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Review: Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson

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Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson

Those Pink Mountain Nights
Jen Ferguson
Heartdrum
Published September 12, 2023

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About Those Pink Mountain Nights

In her remarkable second novel following her acclaimed debut, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, which won the Governor General’s Award and received six starred reviews, Jen Ferguson writes about the hurt of a life stuck in past tense, the hum of connections that cannot be severed, and one week in a small snowy town that changes everything.

Over-achievement isn’t a bad word—for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her side?

Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart—but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl.

People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl—and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants.

When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt—and how much they need each other to hold it all together.

My Review

The story alternates between the perspectives of Berlin, Cameron, Jessie, and Kiki and centers around their connection to a local pizza parlor that they learn the owner plans to sell. Kiki’s chapters are in verse and start in the past leading toward the time when she disappeared. All four voices are distinct in the way they perceive the world and respond. Berlin’s grief over her recently lost friendship and the pervasive numbness she feels colors all of her experiences. She tries to keep up with school and work as if everything is normal, but it has become an immense struggle.

Cameron has big feelings about his family, especially his missing cousin, but also his younger sisters, whom he feels he must protect, and his father, who treads the water of his own grief. Cam hasn’t felt seen or understood by Berlin, but as they begin to get to know one another again, they form a surprising bond that helps them both in unexpected ways.

Jessie has a spectacular voice, too. She uses words in interesting ways and brings a lot of humor to the page, which might seem odd, since she carries her own grief and sadness, too.

This is a messy story with messy characters being real about how hard life can be sometimes, even for people who, on the outside, seem to have everything going for them. It’s also a story about internalized prejudices and how invisible they can be without deliberate action to root them out.

Ferguson is a hard-hitting author who trusts readers to be able to face hard truths and delivers compelling characters.I seem to be reading her books backward, since I started with her most recent release, A Constellation of Minor Bears, and then read this one. Up next: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, which I’ve heard great things about.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Cameron and Berlin are Native. Kiki is biracial, Black and Native. Jessie is a cancer survivor and is LGBTQIA+. Cameron has a learning disability.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A handful of F-bombs and other swear words.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls. Kissing between boy and girl. An implied sexual relationship between an adult and a teenage girl. A girl makes reference to an adult who routinely comes on to teenage girls. References to the fact that a girl enjoys making out with people.

Spiritual Content
References to Métis and Cree beliefs and rituals. Berlin and Cameron find a severely injured wapati (elk) and help end her pain. Both feel the presence of the wapati’s spirit in their lives in different ways after that and follow its leading.

Violent Content
References to a sexual relationship between and adult and a teenager. Nothing happens on scene. Cameron ends the pain of a severely injured wapati. Some characters make ani-Indigenous comments or statements. Major characters push back on those. Characters encounter anti-Black statements in a social media campaign. The story explores the impact of anti-Black feeling and actions toward a Black man and young Black and Indigenous woman. The novel also discusses the disparity in police response to missing Native women compared to other missing persons cases.

Drug Content
References to a teenager 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: Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

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Thieves’ Gambit
Kayvion Lewis
Nancy Paulsen Books
Published September 26, 2023

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About Thieves’ Gambit

The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s Eleven in this cinematic heist thriller where a cutthroat competition brings together the world’s best thieves and one thief is playing for the highest stakes of all: her mother’s life.

At only seventeen years old, Ross Quest is already a master thief, especially adept at escape plans. Until her plan to run away from her legendary family of thieves takes an unexpected turn, leaving her mother’s life hanging in the balance.

In a desperate bid, she enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a series of dangerous, international heists where killing the competition isn’t exactly off limits, but the grand prize is a wish for anything in the world–a wish that could save her mom. When she learns two of her competitors include her childhood nemesis and a handsome, smooth-talking guy who might also want to steal her heart, winning the Gambit becomes trickier than she imagined.

Ross tries her best to stick to the family creed: trust no one whose last name isn’t Quest. But with the stakes this high, Ross will have to decide who to con and who to trust before time runs out. After all, only one of them can win.

My Review

This book deserves more buzz than it got. The beginning started a little slow, and I kept forgetting it was young adult because Ross seemed so young. Though the seventeen-year-old lives this wild, heist-filled life, she is really young because she is so secluded from others. As I got to know her more as a character, that young-sounding voice made a lot of sense.

By the time she enters the Gambit, she already sounds older than the girl in the opening pages. As she reaches the final phase of the game, she sounds older still. I’m pretty impressed with the author’s ability to seamlessly shift the writing with Ross’s maturity while the story careens around hairpin turns with the stakes climbing all the time.

I also really liked the characters, especially the team Ross works with during the middle of the book: Kyung-soon, Mylo, and Devroe. They each add something different to the team, and the experience of working with them changes Ross in ways she wasn’t prepared for. I loved that.

I think readers looking for an Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s 11 story will not be disappointed in this wild ride of a tale. I’m eager to read the sequel.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ross is Bahamian and Black. The other players in the Gambit are a diverse, inclusive group.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Swearing scattered throughout. No F-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Ross works as a thief, stealing items for clients who’ve hired her and her mom. She enters a high-stakes game in which she must race against other players to steal things. One character gets shot. Another threatens people with a firearm. The plot involves kidnapping and ransom.

Drug Content
Some characters use a drug to make people too intoxicated to perform specific assigned tasks. A character pours a glass of champagne for another.

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: This Town is On Fire by Pamela N. Harris

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

This Town is On Fire
Pamela N. Harris
Quill Tree Books
Published June 20, 2023

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About This Town is On Fire

From the critically acclaimed author of When You Look Like Us comes a page-turning YA contemporary novel about what happens when the latest “Becky” on the internet is your best friend.

A lot is up in the air in Naomi Henry’s her spot as a varsity cheer flier, her classmates’ reaction to the debut of her natural hair, and her crush on the guy who’s always been like a brother to her. With so much uncertainty, she feels lucky to have a best friend like Kylie to keep her grounded. After all, they’re practically sisters—Naomi’s mom took care of Kylie and her twin brother for years. But then a video of Kylie calling the cops on two Black teens in a shopping store parking lot goes viral. Naomi is shaken, and her town is reeling from the publicity.

While Naomi tries to reckon with Kylie, the other Black students in their high school are questioning their friendship, and her former friends are wondering where this new “woke” Naomi came from. Although Naomi wants to stand by her best friend, she now can’t help but see everything in a different light. As tensions in her town escalate, Naomi finds herself engaging in protests that are on the cusp of being illegal. And then a bomb explodes, and someone is found dead.   Will Naomi be caught in the center of the blast? 

Golden Kite Award winner Pamela N. Harris has crafted a taut novel that delves into big issues, and is the perfect next read for fans of I’m Not Dying with You Tonight and The Black Kids.

My Review

My only gripe with this book at all is that it’s over 400 pages long, which is on the long side for a contemporary YA novel.

That said, the book doesn’t really feel that long. It jumps back and forth between the past (the start of Naomi’s senior year of high school) and the present (immediately after rescue workers pulled her from the wreckage caused by a bomb at a bowling alley). This made the story feel really urgent. You’re piecing together what happened from clues in the scenes reflecting the past.

The characters in the book have a lot of depth and layers to them. Kylie’s ignorance goes viral, sure. And she doesn’t truly seem to understand why people react the way they do. Naomi can’t unsee that ignorance. But does it completely erase all the connection there is between the girls? This is something Naomi has to figure out for herself.

She forms connections with other Black students, and for the first time, she feels truly seen. Those relationships energize her in a new way and make her feel unguarded and free in ways she didn’t expect. But those aren’t simple relationships, either. She experiences betrayal among these new friends, too.

Harris does a phenomenal job of showing the complexities of relationships and reminding us that the people involved are the only ones who get to decide what the relationship means to them. The writing is razor-sharp and raw with honesty. This is a story I won’t soon forget.

Content Notes for This Town is On Fire

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
List.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
List.

Romance/Sexual Content
List.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
List.

Drug Content
List.

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: Wingborn by Marjorie Liu and Grace Kum

Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

Wingborn (Wingbearer #2)
Marjorie Liu
Illustrated by Grace Kum
Quill Tree Books
Published October 1, 2024

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About Wingborn

From New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu comes the spectacular sequel to Wingbearer, the IndieBound and Publishers Weekly bestselling graphic novel that the New York Times Book Review called “wondrously constructed.”

Zuli’s world was just turned upside down by the Witch-Queen, but she’s still determined to find out what’s happening to the spirits of her bird friends. Armed with new information about her identity, she mounts a daring escape from a merchant airship and takes off with Frowly and Orien by her side.

However, the more she tries to solve the mysteries swirling around her friends and herself, the more she’s drawn to legends about the mysterious Siric, who have long since disappeared. Zuli might be prepared to take on new challenges, but is she prepared to go further than she’s ever gone before in her effort to fix the world’s broken magic?

This is the second of four books in the #1 IndieBound bestselling Wingbearer saga.

My Review

The Wingbearer series returns with a new illustrator. It’s been two years since I read the first book, but luckily my daughter saw Wingborn on my TBR stack in my room and asked if we could read it together. She’s not *quite* middle grade age, but we decided to give it a try, which gave me a chance to revisit the first book and refresh myself on the story and cast of characters.

I’m glad I did go back and reread the first one, because there were a lot of things I’d forgotten. Zuli has a twin sister named Zara and a handful of allies whose names I didn’t remember, so a refresher helped.

This second book in the series is illustrated by a different person than the first book. I really liked the mood of the spreads in Grace Kum’s illustrations. The color schemes of some of the scenes supported the emotion of those moments really well. Some of the panels were a little dark and hard for me to see.

Plot-wise, Wingborn introduces readers to a lot more of the world in which Zuli lives and how the loss of souls returning to be reborn affects each group, though some strive to keep that fact secret. Zuli faces shifting alliances and still pursues the truth about why souls are disappearing from the world. I love the direction that her friendship with Orien takes in this book. Several scenes showcase the treasure of a good friendship, even when both parties don’t always agree.

Overall, I’m glad I continued the series. I wish that some of the illustrations hadn’t been so dark, but I’m eager to see where the story of Zuli and her friends leads next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Zuli has dark brown skin. There are other characters that are other races or beings, such as griffins, goblins, and sentient birds. Different races experience prejudice or suffer from the world’s caste system.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. One character uses a kind of mind control to manipulate others.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and war. Wraiths, skeleton-like creatures, attack a city at one point. Someone threatens Zuli with torture. Someone threatens to place her allies in an eternal sleep.

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: 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.

Review: The Other Lola by Ripley Jones

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The Other Lola (Missing Clarissa #2)
Ripley Jones
Wednesday Books
Published March 12, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Other Lola

The sequel to Ripley Jones’s unforgettable YA thriller MISSING CLARISSA, THE OTHER LOLA is about what happens when the people you love the most are the people you can trust the least.

In the months after Cam and Blair broke their small hometown’s legendary missing-girl story and catapulted to accidental fame, they vowed never to do it again. No more mysteries, no more podcasts, and no more sticking their heads where they don’t belong.

Until Mattie Brosillard, a freshman at their high school, shows up on their doorstep, begging Cam and Blair for help. Mattie’s sister Lola disappeared mysteriously five years ago. No trace of her was ever found. Now, she’s back–but Mattie is convinced the girl who returned is an impostor. Nobody believes Mattie’s wild story–not Mattie’s brother, not Mattie’s mother, and not even Cam and Blair. But something is definitely wrong in the Brosillard family. And Blair has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened to Lola while she was gone.

With Cam and Blair still struggling with the aftermath of their first mystery—and with new secrets swirling between them—the stakes are higher than ever in this can’t-miss sequel to MISSING CLARISSA.

My Review

I really appreciated how the author acknowledges the trauma that Cam and Blair’s experiences in the first book caused for them. Cam has night terrors and panic attacks and is not sure what to do about them. Blair has her own fears and feels a lot of pressure to use those experiences for something.

When they encounter a new possible mystery, Blair is eager and excited. Cam is scared and feels like getting involved is a terrible idea. That struck me as so realistic. These are teenage girls with no special training for these situations. It makes sense that they would have really different feelings and unprocessed trauma.

The story includes both Cam and Blair’s perspectives, but it also adds some journal entries from Lola’s journal and a few scenes that follow Mattie. I liked the way that contributed to the feeling of putting the pieces of a mystery together.

The pacing of the story kept me reading. New things kept happening, and I really wanted to know what happened to Lola. I had a theory early on that turned out to be pretty close to the truth, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the ride as Cam and Blair figured out what happened and faced down the people responsible. I think it was more of a lucky guess than anything.

All in all, this was a tense, fun read. I hope there are more Cam and Blair mysteries to come.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Cam is dating another girl and is neurodivergent. Mattie is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs and a sprinkling of other swear words.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. Kissing between two girls and references to sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to someone pointing a gun at others.

Drug Content
References to drug use that happened off-scene.

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 THE OTHER LOLA in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.