Hello! I’m here to talk about my July reads for the Buzzword Readathon! **And every day we are reminded that discrimination against marginalized communities is still a serious problem, so click here to find a compilation of resources where you can donate your time, money, or whatever you can to support these communities. I still encourage you to research these causes on your own to educate yourself and find the best way to lend your support.**
This is the seventh post in my “Buzzword-a-thon” series. In case you’re new here, Buzzword-a-thon is a read-a-thon originally created by Kayla at the YouTube channel booksandlala. It centers around readers choosing books that include specific words or ‘types’ of words. This year, all prompts were selected in advance and it’s been loosely hosted once a month. I’m making a yearly challenge for myself to at least read one book with the buzzword each month, and also include one recommendation and one anticipated read in my monthly post. The word for July was “last.” My plans at the beginning of the month were thrown out the window a bit, due to some present circumstances, but I still managed to at least pick up one book to fulfill this prompt.
Read in July – The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka
-So I was originally planning to read One Last Stop by Casey McQuisten to fulfill this month’s prompt. I have a physical copy and I wanted to get the audio from my library to follow along. However, a few different things happened – apparently several other people had the same idea as me to get the audiobook so I had to place a hold, my older sister and nephews (who are both under the age of 2) came to visit for two weeks, and when I was asking for recommedations as a part of LGBTQReads Patreon, the book I was sent was The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka. I was really in the mood for a mystery, or at least something fast-paced to keep me engaged, so my agenda was rearraged and I picked this one up instead. It’s the beginning of a mystery series and this first book follows Roxane Weary, a private investigator who has just been contacted by the sister of a man who has been sentenced to death. Fifteen years prior, Brad Stockton was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Sarah’s, parents, but neither Sarah nor her body has been seen since. His sister, Danielle, approaches Roxane saying she saw Sarah at a gas station and asks for help to clear Brad’s name before his execution day (two months away). Roxane is still grieving the death of her father, killed while on duty as a police officer, and finds connections to previous unsolved cases he worked on while trying to fulfill this job. Soon she’ll have all the pieces, but can she put them together in time to save several people in danger, including herself? I was sucked in to this book from the first few chapters. If you asked me who was responsible for all this, I would have given you a different answer ever 50 pages. Roxane is a strong female lead, unconventional in her ways and can hold her own in a fight, and she doesn’t give up when she feels something is wrong, even if no one will believe her. The book isn’t perfect, as detective / private investigator books do have their flaws, but I’m so glad I picked this one up and an interested to see where the rest of the series goes.
Recommendation – Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron
-I don’t quite remember where I first saw this recommended to me, but I do know I picked it up from my library back in February of last year, and managed to read it in just a few days (which was significant for me, at the time) because I just had to know how things turned out. The story follows Brody Fair, a young boy who always feels like an outcast, even within his own family – his parents are overworked, his brother is a genius and can do no wrong [in his eyes], and there are other kids set on making his life miserable. One day, another boy named Nico saves Brody from his bullying, and tells him to meet him at exactly 11:21pm the next Thursday. What Brody finds is a door, a door that appears every week for misfit kids of the world to escape to Everland. It’s finally somewhere he feels he can belong. But then doors start disappearing, and talk of escaping across the sea to the unexplored areas of Neverland put Brody in a position to choose – will he escape to Everland once and for all, or never see it again? While I can’t recall everything about this plot of this book, I remember reading it and relating so much to Brody – he feels so incredibly insignificant, all of the time, like nothing he ever does will make a difference, even if he leaves his family forever and never returns. His internal struggle with deciding whether or not to follow Nico and abandon everything he’s ever know was really powerful, and the conversations Brody finally has with his brother and his parents tugged at my heartstrings. It was one of the first books that truly moved me last year, and I hope that when the price drops a bit for the ebook version I can pick up a copy and return to the world of Everland myself, at least for a little while.
Want to Read – The Last 8 by Laura Pohl
-While I already mentioned that I want to pick up One Last Stop, I also had a look around my shelves and found that The Last 8 by Laura Pohl was still around waiting to be read. I picked up a copy after hearing Laura Pohl talk on a panel at Social Distance Book Fest last April (the panel was for queer voices in science fiction and fantasy, and can actually be viewed here if you’re interested). The story follows Clover Martinez, a human survivor after aliens have invaded and destroyed Earth as she knows it. When she learns that other survivors have gathered together at Area 51, she immediately joins the group in hopes for retaliation against the forces that have attacked her home. The group is initially more interested in hiding, but Clover soon finds a hidden spaceship, and she starts to wonder who to trust, and if she’s truly better off alone. I believe this book first came onto my radar after I heard there is ace rep, which I can’t fully confirm but am interested to find more books with that kind of rep. And it is the beginning of a duology, so when I pick it up (and if I enjoy), I will definitely be eying that second book.
In conclusion, I can’t believe we’ve already made it over halfway through the year, and I can’t wait to see what the five remaining prompts have in store for me.
Where to find all these books:
The Last Place You Look: Bookshop Amazon Goodreads
Last Bus to Everland: Bookshop Amazon Goodreads
The Last 8: Bookshop Amazon Goodreads
Authors’ sites: Kristen Lepionka Sophie Cameron Laura Pohl
Thoughts About Things 