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Review: All the Way Around the Sun by XiXi Tian

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All the Way Around the Sun by XiXi Tian

All the Way Around the Sun
XiXi Tian
Quill Tree Books
Published September 30, 2025

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About All the Way Around the Sun

From the acclaimed author of This Place is Still Beautiful comes an evocative, achingly romantic road trip story about grief, diasporic identities, and deep-buried secrets that haunt us, perfect for fans of Past Lives and The Farewell.

Stella Chen’s life ground to a halt when her brother unexpectedly passed away a year ago. Raised together by their grandmother in the Chinese countryside before rejoining their parents in the United States, his absence destroys the connective tissue in her family. With another jarring move her senior year, from rural Illinois to unfamiliar surroundings in San Diego, she is left alone and adrift in her family’s suffocating silence and the void of unanswered questions around her brother’s death.

So when Stella’s parents force her to join her estranged childhood friend Alan Zhao for a college tour all over California, Stella dreads it. Alan is a reminder of everything Stella wishes she could be — popular, gregarious, unburdened — and a reminder of how lost she is.

As this road trip takes Stella and Alan down beautiful coastlines and through fraught family dynamics, Stella can’t help but feel the spark of why she and Alan were once so close. Before long, they find themselves pulled into each other’s orbits, forcing unspoken feelings and long-hidden truths into the light.

My Review

I loved Tian’s debut novel, This Place is Still Beautiful, which is a story about family relationships and the connection to a place. I don’t keep a lot of the books that I review (I want to, but I just do not have room, sadly), but I’ve kept that one. So, as soon as I had an opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance.

And, wow… this book is every bit as powerful as I expected.

There’s something really special about a book that looks straight into the face of complicated grief and offers characters that feel incredibly real facing heartbreak that feels so present. That’s what this book does, but it’s not the only thing it does.

Stella is an incredible character. I immediately loved her, and really felt for her as she tried to navigate her way through her grief and the places it intersected with her parents’ expectations and her other relationships.

Periodically, the narrative is interrupted by chapters that speak directly to Stella’s brother, Sam. These describe memories, beginning back in her early childhood, when she and Sam lived in China with their grandmother. Each chapter brings the story closer to the present, and each one made me understand Stella’s relationship with Sam and how deeply she felt his loss in a deeper way.

So many of the side characters feel realistic, too. At one point, Stella and Alan stay with a Chinese couple who are friends with Stella’s parents. Stella has a conversation with her mom’s friend and ends up learning things about her mom that she never knew. That moment begins this process where Stella starts looking at her mother in a different way for the first time. It’s the first time she gets to see her mom through the eyes of one of her peers.

The story of her relationship with her parents is really powerful, too. There’s a scene toward the end that was so hopeful. I don’t want to give anything away, but one of the things Tian does SO WELL is show loving yet messy/complex family relationships.

Okay, I’ve cried twice just writing this review and thinking about moments in this book. If you like books about messy family relationships and grief, do not miss this one. It’s amazing. There’s also a sweet, slow burn romance, so LOTS to love about this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. At one point, a drunk boy tries to kiss Stella without her consent. She manages to get away from him.

Spiritual Content
Stella recalls going to church with her grandma in China and mentions that her beliefs were a combination of Sunday School lessons and Chinese myths. As a child, she was afraid to fly from China to Illinois with her family because she thought that flying meant traveling through purgatory (which she understood as a place between heaven and hell) and that she’d have to die and come back to life in order to travel to America.

Violent Content
References to death. One scene describes what Stella imagines her brother’s death was like.

Drug Content
Reference to abuse of prescription drugs. Stella and Alan attend a party with college students. Stella sips an alcoholic drink and is accosted by a drunk college boy. She escapes him after a few moments.

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.

MMGM Review: The Song of Orphan’s Garden by Nicole M. Hewitt

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The Song of Orphan’s Garden
Nicole M. Hewitt
Feiwel & Friends
Published January 21, 2025

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About The Song of Orphan’s Garden

Combining the gentleness of Miyazaki, the wintry wonderland of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the whimsicality of Newbery winner The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Nicole M. Hewitt’s debut middle-grade novel, The Song of Orphan’s Garden, is an enchanting fantasy tale with all the makings of a new classic.

In an arctic world that’s getting colder every day, Lyriana’s only hope of survival is to get her little brother Zave and herself to the fabled Orphan’s Garden. It’s rumored to be the one place in the world not controlled by deadly Winter Spirits or ruled by the tyrant Giant king. In Orphan’s Garden, healing trees will melt away Winter’s pains, and Lyriana and Zave can live safely in the warmth of Spring. If the garden exists, they must find it. They won’t live much longer without it.

Brob, a Giant boy, also needs sanctuary. When the Giant king banishes his family to the Winter Blight, it’s a death sentence. Orphan’s Garden is his family’s only hope, and as far as Brob’s concerned, it belongs to him. After all, he was the one who accidentally used an ancient magic to grow the garden years ago. He has no intention of sharing his haven with pesky humans, who will just use up its magic and ruin it.

When it becomes clear that Orphan’s Garden is in danger of being destroyed, Lyriana and Brob are the only ones who can save it—but only if they can put the ages-old battle between Humans and Giants aside and find a way to work together.

My Review

I’ve heard so much about this book this year that I couldn’t wait to finally get my hands on a copy. I read this whole book in less than 24 hours. It’s written in verse, and alternates back and forth mainly between Lyriana and Brob’s perspectives. The lines in Lyriana’s scenes are very short compared to Brob’s scenes, which was cool. It kind of reflected their different sizes.

I kind of figured out what was missing from the magic very early in the book, but I loved watching the characters coming to those realizations. The way that the author uses music in connection with magic is also really cool.

I do wish there had been another young female character besides Lyriana. I think the group of kids has other girls in it, but they don’t contribute much individually. Several female characters sacrifice themselves to save the people they love, too. I think it would have been cool to have that not restricted to a role that women in the story played.

On the whole, though, this story captivated me from the first chapter to the last. I love that the author wrote this fantasy novel in verse and still created what feels like a rich story world and unforgettable characters.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Contains characters who are giants. Each season has spirits who help or harm depending on their natures. References to a deity called The Composer. Songs draw forth magic called Fermata. Some giants can use Fermata to make plants grow. A special tree has the power to heal those who climb into its branches.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to battles between humans and giants. Death of a parent. Appearance of death of a sibling.

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.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: If Looks Could Kill by Julie Berry

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If Looks Could Kill
Julie Berry
Simon & Schuster
Published September 16, 2025

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About If Looks Could Kill

From Printz Honor–winning and New York Times bestselling author Julie Berry, a true-crime-nailbiter-turned-mythic-odyssey pitting Jack the Ripper against Medusa. A defiant love song to sisterhood, a survivors’ battle cry, and a romantic literary tour de force laced with humor.

It’s autumn 1888, and Jack the Ripper is on the run. As London police close in, he flees England for New York City seeking new victims. But a primal force of female vengeance has had enough. With serpents for hair and a fearsome gaze, an awakened Medusa is hunting for one Jack.

And other dangers lurk in Manhattan’s Bowery. Salvation Army volunteers Tabitha and Pearl discover that a girl they once helped has been forced to work in a local brothel. Tabitha’s an upstate city girl with a wry humor and a thirst for adventure, while farmgirl Pearl takes everything with stone-cold seriousness. Their brittle partnership is tested as they team up with an aspiring girl reporter and a handsome Irish bartender to mount a rescue effort, only to find their fates entwine with Medusa’s and Jack’s.

My Review

What a cleverly told story. I love that the book centers the female characters and their role in helping others, especially those threatened by a serial killer and those forced into human trafficking. The story includes a lot of real people, which I always find fascinating. Detailed notes in the back of the book clarify what was real versus where the author took artistic license.

Most of the story is told from Tabitha’s perspective, and I absolutely loved her voice. She’s spunky and speaks directly to the narrator, sometimes noting her reaction to the way that people around her behave. At first, she and Pearl don’t see eye to eye or get along. But it’s not long before they realize they have a shared interest in helping another girl escape from a local brothel.

A sweet romance develops between Tabitha and someone she meets while working with the Salvation Army. The romance develops slowly, partly because Tabitha at first assumes her hopeful beau is interested in the lovely Pearl rather than her. The two eventually recognize one another’s feelings, and that added a some warmth to the story.

As someone who grew up watching the movie version of Guys and Dolls, I really appreciated the descriptions of the Salvation Army and their efforts to preach the Gospel on the streets. I had to laugh at Pearl’s relentless boldness in a few moments.

The story pulls together a lot of separate elements, from the work of the Salvation Army to the poverty and abuse of girls within widely known trafficking ring to the murders of Jack the Ripper to a reimagining of the mythical Medusa. The disparate parts fit together so nicely. I love that the author also creates space to celebrate faith in the midst of this tale as well.

Fans of historical fiction with a bit of magical realism will not want to miss If Looks Could Kill.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to girls being forced into sex trafficking. It’s implied that one character was assaulted by a family member.

Spiritual Content
Tabitha and Pearl are both members of the Salvation Army and take their faith seriously. Both girls have spiritual experiences in which they pray for direction and receive answers. Some characters transform into Medusas, with snakes for hair and a gaze that stuns or petrifies their victims.

Violent Content
Brief graphic descriptions of murder and dismemberment. One character uses slivers of human organs to try to make a potion that will cure illness. See sexual content for more information.

Drug Content
Some scenes take place in a saloon or pub and show (adult) characters drinking alcohol or smoking.

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: Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian

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

Exquisite Things
Abdi Nazemian
HarperCollins
Published September 23, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

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: Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron

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Make Me a Monster
Kalynn Bayron
Bloomsbury YA
Published September 30, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Make Me a Monster

New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is back with a Frankenstein-tinged horror romance.

Meka is used to death. After all, it’s the family business.

As a newly certified mortician’s assistant at her parents’ funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn’t squeamish, and Meka is finally feeling ready to say the three little words that will change everything.

But then tragedy strikes, and Meka’s world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially the strange things start happening. Ravens are circling her home. Strangers are following her. Someone is leaving mysterious items at her door. And worst of all . . .

The dead don’t seem to be staying dead.

Meka thought she understood death better than anyone. Turns out, the family business is a bit more complicated than it seems. And Meka isn’t the only one desperate to unearth their secrets . . . because the truth may be worth dying for.

My Review

Meka’s job working as a mortician’s assistent is such an interesting part of this story. She prepares several “guests” for their wake or funeral services and even accompanies her father when he picks up new guests.

This is something that most readers won’t have a lot of knowledge about, including me, so it adds a lot of interesting background to the story. And as the darker side of the plot unfolds, it also makes a lot of sense why this was included in the story.

If you’re familiar with the story of Frankenstein, you might guess a couple of the plot points before the story reveals them. I didn’t find this to lessen my enjoyment of the story, though. In some ways, it was really satisfying to see Meka put the pieces together and figure out her own role within the story.

I really appreciate that the ending left unanswered questions. It made me think back through the story to try to predict what I think would happen and how it might go.

Because I’d read and loved My Dear Henry, Bayron’s reimagining of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I think I expected the setting to be historical, like set during the time that the original Frankenstein took place. It’s set in the present day, though, and once I realized that, I adjusted to it just fine. I’ve read enough of Kalynn Bayron’s books at this point to know I’ll follow wherever the story leads and love it.

If you are looking for a contemporary story with a strong connection to Frankenstein, you will want this one on your reading list. It’s a great pick for a Halloween read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to reanimate the dead.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Body horror. Meka prepares “guests” (deceased people) for viewing at a wake. (Not violent, but might be disturbing to some readers.) Loss of a person close to the narrator.

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.

MMGM Review: Busted by Dan Gemeinhart

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Busted
Dan Gemeinhart
Henry Holt & Co.
Published October 7, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Busted

When 12-year-old Oscar Aberdeen decided he would do anything to save the only home he’s ever known, he didn’t realize that anything would include theft, trespassing, gambling, a broken nose, grand theft auto, a federal prison, and a police car chase. He had no idea it would be so dangerous…or so fun. A heartfelt middle-grade romp from the New York Times-bestselling author of The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.

Oscar Aberdeen is a bit of an oddball. He’s an ace at playing bridge, loves Frank Sinatra, and attends a whole lot of funerals. He’s also the youngest resident of Sunny Days retirement home by more than a half-century―and he wouldn’t have it any other way. So when his grandpa’s suddenly served an eviction notice that threatens their place at Sunny Days, he needs to find some cash. Fast.

Enter Jimmy Deluca, a shady elderly man with a reputation for being bad news, who makes Oscar an offer he can’t refuse. He’s got the drop on riches hidden away on the “outside” and he’ll share the loot with Oscar on one condition: he busts him out of Sunny Days.

In this humdinger of an adventure, the ultimate odd couple, along with an uninvited stowaway, go from high-stakes escape to rollicking escapade as they search for the secret stash―and forge an unlikely friendship along the way. Will Oscar succeed in saving the only home he’s ever known? Or will he have to fuggedaboutit and return a failure?

My Review

Leave it to Dan Gemeinhart to put together this wacky, fast-paced adventure starring an unlikely threesome. I loved Coyote Lost and Found for its wild on-the-road adventure and its quirky characters, and this story delivers those same elements so well.

Oscar is a sweet kid. He is used to playing it safe, so the whole road trip with Jimmy is way outside his comfort zone. I like that each of the people in the car is keeping secrets about themselves. The situations that the characters face draw out those secrets. Jimmy is a fantastic character. He reads like what you might expect of an ex-mob guy, only Oscar censors his liberal use of profanity by replacing those words with “quack”. This adds some extra humor and keeps things a little more PG.

Busted takes the intergenerational friendships trope out for a whole different spin. In the stories I’ve read in which kids befriend an older person, usually the kid is the rebellious or impulsive one and the adult offers wisdom that helps steer them on a better course. Here, the situation is not reversed, because Jimmy does offer some wise words, but he is clearly the rebel, and Oscar is the one trying to keep track of the rules.

One great lesson that comes up through the story is a lesson about the difference between doing what’s right and what’s good. Sometimes those are the same thing, but sometimes they differ. When Oscar reframes the situation he faces looking for the good choice, it helps him figure out a path forward. That idea lends itself to discussion as well.

Content Notes for Busted

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Oscar doesn’t approve of swearing. If he hears some salty language, he cleverly subs “quack” in for the bad words. One character requires frequent substitutions.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some of the Sunny Days residents try to set Oscar up with a girl his age. The two joke about being engaged.

Spiritual Content
Oscar talks about witnessing people as they die and noticing them responding as if they see loved ones calling to them at the end.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Oscar gets hit in the face more than once. At one point, he and his allies steal a car. Vague references to other potentially illegal activity.

Drug Content
Jimmy smokes cigars and drinks a glass of Scotch in one scene.

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.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.