Category Archives: By Genre

Review: Protector by Jennifer Tubbiolo

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

Protector by Jennifer TubbioloProtector (The Narthex Academy Series, Book 3)
Jennifer L. Tubbiolo
Relevant Pages Press

Amazon | Goodreads

The last thing Asher Haynes expects is to be drawn into another battle for his life. But when servants of the Dark Prince show up in Charleston looking for a powerful artifact, Asher finds himself caught in the center of the conflict. If the Dark Prince finds the artifact and his servants use it, they will unlock terrible power. Asher and the Seer Team are the only ones who can stop them.

I think my favorite thing about this story was the way Tubbiolo set up the story framework—the Seer Team and Dark Prince and the whole conflict that translated really well in terms of being a Christian parallel. I liked that it felt paranormal but true to its roots at the same time, if that makes sense. I’ve read Christian fantasy that somehow felt contrived or like the Christian elements were just laid on top of an existing fantasy landscape. In this story, the elements felt really well integrated with each other.

One thing that I struggled with was that the narrative sometimes switched from present to past tense and back. It didn’t seem consistent, and my internal editor kept wanting to flag each change, so it really disrupted my ability to stay in the story.

I enjoyed Asher as a narrator and liked the rest of the cast of characters. The story felt like its own complete tale while also raising enough unanswered question to create some curiosity about the other books in the series. Fans of Lisa Bergren and Lynn Rush will probably find Jennifer Tubbiolo to their liking.

Language Content
No profanity or crude language.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The story centers around an artifact called the matteh, or “rod of Moshe.” (From the Biblical story of Moses, the staff he used to challenge Pharoah and lead the Israelites to freedom.) Men who represent an ancient Egyptian god want the staff as part of a ritual that will grant them great power from the Dark Prince (Satan). Asher and his friends are part of the Seer Team, a group who believe in Elohim (God) and are aided by God-given supernatural gifts (prophecy, dreams, etc) as well as angelic warriors.

Violence
Some battle violence. Nothing gory.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield

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

Life at the Speed of Us
Heather Sappenfield
Flux

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

After the car accident that takes her mother’s life, Sovern stops talking. She tries to lose herself in dating the boy she shouldn’t, in the rush of speeding downhill on a snowboard. But when another accident disconnects Sovern from even more of her life, she embarks on a quest outside time with only a strangely familiar boy who doesn’t speak her language as a guide.

There were things about this book that I liked. I thought it was cool that Sappenfield used Sovern’s dyslexia throughout the story. She really hammered home the idea that just because Sovern didn’t recognize letters as they were written did not mean she was by any means less intelligent. I liked the scenes in the Ute tribe.

In the scene where Sovern leaves the tribe behind to go home, I had a really hard time following what happened. It’s possible that it’s an issue resolved between the galley version that I read and the final published version. Sometimes I had a hard time connecting with Sovern’s character. The bad boy boyfriend thing seemed a little cliché. I liked that he turned out to be more than that, but I wanted the revelation of who he really is to involve him more, to give me reasons to invest in him more.

I’m going to break a cardinal rule and make a comparison between this book and a BIG book, which I really cringe to do, but hear me out. I think if you like the type of story that is Slaughterhouse Five, you might enjoy this book. I’m not comparing the quality of the writing in one versus the other, but more the somewhat disjointed, go where the story goes feeling that I had in reading Vonnegut’s novel. If you liked I Crawl Through It for the story, not the writing style, you might also enjoy this book.

The style of the narrative is a lot more straightforward and simple than the books I listed.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used moderately.

Sexual Content
Sovern and her boyfriend Gage share cigarettes and kisses together, but she doesn’t have sex with him. Sovern and a boy from the Ute tribe are treated as a married couple after rumors that they’ve slept together. She holds back from giving herself to him, though, unsure whether they can remain together.

Spiritual Content
The Ute believe that a bear chooses someone who is gifted with an ability to travel to other places. Sovern becomes interested in the ideas about the multiverse and theorizes ways to reach other universes.

Violence
Soldiers come to destroy the Ute village. Two tribe members fight them, one is fatally injured. Sovern is injured in a snowboarding accident and then speared by porcupine quills.

Drug Content
Sovern mentions that she and Gage smoke marijuana together.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Velvet by Temple West

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

Velvet
Temple West
Swoon Reads

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

After Caitlyn’s mom dies, she moves in with her aunt and uncle to a rural mountainside far from home. Discouraged and alone, Caitlyn wanders in the woods. Then a supernatural tornado-like thing nearly swallows her up. The boy who saves her turns out to be much more than the dark and swoony neighbor all the local girls wish they could get to know better.

But Adrian knows he’s placed Caitlyn in mortal danger. He is a vampire and his father, a demon (no, seriously,) wants to kill her. So the only way to protect her is to pretty much be with her constantly and, well, pose as her boyfriend, of course. Soon Caitlyn is the envy of every girl in school. But being Adrian’s pseudo-girlfriend comes with a high price. And the last thing she should do is fall in love with him.

When I picked up this book, I worried it would be sort of like a weird Twilight retelling. It is in the sense that he’s a vampire, she’s just a girl, and their star-crossed love would be frowned on by all if the truth came out. But West takes a different spin on vampire lore. Rather than vampires being created by bites from other vampires, they are the children of demons and human women. Yeah, it’s dark.

While I liked the twist on the vampire parts, other parts of the story were really a stretch to me, especially where it came to the romance. Things happened more than once that seemed contrived or almost silly rather than romantic. For the most part, I liked Adrian’s character. I felt like Caitlyn was a little tough to get into. She’s angry and distant in the wake of her mom’s death, but it was hard to really see past those feelings into the hurt and loneliness that would have made her easier to connect with.

The ending also felt like it went beyond setting a hook for the next story into introducing several ideas that didn’t connect with the current tale. I like having something to look forward to, but it felt like a lot of things just got thrown in there at the end that could have maybe been foreshadowed earlier in the story or just left out until book two.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used moderately.

Sexual Content
Caitlin’s girl friends tease her about whether or not she’s having sex with her boyfriend. They conspire to purchase lingerie for her as a Christmas present. Caitlin is embarrassed and conflicted about whether or not to show off her gift to her man. She and Adrian begin spending nights together after her nightmares grow worse. In pajamas, they nestle together in her tiny single bed. In one scene they strip to underwear and shower together. Afterward, they kiss and tumble around in his bed together (still in shower-soaked underpants) before falling asleep.

Adrian worries that his father may try to kill or impregnate Caitlyn and warns her to be on the lookout for strange men who may harm or attempt to seduce her. She gets in a dangerous situation with one man who tries to seduce her, but he doesn’t succeed.

Spiritual Content
Adrian is a vampire. Unlike other traditional tales of vampires, in this story, vampires are created when a demon and a human woman have a child together. The woman is killed at the birth of the child. The demon may try to take the child back to Hell or the vampire culture, who oppose demons, may try to raise the child among their numbers. There’s some hint that Caitlin may have some larger role to play in the battle between demons and vampires.

Violence
Caitlin suffers from violent nightmares. They get pretty gory. Adrian fights a demon in a battle that gets pretty intense. Caitlyn and Adrian also discuss how vampires keep “fed” using bags of human blood.

Drug Content
Caitlyn and her friends go to a party at which they drink alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

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

This Is Where It Ends
Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

It begins with the closing of the principal’s speech at Opportunity High. Confusion rustles through the auditorium as students discover the locked doors. Then one door opens, and a boy enters. A boy with a gun.

Four alternating viewpoints, each a student with a connection to the shooter, relate this tense, heartbreaking tale about a community ripped apart by violence. The story spans fifty-four minutes.

This Is Where It Ends includes a diverse body of characters across lines of race, religion, and sexual preference. As a YA reader and reviewer, I’ve commented before that I wish there were more stories featuring Muslim characters in which they or their family members aren’t portrayed as terrorists. I think especially right now, we need those voices. We need those stories. Fareed was probably my favorite character. He was kind, smart, patient, and loyal, but he got things done, too. I loved that he wasn’t defeated by other people’s prejudices.

I really liked that each chapter began with a timestamp. The story unfolds so rapidly, and there’s a lot of chaos and panic, and that minute-by-minute unraveling of the timeline kept things feeling critical. I feel like that high-tension plot is the real strength of the story.

In reading the different points-of-view, I often felt like I wasn’t getting as deep as I wanted to, especially early on in the story. It’s a really tough balance to strike to give enough slow insight into the characters versus keeping the narrative moving to avoid letting the tension slack off, so I think it could just be that I’m used to those slower-paced, more cerebral narratives, or prefer them.

There’s a heroic moment in which one character basically gives their life for another character. I love that gesture and how brave it was, but I felt like because of how it unfolded in the plot, it didn’t have to happen and was kind of just this little pause for, “okay, then this person we like dies, and moving on again.” I wanted it to mean more. However, the truth is, that in situations like this, there often isn’t a big moment that means something for each casualty, you know? I think because of who this character is, I expected it to mean more.

There’s never a good time to read a tragic story, but it is always the right time to be reminded of courage.

It is early December as I write this review. It’s always difficult to review a story about a situation like this in the wake of a real life event like what happened in San Bernandino. I was reading Black Helicopters, a story about a terrorist bombing, when the bombing happened in Boston in 2013. I’ve had This Is Where It Ends in my review queue for some time, but there hasn’t seemed a good time to read it.

I can only say that we need to be reminded that people of good heart, of moral courage come from every background, despite what other voices and what our own fears would have us believe. We need to hold on to the truth that we are all created equal, all worthy of love, all valuable. And Marieke Nijkamp’s brave story, though cloaked in the senseless tragedy of a school shooting, reminds us of these critically important beliefs.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
We learn that a girl was raped, but no details about the incident. Two girls have a romantic relationship. They hold hands and kiss.

Spiritual Content
Sylvia prays occasionally through the story, and remembers sharing in spiritual traditions of her Mexican family. Fareed whispers prayers as well (he is a Muslim.) At the end of the story, survivors gather at a candlelight vigil and pray according to their faiths.

Violence
A teenage boy shoots students, teachers and staff at his high school. One person is killed by asphyxiation. An abusive man beats his children, leaving them bruised. Some of these scenes are extremely violent and some of the descriptions quite graphic. I’d say this one isn’t for the faint of heart or the very sensitive.

Drug Content
Autumn and Tyler’s dad is an abusive alcoholic.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Forbidden Wish (Sneak Peek) by Jessica Khoury

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

Forbidden Wish (Sneak Peak)
Jessica Khoury
Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill

When a young thief summons Zahra from her lamp, she must grant him three wishes. But the world in which he lives forbids her presence, and her unwilling allegiance to her jinni kin means she may have to betray him at any moment. Nevertheless, she can’t help falling for the charming, fearless boy named Aladdin.

This sneak peek contains the first few chapters of this novel. If you’ve been lurking around The Story Sanctuary long, you’ll already know I’m a total sucker for fairytale retellings. So this was one I couldn’t resist checking out in advance.

I love that the story is told from the jinni’s perspective and that the love angle comes into play between the jinni and Aladdin. Aladdin is a bit of a player—which my little fairytale romance heart wasn’t too crazy about—so it seems all the girls know him and have experienced falling in a dead faint at his feet. He’s still the clever, quick little thief. The streets of his city really came to life in this tale. It felt like something between the underbelly of old London and a Middle Eastern town. Very fantasy, very believably gritty and dirty and dangerous.

This is definitely a book I’ll keep on my watch list to read when it comes out next February.

Language Content (Chapters 1-8)
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Sexual Content (Chapters 1-8)
None.

Spiritual Content (Chapters 1-8)
The story is told from the point-of-view of Aladdin’s genie. Other genies exist, and there is a lot of animosity between them and humans.

Violence (Chapters 1-8)
A boy is beaten by soldiers. A burly man and a young woman face off in a fight (for money.) Brief descriptions of a battle that led to the fall of a kingdom.

Drug Content (Chapters 1-8)
Aladdin goes to a bar to drink wine and gets a bit drunk.

A Thousand Nights by E K Johnston

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

A Thousand Nights
E K Johnston
Disney Hyperion

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Lo-Melkhiin comes to her village looking for his next wife, she knows he will choose her beautiful sister. She knows, too, that her sister would then be next in the long line of girls who meet death soon after becoming his bride. She vows to take her sister’s place.

In the palace, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her every night. She spins stories for him, grand tales about her home. Each morning she wakes. Each night he comes again. Strange things begin to happen. Power flows through her hands at weaving. Rumors surface of the good, kind man Lo-Melkhiin once was. She vows to weave power strong enough to free him from whatever curse has made him cruel. But she must do it before he destroys the kingdom and her.

Because the story is told through a lilting first-person narrative, I was so captured by the tale I didn’t realize the main character isn’t named. Normally that would really bother me, but as I said, I was sucked right into the plight of this brave girl who expected every night to be murdered by her husband.

As the story went on, I had more of a love-hate experience regarding her relationship with Lo-Melkhiin. I wanted there to be flashes of his former self behind his eyes or something, and it really wasn’t that kind of story. She believes wholly on faith that a good man exists, imprisoned inside him. I think that worked, I just had to adjust my expectations a bit.

I also kept having to resist the urge to compare this story to a recent favorite, Book of a Thousand Days. The narrative flow is a little similar, in that it has this poetic feel. It’s not really the same, and I think the two can’t really be compared. Book of a Thousand Days felt denser (in a good way) to me. This story felt simpler, not necessarily in a bad way.

That said, I’m generally a huge fan of fairytale retellings, and this, based on the stories of Scheherazade, did not leave me feeling disappointed.

The one note I’ll add about content is that I grew up in a church which condemned watching or playing Pokemon because it bore too close a parallel to trying to control spiritual creatures (too much like demons), and from that perspective, I’m not sure I would have been allowed to read this book as a younger teen. Certainly my parents and spiritual leaders would have been concerned with the demon-possession aspect and with her own power coming from worship and prayer given to her by the people.

At this point for me personally, it’s not always easy to decide where to draw the line on spiritual matters emerging in books, movies, and video games. My daughter’s father and I don’t always share the same values on these issues. In fact, we don’t always even land on the same (conservative vs liberal) side of the scale depending on the issue. So co-parenting across those lines can also be challenging. Because it is important to both of us to foster respect for our decisions in our daughter, I think we tend to try to err on choosing the more conservative side of the spectrum. It’s often about waiting rather than forbidding. At ten, the answer is no, but at fourteen, it might be yes. I suspect this book might fall into that category in my own judgment.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
She understands that she’ll be expected to have sex with her husband, and worries about it. No details given.

Spiritual Content
The people pray to smallgods. Each family has a shrine set up, often to a family member who who has died. Everyone prays to the person and leaves relics and offerings at the shrine. These give the smallgods power. When she leaves her family to become Lo-Melkhiin’s wife, her family sets up a shrine to her and her sister prays and keeps it. Over time, others pray to her as well, and her power grows.

Lo-Melkhiin returned from a hunting trip possessed by a demon. It controls him, keeps him caged within a small part of his brain. It also uses his power as king to control the people. It kills his wives to strengthen itself. It’s a pretty dark concept.

The demon’s power is pitted against her growing power as a smallgod. Each tries to destroy the other: she wants to free Lo-Melkhiin. He wants to kill her and take her power for his own.

Some spiritual power and authority also goes to the Skeptics, learned men who study the universe and its often unanswerable questions.

Violence
References to wives being murdered. He sort of draws out their life force and leaves them withered and dead husks. It’s briefly described.

Drug Content
None.