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Review: Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,
Guardians of Dawn: Zahra by S. Jae Jones cover shows a girl staring forward, her hands hovering over a ball of magic, other magic swirled around her in the colors of the sky at dawn.

Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara
S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday Books
Published August 1, 2023

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About Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara

Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.

My Review

I don’t know why I mistook this for middle grade when I first agreed to review it. Maybe the cover reminded me of a different middle grade title? I’m not sure. At any rate, the book page on Amazon recommends it for ages fourteen and up. I think maybe 11 or 12-year-olds could read it just fine, though.

My favorite thing about the book is definitely the way Zhara and Han relate to one another. They’re so cute. She gets all giggly, and he is so easily flustered. I loved it! I also loved Xu, Han’s best friend and often the voice of wisdom.

The story has some strong Cinderella vibes, but I wouldn’t call it a Cinderella retelling. I definitely see the comparison to CINDER— which was a Cinderella retelling couched in a story of revolution. Similarly, GUARDIANS OF THE DAWN: ZHARA follows characters through political upheaval and what could lead to revolution.

I’m super curious about what the rest of the series will be like. Will each subsequent book contain elements of a familiar fairytale, a la The Lunar Chronicles or the Everland series? I hope it does. I would love to see more East Asia-inspired remixes of fairytale stories.

All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the character interactions. I’m really eager to read more of this series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The Land of the Morning Realms is inspired by East Asia. More than one minor character is LGBTQIA+.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity very rarely used.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to romantic encounters between other couples, including same-gender couples. Characters discuss romance novels and explicit novels– the quotes and titles included are metaphorical.

Spiritual Content
Magic exists as a balance between order and chaos. Chaos includes demons, which can be summoned and can possess someone with magic. Powerful magicians have the ability to battle those forces of chaos.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Domestic violence. Some graphic descriptions of battle and monsters.

Drug Content
Zhara’s stepmother frequently gets drunk and physically/emotionally abuses her and her sister.

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 GUARDIANS OF THE DAWN: ZHARA in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Lightstruck by Sunya Mara

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

The Lightstruck (The Darkening #2)
Sunya Mara
Clarion Books
Published August 29, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Lightstruck

In this epic sequel and conclusion to the Darkening duology, which has been called “enchanting and wildly clever” (Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Beasts of Prey), Vesper Vale, once savior to a city plagued by cursed storms, finds herself facing an even more sinister threat when an ominous light summoned by the Great King seizes control of the city.

Vesper Vale sacrificed everything to save her city from the cursed storm. After becoming a vessel of The Great Queen, Vesper awakes from a slumber three years after her life altering choice.

What she finds isn’t a home freed from the terror of the storm, but one where its citizens are besieged by the even more sinister force of The Great King and his growing army of the lightstruck—once regular citizens who are now controlled by the ominous light encroaching on the city. And the people are all looking to Vesper, now revered as a goddess after her sacrifice, as their city’s only hope.

To save the rings from the Great King, Vesper must contend with the obligations of being a deity to her people and the growing chasm between her and Dalca, the prince she swore never to love. Haunted by the guilt of their past choices and faced with the pressures of a city near ruin, Vesper and Dalca find themselves torn between the growing factions within the city and the royal court.

But in order to save her city from the light, Vesper must face the power most outside of her control—the goddess within.

My Review

I really enjoyed THE DARKENING, so I’d been super excited about reading this sequel. To be honest, I struggled with some parts of this story.

It might be simply that I’m in a weird place right now, reading-wise. We just started school again, and the new schedule has really caught up with me this week. It’s always harder to read a book when I’m tired, so some of my lack of connection with this one really could be on me.

I felt like some parts, especially the opening chapters, moved more slowly. It felt like waiting for things to really begin.

Once the story did begin, though, I found a lot of the same elements from THE DARKENING that I’d loved: characters like Cas and Iz, a fascinating magic system based on drawn symbols, and a hero at war with herself, wrestling with her past mistakes and future possibilities.

I enjoyed the interactions between the characters, especially Cas and Vesper. I couldn’t help wishing there was more going on between Vesper and Dalca, though.

One of the things about the book that I thought was really fascinating, though, was the way it explored people’s feelings about those who were “cursed” by the storm and ended up with some kind of physical anomaly. Some were not readily visible, but others were. It was very stigmatized, and I found myself wishing that there was more pushback against that stigma.

Ultimately the story does address that in a way that changes the perception of those physical changes. I thought that was an interesting resolution, something I hadn’t expected but thought was cool.

On the whole, I am still glad I read this one, and I would love to know if I’d have connected to the story more if I’d read it at a different time. If you loved the characters or magic system of the first book in the series, I’d say it’s still worth reading this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Characters are described as having brown skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Possible attraction between characters, but it’s not deeply explored.

Spiritual Content
Vesper holds a goddess, the Great Queen, inside her. The opposing god, the Great King, is currently unbound and trapping people in his power throughout the city.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some brief battle sequences and references to torture.

Drug Content
Vesper’s team receives poisoned food, and someone dies from eating it.

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 LIGHTSTRUCK in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Things I’ll Never Say by Cassandra Newbould

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

Things I’ll Never Say
Cassandra Newbould
Peachtree Teen
Published June 6, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Things I’ll Never Say

For fans of Becky Albertalli and Julie Murphy, this beautifully raw coming-of-age story follows bi, fat surfer girl Casey who turns to journaling to navigate what it means to crush on your two best friends at the same time.

Ten years ago, the Scar Squad promised each other nothing would tear them apart. They stuck together through thick and thin, late-night surf sessions and after school spodies. Even when Casey Jones Caruso lost her twin brother Sammy to an overdose, and their foursome became a threesome, the squad picked each other up. But when Casey’s feeling for the remaining members—Francesca and Benjamin—develop into romantic attraction, she worries the truth will dissolve them and vows to ignore her heart.

Then Ben kisses Casey at a summer party, and Frankie kisses another girl. Now Casey must confront all the complicated feelings she’s buried—for her friends and for her brother who she’s totally pissed at for dying. Since Sammy’s death, Casey has spilled all the things she can no longer say to him in journals, and now more than ever, she wishes he were here to help her decide whether she should guard her heart or bet it on love, before someone else makes the decision for her.

My Review

I have some really mixed feelings about this book. First, I think the way this book is written could serve as a conversation starter for some really big issues, such as recreational drug use. I love that the main character is plus-sized, and that she has so much love in her heart, for her brother, her family, and the other people she loves.

Honestly, though, I’m having a hard time deciding whether she’s a reliable narrator. I know that she claims to have this big plan to stop using opiates and Xanax to numb her pain. But she carefully controls the information, only ever telling people what she wants them to know. She breaks promises she makes to herself about her use.

All that makes perfect sense in terms of the behavior of someone who is struggling with addiction or drug use disorder. So I don’t say that to malign her character. I guess I just worry that though she claims the last thing she wants is to make the same decisions her brother made, she’s kinda doing exactly that?

Maybe that’s the whole point of the story. Maybe those are exactly the questions the author intends for readers to be asking.

At any rate, I read this book pretty quickly, and I think it raises some really good points and adds to some of the places where representation in young adult literature is still pretty small. I think readers who enjoy books by Crystal Maldonado should check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Casey is plus-sized, bisexual, and a twin. She also has anxiety and has suffered from panic attacks before. Her twin brother died of an opiate overdose. Their family is Sicilian American. Frankie is Latine and a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity and crude language used frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. Discussion about the meaning of a throuple and polyamorous relationships.

Spiritual Content
Casey writes letters to her brother in a journal and burns the journal at the end of the month. She believes/hopes the ashes of the words are carried to him and that way he knows what she wants to tell him. She wonders briefly about the afterlife and states she doesn’t not believe in God, but she doesn’t believe, either.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Casey and her friends drink alcohol, smoke pot, and drop acid. Casey also abuses pills like Xanax and opiates. She claims she has a plan to stop using but carefully controls the information about her drug use and breaks promises she makes to herself about discontinuing use.

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 THINGS I’LL NEVER SAY in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Swimming in a Sea of Stars by Julie Wright

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

Swimming in a Sea of Stars
Julie Wright
Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published August 1, 2023

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About Swimming in a Sea of Stars

Journal entry: Heading to school. I know what everyone will say. There goes the girl who tried to kill herself.

Addison is no stranger to feeling stressed, insecure, and sad. Her therapist recommended she keep a journal to help her understand those feelings better, which she really needs today. It’s her first day back to school, several weeks after she survived her suicide attempt. She knows there are rumors about why she did it: A lousy home life? Bullying? Heartbreak? None of them are true, but it doesn’t matter because Addison still feels like she’s drowning. She still holds secrets she’s not ready to share.

During the school day, Addison encounters four other students struggling with their own secrets:

Booker is anxious about seeing Addison. They were sort of a couple until he tried to kiss her. She fled and then tried to end her life. Those two things couldn’t be related, could they?

Celia feels trapped by her mother’s abusive boyfriend. She can guess why Addison did what she did.

Damion is TikTok-famous and thinks befriending Addison could boost his followers. But what no one knows is he needs the world to remember him since his sick mom doesn’t anymore.

Avery is considered a loner and doesn’t know Addison, but they have neighboring lockers. With Avery’s older brother in jail for dealing drugs, Avery is desperate for meaningful human connection.

SWIMMING IN A SEA OF STARS is a poignant and gripping novel about how we’re all interconnected, like the stars in the night sky that form constellations and map out the universe, and if even one star goes missing, the effect is profound.

My Review

I like the concept of this novel. The story follows an ensemble cast. It shows diary entries from a girl who’s recovering from a suicide attempt and the point of view of her former best friend, a boy whose cousin is diagnosed with cancer. We follow a girl experiencing domestic violence, a boy whose mother has early-onset Alzheimer’s, and a girl whose brother was recently arrested for trying to sell Fentanyl.

Each of them crosses the paths of the others, and each carries secrets the others are completely unaware of. I love that idea. It’s very much an embodiment of the expression, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

Though the story touches on difficult issues (domestic violence, sexual abuse, homelessness, and terminal illness), it often keeps those things at a distance by sparing readers the painful details. I think this idea allows the book to be more accessible to younger or more sensitive teens than some of the other popular young adult titles on the shelves.

What I wish, though, is that the commentary on drug addiction wasn’t quite so judgy. I think also that in the attempt to keep difficult content to a minimum, the text sometimes veers into telling rather than showing the story.

On the whole, I still think this concept is really cool. I like that the author used a quote from a Linkin Park song to tie all the stories together. I’d recommend this for readers interested in heavier topics but not ready for or interested in the harsh details books on those topics sometimes deliver.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Booker is Black. One character is a domestic violence survivor. Another is a sexual assault survivor.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vague references to assault.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
One character details some of the physical abuse she’s endured. Vague references to gang rivalry and threats of violence. See sexual content above.

Drug Content
A girl’s brother is in jail for possession of Fentanyl with intent to sell. Another student confronts her about rumors that she also sells drugs.

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 SWIMMING IN A SEA OF STARS in exchange for my honest review.

The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter

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

The Great Texas Dragon Race
Kacy Ritter
Clarion Books
Published August 1, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Great Texas Dragon Race

Wings of Fire meets The Hunger Games in this debut contemporary middle grade fantasy stand-alone about thirteen-year-old Cassidy Drake, who enters the dangerous Great Texas Dragon Race to save her family’s dragon sanctuary.

Thirteen-year-old Cassidy Drake wants nothing more than to race with her best dragon, Ranga, in the annual Great Texas Dragon Race. Her mother was a racing legacy, and growing up on her family’s dragon sanctuary ranch, Cassidy lives and breathes dragons. She knows she could win against the exploitative FireCorp team that cares more about corporate greed than caring for the dragons. 

Cassidy is so determined to race that she sneaks out of her house against her father’s wishes and enters the competition. Soon, Cassidy takes to the skies with Ranga across her glorious Lone Star State. But with five grueling tasks ahead of her, dangerous dragon challenges waiting at each one, and more enemies than allies on the course, Cassidy will need to know more than just dragons to survive. 

My Review

This one got off to a slower start for me because I had a hard time with Cassidy’s attitude. She is very strong and spunky, which I like. But she’s also a bit arrogant, compulsive, and convinced she knows better than anyone else. It was hard not to agree with some of the adults or other kids around her who were telling her to slow down or think things through.

It’s a pretty solid kind of character for middle grade fantasy (see Percy Jackson, for example), but it isn’t my favorite kind of character to read, usually.

Once Cassidy entered the dragon race and met the other contestants, I felt like things smoothed out a bit. She discovers that being part of a team means working together, admitting you’re sometimes wrong, and trusting one another. So, I liked the ways she grew in those scenes and was able to connect with others.

Texas is a part of the south that I’m less connected to, so the parts of the story anchored in Texas culture didn’t necessarily speak to me the way I hoped they would. It’s probably because I’m just better connected to other areas of the south, so it just didn’t have the same resonance that a story set in Georgia or North Carolina would for me.

I still enjoyed the Texas setting, especially the ways in which the different kinds of dragons were described as having adaptations or traits that made them well-suited to the Texas climate and landscape.

The race scenes had a lot of energy and really great stakes. I liked that it wasn’t a straightforward point A to B race, but that it had tasks and riddles, too. That was really cool. I also thought the idea that dragons were working animals and the politics surrounding their rights were a big part of the story. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

All in all, this was a fun, really different book to read. It reminded me a little bit of TOGETHER WE BURN by Isabel Ibañez, except anchored in Texas culture and aimed at middle grade readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cassidy is white. At least one minor character is Latine. Another is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some violent scenes in which dragons attack the racers and racers sabotage one another.

Drug Content
Some racers are caught giving their dragons an illegal steroid.

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 GREAT TEXAS DRAGON RACE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat

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

Rana Joon and the One and Only Now
Shideh Etaat
Atheneum Books
Published July 25, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Rana Joon and the One and Only Now

This lyrical coming-of-age novel for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay and On the Come Up, set in southern California in 1996, follows a teen who wants to honor her deceased friend’s legacy by entering a rap contest.

Perfect Iranian girls are straight-A students, always polite, and grow up to marry respectable Iranian boys. But it’s the San Fernando Valley in 1996, and Rana Joon is far from perfect—she smokes weed and loves Tupac, and she has a secret: she likes girls.

As if that weren’t enough, her best friend, Louie—the one who knew her secret and encouraged her to live in the moment—died almost a year ago, and she’s still having trouble processing her grief. To honor him, Rana enters the rap battle he dreamed of competing in, even though she’s terrified of public speaking.

But the clock is ticking. With the battle getting closer every day, she can’t decide whether to use one of Louie’s pieces or her own poetry, her family is coming apart, and she might even be falling in love. To get herself to the stage and fulfill her promise before her senior year ends, Rana will have to learn to speak her truth and live in the one and only now.

My Review

At first I wasn’t sure when this story was supposed to take place. Some of the words used felt more modern to me– for example, lots of characters say “ya” instead of “yeah,” which I thought didn’t start until later. But Rana does learn about Tupac’s death in one scene, which pretty firmly anchors the story in the past. There are some other clues, too, like her watching the show FRIENDS with her mom.

The writing, especially the poetry Rana and Louie write, is absolutely beautiful. I definitely got swept away by those lines and had to slow down to savor them as I was reading. I love the way Rana’s writing represents her journey through grief and acceptance of her identity.

Through the scenes in the book, Rana navigates changes in her relationships with her parents, both of whom seem distant for different reasons. I love the moment in the garden with her dad, and the scene where she finds her prom dress with her mom.

Rana also grapples with complicated grief as she nears the one-year anniversary of her best friend’s death and begins to realize that there were things she didn’t know about her friend, things he didn’t or couldn’t tell her.

All in all, the emotional arc of the book is so well-crafted. I cried through her moments of loss, but more than that, I felt Rana’s triumph as she discovered her voice and finally spoke up for herself.

I think fans of MUSIC FROM ANOTHER WORLD by Robin Talley or YOU TRULY ASSUMED by Laila Sabreen should check out RANA JOON AND THE ONE AND ONLY NOW

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Rana is Iranian American and a lesbian. Her best friend and his twin brother are biracial.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. Brief, graphic descriptions of sex between a boy and girl, references to sex, and brief, graphic descriptions of sex between two girls.

Spiritual Content
Rana’s friend had a tattoo of Buddha on his arm and followed a British philosopher. One of Rana’s friends is Muslim, and Rana identifies as Muslim to her dad.

Violent Content
Rana’s best friend died in a car accident. The accident is very briefly described. A boy torments Rana in class, and she slaps him in the face. One of Rana’s friends was expelled from school for fighting (before the story begins). The story briefly touches on Tupac’s death.

Drug Content
Rana and other characters smoke weed in several scenes. Teens drink alcohol in a couple scenes.

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 RANA JOON AND THE ONE AND ONLY NOW in exchange for my honest review.