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Review: Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Historical, Magical Realism, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian

Exquisite Things
Abdi Nazemian
HarperCollins
Published September 23, 2025

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About Exquisite Things

From Stonewall Award–winning author Abdi Nazemian (Only This Beautiful Moment) comes the epic queer love story of a lifetime. Perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Shahriar believes he was born in the wrong time. All he’s ever wanted is to love and be loved, but 1895 London doesn’t offer him the freedom to be his true self, and Oscar Wilde’s trial for gross indecency has only reaffirmed that. But one night—and one writer—will grant Shahriar what he’s always wished for: the opportunity to live in a time and place where he can love freely. Rechristened as Shams and then as Bram, he finds what feels like eternal happiness. But can anything truly be eternal?

Oliver doesn’t feel that 1920s Boston gives him a lot of options to be his full self. He knows he could only ever love another boy, but that would break his beloved mother’s heart. Oliver finds freedom and acceptance in the secret queer community at Harvard that his cousin introduces him to. When he meets a mysterious boy with eyes as warm as a flame, his life is irrevocably changed, forever.   

Spanning one hundred and thirty years of love and longing, this tale of immortal beloveds searching for their perfect place and time is a vibrant hymn to the beauty of being alive, a celebration of queer love and community, and a reminder that behind every tragic thing that ever existed, there is something exquisite.

My Review

I recently read Only This Beautiful Moment, so this wasn’t my first rodeo with Nazemian and storytelling spanning decades. One thing I have to say is that I didn’t have a hard time following the narrative through the different moments in time. Scenes take place in 1895, 1920, 1979-1982, and 2025. Each one contains some pivotal moments, from when Shahriar becomes immortal, to his meeting Oliver and the beginnings of their romance, to the found family Shahriar builds in London in the 1980s and the honoring of the death of one of his family members.

The story shows the rise and ebb of gay rights through those times and the decades in between. It celebrates the way that music inspires hope and new ideas. The story celebrates love as something that changes as we have new experiences. Sometimes love comes from biological connections, and other times, it comes from the family we choose.

Shahriar’s found family is a diverse group, with a Black transgender mom and gay dad and a Black lesbian sister. Each person finds the group at a critical moment. Some scenes show night life in Boston in the 1920s, while others focus on London nightlife in the 1980s.

The resounding truth that rings out through every stop on the timeline is that there have always been communities of queer people, even if they’ve had to exist in hiding. This isn’t a new phenomenon, and it isn’t going to go away. The story shows the heartache that a life in hiding causes but also the joy of community, love, and the power of living an authentic life.

All in all, it’s a beautiful novel. Nazemian’s writing is heavy on dialogue and lighter on setting details, which migh bother some readers. I found it easy to imagine the characters because of their distinct voices. If you like historical fiction and/or books with a lot of musical or literary references, put this one on your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat infrequently. Homophobic slurs appear somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex. Brief nudity.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to Oliver attending church.

Violent Content
Homophobic slurs. A parent hits a teen child. Reference to suicide. Characters are threatened with arrest or expelled from school if known to be gay. Multiple characters are caught in a fire. Someone threatens another person with a knife.

Drug Content
Two adult characters reference going to AA meetings. Characters walk in on a group doing drugs in the bathroom and quickly leave.

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: Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley

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Sisters in the Wind
Angeline Boulley
Henry Holt & Co.
Published September 2, 2025

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About Sisters in the Wind

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed comes a daring new mystery about a foster teen claiming her heritage on her own terms.

Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago, “home” has been more of an idea than a place. She knows being on the run is better than anything waiting for her as a “ward of the state.” But when the sharp-eyed and kind Mr. Jameson with an interest in her case comes looking for her, Lucy wonders if hiding from her past will ever truly keep her safe.

Five years in the foster system has taught her to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend,” a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her.

They also tell Lucy the truth her father hid from her: She is Ojibwe; she has – had – a sister, and more siblings; a grandmother who’d look after her and a home where she would be loved.

But Lucy is being followed. The past has destroyed any chance of normal she has had, and now the secrets she’s hiding will swallow her whole and take away the future she always dreamed of.

My Review

I read a story collection recently that included a short story by Angeline Boulley. I recognized her writing immediately. She’s an amazing storyteller.

Sisters in the Wind is a standalone novel, but it has characters in it from Firekeeper’s Daughter. I loved getting to see those characters again. The only downside was that it pulled my attention away from what was happening to Lucy sometimes. (I don’t want to say anything that spoils Firekeeper’s Daughter for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. But I was on the edge of my seat watching the characters reappear in this book.)

The timeline jumps back and forth between Lucy’s past, showing scenes moving toward the present, and the present, in which Lucy knows she’s in danger but we don’t know why. As the story unfolds, the mystery of who’s following Lucy and how much danger she’s in slowly becomes clear, and the tension ratchets upward.

I liked Lucy as a character. Her relationship with her dad shows how young she is when he dies. It’s clear to the reader that her dad has some issues, but Lucy idolizes him in a way that kids do with their parents. Later in the story, she begins revisiting some of the things her dad said to her and some parts of his story that, upon reflection, don’t add up. Her growth there was nicely done and felt pretty realistic.

In terms of Boulley’s other books, this one takes place between Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl, Unearthed. Each book explores a cultural issue and how it affects Native communities. Sisters in the Wind discusses ICWA and how foster care has been used in the past to disrupt tribal connections and culture. That’s not what the story is truly about, but because of Lucy’s experience in care, it comes up and she gets involved in an organization trying to help.

Conclusion

I keep asking myself whether I liked this book as much as or better than Angeline Boulley’s earlier books, and I think that’s the wrong question. There are some similarities between the books, and I was hooked as I read all of them. The question, for me, is whether this book expands the conversation that I think this writer has with her readers about what it’s like to be Native today in America, and how history continues to impact that experience (as it does for us all).

I like how this book builds on her earlier work. I like that it explores a foster care experience, and not totally in a negative way. (Her first placement was wonderful, but subsequent placements were awful. Her caseworker made some huge mistakes.) It also celebrates building one’s own community and learning to hold love for imperfect people.

All in all, loved it. Read this if you were a fan of her other books. If you want to read Firekeeper’s Daughter but haven’t yet, I recommend you start there, since the plot of this one will include spoilers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Lucy developed curves at a young age and feels creeped out by the unwelcome attention boys (and men) pay to her body. One boy tries to assault her. (She fights him off.) References to a child being molested (not shown on scene). A couple of scenes show kissing. Vague reference to Lucy picking up on clues that another couple is having sex. One scene includes a sexual encounter. Descriptions of pregnancy, labor, and delivery.

Spiritual Content
Lucy was raised attending church with her dad and honoring the ten commandments. She begins learning about giving thanks and praying according to her Native spiritual beliefs.

Violent Content
An explosion injures several people. Mentions of fire destroying a home or building, sometimes causing death. A teen attempts to assault a girl. She fights him, landing him in the emergency room. References to child molestation (not shown on scene). A murderer confesses to killing someone. References to a drug overdose. A man threatens others with a gun, shooting someone.

Drug Content
In one scene, teens sit around a campfire with alcohol or marijuana. An adult smokes a cigarette.

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 Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Ogress and the Orphans
Kelly Barnhill
Algonquin Young Readers
Published March 8, 2022

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About The Ogress and the Orphans

A fantasy about the power of generosity and love, and how a community suffers when they disappear.

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighborliness. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are.

Then one day a child goes missing from the Orphan House. At the Mayor’s suggestion, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The Orphans know this can’t be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen.

But how can the Orphans tell the story of the Ogress’s goodness to people who refuse to listen? And how can they make their deluded neighbors see the real villain in their midst?

My Review

I was not prepared for the timeliness of this book. I’m not even sure I read the back cover copy. I’ve heard countless amazing things about the book from other reviewers and friends, so I picked it up on the strength of those recommendations. Plus, I loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon, also by Barnhill, so I had high expectations.

Within the first few pages, I was hooked. The story centers around a small town that’s not doing so well. It used to be lovely, and the children in the home for orphans try to remember that loveliness and figure out why it disappeared. The other villagers seem convinced that the ogress who lives just outside town must be the reason. But the older children remember her moving in after the town lost its shine.

Periodically, a narrator speaks directly to the reader as an eyewitness to past events. I loved this, but I can see some readers finding it annoying. If it was simply an excuse to break the fourth wall and fill readers in on information the other characters don’t have, it would be kind of gimmicky. However, the author reveals the narrator’s identity late in the book, and it so perfectly fits in with the story world she’s created and the story’s overall message. That moment when we learn who the narrator is landed beautifully with me. I felt like all the pieces of the tale had snapped into place.

Another thing that the author does so well is balancing darkness and light in this book. The town is failing. Neighbors don’t trust one another. The children don’t have enough to eat. At the same time, whimsical elements offer hope and create a sense of wonder and magic, even in the bleakness. One child hears the wooden beams of the house, made from old oak trees, tell the stories of the town and its inhabitants. The ogress bakes treats and leaves them on the villagers’ doorsteps. The crows speak to one another in a language the children learn from a book in their reading room.

Conclusion

This beautiful story examines the value of community and the kinds of events that erode or destroy our connections to one another. But it doesn’t stop there. Barnhill also shows how a courageous few speaking up against injustice and taking steps to show kindness and protect the vulnerable can change the course of others. Each person has a role in rebuilding connections and creating a more just community.

This book is as whimsical as it is timely. The storytelling speaks truth in love and reminds us who our best selves are. I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s absolutely worth a read. This one is going on my summer read-aloud list for sure.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
There are some fantasy-based characters, like dragons, ogres, etc. Dragons have a spiritual practice that evolved over time in which they live as an animal for a period of time as an exercise in developing empathy or broadening their experience.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Demonizing of an outsider. References to and brief descriptions of a building fire.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley

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Bad Graces
Kyrie McCauley
Publisher
Published

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About Bad Graces

Yellowjackets meets House of Hollow in award-winning author Kyrie McCauley’s gripping and magical YA thriller following a group of young women as they face the stress of harsh elements, a mysterious monster, and an unraveling of secrets after their yacht is wrecked off the coast of North America.

Liv Whitlock knows she doesn’t belong there. But after years of stumbling between foster homes, often due to her own self-destructive tendencies, Liv desperately needs to change the trajectory of her life … so she steals her perfect sister’s identity.

Liv starts to rewrite her story, winning a prestigious internship on a movie set filming in Alaska, and finds herself on a luxury yacht alongside pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones. Liv tries to find common ground with her famous companions, but just as the group starts to bond, a violent storm wrecks their vessel, stranding them on an island in the North Pacific Ocean.

Among the threats of starvation and exposure, they learn there is a predator lurking in the forest, unlike anything they’ve seen before—until they begin to see it in themselves. Every injury they suffer on the island causes inexplicable changes in their bodies. With little hope for rescue and only each other as their final tether to humanity, can the girls endure the ominous forces at work on the island? Or will they lose themselves to their darker natures?

My Review

This is the third novel by Kyrie McCauley that I’ve read. The first was a contemporary YA, and the second was her first horror novel. I loved them both, so I could not wait to read this one.

As a character, Liv pretty much had me right from the beginning. She’s been in the foster care system, and she warns us that she’s violent. Even at the beginning, it seemed like there was more to the stories she shared in which she acted out.

The story gets creepy at times. Several characters share stories about past trauma (without going into much detail) in which adults harmed them as children. In one instance, it was a teenager verbalizing intent to harm a younger teen. In the others, the perpetrators were adults.

On the island, Liv and others see bones pinned to a tree. The changes to their bodies involve body horror elements as well. (You may not want to read this book if you are squeamish about mushrooms or fungi.)

The book’s themes were really interesting. The girls discuss whether they’re being punished by being stuck on the island. They wonder if there’s a connection between the changes in their bodies and the trauma they’ve experienced. At one point, Liv asks whether people can change. Her girlfriend tells her that’s the wrong question, because people are always changing. The question should be whether people can remain the same. I thought that was an interesting way to put that and an interesting thought experiment, and it dovetailed with the story in a cool way.

While some parts of the story are dark, there’s a lot of light in this book, too. It’s about the healing power of sisterhood, found family, and love. The cast is super inclusive, including characters from various backgrounds, and the story highlights a queer romance. If you liked Don’t Let the Forest In, definitely check out Bad Graces.

Content Notes for Bad Graces

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Several characters are queer. One is Black. Another is Latina. Several are British. One is American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Profanity used pretty moderately.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and references to sex.

Spiritual Content
Some supernatural elements.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone dies after jumping off a yacht in a storm. Someone else dies attempting to rescue them. References to an adult man whom the girls hint is unsafe with women. A teenage boy verbalizing an intent to harm a younger girl (we don’t know precisely what he says). References to an adult responsible for an athlete’s health and well-being who did not protect her. The girls hear an attack on someone in the woods from a distance. A predator appears. The story contains body horror elements. A girl’s toe is nearly severed. Someone else suffers a serious injury to her shoulder. Someone falls from a great height. Characters attempt medical care, including giving stitches and removing dead tissue.

Drug Content
References to alcohol use. Some characters appear drunk in a couple of scenes.

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: Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood by Robert Beatty

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

Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood
Robert Beatty
Disney Hyperion
Published October 8, 2024

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About Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood

Sylvia Doe doesn’t know where she was born or the people she came from. She doesn’t even know her real last name. Sylvia has lived at the Highground Home for Children in the mountains of North Carolina for as long as she can remember. Whenever the administrators place her with a foster family in the city, she runs away, back to her horse Kitty Hawk—her best friend—and the other horses in the herd, the only place she feels like she belongs.

When Hurricane Jessamine causes the remote mountain valley where she lives to flood, Sylvia must rescue her beloved horses. But she begins to encounter strange and wondrous things floating down the river. Glittering gemstones and wild animals that don’t belong — everything’s out of place. Then she spots an unconscious boy floating in the water. As she drags him onto the shore and their adventure together begins, Sylvia wonders who he is and where he came from. And why does she feel such a strong connection to this mysterious boy?

SYLVIA DOE has earned the prestigious STARRED REVIEW from both Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly. The award-winning author Kwame Alexander praised the story, saying “Magical realism at its best!”

My Review

This book came out right around the time when Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina with rain and flooding. It took me a while to circle back to read the story, but I’d heard so many amazing things about it that I didn’t want to miss it.

Robert Beatty has an incredible ability to write about difficult or intense things in what feels like this very gentle way. Sylvia Doe and the 100-year Flood has some high-energy scenes in which the characters face situations of peril as they’re swept away by floodwater or desperately searching for storm survivors. Yet the tone of the story remains gentle. I love that.

The story includes a little bit of romance between Sylvia and another character. It stays very sweet, with some blushing and attraction. I think there’s a scene where the two snuggle together and another where they kiss each other. I like that their feelings for one another don’t overtake the story and that the disaster situations remain the focus despite their shifting emotions.

Sylvia has been in foster care since she was found alone in the wilderness. She recognizes that the foster care system, and in particular, her social worker, is trying to do good things. The story doesn’t demonize the system or highlight its many challenges or places it can cause harm. But it does present a story in which the system, even as it functions the way it should, isn’t a good fit for Sylvia as a child. She needs something the foster care system can’t provide for her.

The strong connections Sylvia feels to animals, especially horses and birds, will make this one a great fit for animal-loving readers. The magical realism elements add an otherworldly feel that makes Sylvia Doe and the 100-year Flood appealing to readers looking for something beyond the reality in which we live.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Sylvia has light brown skin tones. She has grown up in foster care.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some unseen force has pulled animals and other things from other times and places into a flooded North Carolina river.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Reference to flash flooding and hurricane damage. Sylvia spots a group of dead sandhill cranes, apparently killed in the hurricane. Three children die (off-scene) due to the hurricane and flood conditions.

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: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1)
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Puffin Books
Published August 28, 2014 (Orig. 1908)

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About Anne of Green Gables

The cherished favorite featuring everyone’s favorite red-headed orphan, now in a deluxe hardcover edition with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co.

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

Anne Gets Into a Lot of “Scrapes”

I remember reading this series to my daughter when she was in fourth grade. We both enjoyed the wild stories about Anne, Matthew, and Marilla and their neighbors at Prince Edward Island. It’s funny reading this book now, in the days when people are so quick to challenge a book, and thinking about some of the scenes and the age group we target this book toward.

For example, Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk, which causes no small stir. At one point, her teacher shows obvious romantic interest in one of the other students. If a middle grade book published today included those scenes, would people be so quick to accept it, the way we are with Anne of Green Gables?

Perhaps because this is a book that many parents grew up reading or hearing about, it feels like a safe story and isn’t scrutinized the same way that books being published today might be.

I love this series, and I’m not a fan of book bans, so I’m not at all arguing that we should take a closer look at classics and start banning them, too. I do think it’s appropriate to consider the historical context of the work and to reflect on classic literature through the lens of equality, to note things like references to colonialism, which may be tempting to take for granted. Noting those things helps us realize how unchallenged and accepted those ideas were in the time a particular book was written.

My Review

For me, scenes like the one in which Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk reflect information about Anne’s character and her life before coming to Green Gables. She often gets into “scrapes,” as she calls them, over information she might have known had she grown up with Matthew and Marilla or information she would not have known had she had a more sheltered upbringing with a family on Prince Edward Island.

Her behavior routinely challenges the people in her community, who think of themselves as being the most upstanding and proper. Most often, Anne eventually charms these judgmental characters with her sincerity and exuberance. I love that about her and about the people in her life (that they allow themselves to warm to her).

I love the author’s use of the omniscient point of view. Usually I prefer a close first-person narrative, but Montgomery has a keen sense of when to zoom into a particular character’s viewpoint to deliver a meaningful observation. She reveals Marilla’s surprising love for Anne and shows Matthew’s debilitating shyness.

I also love the strong characterization of the cast. Anne remains dramatic and imaginative. Diana loves Anne’s whimsical nature but remains more practical herself. Marilla grumbles and fusses, but underneath it, her soft heart is moved by her love for others. Matthew is the sweet, softhearted, quiet man who does what needs doing without making a fuss about it.

The novel also centers women as characters, from Anne and Marilla to Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the woman who knows everything going on in the neighborhood, to Miss Stacey, Anne’s teacher, to Mrs. Allen, the minister’s wife and a mentor to Anne, to Anne’s best friend Diana and the other girls she knows from school.

Conclusion

It’s such a sweet book and so full of insight into love and humanity. My older daughter was nine when we read this book together, which turned out to be the perfect age for her.

I enjoyed this reread, and I suspect it won’t be the last time I revisit Anne of Green Gables.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are white. Marilla has chronic headaches and a degenerative vision problem. The text describes some characters as fat, often implying that it’s an asset.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Anne’s teacher has what appears to be a romantic relationship with one of the older students.

Spiritual Content
Anne attends church, and Marilla instructs her to say her prayers every night. There’s a bit of commentary about Christianity off and on throughout the book. For instance, Anne speaks critically of a minister’s prayers, saying it seems like he’s not interested in the words he’s saying or has forgotten their meaning. She questions why paintings of Jesus always show him looking so somber.

When she meets the new minister’s wife, she reflects that Mrs. Allen’s faith brings her joy and comfort and that she’s the kind of person who would be a Christian even if she didn’t need to in order to get into Heaven.

Violent Content
Brief reference to colonialism (people settling on Prince Edward Island). Anne witnesses the death of a person close to her and experiences profound grief after the loss.

Anne relates the plot of a story she’s written to Diana. The tale involves a woman who pushes her best friend off a bridge. The woman’s lover leaps into the river after her, but both drown. The story concludes with the murderer having a mental breakdown and being confined to an institution.

Drug Content
Anne mistakenly offers her best friend Diana currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. Diana drinks three glasses of the beverage and goes home drunk, scandalizing the neighborhood.

Other Negative Content
Brief body shaming. Early in the book, a neighbor criticizes Anne for being too skinny and ugly. Anne retaliates by calling the woman fat. Later, Anne suggests a schoolmate could not play the role of the fairy queen because she’s plus-sized and a fairy queen “should be thin.”

Marilla makes a derisive comment about Italians (not wanting them around or in her house).

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