I’ve been away for a while now – exam week has taken its toll on me and I haven’t been able to do much of anything lately other than studying and stressing about my midterms.

I do, however, have some days of rest now, which I’ll use to get back on track here and read the ARCs I still have on NetGalley because I probably should get around to doing that asap…

So to celebrate coming back to the blog, here are two short reviews of contemporary YA books ! I had planned this post for February 14th – you can see how my posting schedule has been delayed!

Red, white and royal blue, by Casey McQuiston

I picked up this book at the library because everybody was talking about it, and I was not disappointed ! It’s fun, light, and as I am a hopeless romantic, I absolutely loved it. 

Alex and Henry’s relationship, from enemies to lovers, is a good example of one of my favorite tropes, and well executed enough to make it a very good romance novel. It’s got nice LGBT representation, super cute banter, an amazing sibling relationship, and it’s filled with easy-to-love characters. 

This story also has some idealized fictional American politics, which might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed escaping for a few hours in a reality where everything was fluffy and worked out well in the end. 

One of my favorite quotes (which may or may not be from one of the book’s sex scenes, but honestly it’s such a mood I just couldn’t let it go) :

“Awesome, fuckin’ love doing things out of spite,” he says without a hint of sarcasm. 

What a mood

These witches don’t burn, by Isabel Sterling

I’m a hoe for a nice magic system. This one isn’t the exception to the rule. I really appreciated the way the magical elements were mixed in with the contemporary ones of teen girls’ lives – going to parties, working part-time somewhere, dating… and trying to figure out if an evil witch is trying to take over your town. 

It has really good LGBT+ representation (yes, there’s a theme to the books I’ve been reading lately) and the plot twists at the end surprised me a lot. I enjoyed reading this so much that the second book made my list of 2020 new releases I’m excited about ! 

Did you read any good books in February ? Do you have any recommendations to share ?