Trina and her father move to a tiny town where they’ll live in and restore a gorgeous house rumored to be haunted. Though at first Trina struggles to fit in with the other kids in town—all she wants is a friend, just one friend—she soon meets Augustine, a doll who helps Trina face truths about herself and others around her. She finds the courage to reach out to her estranged mom and find new friends who help her bring the town back together.
Trina also finds a friend in the house, whom she calls Goldenrod. It’s often Goldenrod’s leading that prompts Trina to act, though at first she finds the old home spooky and worries it may be haunted, like the rumors say. As Trina learns to sense Goldenrod’s feelings, she also begins to listen and watch the people around her, which helps her connect to them and value them. As she learns to be kind and listen to others, she soon builds relationships with many people in town.
The spooky elements make this a great Halloween read, but the elements of heart make The Secret of Goldenrod a fantastic read for any season.
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Cultural Elements
Characters are white, middle class or upper class in a very small American town.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Trina’s dad insists there’s no such thing as ghosts, but Trina believes she senses Goldenrod. A doll also moves and speaks with her. A ball shows up mysteriously several times. The townspeople believe that anyone who has stolen anything from the house is then cursed with bad luck. After Trina and her dad move in, people begin returning items they’ve stolen, grateful to be relieved of the curse.
Violent Content None.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Young up-and-coming author Liz McKinnen has no idea that her life is about to change forever when she comes home from her first book tour. When she’s kidnapped and told by her captors that she has to kill her fantasy book’s antagonist, she thinks that she’s fallen into the hands of crazy, dangerous fans… until her antagonist sends a real, fire-breathing dragon after her. Liz is quickly initiated into the Immortal Writers, a group of authors from throughout time whose words have given them eternal life, and whose prose is so powerful that it’s brought stories over from the Imagination Field into the Reality Field. As Liz meets authors such as William Shakespeare, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, she has to learn how to control magic, fight dragons, and face her own troubled past before her power-hungry villain takes over the world. Will she survive the ultimate battle against the dragon lord whom she created?
My Review
This book reminded me a bit of The Muse by Fred Warren in its blending of reality and an author’s story world. I enjoyed the references to all the other writers that eighteen-year-old Liz meets. Some of the conversations and dialogue between them was pretty cute.
The romance element was a bit predictable, but I really liked Liz, so I was glad to see her find someone she felt was worthy of her. In one battle, Liz uses terrible memories to demoralize and defeat her enemy. On the one hand it had that sort of cool element in terms of her use of a lesser ability to defeat an enemy. On the other hand, I felt like it was a particularly cruel attack akin to torture. I wasn’t a huge fan.
Despite these hiccups, I really appreciated the story world and especially the peripheral characters. Fans of quirky fantasy should give this one a look.
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Cultural Elements
I think most everyone was white, but it’s difficult to remember. Race descriptions were minimal.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Moderate profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning Liz faces memories of her stepdad sexually assaulting her. The descriptions are intense, but there’s no play by play of what happens.
At one point, a man watches Liz change her shirt. She begins a romantic relationship and has some lusty conversations with her new man. They share some kisses and he stays with her through a long, stressful night. They plan to do much more together, but the story doesn’t show those moments.
Spiritual Content Liz’s characters use magic, and they bring their abilities into the real world. Liz can change herself and her characters by writing new stories.
Violent Content Battles between humans and dragons. Some blood and gore.
Drug Content
At a restaurant with her boyfriend, Liz allows him to order wine for her, even though she’s only eighteen.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, and her best friend Jay, the son of Jafar, live on the Isle of the Lost, where their villainous parents were banished from the fairytale kingdom of Auradon twenty years ago. Surviving on leftovers shipped in from Auradon and prevented access to magic, the villains scrape by. But all long for the day when the magic returns and they can take revenge on those who imprisoned them. For Mal, that day comes when Carlos, Cruela de Vil’s son, creates an invention that sparks changes in the Isle, and the possibility of escape seems just within reach. Oh, also the possibility of destroying her longtime rival, Evie, the Evil Queen’s daughter. So that’s a plus.
The team of four have to work together—a tall order considering they’re better versed in how to trick and betray one another than they are in how to actually be friends. Some parts of the story show the point-of-view of Prince Ben, son of Belle and the Beast (wait, isn’t he a prince now?) and the trials of his coming of age and beginning to take on some royal responsibility. Strange dreams connect him and Mal, but they don’t know each other yet.
My daughter and I enjoyed reading the Ever After High books by Shannon Hale, so I picked this book up at a book fair thinking it was similar and we’d also enjoy it. And I was right—I did enjoy the story. I think I had the same experience with Ever After High books, where because I’d read Shannon Hale’s Book of a Thousand Days, I wanted that kind of finesse in the EAH books, too, and it’s just not that kind of story. So that happened here, too. I’ve read The Ring and the Crown, and the writing and characters are a lot more complex, so it took some adjusting for me to get into this book. They’re totally different kinds of books, and that’s okay. I just had to adjust.
I thought the story set up the series well. The end leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and shows some real growth on the part of the team of four villains. Carlos is totally my favorite. He’s so sweet and super smart. I loved that de la Cruz worked in the engineering element with his character. So great!
One noteworthy difference is that Ever After High pulls its storyworld from a broader spectrum of fairytales, whereas Isle of the Lost draws its characters from those in Disney movies. I can see that as being a positive or a negative, depending on how you look at things. Overall, I think readers who enjoyed Ever After High would enjoy Isle of the Lost.
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Cultural Elements
Often fairytale retellings are pretty white, but I love that de la Cruz went a bit diverse with her story here. Carlos is the Latin son of Cruella de Vil. Jay is the Middle-Eastern son of Jafar.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
The islanders live off of leftovers and garbage shipped in from Auradon, so some of that stuff is kind of icky. For instance, they eat old wilted food and stuff like that. Nothing crude per se, but kinda ick.
Romance/Sexual Content Jay has a reputation as being a player. He flirts with a lot of girls, but nothing beyond that comes into the story.
Spiritual Content The Isle of the Lost exists under a dome that prevents the villains from using magic, but magic begins to make its presence known.
Violent Content Because the characters are the children of villains, their homes are generally unhappy. Their parents treat them cruelly—mostly in the way they speak and withhold affection. (Sad but not really violent, I know, but I thought it worth mentioning.)
Drug Content
At a party, one character encourages the others to do shots of toad’s blood. It’s unclear whether this causes any intoxication or is just a silly/gross challenge.
After Alice’s mom dies, Alice, her sister, and her dad move to Monterey, California. There Alice tries to confront her fear of water by kayaking in the bay. A sudden storm drags her out to sea, and a mysterious boy rescues her. Alice can’t stop thinking about Henry, the young sailor who came to her rescue. Then she learns that Henry has been dead for over one hundred years, bound by a curse which can only be undone when he atones for wrongs he committed in his life. Henry warns her that their love is forbidden by rules that govern his curse. But to break the curse, Alice risks losing Henry.
This story reminded me a lot of Ophelia Adrift. Grief-stricken girl meets the ghost of a sailor and falls in love. Lots in common there, though there are some significant differences in the plotlines, too. I loved the setting of this novel—Monterey, CA. It definitely added to the story and felt real. I liked Henry and some of the other characters.
As the action ramped up, sometimes it got a little hard to believe. Things happened quickly, and sometimes just didn’t seem logical or like there was enough motivation set up for the characters to make the choices they did. Because of the prologue and the Ghost Maven abilities and artifacts, I kind of thought this might be a series. The end of the novel doesn’t really indicate that the story continues, though.
If you enjoyed Ophelia Adrift or have an interest in ghost stories, you’ll want to check out this book.
Recommended Age 13 up.
Cultural Elements
Characters are white middle class Americans.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing. Rumors spread about one girl’s behavior with boys at school. Later, a boy reveals he completed her homework in exchange for some intimate behavior.
Spiritual Content Since Alice’s mom died, she no longer believes in God. It seems the whole town believes in ghosts, though, even members of a local church. Alice learns of a curse which causes anyone who drowns in the bay to continue to walk among mortals, though their heart no longer beats. She also learns of a group of warriors who can destroy these undead creatures. Symbols and artifacts help defeat them.
Alice and her friend hold a séance to try to reach a girl believed to be dead. Alice’s mom communicates with the girls. Alice’s friend has psychic visions of events to come and senses things about people near her.
It probably sounds weird, but the psychic elements on their own bothered me less than the fact the in some places they were sort of mixed in with Christian ideas. In one scene, characters take refuge in a church and then rely on other symbols to protect them.
Violent Content A battle takes place between the people of the town and those cursed.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A strange force drags Billy, Lexi and Kurt to the land of goblins, where prophecy claims a goblin king will come in the hour of goblins’ greatest need. Hop, a timid soldier in the goblin army, knows there can be no greater hour of need than right now. The ruthless General Sawtooth plans to lead what remains of the goblin army into battle against a foe that cannot be defeated. He will only bring them death. So when the goblin crown pulses with the glow that announces the king’s arrival, Hop is determined to find him and see him crowned, even if he has to fight all of goblin-kind to do it.
I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with the “through the doorway into a magical world” kinds of stories. I’m always worried that they’ll come off cheesy or too predictable. And of course, it is a bit predictable in the same way that a romance novel is. I didn’t mind that, actually. Another thing I liked is that this story features a more diverse cast than I’ve seen in a book like this before. I loved having Hop’s point-of-view, too. He cracked me up. I loved that he constantly faces challenges that force him to overcome his natural tendency—running and hiding—in order to do the right thing, usually the last thing he feels like doing. The fact that he so often puts aside his fear and responds bravely made me really love that guy.
I liked Billy and Lexi, too. Even Kurt the football star shows surprising depth throughout the course of the story. I liked that Kurt doesn’t get pushed to the side totally and that he has some valuable input in helping his allies pursue victory.
Of course, there were some really funny moments where cultures clashed—modern day humans vs. goblins. I loved that. The only real complaint I had was the graphic nature of some of the battle scenes. I feel like the author wanted the goblins to read like these really brutal warriors with very different traditions, especially with regard to battle, than we have. And that definitely comes across clearly. But some of the descriptions (though brief) were more intense than I expected for a novel which otherwise reads like a middle grade story. See more detailed content information below.
Recommended Age 12 up. (Other than the violence, this reads to me like a middle grade story. Younger readers less sensitive to or less concerned about violent content may be interested in this book.
Cultural Elements
Billy is half African American and half Irish. He talks about how hard it has been to feel like an outsider everywhere, never really belonging to one group or another. Later he discovers a whole kingdom of humans who look like him. Lexi is Filipino. Kurt is white. Other major characters are goblins.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently. (Just twice, I think.)
Romance/Sexual Content It’s clear Billy has some feelings for Lexi, and that she possibly has feelings for him. This story doesn’t explore them.
Spiritual Content A prophetess calling herself the Dark Lady emerges from the reclusive elves. She uses prophecy to stir up the goblins for war and leads them into battle. The goblins mostly worship the Night Goddess. Her Templars serve her and deal justice to the people. Hop doesn’t believe in any gods, only in himself. He briefly laments this because it means he remains without the comfort prayer could bring. Wizards use magic to attack and to heal, but at a personal cost to themselves. Wizards who perform too much magic go insane.
Violent Content Battle violence. In an early scene, the winning army puts the Dark Lady’s head on a pike at the end of a brutal battle. Later, one goblin is literally torn apart by others. His head is put on a pike, too. There are several scenes showing battles, one in which soldiers use light to incinerate their enemies. Wizards use magic to attack.
Drug Content
Hop drowns his sorrows in mushroom wine after a plan goes awry.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.
But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?
As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.
My Review:
At first I was a little unsure about reading this book. Then I read the first few chapters as a sample from NetGalley, and that was enough to get me hooked! I loved the vivid descriptions of the landscape and culture. I loved the way Khoury developed this whole culture and hierarchy of jinni. The story felt larger than a simple fairytale and seated in a vast, complex world. I loved that it’s as if Zahra is relating her story to her friend the entire time. It definitely created this personal, humanized voice in what might otherwise have seemed an otherworldly narrator.
The romance was a little steamier than the Disney version I grew up with, but much of the heart and soul of the story remained perfectly intact. Aladdin is indeed the honorable, worthy thief. The princess is strong and independent. And the jinni proves that heart and wit combined make for a formidable adversary.
Recommended Age 15 up
Cultural Elements
This is a retelling of Aladdin. It definitely captures the feel of a Middle Eastern setting and characters.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Some passionate kissing. A boy removes his shirt and unbuttons a girl’s top. At the beginning, a girl hints that Aladdin has been with many other girls.
Spiritual Content Different types of jinni possess varied types of magic and power, the most powerful being the Shaitan. Jinni cannot reproduce, so they depend on human sacrifices to replenish their numbers. The jinni of the lamp grants her master three wishes. Sometimes she turns those wishes on her master to bring him ruin. Every wish comes with a price, but she does not always know what the price will be before the wish is made.
Violent Content Brief battle scenes. A woman fights a man for sport in a club. A woman poisons her enemy. A man found guilty of serious crimes is sentenced to death by beheading.
Drug Content
Aladdin gets drunk on wine (he drinks alcohol more than once). Several references to smoking drugs. A powerful leader has been reduced to a drug addict. It’s unclear if that happened by his choice or if he was manipulated into dependence.
