Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Cover Art from GoodReads

*I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own*

Okay, so you know how in the Am I The A**hole forum on Reddit there's an option that says Everyone Sucks Here? That's sort of how I felt about most of these characters. Alex was awful without realizing that she was awful. Throughout the book you kind of KNOW she's not a great person,but you don't really find out the extent of it until later on. 

Then there's Kelly. He doesn't seem that bad either, but the more you go on the more toxic he becomes as well. He sort of skeeved me out from the beginning though. 

Emira was literally the ONLY redeemable person in this book to me. I think the author meant for this to be the case though. You're not necessarily supposed to like Kelly or Alex. Essentially those characters represent some of the different attitudes that white people can have toward people of color, where they come off as racist without meaning to or realizing it. Doesn't mean they aren't offensive, both just chose not to learn to do better. 

Honestly the children in the story had my sympathy the most. This book was somewhat difficult to read because the topic is such a sensitive one (especially for a white girl who lives in the south where racism is still rampant). We want to bury our heads in the sand and act like this isn't something to worry about, but it most definitely is, and Reid tackles some tough topics in a brilliant way. 

Would definitely recommend!

Followers by Megan Angelo

cover art from GoodReads

*I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own* 

Well. This was. A. Ride. I haven't read a book that I just couldn't put down and didn't want to end in a while, but Angelo NAILED it. I am very picky about the Dystopian types of literature that I read because it really just isn't my genre, but this was in the same vein as "Bumped" and "Pretties/Uglies" in that technology has taken over and made life "better", rather than the end of the world dystopia like "Hunger Games' (though I did enjoy those-- just using it as a comparison point). 

"Followers" switches between the POV of Orla, a writer in 2016, and Marlowe, a reality celebrity from the 2050s. Orla and her friend Floss do some questionable things to make Floss "famous" and she is stuck facing the consequences of those actions. Meanwhile Marlowe lives in a town where everything she does is broadcast to the rest of the world, and they follow her every move. She (like everyone else in the town) was implanted with a computer that does all of the googling through her brain, instead of using a screen. Marlowe eventually has to decide if the life she lives is one she wants to continue to live. There is a connection between the two women that the reader learns about later on in the book. 

I read this in a matter of a few hours. I couldn't put it down because I just had to find out what else was going to happen. Reading how easy it was for this one random woman to become "internet famous" struck a cord with me, because we as a society give so much credence to these random things, and that sort of fame can become all encompassing. I was thoroughly interested in how oversharing on the internet can lead to a downfall of sorts. We use technology for almost everything we do, and even though we think no one is watching, "Followers" brings up the point that just because you don't think anyone is recording whatever you're searching for, or texting, Google is always there :) What would we do as a society if an event such as "The Spill" happened? It's terrifying because it could EASILY happen. And honestly, could I be okay with having my every move scripted and followed? We see that as odd now, but frankly I could see how it could happen. Ahhhh. So many thoughts. 

If you were considering reading this one, DO IT! It was publsihed in January of 2020 so it's available at your local library or most bookstores. 

We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan

covere art from goodreads

*I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own* 

Once again, I am a bit late with reviewing, since this book was published in January of this year, but c'est la vie. Full disclosure, I didn't really WANT to review this book. I keep thinking of  Thumper in Disney's Bambi: 

Thumper :) 

And honestly I don't have a whole bunch to say about this. The book is about a group of graduate MFA students who don't like one of their teachers due to something they feel she has done to another classmate. So they ruin her life. None of the characters are really memorable or even likable, with the exception of Pearl, and only for me because I had a teacher like him, who I thoroughly enjoyed. 

The writing was pretty. But it seemed pretentious. The author seemed to string a ton of prose together but never really had a point to the story. I was damn near 60% into the book before SOMETHING happened and once it did I wasn't all that shocked. I was more surprised by the fact that a group of "adults" would behave this way. Honestly, I probably should have just DNF'd this one, but I've been doing that a lot lately so I stuck with it hoping for some payoff, since I was really interested in the synopsis, however that payoff just wasn't there. 

Ce n'est pas it chief. 

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

cover art from GoodReads

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. My opinion is my own. 

This is the first solo Tarryn Fisher book I've read. I read her "Never Never" series with Colleen Hoover, and honestly I wasn't over the top impressed with it, so my expectations for this weren't super high going in. I finished the book on the plane from Baton Rouge to Nashville, so it wasn't a very long read. I got hooked into it more than I expected to. 

The premise: Thursday is married to Seth. Seth is a polygamist who is also married to two other women. Thursday is not supposed to know about the other women, but she meets one of them and finds out that she may not know her husband at all. 

I love love love books with unreliable narrators, and Thursday (what kind of a name is Thursday) is definitely one of those! As we learn more about her relationship with Seth, I wasn't overly impressed with him (although I don't think we are supposed to be) and I kept waiting for her to wake up and realize she could do better, and not just say "but I love him". The other wives were interesting and I would have liked to delve into their lives a bit more too. I don't want to say too much about this book because too much will give away spoilers, and this is one of those books that you've got to experience for yourself. I'm glad that this was the first Tarryn Fisher book I read, because now I want to read more!