Lauren

The Firekeeper’s Daughter was a book that was completely outside of my typical genres. While I still read some YA, I don’t really read mysteries and I’m not a big contemporary reader outside of romance. I also think it’s worth noting that while this is YA, I would say it is best suited to upper YA (15-16+). This story follows Daunis, a girl who finds herself longing for acceptance within her tribe (she is half indigenous). Despite her limitations within the her tribe, she is still close with her brother - a full member - her family, and her friends. She is strong willed and a little naïve at the start of the book. While the story’s synopsis seems to promise a romance, that is not truly the heart of this story. It’s really about grief, self identity, and family and community. While there were moments that were entirely unrealistic (I will avoid mentioning them, but involvement in the situation at all is high amongst the list), there were also moments that were painfully real particularly around the treatment of women and the justice systems in place today. I also really appreciated how tradition and Daunis’ culture were woven into the story. For people who are not part of indigenous culture in the Northern Americas, the author did a great job showing pieces of it without ever making it feel like it was being explained outright while also ensuring it made sense. I also liked how much time we got with our different characters. They all felt real because of the time we were given. And that ending was both healing and heartbreaking. Honestly beautiful work by the author and I intend to pick up the second book sometimes this year.

TWs: mentions of drugs and drug abuse, violence, sexual assault

The Firekeeper’s Daughter was a book that was completely outside of my typical genres. While I still read some YA, I don’t really read mysteries and I’m not a big contemporary reader outside of romance. I also think it’s worth noting that while this is YA, I would say it is best suited to upper YA (15-16+). This story follows Daunis, a girl who finds herself longing for acceptance within her tribe (she is half indigenous). Despite her limitations within the her tribe, she is still close with her brother - a full member - her family, and her friends. She is strong willed and a little naïve at the start of the book. While the story’s synopsis seems to promise a romance, that is not truly the heart of this story. It’s really about grief, self identity, and family and community. While there were moments that were entirely unrealistic (I will avoid mentioning them, but involvement in the situation at all is high amongst the list), there were also moments that were painfully real particularly around the treatment of women and the justice systems in place today. I also really appreciated how tradition and Daunis’ culture were woven into the story. For people who are not part of indigenous culture in the Northern Americas, the author did a great job showing pieces of it without ever making it feel like it was being explained outright while also ensuring it made sense. I also liked how much time we got with our different characters. They all felt real because of the time we were given. And that ending was both healing and heartbreaking. Honestly beautiful work by the author and I intend to pick up the second book sometimes this year.

TWs: mentions of drugs and drug abuse, violence, sexual assault

The Firekeeper’s Daughter was a book that was completely outside of my typical genres. While I still read some YA, I don’t really read mysteries and I’m not a big contemporary reader outside of romance. I also think it’s worth noting that while this is YA, I would say it is best suited to upper YA (15-16+). This story follows Daunis, a girl who finds herself longing for acceptance within her tribe (she is half indigenous). Despite her limitations within the her tribe, she is still close with her brother - a full member - her family, and her friends. She is strong willed and a little naïve at the start of the book. While the story’s synopsis seems to promise a romance, that is not truly the heart of this story. It’s really about grief, self identity, and family and community. While there were moments that were entirely unrealistic (I will avoid mentioning them, but involvement in the situation at all is high amongst the list), there were also moments that were painfully real particularly around the treatment of women and the justice systems in place today. I also really appreciated how tradition and Daunis’ culture were woven into the story. For people who are not part of indigenous culture in the Northern Americas, the author did a great job showing pieces of it without ever making it feel like it was being explained outright while also ensuring it made sense. I also liked how much time we got with our different characters. They all felt real because of the time we were given. And that ending was both healing and heartbreaking. Honestly beautiful work by the author and I intend to pick up the second book sometimes this year.

TWs: mentions of drugs and drug abuse, violence, sexual assault

Not Another Love Song started off strong but got lost along the way. The story follows two musicians, Gwen and Xander/Alex, as they navigate career choices, what they want, and their growing chemistry.

To begin with the things I liked, I thought Gwen was likable. A little blind, but in a way that made sense for her. Without spoiling anything, she had good reasons to desire stability and consistency in her life. I also liked the writing overall. It was clear and flowed nicely. The third act conflict also felt logical to me.

However, there were many things I didn’t like. For starters, I understand why he is the way he is, but Xander/Alex not knowing who she is despite working with her is crazy. As are his rude comments early on. I simply do not forgive him.

Additionally, I felt like once the smut started, it became consistent. I don’t mind a little smut when it furthers the plot, but by the time we got the final time they slept together I found myself skipping forward. I think there were 3-5 scenes, and I really didn’t need that many. The book just ain’t long enough for that (for me).

Lastly, I really didn’t like most of the side characters either. Gwen’s friends felt more like caricatures than real people, and the other influences on her life kind of sucked and hardly apologized.

The book wasn’t bad, I just wasn’t satisfied. I would try another of her books again.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. The characters were compelling, their motivations and actions believable, and the setting was well crafted. In theory, this book should be rated higher, and yet there was something that kept me disconnected from the story as a whole.

I admit, I did solely read this via audio, and I usually don’t only read a book by audio, so it’s possible that was part of the problem for me. The narrator wasn’t bad, but her narration definitely didn’t enhance the book.

The other thing that may have contributed to my disconnect was the differing POVs. I actually love a multi-POV book, but some stories are served better by only have one, maybe two, and I do think this may have been one of them.

Lastly, this is a stressful time of year (I’m a teacher and April is when we’re dying to get unengaged students to reengage and try to keep the other motivated - it’s a tough time), so I also may have been a little distracted as I read.

Whatever the cause, the book was good, but something about it just made it “not for me.” I’ll still read this author’s works releasing this year, however, because I know the magic she can write.

I’ve been reading the STEMinist books out of order, so after reading Stuck with You last year, I decided to go back to book one. Under One Roof is about a house left to two different people in a will, Mara and Liam.

I think this book had a lot of potential. I actually hated Liam when we first met him, and quite quickly began to like him. I think what hurt this book was the fact that it was a novella. Things went from 0 to 100 between the main characters. When they got together, I actually thought it was a dream sequence for the first half of the scene because of how sudden it was. It felt so out of place.

Hazlewood also tried to give this book convincing side characters, but there just weren’t enough pages to care about them. I wish it would have been a full length novel.

It wasn’t bad, but it was far from her best work.