Fiction

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

March 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

9 hours 58 min. | G.P. Putnam’s Son | Adult Fiction | Release Date: 12/31/19

2020 has been kind of a meh reading year for me so I decided to switch it up with some upmarket book club-y fiction. This is one of those books where it’s better to go in with as little information as possible. Such a Fun Age starts with 25-year-old Emira, a Black girl living in Philadelphia, being racially profiled while babysitting a white child. The book then follows Emira as she tries to figure out how to become a “real adult” and her boss, Alix Chamberlain, who starts noticing Emira in a new way after the incident.

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Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

January 1, 2020 Leave a Comment

414 pages | Simon & Schuster | Historical Fiction| Release Date: 04/24/18

It’s sort of fitting that I read this book at the end of the year because the end of this book was such a letdown. Bellwether is a blend of historical and contemporary fiction revolving around the Wilde Family and their lasting legacy in small-town Millbank, NY …

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Serpent & Dove Shelby Mahurin

December 31, 2019 Leave a Comment

HarperTeen | Fantasy | Release Date: 09/03/2019

Okay, is it just me or is this one of those books in the YA book world that people either really love or really don’t like? I feel like the other books series that fall into this category are Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Raven Cycle. I like a polarizing book so I had to check this one out.

I started this having no idea what it was about, I just knew it was a YA fantasy and was stirring up some controversy. As I was reading (listening on audio) my interested was piqued as we enter Cesarine, an opulent city forged in a land once ruled by witches—who have been ruthlessly conquered by the religious and devout Le Blanc royal family.

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Jackpot by Nic Stone

December 28, 2019 Leave a Comment

I forgot to write a review for this book and I read it so long ago; so please check out the audiobook review I wrote forAudioFile magazine! This was narrated by Nic Stone and I was blown away by her performance.

Listeners will find winning humor in this audiobook as narrator and author Nic Stone provides a flawless, upbeat performance. She gives voice to Rico and Zan–teenagers on a mission to find an unclaimed winning lottery ticket that could help Rico’s struggling family. Stone taps into Rico’s perseverance and strength as she tries to keep her family financially afloat. To track down the winning ticket, she reluctantly ropes in Zan, whose breezy laid-back tone reflects his privileged upbringing–opposites quickly attract! Listeners get the bonus of hearing the flirtatious back-and-forth between the teens, including Zan’s capricious way of mispronouncing Rico’s surname. Stone also brings a delightfully over-the-top performance to the inanimate objects that act as a Greek chorus.

Psst. Don’t forget to check out AudioFile Magazine’s website and podcast for more audiobook content.

In Search of Us by Ava Dellaria

December 27, 2019 Leave a Comment

Rating: Unrated | 384 Pages| Contemporary YA | Release Date: 2/26/2019

Angie’s family has always been her and her mother Marilyn. Their bond is unbreakable but when Angie finds evidence that there might be more to the death of the father she never knew; she sets off on a road trip to L.A with her estranged ex-boyfriend to where the story of her past began. Which is where Marilyn’s story starts in 1998 Los Angeles.

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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

September 1, 2019 Leave a Comment

12 hours 32 minutes | Adult SFF | Harper Audio | Audio Release Date: 11/10/2009

In this 1990 Sci-Fiction/Fantasy debut novelist Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett tell a satirical story about the end of the world. I went in knowing this book was about an angel and a demon teaming up to stop armageddon, but Good Omens also involves a book of prophecies, a witch hunter, the four horsemen of the apocalypse and…an 11-year-old antichrist.

I have a vague memory of a teacher talking about this book when I was 9th grade but I’d kind of forgotten about it. I was reading a lot of Left Behind books at that time so I can’t imagine what I would have thought about this tongue and cheek interpretation of the end days. The only reason I picked it up this year is so I could check out the Amazon Prime show. A show that I was Streisand Effected into knowing about. I had no idea this show was even a thing until the controversy.

I found this book to be imaginative and kind of weird and the humor felt very British. There are a lot of plots threaded into the story and I feel like some of it may have gone over my head. I’m sure this is a book like this holds up well to re-reading, In fact, I started the show and the show is essentially a scene by scene remake of the book and things kept clicking while I watched the show that I hadn’t noticed when reading.

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