Sara Bechtol

Manga Review: Sheltering Eaves Vol. 1

Posted on September 10, 2024September 10, 2024 by Sara B.

**CW: Child abuse, neglect, and trauma.

First published in March 2023, Sheltering Eaves follows Yoru and Tenjaku, who meet at a children’s home and grow up together. After Yoru is bullied, Tenjaku defends her and vows to look after her, which, okay, ~melts~. Naturally, she becomes attached to him, as well as the home, since it’s the stability she never had. As they get older, however, Yoru is scared of what will happen when they graduate and Tenjaku, who’s been itching to get out, leaves her.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: Come Out, Come Out

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Sara B.

**CW: Homophobia, transphobia, gender dysphoria, religious extremism, conversion therapy, graphic violence, body horror, and self-harm.

Come Out, Come Out is the latest queer horror novel I’ve gotten into, and it certainly won’t be the last. Jaq, Fern, and Mallory run away to an abandoned house in the woods, where they’re free to be themselves. But, I mean, it’s a house in the woods, so of course, some scary shit’s gonna go down. Mallory is killed, and as Jaq and Fern escape, their memories and true selves are erased. The girls return to supposedly happy straight lives, until Mallory’s spirit starts haunting them and reminding them of what happened.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: With Love, Echo Park

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Sara B.

Laura Taylor Namey’s latest YA novel is true to its title, in that it’s full of love and full of Echo Park. Within the vibrant Los Angeles neighborhood is our FMC Clary, who works in her family flower shop and plans to stay there for the rest of her life. She carries some deep abandonment issues because of her runaway birth mother, so she clings to her home and the people in it. The golden-haired neighborhood boy Emilio, however, wants to sever ties with their home and explore the world. And here we have our opposites who eventually attract.

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Book Talk

Review: On the Bright Side

Posted on June 2, 2024 by Sara B.

**CW: Multiple instances of ableism.

I’m so thankful I discovered Anna Sortino. Her debut novel Give Me a Sign was an adorable Deaf summer camp romance, filled with silly camper hijinks, sweet counselor camaraderie, and plenty of flirting via sign language. The book served as a solid introduction to Deaf culture, with a likeable heroine at the helm. Sortino’s second novel On the Bright Side goes one step further, exploring two different disabilities in two different teens.

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Listicles

8 TV Shows I Would Read as Books

Posted on May 26, 2024May 26, 2024 by Sara B.

There are so many books being adapted into TV shows these days, I can’t keep up. But I try, as I love the experience of seeing a story and its characters brought to life. Or, the opposite, seeing the live action and then wanting the source material. Just recently, I got sucked into the Bridgerton hype (usually not my thing, but they got me with Season 3’s friends-to-lovers trope 😅), and after that carriage scene, reading the book was an absolute must.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: Attached at the Hip

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Sara B.

Attached at the Hip is marketed as Survivor meets The Bachelor, which, okay — sign me up. I’ve never watched Survivor, but I am an unabashed fan of Bachelor Nation and other trashy reality TV shows. Sure, they can be overly dramatic, bordering on freaking nuts, but that’s the fun of it. I can tell that Christine Riccio had a lot of fun bringing that craziness into Attached, which made it entertaining for me as a reader.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: I Wish You Would

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Sara B.

This checks all the boxes for me. ✅Stubborn AF friends-to-lovers. ✅Forced proximity in a cozy beach setting. ✅And angst. Lots and lots of delicious angst. Eva Des Lauriers’ debut YA novel I Wish You Would is as addicting as the Taylor Swift song it’s named after. It follows best friends Natalia and Ethan, who are so in love but oh-so terrified to rock the friendship boat. After a disastrous prom night and a summer of ghosting each other, they reunite for their Senior Sunrise school trip. Giving them 24 hours to fix things.

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Listicles

5 Audiobooks that Convinced Me to Love Audiobooks

Posted on March 20, 2024March 21, 2024 by Sara B.

If possible, all my books would be in hardcopy. I love the book feel, the book smell, and of course, creating all the voices and visuals in my head. But physical books take up A LOT of space and, naturally, A LOT of time. Enter audiobooks. A medium that took me a few years to accept, after just getting used to eBooks.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Sara B.

The perfect YA book concept doesn’t exi–

Okay, that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but you get my point. The premise for The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist sounded so wild and fun, I had to check it out. Protagonist Ivy finds that her favorite fictional hero Weston Razorbrook has come to life — but something’s off. It’s not just the character but the fanfic version of the character Ivy wrote. He’s literally made for Ivy, yet it doesn’t take too long for Ivy to realize he may not be exactly what she wants.

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Book Talk

Mini Review: In the Orbit of You

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Sara B.

**CW: Contains themes of child abuse and trauma.

This book is ~sweet~. Like sipping lemonade out on the front porch kind of sweet. In the Orbit of You had me from the very beginning, when we meet young Nova and Sam playing in the dirt by their connected fence. The queen and king of Snailopolis, as they call it. (Freaking adorable.) They’re torn apart, however, when Sam is taken away from his abusive home to live with his uncle. Snailopolis and its royalty become a distant memory. Until Nova and Sam meet again in their final years of high school.

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