crackedspines_'s reviews
149 reviews

 ARC Review
Thanks @netgalley and @littlebrownyoungreaders for the eARC!
OVERALL: My Last Summer With Cass is a really cute graphic novel about friendship and art. It’s a quick, easy read, but tackles some important discussions and made me think about some things. I think this book is targeted towards the younger end of YA but I really enjoyed it!
PLOT: Overall I loved the plot. I liked seeing Cass and Megan’s friendship evolve. The only thing I didn’t like was the pacing; it felt a bit too fast. I would’ve preferred the book to be a bit longer and the pacing slowed down a bit.
ART: The art style was really pretty, and the style combined with the soft colors was really soothing!
THEME: I’m an artist so reading a book about artists was really fun. Throughout the book, both Megan and Cass’s art styles changed as they grew older, and Megan especially struggled to find her artistic voice. There is also some discussion of peer pressure in this book, which I liked a lot. For a while I thought it wouldn’t be addressed, but it was, and the specific situation in the book made me think a lot about what really counts as peer pressure and when peer pressure is okay. The line between positive and negative peer pressure is pretty blurry and this book walked right on it.
CHARACTERS: Both main characters (Megan and Cass) were really interesting characters with a lot of depth. They were both very dynamic as well. I liked the side characters a lot too, and actually wish we’d gotten to see more of them. I understand why that wasn’t possible because of the POV of the book, but it would’ve been nice to incorporate them a bit more somehow! 

OVERALL: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s everything I was hoping it would be. Courtney Summers has a unique way of writing where she gives you a bunch of details and you think you understand it all, but then suddenly towards the end everything clicks together in a completely new way.
PLOT: There were so many twists and turns in this book. Every time I thought I was at the height of the action the pace would pick up more. And it all climaxed in this horrifying, breathtaking moment when everything fell into its place.
STRUCTURE: The non-linear timeline was really effective for this book. The way different details were revealed from the different POVs was really interesting! Summers basically had two timelines going at once and yet it never got confusing.
THEME: Obviously this book explores a lot of themes about cults, but it also explores family and authenticity and truth and legacy and trauma and identity...Summers wove it all together beautifully.
CHARACTERS: This book contains my most hated character and yet he is also a really good character. Lev is one of those characters who you absolutely despise as a person but are intrigued by as a character. And I really liked the character development present in Bea and Lo. Both girls are complex and layered and not “likable”/palatable and I love them so much. 

I’m not going to review this book, because it’s a memoir, but I’ll talk a bit about my thoughts in an unstructured way so if that’s your thing, read on!
The Times I Knew I Was Gay is a graphic memoir of the author’s experience and journey to realizing she’s a lesbian. It’s an easy read despite not always being a happy story, and I am so grateful that Eleanor Crewes chose to share it with all of us. It’s honest and authentic and so relatable as a queer experience. The illustration style is very simple and I like that - it allows the focus to be on the words and what the images depict/convey rather than any details of the illustrations themselves. Crewes has a strong and personal narrative voice and I truly hope she publishes another book! If you haven’t picked this one up yet, this is your sign to DO IT! I think it’s an important and enjoyable read regardless of whatever or not you are queer.

REVIEW
OVERALL: I enjoyed this book for sure. It deals with important and emotional topics while still staying lighthearted and easy to read. I was invested in the characters’ lives, and I am South Asian so I saw myself in a lot of the culture. But I definitely have mixed feelings about it.

PLOT: I had some issues with the plot. I do not think Flávia’s cultural appropriation was addressed properly. She doesn’t acknowledge she’s wrong until long after Nishat has gone back to being flirty with her, and that sends the message of “cultural appropriation is okay if the person is really cute!” Even once Flávia admits she was wrong, she keeps the money she made. Second, when Priti and Nishat had their big fight, Nishat takes almost all of the blame despite not having done anything wrong. It’s unfair of Priti to be mad at Nishat for not noticing that she and Ali were fighting; Nishat did notice but Priti brushed her off every time she tried to talk about it. Also, Priti says that Nishat hasn’t noticed she and Ali fighting and that their Nanu is sick because Nishat is obsessed with Flávia, but the real reason Nishat has been preoccupied is that she is dealing with intensely homophobic parents, racism from her best friend, Flávia and Chyna appropriating and profiting off her culture, and was publicly outed. Priti never really apologized for saying those things or for lying about who outed Nishat. Lastly, the ending didn’t do it for me. I think the book compromised realism and believability for the sake of having a happy ending.

SETTING: I think the author did a great job integrating the setting of an all-girls school; lesbians are often harassed when in all girls spaces, including changing rooms, and I’m glad Jaigirdar chose to talk about that.
THEME: I appreciate that this book tackled a lot of tough topics, but I think because of the things I mentioned in PLOT, it sends some not-so-great messages. It had a lot of potential though, and I will definitely be reading Jaigirdar's upcoming book in the hopes that that one is a bit better!
CHARACTERS: The only character I really liked was Nishat. I don't have anything against unlikable characters, but I do have many things against characters who are never held accountable for their actions, and that's how I felt about Priti, Flávia, and Jess. And I don;t think Chaewon was a great friend either. She didn't do anything that I'd say is clearly wrong, but I was just left with the impression that she was not a great friend.