Tag Archives: family

Review: The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage by Colleen Oakes

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,
Second Favorite Daughters Club 1: Sister Sabotage by Colleen Oakes

The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage
Colleen Oakes
Pixel + Ink
Published April 2, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage

For fans of Sisters and Netflix’s The Baby-sitter’s Club, a contemporary series for the siblings who always come in last.

Santana Barnes is tired of playing second fiddle to her ballet protégé, honor student older sister Victoria. Casey Hammond is sick of her cute-as-a-button, adventurous little sister Sage, who steals all of their dad’s attention.

When the girls meet in their middle school library, they learn they have a lot in common: they both love reading, hate after-school activities, and most important, are clearly their parents’ second-favorite children.

Together, they create the Second Favorite Daughters Club. The members? Just the two of them. The mission? To become their parents’ favorite children by undermining their love-hoarding siblings. But is it possible to cheat your way to becoming your parents’ favorite kid?

Bestselling author Colleen Oakes’s middle-grade debut, SISTER SABOTAGE is a celebration of friendship and family in all its challenging forms, and a reminder that there’s no one way to stand out.

My Review

I love sister books. Sister relationships can be complex and challenging, but sometimes, even when it’s those things, there’s no one who defends you like a sister.

One of the things that I really appreciated about SISTER SABOTAGE is that Casey has an annoying younger sister but is the oldest herself, while Santana is the youngest, and annoyed by her older sister. That leads to the girls sharing some observations with each other about their siblings. For example, when Casey complains that her younger sister goes through her stuff, Santana sympathizes but also gets a little wistful and points out that that’s just what little sisters do.

I also enjoyed getting to see the friendship between the two girls take off. They were both so lonely before they met. I remember feeling that way and how I felt meeting a girl who would become one of my closest high school friends. Finding someone who gets you and really wants to be friends is such a huge thing. I loved that this book celebrates that.

The plan to sabotage the sisters made me a little nervous. I worried that especially the pranks played on the younger sibling would make it hard to like Casey. I thought the author tackled that part of the story in a way that let the girls’ feelings about the sabotage efforts evolve organically to a satisfying conclusion.

All in all, I think this is a really sweet book about sisters and best friends. I am really interested to see where the series goes from here.

I think readers who enjoy books by Kate Messner and Gillian McDunn will like the friendships and family challenges in this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl throws cupcakes across the room while angry. Two girls get into a fight in the auditorium of a theater.

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: Salt Magic by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Salt Magic
Hope Larson
Illustrated by Rebecca Mock
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published October 12, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Salt Magic

When a jealous witch curses her family’s well, it’s up to Vonceil to set things right in an epic journey that will leave her changed forever.

When Vonceil’s older brother, Elber, comes home to their family’s Oklahoma farm after serving on the front lines of World War I, things aren’t what she expects. His experiences have changed him into a serious and responsible man who doesn’t have time for Vonceil anymore. He even marries the girl he had left behind.

Then, a mysterious and captivating woman shows up at the farm and confronts Elber for leaving her in France. When he refuses to leave his wife, she puts a curse on the family well, turning the entire town’s water supply into saltwater. Who is this lady dressed all in white, what has she done to the farm, and what does Vonceil’s old Uncle Dell know about her?

To find out, Vonceil will have to strike out on her own and delve deep into the world of witchcraft, confronting dangerous relatives, shapeshifting animals, a capricious Sugar Witch, and the Lady in White herself–the foreboding Salt Witch. The journey will change Vonceil, but along the way, she’ll learn a lot about love and what it means to grow up.

My Review

I’ve had this book on my radar for some time. The idea of a fantasy set in 1919 Oklahoma definitely intrigued me, and I couldn’t wait to get into the story to see what it was all about.

Honestly, I thought the setting and fantasy elements really complemented one another. I liked the way they were connected and how they impacted the characters’ stories. I loved Vonceil as a character, and especially enjoyed the author’s choice to tell the story from the perspective of a young girl rather than telling the story from Elber’s point-of-view, which might also have made sense.

The color palette in the book was really engaging, too. I liked the way different pages had very different color schemes, and how only a few pages pulled all the colors together to create these vibrant, impactful scenes. I thought that was really cool.

SALT MAGIC is another book that I’d looked into thinking about my nephew and niece, and I think it will be one I recommend to them. I have a feeling the fantasy elements and unique setting will appeal to at least one of them. If the words “western fantasy” excite you at all, definitely check out this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Major characters are white living in Oklahoma.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to romance between men and women as minor characters. Vonceil does not have a romantic arc to her story.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic.

Violent Content
References to domestic violence and abuse of an elderly person. Vonceil sees the scars her brother carries from when he was shot in Europe as a soldier in World War I. Vonceil hears about a weird situation in which animals attacked someone en masse.

Drug Content
Vonceil stumbles onto a moonshine still in a barn.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Breathing Underwater by Abbey Lee Nash

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

Breathing Underwater
Abbey Lee Nash
Holiday House
Published March 5, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Breathing Underwater

In this slice-of-life, sensitively written novel, a teen girl grapples with a sudden epilepsy diagnosis, all while figuring out a new crush and an uncertain future.

Seventeen-year-old Tess Cooper lives by three train hard, study hard, work hard. Swimming is her best chance at a college scholarship. It’s what her parents, her coaches, and even her best friend expect from her—and Tess can always deliver.

Until tragedy strikes. Tess has a seizure, and her world suddenly becomes one of doctor visits, missed practices, and a summer job stuck behind a counter—not sitting high in the lifeguard chair like every year before.

Instead, her spot goes to new guy Charlie. Sure, his messy hair and laid-back demeanor sends Tess’ heart racing, but this isn’t really the time. She’s got to focus on getting back in the pool—regardless of what her doctor or anyone else says.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

My Review

Okay, so some of the things I liked about the book are kind of spoiler-y, so I apologize if some of my statements are vague.

I don’t know much about competitive swimming, and what I do know is mostly from other books, like FLIP TURNS by Catherine Arguelles, so I can’t weigh in on the accuracy of the swimming components. They were engaging, though, and I liked the way the author used metaphors about swimming to show when Tess was feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

Tess has a complicated relationship with some of her teammates, at first because she feels like another girl is stealing her best friend and later because a few girls on the team witness a traumatic moment in Tess’s life. Those relationships felt pretty real to me. The conflicts felt like the kinds of things that I experienced as a teenager. It was super relatable.

I can’t speak to the accuracy of the representation of Tess’s seizure and diagnosis, but I was really moved by the things Tess felt and went through. Her anxiety about getting back in the water. Her frustration with her parents over their fear and shifting boundaries. All that resonated with me.

Her relationship with Charlie was maybe the weakest pull into the story for me. I enjoyed the relationship between them, and I especially liked the lightness it brought. It just didn’t add the value to the book that I expected, I guess? I don’t know if that makes sense. I liked the arc of the relationship, though.

All in all, I liked the book. I think readers looking for books about sports, especially girls in sports, or books featuring a main character with a disability should check this one out.

Content Notes for Breathing Underwater

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Tess has a seizure and later receives a diagnosis.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl nearly drowns during a swimming race.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol at a party. Tess takes a sip and decides she doesn’t like the alcoholic drink. She spends the evening with a boy who wasn’t drinking either. Later, she helps a drunk friend get home safely.

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 my own.

Review: Coyote Lost and Found by Dan Gemeinhart

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

Coyote Lost and Found
Dan Gemeinhart
Henry Holt & Co.
Published March 5, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Coyote Lost and Found

It’s been almost a year since Coyote and her dad left the road behind and settled down in a small Oregon town. . . time spent grieving the loss of her mom and sisters and trying to fit in at school. But just as life is becoming a new version of normal, Coyote discovers a box containing her mom’s ashes. And she thinks she might finally be ready to say goodbye.

So Coyote and her dad gear up for an epic cross-country road trip to scatter the ashes at her mom’s chosen resting place. The only problem? Coyote has no idea where that resting place is—and the secret’s hidden in a book that Coyote mistakenly sold last year, somewhere in the country. Now, it’s up to Coyote to track down the treasured book . . . without her dad ever finding out that it’s lost. It’s time to fire up their trusty bus, Yager, pick up some old friends, discover some new ones, and hit the road on another unforgettable adventure.

My Review

I have a friend who loves voicey middle grade with a southern feel to it, and this book immediately made me think of her. Coyote is an absolute wonder. She’s unconventional and a little wild, kind of a loner, and has such a huge heart. I really like Rodeo, her dad, as well. He’s got a very hippy sensibility and definitely wouldn’t be everyone’s pick for best dad, but his temperament really works with Coyote, and he works really hard to make sure she has what she needs.

This is a book about grief. It’s a book about saying goodbye to someone you’ve already lost, and how sometimes grief is a journey, and on that journey, you have to say goodbye more than once. Some of the scenes in which Coyote and her dad talk about or around their losses were so poignant. I cried more than once.

It’s also a story set during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it has an underlying uncertainty and loneliness to it. It doesn’t have to do with the pandemic at all, really, but the shutdowns and fears about the virus impacted different characters and scenes in ways that made me think.

The only thing I kept waiting for and felt like was missing from the story is more information about Coyote’s sisters. She lost her mom and two sisters in a car accident long before this book (and another about Coyote and her dad) takes place. While this book focused on the loss of her mom, I felt like it was a little odd that she never named her sisters or had any memories of them or longing for them specifically. I haven’t yet read COYOTE SUNRISE, so it’s possible her relationships with them are explained more fully in the other book.

On the whole, I loved Coyote’s powerful voice and the sweet and silly rituals she shares with her dad and the lucky people they bring into their lives. I can definitely see fans of Kate DiCamillo’s contemporary novels or fans of Gillian McDunn loving this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Coyote’s best friend is Latine American. Another character is Asian American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
See violent content.

Romance/Sexual Content
Coyote gets uncomfortable when she realizes her dad may have romantic feelings for a neighbor.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A white clerk threatens an Asian American customer, holding up a baseball bat and saying racist things.

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 COYOTE LOST AND FOUND in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: Bad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Bad Like Us
Gabriella Lepore
Inkyard Press
Published March 5, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Bad Like Us

Two friend groups collide when someone turns up dead over spring break in this heart-thumping YA thriller for fans of ONE OF US IS LYING and WE WERE LIARS.

Spring break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered.

Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her BFFs had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles’ academic career took a turn for the worse (they don’t talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”

At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.

When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.

My Review

I read this book really fast, which was really great, since the last few books I’ve read seemed to take a long time. The plot of BAD LIKE US moves pretty quickly, and the chapters are short– another thing I love in a book!

The story follows two points of view and then includes videos recorded by a third person, so it feels like three different viewpoints. I liked both Eva and Colton, both of whom have real-time scenes from their perspectives. The story has a bit of romance that develops, and I thought that was balanced well against the murder mystery. It never felt like those two story elements were competing with each other. The progression of the romance felt natural.

I liked the setting, too. The whole story takes place at a beach resort in Oregon that one character’s uncle owns. It’s in a secluded area near the beach, which makes it pretty isolated. Some of the characters surf, so there were some scenes featuring surfing. One character is a social media influencer, so there are a bunch of scenes showing her making videos and other people reacting to the way that she behaves and the things she says in the videos.

If you’re looking for a quick read in the vein of Diana Urban or Karen McManus, I recommend this one. I think BAD LIKE US is my favorite of Gabriella Lepore’s books so far.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The three point-of-view characters are white. The friend group includes at least one person who is queer and two people of color.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. A girl confesses that she has romantic feelings for another girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Eva learns a boy discovered the body of a girl who has died. (She doesn’t see it happen.) One scene shows people threatening someone. Someone shoves another person into the water. Another person has injuries from surfing.

A girl uses her social media account to say harmful things about other people.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol while hanging out at a beach resort.

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 BAD LIKE US in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: Where the Dark Stands Still by A. B. Poranek

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

Where the Dark Stands Still
A. B. Poranek
McElderry Books
Published February 27, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Where the Dark Stands Still

Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters. After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood – the Leszy – who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish.

Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska soon discovers the sinister roots of their bargain. And if she wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past.

Those who enter the wood do not always return…

My Review

From the moment I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. Polish folklore? A magical wood? A crumbling manor and a handsome host with dangerous secrets? Yes to all of these!

And from the first pages of the book, I was hooked on the story. It’s got some Beauty and the Beast or Hades and Persephone vibes to it, but I wouldn’t describe it as a retelling. This is a new and different story and so much more than a romantic fairytale. (Though there’s nothing wrong with those– I love them, too.)

I loved Liska’s journey. She spends her whole childhood and adolescence believing that her magic is a bad part of her, that it makes her evil. That it’s something she must never stop resisting. As she gets to know the Leszy and the creatures in and around his manor, she learns that her magic may be what saves her. In fact, it may save everyone she loves.

There are so many brilliant side characters in this book, too. Jaga, the cat who is not a cat, tells Liska things she needs to hear, but sometimes isn’t ready for. The hound who haunts her. The boy who doesn’t speak. The wise village leader. All of them bring so much to the scenes. The teasing moments and the snarky banter between Liska and the Leszy are so great. I loved both of them so much.

I can definitely see readers who loved HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS by Erin Craig or GILDED by Marissa Meyer loving this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Eliasz has had romantic relationships with both men and women. Characters are Polish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used once.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
The story takes place at a time when the church has become a dominant force for faith in Liska’s community. The people’s old ways– worshipping or fearing old gods, the use of magic, the belief in magical creatures is now out of favor. Magical creatures are referred to as demons, and anyone who uses magic is a witch and could be cast out of their village or worse.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battles between humans and nefarious magical creatures. Some body horror (descriptions of bodies transforming in creepy ways and trees growing through flesh) and scary situations. Liska has nightmares and wakes to see a scary hound near her.

Drug Content
Brief reference to a times Liska stole a bottle of vodka and drank a little bit as a child.

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 WHERE THE DARK STANDS STILL in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.