Tag Archives: Louisiana

Review: A Wish with Wings by Sarah Guillory

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,
A Wish with Wings by Sarah Guillory

A Wish with Wings
Sarah Guillory
Roaring Brook Press
Published May 19, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Wish with Wings

A tender tale of courage, hope, and holding onto yourself even when everything around you seems to be falling apart — perfect for fans of Katherine Applegate and Barbara O’Connor.

Everyone says twelve-year-old Evan Calais is feral. She likes to spend her time outside, fishing and having mud fights in her small town of Little John Island, Louisiana. But when a sinkhole causes the town mine to collapse, trapping all forty-eight miners, everything in her life comes to a standstill. Because Evan’s dad is one of the miners trapped inside.

Evan seeks solace the only way she knows how—in the outdoors—and comes upon the most peculiar thing. An egg.

It’s a large egg. And it’s alone. So while Evan waits for her dad to come home, she also finds herself caring for the strange, abandoned egg. If this egg can hatch…maybe her dad has a chance of coming home, too. But as she incubates the egg, Evan will need to make a big decision. For she has a secret—she might know what caused the cave-in.

Sarah Guillory’s latest middle grade novel is a deeply heartwarming exploration of the importance of imagination, the freedom in nature, and the power of the truth.

My Review

In 2023, I read Nowhere Better Than Here by Sarah Guillory, which I really enjoyed. I tend to love Southern fiction, especially stories that emphasize preservation and depict life in rural communities. Guillory does this really well in both books of hers that I’ve read.

In A Wish with Wings, Evan’s dad is trapped in a salt mine following an accident. While the story centers on her and her family, it introduces readers to life in a small mining community, where most families depend on the mine. It also showcases a rural Louisiana setting and highlights the endangered whooping cranes.

I liked Evan as a character. There’s something about a strong-willed, messy little girl protagonist that never gets old for me, especially in a Southern setting. It’s easy for me to relate, I suppose. I also like how her relationships with others change throughout the course of the story. At the beginning, she strongly dislikes her dad’s Aunt Tildy, who seems to constantly chastise her for her unruly behavior. As Evan spends more time with Aunt Tildy during the family crisis, she comes to view her differently and develops more respect and understanding for her.

Evan finds Sofia, a girl known for her obsession with caring for farm animals, annoying and avoids her, until Evan finds herself in desperate need of help caring for an egg. As she gets to know Sofia, the two find common ground.

An Author’s Note at the end clarifies some of the choices that Guillory made in the story, such as having Evan take an egg from a wild nest, and why someone should not do that. She also includes a bit more information about whooping cranes and what to do if you spot one in the wild.

I can’t think of another novel that I’ve read that includes a child whose parent works in a mine, especially in contemporary fiction, but I think it’s an important experience to show in a middle grade story. Fans of books by Kate Messner or Nancy Cavanaugh will want to put this on their reading lists.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Evan makes a wish and believes that when her egg hatches, her dad will wake up.

Violent Content
References to injuries and death from a mine collapse. Injuries to a parent, visiting a parent in an uncertain condition in the hospital.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Grandpere’s Ghost Swamp by Rachel M. Marsh

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, , , , , , , ,

Grandpere’s Ghost Swamp
Rachel M. Marsh
Greenwillow Books
Published March 24, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Grandpere’s Ghost Swamp

Ferris meets Ghosts of Tupelo Landing in this cozy ghost story about family, environmental activism, food, and friendship.

Basil Theriot has spent her entire life in New Orleans—in her family’s famed Cajun restaurant in the French Quarter, really—but she’s never been out to the bayou where her grandfather grew up. She’s also never seen a ghost, even though dozens of ghost tours pass by the restaurant every day and her best friend Tommy is determined to be a ghost hunter.

But then Grandpere’s ghost appears. And he has a mission for her.

Basil wouldn’t mind being haunted if Grandpere could be helpful and share his secret recipe that might save the restaurant. But instead, he’s intent on connecting Basil with her Cajun heritage. He sends her out to the bayou to meet his an airboat captain, a shrimper, and a scientist rebuilding Louisiana’s fast-disappearing coastline.

For fans of Gracie Under the Waves and A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall, Grandpere’s Ghost Swamp has a little bit of a pinch of spookiness, a dash of environmental activism, and a heaping of family.

My Review

This is definitely one of those books where the disparate threads all come together nicely in the end. In a way, it reminded me of Once For Yes by Allie Millington. I adored the Louisiana setting. Some of the characters made me think of my partner’s family members, who are from Louisiana. His family is also Cajun, so that was a fun connection to the story as well.

It was interesting to read a book in which the main character is surrounded by people who love food and cooking, yet she has strong negative feelings about them. Basil’s perspective about the family restaurant makes a lot of sense, and it makes sense that she would have such strong conflicted feelings about her future, since she feels the family needs her to be as invested in the restaurant as they are.

I like how her relationship with her grandfather’s ghost propels the story in unexpected ways. While Grandpere clearly has something important to resolve, his presence helps Basil in ways she wouldn’t have predicted. I like that she learns a lot about him and about herself through the experience.

Grandpere’s Ghost Swamp celebrates strong family connections across generations and a love for the natural world. Give this book to fans of Elsie Mae Has Something to Say by Nancy Cavanaugh and Nowhere Better Than Here by Sarah Guillory.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Basil sees the ghost of her grandfather, who recently passed away. She eventually sees other ghosts as well.

Violent Content
A kid gets in trouble for throwing salt all over a classroom when what he thinks is a ghost appears. An argument escalates into a food fight.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

They Bloom at Night
Trang Thanh Tran
Bloomsbury
Published March 4, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About They Bloom at Night

The author of the New York Times bestselling horror phenomenon She Is a Haunting is back with a novel about the monsters that swim beneath us . . . and live within us.

Since the hurricane, the town of Mercy, Louisiana has been overtaken by a strange red algae bloom. Noon and her mother have carved out a life in the wreckage, trawling for the mutated wildlife that lurks in the water and trading it to the corrupt harbormaster. When she’s focused on survival, Noon doesn’t have to cope with what happened to her at the Cove or the monster itching at her skin.

Mercy has never been a safe place, but it’s getting worse. People are disappearing, and the only clues as to why are whispers of underwater shadows and warnings to never answer the knocks at night. When the harbormaster demands she capture the creature that’s been drowning residents, Noon finds a reluctant ally in his daughter Covey. And as the next storm approaches, the two set off to find what’s haunting Mercy. After all, Noon is no stranger to monsters . . .

My Review

I heard so many incredible things about Tran’s debut that I’ve been eagerly anticipating reading their books. I still need to read She is a Haunting, but after reading They Bloom at Night, I seriously cannot wait. Just wow.

The balance between the elements of this book– its characters, the setting, and the tension in the horrific elements is absolutely perfect. The mostly abandoned town of Mercy feels incredibly real. It was so easy to picture where things happened and feel completely immersed in the landscape of this story. Noon is also a fabulous main character. Her relationships with others are so layered. She loves her mom but feels trapped by their life and grief over her brother and dad’s deaths. She reconnects with an estranged friend and has mixed feelings about that, too. When circumstances force her into a reluctant alliance with a girl, Noon is surprised by the relationship the two forge.

I loved the themes in this book about identity, specifically about being more than one thing that happened to you. I loved the message about having a found family or community to protect you and help you face uncomfortable truths. One line in particular says it well: “Sometimes we need people to hunt the things inside of us that need to die but that we aren’t ready to kill.”

They Bloom at Night is a tightly plotted story that doesn’t waste a single word. This would be a perfect (or terrifying) book to read during a hurricane or big storm. Fans of The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade or Don’t Let the Forest In by C. G. Drews will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
There are some supernatural/paranormal elements to the story, including characters with an ability to communicate nonverbally and change form.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to sexual assault (not shown on the page). Some homophobic comments. At one point, several people perform surgery on another person (with consent) and try to remove something from their body. Noon finds a dead body. She also encounters others who seem to be transforming and for whom it’s unclear if they’re alive.

Drug Content
References to drinking alcohol (not shown on the page).

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.