Month: March 2023

Star Wars: Lost Stars is a duel Point of view story following best friends Thane and Ciena; children from opposite families on one planet striving for the same goal: to be the best imperial officers they can be. Thane grew up the youngest son of Second wave settlers on the outer rim planet Jeculan. His parents and older brother create a terrible home environment for him which he dreamed of escaping by joining the Empire. Ciena is the only surviving daughter of Valley parents. Ciena lives her life for both herself and her late twin sister. Her biggest wish is to one day show her sister the galaxy outside of the remote planet. Thane and Ciena meet the day the Empire arrives on Jeculan and the two bond over their shared passion for flying. Over the years the pair train together to attend one of the Empire’s prestigious training academies. Together they travel to Courousaunt and their bond is seemingly stranger than ever until Ciena is framed for altering Thane’s project causing him to fail the assignment. Now the once unstoppable duo can barely stand to look at each other. Though the years they grow together despite being assigned to opposite sides of the galaxy. What was once a childhood friendship turns into a passionate love that is only uncovered after a betrayal. Now they are reminded that despite the differences they have to work together to save each other.

Star Wars: Lost Stars has a heavy focus on honor and loyalty. Ciena was raised in a first-wave family. these first-wave settlers uphold a strong sense of honor. When Ciena swears her oath of loyalty to the Empire her loyalty is cemented. As long as she had been with thane she had never known her to dishonor anything but now that Thane has disregarded his oath Ciean has to decide if she can be loyal to Thane and still honor her oath to the Empire. Together they have to discover that you can be loyal to more than one thing.

I absolutely love this book, it is one of my top 2 books and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone even if they don’t like Star Wars. Part of the appeal is that the book doesn’t neassecarily have to be a Star Wars book, it could be its own story without having to have a whole franchise to build off of it which I thinkdraws a lot of new readers to the book but it is an excellent book whether your reading it because it is a Star Wars book or not

In this blog post I found on JSTOR, Chris Crowe begins his thesis with stating that objections over YA literature usually stem from one of two reasons:

1. They aren’t the Classics.
2. They corrupt the young.

He states in a quote from a Harry Potter critic that children’s (YA) books can be great literature, but only if they’re well-written, stretch the reader’s imagination, and open virgin minds to the magical power of words. I think that this is a really great way to put it, especially in comparison to the new law in Maine that’s trying to pass with ‘obscene content’. This is contrasting to where it’s stated in the law that if a piece of literature has content that is not deemed educational, political, etc., it can still be a crucial part of a child’s curriculum.

In another paragraph, Crowe states that there are some YA “classics”, but the genre hasn’t been around long enough for there to really be classics. There aren’t really any YA books that fit into the requirements of true literary classics, like Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice, etc.

A lot of adults are worried that YA books would “corrupt” the young, based on how “woke” the novels are nowadays, addressing topics like sexual assault, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, mental health, suicide, and more. The negative press coming from this has actually managed to change minds of some people who had previously admired the YA genre.

Crowe states that while not all of the YA books are addressing concerning topics like stated above, the ones that are showing content like that cover the media for the ones that don’t. The books that parents will get worried over, the books that are challenged in the media, the books that students relate to the most… those are the books that make trouble for the rest of the YA genre. And, of course, those are my favorite kinds of books.

They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney is a novel which, in the beginning chapters, switches between the points of view of two girls; Catherine Ferris, age 15, and Murielle Lyman, age 10. Five years ago, Murielle’s parents fled the country to escape federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from their clients. Murielle was sent into foster care, thought to be lost to the rest of her family.

Five years later, Cathy Ferris shows up in Greenwich. She’s identical to little Murielle, but of course five years older. Her cousin Tommy recognizes her immediately, getting down on his knees in front of sixty other summer school students and pleading for Cathy to admit that she’s Murielle.

The book follows Cathy- aka Murielle- as she unwinds the truth of her childhood and both of her lives collide into one. She’s being cornered by her Aunt Lois, cousin Tommy, and the FBI- who wants to use her as bait to lure her parents out of hiding.

This book was a very quick read but I was actually pretty unsatisfied with the ending. I’m going to put spoilers here just to show what I mean by “unsatisfied”: Murielle ends up making contact with her parents without the help of the FBI, but with the help of one of her classmates in summer school. Not a long conversation or anything, but Murielle tells her parents to RUN. I wish that the story had gone on longer to tell you what happened after the FBI realized that her parents had made contact with her; I wish the story had shown Murielle reuniting with her parents after those long five years, even if it was through prison visitations.

Another part of the story that I feel wasn’t addressed enough was the little bit of romance speckled here and there; a boy in Cathy’s class, Spencer, has a crush on her and asks her to hang out one Saturday. We never get to find out how Spencer really feels about Cathy after he finds out she’s Murielle, we never get to know how they continued along after the book ends.

“#MeToo with a magical twist.” – Kirkus Reviews

How To Succeed in Witchcraft is a young adult with fantasy elements that are used to soften the blow of the heavy subjects in the book. Magic is given an explanation for how terrible things could happen in a society supposedly above sexually and racially motivated crimes without denying the horrible things people do. This book is beautifully written and faces the hard truths of the world accurately without shying away from them. Shay and Ana are fleshed out, believable characters. Sometimes when authors put characters in hard situations, they fall apart because the character isn’t strong enough do what the author intends. This isn’t the case in this book. Even the side characters make decisions that feel like something a real person would do.

Shay Johnson is junior at T.K. Anderson Magical Magnet School, she’s one of the top contenders to winning the full-ride Brockton Scholarship. This scholarship is the only way for Shay to get into a magical licensing school, which is the only way for her to make enough money to support her family. Her main competition is Ana Alvarez who has won every aspect of their academic competitions. The only was to victory is impressing Mr. B (short for Brockton), the shady drama teacher who is head of the scholarship committee. Mr. B persuades Shay to star in this year’s aggressively inclusive, racially diverse musical. Shay agrees even though she’ll have to put up with Ana playing the other lead. But with rehearsals underway, Shay realizes Ana is not the despicable one and Shay could use someone in her corner once she finds herself on the receiving end of Mr. B’s unpleasant and unwanted attention.

This book has a predictable storyline. It’s obvious from the beginning what is going to happen, but the characters are compelling enough that they make How To Succeed in Witchcraft a fun ride regardless of whether you figure out the plot. It’s also just a good dissuasion of the society we live in. Things like sexual assault and racism are hard to talk about and How To Succeed in Witchcraft does a good job of telling a beautiful story that demonstrates healthy relationships and contrasts them to the unhealthy ones. This book is about standing up for what is right no matter how hard that will be, because that is what our world needs in order to bring about any real change. Broph mentions that as a society we like to sweep our problems under the rug. How To Succeed in Witchcraft is about why that will never work in the long run. How To Succeed in Witchcraft similar to Aiden Thomas and Sabrina the Teen Witch.

Revelle is a story about a young girl named Luxe Revelle and her family set in the 1920’s. They live on the magical island of Charmant where several families along with hers have their own magic. The Revelles can twists your emotions using jewels. The Chronoses are time travelers, but when they travel they age. The Chronoses are also the politicians on the island and control the Day District, but not the Night District, where the Revelles live. The Edwardians can hear everyones thoughts but they are physically incapable of telling a lie. The Effigans can make magical drinks and brews of that sort. Luxe’s family has been putting on shows for tourists since before she was born. But now, they’re running out booze and the Big Tent is in very poor condition. Using a special magic that only Luxe has, she’s got to charm Dewy Chronos, the only bootlegger still left on the island.

On the night that she is to meet him for the first time, she mistakes someone else as Dewy. Jamison Port comes to Charamant with his friends Roger Revelle and Trysta Chronos, both of which are estranged from their families. When Luxe thinks he is Dewy, she leads him to a backroom to try and seduce him for a jewel, the source of her families powers and their form of currency. She kisses him but immediatley discovers he isn’t Dewy. She kicks him out and strikes a deal with the actual Dewy. The deal has her pretend to be romantically involved with Dewy and she will get all the booze she needs and a place to perform. There’s only one problem, she’s developed feelings for Jamison that she doesn’t have for Dewy. As Luxe realizes that Dewy isn’t what she thought he was, she has to figure out a way to not only save herself but also save her family.

I thought that Revelle was fantastic. The book switched the point of view several times but it did so in a way that made sense and created a sense of mystery to the story. The characters each had their own backgrounds that correlated to the storyline in a way that flowed really well. The storyline moved at a really nice pace and it didn’t feel rushed or too slow. It incorparated a lot of 1920’s elements well without the story feeling super old or boring. The magic elements also meshed really well with them.

I recommend this to anyone who likes romance books that aren’t too incredibly dependent on the romance. Whilst a lot of Revelle is about how Luxe needs to get away from Dewy who loves her obsessivley and how she actually loves Jamison, the story also focuses a lot on family. Luxe’s family is very big and family is incredibly important to them all. Jamison also is on a journey to find out who his parents are, which is a big focus of his story as well.

“It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.”- Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is a soul-crushing novel set in Syracuse, New York that follows teenage girl Melinda Sordino as she attempts to survive her first year of high school. Before high school Melinda was ordinary, she had a group of friends and parents who worked too much and occasionally bickered, but one summer high school party changed it all. 

After a traumatic experience, something changed in Melinda. She no longer had any friends, and everyone in high school seemed to hate her after she called the cops on the party. With no one knowing the reason for the call, Melinda began being avoided like the plague. As the novel progresses, Melinda loses herself even more. Melinda no longer goes to her classes, often hiding in an old janitor’s closet, and that is when she decides to show up. No one understands her, and she often wonders if she should speak up and tell someone what happened to her that night. The one place Melinda felt safe was in art class with her seemingly crazy art teacher. Melinda can express her emotions in a way that doesn’t involve words until finally, she can build the courage to say what happened out loud.

Out of all the books I have read, Speak is now one of my favorites. I don’t think many books deserve a 10/10 rating, but Speak is one of the few books that does. Anderson was able to create such a well-developed character that readers can relate to Melinda. The way the novel is written makes readers unaware of what happened to Melinda, using diction to hint to us what happened without saying it. I recommend Speak to anyone looking for a quick read with substance.

Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel is set in a small Alabama town in what seems to be the early 2000s. The book follows the lives of four teenagers, Travis Morrison, his sister Emily Morrison, best friend Cooper Kulani, and girlfriend Darla Gibson.  The characters change and evolve based on how one event changed the course of their entire lives. When Travis, a champion diver, is diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the four friends must come to terms with this diagnosis and figure out how it will affect each of their lives.

Over the course of two years, Travis had his leg amputated, endured months of grueling chemo, and went into remission. Five months later, cancer was discovered in his lungs. Over the course of the novel, Travis got sicker and sicker. With no end in sight, he made a choice. This choice would end up being the sole focus of the book.

This choice changed everything. The book was no longer about a sick child but about trying to decide what was right and what was wrong. It’s impossible to read Breathless or any other book by McDaniel without really thinking about how you would react in the same situations and what decisions you would make.

I first read this book in middle school but didn’t fully grasp what everything actually meant. Rereading it this year helped me to understand so much more. I loved reading this book even though it was extremely sad because it made me think about so many different things. When I would finally understand how one character was feeling, the next point of view would make me think all over again. That is what I believe McDaniel wanted though. She wanted her readers to realize that there is no right and wrong choice, it’s just how you view it.

I would recommend Breathless to anyone looking for a quick read that still has a lot of depth.

“I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me?”- Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give is a powerfully moving story set in the 21 century that follows teenage girl Starr Carter as she navigates daily life after witnessing the police murder her childhood friend. Starr Carter is a typical teenage girl who resides in Garden Heights with her parents and two brothers. When Starr was young, her parents decided to send her and her siblings to a private school in a wealthy white neighborhood to give them more opportunities and keep them from the everyday turmoil in Garden Heights. Unfortunately, one night after a party, Starr was no longer shielded from misfortune, and she witnessed the murder of Kahlil.

Before Kahlils death, Starr separated her Garden Heights self from her private school self, keeping both in their worlds. After Kahlil, something shifted. Starr no longer wanted to hide her true self at school, and the incident ignited a fire inside of her that would not be put out. Now Starr is forced to deal with the backlash of the event, with everybody having an opinion on what she should do.

I loved reading The Hate U Give because, as a reader, you can tell how passionate Angie Thomas is about the issues surrounding cops and minorities. Thomas wrote The Hate U Give first as a short story in college after the police shooting of Oscar Grant and later turned the short story into a novel. The fact that actual events inspire the book gives the novel so much more power. Thomas was able to develop the main character Starr so well that, as a reader, I could put myself into her situation and feel her emotions. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in injustices in the world or looking for a great book.

I would recommend this book to any fantasy lover because it’s not too complex, but it still has greatfantasy elementsy, and the writing is beautiful. I hope Clarke leaves this as a standalone because in my opinion it doesn’t need anything more, and anything else would ruin the perplexing feel that the book has surrounding it. In the end, I rated this book 5 stars and I haverecommendedd it to a few people since reading it.

Trigger Warning.

We Weren’t Looking to Be Found is the story of Dani, a politician’s daughter in Texas Struggling with toxic relationships, familial problems, self-destructive behavior, and heavy substance abuse problems. Dani runs from her family and winds up at Peach Tree Hills a rehabilitation facility in rural Georgia. Camilla is a shy girl who dreams of attending a prestigious performing arts college and after being rejected time and time again she is finally accepted but she finds she is no longer able to attend. Cammila struggles with overly critical thoughts, depression, High anxiety, and self-harming behaviors. With seemingly nothing left, Camila attempts to take her own life but after her failed attempt is sent to Peach Tree Hills facility where she meets Dani. The two girls get sick of the pressure and general nature of the facility and escape to a party in a nearby town. At the party, both girls fall right back into the old habits that they had been working to overcome. In an attempt to show the girls responsibility and allow them to try and rebuild the bond that they severed after the events of the party, they are asked to clean out a storage room. There they find a set of letters that help the girls realize that they aren’t as alone as they think and that together they can start to heal.

This book discusses heavy thematic topics with a focus on self-harm, substance abuse, and difficult family dynamics. While the author tries to keep it lighthearted with a blossoming friendship and a found sense of belonging I found it to be forced. With the added mystery element I felt as though the author added too many things all at once without fully developing any other plot points which made the story hard to follow and difficult to get into. For example, at the beginning of the book, the author put a heavy focus on the ethnicity of these girls but after a short while it was a completely minute detail after it had been such an important aspect of the narrative. While I valued the way the author brought in so many different components to the lives and mental health problems these young girls faced it felt implausible and like she was reaching for something to add in hopes to keep these people interested. For an award-winning book, it felt quite juvenile in that the writing, language, tone, and overall sense of the book were either over or underdeveloped and hard to believe. mental health problems are a difficult thing to write about in a way that readers can relate to but in this book, I felt like there was nothing in the story that felt realistic enough to relate to.

Overall I value the perspective the author brings to her book but I feel as though they could be two separate stories. I love mysteries and I enjoy reading about the experiences of characters and reading about their struggles and how they work through them but having both together didn’t really work for me and it felt like a stretch I couldn’t just accept, which made the other tough stretches and plot holes harder to overlook. I am glad I read the book to better understand the experiences, lives, and struggles of others but I wouldn’t read it again.