Author: lamckayla

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 Murder Trending by Gretchen McNeil, the reader follows the story of 17 year old girl named Dee, and how she has to fight to survive. This book is based in the future, where anyone who is a convicted murderer is sent to an island, Alcatraz 2.0. But there is a catch, that island is full of other murderers, groups of people who’s only purposes are to hunt you down and kill you. The whole island is filled with cameras, and the murders are streamed all around the world. The leader of this operation, The Postman, who has an app built for the streaming services.

You’re probably wondering how a 17-year-old girl became a convicted murderer, right? Well, Dee was falsely accused in the murder of her stepsister and was sentenced to Alcatraz 2.0. This book has a small amount of romance in it, but it is a very intense thriller/page-turner. In the beginning of the book, there is a moment where one of the prisoners on the island tries to escape by swimming away. The main character notes that there is a big guard tower on the edge of the island to prevent this. While the man is swimming away, he is shot, and killed. The thought of escape is very enticing because you can still see the coast of San Francisco off of the island.

The type of writing the author uses is more so targeted towards younger age groups, and it can be very cringeworthy. The responses and dialogue from the characters are very unnatural and it makes it sound like the book is just meant to be funny. It can be pretty predictable at times, especially the ending.

In The Language of Thorn: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo, there are many short stories, most if not all of them including some form of fantasy or magic. One aspect I liked about this book, is that the beginning of each story started off with an image around the writing. As the stories progress, the images turn into a sort of frame around the words. The writing of the stories can get a bit boring at times, because Bardugo puts in a lot of attention to detail. Some readers might enjoy how descriptive she is about the environment and the characters. One of my favorite stories was actually the very first story in the book. This story sort of reminds me of Beauty and The Beast, but with a twist towards the ending of it.

Although some of the stories do move relatively slow, I found this book to be pretty interesting. It is a good book to sit down and relax with, since it’s not too thrilling or anxiety-inducing like some other books. I would definitely consider sitting down by a fire on a winter day and reading these stories. I think most of them are a very good length, and each story has a moral or type of lesson behind it. For example, one of the stories features an animal that is betrayed by a human, and that story tells the story of how the animal develops trust for her, even though he shouldn’t have.

In this article, Sharin Colvin speaks on how diverse literature can help build a reader’s empathy and social capacity. Colvin mentions the campaign “We Need Diverse Books”, which started up as a social media campaign to promote diversity in young-adult literature. This program has grown and now includes grants and festivals. Colvin says “The idea is simple: Our world is diverse and children’s books should reflect that” (Colvin, 2017). I really admire this quote, because of how realistic and straight forward it is.

The US has dealt with parents or teachers banning books from school libraries for many different reasons. Sure, maybe some books aren’t appropriate for younger students, but that shouldn’t give them the right to ban other books that represent other races and sexual orientations. Many books being banned led to what librarians call Banned Books Week, which defends these diverse books.

Sharin Colvin later goes on to discuss that “In order to understand the impact of diverse literature on development, it is important to understand why people, especially young people, read fiction” (Colvin, 2017). She explains that navigating through social experiences is a very important part of life, and I agree with that. Some books, depending on the person, can act as a safe place. Colvin claims that young people are drawn to books because it can explain the world around them in a more simplistic way. Overall, this article really digs deep into why diversity is important, and it’s affect on young readers everywhere.


Colvin, Sharon. “Literature as more than a window: building readers’ empathy and social capacity through exposure to diverse literature.” Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 39, no. 6, Feb. 2017, pp. 24+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A484156262/ITOF?u=maine&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f27304b0. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

This book was very enjoyable for me because of the way Jason Reynolds writes. While I was reading this book, I was turning the pages almost faster than I could read. The thrilling aspect of it was the fact that you were unsure who was going to enter the elevator next. I felt like it was very fast paced, but maybe that was just because I got halfway through the book on the first day I started reading it.

In this story, I feel like Jason Reynolds captures human emotions really well, whereas in other stories by other authors, it’s almost unrealistic with the way people react to things. William and his mothers reaction to his brothers death are both very if not exactly similar to a real-life person reacting to losing a family member. It also shows the fact that people grieve in many different ways. Will is consumed with anger, whereas his mother is sad.

As mentioned earlier, this book also addresses the issue of gang violence in America, especially in neighborhoods that don’t have as much money as others. This book speaks a lot on gun violence, and how someones mentality can affect whether or not they take someone’s life. In the book, one of the characters talks about shooting the wrong person, and how guilty it made him feel. This shows how reckless someone can be after losing someone. Overall, I feel like this book captured human emotions and real-life problems very well, and I would definitely read another book by Jason Reynolds.