Category Archives: By Genre

Review: Xavier in the Meantime by Kate Gordon

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,
Xavier in the Meantime by Kate Gordon

Xavier in the Meantime
Kate Gordon
Riveted Press
Published February 1, 2022

 Book Depository | Goodreads

About Xavier in the Meantime

Sometimes Xavier wakes up feeling hopeless.

Every new doctor … this will fix it.

Removing him from school … this will fix it.

The therapy group … this will fix it.

And his dad moving out. Maybe, this will fix it. Despite his positive affirmations, the black dog never really leaves him. It watches from the corner of his room, never straying too far away—waiting for the perfect opportunity to sink its teeth in.

But Xavier has a plan—one he hopes will help all the kids in his support group. Enlisting the help of best friend Aster, he tries to convince his dad to turn the family sheep farm into a therapy retreat for the group session kids. But he is up against decades of tradition, his parents who are on a “break,” and the spectre of the black dog.

Can Xavier learn to cherish the moments in between the struggles—the moments in the meantime?

My Review

XAVIER IN THE MEANTIME is a companion novel to ASTER’S GOOD RIGHT THINGS, which I read and loved last year. Xavier is the boy with a pet bunny Aster meets in the other book. As soon as I saw that this book was about him (and incudes Aster as a side character!), I knew I needed to read it.

Xavier is such a cool kid. He has his own wild sense of style– I loved the descriptions of his outfits. He’s a bit of a loner. Homeschooled. Aster is his only friend. And everywhere he goes, the black dog follows him. It’s not a literal real dog. But he sees it in his mind, and it gives shape and presence to his depression. I thought the way the black dog is described and used as a metaphor for his depression was really powerful and original. It reminded me a little bit of the captain in CHALLENGER DEEP by Neal Shusterman.

When Xavier meets Aster in the other book, he and Aster learn about how doing small kindnesses for others can make them feel good inside. Xavier decides that small kindnesses won’t be enough to make him feel good, but he gets an idea for a big kindness, something that could help him and the other kids in his therapy group. It was really cool watching how the people around Xavier responded to the idea of the retreat and the way it impacted his connections with other kids.

This isn’t a story where he finds a magical cure for depression. The story mentions more than once that many people have chronic depression that doesn’t just go away forever. While it’s a really hopeful story, it doesn’t pretend that Xavier has found a magical cure. Rather that finding a supportive community that will be with him when the dark days come and the black dog returns is the true goal for him. I liked that, and I liked that the story explored what a supportive community can look like and how it develops.

Content Notes for Xavier in the Meantime

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Xavier has depression. Aster has anxiety. Xavier’s mom has Crohn’s disease.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A boy comes to therapy group with a black eye after having been beat up at school.

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 Xavier in the Meantime in exchange for my honest review.

Review: You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

You’d Be Home Now
Kathleen Glasgow
Delacorte Press
Published September 28, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About You’d Be Home Now

For all of Emory’s life she’s been told who she is. In town she’s the rich one–the great-great-granddaughter of the mill’s founder. At school she’s hot Maddie Ward’s younger sister. And at home, she’s the good one, her stoner older brother Joey’s babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey’s drug habit was.

Four months later, Emmy’s junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone’s telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?

Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy’s beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be cured, the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many ghostie addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is–it might be time to decide for herself.

Inspired by the American classic Our Town, You’d Be Home Now is Kathleen Glasgow’s glorious modern story of a town and the secret lives people live there. And the story of a girl, figuring out life in all its pain and beauty and struggle and joy.

My Review

This book broke my heart. It’s so raw, so full of emotion. It’s desperate and tender. I love the relationship between Emory and her brother, Joey. Watching her family navigate this incredibly difficult moment made me feel like I couldn’t look away. I needed to know what would happen all the way until the last page.

It definitely captured some of the feel of OUR TOWN. The opioid use gave the story a completely different spin, though. And, oh my gosh. Emory’s mother. I had to pause my reading a couple of times because her control issues were so off the chart. I felt like I could feel Emory’s anxiety and Joey’s frustration and apathy myself when their mother was in the room sometimes. Yikes.

As a reader, I loved this book so much. It challenged me as a writer, too. Like, it’s definitely one of those books that I finish reading and then struggle not to quietly go and delete every project I’ve been working on because I can’t see how I’ll ever write something as compelling as this. (No manuscripts were harmed in the making of this book review.)

If you love stories featuring family drama, or books that explore first love and addiction, or complicated grief, those are all great reasons to pick up YOU’D BE HOME NOW.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Emory is the daughter of a wealthy white family in a small town. Her brother is recovering from opioid addiction.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to touching and masturbation. A girl allows a boy to take photos of her while she’s naked.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Emory’s brother comes home with a black eye and says another boy at school hit him.

Drug Content
Emory drinks alcohol at a party. Other kids smoke pot. Emory’s brother uses heroin and oxycontin (happens off-scene).

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

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

These Deadly Games
Diana Urban
Wednesday Books
Published February 1, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About These Deadly Games

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. And if you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a video of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.

But then Crystal realizes each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did…

As Crystal makes the impossible choices between her friends and her sister, she must uncover the truth and find a way to outplay the kidnapper… before it’s too late.

Author of ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS, Diana Urban’s explosive sophomore novel, THESE DEADLY GAMES, will keep you riveted until the final twist is revealed.

My Review

I knew as soon as I started reading this book that it was going to be a tough one for me. It moves really quickly, and has a fairly large cast. Crystal and five of her close friends are on an esports team together preparing for a tournament game. Her mom and sister are important characters, plus a few other rivals and side characters. So there are a lot of moving parts to the story. I liked that.

What I found challenging, though, was connecting with Crystal. She seemed to have a lot of emotional contradictions. Sometimes conflicted characters– where they feel two opposing things simultaneously– are really gripping, but something about Crystal’s character just didn’t click with me. She blamed her mom for not getting help when her dad was abusing her, but blamed herself for her dad leaving.

Crystal had a conflict with one of her team members that didn’t really make sense to me, either. I didn’t really understand the stakes of the secret that Crystal and her friends kept from the past. I don’t know. The story didn’t hook me in the way that I wanted to.

I don’t know. Other than the character disconnect, I thought it was a pretty intense read, definitely something readers who like Karen McManus or R. L. Stine would like. THESE DEADLY GAMES reminded me a little bit of HOW WE FALL APART by Katie Zhao, so I think readers who enjoy those kinds of driven, fast-paced suspenseful stories will probably like this one a lot more than I did.

Content Notes for These Deadly Games

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Crystal has panic attacks. One of her best friends is Asian American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some scenes reference Crystal’s dad beating her mom. More often they show Crystal noticing bruises on her mom’s body after a fight between her parents. Some video footage shows a girl tied up and being threatened or cut with a knife. Other situations of peril and serious accidents.

Drug Content
Crystal’s dad was an alcoholic, but he no longer lives with her family.

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 THESE DEADLY GAMES in exchange for my honest review.

Review: For the Good of All by M. B. Dahl

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

For the Good of All
M. B. Dahl
Elk Lake Publishing
Published August 8, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About For the Good of All

“For the good of all, we give ourselves.”

At least that’s how the mantra goes. Everyone knows the refrain. Everyone responds to it. But Ren seriously doubts how killing off people who are different is good for anyone, especially when she’s hiding her own difference.

Just graduated, Ren follows her friend Bala’s advice, “blend in.” Being overlooked isn’t a problem until a cute guy asks her out. Owen’s handsome, funny, and sees her. He treats her like an equal, not a problem. But he has his own secrets.

His issues aren’t like hers, though. Aberrant with a strange ability even she doesn’t understand, Ren must choose to embrace her differences or run before she becomes the next one sacrificed for the good of all.

My Review

I like that this book is told in multiple perspectives. We follow Ren, a girl born with a gift that, if discovered, will mean her death; Owen, a boy with grand aspirations within the Protectorate, shadowed by the guilt of a terrible secret; and Dart, a girl who lives among lots of people with gifts, but whose own ability hasn’t presented itself yet. She worries the Leader has forgotten her or cast her aside.

This is a dystopian story and has some THE GIVER vibes. People who either aren’t thriving within the society or break the rules are “accomplished,” or removed from society and secretly put to death. Unlike THE GIVER, the land is ruled by a powerful man who preaches doing things “for the good of all,” but rules with an iron hand, and his own self-serving values.

The story reminded me a little bit of the series THE UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld, with its sort of starry-eyed people within the society, and the free-spirited, wilderness groups living outside.

FOR THE GOOD OF ALL is a little different, though, in that it’s really centered around a spiritual message. Tatief governs his people with the mantra, “For the good of all we give ourselves,” but that doesn’t actually play out in a way that fosters the community-minded, loving people that it implies. Instead, the group living in the woods who have been gathered by the Leader and his messengers, are the ones who love and care for one another.

All in all, it’s a cool story that explores deep themes about love versus control or fear. I enjoyed reading it. I think fans of Scott Westerfeld or of dystopian fiction might enjoy this one, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are described as having white or tanned skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
There are a couple of made up curses used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
There is some clear romantic attraction between characters.

Spiritual Content
Two characters are messengers on behalf of the Leader, who is a Jesus-like character.

Violent Content
Some situations of peril and brief graphic battle violence and violence against unarmed citizens.

Drug Content
One character uses poisons to manipulate and control others.

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 FOR THE GOOD OF ALL in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Blade of Secrets (Bladesmith #1)
Tricia Levenseller
Feiwel & Friends
Published May 4, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Blade of Secrets

Eighteen-year-old Ziva prefers metal to people. She spends her days tucked away in her forge, safe from society and the anxiety it causes her, using her magical gift to craft unique weapons imbued with power.

Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims’ secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord’s intentions to use the weapon to enslave all the world under her rule, she takes her sister and flees.

Joined by a distractingly handsome mercenary and a young scholar with extensive knowledge of the world’s known magics, Ziva and her sister set out on a quest to keep the sword safe until they can find a worthy wielder or a way to destroy it entirely.

A teenage blacksmith with social anxiety accepts a commission from the wrong person and is forced to go on the run to protect the world from the most powerful magical sword she’s ever made.

My Review

Sisters! A magical sword! Unlikely allies! Those were the reasons I started reading this book. All things I absolutely love about it. I also loved the way it explored Ziva’s anxiety and her need for order and space. I loved the way her relationships developed as even her traveling companions learned to navigate her needs and communicate with her about them.

There were definitely some moments in the book that surprised me. Places I didn’t expect it to go or things that went differently than I thought they would. Additionally, I kind of liked that it over and over explored different types of family relationships. Some were really close and built on a strong foundation, like Ziva and her sister. Others showed what can happen when a new trust is broken or when someone proves to be untrustworthy ongoingly. It also celebrated found family in the team that formed and continued to find reasons to stay together.

I’m super excited to read the sequel to this book and last half of the duology, MASTER OF IRON. I’ve already requested a copy for review since it comes out later this year. Hopefully I’ll get it, but we’ll see. This is the first book by Tricia Levenseller that I’ve ever read, though I do own DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, and now I REALLY want to read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
The culture worships sister goddesses. Some believe those born with magic are an abomination and need to be destroyed. This is an older, fading prejudice which was once more dominant.

Violent Content
Battle scenes and some brief graphic descriptions battles.

Drug Content
One character gets drunk at a bar. Another talks about frequenting different bars and drinking socially. Though she’s sixteen, it’s implied that she’s legally allowed to 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 BLADE OF SECRETS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Swallowtail Legacy: Wreck at Ada’s Reef by Michael D. Beil

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , ,

The Swallowtail Legacy: Wreck at Ada’s Reef
Michael D. Beil
Pixel + Ink
Published February 1, 2022

Amazon  | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Wreck at Ada’s Reef

Twelve-year-old Lark Heron-Finch is steeling herself to spend the summer on Swallowtail Island off the shores of Lake Erie. It’s the first time that she and her sister will have seen the old house since their mom passed away. And while her stepfather and his boys are okay, the island’s always been full of happy memories–and now everything is different.

When Nadine, a close family friend, tells Lark about a tragic boat accident that happened off the coast many years before, Lark’s enthralled with the story. Nadine’s working on a book about Dinah Purdy, Swallowtails’s oldest resident who had a connection to the crash, and she’s sure that the accident was not as it appeared. Impressed by Lark’s keen eye, she hires her as her research assistant for the summer.

And then Lark discovers something amazing. Something that could change Dinah’s life. Something linked to the crash and even to her own family’s history with Swallowtail. But there are others on the island who would do anything to keep the truth buried in the watery depths of the past.

A compelling and complex mystery with a classic feel, WRECK AT ADA’S REEF is perfect for fans of THE PARKER INHERITANCE, HOLES, THE WESTING GAME, and anyone looking for a satisfying puzzle that stretches across decades.

My Review

Confession: I haven’t read any of the books that the blurb compares this one to, so I had no idea whether I would like it going in. I tend to enjoy mysteries with a young narrator (see my reviews of THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE or THREE TIMES LUCKY), so I figured this was a pretty good gamble.

And, you know what? It totally was. It takes place on this small island. The residents we meet are all really distinct characters who bring a lot to the story. I loved the relationships Lark develops between the other islanders. I also loved watching her connections with her family members change and grow, too.

Lark is a no-nonsense girl who doesn’t back down from a fight, ever, so when she stumbles onto an unsolved mystery that might have hurt the people she’s coming to care about, she’s ready to put the full force of her personality behind uncovering the truth.

I thought the pacing of the story was great, too. There’s a lot of tension as we begin to put the pieces together about what happened at Ada’s Reef that long ago night. Interspersed with the tension are sweet moments with Lark and her stepdad as well as silly moments with her and her siblings or other characters.

All together, I’m pretty hooked on this series so far. I loved this book and would absolutely read more about Swallowtail Island and its inhabitants. I think fans of middle grade mysteries like the books I mentioned above or the Northwoods mystery books by Margi Preus would really enjoy WRECK AT ADA’S REEF.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Lark is white and an orphan. A couple minor characters are gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
At one desperate point, Lark states that she’s not religious, but offers a prayer to whatever gods are listening.

Violent Content
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 WRECK AT ADA’S REEF in exchange for my honest review.