Carry On

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Carry On

Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Griffin: 2015, 522 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Rainbow Rowell first wrote about Simon Snow and Baz in her novel Fangirl.  In Carry On, Rowell has devoted a full novel to the characters that were only briefly mentioned in Fangirl.  Simon Snow is "the chosen one," the one who will stop the dark force that threatens the world of magic.  Except that he's pretty sure he's not really "the chosen one" since he's terrible at magic and is more focused on why his nemesis for the past seven years is missing from their last year at the Watford School of Magicks.  Baz has his own reasons for missing so much school but he won't share it with Simon.  After all, Baz likes seeing Simon squirm.  There is magic, teen angst, friendship, and relationship drama; after all, they are in high school, even if they have to deal with monsters on occasion.

Bettyville

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Bettyville

George Hodgman

Viking: 2014, 279 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

In this memoir, author George Hodgman describes the time spent with his elderly mother at his childhood home in rural Paris, Missouri.  George took a break from his life as an editor in New York to attend a funeral with his mother in Paris. However, once he sees that Betty needs more help than he realized, George becomes her unlikely caretaker. Throughout the book, the author blends in background and anecdotes from both his and Betty's lives, particularly those that highlight the fact that Betty has never really acknowledged the fact that George is gay.  Overall, the book kept my interest, but the narrative at times felt meandering and unfocused.  I would recommend this to fans of family memoirs as well as those who are currently or anticipate caring for an aging parent.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Cover retrieved from Goodreads

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

Balzer + Bray: 2015, 303 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a great young adult book.  It focuses on 16 year old Simon, who's gay but in the closet.  He has an email correspondence with another boy in his school who is also gay but they both keep their identities a secret.  Simon's world is turned upside down when another boy at school not only finds out about the emails but uses them to subtly blackmail him to play matchmaker, since the blackmailer has a crush on one of Simon's more attractive female friends.  Simon has to figure out how to navigate through this all while dealing with changes in his friendships and family and his newly emerging crush on Blue, his email pen pal.  Albertalli does a great job creating realistic fiction that is actually real.  Readers should be advised that there is some strong language but no explicit sexual content.