Contemporary-A-Thon Wrap-Up
Guys, what a fun week of reading it was been! I obviously did end up deciding to participate in the Contemporary-A-Thon since I'm doing this wrap-up, and I completed all of the challenges! I read six things during the week: two audiobooks, two physical books, and two graphic novels. Here are my ratings and thoughts on the books, plus the challenges that each book accomplished. ~Em
Challenge: A dark, emotional, or hard-hitting contemporary
This book is about Marin, who moves across country for college without saying goodbye to any of her loved ones. Marin is trying to cope with a tragedy that happened while she was still at home and she isn't sure how to do that in a healthy way. After neglecting her best friend for months, Marin finally decides to let her friend visit and things start to come uncovered that Marin had refused to think about previously. I really enjoyed this book overall! It was raw and emotional and the twist was definitely not what I was expecting. Rating: 4/5
Challenges: A book that's blurple (blue/purple) and a diverse contemporary
Black Enough has 17 stories about what it's like to be young and black in America. I really enjoyed several of the stories and there were only a handful that I didn't like very much. My favorite stories were "The Ingredients" and "Whoa!". I usually don't enjoy anthologies very much, but I listened to this one on audiobook and I think that format really works for me! Rating: 4/5
Challenge: A book in a non-traditional format
I think this could definitely be a new favorite graphic novel series! Giant Days is about three college roomates at a British University. The banter is hilarious and the situations these three girls get into are funny and relatable. I loved the art style and can't wait to read the rest of the series! Rating: 5/5
Challenge: A book you meant to read in 2018
This is an anthology of stories about adult relationships. I've had this book on my TBR for far too long so I'm glad I finally read it. My favorite story was "Happy Accidents" and yes, it involved Bob Ross. Several of the stories had cheating as a part of the plot and I just can't get behind that so I didn't enjoy those stories. Rating: 3/5
Challenge: A book with a picture on the spine
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It tells the story of Caroline, who has to move to Egypt before her senior year of high school due to her mom getting her dream job. She's upset that she has to leave her life behind, but then she starts to learn about Egypt from her family's driver's son, Adam and begins to fall in love with Cairo. The discussions of inter-racial dating and stereotyping were powerful and the story was truly precious. Rating: 4/5
Challenge: Most recently acquired contemporary
This graphic novel was honestly quite disappointing for me. If y'all know me, you know I love Bingo and so I was super excited to read this graphic novel about a female-female romance that started at a game of Bingo! The story was very cute at first and I was rooting for the couple, but the major plot point of this graphic novel is about cheating and, like I mentioned earlier, I am not down with that. A lot of the dialogue felt unrealistic and forced to make the story go forward. Rating: 3/5
