The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce by Angie Manfredi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A much-needed book in the YA nonfiction genre that will appeal to young people who are frankly tired of being told they should hate their body. Told via memoir-vignettes, poems, essays, and visual art, it takes a multi-voice approach to celebrating the miracle of the human body regardless of how much space it takes up or what shape it forms.

I would have liked to see more on the way body image is often weaponized (against women of color in particular), or perhaps a discussion of body currency and the connection between fatness and loss of economic opportunity. It does briefly mention the Health At Every Size movement, and more information would have been welcome. However, it does give the reader something to research further.

But, rather than nitpick the book for what it isn't, it's good to celebrate it for what it is. Fierce, indeed, and I daresay even a bit radical, and recommended for any age.

(review does not include the book's visual art, which was not available in the ARC I received.)

arc received from the publisher

Review of the first 72 pages:

As a frequent fantasy reader, this book felt comfortably familiar to me, like returning to your hometown after a long absence, even as the author, characters, and location were completely new to me.

The book seems to follow two young women. Zelie is the descendant of a small minority that once wielded magic, but who has lost their ability and become a persecuted underclass subject to arbitrary harassment, abuse, and even slavery and rape. She struggles to take care of her brother and her brain-damaged father, secretly learning defensive combat.

Amari is a young noblewoman distressed by the treatment of Zelie's people, who runs away from her life of privilege and embarks on a dangerous adventure to try and make a difference. In her great escape, she crosses paths with Zelie, who protects her.

I'm looking forward to seeing what these dangerous and brave young ladies get into.

72 page sampler provided by Netgalley

I read this in an entire sitting and was pleasantly surprised at its unpredictability.

Camellia is part of an elite squad of beautiful women known as Belles who have an inherited magical ability to change others' appearances. This gift is highly valued, as all people have been cursed into a sort of zombie/wraith appearance, with sunken, wrinkled gray skin, red eyes, and dull, straw-like hair. People spend exorbitant amounts of money for monthly maintenance sessions with a Belle to keep up their artificial beauty.

Camellia's new glitzy world of beauty is hiding dark secrets, however, and the more she learns, the more she realizes that she can no longer move through this world as a passive observer, but must use her abilities to try and make things right.

This book's only weakness was that it occasionally got caught up in its descriptions -- while extended descriptions of outfits, makeup, and hairstyles may be necessary for screenplays or scripts, I'm not especially invested in what kind of outfits the characters are wearing. These parts were easy to skim through.

I was also disappointed to discover that this is book 1 in a new series. I was under the impression it was a stand-alone novel until I reached the final few pages and it began to dawn on me that there was no way the plot was getting resolved anytime soon. Book 1 offers no resolution. I am, however, looking forward to book 2, whenever that may be.

received via Netgalley

*I actually read the book!*

Since there are so many people giving it 1 star without reading it, I figured I would play devil's advocate and give it a read. It wasn't terrible -- it was, however, very unrefined and would have benefited greatly from better editing. If the author and publisher hadn't antagonized booksellers and libraries by cheating their way on to the best seller lists and making a cover that looks suspiciously like someone else's art, I don't think it would have the 1 star rating it has today. Maybe more like... a 3.

I decided to treat this book like any other first-time fantasy novel I would get from Netgalley, and give it an honest go.

I was moderately entertained, particularly by the last third or so. The premise is neat -- the protagonist is a young female Vegas magician, Zade, whose big secret is that she can really do magic, and who is struggling to keep her magic a secret from the techs, performers, and stage hands who are increasingly curious about how she can pull off such feats. In that regard, it reminds me of a couple books that I loved, like The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. There is a vague notion of a possible villain, possibly doing villainous things -- but they appear to be the next book's problem. This book is mostly about resolving a love triangle.

...a love triangle where one of the love interests is the guitar player for the Plain White T's. Yes, the popular band. Although Wikipedia tells me that no one named Jackson has ever been in the band -- and while the real Plain White T's got their start in the 90's playing in bars around Chicago, this version of them in the book is the jam band for a magic show in modern Vegas, and hasn't made it big yet.

So, that's a little bizarre and a bit off-putting, and made me physically face palm.

The big climax of the book comes when Zade attempts a new stunt full of dangerous magic and something goes wrong, rendering her bloody and catatonic. The lead magician and one of her love interests whisks her away to her mother's home in Tennessee to see if her mother's magic can save her when medicine couldn't, revealing her secrets in the process.

I repeat: cool story line; bad editing. The story was told in a mix of first-person by Zade and omnipotent third person narration following around various other characters. It got a bit confusing at times, and would have benefited greatly from being completely first-person or completely third-person. At times I got thrown off on who the narrative was talking about. It caused the story to miss out on a lot of character-building nuance.

I'll probably read book 2 in the hopes that it is better edited. It's a shame that the publisher and the author shot themselves in the foot the way that they did with this one by angering the booksellers, bloggers, and libraries that should be a book's biggest advocates. It would have been so much better had they released some limited ARCs, got some scathing-yet-encouraging reviews, and re-released a better edited and more coherent version.

So, in sum: it doesn't deserve all the hate it gets.
But it certainly needs some work.

received via Netgalley

brb, making a facial scrub out of weird stuff in the kitchen.

It is impossible to read this book and not feel inspired to create. The recipes inside are easy to understand and use accessible ingredients -- no more having to order obscure things off of the internet. Inside, you'll find bright and colorful photographs of the products themselves, so you don't have to guess what it's supposed to look like when it's finished.

This is a great addition to any library collection, and a great gift. Many of the recipes could be made by all ages and would be a popular group craft in social settings, like home parties or community programs.

I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

One Brave Summer by Kiersi Burkhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Middle schooler Paley has been sent to Quartz Creek Ranch, a summer camp for troubled youth, to help break her addiction to a MMORPG game that has taken over her life. In this quick read, Paley realizes her strengths and gains confidence and lasting friendships. She doesn't have to pretend to be a Blue Elf warrior online to feel powerful; she is a capable and brave young woman in real life.

(She learns that there's nothing wrong with being a super tough Blue Elf warrior online for fun, as long as she isn't hiding from the real world in doing so. Don't worry about shaming any hardcore gamer kids with this one.)

Recommended for older elementary readers, or reluctant teen readers. The prose is easily read, but deals with complex emotions like forgiveness and empathy for those who hurt you.

I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.