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Review: The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Calella

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Callela

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray
Christine Calella
Page Street Press
Published April 9, 2024

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About The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray

Storms and pirates are nothing compared to the evil within men’s hearts.

After a lifetime of abuse at the hands of superstitious townsfolk, Ophelia Young, a bastard child of the notorious pirate queen, is tired of paying for the sins of her mother. Despite playing by the rules her whole life, she’s earned nothing but spite and suspicion. So when a naval officer saves her from the jeering crowd at her mother’s hanging, Ophelia hatches a new hope of enlisting in the navy to escape her mother’s legacy and redeem her own reputation for good. But Ophelia soon discovers that a life at sea isn’t as honorable as she hoped.

Betsy Young is as different as she could be from her half-sister Ophelia. She’s a nervous homebody who wants to keep her family safe and longs to be in love. So naturally, she’s devastated when the son of their family’s business partner rejects her hand in marriage and her sister joins the navy. But when her father contracts a life-threatening illness as well, Betsy has to bring Ophelia home to save the family business.

Unfortunately for the Young sisters, Betsy trying to get Ophelia recalled reveals that Ophelia enlisted fraudulently under Betsy’s name, a secret which Ophelia struggles to keep from crewmates who would kill her if they knew she was the pirate queen’s daughter. To save Ophelia from the naval authorities, Betsy will have to board a ship during hurricane season and brave all the dangers of the sea to get them both home safe.

My Review

Is it weird to say that I found it refreshing to read about pirates as the villains in this book? Ha. Actually, I liked a lot of things about this book. The relationship between Betsy and Ophelia, of course, drew me into the story. They are half-sisters nearly the same age but with very different personalities. Despite their differences, these two girls have each other’s back in everything but this: Betsy’s crippling anxiety keeps her mostly at home, and Ophelia longs for a life at sea in the Navy.

While I really appreciate that Betsy has anxiety, I felt like the representation in the story was uneven. At the beginning, Betsy’s anxiety pretty much runs her life. She has decided to stay home where she feels safe, and she can barely speak when someone outside her family tries to talk to her. When she faces boarding a ship and making the journey to find Ophelia, she doesn’t make that decision lightly or without her anxiety spiking. As the story progresses, though, her anxiety sort of evaporates? She experiences life-threatening situations and eloquently advocates for herself and others. She grieves and feels fear, but I felt like the symptoms the story used to define her anxiety faded away.

I don’t know. I guess it made me a little bit uncomfortable because it implied that all she needed to do to conquer her anxiety was get out there and be brave, and that’s not really how clinical anxiety works? Maybe this wasn’t supposed to be representative of clinical anxiety, though.

At any rate. I really appreciated the relationship between the sisters and the representation of the pirates in the story. It was nice to read something that didn’t totally romanticize piracy. The plot was pretty evenly paced, and I loved the twists and turns the story took.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Betsy has anxiety. Ophelia is asexual/aromantic. Minor characters are lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
In one scene, a boy kisses a girl without her consent. She breaks off the kiss and makes it clear it isn’t what she wants. He stops, but is unhappy. Later, a girl welcomes kisses from a boy. In another scene, a boy coerces a girl to kiss him, and she bites his mouth.

Spiritual Content
Betsy and her mother believe in some spiritual things, like bad vibes and curses. Ophelia wrestles with whether she believes in anything like that. The people of her town seem to believe her mother’s blood is cursed, and they treat her terribly because of it. Later, some inexplicable things happen, and Ophelia isn’t sure what to make of them. She seems to finally believe in some spiritual happenings, whether it’s her mother’s spirit guiding her from beyond or some other benevolent force.

Violent Content
Betsy and Ophelia attend a hanging. The person’s face is covered, but they watch until she dies. The crowd abuses Ophelia, pushing her, pulling her hair, and nearly trampling her. Ophelia makes it clear this kind of treatment from her neighbors is pretty common.

Sailors are whipped as punishment. They battle those on enemy ships.

Pirates attack a ship, shooting some on board and brutalizing others. Some graphic descriptions of violence, including brief torture and dismemberment. A sailor wraps chains around a girl’s neck to mimic a hanging. Sailors battle for control of a ship, stabbing and shooting each other as they can.

Drug Content
Characters have wine with dinner. A fellow sailor passes Ophelia a bottle of whisky, which she takes a small sip from. Three girls drink rum together. One drinks until very drunk.

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: The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage by Colleen Oakes

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

The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage
Colleen Oakes
Pixel + Ink
Published April 2, 2024

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About The Second Favorite Daughters Club: Sister Sabotage

For fans of Sisters and Netflix’s The Baby-sitter’s Club, a contemporary series for the siblings who always come in last.

Santana Barnes is tired of playing second fiddle to her ballet protégé, honor student older sister Victoria. Casey Hammond is sick of her cute-as-a-button, adventurous little sister Sage, who steals all of their dad’s attention.

When the girls meet in their middle school library, they learn they have a lot in common: they both love reading, hate after-school activities, and most important, are clearly their parents’ second-favorite children.

Together, they create the Second Favorite Daughters Club. The members? Just the two of them. The mission? To become their parents’ favorite children by undermining their love-hoarding siblings. But is it possible to cheat your way to becoming your parents’ favorite kid?

Bestselling author Colleen Oakes’s middle-grade debut, SISTER SABOTAGE is a celebration of friendship and family in all its challenging forms, and a reminder that there’s no one way to stand out.

My Review

I love sister books. Sister relationships can be complex and challenging, but sometimes, even when it’s those things, there’s no one who defends you like a sister.

One of the things that I really appreciated about SISTER SABOTAGE is that Casey has an annoying younger sister but is the oldest herself, while Santana is the youngest, and annoyed by her older sister. That leads to the girls sharing some observations with each other about their siblings. For example, when Casey complains that her younger sister goes through her stuff, Santana sympathizes but also gets a little wistful and points out that that’s just what little sisters do.

I also enjoyed getting to see the friendship between the two girls take off. They were both so lonely before they met. I remember feeling that way and how I felt meeting a girl who would become one of my closest high school friends. Finding someone who gets you and really wants to be friends is such a huge thing. I loved that this book celebrates that.

The plan to sabotage the sisters made me a little nervous. I worried that especially the pranks played on the younger sibling would make it hard to like Casey. I thought the author tackled that part of the story in a way that let the girls’ feelings about the sabotage efforts evolve organically to a satisfying conclusion.

All in all, I think this is a really sweet book about sisters and best friends. I am really interested to see where the series goes from here.

I think readers who enjoy books by Kate Messner and Gillian McDunn will like the friendships and family challenges in this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl throws cupcakes across the room while angry. Two girls get into a fight in the auditorium of a theater.

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: Breathing Underwater by Abbey Lee Nash

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

Breathing Underwater
Abbey Lee Nash
Holiday House
Published March 5, 2024

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About Breathing Underwater

In this slice-of-life, sensitively written novel, a teen girl grapples with a sudden epilepsy diagnosis, all while figuring out a new crush and an uncertain future.

Seventeen-year-old Tess Cooper lives by three train hard, study hard, work hard. Swimming is her best chance at a college scholarship. It’s what her parents, her coaches, and even her best friend expect from her—and Tess can always deliver.

Until tragedy strikes. Tess has a seizure, and her world suddenly becomes one of doctor visits, missed practices, and a summer job stuck behind a counter—not sitting high in the lifeguard chair like every year before.

Instead, her spot goes to new guy Charlie. Sure, his messy hair and laid-back demeanor sends Tess’ heart racing, but this isn’t really the time. She’s got to focus on getting back in the pool—regardless of what her doctor or anyone else says.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

My Review

Okay, so some of the things I liked about the book are kind of spoiler-y, so I apologize if some of my statements are vague.

I don’t know much about competitive swimming, and what I do know is mostly from other books, like FLIP TURNS by Catherine Arguelles, so I can’t weigh in on the accuracy of the swimming components. They were engaging, though, and I liked the way the author used metaphors about swimming to show when Tess was feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

Tess has a complicated relationship with some of her teammates, at first because she feels like another girl is stealing her best friend and later because a few girls on the team witness a traumatic moment in Tess’s life. Those relationships felt pretty real to me. The conflicts felt like the kinds of things that I experienced as a teenager. It was super relatable.

I can’t speak to the accuracy of the representation of Tess’s seizure and diagnosis, but I was really moved by the things Tess felt and went through. Her anxiety about getting back in the water. Her frustration with her parents over their fear and shifting boundaries. All that resonated with me.

Her relationship with Charlie was maybe the weakest pull into the story for me. I enjoyed the relationship between them, and I especially liked the lightness it brought. It just didn’t add the value to the book that I expected, I guess? I don’t know if that makes sense. I liked the arc of the relationship, though.

All in all, I liked the book. I think readers looking for books about sports, especially girls in sports, or books featuring a main character with a disability should check this one out.

Content Notes for Breathing Underwater

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Tess has a seizure and later receives a diagnosis.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl nearly drowns during a swimming race.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol at a party. Tess takes a sip and decides she doesn’t like the alcoholic drink. She spends the evening with a boy who wasn’t drinking either. Later, she helps a drunk friend get home safely.

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 my own.

Review: Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor

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

Hotel Magnifique
Emily J. Taylor
Razorbill
Published April 22, 2022

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About Hotel Magnifique

For fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, this decadent and darkly enchanting YA fantasy, set against the backdrop of a Belle Époque-inspired hotel, follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique.

All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.

The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.

With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.

My Review

This is another book that’s been on my TBR because of the buzz I heard about it when it came out. The premise reminded me a lot of THE SPLENDOR by Breanna Shields, which I really liked, so I think it took me a while to try this one because I worried they would be too similar.

There are definitely some similarities. A magical hotel. Romance. Sisters whose relationship can only be restored by uncovering the secrets within the hotel.

But there are a lot of differences, too. The magic system is very different, and it has a huge impact on the story. In THE SPLENDOR, Juliette solves the mystery solo, hoping it will reunite her with her sister. In HOTEL MAGNIFIQUE, Jani pursues the hotel’s secrets in order to free herself and her sister. They work together to find a way out. I think Juliette is also the younger sister, whereas Jani is the older one, if I’m remembering right.

Reading the book, I definitely see the comparison to CARAVAL, too. It’s got the same capricious magical fair feel to it, where magic is both amazing and dangerous. I really liked the way the magic system was used in HOTEL MAGNIFIQUE.

I’m a huge fan of sister books, and I loved the relationship between Jani and Zosa in this one, too. Jani’s protectiveness, Zosa’s mischievousness, and the lessons they both learn that ultimately draw them closer together were some of my favorite moments in the book.

There’s also a romance subplot that I enjoyed. I didn’t see it coming right away, but as they got to know each other, I found it very easy to root for Jani and her romantic interest to get together.

On the whole, I feel like this one lived up to the hype. I loved the rich, magical setting. I appreciated the way the author described the skin tone of every character and included diverse representations of gender, relationships, and race.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Jani is described as having an olive skin tone. Bel is described as having a copper skin tone. The author describes the skin tone of each character. Same-gender couples appear in the background of several scenes.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to use magic.

Violent Content
Magic can be unpredictable and harm others if not carefully managed. Some scenes show brief but graphic torture. In one, Jani witnesses someone gouging out a woman’s eye. In another, someone slams a toothed door on a girl’s fingers, severing them. Someone uses magic to kill an opponent in a couple of scenes.

Drug Content
Guests drink alcohol. Jani sips a drink she later learns had a truth serum in it.

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Review: Strike the Zither by Joan He

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

Strike the Zither (Kingdom of Three #1)
Joan He
Roaring Brook Press
Published October 25, 2022

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About Strike the Zither

The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves.

But Zephyr knows it’s no contest.

Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren’s honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed. When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren’s followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. But there are more enemies than one—and not all of them are human.

An epic YA fantasy about found family, rivals, and identity from New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, inspired by Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Classics of Chinese Literature.

My Review

I’ve read both the other young adult novels Joan He has written, and I loved them both. In one, the main character has the same first name and spelling as I do– the first time I’ve ever seen that– and the other absolutely blew me away.

I can see why this book has been criticized for having an arrogant protagonist. If STRIKE THE ZITHER had been the first book by the author that I’d ever read, I would have felt more discouraged by that. Instead, I kept waiting for the commentary or consequences or plot twists that I’ve come to expect from the author, and wow, she totally delivered again.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Zephyr’s character at the beginning of the book, but I was fascinated by her. The plight of a smart woman in a world that values brute strength even while it benefits from her expertise really resonated with me. It was easy to begin to see Zephyr’s arrogance as a carefully crafted wall between her and everyone else and that being right was kind of her only safe space.

I love Ren and Cloud, too: the honor-bound leader and her sworn sister general. As the story unfolds, we learn about connections between characters we wouldn’t expect. Alliances shift and buckle, and new ones emerge. While the story is truly about relationships between characters and the power of loyalty and honor, one of the things the author delivers so expertly is in the way she manages all the pieces she’s placed on the gameboard of the story. The tension rises in the right places

I think DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE is still my favorite book by Joan He, but I truly enjoyed this one, too. I’m definitely going to keep following this series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
The characters are Chinese. One minor character is in love with another woman.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Vague references to sex.

Spiritual Content
A pantheon of gods exists, and they’re forbidden from interfering with human affairs. When gods misbehave, a leader god punishes them.

Violent Content
Battle violence. Descriptions of torture and execution. One of the warlordesses is particularly cruel in how she treats those she perceives as enemies.

A man makes threatening comments toward a woman, referencing his desire to assault her.

Drug Content
Characters consume alcohol at feasts or in celebration. Some characters become drunk and do regrettable things.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but which help support this blog.

Review: The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

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

The Poisons We Drink
Bethany Baptiste
Sourcebooks Fire
Published March 5, 2024

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About The Poisons We Drink

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

My Review

I loved so many things about this book. First, of course, I loved the relationship between Janus and Venus, who are sisters. They’re very different from one another and argue a lot, but at the end of the day, each one knows her sister has her back.

I also loved the magic system. It’s complex, but really interesting. Venus is a “brewer,” meaning she makes potions. But in order to do this, she must commit to only one kind of potion brewing. She has committed to brewing potions in love magic, so things that impact relationships.

She gets embroiled in a political scheme when legislators propose a bill that would mean witchers (magic users) would be required to register with the government, which, considering the way witchers are already treated by the government, would be a terrible thing. I liked the way the political issue drove the story forward. It made for high stakes and some intense reckoning over morals and what someone might be willing to do to protect the people they love or avenge a loved one’s murder.

While I loved the magic system, there were a couple of moments– not a lot of them– where I got confused about how things worked. An action suddenly broke a bond. A character could suddenly do a kind of magic I thought she wasn’t supposed to be capable of or didn’t pay the price that I thought she said would be exacted if she took certain actions.

It’s possible that those were fixed before the book was released (I read a pre-release copy). Even with those few hiccups, I was super carried away reading the story of this wild, pink-haired witcher ready to mete out justice or vengeance, as the situation demanded, no matter the personal cost.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Venus and other characters are Black. Venus is queer. Another character is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two people. One chapter opens with an explicit sex scene. A couple takes a bath together.

Spiritual Content
Some characters can perform magic, limited by the energy they have in their bodies, which they can replenish with special baths and teas or naturally replenishes over time. Powerful magic can sap so much energy from a person that it kills them. When someone breaks a magical oath or does something terrible using magic, a deviation or corrupt magical being can become part of them. This deviant will continue to try to break free or take control of its host.

Violent Content
Humans fear and hate magic users. They legislate ways to control them, from limiting the number of witchers who can be in a single area legally at a time to proposing a bill that would require each witcher to register with the government (because that always goes good places). Terrorists target witchers. Enforcers use violence to break up witcher gatherings.

In addition, some scenes show violence during magic use, such as bones shifting or breaking, and brief descriptions of body horror. A powerful blood ritual binds two people after they press their cut palms together. References to murders by gunshot, bomb, or other means. Venus attacks a few people who have tried to harm her or her family members. In one scene, a person uses a magical bond to control another and makes them stab themselves.

Drug Content
Venus can create potions that convince people to forgive one another, love someone, or make them highly susceptible to new ideas. There are also potions that can restore health or save someone from death.

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 POISONS WE DRINK in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.