The better to dream of you: THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY.

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by Ashley Schumacher
My rating: 4+ of 5 stars

It's been nearly one year since Madeline's mom died. She grew up with her parents on the renaissance faire circuit, being homeschooled and helping her parents with their faire booth. Now it's just her and her dad and Maddie finds herself scared she'll forget things about those she loves, so she keeps a journal, marking down "noticings" of everything that happens. Then she meets Arthur, the son of the owners of her latest faire. Arthur seems determined to break through Maddie's walls and become her friend, inviting her to become the Princess of the faire. Maddie doesn't want to get attached to anyone ever again, but Arthur makes it pretty difficult.

This is such a sweet book that delves into the insecurities of teenage life and the difficulties of grief and loss. Maddie (nicknamed "Gwen" by Arthur) is a lovely character recovering from the loss of her mother. She is a darling introvert and the book does an excellent job of portraying her awkwardness and her body issues. It's so wonderful to see a book that discusses a character who is awkward, overweight, funny, and kind. I really loved Maddie. And Arthur is a genuine and kind character as well, being raised by two dads (!) in a castle. There are a ton of fun ren faire references. Maddie and Arthur's romance is a slow, gentle one. This is not a steamy book, but it's a touching one. Their family and friends are witty and cute. I was a bit frustrated with some of the misunderstandings (Maddie thinking Arthur liked another girl, for instance). Overall, this is a very sweet YA story, though. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in return for an unbiased review. Look for it on 3/14/2023!!

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Cause I can't breathe when I'm with you: FULL FLIGHT.

Full Flight by Ashley Schumacher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enfield is a small town in Texas whose world revolves around football season. With football comes Marching Band. For Anna James, that means contest season and having to learn a new piece on her saxophone. She's paired with mellophone player Weston Ryan for a duet. Her tiny town has big thoughts on Weston, none of them good. But as the two work together to learn the piece, Anna sees past the rumors to the real Weston, and she likes him, a lot. Anna's parents don't, however, and when they find out she's spending time with him, they are not happy.

This is often a lovely and well-written book, though other times it had me questioning decisions and plot points. It's a little slow and the cover and description literally scream that something tragic is going to happen, so I felt extremely tentative, knowing that everything was working up to something apparently awful and sad. It seems slow, at times, too, as Weston and Anna spend time thinking and re-thinking things, and then it rushes the ending.

I liked Weston and Anna as people. What I did not like was the extremes they were sent to, especially as kids. Weston, you see, cannot love Anna because his parents are divorced, and therefore, since his parents once loved one another and then broke up, all is doomed, and he cannot ever love. Anna, meanwhile, seems to fall into insta-love with Weston (which is reciprocated, but remember, HE NEVER CAN LOVE EVER), but her strict parents hate him for no real reason (apparently your parents divorcing and being sent to another high school for a year is a sin like no other in Enfield), so she is banned from seeing him. But, then, magically, it's all okay, and we love Weston. Extremes! And, then, also magically, Weston seems fine loving Anna. Anna, thankfully, seems fairly steady through all of this or I would have thrown my book out the window. (Fine, I get that's an extreme too.)

There are a ton of references to marching band, band music, band things, things that happen on the band bus, band contests, and more. If you were in band, you would probably rate this book a bit higher just by default. (I was not in band.)

That's not to say I didn't like a lot of FLIGHT. There are plenty of lovely romantic moments and good moments and funny moments. I just don't like books that set out to make me sad, but I didn't realize that's what this book was before I won the Goodreads giveaway. It's interesting, but also tragic, and things just swing from one extreme to the other too often for me. A lot of people seemed to enjoy it, though. 3 stars.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books via a Goodreads giveaway.

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