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: Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert cover shows a girl and boy standing back to back. She faces the camera.

Everyone Wants to Know
Kelly Loy Gilbert
Simon & Schuster
Published June 13, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Everyone Wants to Know

This ripped-from-the-tabloids young adult drama by the critically acclaimed author Kelly Loy Gilbert about a girl’s famous-for-being-famous family fracturing from within as their dirty laundry gets exposed.

The Lo family sticks together. That’s what Honor has been told her whole life while growing up in the glare of the public eye on Lo and Behold , the reality show about her, her four siblings, and their parents.

Their show … Continue reading

Top Ten Tuesday: Super-Fun Summer Camp Books

18 Fun Summer Camp Books for Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Super-Fun Summer Camp Books

It’s Top Ten Tuesday again! This week’s theme is best books for summer, which is a perfect chance to talk about beach reads… but I’m not much of a beach girl? I burn way too easily. So, instead, let’s talk about another favorite summer activity: summer camp!

Whether it’s the story of a first-time camp experience or simply the tale of camp attendance as a means to an end, excellent summer camp books capture the immersive experience of being away from home. They spin stories of unexpected friendships and wacky inside jokes. They remind us to celebrate being in nature and being part of a team or group.

I’ve included … Continue reading

Review: The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi

The Kingdom Over the Sea by Zohra Nabi

The Kingdom Over the Sea
Zohra Nabi
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published June 6, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Kingdom Over the Sea

Aru Shah meets One Thousand and One Nights in this lavish middle grade adventure following a girl who must travel to a mystical land of sorceresses, alchemists, jinn, and flying carpets to discover her heritage and fulfill her destiny.

My own Yara, if you are reading this, then something terrible has happened, and you are on your own. To return to the city of Zehaira, you must read out the words on the back of this letter… Good luck, my brave girl.

Continue reading

Weekly Wrap-Up: May 28-June 3, 2023

Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up: May 28 – June 3, 2023

Well, here I am again– trying something new! I used to try to do a monthly wrap-up, but they got to be so overwhelming. It was a lot of work trying to sort out what I’d read and write up the little “what you need to know” summaries. I gave it up, but have been feeling bad about losing a regular, more newsy post. Plus it was nice to be able to include the backlist titles I’d added successfully read in posts like that. Otherwise, it’s a long time between when I read the book and when my review goes live. (This is because I have a calendar problem… in that I keep agreeing to review too many … Continue reading

Review: Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald

Time Out by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner cover shows two boys, one in a basketball uniform and the other in long pants and a jacket sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers together. Items are scattered around them on the floor of the gym and on the bleachers.

Time Out
Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald
Simon & Schuster
Published May 30, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Time Out

Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights in this keenly felt coming-of-age story about a teen hometown hero who must find out who he is outside of basketball when his coming out as gay costs him his popularity and place on the team.

In his small Georgia … Continue reading

Review: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta’s Academy #1)
Sandhya Menon
Simon Pulse
February 18, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Of Curses and Kisses

The first novel in a series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity … Continue reading