Category: Diversity - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

One Wedding & Some Drama

21/9/2024

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment by Arushi Avachat

Arya should be happy - her sister is back and planning a wedding to really nice guy. But the more time they spend together under one roof, the more the tension rises. Meanwhile, Arya is trying to get ready for college and fulfil her student government responsibilities, but the boy who won the role of president over her is so annoying. How could he be anything but an enemy?

This book's main strength is how it explores and handles female relationships, particularly familial ones. I always like to see this kind of thing done well. It also helps that the plot is engaging, perfect for YA readers who want spades of character growth alongside the expected romance. There is no absolutely no need for familiarity with Bollywood movies to enjoy Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment (I think the only one I've seen all the way through is Lagaan!). And enjoy it I did.

Tropetastic

20/9/2024

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales

Ivy is a huge fan of a fantasy TV series but she doesn't expect to wake up with one of the characters in her bed. Weston is somehow real - and he thinks they're soulmates! Now Ivy has to find a way to hide his presence from everyone, especially her neighbour and ex-BFF, Mack. But maybe this isn't a story about soulmates. Maybe it's a story about mutual pining...and maybe Mack is Ivy's costar instead.

Gosh, this was cute. And I love seeing another bi girl with a similar haircut to mine on a book cover! As for the story, it's fun and amusing. The teen angst and drama ring true and you can't help but like every character. I did feel that this could have been something more, but sometimes you just want an uncomplicated YA novel to breeze through. As a bonus - I've discovered another Australian author!

A Lack of Tea

15/5/2024

A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1)
by Hafsah Faizal

Arthie Casimir runs a tearoom that morphs into a bloodhouse for vampires at night, but the main currency she deals in is secrets. A little bit of pressure gets her what she wants. This time, though, her tearoom is in enough trouble that a few secrets won't help her. She has to pull off a heist inside a vampiric lair and take down a ruler. In order to do all that, she needs a team. Trust is secondary.

I was excited to pick this book up from the library, since the tearoom-and-heist concept was right up my alley. Except there wasn't much of the tearoom or much of a heist. A lot of other things were going on instead. Disappointment quickly set in, though I was able to enjoy Faizal's beautiful phrasing and liked some of the characters (so full of hopes and flaws). I especially liked the hint about how revealing a secret can actually cover a bigger secret, since I guessed Arthie's secret early on... but I did not see the other reveal coming. I'm cautiously interested in book 2 (but I will hold the excitement for now...).

Not Like the First Book

3/4/2024

Not Like the Movies (Waiting for Tom Hanks #2)
by Kerry Winfrey

Chloe is not coping. She's looking after her father, whittling away on her business degree, working in a cafe - oh and now there's a romantic movie coming out, written by her best friend and based on Chloe and her boss, Nick. But real life doesn't have neat, happy endings. Besides, Chloe doesn't have time for a relationship. Nothing will EVER happen between her and Nick. Nope.

I've spent half my day wondering if this book was merely average or truly terrible, because comparing it to Waiting for Tom Hanks is unfair since I love that one so much. Annie was a charming MC who made it easy to overlook the romcom homages. Chloe, on the other hand, is exhausting and at times really quite horrible to the hero. But I will admit... I am always thrilled to read a book with a bi heroine. The author also made me reevaluate some things in my life, such as how my friendships changed after marriage. So I guess Not Like the Movies is merely average after all.

Red Dawn: Star Wars Style

7/2/2024

Escape from Valo (Star Wars: The High Republic)
by Daniel José Older & Alyssa Wong

Ram Jomaram was trapped on Valo when the Nihil erected the Occlusion Zone. Now he is a lone Jedi, always lurking in a secret part of the Jedi temple, always doing what he can to mess with the Nihil's plans. He calls himself he Scarlet Skull - and now his cause has brought other, younger Jedi out of hiding. Ram must somehow balance his self-imposed mission with looking after them.

First of all, the number of queer characters in this was a delight - and most of them were young too. I also enjoy any story where kids find ways to fight back against nefarious invaders, so heck yeah I was down for that. But there were quite a few rough patches in this book and honestly there were too many characters taking up pages that were needed for more focused development.

Okay, so...I'm still trying to figure out if Ram annoys me because of how his neurodivergence is written (it does not align with my own experiences, but neurodivergence is a spectrum of many diverse experiences) or for some other reason. I feel that Delilah S. Dawson did a much better job of writing an autistic Force-user (Iskat in Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade). Admittedly, there were specific, very personal reasons that Iskat resonated with me. Hmm.

Side note - my Australian copy of this book does not have the spelling errors that beset the previous Hardie Grant releases. That's a relief. I'd like to think my contacting them helped, but it's highly probable that no one there read my email lol

Beach-ish Read

4/1/2024

No Words (Little Bridge Island #3)
by Meg Cabot

Jo Wright only agreed to attend the new literary festival on Little Bridge Island for two reasons: 1) the money and 2) she was assured that Will Price would NOT be in attendance. But unfortunately, there he is when she lands. And worse still, he's helping to fund the festival! So now she's stuck on an island with the guy who demeaned her novels - and now seemingly wants to apologise.

Yeah, this book has the undeniable whiff of Beach Read about it. But oddly enough, I enjoyed it just as much, if not more so (okay, full disclosure: I am a Meg Cabot fan 4 life - perhaps that has resulted in some bias here!). Keeping the story in one POV was a change from the previous entries to the series, but a good one. I had a lot of fun reading about unhinged author antics and enemies who are irrevocably drawn together.

Split Book's Curse

7/12/2023

Wolf's Curse (Otherworld: Kate & Logan #2)
by Kelley Armstrong

Logan, Kate and some of their fellow campers are sheltering inside a cabin in the woods, which is never a safe place inside of horror movies. But outside is even worse - there's a demon hanging around and she's really pissed off about supernaturals trampling through her territory. But she's open to making deals. Because it's totally a good idea to do that.

Splitting this story into two books was such a bad idea. I let nostalgia blind me a bit during the first book, but this one has fewer redeeming qualities. The characters walk in circles. The plot follows them and also goes around and around until you lose interest. Look, I did sort-of enjoy this - mostly because of Kate - but it's hard not to be annoyed when you see so much potential being squandered.

Return to the Otherworld

6/12/2023

Wolf's Bane (Otherworld: Kate and Logan #1)
by Kelley Armstrong

Kate and Logan Danvers, werewolf twins with famous werewolf parents, are sent to a summer camp for supernatural beings - except most of the other teens there don't like their kind, a scary monster is stalking them through the woods, and the counsellors seem oddly unbothered by some of the dodgy stuff happening among the campers. What more can go wrong?

This was a great way to return to the Otherworld universe and it's exactly what you'd want for an adventure starring Elena and Clay's kids. And a creepy camp is honestly the perfect setting for this kind of story. But there's a problem - this is clearly one book split into two. The cliffhanger doesn't really work because the tension and excitement it generates aren't any greater than what can be found in earlier chapters. I did enjoy this book, though. Really appreciated the queer rep.

Fancy a Firestarter?

10/9/2023

Not Here to Make Friends (Marry Me, Juliet #3)
by Jodi McAlister

I received this ARC from Simon & Schuster Australia (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Murray O’Connell needs to produce another season of reality show Marry Me, Juliet and he has to do it without his best friend, Lily Ong. Or so he thought. After a year of silence, she's back - as Lily Fireball, not a producer and not the woman he knew, but the villain of his season. She could completely derail his plans...or help him make the most brilliant season of reality television ever.

I don't often get obsessed with a series. I'm extremely obsessed with this one.

I devoured the first two books, so of course I did my damndest to pick up an ARC of the third instalment. I was not at all disappointed! It was so much fun to read about two MCs who are such a mess - especially when they are so delightfully messier when put together. Lily Fireball is one of the most complex characters I've ever encountered and you will easily find yourself rooting for the "villain" here. McAlister has done it again - and yes, I'm still obsessed.

Phase II: The Quest for More Money

14/8/2023

Quest for Planet X (Star Wars: High Republic)
by Tessa Graton

Padawan Rooper Nitani should stay on Batuu and wait for word from her Master, but galactic communications have been unreliable since the unrest on Jedha. Rooper has only the Force to guide her when she is swept up into the Hyperspace Chase; she wants to help her friend, Dass, in his pursuit of Planet X. It won't be an easy quest... especially if the Path of the Open Hand gets involved...

This was a fun entry of Phase II and I quite enjoyed it. The premise was more interesting than some of the other stories set in this era, which certainly helped. And I'm such a sucker for a "maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way" storyline. I find the Path of the Open Hand annoying but their presence was minimal in this book (thank goodness). Rooper is also very likeable.

But oh my gosh. I lost count of the amount of times I saw the spelling error "feellings" in my copy. I suspect someone was a bit careless with the find/replace function...