Florida Vacation Reads

I had much less time for reading on this trip, but still managed a bunch on the flights (and one long layover).  Mostly fluff.

Kissing Ezra Holtz (and Other Things I Did for Science) (by Brianna R. Shrum) 

Great Jewish representation with a charming main character. Jewish culture was important to both characters and this characterization felt very rich. Fun writing, sex-positive, kind of effortless-feeling and overall a delightful romcom.  Possibly my favorite of the YAs on this list.

Sorrow and Bliss (by Meg Mason)

It's not all YA on this list: this is literary fiction that was longlisted for the 2022 Woman's Prize in Fiction (and thus qualifies in that category for the Read Harder Challenge). I loved this.  Funny but also so emotional. (My notes read: "It's a JOURNEY.")  The main character is dealing with mental illness, complex family relationships, and the breakup of her marriage, yet it's still also somehow fun?  Not sure how Meg Mason did this but highly recommend.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler (by Casey McQuiston)

Possibly one of my most-anticipated books of the year and weirdly, the second book on this list with kissing in the title. Casey McQuiston's first YA and it's a F/F romance: my expectations were sky high. It has some great stuff, especially the side characters, but the third-person narration didn't work for me, the main character was just this side of unlikeable, and I appreciated the complexity of the love interest but ultimately I wasn't all that invested.  Not bad per se but I was super disappointed.

Loveless (by Alice Oseman) 

Recommended by reader S. as a possible better alternative for the asexual/aromantic category of the RHC, and it definitely was. (This aspect of the book is front and center.) It started out super slow, with the main character - despite being Very Online and super into Tumblr culture - not even having heard of asexuality and being extremely slow on the uptake about it.  I would absolutely have DNFed it at this point but I pushed through and it really picked up at the halfway mark.  I ended up loving the characters even if there were some unrealistic elements (like how many asexual people happened to be in her life). I think this is more for a younger audience than for me, but I ended up enjoying it, ultimately.

And They Lived… (by by Steven Salvator) 

I tried to mix it up a bit with some sci-fi but ended up DNFing the one I started because it wasn't great and I was super tired by this point, not sure if I'll pick it back up or not. The Kindle gods meant I had this on my phone on the airplane and it ended up being a really great, moving coming of age story that deals with both homophobia and body dysmorphia. Thumbs up on this one.