The Art of Visual Notetaking by Emily Mills

This was a really interesting book that I think would be better read as a physical book than in ebook form. It was also shorter than I thought it might be but I really liked a lot of the concepts. It's been a few weeks since I read the whole thing but I've been utilizing visual notes and, not only are they more fun to re-read, it is easier to find larger concepts because I remember the picture that I drew as much as where information is on the page or what color I was using that day.

Three stars
This book came out March 5
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston

Jessica Stone is not having a good day. She took the role of Princess Amara in order to further her movie career, not to become the queen of the Cons. And yet, here she is. Well,sort of. Because the girl answering questions about being Princess Amara on the Starfield panel is decidedly Not Her.
Imogen Lovelace did not mean to step into Jess Stone's shoes. She just wants to #SavePrincessAmara from death. So when gets the chance to step into the role of Jess Stone, Imogen does the opposite of what the star desires. And that first deception leads to further plans when a script given to Jess is leaked online. Just because she doesn't want to play Amara anymore doesn't mean she wants to commit career suicide.
Told concurrently with Geekerella this is going to delight fans and new readers alike.

Four stars
This book comes out April 2
ARC kindly provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

At 25, Queenie Jenkins has just broken up with her white boyfriend. She's  not taking it well and has decided to make one bad decision after another. And it really is one bad decision after another. She's realistic but it does get a little wearing..

Three stars
This book came out March 19
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

A Monster Like Me by Wendy S. Swore

This was in the genre "childrens" and has a cover that looks like a picture book. Nope. This book is over 300 pages long. Over. Three. Hundred. I was not expecting that.
That being said, this is a pretty cute story about a kid with a blood tumor on her face. She's dealing with the kind of crap that happens when you look different externally. It begins to affect Sophie internally; she knows that there are monsters in the world because she herself is one, created by her tumor.
She does get to make some friends and learns that she might just be a little bit more human than she thinks.
I wouldn't have put this book in the kids category; more middle school unless it's something you read out loud with your kiddo and then talk about with them.

Three and a half stars
This book came out March 5
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Chocolate a la Murder by Kirsten Weiss

Maddie Kosloski has acquired another haunted object for her Paranormal Museum, a  (whisk) that rattles any time someone tells a lie. And it rattles a lot in this story - a lot of people in Maddie's life have stuff going on. Her ex, Mason, keeps trying to talk to her, her one best friend is deep into wedding planning and the other one seems to be hiding something.
And then there's the whole stumbling over another dead body thing. This time it's one of the new choclatiers in town. And it seems that the murderer believes Maddie might know who they are and they're after her next.
There was a LOT of telling Maddie not to investigate murders in this book. And people know now that she does it so the murderer was after her pretty fast. This makes it harder and harder to read the series because now she's just looking sort of... foolish for continuing to do things that put her in death's way.

Three stars
This book comes out March 8
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Follows Deja Moo

The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson

Fifth-grader Faith is astonished when popular eighth grader Amanda asks her to join the soccer team. She is even more surprised to find out she will be on the 'C' team. Rather than playing with pretty, popular Amanda, she will be playing with people who have nicknames like Bulldog and Warthog. As the season rolls on, Faith realizes that the coach is, at best, apathetic and the players care even less. She starts to make friends with a wide variety of people. Their team may not be the best but they are going to be friends in the end.
There are a lot of big themes in this book especially in terms of how you make friends in later grades, accepting people for who they are, and sometimes letting go of the people who are no longer your friends.

Three stars
This book comes out March 5
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley