Category Archives: By Genre

Review: The Raven Heir by Stephanie Burgis

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The Raven Heir by Stephanie Burgis

The Raven Heir (The Raven Crown #1)
Stephanie Burgis
Bloomsbury Children’s
Published September 14, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Raven Heir

Deep within an enchanted forest lies a castle where a set of triplets and their sorceress mother have lived for years — safe from the decades-long war for the Raven Throne that rages in the kingdom beyond. Cordelia, one of the triplets, has the power to become any animal with just a thought, and she yearns to discover more about the world outside her castle.

But one day, the world comes to her, when the eldest of the triplets becomes the newest heir to the throne. Knowing that being named heir means certain death, Cordelia’s mother hid the truth about which child is the eldest when she hid them in the forest. When her family is captured, it’s up to Cordelia to use her powers to keep her siblings hidden and discover the truth about the Raven Heir — before it’s too late.

A thrilling new fantasy full of magic, adventure, and the power of family.

A set of magical triplets, two warring dynasties, and a broken crown waiting for its rightful owner…

My Review

If you’ve been following my blog for long, you probably already know one of my favorite middle grade series lately has been The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle. The series finale comes out (already came out in the UK) this year, so I’ve been loving that and also dreading being without a powerful and amazing series to look forward to…

Until I read THE RAVEN HEIR.

Because WOW.

Like. Where do I even start? The setting has this beautiful, enchanted vibe to it that I love. The characters are caught in the middle of this huge political power grab, and if they have any chance of surviving it, it will have to be because they figure out how to come together and fight their way out. So it’s serious, but the writing and the characters themselves keep it really firmly anchored in middle grade age range.

The characters. I love the way each of the triplets are different from one another. The whole story is in Cordelia’s perspective, and I love her character best of all. She’s feisty and has a hard time expressing herself in words to her siblings. Her brother Giles is the poet and comedian. Rosalind is fierce and brave. They’re so great.

The plot keeps a pretty quick pace. I think I read the whole book in two sittings, so it was a quick read for me. Every time I thought I’d quit at the end of the chapter, something new kept me reading just one more! I loved it.

For me this book is right up there with my other MG faves– THE STORM KEEPER’S ISLAND and THE FIREBIRD SONG. If you liked either of those, you will absolutely want to read this one. I’m also a fan of Burgis’s earlier books, but she’s absolutely outdone herself with this one. I can’t wait to read this whole series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cordelia’s older brother is described as having light brown skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have magic. The land also has a kind of magic.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief battle scenes.

Drug Content
A woman forces children to drink a potion that puts them to sleep.

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

Review: Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

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Defy the Night
Brigid Kemmerer
Bloomsbury
Published September 14, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Defy the Night

The kingdom of Kandala is on the brink of disaster. Rifts between sectors have only worsened since a sickness began ravaging the land, and within the Royal Palace, the king holds a tenuous peace with a ruthless hand.

King Harristan was thrust into power after his parents’ shocking assassination, leaving the younger Prince Corrick to take on the brutal role of the King’s Justice. The brothers have learned to react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion–it’s the only way to maintain order when the sickness can strike anywhere, and the only known cure, an elixir made from delicate Moonflower petals, is severely limited.

Out in the Wilds, apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her neighbors die, their suffering ignored by the unyielding royals. Every night, she and her best friend Wes risk their lives to steal Moonflower petals and distribute the elixir to those who need it most–but it’s still not enough.

As rumors spread that the cure no longer works and sparks of rebellion begin to flare, a particularly cruel act from the King’s Justice makes Tessa desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds upon her arrival makes her wonder if it’s even possible to fix Kandala without destroying it first.

A fantasy series about a kingdom divided by corruption, the prince desperately holding it together, and the girl who will risk everything to bring it crashing down.

My Review

I was super excited when I opened the package that had an ARC of DEFY THE NIGHT in it. I didn’t think I’d be on the list of bloggers who would get a copy (THANKS, BLOOMSBURY!), so I wasn’t even on the lookout for it. And yet! Yay!!!

So when I started reading, I was nervous. If you know me, you’re probably rolling your eyes. I’m always nervous when I start a book. If I liked the author already, I worry that the book won’t live up to my expectations based on how I felt about previous books. If it’s a new-to-me author, I worry that the book won’t be a good fit for me, and I’ll struggle to read it. So. Yeah. Apparently I’m just a nervous reader.

I think the first time I sat down to read, I read like 70 pages. When I quit, I wanted to read more, but I was really tired. I was into the story, had some ideas about where it was headed. (Yeah, okay, I peeked ahead. Did you forget already that I’m a nervous reader?! Ha.)

The second time I sat down to read, I read over 100 pages. The third time, I finished the book. (Something around 250 pages.)

I loved Tessa’s character– and I feel like Kemmerer always does this to me. She always gives us these bright, strong heroines with layers and grief and depth, and I love them from the first pages. I wasn’t sure I’d like Corrick. I mean, I suspected there was more to him than the brutal exterior, because hello, he’s the hero, but, I just wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into.

The story centers around a pandemic in a time of unrest and violence. Brief violent descriptions of death or torture or assassination attempts kind of pepper the whole book. I wasn’t expecting that for some reason, so the darkness of it kind of took me by surprise. They’re almost always brief descriptions, but there are a lot of them. I’m super sensitive to violence, so I kept worrying that it would add up to be too much for me, but I think because it’s usually so brief, I was okay reading it.

I completely bought into the premise and the characters, so I feel like I can’t even evaluate whether they made perfect sense– because I was committed to the story from pretty early on. The danger felt so real. The stakes kept getting higher. And the relationships twisted and turned and revealed new layers again and again.

I also liked that it didn’t end on a cliff’s edge. It had what I’d call a comfortable resolution (??) where, like, things felt completed without at the last minute introducing a new thread to tease us about the next book. So I really appreciated that! We have enough stress and anticipation right now. Haha. I’m excited about the fact that it’s a series, though, because I would definitely read more of this story world. I’m wondering, since it didn’t have a cliffhanger end, if the next book centers on different characters??? I am really excited to find out about that.

At any rate, I think readers who enjoyed A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN will find the same great storytelling and complicated characters here. I might have liked this one better than AHSFAB? I’m not sure. It might be my favorite of Kemmerer’s so far, but I’m a pretty devoted fan of LETTERS TO THE LOST, so that one is tough to beat. Either way, I loved it and recommend checking it out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
I don’t recall any. Maybe mild profanity? If so it’s pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between girl and boy. In one scene, the characters kiss pretty intensely.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Lots of brief violence. Assassination attempts or successes. References to torture. Descriptions of executions. Descriptions of battle or a group beating up one person. Explosions. Most of these things are brief, but there are a lot of them.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: We Can Be Heroes by Kyrie McCauley

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We Can Be Heroes
Kyrie McCauley
Katherine Tegen Books
Published September 7, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About We Can Be Heroes

“Welcome to Bell, proud home of Bell Firearms for two hundred years, and where five months ago, the teen heir to the Bell fortune took his father’s guns to school and killed his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Queen.” —WE CAN BE HEROES PODCAST

Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance. They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them—Cassie’s ghost.

When their murals catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they become the catalyst for a debate that Bell Firearms can no longer ignore. With law enforcement closing in on them, Beck and Vivian hurry to give Cassie the closure she needs—by delivering justice to those responsible for her death.

Kyrie McCauley, author of If These Wings Could Fly, delivers a powerful contemporary YA novel about a trio of girls fighting for each other in the aftermath of a school shooting and the lasting bonds of friendship. Perfect for fans of Laura Ruby and Mindy McGinnis.

My Review

This. Book. Just wow. There are a couple scenes toward the end in particular (which I won’t spoil) but which absolutely wrecked me. The relationships between the characters are so incredibly well done. The friendships between the girls. The relationship between Beck and her gentle, not to be pushed around, strong but silent type grandfather. He’s my favorite literary grandpa EVER.

Then. The layering! The way the story wove together truths about domestic violence and powerful snapshots from Greek myths and the story of two girls grappling with crushing grief in a town refusing to face what killed their best friend. The clips from the podcast focused on exposing violence against women. The Latin expression that was so precious to Cassie that comes up again and again through the story: collige virgo rosas.

I just.

I feel like there’s no way that I can review this book and do it justice at all. It might be the best book at weaving all these things together simultaneously and telling a story that bears the weight of the important topics it explores without being dominated by them.

I loved this book. This is going to be the book you hear about from me for like the next year, so if you know me in real life, probably go ahead and read it now. Ha! Really, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that felt as gripping and as weighty as this and had the moving writing style to back it up, too. Like maybe since I read THE BOOK THIEF? I’m not sure. I can see why McCauley is compared in the back cover copy to Laura Ruby, who wrote BONE GAP, which was also a densely packed, lyrical, moving book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are three white girls. One girl is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kiss between boy and girl. A girl recalls briefly that she slept with her boyfriend before she was ready and implies that he pressured or perhaps even forced her to do so.

Spiritual Content
Cassie is dead, but every night she appears as a ghost in the van owned by one of her two best friends.

Violent Content – Trigger warning for domestic violence/abuse and for gun violence and suicide and bullying.
Some descriptions of domestic violence. Some descriptions of a school shooting in which Cassie was killed and one of her best friends injured before the gunman ended his life. Those things happened before the book begins, so they’re related in short flashes of memory by the characters.

At one point, a girl finds a hateful message spray painted on her door. (I’ve referred to this as bullying, but I’m not sure what the right label for it is.)

Drug Content
The girls drink alcohol together and get drunk together as teens more than once.

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

Review: The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs

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The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna
Alda P. Dobbs
Sourcebooks
Published September 14, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna

It is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna’s mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left―her abuelita, little sister Amelia, and baby brother Luisito―until they can be reunited. They flee north through the unforgiving desert as their town burns, searching for safe harbor in a world that offers none.

Each night when Petra closes her eyes, she holds her dreams close, especially her long-held desire to learn to read. Abuelita calls these barefoot dreams: “They’re like us barefoot peasants and indios―they’re not meant to go far.” But Petra refuses to listen. Through battlefields and deserts, hunger and fear, Petra will stop at nothing to keep her family safe and lead them to a better life across the U.S. border―a life where her barefoot dreams could finally become reality.

My Review

I read this book in one sitting, both because it’s a pretty easy read, but also because I couldn’t stop. Petra is bright and full of curiosity and determination to keep the promise she made to her father to care for her family. She makes sure they stay together, helps them when they’re weak, and stays focused on what matters, no matter what comes across her path. Her relationship with her grandmother is complex– there are levels where they just don’t get each other, and others where they deeply connect. I loved that.

The descriptions of the places Petra travels are vivid and gripping. I felt like I could almost taste and smell the food sometimes. And the hot dry desert and its affect on them as they traveled felt so real.

Though there’s some violence, it mostly happens off-scene, with some one-line references to what’s happened. In the author’s note, the author talks about how she learned about these events from her own family’s history rather than at any point in school. I didn’t learn about these events in school either, so I was really moved by the history in which THE BAREFOOT DREAMS OF PETRA LUNA takes place. It made me want to learn a lot more about Mexican history.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. The characters really resonated with me, especially Petra and Marietta, a captain in the rebel forces. I think readers who enjoy historical fiction or stories about strong female heroes will love this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Mexican.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Petra and her family seek refuge in a church. Petra’s grandmother has taken them to mass only rarely.

Violent Content
Soldiers force boys and men to join their ranks, executing them by firing squad if they refuse. (That’s referenced, but not explicitly shown.) Soldiers tear apart Petra’s home looking for her cousin. They burn the village, and Petra and her family flee. They threaten to kill civilians.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: The Captain’s Daughters by Doreen Berger

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Sci-Fi, , , , ,

The Captain’s Daughters
Doreen Berger
Published April 16, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Captain’s Daughters

For most adolescents, growing up is hard enough when one has both feet planted firmly on the ground. But for mischievous, twelve-year-old sisters Diane and Robin, life is complicated further by the fact that their father, Captain William Marsh, is the commander of the Starship Polaris. Living among the stars provides a never-ending realm of creative possibility for the free-spirited girls’ pranks and adventures.

When aliens bent on profit and revenge kidnap Diane and Robin, only their indomitable spirit, ingenuity, and a common love of trouble allow the pair to escape the alien vessel. Finding their way home seems assured until the sisters realize they have been taken further from home then they could ever have imagined, and that they must evade an enemy who will stop at nothing to get them back into his evil clutches. Blocked by interstellar battles, malevolent creatures, and overwhelming obstacles, the sisters fear they may never find a way to return to their own universe and to the father they love.

“A cozy family adventure…” — Kirkus Reviews

My Review

I liked that the two girls, Diane and Robin were quirky and fun and full of mischief. The relationship they share with their dad, Captain Marsh, is really sweet, too. Though they’re close with their dad, they’re also pretty independent and free-spirited.

The writing style really fits middle grade literature, so I felt like that was really spot-on. One thing I struggled with, though, was that there were not that many scenes from Robin and Diane’s perspective. I think the majority of the scenes were from Captain Marsh’s perspective, and after a while it felt more like his story to me.

I also struggled with a couple of the plot elements– one is difficult to describe without spoilers, but based on the story’s setup, I don’t think one of the critical information-gathering moments would have been possible. So that hung me up a bit, too.

On the whole, though, I thought it was really cool to see a sci-fi story for middle grade readers. That’s something I haven’t seen done very often, so I think that’s super cool. Apart from the hiccups I experienced, I enjoyed reading THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTERS. The writing style and the fun characters made it a pretty easy read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Not a lot of race details given.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The story explores the idea of parallel universes.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of physical altercations. Situations of peril. Descriptions of children being kidnapped. Vague reference to a man who wants children for unsavory reasons.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood

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

Take Three Girls
Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood
Sterling Teen
Published April 6, 2021 (Orig. 2017)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Take Three Girls

Popular Ady seems cool and confident at school, but at home her family is falling apart. Brainiac Kate wants to pursue her dreams of playing music, even if it jeopardizes her academic scholarship. And swim champ Clem finds herself disenchanted with the sport . . . and falling for a very wrong boy. When these three very different girls are forced to team up in a wellness class, they’re not too pleased. But over time, they bond—and when they’re all targeted by PSST, a website that dishes out malicious gossip and lies, they decide to take a stand, uncover the culprits, and fight back. But can they really fix a broken system? With each girl’s story told by a different author, as well as intriguing questionnaires from the wellness class included throughout, this empowering novel explores today’s most relevant topics— from cyberbullying and fat shaming to drug abuse and financial stress.

“Mean stuff spreads so fast. One click. Post. Send. Share. Online bullying = sometimes suicides, so all the private schools have strategies for dealing with it. At St Hilda’s, it’s Wellness classes. We greeted the idea with genuine enthusiasm. Why not? Everyone loves the chance to slack off.”

Three authors. Three appealing and relatable characters. One smart YA novel about a trio of unlikely friends who team up to take down the school cyberbully. 

My Review

My favorite thing about this book is the way the friendships develop between the girls. At the beginning of the story, it’s clear they don’t really like or respect one another. They do have things they grudgingly admire about each other, though, which felt really real. The way their friendship grows felt so natural and believable. I wanted to celebrate every moment of it. It totally took me back to those deep friendships I had in high school, too. I loved that.

There can never be enough stories that shine a light on the power and empowering effect of girl friendships. I love that this book paid such a beautiful tribute to them.

One of the things I feel like I can never get enough of in a book are characters who are artistic in some way. I love living vicariously through them. So I really enjoyed all the scenes in which Kate is playing her cello. I loved that she took playing music, something we’ve all seen done before in books, in a fresh direction, too, by having her also mixing in other sound tracks and giving it a tech aspect– that’s something I’ve never seen done before, I don’t think. And while I know nothing about that process, I felt like I followed what she was doing just fine and loved it. It made me wish I could listen to the music she was writing.

Ady’s family crisis over substance abuse really drew me in, too. I felt like her experience of trying to figure out what was going on and especially doing that through reading the other people in the room and even some eavesdropping felt totally real to me. I remembered a lot of those kinds of moments in my own teen life during the process of discovering someone close to me was addicted to alcohol.

I think I struggled the most with Clem’s story, even though to be honest, that resonated with me, too. For me it was painful to read, not because the story was bad, but because it also kind of called up some things in my own life that were hard to think about. Falling in love can be so hard. I love that Kate and Ady admired things about her from the beginning, and that the story kind of helped reframe her certainty about what she wanted as a positive thing, even though it came with some really hard lessons.

I feel like the back cover copy is a teeny bit misleading because taking down the school bully is really one girl’s idea moreso than the others for most of the story. I thought from reading the cover copy that the story would focus on that takedown, and that doesn’t really emerge until late in the book. Each section does begin with what would be a screenshot of content posted to the online bullying site, so the bullying is a central part of the story that impacts many of the characters. Eventually the girls do all work together on a plan to make it happen, though.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book, though I found some of the content was hard for me personally. I’ve made notes below on other potential triggers in the book, so please check those out. Here’s my review of GRAFFITI MOON by Cath Crowley, one of the TAKE THREE GIRLS authors, in case you’re interested in that, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
One main character is bisexual. One main character is struggling with her weight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning for Sexual Bullying
Kissing between boy and girl. A man asks for nude photos of a sixteen-year-old girl, which she sends him. He also sends some explicit pictures to her. Several brief descriptions of sex and sexual acts. Kissing between two girls.

Each section includes a post from the PSST site which uses explicit, often sexual language to demean and bully girls whose real names are used.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One boy punches another in the face.

Drug Content
Underage drinking. One character discovers that her dad is an alcohol and cocaine addict.

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