Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky

Isabel, Apple, Erin and our unnamed narrator are the biggest Strepurs around. No, not strippers, STREPURS - fans of the eponynously named boy band the Ruperts (yes all of the band members are named Rupert and not ironically). The girls find out that the Ruperts are going to be staying at the Rondack Hotel while they're in New York and use Apple's parents' money and devotion to get a room there in the hopes that they might catch a glimpse of the band. What they actually catch is one of the Ruperts in the flesh...and then they take him back to their room...and tie him up...What follows is a hilarious exploration of fandom, girl friendships, and just being a teen.

I liked this book. Just like. I know many have professed their undying love for it, but, while it was entertaining and humorous, it was also problematic. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW: The characters were diverse, which was nice, but the fat shaming of Apple was completely unnecessary and grossly cliched, also the fact that she didn't grow or really learn anything from the whole experience was sad. I did feel like the book was overall dismissive of fandom. I'm not really part of any fandom myself, but I know that fandom and fanfic and everything that goes along with that can be really important and identity forming for many teens and to make fun of it doesn't really do much to add to the conversation about that topic. Yes, we do need to talk about crazy fans ("stans"), but it's reductive to dismiss all of fandom as ridiculous or stupid. I also didn't love the whole "Am I crazy?" subplot at the end. Yes, please, let's play on centuries old hysterical female tropes. All of that being said, I think that the black black humor is cutting and brilliant and I'd like to read other stuff that Goldy Moldavsky writes. (Also this would be a hilarious movie)

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Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kady Grant and Ezra Mason somehow managed to survive their breakup. And an attack on their planet, home to an illegal mining operation. Now Kady and Ezra are separated by the vacuum of space - Kady on the science vessel Hypatia and Ezra on the United Terran Alliance ship Alexander - as both ships barrel through space, trying to escape the Lincoln, the BeiTech dreadnought that attacked their home. Told through a series of chat logs, internal memos, and surveillance footage, Illuminae is an no-name-taking, ass-kicking entry into the growing field of young adult sci fi. 

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I still can't even. I got a digital chapter sampler of this from First in Line and once I'd read the first couple of pages I knew I needed to read the whole thing. In my humble opinion, Kaufman and Kristoff have done what so many other YA authors have tried to do - make a readable, believable science fiction novel for young adults. So many times I've picked up what I thought was science fiction for YAs only to find the hard science aspect (the thing that makes hard SF) completely pushed to the side in favor of a love triangle. Kaufman and Kristoff manage to maintain the teenage connection between Kady and Ezra without it overtaking the main thrust of the novel. Not only is she successful in that, she takes this one action and manages to spin it out into a hugely complicated conflict. The attack by BeiTech results in complete catastrophe for the Kerenza refugees, but the actions and problems that arise from that never feel contrived or shoe-horned in. This is compulsively readable and like the tagline says: You've never read a book like this.

My copy courtesy of First in Line and Netgalley.

Chocolate: Sweet Science and Dark Secrets of the World's Favorite Treat

Picture this: you have in your hand a candy bar. It's a dark chocolate, sea salt Lindt bar, with smooth sweet chocolate with just a hint of bitter and a hint of salt. Perfection in a candy bar, right? But how did this bar get to be made? Where did the chocolate come from? That's the premise for Chocolate: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World's Favorite Treat. In this relatively short nonfiction, Kay Frydenborg outlines the history of chocolate, from its Mesoamerican origins to its current snack status. She details the process by which chocolate is made and how technology has helped to shape the flavor of the chocolate we know today. She also explores the cacao market today and the steps that are being taken to ensure the future of chocolate.

Once we put the dust jacket on our copy, it doesn't look nearly as much like a candy bar as this image does.

This book, like most books, has its ups and downs. Frydenborg's prose is best whens she's exploring the lives of those connected with the chocolate industry. Her retelling of Hershey's rise and Lyndel Meinhardt's Amazon research trip were the highlights of the book. The personal tales flow and are relatable and interesting, unlike some of the chapters of facts and statistics which read like a textbook. I did learn a great deal about chocolate and about the history of chocolate from the text, but I was thankful that it was short. I do think that this might have been better written if it had focused on the faces behind the chocolate industry (much like a Scientists in the Field book ), not to mention if it had been more closely copy-edited. The text was riddled with errors - many letter hs were replaced with > and ek replaced with fi. It was distracting, and I hope that these are corrected in future printings. I would recommend this to tween and teen readers who grew up with Scientists in the Field and are looking for something more.