Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Expected Release March 5



Samantha Allen embarks on a road trip to show us how LGBTQ live in seemingly LGBTQ unfriendly areas. Along the way she visits LGBTQ hot spots and interviews the people who run them or some other noteworthy people about what drives them, why they stay, etc. I don't identify as LGBTQ (heteroromantic asexual in a hetero marriage) but it seemed like a good portrayal of LGBTQ life.

The places she travels to are : Provo Utah, Texas, Bloomington Indiana, Johnson City Tennessee, Jackson Mississippi, and Atlanta Georgia. I might be biased (I'm totally biased) but my favorite was the Provo one, which made reading the rest of the book kind of a let down, but that's a me problem.

I definitely think that anyone can get something out of this book: be they LGBTQ, cis/hetero, red state, blue state, liberal or conservative. Even those not living in America could find some value in it.

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Top 5 Disappointing Reads of 2018

1.   Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen

I loved the other 2 in the Sarah's Scribbles  collection. This one however had Sarah stray from the usual format for the last   part of the book and it fell flat for me.

2. Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright

I try not to get high hopes for nonfiction because I never know how its going to turn out, but I  did for this book. Unfortunately it read all of the other boring, dry nonfiction books out there.

3. What Happened by Hillary Clinton

A lot of reviewers said it didn't make them sad or mad so  I gave it a shot.  Well  guess what, I did get sad and mad reading it!

4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

I'm starting to think Neil Gaiman's stuff just isn't my taste which makes me sad because he's such a phenomenal writer.

5.  Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Basically  my criticism for  Why Buddhism is True . I heard such good things about it about how eye-opening and enlightening it was, but it just didn't do it for me.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would recommend this to someone who doesn't want to read The Hate U Give because its too long.

One of the first scenes in the novel takes form in a screen play format which I didn't like, but then the author just drops that format and its never used again. I get that the conversation flowed better, but then why not use the format at least one more time so it doesn't feel so out of place?

The book is titled Dear Martin but there is a paucity of letters written to Martin, at least for a novel titled so. If the author fleshed out this Martin experiment more, or made it a school project or something it could have been awesome.



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The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I picked this up for the social anxiety rep. Unfortunately, it failed to deliver.

Yeah sure at first I was totally seeing myself in Comet, someone who doesn't know how to stand up for herself and prefers fictional worlds to the real one.

But then it took a turn.

She meets a boy and she finds her voice and the allure of the real world.

I'm all for getting over social anxiety but because of a boy?

After the boy comes along she's much more like a normal teenager and the book gets sort of boring. There's nothing compelling about the story anymore.

My other issue with the book was the Scottish accents. Scottish accents are the one accent I hate to read. I either try for way too long to understand what it saying or I gloss over it and don't understand what they're saying. I also don't understand why Comet and her friends and her parents didn't have Scottish accents? Did only the secondary characters have Scottish accents? That makes no sense.

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Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was expecting speculation about the future. While that did occur it was only about the last quarter of the book. The first three quarters made me think I was reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind again.

I'm not saying it was boring, although I was bored at times. I really enjoyed the future speculation, I just could have used less of the build up to the speculation.

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Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not crying, I'm cutting onions, while reading...

I felt like I was reading The Fault in Our Stars again.

➼Boy and girl meet at a place relating to their mutual disease, girl is immediately disgusted by boy
➼Things heat up between them
➼And so on.

It would be a great novel if the concept hadn't already been done before. Hell, even the CF romance thing was done on Grey's Anatomy. That was actually the first thing I thought of when I first heard about this book.

Great romance novel, but not ground breaking.

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Star of the North by D.B. John

Star of the North: A Novel by D.B. John
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've read books about North Korea and watched documentaries, I thought I knew a lot. Turns out I don't. Reading this novel prompted me to do some research and I found my knowledge lacking. Oh well, you can't know everything.

D.B. John managed to write an exciting compelling novel true to what I've read about North Korea, even giving me more information along the way.

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Shannon's Choice Awards 2018

Best Book:



Best 2018 Release:




Best YA:



Best historical fiction:



Best nonfiction:



Best memoir/autobiography:



Best Comic/Graphic Novel:



Nicholas Sparks award:



Movie award:



LOL Award:



Snooze award:



Read before you die award:



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Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I really like the overall question this book asked:

Is it better to leave a religion you disagree with or stay in and hope to change things?

This book is written about Catholicism but my experience with the question is about ,Mormonism, but the problems are the same.

I related more to Lucy than to Michael because I was Lucy at one point in my life.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Beset 2018 Release
Best YA

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Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

*Note to self, in the future trust Goodreads ratings and don't get a low rated book just because you're curious about it.*

As a P&P retelling, it missed the mark.

This was supposed to be a gender swapped retelling from the POV of Darcy. So, the main character was supposed to be a male Mr. Darcy and the love interest was supposed to be a female Elizabeth Bennett. I was a little confused because it seemed like both characters showed traits from the original characters. At the beginning of the book Darcy talked about wanting to marry for love which is something Elizabeth Bennett wanted as well.

It didn't exactly follow the plot and I got lost trying to keep up. I think it was more like 2 people who are kind of like Elizabeth and Darcy get into a situation that sort of resembles the one they got into in the book.

The one good thing I have to say about it is that it made sense for it to be set during Christmas. Usually stories set during a particular time of year would do just as well being set during any other time. But this book actually used Christmas traditions as part of the story. Darcy went caroling, Darcy and Luke kissed under mistletoe...

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Shunned: How I Lost my Religion and Found Myself by Linda A. Curtis

Shunned: How I Lost my Religion and Found Myself by Linda A. Curtis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an excellent view into the worldview of a Jehovah's Witness. I could actually place myself in the shoes of a JW, though I'm not sure if that's because of my mormon background or Linda's excellent writing. I was able to learn things from this book that I wasn't able to from lurking r/exjw.

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Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The thing that jumped out to me most when reading this was the abundance of fertility problems. Pretty much everybody had some kind of fertility problem. If it wasn't inability to conceive or carry to term, it was an unplanned pregnancy (which is its own kind of fertility problem). There was only one couple we met who didn't seem to have fertility problems.

Pachinko is about giving people just enough that they come back for more. That theme is prevalent throughout the book and fertility is just one of the ways it was present. To be honest the fertility problems got old and were tiring. Fertility problems aren't that prevalent in the real world.

I just went on a two paragraph rant but really I enjoyed it. I couldn't wait until it was time to pick up my kindle and continue reading. I live in my american bubble and don't really know all that much about what happens outside the borders, hell I barely know what happens inside our borders. It was really nice getting a glimpse into what people around the world face.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Historical Fiction

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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In my last review I talked about not getting a glimpse into life of an ordinary North Korean, well I should have picked this one up first. It gives a glimpse into the life of about 6 North Koreans. It was very engaging and is one of the best nonfiction books I've read.

But as much as the North Korean regime was willing to accept foreign food, it rejected the foreigners who came along with it. Aid agencies trying to help were initially restricted to Pyongyang and other carefully groomed locations. When they were allowed out of their offices and hotels, shabbily dressed people were ordered off the streets: during visits to schools and orphanages only the best-dressed and best-fed could be seen. The government was asking for more aid and at same time concealing the most in need.

That same day I read that paragraph I was watching a documentary about North Korea (Inside North Korea's Dynasty on Hulu, episode 3) and it showed a jaundiced little girl wearing rouge to make her appear healthier. That image haunted me.



Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Nonfiction

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A River in Darkness: One Man'es Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A few years ago I heard about the book Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West and gobbled it up. I was horrified at what I read. I then became fascinated with learning about North Korea and watched as many documentaries as I could. Masaji may not have had it as bad as Shin Dong-Hyuk, but its still far removed than anything most other people have experienced.

Between all the media I've consumed I've never gotten a feel for what daily living is like in North Korea. (The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea comes close, but its fiction.) Masaji does an excellent at giving us a snapshot at what life is like.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Memoir/Autobiography

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The Sister Wife by Diane Noble

The Sister Wife by Diane Noble
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first half almost read like Mormon lit but there were 2 differences. Mormon lit would have made the story about their conversion, not their romance and would have given Brigham Young a bigger part.

Being exmormon I've read stories about polygamy before but this is the first one that was about a romance, not the polygamy. The last third of the book actually started reading like a romance set in the 19th century.

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Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Everybody has a cause they're passionate about. The cause they would walk to the ends of the earth for. Mine is LGBTQ Mormon suicides.

I was a TBM (totally brainwashed Mormon) up until the age of 23. That's when I was introduced to liberalism. For the next 4 years I challenged myself on everything I thought I knew. Eventually I got to the place where I could no longer be a mormon and I submitted my resignation last November.

You think I'm just going to walk away from the mormon church when people are killing themselves? Hell no. But unfortunately I used up what little voice I have when I submitted my resignation.

You know what I'm here to talk about a book, and while I could go on and on about the mormon church I won't. (But feel free to ask!)

Despite what I said at the opening there is no suicide. But this book touches on what really drives LGBTQ Mormons to think that is their only way out.

I'm asexual and only recently discovered that. Sometime when I was a teen I realized I was attracted to women the same way I was attracted to men (aesthetically). This terrified me. If I was terrified at the possibility of being gay, I can't imagine what actually being gay would be like.

Mormonism was portrayed pretty actually. Though I'll admit I skipped the parts explaining bits of mormon culture/doctrine because I know it pretty well. I was trying to figure out if the author is exmormon or nevermo (never been a mormon) and there were some inconsistencies that made me believe she's nevermo, and I was right.

Truthfully I did find some parts boring, mostly the youth activities. Are they really that boring? I had fun with them when I was a teen.

They stare at the strip mall sign, with the three largest businesses advertised in bold letters: Deseret Book. Emergency Essentials. Avenia Bridal.
"This all very LDS," she agrees.



Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Book
Best YA
Read Before You Die Award

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The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People said it was smutty but I was so intrigued by reviews that I just had to read it. I thought it couldn't be that smutty.

It was pretty smutty.

Smutty isn't my taste but there was enough of a plot around the smut that I enjoyed reading it.

If I wasn't married I would claim Michael as my book boyfriend. Hell, my husband isn't on Goodreads let alone reads so I'll claim him anyway.

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