Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories edited and compiled by Stephanie Perkins

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED all 12 of these LOVE stories from YA authors; each short story was authentic, important and hopeful. If you like short stories, romance and good endings, you will certainly enjoy this book!

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Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love edited by Elise Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond

Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love by Elsie Chapman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh did I love this book- all of the short stories interconnected around Hungry Heart Row were important, expressed so many feelings in the backdrop of food, restaurants, those working there and the people who visited the many different restaurants on Hungry Row. The YA authors' stories immersed me in the beauty of the food, the people, and the many meanings---a must read!

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Ghosts of the Shadow Markeet by Cassandra Clare

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I so enjoyed the formatting of this book (multiple authors working on chapters) and since I listened, the many different narrators were awesome! Overall this book went from the past and progressed into the present and between the two worlds (Thule and the different Shadow Markets) and different characters back stories. So many beloved characters like Jem, Tessa and the "lost" Herondale added a new dimension, love this author (and the other collaborating authors) to an already excellent series.

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(Don't) Call me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health Edited by Kelly Jensen

(Don't) Call Me Crazy by Kelly Jensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this collection of short stories which is a Schneider Honor Award Winner for the 2019 HUB Reading Challenge. What gripping, heartfelt stories from authors and others about dealing with mental illness. I could not stop reading and learned so many different aspects of individuals dealing with the many different kinds of mental illness, how it affects them, others close to them, diagnosis and handling the daily aspects of medicine, doctors, therapists, life, and also how the writer(s) of the stories are coping. Of course, being a retired librarian, I read all the author first (Shaun D. Hutchinson, S.E. Smith, Heidi Heiling, Libba Bray, Emery Lord, Victoria Schwab, Meredith Russo, Kelly Jensen and Adam Silvera) A must read for teens, and adults!

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Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book as part of the #yearofya twitter chat (books written by African American authors) and the short stories were awesome and covered pain, humor, dreams, friendship and romance while being black in America. From inside the cover "Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants and more---because there are countless ways to be Black Enough." I enjoyed so many of my favorite authors stories; teens will revel and see themselves in these short stories. Highly recommended!

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Meet Cute complied by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this YA short story collection of romances; every story was awesome! My favorites were The Intern by Sara Shepard and The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

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Here We Are: Feminism For the Real World complied by Kelly Jensen

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this collection of short stories, comics, poems, lists, and articles from many YA authors as part of the #YearofYA chat featuring Empowered Females. This is a must read for everyone with many different chapters covering diverse aspects of feminism. Loved it!!!

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Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles (Editor)

Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s and Crown Books for Young Readers for the advance reader copy, Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles (Editor) in exchange for an honest review. This compilation of short stories by Young Adult authors is awesome, real, needed, and published in partnership with We Need Diverse Books. Fresh Ink needs to be read by all children and young adults. From diverse authors like Jason Reynolds, Nicola Yoon, Gene Luen Yang, Malinda Lo, Daniel Jose Older, Lamar Giles, Eric Gansworth, Sharon G. Flake, Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan and others, these shining short stories will inspire, inform, and bring deserving diverse literature (with many universal YA themes) to all who read and enjoy this powerful collection of very worthy short stories, so sit down, grab this book, read, and oh will you enjoy!!!

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Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share their Personal Struggles edited by Jessica Burkhart

Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles by Jessica Burkhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This 2018 collection of YA authors who tell readers about their challenges with mental illness, depression, thoughts of suicide, OCDC, bi-polar when they were teens through to the present. Many of the authors tell their stories for the 1st time, in the hope of helping a teen struggling with the same kinds of mental illness. Each story is important- I truly loved Jennifer Armentrout, Ellen Hopkins and Francesca Lia Block's stories, thoughts, essays.

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The Language of Thorns:Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (Grisha Verse,#0.5,# 2.5,# 2.6) by Leigh Bardugo

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to these awesome Grisha tales as part of the 2018 HUB Reading Challenge and I loved Lauren Fortgang's narration. The mystery and the danger in each of the stories drew me into Bardugo's Grisha-verse and kept my heart hammering.

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Flying Lessons by Ellen Oh

Flying Lessons & Other Stories by Ellen Oh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to Flying Lessons, a short story compilation about growing up diverse. I loved every story, they were so different; were middle school and high school stories, from awesome authors and some were even read by those authors (like Kwame Alexander and Meg Medina). Ten authors weave stories of growing up, diversity, many cultures, with friends, family and laughs. Not to be missed; you will love Kwame Alexander, Matt de la Pena, Meg Medina, Soman Chainani, Tim Federle, Tim TYingle, Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Deam Myers, and Kelly J. Baptiste's tales which stress the importantce of diversity and its universality.

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Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read Through the Woods by Emily Carroll as part of The 2015 Hub Reading Challenge, Quick Pics, Great Graphic Novels. The color illustrations were awesome, creepy, and perfect (with a red, black and white motif) for five eerily haunting tales; Our Neighbor's House, A Lady's Cold Hands, His Face All Red, My Friend Janna, and The Nesting Place are all so scary! If you love horror stories, this collection is for you!

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The Letter Q

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves by Sarah Moon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The compilation of writers and their notes to themselves in their younger years (from the perspective of older, wiser, is very enjoyable to read. I didn't read every letter or comic from each writer, instead I chose to read YA authors I have read. From 64 authors and illustrators,like Julie Ann Peters, Jacquelyn Woodson, David Levithan, Brian Selznick, Malinda Lo, Bruce Coville, Brent Hartinger, Nick Burd, and I especially liked Linda Villarosa's 1968 note to self, and her 1979 revelation to her parents. This book will make you laugh, cry, and truly appreciate the hopeful rousing understanding the older selves of queer writers wish they had known when they were younger.

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