my heart melted with this one

Simon vs The Homo Sapien Agenda – Becky Albertalli 

LGBTQ+, high school, young adult, fiction.

Rating 9/10

Simon loves everything in the drama department and for drama to stay there. He prefers to keep his sexual identity to himself and his email conversations to Blue a secret. He accidentally leaves the email account open, someone finds it and blackmails him into helping him get a girl. Later Simon decides to come out into the open after he was exposed. He wonders who Blue is and only gives so many clues as to who he is. That is when it hits him and he hunts down his Blue. 

This was a cute one sitting high school romance story I had read so far. I loved how this was short and perfect. Coming out to parents or friends is never easy and the responses are always different. Some parents are good with it while others not so much. I would recommend this novel for anyone looking for something heartwarming like this. I loved this book and I would reread it again. There was not any weird trope and there was enough background information fleshed out about the characters. I know that there is a movie but I’m more of a book type person. Maybe I might watch the movie but I do have to say get the book and read it.

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can’t get caught…

Rosario + Vampire Vol. 1 – Akihisa Ikeda

Vampires, mystical creatures, high school, manga, Young Adult, fiction.

Rating 10/10

Tsukune got news that he is going to high school and doesn’t think twice of how his parents managed to get him into the high school. During the bus ride through a long tunnel, something spooky happens, he is dropped off in the middle of nowhere. He tries to follow the path marked to where his new high school is. He comes across a girl and her name is Moka. What scares the living daylights out of him is that she sucked his blood! He eventually finds out he was enrolled in a monster high school. Tsukune must make through the days surrounded by creatures without being caught that he is a human.

I originally had seen the anime version of this manga and never read it until after digging through the library database. I don’t regret the hour it took to find this manga. The anime remained true to the manga completely. I appreciated reading this manga so much that I reread it because it was so terrific. I wish I could’ve found the rest of the series, but I’d rather hold off for later. Slowly enjoy the manga series. Either way, if one is wanting to read a good decent vampire manga, this is the one.

heartfelt <3

Komi Can’t Communicate Vol. 1 – Tomohito Oda

Contemporary, high school, communication disorder, manga, fiction.

Rating 10/10

Tadano moves to a new high school and wants to be normal even though he is beyond normal. He runs across this girl who is always silent. A fellow classmate tells him that Komi doesn’t speak at all. Never mutters a word and she is worshipped like royalty. He doesn’t believe it until after class, he confronts her to talk with her. After a few minutes of failed attempt to make her talk, he gives up just as she decides to write what’s wrong with her. She suffers a communication disorder and feels bad that she can’t speak to anyone. She confides into him that she wants to make one-hundred friends. He promises to help her gain that number of friends.

I was hunting for manga that wasn’t so science fiction nor fantasy, just contemporary fiction, and was happy to have found this gem. I can’t express how much this manga left me feeling after I finished reading. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions with this manga. There were times where I was like going aww, tearing up, and laughing. A truly heartfelt manga that is about the difficulties that those who have communication disorders face every day. It’s not that they don’t want to be social, they can’t be social. This brought to me an understanding with some people who suffers communication disorders or different abled abilities that causes them to not be able to speak. I highly want everyone to read this manga because it’s truly a work of contemporary manga that can be read to understand the perspectives of those who medically can’t speak.

High School for the Dead?

Ascenders, High School of the Recently Departed – C.L. Gaber

Young adult, fiction, after life, death, high school

Rating 10/10

After an accident, Walker Callaghan finds herself somewhere new and unfamiliar with her mother. A place called The Academy where teenagers go when they unfortunately died young. Walker tries to understand what is going on and is sort of enjoying this after life high school. One day her mother goes back to the living because she woke up from a coma. Sadly, Walker needed to properly say goodbye because she didn’t get a chance. Someone else wants to return to the living as well. Daniel Reid wants to return to the living realm to save his brother who didn’t make it back from the crash where Daniel and his siblings died and came to this after life realm. Both Daniel and Walker work together into research to get back to the living realm. It becomes risky when they join a Criminology class, receive an assignment to go to the other school that is for the bad teenagers who committed horrendous crimes. They get an answer from a teenager who claims to have returned to the living realm and came back. Daniel and Walker talk to this teen and after preparing to return to the living realm. It’s dangerous because in the living realm the bad parts stayed and the good parts came back to this realm, the so-called demons, once they sense the part of themselves, they go after the other part to kill. Only way to fight the demons is with old age weapons. No modern weapons. Walker and Daniel take a huge risk that can cost them their lives.

I had gotten this book and the entire book series at Los Angeles Festival of Books on April fourteenth of this year because the genre was very unique and something I haven’t read yet. After reading this book, I instantly was glad I had gotten the trilogy because the first book made me curious as to what will happen next and now, I don’t have to do much waiting. I really love this book. I plan to possibly post the next book in the series as well as the third book also. I highly recommend giving this book a read. I would say that this book can be read by adults as well.