Lauren

An Occasionally Happy Family is a realistic, candid look at a family living in the aftermath of losing a loved one. Theo, the main character, is 13. He likes rock music and making comics. His sister Laura is 16, and while they use to be close, they bicker more than anything else. At the top of the story, their father decides to surprise them with a camping trip, which Laura quickly takes over since their father had not done any proper research. As the story continues, it reveals a family of three not quite connecting after the death of Laura and Theo’s mother about two years prior.

Theo was incredibly relatable. As the youngest in my family (until my mom remarried) I understood precisely what it is like to feel like there isn’t a group you really fit into, sometimes even within a family. Laura was enjoyable as well. She reads as a 16 year old and her passion and sense of right and wrong are compelling to read.

The largest strength of this book, however, is how it tackles grief. It does a great job of portraying how in the midst of grief there are moments that are happy and funny, moments that are frustrating and anger inducing, and moments that are just sad. Theo experiences all of these emotions and more. The story does a great job of showing how sometimes those emotions can sneak up on you and how, for some, the fear of forgetting pieces of lost loved ones is as difficult as the grief itself. As someone who lost their father, I related heavily to this topic and found myself crying, despite not expecting to.

I will admit, I found myself getting frustrated with his father, too. Both Theo and Laura try to express their emotions to their father, but still grieving himself, he does not always respond the best way (oftentimes he doesn’t even seem to notice they are trying to explain their emotions to him). Due to a reveal later in the story, Theo and Laura feel betrayed, and he also doesn’t seem to understand that until things hit a boiling point. He was frustrating to read about, but not necessarily unrealistic.

I think this can be a very important read for kids and their parents, particularly in the event of the death of a parent.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a beautifully crafted Middle Grade book that I have not heard enough about. A young girl named Minli lives with her parents on Fruitless Mountain. Day in and day out, the entire village toils away for very little return. It appears many are struggling to even produce enough to eat. Minli’s Ba (father) fills her head with all sorts of stories. The book focuses on two important tales: The Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. It is said the Old Man of the Moon has the answers for everything, so one day Minli decides to take it upon herself to find him and ask how she can change her family’s fortune. On her journey she encounters a dragon who becomes her companion on her journey, kings, terrifying tigers, and more. Each stop along the way introduces her to another Chinese folktale, that both serve to propel the plot and teach Minli valuable lessons.

I think so many children will enjoy Minli. She is brave, strong, kind, and cares deeply about her family. I also enjoyed that the book showed us her parent’s perspectives, something I have not seen done in many middle grade books. While Minli is learning more about the world and herself, her parents miss her and are forced to reconnect and reflect on why they behave the way they do. I think this may be insightful for many young readers as it may help them realize how parents are often dealing with very similar emotions as they are, and oftentimes they are simply doing their best in difficult situations.

The writing was also throughly enjoyable. It’s accessible while also forcing middle grade aged readers to use some context clues to discover some of the more cultural words if they are less familiar (such as kowtow).

I think young readers could enjoy reading this at night with a parent and middle grade through young adult readers would enjoy this on their own. I would be interested in reading some more of Lin’s work.

Six books deep and I, unfortunately, continue to run into the same issues. Should I probably just give up on the series? Maybe, but not only do I want to know how they conclude, but they’ve been something me and my partner have enjoyed dissecting, debating, and discussing.

Believe it or not, I do have some good to say about this one. Like the previous installments, the epilogue is perfect. Honestly, sometimes it feels like someone else wrote the epilogues because they go on just long enough to give the reader new information without holding our hands and spoon feeding it. If I had to guess, Dinniman spends most of his editing time on the epilogues. I also appreciated acknowledging which aspects that may be considered offensive were thoughts the Carl had vs things the infamous “show runners” were enacting (not all the time, but progress). I liked the idea behind this floor, too, and how Dinniman introduced concepts earlier on that were revisited later.

To be honest, the reminder of this review will be me complaining. Fair warning.

My largest complaint is this book desperately needs an editor. From what I could find in the copyright information, this book is published by the author and does not credit an editor, so I have to assume there is none. I swear, this book could easily be 200 less pages with a good editor. Even my partner (who is not a reader) noticed how repetitive the book was and got frustrated when we were told the same information multiple times in a single scene. It is totally okay to tell the audience something once (maybe twice) and trust them to remember and understand, or better yet, sometimes things can be summarized. That being said, there were times we would have to go back and reread sections of the book due to some description being nearly nonsensical. While we listen to the audiobook, I have the ebook up on my phone. I mention this because while usually the audiobook is okay, the voice Hayes did for the demon was impossible for either of us to understand.

Additionally, the whole joke about the crabs and their desire/need to get off and procreate was pointless, not funny, and gross. It felt like a joke that would have been written by a middle school boy.

I also cannot believe Carl, who served in the military, would not know what an Adjutant is. Like?????

Despite addressing some of the more offensive ideas in the book as the aliens doing, I would be remiss not to mention a list of some of the more problematic content warnings, including but not limited to: anorexia being used as a descriptor, ableism, sexism/misogyny (the word bitch appears 62 times and the word whore appears 15 and we spend too much time describing breasts as boy parts that either enhance or detract from a women’s hotness/goodness- I don’t care if these are titles or not, they’re problematic and not funny; additionally, the phrase “I could only tell she was female because it said so” was disgusting), racism, unnecessary torture by the “good guys”, sexual assault that happened to a character being played for jokes, and I’m sure much more that I have forgotten over the months it took me to read this.

All the Bright Places follows two seniors in high school. Finch (aka Theo or Theodore) seems to be a boy who is quite literally trying to outrun life and its problems. Violet is still recovering from losing her sister months prior in a car accident. Despite how different the two are, and despite how tragic their lives may seem, they connect through a school project to see their state. This book is funny and relatable and heartbreaking in equal measure.

If you do not want to know about this book’s ending or themes, stop here. Honestly, if you haven’t read it, stop, read it, then come back. Okay, actually, read the trigger warnings first if you need. Some of the big ones I’ve noted include: bullying, suicidal ideation, dictions of depression, car accident, death of a child (high school aged), grief, abuse (physical/neglect), and PTSD. . . . . . . . . . . This is my second time reading All the Bright Places. The first time I read it was in around this time (summer) of 2022. I was 25 at the time and was still finding my stride in getting back into reading. I’ve always been a primarily sci-fi and fantasy reader, so I can’t say what made me pick up this book. I remember feeling the growing, impending dread as I read. This time I read it for a YA lit course for my Masters Degree. When I started it again, I thought I likely overrated it the first time. Some of the thoughts and things said early on don’t feel like they aged well, but then I remembered the intended audience and as the story unfurled, everything said and done felt viscerally real.

During my first read, I wasn’t looking for the symbolism on Finch’s name. Even knowing something was coming, I had myself convinced I saw it wrong. This allowed me to ignore a lot of very difficult to read things. I knew the first time I read this that Finch’s family was not functional, but this time the neglect really stood out to me. You can’t blame Violet or Finch’s sisters for that happened, and you want to feel bad for the mom, but I do understand why Violet’s father is so angry with her. I am so angry with her. It’s complicated though, because while Finch’s bipolar is so clearly there from the start, we don’t spend much time with his mom. I don’t excuse her in anyway, but it’s hard realizing how abused she likely was from her ex, how checked out she was likely in part to that abuse and from likely being re-traumatized having to interact with her ex-husband. I would guess he has either threatened her or has a court order to see his children considering none of them seem eager to see him. She appears depressed, overwhelmed, and mentally/emotionally unavailable. She should have done better, that cannot be excused (especially not sending Violet to find her son when she clearly suspected he was dead), but I do feel for her in a way I didn’t during my first read. (His dad can go to hell - I have no empathy for him).

On the opposite side of things, I thought Violet’s parents seemed perfect on my first read. This time I can see how flawed they are. They’re doing their best, and they clearly love their daughter, but it was heartbreaking to see how desperately Violet was clinging onto her sister while they rarely (if ever) mentioned her. While I understand how protective her father felt, it was also hard seeing how he reacted to everything, particularly calling suicide selfish when, in reality, those who die by suicide tend to believe it is the opposite. I understand that this comes from a place of grief for him, but it doesn’t feel great having him take that grief out on a child. Additionally, when Violet started voicing her concerns about Finch, while her mother tried to do everything she could think of to help, her father was uninvolved. I understand he felt trauma from not hearing from Violet for a night, but it felt almost childish to be so angry at this boy as to not care. It bothers me a little that they didn’t even try to call the police. I’m a teacher, so maybe my perspective is skewed, but if I knew a kid had gone missing for weeks, only occasionally checking in with his family (clearly neglected since the mom said this was fine and didn’t think her child dealing with mental illness needed help) and had a bad relationship with his father (I’m not sure if they knew he was abusive), I would be calling CPS and the police to find this child.

Violet is a great character. She is complex and shows great growth. She starts scared and stuck, refusing to move forward from her sister’s death, surrounded by people who hardly understand her. With Finch’s help, she finds her footing again and learns how to navigate grief in the many forms it can take, and it takes many for her. I really like her and think she would be relatable to other teens dealing with such traumatic events. Her conversation with the counselor at the end is particularly impactful.

And Finch. Finch broke my heart on both reads. This time, however, I felt it deeper. On my first read there felt like he had hope. On this one, slowing down and taking my time, I could feel how hopeless he truly felt. How every time he said he wasn’t going to fall back into a depression, how he wasn’t going to run until the adrenaline kept him “awake”, how he wanted to put all his dreams into Violet, I could see it for what it was - fear. I’m not sure he ever really believed he could out run his darkness. I understand he was also manic, but it read to me like he was experiencing a mix of depression and mania (which can happen in those with bipolar). It was hard rooting for him when I knew the ending, yet I couldn’t help it.

I also feel compelled to say this is my first time reading the author’s note. I’ve only started taking time to read them this year, and it feels especially impactful. I did not realize this was Niven’s YA debut, nor that this book reflects pieces of her real life. It puts into context why this story feels so real (even if the wandering assignment may feel a little unlikely).

In short, this book hit me just as hard as it did the first time, if not harder. And yes, I did in fact ugly sob throughout the final 60 pages. Maybe I’ll come back in another 4-5 years and put myself through it again.

Unfortunately, the Circus Rose was not for me. In its defense, I may never have come across it if it wasn’t one of the books I could pick to read for my master’s course on YA literature, but I really thought I would love it.

There were some interesting things in this book. I enjoyed the inclusion single parent representation, found family, bisexual representation, polyamory representation, difficult child/parent relationships, and the exploration of how siblings (particularly twins) are their own, individual people. Many YA readers can related to one or more of those things. While it did not work for me, I can still appreciate one POV being in prose while the other with told in verse. I think poetry readers may get more out of that mechanic. Speaking of mechanics, I also liked how one of the daughters wanted to be center stage, while the other was interested in mechanics.

All that to be said, I just didn’t love it. In the very first pages we are told that Rose and Ivory are twins from different fathers. We know at this time that their mother is NOT in a poly relationship with two men. She is dating two men, but they are uninvolved with each other. Now, is it totally possible for someone to have two eggs drop in a cycle? Yes. In theory, if that person self with two separate people during ovulation, could one sperm from each person fertilize one of the two eggs and both eggs implant? Also yes. However, the third line of the first chapter states that she simply slept with them in the same month. Sure, the daughters likely did not get details, but it just seems incredibly unlikely and misleading. If you’re going to include this in a YA novel, I need magic to explain it or the author to explain how this anomaly happened.

I also found the beginning terribly boring. It was repetitive (both girl’s POVs mentioned the same things - like that Bear could unlock their own cage) and the first few chapters felt like lazy world building. We get a recap of the first 15-16 years of their lives, but we aren’t really there. I would have perfected just jump into the story or give us their last in flashbacks. This way of writing made it impossible for me to really care because I felt so disconnected. (I have nowhere to put this, but there is a line about how one of the girls could fit into a spot that a girl of 15 could never fit into….she was 14. Many girls that are 14 and 15 are similar is shape and size, so why include this???)

Even when the true events of the book kicked off, I just didn’t care. I felt no sense of urgency and never really had reason to care. I am so sure there is an audience for this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t me.

On the Same Page is a friends to lovers romance between Riley, an every day kind of girl trying to launch a news project to reel in younger viewership, and Gianna, a larger than life, successful influencer and owner of a lingerie company. It flips back and forth between their college days from Gianna’s POV and present day from Riley’s POV.

There was nothing wrong with this book. It was cute, the over all prose was good, and I was actually really enjoying it early on. However, unfortunately, I did run into a few issues. The largest is that it dragged on and on. This book could have easily lost 100+ pages and the story would have stayed the same. I don’t mind a thick book, but there needs to be a reason for it and there was no reason for the length of this book.

The next issue I ran into was an odd continuity error. In all honesty, it doesn’t matter and I’m not even that pressed about it, but I am still confused. In the college timeline Gianna claims hers friends did not reach out after something occurs, but one of them had in the previous college chapter (for the wrong reasons, but I digress). I’m just confused if I had the timeline wrong or if this was an editing error. It’s minor, but it stuck out so it’s worth mentioning (again - I could totally be the dumb one here).

I also found the third act break up to be ridiculous. I won’t spoil it, but I will say it made no sense. It felt like conflict for the sake of conflict. I didn’t get it.

Lastly, I understand the reason for it, but we could have chilled it on how constantly the main characters wanted to sleep with each other. I don’t mind a little spice in my books (I’m not a HUGE spice fan, but it’s fine here and there), but it felt like the only thing on Riley’s mind for chapters at a time. Like I get it, girl. I’m so glad you want her, but I’m good. You made your point.

All that to be said, this ain’t a bad book and I would be willing to try another book by the author in the future. I liked the characters overall, and I really would have loved to see more of Riley at work. I was actually really interested in that part of her character and we saw shockingly little of it.

It is worth noting that I did not realize this was a spinoff of another book by the author the author until after I started it, but since these are stand alone romances, I don’t think it would have much bearing on this review. I may try that book in the future, however.

If I was still in high school when The Gravewood came out, I would have been all over it. Considering this is a book written for readers of that age, it does precisely what it should. While as an adult I still thoroughly enjoy reading YA stories, some of them translate better for adult readers than others, and this is a story I think is best enjoyed by readers in their teens to maybe early 20s.

All that to be said, there is a lot going for this book. It’s written well and the comments on Pennsylvania are spot on (I’ve lived here my whole life and could not agree more). While the characters clearly each had their designated role, I think that works well for YA books. I also found the twist predictable, but again, I don’t think it would have been as predictable if I was the target audience. I really enjoyed having a main character dealing with hearing loss in this environment. As a disabled person myself, I often find myself thinking I would simply die in most dystopian/sci fi/fantasy situations, so it was nice to see someone tackle what that may look like (helps that this is an own voices - the author uses hearing aids).

If you get the chance, get the audiobook from your library solely for the end of audiobook interview! From what I have seen, it is exclusive to the audiobook and honestly made me like the story more than I initially did.

I think I will pick up the conclusion to this duology solely because I do want some answers, but it won’t be a priority read when it releases.

The Red Winter unfortunately did not work for me. In theory, it should have. I love historical fiction and I love more folklore-inspired fantasy, but unfortunately, I simply could not get into this. I

First, however, the pros:

I liked the overall writing style and atmosphere. I also really liked Sarmodel and his relationship with Sebastian. In fact, their relationship was by far the strongest aspect of the story and I wish that was the focus instead.

However, that’s kind of it, which is a bummer because I’ve been really excited for this book. I really didn’t like the portrayal of women, for starters. There were not many prominent women characters, and the ones that were had their entire identities built around being mothers, wives, gold diggers, or sex crazed. And of course when women were no longer good/useful/trustworthy they were no longer young and beautiful (in fact, in one specific example a woman became repulsive and fat. Her fatness and lack of a young body is made a huge point of focus. Why is fatphobia still in my fantasy books???). Not to mention Joan of Arc (yes, THE Joan of Arc) loses all her credit in this narrative.

Additionally, the men literally constantly had boners. I would have counted the number of times it was mentioned (or they were seen palming the front of their pants) but who has the time?

I think the duel timeline was another weakness, but this may be in part due to the poorly crafted female characters and the fact that I didn’t buy into the romance at all. Additionally, while this book was folklore heavy, it was also Christianity heavy, and I can’t say I love the combination. Partially because they do not blend well together, but it also lead to weak world building, particularly with beings like Mars and Michael. If you can’t fully flesh out one, I don’t think including both is wise.

I also hated the foot notes. I can enjoy a footnote, but, they seemed more an attempt used to try to cover up the lazy world building than anything else.

I will say, the audiobook was well done. The narrators are talented and almost convinced me I liked this book more than I really did.

I read Out of the Silent Planet for my masters course on YA literature. While this is considered a YA classic, I would argue it’s really more current day New Adult/Adult. There is nothing wrong with the content for YA readers, but YA books are typically about characters learning their place in the world as well as feature characters in the YA age range, and this book really isn’t about either of those (the first idea could be argued, but I will get to that). Again, I do think it is totally appropriate for YA audiences, but due to the writing style, I think it’s best suited for 16 plus (upper YA - Adult). There’s been some debate over this being a YA book, and I can see why since it can be a little dense at times. At the same time, the messaging is more or less handed to you with little to interpret.

All that’s to be said, if you’re someone who got into Project Hail Mary and you’re looking for a similar story, this is it. This book was written by C.S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia amongst other famous works) in the 1930s (and while it’s not the worst from this era, do be warned that sexism, racism, and ableism do exist in this novel - regardless of era written, this does factor greatly into my rating).

The beginning starts off pretty dark, it ends up being a story about communication, misunderstanding, and (ironically) humanity. While Ransom surely does learn about his place and role in the world, the scope of this story is much larger.

Like much of his works seem to have, there are themes of religion (especially around Christianity), but while I have not read his Narnia series it does not sound as though it is as distracting or blatant as that series. I think the book can be explored with or without an interest in religion. He also seems to have quite a lot to say about humanity. I do believe that ties in with the religion piece, but if you ignore that, I actually think there can be a really interesting discussion around what makes people of earth “twisted.” (That is not to say religion must be removed from the discussion, but rather I am arguing that it needn’t be a key part for a discussion to take place, depending on the beliefs of those involved).

I do think it is interesting that it is book 1 in a trilogy because I really cannot see where else it would go. I’m unsure if I will continue. The writing was good and the story interesting, but I’m happy where things were left.

The Bone Door is one of those books that you enter knowing nothing, much of it seems odd and nonsensical, yet somehow it all comes together at the end. I will be honest, during the first 2-4 chapters I thought it was likely I would DNF. The writing style was good, but since I don’t read synopsis often, I did not realize the story is told through the lends of children, and I do not typically like that sort of story. However, I am so glad I continued to read this book.

As I said, while the story is intentionally confusing and you begin with no information (as does the MC) it is not hard to follow. White does a nice job dropping small hints and world building as you go, and each character slowly earns their own backstory. At the start of this book I did not think I would feel so connected to the characters, but Hop won me over. I also did not expect to cry (it’s been many books since one tugged at my heart enough to produce strong enough of an emotion) but towards the end it got me.

I suggest this book for people who are willing to give it a few chapters to get into it, people who enjoy slow world building, and those who can simply be along for the ride until reveals are made.

I look forward to reading more of White’s works.

I do think it is imperative to look at trigger warnings for this book, especially if you have any around children. I’ll list a few of these majors ones I noticed below, but since I do not experience any of these, it is likely I’ve missed many.

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Trigger warnings:

- Spiders/bugs

- Death

- Child neglect

- Child abuse

- Child mutilation

- Violence

- Grief

- Confinement

- Emotional Isolation

- Sexual assault (NOT on page, but mentioned & alluded to)

- Abortion (alluded to)

Note: I Read this for Masters Program

Forever is about a coming of age whirlwind romance between high school seniors Michael and Katherine. It follows the pair as they explore many of the ups and downs of a first relationship. This entire review will have spoilers.

I think it’s important to note this book was published in the 70s, so things are very different today. That being said, I do think there are some good messages in the book. Sex is not seen as a bad thing in the book, though it also does not shy away from the fact it can lead to pregnancy or STDs. I really liked how open Katherine and her mom and grandma were about sex. I also appreciated the discussions around options for contraceptives with doctors, though it was very surface level and I do wish it was more through.

I know sex scenes are pretty common today, but considering this is a book marketed for YA readers, I was pretty surprised at the multiple explicit scenes. I personally believe there is nothing wrong with sex scenes in YA novels as many YA readers are at the age where they are exploring such things, but I had not expected it from this book.

All that to be said, there are some major red flags this book does not discuss. First and foremost, Michael was the worst. He kind of reminded me of one of my exs, so relatable, I guess, but we weren’t supposed to hate him. Yet he tried to pressure Katherine into sex multiple times and got moody the few times she didn’t want to do anything. Then, when things end, he immediately accuses her of cheating and throws in her face that he had been cheating on her the whole time they were apart for their summer jobs (it is never confirmed or denied if he did or if he was just trying to hurt her, but gross behavior either way). Katherine’s infatuation with Theo and the implication she might start seeing him at the end also left me feeling icky.

Also, despite some praise for her mom, I didn’t love everything about Katherine’s parents. Her dad gave weird vibes, and I didn’t love them forcing her into a job. I understand why, but it still was kind of awful. And then calling her to tell her that her grandpa died but she couldn’t come home??? Unhinged behavior. Either tell her and let her home, or don’t tell her until camp is over. Pick one.

The plot line with the friend’s suicide attempt was abrupt and unnecessary as was the other friend (friend’s cousin??) having a baby. Not to mention the weird fatphobia throughout the book for no reason??

Honestly, I don’t have much to say on this one. I was not in love with the series after book 1, but I got the first 3 books as a gift so I wanted to try at least that many. Book 1 was okay, but by no the FMC has had little to not character growth, I don’t even want to count how many times the word “perv” was used, and both MMCs are walking red flags from day 1. The writing did not age particularly well, and while the attempts at diversity is a plus, this series reads extraordinary juvenile, yet plays on the boarder of explicit scenes (it’s closed door, but there are several mentions of getting undressed for sexual reasons). Even when I was in high school this would have been written too young. I’m really not sure why the target audience is.

This is a story that I’ve felt the need to sit and reflect on. Upon first glance it reads like a horror/thriller, but thinking on the events, it can be difficult to discern what exactly happened. I love an unreliable narrator when done well, and this does fit that well.

I enjoyed the themes of grief, identity, heritage, and social perception. In such a short page count, it did tackle all of those things well.

However, at the same time my main compliant about this book is I wish it was longer. I could have used another 25-50 pages getting the rhythm of this book. The ending felt abrupt. I do love an open-ended ending, but because of how quickly it ended, I feel like I don’t have enough to really theory craft off of, which is what I enjoy from ambiguous endings.

If someone told me that I would pick up a Veronica Roth novella in 2024 and love it, I wouldn’t have believed it. I most certainly would not have believed it if someone told me I was going to excitedly fall into a new duology written by her. This is no shade to Roth, but even at its height, I didn’t love Divergent (though I was still a fan). Roth is evidence that it is important to give author’s second chances.

Focusing now on Seek the Traitor’s Son, I was admit it was not perfect. However, I had fun with it (as much fun as you can have with this sort of story). It felt nostalgic (and boy am I glad it is a true dystopia with a subplot of romance…well, more than a subplot but it certainly is not the main plot). I had not expected to have more POVs outside of the MFC and MMC, but I’m so glad for it because the added POV did bring something to the story.

The most notable strength of this story are the characters. Even the unlikable ones and the ones that made choices I did not agree with, they felt real and I could clearly see their motivations. I know I praised Roth’s growth, but if you like some of her typical plot points, they will be found here (I.e. a tormented man dealing with trauma & a strong FMC overcoming personal and societal hurtles)

Although this book certainly can be classified as sci-fi, don’t let that intimidate you if you’re not typically a sci-fi reader. It is low sci-fi. Yes, there are ships and such, but you don’t need to follow any hard science.

**I was also pleasantly surprised with the bi representation**

All that to be said, it isn’t a five star because I was waiting for more from the world. This is a duology, so I’m fully expecting to get what I was looking for in book two. We were given bits and pieces of world building and some hints as to what is to come, so I am hopeful book 2 will be that five star. The other reason I have not rated it higher is because of the romance. I actually really loved both the MMC and FMC, but the romance seemed to develop very quickly. I understand there are oaths and prophecies at play, but it doesn’t seem like those things would force feelings to catch particularly quickly, so I would have liked a few more scenes to really see them falling for each other.

Doll Bones is a Middle Grade horror novel following a trio of friends as they enter an adventure to put “the queen” to rest and, hopefully, save their friendship.

For anyone who is unaware, Middle Grade novels typically involve a protagonist realizing the world is much larger than they may have initially realized. This book does that well through a character named Zach, who learns that family is complicated, friendship takes effort, and maybe adventure is needed regardless of the judgment of others.

Personally, I thought it was a great balance of spooky atmosphere without being scary. As with all Middle Grade, I do think the maturity of the reader will impact the experience. The kids in this story make some decisions that are not bad, but not ones that any parents would want their children to take. A more mature reader will go into the story and understand this, but a less mature middle schooler may not.

I thought Zach was an overall relatable and sweet kid, and between the three friends I think most readers will be able to see themselves. One of the kids has a complicated relationship with their father, one lives with her grandma after losing her parents, and the other was a strong willed “weird girl” that needs the approval of no one except her friends.

On the surface, Yesteryear is a debut novel about Natalie, a woman who partakes in the tradwife persona online while having a team behind the curtains making her social media boom possible, and what it may be like to truly live during the time she tries to encapsulate online. This story is also about womanhood, media perception, real vs fake identity, religious trauma, and more. I can’t say this was a fun time, but I can say I will be thinking about this for a long while. While it was not perfect (the pacing in the middle was pretty slow for how fast it wrapped up), I’m very impressed that this is a debut novel and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for anything else Burke decides to write (and perhaps I’ll need to check out her podcast). This story features a full cast of unlikable characters (literally no one) and the perspective of one of the most unreliable characters I’ve read in a long time. Truly, I’m still thinking through some of the things I’ve read and I’m trying to decide what occurred (this was an intention choice and it does make me want to reread it. Personally, I love an unreliable narrator, but I can see some people not enjoying this book because of that. I also appreciated that the writing style was both readable and very intentional. There were very few things I did not like about this book. The pacing was a bit of a hurdle for me. This book is not any longer than what I typically read, but it took me significantly longer to get through it due to the off pacing. While I love characterization, I felt we were given a few too many scenes to help the reader understand how a character (partially Natalie) behaves or thinks. I wish some of it was pared down because it resulted in a lot of nothing happening for a while. I also wanted more time in the past timeline. While we needed the present timeline, we spent too much time there for me.

Before I get into my more spoilery thoughts, I think think book requires a few specific trigger warnings: (I’m sure I missed some) Misogyny (external and internalized) Slut shaming Sexual assault Physical assault Depression childbirth Child loss Miscarriage Abuse (physical, emotional, child) Neglect Religious bigotry Homophobia Animal death infidelity

Spoiler Section Below . . . . . . . . . . Honestly, I felt kind of dumb I didnt figure out what was happening. The clues were all there, but I somehow missed it. I really like how Burke left the language in the “1800s” modern. While reading it I found it a little jolting, but now knowing that they were not in the past, it felt like a well developed clue. I also thought it was so interesting that everyone around Natalie said she was awful and and mean (and she was internally), but then towards the end she says her mean thoughts out loud, but it’s still in italics and not quotes, so I’m curious how much of that stuff was said out loud. Her old roommate and her mom called her out for being mean, so I’m guessing at least some of it?? I do wish we know what happened with Caleb, her husband. In this way, the ending fell a little flat. I don’t need things to be tied up with a bow, but I do find him to be even worse than her. I don’t think Natalie was ever a good person, but she certainly was suffering from postpartum depression and never received the proper support or treatment and was very unwell. Meanwhile her husband is happy to do nothing, drug her, was consciously and willfully neglecting their children, and did not provide his wife proper medical treatment when her foot became mangled. I’m not giving Natalie a pass, but the story does nothing to either tell us he was held accountable for his part in the abuse, nor does it give any kind of messaging about how men are rarely held accountable for the same crimes as women (the story touches on the latter once, but not in regards to what happens with Caleb). I also don’t know what to think of the story line with Shannon. In one breath she says Caleb is smarter than he seems and in the next she says she would be too smart to have his kids, so which is it? I also don’t know what to think about the sexual assault claims because it didn’t seem that way from the book, but Natalie is not exactly reliable. Still, I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of Natalie acting out this way in some kind of suppressed desire (it’s kind of a harmful concept and I don’t think that’s was this author’s intentions considering how the rest of the book was written), so I’m choosing to believe Shannon is also unreliable as well.

A Forbidden Alchemy takes place in a world in which Idium is everything. Without those with power risk losing it, and those without it need access or risk remaining in the same disenfranchised lives they and their family lines have suffered for generations. It attempts to ask, what happens when a girl from a poor mining town gets accepted into the elite’s lifestyle? I would say the first 60% of this book is honestly a fun, stereotypical romantasy. It is odd calling people fighting for their rights fun, but it is what it is. You get the brooding guy, the strong woman, the lovable cast of characters. If you are someone who typically loves any romantasy you pick up, this is probably going to be a great book for you. For me, however, it fell flat. I am pretty particular about my romantasy, and I have learned I prefer romantic fantasy over romantasy, but there are a few that break that rule, so I have this one a try. Like I said, I didn’t take it too seriously, but I have having fun for the first 60% (I’m guesstimating). There is a twist around that point, however, that completely broke my trust in the author. I will not say who the twist involves, but there are two POVs in this book, and one of the POVs has a pretty significant reveal at this point, and it didn’t feel good. I love an unreliable narrators, but this was not that. Instead, this character had a huge secret they were keeping, but not once before the reveal did they think about this secret or worry someone might find out or worry that if anyone did know if they may reveal it. It is potentially a life or death level secret. Personally, I do not believe a character would not be internally stressed about this situation, and when authors write twists this way, it breaks my trust because now I feel as though there is no point in following the story, because twists can come out of nowhere for no reason at all other than plot convenience. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine. Another complaint I have is some of their reactions seem a little off. I understand being blinded by duty, or love, or whatever value you hold highest, but there were moments that should have been met with larger reactions instead of instant forgiveness considering the types of people this book follows. I was also pretty disappointed by the synopsis. I almost with this was book 2. The synopsis promises a story about a girl who is accepted to an important school and see a montage of her time there. I would have loved to see her grow up there. See her become immersed in this new and unfamiliar culture. I would have loved to live in it for a while and get a solid grasp on the magic system. Then book 2 could have been this book. There was nothing egregiously wrong with this book. Nothing glaring offensive or bad. It had some interesting things to say about political and social power that I would have liked to be explored more. It was truly a typical romantasy that I had fine with for the most part, but every now and then found this that I did not like. I am curious where book 2 will go, so I’m likely to continue.

Note: I did not consider this in my review, but the narrator for Nina was a little tough to listen to. She would be totally normal and would be doing a good performance, but then she would make her voice kind of whining sounding when trying to show desperation? I have a pretty low audiobook ick tolerance, so this may not bother anyone, but I thought it was worth noting.

Lady Tremaine is the infamous “evil stepmother” Etheldreda’s side of the Cinderella fairy tale. That is all I knew going into this book. It is worth noting this is not a fairytale in itself, as is not magical or full of whimsy. It is a historical fiction placing this tale in the real world.

This is somehow the fourth book I’ve read this year about motherhood, and I know I have one more on my physical TBR. It is odd considering I actually really do not enjoy books about motherhood, but here we are. And I did enjoy this one.

I’ve seen people complain that the protagonist of this book is not evil, and while I agree, I also push back on the notion that she is good. In fact, she herself also pushes back on this idea. I will not provide specific examples to avoid spoilers, but there are many times I wondered if I was suppose to feel sympathy towards her or dislike, and that is the point. She loves her daughters deeply and wants to right all the wrongs she had faced through them, for better or worse. This causes her to act selfishly, to be cruel, to hurt people. This causes her to even harm her daughters in a way, turning them into copies of herself. And the cause of this all stems back to womanhood and motherhood. I will say it again: That is the point.

Throughout history women have been pitted against each other and given little to no rights in most parts of the world. It is really only in recent decades women have gained independence from their husbands, and even then women do not have the same rights as many of their male counterparts. This story explores this idea by showing us how different women (particularly one trying to fake her way to a better life and one living in wealth) approach life, each other, and the lengths they are willing to go to for their children.

So no, Etheldrea is not cartoonishly evil like she is in the source material, but she is deeply flawed and complicated. She is sometimes a character you root for and other times completely unlikable. Her daughters and the the Cinderella character are similar in this way too. None of them are perfect. None of them are “good” or “evil.” They are all simply women trying to survive.

review coming soon

You Did Nothing Wrong is C.G. Drew’s adult debut. It is about Elodie’s and Jude’s experience living in an old house as Elodie’s new husband renovates it. Jude hates the house, saying he can hear things in the walls and the renovations cause the house pain. At first Elodie assures her son he’s only nervous about living in a new place, but quickly starts to wonder if maybe he’s right.

I think people are going to love or hate this book. Although it’s far less connected to the earth and botany, the writing is still very much like C.G. Drews other works.

Personally I had a great time with this book. Even the ending - which I am sure some people will absolutely hate - made complete sense to me for this story. I’ve come to accept I will always have questions leaving Drew’s books. It’s actually something I’ve learned to enjoy about them. It never feels like plot holes or laziness, but as a real part of the story telling. My only criticism (if it can be called that) is this didn’t really feel like a horror. While I suppose get why it was placed in the genre, I would say it’s more domestic and psychological thriller than horror (and I get the publisher has more say over this than the author). As someone who gets scared easily, I never felt scared. Instead, I spent a lot of time trying to decide what I thought was happening, who was playing what role, and what the catalyst was. Those topics were pretty obvious from early on, but there’s still plenty I didn’t figure out (and some things I’m still trying to understand).

Elodie is a tough pill to swallow. Sometimes I felt bad for her, sometimes I was frustrated by her, and sometimes I hated her, which made the reading experience interesting, but admittedly a little exhausting at times. I know that all sounds like a negative, but it was clearly intentional and I enjoyed the experience.

I really liked Jude as a character. I was worried we were going to go the typical “creep kid” route with this, but this book didn’t feel stereotypical at all. Drew’s also has shared that they are autistic, and though Jude is never formally diagnosed, it’s very clear from the writing that he is autistic and I have to imagine some of Drew’s experience was placed into Jude. For better or worse, it felt very real, from how he reacted to things and untold the world around him to how people reacted to him.

Overall I really liked this book, but it certainly isn’t for everyone and I’m curious to see what people think of the ending.

The Beauty of Darkness is the third and final book in the Remnant Chronicles. As such, I really can’t say anything more on the synopsis without spoiling the prior books.

What I can say is, I’m not sure if it’s me or the book. I’ve been feeling very indifferent to every book I’ve read recently. I know this is YA and I’m certainly no longer the target audience, but I see adults gushing over it all the time and I do love a YA fantasy. That’s not to say I didn’t like the book. I did. It was technically fine in every way, and I think if I read this at 16 I would have been obsessed. At 29, however, I struggled to care. It felt very predictable, and if I’m honest, though I could see the ending coming, I still felt lied to. (I know prophecies are never straight forward, but still).

To be fair, I didn’t love book 1, so maybe I should have just given up there. I just wanted to live it because it sounded like something I should.

I do think this series will work for so many people, and I think it’s a great book for the intended audience, just not me.

I can’t say I’ve ever had an interest in Moby Dick not putting the tale in space, but I have really enjoyed Alexis Hall’s work in the past, so I was anticipating this book. Unfortunately, it fell flat.

I will say the writing itself was fine and there were a few moments that I found humorous (not funny per se, but funny adjacent). I also mostly read this via audiobook, and the narrator did a good a job at making it clear who was speaking. I also generally enjoy stories where the narrator keeps things from the audience in the way this did (not as plot conscience, but this book is written like a memoir, and the narrators tells you they’re keeping information from you).

However, that’s where my enjoyment ended. The book was so casually sex focused that I couldn’t concentrate on anything else (note: this is not erotica and does not read as it. For example, the unnamed narrator will casually mention they’re having some sort of sex while something else is happening). In fact, I’m shocked anyone has time to do anything else with how often it seems like they are all thinking about sex. Other words are used to imply that content (railed was used twice, but I think there were others), but the words sex and sexy appear in the book 53 times. The fact that the MC was having sex with multiple people (consensually and with everyone’s knowledge - a plus) does NOTHING for the story.

There were the bones of a message in this book. It seemed like there was an attempt to have some commentary on the perception of lost histories and history discovers solely through artifacts and science (a really interesting concept that got lost in the story - I wanted MORE), as well as maybe how going out and having experiences first hand is valuable and necessary.

Lastly, I think it’s a little unfair to compare this to Gideon the Ninth. I can see where the comparison comes from, but hike Gideon uses an unreliable character who is chaotic and sometimes discusses her “dirty magazines,” that book is layered and the characters are well constructed. This book had potential, but the MC really needed to be reigned in and the book’s messaging needed to be focused better in my opinion.

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.