The Tea Dragon Festival by Katie O'Neill

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Oni Press in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this just about melted my heart and I am so so happy I read this. The Tea Dragon Society is an absolutely lovely graphic novel/webcomic that you can read entirely online for free (you can also buy a bindup). It tells the story of a young girl who is learning to be a blacksmith when she stumbles upon another potential profession-caring for these small creatures called tea dragons. The Tea Dragon Festival is the followup to that story, though it is not a sequel and you don't need to read the first one for this to make sense. Instead it is merely set in the same world and features some of the same characters.

In this story we follow Rinn, a nonbinary person who loves foraging ingredients and supplies for their town. This village communally cares for a group of tea dragons who are the adorable titular creatures. One day Rinn comes across a real dragon called Aedhan who has been asleep for 80 years. With Rinn's help, Aedhan must now assimilate back into village life and find the creature who caused him to sleep for so long.

I'm not sure how many times it is appropriate to use the word 'adorable' in one review but it perfectly encapsulates this whole graphic novel experience. The art style is absolutely gorgeous, the characters are likeable and the story is compelling. After reading this I was just filled with so much joy and love for the world the artist had created. I could read a thousand stories in this world and never be bored. It is the ultimate feel good experience.

The representation in this is also topnotch and it makes me so happy to see so many concepts in a children's work. I think people of all ages could enjoy this graphic novel but it is definitely kid-friendly as well and I love how effortlessly the artist incorporates diversity. This is how it should be done!

There's not much to be said about this apart from I loved it and I want as many people as possible to experience the joy this work brought me. If you're looking for a cute graphic novel, this is the perfect example. If you like dragons, tea, fantasy worlds, slice of life stories featuring a ton of diversity, romances that aren't overt or take over the plot, compelling characters or beautiful artwork, then please please read this. You will not be disappointed.

Overall Rating:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Okay, so confession time-I was not expecting to like this book. I have actually been avoiding reading this book for several reasons, the main one being that I'm not the biggest romance fan anyway and I'd heard that the romance in this is one of those where all the problems are caused by stupid teen pettiness. This is definitely not the case. Anyway, what finally made me pick it up is we got it in at work in our £1 sale bin so I caved and decided to try it. I was not expecting to love it as much as I did.

So this is a fairly straightforward story of a boy and a girl who meet on the school bus, fall in love and deal with a lot of family drama whilst doing so. I haven't read anything by Rainbow Rowell before and I was not prepared for the beautiful writing style. This is not written like most YA romances-it is definitely not fluff and the characters are more like mini serious adults, only somehow also realistic and not in the least bit pretentious. The problems dealt with in this book are also very real.

I liked both of the main characters immensely. Eleanor is the kind of character who should annoy me. She picks fights with Park when she has no real reason to and her entire style of thinking is very odd and eclectic. However, I felt like I 100% understood her at all times. The strength of this book really comes from the two protagonists. I never had to deal with anything like what Eleanor goes through but I could recognize my teenage self in her all the same. I also really like Park a lot. His storyline is pretty understated compared with Eleanor's but it is made up of brilliant moments. The whole eyeliner bit is brilliantly done, as is his dad stuff. His mum's attitude to Eleanor is another thing I loved. The family is extremely present in this book for both protagonists and again, every single one of them felt like a real person.

There are a few problems with this book but nothing major. As I said, Eleanor does pick fights and I can understand why people would be frustrated with her. There's a whole scene where she gets mad that Park likes her when she wears makeup, although this makes perfect sense when you consider she is probably playing down her femininity to avoid catching her stepdad's eye even more. Understanding Eleanor stopped stuff like that bothering me personally. There are also a ton of weird metaphors or bits of writing which again, I quite liked but I can see how it would be annoying. They all came from Eleanor's POV.

Overall, I am so happy that I decided to read this book. It has definitely become one of  my favourite YA romances and I will be seeking out more from the author. I would highly recommend it if you're looking for a romance which is low on the fluff but high on the emotional connections and character detail.

Overall Rating:

The Elite by Kiera Cass

So I picked up the fast-food equivalent of books again. And yes, once again I loved every second of it. Admittedly I am starting to see how this series could be annoying-the main character is frustratingly indecisive purely to keep the 'who will she pick' mystery going, although to be fair there is also some genuine conflict. One thing I do love is that this world truly stays happy the entire time. There are several things in this that I think are going to develop into huge problems but nope. For example, there's a secret library the prince shares with America and then when the rebels break in, it's implied they knew where it was. I expected this to lead to her being suspected as a traitor but thankfully that never happens. Missed opportunity? Maybe but I like this world as least-stressful as possible.

Aspen continues to be annoying to me, mainly because I don't really buy his and America's romance in this. There is a point where the prince seems to have a darker side but then it's revealed he's even sweeter than ever and really, why hasn't she picked him? It's painfully obvious she loves him more and this does suffer from more of the irritating dragging out.

However, as a sequel I can't really fault this. It offers much of the same from the first, it attempts to world-build a little more and the personalities of the other girls get developed slightly. Overall, I enjoyed it less than the first but only slightly. At least it doesn't lose any points for not being a standalone like the first.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Selection by Kiera Class

Sooo I was fully expecting this book to be trash. I mean, have you read the blurb? That cover is gorgeous but with a main character called America Singer, my hopes can only soar so high. And yet, to my utter bewilderment I really enjoyed this book. Not in a 'so bad it's good' kind of way but in a genuine, 'want to read more' way.

Don't get me wrong, this book is not high art. I read so many negative Goodreads reviews before picking this up that I was preparing for a snarkfest. But there is something so happy and enjoyable about these characters. The protagonist is a nice person, the prince is a nice person, even most of the competing girls are nice people. I didn't find any of them annoying with the exception of Aspen, the 'other' love interest. Even then, he wasn't so much annoying as he just got in the way a bit of my lovely fluffy romance.

However, I do have one major major issue with this book-it doesn't have an ending. As in, literally nothing is resolved by the end and we are stuck with a literal 'TO BE CONTINUED'. I am not okay with that. I don't care how many sequels you've planned, each book should have its own goddamn satisfactory conclusion. This sin was big enough for me to knock my rating down an entire star because I don't understand how an author or publishing company could be this cocky about people picking up two books to get the plot of one. Seriously not cool.

Overall, can I understand why this book might not be everyone's cup of tea? Yes, absolutely. It is fluff pure and simple, a love story about girls in pretty dresses trying to win the affections of a prince. Also there's a love triangle and the barest hint of world-building in an attempt to qualify it as a dystopia.  However, I am genuinely baffled by all the hate this book is receiving because honestly, it's just so nice and unassuming. Ultimately I like reading books about decent people and there just aren't enough of them in YA fiction.

They should have written a freaking ending though.

Overall Rating:

Girl Online by Zoe Suggs

Expect my choice of books to get a whole lot more diverse because I have joined a book club. Hence why Girl Online is the book I'll be talking about today.

Okay, so reading this wasn't my choice which isn't a great place to start from to be fair. But hey, I was optimistic. I've been known to read and occasionally enjoy my share of crappy YA books. Why should this one be any different?

Oh dear god, this book is a sugary wonderland of tween fantasy. I can never eat more than one marshmallow at a time because it hurts my teeth and this book was like someone had stuffed a hundred in my mouth at once. There is no substance whatsoever in this. The author is so terrified of conflict that any drama introduced before the last few pages is immediately solved, just in case the readers start to worry that things might not be perfect after all.

Let me make one thing clear-I am a hopeless romantic. The key being 'hopeless'. Everything is just a little too perfect here. Like I said, it's a tween fantasy sold in a shiny pastel package. The main character (whose name I have already forgotten) manages to solve her anxiety, get the guy, gain self-esteem and become a fairly famous blogger all in just over a week. It's a shame because the conflict at the end could have been interesting but not when the story has been so irritatingly perfect so far. Also it felt like the story completely changed plots when she went to America. I guess it was on purpose but it was still a bit odd somehow. Not sure why.

I'll give this 2.5 stars because a) I appreciate I'm not the target audience and b) the writing is okay and the characters are at least semi-interesting (or different from each other). Maybe I'm being too kind but if you're not allergic to fluffy, soulless marshmallows like me, you might actually find something to enjoy here.

Overall Score:

.5