When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

September 16, 2022 By Leave a Comment


When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: YA, High School, Ages 16+, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream of becoming a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super introverted dad, who raised Millie alone since she was a baby. Not her drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not her “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm. Millie needs an ally. And when an accidentally left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do―find her mom.

But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along?

She’s a force to be reckoned with and she won’t let anyone stand in her way.

This is a cute story. Really is. I liked this book and will happily recommend it to anyone wanting a teen book that’s a feel-good read. Emma Lord’s character’s plug along with fits and starts that is so like a teen. They’re relatable. The writing is good, too. I couldn’t put this one down.

Millie is a drama queen. She’s got Millie Moods and she loves acting. She wants to be on Broadway. She’s got the world in her hand, but she’s got to decide what she wants to do with it. I loved that she had the support system around her, too. Heather has to be my favorite character–the aunt trying to be a mom because Millie’s mom isn’t around. Oh, and Oliver is adorable.

This book tugged at my heart, made me want to both conk Millie on the head while hugging her and was just overall cute. It reads like a teen would talk and it’s relatable.

If you’re looking for a good afternoon read that won’t disappoint, then this is the one you’ll want.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Gorpp the Grappler by D.R. Feiler

September 7, 2022 By Leave a Comment


Gorpp the Grappler by D.R. Feiler
Publisher: Sounds & Voices Media
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

An alien invader mistakes the world championship of wrestling for the world championship of Earth. Whoops. Could have happened to anybody, right?

Despite being an alien, Gorpp is something of an everyman among a highly advanced species. Bored with the monotony of transporting supplies here on Earth in preparation for an impending invasion, Gorpp becomes enamored with the spectacle of professional wrestling. One night, in 1975, he tunes into a broadcast announcing the world champion will be defending his title in Tampa, Florida.

Gorpp is determined to show he is good for a lot more than running supplies. He is going to challenge Earth’s champion and either return a conquering hero, or die trying.

There’s more than one way to conquer Earth.

Gorpp was an intriguing main character. He looked fairly similar to humans and had a roughly equal level of intelligence, so it took me a little while to pick up on the striking differences between his species and our own. The way he thought about relationships and what it meant to be the world champion was unique. I smiled as he and the humans he met on his adventures slowly realized that their first impressions of each other might not be correct, especially when it came to what wrestling meant to each of them. Gorpp kept me interested from the first sentence to the last one!

I would have liked to see more character development in general, especially when it came to the secondary characters. Many of the wrestlers, promoters, and managers that Gorpp developed relationships with weren’t given much of an opportunity to grow. While I wouldn’t expect everyone he crossed paths with to be given equal attention, it would have been helpful to get to know at least a few of them better so I could understand what made them tick and why wrestling was so important to them.

This book has a marvelous sense of humour. Some jokes were written for kids, while others seemed geared towards adult readers in the sense that they poked fun at some current events and required a little more investment before revealing the punchline. I always appreciate it when authors appeal to multiple audiences, especially when they pull it off as well as Mr. Feiler did here. He kept me chuckling from the first page to the last one.

Gorpp the Grappler showed me an entirely new side of professional wrestling.

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Bats, Bandits, and Buggies by Nancy Oswald

August 18, 2022 By 2 Comments


Bats, Bandits, and Buggies by Nancy Oswald
Publisher: Burro Books
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.) Historical, Fiction, YA
Rating: 5 stars
Review by Snowdrop

Bat, Bandits & Buggies is the fourth book in the Ruby and Maude Adventure Series. These books can be read in any order.

In Colorado Springs, the summer of 1898, thirteen-year-old, Ruby is bored, bored, bored. What starts out as a plan to train her donkey, Maude, to pull a buggy, ends up in a prickly business deal with her friend Roy, who has run away from Cripple Creek to escape his misery of working in the mines.

Roy lives with his peculiar Aunt Agnes, the caretaker of a mansion where things go bump in the night. Ruby suspects his aunt is involved with two bandits who dress in black and appear and disappear without a trace.

After eavesdropping on a mysterious couple, Ruby is terrified Roy may be the bandits’ next target. Her suspicions come true when the gun-brandishing bandits capture her and Roy.

Will the two escape? Is there a connection between the bandits, Aunt Agnes, and the mansion? What other surprises await Ruby and Roy in their seemingly sleepy little town? Find out in Bats, Bandits, & Buggies.

While I am not of this reading age anymore (9 to 12), who could possibly ignore a book with this title? Regardless of age, I had a blast. Set in the late 1800’s, this middle grade children’s historical fiction story would be a quick and fun read for anyone. Ruby and Roy with her donkey Maude, decide to run from bad personal situations and end up right in the middle of a mystery. In some ways, out of the fire and into the pot, a possible very dangerous place to be.

What a neat change in genre this is. It’s almost a cozy mystery for middle grade readers. I love the historical fiction setting. This is clearly written and very easy to follow, but it sure never lets up on suspense.

Of course, it’s biggest draw is what I mentioned previously. Who can resist two kids, a donkey, some bandits, and a mystery?

Bats, Bandits, and Buggies is Book 4 in a series titled “Ruby and Maude Adventure”. Check it out.

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Always the New Girl by Kelly Vincent

August 17, 2022 By 3 Comments

Always the New Girl by Kelly Vincent
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

Knitting nerd Sarah Redmond is always the new girl, never the popular one.

Moving all over the country with her flighty mom seemed to be her lot in life, but her junior year at Sierra Vista High School feels like it could be different.

She’s finally on the verge of a social breakthrough.

But when she gets publicly punked at her first party, she and her new friends find a creative way to use their shared obsession with knitting to exact sweet revenge.

And when their efforts lead to a lucrative business, Sarah knows she’s set.

But when her deadbeat dad comes back around she starts to wonder if she should try for a different life, instead of following the paths her parents have chosen.

She’d always half thought her small-time knitting channel could grow into a big-time knitting channel, but maybe college as a backup plan isn’t such a ridiculous idea, after all.

But is that something a girl like her can really make happen?

This is a look at a girl who is determined not to follow in her mom’s footprints. Ms. Vincent has a gift for putting herself in the life of teenagers and sharing that life with us. Written in the first person, we are right with Sarah when she moves, with her mom to Sierra Vista, following yet another boyfriend, to start her junior year of high school. After some mean kids set her up (why do kids do that?), she is able to find friends who really like her the way she is.

The book is written in six parts with each part reading like a short short story. This can be a bit disconcerting, because there are times she refers back to something that happened in the previous part – like when you are reading the next book in the series. Other than that, which tended to take me out of the story briefly, I liked the pacing of the story.

Each section of the book had its own conflict, which kept the action moving and gave a good luck at the relationship she has with her friends. And, there is relationship drama – as an aside, I love the character of Alex and only wish all teenage boys were as mature as he is in the book.

The characters are well-drawn and three dimensional, which leads to a richer experience. I admire the main character a lot. She went through a lot during her life, and I enjoyed hearing how she became her own person in the two years this book covers.

Recommended for all teenagers.

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Ugly by Kelly Vincent

August 16, 2022 By 2 Comments

Ugly by Kelly Vincent
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: YA
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

Sophomore Nic Summers tries to ignore the taunts of “ugly lesbian.”

Because she’s not sure they’re entirely wrong. But she also has bigger concerns for now, including prepping for the school’s art contest. And while she isn’t certain of her sexuality, she does know her life is on the verge of falling apart when her best and only friend, Sam, drops the bomb that her family’s moving to Scotland. Together, to soften the blow and distract themselves from the inevitable, they start Operation Social Interaction for Nic—or OSIN for short—to try to find her some new friends.

But it’s an uphill battle for the introverted teen artist.

As Sam’s last day nears, Nic’s self-confidence wavers even more, and she starts questioning everything. If lesbian doesn’t feel quite right, maybe she’s transgender? It isn’t until she stumbles across the label “gender nonconforming” that things start to make a little more sense, and fall into place. But finding the right label doesn’t really tell her what to do next, and before she knows it, Sam is gone.

Mustering all her resources, Nic realizes she needs to find her own path and live her own truth.

What a heartrending book about a girl who doesn’t seem to fit in with anyone. Nic doesn’t feel like a girl, but doesn’t feel like a boy either. She’s confused. Her self-confidence is nonexistent. She’s carrying a secret burden. And, on top of it all, her best (and only) friend is moving away.

I enjoyed the book. I liked the growth that Nic makes through the story, and the way she is able to open up and see that there is more to life for her. Even though I’m way past the target age, I was able to remember back to my own high school years and remember the feelings of not quite fitting in. Thankfully, though, I never had to go through the bullying that she did… even from people she didn’t know. It did make me wonder if there weren’t any nice kids in that school.

I think it’s a book that all kids could benefit from reading… no matter how they feel about themselves. Kind of a “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” kinda thing. This would be an excellent book for discussion.

I’ve not read anything by this author before, but I’m looking forward to reading more. Thanks for a job well done, Ms. Vincent.

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Born to be Naughty by Hina Nauman

August 15, 2022 By 3 Comments


Born to be Naughty by Hina Nauman
Hanna the Guardian of Nature Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How naughty can one child be? Did you ever put lizards in the food to end some boring adult party or did you ever wear a secret ink ring to mess with kids who annoy you, did you ever had this motto :

If someone gives you pee to drink, simply give them a potty to eat.

Imagine a kid like this.

And then imagine a kid like this makes her naughtiness double with a perfect addition of a best friend forever in her life.

If you have imagined all this, then it’s time to meet Hanna from the series Hanna the Guardian of nature. Hanna’s mischievous spirit is about to press her to one of her most daring thrills in these summer vacations.

Don’t confuse your head with Guardian and naughtiness going hand in hand. Simply read the book and let the confusion rest in peace.

Getting into trouble is easy when the adults aren’t paying attention!

Hanna was such an amusing main character. I adored her spirited personality, limitless energy, silly sense of humor, and cleverness. She was the sort of kid who made everything exciting and unpredictable. I could never guess what sort of mischief she was going to get into next or how the adults in her life would react to her hijinks! There was a lot of room left here for character growth, and that’s something I always like to see in the beginning of a new series. Hopefully, future sequels will spend more time exploring her personality and showing how she will change as she grows up.

It would have been helpful to have a tighter storyline in this book. The narrator often wandered off into tangents about Hanna’s early life, explanations of why Allah created so many different skin colors for people, or other topics. As interesting as they were to read, they were also a distraction from what was currently going on in her life. This was the only thing holding me back from giving a full five-star rating.

The relationship between Hanna and her parents made me smile. They were loving and accepting of her no matter what was going on in any of their lives. This isn’t always an easy thing for grownups to do when looking after an intelligent and hyperactive child, so it was nice to see her surrounded by understanding people who knew the difference between misbehavior and exuberance.

Born to be Naughty (Hanna the Guardian of Nature Book 1) was a funny and heartwarming read.

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Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze by Benjamin Roech

July 22, 2022 By 4 Comments


Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze by Benjamin Roech
Publisher: Deep Hearts YA
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Romance, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Voted BoM by LASR Readers 2013 copy

Fifteen-year-old Rainey Cobb never thought meeting someone could actually change her life. But, then again, she’s never met anyone like Juliet.

It’s 1995 and The Cobb Family Band, led by Rainey’s rock star parents, has arrived for a week-long gig at the Midwestern resort owned by Juliet’s family. Dazzled by Juliet’s carpe diem attitude, DIY tattoos, and passion for grunge, Rainey falls hard. And when Juliet gives Rainey a mixtape that unlocks her heart’s secret yearnings, Rainey starts seeing herself-and her vagabond, show-biz life-through new eyes.

If Rainey quits the band, her parents’ fading career might never recover. But if she doesn’t leap now, she might be stuck forever in a life she didn’t choose…and always wonder who she could have been.

One summer really can change everything.

Some of the most memorable scenes were the ones that addressed Rainey’s summer romance. She and her love interest were both so young and still unsure of where they might land on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. It was interesting to see how they addressed their feelings as they both explored their identities and tried to figure out what they wanted out of life. I don’t want to give away any spoilers here, but this was nicely written and felt very realistic for their ages and for the era they lived in.

I also enjoyed the subplots about Rainey’s complex relationships with her parents. She was beginning to grow up, and her mother, Tracy, wasn’t always ready for all of the changes that was going to bring to their band and to their lives in general. While there were a few times when I shook my head at how much effort Tracy was putting into preserving traditions that were not necessarily working so well as her children asserted their independence, even these moments were genuine and necessary for what was to come. Adjusting to change isn’t easy, especially for parents who have given their children such unconventional upbringings so far.

The character development was handled beautifully. Every member of the Cobb family was three dimensional and well written, and this was especially true for Rainey. I found myself wishing that she were a real person so we could talk about poetry and make mixtapes for each other all summer long. It was delightful to see how she, her brother, and their parents all grew as individuals over the year that this novel covered. If the author ever decides to write a sequel, I’d love to find out what happened to these characters next!

Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze was utterly perfect.

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Death is a Many-Splendored Thing by David Neilsen

July 11, 2022 By Leave a Comment


Death is a Many-Splendored Thing by David Neilsen
Publisher: Neilsen Books
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The world would be a lot better off if all the dead people would stop pretending they weren’t dead.

My name is Zachariah Thornwood, but everyone, even my parents, calls me Zack. A few months ago I was a normal fourteen year old kid obsessed with movies and baseball and girls. Not necessarily in that order. And now?

Now I live life with the knowledge that there are a ton of dead people running around thumbing their noses at the whole idea of the Circle of Life. They could be anyone: the postman, the Mayor, the kid bagging your groceries, or the weather woman on TV. They seem perfectly normal, act perfectly normal, live perfectly normal lives, but are, in fact, perfectly dead…

Not everything in this world is what it immediately appears to be.

Zach was an interesting and memorable main character who genuinely felt like a moody teenage boy. I’m saying that affectionally as I liked him quite a bit even when he was a little grumpy with the adults in his life who dared to ask him questions or wished to know where he was going late at night. These moments are a normal part of growing up for many teens, though, and I’m glad they were included so naturally here. He was a brave kid who enjoyed taking risks. Both of these traits served him well during his adventure.

There were some pacing issues in the beginning and the middle of the storyline. I found myself wishing for more conflict or plot twists during them. As much fun as it was to see Zach try to navigate normal activities like going to school after he learned how many dead people there were out there who were pretending to still be alive, this didn’t quite give me enough substance to work with. I think there was room for more development here, and I would have gone with a higher rating if it had been included.

Mr. Neilsen did a good job with the world building. He explained exactly what he needed to about this world in order for it to make sense for me as a reader, and the framework he set up made me yearn for more. For example, I’d love to know how the dead handle things like doctor’s appointments or going through airport security due to the many physiological differences between them and the living that can quickly become apparent with a body scan, x-ray, blood draw, or any other close attention paid to the topic. As this appears to be the beginning of a new series, I was glad to see how much space he left himself for the future as well. It will be exciting to see where he goes next.

I’d recommend Death is a Many-Splendored Thing to anyone who is in the mood for adventurous young adult fiction.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Amethyst by Rebecca Henry

May 31, 2022 By Leave a Comment


Amethyst by Rebecca Henry
Publisher: Finch Books
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, LGBTQ, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

She was sent away because of her feelings for another girl. But what she discovered at her aunts’ lake house was a birthright of magic.

Thirteen-year-old Zinnia is about to turn fourteen when her life is flipped upside down. With her parents on the brink of a divorce, Zinnia is sent to spend the summer with her eccentric great-aunts at their lake house away from her home in Manhattan. Zinnia arrives at her aunts’ massive Victorian house with a heavy heart after a recent falling out with her best friend Charlotte, who betrayed her trust by showing the meanest and most popular girl in school a letter Zinnia wrote confessing her feelings for Charlotte. The aunts rely on practical magic, acceptance and old family friends to help heal their great-niece in more ways than one.

What Zinnia discovers on Ambrosia Hill is more than just her birthright to magic—she meets Billie, a girl who conjures feelings inside Zinnia that she can no longer deny.

What’s better than a summer in the countryside?

It can be hard for kids to understand topics like divorce and marital conflict. Zinnia was a smart teenager, but even she struggled with the idea that her parents were fighting and might not stay together. Some of the most memorable scenes in this novella were the ones that explored her feelings on this topic and tried to explain her parents’ anger with each other in ways that were appropriate for a fourteen-year-old to hear. These aren’t easy things to discuss by any means, but they are quite important. The author did a great job of giving Zinnia a chance to understand her parents a little better than she had before and to learn about how adult relationships sometimes work.

I would have loved to see more character development in this piece. As intrigued as I was by the setting and plot, it was disappointing to meet characters whose personalities weren’t well defined and who didn’t seem to grow very much as a result of their experiences even when they were the main focus of the storyline. There seemed to be plenty of opportunities for them to do so. I simply needed more examples of them reacting to those moments, sharing their personalities in more complex ways, and showing the audience how they’d changed.

The world building was delightful. I loved the way magic was woven into every facet of the characters’ daily lives, from the messages that were left in the arrangements of soggy tea leaves in the bottom of a teacup to the spells the aunts cast to help their visitors reach any number of personal goals. It wasn’t always clear to me where the magic ended and ordinary explanations for certain events began. I reveled in how beautifully ordinary the author made certain scenes feel even if they included moments that can’t be explained with modern science or physics. There is something special about visiting a world that accepts these shades of grey and invites the reader to come up with their own explanations for them.

Amethyst was a playful read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dreaming of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hyde

May 30, 2022 By Leave a Comment


Dreaming of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult (8 – older)
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon—a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It’s his new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar—she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

Marilyn has a reason for keeping her distance: a secret no one knows about. Her survival tactic is to draw a line between herself and other people—one that Stewie is determined to cross. As their visits become more frequent, a complicated but deeply rooted relationship grows. That’s when Stewie discovers how much more there is to Marilyn, to her past, and to challenges that become more pressing each day. But whatever difficult times lie ahead, Stewie learns that although he can’t fix everything for Marilyn or himself, at least he’s no longer alone.

I don’t know where to start on my review about this book. I enjoyed it tremendously! The writing style, the characters, the realness of the story and the teachable moments – all of it. I enjoyed it all.

This conversation between Stewie and Marilyn’s daughter, Betty will stay with me.: “You’re just upset because she doesn’t say the same things she would have said before. Instead of being so sure about exactly how you want her to be, why can’t you just be glad because she’s there?”

In a world where I’ve found myself drawn to watching more television shows and movies than I read, this book made me want to read. I enjoyed the time spent following the story of eleven-year-old Stewie Little. A young boy who has lost several loved ones at a very early age. He lives with his older sister, Stacey and brother Theo.

Stewie continues to take care of his deceased grandmother’s chicken. One day on his egg delivery route he meets a new customer, Marilyn. Marilyn seems to be a tough character to deal with, but Stewie took a liking to her, as her spry ways and mannerism reminds him of his grandmother.

This starts the beginning of a relationship that Marilyn didn’t want to happen. Neither did Stacey, Stewie’s older sister. Stacey’s concern for Stewie is touching to read. She recognized the many losses that Stewie has faced but she didn’t know what to do. Though their family was small I felt the closeness that the three must have needed to cope. At times it seemed they walked on eggshells for Stewie, but I like that Stewie is a strong and courageous young boy. I liked that if he didn’t understand something he spoke up. This was humorous in how he stated he didn’t know what words or phrases meant. Marilyn always took the time to explain it to him. Marilyn came into Stewie’s life at a time when Stewie really needed her. And Stewie in turn was there for Marilyn. I enjoyed and took to heart the words of wisdom from Marilyn to Stewie, in fact I’ve highlighted them on my Kindle; they are just that impacting. Towards the end of the book Stewie starts to give Marilyn and others, words of wisdom. (Hence the quote at the start of this review)

The relationship between the two is beautiful and heartwarming. I found joy that Stewie had someone he could be close to, that didn’t take advantage of him and also able to sense what he needed. Marilyn uplifted him up, educated him and filled a void that Stewie had. Stewie didn’t have biological parents or grandparents, but he had a village. Dr. Briggs helped Stewie through his complicated emotions by giving him thought provoking questions. It was a little concerning that Stewie didn’t have friends his age, but I could see that Stewie was mature for his age and didn’t seem to fit in with others of his age.

The ending felt true to life, but also hurt. The author touched on a lot in this book. Loss, and grief, from both Stewie’s view and also Marilyn’s view. Overcoming what life throws at you and having someone or people to help you along the way. That family or people that love you aren’t always blood related. That we should pay attention to those we love in case they do need help. Getting help is okay. Doing something good for someone else also helps you in return. It also gives some insight of those that are of age who feel like they have lost their freedom, their choice, and maybe even their personal rights once they’ve been moved into an assisted living facility.

I can go on and on about how much I enjoyed this book. So instead of reading my review I suggest you go ahead and get a copy of the book and enjoy it for yourself.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,
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