Things I’ve Read Recently (157): Haunted Houses Galore

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

Published: July 19th, 2022 by Tor Books
Genre: Adult Horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 342 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): “Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes. 

Thoughts: Reading this book felt like a panic attack and I am left unsettled. It’s claustrophobic and unnerving and I kind of loved it. Honestly, do you need me to talk about this? Everyone else is already.

And I fully think this is going to be a book you either love or hate. It is truly bizarre, and I don’t think the voice is going to be for everyone. It does happen to be one I really enjoy, however, and the weirdness mostly worked for me.

Content notes: Murder, gore, like a lot of gore, death, emotional abuse.

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Published: May 3rd, 2022 by Berkley
Genre: Adult Gothic Horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 337 plus acknowledgements and author’s note
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.

But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her.

Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

Thoughts: I did not vibe with this, unfortunately. And I was really excited about this one, so I’m bummed. I dunno, it just didn’t work for me. I liked the setting, that it was historical and the very classic Gothic isolated house setting. But I just didn’t vibe with it. 

Like I honestly don’t even have much to say because I didn’t really dislike it or anything, I just didn’t really love it. Oh well!

Representation: It’s set in Mexico, you figure it out.

Content notes: Mentions of rape, some violence, a bit of gore.

Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow

Published: February 8th, 2022 by Dutton
Genre: YA Horror technically I think? I woulda called it a thriller myself.
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 321 plus an about the author
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner is one of two Black girls in her country club community, and the only one with Black parents. Her best friend, Cherish Whitman, adopted by a white, wealthy family, is something Farrah likes to call WGS–White Girl Spoiled. With Brianne and Jerry Whitman as parents, Cherish is given the kind of adoration and coddling that even upper-class Black parents can’t seem to afford–and it creates a dissonance in her best friend that Farrah can exploit. When her own family is unexpectedly confronted with foreclosure, the calculating Farrah is determined to reassert the control she’s convinced she’s always had over her life by staying with Cherish, the only person she loves–even when she hates her.

As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them–if they didn’t think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household–debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish’s hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah–it’s nothing she can’t handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it’s anyone’s guess who is really in control.

Thoughts: This didn’t really do it for me in the end, mostly on a plot level. I enjoy Bethany C. Morrow’s writing and I would be interested in future books by Morrow, but this plot didn’t really click with me. It’s a weird book, and I liked the weirdness, mostly, but it didn’t stick the landing for me. 

Also, it really bugged me that the book talked about Farrah being gifted an antique leatherbound book… but that book was published in 1986. That just… doesn’t exist. As a person who has read that book, it really confused me what was going on.

Overall, I do think there’s an audience for this, but I don’t think I’m the audience for it. 

Representation: See the summary, it kind of sums things up on the rep. 

Content notes: Injuries, vomitting, a fairly high level of gore and I’m saying that as someone who isn’t particularly sensitive to gore, abuse. 

Disability Visibility (Adapted for young adults) edited by Alice Wong

Published: October 26th, 2021 by Delacorte Press
Genre: Nonfiction
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 160, with 121 of those being the actual stories/essays and the rest being citations and other resources and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The seventeen eye-opening essays in Disability Visibility, all written by disabled people, offer keen insight into the complex and rich disability experience, examining life’s ableism and inequality, its challenges and losses, and celebrating its wisdom, passion, and joy.

The accounts in this collection ask readers to think about disabled people not as individuals who need to be “fixed,” but as members of a community with its own history, culture, and movements. They offer diverse perspectives that speak to past, present, and future generations. It is essential reading for all.

Thoughts: …apparently I had no thoughts, because I never reviewed this. I read this a year ago and I didn’t write a single word about it XD I remember this being pretty good, but that’s all I’ve got for you.

Oops.

Well, that’s a lackluster ending!

What have you all been reading lately? Have you read any of these?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (156): I actually loved all 4 books in this post

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner

Published: November 29th, 2022 by Dutton
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Mass market paperback
Page Count: 453 plus an author’s note and such
Part of a series? This is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series and a third one is coming out next year. (Editing Laina: The third came out in March, 2024.)
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Timothy O’Day knew the woods. Yet he disappeared on the first night of a bachelor party camping trip without a trace, breaking his parents’ hearts, driving the other groomsmen mad with guilt, and leaving behind a pile of clues that won’t add up.

Frankie Elkin doesn’t know the woods, but she does know how to find people. When Timothy’s father organizes one last search, she heads to the mountains of Wyoming to join the rescue team, only to find that someone out there is willing to do anything to stop them. Soon, they’re running out of time and up against the worst man and nature have to offer, discovering the evil that awaits those who go one step too far…

Thoughts: This is basically my new favourite mystery/thriller series. I really like this series. And this one combined one of my other favourite things to read about in books – camping/wilderness survival! For someone who hates going outside, I sure like the outside to be in my books. There’s also a fair amount about search and rescue dogs in this, which is a fascinating topic to explore. It’s a really intriguing premise just to start with, and where the author goes with it made me so excited. 

It is just really, really good. 

I also continue to enjoy Frankie’s character a lot. She’s a recovering alcoholic and that affects how she reads people and why she does everything she does and it’s really well done. This book especially, because of how much time Frankie spends fairly isolated and with nothing to do but think, she spends a lot of time reflecting on herself and that narrative was wonderful.

Also. There’s a paragraph in this book about caves that gave me the heebie jeebies so bad. Just. So bad.

Big recommendation on this one, and I’m super excited to check out the third book when it comes out. If you like thrillers, I think you’d like this series.

Representation: Frankie points out early in the book that this town is a lot whiter than most places she tends to stay, but one of the characters is a Latina woman, Columbian specifically, and another is a gay man. It feels realistic without being tokenizing.

Content notes: The book has a fair amount of violence, gun violence especially, and some death. 

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

Published: January 12th, 2021 by Bloomsbury YA
Genre: YA Mystery
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 318 plus extras including some resources like hotlines which I appreciated
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Nobody in Beckett’s life seems to be telling the whole story. Her boyfriend Jake keeps hiding texts and might be cheating on her. Her father lied about losing his job before his shocking death. And everyone in school seems to be whispering about her and her family behind her back.

But none of that compares to the day Beckett finds the body of a newborn baby in a gym bag-Jake’s gym bag -on the floor of her high school locker room. As word leaks out, rumors that Beckett’s the mother take off like wildfire in a town all too ready to believe the worst of her. And as the police investigation unfolds, she discovers that everyone has a secret to hide and the truth could alter everything she thought she knew.

Thoughts: This was probably my favourite YA book I’ve read this year. This is tagged on goodreads as a thriller but I think it truly is a mystery. There’s not really a danger element, just a mystery to solve, and that made this impossible for me to put down. I was like constantly bothering my best friend while reading this telling them my guesses about what was going to happen. It was so exciting. Honestly this would be fun to read with like a book club and have discussions about who you think the baby’s mother is and all that. 

The romance was a little underwhelming for me. Jake is kind of bland and the conflict between him and Beckett is honestly kind of boring, but otherwise I really enjoyed this. I’d absolutely recommend it if you like YA mysteries.

Representation: I don’t think there was much of anything and I returned the book so I cannot check.

Content notes: Dead babies. The whole book is about a dead newborn being found in the school locker room. There’s also a lot of talk about pregnancy, obviously, harassment, both in real life and on the internet, up to and including death threats, and a lot of talk about grief.

Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes

Published: February 8th, 2022 by Tor
Genre: Science Fiction Horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 339 plus author’s note
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

Thoughts: Turns out I really like horror science fiction. I’ve said before I’m not a huge science fiction fan but if you make it scary, apparently I’m into it! It was ever so slightly odd to read this while the whole Oceangate thing was going down, but, I mean, timely. Editing Laina: This review sure ain’t, though.

This was pretty spooky, too. Like I’m not super creeped out by it. I’m not gonna have nightmares or anything. But it’s very eerie and I enjoyed the setting a lot. The space cruise ship does give very Titanic vibes and the horror elements really work with that. The worldbuilding also really adds to that horror, in my opinion. The world is really messed up!

And honestly I kind of loved Claire as a main character. She reminds me of a lot of other characters I’m really drawn to. She’s traumatized and all the stuff I like!

Trauma, ghosts, capitalism sucks, all the good things. Big recommend here.

Representation: Claire is deaf in one ear from childhood illness.

Content notes: Some gore, violence, death.

The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei by Christina Matula

Published: April 5th, 2022 by Inkyard Press
Genre: Contemporary MG
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 288 including a glossary and some recipes
Part of a series? Yes, a second book came out in April 2023, and I believe a third is coming as well.
Got via: The library.

Summary (from goodreads): Holly-Mei Jones couldn’t be more excited about moving to Hong Kong for her mother’s job. Her new school is right on the beach and her family’s apartment is beyond beautiful. Everything is going to be perfect… right?

Maybe not. It feels like everywhere she turns, there are new rules to follow and expectations to meet. On top of that, the most popular girl in her grade is quickly becoming a frenemy. And without the guidance of her loving Ah-ma, who stayed behind in Toronto, Holly-Mei just can’t seem to get it right.

It will take all of Holly-Mei’s determination and sparkle (and maybe even a tiny bit of stubbornness) to get through seventh grade and turn her life in Hong Kong into the ultimate adventure!

Thoughts: This was so good. And it felt very different from other books I’ve read with similiar stories. I feel like stories of kids moving to Canada or America are pretty common, but stories about kids moving abroad are… sometimes not great, honestly, about how they depict those countries. After the initial freak out of being abruptly told they’re moving countries, Holly-Mei and her sister don’t treat moving to Hong Kong as a punishment. Hong Kong is not treated as worse than Canada – it’s just different.

In fact, some parts of their lives are actually better in Hong Kong. It’s sort of implied (if you’re an adult) that the move and promotion means their mom is making a fair amount more money, so they move into a much fancier apartment building, and the girls go to a fancier school. The things that they have to adjust to are how the cultural expectation for children is so different and there’s much different pressures on them in Hong Kong than what they were used to.

Also this book talks so much about food, and it all sounded so good. I want to try pineapple buns so bad now. And as mentioned, there are also some recipes included! 

This was funny and sweet and very unique. If you’re looking for a middle grade series to get into, this one should be on your list. I’d also say that this could be really good for younger middle grade readers, as the writing is very approachable and engaging. 

Representation: Holly-Mei is mixed race, white and Chinese. Her mom’s family is not from Hong Kong, though, they are from Taiwan, and her dad’s white family actually lives in Hong Kong, which I thought was cool.

Content notes: A child is at risk of drowning.

What have you all been reading lately?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (155): Post-Reading Slump Reviews

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

My brain is broken in this post but we’re gonna try anyways, alright?

The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin

Published: April 16th, 2019 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover 
Page Count: 368
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Caitlyn Breen enters the tiny Mitchell School in rural Mitchell, Vermont, she is a complete outsider: the seventh grade has just ten other kids, and they’ve known each other since kindergarten. Her classmates are in for a shock of their own: Paulie Fink–the class clown, oddball, troublemaker, and evil genius–is gone this year.

As stories of Paulie’s hijinks unfold, his legend builds, until they realize there’s only one way to fill the Paulie-sized hole in their class. They’ll find their next great Paulie Fink through a reality-show style competition, to be judged by the only objective person around: Caitlyn, who never even met Paulie Fink. Who was this kid, anyway–prankster, performance artist, philosopher, or fool? Caitlyn’s quest to understand Paulie is about to teach her more about herself than she ever imagined.

Thoughts: This was really fun. I liked the way it switched between different perspectives, including interviews and emails, and I liked the message it had. Caitlyn is a former mean girl and she doesn’t really understand why she used to do things like that and she spends a lot of the book learning not to care so deeply about what people thought and the “unspoken” rules.

I’m very tired and that’s all I’ve got.

Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris

Published: October 25th, 2022
Genre: Adult thriller with a historical setting
Binding: Large print paperback which I ordered accidentally but was honestly nice
Page Count: 466 but again large print, so I think the standard edition has like 400
Part of a series? This is a companion/prequel to All Her Little Secrets, which I also enjoyed
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-two year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.

Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?

Two sisters on the run – one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him…

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this. I liked the author’s first book, which this is a companion to, but you don’t need to have read to read this, and I really liked this one. It’s an interesting, important time period to set a book in, and I thought the author did an excellent job of using that setting.

I also really liked the relationship between the sisters. 

The ending was a little underwhelming and I didn’t think Marigold or Violet did a ton to advance the plot, especially at the end, but overall, I liked it and would recommend this.

Representation: Obviously Marigold and Violet and most people in the book are Black, lol. There is also a queer character, which is a nice touch in a book set in 1964.

Content notes: Racism, lynching, slurs, miscarriage, homophobia, abuse, rape. I will add here that while those things are discussed, they are explicit without being graphic. For example, the fact that Violet was raped is discussed, but not shown.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Published: July 12th, 2022 by Scout Press
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 420 (lol) plus acknowledgments
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.

Thoughts: I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ruth Ware so I was excited about this… but it didn’t work super well for me. I thought it was a bit dull, unfortunately. It’s a good premise, but I spent a lot of the book just waiting for something to happen and… like nothing did. Neither timeline was particularly interesting, and the pre-murder timeline honestly was just kind of dull college drama.

The most interesting parts, to me, was when Hannah eventually met April’s younger sister, who is both a really cool character and causes Hannah to have a lot of struggle because she looks a lot like April and is similar to her, being her sister. That is some cool emotional stuff.

Otherwise… eh. It just didn’t do much for me personally. However, I do have other Ruth Ware books I’m interested in. So we will try again with Ware’s books. This one just was not for me.

Representation: One of Hannah’s friends from school uses a wheelchair after having a stroke at a very young age.

Content notes: Murder, violence, sexual assault, stalking, pregnancy.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Published: February 5th, 2019 by Salaam Reads
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 274 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

Thoughts: This was super good. This isn’t an event I really know a lot about (and the author’s note at the beginning giving some context was very helpful and I appreciated it) and it was really interesting to read.

This is the type of historical fiction I’d love to read more of. There’s this really thing it does where for a while at a certain point in the book, nothing really happens, and the nothing happening is scary and tense and you really feel that. Then, obviously, things pick up, but the amount of tension in the pacing is really amazing.

I would definitely recommend this and I really enjoyed it.

Representation: It’s set in Malaysia. People are Malaysian and Chinese. Shocker. Mel has OCD and is Muslim, as are many many people because… duh. I feel silly writing these for books like this.

Content notes: Racism, graphic violence, on-page death, OCD and anxiety triggers. The author’s note at the beginning of the book includes this warning, which was nice.

Oof, that was a rough post. Hopefully y’all liked it anyways!

What have you been reading lately?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (150): Some spooky stuff… and some other stuff

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

I am REALLY behind on these, so you’re probably going to be seeing a lot of these in the near future.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

Published: October 1st, 2019 
Genre: Adult horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 381 plus an author’s note
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

Thoughts: I think this is the closest I have been yet to being scared by a book. The concepts and imagery in this are so creepy and I loved it. As you may know, I’ve been on a mission to find a book that scared me and this is the closest I have gotten. If you like creepy podcasts, like The Black Tapes or Mabel, I think you would also like this. It definitely gave me the same vibes as listening to one of those. 

I think this would be great to check out as an audiobook. A lot of the creepy stuff would be amazing in audio. Also, shout out to the book for having a dog in it but also reassuring us the dog would be okay by page 9. We love to see that. And the other thing I liked was that there was basically no romance. Mouse is mentioned to have just left a relationship but that’s really it. I really liked that. 

Really recommending this one!!

Representation: One of Mouse’s neighbours is Latinx and one is Indigenous. One of them also has bipolar disorder.

Content notes: Animal death (like deer, not the dog), hoarding, talk about forced pregnancy, some violence. I didn’t think it was particularly gory but I’m not very sensitive to that stuff. 

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

Published: May 7th 2019 by Tor
Genre: Science fiction
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 524
Part of a series? This has a companion book, Seasonal Fears, and a defictionalized middle grade companion series.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

Thoughts: I’m confused, but I think I liked this? I don’t think I got it, but I enjoy Seanan McGuire’s writing quite a bit. I think maybe this was a touch too sci-fi heavy for me personally but I do understand why other people like it. 

I do think this could have been a lot shorter. While I liked the writing, there’s a fair amount of times when not much of anything was going on.

Overall, though, just kind of confused here. 

Content notes: Lots of death, including the death of children, self-harm, attempted suicide.

With Malice by Eileen Cook

Published: June 7th, 2016 by Clarion Books
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 316 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last six weeks should be. She discovers she was involved in a fatal car accident while on a school trip in Italy. A trip she doesn’t even remember taking. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident.

As the accident makes national headlines, Jill finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. It doesn’t help that the media is portraying her as a sociopath who killed her bubbly best friend, Simone, in a jealous rage. With the evidence mounting against her, there’s only one thing Jill knows for sure: She would never hurt Simone. But what really happened? Questioning who she can trust and what she’s capable of, Jill desperately tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

Thoughts: This is one of those kind of average thrillers that I wasn’t blown away by, but was fun to read. I enjoy things that play with memory and talking about how fallible memory can be, and it was just a pretty good read.

There was a surprising amount of ableism, like one character using a pretty bad slur, and Jill making a snarky comment about some plants looking like “blind individuals who’d had some kind of seizure disorder had created them”. She’s literally in a rehab hospital at that point. Was that comment really necessary? 

But overall, this was just kind of fun. It’s a quick read and I didn’t have to think too much about it, which after Middlegrade I kind of needed XD I also thought the use of media and social media in this was interesting.

Representation: Jill’s roommate at the rehab is Latina and is a paraplegic. Neither are particularly deep – disability is more set dressing for this book than a true theme.

Content notes: Some violence, underage drinking, death.

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Published: June 7th, 2020 by Dial Press
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 417 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers–and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition–under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She’s in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That’s it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She’s in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale.

Thoughts: I think this is a good book that is really not for me in the end. It’s doing exactly what it set out to do, but it turns out those aren’t really things I personally want to read. This is based heavily on the Bachelor/Bachelorette and I don’t like that show, or most reality TV shows in general. So that element is used well, but it’s not something I’m really interested in.

I also thought the fat representation is very realistic. If you’re fat and on the internet basically at all, you’re going to recognize a lot of the content of this book. You’ve probably experienced it yourself, even. And that particular element, I thought was handled amazingly and something I enjoyed seeing explored and subverted.

However, the amount of focus on Bea’s own issues with her body was not really something I personally wanted as much. It got to be a little too much for me and I found myself struggling to want to pick this up, even though I wanted to finish it. It was just kind of a lot for me. On my own reading journey, I think I’d rather read things that are less about fat people and confidence.

I’m also not going to do a representation section for this review because I don’t think most of it was great. One of the guys on the show is Black and it’s literally mentioned once, when he’s first introduced, which is also when like 12 other guys are introduced so it’s hard to remember who’s who. It doesn’t inform his character at ALL. There is an aroace character, though, and it’s nicely handled. Labels are used, as well, which is nice.

I will say, also, if you’re going to pick this up, find the paperback, not the hardcover, as it seems like there was some major editing to remove any mentions of specific sizes for Bea between editons. Which I prefer.

Well, what do you think of these books? I definitely learned some things about myself and my reading tastes with them. Have you read any? Would you read any of them? 

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (149): A very random mix of books

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder

Published: Originally published in 2008, this edition is from 2014 by Mulholland Books
Genre: Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count:
Part of a series? Nope 
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation.

But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.

Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you’ll never see coming, Confessions explores the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in danger. You’ll never look at a classroom the same way again.

Thoughts: I read this for a book club and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The writing is really good and engrossing, but I think I’m kind of just frustrated by the story. This really isn’t something I would have picked up on my own and I’m not sure how much I got out of it.

I don’t even feel like I have a super solid grasp on whether I liked this or not, lol.

Representation: Do I need… do I need to say everyone in this Japanese book set in Japan is Japanese?

Content notes: So much talk about child death, including multiple murders of children.

A trans character is also misgendered in the first chapter, and there’s a lot of talk about HIV that has aged poorly.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Published: August 4th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 341 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? I don’t think so but I’d read more about this character
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.

Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Thoughts: Wait, I really liked this. I’ve never read a trial book before and I did not know I would be this into that. This is also only the second book based around a podcast that I’ve read, and I really didn’t expect to like that so much when I deeply disliked the first book I read with a podcast element.

I also actually liked the mixed POVs in this. It alternates between letters, podcast episodes, and third person POV following Rachel, and that worked better than I think it often does, as there’s a reason for the switching. 

I did have some minor issues, mostly in how the book talks a lot about how rape happens to women, but never about rape happening to men or nonbinary people (or nonbinary people existing at all). And while classism and nepotism is talked about to some extant, there’s absolutely nothing about sexual violence towards disabled people, queer people, people of colour, etc. If you’re discussing rape culture, you shouldn’t ignore those things.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this a lot and I would like to read more from the author, and maybe more things similar to this. I only took a few notes because I was so engrossed, and one of them is just, “Loving this writing”. And if you like audiobooks, this would probably be a really good audiobook

Content notes: This book is about a rape trial and it is explicit without being overly graphic, in my opinion. It is along the lines of a Law and Order: SVU episode, in my opinion.

Other notes:

• This book mentions a town called Crystal Cove, which is also the name of the town in Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated.

Disfigured by Amanda Leduc

Published: February 11th, 2020 by Coach House Books
Genre: Non-Fiction
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 235 including all the references and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): In fairy tales, happy endings are the norm—as long as you’re beautiful and walk on two legs. After all, the ogre never gets the princess. And since fairy tales are the foundational myths of our culture, how can a girl with a disability ever think she’ll have a happy ending?

By examining the ways that fairy tales have shaped our expectations of disability, Disfigured will point the way toward a new world where disability is no longer a punishment or impediment but operates, instead, as a way of centering a protagonist and helping them to cement their own place in a story, and from there, the world. Through the book, Leduc ruminates on the connections we make between fairy tale archetypes—the beautiful princess, the glass slipper, the maiden with long hair lost in the tower—and tries to make sense of them through a twenty-first-century disablist lens.

From examinations of disability in tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen through to modern interpretations ranging from Disney to Angela Carter, and the fight for disabled representation in today’s media, Leduc connects the fight for disability justice to the growth of modern, magical stories, and argues for increased awareness and acceptance of that which is other—helping us to see and celebrate the magic inherent in different bodies.

Thoughts: This is an interesting read, especially as a disabled person who’s really into fairy tales. I have chronic pain and some mobility issues so I appreciated both the inclusion of things like that, but also how many other things were discussed that challenged me on things I hadn’t thought about before.

I also found this worked well for the way I like to read non-fiction, where I could read like one chapter a day and then sit with that chapter for a while digesting it. 

I also think this could be very interesting for Americans to read, as it does discuss disability from a Canadian POV, including travelling very long distances for specialists which I think is a really common thing in Canada. That obviously may be a thing in the US as well, but I don’t think Americans often think of that when they think about Canadian healthcare.

Overall I don’t agree with everything this book does, but it was a good challenging read and interesting and I would definitely recommend it.

Content notes: Ableism, obviously, depression, suicidal thoughts.

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

Published: March 3rd, 2020 by Katherine Tegan Books
Genre: YA Contemporary
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 231
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The world is not tame.

Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof. So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.

Morning brings the realization that she’s alone – and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive despite the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.

Thoughts: I really love wilderness survival books and I also really love Mindy McGinnis’ writing. It is definitely not for everyone – I know some people really don’t like her books. Even with this, Ashley can be fairly unlikeable. She has a touch of “Not Like Other Girls” going on, for sure. But I think she really works through that, and I just really liked it XD

It’s surprisingly short, especially when it’s sitting next to the multiple 500 or 600 page books I happen to have on my to-read pile (why), but the writing is just… so good for me personally. Will you like this? I don’t know! But it’s exactly the kind of thing I like. It makes me want just sit and hold it in my little gremlin hands cackling about how much I like it. It’s dark and bleak and hopeful and all the things I want out of my wilderness survival books. Really pleased with this one.

Content notes: Ashley gets severely injured and has to amputate part of her own foot. It can be quite graphic, almost gory at times.

So what have you all been reading lately? Any good spooky books?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (148): I actually liked most of these so that’s always fun

They’re mini-reviews. Mostly. You know the drill and I’m tired of this intro!

What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

Published: May 1st, 2012 by Simon Pulse
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 237 plus acknowledgements and ads for other books
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.

With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.

Thoughts: This was okay. I have a few qualms, especially about the ending, but it wasn’t bad. It does feel like it’s pulling its punches, like it wants to tell a domestic abuse story without actually showing any abuse, and obviously that can work, but I don’t think it does so much here. It lacks impact at time.

The heavy focus on romance really doesn’t help with that. And the ending was a little silly for me, and there was another secretly-gay dead character in this one, which was the second one I read the day I read this. Not a trend I enjoyed. Also, I wish there had been helplines or resources about abuse/suicide of some sort in the back of this book. It sort of doesn’t feel like abuse is being taken very seriously when the book ends and all there is are ads for VC Andrews books.

But I did like the writing and I enjoyed Sara as a character. I would be curious about other books from the author for sure, especially more modern ones. It wasn’t bad.

Representation: Sara’s dead brother was gay and his secret boyfriend is, too. That’s it.

Content notes: Domestic abuse, suicide, kidnapping, gun violence.

Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman

Published: August 6th, 2019 by jimmy patterson
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 353 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Finding himself alone in a posh New York City hotel room for the night, Aidan does what any red-blooded seventeen-year-old would do – he tries to hook up with someone new. But that lapse in judgement leads to him waking up next to a dead guy, which sparks an epic case of mistaken identity that puts Aidan on the run from everyone—faceless federal agents, his eccentric family, and, naturally, a cyber-terrorist group who will stop at nothing to find him.

He soon realizes the only way to stop the chase is to deliver the object everyone wants, before he gets caught or killed. But for Aidan, the hardest part is knowing who he can trust not to betray him – including himself.

Thoughts: So like what if your Grindr hookup turned into a whole murder and espionage/terrorism thing? What would you do? It’s okay if you don’t have an answer because Aidan doesn’t either. He has basically no idea what he’s doing the whole book and we love him very much.

No, but for real, this was awesome. It’s a really good spy-type thriller and that’s coming from someone who’s not usually into spy stuff if it’s not middle grade. It’s just, like, aggressively well written. I read like 70 pages of this and looked up and was like, “Wait, didn’t I just start reading?” It’s super fast paced and exciting.

And this is just such good writing for teens. Milman really gets how to do that. There was one line in particular where someone mentions voice memos and Aidan’s just like, “Okay, but who checks their voice memos?” And I cackled. There’s great humour at times, especially when the book knows it shouldn’t take itself too seriously, and overall, I really liked this.

Representation: Aidan is gay and the book is a very queer book. The focus of the cyber-terrorist group itself is actually being anti-queer hatred. It’s baked into the plot and I really liked that.

Content notes: Suicide, terrorism, bombings, drugs, alcohol, a surprising amount of gore/injuries. Aidan was also in a relationship with a much older man when he was like 15. Imo, the book handles it well in pointing out no, that was hella not okay for that guy to do.

What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume

Published: Originally published in 2019 in Australia, this edition was released April 1st, 2020 by Peachtree Publishing
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 281 plus acknowledgements and an author interview
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing over vacation is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she’s spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie’s already shaky confidence. And especially not when her best friend starts flirting with the boy she’s always loved. But Maisie’s got something to prove.

As she writes down all the ways this vacation is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn’t let anything, or anyone, hold her back.

Thoughts: I liked this! It’s very cute, and I don’t read a lot of Australian fiction, so that was really interesting. And it’s told in diary entries, so that format is always fun. This isn’t doing anything super unique for fat-positive YA, but it’s very cute and it’s still nice to have more of those. 

I also really appreciated the inclusion of an older, also fat character, especially one who is fatter than Maisie. It makes Maisie’s experience as a fat person much less lonely, and gives her someone to talk to who understands what she feels, and can talk from experience. That is something I’ve found to be somewhat unique in this genre.

Not too much to say about this one – it was just cute and a fun read. I would recommend it if you like YA contemporary books.

Representation: Maisie is fat. Her older sister is a lesbian, and her girlfriend is fat.

Content notes: Maisie deals with some fatmisia, and also some negative body talk/thoughts, but it’s fairly mild.

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Published: August 18th, 2020 by Tor.com
Genre: Adult Fantasy Novella
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 153 plus acknowledgements and such
Part of a series? This is the second book in the Greenhollow Duology.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): This second volume of the Greenhollow duology once again invites readers to lose themselves in the story of Henry and Tobias, and the magic of a myth they’ve always known.

Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea—a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him.

Thoughts: I really liked this! I really don’t read a lot of fantasy like this, and I tend to find it a bit daunting, but as a novella it works well. And the language is very approachable. It’s easy to read, but it also has this really lovely dreamy, magical sort of vibe. Certain descriptions are just so unnerving and great.

This is really making me realize I should read more novellas! Would definitely recommend this duology. 

Representation: Sliver and Finch are both queer men.

So that was a good batch!

What have you all been reading? Also, for my fellow Canadians, happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating!

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (147): Some experimental reads

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

Published: September 25th, 2018 by Penguin Books Canada
Genre: Magical Realism?
Binding: Paperback 
Page Count: 189 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them.

A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents’ love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us.

When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.

Thoughts: Oh boy, I did not like this at all. I don’t think this was bad, it was just deeply not for me. As soon as I finished this, I was like, “I bet Kayla from BooksandLala would like this” and sure enough, she gave it five stars, lol. This is going on that same mental stack of book as Sorrowland and A Memoir of My Brief Body, in that they’re good books that are absolutely not my thing, but I know other people will enjoy and I’m happy for them.

Would recommend this if you like really weird books with a lot of symbolism, but double check the content notes before going in because it’s quite an intense book. Just not my cup of tea. Let’s move on.

Representation: The main character is Inuk.

Content notes: Childhood sexual abuse, other sexual assult, child death, substance abuse.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Published: April 2nd, 2019 by Harper Voyager
Genre: Adult Science Fiction Horror
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 411 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too…

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

Thoughts: Now this was right up my alley. Are you shocked? I’m kind of shocked. This book had me eating dinner three hours late yesterday because my dinner alarm went off and I went, “Okay, cool,” and kept reading for two and a half more hours. I basically read this in one sitting, and I’ve already recommended it to someone I know in real life. 

I think this might be the closest thing to scared by a book that I’ve gotten. Caves are creepy. Caves are just creepy, it’s a fact. This book is creepy, and it was a really good time. It reminded me a lot of SOMA. This mostly isn’t set underwater like SOMA but it has the same kind of isolated vibes and futurisitic vibes, and a lot of the focus is on Gyre’s cave suit. Honestly with a fairly heavy focus on whenever she has to eat and replace her battery, it kind of has survival horror video game vibes, so if you like horror video games, you might also like this a lot.

It’s very approachable sci-fi, though, for someone like me who isn’t a huge fan of the genre. There’s enough world building that I could easily understand the setting, but not so much that it lost me.

Big recommend on this and I want to read more horror sci-fi now.

Representation: Gyre and Em are both queer. Em seems to be Black and Gyre is described as having light brown skin.

Content notes: CAVES.

There’s a lot of focus on bodily functions, particularly in a medical nature, like Gyre has a g-tube implanted for the mission. Also, amputation, death, mild gore. Some people on Goodreads thought it was pretty graphic – I am not sensitive to gore, apparently.

Take the Mic edited by Bethany C. Morrow

Published: October 1st, 2019 by Arthur A. Levine Books
Genre: Contemporary YA Anthology
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 245 plus acknowledgements and author bios
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): A young adult anthology featuring fictional stories of everyday resistance.

You might be the kind of person who stands up to online trolls.

Or who marches to protest injustice.

Perhaps you are #DisabledAndCute and dancing around your living room, alive and proud.

Or perhaps you are the trans mentor that you wish you had when you were younger.

Maybe you call out false allies, or stand up to loved ones.

Maybe you speak your truth and drop the mic, or maybe you take it with you when you leave.

This anthology features fictional stories–in poems, prose, and art–that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that readers like you resist every day.

Thoughts: I didn’t love this, but this is one of those books that really isn’t super for me. I could see this being a really good book to have in a classroom. I think kids around like seventh and eighth grade would enjoy this. It also has very large print, so it’s a much quicker read than you’d think. I just found it could be a little over simpliflied at times. 

When I reviewed… I think Hungry Hearts? When I reviewed that, I wrote a bit about each story and people liked that, so I’m going to do that again.

Grace by Darcie Little Badger: This was fine. It’s about a girl whose new friend tries to force a kiss on her and what happens when she says no.

Grace, the main character, is Lipan Apache and part of the story is her mom remarrying a woman.

Shift by Jason Reynolds: This is a poem. I’m not a poetry person and this is short, not much to say about it.

The Helpers by L. D. Lewis: This is probably my favourite story in the book. Following an incident of police brutality, there is a terrorist attack in Allie’s city as she’s staying with her sister Sasha. Sasha is a paramedic and Allie uses her supplies to do her best to try and help people injured by the explosion. It’s really lovely and the writing is beautiful. I liked the message in it.

Content note for police brutality, explosions, injury, racism. I assumed Allie and Sasha were Black but I’m not sure.

Fighting the Blues by Connie Sun: This was a comic. It’s only two pages. It’s cute but there’s not a lot to it.

Are You the Good Kind of Muslim? by Samura Ahmed: This is I believe a free verse poem? Maybe? It’s like a short story told in verse. It’s really good.

The narrator is obviously Muslim.

Aurora Rising by Yamile Saied Méndez: This was fine? A girl hangs out with her friends and realizes they’re racist, especially her best friend, and she’s not okay with that.

Content notes for a lot MAGA talk from her friend’s family, and a lot of microaggressions. The MC’s mom is from Argentina. She also has a friend who has a gay brother. This is the first story queer people are mentioned in.

Ruth by Laura Silverman: The writing in this is really cute. It’s about a book blogger who deals with some pretty antisemetic abuse online and how she decides to handle that. I like Laura Silverman’s writing, and this is cute. It also shows some concrete ways for the MC’s friends to support her, which is nice. It’s not very deep – this would honestly work well as a full length book – but it’s good.

Content note for antisemetic harassment. Ruth is, obviously, Jewish.

I Am the Revolution by Keah Brown: This is another poem and I love the energy of it. This is also the part of the book that uses #DisabledAndCute and is the only thing in the book that mentions disability.

As You Were by Bethany C. Morrow: The content warnings of this one are also going to be a full plot summary so skip it if you want, but this one is absolutely brutal. It is absolutely the perfect length, effective as hell, and wow. This really makes me want to read more by this author.

Content note: The main character, a Black girl, is on her way home from marching band practice with her white crush. They are pulled over by the police and she’s pulled from the car and searched. It turns out this was the crush’s way of asking her to prom. 

Yeah.

The Real Ones by Sofia Quintero: While I agree with the messages in the book, the writing just is not my cup of tea. It’s just not my vibe, honestly.

The main character, Cami, is Latina. Her aunt (who I think she’s living with? Or is just very close to) is a lesbian. This is the second story queer people are mentioned in.

Parker Outside the Box by Ray Stoeve: I liked this one! It’s cute. It’s about Parker, a nonbinary teen mentoring a trans kid while also deciding what type of things they want to stand up for in their own life. It’s cute, I liked that it had a nonbinary MC, and I liked Parker’s relationship with their stepsiblings and stepfather, who they are very close it.

Parker is nonbinary and mentors a little trans boy. Their step-father and step-brothers are Black.

Untitled by Jason Reynolds: This is another short poem. It’s fine, I’m still not a poetry person.

Homecoming by Darcie Little Badger: This follows Grace from the first story as she settles into a new school in Texas which has semi-recently changed their school mascot from a very racist caricature. I get the idea of how these two stories bookend with the same MC, but I don’t think it did very much as a bookending story? This could have been any character.

Overall, I just didn’t love this. I can see the audience for this, but it just felt a bit shallow a lot of the time, and kind of repetative. I also think it lacks in disabled and trans voices. The lack of trans women, especially trans women of colour, is an issue to me.

Also I think the idea how they formatted texting to look like actual text messages is a cool idea, but white text on a light blue background is awful to read. This is not a great book if you have eye strain issues, honestly, in my opinion.

And I’m going to wrap the post here because it’ll get super long otherwise! Just three books in this one. What do you all think of them?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (145): Apparently I read 3 yellow books in a row?

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

The Sleepover by Michael Regina

Published: November 9th, 2021 by Razorbill
Genre: MG Graphic Novel
Binding: Hardcover 
Page Count: 221 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When the Russo family returns home from vacation to discover their nanny, Ruby, has unexpectedly passed away, Matthew takes the news the hardest. After weeks of reeling, his three best friends decide to cheer him up with a night of junk food, prank calls, and scary movies. But their plans for a sleepover are jeopardized when Matt’s single mother – unable to take any more time off of work – is forced to hire a new nanny on the fly to watch over Matt and his younger sister, Judy.

Miss Swan, however, is all too happy to have the boys over. And although she seems like the perfect babysitter, letting the kids eat whatever they want and mostly leaving them alone, there’s something about her that Matt doesn’t trust. He thinks she may actually be the witch from local legend – the one who torments children into the night and then eats them. Is he just having a hard time dealing with Ruby’s replacement, as his friends suspect? Has he watched one too many scary movies, as his mom fears? Or are he and his horror-buff friends in for the fright of their lives as they come face-to-face with a real monster?

Thoughts: There’s a lot going for this one. I think it being quite spooky was a lot of fun, and I think kids who like scary things would really like this. 

However, I have a lot of concerns about how the nanny, Ruby, is represented. She is the only Black character in the book, maybe the only POC character at all, and her entire character is that she takes care of white children. They obviously care about her a lot, and the note at the back of the book says she was based on a person in the author’s life, but it comes across as using some really problematic tropes.

I also found the faces a little generic. I really struggled telling the three boys apart at times. The horror aspects were drawn really well, though.

Other people will think I’m overreacting and be fine with all this, but I can’t get past that.

Representation: I think Mario and Teo might be intended to be Latino? But it’s hard to tell.

Content notes: Mild violence, a bit of blood, intense situations.

Hide by Kiersten White

Published: May 24th, 2024
Genre: Adult Horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 236 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.

The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win–to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts–Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.

It’s the reason she’s alive, and her family isn’t.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Thoughts: This was the June pick for the Literally Dead Book Club and I once again got it too late to participate, but I keep trying! And I had it, so obviously I read it.

It was okay?

The thing is, I’ve listened to a podcast that did something very similiar to this. So even though I liked the concept (I love theme parks), it wasn’t particularly unique for me. And I don’t think it did anything super interesting with the concept. I didn’t find it scary personally and I know that’s very subjective but in my quest to be scared by a book, this one didn’t get me any further towards that goal.

Honestly my favourite part of this book was probably the map at the beginning. That was cool. I’m just probably not going to think about this one much once I give it back to my library.

Representation: Mack is queer, as is one of her co-competitors.

Content notes: There’s some mild gore, some violence, a suicide, and mentions of child death.

The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K. S. Ansari

Published: March 5th, 2019 by Walden Pond Press
Genre: MG Fantasy
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 389 plus acknowledgements and a book excerpt
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Charlie O’Reilly is an only child. Which is why it makes everyone uncomfortable when he talks about his brother. Liam, his eight-year-old kid brother, who, up until a year ago, slept in the bunk above Charlie, took pride in being as annoying as possible, and was the only person who could make Charlie laugh until it hurt.

Then came the morning when the bunk, and Liam, disappeared forever. No one even remembers him—not Charlie’s mother, who has been lost in her own troubles; and not Charlie’s father, who is gone frequently on business trips. The only person who believes Charlie is his best friend, Ana—even if she has no memory of Liam, she is as determined as Charlie is to figure out what happened to him.

The search seems hopeless—until Charlie receives a mysterious note, written in Liam’s handwriting. The note leads Charlie and Ana to make some profound discoveries about a magic they didn’t know existed, and they soon realize that if they’re going to save Liam, they may need to risk being forgotten themselves, forever.

Thoughts: This was pretty good. The tone and vibe of it reminded me of Nightbooks, which I also liked. The concept was pretty unique, and I liked the setting a lot. The use of Irish history was also very neat, and I appreciated Charlie and Ana’s friendship quite a bit. There’s absolutely no romance between them even hinted at and it’s nice to see that.

I did find there to be one particularly nasty comment about their baseball coach’s weight. Why do we need to know his exact weight? Why does Charlie know his baseball coach’s exact weight? Why do we need a comment about how unathletic he is and how much he sweats? It’s just nasty.

I also have some concerns about the representation of depression in Charlie’s mother, and how it’s magically cured. 

Overall, though, I liked it.

Representation: There’s a minor gay character.

Content notes: Child death, some fairly intense injuries.

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

Published: March 15th, 2012 by Viking Children’s
Genre: Contemporary YA 
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 260 plus some extras
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman’s boots. She’s the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She’s vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.

These two girls have nothing in common, except the passionate “private time” they share every Tuesday afternoon. Jesse wishes their relationship could be out in the open, but Emily feels she has too much to lose. When they find themselves on opposite sides of a heated school conflict, they each have to decide what’s more important: what you believe in, or the one you love?

Thoughts: This is a book that came out in 2012 and it shows. I’ve apparently had this on my to-read list since 2011, and I think if I had read it in 2012 or 2013 when I was actually still a teenager, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it is, this is a book that spends a lot of time talking about social justice and protesting and stuff, and is also bogged down with things like long passages about how fat bodies are an epidemic and describing characters as “a little Asperger’s-y”. Which is. Messed up. The contrast is wild. Jesse acts like she’s incredibly socially aware, but also can’t understand why a library would have an accessible bathroom on the third floor. Because elevators exist, Jesse.

My favourite character, honestly, was Esther, who isn’t even mentioned in the summary but is a POV character for like two chapters. Jesse annoyed me so much. She’s so self-righteous, and neither her nor Emily has almost any growth.

Representation: Jesse is a lesbian and Emily is bi and I don’t think the bi rep is handled well at ALL. 

Content notes: I honestly don’t remember.

…wow this post is kind of a bummer. Uh. How about those Mets?

– Laina

Things I’ve Read Recently (144): Aftermath, Cane Fire, In the Role of Brie Hutchens…, and Breath Tracks

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

Aftermath by Clara Kensie

Published: November 1st, 2016 by Merit Press
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 283 including acknowledgements and resources
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Charlotte survived four long years as a prisoner in the attic of her kidnapper, sustained only by dreams of her loving family. The chance to escape suddenly arrives, and Charlotte fights her way to freedom. But an answered prayer turns into heartbreak. Losing her has torn her family apart. Her parents have divorced: Dad’s a glutton for fame, Mom drinks too much, and Charlotte’s twin is a zoned-out druggie. Her father wants Charlotte write a book and go on a lecture tour, and her mom wants to keep her safe, a virtual prisoner in her own home.

But Charlotte is obsessed with the other girl who was kidnapped, who never got a second chance at life–the girl who nobody but Charlotte believes really existed. Until she can get justice for that girl, even if she has to do it on her own, whatever the danger, Charlotte will never be free.

Thoughts: This is the third kidnapping book I’ve read this year and I’m really not sure what that says about me. The other two were Pretend She’s Here and Living Dead Girl, and I think this worked better for me than both of those. It’s more like Living Dead Girl than Pretend She’s Here, both in the situation of the main character and how the book approaches it, but it’s not as brutally graphic. This book has a lot going on, but it feels very respectful of how things are handled. The book also includes a few hotlines in the back of the book, which is something I really appreciate.

I honestly didn’t expect to like this as much as I did (mostly because I had a weird idea in my head it was about sports?) but it was really good. I love books about recovery and healing and I liked how Charlotte’s journey wasn’t linear and she had ups and downs and things didn’t always go smoothly. 

Overall I’d definitely recommend this one.

Representation: Charlotte has some on-going disabilities after being rescued.

Content notes: Kidnapping, rape, sexual abuse, childhood sexual abuse, physical violence, miscarriage, victim-blaming, alcoholism, suicide.

Cane | Fire by Shani Mootoo

Published: March 15th, 2022 by Book*hug Press
Genre: Poetry
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 125 including the About the Author
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): From internationally celebrated writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo comes Cane | Fire, an immersive and vivid collection that marks a long-awaited return to poetry.

Throughout this evocative, sensual collection, akin to a poetic memoir, past and present are in conversation with each other as the narrator moves from Ireland to San Fernando, and finally to Canada. The reinterpretations and translation of this journey and its associated family history give meaning to the present. Through these deeply personal poems, and Mootoo’s own artwork, we begin to understand how a life can not only be shaped, but even reimagine

Thoughts: I just do not think poetry is for me. I keep wanting to be the type of person who likes poetry, but I’m just not. I read this for April’s FOLD challenge, and it was fine. I liked the art and photos included in the book – I would have liked to read more about the process of making the art and the meanings of each piece, honestly. 

I also did like that the poems did, like, weird stuff. Like I had to turn the book upside down at some points, that kind of thing, and that was fun. I would say this could be a good one if you do like poetry, especially if you like dissecting poems? But I just don’t get much out of it.

In the Role of Brie Hutchens… by Nicole Melleby

Published: June 20th, 2020 by Algonquin Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary MG
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 264 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Introducing Brie Hutchens: soap opera super fan, aspiring actor, and so-so student at her small Catholic school. Brie has big plans for eighth grade. She’s going to be the star of the school play and convince her parents to let her go to the performing arts high school. But when Brie’s mom walks in on her accidentally looking at some possibly inappropriate photos of her favorite actress, Brie panics and blurts out that she’s been chosen to crown the Mary statue during her school’s May Crowning ceremony. Brie’s mom is distracted with pride—but Brie’s in big trouble: she has not been chosen. No one has. Worse, Brie has almost no chance to get the job, which always goes to a top student.

Desperate to make her lie become truth, Brie turns to Kennedy, the girl everyone expects to crown Mary. But sometimes just looking at Kennedy gives Brie butterflies. Juggling her confusing feelings with the rapidly approaching May Crowning, not to mention her hilarious non-star turn in the school play, Brie navigates truth and lies, expectations and identity, and how to—finally—make her mother really see her as she is.

Thoughts: Aww, this is really cute. I really liked this one. The focus on soap operas and Brie using soap operas as a way to figure out her identity and how to be braver about opening up and trying new things. It’s a really unique interest for a younger kid these days, and I thought it was a lot of fun. 

Editing Laina: I just stopped writing the review here and I don’t remember what I was saying. This was really sweet, though, and I’d recommend it!

Representation: Brie is gay. Kennedy is queer, and knows she likes girls, but she’s not sure about labels yet because they’re thirteen.

Content notes: Lots and lots of talk about Catholicism, and a bit of homomisia from Brie’s mom at first. There’s also a bit of body/food shaming. There’s also some mild cursing which I don’t particularly care about, but it is middle grade so I’ll mention it.

Breath Tracks by Jeannette Armstrong

Published: Originally released in 1991, but this might be a later edition
Genre: Poetry
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 111
Part of a series? No
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The writings of Jeannette Armstrong, who is an Okanagan Indian, are eloquent, forceful and innovative. Her tone is clear, her stance honest, her words shimmer in beauty. This book of poems tracks with words the lives, pain and resilience of Native peoples and their long memoried past. Jeannette Armstrong, novelist, poet, children’s story writer, and educator lives in Penticton, B.C

The part where I talk: However, I did like this. An actual shock, eh? I honestly really am not a poetry person but I enjoyed this a lot. I really liked how Armstrong uses language and imagry and I would really recommend this one.

That’s what I’ve been reading! What have you been reading?

– Laina

YA Review: Blood Like Fate, or: Is it allowed for books to be this good?

Blogging again AND an actual review? Amazing. A miracle.

Blood Like Fate by Liselle Sambury

Published: August 9th, 2022 by Margaret K. McElderry, a division of Simon and Schuster
Genre: YA… urban fantasy? It’s like fantasy meets futuristic sci-fi. It’s very unique.
Binding: ARC
Page Count: 468 but goodreads says 480 and that’s probably more accurate.
Part of a series? This is the second book in the Blood Like Magic duology.
Got via: It was sent to me to review. I am late doing so. 

Summary (from goodreads): Voya Thomas may have passed her Calling to become a full-fledged witch, but the cost was higher than she’d ever imagined.

Her grandmother is gone.
Her cousin hates her.
And her family doesn’t believe that she has what it takes to lead them.

What’s more, Voya can’t let go of her feelings for Luc, sponsor son of the genius billionaire Justin Tremblay—the man that Luc believes Voya killed. Consequently, Luc wants nothing to do with her. Even her own ancestors seem to have lost faith in her. Every day Voya begs for their guidance, but her calls go unanswered.

As Voya struggles to convince everyone—herself included—that she can be a good Matriarch, she has a vision of a terrifying, deadly future. A vision that would spell the end of the Toronto witches. With a newfound sense of purpose, Voya must do whatever it takes to bring her shattered community together and stop what’s coming for them before it’s too late.

Even if it means taking down the boy she loves—who might be the mastermind behind the coming devastation.

Review: Way back in 2021, Blood Like Magic was one of my favourite books of the whole year. And I know it’s only July, but I’m confident saying Blood Like Fate will be one of my favourite books of 2023. First of all, this starts with a recap of the first book that is done incredibly smoothly and well-integrated into the story. That’s much appreciated for someone with me who has a terrible memory and also took like a year longer to read this book than she should have. (Reading slumps suck.)

The setting of this, with the combination of it being set in the future with a lot of advances in technology, but also Voya and her family are witches and there’s magic, is one of my favourite things about it. It’s such a cool combination and I honestly don’t know exactly how to describe the genre. It’s science fiction, it’s fantasy, it’s just cool.

I really enjoyed Voya’s character arc in this, too, as she tries to find her footing as a very young leader who really doesn’t know how to be one. She wasn’t prepared for it and it’s not her fault at all that she’s struggling, and it’s really satisfying to see how she learns to trust herself and become more confident and also how she leans on her family and her community for support. 

Also this is so Canadian and I love that XD There’s a mention of Chubby pop being sold as like a vintage throwback thing and I felt so seen as a Canadian. 

Shout out also to the cover, also. I don’t usually mention those in reviews but I love this cover so much. Those blues are some of my favourite tones, and I love that this is a moment actually from the book. It really looks like how I imagine Voya, too, and how she’s described.

I love that this was a duology. They work really well together and I liked the continuation of the story from the first book, while still being a complete story on its own. The writing is so good and I love how Voya’s family and community is represented. I also think that Sambury’s handling of things like queer rep and addiction is very thoughtful and well-handled. They’re just parts of those characters, because those characters are complicated and realistic, and it’s never done for shock value or anything like that. 

I have another book from Sambury in my to-read pile and I’m very excited to read it, because this one was so good and I was not disappointed at all. I literally don’t have a complaint here. Definitely check out this series if you’re into fantasy, science fiction, or even if you’re not, because I’m not a huge reader of either of those but I love these.

Representation: Voya, along with her family and most of her community, are Black. Her cousin Keisha is demiromantic, her cousin Alex is a trans girl, and her love interest Luc is a trans guy. 

Content notes: Gun violence, reference to police violence, discussion of and character with an eating disorder, blood/gore/violence, death, substance abuse/addiction, mentions of child neglect, sickness/infection. (Thank you to the author for putting content warnings on goodreads. Love when people do that.)

Thanks for reading!

– Laina