2021 Releases Mini Reviews: You Have A Match, Across The Green Grass Fields & Klara and the Sun

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog! This year I have barely posted any reviews, mostly sticking to wrap ups and WWW updates but one of my goals for the year was to read more 2021 releases (which I’ve hardly been doing) so I figured to try and keep myself accountable I’d most some mini-reviews of 2021 releases and chat with you all about them!

🌈 ↣ queer characters
🎧 ↣ listened on audiobook

You Have a Match by Emma Lord | 4 ⭐

Young Adult, Contemporary (with side romance), sibling focused, daddy issues, queer side characters | 🌈🎧

Read 16/01/2021

This completely took me by surprise. I’ve never read an Emma Lord book so I had no idea what I was walking into but I absolutely loved this book! I loved getting to know Abby and Savvy as well as how distinct the other characters like Leo and Finn were. I felt like I understood all of the characters and got to know them all in such a short amount of time. I also loved the camp setting which was a total surprise to me because IRL I don’t think I would cope with all that mud!
I loved how authentic and real this felt and I can’t wait to read more from Emma Lord in the future!

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire | 3 ⭐

Young Adult, Fantasy, A horse girl’s wet dream, interesting ending, queer side characters | 🌈🎧

Read 15/01/2021

I feel like this book really caters towards the ever-iconic “horse girl” and I’ve never really had much of an interest in horses or horse riding to the point where not even Seanan McGuire couldn’t make my cold dead heart care. I can tell you though if this was a book about cows I would’ve been all over it.

This was initially pitched to me as revolving around or having kelpies and I was sad to discover that really there aren’t any until the very end. I wish there had been more of them but knowing the overall story and how they fit into it, I’m okay with what we got. I will say, though this obviously wasn’t my cup of tea, I did really enjoy the plot twist at the end.

I feel bad. I love this series and there was nothing wrong with this book or the characters to make me dislike it, it just wasn’t for me.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro | 2.25 ⭐

Adult, Science Fiction | 🎧

Read 16/03/2021

I usually save 2-star ratings for books with problematic content, which wasn’t this book at all. Honestly, this was just underwhelming and if I’m honest, boring. The premise for this sounded really interesting and I’ve been meaning to try Ishiguro’s books for years and I really regret starting here. This felt like it had real potential to be a really in-depth look into illness, parenting, AI and environmental issues but everything about Klara fell short 😩

Which 2021 releases have you read so far this year?
Which 2021 books are you most anticipating?

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