Tag Archives: estranged family

Review: Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , ,
Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

Wrong Answers Only
Tobias Madden
Page Street YA
Published October 8, 2024

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About Wrong Answers Only

Marco’s always done the right thing. But now it’s time for wrong answers only.

Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he’s been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a ‘blip’ everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)

And even though Marco’s trip is supposed to provide answers – about himself, about his family – all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more and more questions.

But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan: for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it’s time for Marco to get a few things wrong. And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning . . .

My Review

Sometimes it’s nice to read a story about a messy main character who really doesn’t have it all together. That’s exactly what this is. Marco is super smart, and super in denial about his anxiety over leaving for college. He seizes an opportunity to join his estranged uncle aboard a cruise ship in a desperate bid to avoid facing his fears. With his best friend at his side, he makes some impulsive choices. I liked that he doesn’t completely abandon his principles. He needs something different and outside his comfort zone, but he still keeps his head for the most part.

The cruise ship atmosphere is really fun, and something that’s more unusual for a young adult novel. I think I’ve only read two other books set on a cruise ship, so it was a fresh, welcome setting for me as a reader, too.

I also like that this book doesn’t tread all the obvious paths that a story like this might take. A lot of Marco’s conclusions rang true, which made it really easy to cheer for him as he untangles some of his feelings and decides what moving forward looks like for himself. Marco also has a big Italian family, which was fun to read since I come from a big Italian family, too.

I think many people in those early post-high school days will identify with the confusion and pressure Marco feels. I think this would make a perfect summer read or a great book to snuggle up with on a late fall evening to remember the feel of baking in the summer sun on a beach.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Marco and several other characters are gay. His best friend, CeCe, is Australian and Filipina.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A handful of F-bombs and some other swearing used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys. Kissing between a boy and a girl. References to sex. Some brief sexual comments or innuendo.

Spiritual Content
References to God more in a colloquial sense. The family attends a mass together. Two characters very briefly discuss their beliefs about whether someone exists after death.

Violent Content
The ship on which Marco travels encounters a storm and some rough seas. At one point, a man grabs Marco on the dance floor. He quickly shoves the man away.

Drug Content
Once Marco turns eighteen, the legal drinking age in Australia, he drinks alcohol. He gets drunk more than once and sometimes does some things he regrets later while he’s intoxicated. In one scene, a few of his friends invite him to do drugs with them, but he refuses.

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: A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen

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

A Bánh Mì for Two
Trinity Nguyen
Henry Holt & Co.
Published

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About A Bánh Mì for Two

In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families’ histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.

In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father but has stopped updating since his passing.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh, has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.

When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.

My Review

If you’re looking for a sweet romance set in a beautiful city and packed with tantalizing descriptions of food, you will not want to miss this book. It’s also a super quick read at a little over 200 pages.

I love the descriptions of the city of Sài Gòn. The author describes the book as partly her love letter to the city, and that affection comes through on every page of this novel. I felt like I could hear the noise of the city and smell the food made by the street vendors.

Lan and Vivi’s relationship is really sweet. Spending time together and showing an actual person the things she loves about Sài Gòn reinvigorates Lan. The fog of writer’s block that surrounded her begins to dissipate, and she begins writing again. Lan also helps Vivi find her family through her connections with people and her knowledge of the city.

The only thing that seemed a little odd was that we never really see anything about the educational part of Vivi’s study abroad program. I don’t remember there being descriptions of the university or even her traveling to and from classes. It wasn’t a major part of the story, so it wasn’t a big deal. Just something I noticed.

The story alternates between Lan and Vivi’s points of view. Both share complicated relationships with their moms. After losing her dad unexpectedly, Lan wants to protect her mom and support her so much that she’s closed off other parts of her life. Vivi desperately wants to know about her mom’s past in Việt Nam, something her mom refuses to talk about despite their closeness in other ways. I like that the book explores different mother-daughter relationships and the roles of parents and children.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book for its sweet romance (it does get a bit sappy in a scene or two, but I didn’t mind) and fabulous descriptions of the city of Sài Gòn.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Most characters are Vietnamese. Cindy is Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs. Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
Lan’s family lights incense on an alter for her dad as part of celebrating the anniversary of his death. References to other holidays.

Violent Content
References to war and torture. References to hard times after the war in Việt Nam.

Drug Content
Vivi drinks a beer with her peers. (The legal drinking age in Việt Nam is 18.)

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: The City Beyond the Stars by Zohra Nabi

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , , ,

The City Beyond the Stars
Zohra Nabi
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published May 14, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The City Beyond the Stars

The captivating sequel to “perfect for fans of Philip Pullman and Tahereh Mafi” ( Booklist ) The Kingdom Over the Sea follows Yara and her friends as they change the fate of the kingdom and their magic forever.

Yara may have stopped the magical plague spreading its way through her new home, but to do so, she had to leave her mother in the hands of the sinister alchemists.

Now Yara longs to return to Zehaira and free her mother from her prison. Yet when her mother’s familiar arrives, close to death and bearing a message, Yara must put aside her plans to rescue her and instead set off with her friends to the official residence of the Grand High Sorceress, convinced it holds magic powerful enough to defeat the alchemists.

After a treacherous journey, Yara finds her mother’s house, and in it, a girl claiming to be the daughter of the Grand High Sorceress—a sister Yara didn’t know she had. Meanwhile, the alchemists are circling ever closer, and the magic that Yara’s mother was working threatens the foundations of their world.

Yara is unsure if her newfound sister can be trusted, but she is going to need all the help she can get if she wants to save their mother and take back Zehaira from the alchemists’ rule.

My Review

Another sister story! <3 One of my favorite things. In this one, the sisters are so estranged. Their relationship is fraught and tenuous, and I love it. It’s a different and still realistic kind of story about two sisters. Aaliyah has a lot of attitude, which I appreciate. She makes demands. She takes charge. Sometimes, she says the opposite of what she means. I like her character a whole lot.

Throughout this book, Yara, Rafi, and Mehnoor remain close friends. They question Yara’s impulsive decisions, prompt her with facts and ideas, and offer their support no matter what happens.

At one point in the book, Yara speaks to someone who’s making destructive choices and points out that what this person needs isn’t more power but more community. I love that she phrases it that way. She talks about how powerful it is to have a team of people who can come together and support one another and how division and isolation weaken us all. This is another message I profoundly agree with.

I’m not sure if this is the conclusion to a duology or a second book in a trilogy. The ending feels pretty final and doesn’t open a new problem for the characters to immediately pursue, but I haven’t seen references to this series being a duology, so I’m not sure. I would love to read more adventures of Yara and her friends. Maybe a future book will be a spinoff and follow one of the other characters? That could be really cool.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the relationships and the intersection between magic and the need for building trust and community in this book. I think fans of the first book will love getting to revisit the world of Zehaira and its familiar characters and magical landscape. Fantasy readers will enjoy the interesting magical system and centering of three young sorcerers who must save their world.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Middle-Eastern coded characters.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. The ability is available to anyone but requires intense study. Other characters use the science of alchemy to control magic.

The story delves into a bit of time travel and skirts around some butterfly effect-type theory.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to torture. One scene shows a person being magically tortured. Viewers see no blood or gore, but the person appears to be in incredible pain. References to battle sequences. A room collapses, killing someone and fatally injuring another person.

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: The People We Choose by Katelyn Detweiler

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The People We Choose
Katelyn Detweiler
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published May 4, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The People We Choose

When Calliope Silversmith meets her new neighbor Max, their chemistry is instantaneous, but the revelation of her biological father’s identity throws her whole life into disarray.

Calliope Silversmith has always had just two friends in her small Pennsylvania town, Ginger and Noah, and she’s fine with that. She’s never wanted anything more than her best friends, her moms, their house in the woods, and their family-run yoga studio–except maybe knowing who her sperm donor is. Her curiosity has been building for years, and she can finally find out this summer when she turns eighteen.

But when Max and his family move into the sad old house across the woods from Calliope, she realizes it’s nice to get to know someone new, so nice that she decides to break her no dating rule. The stability of her longtime trio wavers as she and Max start to spend more and more time together.

When Calliope finally finds out who her sperm donor is, she learns a truth more shocking and unfathomable than she could have ever dreamed: her donor is Max’s father. How is this even possible? As she and Max struggle to redefine their friendship, Calliope realizes that she can turn a horrific situation into something positive by recognizing and accepting that family is both the one we are born into and the one we choose to make.

My Review

I love relationship books– and this is definitely a relationship book. Calliope has two lifelong best friends, one of whom is in love with her. She doesn’t return those feelings, though, and for a while, things go unsaid and unacknowledged. Max’s arrival and the obvious chemistry between Calliope and Max changes that, though.

I identified with that conflict so much– the complicated situation that a friendship where one person has greater feelings can become. I still have a lot of feelings of guilt and regret over a relationship in my own past, so it was both heartbreaking and cathartic to see that conflict on the page. I remember literally thinking some of the things Calliope thinks in wrestling with the relationship, so that felt real to me. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen another book tackle that situation in such a real, frank way.

Another thing I liked is the fact that while the story has some romantic feelings in it, it doesn’t center around romance. It really explores what makes a family and how to redefine relationships in the face of difficult changes. I liked the way Calliope’s moms were protective and paying attention, but that they also gave her space to find her own way. I felt like their relationships had a great balance in that way.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading PEOPLE WE CHOOSE. I think people who enjoyed YOUR DESTINATION IS ON THE LEFT by Lauren Spieller or who like books exploring relationships will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Max is Black. Ginger is a lesbian. Calliope has two moms.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning for Incest
Brief descriptions of kissing between boy and girl (who turn out to be siblings and really grossed out about it later.)

Reference to a kiss between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of heated arguments between adults. Brief description of a woman’s accidental death.

Drug Content
One minor character is an alcoholic.

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

Review: Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

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

Where the Stars Still Shine
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published September 24, 2013

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Callie spent most of her childhood believing her father is after her. She’s never been to school, never had any real friends. Anytime there’s a whiff of suspicion, her mother whisks them away to a new town, new trashy job, new sleazy boyfriend.

Then the truth comes in the form of an arrest warrant for her mom. In a blink, Callie finds herself living with her estranged dad, his new wife and their two small children, right smack in the middle of a large, loud, loving Greek family. For the first time, someone cares whether Callie comes or goes. She has friends, if she can crack the code on how to keep them. And she might even have her first real date!

The relationship between Callie and her dad is really moving. Here’s this man who hasn’t seen his daughter in so many years, who wants so badly to reconnect with her. Here’s this girl whose entire life has been turned upside down, who worries that accepting the father she didn’t know she had means betraying her mom, who’s sick and needs her more than anyone. That tug-of-war was so well-crafted and believable. There’s a lot of threads about reconciliation between estranged family members and the importance of family and community. Those were great themes and very well-executed.

While in the care of her mother, Callie was sexually abused by her mother’s live-in boyfriend. This leaves deep emotional scars. She starts hooking up (meeting to have sex with) guys as a young teenager, even though afterward she feels used and dirty. On one such quest, she lucks out and meets a guy who not only takes her to bed the first time they spend any time together, but also wants to build a relationship with her and cares very deeply for her, despite his playboy reputation.

This does show Callie learning to build trust and to experience sex within a safe, loving relationship, which is so healing. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking that in real life, a girl can sleep with many, many guys hoping that the next day they’ll turn out to stick around. It’s probably not the best way to find a good guy. Conservative me couldn’t help wishing she’d found that he was a good guy first and built that trust first.

Besides that, though, I felt really connected with Callie’s emotional journey. I loved her demonstrative family, and the vividly described setting. It has more sexual content than books I’ve read by Sarah Dessen, but the strong heroine and deep emotional journey reminded me of her stories. If you’re a Dessen fan, you may want to check out this book.

Language Content
Extreme profanity, moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
Callie becomes sexually active in her early teens. She briefly recounts those experiences as well as memories of childhood sexual abuse. The abuse memories are pretty intense. A boy kisses Callie later in the story and she immediately takes off her shirt. She meets another young man and has sex with him without knowing much more than his name. The descriptions of her encounters are fairly short and not super graphic, but there are some details given. Another couple engages in a pretty heavy make-out session on the couch, but few details are given.

Much of the sexual element in the story is really about Callie’s abuse and the process she experiences to learn how to have a healthy relationship with sex.

Spiritual Content
Callie’s family attend a Greek Orthodox Church and encourage her to attend with them, but don’t pressure her. Callie really isn’t into the spiritual stuff.

Violence
Callie witnesses a man smacking his adult son.

Drug Content
Callie’s mom hangs around some pretty unsavory bars and probably drinks too much. Callie and her friends drink alcohol. They are all under 21.

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I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke

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

I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires
Cathy Gohlke
Moody Publishers
Published September 1, 2008

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Prompted by a desperate letter from an estranged cousin in Virginia, Robert must put aside his plans to join the Yankee army and help his family. A visit to his uncle throws him by mistake into the middle of a prison escape. After he’s left for dead, an unexpected friend lends him a hand, further blurring the lines of Robert’s patriotic loyalty. As he and his new friend set out to find his family, Robert finds the journey to be harder than he ever imagined, and that the enemy he must confront has a different face than he first believed. If he is going to rescue his family, Robert knows it will take wrestling with more than just the enemies of war. And the results may not be of his own making.

I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires is the sequel to Gohlke’s Christy Award-winning William Henry is a Fine Name. The Civil War story tackles issues of loyalty, humanity, and faith through the eyes of an 18 year-old boy with family on both sides of the battle lines.

The writing is absolutely amazing– the kind of stuff that will stick with you long after you put the book down. If you enjoy historical fiction, particularly the Civil War era, you absolutely have to give this a read. I haven’t read William Henry, but I had no trouble following the plot and characters of I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires. I don’t think you have to read them in order, but if the first one is as good as this (and I’ve heard it is) then by all means, read both as I plan to do myself!

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None

Sexual Content
There are some oblique references to a rape that occurred before the story takes place.

Spiritual Content
Robert wrestles with his faith and the idea that God is in control, has a plan, and will take care of him.

Violent Content
Robert is bound during the prison escape. One character shoots another and threatens other lives before falling to death.

Drug Content
None

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