Category Archives: By Genre

Review: The Insiders by Mark Oshiro

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The Insiders by Mark Oshiro

The Insiders
Mark Oshiro
HarperCollins
Published September 21, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Insiders

San Francisco and Orangevale may be in the same state, but for Héctor Muñoz, they might as well be a million miles apart. Back home, being gay didn’t mean feeling different. At Héctor’s new school, he couldn’t feel more alone.

Most days, Héctor just wishes he could disappear. And he does. Right into the janitor’s closet. (Yes, he sees the irony.) But one day, when the door closes behind him, Héctor discovers he’s stumbled into a room that shouldn’t be possible. A room that connects him with two new friends from different corners of the country—and opens the door to a life-changing year full of magic, friendship, and adventure.

Three kids who don’t belong. A room that shouldn’t exist. A year that will change everything.

My Review

This book might break your heart. Not permanently. But. It follows Héctor, who’s just beginning at a new school in a new town. He becomes the target of a group of bullies. Though he’s usually pretty outspoken, he’s vulnerable– still trying to figure out how to find his footing in his new space. He has a supportive family, but worries they’ve got enough other things to stress over without needing to take on his troubles. He worries they’d be disappointed in him for not figuring things out for himself. Or for not standing up for himself or letting someone else’s behavior bother him so much.

His experience is so relatable. So raw and real. I love the gentle way the Room comforts and helps him. In some ways, the Room was my favorite character. Héctor is pretty tough to beat, though! I love his sense of humor and bold personality.

THE INSIDERS is one of those books that has a lot of things happening in the background in an understated way. One of Héctor’s teachers reacts to something he says or does in a way that made me think she knew about the Room, and maybe had her own experience with it herself. I love that it kind of stays ambiguous, too, because it hints at the Room being an ongoing force helping lonely kids without letting the story focus on an adult’s experience.

Some moments in the book were so achingly sad, but so many were also full of triumph and joy. This is a story that celebrates friendship, family, identity and food.

THE INSIDERS is the first book by Mark Oshiro that I’ve ever read, but I’m already thinking I need to go out and find all the other books they’ve written. I can’t wait to see more of their work.

I think readers who like HOW TO BECOME A PLANET by Nicole Melleby or FOREVERLAND by Nicole C. Kear will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Héctor is gay and Latino. He has several other close friends who are LGBTQ and/or BIPOC.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Reference to a homophobic slur. The word itself is not used.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl asks another girl to a school dance and is asked not to DJ the event because of it.

Spiritual Content
A room appears to Héctor and a couple other kids when they need it most. It transforms into whatever they need, from a janitor closet to a library to a coffee shop to a nap space. Sometimes it hints at solutions to problems they face.

Violent Content
Some homophobia and bullying. Though Héctor is never in critical physical danger, he bears some pretty deep wounds from the way his antagonists treat him, and even begins to experience some depression.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder

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The Bone Spindle
Leslie Vedder
Razorbill
January 11, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About the Bone Spindle

Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn’t believe in true love.

Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.

Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.

Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi–until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.

Dark magic, Witch Hunters, and bad exes all stand in her way–not to mention a mysterious witch who might wind up stealing Shane’s heart, along with whatever else she’s after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in love with Briar Rose.

Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.

Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth.

My Review

I’m always up for a good fairy tale retelling, especially a gender-flipped story or one that completely reimagines the world in which the fairy tale takes place. So, I couldn’t resist reading THE BONE SPINDLE once I knew it had all those elements. I also loved SORCERY OF THORNS, so, that’s even more points in favor.

Now that I’ve read it, I can honestly say that if I had a time machine, I’d end up being one of those people who seriously annoy my husband on Reddit, the people who would choose to use great power for oddball things. I’d definitely use my time machine to go into the future to read THE BONE SPINDLE’s sequel right now. (And then after that, you know, saving humanity, world peace, all that stuff.)

Favorite Things

I loved the characters in this book. Fi is smart, savvy, adorable and so bookish. I thought for sure she’d have to be my favorite. Then Shane had me with her fierce determination to protect the people she loves, and to do what’s right no matter how hard it is. And then Red with her quick wits and ability to slip in and out of trouble. And Briar with his charm and innocence and humor. They were all my favorites.

One of the fresh elements in this retelling that I couldn’t get enough of is that it takes a character (the sleeping princess, here a prince) who is traditionally a passive character, and turns them into an active supporting character in the story. We mostly follow Fi, who has been chosen to wake the prince, and Shane, her treasure-hunting, warrior partner. But Briar, the prince, visits Fi along the journey using his abilities as a light witch.

Through those visits, they become friends and feel the pull of love, but he also intervenes sometimes in battles (though the girls hold their own plenty of times). I loved that it showed a relationship developing between Fi and Briar and made him a living character rather than a prince waiting to wake up.

Sometimes the first book in a series like this will drop off a cliff at the end, and leave you feeling like you read a whole book only to get cheated out of a real ending– BUT– this book does not do that. It both had a very satisfying ending and also a great setup for the next book in the series.

Conclusion

Honestly, I can’t think of anything about this book that I didn’t like. It’s a completely fresh take on the fairytale, but it has all the elements I love about the original story. For me, this one was a total win. I absolutely recommend it to fantasy lovers and readers who love reimagined fairy tales.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Shane is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
A powerful witch has placed a curse on the kingdom of Andar. Other powerful witches gave their lives to transform the curse into something that could be broken. Other witches with magic ability still live among the other kingdoms.

Violent Content
Battle violence and situations of peril.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long

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Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
Meg Long
Wednesday Books
Published January 11, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves

After angering a local gangster, seventeen-year-old Sena Korhosen must flee with her prize fighting wolf, Iska, in tow. A team of scientists offer to pay her way off her frozen planet on one condition: she gets them to the finish line of the planet’s infamous sled race. Though Sena always swore she’d never race after it claimed both her mothers’ lives, it’s now her only option.

But the tundra is a treacherous place, and as the race unfolds and their lives are threatened at every turn, Sena starts to question her own abilities. She must discover whether she’s strong enough to survive the wild – whether she and Iska together are strong enough to get them all out alive.

A captivating debut about survival, found family, and the bond between a girl and a wolf that delivers a fresh twist on classic survival stories and frontier myths.

My Review

I liked this book from the beginning, and then Remy, one of the minor characters that’s part of a scientific expedition visiting Sena’s planet, entered the scene. She’s spunky and teasing and I loved her so much. She really added a lot of light and balance to Sena’s serious and sometimes moody personality. I felt like the story picked up a lot as soon as Remy walked into it, which was maybe 20% in?

I also loved the relationship between Iska and Sena. I’ve had the experience where an animal chooses you as their family. It was much less dramatic than a fighting wolf, but still, it’s an amazing thing, and I felt like COLD THE NIGHT captured that really well.

The planet where Sena lives is this rough, gritty icy place. Think Wild West meets Arctic tundra. It seemed exactly like the kind of place that Captain Mal and his crew from Firefly would end up at some point. Those gritty elements really worked to create high stakes and desperate characters, which definitely kept me engaged in the story.

All in all, I thought this one would make a great addition to the YA sci-fi shelves. I think readers who enjoy books by Claudia Gray or Hayley Stone will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Sena was raised by two mothers.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some scenes briefly show wolves being forced to fight each other. Animals attack people in several scenes. Goblins attack people in a couple scenes. Some of these scenes show some graphic violence and fatality.

Drug Content
Some characters drink alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of COLD THE NIGHT, FAST THE WOLVES in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Kindred by Alechia Dow

Book Review and Content, Romance, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Kindred
Alechia Dow
Inkyard Press
Published January 4, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Kindred

To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor…

Joy Abara knows her place. A commoner from the lowly planet Hali, she lives a simple life—apart from the notoriety that being Kindred to the nobility’s most infamous playboy brings.

Duke Felix Hamdi has a plan. He will exasperate his noble family to the point that they agree to let him choose his own future and finally meet his Kindred face-to-face.

Then the royal family is assassinated, putting Felix next in line for the throne…and accused of the murders. Someone will stop at nothing until he’s dead, which means they’ll target Joy, too. Meeting in person for the first time as they steal a spacecraft and flee amid chaos might not be ideal…and neither is crash-landing on the strange backward planet called Earth. But hiding might just be the perfect way to discover the true strength of the Kindred bond and expose a scandal—and a love—that may decide the future of a galaxy.

My Review

I really enjoyed Alechia Dow’s debut, THE SOUND OF STARS, so I was really excited about reading this book. The first chapter was a bit rough for me. I felt like there was a LOT of worldbuilding that kind of got squeezed into a busy scene, and I didn’t always feel like I understood the connections. Like, it outlined Felix’s connection with the ruling Qadin family, but at that point, I wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. By the end of the first chapter, I wasn’t sure about the book.

In the second chapter, we meet Joy, who is joined to Felix as his Kindred, and shares a connection to him through her mind. I immediately adored her. She’s a bright, determined girl raised on a planet where women’s primary worth comes from their ability to bear children. More than anything, Joy wanted to be seen and valued. I couldn’t help but identify with that.

The storytelling smoothed out a lot from there, too. Felix learns about the assassination just before realizing he’s the number one suspect. Immediately, he sets out to find Joy (whom the authorities will target for her ability to communicate with and locate him) and escape to a place he can set about proving his innocence.

Once that happened, I felt like the story picked up pace and the characters became all the more compelling. I liked their encounters on earth and the way those relationships shaped their decisions going forward.

All in all, I thought this was a super fun read, and I’m glad I had the chance to review it. I think readers who enjoyed WE LIGHT UP THE SKY by Lilliam Rivera will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Both Joy and Felix have brown skin. Joy identifies as demi-ace. Felix is pansexual. One minor character is gay. Another is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Brief references to other things.

Spiritual Content
Most people in Felix and Joy’s worlds worship Indigo, a creator god, or Ozvios, a god of chaos.

Violent Content
Battle scenes and some brief descriptions of torture.

Drug Content
Felix drinks a lot of alcohol to numb his feelings. Later, at a party with a lot of teenagers, a girl announces that there’s beer.

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

Review: When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

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When You Get the Chance
Emma Lord
Wednesday Books
Published January 4, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About When You Get the Chance

Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream to become a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super-introverted dad, who after raising Millie alone, doesn’t want to watch her leave home to pursue her dream. Not her pesky and ongoing drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not the “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm, always at maddeningly inconvenient times. Millie needs an ally. And when a left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do. She’s going to find her mom.

There’s Steph, a still-aspiring stage actress and receptionist at a talent agency. There’s Farrah, ethereal dance teacher who clearly doesn’t have the two left feet Millie has. And Beth, the chipper and sweet stage enthusiast with an equally exuberant fifteen-year-old daughter (A possible sister?! This is getting out of hand). But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one, without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along?

My Review

Such a cute book! Stories about theater kids will always be dear to my heart, since I was in theater myself in high school. I really enjoyed Millie’s character as well as her evolving understanding of herself and the people she is closest to. The whole MAMMA MIA spin was absolutely inspired, I think. I laughed out loud about her finding her dad’s LiveJournal account. Wow.

I feel like there are a lot of little pieces of the book that I enjoyed, too. The internship. The dance classes. The Milkshake Club! The geocaching app that Millie’s best friend is obsessed with. The behind-the-scenes ways people turn out to be connected. The brothers and their band. So many bits of story that all came together in a magical way to create a whole that is so much more than the sum of its parts. This book made me laugh and long to see shows on stage or at least blast a musical soundtrack at top volume and dance like nobody is watching.

Which totally makes it a triumph, if you ask me. I think fans of Lord’s other books will not be disappointed in this one, and readers who delight in romcom will find lots to love about WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE.

Content Notes for When You Get the Chance

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
One minor character is Asian American. Millie’s aunt is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

How to Become a Planet
Nicole Melleby
Algonquin Young Readers
Published May 25, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About How to Become a Planet

For Pluto, summer has always started with a trip to the planetarium. It’s the launch to her favorite season, which also includes visits to the boardwalk arcade, working in her mom’s pizzeria, and her best friend Meredith’s birthday party. But this summer, none of that feels possible.

A month before the end of the school year, Pluto’s frightened mom broke down Pluto’s bedroom door. What came next were doctor’s appointments, a diagnosis of depression, and a big black hole that still sits on Pluto’s chest, making it too hard to do anything.

Pluto can’t explain to her mom why she can’t do the things she used to love. And it isn’t until Pluto’s dad threatens to make her move with him to the city—where he believes his money, in particular, could help—that Pluto becomes desperate enough to do whatever it takes to be the old Pluto again.

She develops a plan and a checklist: If she takes her medication, if she goes to the planetarium with her mom for her birthday, if she successfully finishes her summer school work with her tutor, if she goes to Meredith’s birthday party . . . if she does all the things that “normal” Pluto would do, she can stay with her mom in Jersey. But it takes a new therapist, a new tutor, and a new (and cute) friend with a checklist and plan of her own for Pluto to learn that there is no old and new Pluto. There’s just her.

My Review

I feel like Nicole Melleby does an incredible job bringing issues to the middle grade stage with poise and poignance but without softening the truth about how hard some of those challenges can be. Both of the books she’s written that I’ve reviewed (HOW TO BECOME A PLANET and HURRICANE SEASON) have explored mental health and identity issues as well as complex relationships with single parents. This book also included resolving conflicts within a friendship.

All those topics felt handled really well in the context of a middle grade story. I didn’t feel sheltered from Pluto’s anxiety or her depression. I felt like I experienced those things along with her, but in a really accessible way. Like they would still make sense (I think) to someone whether or not they’d shared that experience personally.

I liked that Pluto’s parents both wanted to help her and be present and loving with her, but that the story showed how complicated that was for Pluto, too. I liked that no one in the story is perfect. It was also really cool that the story focused on building Pluto’s support team: friends, parents, mentors, and her therapist, all working together to create a network that Pluto could lean on when she needed them.

HOW TO BECOME A PLANET may not be the book that resonates with every reader, but it’s such a sweet, deep story. It’s about learning to recognize what you need and how to be loved even when you don’t feel lovable. Readers who enjoyed BREATHING UNDERWATER or ASTER’S GOOD RIGHT THINGS will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes for How to Become a Planet

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Several characters, including Pluto, identify as queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A kiss between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Pluto has a meltdown and lashes out physically.

Drug Content
Pluto takes medication for her anxiety and depression.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of HOW TO BECOME A PLANET in exchange for my honest review.