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tranzkafka's review against another edition
4.0
read this all in 1 morning while procrastinating on doing my homework and panicking about deadlines so i did love the burnt out representation and i would like to hug olivia
always_chloe's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. I LOVED being back with the paper and hearts society. And I love how much pride was in this book, with so many different reps. WE SHOULD ALL READ WITH PRIDE!
parchmentpages92's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the first novel of this series and was so excited to pick up the next installment. Powrie did not disappoint with this beautiful blend of drama, social awareness, pride, and bookish love.
This novel follows Olivia, who learns that LGBTQIA+ books now come with a warning and a parental permission slip. She is outraged and decides to do something about it.
She is the complete opposite of Tabby, the protagonist from the first novel but she does put a lot of pressure on herself; trying to juggle her social life, social justice, and school work.
Read with Pride has a mixture of different characters from the LGBTQIA+ community who band together and support each other. This is a story about friendship and fighting for what is right. To be able to be who you are without a big red warning label stuck to the front of you.
Just like its predecessor I adored this novel and can't wait to see what Powrie brings out next.
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This novel follows Olivia, who learns that LGBTQIA+ books now come with a warning and a parental permission slip. She is outraged and decides to do something about it.
She is the complete opposite of Tabby, the protagonist from the first novel but she does put a lot of pressure on herself; trying to juggle her social life, social justice, and school work.
Read with Pride has a mixture of different characters from the LGBTQIA+ community who band together and support each other. This is a story about friendship and fighting for what is right. To be able to be who you are without a big red warning label stuck to the front of you.
Just like its predecessor I adored this novel and can't wait to see what Powrie brings out next.
Instagram , Twitter , Blog
lucinda_lesbrarian's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
paperbookmarks's review against another edition
3.0
I was so excited to pick this up when I saw that the second Paper & Hearts Society book would focus on LGBTQIA+ books and fighting for them to be included in a school library. I really liked returning to this world and the characters and loved how many identities Powrie explored. It made me miss my school library so very much!
laurenjamesauthor's review against another edition
5.0
A warm-hearted, intensely compassionate look at a group of queer teenager bookworms fighting for equality in their school library. This is aimed at ages 12+, and is going to help so many people learn about sexuality and diversity. I love the book club so much, and it was so nice to see how far they've come since the first book in the series (though this can be read as a standalone). Ed is my favourite character, and I'm so excited to see where they all go next. Lucy is a star of UKYA.
easyqueenie's review against another edition
3.0
Throughout June, GeekMom will be celebrating Pride Month with lots of LGBTQ content. Follow the Pride Month tag to find all the content in one space and keep checking back for more throughout the month. Today’s book review is The Paper and Hearts Society: Read with Pride by Lucy Powrie.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
The second book of the Paper and Hearts Society series, Read with Pride sees protagonist Olivia starting out on the first day of her final year of secondary school. Olivia is an overachiever and this year she needs to juggle revision for her upcoming GCSE’s, spending time with her girlfriend Cassie, and hanging out with her friends in the Paper and Hearts Society, a group formed around a mutual love of books. That morning, however, she discovers that her school has instituted a draconian new library policy. After a complaint by a parent, all students need a signed permission slip to remove books from the library, and the slip has a second box that must be signed to allow books “featuring LGBTQ+ characters” to be withdrawn. Worse, books featuring LGBTQ relationships now have huge stickers on their covers with the word “WARNING” on them.
Olivia and her friends are horrified. They know the importance of reading about others who look and think like you and the school’s new policy will keep those books out of the hands of the kids who need them the most. Determined not to take this lying down, Olivia forms the Read with Pride activism group with other like-minded students at school and begins campaigning to rid the library of this new policy. But with a campaign group and a whole bunch of new friends to manage on top of everything else, Olivia soon begins to feel her internal pressure building to unbearable levels and something, somewhere is going to have to give.
Read with Pride was a surprisingly short read that I pretty much powered through in a single afternoon. Written by one of my favorite YouTubers – Lucy Powrie – it features many of my favorite YA story elements, nerdy, bookish teens, a sweet romance element, and young people fighting to change an unjust system imposed on them by adults. I also loved the message the book promoted about how vitally important it is that young people get to read about people who look, think, and feel the way they do. I know having access to more wide-ranging literature in my own teenage years would have helped me avoid a lot of unnecessary confusion and, as a result, we keep fiction featuring all sorts of characters and relationships freely accessible in our home.
While I loved the sections of the book that dealt with Olivia’s Read with Pride group and their attempts to force their school to examine its policy, those focused on the Paper and Hearts Society ended up feeling like a distraction from the main story. This is book two of a series and as I’m yet to read the first volume, perhaps I would have connected with those parts more if I had done? As it was, I mostly felt eager to move on to the next part of the book whenever I found myself reading a section where the group met to decorate bookmarks or have a Book Olympics.
As for the characters, I did find myself getting occasionally mixed up given how many of them there were by the end. Once you add together the members of the Paper and Hearts Society, Read with Pride group, and occasional others like Olivia’s younger sister, there were nearly a dozen teens to keep track of and I often got mixed up about who was who – even when reading nearly all the book in one day. With so many characters to follow, it was natural that the majority were rather two-dimensional, with only Olivia having a huge amount of character development. Of her friends, Ed was the one who leaped out as having a distinct personality, even more so that Olivia’s girlfriend Cassie who received surprisingly little page-time. I’d have loved to see more development for the Read with Pride members and I felt like the book could have benefitted from that extra length.
As it was, Read with Pride was a short and sweet book with a powerful message about the damage that prohibiting access to books can cause, and the lengths people will go to in order to regain that access. It’s a book I’d love to see parents, teachers, and librarians picking up in order to help them understand why they need to allow the young people in their care to have access to those books – honestly, it may be even more important for adults to read this than the young adults it was written for! I’ll be using the #ReadWithPride hashtag used here for all my Pride Month books this year so look out for it across our social channels over the coming weeks.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
The second book of the Paper and Hearts Society series, Read with Pride sees protagonist Olivia starting out on the first day of her final year of secondary school. Olivia is an overachiever and this year she needs to juggle revision for her upcoming GCSE’s, spending time with her girlfriend Cassie, and hanging out with her friends in the Paper and Hearts Society, a group formed around a mutual love of books. That morning, however, she discovers that her school has instituted a draconian new library policy. After a complaint by a parent, all students need a signed permission slip to remove books from the library, and the slip has a second box that must be signed to allow books “featuring LGBTQ+ characters” to be withdrawn. Worse, books featuring LGBTQ relationships now have huge stickers on their covers with the word “WARNING” on them.
Olivia and her friends are horrified. They know the importance of reading about others who look and think like you and the school’s new policy will keep those books out of the hands of the kids who need them the most. Determined not to take this lying down, Olivia forms the Read with Pride activism group with other like-minded students at school and begins campaigning to rid the library of this new policy. But with a campaign group and a whole bunch of new friends to manage on top of everything else, Olivia soon begins to feel her internal pressure building to unbearable levels and something, somewhere is going to have to give.
Read with Pride was a surprisingly short read that I pretty much powered through in a single afternoon. Written by one of my favorite YouTubers – Lucy Powrie – it features many of my favorite YA story elements, nerdy, bookish teens, a sweet romance element, and young people fighting to change an unjust system imposed on them by adults. I also loved the message the book promoted about how vitally important it is that young people get to read about people who look, think, and feel the way they do. I know having access to more wide-ranging literature in my own teenage years would have helped me avoid a lot of unnecessary confusion and, as a result, we keep fiction featuring all sorts of characters and relationships freely accessible in our home.
While I loved the sections of the book that dealt with Olivia’s Read with Pride group and their attempts to force their school to examine its policy, those focused on the Paper and Hearts Society ended up feeling like a distraction from the main story. This is book two of a series and as I’m yet to read the first volume, perhaps I would have connected with those parts more if I had done? As it was, I mostly felt eager to move on to the next part of the book whenever I found myself reading a section where the group met to decorate bookmarks or have a Book Olympics.
As for the characters, I did find myself getting occasionally mixed up given how many of them there were by the end. Once you add together the members of the Paper and Hearts Society, Read with Pride group, and occasional others like Olivia’s younger sister, there were nearly a dozen teens to keep track of and I often got mixed up about who was who – even when reading nearly all the book in one day. With so many characters to follow, it was natural that the majority were rather two-dimensional, with only Olivia having a huge amount of character development. Of her friends, Ed was the one who leaped out as having a distinct personality, even more so that Olivia’s girlfriend Cassie who received surprisingly little page-time. I’d have loved to see more development for the Read with Pride members and I felt like the book could have benefitted from that extra length.
As it was, Read with Pride was a short and sweet book with a powerful message about the damage that prohibiting access to books can cause, and the lengths people will go to in order to regain that access. It’s a book I’d love to see parents, teachers, and librarians picking up in order to help them understand why they need to allow the young people in their care to have access to those books – honestly, it may be even more important for adults to read this than the young adults it was written for! I’ll be using the #ReadWithPride hashtag used here for all my Pride Month books this year so look out for it across our social channels over the coming weeks.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
frauleinbunny's review against another edition
4.0
Sweet and easy to read YA Novel dealing with LGBTQIA+ Representation in Literature, Performance Pressure and Burn Out, Censorship and probably the most adorable Book Club ever.
thebookishmeg's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second book in The Paper and Hearts Society series, and it is my favourite so far. It follows Olivia, one of the side characters from book one, as she navigates the stress of GCSEs, maintaining a relationship with her girlfriend, and battling the school's new policy: banning LGBTQ+ books from being taken out of the library without parental consent. It is a light and quick read that deals with some more serious topics, and I really enjoyed it.
The friendships within this book were my favourite part of the novel. I love the way that Lucy Powrie explores friendship dynamics and having multiple friendship groups. There are some wonderful friendships that develop throughout the novel as Olivia meets more people that care about diversity in literature and she realises that she can fit in in more than one group.
I do think it is written for the younger end of YA, so the writing style isn’t my favourite. However, I do like the inclusion of text messages and even Instagram captions that feature throughout the book. And the characters and themes explored in this book more than make up for a writing style I wouldn’t usually love.
I really loved the conversations about sexuality and coming out, as well as some important conversations surrounding anxiety, mental health and burnout. It definitely has a wide range of representation, which is definitely great to see in YA books. I love that this book makes it clear that it is okay for everyone to read with pride. I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series next year.
The friendships within this book were my favourite part of the novel. I love the way that Lucy Powrie explores friendship dynamics and having multiple friendship groups. There are some wonderful friendships that develop throughout the novel as Olivia meets more people that care about diversity in literature and she realises that she can fit in in more than one group.
I do think it is written for the younger end of YA, so the writing style isn’t my favourite. However, I do like the inclusion of text messages and even Instagram captions that feature throughout the book. And the characters and themes explored in this book more than make up for a writing style I wouldn’t usually love.
I really loved the conversations about sexuality and coming out, as well as some important conversations surrounding anxiety, mental health and burnout. It definitely has a wide range of representation, which is definitely great to see in YA books. I love that this book makes it clear that it is okay for everyone to read with pride. I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series next year.