Review: The Other Better Me by Antony John

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The Other Better Me by Antony John

The Other Better Me
Antony John
HarperCollins
Published October 1, 2019

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About The Other Better Me

From the critically acclaimed author of Mascot comes this heartfelt novel, perfect for fans of John David Anderson and Cammie McGovern, about a girl searching for the meaning of family.

Lola and Momma have always been a team of two. It hasn’t always been easy for Lola, being one of the only kids she knows with just one parent around. And lately she’s been feeling incomplete, like there’s a part of herself that she can’t know until she knows her dad.

But what will happen—to Lola, to Momma, to their team of two—if she finds him?

My Review

This was such an enjoyable book to read. I laughed and teared up and loved every minute of Lola’s story. The way she pieced together things happening around her, from things like brunch meaning a meal you make when you’re feeling lazy and planning to use a lot of dishes to her empathy and understanding toward a prickly classmate, made me fall totally in love with THE OTHER BETTER ME.

I love the community elements in the story. Lola feels like her family is just herself and her mom, but all the way through the book, she’s surrounded by friends and mentors. All have their own baggage or issues, but they all care for Lola and her mom, too. I love when a book creates a believable, tight-knit community like this.

Fans of WONDER by R. J. Palacio or JUST MY LUCK by Cammie McGovern will love the emphasis on kindness and community as well as the bold, upbeat writing and precocious narrator. This one is a must-read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Very little character description.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

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 THE OTHER BETTER ME in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite

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

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine
Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite
Inkyard Press
September 3, 2019

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About Dear Haiti, Love Alaine

Co-written by sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite, and told in epistolary style through letters, articles, emails, and diary entries, this exceptional debut novel captures a sparkling new voice and irrepressible heroine in a celebration of storytelling sure to thrill fans of Nicola Yoon, Ibi Zoboi and Jenna Evans Welch!

When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended, shipped off to Haiti and writing the report of a lifetime…

You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything?

Actually, a lot.

Thanks to “the incident” (don’t ask), I’m spending the next two months doing what my school is calling a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. I’m toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit. And my lean-in queen of a mother is even here to make sure I do things right. Or she might just be lying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her own…and to hide a rather devastating secret.

All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks…like flirting with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with my mom and experiencing Haiti for the first time. I’m even exploring my family’s history—which happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions and possibly even a family curse.

You know, typical drama. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.

My Review

For me, DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE had two incredibly powerful parts: the first is the relationships between characters. The second is the description of Alaine’s time in Haiti.

Alaine has complex relationships with pretty much everyone. Haha. She’s a bit prickly and probably too smart for her own good, and that makes being close to her a complicated thing. She feels estranged from her mom, and that pain totally comes across in the story. The helplessness she feels and the frustration were heartbreaking.

On a lighter note, I love Alaine’s sense of humor (not going to lie– even the school project gone wrong made me laugh) and her quirky way of relating things. She made the story really fun to read.

The landscape of Haiti is beautifully described, but that isn’t even the whole of it. There’s really something magical in the way the Moulite sisters write about Haiti and what it’s like for Alaine to be there.

I guess the family curse surprised me a little bit in that I didn’t realize until maybe the second half of the book that the curse was going to be such a huge part of the story. It felt like a bit of a hard left turn to me, if that makes sense.

Still, I think the authors tied all the threads of the story together nicely, and stayed away from some of the predictable tropes. I enjoyed reading DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE, and I think readers who enjoy books about narrators making a first visit to a homeland, like THE CAT KING OF HAVANA by Tom Crosshill would enjoy this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Most characters are Haitian. Much of the story takes place in Haiti.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Alaine’s family member believe her family is under a curse which can only be broken through some spiritual rituals.

Violent Content
A woman slaps a man.

Drug Content
A girl drinks a hallucinogenic drink as part of a ritual.

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 DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young

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

The Girl the Sea Gave Back
Adrienne Young
Wednesday Books
Published September 3, 2019

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About The Girl the Sea Gave Back

The new gut-wrenching epic from the New York Times bestselling author of SKY IN THE DEEP.

For as long as she can remember, Tova has lived among the Svell, the people who found her washed ashore as a child and use her for her gift as a Truthtongue. Her own home and clan are long-faded memories, but the sacred symbols and staves inked over every inch of her skin mark her as one who can cast the rune stones and see into the future. She has found a fragile place among those who fear her, but when two clans to the east bury their age-old blood feud and join together as one, her world is dangerously close to collapse.

For the first time in generations, the leaders of the Svell are divided. Should they maintain peace or go to war with the allied clans to protect their newfound power? And when their chieftain looks to Tova to cast the stones, she sets into motion a series of events that will not only change the landscape of the mainland forever but will give her something she believed she could never have again—a home.

My Review

THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK is told in alternating points of view from Tova, a Truthtongue living with the Svell as an outcast, and Halvard, a young warrior destined to become leader of his tribe. I liked both characters immediately. Halvard is so eager to do the right thing and has a fierceness and yet this endearing core of self-doubt. Tova has this insatiable curiosity about her past and an unshakeable faith in the Spinners, who weave the fate of everyone.

I found it a little difficult to follow some of the story world and keep track of the broad cast of characters. I didn’t realize at first that THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK is from the same story world as Young’s debut, SKY IN THE DEEP. If I had it to do over again, I think I would have tried to read SKY IN THE DEEP first so that I had a better understanding and more familiarity with the background, the tribes, and Halvard’s huge family.

The story has a very rich feel to it in terms of its history and culture. Each tribe has its own lore, its own gods and traditions, and its own way of doing things. The clash in those traditions created a lot of tension, too. That and the emphasis on the Spinners and their role in weaving together everyone’s fates created a sort of global feel in THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK that I really enjoyed.

It does also have a lot of battles and battle violence. A couple chapters are mostly descriptions of one critical battle. It was a little much for me, but you probably know by now that I’m a sensitive reader, so factor that in and check out my content notes below for more specific details.

If you enjoyed SEA WITCH by Sarah Henning or CROWN OF CORAL AND PEARL by Mara Rutherford then you should check out THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
I think the characters are all sort of Scandinavian-ish? Blond hair and pale skin, or dark hair and pale skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Each tribe worships a specific god and has rituals to honor that god. Tova believes in the Spinners, gods who weave the fates of everyone.

Violent Content
Extended descriptions of battle violence. Some descriptions of physical abuse of a child. Some descriptions of torturing prisoners. Situations of peril.

Drug Content
Tova breathes in a poisonous, hallucinogenic smoke in order to speak to the Spinners.

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 GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Last of Her Name by Jessica Khoury

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

Last of Her Name
Jessica Khoury
Scholastic Press
Published February 26, 2019

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About Last of Her Name

Sixteen years ago, rebellion swept the galaxy known as the Belt of Jewels. Every member of the royal family was murdered–down to their youngest child, Princess Anya–and the Union government rose in its place. But Stacia doesn’t think much about politics. She spends her days half-wild, rambling her father’s vineyard with her closest friends, Clio and Pol.

That all changes the day a Union ship appears in town, carrying the leader of the Belt himself, the Direktor Eminent. The Direktor claims that Princess Anya is alive, and that Stacia’s sleepy village is a den of empire loyalists, intent on hiding her. When Stacia is identified as the lost princess, her provincial home explodes into a nightmare.

Pol smuggles her away to a hidden escape ship in the chaos, leaving Clio in the hands of the Union. With everything she knows threading away into stars, Stacia sets her heart on a single mission. She will find and rescue Clio, even with the whole galaxy on her trail.

My Review

Okay, wow. I really wanted to read this book after reading and loving FORBIDDEN WISH by the same author. It’s so different, though, that I kept hesitating to read it, but I’m glad I finally jumped into LAST OF HER NAME

I think my favorite part is the story world. The belt of planets named for jewels with different environments and different humans adapted to life on those planets made it seem really believable and unique. It felt like Star Wars meets Anastasia, and I loved that.

Some parts of the story felt a little slow to me, especially toward the middle of the book. I felt like it took a long time for Stacia to come into her own and begin to make strategic moves and become an active player in her story. Early in the story especially, she seemed to look to others a lot for what to do. I think I really got hooked on the book once she began to take charge and make decisions herself.

On the whole, though, I think the characters are really memorable and well-developed. I loved the way Stacia ended up with a team around her, and I loved each of those characters. I think fans of Claudia Gray’s DEFY THE STARS and Beth Revis’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE will want to read LAST OF HER NAME.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Stacia is white and human. Other characters are adapted humans (some have horns or can manipulate gravity or have other abilities) and face prejudice from unadapted humans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Intense kissing between a boy and girl while they lie side by side on a bunk. Two minor female characters appear to have romantic feelings for one another.

Spiritual Content
Space travel is based on the use of a prism, which contains energy. Each prism is connected to other prisms.

Violent Content
Some scenes show characters being executed by military personnel. Some scenes imply that torture or execution happens off-scene. Situations of peril occur throughout.

Drug Content
Some adults consume 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 LAST OF HER NAME in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Evie and the Upside Down World of Nevermore by Birgitte Märgen

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

Evie and the Upside Down World of Nevermore
Birgitte Märgen
Published January 4, 2019

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About Evie and the Upside Down World of Nevermore

Girl, Interrupted meets Pan’s Labyrinth

A trailer park Alice. A hole that traps souls. The white rabbit’s a tricky hare. And the world is upside down. This fairy tale just got twisty . . . 

Rule One: Don’t eat or drink. Rule Two: Never, ever tell anyone your name. If ya do – your soul will be lost there forever.

How do I know? I been there myself. This is my story.

There was a full moon brimmin’ that night, and that meant strange things could happen. As I walked through the woods, I reckon I shoulda known by the way my hair stood up on end like Uncle Red’s toupee —that I shoulda coulda stayed home. I call it the willies, but grandpappy calls it premonition. One thing I can tell ya as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks: If you’re fix’n to wander way over yonder —it’s important to know the right direction.

What direction ya ask? Well, ya have to read the story to find that one out.

My Review

I like the frank, earthy voice of the narrator of EVIE AND THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD OF NEVERMORE. Evie is sweet and empathetic, but also determined and strong.

The story itself reminded me much more of ALICE IN WONDERLAND than GIRL, INTERRUPTED. Alice is on a solo journey where she meets other characters, but doesn’t really form deep relationships with any of them. She’s the only constant character through the story, much like Evie on her journey.

The small cast kept the story pretty focused and small. I liked the focus, but it made me realize how much I look for and enjoy a lot of dialogue in the books I read. Evie’s internal narrative is often entertaining, especially where it comes to her descriptions of things, but I missed the interplay between characters that happens in a larger cast.

Overall, I had fun getting to know Evie as a character and taking the trip through the fantasy world along with her.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Evie is white and from a lower-income family.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Evie likes a boy and witnesses her friend kissing him.

Spiritual Content
Evie falls through a hole into another world in which magical creatures exist. Some seek to harm her.

Violent Content
Some scary descriptions of trees and other creatures attacking Evie or trying to capture her. No gore, but some 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 EVIE AND THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD OF NEVERMORE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris

Book Review and Content, Memoir, Nonfiction, , ,

The Truths We Hold
Kamala Harris
Penguin Press
January 8, 2019

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About THE TRUTHS WE HOLD

Senator Kamala Harris’s commitment to speaking truth is informed by her upbringing. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents–an esteemed economist from Jamaica and an admired cancer researcher from India–met as activists in the civil rights movement when they were graduate students at Berkeley.

Growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for justice, and when she became a prosecutor out of law school, a deputy district attorney, she quickly established herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. She progressed rapidly to become the elected District Attorney for San Francisco, and then the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California as a whole.

Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, she took on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, winning a historic settlement for California’s working families. Her hallmarks were applying a holistic, data-driven approach to many of California’s thorniest issues, always eschewing stale “tough on crime” rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Neither “tough” nor “soft” but smart on crime became her mantra. Being smart means learning the truths that can make us better as a community, and supporting those truths with all our might.

That has been the pole star that guided Harris to a transformational career as the top law enforcement official in California, and it is guiding her now as a transformational United States Senator, grappling with an array of complex issues that affect her state, our country, and the world, from health care and the new economy to immigration, national security, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality.

By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in The Truths We Hold a master class in problem-solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times.

Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do, but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and this great nation, now and in the years to come.

My Review

I’ve been curious about TRUTHS WE HOLD for a while, so when my name finally came up in the holds at the library, I was super excited to read it.

A lot of it focuses on her family and early life, events that shaped Kamala Harris’s beliefs and values. She also discusses some of the issues she tackled as a prosecutor and California’s Attorney General.

I found her message inspiring, and her hope for the future really uplifting. She seems really smart and deeply caring, and her passion for the people she serves made reading about what can be big nameless, faceless political issues interesting the way that having a passionate history teacher makes even the grinding parts of history engaging and memorable.

I’m not usually a huge nonfiction reader, but I found myself sneaking in a few pages of TRUTHS WE HOLD between chores and in other odd spare moments. I would recommend reading this book to anyone who’s curious about Kamala Harris’s life and her values.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Kamala is a Democratic Senator from California and currently running for president.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief story about how she met her husband.

Spiritual Content
References to her Christian faith.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content 
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.