Category Archives: By Age Range

Review: Romanov by Nadine Brandes

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Magical Realism, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,
Romanov by Nadine Brandes

Romanov
Nadine Brandes
Thomas Nelson
Available May 7, 2019

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About ROMANOV

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them… and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of survival are to either release the spell, and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her…

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad… and he’s on the other.

My Review

Okay, so as soon as you saw the name Anastasia Romanov, you probably started thinking of animated movie where Meg Ryan voices Anastasia. And any second you’re going to wind up with that catchy lullaby from the movie stuck in your head. Or maybe I’m just showing my age.

This book has very little in common with that children’s movie. Actually, according to the author’s note, the book has a lot more in common with the real history of the Romanov family– with the exception of the magical elements of the story, and obviously, the fact that not all of the Romanov family members die at the hands of their captors.

I liked ROMANOV. Nastya was mischievous and fun and tried very hard to keep her family’s spirits up. I loved her dad’s humble, gentle character and his commitment to showing love for their captors as a part of his personal faith. Once I realized ROMANOV told a more historically accurate version of events, I found myself getting lost in the more unbelievable or amazing parts. Nastya’s sister’s romance with one of the guards, for instance.

Because of the consent issues, I felt uncomfortable with Nastya’s sister’s relationship with one of the guards. It is something that apparently happened in real life. Most of their relationship remains emotional rather than physical. Nastya herself has feelings for one of the guards but keeps telling herself to forget about that.

Overall I liked a lot of things about the book and really enjoyed learning some more about the Romanov family. If you enjoy re-imagined history, like THE RING AND THE CROWN by Melissa de la Cruz, then you’ll probably like ROMANOV.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
All characters are Russian, some based on true historical figures and others made up. Nastya’s brother has hemophilia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. In one instance, the kiss happens between a guard and prisoner.

Spiritual Content
Lots of references to Iisus, or Jesus. Nastya and her father in particular speak of their faith and how important it is, even as prisoners, to show love to their captors and try to understand their perspective. She prays at some critical moments, but it’s clear she also has a great deal of faith in Rasputin and other spell masters to provide for her family’s needs.

Violent Content
Instances of open cruelty toward Nastya and her family by soldiers. They hear gunshots and learn they mean executions (mostly of people they don’t know, but not always). Nastya witnesses the execution of people does know and love.

Drug Content
The leader of the Romanovs’ captors is very often drunk. Some references to her mother’s and brother’s need for morphine for headaches and severe pain.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but help support this blog when used to buy books.

Review: The Girls of Firefly Cabin by Cynthia Ellingsen

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , ,

The Girls of Firefly Cabin
Cynthia Ellingsen
Albert Whitman & Company
Available May 28, 2019

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About THE GIRLS OF FIREFLY CABIN

Lauren, Isla, Jade, and Archer meet the first day of summer camp, and friendship magic is made in Firefly Cabin. If only they could immortalize their summer memories by winning the contest to be the face of the camp’s website. But it won’t be easy; not with rival cabins, distracting crushes, and of course, the girl’s own secrets getting in the way. Can friendship—and the Fireflies—triumph over all?

My Review

THE GIRLS OF FIREFLY CABIN is one of the cutest books I’ve read in a long time. I loved all the summer camp stuff– references to campfires, silly songs, and shared jokes that are so iconic of the experience of summer camp. But it’s more than simply a cute book.

Each girl comes to camp with a secret and a deeply held belief that the other girls simply can’t or won’t accept her if they find out the truth. For Lauren, the secret is her life at a group home, where going to a fancy camp is impossible. In fact, she’s only attending because she won a scholarship through a contest.

Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her, Lauren decides to make the weeks at camp the best she’s ever had. She decides the girls will be her best friends for life. As soon as they’re together in the cabin, she plunges through the awkwardness of first meetings and leads the girls into a deep, lasting friendship.

Of course, the inevitable happens: at some point, secrets all come out. Winning the contest to be the face of camp gets jeopardized. And the girls have to decide how strong their newfound friendships are. Strong enough to stand the test of the secrets they keep?

One of my favorite characters was the chef who becomes Lauren’s friend and confidante. I LOVED her, and I really didn’t see where that part of the story was headed until it happened. Which was even better.

In terms of its plot, the story might be a little too neat and tidy, but that fits the summer camp feel and new friendship vibe in THE GIRLS OF FIREFLY CABIN. Fans of CATERPILLAR SUMMER by Gillian McDunn or ELSIE MAE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY by Nancy Cavanaugh will enjoy the outdoor scenes and important relationships in THE GIRLS OF FIREFLY CABIN.

Recommended for Ages8 up.

Representation
Jade’s best friend is Latina.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
The girls help Jade process her grief over losing her best friend. They hold ceremonies honoring her, and Jade feels that she senses Kiara’s presence all around her in nature.

Violent Content
Some references to bullying. Archer and her sister have a difficult relationship. Archer’s sister plays cruel tricks on her, at one point ruining her artwork. Archer and her friends play pranks on her sister and their friends, too. They do things like putting a fake snake in her shoes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but help support my blog.

Review: The Darkdeep by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Paranormal, , , , , , ,

The Darkdeep (Darkdeep #1)
Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Published October 1, 2018

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About THE DARKDEEP

When a bullying incident sends twelve-year-old Nico Holland over the edge of a cliff into the icy waters of Still Cove, where no one ever goes, friends Tyler and Ella – and even ‘cool kid’ Opal -rush to his rescue… only to discover an island hidden in the swirling mists below.

Shrouded by dense trees and murky tides, the island appears uninhabited, although the kids can’t quite shake the feeling that something about it is off. Their suspicions grow when they stumble upon an abandoned houseboat with an array of curiosities inside: odd-looking weapons, unnerving portraits, maps to places they’ve never heard of, and a glass jar containing something completely unidentifiable.

As the group delves deeper into the unknown, their discoveries – and their lives -begin to intertwine in weird and creepy ways. Something ancient has awakened… and it knows their wishes and dreams – and their darkest, most terrible secrets. Do they have what it takes to face the shadowy things that lurk within their own hearts?

My Review

Equally spooky and full of heart, THE DARKDEEP is part campfire ghost story and part celebration of friendship and small town life. I remember really loving R. L. Stine’s books when I was in sixth and seventh grade, so when I saw the endorsement on the cover, I figured THE DARKDEEP would have at least some of the same spooky/otherworldly stuff in it, and it definitely does!

The friendships and adventure of the story make this a great read for late elementary school and middle school readers. There are some monster elements, but some humor mixed in, so that while the kids face dangerous situations, they’re not terrifying. I’m super curious about the next book in the series, THE BEAST, which comes out in October 2019.

Representation
None.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None in the text. There might be a couple places where it says something like “so-and-so cursed” or something.

Romance/Sexual Content
None. There’s some I-like-you energy between a boy and girl, but nothing beyond that.

Spiritual Content
When Nico and his friends perform a certain action on the houseboat, they awaken a figment of something they had in a memory. Maybe a cartoon they once watched or game they played. It might be something they’re afraid of. The figments gain power the more Nico et al interact with the houseboat.

Violent Content
Some situations of peril. Nico faces constant verbal bullying from a peer and his friends.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but help support my blog.

Review: Wicked Nix by Lena Coakley

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

Wicked Nix
Lena Coakley
Abrams
Published October 9, 2018

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About WICKED NIX

Mischievous woodland fairy Nix is up to no good. His beloved fairy queen has gone away, leaving him with a very important job: He must protect the forest from a most dangerous enemy—humans.

When a determined invader trespasses on his territory, Nix’s skills are put to the test as he invents several wicked tricks to chase the sorry fellow away. But when his efforts don’t go quite according to plan, it becomes clear that this intruder—and this sprite—may not be at all what they seem.

My Review

WICKED NIX is the kind of book you can read in an hour. It’s short and the plot moves pretty quickly. I love the way Nix’s perspective differs so much from the human perspective, and yet both come through clearly in the story, even if Nix doesn’t understand. The reader can see beyond what he sees, but the story still stays true to only recording things that he knows and sees from his perspective.

I also enjoyed Nix as a character. He wants more than anything to please the fairy queen, and everything he does to rid the forest of a pesky human comes from that place of wanting to fulfill his job as a fairy. I loved how creative he was with his tricks. It created this back-and-forth with the man in the house that made the story really interesting. I wanted to know what would happen next.

The twist in the story didn’t totally surprise me. I kind of saw it coming, but the emotional parts of the reveal kept it engaging, and I didn’t mind that I wasn’t surprised.

Over all, a quick read and a sweet dip into a memorable fantasy world.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Wicked Nix lives in a forest where the fairies visit each year. They play tricks and sometimes lure children away from their families. Nix doesn’t understand the human perspective on fairies. He believes the fairy queen has left him behind in charge of the forest to keep the humans away. The humans use methods to keep fairies away, too– a ring of salt on the ground around a home, a chain of daisies.

Violent Content
Wicked Nix plays tricks on the human in the forest, but nothing that harms him personally. His arm is bent where it was broken and not set properly after he fell out of a tree.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but help support my blog.

Review: The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey

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

The Shadow Hour (The Girl at Midnight #2)
Melissa Grey
Delacorte Press
Published July 12, 2016

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About THE SHADOW HOUR

Everything in Echo’s life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.
   The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.
   Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she’s already overcome.
   She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight.
   Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature–or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what’s left of her world to the ground?
   Welcome to the shadow hour.

My Review

I keep trying to figure out who my favorite character is, and every time I settle on one member of the cast, I remember another member who’s so amazing. I always loved Echo– right from the beginning of the first book in the series. She has such deep longing to belong and to protect her friends. I’m not sure it’s possible to dislike Ivy, Echo’s Avicen friend. She’s all the things a good friend should be: gentle but brave, loyal but not blinded by it.

Then of course there are the boys. I’m totally team Caius, and I forgot that Echo had a relationship with an Avicen before she left in the first book. So that was a bit startling to read, but honestly my fault for not remembering the first book very well. So that creates a bit of a love triangle, which kind of distracts from the story, but ultimately was okay.

I like the complexity of Caius, though. He’s torn between loyalty to his people– who’ve pretty much abandoned him now that his sister has taken the throne. And he loves his sister, even though she stole his crown and tried to kill him. He’s smart, and he pays attention to the people around him.

Ultimately THE SHADOW HOUR has that middle book feel, where you know it’s setting things up for the big final book. Echo has a quest, and she and her team pursue a specific goal (as do her enemies), but you can see all the pieces begin to come together for the final battle.

I think book two in a series with a really clever story world always has a hard time comparing with book one because we’ve lost the element of discovering that amazing world. Though liked the first book in the series better than the second, but I’d say THE SHADOW HOUR is still a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I want to read the third book, too, but I will confess that I flipped through the pages of THE SAVAGE DAWN and noticed that a character I like dies. So… hmm. It doesn’t change the fact that I want to read it, but it’s kind of slowing me down a little bit.

Read on for notes on content in THE SHADOW HOUR.

Representation
Characters have a variety of skin tones. Other than Echo, they’re from a made up world. Two prominent characters are gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl and between boy and boy. Lots of romantic tension between the two boys. A girl and boy sleep side by side, but mostly keep to themselves other than some cuddling.

Late in the story, it’s clear two characters intend to pursue having sex.

Spiritual Content
At the end of THE GIRL AT MIDNIGHT, Echo becomes the Firebird, a mythical creature with power that’s supposed to save her people. In THE SHADOW HOUR, we learn that there’s an opposite force to the Firebird, something that seeks to destroy her and anyone she loves. Echo also carries with her the memories of previous Firebirds, and at times relives their fears and loves.

Violent Content
Graphic battle scenes. A mysterious illness plagues battle victims, killing many. Some (not gross graphic, but still dark) descriptions of a prisoner, bound and tortured.

Drug Content
Echo briefly battles memories of her violent alcoholic mother.

Rock Star Book Tours Cover Reveal: Cold Falling on White by G S Prendergast

News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

I don’t often do cover reveal posts, but this series sounded so cool that I really wanted to share it. Basically, I was hooked as soon as I saw the words “The Fifth Wave meets Beauty and the Beast.” So on to the cover reveal by Rock Star Book Tours and G. S. Prendergast! (Also, stick around for a chance to win a signed copy of book one in the Nahx Invasions series, Zero Repeat Forever.)

Cold Falling White (Nahx Invasions #2)
G. S. Prendergast
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publishes November 19, 2019

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The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping follow-up to Zero Repeat Forever, which VOYA called “an edge-of-your-seat page-turner.”

Xander Liu survived the end of the world—just barely. For more than a year he has outsmarted, hidden from, and otherwise avoided the ruthless alien invaders, the Nahx, dodging the deadly darts that have claimed so many of his friends. When the murder of his friend Raven leaves him in the protective company of August, a rebellious Nahx soldier, Xander is finally able to make his way back to human controlled territory and relative safety.

But safety amongst the humans is not what it seems. Nothing is anymore.

Raven remembers dying in the arms of August. She remembers the pain, and the way he cried as she faded away. But months later when she wakes up on a wide expanse of snowy sand dunes, shackled to a boy she thought was dead too, she has a lot of questions. What has happened to her and the other reanimated humans gathered on the dunes? What is the meaning of the Nahx ships that hover ominously above them? And most pressing of all, where is August, who promised to keep her safe?

In the shadow of an unforgiving Canadian winter, Xander and Raven find themselves on opposite sides of an alien war neither of them signed up for. Left with little choice about their roles in the great battle that now seems inevitable, they search for answers and allies, all while feeling inexorably drawn back the place it seems their respective fates were determined, and to the one who determined them: August.

About the First Book in the Nahx Invasions Series

Zero Repeat Forever (Nahx Invasions #1)
G. S. Prendergast
Simon & Schuster BFYR
Published August 29, 2017

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The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping novel about an invasion of murderous creatures and one girl fighting for her life at the end of the world.
He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…

Watch the Zero Repeats Forever Book Trailer

About Gabrielle Prendergast

Website |  Twitter | Facebook | Intstagram

Gabrielle is a writer, teacher and designer living in Vancouver, Canada.  You can read about her books here. She is represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.
In 2014 she was the Writer in Residence at Vancouver Public Library. In 2015 she was nominated for the BC Book Prizes and chosen to tour the province to promote BC Books. In 2017 Gabrielle took part in the TD Canada Children’s Book Week Tour. She has also been nominated for the White Pine Awardand the CLA Award.

Gabrielle won the Westchester Award for Audacious. Audacious was included in CBC’s list of 100 YA Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. A poem from Capricious was chosen for the 2014 Poetry in Transit Program. Pandas on the East Side was chosen as an Ontario Library Association Best Bet for Junior Fiction in 2016. It was also nominated/shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Award, The Red Cedar Award, the Diamond Willow Award and the Myrca Award.

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