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Review: I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea

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I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea

I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call (I Feed Her to the Beast #2)
Jamison Shea
Henry Holt & Co.
Published November 12, 2024

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About I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call

Monsters and mortals, rejoice! Acheron is back . . .

Though Laure has tried to close the lid on her ballet shoes and the feelings she once held for dance since the Palais Garnier incident two months ago, Laure is spinning out. Between partying, drinking, and avoiding anything and, well, everyone, she has no time to be anything but a monster.

But when Laure stumbles across a mysterious dead body during one of her nights out, she’s forced to notice the cracks stretching beyond herself. Below the streets of Paris, Elysium is dying, and Acheron and Lethe’s influence is spilling into the streets like a blight. Laure isn’t the only of Elysium’s beasts to rise from the ruins of Palais Garnier, and someone is mobilizing an army of monsters with plans greater than Laure, Andor, and Keturah could have ever guessed.

While Laure is warring between her wants and Acheron’s ever-demanding appetite, she and her circle of monsters are left to reckon with a not-so-simple how do you save yourself from oblivion?

Jamison Shea’s sharp and unflinching voice will bring readers to terrifying new heights in this vicious sequel to the “relentlessly gory and almost euphoric in its embrace of the horrific” (NPR) I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me.

My Review

I forgot how engaging Shea’s writing is until I dove back into this duology. In 2023, I reviewed I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me. I remember being so impressed with the way that the author incorporated details about Laure’s ballet experience. There were things that you really wouldn’t know unless you danced or spent a lot of time with ballet dancers.

Though it’s not the focus of this story, Laure’s dancing still has a deep impact on it. I cannot express how strongly I love that Shea uses Laure’s struggle as a classically trained ballet dancer trying to learn to dance in other styles as a metaphor for how disconnected she feels from her body and how alien she feels as the vessel of a god among humans. Would that parallel resonate as strongly for someone without dance experience? I don’t know, but I am so into it. I felt like I instantly understood her struggle on a physical and emotional level.

This is a story about a young woman finding her place, defining herself, and weighing the personal costs of following norms versus creating her role from scratch. Over and over Laure faces frustration and shame when she doesn’t fit the roles she’s assigned, from ballerina to immortal vessel. At first, she blames herself and vacillates between trying harder and breaking down. She begins to break away from those patterns and look for ways to embrace who she is. She starts to see those attributes as strengths rather than hindrances. I loved watching that transformation.

As with Shea’s first book, I found it so easy to get lost in the writing and the strangeness of the story. It’s horror, so it does have some gore, body horror, and other scary elements. This duology might be my favorite representation of ballet in young adult fiction that I’ve read so far.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Laure has become a vessel for a god named Acheron. Others made bargains with Acheron or another god in exchange for power.

Violent Content
Body horror and depictions of gore. Descriptions of dead animals (deaths not shown). References to and brief descriptions of murder, cannibalism, and being buried alive.

Drug Content
Early in the story, Laure drinks heavily at nightclubs as part of a destructive pattern. She recognizes the destructiveness of her behavior and eventually decides to make healthier choices.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Lies We Tell About the Stars by Susie Nadler

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

Lies We Tell About the Stars
Susie Nadler
Dutton Books for Young Readers
Published March 3, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Lies We Tell About the Stars

A gorgeous debut about friendship, grief, and new beginnings set in near-future San Francisco in the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake and on the cusp of the first human mission to Mars.

Celeste Muldoon is alone when the Big One finally hits, because, for the first time ever, her best friend stood her up after school. Nicky and Celeste share a birthday, matching tattoos, an obsession with the upcoming Mars mission, and pretty much everything else. So why did he ghost her on the day she needed him most?

As the quake’s death toll rises and days pass, Nicky and Celeste’s parents fear the worst. But Celeste doesn’t buy it. He couldn’t be dead. Nicky’d spent their senior year selling essays to rich kids and was about to get caught. He’d told Celeste about his plan to vanish, to reinvent himself and escape the disaster he’d created. The quake would be perfect cover.

But she can’t convince anyone that he could still be alive. Only Meo, a mysterious stranger who was somehow mixed up with Nicky, seems to believe, but Celeste has every reason to distrust him—even if her heart races whenever Meo shows up.

When Celeste finds Nicky’s notebook, it sends her and Meo on a quest across the broken city, up the coast through towns sheltering quake refugees, and eventually all the way to Florida, where the mission to Mars is about to lift off.

My Review

Celeste has Type I Diabetes, which isn’t something I’ve seen in young adult fiction all too often. She has a service dog that’s trained to warn her if her blood sugar level goes too high or low. I liked the way these things were incorporated into the story, yet not the focus of the story. Celeste is a lot more than her diabetes diagnosis.

I will confess that I had to skip to the end of the book to find out whether Nicky was still alive. It isn’t clear early in the story whether he is missing or has died, and I didn’t think I could handle waiting to discover what his status was, since it was clear Celeste was so invested in finding him alive.

I have mixed feelings about the ending, though I appreciate the route the story takes. I like that ultimately, Celeste had to learn to make choices for herself and to decide what she wanted apart from her identity as Nicky’s “twin.”

The story begins with a disastrous earthquake, also not something that’s included very often in realistic young adult fiction, so I thought that was a cool premise as well. I liked the content about the space program and Celeste’s interest in it, too. It’s always interesting to read books set in Florida or that have scenes set in places I’ve been to, so that was especially cool, too.

Readers looking for an intense contemporary story about changing relationships that include a near-future space program will want to check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Brief descriptions of sexual contact.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Celeste survives a disastrous earthquake and navigates the aftermath. References to deaths during the earthquake and to some memorial scenes. Celeste makes some reckless choices about her health. Someone kidnaps a dog.

Drug Content
References to teens smoking pot and drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

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

Out of Darkness
Ashley Hope Pérez
Holiday House
Published September 10, 2019

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Out of Darkness

“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?” New London, TX. 1937. Naomi Vargas is Mexican American. Wash Fuller is Black. These teens know the town’s divisive racism better than anyone. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.

Naomi and Wash dare to defy the rules, and the New London school explosion serves as a ticking time bomb in the background. Can their love survive both prejudice and tragedy?

Race, romance, and family converge in this riveting novel that transplants Romeo and Juliet to a bitterly segregated Texas town. Includes a fascinating author’s note detailing the process of research and writing about voices that have largely been excluded from historical accounts.

A Printz Honor Book
A Booklist 50 Best YA Books of All Time Selection
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book
Winner of the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award

My Review

I read about this book in the anthology Banned Together edited by Ashley Hope Pérez, which I reviewed earlier this year. (Side note: I highly recommend that book. It’s got a lot of information about book banning from authors’ perspectives and offers tons of book recommendations.)

In the author’s note, Ashley Hope Pérez reminds readers that what happened in her novel are representative of real events in the American South in the 1930s. The school explosion really happened. The racism is real. This book gives voice to perspectives often left out of discussions about that time period.

The book contains some really grim scenes. From descriptions of the aftermath of the explosion to brief depictions of abuse to murder, the story holds some painful experiences. It doesn’t linger in those scenes or offer gratuitous details, though. Often, readers receive just enough information to understand what happened without placing the traumatic events front and center.

That said, the story contains so much beauty as well. Naomi, Wash, and the twins create a refuge of love in the woods near their homes. Though the world around them doesn’t see, respect, or understand the connections between them, these four treat one another with dignity and love.

In some ways, the story reminded me of Jennifer Donnelly’s debut, A Northern Light, which is set in 1906 in New York. Give this to readers who enjoy gritty historical fiction or stories by marginalized perspectives.

Content Notes

Racism, deaths of children, pregnancy loss, brief depictions of sexual assault.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Contains the use of racial slurs and racist comments. Scenes from the perspective of “The Gang” (a group of white boys from the school) sometimes objectify girls and share vague sexual fantasies. Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Naomi remembers hearing her mom and her stepfather having sex in an adjacent room and her mom crying afterward. References to sexual abuse. Very brief descriptions of masturbation. Brief descriptions of sexual contact. One scene briefly depicts sexual assault.

Spiritual Content
References to church participation. Naomi’s step-dad has had a religious experience that prompted him to want to raise his two children. Naomi’s younger brother, Beto, opts to be baptized at the church. The church pastor counsels Henry to remain pure, stay away from alcohol, and devote himself to his family. He argues with a grieving parent about whether their child, who was not baptized in his church, will be waiting for them in heaven. He tries to intervene to stop a mob from lynching a man and his son.

Violent Content
The opening scene describes the aftermath of a school explosion. Rescue workers discover remains of victims and prepare for funerals. Brief depictions of abuse/rape. A mob burns a family’s home and property, intent on hanging a man and his son. A man brutally beats someone. Multiple people die of gunshot wounds. A man repeatedly threatens to harm a boy’s pet cat.

Naomi’s mom had several miscarriages. One happens while they’re sleeping next to one another, and Naomi recalls some vivid details about it.

Drug Content
Henry is an alcoholic. His pastor encourages him to avoid drinking, but Henry gradually returns to drinking more and more alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from the public library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Room to Dream by Kelly Yang

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Room to Dream (Front Desk #3)
Kelly Yang
Publisher
Published September 21, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Room to Dream

New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang is back with another heartwarming and inspiring story of Mia and friends!

Mia Tang is going for her dreams!

After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family — to China! A total dream come true! Mia can’t wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China’s going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like . . .

1. Lupe’s taking classes at the high school! And Mia’s own plans to be a big writer are . . . stuck.

2. Something happened with Jason and Mia has no idea what to do about it.

3. New buildings are popping up all around the motel, and small businesses are disappearing.

Can the Calivista survive? Buckle up! Mia is more determined than ever to get through the turbulence, now that she finally has . . . room to dream!

My Review

Mia’s journey continues in the third installment of this smart, engaging series. Inspired by some events from her own childhood, Yang writes about running a family motel, pursuing a dream as a young writer, and learning to navigate challenges in friendships and family relationships.

This book invites young readers to consider how a changing political landscape impacts their families and communities. Sometimes we act like we can shelter kids from the news and political changes. And, while we can shelter them from some things, they often see and hear more than we realize. They also feel the impact of some things in the community around them.

I like that Kelly Yang introduces readers to these ideas in an age-appropriate way. Some readers will identify with Mia, a young girl from an immigrant family, watching her teacher and classmates’ attitudes change as they embrace political ideas that malign people like her. Mia shows courage by figuring out how to speak up for herself and help friends in need. She learns some lessons about being a true friend and about navigating changing feelings in a relationship.

I love this series so far, and I highly recommend it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A boy kisses a girl without her consent. A couple of characters discuss an unrequited crush.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Someone throws a bowl of punch on the floor at a school dance in a moment of anger.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from the public library. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy by Erin Edwards

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The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy
Erin Edwards
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published April 7, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy

Mr. Darcy got his happily ever after in Pride and Prejudice, and now it’s his sister’s turn in this swoony queer romance, perfect for fans of Bridgerton.

Georgiana Darcy has only ever kissed one girl before, and the resulting blackmail almost ruined her reputation. Since then, she’s carefully calibrated her life to be as quiet as possible, focusing on books and music. She certainly isn’t planning on falling in love with another girl. But then she meets Kitty Bennet, and everything is thrown off kilter.

After a moonlit kiss shifts their newfound friendship into something more, Georgiana follows Kitty to the Bennets’ home. The visit proves ill-timed when she encounters the one man who knows her secret and threatened her with it before. Terrified of testing the limits of her family’s love and of putting Kitty in danger, Georgiana doesn’t know if there’s any chance of a happy ending.

Every etiquette guide she’s ever read makes it clear that if she wants to protect her family name, Georgiana must pretend her heart follows society’s accepted rhythm. Unless, with a little help from those who understand how it feels, she can compose the future she and Kitty both deserve.

My Review

It’s always interesting to read a spin-off of Pride and Prejudice. It’s the work by Jane Austen that I’m most familiar with (and a go-to audiobook when I’m having trouble sleeping), so I sometimes get picky about how authors reimagine or eliminate certain story elements.

This story takes place after the original timeline and follows the coming-of-age of Georgiana Darcy. It also features Kitty Bennet, the sister most overlooked in the original.

I liked how the book reimagines both Georgiana and Kitty. Both characters felt like they could conceivably be found in the original novel, but our understanding today of neurodivergence and identity gives the characters’ interpretations new space to expand. I especially love that, in this story, Georgiana is a composer as well as a musician. That was a nice touch. Kitty wants to explore the world, which seems very much in line with her impulsive nature in Austen’s novel.

Some minor characters seemed a little oversimplified, but for the most part, I appreciated getting to see this familiar cast on scene in this sweet story. I enjoyed the development of the girls’ romance, and especially loved that Edwards included an older couple to mentor them at a critical moment.

All in all, if you’re looking for a sapphic regency era romance, definitely try this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Vague references to homophobia or fears of homophobic reactions to coming out. References to a blackmail situation before the story began.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: How to Survive the End of the World by Katy Doughty

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How to Survive the End of the World
Katy Doughty
MITeen Press
Published March 31, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About How to Survive the End of the World

“Brilliant; at once terrifying and fascinating.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In a full-color debut, a graphic novelist takes an engrossing, gleefully existential deep dive into the many ways that humanity could—and almost did—meet its end.

Since 99.9 percent of all species that have lived are extinct, it’s bound to be our turn eventually, right? So what’s most likely to kill us? A well-timed asteroid? Some new robot overlords? With wit and dry humor, debut graphic novelist Katy Doughty blends science and history to explore our chances of surviving disasters such as plagues, global warming, and alien invasion. Drawing on interviews with experts in fields like infectious diseases, AI, and interplanetary exploration, she combines cutting-edge research with compelling visuals: mugshots of the deadliest microbes, graphs of the winners and losers of mass extinction events, and a whole lot of dinosaur drawings. For apocalypse aficionados, the morbidly curious, and the just plain curious, this is your antidote to existential dread—a timely, imaginative, and ultimately hopeful take on humankind’s ability to survive the odds.

My Review

OMG, this was such a stressful book to read! Haha. I don’t think it was meant to be as stressful as it felt to me when I read it. There’s a lot of wry humor, which keeps things a bit light. Each chapter presents one possible doom humanity could face and then usually breaks down key information showing why that isn’t the doom we’re perched on the edge of right now. Some chapters highlighted historical moments when the inhabitants of Earth faced mass extinctions (such as the one that caused the dinosaurs’ extinction) or threats to humanity’s survival, such as the plague.

The graphic novel format made it very easy to read this book. There’s a good balance of words to pictures, though probably more words per page than fiction readers of this format are used to. The bright color palette also kept the tone a little brighter than the topic suggests.

I think readers who enjoy nonfiction or who have questions about humanity’s possible demise will find this book both informative and thought-provoking.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Reference to different spiritual beliefs about the end of the world.

Violent Content
Descriptions of various events that could cause the world and/or humanity to end.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.