Love, Hate, and Other Filters is a recent release by Samira Ahmed that I absolutely devoured.  This coming of age story of a Muslim girl who just wants to experience the world through her own lens rather than the filter of her parents’ Indian heritage is poignant, clever, and just plain wonderful. It starts off as a tale of forbidden love but quickly shifts into a discussion of Islamophobia.  Ahmed creates a strong female protagonist, Maya Aziz, to handle all of the topics from the romance to the real-world issues we face today.  In her struggle to figure out where she’s headed in life after high school, she learns to rely on her own strength and to trust in herself.  All of my reads so far in 2018 have been heavy, but this is the kind of breath-of-fresh-air writing my reading slump needed.  I highly recommend you check it out (along with my full five star review below)!

Inspired by the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, The Wish Granter is an adventure like I’ve never experienced before.  Teague is the infamous and titular Wish Granter, a fae who grants people their greatest desires in exchange for something quite valuable: their souls.  The exchange leads to nothing but misery for now King Thad and his sister, Ari.  Their mother was murdered, the former king and his family were killed, all in exchange for Ari’s safety.  When Ari learns about the magical contract between her brother and Teague, she’ll stop at nothing to save her brother and her community from the reign of the Wish Granter.  She gains a friend, Sebastian, along the way, who may not be exactly who he says he is.  Everything is on the line for both Ari and Teague, and if Ari can’t outwit him she’ll lose everything, including her soul. I loved this one so much that I’m giving it a full review on the blog! Read more to see my rating and full review. 

I have a confession to make: I really enjoy retellings. It’s fun to come back to a beloved tale and see it from a new perspective. Girls Made of Snow and Glass fit the bill for me as a retelling of the Snow White tale. Taking the demure and passive heroine formerly known as Snow White and reimagining her as a strong, independent young woman with ideas of her own, Melissa Bashardoust treats readers to a different view of one of those classic Disney princesses.  Not only that, readers are treated to both back story and dual perspectives of the stepmother and the daughter character, as they both wrestle with their place in the world and their ability to change it. If you’re looking for a more hopeful retelling of Snow White on behalf of both of the main female characters, a little bit a magic, and no mention of dwarves, this is the retelling for you.  Read more to see if this book is a good fit for you!

When I first finished The Glass Castle, I sat for a full afternoon staring at my computer hoping to find the right words to explain what it was like to read it.  It’s been almost a month since I finished it, and I still am having a hard time expressing my feelings about it.  Jeanette Walls writes in a way that makes you feel like you are reading your favorite fairy tale, except that her story doesn’t exactly have a fairy tale ending.  It’s a story of resilience and redemption, all through the eyes of woman who decided to take off the rose-colored glasses of her childhood. If you’re looking for a raw and unapologetic memoir, this is the one for you.