Beauty Queens

Libba Bray's Beauty Queens is such an outlandish and ridiculous commentary on society today that unfortunately hits pretty close to reality!  As a plane carrying beauty contestants crashes on a seemingly deserted island, the few surviving girls find themselves trying to maintain their perfect composure and beauty despite facing the extreme wilderness, a corrupt company trying to kill them, pirates who are actually reality TV stars, a gun-running dictator, and a former beauty queen winner who wants to rule the world.  On the island, Bray also explores issues of racism, sexual orientation, transgenderism, and a general pressure of double standards that often forces young women into an impossible box.  This book is laugh-out-loud funny and full of heart-warming hope as they discover the liberation of being separated from people telling them what to do.

Verily, A New Hope

Ok, so this sounds a little strange, unorthodox at the very least.  And yet, Ian Doescher's Shakespearian rendition of Star Wars is unbelievably entertaining.  The classic story of good-versus-evil told through iambic pentameter gives a fun and creative spin to what some may see as a lost art.  In Verily, A New Hope, characters come alive with newly voiced monologues - including Darth Vader and even R2D2.  Listening to the book furthered the enjoyment since the storyline was enhanced with a host of voice actors and the traditional Star Wars sounds effects and music.  This audiobook will undoubtably be the next favorite of every Star Wars fan!

eleanor & park

Attempting to describe the plot of eleanor & park by Rainbow Rowell seems to be a disservice to the incredibly sweet, gut wrenching, powerful story of an unlikely pair of teens.  Rowell's prose perfectly captures the confusion and warmth of new love.  Serious issues are wrapped with humor, making the characters instantly lovable and realistic.  Here's hoping for more novels from Rainbow Rowell!