Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

Jess and Kat

Mini Reviews: YA and Middle Grade

     Leave a Comment

A Guide To The Dark by Meriam Metoui

Best friends Mira and Layla’s college tour road trip hits an unexpected detour when a mysterious car accident strands them at a strange motel where a dark force could tear the best friends apart forever. Layla and Mira team up with some locals to destroy the dark force and gather the courage to admit their growing romantic feelings for each other. This book is probably not frightening enough for true horror fans but could be ideal for younger YA readers looking for something with a paranormal twist. It has a tragic but hopeful ending and focuses on the ways grief and guilt manifest. – Jess

The Illuminations by T. Kingfisher

I’ve been sleeping on T. Kingfisher. This buoyant and imaginative story takes place in a world where art is a utility. Magical artwork or illuminations are essential to daily life as they are used to keep the city in working order. The Illuminators who create these pieces of art are revered. Rosa is the youngest member of the family and their status is threatened when Rosa accidentally unleashes a vengeful little monster that could destroy the city. She has to catch it before it’s too late! Rosa is very close to her family and I liked that the adults are given individual personality and full characterizations. This book is equal parts silly, adventurous and heartwarming. I think this is a book that will appeal to all ages. I actually didn’t know this was middle grade when I read it. This book gave me Encanto vibes so it’s worth checking out if you want to read about a magical family trying to save their storied family home. – Jess

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

TikTok star Celine and star football player (This is British so soccer to Americans) Bradley hate each other. But when they enter a wilderness camp scholarship program for high schoolers they begin to see each other’s annoying habits in a new light and connect. This is my third Hibbert and she is just not the author for me.  I find her stories meh and she does too much telling and not showing. The way the characters perceive each other doesn’t work for me. I’m always like “you got that out of that?” That said, I think this is the perfect YA book for teens (or anyone) who wants to read a popular adult romance author but doesn’t want explicit sex. Talia has taken her romance writing formula that many readers love and molded it into an easy rec for a younger audience looking for the “TikTok Romance” experience. – Kat

23 Books To Read In 2023

     3 Comments

…

Read this Post

Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport

     Leave a Comment

Jess’ Review

Blood Trials is a Sci-Fi series that follow Kenna Amari–a nineteen-year-old military graduate embarking on a brutal trial to join the Pratorieans, an elite military branch. Kenna has ulterior motives for undergoing the trials–her true mission is to find out who among the Pratoerins killed her grandfather.

Initially, I was all in for this plot, it reminded me a lot of Legend by Marie Lu (spoiler alert this also meant I clocked the reveal of the murderer). I was up for learning how this world worked and the trials. But the so-called Blood Trails turned into The Squid Games real quick and then this whole book fell apart for me.

Right out the gate we learn that the trials they undergo are intentionally fatal and I”m like….WHY WOULD THAT BE A THING? Tasks include surviving cannibals, cage-match beatdowns, and surviving extreme cold. WHAT DOES THIS TEACH YOU ABOUT BEING A SOLDIER?

Kenna is ethnically different from her fellow recruits and endures a lot of racism from their leader Chance and several other recruits. One of these brutally racist recruits seems to get redeemed at the end and is shown grace by Kenna ?

Kenna also gets tangled up with Reed. A praetorian who was close to her grandfather. We learn that Reed is ‘white’ passing. The book kind of treats this like a twist reveal but it’s not seen like that by the characters. It makes no sense. If Reed wasn’t actually passing why did he not tell Kenna so she could know she wasn’t alone? Why didn’t her Grandfather or anyone else mention it?

I feel like this duology should have been a trilogy because of the pacing felt. The last 20% felt like a different book. It’s such a jarring shift in narrative. By the time we get to the final chapters, it’s like I’m supposed to believe everyone is one big happy quippy found family. I see the vibe Davenport was going for but we (the readers) needed time to catch up.

My biggest gripe with this book is the way Kenna was written as a Strong Female Character–there was zero nuance. Kenna is a strong female character because she can outsmart, outfight and out-drink the boys. Her strength comes from her ability to be better than all the men around her.  This is a way to write a strong female character but, to me, it’s the least interesting route.

This book does have some spice for the girlies. Davenport writes spice like a seasoned romance writer. Unfortunately, this scene added very little to the story. The scene happens out of nowhere and adds nothing to the plot. It just felt like a weak attempt at sexual tension.

Jeanette Illidge does an admirable job as a narrator but I don’t think her narration style was ideal for a book with so many characters. Because she doesn’t do a ton of voices– I got very confused toward the end and couldn’t tell who was talking.

Kat’s Review

Overall, I found this book intensely uninteresting.

Books about Black people existing in overtly white supremacist societies are not my jam but I am really over books about (typically) Black women risking life and limb to be accepted into a white supremacist group. Especially when there is a community of Black people two steps to the left. 

I am just not the reader for it. 

Jess and I had this idea of doing a Black SFF book club with our brother who only reads SFF and, if not for that, I would have DNF’d this book.

And, yes, it’s mostly on me for not reading past the first paragraph of the description.

I told myself I wouldn’t rant but my biggest problem with this book is that I never bought why Ikenna put up with the trials and virulent racism. She could have run to the Black kingdom in the first chapter and the stakes would have been the same since having blood magic is taboo there too. The titular Blood Trials didn’t make any sense to me. Not only do they add nothing to the plot but you’re telling me these people spend all this money and effort to make the best soldiers and then kill almost all of them?  The trials added nothing to the story or world. 

SPOILER: I went into this book knowing Reid was white-passing and I expected the reveal of his race to have more heft or be a turning point and it was just…nothing? 

Shoutout to audiobook narrator Jeanette Illidge. I enjoyed her in a contemporary middle grade I listened to and her performance here solidified her as an auto-buy.

That said, I am interested in reading Davenport’s romance book, I think that could be a good move for her.

Joint Review : Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

     2 Comments

…

Read this Post

22 Books We Can’t Wait for in 2022

     4 Comments

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again where Jess and I share the 22 books we can’t wait for in 2022. This list is a range of everything including anticipated sequels, romcoms, twisty crime thrillers and also somehow two ghost hunter romances ?!

…

Read this Post

AudioFile’s 2021 Best Young Adult

     4 Comments

It’s that time of year again. We are big audiobook fans around here and are so excited to present AudioFile’s 2021 Best Young Adult audiobooks !


AudioFile’s 2021 Young Adult Audiobooks include stunning debuts and excellent sequels to much-loved series. Each has been narrated by talented narrators who draw you into the storyline–and one lets you hear the words told in the author’s own voice. For the full list of 2021 Best Audiobooks, visit AudioFile’s website.

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Simon Snow Trilogy, Book 3

by Rainbow Rowell| Read by Euan Morton

AudioFile Earphones Award | Macmillan Audio | 15 hrs.

Euan Morton returns to narrate the final installment in the Simon Snow series. Morton’s exceptional talent shines as he modulates between European and American accents and seamlessly shifts tones to bring each distinct character to life. Simon, voiced listlessly, must figure out his place in the World of Mages. And Baz, speaking sardonically, just wants to hold on to his boyfriend despite family circumstances that demand his attention. 

CONCRETE ROSE

by Angie Thomas | Read by Dion Graham

AudioFile Earphones Award | Harper Audio | 8.25 hrs.

Narrator Dion Graham shines bright in this YA prequel, set 17 years before the events in THE HATE U GIVE. We hear the fast-paced, sometimes frantic, thoughts of a Black teenage boy in way over his head—dealing drugs in order to help his mother take care of his family. In those moments, Graham sounds like a poet, and the rhythm of his narration carries listeners away. 

FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER

by Angeline Boulley| Read by Isabella Star LaBlanc

AudioFile Earphones Award | Macmillan Audio | 14.25 hrs.

Isabella Star LaBlanc brings an authentic-sounding narration to this powerful audiobook. Set amid state and tribal lands in Michigan, the story of Daunis, who is caught between these two cultures, is told with heartfelt compassion. LaBlanc masterfully amplifies Daunis’s apprehension when she becomes involved in helping the FBI investigate a new, deadly street drug. 

REDEMPTOR: Raybearer, Book 2

by Jordan Ifueko| Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt

AudioFile Earphones Award | Blackstone Audio | 13.25 hrs.

Joniece Abbott-Pratt makes a triumphant return to narrate this thrilling sequel to RAYBEARER. Tarisai is now empress of Aritsar, and reckoning with its disturbing legacy. She faces daunting tasks—first, to anoint a council of rulers and, then, to enter the Underworld to end the centuries-long practice of sacrificing children to appease its malevolent spirits. Tarisai’s strength and the love of her friends shine through in Abbott-Pratt’s compelling narration, which captures each character’s spirit.

SIX CRIMSON CRANES: Six Crimson Cranes, Book 1

by Elizabeth Lim| Read by Emily Woo Zeller

AudioFile Earphones Award | Listening Library | 12.75 hrs.

Narrator Emily Woo Zeller immerses listeners in this fairy-tale-inspired fantasy. Shiori, who is uninterested in her arranged engagement, learns to wield forbidden magic from a shape-shifting dragon. After stumbling upon her stepmother’s secret, Shiori is exiled and cursed to remain mute—every word uttered means death to one of her six brothers, who have been transformed into cranes.

WHEN WE MAKE IT

by Elisabet Velasquez| Read by Elisabet Velasquez

AudioFile Earphones Award | Listening Library | 4 hrs.

Elisabet Velasquez narrates her debut novel-in-verse with vividness, honesty, and poignancy born of her life experience and performance expertise. Like her heroine, Sarai, Puerto Rican-American Velasquez grew up in Bushwick and knows what it’s like to be poor in the midst of increasing gentrification. Sensitive 14-year-old Sarai is working hard to discover her identity despite the mental illness of her single mother, an educational misunderstanding, the male toxicity of her neighborhood, housing and food insecurities, and a sexual assault.