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Review: Havenfall by Sara Holland

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Havenfall by Sara Holland

Havenfall (Havenfall #1)
Sara Holland
Bloomsbury YA
Published March 3, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Havenfall

A safe haven between four realms. The girl sworn to protect it — at any cost.

Hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado lies the Inn at Havenfall, a sanctuary that connects ancient worlds — each with their own magic — together. For generations, the inn has protected all who seek refuge within its walls, and any who disrupt the peace can never return.

For Maddie Morrow, summers at the inn are more than a chance to experience this magic first-hand. Havenfall is an escape from reality, where her mother sits on death row accused of murdering Maddie’s brother. It’s where Maddie fell in love with handsome Fiorden soldier Brekken. And it’s where one day she hopes to inherit the role of Innkeeper from her beloved uncle.

But this summer, the impossible happens–a dead body is found, shattering everything the inn stands for. With Brekken missing, her uncle gravely injured, and a dangerous creature on the loose, Maddie suddenly finds herself responsible for the safety of everyone in Havenfall. She’ll do anything to uncover the truth, even if it means working together with an alluring new staffer Taya, who seems to know more than she’s letting on. As dark secrets are revealed about the inn itself, one thing becomes clear to Maddie–no one can be trusted, and no one is safe…

My Review

After reading both EVERLESS AND EVERMORE by Sara Holland, I was eager to get back into a world she’d created. HAVENFALL is super different than her previous books in that it takes place in this world, but adds other worlds and magic that are connected to this one through portals.

I liked all the politics between the different groups and the different characters with their own goals and secrets piled on top of those political rifts. It created a sense of complexity and made the world feel bigger.

I guessed some of the plot elements pretty early on, but others were a complete surprise to me, so I felt like it had a good mix of predictability and unpredictability. There were a couple of things I thought should have been clarified sooner– for instance, the shape-shifting race can’t just impersonate anyone. They have a really limited number of specific forms they can take.

Maddie and her allies don’t know this early in the story, though. But when someone behaves very strangely, it never seems to occur to Maddie that the person could have been a shapeshifter in disguise (even though she doesn’t know at that point what the limits of shifting are). It does eventually get explained, but not until much later.

That’s a pretty minor point in the story, though. Overall, I liked Maddie’s character and the way she navigates tricky relationships with the people around her. The ending leaves a lot open for a sequel, so I’m really interested to see what happens next.

I think readers who enjoyed THE IMMORTAL RULES by Julie Kagawa or ANGELFALL by Susan Ee should check out HAVENFALL.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Maddie’s uncle is gay and married to a man from Fiorden.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and reference to sex. (Maddie hopes to have her first time with a boy she’s in love with.)

Spiritual Content
Characters have magic abilities.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of battle and attacks. Some brief gory descriptions of injuries. One scene shows an enslaved child who has obviously experienced a lot of trauma.

Drug Content
References to teens (and adults) drinkng alcohol.

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

Review: The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow

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The Sound of Stars
Alechia Dow
Inkyard Press
Published February 25, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About The Sound of Stars

Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity?

Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.

Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.

Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.

Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.

My Review

Somewhere between requesting an advance copy of this book and actually reading it, I forgot what this story was about. (This is the only thing I don’t like much about e-books– it’s harder to flip to the back cover copy and read the summary again if you want to refresh on the premise of the book.)

Right away, though, I loved the idea of the secret library. And the references to some of the social situations and how they morphed after the alien invasion felt pretty realistic. I also think it’s really fun when a book creates its own fandom, whether that’s a famous book or movie or in this case, a famous band. I loved all the snippets about the Starry Eyed– interviews, lyrics, news spots, everything that made them seem real.

It took me a little while to get into Ellie. She’s a little prickly, which I grew to understand and love once I understood why. At first I think I worried she would be too judgy– but it becomes obvious fairly quickly that she’s just guarded and for good reasons.

I really liked the way Ellie and Morris’s relationship developed. I also loved that the story followed Ellie’s feelings about physical affection. I feel like that can be a really alienating thing to feel, especially as a teenager when there’s so much emphasis on dating and attraction. So I loved that this story models someone who’s different, and a relationship in which that’s okay.

Plot-wise, I feel like some people are going to argue that the end is kind of too easy. I don’t want to give anything away. For me, I enjoyed the end– there were some elements of it that I could see coming, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of it. This is one of those books that sets up the second book in the last few pages of the first, so I’m sure there will be a sequel. Right now I plan to read it. I’m interested enough in Ellie and Morris’s story to invest in another book for sure!

Fans of THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey or DEFY THE STARS by Claudia Gray will definitely want THE SOUND OF STARS on their reading lists!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ellie describes herself as on the spectrum of asexuality (gender isn’t important to her with regard to romantic love) and isn’t generally interested in romantic physical intimacy. She’s also black. There are a couple minor characters that identify with they/them pronouns.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some references to sex and kissing. Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Ellie and her friends witness human executions (someone hanged to death) and trauma caused by experimentation. Some situations of peril and battle situations. Nothing grossly graphic, but the kinds of things you’d expect in a post-apocalyptic world.

Drug Content
Ellie’s mother is an alcoholic.

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

Review: Fire in the Star by Kamilla Benko

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Fire in the Star (The Unicorn Quest #3)
Kamilla Benko
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published February 18, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Fire in the Star

After a lifetime of being the younger sister–of letting Sophie fight her battles, of following her on countless Experiences and through a fireplace into a magical land–it’s finally Claire Martinson’s turn to lead. And she’ll do anything to keep her big sister safe: resist the wraiths’ cold shadows, experiment with new and dangerous magic, become a thief in disguise.

When Claire discovers that “only a queen can defeat a queen,” she knows she must steal and reforge the ancient Crown of Arden to stand a chance against the darkness that threatens the world and her family. Because Queen Estelle d’Astora, desperate to reclaim her power, will stop at nothing to gain the support of the four guilds–even if it means killing the last unicorn. Claire will need every friend she’s made to help her as the fate of Arden hangs in the balance . . . But the secrets of the unicorns are deeper than anyone could have ever imagined. Does Claire have what it takes to ignite the long-buried magic of this world and wake the fire in the stars? Or will the true salvation of Arden rest on one final and heartbreaking sacrifice?

My Review

What a finale! I love sister books, so this series has been lots of fun to read. I love that it’s the little sister who’s the star of the books, too. I really enjoyed watching Claire find her gifts and her confidence and her place in the world.

FIRE IN THE STAR brings together a lot of characters from the earlier books, but it’s pretty easy to keep track of everyone as the story kind of refreshes you on who’s who as you read.

I also really loved that in the story, Claire and her allies all need each other, need to work together to save Arden. It meant learning to value one another, trust each other, put aside past grievances, and find a way to work together. Definitely a feel-good story in that sense.

This has been one of my favorite middle grade series, and I really can’t wait to see what Kamilla Benko writes next. She’s an author I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any middle or late elementary school-aged readers.

If you like books by Jessica Day George, you really need to check out The Unicorn Quest series.

Here is my review of the first book in the series, THE UNICORN QUEST.

Here’s my review of the second book in the series, THE SECRET IN THE STONE.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Representation
Claire and her family are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. The characters sometimes use made up curses like “slug soot”.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl and references to a crush between them.

Spiritual Content
A unicorn healed Sophie and saved her life with its magic in the first book in this series, and that moment is referenced in this one, too. Other characters have magical abilities as well. Claire learns to make gems glow with her magic. Other characters can manipulate plants or metals. Deep shadows called wraiths chase the girls and their allies, trying to stop them. Sensitive readers may be frightened by descriptions of the wraiths… they’re a little bit like the Dementors in Harry Potter maybe? Not quite as scary as that.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of 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 the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of FIRE IN THE STAR in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Now a Major Motion Picture by Cory McCarthy

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Now a Major Motion Picture
Cory McCarthy
Sourcebooks Fire
Published April 3, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Now a Major Motion Picture

Fandom and first love collide for Iris on the film set for her grandmother’s famous high-fantasy trilogy.

Unlike the rest of the world, Iris doesn’t care about the famous high-fantasy Elementia books written by M. E. Thorne. So it’s just a little annoying that M. E. Thorne is her grandmother—and that Iris has to deal with the trilogy’s crazy fans.

When Iris gets dropped in Ireland for the movie adaptation, she sees her opportunity: if she can shut down production, the Elementia craze won’t grow any bigger, and she can finally have a normal life. Not even the rascally-cute actor Eamon O’Brien can get in her way.

But the crew’s passion is contagious, and as Iris begins to find herself in the very world she has avoided her whole life, she realizes that this movie might just be amazing…

My Review

Cory McCarthy is one of those authors who makes me want to read everything they write. So far I’ve read both YOU WERE HERE and NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, and I can’t wait to read more.

Both books feature characters who are recovering from trauma and trying to understand elements of their pasts. I found them so easy to connect with, and even though they wrestle with intense topics, the rest of the cast brings humor, wisdom, and banter, making the books a lot of fun to read in addition to being really moving.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE has a little bit of a feminist vibe running through it, which I loved. The director of the movie is a young woman who’s very frank about the struggles women face in the arts industries. She encourages Iris with her own dreams, too. I loved her character. She felt so real and exactly like the kind of mentor I’d want to have and want to be.

Another theme that really resonated with me had to do with Iris’s family. She and her brother live with their dad, who refuses to talk about or read his mother’s books. As Iris wrestles with who her grandmother was to the community of fans, she begins to wonder about who she could have been as a grandmother, and why she wasn’t allowed to have that relationship.

I also loved the on-set scenes and descriptions of filming and all the behind-the-scenes stuff. I definitely think anyone who’s interested in the film industry would find this book fascinating. Fans of GEEKERELLA by Ashley Poston absolutely NEED to read this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
One minor character is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point a boy and girl spend the night together. Iris discusses a girl’s crush on another girl with her.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Iris and her brother survived a kidnapping attempt that happened before the story begins. There are some references to that event, and it’s obvious that both are (understandably) still shaken.

Drug Content
Some characters drink alcohol. (I think they’re of age.)

Review: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

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Cracked Up to Be
Courtney Summers
Wednesday Books
Published (re-release) February 4, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Cracked Up to Be

When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she’d turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.

My Review

I’m a fan of Courtney Summers’ writing and the often heartbreaking stories she boldly tells of girls who are angry and sad and recovering from trauma.

It’s interesting to me that there’s so much emphasis on the characters as unlikeable. I totally see why people classify them that way. And there’s one of her books where I really struggled with liking the main character, but it’s definitely not this one.

Parker’s clearly a mess and in the midst of a pretty sharp downward spiral. There’s a constant tug of war in her over punishing herself for her past mistakes and yet still wanting to be loved despite them, even though she doesn’t feel like she deserves it.

I’m often really moved by the community element in the stories I read, and the community around Parker in CRACKED UP TO BE definitely moved me. Her friends and teachers aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But they care about Parker, and in their sometimes weird, sometimes broken, sometimes imperfect ways, they continue to reach out to her and try to help her in her recovery. That really got to me. And in a way I thought it showed other sides of Parker than she wanted to show us in her version of her story.

I saw other readers comment that they were driven to know what had happened to Parker. It remains a mystery through most of the book, but it drove me forward. Her behavior convinced me that something terrible had happened, and I knew that either she would have to face it or be destroyed by it.

CRACKED UP TO BE is, at times, a difficult/dark read, but I spent every page rooting for Parker, hoping for her to find a breakthrough and be able to start healing. It’s a great book for fans of angsty stories like WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart and YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Most of the characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently. Some crude/sexual comments.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. Brief, disjointed description of a rape. It’s more a snapshot description of the scene and then the realization that it’s a rape.

Spiritual Content
Parker and her friends attend a private Catholic school. One scene takes place in the school’s chapel.

Violent Content – Trigger Warning
A couple very brief, violent moments. See romantic content. Also at one point a boy starts to attack a girl. References to two suicide attempts.

Drug Content
Several scenes show teens drinking alcohol. There’s some reference to taking pills as part of a suicide attempt.

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

Top Ten Books About Sisters

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I love my sisters. I have two of them who live much too far away, and recently, when I watched the new movie Little Women, I ugly cried through scene after scene missing them both like crazy.

So, in honor of these two amazing, fierce, strong women, here’s a list of books in which the relationship between sisters is a driving force in the story. They may not always be on the same page or the same side, but ultimately, each wants to protect her sister. Each sees amazing things in her sister and shares a bond that no one outside it understands.

Note: Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This post contains affiliate links which don’t cost you anything to use but generate a small amount of support for this blog.

Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

What if the Little Mermaid from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale had a twin sister determined to undo the deal she’d made with the sea witch? That’s pretty much the starting point of SEA WITCH RISING, and I really enjoyed that twist on the familiar story.

Henning creates characters that are somehow both hero and villain. They make dangerous promises, take huge risks, but always out of a desperate love for others. It adds a lot of layering and drama to the story. I think SEA WITCH is my favorite of the duology, but I enjoyed both.

We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

I remember reading this book really fast and feeling like it was like being on a roller coaster as it pulls you up to the top of the highest point, and all the adrenaline and anticipation is building and building as you go higher and higher. It’s one of those books that takes you to the brink and then you unravel what will happen, and I loved it.

Watching Nell try to navigate through the change in her sister’s behavior is so heartbreaking and real. I loved that she wouldn’t give up on the relationship she had with her sister.

The Wickerlight by Mary Watson

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

I can’t imagine the heartbreak of losing a sister, especially losing one in your teens. For Zara, it’s clearly left a giant hole in her heart, and she will not rest until she learns what happened to her sister.

Originally, Laila’s death is ruled an overdose, but Zara uncovers too many weird and suspicious things to accept that story at face value. But as she looks deeper, she stumbles onto a closed group of powerful and dangerous people, and soon she’s caught in a game where she doesn’t know the rules.

It’s a twisty, tingly crazy ride through this story, but Zara’s goal never wavers. She needs to know what happened to her sister, no matter what. I like to think I would feel the same. That if something strange happened to one of my sisters, I wouldn’t be able to rest until I knew what happened.

You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

Twin sisters, total opposites in lots of ways, but one thing binds them together: the shared agony of watching their mother’s battle with Huntington’s disease. When both sisters are tested, the results only strain their relationship further. One girl tests positive, the other negative.

I found the sisters’ divergent ways of dealing with stress and anxiety really believable, and kept rooting for the bond of their sister relationship to be an anchor they could each come back to, no matter what.

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

You knew I was going to include this one, right? 🙂 Lia Mara has a tricky relationship with her family, particularly her sister, who has been chosen to rule after their mother. Actually, their relationship reminded me a lot of GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson, which should be on this list as well.

Since the story has other viewpoints and other goals, you might think Lia Mara and her sister don’t factor in very heavily, but there are some critical moments when the dynamics between Lia Mara and her sister drive the story forward or become the hinge that changes its direction.

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

Sisters and secret, always a volatile combination, and never moreso than when two sister goddesses are involved. In THE NEVER TILTING WORLD, Haidee and Odessa must deal with the fallout of choices made by their mothers, two sisters, who split the world in two and stopped it from spinning on its axis. (If you’re already bothered by the science of what that would mean, all I can say is willing suspension of disbelief.)

I liked that the sisters were kind of the origin of the story and that basically everything hinged on choices they made.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

The sisters in VANISHING GIRLS have a complex relationship. While Nick cares a lot about her sister, she also has some guilt and feelings of resentment toward her that she’s having a really hard time working through. There’s lots to unpack in terms of emotional and psychological elements.

While it wasn’t my favorite book, I enjoyed the dynamics between the sisters and watching Nick struggle to make sense of her feelings and Dara’s behavior. It’s definitely one of those books where you get to the end and have to think back through what’s happened before and factor in new information. I tend to love those types of stories, but I think the pieces never quite clicked into place for me with this one. I wonder if it would be different if I read it again knowing what to expect? Not sure.

Empress of Flames by Mimi Yu (which inspired this list)

Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

In EMPRESS OF FLAMES, sisters Lu and Min, will face off, an army between them, each determined to rule the Empire of the First Flame. The sisters are really different from each other and want the throne for slightly different reasons. What’s going to be interesting will be the clash of their desire to rule versus their love for each other.

Note: I included this book in an earlier Top Ten list, which inspired me to create my sister books list.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

Scarlett and Tella, Tella and Scarlett. Though this story is ultimately Scarlett’s tale, the thing that drives her forward is the search for her missing sister. Her whole life plan is to do whatever it takes to make sure Tella is safe and protected.

Of course, Tella herself often does everything possible to thwart those plans, but not because she doesn’t love Scarlett. More because she sees Scarlett as having a value beyond her role as caretaker and big sister, and she does what she does to challenge Scarlett to imagine a life for herself. To risk loving someone and being loved.

Which is, of course, just one of the things I love about this series.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Amazon | Goodreads | Review

If you haven’t read SADIE, it’s about a girl whose sister has been murdered. The driving force for Sadie is to find her sister’s killer– something the police don’t seem to be actually able to do. She’s willing to give up anything and everything in order to bring the murderer to justice.

It’s gritty and dark, but one of the things I love about it is that the author purposely excludes scenes depicting Mattie’s murder. Here’s a quote from my Q&A with Courtney Summers in which she talks about what inspired her to write the book:

“One of the things that inspired Sadie was the way we consume violence against women and girls as a form of entertainment. When we do that, we reduce its victims to objects, which suggests a level of disposability–that a girl’s pain is only valuable to us if we’re being entertained by it. What is our responsibility to us? I really wanted to explore that and the way we dismiss missing girls and what the cost of that ultimately is.”

Do you have a favorite sister book?

What books have you read that feature an unforgettable sisterhood? Share them in the comments! I would love to read more books about sisters.