Review: The Map from Here to There by Emery Lord

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The Map from Here to There by Emery Lord cover shows a cluttered dresser top beneath a cracked mirror

The Map From Here to There
Emery Lord
Bloomsbury YA
Published January 7, 2020

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About The Map From Here to There

Acclaimed author Emery Lord crafts a gorgeous story of friendship and identity, daring to ask: What happens after happily ever after?

It’s senior year, and Paige Hancock is finally living her best life. She has a fun summer job, great friends, and a super charming boyfriend who totally gets her. But senior year also means big decisions. Weighing “the rest of her life,” Paige feels her anxiety begin to pervade every decision she makes. Everything is exactly how she always wanted it to be–how can she leave it all behind next year? In her head, she knows there is so much more to experience after high school. But in her heart, is it so terrible to want everything to stay the same forever?

Emery Lord’s award-winning storytelling shines with lovable characters and heartfelt exploration of life’s most important questions.

My Review

This is the first book I’ve read by Emery Lord, though her books have been on my “must try this” list for a long time. I thought the writing was great– Paige is a sweet sort of people-pleaser who’s just beginning to assert her own desires and goals, so it was a great moment to step into her life.

I loved all the script-writing stuff. Though I know nothing about that process, it felt believable and Paige’s enthusiasm for it was contagious. I absolutely bought in and needed her to get into a great college program where she could continue to pursue that dream.

Especially in the early chapters, the narrative referred back to things that had happened before, and kept thinking, wait, why isn’t that a novel? Why aren’t I reading that other story, because it sounds really compelling.

And then I had a duh moment. There IS a book telling that previous story. It’s called THE START OF ME AND YOU. So now I need to read that one!

For the most part, I followed the story just fine without having read the first book. The only things I found confusing were the backstories of Paige’s friends. There are several to keep straight, and I didn’t always have them right. I think I would have been more on the ball there if I’d read THE START OF ME AND YOU first.

But overall, I liked THE MAP FROM HERE TO THERE. The writing was strong but accessible. I never felt like Paige was being pretentious or that the writing didn’t suit her voice. And, as I mentioned above, her passion for script-writing absolutely came through. I felt it as I was reading. Same with her anxiety and her confusion and frustration with her feelings. I thought she was super relatable.

If you liked STARFISH by Akemi Dawn Bowman or THIS ADVENTURE ENDS by Emma Mills, definitely add THE MAP FROM HERE TO THERE to your list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
One of Paige’s best friends is a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. In a couple scenes, Paige experiments with contact beyond kissing — the details are kept vague.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Brief description of a car accident.

Drug Content
A couple scenes show teens (including Paige) drinking 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 THE MAP FROM HERE TO THERE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: It’s My Life by Stacie Ramey

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It’s My Life
Stacie Ramey
Sourcebooks Fire
Published January 1, 2020

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About It’s My Life

If she wants a future with him, she’ll have to make peace with her past.

Jenna’s never let her cerebral palsy get her down. But when she discovers that her condition was actually caused by an injury at birth, she’s furious with her parents, who withheld the truth. And as they push her to get yet another difficult procedure, Jenna feels her control over her life starting to slip.

Enter Julian, Jenna’s childhood crush. He’s just moved back to town, and he’s struggling in school, so Jenna reaches out to him—anonymously— to help. Soon, their conversations are about so much more than class. She’s falling for him all over again, hard and fast. But would Julian still be interested in her if he knew who she really was? And can she find a way to take back her own narrative before she pushes away everyone she loves?

My Review

You know, just leave it to Stacie Ramey to create still more characters that I can’t help falling in love with. I really, really needed a solid, heartfelt contemporary book, and IT’S MY LIFE totally had me covered. I love Jenna’s awkwardness and her tendency to overthink things. I love her passion and her relationship with her mom.

Actually, I want to say more about her and her mom. Because I felt like that was a really complex relationship, since Jenna’s really pushing back against her parents’ assumptions about her medical treatment and care. She’s feeling lied to by her parents and unable to communicate to them her need to make her own medical decisions.

Though we only see Jenna’s point-of-view, I felt like it was easy to see that so much more was happening between the lines. Her mom felt like this real, complicated character with conflicting desires but a consistent commitment to her daughter. I don’t know if that makes total sense, but I just found myself having a lot of respect for Jenna’s mom because clearly she had a lot going on in her head and heart.

IT’S MY LIFE is at its core, a personal journey story. At the beginning, Jenna feels like her perfect life starring the cooler, better version of herself is completely out of reach. Jenna has two choices: she can sit back and let that life stay a fantasy, or she can pull together all her courage and figure out a way to make things happen for herself.

I love that theme in the story so much, and I think Stacie Ramey does real justice to the part of life where we must choose to become the main character in our own stories. I’m so glad I read this book, and I think it will really stay with me for a long time.

If you liked MY SISTER’S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult or IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC by Sean Williams, or just find yourself in the mood for an uplifting contemporary story featuring a strong protagonist, make sure you check out IT’S MY LIFE.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Jenna has Cerebral Palsy. Jenna and her family are Jewish. Her best friend Ben is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used fairly frequently. A couple instances of stronger profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Jenna has some daydreams about lying in bed with a boy.

Spiritual Content
Some references to Jewish traditions and holidays.

Violent Content
Jenna witnesses a fistfight between two boys.

Drug Content
Jenna and a friend drink alcohol at a dance.

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 IT’S MY LIFE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Reverie by Ryan LaSala

Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Reverie
Ryan LaSala
Sourcebooks Fire
Published December 3, 2019

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About Reverie

Inception meets The Magicians in the most imaginative YA debut of the year!

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different.

As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know.

This wildly imaginative debut explores what happens when the secret worlds that people hide within themselves come to light.

My Review

The first couple chapters of REVERIE kind of had me scratching my head– I couldn’t quite get my head around what was happening– but then things clicked and I got into the story and especially Kane as a character.

He’s funny, but angsty– which has to be my favorite combo– and while he’s desperately serious, he kept me laughing with his insights and side observations.

REVERIE is a weird book, for sure. But it’s a super endearing weird. I love the way the book stretches and twists reality and has Kane and his friends jumping in and out of different dream-like sequences.

If you mashed together the dream-jumping element from the movie INCEPTION and added the upbeat, liveliness of a Caleb Roehrig novel, you’d have something like REVERIE. I had so much fun reading it, and I can’t wait to see what Ryan LaSala writes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Kane is gay. Another couple– minor characters– are also gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys. Some reference to more than kissing that happens off-scene.

Spiritual Content
Kane and his friends have magic powers.

Violent Content
Battle scenes, monsters, 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 REVERIE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Three Hares: The Jade Dragonball by Scott Lauder and David Ross

Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

The Three Hares: The Jade Dragonball
Scott Lauder and David Ross
Neem Tree Press Limited
Published September 5, 2019

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About The Three Hares: The Jade Dragonball

Sara Livingstone’s school trip to the Beijing Palace Museum takes a terrifying turn when an encounter with the ancient Qingming Scroll thrusts her a thousand years into China’s past. With secrets in the shadows and danger around every corner, Sara relies on her wits and her Granny Tang’s stories to survive. As dark forces gather, she must take her place in a cosmic battle and find the courage to face an unworldly ancient magic.

My Review

I’m a bit confused by this book. I like that it shows two points of view, alternating them in large chunks of the book. I kept waiting for the two to merge in some way, but they didn’t. Both characters were interesting, even easy to identify with. I loved the intrigue that telling both stories side by side created.

The plot was a bit disappointing to me, though. I felt like it sort of restarted a few times through the book. We meet Sara and she has a quest. But then she has a new quest. And then a new, new quest. But I didn’t feel like there was really a clear resolution. A lot gets left hanging on the last page.

It also felt like things sort of came out of nowhere a few times. Suddenly Sara’s going to Ireland. Now she’s applying for a job. Why? What? Where did that come from? Why was it critical to her quest and the story that’s being told here? I didn’t see the connections.

Sometimes that sort of last-page hook really works– doesn’t it seem like every series now has a big hook at the end? (A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY, I’m giving you the side-eye here…) So that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I guess I just expected from the title and the quest set-up that Sara’s journey would be to find the three hares and confront a bad guy of some sort. But that isn’t really the story that THE THREE HARES: THE JADE DRAGONBALL tells.

I really liked the message about respect for ritual and for elders. When Sara is thrust back to ancient China, she faces lots of situations where she must rely on tradition and myth to guide her, and I found that to be a really intriguing theme. It reminded me a bit of THE DRAGON WARRIOR by Katie Zhao.

All in all, THE THREE HARES had some intriguing elements, but I felt it needed a more organized plot to make it a book I’d want to read again. Readers interested in a Chinese setting and mythology will find interesting characters and setting, though.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
Sara’s mother is Chinese and her father is Scottish. Most other central characters are Chinese.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None. Some kids tease Sara about a boy, but they appear to be just friends.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are gods/goddesses from Chinese mythology.

Violent Content
Brief but violent descriptions of death or inury by a sword. 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 THE THREE HARES in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Voyage of the Sandpiper by Jessica Glasner

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

The Voyage of the Sandpiper
Jessica Glasner
Hope House Press
Published July 17, 2019

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About The Voyage of the Sandpiper

“Your life will never be exciting if you’re afraid to risk becoming cold and wet. You and I, we throw caution to the wind! We swim to the greatest depths! We face the sea!”

Summer, 1939. When fifteen-year-old Agatha’s mother falls gravely ill, she is shipped off to the coast of Maine to live with her aunt, Edith Philipa Gordan, an eccentric writer who hasn’t finished a novel in decades and paints birds obsessively. What begins as a dull summer immediately takes a turn towards adventure with the arrival of Edie’s old beau, Horatio Macleay, and his handsome nephew.

With WWII looming on the horizon, Agatha and her new group of friends s race against time and across continents to complete their mission before it is too late. Along the way, Agatha learns the importance of trusting in the perfect timing of God and discovers the power of hope.

Write caption…

My Review

I think my favorite thing about this book is the time at which the story is set. If you read historical fiction at all, you’ve probably read at least one book about WWII– there are tons of books that focus on that time period, and it’s easy to understand why.

I liked that THE VOYAGE OF THE SANDPIPER showed events leading up to the war. There were a couple of moments where things came up that I had never thought about, known, or realized before. (For instance, when Germany adopted laws stripping Jewish citizens of certain rights, one character speaks against it, and another responds pointing out that she’s an American and making a comparison between the German laws against Jews and the Jim Crow laws against Black Americans. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of those two things side by side before– both horribly wrong. I just hadn’t considered them both in the same breath.)

Another thing I liked was the slow burn romance. There’s some tension and attraction, but so many other thing are happening. It wouldn’t have felt authentic at all if the characters stopped in the midst of a crisis to explore their feelings for one another. I think it would have been more satisfying if there had been a more active resolution to that part of the story, though.

I do wish that Agatha (who’s called Piper in the book) had more of an active role in the story. In terms of the active, heroic role, the story belongs more to her aunt Edie, and Agatha functions more as a sort of sidekick. I found myself wishing that it had been Agatha in the driver’s seat for some of the big intense moments in the story, instead of Agatha waiting to hear how her aunt manages to save the day.

I thought the spiritual elements were well-integrated into the story and felt natural to the characters. And I enjoyed the evolution of the characters and their relationships with one another. Overall, I think this is a nice read for historical fiction fans, and does a great job exploring some events leading up to WWII.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Representation
Some characters are Jewish. All are European or American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some attraction between Agatha and a boy.

Spiritual Content
Agatha and her aunt depend on their faith and take courage from reading the Bible to face their fears. A couple times, the story shows Agatha reading the Bible and how the scriptures specifically apply to situations she faces.

Violent Content
A brief description of a concentration camp. Situations of peril or urgency.

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 VOYAGE OF THE SANDPIPER in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Wickerlight by Mary Watson

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The Wickerlight (The Wren Hunt #2)
Mary Watson
Bloomsbury YA
Published November 26, 2019

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About The Wickerlight

It’s been two months since Laila was found lifeless on Kilshamble village green, not a mark on her. Rumour says she died of an overdose. Or maybe it was suicide? The autopsy found nothing, but somebody must know what happened.

Now Laila’s sister Zara is ready to pick up the trail. But retracing her sister’s footsteps takes her to David, a Judge at the dangerous heart of an ancient magical feud. All too unwittingly, she begins to tread the same path that led her sister to the village green .

Mary Watson’s sequel to THE WREN HUNT is an eerie, magical thriller about a dead girl, her sister and the boy who can unlock the truth of what happened the night she died. Perfect for fans of Frances Hardinge and Emily Bain Murphy’s THE DISAPPEARANCES.

My Review

In the book THE WREN HUNT, the story follows Wren, a young Augur who’s caught in the middle of the war between her people and the Judges, her enemies. THE WICKERLIGHT is told by two people: one of the Judges who hunted Wren named David (and get ready, because there’s so much more to this guy than you thought there was in the first book!) and an outsider named Zara who simply wants to know what happened to her sister.

I had a much easier time connecting with the story this time through– I think maybe because I was already a bit familiar with the story world. I also LOVED getting to see a whole different side of David, who was in the first book. And seeing the community from an outsider’s perspective also gave the story a lot more intrigue, too. Right off the bat, the reader knows so much more than Zara does, and it added a lot of tension to many of the things she did, because we knew the danger she was placing herself in, even when she didn’t.

Some of the other characters from THE WREN HUNT appear in THE WICKERLIGHT, too. Cassa Harkness, Wren, and Tariq all appear on the page here and there. It was cool to read about them again and find out what had happened to them since the end of the first book.

Would I read a third book in this series? Um. YEAH. Especially after the way THE WICKERLIGHT ends, yes, yes, YES! Please tell me more. I can’t wait to dive back into this really delicious, dark Irish storyworld.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Zara and her family are Indian and from Australia. Other characters are Irish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently by one character.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Use of magic and curses.

Violent Content
Some graphic violence and brief scenes of torture.

Drug Content
Some reference to experimentation with drugs.

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 WICKERLIGHT in exchange for my honest review.