Tag Archives: friendship

Review: The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,
The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey

The Shadow Hour (The Girl at Midnight #2)
Melissa Grey
Delacorte Press
Published July 12, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About THE SHADOW HOUR

Everything in Echo’s life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.
   The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.
   Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she’s already overcome.
   She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight.
   Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature–or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what’s left of her world to the ground?
   Welcome to the shadow hour.

My Review

I keep trying to figure out who my favorite character is, and every time I settle on one member of the cast, I remember another member who’s so amazing. I always loved Echo– right from the beginning of the first book in the series. She has such deep longing to belong and to protect her friends. I’m not sure it’s possible to dislike Ivy, Echo’s Avicen friend. She’s all the things a good friend should be: gentle but brave, loyal but not blinded by it.

Then of course there are the boys. I’m totally team Caius, and I forgot that Echo had a relationship with an Avicen before she left in the first book. So that was a bit startling to read, but honestly my fault for not remembering the first book very well. So that creates a bit of a love triangle, which kind of distracts from the story, but ultimately was okay.

I like the complexity of Caius, though. He’s torn between loyalty to his people– who’ve pretty much abandoned him now that his sister has taken the throne. And he loves his sister, even though she stole his crown and tried to kill him. He’s smart, and he pays attention to the people around him.

Ultimately THE SHADOW HOUR has that middle book feel, where you know it’s setting things up for the big final book. Echo has a quest, and she and her team pursue a specific goal (as do her enemies), but you can see all the pieces begin to come together for the final battle.

I think book two in a series with a really clever story world always has a hard time comparing with book one because we’ve lost the element of discovering that amazing world. Though liked the first book in the series better than the second, but I’d say THE SHADOW HOUR is still a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I want to read the third book, too, but I will confess that I flipped through the pages of THE SAVAGE DAWN and noticed that a character I like dies. So… hmm. It doesn’t change the fact that I want to read it, but it’s kind of slowing me down a little bit.

Read on for notes on content in THE SHADOW HOUR.

Representation
Characters have a variety of skin tones. Other than Echo, they’re from a made up world. Two prominent characters are gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl and between boy and boy. Lots of romantic tension between the two boys. A girl and boy sleep side by side, but mostly keep to themselves other than some cuddling.

Late in the story, it’s clear two characters intend to pursue having sex.

Spiritual Content
At the end of THE GIRL AT MIDNIGHT, Echo becomes the Firebird, a mythical creature with power that’s supposed to save her people. In THE SHADOW HOUR, we learn that there’s an opposite force to the Firebird, something that seeks to destroy her and anyone she loves. Echo also carries with her the memories of previous Firebirds, and at times relives their fears and loves.

Violent Content
Graphic battle scenes. A mysterious illness plagues battle victims, killing many. Some (not gross graphic, but still dark) descriptions of a prisoner, bound and tortured.

Drug Content
Echo briefly battles memories of her violent alcoholic mother.

Review: Peter Green and the Unliving Academy by Angelina Allsop

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, , , , , , ,

Peter Green and the Academy of the Unliving
Angelina Allsop
TCK Publishing
Published November 20, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY

Fourteen-year-old Peter Green can’t remember how he died. 

All he has are his pajamas, a silk tie, and a one-way bus ticket to Mrs. Battisworth’s Academy and Haven for Unliving Boys and Girls, a strange and spooky school for dead orphans like himself. But that’s all he needs: the Unliving Academy has everything, from vampires in the hallways, to monsters in the cafeteria, to ghosts in the basement. 

And that’s just the teachers; the students are far stranger.

As Pete learns to fit in with his new supernatural schoolmates, he starts to discover his own uniquely undead abilities, and even begins enjoying his life after death…but he just can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgotten something (or somebody!) important. 

Somebody he left behind in the land of the living. 

Somebody he loved very much. 

Somebody who’s in terrible danger.

My Review

PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY is filled with an imaginative story world. The dead have their own school, their own frustrating government forms to fill out, and all sorts of rules for staying safe. At certain moments, it felt like a lot to digest, but for the most part, the story world feels crisp, fresh, and packed with spooky fun.

The most challenging part for me was the number of named characters popping up everywhere. Sometimes Peter would meet someone only to have that person be like, actually, you need to meet this other person and their two friends. Or someone would go on to name and describe professors that never appeared in the story. This made it difficult for me to keep track of who was who and figure out which names were important, because a lot of them were only mentioned one time.

Other than that, though, it was a pretty fun read. I liked that Peter sees visions of a girl who needs his help and has to figure out who she is before something bad happens to her. I enjoyed his band of friends, especially Charlie and Scoot.

Readers who enjoy dark fantasy (think Tim Burton’s NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS or SHADOW MAGIC by Joshua Khan) will enjoy the spooky creatures and afterlife story world.

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
I think all the major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Peter has a bit of a crush on one of the girls in Charlie’s entourage.

Spiritual Content
After Peter dies, he appears in Purgatory, a realm for people who have died but need some closure on a particular element of their lives. There are a few references to other realms of the afterlife, and some reference to having the option to be reincarnated or to have children in the afterlife. People go on to choose careers, including becoming a werewolf or ghost.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Peter faces various monsters, like a werewolf, a large snake, and battles them with the help of his friends.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost readers anything but help cover the costs of my blog and help me purchase more books.

Review: Last Summer at Eden by Christina Hergenrader

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Last Summer At Eden
Christina Hergenrader
Concordia House
Published on March 1, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Last Summer at Eden
Poppi Savot needs a new direction. After her mother’s death to cancer, the smalltown Minnesota girl can’t seem to find her true north anymore. So when she gets a call from a small Christian camp in Southern California, Poppi races into the unknown, hoping a new job will solve everything.
When she arrives at Camp Eden, things already start falling apart. With camp enrollment at a record low and camp about to close for good, her new boss tells Poppi she may as well pack up and head straight back home. But Poppi isn’t giving up. Walking into Camp Eden, she felt the first stirring of peace since she lost her mom, and she’s not going to let go of that without a fight. Poppi rallies together the camp’s ragtag team of counselors and launches a plan to save Eden.

My Review
Last Summer at Eden might get the award for most fun book I’ve read this year. It absolutely felt like being away at summer camp! I loved the references to camp songs and all the emotional highs and lows of the campers plus all the drama that comes from being in close quarters with strangers for ten weeks.

The romance part of the story is sweet and doesn’t dominate. I liked that Poppi figures things out for herself, and that it’s not a “hey, a man has the answers,” kind of story. I also liked the balance between Poppi’s goal of saving the camp and the evolution of her relationship with God.

Last Summer at Eden has some unforgettable characters, too. I loved Wolfgang, the German foreign exchange counselor and the cook obsessed with recycling. And Nat! The enthusiastic, cheerleader who tells the truth straight-up, best friend everyone needs. Everyone seriously needs a Nat in their lives.

The only thing I kind of wished were different about this book is that it were told from the perspective of a younger character (like one of the counselors). That would have placed it more solidly within the young adult arena. At nineteen, Poppi’s a little older than the average young adult heroine.

I liked the book anyway, and I think readers who enjoy books by Laura L. Smith (everyone needs a little Laura L. Smith in their lives, just like Nat!) will absolutely love Last Summer at Eden.

Readers looking for a clean and also hilariously fun camp story really need this one on their reading lists. This is the perfect read for summer or the next best thing when summer feels like a distant memory.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.
Camp counselors talk to a couple of the kids (individually) about saving sex for marriage after they’re caught sneaking out to meet up at night. The talk is pretty vague, referring to sex as “the good stuff” and talking about how other kids might brag that they’re “doing stuff”, etc.

Spiritual Content
Poppi wrestles with feeling abandoned by God. She realizes through trying to save Camp Eden that she stopped believing God will take care of her and is trustworthy. Through her experiences at camp and her efforts to save Eden, she faces the root of those feelings—losing her mom—and begins to rebuild her trust in God.
Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Poppi’s dad is an alcoholic. She talks about this as a struggle for her personally in that she wants to invite him into her life but knows she has to have boundaries. For instance, she wants to invite him to camp but feels like he won’t be able to enjoy a visit without drinking, and that will present a lot of problems for everyone, so she doesn’t invite him.

Review and Blog Tour: The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm

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I’m super excited to be part of my first ever Rockstar Blog Tour. Yay! When I saw the invitation to review The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm, I really couldn’t resist. I had so much fun reading the first book about Ellie and her grandfather-trapped-in-a-teenager’s-body that I absolutely had to find out what happens to them next in this book, The Third Mushroom. Read on for my review, some information about the author, other stops on the tour and a chance to win your very own copy of the book!

The Third Mushroom
Jennifer L. Holm
Random House
Published on September 4, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads  | Audible | iBooks | TBD

About The Third Mushroom
Ellie’s grandpa Melvin is a world-renowned scientist . . . in the body of a fourteen-year-old boy. His feet stink, and he eats everything in the refrigerator–and Ellie is so happy to have him around. Grandpa may not exactly fit in at middle school, but he certainly keeps things interesting. When he and Ellie team up for the county science fair, no one realizes just how groundbreaking their experiment will be. The formula for eternal youth may be within their reach! And when Ellie’s cat, Jonas Salk, gets sick, the stakes become even higher. But is the key to eternal life really the key to happiness? Sometimes even the most careful experiments yield unexpected–and wonderful–results.

My Review
I loved The Fourteenth Goldfish with its zany characters and love for science, so when I saw this sequel, The Third Mushroom, I pretty much HAD to read it. Ellie’s grandpa still cracked me up with his goofy blend of grandpa-slash-teenage-boy-ness. I loved the way he referred to hormonal issues as “The Puberty” and his cute relationship with the librarian.
There’s one part (I don’t want to give away what happens) that’s super sad. I wasn’t prepared for it, and it brought back the memories of my own similar experience. Those scenes were tough to read because they were so moving, but overall, there’s a positive message through it. (I’ll add a spoiler section to the end since it might be something you’d want to know about before reading if you’ve got a sensitive kid who’s just been through what Ellie’s experience.)
I also liked the way the story addressed the shifting relationships Ellie experiences. I so remember that stuff happening in middle school and how disconcerting it could be.
Science again plays a fun and interesting role in the story, as Ellie and her grandfather enter a science fair together and learn about various scientists who’ve made important contributions in the past. The end of the book includes a short list of resources to learn more about the scientists and discoveries mentioned in the book, which I thought was a nice touch as well.
Overall, if you enjoy spunky, fun stories, The Third Mushroom is a great pick. You can find my review of The Fourteenth Goldfish here.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Ellie and her family are white. Her best friend is a boy named Raj, who dresses as a goth.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Ellie goes on a date with a boy and holds his hand. She feels a little disappointed that she’s not more excited about the whole thing, and the possible romance kind of fizzles out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Ellie learns a bit about the invention of penicillin. She and her grandfather discover a compound that seems to have some regenerative capabilities. See spoiler section at the end of the post for more details.


Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Amazon links are affiliate links, meaning if you click the link and purchase items from Amazon.com, I will get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. This helps cover the costs of running my blog.

About Jennifer L. Holm

Website | Twitter | Facebook |  Goodreads

Jennifer L. Holm is a NEW YORK TIMES bestselling children’s author and the recipient of three Newbery Honors for her novels OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA, PENNY FROM HEAVEN, and TURTLE IN PARADISE. Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on two graphic novel series — the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series and the bestselling Squish series. Her new novel is THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Visit the Other Stop on The Third Mushroom Blog Tour

Week One:

9/3/2018- Beagles & Books– Review

9/4/2018- BookHounds YA– Excerpt

9/5/2018- The Story Sanctuary– Review

9/6/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert – Review

9/7/2018- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

Week Two:

9/10/2018- For the Love of KidLit– Interview

9/11/2018- YA Books Central– Interview

9/12/2018- The OWL– Review

9/13/2018- Book-Keeping– Review

9/14/2018- Two Points of Interest– Review

Enter to Win a Copy of The Third Mushroom

Three winners will each receive one copy of The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spoiler Alert – super sad scenes

I mentioned above that something happens in the book that’s sad and was hard for me to read because I didn’t expect it and it brought back my own memories of a similar event. What happens is that Ellie’s cat gets seriously injured. The family isn’t sure what happened, but they suspect he was hit by a car. Desperate to help him, Ellie asks her grandfather to inject the formula they’ve discovered into the cat near his damaged spine. It’s too late for the poor furry little guy, and shortly after that, Ellie and her family make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. She grieves for the loss, feeling alternately lost, hurt, angry, etc. Ultimately, she ends up rescuing another cat who’s about to become homeless and realizes she still has love to share and another cat needs her.

It so reminded me of my own experience losing a cat – I particularly identified with feeling like the heart was missing from my home. I hated being home in an empty house without a cat. Which is how I started visiting an animal shelter just to see kitty faces. And how my next cat won me over. You can see a picture of both my rescue cats on my Instagram.

Anyway – normally I don’t post spoilers, but if you’ve been through the experience of losing a pet recently, this part of the book will either be healing or too much. It happens near the end of the book, and is only the focus of a few scenes, but like I said, it’s pretty moving.

Review: Fat Girl on a Plane by Kelly deVos

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

Fat Girl on a Plane
Kelly deVos
Harlequin Teen
Published on June 5, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Fat Girl on a Plane
FAT.

High school senior Cookie Vonn’s post-graduation dreams include getting out of Phoenix, attending Parsons and becoming the next great fashion designer. But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin. It doesn’t help that she’s constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert.

Thanks to her job at a fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to pitch her portfolio and appeal for a scholarship, but her plans are put on standby when she’s declared too fat to fly. Forced to turn to her BFF for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane. She arrives in the city to find that she’s been replaced by the boss’s daughter, a girl who’s everything she’s not—ultrathin and superrich. Bowing to society’s pressure, she vows to lose weight, get out of the friend zone with her crush, and put her life on track.

SKINNY.

Cookie expected sunshine and rainbows, but nothing about her new life is turning out like she planned. When the fashion designer of the moment offers her what she’s always wanted—an opportunity to live and study in New York—she finds herself in a world full of people more interested in putting women down than dressing them up. Her designs make waves, but her real dream of creating great clothes for people of all sizes seems to grow more distant by the day.

Will she realize that she’s always had the power to make her own dreams come true?

My Review
I want to say the thing this book does best is give this 360 degree look at the way the world treats people based on their weight. The truth is, it does an amazing job at exposing these sometimes ugly truths, but the writing and the characters are also pretty spectacular.

Cookie is a strong woman. She’s competent, capable, and talented. But she’s not perfect. Wounded by prejudices she’s experienced, she allows herself to judge others based on the same system she abhors being applied to herself. Ultimately she learns that achieving her weight goal doesn’t change everything in the way she expected. Turns out being skinny isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, either.

I want to say so many things that would spoil the story because they were elements or plot moments that I thought were fantastic. Early on we’re told this isn’t a Cinderella story about a girl who loses weight and lives happily ever after, and it’s true—this is not that story. It’s much more about a girl looking for the path to her best self and her best life. That journey changes her inside even more than it changes her outside. And perhaps above all, that’s the story’s real power.

You know me—I wish Fat Girl on a Plane didn’t have some of the sexual stuff or profanity in it that it does, because those simply aren’t the things I enjoy reading. See the content information below for more details. I thought the characters and story were powerful and nicely done, though.

Recommended for Ages 18 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white. For half the book, Cookie is overweight. The other half of the book shows moments from her weight loss journey and more significantly, the difference in the way people treat her at her different sizes.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of extreme profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between man and woman. Two relatively brief scenes showing sex but including some details.

Spiritual Content
Cookie attends some church events. (I loved the conversations with the priest in the story—he’s a funny, practical guy.)

Violent Content
Two young men get into a fist fight. Cookie experiences some bullying, cruelty, and some unwanted sexual comments.

Drug Content
Cookie drinks alcohol in a couple of scenes. In one instance, she’s overseas and over the legal drinking age.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Breakout by Kate Messner

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

Breakout
Kate Messner
Bloomsbury
Published on June 5, 2018

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Breakout

Nora Tucker is looking forward to summer vacation in Wolf Creek–two months of swimming, popsicles, and brushing up on her journalism skills for the school paper. But when two inmates break out of the town’s maximum security prison, everything changes. Doors are locked, helicopters fly over the woods, and police patrol the school grounds. Worst of all, everyone is on edge, and fear brings out the worst in some people Nora has known her whole life. Even if police catch the inmates, she worries that home might never feel the same.

Told in letters, poems, text messages, news stories, and comics–a series of documents Nora collects for the Wolf Creek Community Time Capsule Project–BREAKOUT is a thrilling story that will leave readers thinking about who’s really welcome in the places we call home.

My Review

I’ve read several books lately that show racism and its pervasiveness in schools and communities. BREAKOUT did an amazing job showing what might be called more subtle racism—things where you might at first dismiss the incident as not a big deal or the result of some oversensitivity. The storytelling peels back those layers of indifference and shows the harmful, ugly truth. Telling the story through Nora’s and Elidee’s letters, text messages, poetry, and recorded conversations created the feel of a candid view into the small community.

There are so many things I like about BREAKOUT. Elidee’s poetry and her admiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jacqueline Woodson. Lizzie’s parody news articles. The fact that we get Nora’s perspective as the prison superintendent’s daughter and Elidee’s as the sister of an inmate. I love that the book also includes a reading list of other books on these topics, from books for young readers to texts more appropriate for teen readers.

While the social issues are a solid, important part of the story, at its core, this is a tale of three girls who learn what it is to be friends. To take chances, to trust one another, to forgive, to put themselves in the other girls’ shoes. All those reasons make BREAKOUT a great read.

Content Notes for Breakout

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Nora and Lizzie are from a small, rural, mostly white town (except for the prison, where a majority of the prisoners are black.). Elidee is black and new to the town. Two inmates from the prison escape: one black, one white. The story shows instances of racism and prejudice—most are fairly subtle, like one store owner only enforcing a rule about backpacks being held on the counter when a black customer enters the store.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Nora, Lizzie, and Elidee and their families all help at a church volunteer event making a ham supper for the officers searching for the escaped inmates. They’re all part of the church community.

Violent Content
Teachers rush Nora and her friends inside a school building when officers announce that the escaped inmates are nearby. Accusations emerge stating that some officers physically harm prisoners. A young man is killed trying to evade police. (Nora and her friends don’t witness any of that.)

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of BREAKOUT in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which do not cost you anything to use but which help support this blog.