TBR-Try A Chapter!

 Hello Interwebs!

After finishing Malibu Rising I looked at my prospective TBR for June and couldn't decide what to read next so I took 5 numbers out of a random number generator and decided to try the first chapter of the five books that came up in order to determine which would be my next read (it should be worth noting that one book on this list was not on my June TBR post but was the book club pick for my Literati trial and one that I got from the library after my TBR was posted). 

So the five books that were randomly selected were the following:

• The Divines by Ellie Eaton (2021): this is a literary fiction about a British boarding school called St. John the Divine where the girls known as "Divines" are known for being rebellious and privileged. We follow Josephine who is 15 years out of school and hasn't spoken to or of her school days since the school closed after a scandal. She finds herself back in the area and ends up obsessed with her past. 
  
• All Boys Aren't Blue by George M Johnson (2020): this is a series of essays dubbed a memoir/manifesto by LGBTQIA+ activist detailing his youth on the East Coast as a black queer boy. 
  
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020): this is a YA Urban Fantasy about a Latinx teenager who's transgendered and determined to prove to his less than accepting family that he can be a proper brujo despite being born female. His best friend helps him perform the ritual to become a brujo and then he tries to summon his cousin's ghost and set it free but instead he summons the school's bad boy and has to figure out what happened to him and how to help him pass on. 
• Stonewall by Martin Duberman (2019): this is a narrative nonfiction following six individuals who played pivotal roles in the Stonewall riots. This covers the lead up to and the riots themselves through these six lives. 
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power (2019): this is a young adult horror about a girls school that was put under quarantine after a plague infected the school. The plague has physical effects on their bodies and they've been left  to fend for themselves. As they wait for a cure one of their number goes missing and they venture outside their quarantine to find her and find out there's more to the story than they know. 
  

This list was a interesting mix of books: a literary fiction, a memoir, a YA urban fantasy, a narrative nonfiction, and a YA horror. I read the first chapter of each one (or the closest approximation of the first chapter for the given book). 

So here in the order I liked them are my thoughts about the books and my plans for them in the future. Warning there are minor spoilers for the books in here (at least the first chapters). 

1. The Divines by Ellie Eaton (2021). This was one of the shortest sections I read as the prologue was only 3 pages in length. It starts back in the 1990s figure skater and student at St. John the Divine is lying on the ground outside the dorm building broken adn perhaps dead. The rest of the girls, including the narrator, are dressed in torn dresses and black cloaks in some kind of secret society/initiation type situation. The beginning to this one was very intriguing and with just that short introduction I was instantly wanting to know more. 
   
   
   
2. All Boy's Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson (2020). For this one I read the author's note and the introduction to the book as they seemed to make a full chapter put together. This is a memoir/manifesto of black queer man growing up in both communities. This seems like an especially important book for both pride month and Juneteenth, especially with Juneteenth recently becoming a national holiday. I liked the premise and what I read of the book but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood for a nonfiction of any kind at the present moment. 
   
   
   
3. Wilder Girls by Rory Power (2019). This was also a short first chapter. It threw me right into the story of this post apocalyptic world with these girls who have weird things happening to their bodies due to the plague in the world. There are few explanations but a lot of teasing glances at what the world they're in holds for them. This one was also a very intriguing opening to a book. 
   
   
   
4. Stonewall by Martin Duberman (2019). I read one of the introductions. This introduced you to the concepts being covered by the book, primarily the lead up to and the Stonewall riots. It also introduced you to the framing of the nonfiction through the experiences of these six LGBTQIA+ activists who spearheaded the movements that grew out of Stonewall. This one also sounds very interesting but I'm still not super interested in a nonfiction at this precise moment. 
   
   
   
5. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020). This is a latinx fantasy about necromancers and a transboy who doesn't fit into this world. The first chapter explores the world in this novel and sets up both his personal journey trying to prove who he is to his family and the death of the cousin he'll try to resurrect. This book sounded great and I really liked the chapter I read but it gave me some real Halloween/Day of the Dead vibes so I think I'd rather save this one for then. 
   
   
   

So in the end I've decided my next read will be The Divines by Ellie Eaton. The book interested me more than the others and I'm looking forward to the privileged private school scandal vibes. And that's it!! My first try a chapter post!

Happy Reading!

Richelle