All posts by Kasey

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

Review: Sweet Dreams by Carla Stewart

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Sweet Dreams
Carla Stewart
FaithWords
Published May 14, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Dusty’s father sends her off to a fancy finishing school instead of the geology program at Miller College, the only consolation for Dusty is the fact that her fun-loving cousin will also be joining her. Paisley was raised on the road by her unmarried mother who still chases dreams of stardom. She’s not exactly any town’s debutante. Though fitting in won’t be easy, Paisley is determined to stick it out for her cousin’s sake.

As the year progresses, Paisley finds making friends easier than she imagined. Things seem to be going well until her mother returns for a surprise visit with a new get-famous-quick scheme she promises will be the big break for both of them. She leaves Paisley torn between her instincts to protect her mother and her desire to pursue her own future.

The pressure is on for Dusty. Her only hope of convincing her Daddy to let her study geology in college is to do well at finishing school. It’s not a good time to push him, but when Dusty discovers that her father and Paisley’s mom have an unresolved quarrel, she can’t seem to leave it alone. Why won’t anyone just tell her the truth about things?

Paisley isn’t sure she knows what happened between her mom and uncle years ago, but she is sure that the man who sends shivers up her spine just by meeting her eyes is someone she has no business falling for. She tries to hide her feelings from Dusty. After all, she’d never act on them. So maybe saying nothing is best. She doesn’t want to lose the closest family member she has, and that’s exactly what would happen if Dusty knew.

Sweet Dreams is like a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. The story welcomes its readers in like the big-hearted Texans who fill its pages. Stewart again displays a mastery of character in her depiction of the two young southern ladies whose passion and vulnerability make them simply unforgettable.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
Kissing. Paisley remembers an encounter in which a man tried to take advantage of her. She is obviously scarred by the experience, but no details are given.

Spiritual Content
As Dusty struggles to understand the mystery surrounding her mother’s death, she is reminded to quiet her heart and trust God.

Violence
A woman is injured when a bridge collapses. Description is brief.

Drug Content
The girls occasionally smoke cigarettes. Paisley remembers her mother and her mother’s boyfriend smoking marijuana.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Save

Save

Review: Moonblood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Moonblood
Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Bethany House
Published April 1, 2012

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Prince Lionheart returns to his ruined kingdom and struggles to reclaim the trust of his people. But when the people demand the death of Lionheart’s only loyal friend Rose Red, he banishes her instead to the treacherous Goldstone Wood, filled with deadly magical creatures.

Captured by her father, King Vahe, and imprisoned in the lost kingdom of Arpiar, Rose Red refuses to call for help. She waits for the Night of Moonblood and her father’s vile plans to unfold, a talking statue and lost boy with no memory for her only companions.

Lionheart pursues Rose Red, determined to rescue her and atone for his betrayal, but finding his way through the Wood is more difficult than he could have imagined and strange enemies greet him at every turn. He must defeat them all and find a kingdom no one has been able to enter in more than five hundred years if he is to reach Rose Red before it’s too late.

Author Anne Elisabeth Stengl possesses a masterful sense of story and beautifully incorporates powerful symbols seamlessly into each of her novels. In reading Moonblood one cannot help but become as lost in the story as the desperate prince in his search for his friend. Lionheart’s struggle to accept his failings and the healing of Rose Red’s wounded heart echo the deeper spiritual message that none are forgotten or without hope.

Moonblood is the third book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series. Starflower, the fourth book in the series is a finalist for the 2013 Christy Award. Book five, Dragonwitch, will be released in the summer of 2013.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No foul language.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Lionheart is haunted by the choices he has made which caused harm to those he cares about, but refuses to accept blame. He wants to believe he has made the only choice possible. He tries to salvage his mistakes by rescuing Rose Red, but in the end, still he cannot atone on his own. He must accept forgiveness and aid from a Higher Source.

Rose Red, still wounded by the prince’s betrayal, refuses to call for aid in her imprisonment. She too believes she can escape on her own, without help. A small bird calls to her, as God’s spirit calls to us, but she doesn’t want to trust him anymore. She learns that God’s plan doesn’t always look the way we expect, or keep us safe in ways that make sense to us.

Violence
 Heroes fight a tiger and dragons. A unicorn’s horn stabs through someone. None of these events are given deeply graphic descriptions.

Drug Content
None.

Save

Review: The Sight by Erin Hunter

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

The Sight
Erin Hunter
HarperCollins Publishers
Published April 24, 2007

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Jaykit and his siblings can’t wait to be christened as apprentices when they finally reach six moons of age. Until then, though, no one will let them leave the camp, even when a dead fox and its abandoned cubs spell big trouble for the clan. Determined to help, Jaykit and his siblings sneak out of the safety of the camp, hoping to be the first to find the fox cubs and chase them from the ThunderClan territory. When the larger than expected cubs injure Jaykit, all three kittens find themselves in big trouble.

As the apprentice ceremony finally arrives and Jaykit becomes Jaypaw, he seethes under the sympathy of the other clan members. He may be blind, but he can smell much better than any other cat in the clan. He can learn to fight as fiercely as any cat, if only he could have the chance. The clan’s medicine cat, Leafpool, tries to talk Jaypaw into apprenticing as a medicine cat instead of pursuing his dreams as a warrior. With Jaypaw’s knowledge of herbs and his sensitive nose, he would make a great medicine cat. The fact that ThunderClan’s ancestors, members of StarClan, visit Jaypaw in his dreams only seems to further prove Jaypaw’s destiny as a medicine cat.

But Jaypaw’s dream of becoming a warrior does not die easily. When a rival clan invades ThunderClan’s territory, Jaypaw realizes it will be much more difficult than he thought to battle an opponent without the aid of his vision. To make matters more difficult, his litter mate, Hollypaw, has begun training as apprentice to the clan’s medicine cat. As an ancient prophecy about three powerful cats unfolds around them, Jaypaw and his siblings must find the way to harness their gifts and pursue their destinies.

This first book in the Power of Three series draws readers in to the delightful and mysterious world of cats. As the characters interact, cat lovers will recognize various gestures and body language familiar to them from their own furry friends. Jaypaw’s struggle between the glorious life he imagines as a warrior and the disappointment of being left behind to wait for the wounded as a medicine cat is a powerful journey with which readers will easily identify. Hunter’s forest world of cats is fresh and entertaining. One thing this author does not skimp on is in the number of named characters who appear in the story. Keeping track of names and various relationships can be confusing. Thankfully, a glossary of characters is included among the opening pages.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The cats journey to the Moon Pool to commune via dreams with their ancestors, members of the StarClan.

Violence
Some animal violence. Not highly detailed. Two rival clans battle in the woods. A fox chases a kitten and bites its tail. The cats eat small animals like mice, but no eating is described in detail.

Drug Content
Herbs are used as medicine to help cure illnesses and wounds.

Save

Save

Review: A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

A Girl Called Problem
Katie Quirk
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Published April 18, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Shida is not a child anymore. At thirteen, she is now a young woman and her mother constantly reminds her to conduct herself as one. No more tree climbing and running around alone. Soon she will be ready to marry, if any young man will associate himself with a girl whose name means “problem” and whose family is cursed.

While her widowed mother sinks deeper into depression, the village leaders talk of moving the people to join a nearby community to share resources. Shida is excited. At last, she may have a chance to go to school, to become an educated healer, like the beautiful nurse who comes to her village sometimes.

Everyone struggles to adjust to life in the new village. Many people do not like the idea of girls in school. Shida and her cousins find themselves the target of bullying from adults and students alike. To make matters worse, she is still expected to care for her mother’s crops and cook and clean in addition to her studies.

When crops suddenly fail and illness strikes a small child, the village is thrown into turmoil. Are the ancestors unhappy? Have they cursed the people for moving their village? If they return to their former home, Shida will lose the chance to attend school and help the nurse. In order to stay, she will have to convince everyone that there is another explanation for the terrible problems that seem to plague her people.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Shida and her people are caught between tradition, which dictates that misfortunes are caused by curses from witches or angry ancestors. While Shida strives to be respectful toward the elders, she also seeks alternate rational answers for why bad things happen. Her mother and another widow are sometimes referred to as witches, though neither are.

Violence
A boy pokes and hits the girls with a long stick during school and threatens them. No graphic details.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Save

Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, ,

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
Square Fish
Published May 10, 2011 (Orig. published 1999)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

At a high school with an ever-changing mascot, Melinda begins her year friendless and alone. She’s the pariah who called police at a summer party. The one where the awful thing happened. Through a caring teacher and a challenging art project, Melinda struggles to piece herself back together. But when the familiar face of that boy materializes out of the halls of her new school, she spirals into silence and isolation. As the boy, Andy, draws closer to Melinda’s former best friend Rachel, Melinda tries to reach out, to warn her. Rumors swirl that he’s hurt other girls, the same way he hurt Melinda.

The way he raped Melinda.

Notes in a bathroom stall and the tenuous friendship of another girl draw Melinda back from the edge until Andy comes after Melinda again. This time, she fights back. Others hear her and rally to her aid.

Speak is undoubtedly one of the most powerful novels of its time. Anderson’s gritty yet hopeful tale paves the way for dialogue about one of the most difficult and sensitive topics. She describes not only the pain of the victim, but depicts the rallying of her community and offers hope for healing. While there are a couple of instances of strong language, this is almost entirely a clean book with a very hopeful and inspiring ending.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild. The word b***h appears a few times.

Sexual Content – TRIGGER WARNING
Melinda was raped at a party. The description is brief.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Melinda faces her rapist again, and fights back. Brief scene, few graphic details.

Drug Content
Teenagers, including Melinda consume alcohol at a summer party. The consequences are heavy, and Melinda herself calls the police.

Save

Review: Perverse by Larry Rodness

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Perverse
Larry Rodness
ITOH Press
Published December 31, 2012

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

As a second generation Goth, even Gothic life for Emylene is weird. Not weird. Perverse! While she enjoys her position in her community as a Goth princess, she doesn’t always see her spoiled and self-centered behavior and how it impacts others. When she inadvertently frees a mysterious girl from a charcoal sketch found in a dismal antique shop, Emylene’s world begins to shift. Her parents are barely recognizable and what’s the deal with her friends at her nightly club hangout?

Too late, Emylene realizes her new friend is not what she seems. As events spiral out of control, Emylene finds new allies to face the terror she is partly responsible for releasing. It will take all their strength and cunning to stop the creatures controlling her hometown.

Rodness creates a complex and feisty young girl with smarts and spunk in spades. Emylene grapples with her newfound adulthood and its challenges in familiar and entertaining ways. Narrative and plot are not as well-constructed as the characters, however. The narrative wanders out of one point of view and into another without ceremony or pattern. Scattered rants about the misconceptions the mainstream population has about the gothic community were sometimes off-putting rather than insightful. One character hijacks the story and inserts a long (several chapters) narrative of his own. Still, Rodness uses some interesting bits of folklore and introduces readers to a strange magical picture, creating a story world worthy of the genre.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Moderate profanity.

Sexual Content
References (without description) to some teen sexual experimentation girl-on-girl. In one scene, Emylene is incapacitated by a villain and made to experience sexual pleasure. She is later found by a young man who fantasizes about having sex with her, whether or not she is willing. Other brief references to aberrant sexual practices.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention of solstice celebrations and Wiccan traditions.

Violence
Some brief scenes of fatal violence.

Drug Content
References to bad parts of town including drug trafficking, but no drug use among characters.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Save

Save