Book Reviews

That Time I Read The Grishaverse Books Out of Order

July 7, 2019 Leave a Comment

In the Star Wars fandom there is this thing called Machete Order. It was created by software developer and Star Wars fan Rod Hilton in 2011 as an alternative to watching the films in chronological or release order. In Machete Order, you watch a New Hope and then the 2000’s movies are watched as a flashback between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I’ve been thinking about Machete Order because that is sort of the way I read Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha books and I kind of think it’s a really effective way to read them.

Here is my Machete Order of the Grishaverse:

I think Shadow and Bone should be read first because it breaks down the Grisha orders, how they exist in the world at large and how their power works more so than the other books. Now, I personally still find some of Bardugo’s magic, er science system, confusing but I think it can be even more confusing if you go straight into Six of Crows.

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Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) by L.C. Rosen

July 3, 2019 Leave a Comment

337 pages | Contemporary | Little Brown | Release Date: 10/30/2018

17-year-old Jack Rothman loves sex and finds his reputation as the school slut somewhat amusing. When he uses his experience to write an advice column he’s prepared for more gossip and judgment but nothing prepares him for an anonymous stalker leaving little pink notes in his locker.

This book has a pretty high bar to clear. It has to give advice about sex and sexuality to minors in a way that is safe, inclusive and frank, explore the multiple facets of being a gay teen and build a thriller-like stalker plot. Somehow, L.C Rosen (the pen name of SFF author Lev AC Rosen) manages to do it all and more in this gem of a YA contemporary.

I’ll admit as some who is *mumbles* *mumbles* years old I was clutching my pearls at how explicit the advice column sections were, but I think it’s ridiculous to think teens aren’t talking and thinking this way. Especially gay or lesbian teens who don’t have a lot of models for love and romance for people their age. The columns go beyond just sex advice and also talk to teens who don’t feel like they want to have sex or straight boys who feel like they don’t fit into the way media portrays their desires. I will say the Jack in the advice column seems a lot more mature and worldly than the one in the story but I think it’s a conceit that makes sense for the book.

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Adult Genre Fiction: A Curious Beginning and Kill The Queen

July 2, 2019 Leave a Comment

I remember being a teenager in Borders (RIP) and hating that one day I’d have to give up YA and read only boring “adult” books. But over the years I’ve discovered adult books are kind of awesome too and this year I’ve been dabbling in adult genre fiction.

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We Set The Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

June 29, 2019 Leave a Comment

9 hours 54 minutes| Dystopian YA | Harper Audio | Release Date: 2/26/2019

On the island of Medio, young women are trained to take up positions as sister wives to the island’s highest ranking men. 17-year-old Daniella Vargas is paired with her bully Carmen and the two are married to Mateo Garcia–a boy being groomed to become president of their island country.

Dani’s life looks picture perfect but she has a secret. She’s an illegal immigrant and was bought over from the wrong side of Medio’s border as a child. This secret makes her vulnerable to the resistance group La Voz, who begin blackmailing her for information to help their cause. As Dani embarks on this new life full of discovery and danger she begins to understand her own privilege and that there is more to life than what she ever imagined–including her feelings for her sister wife, Carmen.

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Book Review : The Care and Feeding of Ravenous Girls by Annisa Gray

June 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

304 pages | Berkeley | Adult Fiction | Release Date: 02/19/2019

I like a book with a really long title. Just throwing that out there.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is this blend of African-American, Women’s and Literary fiction that I’m starting to find myself drawn to more.

This is a very human story of the Butler siblings who are brought together after their seemingly perfect elder sister, Althea, and her husband Proctor are convicted of a crime that shakes up their small lakeside town.

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Spin By Lamar Giles

May 6, 2019 Leave a Comment

Rating: unrated | 10 hours 50 minutes | Scholastic | YA Thriller | Release Date: 01/30/2019

Last weekend Virginia Beach hosted something In The Water Festival and they honestly should have just started throwing these books out at the audience. Spin is a love story to the underground music scene and the tradition of Tidewater musicians.

DJ ParSec started from the bottom with nothing but her best friend Kya’s tech skills, mismatch DJ equipment and a passion for music. After blowing up online and gathering a rabid fanbase DJ ParSec was on her way up— until she is found dead– now it is up to Kya and ParSec’s estranged social media manager, Fuse, to find justice.

Giles knows how to write a solid thriller, he keeps the stakes high and has his characters face danger at nearly every turn, especially from DJ ParSec’s most devoted fans whose intense network is keeping tabs on Kya and Fuse. Along the way Kya and Fuse, who have never seen eye to eye, begin to bond through their shared grief. It was great reading a story about complicated female friendship.

Giles does not hold back when it comes to violence and peril his characters face, but I’ve always found it interesting that the language remains fairly tame.

Spin really taps into the world of social media fandom with a dash of action, and suspense that will keep you guessing until the end.

Check out the audio review on Audiofile