April Wrap-Up

I guess April must have been the worst reading month ever because I can’t remember a single time I only managed to read 4 books in an entire month. *lol* I guess my bad health and trying to function like a normal human being eventually took its toll on me. >_< Not being able to breathe properly causes me to be exhausted and between giving 100% at work, doing household chores and taking care of my kid I was too tired to read at night.

The fact that I’m currently reading 6 books that all have more than 300+ pages („A Court of Silver Flame“ even has 757) certainly didn’t help to finish them either. *lol* So yeah, my reading suffered and I fell in some sort of involuntary reading slump. (Is a reading slump ever voluntary? XD) I can only hope that my appointment at the docs will help to get my health under control… well either this or that all those pollen finally cease to fly around like there’s no tomorrow. >_<

I still managed to maintain my BookTube channel and my blog though so there’s that! Also if any of you enjoy my BookTube channel please make sure to spread your positive energy over there as well! =) I’m not gonna lie, sometimes it feels pretty lonely on BookTube and even though I try to engage with other YouTubers it’s not easy to become a part of that close-knit group. Guess that’s the reason why I’m usually steering clear of social media and stick to goodreads and wordpress instead. Why did I start a YouTube channel again? *lol*

Anyway! Let’s talk about the good things of life and spread postive vibes by talking about the few books I manged to read in April!

Books read: 4 (4 books & 0 webcomic, I really hope I’ll read more in May again. Four books is a personal low. *lol*)

Pages read:  1.553 (Those books were all pretty short so the page count isn’t very high this time around.)

Average rating: 4,0 (I might have read only four books but they were all great in their own way so the rating was actually pretty high. =)

Books that were on my reading list:  2 (2 from 2020 and 0 from 2021. I tried to work off a couple of books from my TBR 2020. ;-P )

April Reads:

          

Wicked Lovely:

This book series will always be among my favourites and I’ll never get tired of speaking about it. Melissa Marr wrote ruthless and cunning faeries long before Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black did so this was the first faerie series I ever read. And it totally got me hooked on faeries. I’ll be forever grateful I stumbled upon it in my library. XD „Wicked Lovely“ is the first book in the series and a really slow read, the series picks up pace in the other books though. If you want to read my full review you can do it here! ;-P

Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts):

What a great LGBTQ+ book! The cast was diverse, the story line intriguing and the mystery element more than just compelling! Moreover this is finally a YA book that doesn’t shy away from speaking the truth about being intimate with each other. Jack’s voice is blunt, honest and straightforward. His advice is great and I think every teen should read this book! „Jack of Hearts“ was super realistic and didn’t romanticize sex the way YA novels usually do so that was great! If you want to know more just read my review!

Serpent & Dove:

I read this as a love story and not as a fantasy book because a lot of people warned me that the focus is on the romance. Thankfully I got that warning because if I’d have read it as a fantasy book I might have been disappointed. If given a chance the world building could be really interesting and I hope the author will explore it in the second book. The great idea is there it just needs to be brought to life. 😉 Also this felt pretty insta-lovey to me even though we’re dealing with the enemies-to-lovers trope so mhmm… I wasn’t an all too big fan of that sudden love. *lol*

The Near Witch:

This was such a great debut novel and I loved to read it! Schwab can do mysterious, magical and atmospheric we all know that. I just didn’t know she can do poetic too. XD Well, after reading this I finally know and I’m so glad I picked this up and gave „The Near Witch“ a chance. =) It’s always interesting to see where an author started and as expected this was a great beginning for an amazing career.

How was your April? Did you read more books than I did? (I hope you did! *lol*) Were you in a reading slump as well? Are you on BookTube? Which books did you read and did you love them? Can you recommend them?

Talk to me and let me know! 😉

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

Review: Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) – Lev A.C. Rosen

 

Rating:

 

”Just ‘cause I like sex and have a decent amount of it doesn’t mean everyone else should. Everyone gets to use their naughty parts however and as often as they’d like.”

I really loved this book and its (sex) positive message! I mean there are a lot of YA books out there but I usually roll my eyes whenever there is a sex scene. No matter what you read, sex is always romanticized and I just can’t stand it anymore. I guess that’s one of the main reasons why I turn to smut books every once in a while because most of them are actually realistic and don’t gloss over the less sexy parts of being intimate together. I mean seriously how are teens supposed to get a realistic idea of this really important thing if the female characters in books already climax because a guy just touched their breasts? (Yes, I recently read that in a YA book and I was NOT happy with it!)

”Know what you want. Ask for it. Be prepared for people to say no. That’s the best any of us can do.”

So being aware of all that I chose to read “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” and I absolutely adored this super refreshing approach! Jack is a gay teen and he has sex. A lot of it! Moreover he is totally unapologetic about it and I just lived and breathed for this kind of rep! Here’s a boy who’s totally comfortable with his looks, with his body with what he wants from life. Jack doesn’t want to be in a relationship because he likes to be free to do what he wants and that is great!!!

Not everyone has to be in a relationship and especially not when you’re so young. I remember a time when everyone in my class had a girlfriend or boyfriend because it was idk… the thing to do?! At a certain age everyone just started to date and you were kind of an outsider if you didn’t. And just for the record I didn’t date anyone at that time because I just waited for the right person to come along. I never gave into peer pressure, but I’m pretty certain not everyone is as steadfast as I am/was. Especially not if you’re a teen.

Because let’s be totally honest here and face it: Teenagers are super insecure! They only just start to discover their own sexuality and they feel awkward in their changing body. They are driven by hormones and they don’t know what to do with it. *lol* And this is exactly where “Jack of Hearts” picks up! Jack starts to write a sex advice column for all those insecure teens because his friend Jenna asks him to and at first he’s pretty sceptical about it but as it turns out he’s hitting the right nerve.

”On the one hand, coming out is important to show solidarity, encourage folks to come out, and so forth. On the other hand, the entire concept is essentially playing into straight society’s game that anything but strict heterosexuality is something that needs to be announced, warned about. The closet exists because straight people shoved us in it, and because if we try to leave it, they’re often angry and/or violent.”

Jack’s advice was really great and I loved to read his column because it was so realistic! Here’s a boy that knows exactly what he’s talking about and he doesn’t mince his words! He’s direct and merciless in his approach and he calls things by their real name! The diversity of the questions that hit his mailbox varies from how to ask a guy for a date up to how to have anal sex so yeah, it covers a pretty wide range. 😉 One of my favourite columns was when he called out the straight girls for romanticizing gay love. I was like: YAS BOY!!! Tell them! Because it happens way too often and it needs to be addressed!

”But it’s real,” I say softly.
“Perhaps, Jack, if you attracted less attention, you wouldn’t be getting emails like this. If this is real, I’d suggest stopping the column, and trying to keep a low profile.”

Which brings me right to another topic that is addressed and caused my bones to boil with anger! I absolutely hated the principal of Jack’s school because he’s one of those homophobic people that hide behind their “good deeds” for others. In this particular case behind his good deeds for the students of the school. By not taking Jack seriously and by letting him fend for himself, by actually suggesting that it’s Jack’s own fault for getting blackmailed because of his “lifestyle”, by telling him to keep a low profile and being not himself he CROSSED A DAMN FREAKING LINE and I wanted to kick his butt so badly!!! AHHH I can’t even!!! It’s hidden homophobes like him that make it so difficult to be who you truly are!

”You’re amazing,” she says softly. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t let them tell you what to do, or how to act. Just do what you want. I’ll support you.”

Thankfully Jack’s best friends Jenna and Ben always got his back and tried to help him find the culprit. Blackmail is a serious thing and gosh it made me so damn angry to see how much it changed Jack. He went from that outgoing, flirty boy that wears tank tops, eyeliner and black nail polish to a guy that doesn’t go to parties and wears no make-up, to a guy that blends in. And all that just because the principal didn’t help him and he tried to protect the ones he loved. I hated to see his transformation, I hated to see what the blackmail did to him and I wanted nothing more than to find Pinky. This said I loved Jack’s mom and her stance on things but I really hope that I would notice if something like that happened to my kid.

”That’s how I think now. My outfit is boring. My makeup is pretty dull, too. But I look okay. It’s not like I’m going to get laid, right? I mean, if I do, then Pinky will be mad, and I don’t want that. I don’t want Mom or Ben or Jenna to suffer just because I wanted to have fun.”

As for who Pinky turned out to be:

 

spoiler

I already had an inkling that Pinky might be a girl and when I finally saw the list of the people who were good at Origami I knew exactly who it was. I mean we all know that Kaitlyn was one of the girls that romanticized gay love so I was not surprised when I saw her name on the list and put two and two together.

It didn’t really come as a surprise. At least not for me, because I love to play Sherlock Holmes in my free time. *lol* Still, speaking about Pinky brings me to the one and basically only thing I didn’t like about this book. The way everything was dealt with after the revelation. I really wanted there to be some consequences! For Pinky to suffer and to realize what she/he did! But none of that really happened and I was not okay with that. I repeat Blackmail is a serious thing and how everything was resolved in here just didn’t do it for me. Maybe that makes me petty but I just couldn’t with the ending.

spoiler

I mean Jack still has nightmares but they all moved on like nothing ever happened and no one even knows what Kaitlyn did to him? Not even her best friends know because it’s kept quiet?! Maybe I’m a vindictive witch but I would have SHOUTED her freaking name from the rooftops so that everyone would have known what she did and that it is NOT okay to do something like that! Because yes, we can argue that she would have suffered from it getting out and that her life would have probably been miserable for a while. At least as long as she was attending classes at their school, but and there’s a huge BUT! That girl knew exactly what she was doing! She knew exactly that no one would believe Jack if he claimed it was her. She even said so when she blackmailed him AGAIN and directly in his face while Jack secretly had the audio running! There was no remorse, no fear of consequences, no realisation that she was doing something wrong! Who says she won’t do that again to another boy?! So I’m sorry, but I can’t accept the way things were dealt with here. If you let someone like that off the hook that easily it will happen again and I’m already afraid for her next victim. Because there is no way there isn’t going to be a next one. That girl needs help, therapy and not a reprimand. Yes, it was said she cried at Pattyn’s office but to me it sounded like she only cried because she was found out. To be fair it was never mentioned that she didn’t get help but it also wasn’t mentioned that she did. So an open ending in that regard definitely didn’t work for me.

All told I really enjoyed “Jack of Hearts” and it was a great book! Finally a sex-positive rep and a realistic one at that! We need more of those in our YA books! Moreover Jack’s voice was relatable and brought a fresh and unapologetic breeze into YA literature. I’ll definitely watch out for Lev A.C. Rosen’s next book! =)