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Review: Don’t Ask If I’m Okay by Jessica Klara

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Don't Ask If I'm Okay by Jessica Klara

Don’t Ask If I’m Okay
Jessica Klara
Page Street
Published May 9, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Don’t Ask If I’m Okay

Heartfelt and bittersweet, this coming-of age story explores the tender space of healing where grief meets love

A year ago, Gage survived a car accident that killed his best friend, Hunter. Without the person who always brought out the best in him, Gage doesn’t know who he is. He likes working as a fry cook and loves his small-town friends and family, but they weren’t in the wreck and he can’t tell them how much he’s still hurting. He just wants to forget all his pain and move on.

So when his stepdad shows him a dream job opening in one of his idol’s restaurants, Gage knows this is his chance to convince everyone and himself that he’s fine. To try to push past his grief once and for all, Gage applies for the job, asks out a crush, and volunteers to host a memorial for Hunter.

But the more Gage tries to ignore his grief, the more volatile it becomes.

When his temper finally turns on the people he loves, Gage must decide what real strength is—holding in his grief until it destroys him, or asking for help and revealing his broken heart for all to see.

My Review

My friend recently asked me what things are common to the books that I love. I think she asked what makes me love books or think they’re good or something more in that vein, but it started me thinking about what the common denominators are in the books that I tend to love and enjoy.

For me, one thing that comes up over and over is stories that explore the value of community, whether that’s in a friend group, family, or found family. I also love stories that wrestle with grief of some kind, because I think we don’t talk enough about that. And the relationships between characters are also really important to me, so I tend to love books with banter or compelling dialogue of some kind.

I feel like DON’T ASK IF I’M OKAY really hit all those marks for me. I loved Gage’s friend group and especially the way they functioned as a support group/community to help one another through dark times. My favorite scene was after they’ve finished watching part of a movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and they need to go do something. One friend turns to Gage and says, “You have my sword.” Another tells Gage he has his bow. A third says, “And my Suburu.” Which straight up made me laugh out loud. So great.

I also cried through some of the scenes in which he’s caught in this spiral of grief. He’s listening to some bad advice about what grief looks like and how he should feel instead of healthy counsel, and I could just feel how much it was hurting him to believe that toxic stuff.

Which made his journey from that moment so much more powerful and meaningful.

The only thing that I’d say caught me off guard with this book is that for some reason I thought the story was going to be about him getting a new cooking job and starting that job and how that helps him. Pretty much the whole story takes place in his hometown. I loved his small Idaho town, though, so that was great. For some reason I was expecting something else from the book, but I’m not unhappy with the story I read.

On the whole, I think this is a great celebration of the importance of a support network and of emotional vulnerability. I loved it and I would definitely read more by Jessica Klara.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Gage has panic attacks and PTSD-like symptoms resulting from a car accident that killed his cousin and best friend. Minor characters are POC and LGBTQIA+.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to making out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Gage experiences some explosive feelings of anger. At one point he shouts at a younger cousin. A veteran visiting Gage’s house is triggered by a gunfire-like sound. Gage experiences slivers of memories from the car accident, including seeing his cousin’s lifeless face. In one scene, Gage throws a man out of a restaurant after an altercation that began when the man made inappropriate comments to a girl who was working as his server.

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 DON’T ASK IF I’M OKAY in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: Rise of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

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Rise of the School for Good and Evil
Soman Chainani
HarperCollins
Published June 7, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Rise of the School for Good and Evil

The battle between Good and Evil begins.

Two brothers.

One Good.

One Evil.

Together they watch over the Endless Woods.

Together they choose the students for the School for Good and Evil.

And together they train them, teach them, prepare them for their fate.

Then, something happens.

Something unexpected.

Something powerful.

And something that will change everything and everyone.

Who will survive?

Who will rule the School?

The journey starts here. Every step is filled with magic, surprises, and daring deeds that test courage, loyalty, and who you really are. But they only lead you to the very beginning of the adventures that are THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL.

My Review

It’s been a long time since I read the first book in the School for Good and Evil series. (My review of the first book in the series, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, was back in 2015.) I remember really liking the premise and the characters in the story. I also like that Chainani explores what makes someone “good” versus “evil.”

RISE OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is the second book in the series that I’ve read. It’s basically something of an origin story. It’s not exactly a true origin story, since the school is already established at the beginning of the book, and the two brothers have been running it for decades as immortal teenagers. But it’s an origin story that tells how the school shifted from its original purpose to become what it is when Sophie and Agatha arrive in book one. So more of a prequel, I guess?

In any case, I really enjoyed the tale. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if I would like it. It begins with the two brothers, and it took me a few chapters to feel like I found my orientation within the story and understood what it was going to be about. Once I was a few chapters in, though, I found it easy to get carried away by the book.

Some of my favorite things about the story are spoilers, so I won’t specify them here, but let me just say that the ending was so much better than I could have imagined. I loved the way it brought the story full circle but also made me look back at all the things that happened with fresh eyes.

I could see fans of the Percy Jackson series or other magical boarding school books being a fan of this series really easily. Also, if you read and liked any of the other books in the series, definitely pick this one up. I think it delivers a great story with some really fun characters.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
I’m not sure of the representation, but one major character is Aladdin. There are hints that one of the brothers is attracted to other boys.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Attraction between two boys.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have magic. Certain types of magic are forbidden to certain magic users. For example, Seers can’t reveal predictions about the future without paying a price: aging ten years. Members of the School of Good can’t use blood magic.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Fighting between students. References to torture.

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 RISE OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL in exchange for my honest review.

Review: You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

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You Don’t Have a Shot
Racquel Marie
Feiwel & Friends
Published May 9, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About You Don’t Have a Shot

A queer YA romance about rival soccer players from author Racquel Marie, perfect for fans of She Drives Me Crazy .

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear.

Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be stiffer than expected, so unless they can get their rookie team’s act together, this second chance―and any hope of playing college soccer―will slip through Vale’s fingers. When the growing pressure, friendship friction, and her overbearing father push Vale to turn to Leticia for help, what starts off as a shaky alliance of necessity begins to blossom into something more through a shared love of soccer. . . and maybe each other.

Sharp, romantic, and deeply emotional, You Don’t Have a Shot is a rivals-to-lovers romance about rediscovering your love of the game and yourself, from the author of Ophelia After All .

” You Don’t Have a Shot has every ingredient that makes rivals-to-lovers such a great trope, but it’s also so much more. It’s a story of grief and loss, of legacy, of culture, of holding the things and people that bring us joy close. I don’t think anyone will be surprised when I say that Racquel Marie has done it this is truly young adult contemporary at its best.” ―Jonny Garza Villa, author of the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun

My Review

Okay, so, I’m not a very sporty person. It’s just not something I’ve got real natural talent in, so not something I’ve personally pursued, though I think it’s cool. So the soccer is not what drew me to this book, is what I’m saying. I read Racquel Marie’s debut, OPHELIA AFTER ALL, and absolutely loved it. The insightfulness of the characters’ emotions. The movement of the story. All of it, so good. I was so moved by that book that I wanted to read Marie’s next book pretty much no matter what it would turn out to be. So… soccer.

Y’all. I cried over soccer in this book. More than once!

Again, the characters are so deep and complex. I loved the relationships between them and the growth that Vale experiences as she begins to bond with her team and see them and herself in a new way, and through that, to see soccer in a new way. It is an incredible book. I loved it so much.

I felt like the soccer parts of the story were all really accessible and easy to understand, even for someone like me who doesn’t know much about the game. (Knowing the positions of the players probably would have helped a little bit, but I feel like I picked up enough from the context of what was happening to be clued in to what I needed to know.) It was so easy to invest in the characters and to want them to succeed. I also loved the banter, especially between Vale and Leticia. So perfect! So much fun.

I also just really enjoyed the theme about learning to fall in love with the game again and learning that you get to define success for yourself. Great stuff. I think fans of Racquel Marie’s first book will definitely enjoy this new one. And rivals-to-lovers fans will get lots of satisfaction from the snappy banter and romantic tension. All in all, a perfect summer romance.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Vale and Leticia are Latine and romantically interested in girls. Vale’s two best friends, both girls, are dating. One minor character is transgender.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
I’m not totally sure where the line is between verbally toxic and verbally abusive, but one character says pretty high pressure, harsh things to another character.

Vale picks a fight with a rival during a soccer game.

Drug Content
References to teens drinking alcohol (off-scene).

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 this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: Warrior Girl, Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

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Warrior Girl, Unearthed
Angeline Boulley
Henry Holt & Co.
Published May 2, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Warrior Girl, Unearthed

From the New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter comes a thrilling YA mystery about a Native teen who must find a way to bring an ancestor home to her tribe.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was ready for her Summer of Slack but instead, after a fender bender that was entirely not her fault, she’s stuck working to pay back her Auntie Daunis for repairs to the Jeep.

Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl”, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors’ remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right – for the ancestors and for their community.

My Review

I’ll admit I didn’t really know much about this book when I asked to review it. Mostly, I knew the author’s name, because her debut, FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER was all anyone was talking about for a while when it came out in 2021. So I wanted to read it on the strength of that praise.

And… all I can say is that no one who was blown away by Angeline Boulley’s writing exaggerated. I mean, wow.

The story has a lot of moving parts. Perry and her sister are doing this summer internship (Perry only under duress). Girls keep going missing from their community. Perry begins learning about laws and processes governing the way that ancestral remains are identified and (ideally) returned to tribes and decides she must help return the remains of a woman knows as Warrior Girl. There’s the possibility of romance for Perry with one of the other interns.

So there’s a lot going on. The beginning builds a little bit slowly. I remember not being sure what the story was going to really be about. It took some time for me to feel like I got oriented within the story.

Once I did, though, the story took off. Roadblocks, and setbacks, and raised stakes, and twists kept coming one after another. And every single one seemed to pull the story more into focus.

All those pieces came together to show a more complete picture, and all of it illustrated a powerful theme about the value of life and the need to honor community and ancestry.

Conclusion

I loved this book. I’ve already got a copy of FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER, and I am really excited to read it. Some of the minor characters in this book are in FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER, so I’m curious what blanks reading that one will fill in. I hope there are more stories about Sugar Island and Perry’s family in the works, because I will definitely read them.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Perry and most other characters are Ojibwe citizens. Perry’s grandmother was Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Perry wonders who her sister and her aunt are having sex with. A person Perry is close to reveals that she was raped by a man Perry knows by name.

Spiritual Content
References to Ojibwe tribal ceremonies, histories, and traditions.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Girls in the community have been going missing. One girl’s body is found. Someone discovers a murdered man’s body. Another girl appears to have died from a fatal injury. A boy and a man both suffer head injuries. A girl describes how she was tied up and escaped.

Drug Content
Perry’s twin sister eats gummies with marijuana in them to manage her anxiety. References to adults drinking 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 WARRIOR GIRL, UNEARTHED in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Witchlings by Claribel Ortega

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Witchlings (Witchlings #1)
Claribel Ortega
Scholastic Press
Published April 5, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Witchlings

A magical adventure for fans of AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS and NEVERMOOR, about three witchlings who must work together to do the impossible if they have any hope of earning their full powers.

Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches.

And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can’t wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn’t placed in one of the five covens. She’s a Spare!

Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn’t work! They’re stuck as Witchlings—and will never be able to perform powerful magic.

Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they’ll gain their full powers. If they fail… Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever.

But maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all…

With action-packed adventure, a coven of quirky witchlings, Claribel A. Ortega’s signature humor and girl-power vibes, this middle grade Latine witch story is truly a modern classic.

My Review

It’s funny to me that this book is compared to AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS– the comparison makes perfect sense, it’s just that I read them both at the same time. I definitely see the connection, though they aren’t the same story at all.

WITCHLINGS has been on my reading list for a while. In fact, I have a hard copy of GHOST SQUAD that I still haven’t read yet. I’ve heard so many great things about Claribel Ortega’s books that I have really wanted to catch up. When I saw that Rockstar Book Tours had open spots on their tour for THE GOLDEN FROG GAMES (Witchlings #2), I jumped at the chance to participate… which meant I needed to read this book first!

I loved so many things about this book. It’s got a perfect ramp-up of stakes. It’s got a really fun and intriguing story world. I loved the way that familiar words were just a bit different. For instance, instead of Bingo, characters say, Flingo. There are a lot of things about toads, including a really imaginative and silly toad race. In the midst of all that, Seven and her friends are on a quest to subdue a dangerous monster called a Nightbeast. I felt like the story added new information and increased tension at exactly the right places.

I’m super excited to read the second book in the series. I think fans of AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS by B. B. Alston and SHADOW MAGIC by Joshua Khan will like this series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Seven is Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Most characters are witches, with magical power. There are magical beasts as well.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some brief battle scenes.

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 WITCHLINGS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Monster Camp by Sarah Henning

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Monster Camp
Sarah Henning
Simon & Schuster
Published May 9, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Monster Camp

Ghost Squad meets Hotel Transylvania in this sweetly spooky fish-out-of-water middle grade story about a human girl who must put on the performance of her life when she realizes what she thought was a LARPing summer camp is full of real monsters!

With her stick-on fangs and widow’s peak drawn in waterproof eyeliner, Sylvie is an expert at pretending to be a vampire. More kids at school would know that if they bothered to join her monster LARPing (live action role playing) club. Not even her dad understands her passion for the undead and denies her request to attend a monster LARPing summer camp. But Sylvie is not so easily deterred.

She decides to tell her dad she’s attending another camp located near Monster Camp then sneak over to her real destination after he drops her off. Sylvie feels bad lying to her dad, but there’s no way she’s going to miss the chance to finally meet other kids that share her interests. And when she lays eyes on Monster Camp, she knows it was all worth it—the immersive campgrounds look like they came off a Hollywood lot!

But when an obnoxious kid dressed like a werewolf gets punished by being magically turned into a Pomeranian, Sylvie realizes she made a critical miscalculation. These aren’t LARPers, they’re real monsters, and Sylvie’s preferred costume means she’s placed with blood-sucking, human-biting campers who would breathe fire if they knew the truth about her. She has no choice but to try to stick it out by doing exactly what she does best: pretending to be a monster.

My Review

I really enjoyed the SEA WITCH duology by Sarah Henning, so when I saw this debut middle grade novel, I knew I had to read it. I loved the passion that Sylvie has to LARPing and the way that it impacts what happens in the story.

It was also really cool to see a book celebrate this niche activity. The story made it easy to understand why Sylvie loved LARPing so much, and how it actually works. I had a passing familiarity with LARPing but not a deep understanding. The book does a great job showing what LARPing is and how it works without slowing the story down to explain.

I really liked the relationships Sylvie forms with the other campers, especially the ones that surprised her. I also really liked that first impressions, trust, and secrets played such a key role in the story, too.

All in all, this is a super cute book, perfect for summer. I think fans of paranormal middle grade stories will find lots to love here.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Sylvie meets kids who are literally ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and other monsters.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are ghosts, monsters. Sometimes they have superhuman abilities or magic.

Violent Content
When Sylvie plays LARP sessions with her friend, Dustin, he is always a knight whose quest is to kill her. She learns through monster camp that there are people who still want to hunt and kill monsters.

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 MONSTER CAMP in exchange for my honest review.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays

Check out reviews and more middle grade book fun for Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle, where Greg shares a roundup of bloggers featuring middle grade books on their blogs. I joined recently, and have really enjoyed checking out everyone’s posts.