Review: Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale

Title: Small Town Hearts

Author: Lillie Vale

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Young Adult

Release Date: May 2019

Rating: 4/5 Stars













Sometimes, you just need a solid small-town romance to cleanse the palate after reading a pile of literary fiction titles and for me, Small Town Hearts was the perfect sweet treat. Small Town Hearts is a bittersweet, beautifully written book that perfectly captures the in between of growing up and childhood, of moving forward or staying in place. The story follows 19-year-old Babe, who works and lives in the small Maine town of Oar's Rest. Babe is happy to stay in town after graduation and pursue her love of baking and coffee, and plans on spending the summer with her best friends who also happen to be dating. Babe herself hasn't dated since her ex girlfriend left for college, and she certainly doesn't plan on pursuing the cute, mysterious "summer boy" Levi who is in town for a summer art program. But Babe's summer gets complicated real fast and nothing turns out quite as she plans.

Babe is the best, she bakes and makes coffee

What I loved: the setting! Oar's Rest is an idyllic small town set on the coast of Maine. Babe lives in a freaking lighthouse and is a baker and barista at a super cute coffee shop called the Busy Bean. There's an annual fish fry and sandcastle competition, and neighbors around Oar's Rest look out for each other. Yet even in this sweet small town, there's drama. Babe doesn't know her father, and her mother basically takes off most of the year to work on a cruise line. At nineteen, Babe is basically on her own and supporting herself, so her friends play an extra important role in her life as sort of her found family. So when her perfect summer plans come to a halt when her best friend, Penny, decides to break up with her other best friend, Chad, and asks Babe to do it for her, Babe knows that no matter how much she hates change, this will be a summer full of it. Babe finds some relief in Levi, an artist in town for the summer as a part of the town's Art Center's artist in residence program, but she has no desire to fall for a boy who will only be in town for a few months, so she tries her best to keep him at arm's length. Meanwhile, she finds out her ex, Elodie, also an artist, is back in town for the summer and she dreads seeing the girl who broke her heart. As you can see there are lots of juicy moments throughout the story, but overall the authenticity of the characters really shines through, even with all of their faults.

How I pictured Babe's front yard

Plus, It was nice to read a story with a bisexual heroine whose coming out isn't the focus of the story, but instead her sexuality is just already a fact about who she is. The writing is really evocative and the setting makes you wish this town was real. Although there are quite a few dramatic moments between friends and exes, I thought that was very authentic given the age of the characters. Everyone is right on the edge of being done with high school and forced to start growing up, but also reluctant to be a full-fledged adult. Babe's story really rang true for me, and I would definitely recommend this to readers who love small town settings, realistic angst, and complicated friendships and relationships. Also, it will make you really hungry so make sure you have coffee and a baked good while you're reading!

Admittedly, it was kind of odd to read this book during the holidays since it takes place in the summer, but it actually perfectly captured that warm-and-fuzzy first love feeling that is fun to read about this time of year. It's expected publication date is next May, so it will come out right in time to be a perfect summer read. A really solid YA contemporary, and I look forward to hearing more from this author!

Review: The Science of Unbreakable Things by Tae Keller

Title: The Science of Unbreakable Things
Author: Tae Keller
Genre: Realistic Middle Grade
Release Date: March 2018
Rating: 5/5 Stars

I feel incredibly lucky that the past few books that I've read have been super good, and The Science of Unbreakable Things by Tae Keller thankfully did not break the pattern. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't really write a review right away, I had to take a little while to process what I liked so much about this book. Basically, it follows seventh grader Natalie via the science log book that her teacher, Mr. Neely, has his class keeping for the school year. Natalie is smart, but can't really connect with science at the moment because she's distracted by the fact that her mother won't get of bed or go to work, and her father, a therapist who loves talking about feelings, won't tell her what's going on. Luckily, Natalie has her best friend Twig, who is unapologetically weird but a loyal friend nonetheless, and a possible new friend in Dari, the class science whiz. Mr. Neely suggests that Natalie compete in an egg drop competition for her year long project, and Twig and Dari get drawn into her plan to use the egg drop money to do something for her mom that she thinks will bring her old self back.

Needless to say, this book gives you all the feels. It's wonderfully written and some parts are so true I couldn't help but connect with Natalie. Her father is half Korean, but he isn't very interested in his heritage, often dismissing his Korean mother's cooking or traditions. Natalie, meanwhile, longs to connect with this side of herself. She mentions that she feels like she's not a very good Asian because she doesn't know much about her Korean background, and as someone who is half-Asian, I thought that her feelings about being multiracial rang incredibly true. This book is full of all sorts of little moments of honesty that I feel that readers of all ages could connect with. It also deals with depression in sensitive but truthful way, as well as emphasizing the importance of having a support network when you are dealing with mental illness, either first hand or through a loved one. This debut book really won me over and I would recommend it to readers of books like See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, who enjoy realistic middle grade that is at times funny, at times sad, but always completely sincere.

Accurate depiction of me reading this book.

This book is definitely a must-read when it comes out next March, and I'm straight up loving all of the STEM-centered stories that have been coming out in the middle grade world. I'm working on doing a post on my favorite middle grade reads of 2017, since I've been reading a lot in that genre, as well as the new releases I'm most looking forward to in 2018. Stay tuned for more middle grade in future posts!

Note: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Title: Let's Talk About Love

Author: Claire Kann

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Young Adult

Release Date: January 2018

Rating: 4/5 stars

This book has been getting quite a bit of buzz on book Twitter as the lead is black, female, and biromantic asexual, which is not typical of the leads of most romance books. I thought the premise itself sounded interesting (I always love a good contemporary romance), and once I saw the cover, I was sold. Let's Talk About Love follows Alice, who is nineteen and a sophomore in college, right after her girlfriend breaks up with her because of the lack of sex in their relationship. Alice hasn't exactly come out as asexual to the world (only her two best friends, who are also dating, know), and she fears that she'll never find the romance that she craves because of who she is. Shortly afterwards, she meets Takumi, who is beautiful and kind and understanding, and she begins to question what she wants out of a relationship and if Takumi might be the one for her.

At its' core, this book is a romance but it's also a whole lot more. Alice is not only dealing with relationship stuff, but she's also struggling with her identity in other ways; she worries that her friendships won't survive adulthood, she struggles with the career path that her parents want her to follow versus discovering what she's truly passionate about, and she's still trying to figure out how to adult and be a good person. Meanwhile, Alice remains funny and endearing (despite her faults) and goes through some real growth throughout the story. The characters are bit older than most in YA romances (her love interest has just finished getting his teaching credential, and her best friends are planning to get married), but I think many teens enjoy reading about characters who are a few years older than them but who still haven't figured out who they are and who they want to be. Let's Talk About Love is a really good balance of squee-worthy romance and some coming-of-age character development. Definitely recommended, especially for readers who enjoyed Maurene Goo's I Believe in a Thing Called Love or who are looking for some diverse rep in their contemporary romances.

Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review