Me on Not Now, Not Ever

Title: Not Now, Not Ever
Author: Lily Anderson
Release Date: November 21, 2017
Publisher: Wednesday Books (Macmillan imprint)

Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn't going to do this summer. She isn't going to stay home in Sacramento, where she'd have to sit through her stepmother's sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest. She isn't going to mock trial camp at UCLA. And she certainly isn't going to the Air Force summer program on her mother's base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender's Game, Ellie's seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it's much less Luke/Yoda/"feel the force," and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn't appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she'd be able to defeat afterwards. What she is going to do is pack up her attitude, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and go to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. And she's going to start over as Ever Lawrence, on her own terms, without the shadow of all her family's expectations. Because why do what's expected of you when you can fight other genius nerds to the death for a shot at the dream you're sure your family will consider a complete waste of time? This summer's going to be great.

Not Now, Not Ever is clever and fun, the story of a teenager trying to escape to and find her place in before time runs out. But events never happen as they're planned out.

Elliot's looking for a place to escape to. A place where she doesn't have to worry about what other people want from her, what they expect her to do in the future. What about what she wants to do? Sure, the Air Force is in her family, but she's not exactly sure if she wants to enlist. So she takes a chance when she gets it, heading off to a somewhat stress-filled academic competition in order to win a scholarship to a college she'd love to attend. Not just because it's not the air force or pre-law, but because it could mean studying science fiction. But the camp is far more tense and competitive than she thought it would be, and her campmates are far weirder than she'd expected.

This book is fun, it had moments of genius teen snark and attitude, nerdy pop culture references, and teenage romance. I'd never read Wilde, so while I did look up the plot of the play beforehand, I imagine there were a few The Importance of Being Earnest references that I missed. It was nice to read another Lily Anderson book, to read about characters having abstract or geeky interests and acting like real people with flaws, dreams, and heaps of confusion. While I didn't necessarily like this one as much as the first book, this was still enjoyable.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from Wednesday Books through NetGalley.)

Me on Eliza and Her Monsters

Title: Eliza and Her Monsters
Author: Francesca Zappia
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins imprint)

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can't imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community, and has no desire to try. Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea's biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza's secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she's built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

Eliza and Her Monsters is smart and serious, a look at creativity and fame and pressure, at art and fandom and community. At how we isolate ourselves and how we connect with other people.

Eliza is shy, creative, and totally okay with being a loner when she's at school. She's fine with it, because her friends are somewhere else. Easily reachable on the internet. She doesn't need the real world with her health-conscious parents pushing at her to do something else with her life or her sports-focused younger brothers. She knows what she's doing, what she'll keep doing after high school and college. She'll continue on with her webcomic Monstrous Sea, continue chatting with the giant mass of fans online who devour each and ever page. Fans who don't know that a high school student is the comic's creator, which is totally fine with Eliza. Anonymity is something she craves. But then she meets Wallace, then she finds out he's one of her comic's most popular fanfiction writers. Then she wonders if talking face-to-face with people isn't so bad. If there's more to life than Monstrous Sea.

A big part of this story is all about creativity and passion. Eliza came up with Monstrous Sea because she was inspired, because she had a story to tell. And she was happy. But then it blew up, then it became popular. Then it gained an audience of fans, superfans, and trolls alike. Then came the pressure and the expectation. It turned less into something Eliza did for fun and something more for other people so they wouldn't rage in the comments if she had a down week and the art wasn't as good or if she got busy and missed an update or two. The webcomic becomes her life, becomes everything, but that isn't healthy. She's more than an artist, than the person who created the universe of Monstrous Sea and its cast of characters. She struggles with finding the balance between work and play, between school and family and the comic. I think this book accurately covers what a lot of creative types and creators go through, the balance between life and working to pay the bills that many search for on a daily basis.

This book is serious and thoughtful, about the struggles of art and the strain it puts on artists. About the ways we isolate ourselves when we don't want to interact with certain parts of the world. About the ways we can connect to people halfway around the world, have meaningful connections and conversations with them over a shared interest. About how so many can love one idea, like a TV show or comic, because they found something moving and meaningful in it. About how online communities and interactions can be both supportive and a hindrance. About the realities of anxiety and panic, how keeping it bottled up inside isn't healthy. I would definitely recommend this to fans of the author's previous book, for those looking for an honest look at the intersection of art and fandom and mental health.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.)

Me on Queens of Geek

Title: Queens of Geek
Author: Jen Wilde
Release Date: March 17, 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads (Macmillan imprint)

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it's going to be a blast. What they don't expect is for it to change their lives forever. Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she's over her public breakup with co-star, Reese Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie's long-time crush on her isn't as one-sided as she thought. While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own. Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there's one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Queens of Geek is smart and honest, expressive and openly diverse. It's a great look at how people with so many vast differences can come together because of similar interests, and a great look at what can happen when you take risks.

Charlie is kind and expressive. Explosive, personable. SupaCon means furthering her acting career, it means fan interaction, but it also means spending time with her ex and co-star Reese while nursing a serious crush on fellow actress and YouTuber Alyssa. She's torn between getting to know Alyssa and being forced to spend time with Reese becasue both the studio and the movie's fan base want it so much. Taylor is smart and supportive, creative and focused on the fantastical. SupaCon is her chance to meet her favourite author, her chance to tell her how much the books mean to her, how much she's inspired her. But then the signing ends early and Taylor's only chance to meet the author is a fan contest, which means being up on stage in front of hundreds of people, which might be too much of a change for her to handle. Especially on top of her growing anxiety in terms of change and college and possibly not being with her other best friend, and crush, Jamie.

I like the back and forth between Charlie and Taylor's points of view. Their stories, their journeys, are rather different. Which is great to see. There's no one way to be a teen girl, there's no one way to interact with the world and work to make your mark on it, and there's no one way to fall in love. There isn't a specific gender you have to fall in love with. You don't even have to fall in love if you don't want to. Taylor and Charlie aren't perfect, they still get anxious, get worried. They panic and say the wrong things. They don't want to get hurt and make decisions that upset and hurt others. But they do learn. It can be really hard to let go of your neuroses and your worries, to stand up to the people who hurt you. It can be hard to ignore the hate. But friends and family, other support structures, are always there to help you.

This book brings up so many current topics, important topics, like intersectionality and feminism, like body-shaming and mental health, like sexuality and internet fame. I hope teens read this and feel empowered, especially teen girls. Do what you want, like what you like or who you like, and don't let anyone take that enjoyment from you. I would recommend this to fans of Fangirl and All the Feels, those looking for diversity in contemporary YA, and those who love being part of a fandom that gives you the chance to breathe and express yourself.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (296)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Queens of Geek
Author: Jen Wilde
Release Date: March 17, 2016
Publisher: Swoon Reads (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Jason Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

This sounds awesome. I've always wanted to go to a big convention like SDCC or NYCC or FanExpo, but as I'm not likely to go because of distance/cost/massive crowds, I'll settle for books like this. Especially when it looks like they involve meeting people and questions and mistakes and wanting and pretending to be someone else for a little while. :)

Me on The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You

Title: The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You
Author: Lily Anderson
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (Macmillan imprint)

Trixie Watson has two very important goals for senior year: to finally save enough to buy the set of Doctor Who figurines at the local comic books store, and to place third in her class and knock Ben West--and his horrendous new mustache that he spent all summer growing--down to number four. Trixie will do anything to get her name ranked over Ben's, including give up sleep and comic books--well, maybe not comic books--but definitely sleep. After all, the war of Watson v. West is as vicious as the Doctor v. Daleks and Browncoats v. Alliance combined, and it goes all the way back to the infamous monkey bars incident in the first grade. Over a decade later, it's time to declare a champion once and for all. The war is Trixie's for the winning, until her best friend starts dating Ben's best friend and the two are unceremoniously dumped together and told to play nice. Finding common ground is odious and tooth-pullingly-painful, but Trixie and Ben's cautious truce slowly transforms into a fandom-based tentative friendship. When Trixie's best friend gets expelled for cheating and Trixie cries foul play, however, they have to choose who to believe and which side they're on--and they might not pick the same side.

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You is full of snark, sci-fi pop culture references, clever banter, and a silly reason to hold a grudge for a decade. It's fun, clever, and has some great female friendships.

Trixie is all brains and sass and snark and attitude. She's sharp and determined, will support and defend best friends Harper and Meg with everything she has (because she knows they also have her back, even when they're acting weird), and she won't let anything go. Like getting her revenge on Ben West, even if the reason, which dates back to their elementary school days, seems childish. But Trixie can't let it go. They always clash, battling with quips and snide remarks. Because she can't let go of anything, like her revenge, like her friends, like her comics and her fandoms, she can come off as harsh and unfair. As too stubborn. But every character has flaws. It's her confronting them, coming face to face with them and learning from them, that makes her interesting as a character.

The sci-fi nerd in me loves the idea of this book, of teens reading comics and loving science fiction. There are lots of references to shows and comics like Doctor Who, Firefly, Buffy, Spider-Man, and Battlestar Galactica. I do wonder if some of these are a bit dated, some of these shows were on when I was in high school, but the internet doesn't like letting things fall into the ether of the forgotten. Some shows, like Doctor Who or Buffy, are timeless. I also love that this is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Knowing the play means knowing how the characters will progress so I knew how it would all end, but it was still fun to read. Fun to see how everything would happen in a modern setting.

I had so much fun reading this. Every time a TV or comic reference came up that I knew I would chuckle and keep on reading, waiting for the next one. As a fan of certain sci-fi shows and certain comics (like Saga), this was the book for me. This is the book I wish I could hand to teenage me to have fun with. This is all kinds of geek fun and supportive female friendships. A must-read for self-proclaimed geeks.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (274)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love
Author: Sarvenaz Tash
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads:

John Hughes meets Comic Con in this hilarious, unabashedly romantic, coming-of-age novel about a teenager who is trying to get his best friend to fall in love with him from the author of Three Day Summer.

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy...
Archie and Veronica...
Althena and Noth...
...Graham and Roxy?

Graham met his best friend, Roxana, when he moved into her neighborhood eight years ago, and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.

But now they’re sixteen, still neighbors, still best friends. And Graham and Roxy share more than ever—moving on from their Harry Potter obsession to a serious love of comic books.

When Graham learns that the creator of their favorite comic, The Chronicles of Althena, is making a rare appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con, he knows he must score tickets. And the event inspires Graham to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he really feels about her. He’s got three days to woo his best friend at the coolest, kookiest con full of superheroes and supervillains. But no one at a comic book convention is who they appear to be... even Roxy. And Graham is starting to realize fictional love stories are way less complicated than real-life ones.

I am rather intrigued by the books coming out that have more to do with fandom and conventions and how it's totally acceptable to be into comics and sci-fi and fantasy when you're a teen. I remember high school in not the best light, as a place where some classmates would give me and my friends weird looks for being into fantasy novels and art and writing our own stories. That doesn't have to be hidden anymore, and I wish books like this, books like Fangirl and others about fandom and friendship, were around when I was in high school.