Welcome to Litsy!

I loved -
The premise
Characters names (Jam, Glass,, Moss, Aloe, Bitter, Redemption? So good.)

What I didn't -
I cannot pinpoint what it was that I didn't like but I was somehow both impressed with their storyline and bored? I had a hard time picking it up and on the whole it took me much longer to read then it should have.

Don't really have much of a review for this one. Just definitely worth reading, especially considering how it tackles the issue of complacency, even in an assumed utopia.

They don't make evil like they used to.

#curiouscovers: buildings #LittenListen

There were so many aspects of this book I loved. I think my favorite was the normalization of non-binary characters and non-hetero, multiple partner relationships.

The plot itself was engaging and satisfying, and the creature scary and relatable.

This is a bookclub pick, and I look forward to discussing it.

4/5 for this heart wrenching story. This was such a sad good book. I just loved Pet and Jam. Redemption was an awesome character too. This story just pulls at your heart. I do recommend reading it.

Finished this one! Lots of mixed thoughts on it, but ultimately this is one I would probably recommend. A quick read! Thanks for another great round of #LMPBC ! I'll get this shipped out this week 💜
@TheBookKeepers @Erinreadsthebooks @ads0123

Got Pet in today! Should be able to quickly knock this out 💜 #LMPBC #Round11
@TheBookKeepers @ads0123 @Erinreadsthebooks

Finished! I‘ll mail this tomorrow @kellyann28 @Erinreadsthebooks @ads0123 #lmpbc

This is way weirder than I could even imagine. Enjoying it!

This arrived today! #lmpbc @Erinreadsthebooks @ads0123 @kellyann28

This YA book is so strong and fierce. I loved it. A mythic creature enters Jam‘s work to hunt a monster (think racist, abuser, molester), even though all of them had supposedly been eradicated decades earlier. This book does not mess around. Terrific lgbtq/black/trans culture. It‘s a world so easy to appreciate. And worth fighting for.

This middle grade novel tackles some tough topics, but also conveys the message that you can‘t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes what looks scary can be safe and sometimes what seems safe can be dangerous. Audiobook narrator was great. 4⭐️

Good incorporation of trans/non-binary genders.
Life in the future town is a little too twee for my taste; a lot of casual touches to offer comfort and express sympathy or joy. I was surprised by how uncomfortable reading that hyper-empathy way of living made me because it did seem like the sort of life society should strive for.

Overall a well done, imaginative “good vs. evil” plot.

This #dogsoflitsy is my own “pet” angel.

#queer #lgbtq

Finally got a chance to get to this one. It was on The Time‘s 100 Best Fantasy List. I‘m slowly working my way through the list.

This is a world without monsters. Angels came down and cleared them all away, locked them up, etc. (not clear exactly). This is a middle grade/YA book. They seemed young, but there was lots of swearing. A hunter shows up and Jam has to help find the monster. I was a little confused at times, but overall I enjoyed it.

This was soooo good!! What a world! Like, it felt so original but also so obvious once you‘re in it? Absolutely fantastic, I loved this book.

#BlackHistoryMonth #2021 #BlackAuthors #LGBTQ #DogsOfLitsy

The premise of this book is extremely interesting. This letter is the first page, before the story starts.

I‘ve never read a “Make Me a World” book before. I‘m really glad to have picked up this book. I hope I like it.

#LibraryBookhaul - I have so many books I need to read right now, but I got another library stack in 🤦‍♀️

They put books in quarantine for a week if they are from another library, which means they all really come in at once 🤷🏻‍♀️

#InspiredNewYear Day 27: The tartufo pizza with buratta cheese looks #Scrumptious - doesn‘t it?

#QuotsyJan21 Day 16: #Inflexible

Loved this strange and indescribable ride! Such an important book and a symbol of the hope and diversity of thought I hope is a trend to come in the book world ❤️

One of my shadow goals is to read more middle grade books because it's been 30 years since I left that category behind. Pet seems to be solidly on the border between middle grade and YA, with a memorable protagonist, a close friendship, and a town that claims they got rid of all the monsters....

I bought the hardcover last year in a bundle from sistah scifi but as I read this I discovered the paperback comes out on the 19th!

"It was no small thing to try to restructure a society, to find the pus boiling away under the scabs, to peel back the hardened flesh to let it out."

Already close to a bingo! This is what happens when you put off lesson plans I guess. Once again I finish the #doublespin first, but mostly because my #bookspin hasn‘t arrived yet.
This book was short and powerful! I loved the message and even being a quick read it had excellent characters and a cool premise. I also loved the use of monsters in this book and the double meaning of that word.

I really couldn‘t ask for a better evening. Good book and a good boy. 📖 🐶

This is an interesting and very strange book, and I find it difficult to write a review about it. For the first half, I was bewildered and a bit frustrated. The writing is awkward (I thought it was a translation, but it is not). The character names are not names as we know them, which forced my brain to rewire itself in a way to get used to people being referred to as Redemption, Glass, Aloe, Bitter, etc. But by halfway through I was ALL IN.

Pick-up 'Pet'⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5! With unexpected help, Jam bravely faces hard truths in order to protect the people that she loves!

So glad there's a book where black, trans, and neurodivergent youth can read themselves as the protagonist and see they deserve a world that believes, loves, and protects them 💕💕#LGBTQ #YA

Tw: CSA as a major topic (*non graphic descriptions), mentions: police violence, suicide, body horror, eye trauma, sexual assault

Way too much cursing for me

Currently listening 🎧 to

Angels aren‘t pretty pictures in old holy books just like monsters aren‘t ugly pictures. It‘s all just people. Doing hard things or doing bad things, but it‘s all just people. Our people ... So pictures could be wrong ... Pictures could be flat out lies, but what she was really thinking was pictures could be misleading. That made more trickster sense — showing your eyes one thing and tripping your feet in another direction.

Good and innocent. They not the same thing. They don‘t wear the same face.

Bitter knew her name was heavy. But she didn‘t mind it because it was honest. That was something she taught Jam. That a lot of things were manageable as long as they were honest. You could see things clearly if they were honest. You could decide what to do next because you knew what you were dealing with.

Started this one this morning. Thought it might be a lighter read but NOPE, YA hits hard these days. It‘s good.

#3Books with one-word titles: All three of these are still on my TBR list. I'll probably get to Pet first because it's the read for the YA book club at my library this month. Incendiary and Pride are both Owlcrate editions that I haven't had a chance to read yet. So many books, so little time!
@OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Utterly unique and equally fascinating! 💚 At first I wasn't sure where this story was going, but the world building is excellent, and the character development is spot-on, so I found myself quickly submerged in a wonderful journey unlike any I've read before.

Emezi is such an inventive writer. I can't wait to see what this author writes next. 😍

I loved The Death of Vivek Oji so much I requested all of the authors other books from the library. #librarybookhaul

I am enamored of the authors of these works that dare to imagine a world after we‘ve abolished prisons, defunded the police, and invested in our people. I‘ve always found dystopia powerful, but this, this is so much more so.

Surely a tribute to Toni Morrison, yes?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
This was such a great book. It was heavy without being too much, and captured my attention immediately. Another prompt from #booked2020 done. Also, officially met my reading goal for the year!
36/36
#YANovelbyPOC
#OBMBookClub
#DiverseReads

My heart. 🥺🥰💜

I didn‘t plan to participate in the #reversereadathon but a post showed up at just the right moment so here I am. Glad I looked over the bingo card first, or else I wouldn‘t have been able to mark off “select your first book blindfolded” ;) #deweysreadathon #24hourreadathon #readathon

"Angels aren't pretty pictures in old holy books, just like monsters aren't ugly pictures. It's all just people, doing hard things or doing bad things. But is all just people, our people."

Man, this book is dropping quotes left and right.

"Good and innocent, they not the same thing; they don't wear the same face."

There shouldn‘t be any monsters left in Lucille.

#FirstLineFridays

Reading this for this month‘s #OBMBookClub selection

I just bought and started PET and I can't help at be marvelled by how representation in MG and YA novels has evolved since I myself was reading as a kid. I have a feeling there'll be so much to unpack here. Akwaeke Emezi is a gift and PET just reinforces that we have been blessed by this new, fresh voice in literature. This just makes me more excited for the release of The Death of Vivek Oji this year.

This was so much more than I'd expected and it was magical and scary and uncomfortable and beautiful.

"Do not be afraid." ❤️

The language in this one is beautiful, and I utterly love Emezi's deft presentation of characters -- Jam's perception of her world and her relationships in it is incredible. But for all the lushness of this world, the story is so very spare, and I found that disappointing. This is a novel that reads like a novella.

I love how matter-of-fact backstory this is. I love being in Jam's head.

A deceptively complex high middle grade / low YA about Jam, a sometimes mute Black trans girl who lives in a future utopia where all "monsters" have been eradicated. But when she accidentally helps a creature from her mom's painting come alive, it tells her there is a monster in her friend's house. It's heartbreaking how the adults dismiss signs of abuse and children when they try to tell them. Warning for childhood physical/sexual abuse.

Wow, this is super easy to read but hard to think about -- it sounds utopian, but then lays bare how much work has to be done to create and then maintain that world.