NetGalley – Michelle Reads & Writes

Dress Coded – Review

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Michelle

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Quick Summary: Molly attends 8th grade at Fisher Middle School, and she, along with many of the girls at her school, is getting annoyed with the school’s dress code. Girls are getting singled out more than the boys, and the principal has even hired someone specifically to monitor the dress code. Molly takes the matters into her own hands, starts a podcast, and begins a protest against the dress code.

This book is a great middle school book. The format was easy to read, and the text messages and podcasts were a good break to the regular novel format. The author did a good job of keeping the action moving throughout the book, which is vital to a good middle grade novel.

The main character, Molly, is a believable middle school student. She isn’t perfect, has family drama, and has to navigate bullies and friend drama. I appreciated the variety of characters within the story, even the older brother Danny who is the main cause of Molly’s family drama.

As a teacher, dealing with dress code is one of my least favorite things to do. In fact, most of the time, I just don’t say anything…except for hoods and hats, but that’s more for so we can see who they are. Most dress codes are unfairly focused on females, and I liked that this book tackled that subject.

As far as students who will like this book, I am thinking the 6th and 7th graders will like it more than the 8th graders. There is a little crush/romance, but it is a minute part of the book, but it does cause a little bit of friend drama.

My only complaint with this book is that most of the friendships are very surface level. Of course, that does seem to be the case with a lot of middle schoolers. The littlest thing can disrupt a friendship. Other than that, it is a good book that I think a lot of students will enjoy…especially those who hate their school’s dress codes.

2020 Books, Book Reviews, NetGalley

Cinderella Is Dead review

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Michelle

I received this book early from #Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’ve decided not to do a summary this time and just jump right in to my thoughts.

I first heard about this book from an Instagram live and knew right away that I was going to have to read it and quickly. I got on Netgalley because I just didn’t think I could wait until its release date in early July. It took a while to get approval, but as soon as I got it downloaded, I started reading it.

First impressions – as a parent, I was annoyed with the main character, Sophia. She wants to change all the rules in their land which is controlled by a misogynistic king who has no problem chopping the heads off those who oppose him. Her parents were first concerned with her safety, and disrupting the societal norms would not make her safe. In fact, there is a point when Sophia asks, “Don’t you want me to be happy?” And the response is no, I want you to be safe [alive]. I felt this deep in my heart as a mom of two girls.

As I read, though, I began to come around to Sophia. No dictator or dystopian ruler is ever overthrown without someone risking everything. Sophia is a strong (and sometimes reckless) main character. She cares deeply about the people she loves, and she wants better for everyone, including herself.

The setting and story building are fantastic. It is very easy to visualize what this society looks like. Every time I picked it up to read, I was transported to this world. This book is very well-written, and I am looking forward to reading more by Bayron.

A little side note: So, I once again read a couple reviews on Goodreads before writing my own. One I read complained about how Sophia quickly fell in love with this new girl after saying she was in love with her friend Erin for three years. To that person, I would say, have you ever met a 16/17 year old girl? But besides the fickleness of teens when it comes to love, I felt that Sophia really wrestled with her feelings. She felt conflicted having feelings for this new girl when she still loved Erin. I felt like the author did a great job showing this struggle.

2020 Books, Book Reviews, NetGalley

☀️ Ignite the Sun ☀️ review

Posted on May 16, 2020June 23, 2021 by Michelle

This was my 3nd ARC from NetGally. My 2nd YA one, and I have to say it was FAR better than the last one I read. Of course, they are completely different genres, and it’s hard to compare fantasy to contemporary romance (Although, I don’t think it could be a YA book without some romance, so you aren’t missing out on that with this book.)

This books follows Siria on her journey to discover who she truly is. I really cannot say much about it, because even saying who she truly is would give away a bit of the beginning plot twist.

It is set in a fictional kingdom of Umbraz which is ruled by a dark Queen. And by dark, I mean, the queen has eliminated the sun with her powers. She has ruled for years, and the people of Umbraz can barely remember the sun, they fear it, and rely on Queen Iyzabel to keep them safe.

That’s all the summary you’re getting.

Now for a couple personal thoughts.

One of the things I think could have been better was Siria’s character arc. She does change throughout the book, but I just felt like I didn’t really know her. Honestly, this is true of most of the main characters in the book. They are all very surface level.

On the other hand, the world building was great. Hanna Howard did a great job of helping me visualize her world. The castle descriptions were among my favorites.

This book is set to release in August, and if you like YA fantasy with a female protagonist, I would say you would like this one.

2020 Books, Book Reviews, NetGalley

Four Days of You and Me

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Michelle

Goodreads summary:

Every May 7, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip. And every year, Lulu’s relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated. Freshman year, they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room. It’s been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since.

Through breakups, make ups, and dating other people, each year’s class trip brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection. From the science museum to an amusement park, from New York City to London, Lulu learns one thing is for sure: love is the biggest trip of all.

I joined NetGalley to help me find more young adult literature for my classroom library, but also because I love to read. And for as cheesy and corny as young adult literature can be, there are some really great books out there. Books that can appeal to both teens and adults.

This is not one of those books. This book is strictly for teens; it is 100% a teen romance. I do not know a single adult who would enjoy this book, but again, it wasn’t written for them.

Teens, probably love-sick teens who think you can only find your true love during the four years of high school, they will love this book.

What I Didn’t Like:

The main character was not likable to me at all. I feel like I didn’t know her. She is a writer and an artist, but there isn’t anything but perhaps a paragraph that lets the reader know why this book she is writing is so important to her. Her friends are all more likable than she is, especially her best friend, Max. I liked his character a lot.

The time shifting. I usually like this writing style, but in this book, it was just confusing.

The fact that this book perpetuates the lies that high school is where you find your best friends and your true love. Teen Romance as a genre probably just isn’t for me.

As a middle school teacher, I couldn’t put this book in my 8th grade classroom. There are multiple sexual scenes that are pretty graphic (in my opinion) for a teen book.

So. many. clichés. I rolled my eyes quite a few times throughout the books. I had never read this author before and kept telling myself that this was probably her first novel. It definitely is not.

What I liked

Max, her best friend, is really enjoyable and a good best friend to a girl who, quite frankly, is extremely self-centered.

I’m sorry, I really am. I just can’t think of anything else that I liked about this book.

Book Reviews, NetGalley

Invisible Differences

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Michelle

Recently, as in about 3 days ago, I was reading through a few of the blogs I follow and one of the bloggers mentioned Netgalley, and that this was a site where she got many of her ARC books. Now, if you’re like me, I will save you the trouble and let you know that ARC means Advanced Reader Copy.

I have taught English for 9 years now. I have been good friends with every school librarian and media specialist with whom I worked, and I NEVER knew that people could get advanced copies of books. My list of already published books that I want to read is really long, so I should have just ignored this newly found information. However, the pull of new books was too much, and I had to check it out.

It is absolutely free to sign up. They are looking for people who: first, love to read, and second, have some sort of influence. Educators were among the list of people they wanted for their site. After I set up my profile, I spent about an hour looking at all the upcoming releases for this summer and fall, mainly in the young adult/teen genres. So much good stuff!

I’ve requested quite a few, but since I have no reviews my chances of getting selected are lower. I decided to look at some of the books that are available to all members, and I stumbled across Invisible Differences.

Brief Summary

The book follows Marguerite throughout her day to day life. It tells of her difficulties with people both at work and in her personal life. She gets worn out with too much interaction/noise, and she does not do well with spontaneity. Through some personal research she learns that she has Aspergers, and from there she begins to change her life.

My thoughts

First, this is a graphic novel, and I was able to finish it in about an hour. I’m not an artist at all, so I don’t feel like I can talk much about the book art except that it felt a little minimalist. I liked it; it just wasn’t very detailed.

The book is a translation from a French publication. I think the translation is good. There is still some dialogue left in French, and since I only know about 3 words in French, I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was saying. However, the context (both the art and words) makes it pretty clear about what was being said.

I really enjoyed this story. I currently work as a special education teacher, and I feel like this book would be an excellent addition to my classroom library. There are a lot of misconceptions about people with autism, although I do feel like this is getting better. However, I still come across people (and unfortunately some of them educators) who believe that all people with autism act the same way or have the same struggles. This book does a really excellent job of showing that autism is a spectrum, and that no two people with autism are the same.

I highly recommend this book for pretty much anyone since the chance that you will interact with someone with autism is pretty high. Latest estimate was that one in every 54 children are diagnosed with autism.