Love & Gelato / Jenna Evans Welch

3/5

Love & Gelato is another cute chick lit novel about finding romance in a romantic country and follows the basic chick lit format: a girl who recently went through tragedy, such as the loss of a parent, moves to a European country and rather than being excited like "most girls," she is sad due to prevously mentioned tragedy. She then meets a cute boy, or possibly two, who draws her out of her shell and shows her how to live again after said tragedy.

Honestly, I'm surprised Love & Gelato was successfully published considering how similar it is to Anna and the French Kiss. I'm surprised Jenna Evans Welch hasn't been sued. But similarities and lack of originality aside, Love & Gelato is cute and decently enjoyable. Lina, our main character, can be a little annoying with her constant jumping to conclusions, but without that trait the plot would be considerably less active. Love & Gelato gets a strong three out of five stars for delivering what it promises: a light, feel-good read about cute teenage problems.

If you're an Anna and the French Kiss fan, Love & Gelato is definitely for you. If you need a break from the stress of life and are looking for a quick, free, and fun vacation to Italy, pick up Love & Gelato. But if you like a little more action and intensity, and a little more brains to your main lead, then maybe skip this one.

Not If I See You First / Eric Lindstrom

3/5

Parker Grant is blind, not helpless, and she has rules to make sure things stay that way. She doesn't tolerate any mistreatment, and her inability to see people's faces and reactions makes it easy for her to cut anyone she doesn't like out of her life. But what if things aren't as black and white as they seem, and her harsh demeanor and strict rules become more harmful than helpful?

Not If I See You First allowed me to experience the perspective and life of someone I probably wouldn't otherwise. I learned about how Parker lives her life without sight, and how that has not only shaped her actions but her personality and her outlook. She's headstrong and carefree, traits that make for a fun lead, but as I read on I began to see how these traits were hurting her. It was wonderful to watch her discover that for herself. One thing I didn't like was how towards the end, the romance storyline really took over the plot. The ultimate focus of the novel, though, was on Parker's growth and her development with other characters (pay special attention to her sister, it is one of the most interesting relationships in the novel) and the romance doesn't cause Parker to lose sight of herself. 

Eric Lindstrom does a wonderful job in Parker's growth and development, and I would recommend Not If I See You First to fans of teen romance, realistic fiction, and coming-of-age novels.

Children of Blood and Bone / Toni Adeyemi

1.5/5

Children of Blood and Bone is a West African- inspired fantasy novel filled with magic. Magic in the land of Orisha is suppressed by the king, and Zelie has lived her whole training to stay safe as a maji. When she gets tangled up in a mission to save magic and in a run-in with a conflicted princess, she also finds herself messily tied to the prince.

Blood and Bone is ambitious in its goals of representing West-African culture. I'm not familiar with West-African culture so I can't say how accurate the novel is, but I greatly enjoyed hearing about different beliefs and traditions, and I admire Toni Adeyemi for her efforts toward representation and the beautiful world she created. But other than representation efforts, there aren't many compliments I can give Blood and Bone. 

The set up for the novel is full of high stakes action and life-or-death intensity, but the writing simply doesn't deliver. Blood and Bone switches perspectives between Zelie, Amari, and Inan, and though their voices were written differently, the difference was not as great as it should have been between characters that are so different. I didn't have a problem differentiating because what they said and the context of the narration made it clear, but I think the chapters would have benefited from more distinct writing styles. The writing often felt cliche in terms of dialogue and plot (such as in the opening scene, or whenever someone got jealous). My biggest problem with the novel, though, are the characters. I like Zelie's brother, although his overreaction towards the end of the book felt very much like a plot device to add more drama and fills the book with too much testosterone. Amari has the best character development, I enjoy her but her role isn't large enough. She feels like a flimsy character that Adeyemi brushes past in favor of Zelie and Inan, the worse half of the four main characters. Zelie isn't the worst lead but she is definitely not strong or smart enough to be a favorite. And Inan is by far, the weakest, most painfully difficult character to read. He is spineless throughout the entire novel, he does disgusting and immoral actions to those he claims he loves, and to make things even worse, Zelie, our supposedly "strong" female lead, accepts it!

If you are looking for fantasy and magic, I would recommend Strange the Dreamer or the Grisha trilogy.