Marsupial Literature

When We Were Strangers Author: Alex Richards  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ When We Were Strangers is the story of Evie, who is navigating life in the aftermath of the sudden death of her father. Shortly after her father dies, Evie also discovers that he was having an affair with his receptionist (Bree), the receptionist is now 6 months pregnant, and he was planning to leave her mother. To help her cope, Evie signs up for a photography class and meets a new group of friends, but also uses the opportunity to find out more about Bree. When We Were Strangers is the kind of book where the hits just keep coming. Losing her father? Hard enough. Finding out he was having an affair and was about to leave? Unbearable. But wait, the receptionist is also pregnant???? How much is 17 year old Evie supposed to handle? Evie's story is easy to engage with, and the reader will feel her multitude of emotions and struggles with each page. Her grief process is not linear, and she goes through conflicts with her mom, Bree, her

Second Helpings Author: Megan McCafferty  Narrator: Katie Schorr Publish Date: July 6, 2021 Publisher: Macmillan Audio Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Second Helpings is the second Jessica Darling book and a continuation of the 20th anniversary updated release of this series. Jessica Darling is now in her senior year of high school. Hope is still gone, her other friendships have shifted, and Marcus still seems to be popping up everywhere, despite her best attempts to move on. Jessica continues to try to navigate all of the relationships in her life and is looking forward to finally escaping Pineville (if she can ever decide on a college). I had the privilege of reading and reviewing an ARC of Sloppy Firsts earlier this year, and was thrilled to find an audiobook of Second Helpings up for review. Second Helpings works incredibly well as an audiobook, and the narrator is a great fit for this book. Jessica Darling still has all of the qualities that I appreciated in Sloppy Firsts: she continues to be brutal

We Are the Babysitters Club Various authors  Publish Date: July 6, 2021 Publisher: Independent Publishers Group Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ We Are the Baby-Sitters Club is a collection of essays and visual commentary on The Baby-Sitters Club books, as well as the multiple spinoff series that followed. Topics range from friendship, fashion, race and sexual orientation representation, and more.  Reading We Are the Baby-Sitters Club was an immediate trip down memory lane. Before I made it through the introduction, I found myself trying to figure out who I most identified with (likely a Mary Anne with some Dawn and Mallory mixed in) and looking back at the synopsis of the California Diaries series. This book was sweet and thought-provoking at the same time; a great combination of an ultra-fan's dream book along with a critical review of relevant topics that are as important today as they were when the original books were published. I really enjoyed the graphic novel portions of the book and laughed/c