Book Reviews

Mini Reviews: YA and Middle Grade

November 30, 2023 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

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

November 2, 2023 Leave a Comment

This novella follows a generation spaceship making a decades-long voyage back to Earth. First Mate Jack Albright is trying to hold it together but mysterious attacks from an unseen enemy and a secret endgame hidden in the ship could spell the end for this last vestige of humanity. I love a good sci-fi on-a-ship story à la Battlestar Galactica (2004) and Ascension. Count me in.

The first ⅔ of this book is a little slow as we delve into ship politics and Jack starts to pick up clues about the ship’s unseen foe, but WOW does the last third pack a punch! It’s an intense and action-packed story with a tinge of horror. There are plenty of reveals and plot twists that make this book worth getting through the slow start. This is exactly what I want from my Black female-led sci-fi fantasy books. Brown paints a pretty diverse world that felt lived in.

I’ve listened to Bahni Turpin a lot and she truly hits her stride with this one. She has an impeccable range of voices for the diverse crew Jack leads.

Yellowface by R.F Kuang

October 15, 2023 Leave a Comment

Lol, how did Rebecca get this published? She is eating the publishing girlies up in this biting critique of the publishing industry, bookish social media, and cancel culture. Yellowface follows June Hayword, a flop debut author who steals an Asian American woman’s work and becomes a literary star.

Audiobook Narrator Helen Laser understood the assignment. Her performance truly encapsulates the self-important NWL ‘I’m a liberal, so I can’t be wrong’ energy coming off of June.

For the past decade, I’ve casually observed the publishing industry from the sidelines and it definitely influenced my perception of this book. I’ve seen the sort of online book discourse/drama June gets mixed up in play-out IRL. I think this is uncanny look at online book culture is why this book has been so popular with book influencers.

I’m curious what the average reader who is not plugged into the bookish internet will think of this book. Will they think the Twitter beefs, think-pieces, and clapbacks are inventions of Kuang’s?

Personally, I don’t think this is a complete parody. I am sure Kuang has seen and heard some of the outlandish things June thinks and says IRL.

Jess’ Mini Review Round-Up

September 25, 2023 1 Comment

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Dawn by Octavia Butler

September 24, 2023 Leave a Comment

This book is incredibly strange.

I can’t fathom how Butler conceived any of this. Butler is definitely joining my list of authors who must possess entire worlds inside their minds because this was a wildly imaginative ride.

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It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

July 8, 2023 4 Comments

It Ends With Us follows Lily Bloom as a chance encounter with Ryle, a successful neurosurgeon, leads to a whirlwind romance. At the same time, Lily finds herself revisiting her childhood journals and remembering her first love–a homeless boy named Atlas.

I thought this book was fine. I don’t really understand why people so vehemently dislike it but I also don’t understand why it is so beloved. I think Hoover genuinely wanted to show how quiet domestic violence can be and I think she accomplished that. I think it was an interesting move on Hoover’s part to write Ryle as this perfect swoony hero for most of the book– then have his violent side come out by accident. The domestic violence is surprisingly nuanced. Ryle isn’t made out to be a monster. He has real empathy and regret –but the book wants you to understand that doesn’t make him less of an abuser.

I didn’t love that Atlas, who unexpectedly shows back up in Lily’s life, is the main reason Lily decides to leave Ryle. We hardly know who he is as an adult (or as a character) yet he becomes this huge catalyst in Lily and Ryle’s relationship. Atlas being the reason she leaves takes away from her agency, in my opinion.

The book felt like a redux of those old Lifetime movies where the woman falls into a whirlwind relationship only for it to end badly. Those movies were very popular so perhaps that is why this CoHo book resonates with people ? I also have a theory this book’s popularity has to do with the cover. It’s super aesthetic. Just saying…

Side Note

Lily’s diary entries are written as letters to Ellen DeGeneres–which did not age well…