Tag: Young Adult

Serena’s Review: “The Whispering Night”

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Book: “The Whispering Night” by Susand Dennard

Publishing Info: Tor Teen, November 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Winnie Wednesday’s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive. Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task—one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won’t stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?

Previously Reviewed: “The Luminaries” and “The Hunting Moon”

Review: This series has been one of the stranger reading journeys. I really struggled to enjoy the first book, so much so that I had mentally written off the idea of continuing the series altogether. But then I received an ARC for the sequel and thought I’d give it a second chance. While it still wasn’t my favorite, it was also a marked improvement on the first. And, well, here we are, finishing off the trilogy with the release of the third book! And, to continue the trend, I think this one was the strongest of the lot!

Part of the strength of this one comes down to the fact that it is benefitting from all of the leg work done in the first two books. Here, the romance has been thoroughly explored and established, with Winnie and Jay feeling fairly sure of one another. This allows the love story to playout in a supporting role, there as a minor subplot and to bring some heart and humor to the story, but without needing to get bogged down in too much drama or angst.

Further, much of the world-building has been done. Not only are readers familiar with this world, but the first two books set up a number of secrets and reveals that could be finally explored in this last installment, giving this book all of the payoff that was sometimes lacking in the first two books. Further, the action was markedly increased in this book. I’d say there is about twice as much action here than in the second book, perhaps even more. Again, because we don’t need to spend as much time with the drama of the romance, the plot is allowed free reign to run wild!

I also feel like Dennard’s writing style is benefitted most with this more plot-forward type of storytelling. Much of my frustration from the first book (and even the second a little) had to do with the characterization and the drama that played out in these aspects. She also did a good job wrapping up dangling mysteries from way back in the first book, and, for the most part, I think all of these revelations and resolutions landed well.

Overall, this was a very satisfying end to a roller-coaster ride of a trilogy. Now that it is wrapped up, and wrapped up well, I’d definitely feel more confident recommending it to teen readers. I do think it lands solidly in YA, however, and isn’t necessarily one of those YA novels that has great cross-over appeal to adult readers. Nothing wrong with that! But it is worth noting since many adult fantasy fans also check out YA titles.

Rating 8: Full of action and suspense, this book serves as a solid ending to the trilogy, stabilizing the entire series into a worthwhile endeavor for YA readers!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Whispering Night” can be found on this Goodreads list: October 2024 Horror

Kate’s Review: “Snow Drowned”

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Book: “Snow Drowned” by Jennifer D. Lyle

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, November 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: There’s a saying on Fall Island: if you’re not careful, the snow will get you.

Gracie Hutchinson has lived on Fall Island her whole life and knows there’s some truth to those words. Fall’s snowstorms have a spooky way of claiming people, making them disappear without a trace or driving them mad. Now, with a hundred-year-storm approaching, most of Fall’s residents have fled to the mainland. But not Gracie. Left behind her with physician father, she braces for landfall.

Gracie’s not the only one left behind. Her classmate Joseph Wescott, descendant of the legendary pioneer who founded Fall Island, has stayed, too. After a chance encounter, the two stumble across something more unsettling than the snow: a ritually mutilated corpse. By night, as the snow begins to fall, it becomes clear that whoever (or whatever) murdered the man they found has their sights set on Gracie.

Seeking refuge at Wescott Manor, Gracie feels safe surrounded by dozens of locals hunkered down in the huge house. But as the storm assaults the island, Gracie discovers secrets that have been kept since Fall was settled. If she can’t uncover the hidden history and terrifying truth about Fall Island before the storm’s end, she’ll be the next to disappear into the snow.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Being a Minnesota girl, I know a thing or two about snowstorms. I actually kind of enjoy a nice hardcore blizzard, assuming that I’ve had enough time to prepare for it (i.e. stock up on comfort food, wine, and a bunch of books or movies/TV shows) and that I don’t have to drive in it. It’s probably no surprise, then, that I really like wintery horror stories, so of course I really wanted to read “Snow Drowned” by Jennifer D. Lyle. The description had me thinking of Stephen King’s amazing miniseries “Storm of the Century”, so I thought I knew what I was getting into. But I was wrong, and wrong in a good way.

Unfortunately I can’t really tell you WHY I was wrong because of spoilers, so I will give you other reasons as to why this book worked pretty well for me. The first is that I genuinely enjoyed the slow burn build of the horror and mystery at the heart of Fall Island as a monumental snow storm is approaching. We follow Gracie, a teenager whose family has been on Fall Island for generations, and who has been a bit isolated at home as she and the rest of the island awaits for a huge storm to hit. But when she and Joseph Wescott, the heir apparent to the devout founding family of the town centuries ago, find a body that seems to have been ritually murdered, things start to spiral out of control. I liked seeing Gracie hole up with the Wescotts in their mansion, and how Lyle slowly unfolds that this well regarded and deeply religious family has some dark secrets, and that Gracie is, unfortunately, about to play a key role. The Gothic vibes of the island were well done and the family was unsettling and sinister, and it had me turning the pages looking for more.

In an attempt to avoid spoilers but talk a little about other things that worked, I can say that “Storm of the Century” is accurate, but you have to throw in some folk horror and a family conspiracy edge that harkens to “Ready or Not” and other privileged wealthy antagonists. Lyle holds these things pretty close to the vest, and I was genuinely caught off guard a few times as I read this book. Lyle lays out the clues, and she does it in a way that make perfect sense but still kept me guessing at least part of the time. I also really loved the swerve that we took right before the climax of this action, as I was expecting one kind of sub genre and then got something all the more interesting that had a GREAT pay off. There was a bit of a quibble I had that kind of knocked some points off, and that was the ending wrap up had another swerve moment that made me groan, and then set up for a potential sequel. Would I read the sequel? Possibly! But the initial ending was so satisfying that I wish we hadn’t even laid the groundwork at the last moment.

Winter is coming, folks, and “Snow Drowned” is going to be a perfect horror read for a snowy dark night. A YA horror winner in a genre that sometimes gets a bit rocky in that age group, which I’m always happy to see.

Rating 7: A YA horror that had some solid surprises and scares, though the ending was a bit of a disappointment.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Snow Drowned” isn’t on many Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Horror Novels Set (largely) in Winter/Snow”.

Serena’s Review: “Where the Library Hides”

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Book: “Where the Library Hides” by Isabel Ibanez

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, November 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: 1885, Egypt

Inez Olivera is left reeling from her cousin Elvira’s murder, and her mother’s betrayal, and when Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider.

Marriage to Whitford Hayes.

Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her.

Previously Reviewed: “What the River Know”

Review: Surprise! I decided to finish up this duology after all. Sometimes my completionist tendencies get the better of me, and even though I didn’t really enjoy the first book, I thought I might as well finish up the duology. After all, the first book was fairly universally beloved, and my struggles were definitely in the minority. So who knows? Maybe the second time is the charm!

Well, I’ll say that this duology will not go down as a great read overall, but I’ll give credit it where it is due and say that this second entry is a definite improvement on the first. So let’s start with these positives. One thing that I struggled with in the first book was the inexplicable magic system. I still have questions about the history of the world and the role that magic has played in it, but this book did a good job of digging further into how all of this worked together, which I appreciated.

This book also benefited in being the second in the series, which helped with some of my pacing concerns from the first book. There, I felt like the action worked against the character development of our main character. But here, as we’ve already met and followed Inez’s story through one book, when this story’s plot took off, I didn’t feel as if I was following around a character I barely knew. In that way, I felt like the fast-paced tone of this book better fit with the story it was telling and was less of a hinderance to the character arcs themselves.

However, the one place where I continued to struggle was with the characterization as a whole. I just can’t get myself to like Inez. She’s the kind of female main character who I feel like exists primarily on sass and spunk, but then when you step back from the book and actually look at her story, it’s one full of blundering around making silly decisions and being rewarded for it because it is necessary to the plot. She seems incapable of reading those around her, misunderstanding almost everyone she meets. And, worst of all, she seemed to instantly forgive the romantic interest for a massive breach of trust, pretty much for no other reason than instalove purposes.

Whit also continued to be an annoyance. At best, he remained a stereotype of YA romantic heroes. But, unfortunately, he went downwards from there. Like I mentioned, part of the book includes some fairly despicable actions/lies told by this character that he is then simply let off the hook for with zero repercussions. What’s worse, by the end of the book, there is a character switch that comes out of nowhere, with Whit suddenly morphing into an endearment-loving sweetheart. Who is this guy and where did he come from? Character arcs do involve changing from one thing to another, for better or worse, but it should be shown on the page as something happening gradually and as a direct result to what is going on in the story. Here, he seemed to turn into this completely different person by the end of the book, seemingly to almost gaslight the heroine and the reader into forgetting who he had been throughout the rest of the series.

Overall, while the characters were still a struggle for me, this was a definite improvement on the first book. I feel like both the world-building and pacing were better handled. There were still some plot points that I found unlikely to the point of disbelief, but I was mostly able to lose myself in the inertia of the story. That said, the characters became increasingly annoying and unlikable as I read. However, those who enjoyed the first book will likely love this one. And if you were on the fence, it may still be worth checking out!

Rating 7: While the characters still proved to be a stumbling block to my enjoyment, I did think this one improved on the first book with more complex world-building and a better paced story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Where the Library Hides” can be found on many Goodreads lists, including Most Interesting World.

Serena’s Review: “The Wild Huntress”

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Book: “The Wild Huntress” by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, October 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Every five years, two kingdoms take part in a Wild Hunt. Joining is a bloody risk and even the most qualified hunters can suffer the deadliest fates. Still, hundreds gamble their lives to participate—all vying for the Hunt’s life-changing prize: a magical wish granted by the Otherking.

BRANWEN possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters. She’s desperate to cure her mother’s sickness, and the Wild Hunt is her only option.

GWYDION is the least impressive of his magically-talented family, but with his ability to control plants and his sleight of hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cruel older brother from becoming a tyrant.

PRYDERI is prince-born and monster-raised. Deep down, the royal crown doesn’t interest him—all he wants is to know is where he belongs.

If they band together against the monstrous creatures within the woods, they have a chance to win. But, then again, nothing is guaranteed when all is fair in love and the Hunt.

Review: I am going to start this review off with a general lament: Emily Lloyd-Jones is the most under-rated YA fantasy writer currently putting out books! It’s wild to me that she still seems to fly so far under everyone’s radar. The quality of her storytelling, the strength of her characters, the excellence of her dialogue, and the lovely secondary romances are truly on a whole new level from so many other YA fantasies that seem to take off. It’s bizarre to me. She’s an auto-buy author for me at this point, so it was a given that I was going to review this book. It was all the more exciting when I received an ARC copy to boot!

Sometimes it’s harder to write reviews for books that I absolutely adored than it is for ones I have mixed feelings about. With nothing to question or complain about, it quickly devolves into incoherent gushing. But I’ll start with something that I think makes Jones’s books stand out from much of the current YA fare: she allows her characters to behave in natural ways, making choices that can lead to tragedy and real conflict, and then forcing them to truly live with the results, both in a practical sense as well as an emotional sense. Too often, conflict that is introduced in other similar books is hand-waved away quickly, with characters seeming to easily forgive massive transgressions. Or characters will make bad decisions or poor judgements of character, but because the plot necessitates it, things always work out perfectly. In this way, Jones’s stories and characters feel somehow more real, more true, and I’m easily more invested in their stories. The lows are truly tragic, but this makes the highs all the more sweet.

In particular to this book, there is drawn-out consequence of one character’s choices that comes to play in the final quarter of this book. From this moment on, all of the other characters dramatically shift, and the rest of the book is not only wrapping up the plot, but truly dealing with the emotional fall-out of this situation. There are a few choices here that feel almost shocking. But, importantly, they feel shocking NOT because they are unrealistic; indeed I think they are very true to the impossibilities of the situation. But they feel shocking in the sense that I can’t think of a contemporary author writing in this same genre that has the bravery to fully commit to the decisions her characters would make in their story as Jones does here (and in her other books.)

But, even though I’ve now spent much of this review talking about the darker aspects of this story, this is largely a fun, funny, and sweetly romantic tale for 80% of the book. As I mentioned above, for all that the plotting and world-building is so excellent, one of the things that also stands out is the strength of the dialogue. There were several moments that had me laughing out loud and re-reading a few times before moving on.

On top of this, I’ve now come to rely on the romantic subplots that Jones includes in her fantasy novels. While I like full-on romance novels, as far as my absolute favorite reads go I always tend towards book that have a more reserved approach to the love story. Here, the relationship is clearly secondary to the main plot, but somehow this made the sweet moments we got all the more special. Above all, I appreciate the way the characters slowly come to know and begin to care for one another. There’s not a whiff of instalove or instalust to be found here.

I could go on and on. Even with all of this writing, I didn’t even get to the fantastic fantasy plot, full of adventure and magic. Or the fact that there are fun little nods to her other books that can be spotted throughout. If you haven’t read anything by this author, RUN (don’t walk) to the bookstore and just get all three at once. They’re that good!

Rating 10: One of the most under-rated YA fantasy authors writing today, Emily Lloyd-Jones shines and shows the highs that the genre can truly reach!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wild Huntress” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Books for rainy tea-filled days  and My favorite Medieval Fantasy novels.

Serena’s Review: “Immortal Dark”

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Book: “Immortal Dark” by Tigest Girma

Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.

It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.

Review: I’ve been looking forward to this one for a few months! While vampires aren’t my favorite supernatural beings, I’ve had a lot of success with some of the recent books featuring them. On top of that, this one added in several other tropes I enjoy: dark academia, gothic fiction, and an enemies-to-lovers romance.

Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. But it was by no means a complete loss, and by the time I had finished the book, I had mentally slotted this author into the “worth checking out again” category in my head. So, let’s start with what I did like. The writing had a lot of potential, I think. It got bogged down a bit in info-dumping and confused world-building, but on its own, it was good. There were several turns of phrase and story-building moments that stood out, and the strength of the writing itself is largely what pulled me through when I began to struggle.

I also liked a lot of the ideas that went into this world and its society, especially the dark academia aspects. There was a lot of creativity to be found here, and, as much as I hate the term, the gothic “vibes” were well done. I definitely wanted to learn more about this world, and became increasingly frustrated when the book continued to lack clarity with some of these elements.

Clarity, overall, was a real problem. Which was odd because there were also significant moments early in the novel that felt extremely info-dumpy. There were also a plethora of different plot lines and magic systems that were all introduced early in the book. So even with clunky exposition moments, I still felt unclear on exactly how any of this worked exactly and how these various plotlines were meant to weave together.

I also struggled with the characters themselves. For all that I love enemies-to-lovers romances, I’ve realized that I’m also fairly picky in this regard. Sure, they can be enemies, but there’s a point of animosity that it’s difficult to believe anyone would come back from. And that’s what we had here. These characters HATED one another and were truly terrible to one another, so much so that it was difficult to buy their slow reconciliation. To be fair, the book doesn’t rush this, and even by the end, it’s more of a “hate less” situation than anything.

But the biggest problem here was the struggle I had to become invested in the main character. She was truly terrible at times, and her hatred of the vampires was uncomfortable at times. On one hand, I appreciate books that don’t shy away from demonstrating what bigotry can look like. Many authors simply take the safe route and show villains being bigots and then pat themselves on the back for “tackling” a tough topic. But here, our main character is too truly blinded by her hatred of an entire group of people to engage honestly with the individual in front of her. However, while I appreciate the difficulty of this task, it still left me following a character I struggled to like.

As for the rest of the characters, most of them felt like cardboard cutouts of characters, reading as very flat. And while I think the writing was strong in its descriptive elements for the most part, the dialogue was a mess. There were many times where I honestly have no idea what the characters were even trying to say. It’s like they were talking in riddles simply because it was meant to make them seem deep. But in reality, they were saying nothing and no one talks like this.

This book was a bit all over the place. I think there was a lot of potential here, and perhaps the author will settle in to her style a bit more as she moves forward. But on its own, this book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. I think it will best work for dark fantasy/romance readers who enjoy fairly extreme versions of enemies-to-lovers romances. Take “The Cruel Prince” dynamic and elevate the cruelty, essentially.

Rating 7: While the descriptive writing was good, the story felt bogged down by too many plot lines and inscrutable magic systems.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Immortal Dark” can be found on these Goodreads lists: The Vampire Renaissance and Magic Schools, Academies & Universities.

Kate’s Review: “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s”

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Book: “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” by Hanna Alkaf

Publishing Info: Salaam Reads/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: An all-girls school is struck with mysterious cases of screaming hysteria in this chilling dark academia thriller haunted by a deeply buried history clawing to the light.

For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women. Unfortunately, there is also the screaming.

When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected—along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation.

Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her. Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams.

Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim…

Review: Thank you to Salaam Reads for sending me an eARC of this novel!

I went to an elite private school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and let me tell you the pressure was pretty horrendous (especially for a girl with a slew of learning disabilities and ADHD). But because of this experience that continues to kind of haunt me to this day in some ways, I’m always interested in a thriller/horror story that has an elite private school as its location. So when I was approached to read “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” by Hanna Alkaf I was pretty much on board right away. You already had me at private school woes of school girls screaming their heads off, but then you really sold me when 1) it was in a locale and culture that I’m not super familiar with, as this book takes place in Malaysia, and 2) there was a hinted at supernatural side to it. So I took the plunge with high hopes, and I’m happy to say that they were pretty well met!

In terms of a mystery thriller with a potential supernatural twist, “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes” checks a lot of boxes that make it a successful read. We have our two protagonists Khadijah and Rachel, who have alternating chapters and can give us multiple insights across the story as the mystery unfolds (aka, why are their classmates at their prestigious all girls school suddenly screaming for no discernible reason, and what isn’t the school telling the students?). I liked following both of them as they had very different paths in terms of getting the clues together, and as there were more and more questions about whether it is hysteria, something otherworldly, or perhaps something totally understandable, I found myself more and more eager to get to the solution. Some of the imagery in this book was also downright frightening, with Alkaf setting the scene and creating a vision in my minds eye of a girl screaming her head off that really got under my skin. This may be a bit more of a mystery thriller than a horror story, but let me tell you, the bits that were horror were superb.

And even beyond the well paced and creepy mystery and horror story at hand, I really liked the other themes of this book, specifically the calling out and dressing down of violent misogyny and the silencing of women to keep a system untouched and in place. Both Khadijah and Rachel have different ways that they are being silenced, and I liked the choice that Alkaf made to show that there are different ways for these girls to be silenced, whether it is Khadijah’s selective and self imposed non speaking due to the trauma that she endured at the hands of her stepfather, or Rachel not feeling like she can have a say in any part of her future due to her overbearing and cold mother. We shift between both of their perspectives, and it was effective to see their different experiences and the different ways that they fit into the overall mystery of why their classmates are screaming, and how their experiences are both the results of societal expectations for women in their community, with Khadijah being basically silenced in the wake of her stepfather’s crimes and her victimization, and Rachel being pushed into a very specific acceptable box. Throw in the fact that the school is trying to hide a dark history with screaming girls and bouts of hysteria, and doesn’t want Khadijah making waves as she investigates, and you have a critique of misogyny that sears and burns in the best ways.

“The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is a well done thriller/mystery/horror tale. Hanna Alkaf is someone to watch. I know I will be doing so.

Rating 8: A tense and angry horror story that calls out violent and systemic misogyny and lauds feminine rage, “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is a searing YA tale of all too real terrors to go with the fantastical ones.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is included on the Goodreads lists “Books by Malaysian Authors/Set in Malaysia”, and “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Book Club Review: “Summer Days and Summer Nights”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. This June we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of book club. So in celebration of that milestone, we are re-visiting authors we read way back in those first few years of our book club. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories” by Stephanie Perkins (Ed.)

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2016

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Repeat Author: Stephanie Perkins

Book Description: Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Kate’s Thoughts

WAAAAY back during our first cycle of Book Club get togethers one of our members chose the anthology “My True Love Gave To Me”, which had a bunch of then in demand YA authors writing holiday themed romance short stories. We all generally enjoyed it, with some authors standing out quite a bit. So it was fun when one of our other members picked the summertime follow up “Summer Days and Summer Nights”, harkening not only to a repeat author, but also continuing into the quasi-sequel. And much like the previous book in the series, I had some authors who really stood out this time, while others kind of fell back to the wayside.

Unsurprisingly it was the works by Leigh Bardugo, Libba Bray, and Brandy Colbert that I enjoyed most, as I do like those authors in general and I liked their own interpretations of a summer romance short story prompt. You have some fantasy bittersweetness from Bardugo’s “Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail”, you had some horror humor from Bray’s “Last Stand at the Cinegore”, and you had some genuine teenage love story and ache from Colbert’s “Good Luck and Farewell”, and they ran such tonal gamuts and yet completely fit into the prompt it was charming as hell to see. That said, many of the other stories in this anthology were hit or miss for me, some being enjoyable, others just falling flat. Which is probably just due to the fact that romance isn’t really my thing unless it meets certain parameters. Also something to note is this book came out in 2016, and it’s kind of a fun snapshot into which YA authors were being approached with these kinds of ‘let’s cover a broad range of in demand voices’ anthologies.

Overall, it was a perfectly fine summer read for our Book Club, with some strong stand outs from authors who have maintained their popularity over the years. If you want to cling to summer for one last hurrah, this could be a good fit!

Serena’s Thoughts

As readers of this blog know, neither Kate or I read tons of short story collections. I’m perhaps more on the record for usually actively avoiding them. And yet, somehow this is the first of THREE short story collections that I am reading and reviewing this month! You’ll see two back-to-back short story reviews coming from me next week. I had some control obviously over those, but it’s just fate that the bookclub book also fell in this rare category!

And I agree with much of what Kate said. For me, this collection really lived and died on the strength of the individual authors of each story. And, like Kate, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the authors I enjoyed outside of short story collections. I, too, very much enjoyed the Leigh Bardugo story, as it neatly highlighted so many of the strengths of her writing: bittersweet fantasy stories, complex characters, and beautiful turns of phrase.

I also really enjoyed Veronica Roth’s entry. Like so many of her books, her story was incredibly unique, pushing the boundaries of fantasy and science fiction in new and fresh ways. My one critique of this story is that as much as I love a happy ending, I do think this is a case where Roth was held back by the prompt of a love story collection which required happy-ever-after endings. From my experience, Roth has zero qualms about ending her books in tears, and I think this short story would have actually been stronger had it been allowed to be a bit darker towards the end.

There were also a number of authors who had fallen completely off my radar! Libba Bray being one of them! I read and reviewed her YA fantasy trilogy on the blog years ago, but as I hated (HATED) the way that trilogy ended, she’d fallen completely off my list of authors to follow. I did enjoy this story from her, however.

All this said, as a whole, I did struggle with this book. Other than the few stories I’ve mentioned here, I didn’t connect with many of the tales in this book. I’m not really the target audience for many of them, and obviously, I have my own personal hang-ups with short story collections. When your go-to read is epic fantasies that often come in around 55o pages, you really do struggle with the entire concept of a short story. But even putting that aside, I do think that a large chunk of these stories fell solidly in the “just ok” category. Many of them weren’t offering much new to readers and some of them employed “neat little stylistic tricks” that were frankly just annoying. If you’re a love of short stories and romance (and maybe check out the author list ahead of time to see how many of them you already enjoy), you may like this one.

Kate’s Rating 6: The stories I liked I REALLY liked, the others were pretty hit or miss bordering on meh.

Serena’s Rating 6: A few stands outs weren’t enough to save this reading experience for me, unfortunately. But fans of the individual authors involved may want to page through it and selectively read those stories!

Book Club Questions

  1. Did you have a story in this collection that you connected with the most? What about the least?
  2. Were there any authors in this collection that you were unfamiliar with before you picked it up? If so, did you discover any new authors you definitely want to read more from?
  3. In terms of authors you did know from this collection, did any of them surprise you with what they put forth as their story?
  4. Were there any stories in this collection that you would like to read more of, perhaps in a series of short stories or in novel form?
  5. This collection came out in 2016 with popular YA authors from that period making up the story set. If they were going to do another collection like this with present day popular Young Adult authors, who do you think would be part of that collection?

Reader’s Advisory

“Summer Days and Summer Nights” is included on the Goodreads lists “Summer Themed YA”, and “YA Anthologies”.

Next Book Club Pick: “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell

Serena’s Review: “Serpent Sea”

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Book: “Serpent Sea” by Maiya Ibrahim

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Imani is a magic-wielding warrior sworn to protect her land from the monsters that roam the desert. But an even worse enemy now threatens the Sahir. As the powerful Harrowlanders march south with their greatest weapon—spice magic—Imani knows it’s only a matter of time before their invasion of her land begins . . . and it will be a losing battle for her people.

But Imani also knows that one way to fight magic is with monsters. If she can restore Qayn’s stolen powers, together they can summon a supernatural army to defend the Sahir from the Harrowlanders. Forming an alliance with a djinni king is risky, but Imani will do anything to save her people, even embarking on a dangerous quest beyond the sands to find the magical jewels of Qayn’s lost crown.

As Imani journeys far from home, she will discover monsters that warriors have only heard about in myths . . . monsters that can strike at any moment. Meanwhile, her rival, Taha, has been captured and is on a dangerous mission of his own.

One wrong move could cost them their lives—and everyone they love. But they may find that there is more than meets the eye crossing the Serpent Sea . . . and betrayal cuts deeper than any dagger.

Review: We’re back with another one of those strange reviews where I’m covering a sequel to a book that I read before but didn’t write about here on the blog. But the situation was the same: received an ARC copy from the publisher and enjoyed the first book well enough to want to give the sequel a shot! And here we are! The short and sweet for “The Spice Road” was that I enjoyed it overall, though it did fall into a few of the predictable pitfalls of YA fantasy (a bit too much “telling” vs. “showing” as far as the heroine’s abilities, mostly). Let’s dive into this one!

There was a lot to like about this sequel! For one thing, this is one of those rare circumstances where an additional POV helped the book rather than hurt it (I know I’m in the minority with this general opinion on POVs but I stand by it!). Here, since our main character, Imani, was a bit of a struggle point for me with the first book (we were told she was very badass but got to see very little of this in action), the book was better served by adding an additional POV character. Now with two character arcs to follow, it felt like the reading experience was more balanced and drew attention away from any of the weaker moments in the telling vs. showing metric (which was still a bit of a problem here, unfortunately).

I also really liked the expansion of the world. The first book had a very intriguing world full of monsters, magic, and the many challenges of the Swallowing Sands. But here, in a bit to save their land from an invading force, the characters had to travel out into the wider sea. As such, the story benefitted from an increased feeling of adventure and action as our party set out across the titular Serpent Sea and into foreign lands. The landscape and world-building throughout remained solid and one of the primary points of interest for this series as a whole. Where the author has struggled with some characterization, she excelled in fantasy creation.

The pacing was a bit off at times, falling into the typical mid-book slump that so many stories suffer through. However, again, the interesting world-building and magical creatures did a lot to help carry it through these weaker moments in plot. I also enjoyed the exploration of themes such as colonialism and prejudice. The book didn’t have a ton of new insight to offer in these areas, following a fairly tried and true path taken by many YA fantasy books before it, but it also didn’t shy away from the more brutal aspects of these topics. Particularly, the author wasn’t afraid of allowing her characters to be flawed individuals who still have much to learn.

Overall, this was a good sequel to the first book. While I didn’t review/rate “The Spice Road,” I feel like I would have given it an 8 on our scale. And so, too, that’s where this one falls. It’s not without some flaws with pacing and characterization, but it was still a fun ride full of exciting fantasy elements. Fans of the first book are sure to enjoy this one!

Rating 8: The adventure continues, and with the expansion of the world and the adventures it offers, this one is sure to please fans of the first book!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Serpent Sea” can be found on this Goodreads list: Arabian, Egyptian, and Indian Fantasy.

Kate’s Review: “Practical Rules for Cursed Witches”

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Book: “Practical Rules for Cursed Witches” by Kayla Cottingham

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, August 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Magic is in Delilah Bea’s blood. Her absentee father is the world’s most famous cursebreaker, while all the women in her family are fated to never find true love. So when Delilah graduates her magical training and must complete her Calling, she has the perfect task in mind—to break the Bea family curse.

But Delilah’s Calling is hijacked by Kieran Pelumbra, a member of the wealthiest and most powerful family in the country, and breaking his curse suddenly becomes her official assignment. Every generation, a pair of Pelumbra twins are doomed, with one twin draining the other of their life and magic. Each day, Kieran grows weaker while Briar gets closer to…something monstrous.

As Delilah and the twins set out on their quest, they quickly realize that breaking the Pelumbra curse isn’t going to be simple. For one, the Pelumbra family doesn’t actually want their curse broken—and they’ve sent hunters after them to ensure they fail. Secondly…it’s Briar. There’s just something about her that gets under Delilah’s skin and makes her want to kiss the perpetually grumpy look off her face. But with time running out for the twins and Delilah’s own curse getting in the way, they may not stand a chance of finding their Happily Ever After.

Review: Thank you to Delacorte and Penguin Random House for giving me an ARC at ALAAC24!

One of the books that I was very much on the hunt for at ALAAC24 (there were many, mind you) was the newest novel from Kayla Cottingham. I really enjoyed their previous two YA books, which were both horror stories with some Sapphic romance themes, and I found them both to be engaging and well done. When I heard that their next book, “Practical Rules for Cursed Witches”, was going to be witch centered I was very excited, for obvious reasons to those who know me. What I didn’t expect was that it was going to be a departure from the horror genre completely, and instead would be a cozy fantasy romance. It didn’t make me less excited, but it did make me wonder if my expectations were going to be a bit dashed. And the answer to that is ‘yes’. But not in a bad way!

The first thing that stood out for me is that even though I don’t usually gravitate towards fantasy, the coziness of this one really worked for me. It’s not too shocking given that I have liked other cozy fantasies as of late like “Legends and Lattes”, and much like that one this book just felt really comforting and filled with a certain whimsy. Our protagonist is Delilah, a young witch who wants to make her Calling (a final trial to fully come into her powers) about breaking her family curse (in which the women in her family are doomed to be forgotten by their romantic partners), but has it hijacked by Kieran Pelumbra, who has his own family curse he wants rid of. Delilah is the daughter of a well known Cursebreaker (though she never met him), and Kieran wants her to break the curse that is siphoning his powers to his estranged twin Briar. I’m already into it in terms of the basic groundwork, and Cottingham easily builds this magical world and all of its systems, making all of it easy to f0llow and easy to invest in. The magical society is well established and I really enjoyed all of the witchy moments in this book.

I also really liked the ‘found family’ aspects of this story, as well as the way that Cottingham writes the romance between Delilah and Briar. It checks a lot of boxes for my romance preferences, as I really liked the antagonism between the two at the start and how they slowly start to understand each other because it makes for a very satisfying pay off. Cottingham’s biggest strength in their works is how well they piece together characters and relationships, and I so loved seeing this group of friends come together to try and save Kieran and Briar from their family curse, and finding connections with each other along the way. These kinds of themes are the things that really make fantasies work for me, and this one is SO sweet and so charming. It strikes me as the kind of book you would want to read in the Fall when you are trying to find some of the homier and cozier aspects of the season, and I’ve said ‘cozy’ so many times because this is just the epitome of that for me. And while it’s true that this being a fantasy story means that it does have personal drawbacks for me as a reader, I know so many people who love the genre who would probably love this book. I’m thoroughly impressed that Cottingham jumped so easily from horror to this story.

“Practical Rules for Cursed Witches” is a sweet novel that showcases Kayla Cottingham’s talents as an author beyond their usual genres (or at least the genres I’m used to). I love being surprised by a book and this one really achieved that.

Rating 7: A charming cozy fantasy romance from a YA author I really enjoy, “Practical Rules for Cursed Witches” is the perfect read if you want a cozy fall book!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Practical Rules for Cursed Witches” is included on the Goodreads lists “Sapphic Fiction 2024”, and “August 2024 Romantasy Releases”.

Serena’s Review: “Ghostsmith”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Ghostsmith” by Nicki Pau Preto

Publishing Info: Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: In this action-packed finale to the House of the Dead Duology, Wren and her friends put everything they know to the test as they battle the living and the undead to save their world.

Wren is still reeling from the revelation that the mother she thought was dead is actually the Corpse Queen, a ghostsmith with the terrifying power to control the undead. It was Wren’s own mother who created the iron revenants—an army of near unbeatable undead soldiers. When the iron revenants attack, no one in the Dominions will have the strength to stand in their way.

Now Wren, Leo, and Julian find themselves once more in the Breach, this time on the run from Wren’s father, who is determined to secure more power for himself and the House of Bone. The three are desperate to stop the upcoming war, but working together is easier said than done with Julian still furious about Wren double-crossing him. And to make matters worse, Wren is plagued by powerful new abilities that force her to reassess everything she knows about being a bonesmith.

When Wren’s long-lost twin brother shows up and vows to help her destroy the well of magic that feeds the iron revenants, she must decide if trusting him is worth potentially playing right into their mother’s hands.

After all, the dead might be dangerous, but it’s the living who can betray you.

Previously Reviewed: “Bonesmith”

Review: I remember picking up “Bonesmith” last summer with some trepidation. I was mostly reading it because it was an upcoming selection in a book box I subscribe to and wanted to decide whether or not to skip it, as I’d read a book by this author before and not been overly impressed. Well, more fool me, I absolutely loved the first entry in this duology! It had a unique fantasy world, a badass leading character, and a well-paced enemies-to-lovers romance. It also ended on not necessarily a cliffhanger, per see, but with a few major reveals and betrayals shaking things up. So, let’s find out how well the story was wrapped up here in the second book!

For the most part, I think this was an incredibly successful conclusion to the story. I had a few niggling qualms here or there, but, overall, the story came together nicely. While the first book did a lot of the heavy lifting with regards to introducing this world and its magic, with the (re)introduction of ghost smiths and ghost magic in the latter half of that story, this book still had a lot of new territory to cover. In particular, I was impressed by how carefully many of the reveals were used throughout the book. As the plot progresses, little bits of lore are dropped in here and there, steadily fleshing out the history and culture of the lost ghost smiths until, by the end, the climax revolves fully around this history and the uses of this style of magic. For the large amount of new information that was necessary to build this ending, I was impressed by how organically this knowledge was fed to the reader. There were no clunky info-dumping sections or dialogue that was obviously just there as exposition. It was very skillfully done.

I also enjoyed the continuation of the darker tone of this duology. There is humor to be found in Wren’s dialogue and inner commentary, but much of the plot is quite serious and dealing with fairly gruesome magic. In this book, this was balanced out by an increased depth of emotion found in the relationships on the page. Not only is there the romance between Wren and Julian, challenged by the betrayals and reveals from the previous book, but the story also tackles many different familial ties as well. Wren’s entire family history is one big knot of tragedy and abuse, but by the middle point of this story, it almost feels like she got the easy side of things! Instead, her newly found brother’s past is littered with even more tragedy and disfunction than Wren herself endured. While Wren’s life was ruled by a distant father figure, her brother has dealt with the abuse found at the hands of a manipulative and selfish mother. We also see their sibling bond explored as the story progresses, adding an interesting new dynamic to Wren’s approach to the problems before her.

I continued to love Wren as a main character, and her growth in this book felt natural and interesting. Her arc was one of coming to turns with her own magic, as well as with the family history that she is only know beginning to understand. However, throughout it all, she maintained her snappy attitude and “barge right through it” mentality to problem solving.

That said, my main point of struggle came down to the other character perspectives, specifically Leo’s and, new to this book, Inara’s. Now, there was nothing actually wrong with either of these character’s stories. And, in fact, I’d say that I really enjoyed Inara as a new voice in the book. But it did feel as if both characters’ stories were simply there to provide a window into action scenes that were taking place in different parts of the world and didn’t serve any actual character purpose on their own. Leo, especially, could have been almost lifted from this entire book with no one the wiser.

I also felt that we had too little time spent between Wren and Julian. On one hand, I understand this, as this book’s driving relationship was much more focused on Wren and her brother. And that story was fantastic! That said, I still felt as if there were only a brief few scenes where these two really even interacted. It was great stuff when they did, but I still wanted more. Perhaps a better balance between some of Leo’s more unnecessary chapters and these scenes between Wren and Julian would have helped round out the story better.

That said, I found this book to be an epic conclusion to the duology! The climax of the story, in particular, was action-packed and thrilling. The story may have suffered a bit from “Return of the King”-style multiple endings by the very finish, but, as I still wanted all of those scenes, I’m not sure what I would have done differently there. If you enjoyed the first book, you can rest assured that the conclusion is well-earned and satisfying!

Rating 8: Bone-chilling at times and full of heart at others, this duology has it all!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Ghostsmith” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2024