Month: February 2023

Will is struggling with what to do after his brother was shot down in the street like a dog, in his head the same sentence repeats, follow the rules. Will’s brother, Shawn, was one of the only family he had left, and he was prepared to do as his brother always said, follow the Riles, Rule #1, no crying, no matter what, Rule #2, no snitching, you saw nothing, rule #3, always get revenge. Will was certain he knew who killed his brother, the man that once claimed to be his friend, so Will prepares to follow the rules Shawn told him, but he finds himself discovering things about his past, about his family, about the rules.

Long Way Down is a wonderful novel with hidden details and surprises, with nothing seeming as it is first presented. I really enjoyed reading this book and discovering small details that makes everything make sense, the characters are really well down, with none being like the other, each having there own unique problems. This book shines an interesting light of the lives of a gang members and their family. I didn’t really enjoy the way things went down, but every word of the book is essential for story and lesson learned. There were and still are parts of the book I struggle to understand but that makes the book a little more enjoyable/entertaining. This book is a easy, quick read, but it also contains little mysteries that need to be unravled and some of which is not given the answer to. This book can be easily enjoyed by any group of people, but I feel like it would be much more popular around the late teen groups.

Holes is a wonderful novel Written about a young boy named Stanley Yelnats who is wrongfully accused of stealing a pair of sneakers and sent to a Juvenile Detention Center called Camp Green Lake. Stanley is an overweight teen that doesn’t have many friends, and because his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grand-father didn’t keep his promise to the one-legged Gypsie Madame Zeroni his family is thought to be cursed. Camp Green Lake is a detention center where they have the teens rehabilitated by having them dig one 5×5 hole in the dessert everyday. What the Government didn’t know was that the lady that ran the place, Warden Walker, was only after a treasure that a outlaw buried there a long time ago.

Stanley goes through hell, figuratively and literally, with being tormented by the Wardens assistant, Mr. Sir, and having to spend all day outside in the sun digging a hole big enough for a grave. A camper called Zero seemed to like Stanley, with only really communicating with him. Stanley and them become friends and they strike up a deal, since Zero couldn’t read or write Stanley would teach him if Zero helped mdig his hole. As Zero and Stanley both love their arrangement the other campers find it to be unfair because they had to dig the whole of their hole while Stanley got help, with all the hostility from the others they both end up leaving Green lake and unintentally unknots the mistakes of their past.

I really enjoyed this book, it is told in both the story of Stanley and his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grand-father so we learn a lot from his and another campers past. There are so many surprises in the novel so it isnt so predictable and it keeps the reader laughing. I feel this book is great for any reader, is has a very interesting storyline and it is a very funny novel. Its not a very complicated book so it may not be read by a lot of high level readers, but it is also just a good night time novel to relax and enjoy.

“Everything’s a game, Avery Grambs. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win.”

Avery Kylie Grambs was unremarkable; She lived in Connecticut with her older half-sister, Libby, her next of kin after the death of her mother. She juggled a job and challenging high school classes, scraping together as much as she could to pay for college and her dream of traveling the world. Avery was almost there when her world–and Libby’s–stopped. She discovered that she had been named in the will of a wealthy Texan, Tobias Hawthorne, and was needed for the reading. When she arrived at Hawthorne house, Avery met his four young grandsons and their intimidating parentage. At the end of the reading, Avery discovered that she alone–not the Hawthorne family–had inherited the entire estate worth billions. But why her? With cameras in her face and targets on her back, Avery set out to solve the puzzle of the century alongside the Hawthorne brothers who had tricky intentions and even trickier wit. 

The Inheritance Games elevates some staple YA tropes such as enemies to lovers, rags to riches, and your standard love triangle to masterful levels. While this story at times felt far fetched and messy, it rarely felt predictable. The endless plot twists and elaborate puzzles crafted by Barnes leave readers feeling outwitted, but not outpaced. The love triangle slowed down the story, not always for the better, but I have hope it can be salvaged in the following books in Barnes’ series.

While at times the quality of the writing didn’t match up with that of the plot, and the set up felt a bit messy, The Inheritance Games was a deserving winner of the 2021-22 North Star YA award. This award is given to books that encourage young adults to read for fun, and I think that The Inheritance Games is an incredibly deserving recipient. Barnes created a story that I was sad to put down and excited to dive back into, which I find especially rare. This book is great for anyone who enjoys a story rich in escapism, mystery, and tantalizing drama.

“Under the smooth, familiar face of things is another that waits to tear the world in two.”

The Goddess Circe, daughter of Helios and Perse, is unlike any of her siblings or cousins. She doesn’t wield the same charm or beauty of the other gods and goddesses, and is forced to live among her kind as an unsightly, clumsy embarrassment. Amidst the disapproval of her family and community, Circe finds love with a mortal fisherman. With her passionate desire to pursue him and give him a place in her world, she is led down a path of sorcery and transformation that leads, by her formidable actions upon another nymph who stood in her way, to her exile. During her exile on the island of Aiaia, Circe experiments with herbs, potions, witchcraft, and ravenous power, all the while discovering her place in the mortal world. 

Circe is delivered by Miller with raw conviction, a clear modern standout in the literary realm of Greek mythology adaptations. She successfully turns the story of a cold villain on its head, revealing a misunderstood survivor. Already impressing readers with The Song of Achilles, a story thatched with that of Circe, Miller certainly knows how to pen a tremendous reimagining of some of our oldest tales. 

Even the most seasoned mythology patron will find fresh thrills and visceral, newfound connections with characters we thought we knew inside-and-out. Miller’s use of simple dialogue and description made the story seamless and effortless to read, capable of pulling anyone in from the first word to the last. I would confidently recommend Circe to readers who have outgrown Percy Jackson, to lovers of history and mythology, and to anyone who savors a classic adventure.

If you’re looking for a recently published book that contains an amazing build up to the final scene of the book, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson is definitely a good pick. This book reminded me of a Netflix series I watched a few months ago called Warrior Nun. I think it reminds me of this series because it has sort of the same concept. Nuns in a church who are secretly types of soldiers, who defend the town without the civilians knowing. The plots are almost exactly similar, especially because of what happens to the main character.

In the beginning of this book, it tells the backstory of Artemisia. When she was a child Artemisia was possessed by a spirit, and she survived, which is a very rare occurrence. When one of Artemisia’s acquaintances is attacked, Artemisia inherits a relic from her. This relic contains a very powerful spirit, a revenant. The revenants are not supposed to be able to speak to the host, but Artemisia ends up hearing the revenant when it saves her from being struck by an attacker. This book tells the tale of Artemisia dealing with the revenant constantly trying to take over her body and possess her.

Vespertine also features plot-relevant history about medieval France. So, if you’re looking to learn about a bit of France’s history while reading a thrilling book, this would be the one. Although Vespertine may seem like it’s just another Sci-Fi, it also has a sort of dark and grim feeling to it. The author doesn’t just skim over the topic of death like other writers do, she talks about. There is a bad stigma about writers speaking on the topic of death, but Rogerson actually does it very well.

In The Wild Light by Jeff Zentner begins in a small Tennessee town and is told through the point of view of Cash. He and his best friend Delaney Doyle are both in their junior year of high school and have already experienced tremendous losses. Cash’s father was never in the picture and his mother died of an overdose. Delaney’s dad was also never in the picture and her mother was constantly overdosing, with Delaney bringing her back. All of these losses though are what brought the pair together. They met at a Narateen meeting and quickly became friends bonding over their sad home lives.

When Delaney discovers a new fungus on one of their adventures she gets the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend Middleford Academy in Connecticut. But she’ll only go if Cash can attend as well. So the teens embark on a journey finding new love, loss, friendship, and family.

I really enjoyed In The Wild Light, although the ending seemed a little fast and I think it was missing a little bit of character development/connections. Overall though I really enjoyed it and thought it was a nice new take on the typical YA romance book.

In The Wild Light was nominated for The North Star YA Award. This award is designed to encourage young adults to read for fun. All of the books are nominated and voted for by Maine teens. I think this book really deserved this nomination because of its coming-of-age theme and real depiction of what it is like to deal with loss.

Hit and Run published in 2007 is shown through the points of view of freshman Laurie and Seniors Quin, Jeremy, and Analise.  All it takes is one night to change the course of the rest of their lives.  Quin, who had been drinking, was driving Laurie home from a party/first date when they hit what they believed to be a deer.  They later discover that what they thought to be a deer was actually Analise Bower and that she was now in a coma and on life support.  Jeremy, who was Analise’s boyfriend, spent all of the time possible by her bedside begging and praying that she just open her eyes and wake up.  Eventually, we get to see Laurie’s chilling plan forming.  She is going to blackmail Quin into dating her in exchange for her keeping quiet about their “little” accident. Quin reluctantly agrees in order to protect his reputation, as a football player and the most popular boy in school.  Neither really seems to show any guilt that they were directly responsible for almost killing a girl.

I really did not enjoy this book at all. I don’t understand how Laurie could do what she did. This was especially hard for me because I know firsthand the toll a hit-and-run takes on the family members of the victim. My uncle was killed in a hit-and-run and my family spent two whole years searching, hoping, and praying that the driver would just come forward. I was young at the time of his death but can see how it still affects them today.

I would recommend Hit and Run to more mature young readers because some of the content may be triggering. I would not recommend this book if you’re looking for a sweet book with a happy ending because Hit and Run is not it.

“The first step to seeing is seeing that there are things you do not see.” 
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Pet is a young adult fantasy/speculative fiction novel by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi. It is a National Honor Book, a Stonewall Honor Book, and a Walter Dean Myers Honor Book. The National Book Award is an annual award given to books of the highest quality written by Americans and published by American publishers. According to the American Library Association website: “The Stonewall Book Awards are presented to English language books that have exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered experience.” The Walter Award, began in 2016, is a book by diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity.

“Monsters don’t look like anything, That’s the whole point. That’s the whole problem.” 
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Lucille has no monsters anymore. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam’s mother paints Pet, a creature that looks like a monster, who emerges the painting with a drop of Jam’s blood. Pet has come to hunt a monster which lurks in Redemption’s house, but needs Jam to find the answers it can’t. Jam is forced to search for a monster amount the people she loves most.

“So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous. Forgetting is how the monsters come back.” 
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Pet is an intestine exploration of how to explain all the bad things, the hard things, in the world. The book is slow moving as all the characters are held back by their fear of knowing. Pet says that you see what you want to see, and this is what Jam spends the book overcoming. Dealing with traumatic subjects is hard and Emezi does an excellent job portraying that. However, Jam is not a particularly interesting character which hinders the readers ability to get into the story. Objectively, the books concept is very interesting and unique. Unfortunately, Jam is bland. She is more than the minority groups she belongs too, but still isn’t interesting. Jam is the most fleshed out charcter, and is only the typical naive child in a cruel world, not much more. She has a healthy relationship with her parents though.

“Angels aren’t pretty pictures in old holy books, just like monsters aren’t ugly pictures. It’s all just people, doing hard things or doing bad things. But is all just people, our people.” 
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Pet is an excellent read if you like books that sound auditory and books about societal problems. Would recommend to anyone who likes real world problems written in more palatable ways.

Bone Gap is a twisting story that keeps you coming back for more. Fin O’Sullivan and his brother Sean can’t seem to keep the women in their lives around. First abandoned by their mother and second by a girl everyone thought Sean would marry, Roza. Roza was a Polish girl who had shown up in their barn and was bruised all over. Roza had lots of past trauma and she was healing. Until she was gone. At least, everyone but Fin thought she abandoned them. Fin thought that she was taken. Taken by a man who was average, but his body moved like the corn in the fields of their town of Bone Gap. No matter how many times he was asked to describe the man, Fin couldn’t seem to give a firm description. No one believed him and so he got nicknames like Moonface, Spaceman, and Sidetrack. Not even Sean would believe him and their relationship became very strained. Fin started falling for a girl, Priscilla Willis, though she liked to be called Petey. When someone left a horse in Fin’s barn, he started riding it every night and let the horse go wherever she wanted. But she always took him to Petey’s house. Petey and Fin started spending more time together and Fin told her about his’s thoughts on Roza going missing. She told him she believed him, but did she really? One day whilst bringing a chicken back to the man acrossed the road, he met the man again. Still average, still moving like the corn, still unidentifiable for Fin. And yet again, no one believed him. As time goes by, Priscilla began to notice odd things about Fin. How he couldn’t look people in the eye, he didn’t always recognize people he knew, and a couple other odd instances. When Fin got hurt and was in the hospital, Petey snooped around his house and began putting together the pieces of the puzzle she had. With what she learned about Fin, things started to come together and she began understanding him far more.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the writing style and I especially enjoyed how Laura Ruby presented the story. On occasion it got a little confusing because it switched points of view between Fin and Roza. Sometimes I wouldn’t quite get Roza’s part but after reading more, I would see what had happened then and how it contributed to the storyline. I think that quite a few different people would enjoy this. There is no overpowering magical element that makes this a fantasy book nor is it a realistic fiction. I would say that this would probably be better for an older/more mature teenage audience but other than that I think lots of people could like this book.

Bone Gap won the Printz Award in 2016. The Michael L. Printz Award annually honors the best books for teens, entirely based upon it’s literary merit each year. I genuinely believe that Bone Gap deserved this award. I think that the book was really eloquently written and the vocabulary used made for an incredibly enjoyable reading experience.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a book that has many intriguing characters and a fascinating and captivating plot. In 2021 the book won the Edgar Award. The Edgar Allan Poe award is an award for mystery. It is a very prestigious award and has been given since the 1940s. The award is presented every year to a mystery writing author, in either fiction, realistic fiction, or nonfiction mystery.

Avery Kylie Grambs is just an ordinary girl at the beginning of the book. She has a happy life with her sister Libby. She then mysteriously inherits billions of dollars from a man she has never met. In order for her to get this money she has to follow a certain set of guidelines, and in order to follow those guidelines she has to live with the Hawthorne brothers for a year. Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander are all boys who have grown up privileged and are very weary of Avery in the beginning.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is full of twists and turns and is a truly intriguing story. The plot is interesting but also a bit stereotypical. The poor girl gets rich, life changes overnight, becomes famous and has to live with multiple attractive young men of the same age. While some of the overall plot is a little predictable there are many things that are uncovered throughout the book that truly surprise the reader. All the characters are unique to the book and even though someone are only talked about by others they all contribute greatly.

This is a young adult mystery book with multiple other underlying genres. Romance, thriller, and fantasy are all present in the book. The book is easy to follow and while it’s not overtly challenging it is a very easy book to stay interested in. The book is consistently leaving the reader at cliffhangers and coming back to them later in the story.