Our contributors have been busy reading some awesome titles this week!

Marlena is reading Mamey by Anny Caba.

Renee is reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Jordy is reading Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung.

Rah is reading Tomie by Junji Ito.

Mhairie is reading Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft.

Jackie is reading The Lafferty Girl by Rebecca Lafferty.

What book(s) have you been reading this week?! Share in the comments below so we can discuss!

Survival Show by Juno Dawson

From Renee

What do you mean there’s a new dystopian series from Juno Dawson and no one told me?! This is like American Idol meets The Hunger Games and I’m mad I haven’t gotten the opportunity to talk about it yet. Imagine corporations run the world (not that big of a stretch) and need to control the population. The media moguls create a global singing competition where the winners form a pop group and the losers are killed off. That’s it. That’s the premise. And it’s exactly as wild and messed up as you expect. The stakes are high. The reality tv drama is real… and really manufactured. Teenagers and young adults are forced to make unthinkable decisions in the face of an authoritarian regime. At a time when The Hunger Games series is making such a huge comeback, I think readers are primed and ready for even more stories about resistance and rebellion. Keep them coming, Juno Dawson!

Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman

From Nox

I wanted to love this book so much. The premise is incredibly intriguing. A sapphic coming of age story set over the course of one summer when your best friend kisses and then ghosts you? The same best friend you’ve been having feelings for? How does this change the dynamic between the two of you, between y’all are your other best friend? I thought I would eat this book up. I will say, the audio narration was fantastic, so I don’t think it was a problem with how I read it. Everything just felt flat, with long explanations of how the characters treated their Sims and how the game works. I also felt that Eleanor, Mina’s love interest, wasn’t that well-developed compared to Mina and Margaret. Overall, I think there is definitely an audience for Girl’s Girl, but I unfortunately wasn’t part of it.

Dear Monica Lewinsky by Julia Langbein

From Mhairie

The problem the story is ostensibly about (the affair) doesn't take place until actually two thirds of the way into the book. Of course, the problem isn't really the affair, its the patriarchy and the way that powerful men use and discard young women and how the women are universally dragged for it. If you want to hear about a salacious affair, you won't get it here. What you will get is delicious prose, an examination of the mistreatment of naive young women and a pretty hilarious summation of the stories of various saints, heavily paraphrased. The ending is a 'good for her' ending and all I really want to know now, is what Monica Lewinsky thinks?