretty big deal at the time. That book didn't work for me at all, for a number of reasons, but since this one came so highly recommended and I wanted to cannonball on something hopefully good, I picked this up.

Earlier this week, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books featured a guest review from a woman who is also Autistic and absolutely loved this book, because she recognised so much of her own life in it. In her afterword, the author explains that it was while doing research for this book that she discovered that she herself in fact had Asperger's, and that it can manifest very differently in men and women. Because so much of the research and literature is about men, it can be more difficult for women to be diagnosed. Hence Ms Hoang was a grown woman when she realised that she was neuro-atypical and that there was a good reason for all her little "oddities".

Stella believes herself to be cold and unlovable. Because of her previous bad dating experiences, she thinks kissing is "like a shark getting its teeth cleaned by a pilot fish". She's not a virgin, but has never had an enjoyable sexual experience. So it should come as no surprise that one session, even with a considerate and very seasoned escort, is not going to make her comfortable with intimacy. She's very wary of being pitied and doesn't want special allowances made for her, so she's adamant that Michael not find out about her diagnosis. Even as their relationship progresses, Stella believes that all their stumbling blocks are because of her, because she doesn't know about Michael's emotional baggage.

Michael's father is not a nice guy. He was clearly a serial womaniser, but Michael's mother kept forgiving him the cheating, until one day he stole all their savings and ran off. Then Michael's mother got cancer and if Michael hadn't stepped up, his family would have lost their home and dry cleaning business. No one in his family knows that his mother didn't have insurance, and that Michael has been working as an escort every Friday for the last three years to pay for her treatment. After he got a particularly obsessive client who started stalking him, he introduced the "one night" only rule, which he goes back on once he meets Stella and is intrigued by her proposal. Michael is the only man in a large family of women. Because he is handsome and charming like his father, he believes that he too is only one bad judgement away from becoming a user and a manipulator. Once his relationship with Stella develops, he believes himself completely unworthy of her, not just because of his escort job, but because she's tons smarter than him, from a wealthy background, is much more highly educated and makes a ton of money. He's not threatened by this in the slightest, in fact, he's super impressed by her, but can't possibly see a future for her with someone as unworthy as him.

Michael's low self esteem and worries about turning out like his dad are in fact much more detrimental to their relationship than Stella's sometimes strange behaviour and insecurities about her condition. While I very much enjoyed the book, the time it took him to understand just how good he and Stella could be together and how totally NOT his dad he was, made me annoyed. I also wish Stella's co-worker, who clearly doesn't even notice her until she's dating someone else had been less of a creep, but these stories do tend to need a villain, right?

Fun fact, as I don't watch K-dramas at all, I had to google Daniel Henney (apparently Michael looks a lot like him). As a mental image for the hero, it certainly worked well. If you want to read an enjoyable romance with a kind of gender-swapped Pretty Woman storyline, featuring a neuro-atypical South Asian heroine working in STEM, this is the book for you. I'm already looking forward to Ms Hoang's next book, which will feature Michael's Autistic cousin.

Judging a book by its cover: I like this cover, with the teal background colour. While I don't necessarily like people kissing on my book covers, it works for me here because the characters are drawn, not in a photograph. They're also stylised enough that the depictions in no way ruin my mental image of what the characters in the book look like. Not sure I like the yellow font for the name of the book, but that's a minor niggle.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.