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Review: The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes #2)
Brittany Cavallaro
Katherine Tegen Books
Published February 14, 2017

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About The Last of August

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter-break reprieve after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But Charlotte isn’t the only Holmes with secrets, and the mood at her family’s Sussex estate is palpably tense. On top of everything else, Holmes and Watson could be becoming more than friends—but still, the darkness in Charlotte’s past is a wall between them.

A distraction arises soon enough, because Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring. The game is afoot once again, and Charlotte is single-minded in her pursuit.

Their first stop? Berlin. Their first contact? August Moriarty (formerly Charlotte’s obsession, currently believed by most to be dead), whose powerful family has been ripping off famous paintings for the last hundred years. But as they follow the gritty underground scene in Berlin to glittering art houses in Prague, Holmes and Watson begin to realize that this is a much more complicated case than a disappearance. Much more dangerous, too.

What they learn might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

Audiobooks and a Bit of Background

I’ve been having a ton of trouble sleeping the last several months. It’s like my body crashes really deeply for 4-5 hours and then I’m wide awake, brain whirring at top speed. I hate it because it makes me want to get up and do something useful, like lying there trying to go back to sleep and being unable to is such a huge waste of time. At the same time I know if I get up and do something, I’m more likely to stay up longer and that can really ruin my daytime life with kids and such.

So my solution has been to listen to audiobooks. It’s actually worked out really well most of the time. A lot of the backlist titles I’ve reviewed lately have been the result of audiobooks I’ve listened to while navigating those troubled nighttime hours.

My Review of The Last of August

Which brings me to THE LAST OF AUGUST. It’s been a while since I read A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE, the first book in the Charlotte Holmes series. If you’re unfamiliar with this series, the basic premise is that Sherlock Holmes and James Watson’s present-day descendants meet up at a boarding school and begin solving crimes together. I really enjoyed the first book, but I’m terrible at pursuing a series all the way to the end, so it has taken me a long time to get back to this one.

I liked THE LAST OF AUGUST a lot. Holmes and Watson have that dynamic duo thing going plus loads of romantic tension, and on top of that, a whole family of villains seems to be intent on putting an end to Charlotte’s family.

Some of the twists and turns caught me completely by surprise. I sort of expected that– since it’s sort of part of the Holmes charm to have the big reveal at the end where all the pieces snap into place. I felt like Jamie played a more active role in this book than in the first one (though it’s been a while, so I may be wrong), and I liked that he put some pieces together himself and took charge of a few things, even if they didn’t always go quite as he hoped.

Jamie and Charlotte together are heartbreakingly sweet. He can’t help loving her, and she is so cerebral and analytical and feels so broken beyond repair, but loves him in her own way, too. It’s one of those relationships you keep rooting for because they make each other better, and you just want them to keep making each other better until they’re somehow whole.

I’m hardly an avid mystery reader, but I think if you like Flavia de Luce books, this might be a great series to try.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Charlotte is from London. Jamie is white American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Before leaving school, Charlotte was raped. The incident is never shown, but it’s clear that she’s struggling to process the trauma. Sometimes she can’t handle being touched. Jamie is patient with her and respects her boundaries.

A boy and girl kiss in more than one scene. In another scene, a girl undresses in front of a boy. A vague recap lets readers know they did not have sex but had other sexual contact.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. One character is poisoned. More than one character is kidnapped.

Drug Content
Charlotte is a recovering addict. She’s tempted at a party where guests are using cocaine. Teens drink alcohol at a club and auction. (It’s legal at 18 where they are.)

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Review: Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

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

Past Perfect Life
Elizabeth Eulberg
Bloomsbury YA
Published July 9, 2019

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About PAST PERFECT LIFE

Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is-spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn’t be? In a few short months, everything’s going to change, big time.
But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she’s not Allison Smith. And Ally’s-make that Amanda’s-ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?

My Review

Ally starts the story with this cute life in a small town. She and her dad don’t have money, but they share daily rituals that show how close they are and how much they love each other. Taco Tuesday, movie night, Packers games. Things like that. The Gleason family makes up the larger part of Ally’s inner circle. I think those characters had the most spark and variety in them. The banter between Rob and the rest of the group made those scenes a lot of fun to read.

I felt like the story stalled out a little bit around the 3/4 mark. Ally’s kind of just trying to get by and biding her time until she comes up with another idea. I think that was a necessary moment in the story, but I felt like it dragged on longer than it needed to.

Other than that, PAST PERFECT LIFE is a pretty smooth read. I’m a sucker for a story that touches on themes about the importance of family and community, so this book definitely scratched that itch for me.

Overall, I’d say PAST PERFECT LIFE is perfect for fans of IN ANOTHER LIFE by C. C. Hunter or WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE by Trish Doller.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Characters are white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Ally’s family is Catholic and goes to mass on Christmas.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content 
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of PAST PERFECT LIFE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

The Vanishing Throne (The Falconer #2)
Elizabeth May
Chronicle Books
Published on June 21, 2016

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About The Vanishing Throne
Everything she loved is gone.

Trapped. Aileana Kameron, the Falconer, disappeared through the fae portal she was trying to close forever. Now she wakes in an alien world of mirrors, magic, and deception—a prisoner of the evil fae Lonnrach, who has a desperate and deadly plan for his new captive.

Tortured. Time after agonizing time Lonnrach steals Aileana’s memories, searching for knowledge to save his world. Just when she’s about to lose all hope, Aileana is rescued by an unexpected ally and returns home, only to confront a terrifying truth. The city of Edinburgh is now an unrecognizable wasteland. And Aileana knows the devastation is all her fault.

Transformed. The few human survivors are living in an underground colony, in an uneasy truce with a remnant of the fae. It is a fragile alliance, but an even greater danger awaits: the human and fae worlds may disappear forever. Only Aileana can save both worlds, but in order to do so she must awaken her latent Falconer powers. And the price of doing so might be her life…

My Review
After I read the first book in The Falconer series, I couldn’t wait to read this one. Somehow it still took me like two years to do it, though. Oops.

What I loved: witty banter between characters, and one new character in particular. I loved Kiaran’s sister. She’s not at all like the stereotypical fae with the moodiness or aloofness. She has this open curiosity and goofy sense of humor but still feels like a member of the fae somehow. I liked her a lot. I also really enjoyed Aileana’s friend, a pixie named Derek. I’d forgotten all about him between books, but once he came back on the scene, I was hooked all over again.

The romance element remains strong and some very interesting plot twists place a lot of obstacles between Aileana and her happily-ever-after. Some of those twists took me completely by surprise, but they made so much sense looking back. I love when a story has a turning point like that, where it makes you go back and see all the earlier parts differently.

One thing that I kind of missed from The Falconer is that Aileana used to be much more concerned with propriety. She makes sure to have boundaries in her relationships with men. In this book, she has no thought for boundaries or her future. Some of that makes perfect sense, since the story has a much more post-apocalyptic feel, so it would be weird if her feelings about her future didn’t change. I guess there wasn’t really a point where she evaluated her beliefs and changed. She kind of just gets swept up in her relationship with Kiaran and never appears to think about any consequences to her actions. It wasn’t a huge deal in the story, but for anyone who read the first book thinking the series wouldn’t have any sex in it because of the time period it’s set in and Aileana’s personal beliefs, just know that isn’t true.

Reading Vanishing Throne made me super interested in reading the series finale, Fallen Kingdom. I love the strong heroine and the memorable characters, so I’m definitely eager for more. The series is a great pick for fans of Julie Kagawa.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
The story is set in Scotland, so most characters are white and upper class.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very frequently. A few instances of stronger curses.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between man and woman. One scene shows them undressing and going to bed together. It’s obvious they have sex but not graphically described.

Spiritual Content
The story contains faeries and monsters who possess magic. Some humans have specialized abilities which allow them to sense faeries or resist their magic. Some fae have an alliance with humans and use magic to protect them.

If a human dies and comes back to life, they may return with the ability to see the Fae. It can also unlock other gifts.

Violent Content
Battle scenes with some descriptions of injuries. Aileana is captured by fae at one point and tortured. Mostly her torture is mental. For instance, eventually, the isolation becomes a huge burden and she becomes eager for her captor’s visits. He bites her repeatedly, and his venom causes some additional pain.

Drug Content
Fae bites inject a venom that humans find addicting. At one point, a small group sit together drinking whiskey.


Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

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

Caraval
Stephanie Garber
Flatiron Books
Published on January 31, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Caraval
Remember, it’s only a game…

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.

My Review

The setting of both the game and Scarlett’s hometown felt very vivid in Caraval. The game itself definitely had a magical quality to it—that was one of my favorite things about the book. I also liked the sense of unspooling mystery. It’s like the story is constantly evolving and anything can happen. Caraval maintains a good balance between this plasticity and magic and having an organized plot where the stakes only get higher with every new revelation in the story.

I found Scarlett and Julian (the sailor who helps her and Tella escape) both super likeable. I wasn’t sure at first that I would like either of them. In the beginning, Scarlett is such a fraidy cat and so committed to her planned marriage that I kind of felt put off. But as she learns to unbend and find her way through a game based on her greatest fears (big risks and her sister missing), I grew to love her and respect her. By the end, not only did I want her to win the game, but I was totally rooting for the romance to have a happily ever after, too.

The story is a bit dark. The game master is rumored to have some pretty deep revenge issues and seems to have a really cavalier attitude about human life. Some of the magical elements (fortune telling, trading days of one’s life for a desired object) have a darkness to them, too. The epilogue might be the part with the most adult content because of a character being drunk and looking for a one night stand. See below for other content information.

I really enjoyed reading Caraval. I’m a little bit torn about reading the second book, though, because based on the epilogue, it looks like the story will be from another character’s point-of-view. While the plot looks really interesting, I’m not sure I’d enjoy this character’s viewpoint. So I’m not sure yet whether I’ll read the next one.

If you liked Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, make sure to check out Caraval.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Julian has brown skin and dark eyes. The story has some Spanish words for places.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Scarlett refuses to share a room with Julian, so they agree to take turns sleeping in the room they were assigned for the game. They do share the bed one night, but nothing sexual happens and they’re technically dead during that night. Scarlett’s father offers her to a man (intending for her to have sex with him), and she unwillingly goes with him but his attempts at seducing her get thwarted.

Spiritual Content
The players of Caraval warn Scarlett and others that nothing happening inside the game is real, but Scarlett experiences magic in various forms (trading time for a dress, dreams that reveal the past to her, having her fortune read to her.).

Violent Content
One scene shows Scarlett and Tella’s father physically abusing them. (He strikes one girl with his hand so that his rings will cut her face.) Other references to past abuses.

Drug Content
Scarlett looks for her companion in a bar. Scarlett participates in a ritual exchange, giving a drop of her blood, and immediately experiences an altered mental state. One scene shows Tella very drunk and hoping to go to bed with a stranger.

Review: Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

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

Once Was Lost
Sara Zarr
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published on October 1, 2009

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About Once Was Lost
Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. But her mother is in rehab, and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. And when a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, her already-worn thread of faith begins to unravel.

Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor’s kid, it’s hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam’s personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

In her third novel, acclaimed author Sara Zarr examines the coexistence of affliction and hope, and what happens when everything you thought you believed—about God, about your family, about yourself—is transformed.

My Review
Once Was Lost has been on my reading list for years. I kind of have no excuse for taking so long to get to it, because it’s not a long book, and it’s exactly the kind of story I love—someone in a difficult place desperately trying to do the right thing anyway. I loved that about Sam. She makes some choices that get her into trouble, but I never doubted that her heart was good and never wavered in wanting to know how her story ended.

Perhaps it’s a little unexpected to find a book in mainstream literature with such strong spiritual themes. I loved the way Zarr handled the descriptions of the small town and the church people. She made them real and gave them real problems without vilifying them. I also loved the way she let us into Sam’s struggles about her faith and her disappointment about what youth group was like. Sam expected this joyous, close-knit community, and instead, she felt distant from the other participants. That war between appearances and genuine connection totally resonated with me thinking back to my own youth group days. It felt so very right on.

All in all, I loved this book. I think it’s a great read for Christian kids who may be facing the same kinds of struggles Sam is but also for kids who don’t share Sam’s upbringing or faith. It’s a great window into what church life can be like with its ups and downs. And ultimately, this story is about self-discovery and personal growth and healing. You don’t need to have faith for those messages to matter. I highly recommend this one.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white. The story takes place in a small California town.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
As pastor’s daughter, Sam and her family feel a lot of pressure to behave in certain ways. Sam feels like she can’t be honest about doubts she’s having, and when others have significant spiritual experiences, they expect her to be as thrilled about them as they are. Sam wrestles with her faith in a genuine, sensitive way. The church is depicted as a group of well-meaning, even if sometimes hurtful, people. While Sam’s faith isn’t the focal point of the story, her wrestling with doubts does have a meaningful resolution.

Violent Content
While Jody is missing, people speculate about what may have happened to her. The story doesn’t give any details about what goes on during her captivity, but it obviously traumatized her.

Drug Content
Sam’s mom spends much of the book in a rehab program for alcoholics. Sam remembers different events where her mom’s alcoholism interfered with family life or caused other problems. Sam knows her two best friends have gone out with other kids to have a beer at a party, but she’s never invited along, and they don’t tell her about it directly.

 

Review: The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke

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

The Lost and the Found
Cat Clarke
Crown Books
September 23, 2016 (Originally published April 23, 2015)

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About The Lost and the Found
THE LOST
When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister, Faith. Since then, Faith’s childhood has revolved around her sister’s disappearance—from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention, to dealing with so-called friends who only ever want to talk about her missing sister.

THE FOUND
Now, thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the front yard of the Logans’ old house, disoriented and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Can her sister finally be back? Faith always dreamed of her sister coming home; she just never believed it would happen. But soon a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated from her family and paranoid about her sister’s motives. Before long, Faith begins to wonder if it’s the abduction that’s changed her sister, or if it’s something else. . . .

My Review
I feel like it’s going to be difficult to talk about this book without spoilers because so many of the things that made it really fascinating were the twists I didn’t see coming. There’s a creepy element that has absolutely nothing to do with Laurel’s past, which I thought was not only really well-executed in terms of how eerie it was, but also how unexpected and yet it made sense.

It took me a couple of chapters to really decide I liked Faith. On the whole she’s the good girl who has been largely invisible to her family since her sister’s disappearance. Which in and of itself was an interesting paradox, right? I loved her relationship with her almost-step-dad Michel. He seemed to really get her and had the capacity to draw her out. In some ways it seemed like they were both outsiders watching people they loved caught up in the grief of losing a daughter.

Toward the end, Faith makes a difficult decision that I really struggled to accept. I felt like it was deeply unhealthy and didn’t agree at all with her methods of justifying it to herself. She wanted to believe she was ultimately doing a kinder thing, but I felt like she should realize what a lie it was based on her perceptions of the rest of her family members. I know that’s vague. I don’t want to give the story away. But that was kind of disappointing to me. I prefer to think that eventually she changed her mind and came forward with the truth.

I’ve read a couple of other “abducted child returns” stories before– The Tension of Opposites, The Deep End of the Ocean, Aftermath, and the duo Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie?— and I think this one is the most unique in its exploration of what it’d be like to experience a long-lost sister return. If you like any of the books I listed above, you will want to check this one out as well.

You can also find my interview with author Cat Clarke here.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Faith and her family are white. Her dad is bisexual and after he and Faith’s mom divorced, he began a relationship with a Frenchman.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kisses between Faith and her boyfriend as well as some displays of affection between Faith’s dad and his boyfriend. Faith had sex with her boyfriend for the first time the night before the story begins. She reflects on it a couple of times during the story and has sex with him again in her room while her parents are out. It’s briefly described—largely because her mind is elsewhere, so it’s kind of this weird experience for her.

She comments early in the book that having sex with her boyfriend was “the right thing” because she loves him.

Though Laurel doesn’t graphically describe her experiences in captivity, it’s clear she was sexually abused. It’s mostly hinted at and not explicitly described, but especially sensitive readers may find even these references too much.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to physical and sexual abuse.

Drug Content
Faith attends a birthday party where she and a friend sneak drinks of wine until fairly intoxicated.

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