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bao_bao's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Wow.. What a let down. I had been waiting a while to finally read this anthology of short stories, giving fat people the representation they deserve.
I went into this book thinking that it was going to be about characters that love themselves, body positivity, doing things as a bigger person. Instead I found it to be cruel, sometimes triggering, fat phobia, and harmful to YA readers.
I would say there were about four short stories that actually represented fat people in a decent way. I can't count how many of these stories were about an individual that couldn't fit in the clothes they wanted to. These scenarios are valid but should have been told differently.
I am sure the authors had good intentions but I wish this came out in a more positive way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Body shaming
wildflowerz76's review
2.0
Every Body Shines is a collection of 16 stories about a wide and varied group of kids. The only thing they have in common is that they're all fat.
I don't like short stories, in general. So keep that in mind. Overall, I didn't like this one. A few of the stories I enjoyed. Two I couldn't get through at all. Some I just didn't like. I felt like these stories we're supposed to be uplifting, and a few were, but most of them were just depressing. I wouldn't have picked this one up on my own, but since the publisher sent it to me, I decided to give it a go. Eh.
I don't like short stories, in general. So keep that in mind. Overall, I didn't like this one. A few of the stories I enjoyed. Two I couldn't get through at all. Some I just didn't like. I felt like these stories we're supposed to be uplifting, and a few were, but most of them were just depressing. I wouldn't have picked this one up on my own, but since the publisher sent it to me, I decided to give it a go. Eh.
jchartman8's review
4.0
This book had a nice variety of short stories that spanned many genres and will appeal to a wide audience. The unifying factor of each story being that it had a fat protagonist. These protagonists, as well as many others, are much needed. While certain stories presented situations that were hard to face and quite angering at times, I felt like I was given perspectives that I have not seen before and need to be faced with.. Overall, I liked the premise and style of this collection and think that everyone who reads it will be able to find at least one person they can identify with in some way.
smisaacs's review against another edition
3.0
I definitely enjoyed this anthology! There were just a few too many stories for me; I found myself getting bored towards the end. But body positivity is so important to me and I loved reading these stories about young people who are learning to embrace themselves.
Introduction by Aubrey Gordon - 5/5
Guilt Trip by Claire Kann - 3/5
Shatter by Cassandra Newbould - 2/5
Prom Queers by Alex Gino - 5/5
Dupatta Diaries by Nafiza Azad - 4/5
Food is Love by Chris Baron - 3/5
Orion's Star by Catherine Adel West - 3/5
Weightless by Sheena Boekweg - 4/5
Outside Pitch by Kelly deVos - 5/5
Filling the Net by Monique Gray Smith - 4/5
A Perfect Fit by Jennifer Yen - 3/5
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire by Rebecca Sky - 3/5
Letters to Charlie Brown by Francina Simone - 2/5
love spells & lavender lattes by amanda lovelace - 1/5
Breathe You In by Hillary Monahan - 2/5
Unpleasant Surprises by Linda Camacho - 3/5
Letting Go by Renee Watson - 3/5
Introduction by Aubrey Gordon - 5/5
Guilt Trip by Claire Kann - 3/5
Shatter by Cassandra Newbould - 2/5
Prom Queers by Alex Gino - 5/5
Dupatta Diaries by Nafiza Azad - 4/5
Food is Love by Chris Baron - 3/5
Orion's Star by Catherine Adel West - 3/5
Weightless by Sheena Boekweg - 4/5
Outside Pitch by Kelly deVos - 5/5
Filling the Net by Monique Gray Smith - 4/5
A Perfect Fit by Jennifer Yen - 3/5
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire by Rebecca Sky - 3/5
Letters to Charlie Brown by Francina Simone - 2/5
love spells & lavender lattes by amanda lovelace - 1/5
Breathe You In by Hillary Monahan - 2/5
Unpleasant Surprises by Linda Camacho - 3/5
Letting Go by Renee Watson - 3/5
nerdypotsie's review
3.0
*2.75 stars rounded up
The introduction starts of with eye opening, inspiring, and profound quotes that immediately pulled me into the book and made me eager to read the stories. I grew up in a world where people around me would make fatphobic remarks and only in my late teens was I able to release how wrong they are. This book is letting me see into another type of life and body that I haven’t experienced and for that I am grateful. It’s nice to finally read something that accepts every body as normal and has inspiring stories that uplift plus sized people. However, that being said, I unfortunately was not a fan of all the stories in this collection and some dealt with so much fatphobia that a lot of the stories felt less positive and uplifting than what I thought this collection would be.
I’ll give a mini review and star rating for each story in this collection.
Guilt Trip: 3 stars. This is a light, cheesy story that focuses on family drama and music/bands.
Shatter: 3 stars. Another very light story that was sweet yet surprisingly confusing at the same time. It was somewhat of a time loop story but I couldn’t exactly describe the logistics of how the world or time loop works as that was a bit confusing to me.
Prom Queers: 3 stars. This one had non-binary and demiromantic rep in it, which I really appreciate. It’s really cute and it talks a lot about the struggles of finding clothes that fit you as a fat person and that non-binary people feel comfortable in. An eye opening read that had a very heartwarming ending.
Dupatta Diaries: 3 stars. This one is a little less uplifting than the other stories. It talks a lot about diets, body shaming, and fatphobia. The way that these topics are presented may be triggering to some people. This story made me so sad. It made me understand the importance of clothing more and specifically clothing that fits all body types, but it saddened me that people hate their bodies so much and that other people outright express their hatred for fat people. I know that this is a fictional story, but unfortunately stories like this one happen all the time in real life and I wish there was more I could do to help people realize that being fat is not the same thing as being unhealthy or unworthy of love.
Food is Love: 3 stars. Another one that may be triggering to some people as it deals with complicated relationships with food, fatphobia, and diets. It also deals with memory loss in a very respectful and gentle way.
Orion’s Star: 4 stars. A moving story about rekindling broken relationships, family problems, and grief.
Weightless: 4 stars. Science fiction stories set in space are really hard to make into a short story. There’s so much complex world building that they work better as novels. This one was great for a science fiction short story, but I wish it would’ve been a full novel instead of just a short story. I loved the characters and the light romance but since the story was so short, it was hard to fully understand the world building. There was mentions of calorie counting and disordered eating in this story that could be triggering to some people.
Outside Pitch: 3 stars. An interesting mix of cat fishing, baseball, clowns, and movies that surprisingly works well together and is really sweet.
Filling the Net: 4 stars. This one was a super sweet one that revolves around hockey and reminds me a lot of the movie “She’s the Man.”
A Perfect Fit: 5 stars. Though this one had fatphobia in it, it was also very sweet and uplifting. The main character reclaimed her own beauty and it was so beautiful.
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: 3 stars. This story dealt with some important topics like the Australia wildfires and how BMI isn’t an accurate measure of health. There were just some characters that got too much on my nerves in this story.
Letters to Charlie Brown: 2 stars. This story is exactly as the title suggests - a teen writing to Charlie Brown as she struggles with school, moving, boys, and other typical teenage issues. I didn’t like the main character much. She was very annoying to me and the way that she referred to a teen who she thought was struggling mentally was not okay.
love spells & lavender lattes: 1 star. To start off with, I’m not a huge fan of the writing style. Using no capitols, using “&” instead of “and,” and using silly curses that are supposed to emphasize the fantasy elements of the story proceeded to annoy me throughout the course of this story. And secondly and most importantly… I hated all the characters, especially the main character. She’s such a typical annoying fantasy character that I despise. She tries so hard to not be like other girls and she epically fails at that. She’s so full of herself. She’s like a certain type of character that I’ve seen across countless fantasy stories that I always despise. I didn't know a short story could annoy me this much until I read this one…
Breathe You In: 3 stars. This was like a disturbing Little Mermaid fanfiction and I don’t know how to feel about it-
Unpleasant Surprises: 1 star. I went through a similar situation with a friend when I was younger so this story brought back too many memories and depressed feelings that I’ve been trying to suppress for years. The ending wasn’t even rewarding. I got nothing out of this story.
Letting Go: 2 stars. This story didn’t really do much for me and it confuses me. Since when do people wear swimsuits to Oregon beaches and go swimming without fear of sneaker waves coming to get you??
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review
The introduction starts of with eye opening, inspiring, and profound quotes that immediately pulled me into the book and made me eager to read the stories. I grew up in a world where people around me would make fatphobic remarks and only in my late teens was I able to release how wrong they are. This book is letting me see into another type of life and body that I haven’t experienced and for that I am grateful. It’s nice to finally read something that accepts every body as normal and has inspiring stories that uplift plus sized people. However, that being said, I unfortunately was not a fan of all the stories in this collection and some dealt with so much fatphobia that a lot of the stories felt less positive and uplifting than what I thought this collection would be.
I’ll give a mini review and star rating for each story in this collection.
Guilt Trip: 3 stars. This is a light, cheesy story that focuses on family drama and music/bands.
Shatter: 3 stars. Another very light story that was sweet yet surprisingly confusing at the same time. It was somewhat of a time loop story but I couldn’t exactly describe the logistics of how the world or time loop works as that was a bit confusing to me.
Prom Queers: 3 stars. This one had non-binary and demiromantic rep in it, which I really appreciate. It’s really cute and it talks a lot about the struggles of finding clothes that fit you as a fat person and that non-binary people feel comfortable in. An eye opening read that had a very heartwarming ending.
Dupatta Diaries: 3 stars. This one is a little less uplifting than the other stories. It talks a lot about diets, body shaming, and fatphobia. The way that these topics are presented may be triggering to some people. This story made me so sad. It made me understand the importance of clothing more and specifically clothing that fits all body types, but it saddened me that people hate their bodies so much and that other people outright express their hatred for fat people. I know that this is a fictional story, but unfortunately stories like this one happen all the time in real life and I wish there was more I could do to help people realize that being fat is not the same thing as being unhealthy or unworthy of love.
Food is Love: 3 stars. Another one that may be triggering to some people as it deals with complicated relationships with food, fatphobia, and diets. It also deals with memory loss in a very respectful and gentle way.
Orion’s Star: 4 stars. A moving story about rekindling broken relationships, family problems, and grief.
Weightless: 4 stars. Science fiction stories set in space are really hard to make into a short story. There’s so much complex world building that they work better as novels. This one was great for a science fiction short story, but I wish it would’ve been a full novel instead of just a short story. I loved the characters and the light romance but since the story was so short, it was hard to fully understand the world building. There was mentions of calorie counting and disordered eating in this story that could be triggering to some people.
Outside Pitch: 3 stars. An interesting mix of cat fishing, baseball, clowns, and movies that surprisingly works well together and is really sweet.
Filling the Net: 4 stars. This one was a super sweet one that revolves around hockey and reminds me a lot of the movie “She’s the Man.”
A Perfect Fit: 5 stars. Though this one had fatphobia in it, it was also very sweet and uplifting. The main character reclaimed her own beauty and it was so beautiful.
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: 3 stars. This story dealt with some important topics like the Australia wildfires and how BMI isn’t an accurate measure of health. There were just some characters that got too much on my nerves in this story.
Letters to Charlie Brown: 2 stars. This story is exactly as the title suggests - a teen writing to Charlie Brown as she struggles with school, moving, boys, and other typical teenage issues. I didn’t like the main character much. She was very annoying to me and the way that she referred to a teen who she thought was struggling mentally was not okay.
love spells & lavender lattes: 1 star. To start off with, I’m not a huge fan of the writing style. Using no capitols, using “&” instead of “and,” and using silly curses that are supposed to emphasize the fantasy elements of the story proceeded to annoy me throughout the course of this story. And secondly and most importantly… I hated all the characters, especially the main character. She’s such a typical annoying fantasy character that I despise. She tries so hard to not be like other girls and she epically fails at that. She’s so full of herself. She’s like a certain type of character that I’ve seen across countless fantasy stories that I always despise. I didn't know a short story could annoy me this much until I read this one…
Breathe You In: 3 stars. This was like a disturbing Little Mermaid fanfiction and I don’t know how to feel about it-
Unpleasant Surprises: 1 star. I went through a similar situation with a friend when I was younger so this story brought back too many memories and depressed feelings that I’ve been trying to suppress for years. The ending wasn’t even rewarding. I got nothing out of this story.
Letting Go: 2 stars. This story didn’t really do much for me and it confuses me. Since when do people wear swimsuits to Oregon beaches and go swimming without fear of sneaker waves coming to get you??
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review
panda_incognito's review
2.0
Do you ever hate-read something not because you WANT it to be terrible, but because you know that it is and you want to watch that train wreck in slow motion?
I read this new YA short story collection from the library last night, and it definitely lived up to the negative advance reviews. We have three core problems here, and they are deceptive marketing, bizarre and rushed character arcs, and unsatisfying use of the short story medium. An additional problem is heavy-handed, preachy content about social issues, but this only affected some of the stories, and wasn't pervasive.
Now, to address the wildly deceptive marketing, let's revisit the book's premise:
"Fat girls and boys and nonbinary teens are: friends who lift each other up, heroes who rescue themselves, big bodies in space, intellects taking up space, and bodies looking and feeling beautiful. They express themselves through fashion, sports and other physical pursuits, through food, and music, and art. They are flirting and falling in love. They are loving to themselves and one another. With stories that feature fat main characters starring in a multitude of stories and genres, and written by authors who live these lives too, this is truly a unique collection that shows fat young people the representation they deserve."
About.... four of these stories give fat young people the representation they deserve. The premise and cover promise readers an uplifting collection of stories where large teens enjoy life, love themselves, and are free to be their whole selves without living in body shame or feeling like they are incomplete or unlovable unless they lose weight, but the majority of the short stories revolve around issues with hurtful family dynamics, unsolicited advice, emotional pain and self-rejection, and hurtful comments from others. There isn't anything wrong with the Own Voices authors writing about pain common to their experiences, but it is VERY WRONG to write a whole bunch of depressing stories about fat kids who are suffering and then claim that this is a stellar collection of uplifting, fun, and empowering stories.
That is the primary issue with this short story collection, but many of the stories leave much to be desired regardless. There were a few that I genuinely liked, and "Weightless," the science fiction space travel story, won me over because of the genuine creativity, mostly satisfying short-form world building, and the main character's completely believable use of math as a lens through which to see the world. I am terrible at math, but I have a deep appreciation for it, and one of my own fictional characters recites prime numbers as a tool for dealing with his anxiety. As soon as the girl in this story started doing the same thing, I completely bought in, and even though the romance didn't interest me, the story as a whole works very well. This one involves some topics that could be triggering for teens, such as obsessive calorie counting, but it fits with the character's math-focused mind, and the story provides a compelling view of her transformation away from making that the focus of her life. This story feels satisfying and complete, and the message is inherent to the plot and does not feel preachy.
Unfortunately, many of the other stories are rushed and unsatisfying, with bizarre elements that make no sense, shallow caricatures for villains, and character arcs that feel completely unbelievable, since the author is just trying to slap something inspirational on the end of a depressing story. Only some of these stories even felt like short stories, with a clear, fluid beginning, middle, and end. Others felt like the author was dumping you into the middle of a novel with minimal explanation, and then cutting things short. So many of these felt unsatisfying, required more explanation, or needed more time to build up to an ending that felt authentic.
The story by the series editor is genuinely baffling. She tried to tackle WAY too many issues at once, and the story became so unreadable that I skimmed through the rest. I also couldn't make it through the amanda lovelace story. This wasn't a surprise to me, since I find the author's Instagram poetry unbearable, but the story itself was convoluted and unreadable, even aside from the pretentious writing style bereft of capitals and full of ampersands. I could barely comprehend what I was reading, the dialogue made me cringe, and the story genuinely felt like a parody of that kind of writing.
Some people may enjoy reading this book for the worthwhile stories, but I wouldn't recommend it. The authors include lots of incredibly depressing content, and unless someone wants to read a bunch of sad stories with a small amount of light quickly added at the end, they should avoid this collection. The marketing is extremely misleading. There are a few fun stories about fat teens living their lives with a sense of joy and completeness, but these stories are few and far between. The vast majority deal with body shame, hurtful comments from relatives, indifferent or negative feelings towards oneself, and thematically unrelated sad content such as a sister's domestic violence situation, coping with divorce and parental detachment, and a grandmother's dementia. If someone wants to read sad stories, they are here in abundance, but if someone is going based on the cover and premise, this book is probably not for them.
I read this new YA short story collection from the library last night, and it definitely lived up to the negative advance reviews. We have three core problems here, and they are deceptive marketing, bizarre and rushed character arcs, and unsatisfying use of the short story medium. An additional problem is heavy-handed, preachy content about social issues, but this only affected some of the stories, and wasn't pervasive.
Now, to address the wildly deceptive marketing, let's revisit the book's premise:
"Fat girls and boys and nonbinary teens are: friends who lift each other up, heroes who rescue themselves, big bodies in space, intellects taking up space, and bodies looking and feeling beautiful. They express themselves through fashion, sports and other physical pursuits, through food, and music, and art. They are flirting and falling in love. They are loving to themselves and one another. With stories that feature fat main characters starring in a multitude of stories and genres, and written by authors who live these lives too, this is truly a unique collection that shows fat young people the representation they deserve."
About.... four of these stories give fat young people the representation they deserve. The premise and cover promise readers an uplifting collection of stories where large teens enjoy life, love themselves, and are free to be their whole selves without living in body shame or feeling like they are incomplete or unlovable unless they lose weight, but the majority of the short stories revolve around issues with hurtful family dynamics, unsolicited advice, emotional pain and self-rejection, and hurtful comments from others. There isn't anything wrong with the Own Voices authors writing about pain common to their experiences, but it is VERY WRONG to write a whole bunch of depressing stories about fat kids who are suffering and then claim that this is a stellar collection of uplifting, fun, and empowering stories.
That is the primary issue with this short story collection, but many of the stories leave much to be desired regardless. There were a few that I genuinely liked, and "Weightless," the science fiction space travel story, won me over because of the genuine creativity, mostly satisfying short-form world building, and the main character's completely believable use of math as a lens through which to see the world. I am terrible at math, but I have a deep appreciation for it, and one of my own fictional characters recites prime numbers as a tool for dealing with his anxiety. As soon as the girl in this story started doing the same thing, I completely bought in, and even though the romance didn't interest me, the story as a whole works very well. This one involves some topics that could be triggering for teens, such as obsessive calorie counting, but it fits with the character's math-focused mind, and the story provides a compelling view of her transformation away from making that the focus of her life. This story feels satisfying and complete, and the message is inherent to the plot and does not feel preachy.
Unfortunately, many of the other stories are rushed and unsatisfying, with bizarre elements that make no sense, shallow caricatures for villains, and character arcs that feel completely unbelievable, since the author is just trying to slap something inspirational on the end of a depressing story. Only some of these stories even felt like short stories, with a clear, fluid beginning, middle, and end. Others felt like the author was dumping you into the middle of a novel with minimal explanation, and then cutting things short. So many of these felt unsatisfying, required more explanation, or needed more time to build up to an ending that felt authentic.
The story by the series editor is genuinely baffling. She tried to tackle WAY too many issues at once, and the story became so unreadable that I skimmed through the rest. I also couldn't make it through the amanda lovelace story. This wasn't a surprise to me, since I find the author's Instagram poetry unbearable, but the story itself was convoluted and unreadable, even aside from the pretentious writing style bereft of capitals and full of ampersands. I could barely comprehend what I was reading, the dialogue made me cringe, and the story genuinely felt like a parody of that kind of writing.
Some people may enjoy reading this book for the worthwhile stories, but I wouldn't recommend it. The authors include lots of incredibly depressing content, and unless someone wants to read a bunch of sad stories with a small amount of light quickly added at the end, they should avoid this collection. The marketing is extremely misleading. There are a few fun stories about fat teens living their lives with a sense of joy and completeness, but these stories are few and far between. The vast majority deal with body shame, hurtful comments from relatives, indifferent or negative feelings towards oneself, and thematically unrelated sad content such as a sister's domestic violence situation, coping with divorce and parental detachment, and a grandmother's dementia. If someone wants to read sad stories, they are here in abundance, but if someone is going based on the cover and premise, this book is probably not for them.
ambereen's review
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
tamittoe's review
DNF
Creo que no es el momento para leerlo, pero avancé más de la mitad así que queda como leído.
Creo que no es el momento para leerlo, pero avancé más de la mitad así que queda como leído.
vaniavela's review
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I came here looking for happy, body-positive stories, and ended up consuming a book full of body-shaming stories. Most of the characters deal with fatphobia and body shaming on an ongoing basis, when we were promised stories that celebrated body diversity and fat acceptance.
Guilt Trip by Claire Kann
Fifteen-year-old Mia has struggled with her weight her whole life, but now she has the opportunity to perform with her favorite band.
The main character is manipulative and treats people badly. I understand that it was an important day for her, but there are things people can't control and she didn't seem to understand that. However, the story arc was good despite being a short story.
Rating: 3/5
Shatter by Cassandra Newbould
Bri has died seven times. Each time she was saving her sister Rae's life from Rae's ex-boyfriend Adrian, who tries to hit her with his car.
Bri has died seven times. Each time saving her sister Rae's life from her ex-boyfriend, Adrian, who tries to run her over with his car.
There were a lot of elements, which makes this confusing. The concept is similar to "Happy Death Day," but it's not entirely clear what happens. The ending was unsatisfying.
Rating:2/5
Prom Queers by Alex Gino
Sam, a fat, non-binary high school student, has been asked by her best friend to go to prom with them. Now the problem is finding an outfit they feel good in.
The portrayal of fat people is better than the previous one, as the characters love their bodies. This story highlights the problems fat teens and children face when looking for clothes in a society that praises thin bodies. This book has a non-binary and demiromantic representation, which I really appreciate.
Rating: 4/5
Dupatta Diaries by Nafiza Azad
Jamilah, a fat desi girl, has been shamed by her mother her whole life.
I have mixed thoughts about this. I understand that being bullied as a child can affect your life, but why put someone else through what you went through?
Dupatta Diaries talks a lot about dieting, body shaming and fatphobia, which can be a trigger for some people. This could have had better execution, but instead we get a lot of fatphobic interaction among the family.
Rating: 3/5
Food is Love by Chris Baron
Josh has spent his entire childhood cooking with his grandmother. But now that her mind is slowly fading, Josh's grandmother feels that the only way to express her love is through food, which Josh dreads eating.
This story is similar to the previous one, with main characters having a bittersweet relationship with their family members. This time we don't get a message at the end, which is disappointing.
Rating: 3/5
Orion's Star by Catherine Adel West
After Orion's father abandoned her family when she was a young child, her mother seems to hate Orion.
This is an emotional read about healing from broken relationships and grief. It is a realistic story about a complicated family dynamic.
Rating: 4/5
Weightless by Sheena Boekweg
A fat girl, who after spending her whole life feeling guilty about her weight, is now needed to save the planet.
Set in space in a futuristic setting, this science fiction story would have made a perfect novel. The romance and characters were interesting to read and I would have liked this one to be longer.
Rating: 4/5
Outside Pitch by Kelly deVos
Hayley's mother catfishes a teenage boy, Jett, posing as Hayley.
Why is mothers pretending to be their daughters on the Internet popular now? Why does no one in this story find it problematic that a 40 year old woman catfishes a 17 year old online, pretending to be his girlfriend?
Rating: 2/5
Filling the Net by Monique Gray Smith
After Jacqueline's father passes away, her grieving mother moves the family across the country to a small town.
With a total "She's the Man" vibe, I don't understand why the mother has to move to cope with the situation. Her daughter has lost her father, an important figure in her life, why take the rest away from her? Besides, the guy did the bare minimum, not being sexist.
Rating: 3/5
A Perfect Fit by Jennifer Yen
Elodie is humiliated by her family and friends about her weight, supposedly done for "her sake".
I appreciated her cousin's support in finding the dress. I would have liked this story to focus even more on the mother-daughter relationship.
Rating: 3/5
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire by Rebecca Sky
A girl struggles to get her dream job, which unfortunately comes with a BMI elimination criteria.
I liked how it talked about Australian wildfires, which is important as it is an ongoing issue.
Rating: 3/5
Letters to Charlie Brown by Francina Simone
A girl who feels disoriented by life, and confides her problems to her fictional friend, Charlie Brown.
Writing fictional characters is an interesting coping mechanism and I liked the premise. I didn't like that our protagonist blames the girl in the Scarlet Letter for what happened to her. There are a lot of sexist comments in this story.
Rating: 2/5
love spells and lavender lattes by amanda lovelace
Set in an alternate reality, a girl tries to undo a love spell cast by her friend.
To begin with, I'm not a big fan of the writing style. I love lyrical writing, I find it beautiful, but this story just didn't sit well with me. The use of no capitalization and the substitution of the word "and" for "&" bothered me.
Rating: 2/5
Breathe You In by Hillary Monahan
This was an interesting retelling of The Little Mermaid. I liked the concept of how the earthmakers should die with increasing pleasure, not increasing terror.
Rating: 4/5
Unpleasant Surprises by Linda Camacho
Olivia's life is turned upside down when her best friend suddenly loses weight and becomes more popular.
Advocating against fatphobia in no way excuses body-shaming. Girl-on-girl hatred is normalized here and is utterly devastating.
Rating: 3/5
Letting Go by Renee Watsonp
4 cousins empower each other to stand their ground and take on the world.
I loved the lyrical way this mini story is written. This was heartwarming and so beautiful.
Rating: 4/5
Overall, I would not purchase this book, but it was an interesting read.
TW: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Racism, Eating disorder, Genocide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Bullying
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Car accident
Minor: Eating disorder, Racism, and Genocide
amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0