Category Archives: By Age Range

Review: Icon and Inferno by Marie Lu

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Icon and Inferno by Marie Lu

Icon and Inferno (Stars and Smoke #2)
Marie Lu
Roaring Brook Press
Published June 4, 2024

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About Icon and Inferno

Spies meet romance meet popstars in this thrilling follow up to Stars and Smoke by bestselling author Marie Lu.

A year has passed since superstar Winter and secret agent Sydney Cossette went undercover – on a dangerous mission to bring down the baddest man in London.

Winter hasn’t stopped thinking about Sydney since, and she’s been trying not to think about him

Family secrets and nasty newspapers has Winter desperate to re-enter the secret world. And it’s not long before he gets his chance.

Sydney is back, and this time the mission goes right to the heart of the United States of America. A rescue gone wrong, an assassination attempt – and the return of an old flame – puts Winter right back into the action . . . and into a country on the brink of chaos.

And when a murder accusation has Sydney on the run, suddenly it’s not just a life at stake, but all-out war.

My Review

Winter and Sydney are back, and I am so excited! Stars and Smoke, the first book in the series, swept me away with its romance and danger. I knew I’d be back for more. I love the contrast between these two characters. When he’s with people he trusts, Winter is wide open with his heart totally available. Sydney, however, never opens herself that way. That kind of vulnerability terrifies her, which makes sense for someone with a life as a secret agent. For her, letting people in is literally dangerous.

The story begins with a bit of miscommunication or maybe bad assumptions between Winter and Sydney, where she thinks he’s seeing someone and is disappointed but trying not to show it. And he’s hurt that she’s not disappointed, etc. It’s not my favorite romance trope, but the story doesn’t lean into it too heavily since the romantic tension between Sydney and Winter is secondary to their assignment from Panacea.

I like that the task gets layered with complications, though. Winter has to manage the expectations of his ex, whom he invited to a social event as his date. Sydney must find and rescue her own ex, the guy who ended their last tryst by stealing her passport and stranding her overseas. So, yeah, she’s really looking forward to that. Mr. To-Be-Rescued has his own agenda as well, and Sydney and Winter have to decide whether to listen to him or stick with the original plan.

One thing I absolutely loved is the way the story uses Winter’s fame to achieve objectives in his work as a secret agent. It seems like being internationally celebrated and recognized would be a setback for someone on a secret mission, but he makes it work. I love how he uses his position as an asset for Panacea on their missions.

Conclusion

I think even more than the first book, Icon and Inferno leans more into adult fiction. The characters have full-time careers. They’ve had adult relationships. They have adult independence. It’s marketed as YA, and I think will have a fair amount of crossover appeal. Fans of Chloe Gong’s Foul Lady Fortune will enjoy this.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Winter is Chinese American and has had romantic relationships with boys and girls in the past.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to a past relationship Winter was in, in which he slept with his partner. Same for Sydney. Kissing between boy and girl. In a couple of scenes, the characters kiss and undress. One vaguely references a sexual encounter.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Sydney and Winter witness someone killed by a gunshot and explosion. A couple of scenes involve a high-speed car or motorcycle chase. Someone points a gun at another person’s head. Someone injects a drug into another person, knocking them out.

Drug Content
References to Winter’s dad smoking cigars.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Take All of Us by Natalie Lief

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

Take All of Us
Natalie Lief
Holiday House
Published June 4, 2024

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About Take All of Us

A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.

Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret crush Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.

Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health scares, Ian always thought he’d die young… but he wasn’t planning on coming back. Much less facing the slow, painful realization that Eric left him behind to die.

Desperate to confront Eric before the parasite takes over, Ian joins two others left behind—his childhood rival Monica and the jaded prepper Angel—on a journey across town. What they don’t know is that Eric is also looking for Ian, and he’s determined to mercy-kill him.

My Review

I can’t say I’ve ever read a zombie book from the perspective of a zombie. Ha! The book doesn’t refer to the undead as zombies, and the main character remains pretty self-aware, which keeps the story anchored and moving. I like Ian as a character. He has epilepsy, which is why his family moved to rural West Virginia, a place with fewer seizure triggers.

Ian teams up with two girls who agree to help him find his best friend and secret love, even after it appears Eric left him behind on purpose. First, he meets Angel, a neurodivergent girl who helps him figure out how to adjust to his new undead status. Then, Monica, a girl he’s known from hospital wards since childhood, agrees to help. The three first try to track down loved ones and ultimately decide it’s up to them to stop the spread of the parasite that’s causing the outbreak of undead-ness.

The pacing of the story was great. It maintains intensity and creepiness (there’s a little cannibalism, which I found extra creepy) throughout the book. The last few chapters take a little bit of a strange turn. Ian drifts into some possible hallucinations, or things get super weird. It’s unclear. Which makes sense since he wouldn’t know he was hallucinating.

The characters decide on a method of resolving the outbreak that required some willing suspension of disbelief. I wanted there to be more research or evidence or something indicating that this path would be successful or supporting the desired outcome.

Despite that, I enjoyed the characters and the unusual take on a post-apocalyptic, undead story. If you’re looking for a really different zombie book, check out Take All of Us.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ian and another character are gay. Ian also has epilepsy. Monica uses a mobility aid. (We don’t know her specific diagnosis. The book mentions that she had several surgeries and takes pain medication.) Angel is neurodivergent.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs. Some mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys.

Spiritual Content
A contaminant in the water has caused an outbreak of an undead condition. I don’t think the book uses the word “zombie” to describe the problem. Some are more aware of their surroundings than others. The longer someone has this condition, the more of themselves they lose.

Violent Content
In one scene, a boy shoves an undead man into a lake, killing him. A boy suffers a fatal head injury while underwater. A girl stabs an undead boy through the abdomen with a pole.

Undead last longer if they eat dead humans. One undead person eats eyes off of a corpse. Later, someone eats/drinks from a cup which we understand is filled with human parts or blood.

Drug Content
One character mentions wishing she had opiates (for a medical condition.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Hurdles in the Dark by Elvira K. Gonzalez

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

Hurdles in the Dark: My Story of Survival, Resilience and Triumph
Elvira K. Gonzalez
Roaring Brook Press
Published May 28, 2024

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About Hurdles in the Dark: My Story of Survival, Resilience and Triumph

A Mexican-American teen girl dreams of winning an athletic scholarship against all odds in a Texas border town. This true story of survival, strength, and triumph is perfect for fans of Educated and Athlete A.

Twenty-four that’s how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It’s 2006 and Elvira’s hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira’s life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas’s worst juvenile detention centers.

After Elvira’s released from juvie, she’s resolved to never go back. That’s when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles. Determined to win a track scholarship out of Laredo, Elvira begins breaking into the school, alone, at 5:30 in the morning to practice hurdling. Soon, she catches the attention of a renowned high school coach, an adult man in his 30s. As they train, their coach-student relationship begins to change, becoming sexual. At just seventeen years old, Elvira experiences the dangers many young athletes face, especially those who are marginalized. In spite of these towering obstacles, Elvira eventually propels herself to become one of the top ranked hurdlers in the USA and the first in her family to go to college.

This inspiring true story of grit, tenacity, and hope traces Elvira’s path as she overcomes impossible hurdles in her race to freedom.

My Review

I was briefly confused as I started reading this book because it’s about a girl named Kristy, but the author’s name is listed as Elvira. Kristy is her middle name and the name she went by during the time the memoir relates, so that makes sense.

The memoir focuses on her life from sixth grade to her last track and field event as a senior in high school. She experiences lots of hardship, including her mom being kidnapped in Mexico and held for ransom. She also has a long relationship with an abusive coach.

Especially in the early part of the book, a lot of conversations are written in Spanglish, which Kristy jokingly refers to as her first language. Those conversations feel really natural, and she offers plenty of context clues for readers unfamiliar with Spanish to follow.

Several scenes describe her running in races, and I really enjoyed the breakdown of a hurdle race and the physics of how to jump hurdles effectively and quickly. I knew almost nothing about the sport when I started reading the book. She explains everything in easy-to-understand terms and draws readers into the intensity of the moments before and during races.

At the end of the book, the author revisits some of the hardships she endured with an eye toward solutions and better support for today’s young athletes. She does a great job advocating for change and explaining why changes are desperately needed.

Conclusion

All in all, Hurdles in the Dark is a challenging read. It exhumes trauma and hardship, but ultimately tells a story of hope and triumph. I recommend this especially for young athletes and people who work with them, but I think anyone looking for a gripping memoir will find this one engaging.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Kristy is Mexican American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
About a half-dozen instances of the F-bomb. Other profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A coach confesses inappropriate behavior to Kristy. No details about his confession. Later, another coach assaults Kristy multiple times. Again, no details. He displays other grooming behaviors, like giving her gifts. She references him stalking her and controlling who she sees and when.

Kristy briefly dates a boy, but only one scene shows them together, and it doesn’t focus on the romance between them.

Spiritual Content
Kristy prays for her mom’s safe return. She listens, hoping that if her mom dies, she’ll send a sign, as she promised before.

Violent Content
Kristy learns that her middle school friend has been shot and killed. Kidnappers abduct Kristy’s mom and threaten to kill her unless Kristy can get them $40,000. Kristy speaks to her mom on the phone several times. Kristy is sent to juvie after telling her mom she’s suicidal.

Kristy’s track coach assaults her (no description) and, when Kristy tries to end the relationship, becomes violent.

Drug Content
Kristy’s relative is an alcoholic. She sells the family’s belongings without permission to finance her drinking.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea by Pari Thomson

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Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea (Greenwild #2)
Pari Thomson
MacMillan Children’s Books
Published June 4, 2024

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About Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea

Daisy Thistledown’s epic adventure continues in the spellbinding sequel to New York Times bestseller The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson.

In a land ruled by water, treachery runs deep . . . Daisy Thistledown and the Five O’Clock Club might have defeated a terrifying foe, but their journey to find the missing Botanists is only just beginning.

Desperate to join the long-awaited expedition to the heart of the Amazon, Daisy and her friends abandon the safety of magical Mallowmarsh –only to fall face-first into danger on the high seas when they find themselves pursued across the waves by Grim Reapers. Their only to find the legendary Iffenwild, a mysterious pocket of the Greenwild hidden and lost to time.

But beneath the waves, a strange botanical magic stirs. And it will take all of Daisy’s courage and determination – and the trust of an unexpected new friend – if she is to discover the truth that haunts Iffenwild, and save the Greenwild from a terrible fate.

My Review

I’ve been looking forward to this book all year. Daisy’s new adventure picks up not long after her last one ends. The early chapters offer quick refreshers on some of the key events from the previous book for readers whose memories may have faded a bit. These recollections don’t slow down the action, though, as Daisy immediately has an urgent quest to sneak aboard a ship ultimately bound for Amazeria to rescue her mother.

The story alternates points of view between Daisy and Max, whom I loved immediately. Kidnappers stole Max from his home, injuring his mother, and he’s been desperate to escape since. When his opportunity comes, he seizes it, leaping from a ship into the water without taking time to factor in that he cannot swim. Thankfully, Daisy spots him in time, which leads to the two unwillingly joining forces.

Indigo and Prof, Daisy’s close friends from book one, also help Daisy on her mission. I loved getting to see both of them again. Indigo shines in moments when they discover animals who are injured or in danger, and Prof reminds the group to think things through and study for an important exam that awaits them at home.

One scene late in the book left me in tears, in a good way. Someone who’d grieved so many things had this moment of belonging and things making sense in a new way, and it hit me right in the feels.

I barrelled through this book, so eager to read each page, all the way to the very last one. This series is one of my current favorites, and I’ll absolutely be counting down the days until book three comes out!

Perfect for fans of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A. F. Steadman or The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle (a long-time favorite of mine!)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Daisy’s mom is Iranian. Other characters are described as having amber or brown skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic involving plants or water.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone kidnaps a boy and knocks his mother out. Dangerous criminals called Reapers chase Daisy and her allies. One brief battle sequence in which it appears someone gets stabbed. An extended battle sequence in which someone fatally stabs another person.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs posting about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

Review: The City Beyond the Stars by Zohra Nabi

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , , ,

The City Beyond the Stars
Zohra Nabi
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published May 14, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The City Beyond the Stars

The captivating sequel to “perfect for fans of Philip Pullman and Tahereh Mafi” ( Booklist ) The Kingdom Over the Sea follows Yara and her friends as they change the fate of the kingdom and their magic forever.

Yara may have stopped the magical plague spreading its way through her new home, but to do so, she had to leave her mother in the hands of the sinister alchemists.

Now Yara longs to return to Zehaira and free her mother from her prison. Yet when her mother’s familiar arrives, close to death and bearing a message, Yara must put aside her plans to rescue her and instead set off with her friends to the official residence of the Grand High Sorceress, convinced it holds magic powerful enough to defeat the alchemists.

After a treacherous journey, Yara finds her mother’s house, and in it, a girl claiming to be the daughter of the Grand High Sorceress—a sister Yara didn’t know she had. Meanwhile, the alchemists are circling ever closer, and the magic that Yara’s mother was working threatens the foundations of their world.

Yara is unsure if her newfound sister can be trusted, but she is going to need all the help she can get if she wants to save their mother and take back Zehaira from the alchemists’ rule.

My Review

Another sister story! <3 One of my favorite things. In this one, the sisters are so estranged. Their relationship is fraught and tenuous, and I love it. It’s a different and still realistic kind of story about two sisters. Aaliyah has a lot of attitude, which I appreciate. She makes demands. She takes charge. Sometimes, she says the opposite of what she means. I like her character a whole lot.

Throughout this book, Yara, Rafi, and Mehnoor remain close friends. They question Yara’s impulsive decisions, prompt her with facts and ideas, and offer their support no matter what happens.

At one point in the book, Yara speaks to someone who’s making destructive choices and points out that what this person needs isn’t more power but more community. I love that she phrases it that way. She talks about how powerful it is to have a team of people who can come together and support one another and how division and isolation weaken us all. This is another message I profoundly agree with.

I’m not sure if this is the conclusion to a duology or a second book in a trilogy. The ending feels pretty final and doesn’t open a new problem for the characters to immediately pursue, but I haven’t seen references to this series being a duology, so I’m not sure. I would love to read more adventures of Yara and her friends. Maybe a future book will be a spinoff and follow one of the other characters? That could be really cool.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the relationships and the intersection between magic and the need for building trust and community in this book. I think fans of the first book will love getting to revisit the world of Zehaira and its familiar characters and magical landscape. Fantasy readers will enjoy the interesting magical system and centering of three young sorcerers who must save their world.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Middle-Eastern coded characters.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. The ability is available to anyone but requires intense study. Other characters use the science of alchemy to control magic.

The story delves into a bit of time travel and skirts around some butterfly effect-type theory.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to torture. One scene shows a person being magically tortured. Viewers see no blood or gore, but the person appears to be in incredible pain. References to battle sequences. A room collapses, killing someone and fatally injuring another person.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Better Must Come by Desmond Hall

Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Better Must Come
Desmond Hall
Atheneum
Published June 4, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Better Must Come

Barely Missing Everything meets American Street in this fiercely evocative, action-packed young adult thriller that looks at the darker side of light-filled Jamaica and how a tragedy and missing drug money helplessly entangle the lives of two teens who want to change their fate.

Deja is a “barrel girl”—one of the Jamaican kids who get barrels full of clothes, food, and treats shipped to them from parents who have moved to the US or Canada to make more money. Gabriel is caught up in a gang and desperate for a way out. When he meets Deja at a party, he starts looking for a way into her life and wonders if they could be a part of each other’s futures.

Then, one day while out fishing, Deja spies a go-fast boat stalled out by some rocks, smeared with blood. Inside, a badly wounded man thrusts a knapsack at her, begging her to deliver it to his original destination, and to not say a word. She binds his wounds, determined to send for help and make good on her promise…not realizing that the bag is stuffed with $500,000 American. Not realizing that the posse Gabriel is in will stop at nothing to get their hands on this bag—or that Gabriel’s and her lives will intersect in ways neither ever imagined, as they both are forced to make split-second choices to keep the ones they love most alive.

My Review

One of the things I love about a good YA thriller is how fast it feels to read them. This one is no exception. The early chapters start out a bit slow, with the real plot taking off a little before the 100-page mark. Once that acceleration happens, though, buckle up. From there on, I felt like I couldn’t look away from the page for a second.

Deja and Gabriel each have chapters from their points of view. Sometimes, several chapters in a row follow one person’s viewpoint before switching back to the other person’s. Though less predictable, the switches happen at critical moments and build a lot of tension.

I think I’ve only read one other book set in Jamaica (a memoir called Funny Gyal by Angeline Jackson and Susan McClelland), and I’ve never visited, so I’m not very familiar with the landscape. I thought the descriptions of the setting did a great job anchoring the story and helping me picture the scenes without slowing down the action.

The relationship between Deja and Gabriel carries its own tension. It doesn’t dominate the story but adds a lot of interest, especially for Gabriel as a character. Ultimately he has to make a choice whether to help Deja or take action to protect himself and his best friend. I liked the way this part of the story resolves. It feels both realistic and satisfying.

All in all, readers looking for books in international settings will find this one a fresh, intense read. It’s also a great choice for readers who enjoy crime thrillers. Definitely a great summer read!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Deja and Gabriel are Jamaican.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat infrequently. Several F-bombs and some Jamaican swear words used in intense moments.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some attraction between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Deja and Gabriel both seek spiritual counsel from a local pastor. Deja references praying when she’s scared. She says she wants to believe in God but hasn’t seen a lot of evidence in her life that He’s real.

Violent Content
Gabriel is a member of a posse, or gang and carries a gun. Someone discovers a man gravely injured from a gunshot wound. Someone discovers the bodies of two young men. People, including corrupt police officers, threaten one another at gunpoint. More than one scene describes an intense chase, in which someone flees from others who intend to harm them.

Drug Content
Gabriel finds evidence that his aunt is using heroin. She has a history of drinking too much as well. He asks her to get treatment, but she refuses. Gabriel encounters a man who is high on cocaine. He sets out to find a case of drugs that’s gone missing.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.