Tag Archives: netgalley

Review: Unraveling by Sara Ella

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

Unraveling by Sara EllaUnraveling (Unblemished #2)
Sara Ella
Thomas Nelson – HarperCollins
Published July 11, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Unraveling
Eliyana Ember doesn’t believe in true love. Not anymore. After defeating her grandfather and saving the Second Reflection, El only trusts what’s right in front of her. The tangible. The real. Not some unexplained Kiss of Infinity she once shared with the ghost of a boy she’s trying to forget. She has more important things to worry about–like becoming queen of the Second Reflection, a role she is so not prepared to fill.

Now that the Verity is intertwined with her soul and Joshua’s finally by her side, El is ready to learn more about her mysterious birth land, the land she now rules. So why does she feel like something–or someone–is missing?

When the thresholds begin to drain and the Callings, those powerful magical gifts, begin to fail, El wonders if her link to Ky Rhyen may have something to do with it. For light and darkness cannot coexist. She needs answers before the Callings disappear altogether. Can El find a way to sever her connection to Ky and save the Reflections–and keep herself from falling for him in the process?

My Review
After reading Unblemished, I was super excited to get into this book. I liked the fresh story world and the spunky voice of Eliyana and all the musical references. All those great things continue in this second book. I loved the way some of the characters evolved– Ebony, especially– and enjoyed seeing Eliyana gain some confidence and independence of her own.

On the guy side… You know, in the first book, I was really rooting for Joshua and El to be together. I wasn’t a huge fan of Ky’s cockiness and attitude, and I liked Joshua’s self-sacrifice and commitment to do what was right no matter the personal cost to him. In this book, I found myself struggling to like either guy. I felt like they both had agendas, and while the story vilified one guy for his, I didn’t feel like I bought into the idea that the other guy should get off the hook because his motives were supposedly so pure.

I didn’t mind the lack of Christian worldview, but I felt like Unraveling confused some Christian concepts and warped them into a lot of gray morality. Everything seemed to come down to human strength. The good guys fight the Void and the bad guys simply aren’t strong enough to do so or flat out choose the darkness. I don’t know. It felt empty, I guess, and kind of arbitrary, if that makes any sense.

Despite my reservations about the characters, I definitely bought into the romance and want these guys to figure out some way to be happy. All of them. Some of Eliyana’s moments of comparison between how she feels about Joshua versus Ky made a lot of sense to me in terms of growing up and learning about love.

If you liked Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, you might like the world-jumping, star-crossed love elements of Unraveling. Definitely start the series with Unblemished, as it introduces a lot of characters gradually, and Unblemished kind of throws you right into the middle of a huge group of them without a lot of preamble. You can read my review of Unblemished here.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters appear to be white. Some minor characters have darker skin tones.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Story-centric curses, like crowe and Verity or Void.

Romance/Sexual Content
Eliyana is engaged to Joshua, but still has strong feelings for Ky. She exchanges kisses with the young man she loves. In one scene, it’s unclear how far the physical love goes. The man describes walking and kissing and ending up on his back, drawing her to him before the scene ends.

Kisses also create bonds and promises. A kiss to the heel of the palm can bind someone to a promise they’ve made, and cause their death if they break that promise. A Kiss of Infinity binds the soul of the giver to the receiver.

Spiritual Content
While the story flirts with some Christian concepts, occasionally referencing Proverbs or spiritual concepts, I wouldn’t say it holds a truly Christian worldview. The Verity represents light and good, and the Void represents darkness and sin, but each character who interacts with them makes choices based on his or her own strength to battle or join with those forces.

Many characters possess Callings, or special abilities, like healing or shape-shifting.

Violent Content
Eliyana, Joshua, and Ky’s bonds mean that when one experiences pain, the others often feel it. Battles include gunshot and arrow wounds as well as physical fights. Eliyana notices scars Ky carries and has a brief flashback about the torture he endured receiving them. She also experiences pain when she uses some of her gifts.

A young man kills a sleeping woman, justifying the death as self-defense, though it clearly isn’t. A soldier stabs a child through the heart with a sword. Another soldier dies protecting his wife.

Drug Content
Brief reference to a character who appears to be drunk.

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

 

Review: Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan

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

Amina’s Voice
Hena Khan
Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster
Published March 14, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Now that Amina is in middle school, it seems everything is changing. Her best friend Soojin wants to hang out with Emily. Amina remembers Emily making fun of her and Soojin in elementary school. Soojin wants to celebrate becoming an American citizen by changing her name, and she wants Amina to help her pick something “American.” Amina struggles to find her own place in the shifting world. Soojin encourages her to sing a solo for a chorus concert, but Amina worries she’ll freeze up and be unable to speak. Then she learns she’ll have to speak at a recitation of the Quran. She dreads the idea, especially when her very strict uncle from Pakistan volunteers to coach her the verses she’s selected to speak.

When her mosque is vandalized and the recitation canceled, Amina feels devastated. In the wake of the disaster, the community rallies around her, and she discovers that friendship crosses boundaries and survives changes, sometimes even flourishes because of them.

I heard about this book on Aisha Saeed’s blog where she recommended several books, including this one. I enjoyed reading about a practicing Muslim family and Amina’s struggle to balance her spiritual beliefs with other parts of her life. As a practicing Christian who grew up in public school, I remember facing some of the same kinds of challenges and having some of the same fears and concerns.

I loved that Amina’s best friend is a practicing Christian, too. Actually, during middle school, my best friend was a practicing Jew. I found that having deep spiritual commitment gave us a kind of common ground I wouldn’t have expected, because we both held deep belief that sometimes held us apart from our classmates.

It’s funny… I hadn’t thought about what it would be like to watch that relationship as a parent (my parents loved my friend and clearly valued our friendship.) Now, as a parent of a child in a school district with a significant Muslim presence, I find I feel similarly. I would love for my daughter to have a friend like Amina. I think having someone to share that feeling of otherness that comes from a deep faith and challenging each other to love across religious lines was one of the most valuable experiences I had as a middle school kid.

My own experience aside, I loved this book. It was easy to identify with Amina. She’s a good girl who wants to do right and struggles with fear and shyness. The story really delves into her understanding of friendship and community, issues common to all of us. I enjoyed the way her relationship with her parents, her brother, and her friends at school changed as she grew to see herself differently and began to explore her connection with her community more deeply.

If you’re looking for a story that exemplifies the power of coming together as a family and a community, this is a great pick. Amina’s Voice is also a good read for a shy child trying to find his or her place in the changing landscape of school transition.

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Cultural Elements
Amina and her family are practicing Muslims. Her parents are from Pakistan, and an uncle from Pakistan comes to visit the family. Amina’s best friend Soojin and her family are Korean.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Amina’s family takes time to pray and attend services. Her uncle has much more strict beliefs than Amina’s family. When he visits, he expresses some of his more conservative views—such as music being sinful. Amina worries that her love and talent for music make her an evil person. Her parents share their own views—that Allah gave her this special talent for a reason—and this comforts her.

When Amina lets a secret slip and embarrasses a friend, she worries that she’ll be condemned for speaking against someone, as her uncle claims. Her parents reassure her that harming someone else wasn’t what was in her heart. Therefore, they tell her, she’s not the evil person the scripture in the Quran meant to identify.

After an attack on the mosque, the community, including a local Christian church, rallies together to help raise funds and find ways to repair the damage and provide places for services in the meantime.

Violent Content
Amina and her family witness the aftermath of a fire and destruction at her mosque.

Drug Content
Amina worries after learning her brother spent time with boys who were smoking. She bursts into tears when confronting him, but feels reassured to learn he didn’t smoke with them.

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

 

Review: The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt

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

The Radius of Us
Marie Marquardt
St. Martin’s Griffin
Available January 17, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Gretchen lives a small life. It started the night a man forced her to the ground and then told her to run, his own terror taking hold of her. Now she keeps to the small safe neighborhood surrounding her home, places where nothing bad can happen. And then she meets the boy who looks like him. Like the one who attacked her. When she meets Phoenix, though, she isn’t afraid. Something about the way he listens, the way he asks the right questions, the way he carries his own trauma and fear, makes her trust him. Soon she’s tangled up in his life and the desperate attempt to save him and his brother from death at the hand of gang members waiting for him back in Ilopango. To stay safe, he must be granted asylum in the US, a rare occurrence for El Salvadoran refugees.

On its face, this is a simple romance. Sad girl meets sadder boy. Both find that to love they must be brave and work toward healing. Underneath that simple story is a deeper, more heartrending one. This is the story of a boy whose home town gave him two choices: live by the gang or die by it. It’s the story of a small Atlanta suburb and the community thousands of miles from El Salvador still affected by the destruction of gang violence.

I feel like I’m not doing a very good job talking this book up because it’s such a serious topic. There are some light moments in which Phoenix and Gretchen joke around. At one point, she makes it her mission to find pupusas, a delicacy that Phoenix remembers from home and craves but can’t find in the US, and that whole adventure is fun and sweet. Phoenix meets a couple who own a tattoo shop (and also remove tattoos) and befriends them. Their quirky personalities brighten up several scenes, and they offer some timely wisdom.

This is a little darker than Marquardt’s first novel, but still definitely worth reading. It took me some time to acclimate to Phoenix’s voice, but other than that, I really enjoyed the story. Definitely add this one to your list if you’re looking for an unusual romance or book that explores social issues.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Phoenix and his brother are from El Salvador. He lives in the US during the story but vividly remembers events in his home in Ilopango.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. The sections from Phoenix’s point-of-view contain a lot more profanity than the sections from Gretchen’s point-of-view.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some scenes show kissing between a boy and girl. At one point the two fall asleep together fully clothed. They briefly discuss waiting to have sex.

Phoenix lives under the guardianship of an older lesbian couple. Phoenix mentions seeing them kiss a couple of times.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Gretchen remembers being attacked (not sexually). Phoenix recalls some brutal gang violence and bullying. One boy shoots another from a car.

Drug Content
Gretchen’s (still underage) college boyfriend orders a beer with dinner. No one checks his ID.

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

 

Save

Review: The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti

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

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett
Chelsea Sedoti
Sourcebooks
Available January 3, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Hawthorn didn’t even like Lizzie Lovett, but when the girl disappears and the whole town turns upside down over it, she can’t resist getting involved. At first it’s just a pastime. But as Hawthorn’s unorthodox theory takes shape, she finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into Lizzie’s life. She gets hired at Lizzie’s old job makes friends with her understandably wrecked boyfriend, the guy half the town thinks might have killed Lizzie. As she delves deeper into the girl she never knew, Hawthorn learns how little she understands herself and her own place in the world, and understanding what happened to Lizzie becomes her own transforming journey.

My Review

Hawthorn’s voice has to be the strongest part of this story. I wasn’t immediately crazy about the voice, but the style and its consistency definitely drew me in. This is one of those stories with deeply flawed characters, and my disappointment with those that didn’t rise from the ashes of their mistakes (sorry, no spoilers) made me stop reading for a few moments to grieve. Sometimes you just want better for people—even imaginary ones!

I often struggle reading stories about really unconventional families (probably odd, since I think my family would probably fit that description to those looking in from the outside) and Hawthorn’s family was definitely a struggle. I loved her brother and his best friend.

Fans of Cori McCarthy’s You Were Here should check out The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. The emotional depth and surprising journey of grief reminded me a lot of You Were Here as did the quirkiness of the main character—though Lizzie Lovett is told only in Hawthorn’s point-of-view as opposed to the multiple perspectives in McCarthy’s novel.

Content

Recommended for Ages 17 up.

Cultural Elements
Pretty generic small-town America.

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

Romance/Sexual Content
Hawthorn reveals the source of her name—her parents conceived her under a hawthorn tree. Later she kisses and has sex with her boyfriend—an experience which leaves her with mixed feelings. She didn’t expect the awkwardness. She wonders about Lizzie’s experience with sex and asks some general questions of Lizzie’s boyfriend. He tells Hawthorn that Lizzie liked sex a lot.

Spiritual Content
Hawthorn explores some unconventional ideas about Lizzie’s disappearance. For instance, could she have transformed into another creature? A group of hippies begins camping in Hawthorn’s backyard, and their leader gives Hawthorn some advice about finding her true name and ways to view life according to his ways.

Hawthorn’s mother told her to be careful what she wished for, especially in terms of wishing ill on others. So when Hawthorn wishes ill on someone, she wishes things that are more often comical or inconvenient, such as wishing that whenever a rival microwaved a frozen burrito, the center would stay cold.

Violent Content
A girl at school makes Hawthorn miserable. She never physically bullies her, but her behavior is emotionally bullying and mean. See spoiler alert below for additional violent content.

Drug Content
Hawthorn goes to a party where teens are drinking. She also gets drunk and sick. At one point her brother comes home drunk and sick. The hippies (and Hawthorn’s mother) smoke pot in the backyard. Lizzie comments that if her mom is smoking pot, she can’t very well condemn her underage drinking.

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

Additional violent content – SPOILER WARNING
Searchers find Lizzie’s body eventually. She died by suicide after hanging herself.

Spotlight: The Homecoming by Stacie Ramey

News and Fun, , ,

The Homecoming
by Stacie Ramey
Sourcebooks Fire
Available November 1, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Homecoming by Stacie Ramey

It’s been a year since John lost his girlfriend, Leah, to suicide. Living with his uncle keeps his mind from the tragedy and his screwed up family-until he gets into trouble and a judge sends him back home. With a neglectful mother and abusive brother, John’s homecoming is far from happy.

As he tries to navigate and repair the relationships he abandoned years ago, Emily, the girl next door, is the only bright spot. She’s sweet and smart and makes him think his heart may finally be healing. But tragedy isn’t far away, and John must soon face an impossible decision: save his family or save himself.

About Stacie Ramey

Web Site | Twitter | Facebook

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Was a clap from the sidelines kind of girl.

The first person to say they loved my writing was a boy in my 10th grade English class. (So I dated him).

I write every book with one person in mind. My reader.

Maybe this next book will be for you.

Hope so.

Save

Review: For This Life Only by Stacey Kade

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

For This Life Only
Stacey Kade
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

A bonfire he had to escape. Ice on a roadway. A night that changes everything for Jacob Palmer. The night his twin brother is killed in a car accident. Jace almost shared his brother’s fate, and in that moment when his heart stopped, there was no light welcoming him to something after. There was only nothing. And now that Jace has survived, he can’t help feeling like fate got it wrong. Eli, the good son, the one who loved everyone around him, the one who made people feel loved, should have been the one to live.

As Jace wrestles with his guilt and the injuries that make his dream of a baseball scholarship an impossibility, his family fractures further. Jace has questions. The kinds of questions a pastor’s kid isn’t supposed to ask. Then he meets Thera and he discovers that perhaps a notorious psychic’s daughter and a prominent pastor’s son have more in common than he could have imagined. But when he stumbles onto Eli’s unfinished business and a dilemma that could destroy his father’s church, Jace realizes he’s facing more than his own questions of faith, but questions of who he is and what it means to do the right thing regardless of who it might hurt.

One of the things I really liked about this book is that it brings faith into the story in a non-preachy way. This isn’t about Jace’s spiritual journey in terms of having a salvation experience or ultimately answering life’s big questions. It’s really only the beginning of that journey in which he begins to take ownership of what he believes.

I liked the genuine conversations that Jace and Thera share. Their relationship definitely felt like one of those life-changing ones, where each person gets to feel seen and truly understood. I liked that Jace’s relationship with his dad is something he continues to wrestle with. That also felt very real, and it was easy to understand how hurtful and frustrating some things between them were. Though this wasn’t my experience as someone raised in a church, I felt like I could see people that I knew in the faces of characters in this story. It definitely captured some of the hallmark fails of church service and politics.

What’s sad in a way is that there isn’t really anyone on the other side whose faith is genuine, who has come through the fire of asking these big questions. I would have liked even a minor character just to kind of nod to the fact that this happens. But it really wasn’t the point of the story, so I can see why the author may have chosen not to show that point-of-view. Jace’s brother is kind of the closest example we have of that, but he’s absent for so much of the story. Overall, I really liked this book. It was a tough read because of how sad the beginning was, but I definitely enjoyed reading it overall.

Cultural Elements
The central characters felt pretty white middle class to me. Thera may be Greek. Her mother is obese. At one point she talks about what that means to her and how that affects the way people see her and the choices she makes.

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

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and petting between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Jacob wrestles with questions about faith and what happens after death after a life-changing car accident. Though he’s a pastor’s son, he mostly identifies spirituality with rules and pressure to perform a certain way. He discovers that the local psychic’s daughter also feels trapped by the expectations people have about who she is and what she believes. They share a relationship where they allow themselves to question things.

At one point as he’s beginning to question things, Jacob makes a comment about there not being stories in the Bible about people making active choices about what they believe. I find I disagree. It was a minor point not really central to the story, though.

Overall, this is not a story about who’s right or wrong in terms of faith vs psychic energy vs science. There’s some limited exploration of what a life committed to those principles looks like, but the story isn’t really about finding or losing faith. It’s more about appearances and assumptions and finding the courage to live honestly despite what it may do to the expectations others have.

Violent Content
Jacob sustains some serious injuries from a car accident. Not many details of the accident itself. Two boys get into a fist-fight.

Drug Content
Jacob drinks alcohol at a party with his friends.

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

Save