What would Ula read?

3 out of 5 👯‍♀️Female friendship tale 'Everything Here is Under Control' tells a story of two BFFs who's lost track of each other's lives somewhere along their way to adulthood. Carrie's got pregnant and gotten birth to a daughter while still in high school. Amanda has been helping her for the first years but right after graduation she left their small Ohio town and moved to NYC with her boyfriend. Several years later, overwhelmed with being a new mother herself, Amanda ran away from her baby father right to Carrie's house. I have mixed feelings about Madeline Lambert as narrator. While her narration with normal speed was monotonous and bland, with 1.5x speed it gave that nonchalant irony which matched perfectly with my character of Amanda. I wish I've heard more tone changing and modulating. Overall, I subtracted 0.5 points of my original score for the audio version. Reading about the struggles of a new mother reminded me of the first months (weeks? years!...

4 out of 5 💪"...She's still Alex from the block 🎶" 'Queens of the Resistance' is a series of books about modern-day politicians committed to making an impact on our everyday lives. Also, to change the existing administrative model to be more inclusive and welcome for every gender and skin color. These Queens are concerned about racial justice, everyday problems of undocumented Americans, and climate change. The volume about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells the story of AOC since the very beginning, including her childhood through the first steps in politics to her plans for the future. The book is strongly biased but that something the one can guess just by the title. It made my roll my eyes ones or twice in the first chapters but the farthest in the book, the more concrete data, and stories. I enjoyed the background story of Alexandria and all the badass stuff she's done (so far!). The biggest advantage of the series is language, pure gen Z / millennial slang...

Antiracist learning in young adult fiction 'This is My America' is a title so important with current events exposing systemic racism in modern America. This young adult title covers the story of a black family whose father was wrongfully accused and imprisoned for murder to be executed. The book shows a race against time with his daughter as a protagonist, to save him from that wrongful conviction.  It reminds me of my recent read 'From the Desk of Zoe Washington' - which is a midgrade story with similar synopsis, showing how great is the issue of incarcerating innocent people of color in the United States. More to love: great take on biracial relationships, loyalty, friendship, and racial justice. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Random House Books for Young Readers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.

5 out of 5 💪Girl Power International Another tome of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls shows 100 portraits of female immigrants that made their impact on the world. I liked the variety of representation that doesn't focus on the United States and the UK. On the same note, the book shows women from both the past and the ones currently living, both young and old with all skin colors and background history. Each person is represented with a brief description, their immigration route, and a beautiful portrait - each painted by the different talented artists. I greatly admired that eclectic design idea. Overall, this is another great gift for brave young girls and women. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Rebel Girls for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.

4 out of 5 👊Cinderella and her #metoo story A little disclaimer here first: The original version of Cinderella is obviously problematic with strongly patriarchal worldviews, yet didn't mention any actual abuse and forced marriage. Cinderella seemed very happy with the story plot and her life choices. In 'Cinderella is Dead', we got to know new facts about her life and the kingdom that added a whole new female-abusive layer. Hence my title. Two hundred years after Cinderella fairytale and the glass shoe incident, the annual ball gathers young women 16 to 18 years old and 'eligible bachelors' with no age limit to pick their new treasure wife. Female participation is obligatory and failure to attend (or not being picked) equals atrocious consequences.  Since her early childhood, Sophia was reading Cinderella's story but would rather marry a princess than Prince Charming. Although her family accepted the relationship with her childhood friend Erin, they knew she mu...

5 out of 5 🌟 Life as we don't know it  'Call Me American' made me astounded since page one. It a memoir of Abdi Nor Iftin, a Somalian man who immigrated from his home country to the USA. The story starts with Abdi's parents who were nomads living in Somalian wilderness herding camels, hunting and, occasionally, fighting with lions and hyenas. His family has settled in the city of Mogadishu where their hard-enough life was brutally interrupted by the war in 1993 and - long story short - anarchy that comes after. Abdi has been always fascinated with American culture and taught himself English watching Hollywood movies. His lifelong dream was to move to the United States and this memoir tells the story of his long and dangerous journey through war and bureaucracy. This book left me speechless and while I'm gathering my words to write this review, I know I won't be able to do it right. 'Call Me American' tells about a life that's an exact opposite of an...

3 out of 5 🌟Interesting ideas with poor execution Mayhem and her mother Roxy have fled their abusive stepfather/husband from their house in Texas to a family home in California. Roxy hasn't been to Santa Maria, CA since the day she left to start a new life. Yes, there's a dark secret involved. The book comes with a trigger warning about rape description but it does not include all the other things that threw me off when reading. This supposed to be a young adult, hence I didn't anticipate the number of expletives I encountered while reading and yet, that wasn't the worst part. I was unpleasantly surprised with gruesome descriptions of homicides and * Spoiler Alert * the fact than they were committed by "good" characters in the book and also treated as something noble (what!?). People cheering, giving presents to the murderous vigilantes... Is that still a book for teenagers? Plus, descriptions of doing drugs endorsed by the family members and friends. * Spoil...