MF - Little Ms Who? by S. Neff

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Blurb

Lee has been going through the same routine in his life. Seeing his friends find love has made him question his own choices, and when he meets Tris at the Friday night bonfire he is captivated at first sight. One kiss is all it takes for him to want her for his own, and after that night he thinks he's found his Cinderella and his chance at love. What Lee doesn't know is that some princesses have much bigger secrets than being covered in soot, and Tris’s secrets are going to redefine Lee and everything he thought he knew about himself. Love is never easy and Lee has to decide if he can love Tris even if he’s not who he says he is.

Review 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

S Neff's Little Ms Who? is a terrific romance. I am surprised and thrilled with how much I love this book.

At it's heart, it's an excellent exploration of many different aspects of being transgender. There's a whole lot of the mentality behind gender dysphoria, the difficulty of acceptance, and the struggles to bare yourself to someone. 

This story immediately sucked me in, as it's compelling as well as riveting. Full of extreme examples of transphobia and a girl who won't take no, this is one hell of an emotional ride. It's non-stop concern for Lee and Tris, as they deal with mental issues, as well as dangerous situations. 

The transformation of Lee and Tris from the beginning, where their world is full of secrets, to the end, where they let love rule, is huge. Both inspirational and thought-provoking, I love this couple.

Little Ms Who? is a delightful thriller/romance. It's a beautiful story of falling in love for a person, not a body. I highly recommend this S Neff book.

MF - Birthday by Meredith Russo

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Blurb

Boyhood meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this unconventional love story about two teens bonded for life when they are born on the same day at the same time by award-winning author Meredith Russo!

Two kids, Morgan and Eric, are bonded for life after being born on the same day at the same time. We meet them once a year on their shared birthday as they grow and change: as Eric figures out who he is and how he fits into the world, and as Morgan makes the difficult choice to live as her true self. Over the years, they will drift apart, come together, fight, make up, and break up—and ultimately, realize how inextricably they are a part of each other.

Review 

My Rating -5 Stars!

From the start, Meredith Russo's Birthday drew me in, keeping me intrigued throughout. 

On their thirteenth birthday, we meet Morgan and Eric, lifelong best friends. I immediately found myself drawn to the tone and the characters. At 13, the two are slowly changing, and secrets are tough to admit. 

Their story's an honest tale of one's journey of living in the wrong body. It's a tale of pain and loss, a tale of confusion and floundering. My heart hurts for Morgan throughout, as her struggles are real and raw. Her need to escape, her constant drowning under the weigh to it all is a tough read.

Their tale is full of painful pretending, with great descriptions of all the hiding.

The pain and self-destruction, the inability to be oneself is extremely well written, with understanding and care. 

Birthday's an absolutely amazing story. Meredith Russo expertly explores the conflict of a teen feeling wrong in their own body. I loved every single second of this gem and highly recommend it to anyone looking to read about a transgender teenager.

The Princess of Baker Street by Mia Kerick

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Blurb

When she was a child, Joey Kinkaid, assigned as a boy at birth—wearing Mom’s purple sundress and an imaginary crown—ruled the Baker Street neighborhood with a flair and imagination that kept the other kids captivated. Day after day, she led them on fantastic after-school adventures, but those innocent childhood days are over, and the magic is gone. The princess is alone.

Even Eric Sinclair, the Prince Eric to Joey’s Princess Ariel, has turned his back on his former friend, watching in silence as Joey is tormented at school. Eric isn’t proud of it, but their enchanted youth is over, and they’ve been thrust into a dog-eat-dog world where those who conform survive and those who don’t… well, they don’t. Eric has enough to deal with at home, where his mother has abandoned him to live in isolation and poverty.

But Eric can’t stay on the sidelines forever. When Joey finally accepts her female gender and comes to school wearing lip gloss, leggings, and a silky pink scarf, the bullies readily take the opportunity she hands them, driving Joey to attempt suicide and leaving Eric at a crossroads—one that will influence both their lives in not just the present, but the future.

Is there a chance the two teens can be friends again, and maybe even more?

Review 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

The Princess of Baker, by Mia Kerick, is a phenomenal young adult story of a transgender child.

This story gives us an accurate description of the social politics in middle school. It's not easy to read, but it is realistic. It's the tough tale of the battle between being loyal to a friend versus being afraid of the ramifications to your own life. 

Joey loses his good friends as he starts 7th grade wearing a dress. Now it's 8th grade and his former best friend, Eric, is partnered up in class with Joey.

This story is remarkably told by Eric's point of view, as he fully accepts Joey as a girl, and is even attracted to Joey. But, he fears being seen with Joey, as he sees it as social suicide. Eric needs to fit in, not stand out.  

Eric's struggle is well written, well explored and well developed. He does his share of reflecting back on his adventures with Joey, remembering what a cool kid Joey was, with his huge imagination.   

In addition, Joey's own story is heart wrenching and absolutely tragic. His loneliness is awful and had me wanting to take him in as my own. 

The few insights into Joey's thoughts are well developed and perfectly placed. Joey is such an amazing young man.  

The Princess Of Baker Street is an amazingly emotional ride. I hurt for Joey and Eric. Their relationship is realistic, sad and poignant. This Mia Kerick novel is accomplished and I highly recommend it. It definitely needs to be read by pre-teens and teens, as well as adults.
  

My Crunchy Life by Mia Kerick

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BLURB

John Lennon fought for world peace, but sixteen-year-old hippie hopeful Kale Oswald’s only made it as far as tie-dying his T-shirts with organic grape juice. Now he’s ready to cement his new hippie identity by joining a local human rights organization, but he doesn’t fit in as well as he’d hoped.

After landing himself in the hospital by washing down a Ziploc bag of pills with a bottle of Gatorade, Julian Mendez came clean to his mother: he is a girl stuck in a boy’s body. Puberty blockers have stopped the maturing of the body he feels has betrayed him. They’re also supposed to give him time to be sure he wants to make a more permanent decision, but he’s already Julia in his heart. What he’s not sure he’s ready to face is the post-transition name-calling and bathroom wars awaiting him at school.

When Kale and Julian come face-to-face at the human rights organization, attraction, teenage awkwardness, and reluctant empathy collide. They are forced to examine who they are and who they want to become. But until Kale can come to terms with his confusion about his own sexuality and Julian can be honest with Kale, they cannot move forward in friendship, or anything more.

Sometimes, he weeps with you.

REVIEW - 4 Stars!

I am glad to have discovered My Crunchy Life by Mia Kerick. It is a well written young adult story that hits on several tough topics.

In the beginning, Kale is in the middle of a tough time, trying to discover his true self, exploring a hippie, aka “crunchy” personality. He has dreadlocks, is only doing green things and has a desire to find a good cause, in alignment with the hippie way.

On the outside, Julien is a brilliant teen boy, who doesn’t fit in at school and is frequently the target of bullies. After attempting suicide last year, he’s seeing a therapist and has girls assigned to be his friends at school. On the inside, Julien is a teen girl, trapped in his male body.

Mia Kerick uses alternating first person points of view to do a fantastic job of telling this story of two teens who are in complicated family situations. By doing so, the reader is able to fully connect with these adolescents.

Julian’s gender-dysphoria and his stages of transition are one of the main story lines. He’d love to postpone transitioning, but he knows he cannot live as a male anymore and he feels guilty that the cost of transitioning results in his mother working so much.

My Crunchy Life also tackles a couple of issues through Kale’s strange home life. Kale’s mother has completely disconnected from her family after being laid off from her job. Kale’s cousin, Hughie, with whom Kale has been forced to share his room, was found living under a bridge. Kale doesn’t want him sharing his room, constantly reinforcing this, never giving any thought as to how this affects his cousin.

As Kale’s character deals with questioning if he’s gay, and later finding out that Julian is now Julia, I found myself sympathetic toward him. In the end, we watch as Kale come to terms with himself and discovers who he is and what type of person he wants to be.

I’m impressed with this coming of age, transgender story. My Crunchy Life is full of those questioning teen issues, some painful family issues, and learning what acceptance truly means. Although it deals with an array of tough issues, it is more about personal growth and acceptance and is actually low angst and sweet, with the perfect young adult feel. Fabulous for questioning teens.