Matthew reads, I guess...

  I can’t lie, when it comes to books, I’m either in or I’m not. Because of that, it doesn’t often take a lot to convince me to read a book if it’s the right thing. Today I’m talking about If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So, which I saw described as “ Heartstopper , but sapphic”, and that was all I needed to read to be convinced. I would also like it to be known that I read the majority of this book on train journeys, so my notes may have been a little disjointed. The blurb says that Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, they’ve never met in real life and Ada lives an ocean away. But Elsie has decided it’s now or never to tell Ada how she feels. That is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn’t nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make… Chapter one opens with Elsie a...

  Today I’m talking about Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden. This is one of those books that I have no idea where I heard about it or found it. It just popped up into my realm one day and I got it. Our blurb, and there’s a lot of it let me warn you, says that Seventeen-year-old gaymer Noah Mitchell only has one friend left: the wonderful, funny, strictly online-only MagePants69. After years playing RPGs together, they know everything about each other, except anything that would give away their real-life identities. And Noah is certain that if they could just meet in person, they would be soulmates. Noah would do anything to make this happen – including finally leaving his gaming chair to join a community theatre show that he’s only somewhat sure MagePants69 is performing in. Noah has never done anything like theatre – he can’t sing, dance, and he’s never willingly watched a musical – but he’ll have to go all in to have a chance at love. With Noah’s mum in the leading rol...

  I’ll say that I am straight up a Julian Winters fan, so I knew this book was coming out since it was announced. I don’t have a cute little discovery story for this one; I follow Julian Winters on both Twitter and Instagram and that’s how I found out about it. The blurb says that seventeen-year-old Theo Wright has it all figured out. His plan (well, more like his dad’s plan) is a foolproof strategy that involves excelling at his magnet school, getting scouted by college recruiters, and going to Duke on athletic scholarship. But for now, all Theo wants is a perfect prom night. After his best friend Jay dares him to prompose to his crush at Chloe Campbell’s party, Theo’s ready to throw caution to the wind and take his chances. But when his promposal goes epically wrong, Theo seeks refuge in an empty bedroom while the party rages on downstairs. Having an existential crisis about who he really is wasn’t on tonight’s agenda. Though, as the night goes on, Theo finds he’s not alone as ...