Review: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High
Elizabeth Acevedo
QuillTree Books
Published May 7, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About With the Fire on High

With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.

Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her … Continue reading

12 YA Books I Can’t Wait to Read Coming September 2020

12 YA Books I Can't Wait to Read Coming September 2020

September at Last!

All the changes this past spring with lock-downs and social distancing and online learning threw me for a loop. It also delayed a lot of the books I’d been looking forward to reading, which meant I spent the summer scrambling to catch up on the ARCs that publishers had sent me. I’m finally seeing a light at the end of the reading tunnel so to speak, and it’s just in time to jump into the amazing line-up of YA books coming out in September 2020.

Happy Book Birthday

Happy Book Birthday to September 1st Releases!

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Best Middle Grade Books from Spring 2020

Best Middle Grade Books from 2020

I don’t know if I’m reading more books than usual because of trying to stay home and avoid COVID-19, or if I’ve just got better contacts and a better sense of the middle grade book world these days, or if I’ve just gotten incredible lucky, but it seems like there have been a LOT of really amazing books published this year.

This list will focus on middle grade books, which are aimed at kids 8 to 12. I’ll do a separate post featuring young adult books, because there have been some fabulous titles there, too.

If you’re looking for a book that will sweep you away, make you laugh out loud, or make you get lost in another … Continue reading

Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3)
Laini Taylor
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published April 8, 2014

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Two worlds are poised on the brink of a vicious war. By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera’s rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her.

When the brutal angel … Continue reading

Review: Christy by Catherine Marshall

Christy by Catherine MarshallChristy
Catherine Marshall
Turtleback Books
Published June 27th 2006 (first published January 1st 1967

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Christy
At nineteen, Christy Huddleston left home to teach school in the Smokies — coming to know and care for the wild mountain people, with their fierce pride, terrible poverty, dark superstitions…and their yearning for beauty and truth. But in these primitive surroundings, Christy’s faith would be severely tested by the unique strengths and needs of two remarkable young men — and challenged by a heart torn between desire…and love.

My Review
Christy is one of those books I’ve read probably almost a dozen times. I think I first … Continue reading

Top Ten Tuesday: Books by My Favorite Authors I Still Haven’t Read

Top Ten Tuesay Books by Favorite AuthorsHappy Top Ten Tuesday!

Obviously the first challenge of a Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) post like this is to narrow down to only ten favorite authors. That took a lot more time than I thought it would. Because there are SO MANY great authors out there, especially in the young adult and middle grade market. But I soldiered through and made my list of ten authors and from there, picking the books to share was pretty easy. Here’s my list.

Tragic Kind of WonderfulA Tragic … Continue reading