By Kaitlin Dunn
Lifestyle Editor
As the school semester kicks up into full swing once more, many Washington College students are faced with piles of reading for their classes.
To help break up the monotony of all of the textbook pages, here are some book recommendations to read in between your class articles.
“Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever,” the book synopsis says.
Despite the book’s simple description, it is packed full of plotpoints and perspectives that will make you fall in love with each of Jenkins Reid’s characters.
The book opens and primarily follows the story of the eldest Riva sibling — surfer and swimsuit model, Nina Riva. The book follows the timeline of buildup towards a single night in her Malibu home, with interjections in point of view and flashbacks to various points in the Riva siblings’ lives.
Jenkins Reids’ writing style feels like a night at a party, giving you just enough information about each side character to make you feel as though you know them before they become side characters once more.
“By the end of ‘Malibu Rising,’ the Riva siblings will learn several truths. They’ll get an answer to the lifelong question: Will their absent, celebrated father ever come back? Even when a fire claims an estate and rolls down the coast; even after the trauma, the betrayals, the distress, the fisticuffs — or perhaps because of them — we leave the party knowing that we don’t have to worry about the Rivas,” said Elinor Lipman with the New York Times.
“One Last Stop” by Casey Mcquiston
“One Last Stop” is the highly anticipated new release by “Red White and Royal Blue” author Casey McQuiston.
“‘One Last Stop’ is a delightful speculative tale that follows August Landry, a somewhat cynical mystery lover who finds the ultimate puzzle in Jane, a punk-rock lesbian she keeps encountering on the subway,” the book’s plot summary says.
For fans of romance and McQuiston’s writing style, “One Last Stop” is a perfect read for any season. The main character, August Landry, is very relatable, especially to any college kids who perhaps do not know what they’re doing and simply feel like staying in school until they have everything figured out.
McQuiston writes about found families both in a literal and metaphorical sense and leaves the reader wanting to know more about the characters and how the rest of their lives will turn out.
“The speculative twist of a time slip adds angst to August and Jane’s seemingly meant-to-be pairing, giving ‘One Last Stop’ higher stakes and making it feel more propulsive than other city-set contemporary love stories,” BookPage writer Amanda Diehl said.
“Bursting with heart, snappy banter and a deep respect for queer history and community, ‘One Last Stop’ isn’t just another surefire hit for McQuiston. It also might be the best read of the summer,” Diehl said.
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo
“America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father — despite his hard-won citizen ship — Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day,” the novel’s plot summary says.
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is a Young Adult Historical Fiction novel that follows the story of Lily Hu, a young Chinese girl in San Francisco as she navigates things like relationships, identity, and friendship in 1950s California.
“Malinda Lo has been a proponent of diversity in books for years, so it is no surprise that this bok is a shining example of representation done well. ‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’ is an immersive historical fiction that brings to life several diverse threads of the American experience that are often overlooked and simplified,” Ashley Dunne with GLBT Reviews said.
Despite being a young adult novel, Lo writes about very heavy and real topics and does not sugarcoat reality. Lily Hu does not have everything work out in her favor, and arguably does not get a perfect happily ever after either.
Despite this, however, Lo’s novel offers just enough hope for her characters that perhaps someday things will all work out in the end, and this sentiment is reflected to the reader.
Photo Courtesy of caseymcquiston.com