Shipped halfway around the world to spend the summer with her mom’s eccentric Australian relatives, middle schooler and passionate violinist Louisa is prepared to be resentful. But life at the family’s remote camp in the Tasmanian rainforest is intriguing, to say the least. There are pig-footed bandicoots, scary spiders, weird noises and odors in the night, and a quirky boy named Colin who cooks the most amazing meals. Not the least strange is her Uncle Ruff, with his unusual pet and veiled hints about something named Convict Rock.
Finally, Louisa learns the truth: Convict Rock is a sanctuary established by her great-grandmother Eleanor—a sanctuary for Tasmanian tigers, Australia’s huge marsupials that were famously hunted into extinction almost a hundred years ago. Or so the world believes. Hidden in the rainforest at Convict Rock, one tiger remains. But now the sanctuary is threatened by a mining operation, and the last Tasmanian tiger must be lured deeper into the forest. The problem is, not since her great-grandmother has a member of the family been able to earn the shy tigers’ trust.
As the summer progresses, Louisa forges unexpected connections with Colin, with the forest, and—through Eleanor’s journal—with her great-grandmother. She begins to suspect the key to saving the tiger is her very own music. But will her plan work? Or will the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger disappear once again, this time forever?
A moving coming-of-age story wrapped up in the moss, leaves, and blue gums of the Tasmanian rainforest where, hidden under giant ferns, crouches its most beloved, and lost, creature.
My Review
I feel like this book slipped right into my TBR calendar almost as elusively as the Tasmanian tigers in the story. I’d never heard of a Tasmanian tiger or Thylacine until reading MUSIC FOR TIGERS. As I read descriptions of them– the stiff tail, dog-like face, tiger stripes– my curiosity only grew until I had to look online and get a visual for it. I found some video footage of the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity. It’s pretty wild looking!
In terms of the story, I loved Louisa from the getgo. I loved her passion for her music and felt a kinship with her over her battle with anxiety. I loved the way her relationship with her uncle developed as well as with her neighbor, Colin, who is possibly my favorite character in the whole book. I definitely identified with his mom and her heartbreak over Colin’s hurts and loneliness. She so wants him to find his people, and I absolutely feel like I get that.
The plot was not what drove the story for me. I think I kept wanting them to come up with a way to save the camp or raise awareness of the animals that destroying it endangered. But that wasn’t really the story. It was more an internal growth story about Louisa coming to understand her family and fall in love with things she didn’t expect to, which I really love, but it’s hard to make that as compelling a plot as something more concrete.
On the whole, I’m super glad I read this book and really enjoyed it. I think fans of BE LIGHT LIKE A BIRD or CHIRP will enjoy MUSIC FOR TIGERS. I know I’ll be recommending it!
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Representation Characters are white — Canadian or Australian. One character is non-neurotypical and has ASD.
Profanity/Crude Language Content None.
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Some rumors of ghosts at Convict Rock (though Louisa doesn’t really believe the stories) and sometimes Louisa hears piano music– perhaps like her grandmother used to play.
Violent Content None.
Drug Content Louisa’s uncle spends the night in town after drinking too much at a bar after losing someone he cares about.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of MUSIC FOR TIGERS in exchange for my honest review.
It’s summer 1977 and closeted lesbian Tammy Larson can’t be herself anywhere. Not at her strict Christian high school, not at her conservative Orange County church and certainly not at home, where her ultrareligious aunt relentlessly organizes antigay political campaigns. Tammy’s only outlet is writing secret letters in her diary to gay civil rights activist Harvey Milk…until she’s matched with a real-life pen pal who changes everything.
Sharon Hawkins bonds with Tammy over punk music and carefully shared secrets, and soon their letters become the one place she can be honest. The rest of her life in San Francisco is full of lies. The kind she tells for others–like helping her gay brother hide the truth from their mom–and the kind she tells herself. But as antigay fervor in America reaches a frightening new pitch, Sharon and Tammy must rely on their long-distance friendship to discover their deeply personal truths, what they’ll stand for…and who they’ll rise against.
A master of award-winning queer historical fiction, New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley once again brings to life with heart and vivid detail an emotionally captivating story about the lives of two teen girls living in an age when just being yourself was an incredible act of bravery.
My Review
So by now you probably know I LOVE books about music, and I have a particular soft spot for punk. I also found myself drawn to the historical aspect of MUSIC FROM ANOTHER WORLD, too, as I’m not familiar with very much of what happened in the 1970s.
The story is told entirely in diary entries and letters that Tammy and Sharon write to each other. In the diary entries, they often report things they aren’t ready to tell each other, or things that happen to both of them together. I liked the format and felt like it made things really personal. I felt like I could watch their friendship grow and its affect on their diary entries and feelings of isolation.
Both Tammy and Sharon belong to conservative Christian schools and communities and wrestle with feeling like they don’t belong. Tammy believes if she ever tells the truth about who she is (that she’s gay), she’ll be cast out of her family and community. Sharon worries for the same about her brother, who’s also gay.
This story hit me pretty hard. I grew up in a conservative Christian community (and still live in the town where I grew up), and I’ve wondered before about what it would be like to come out to that group of people. I think there would have been talk of conversion therapy, not by my parents, but by some of their friends and church members. My parents wouldn’t have stopped speaking to me or kicked me out. That’s just not how they operate. But it would have cost me most (if not all) of the contact I had with my faith community, and that would have been really painful and difficult.
I grew up with a girl who came out to her parents and lost her relationships with them. They haven’t spoken to her in years. They didn’t even try to contact her after the Pulse shooting to see if she was okay, and I can’t even imagine how hurtful that is.
Anyway, I guess reading this book, not only did I connect with Tammy and Sharon and everything they went through, I guess I pictured the faces of my friends, and it made me think about what it was like– even decades later than this book takes place– to grow up in a conservative church and be gay.
I really enjoyed the book, both for the emotional journeys that it brought me on and for the really fun punk scene (Midge Spelling is my favorite!).
Check out the Q&A with Robin Talley after the content notes!
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation Multiple characters are gay.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between boy and girl, references to making out. Reference to oral sex. Kissing between same sex couples.
Spiritual Content Both Tammy and Sharon are part of conservative Christian churches which believe that being gay is a sin. They come across as dogmatic, angry, and manipulative. One church leader gets caught in an affair and embezzling money from a charity.
Violent Content Some references to fights during punk shows.
Drug Content Teens drinking alcohol.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of MUSIC FROM ANOTHER WORLD in exchange for my honest review.
Q&A with Author Robin Talley
Q: What is your favorite thing about Tammy or Sharon?
A: I love the close connection between Sharon and her brother, Peter. That was another element of the story that came to me very early and was crucial in how I envisioned the characters’ lives. They’re siblings and best friends who know exactly how to get on each other’s nerves when they want to, but when it comes down to it, they’ll do absolutely anything for each other.
Q:
Are there any parts of Tammy and Sharon’s lives that reflect your own?
A: Their lives are pretty different from mine — for one thing, I wasn’t born yet when their story takes place, and I’ve always lived on the East Coast. I did grow up in a more right-wing community than I live in now, though, and I was part of a pretty conservative church community there. Though my church wasn’t politically active, thank goodness.
Q:
How did you come up with the letters to Harvey?
A: From the beginning, my very first kernel of the idea that led to this book was the image of Tammy in her church basement, writing a secret letter to Harvey Milk while around her, everyone she knew was celebrating the victory of Christian singer and TV commercial star Anita Bryant’s campaign to overturn a gay rights law in Miami. I imagined Tammy surrounded by people, but still completely isolated, and reaching out to the only person she’d ever heard of who she thought might be able to understand how she felt. At that time, Harvey was getting a lot of media attention nationwide as one of the most outspoken gay rights activists (he also served as a convenient bogeyman for anti-gay right-wing activists).
Q:
What inspired you to write in the Harvey Milk era?
A:
The history of activism for LGBTQ equality has always
been a big interest of mine. Before Music
From Another World I’d written two books that both focused on queer
characters living in the 1950s, when being a member of that community meant,
almost by default, being closeted. I wanted to explore a later era when, for
the first time, some LGBTQ people began to see coming out as a real option —
but an option with consequences that could be catastrophic. The late 1970s was
also when the anti-gay community first started to emerge as a major political
player, so that was interesting to explore as well.
Q:
What was the most difficult part of the story to write, and why did you feel it
was important to include that part?
A: I had a lot of trouble writing some of the things that happen to Tammy near the story’s midpoint (trying to be vague here to avoid spoilers). I hate to ever write about the characters that I care about experiencing anything negative, but the reality of the situation required it. The stakes Tammy faced were simply too high.
Q:
How do you balance the intensity of the time period and subject with the love
story?
A: That’s just the thing — we’re all living our lives against the backdrop of history, one way or another. We’re living through an incredibly turbulent time in the world right now, just like Sharon and Tammy were in the late 1970s, but people are still going to school, fighting with their parents, getting their first jobs, etc. And, yes, falling in love. For all of us, just like for these characters, we have to figure out how the minutiae of day to day life (and sometimes the drama of it) fits in with the bigger picture, and not lose sight of the contributions we make to the larger world, too.
Q:
What is one thing you hope readers take away from MUSIC FROM ANOTHER WORLD?
A:
I hope they’ll go on to read more on their own about
the events that followed the end of this story. There were a ton of both highs
and lows in the movement for LGBTQ rights, and although this story focuses
largely on 1978’s Proposition 6 in California, also known as the Briggs
Initiative, that was just one campaign out of a much larger movement, and it
was the larger movement that laid the foundation for events that we’re still
seeing play out today.
Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity?
Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.
Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.
Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.
My Review
Somewhere between requesting an advance copy of this book and actually reading it, I forgot what this story was about. (This is the only thing I don’t like much about e-books– it’s harder to flip to the back cover copy and read the summary again if you want to refresh on the premise of the book.)
Right away, though, I loved the idea of the secret library. And the references to some of the social situations and how they morphed after the alien invasion felt pretty realistic. I also think it’s really fun when a book creates its own fandom, whether that’s a famous book or movie or in this case, a famous band. I loved all the snippets about the Starry Eyed– interviews, lyrics, news spots, everything that made them seem real.
It took me a little while to get into Ellie. She’s a little prickly, which I grew to understand and love once I understood why. At first I think I worried she would be too judgy– but it becomes obvious fairly quickly that she’s just guarded and for good reasons.
I really liked the way Ellie and Morris’s relationship developed. I also loved that the story followed Ellie’s feelings about physical affection. I feel like that can be a really alienating thing to feel, especially as a teenager when there’s so much emphasis on dating and attraction. So I loved that this story models someone who’s different, and a relationship in which that’s okay.
Plot-wise, I feel like some people are going to argue that the end is kind of too easy. I don’t want to give anything away. For me, I enjoyed the end– there were some elements of it that I could see coming, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of it. This is one of those books that sets up the second book in the last few pages of the first, so I’m sure there will be a sequel. Right now I plan to read it. I’m interested enough in Ellie and Morris’s story to invest in another book for sure!
Representation Ellie describes herself as on the spectrum of asexuality (gender isn’t important to her with regard to romantic love) and isn’t generally interested in romantic physical intimacy. She’s also black. There are a couple minor characters that identify with they/them pronouns.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Some references to sex and kissing. Brief kissing between boy and girl.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content Ellie and her friends witness human executions (someone hanged to death) and trauma caused by experimentation. Some situations of peril and battle situations. Nothing grossly graphic, but the kinds of things you’d expect in a post-apocalyptic world.
Drug Content Ellie’s mother is an alcoholic.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of THE SOUND OF STARS in exchange for my honest review.
Before the stroke that left him deaf, music was Simon’s life. Now, his band breaks up and even his future college career studying musical composition is in jeopardy. How can a deaf student study music?
The only bright spot in all of it is a fierce girl Simon meets at Auslan class, where he learns sign language to communicate. G seems just as angry to be there as Simon feels, and the two strike up a friendship that inspires Simon to find new ways to pursue music. He begins developing ideas that would allow Deaf and hearing audience members to experience music in the same way, desperately hoping to impress a music professor in a composition program that Simon hopes to enter.
My Review
The concept of IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC totally hooked me. I love books about angsty musicians, so I knew I’d like Simon. I like fierce female characters, so I suspected I’d like G and Simon’s little sister, Maeve, also stole my heart. She’s strong and sometimes pushy, but you really get the sense that underneath that is a lot of love for her family.
In terms of the plot, this must have been a tough book to write. I felt like it dragged sometimes, but I don’t think that actually had to do with the pacing of the plot. I think it had more to do with the stakes. Simon’s goal is to find a way to celebrate/study/participate in music as a young deaf man. If he fails, he’ll be very sad. It’s not that that isn’t compelling. But I didn’t feel like the stakes ratcheted up as the story progressed.
I like the way the story braids together Simon’s love for music and his love for G. In lots of ways her emotional journey seems to be a mirror of his, sometimes revealing things to Simon that he wasn’t ready to face about himself. But she also calls him out on things he’s not ready to face, too. They make a good pair.
Readers who liked THE SCAR BOYS by Len Vlahos will like the gritty, emotional writing and the “diary of a band boy” style of the story.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation Simon and G are Deaf. IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC is set in Australia.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Extreme profanity used frequently. I struggled with the amount of swearing in the book, I think because it really felt gratuitous to me.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between boy and girl. Simon and G spend nights together, and it’s hinted that they’re having sex but not explicitly described.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content References to a suicide attempt.
Drug Content Simon and his friends drink alcohol, which is legal at eighteen in Australia.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC in exchange for my honest review.
Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.
Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.
Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.
My Review
I feel like I had a lot of strong thoughts about this book. Some things I really liked a lot. The way the author describes music really pulled me into each scene. I loved that so much of the story followed Grace’s singing (or her inability to sing) and Jared’s talent with the guitar. I wanted to sit in on their jam sessions. The big concerts felt very realistic.
In terms of the spiritual elements, I struggled with some of the doctrine. Jared, the son of a powerful demon and a human woman, had a lot of questions about his value and identity. I like that he’s a complicated character, that he wants to do good and be good despite his origin. Honestly, I think that’s pretty relatable. I don’t think it’s something that’s within the bounds of Christian ideology, though.
Music in the story has a strong spiritual component. I thought this was also pretty cool to show this spiritual component to songs depending on who’s playing them, what the songs glorify, and the motives of the musicians playing them. Early on in FORSAKEN, a mentor character shares a theory that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones artists were Satanists. He cites some interesting evidence.
I looked it up because I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be an in-the-book thing or a this-is-real thing. The individual things the character points out are true (an occult founder being pictured on an album cover and some lyrics about Lucifer), I felt like those were probably things the artists used for their shock value. I didn’t see any indication that the artists themselves had any real love or worship for Satan, so I had a hard time following that thread of the plot.
Sometimes I felt like I had missed something – I think because I started reading this series with book two. I think FORSAKEN makes a good choice for TWILIGHT or BEAUTIFUL CREATURES fans or readers who like a sweet paranormal romance. I’d recommend starting with the first book, FORLORN.
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation I think all the major characters were white and straight.
Profanity/Crude Language Content One instance of mild profanity.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between boy and girl. References to two characters having sex (off-scene).
Spiritual Content Jared is the son of a demon and human, but he wants to be worthy of God’s love, and seems to be part of God’s plan as he has visits from other angels. Grace has a guardian angel who tries to keep her safe. At one point, characters start talking about a church where the pastor preaches that God wouldn’t send anyone to Hell because he loves us so much, and that Hell doesn’t really exist. One of the girls scoffs and responds with something like, “Why would anyone believe in God if there’s no Hell?” From a Christian perspective, I didn’t think this made any sense. I could see not believing in Jesus if there was no Hell, since his death and resurrection are the reason people don’t have to go there. I didn’t understand the point being made there, maybe?
See my review for more on the spirituality of FORSAKEN.
Violent Content Jared has some anger issues and gets into fights when provoked. At one point, the girls venture into a dangerous part of town and a man attacks one of them. At another point, one character stabs one of the girls.
Drug Content One of Jared’s companions uses a lot of drugs and is very often drunk. He has a girl with him who’s often high or drunk as well. Jared doesn’t participate in any of that.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing, but help me buy more books.
Flannery Moore rides motocross bikes and can’t remember the last time she wore a dress. She’s also in love with one of her riding friends. Although nothing else could make her do so, Flannery decides to redefine herself into the kind of girl Tyler Dorset might fall for.
Despite his mother’s desperate efforts to keep Tyler close to home, he has dreams of his own. Dreams that will take him far away from sleepy and safe Bentley, North Carolina. Will Flannery understand how a well-played guitar solo moves his soul? Or will their bond fade away if he’s not riding his dirt bike anymore?
When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, Flannery is compelled to make sacrifices, some obvious, some that break her heart. Will this mean settling for “less than” with Tyler when she longs for so much more?
For the sake of staying true to themselves, both Tyler and Flannery are pushed to make the choice between running away… or running strong.
My Review
This was such a sweet book. I read RUNNING LEAN some time ago when it came out, but I hadn’t realized this companion book existed. RUNNING STRONG takes place after the end of RUNNING LEAN and follows two characters who appeared in that first book: Connor’s friends Tyler and Flannery.
I think Flannery’s journey affected me the most. After her mom’s cancer diagnosis, Flannery struggles with a lot of fear and anxiety over what will happen with her mom. Her relationship with Tyler becomes both a happy place and another stressor to her. I found it easy to identify with her roiling emotions and her battle over wanting to be herself or change herself so she fit into popular ideas about femininity.
Ultimately, Flannery decides the person she needs to please, in terms of the way she dresses and acts, is herself. I liked that she’s both the motorcross girl and the girl who likes makeup.
Tyler’s guitar playing added a lot of depth to his character, I thought. It really showed a lot of passion and drive, and I liked that. His struggle to break away from an overprotective mom also felt pretty real.
Overall, I liked this book. In terms of spirituality, it’s definitely written from a Christian perspective, but I didn’t think it sounded preachy. It’s a sweet, clean story, perfect for readers who are just beginning to read romance or who are looking for a gentle love story that also tackles family issues. You can read my review of Diana Sharples’ first novel, RUNNING LEAN,here.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Representation Major characters are white. One character has recently been through recovery from an eating disorder. Flannery’s mom receives a cancer diagnosis early RUNNING STRONG. Most of the characters are Christian.
Profanity/Crude Language Content None.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex—Tyler wants to make sure he doesn’t go too far with Flannery, since they both believe in waiting until marriage to have sex.
Spiritual Content Both Flannery and Tyler’s families attend church. At one point, Tyler’s family meets with a pastor for counseling. He uses a Bible verse to talk about speaking life, or saying positive things, to one another.
Violent Content None.
Drug Content Tyler’s mom believes his uncle drinks and uses drugs. Another family member died from a drug overdose in the past.
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