Kathryn's Inbox

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A story of fandoms and what it means when your idol is everything  Idol, Burning is an interesting glimpse at fan culture and mental illness. Akari is not neurotypical but she has found enormous freedom in fan culture through her love of Masaki Ueno, who is part of a boy band. Barely able to concentrate at school and often bound by all kinds of anxieties, Akari is able to live freely online, keeping blogs and social media about her idol, or oshi. This becomes such an important part of her life that she is barely able to live without him. If anything, she is living for him, with much of her time and money devoted to the fandom and the privileges that come with being one of the biggest fans. But when Masaki is accused of assaulting a female fan, he slowly begins to fall from grace. And whether Akari likes it or not, she is going to have to find a way to live without him. This was an interesting glimpse into Japanese fan culture. I thought I knew fan culture and I thought I had seen ...

What fun Written in the Stars, a novel about a fake relationship between a pair of complete opposites turned out to be. Elle Jones is outgoing, very interested in horoscopes and looking for her perfect match. When her friend and business partner of sorts Branden sets her up on a date with his sister, Darcy, the last thing Elle expects is that to find herself on a date with a woman who is gorgeous, but uptight and extremely rude--almost to the point of cruelty. But the biggest surprise is yet to come a few days later when Elle learns through Branden that Darcy has been raving about her--and her date--ever since. Keen to confront rude and horrible Darcy, Elle instead finds herself agreeing to a fake relationship, for reasons that will soon be obvious to the reader. But what happens when both of them start to catch ... feelings? This was a fun read, full of interesting characters and some truly heartwarming moments. Elle and Darcy are opposites in nearly every way, but each also seems to ...

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The latest Baby-Sitter's Little Sister graphic novel is an adaption of Karen's Birthday, the seventh novel in the original series, and the sixth in the graphic novel series. (It appears the series is skipping Karen's Little Sister, though the major plot points are touched upon briefly.) Once again, Karen's struggles of living between two separate and very different families is touched upon. Karen is about to turn seven and each of her families, the little house family and the big house family, are planning two very special events. The only trouble is, Karen doesn't want that. She wants to celebrate her birthday with both of her families. Will her birthday wish come true? Beautifully illustrated, the novel shows the six, almost seven, year old protagonist dealing with some big issues. On the surface, it seems that Karen is very lucky. Her parent's divorce was amicable, she gets along well with her new stepparents and step siblings and even though one of her hom...

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It is not very often that I have the opportunity to read a novel, let alone a YA novel, set in Indonesia, so when I saw a copy of Well, That Was Unexpected on the shelves at a local bookshop, I just had to snap it up. LA born Sharlot is on holiday to Indonesia with her mother, meeting her family for the first time. Meanwhile, George is from a wealthy family. With each of their families creating a convoluted scheme to match the pair, the last thing Sharlot and George expect is to fall for each other. While I loved the premise of this one, I found the storytelling a bit lacking. In many ways, it comes across as a teenage version of Crazy Rich Asians , but set in Indonesia and with a few more interfering relatives, particularly aunties. I also became more and more frustrated by the longer it took both Sharlot and George to realise that the online persona of the other was fake. There are a few fun moments though, and the backstory of Sharlot's mother certainly creates some thought-pro...

Saha offers a chilling glimpse at the perils of privatisation and corruption and ends with a far darker and haunting twist than I ever thought possible. Saha is set a privatised country known as Town. Town is controlled by a mysterious, unseen government body known as the Seven Premiers. The society within Town has been divided into two, the haves and the have-nots. (Does this sound familiar? It should.) The people who have the least of all live on the Saha Estate, a dilapidated housing estate. When one of the residents is accused of murder, his sister tries to get to the bottom of things. But what she uncovers about Town is the darkest and most shocking thing of all... This was a slow burn. The novel dragged for me a little, though the story was most definitely redeemed by its ending, one that had me pausing and thinking about it for days afterward. How did I not see--and become so shocked--by what should have been so obvious from the beginning? Just as Cho Nam-Joo's previous no...

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