I was going to put all 4 titles but it looked clunky. Now here’s 4 books I read over April that were good but I didn’t feel like they warranted one big review each.

Dangerous Play by Emma Kress

Now this teaches me not to judge a book by its cover or title or summary. Unlike what I thought this is not about theatre kids. The play refers to field hockey play as in sports. My bad. Though you must admit it does look like they are standing on a stage rather than a parkor warehouse. Anyway, this book tackles sexual harassment and double standards in the school system that allows boys to get away with molesting and catcalling, and not getting into what they do during alcohol-fueled parties.

After a near miss, Zoe and her hockey teammates decide that they’re fed up with the treatment and the lack of accountability. They decide to form their own secret vigilante team rescuing near-rapes and beating up the rapists.

I felt that part was a bit unrealistic, however the book is saved as Kress does realistically show the split between teammates who feel like they’re going too far, the anger of those who want to do it after being harassed so much, and the effects it has on the girls’ mental wellbeing. Zoe also goes through a separate sidestory dealing with her home life and her complicated feelings with her parents after her dad suffers a permenant accident on the job. It serves a nuanced take about caretaking on the side of the caretaker and the caretakee and the strain it brings with one doing their best and the other wishing they could get better faster and stop being seen as “broken.” Good for those who like female friendship, adreneline and family bonds.

Margot Mertz takes it down by Carrie McCrossen and Ian McWethy

When you have a nude pic, drunken video or anything else of humiliating nature, hire Margot to scrub the internet clean. Though it requires some creative and illegal hacking on her part to do so. Point is, Margot tries to make the internet a a less welcoming place for assholes especially a new group who have created a porn website leaking fellow students’ nudes.

Now Margot may not be the most likable heroine. She can be judgemental, aggressive, rude and intensely focused on her own stuff. She pushes people away and tends to treat her few friends as dissmissable. But one must admire how much she cares about helping her fellow girls, taking on the cyber harrasment campaign all on her own. To the point of obssession.

The book does not hide its opinions about men who act like women’s bodies are for their own enjoyment, and Margot tends to view things as intensely black and white. But she does go through a good junk of character development in learning to let go and enjoy life that makes it worthwhile to read. Sequel coming out soon.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

A dual narrative between the 1800s and modern day Paris follows two muslim women trying to make their way in a world that prioritizes men. The title was misleading because even though it has tangenitially focus on Lord Byron, it is mainly about Alexander Dumas. You see, Khayyam Maquet is trying to prove her art history theory that Dumas may have taken one of Delacroix’ Oriental portrait series that was based on Lord Byron’s Pasha and Leila poem. Luckily for her, she meets the very cute descendant of Dumas who is eager to help her solve the mystery in order to save the family estate and revive interest in his ancestor’s legacy. Meanwhile, back in 1800s we are taken through the life of harem concubine Leila as she secretly meets her love, but must go into hiding after her sultan finds out about the affair.

Both women are wonderfully drawn, emphasizing the three dimensionality of confusion, hope, longing, stubborness, inquisitive, determination and more. They are trying to find their way in the world but love makes it oh so complicated as we all know. The emphasis here is on decolonizing history that has long been told by white men especially in regards to orientalism. This puts Leila’s story back in the center, allowing her to tell it in her own words and as Khayyam says, show that her story matters just as much as the famous men she interacted with.

I’ll admit the romantic subplots of Khayyam were not of much interest to me. Especially as it felt like it was pushing a forced betrayal and fight to add drama. The love triangle when we can all guess who she is going to end up with is always unneeded. But if you’re willing to deal with all that, it’s a worthwhile book about female erasure in history and uncovering forgotten stories.

Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

Don’t let the title fool you. This is as much about grief and family as it is about love. You see, Eva’s father died in a plane crash and in the year since then, her relationship with her mother has grown strained as she feels her mom just wants to forget about Eva’s dad even though she’s not ready yet. The only bright spot is the guy she meets at tutoring, a guy who loves poetry as much as she does and whom she can talk to about grief. They love each other. . until he moves away.

So Eva and her friend, Annie decide to go on a road trip (I love those things!) to compeate in the Smartest Kid in America for Annie to get a scholarship and for Eva to see Will. Not that she mentions that part to her mom. Along the way, she learns a bit more about her family, the generational trauma of grief especially those of Holocaust survivors and how everyone processes it differently. Plus there is romance and humor especially from Eva’s paranoid hygine-obssessed aunt.

Rabb’s strength lies in her complex portrayal of Eva and her mom’s relationship. With each other, and with their late husband/father and the grief that surrounds them. It doesn’t pull punches of how hard it is for both of them, and how they hurt each other because they’re still processing it in their own way. In fact Eva learns more about seeing her mother as a flawed human than before. She also goes through some hefty development herself as she comes to epiphany on why she leans on romance novels and her relationship with Will so much.

It is a wonderful book full of nuance and endearing heart with a road trip adventure.