Review: Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Sorry, Bro
Author: Taleen Voskuni
Genre: Romance /  LGBTQ+ Fiction

Trigger warnings:  Parental loss, Alcoholism, Car Accident, Workplace Sexism and Misogyny, Forced Coming Out, Biphobia and Homophobia

Rating: ★★★★★

When Nar’s non-Armenian boyfriend gets down on one knee and proposes to her in front of a room full of drunk San Francisco tech boys, she realizes it’s time to find someone who shares her idea of romance.

Enter her mother: armed with plenty of mom-guilt and a spreadsheet of Facebook-stalked Armenian men, she convinces Nar to attend Explore Armenia, a month-long series of events in the city. But it’s not the mom-approved playboy doctor or wealthy engineer who catches her eye—it’s Erebuni, a woman as equally immersed in the witchy arts as she is in preserving Armenian identity. Suddenly, with Erebuni as her wingwoman, the events feel like far less of a chore, and much more of an adventure. Who knew cooking up kuftes together could be so . . . sexy?

Erebuni helps Nar see the beauty of their shared culture and makes her feel understood in a way she never has before. But there’s one teeny problem: Nar’s not exactly out as bisexual. The clock is ticking on Nar’s double life, though—the closing event banquet is coming up, and her entire extended family will be there, along with Erebuni. Her worlds will inevitably collide, but Nar is determined to be brave, determined to claim her happiness: proudly Armenian, proudly bisexual, and proudly herself for the first time in her life.

Sorry, Bro tells the story of Nareh, an Armenian American woman who breaks up with her long-term boyfriend in the opening chapters of the story and then goes on a journey of self-discovery and ultimately self-acceptance, exploring both her bisexual identity and her identity as an Armenian American woman. Giving in to her mother’s insistence that she settles down with a nice Armenian boy, Nareh attends a local festival called 'Explore Armenia' with the aim of meeting some of the men on her mother’s approved list. But instead she meets Erebuni, a young bisexual woman fully in touch with her Armenian heritage who helps Nareh to explore her identity as both a queer woman and an Armenian. In Erebuni, Taleen Voskuni has created the love interest of queer fiction dreams and fellow fans of the friends to lovers trope will adore watching their friendship blossom into love.

Sorry, Bro explore societal attitudes to bisexuality in a really powerful way and much of the conflict in the story comes from Nareh being torn between her blossoming love for Erebuni and the fact that she’s not ‘out’ to her family.  The book also features parental loss and parental alcoholism in a subtle yet powerful way, exploring how the trauma of loosing a parent in a drink driving accident continues to have on Nareh's life even years later.

Although Sorry, Bro is at heart a beautiful queer romance, it isn’t all light-hearted as it also explores Armenian culture in depth and provides an important political commentary on American attitudes to the Armenian genocide. The author’s love of her heritage and culture seeps through the pages of the book and although I came to Sorry, Bro with very little knowledge of Armenian culture and history, reading such a beautiful exploration has inspired me to educate myself further on both Armenian culture and the history of Armenian Genocide.

I would also like to take a moment to praise the beautiful cover art and chapter title pages in Sorry, Bro. The cover is minimalist but captures the story perfectly. Each chapter opens with an Armenian proverb and a beautifully decorated page. It was a small simple touch but really helped to immerse us into Armenian culture.

My one criticism of the book would be the title. Whilst I understand the choice of ‘Sorry, Bro’ as it’s a phrase repeated throughout the narrative, I felt the book was deserving of a richer title which was more in tune with the themes of the story. But this is a minor detail that really hasn’t taken away from the book’s status as a definite five star read.

Taleen Voskuni writes in such a beautiful way and creates characters with such depth and charm that it’s hard to believe this is her debut work. Humour is woven seamlessly into the story and she writes an engaging well-paced narrative which I found easy to devour in one sitting. Whilst I can’t put my finger on how a sequel could take place and where it could fit into Nareh and Erebuni’s love story, I don’t feel ready to part with such wonderful characters so I’d be one of the first to preorder a second book. But whether it’s through a return to Nareh’s world or in a new fictional universe, I can’t wait to read more works from Taleen Voskuni, she is definitely an author to watch.

Have you read Sorry, Bro? What did you think? Or can you recommend any other books with good bisexual representation?

Review: The Davenports by Krystal Marquis*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity..

 Caution - This review does contain spoilers.

Title: The Davenports
Author: Krystal Marquis
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings:  Racism, Violence

Rating: ★★★

In 1910, the Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they're not supposed to.

There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married. . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it's with her sister's suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen's brother, John. But Olivia's best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can't seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

The plot of The Davenports focuses on the way that different characters are challenging societal expectations of them, be it due to race, gender or class, when it comes to both their ambitions and who they fall in love with. For example, Helen Davenport is most at home when working on cars and reading books about engineering and she craves opportunity to work in the family business but as woman she is expected to merely marry, bear children for her husband and run a household. And Amy-Rose has ambition to open up her own hair salon and has romantic interest in John Davenport, Oliva and Helen’s brother and the heir to the Davenport business empire, but her status as a servant is a significant barrier in her way.

There is also conflict between societal expectations regarding who each character should marry and who their heart is actually with. For example, Ruby’s parents want her to marry John Davenport to secure their financial future but her heart is with a man called Harrison Barton and John’s heart is with Amy-Rose, despite the class barrier that exists between them. The way that the relationships in the story overlap is a really interesting component to the story and it’s something which I think sets The Davenports aside from other YA historical fiction novels.

Through the character of Olivia Davenport and her love interest Washing DeWight, The Davenports explores the social movement against the Jim Crow Laws. Despite being the daughter of a former slave and having experienced racism herself, Olivia seems to have been raised in a way where her privilege sheltered her from the true reality of the oppression experienced by Black Americans and her understanding of and passion for the civil rights movement builds throughout the novel. Education about slavery and the early push towards race equality in America seems to be missing from history classes across the world. Whilst I feel that ultimately change is needed within the education system in reflection of this, I do feel like YA books could be a valuable vehicle for educating young people on these topics in addition to this and characters such as Olivia could be powerful in facilitating this.

The chapters alternate between four perspectives: Olivia, Helen, Amy-Rose and Ruby. Early on in the novel I started to find myself wondering if the book would work better focusing on the story of one of the characters rather than alternating so many perspectives. Although I typically enjoy what dual perspective narratives can bring to a story, when it comes three or four perspectives it can get a bit much and this was unfortunately the case with The Davenports. As soon as you started to settle into the story of one of the girls, the chapter would change and our focus would be completely shifted. I found this to mean that I didn’t have chance to forge the connection I desire to build with the characters I’m reading about and therefore I didn’t find myself rooting for them in the same way as I would have wanted to. Whilst all of the perspectives were interesting, utilising the opportunity for a series with each novel focusing on a different character/love story would have allowed us to explore each character in greater depth. Although I do appreciate that this could have been complicated given that the overlap of relationships was central to the plot.  

Despite all four romantic relationships going from strength to strength as the novel progresses, the final chapters see the couples face significant turbulence in their relationships, resulting in break ups (some stated, some implied). These break ups were orchestrated quickly and rather messily in some cases and whilst I appreciate that a bit of a ‘will they, won’t they’ plot is likely to entice readers to the sequel, suddenly putting all four relationships on the rocks seemed like overkill. Only one conflict is resolved by the end of the book and getting such little resolution made the book feel like it ended prematurely and this left a bad taste in my mouth, despite me having generally enjoyed the rest of the story. I’m not saying we should have had happily ever afters all round, but I felt that at least another one or two of the relationship conflicts should have had at least some resolution before the book ended. It was this lack of resolution that moved the book from a 4* to a 3* read for me.

I did find it interesting that this story is a YA novel despite the characters being either adults or on the very cusp of adulthood. To fit within the genre, aspects of the story such as sex were really glossed over and this was something that missed the mark for me. One of the later chapters of the story closes by implying that Olivia loses her virginity to Harrison but it’s not made clear and I think this was a big misstep by the author. Becoming intimate with a man is something which plays an important part in Olivia’s character development and coming of age story and therefore I felt it deserving of more attention than it was given. Yes, attitudes to sex and relationships before marriage would have been different at the turn of the twentieth century but that is surely all the more reason to dedicate page space to exploring Olivia’s thoughts and feelings surrounding the event. This may be personal preference due to my own passion for sex-positivity within literature but I think it’s important that sex scenes aren’t shied away from in YA novels if it’s right for the plot of the story and should instead be explored in a way which is suitable for the YA audience. Rather than implying sex was had and then swiftly moving on, I felt it would have been more appropriate to grant the scene the attention it deserved and this did impact on my overall view of the novel.

Overall, I felt that the concept of the story was really interesting but unfortunately the delivery of it fell flat. I feel the plot would have been better executed through the structure of a series with one book per character and this would allow us to explore each character’s story in the depth it deserves and would also remove the apparent necessity to focus the ending on providing an unnecessary cliff-hanger.  

Review: The Undercover Secretary by Ellie Midwood*

  *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity..

 Caution - This review does contain spoilers.

Title: The Undercover Secretary
Author: Ellie Midwood
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings:  War, Antisemitism, Violence

Rating: ★★★★★

France, 1942. “I forced myself to hold his gaze. My heart thrashed inside my chest like a bird battering its wings. They knew who I was. They knew what I’d done.” This heartbreaking and unputdownable World War Two novel tells the incredible true story Dora Schaul, who risked her life by coming face-to-face with enemy—the monsters who killed her loved ones.

Dora has lost everything to the Nazis. Her dearest friends have disappeared into thin air. Her parents have been imprisoned in concentration camps and murdered for the crime of simply existing. She has no idea if her darling husband, the devoted and brave Alfred, is still alive.

Though her world is crashing and burning around her, Dora refuses to give in to Hitler’s tyranny. The Nazis may have broken her heart, but they will not break her spirit.

Secretly working for the underground network in France, Dora risks her life on the most dangerous mission in the history of the local resistance. She goes undercover as the secretary of the Head of Gestapo; a soldier with a brutal reputation. A cold-blooded killer.

She is tasked with leaking the names of the SS to the British press. Every day, she rubs shoulders with the enemy. She makes coffee for the people she despises. She types letters for the monsters who killed her family. At any second, she could be found out…

Can she survive, turning the tide of the war and saving thousands of lives? Or will those she loved the most in the world, and millions of other innocent people, have died in vain?

The Undercover Secretary is an adaptation of the true story of Dora Schaul, a German Jewish woman who joined the underground network in Nazi-occupied France and went undercover as the secretary of the Head of Gestapo in Lyon. It’s an incredible story that author Ellie Midwood tells in an emotive, engaging and unforgettable way which really honours Dora’s legacy and has potential to be the historical fiction book of the year.

Although her undercover resistance work within the Gestapo offices in Lyon (and within the German military postal service for a short time previously) was the major plot point of the novel, it doesn’t actually start until the twenty-second chapter. The narration prior to this takes place in the form of Dora telling her story whilst in custody of the French resistance before she starts working for them. It explores Dora’s move from Berlin to Amsterdam - in seek of work after loosing her job in Germany due to antisemitism - where she joins the local Communist movement and meets Alfred Benjamin. Dora and Alfred move to Paris, working undercover for the local Communist party for over five years before they’re arrested as illegal immigrants and sent to a French prison camp. They marry whilst in the prison camp and plan an escape, which is how she ends up with the French resistance. Although I’ve read reviews from other readers who found this extended build up to the main plot point gave the book pacing issues but personally, I really enjoyed it. This exploration of Dora’s story prior to her resistance work really helps us to understand how loss has motivated her passion for fighting against and avenging the Nazis and her willingness to risk her life to do so.

The story starts in Berlin in February 1933 and I appreciated the choice to begin the story immediately after Hitler became German chancellor as it gave us as readers the opportunity to really see how Germany and the rest of Europe changed in the six years between Hitler gaining power and the outbreak of war. Forming a plot which stretched a thirteen year period meant that the author had to be really clever with how much depth they went into during each significant event. Although I initially speculated that I would struggle with this and crave more detail and action, she actually nailed choosing which aspects of the plot she granted more depth and which she glossed over slightly. For example, the choice to dedicate an entire long chapter to Dora and Alfred’s incarceration at Rieucros Camp but a mere paragraph to Dora’s escape was arguably risky (as you’re likely to have readers who would really feel like they’ve missed a great deal of potentially gripping action and suspense) but ended up being really powerful. As a reader, I interpreted this to correlate with the depth of Dora’s memories of the event; she can recollect every second spent with Alfred in great depth but the time she spent fleeing Rieucros, not knowing if her husband was dead or alive, was merely a blur.  

As an avid fan of historical fiction, I really view the depth of the author’s historical research prior to writing the book to be a huge tell of how good the book is going to be. From the very beginning of The Undercover Secretary you could tell how knowledgeable Ellie Midwood is about Europe during the Second World War and this enabled her to seamlessly weave historical details into the narrative. This included subtle yet powerful details such as the use of the German term Hakenkreuz in place of the English translation ‘Swastika’ we more commonly see used in historical fiction.

My strong allegiance to Dora was established in the first page of the prologue when Ellie Midwood introduces us to this strong, powerful woman who looks death in the eye, isn’t intimidated in the slightest and asks her potential executioner to either kill her and get it over with or go and get her a glass of water and a cigarette. She was an incredibly courageous woman and this is perfectly captured in the book’s portrayal of her.

I found the love story between Dora and Alfred to be truly beautiful and the story perfectly captured how their relationship blossomed from colleagues to friends to lovers. Unlike in other historical fiction novels, the romance doesn’t become a central part of the story and instead is explored more discretely in a which still captures how much they loved each other – a crucial detail in understanding Dora’s pain following his death – but didn’t take away from the rest of the story.

Although this is based on a true story so I can’t ascertain whether this is an error on the author’s part or an actual error the resistance made, I thought it a mistake that the resistance had not given Dora more information about the identity of Renée Fabre before they sent her into the lion’s den that was a Nazi office. One would assume that when the French resistance purchased the identity of a dead woman they’d think to ascertain simple details such as those about her immediate family but I appreciate that this plot point did add a level of suspense to Dora’s first interactions with Klaus Barbie so I can forgive a bit of creative licence on the author’s part.

Overall, The Undercover Secretary is a powerful and incredibly gripping piece of historical fiction which is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.

Have you read any Ellie Midwood books before?

Review: Different, Not Less: A Neurodivergent's Guide To Embracing Your True Self and Finding Your Happily Ever After by Chloè Hayden*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity..

 Caution - This review does contain spoilers.

Title: Different, Not Less: A Neurodivergent's Guide To Embracing Your True Self and Finding Your Happily Ever After
Author: Chloè Hayden
Genre: Non Fiction
Trigger warnings: sexual abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, mental, health, and suicide (but clear trigger warnings are given throughout the book prior to sections which may be triggering)

Rating: ★★★★★

I want to preface this review by explaining my starting point when reading this book. I am a qualified teacher who has spent most of her teaching career teaching children who are neurodivergent, including in specialist provisions so I have a good professional working knowledge of autism. But I am also self-diagnosed as autistic and I’m currently on the waiting list for a formal assessment under the NHS. So whilst I also had a professional interest in the content of Different, Not Less, I was approaching it more from a personal perspective in my forever ongoing quest to try and understand my brain a little better.

With so much of the literature on neurodiversity out there being written by neurotypical people, it was a breath of fresh air to read such a powerful book written by an author who is neurodivergent themselves. I had been eagerly awaiting the UK release of Different, Not Less and it definitely did not disappoint. It is not only full of Chloé sharing her lived experiences but also some really useful advice and tips for neurodivergent people and also people supporting neurodivergent people.

In Different, Not Less, Chloé shares her moving story of her early life prior to being diagnosed with autism and ADHD, what the diagnosis process was like and how she navigates the highs and lows of life as a neurodivergent person. Her section about how difficult she found education made me really emotional and as a teacher it broke my heart to read how the ableist school system truly failed Chloé, as it sadly does for a lot of neurodivergent people.

Although Chloé understandably covers some serious and sensitive topics, she has such a way with words and manages to embed elements of comedy throughout the book. She uses Disney analogies throughout and they do a fantastic job of illustrating her points, although I could understand how they could be a bit much and repetitive if you’ve not a big Disney fan.

The book shares diagnostic criteria for autism and for ADHD, differentiating how each is “expected to present” (aka how it often presents in males – which is what the current diagnostic criteria is largely based on) and how it may present in women. Chloé defines meltdowns, shutdowns and burnout in such an eloquent way and her descriptions of what it’s like to experience these things perfectly encapsulated what I’ve been trying to verbalise to my loved ones for years but could never find the words. She speaks fantastically about stimming and really advocates for neurodivergent people to feel like they can stim openly. One of the closing chapters of Different, Not Less is entitled eye sparkles. Eye sparkles is the amazing phrase Chloé uses to describe special interests (or hyper – fixations, to use ADHD terminology) and it’s a beautifully worded exploration of Chloé’s special interests and how special interests should be celebrated and encouraged. 

Different, Not Less covers such a broad range of topics and I particularly valued the inclusion of largely unspoken about topics relevant to neurodivergent women, such as periods and navigating romantic relationships. The feature of these in the book will make it a really valuable read for autistic teenagers.

Clear trigger warnings are given throughout the book where appropriate (which for reference are: sexual abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, mental, health, and suicide).

One section I found particularly powerful was when Chloé talked about how society needs to change the language choices it makes as you hear disability-deficit language (such as psychotic and spaz; solely used here to illustrate my point) all too often and these choices are both ableist and derogatory. Chloé explains that terms such as these “were once used medically to categorise disabled and mentally ill people, marking them as less human” and she eloquently explains why the casual use of these terms should be stopped. She also discusses how the use of disability and mental health terms as adjectives should be stopped and I really appreciated that this was included in the book as it’s something I’m particularly passionate about. All too often we hear people use phrases such as “bipolar”, “depressed” and “triggered” as if they’re interchangeable with the actual adjectives of moody, sad and upset/offended and Chloe did a fantastic job of explaining why that is not ok.

I would love to have seen the section entitled ‘When your child is having a meltdown’ rephrased as ‘when your loved one is having a meltdown’ as it’s more in keeping with the earlier points in the chapter that meltdowns are part of life for autistic adults, not just autistic children. On a similar note, despite discussing how little neurodivergent women are represented in society’s general understanding of neurodivergence, the list the book shares of autistic famous people was predominately full of men. Whilst I recognise that due to girls largely being under-diagnosed there will be less famous women diagnosed as autistic, it would have been nice for the list to have had more of an equal gender split. 

Although Chloé is Australian and there are understandably many references to things which are specifically Australian, such as the education system, the book will ultimately have countless takeaways for neurodivergent people living in any part of the world. The final pages of the book signpost resources for neurodivergent people in not only Australia but also the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada. 

Overall, Different, Not Less is a must read for all neurodivergent adults, whether formally diagnosed or exploring the possibility that they may be neurodivergent, and also for loved ones of neurodivergent people. I also think professionals, particularly within the education sector, could take a lot from reading about Chloé’s experiences of education.

I want to end my review with a particularly powerful quote from the book: “We need to create a more understanding world… A world where neurodivergent people openly allowed to be neurodivergent”.

Have you read Different, Not Less? What did you think? Or can you recommend another book on neurodivergence you think everyone should read? 

My 2023 Bookish Resolutions

I wanted to ring in the new year by sharing my 2023 bookish resolutions. The hope is that not only will sharing this resolutions list publicly hold me more accountable for actually sticking to these goals but that it will also provide inspiration for the creation of your own bookish resolutions for 2023.

So without further ado, here are my 2023 bookish resolutions:

Read 52 books

This year my goodreads goal is 52 books. I didn't have a very successful reading year in 2022 but this is something I'd like to actively try and change in this coming year. I've set my goal at 52 so I can aim for one book a week and this seems like a reasonable goal for me in line with my current reading habits and the speed that I read. 

I recognise that to read at least one book a week I'm going to have to maintain a good momentum with my reading so I've started to get into the habit of always having my next few books queued up and ready to start as soon as I finish my current read.

Read one chapter a day

This second resolution was chosen to support me in working towards my goal of 52 books. Reading a minimum of one chapter a day (when realistically we know I'll sit down with the intention of reading one and end up reading at least five chapters) will help me to make the daily progress I'll need to in order to complete one book a week.

Branch out and explore a range of genres

I'm absolutely guilty of sticking like glue to a single genre so in 2023 I'd like to challenge myself to branch out and dip my toes into a range of different genres. The start of a new year is the perfect time to broaden your horizons and stretch out of your reading comfort zone.

Historical fiction currently has me in such a chokehold that a good 75% of the books I read in 2022 were from within the genre and whilst it's great to have a favourite genre you're really passionate about, I'm keen to expand the breadth of my reading and explore something new. 

Diversify my reading list

I'll put my hands up and admit that my reading tends to be dominated by white female authors. Whilst this is unintentional, I do hold myself responsible for not making more of an effort to diversify my reading and I plan to change this in 2023. I'm aiming to read more books written by BAME authors and with BAME characters and, whilst I already read a large number of books which feature queer representation, I'd like to delve into more books with trans and nonbinary characters. I'd also like to continue my conscious effort to read more books with disabled representation, particularly books with neurodivergent protagonists and mental health themes.

Read books in a variety of formats

As a paperback lover through and through I tend to read only books in that format but I'm keen to add a bit of variety to my reading, particularly as I currently tend to be late to the party with new releases as I have to wait for the paperback publication. I've started using eBooks to access the ARCs I'm sent through NetGalley and have a few hardbacks on my physical TBR list so 2023 will be the year I branch out and explore books in a range of formats. 

Create a physical TBR database

Anyone else often find themselves in a bookshop looking at a book that sounds amazing but they can't for the life of them remember if they already own it? I know I am definitely guilty of this. To combat this, I am keen to create a database of all of the books I own, which can be sorted by author, genre and whether or not I've read it. This will be the perfect past time for a rainy day and it'll be really helpful for helping me to avoid buying duplicates or leaving wonderful book bargains behind in fear I already own them.

Publish regular bookish blog posts

One of my big 2023 goals is to maintain a regular posting schedule here on Yours, Chloe and as part of that I want to aim to publish at least one bookish post a week. This will be a mixture of reviews, including reviews of ARCs I've been kindly sent, monthly reading summaries and other bookish content. I summarised my blog post schedule in my relaunch post (which you can find here), but in short the plan will be: 

Wednesday: Wellness Wednesday

You can expect posts about mental health and wellbeing, including self-care, mindfulness and personal growth.

Sunday: Bookish Sunday
This is my day to post about all things literature. You can expect book reviews, roundups of what I've been reading, book suggestions and hopefully a few blog tours and other bookish content thrown in for good measures. 

You may see the odd bonus post on a Friday depending on how busy the week/month is in terms of new releases and my ARC review commitments. 

What are your 2023 bookish resolutions?