#love and resistance

[richincolor]

Love & Resistance by Kara H.L. Chen (Quill Tree Books)

Publisher’s Summary: Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely, but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when the infamous Mitzi Clarke (influencer, queen bee, bully) makes a pointed racist comment in class. Olivia knows what she must do: let it go. But Olivia is tired of ignoring things just so she can survive. This time, she defends herself.

That is the end of her invisible life.

Soon, Olivia discovers, and joins forces with, the Nerd Net: a secret society who has been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at Plainstown High.

But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way . . . if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first.

My Thoughts: This book was a perfect summer read. There’s a good balance of ups with the downs throughout. The story contains bullying and racism, but also brings in friendship, love, and as the title would indicate – resistance to the injustices.

Having attended seven schools between kindergarten and graduation, including two in Ohio, there were many things I could relate to in Olivia’s experience. Many readers are likely to connect to her attempts to be invisible and find out the lay of the land when she starts attending new schools. And if not, they probably would at least understand the necessity.

Being new to a school junior year is challenging enough, but having the added layer of race, makes starting over significantly harder in a place like Plainstown. Olivia explains, “When you walk through life wearing a target–your face–there are times when you forget you are different. But there are always reminders.” The little things people do like staring or talking too loudly because they think you don’t know English all communicate that, “You are not one of us.” 

Though her grandfather has died prior to the beginning of the book, I appreciated how Olivia shares parts of his immigration story and their relationship. Over the years, he told her many stories and taught a lot about military strategy. She is especially well practiced in the art of non-engagement. And then everything sort of spirals out of control and she has to utilize other strategies she learned from him. She also has to look for and collaborate with allies.

One of my favorite parts of this book was seeing the friendships being built and nurtured. It’s also a plus that there are people working together who have different opinions and find ways to express them without simply laying judgement on someone’s personality. Comparisons are drawn to the ‘us and them’ aspect of modern politics where you are only for or against us and there is no nuance. It’s not easy, but there are individuals who value being able to question and discuss things while also respecting others and being open to seeing people as more than one-dimensional. This doesn’t mean they ignore the vile actions of folks, but they see other ways of interacting with people and ways to work with those who they may have only seen as enemies before.

And yes, there is a romance or two to be found in these pages. The banter is super fun and made me smile. There is one central relationship, but there is also another side couple added to the mix.

Recommendation: Get it soon! Olivia and the Nerd Net are folks well worth meeting.

Extras: Excerpt

Pages: 352 Review copy: Final copy via publisher Availability: On shelves now

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: Moxie meets Mary H.K. Choi in this funny, whip-smart YA debut about love, resistance, and the enduring friendships that make it all worthwhile. Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when infamous it-girl Mitzi Clarke makes a pointed racist comment in class. Tired of ignoring things just to survive, Olivia defends herself.  And that is the end of her invisible life. Soon, Olivia joins forces with the Nerd Net: a secret society that's been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at school.But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way . . . if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first. A cheeky, thought-provoking force of a book, perfect for fans of E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

Review:

A girl finds herself joining a revolution after a confrontation against a popular girl who made a racist comment and with this revolution she’ll find friendship, strength, and even romance. Olivia Chang is seventeen years old and at her fourth school in years. She’s lived in self imposed solitude to stay under the radar and safe away from the harmful bullying and notice of others, but her plan to stay anonymous fails when the ultimate it-girl and popular girl, Mitzi Clarkes makes a pointed racist comment in class and Olivia stands up against her. Olivia is now very noticed and the enemy of the popular girl and her friends... but then suddenly she finds herself being drawn in by a group known as the Nerd Net, a secret society of other students who have been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror. Now Olivia isn’t alone and she finally has friends and a support system, and even a crush... but starting a revolution and fixing the social system isn’t easy, and things are always going to get messy. Can Olivia help stop Mitzi before more people are hurt or will Mitzi destroy her first? This was a great story, filled with thought provoking moments and a heart warming story about friendship and finding the strength to stand up against bullying and being supporting of others. I really liked this one and found Olivia’s journey to be a great one to read, she really went from quiet introvert to someone who makes a stand to someone who empathizes and tries to be there and understand the complexity that people have. The romance was sweet but the highlight of this book was the friendship!! 

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[junaart]

a little mock postage stamp i did a while ago. free to download (X) and print as stickers, posters or whatever you like.

[pinkflames]

"The first-" no bish 😭

[kendyroy]

THEY’RE MARRIED

[chiropteracupola]

a little victorian boy and his elderly maiden aunts

[i love @pangur-and-grim's weird cats and wanted to draw them beatrix potter style]

[solacestea]

[dramashii]

Seung Hyo & Seok Ryu's relationship (with texts)

LOVE NEXT DOOR (2024)

[rosenkranz-does-things]

Dulcie sketch for @thelockedtombcfp 🧡

[brainrotcharacters]

makes me giggle to think of X2 Logan meeting dp&w Logan when this is a thing

[nick-nellson]

DOCTOR WHO | Rogue

[gift-of-prophecy]

people who complain about gale yapping too much don’t understand the sixth secret love language: infodumping

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

Olive harvest in the West Bank. Photos by Ari Messinis, courtesy of Al Jazeera.

[priceofreedom]

mischievous puppy surprises boyfriend with a kiss ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

[somnoir]

Bats and Phantoms - Part 3

Part 3 | Masterpost

Cassandra and Jasmine

Jazz has always been concerned for her siblings. Why wouldn't she? Dan was a former world ender, Danny was ghost king (or was it crown prince?), and Ellie was almost always everywhere. In all honesty, if was overwhelming.

But she'd be damned to not love them no matter what.

Visiting Gotham to see if Danny was okay was... Well, she just had to. Somehow, her brother's have caught the eye of vigilantes and that was obviously bad.

Her phone buzzed and once again she's plagued by Dan's messages.

Younger-Older-Bigger: Should I stalk Nightwing???

Older-definitely: No. Please don't.

Older-definitely: We already have to worry about Danny getting stalked by a crime lord

Younger-Older-Bigger: Yeah but I'm not a crime lord

Older-definitely: NO

Older-definitely: STOP

Older-definitely: DAN

Younger-Older-Bigger: ᕙ⁠(⁠ ⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠ ⁠)⁠ᕗ

Why? Why did they have to be like this? Weapon training was somehow the automatic bonding activity for the Fenton/Masters siblings. Dan and Danny liked to fight with sword a little too much and Ellie was all to happy to throw daggers at people. Jazz preferred her lazers and blasters (though her aim was wonky at first, it got better... She promised.)

So here she was, in Gotham... Making sure her brother wasn't being seduced by a crime lord. But of course, she was a Fenton born and bred and raised. Gotham apparently had literal alarms that alerted the entire city of a massive attack. Her phone even got an alert from... WE warning. Wayne Enterprises?

Okay... Apparently Scarecrow was running amok and plaguing the streets with his fear toxin. Oh, Danny was going to go feral.

(A couple blocks away, Danny Fenton was high on the fear and giggling to himself. Yes.)

And also Gothamites carried gasmasks around. What a wonderful day to leave hers behind.

She's already cough, closing her eyes as she desperately tried to stay sane. Her liminal and almost half a state should have made the effects different from her but apparently she wasn't ghost enough to feel euphoric.

Stumbling into the closest building she could find, she's desperately gasping when a gasmask was pressed against her face. Jazz can barely register the dark haired girl with asian features who was hurriedly hauling her to her feet and away from the door.

It takes a minute before she's registering the girl, blinking when she saw her making gestures. Again, it takes her another minute to realize it's sign language.

Thank God she had paranoid siblings who took those classes in case they couldn't speak. But with her brain filled with feat toxin, she's clumsy in signing back but there's some mild surprise in the girl's eyes. But Jazz is conscious enough to notice the tense way the girl stood, how her stance was prepared for a fight. Maybe that was normal Gothamites behavior...

At least, she was communicating with someone. Someone who's really pretty too. God, was the fear toxin making her dopy? That can't be, right?

Cass had seen a pretty redheaded girl fall to her knees, and yet she had more resistance to fear toxin than local Gothamites. It was almost interesting really, but she's not going to dwell on it when this girl was choking for air.

Words don't easily process for her but her body moves without much thought, signing to her if she was okay. The girl, clearly disoriented, looks confused before realization bleeds into her strangely bright eyes—then she's clumsily signing back.

She says her name is Jasmine, like the flower, the princess—call her Jazz, she insists.

And she replies that she's Cassandra—like the character from Rapunzel, like the girl from Greek muths—just call her Cass tho.

When Jazz is in her arms, Cass can feel some muscles through her clothes. This girl wasn't as frail as she look. No. This was a trained fighter, someone who knew how to defend themselves without a problem. Cass should be wary, but at the same time she was worried.

She knows she should be going out there and helping but Oracle had immediately told her to help the civilians in the area. Batman, Robin, Red Robin, and Spoiler were handling the situation but the civilians had to be protected at all costs. She might not be able to help as orphan in that moment but she could as Cass Wayne.

The commotion gets worse once Scarecrow's henchmen start raiding the place with every weapon they could get their hands on. She fights to the best of her abilities, watching, predicting, but what she didn't predict was a loud blast tearing through the place and shattering the window.

Cass can see a blast of green spark through the air before directly hitting the Jonathan Crane. The man is blasted into a wall, groaning before he's knocked out.

Her eyes dart to where the blast came from.

Jazz, the strange girl she has just met, was holding a strange gun.

(In the distance, Danny was still very much high and was not aware that one of his maniacal invention had actually worked in his sister's favor.)

Part 4 | Masterpost

[choccy-milky]

clora's fav time to tease seb is when they're busy or in public and he has to restrain himself......girly knows what she's doing😇 (from my vellmore oneshot^^)