Customer Comments

The art in this book was very pretty; the style was cute and fit the YA-romance genre well. There was a lot of fluidity to the art and creative page layouts that brought life to the story. The striking use of colors added a lot to the expressiveness and mood of the art too. The magical elements were incorporated well. They provided a push to get the story going and a time limit that upped the stakes without taking too much focus away from the core of the story which was Valentina's relationships (both romantic and with her family and friends) and her concept of love. "Saint V", the main supernatural element and antagonist started out as a good mix of creepy and sad. I had wondered if there was going to be more to him as the story progressed, but he mostly faded into the background. This did lower the tension a bit, but there was a lot to show with all Valentina's relationships and he did not need to be at the forefront. The romance was simple and fairly predictable from the start, but I liked that there was time for it to develop and for Valentina to explore her feelings and her options, even looking for other ways to escape her deal with Saint V that still felt in line with the themes of the story.

3.5 stars rounded up. I enjoyed Vera's character. Her position as human-like, but fundamentally different physically, mentally, and emotionally was compelling. She, of course, had the struggle of wanting to be more human while also having a certain disdain for humanity that comes from seeing it from the outside. But more interesting was her desire to be part of a community and culture that she feels inherently connected to, but is cut off from because her existence is profane to them and because they have been decimated by the genocide and war that inspired her creation. She had no chance. The story captures that loss of what should have been well. The more fantastical parts of her identity struggles were compelling as well, trying to separate her identity from other people's memories placed within her and the directive her creator made her with. The plot wasn't always the smoothest or the most well-developed, though. The goal of the Nazi research and the existence of the other 'golem' seemed like they should have been more obvious characters and also treated with more urgency. The tension was lower than it should have been and I think more could have been done with the Nazi's creation.

The setting of an alt-history China with alchemy stood out to me. It was interesting to see how the author adapted real historical figures to fit this universe and story. The characters were enjoyable to read about as well. Zilan was easy to root for and she had some steady character growth, while still leaving room for more in the sequel. For the most part, the pacing and the twists were handled well. Some aspects of the ending did feel too easy or convenient, but I’m still interested to see where it goes from here. It’s always the romance where YA fantasy/sci-fi lose me. This time I thought Zilan and the Prince were compelling characters and I even liked the beginnings of their relationship, but it got ahead of itself. Zilan’s narration starts talking about how the Prince understands her more deeply and completely than anyone has at a point in the story when she’s just finished spending a good chunk of time thinking their lives are too different and he doesn’t understand her at all. She can and should change her mind as their relationship develops, of course, but I couldn’t see why she made such a complete 180 when she did.

I can appreciate what the author is aiming to do - providing representation that is lacking in a lot of similar magical school stories. Not just the characters, but the magic systems are very multicultural, which makes the world feel more alive, showing the various ways the magic manifests and how people interact with it. There were aspects (beyond just the generic magic school idea) that were rather reminiscent of Harry Potter, but there was also a solid foundation for the series to distinguish itself. However, I had problems with the structure and pacing of the story. There was a lot of disconnect between different aspects of the book. It is very slow-paced for the first half to two-thirds of the book. Too much time was spent on inconsequential aspects of the world that didn’t seem important to the characters, the plot, or even the themes. The bigger issue for this book was that the protagonists and the main villain, the Ace of Anarchy, had little to do with each other. Ella had no personal connection to the Ace and didn’t interact with her until the last fifth of the book. Her escape from prison was kind of a background detail that caused some increase in rumors and discrimination against Ella, but nothing much more than she was already subjected to. This made their confrontation feel abrupt and not impactful. There wasn’t much rising tension or build-up as the plot progressed and what there was felt mismatched with the climax we got.

Despite the compelling premise, this book was only a 2.5 star read for me. I generally felt apathetic towards all the characters, which was unfortunate for such a character-focused, emotional-driven story. The characters' actions and emotional ups and downs - even those of the point-of-view characters - felt arbitrary, more so the further the story went on. At times I was also surprised by how little weight Austin's death had in the story. Michael seemed to have no raw emotions about it at all, despite being the most directly responsible for it, and Lori came across the same way at times. I had to keep reminding myself that it was been a year, their feelings may have dulled, but it still felt odd given the framing of the story. I think it was a product of trying to do too much in not enough space. If this had just been Lori's story or just Avery's, there might have been more balance between rebuilding surviving relationships and exploring grief as well as more chance to bring out their character.

All You Have to Do follows two young Black men: Kevin, a student at the University of Columbia in the 1960s protesting the expansion of the Columbia campus at the expense of the residents of Harlem, and Gibran, his nephew in the 1990s as he tries to get permission for himself and the other Black boys at his majority white prep school to attend the Million Man March. Both navigate racism both in the education system and America at large and struggle with striking a balance between their commitment to resistance and social/political change, maintaining their relationships with their families and communities, and accepting their own needs and limitations. The narrative brought in a lot of nuance regarding different ways of approaching this conflict both from the main characters and many of the side characters. It demonstrated how socioeconomic status, gender, past, etc. impact how a person can fight injustice and what they stand to lose and how long-term social movements need people who can find a balance instead of burning out. One aspect that was especially well done was the strong sense of history throughout. Both in its grounding in real historical events and also the family history shared by Kevin and Gibran. Their parents', grandparents', and siblings' pasts and experiences weave together shaping and being shaped by those of the main characters.

3.5 stars Enter the Body focuses on Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, and Lavinia as they meet beneath the stage following their deaths in their respective plays. While Lavinia remains silenced, Ophelia, Juliet, and Cordelia take turns retelling Shakespeare's stories from their own perspective, then, in part three, rewriting their stories. The novel is written primarily in verse with sections of prose that serve to set the scenes and conversations between characters in script format. Each of the three main characters who got a speaking part had a strong and distinct voice, both in the style of their poetry and the different ways they chose to take ownership of their story. I appreciated that changing the narrative for these girls did not always mean giving themselves a simple, happy ending. Their stories could do them more justice and give them what they needed while still remaining tragedies. I enjoyed the poetry and the ambiance developed in the prose, however, I was less impressed with the script sections. The conversations between characters laid out the author's views and message in a very on-the-nose way and often felt more like a lesson for the audience than an organic conversation between the characters. I felt a little talked down by some of it, like the reader could not be expected to think about these ideas on their own.

That ending sure was abrupt. There were a lot of potentially interesting ideas left unexplored and most of the characters were left underdeveloped. For example, the dead alien civilization of Carver 1061c and the idea of 'alien ghosts' provided some cool horror elements and helped to define Jessica no.2 as no longer just a previous iteration of Jessica 1.0. But it was a big element to introduce just to have it serve as backdrop and inevitably go nowhere. The story could also have been enriched by making the characters more defined and developed. If a big element of the story is going to be about what makes people who they are and a part of the conflict and horror is that even though the dead can be brought back in this world, a part of them will be lost, then it really seems like a story that needs to explore its characters more than it did. There was interesting world-building and some solid themes with respect to the concept of personhood and identity, but it didn't bring it all together in a way that felt complete.

The book did an excellent job addressing the ways racism manifests not only as outright attacks and slurs, but also in microaggressions, in unequal opportunities, in ways that can be enmeshed in other forms of discrimination, and most of all in the systems that condone and support these behaviors. The character of Gil was very compelling. Despite his resolve to face his situation like a general going to war, he still reads realistically like a kid forced to deal with too much all at once. The way his problems pile up - not just discrimination in school, but his grandmother's Alzheimer's, the separation from his father, and the growing distance between him and his friends - and his anger, frustration, and feelings of isolation ramp up was painful but real. I was expecting more resolution on certain plot threads and conflicts between characters. Throughout the middle of the book, it is a source of conflict Gil's life that he's struggling to maintain relationships and balance his time between Augustin and his family and friends in his neighborhood while also fighting the racism he's subjected to at Augustin. However, by the end of the book, it seemed like the narrative itself sidelined certain characters and conflicts between them that felt unsatisfying given their earlier importance. It wasn't a major issue, for me, but it left the ending feeling a little off, a little incomplete.

The romance really didn't work for me in this book, which is too bad because it's the only thing that's happening for a lot of the book. It wasn't so much the insta-love itself, but the way it flattened the relationship between the two leads. It's enemies-to-lovers, but the transition was too fast and complete to be interesting. There was little complexity to their feelings and relationship and the fact that they were former (and maybe even still) enemies didn't do much to inform them. I could see hints of how they might warm to each other, so it was especially disappointing how the story basically skipped over any development of their relationship. The plot was plodding and only picked up in the last couple chapters. I was surprised when the book was ending because the plot had barely started moving. At the same time, our main characters' visits to the other Houses felt rushed. I was excited that the tour of Houses plot would provide a chance to show off different cultures and myths within it and see what interesting characters populate this world. If the plot had been slow, but an exploration of the world was interesting enough I would have been satisfied; too bad this also felt shallow. The first chapter, showing Caspian's boon was great and there were aspects of the worldbuilding and the characters that were done well enough, but overall I wasn't very impressed or entertained by it.

This hit me harder, emotionally, than I was expecting. At eleven years old, the main character, Beatrix, is sent by her parents from London to New England to escape the German air raids. There she lives with the Gregory family until the end of the war, finding a place in their family that comes to feel more natural than the distant relationship she maintains through letters with her parents in England. Inevitably, as the war comes to an end she must leave her new family behind and return to the life she was cast from, finding both her former home and herself changed. As she grows older, she must learn what to let go and what to hold close from her time in America and in England. At its heart, Beyond That, the Sea is the story of a woman caught between two separated lives, where living in one means losing pieces of the other, often irreparably. It's heart-wrenching in its portrayal of nostalgia, grief, and a sense of displacement. The story is heavily focused on the relationships between characters with the POV split between Beatrix and all the members of both her families giving insight into all of their complexities. The characters all read as real, at their most sympathetic and their most frustrating.

Under the Naga Tail sheds light on the suffering of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rouge and in their attempts to escape the country. Mae Bunseng Taing and his family endure removal from their homes, labor camps, starvation, and mistreatment and abandonment as unwanted refugees. The authors wrote and published this book with the intention of keeping this history alive and preventing the horrors and losses suffered by the Cambodians or their resilience from fading from memory. In this goal, they succeeded, showing the continuous death, torture, and cruelty in stark detail. Mae Taing's devotion to his father and struggle to keep them together and alive was told in a particularly heart-wrenching way. However, despite serving an important purpose in sharing a first-hand account of a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, I have to say that I didn't find this book to be especially well-written. The dialog was awkward at times and the narration felt flat.

Promise Boys uses the premise of a murder mystery to explore the biases against and unfair expectations of Black and Latino boys as well as the corruption and cruelty often present within the educational system. The structure of this book worked in its favor both in developing the discussion of these issues and building up the mystery. The book is split between the POVs of the three main characters and a mixture of articles, interviews, and perspectives from other members of their community. The variety of perspectives gives a full view of the different ways the three accused boys, their murdered principal, and the school system are viewed. It was often painful to see how the main characters' struggles and emotions became ammunition against them. However, the pacing could have used tweaking. A lot of the book was spent on set-up, with less time for the investigation and unraveling of the mystery. I would have liked to see more of the boys and their allies working together and putting the clues together. The ending too felt a bit sudden and almost too neatly resolved.

3.5 stars. I loved the majority of this book. It captured complex family dynamics and the cycle of abuse well. Avery's mother and grandmother are both portrayed sympathetically and given realistic and heart-wrenching reasons for their behavior without excusing how they've hurt their daughters and passed down a legacy of trauma. Avery's personal journey of trying to figure out what she actually wants and how much of her life has been shaped for her by other people or forces beyond her control (i.e., the pandemic) was also compelling and tied in well with the story of her family's past and her desire to build a relationship with the grandmother she barely knows. The relationship between Simone and Avery was also enjoyable. It was cute and you could understand why they were falling for each other. I think Avery's dismissive reaction to Simone's fears of being outed to her homophobic mother could have been address better, but this was only a minor complaint. I took greater issue with handling of the reveal at the end. Avery learns her grandmother murdered one of her best friend's mother in the last 20 pages and it goes totally unaddressed. To me, that was a weird and unsatisfying way to end the book. It could have been left out completely and the book would have been better for it or it could have been discovered earlier and properly addressed, actually impacting the characters and their relationships, but as it was it brought down an otherwise very enjoyable book.

To me, this book felt a little thin, like almost every aspect needed to be explored or enriched just a little more to make it something great. I would have liked the characters to show more interest in understanding Alice's invisibility power (especially since it's crucial to the plot) and for that power to be better incorporated into Alice's character development. The question of the morality of Alice's actions was only loosely touched on and never matters as much as it could or affects the characters' relationships. The middle section where Alice should be settling into her new role as the 'Beijing Ghost' and beginning to unearth her classmates' secrets is glossed over so quickly that there's not much sense of tension or development. That's not to say it was a bad book however, what was there was good. The relationship between Alice and Henry was believably written and developed slowly as they worked together. What was best written were the class differences between Alice, who comes from a working-class family, and her wealthy classmates as well as Alice's fears of wasting her parents' hard work and investment in her future if she isn't always working and always the best. The rest of the story was too lighthearted and didn't have the tension or depth to support those themes all that well. Overall, a decent, light-hearted teen adventure story that hinted at a lot more than it gave.

The author has a talent for building a dream-like atmosphere and a dark mood which makes her books stand out. However, I felt the mystery was predictable and the character interactions were lacking. Most of the potential 'suspects' in the mystery don't get enough focus to have any chance of being major players making the outcome predictable. The paranormal elements were also disconnected from the central mystery, acting more as set dressing than something to be explored or linked to Avril and her mother's death. The relationships between characters fell flat as most of the focus was on Avril and Cole's romance. Said relationship had an insta-love quality that I find eye-rolling. But the characters did have some genuine connection and were there for each other when they were struggling. It wasn’t bad, nor amazing. However, Avril's supposed friendships were poorly written. Avril states repeatedly that she's never had a friend like Lex, but the book never shows this. They share few scenes with little development. It's also strange how little concern people who supposedly care for Avril show as she hallucinates, passes out, and goes through intense emotions regarding her mother. I wish we'd gotten to see anything about what the events of the story would mean for Avril’s relationship with her father too. Finding out the truth behind his wife's murder must have meant something to her father and their relationship, but there’s no follow up.

I found it hard to get as invested in the story and characters of this book as I would have liked. I enjoyed the complexity and messiness of the various relationships (romantic, platonic, and familial) that the main character, Aria, is involved in. The sense that she was changing and developing as a person in this sort of bubble away from her normal life and that she won't be able to stay and she might not be able to share this with other people in her life was relatable. However, I found it hard to care much for Aria or her relationship with Steph. Aside from it being her gay awakening there wasn't much to it to make it interesting and the cheating aspect meant it was never going to be something I could just find cute in a surface level sort of way. This might have been different if the ending had provided more closure or at least given a little more time to wrap up the various plot threads. Aria's foray into art fell to the wayside and never fully connected with the rest of the story until the 2023 epilogue where it was suddenly a major part of her life. Her relationship with Steph fell apart as it was doomed to, but the fallout from that, Aria's feelings about breaking things off with the first girl she was ever interested in, get overshadowed so much by her grandmother's death that it almost doesn't seem to matter. I just wish there had been a little bit more breathing room for everything.

I had high hopes for this book - Percy Jackson meets the Hunger Games with a unique Mexican-mythology-inspired world and prominent queer rep. Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations. The first half was emotionally shallow and repetitive. Despite the concept of a human sacrifice concluding the games, the interpersonal drama, and the personal struggles of the main character, the tone was light and very little seemed to matter - for the plot or to the characters. Before the final few trials, the trials are low-stakes and tread the same ground, following the same structure, the same cycle of thoughts and feelings for Teo. None of these scenes pull their weight and I was left with the sense that they were only there because something had to be. Teo has a lot he could be working through - dysphoria, classic teen identity and self-esteem issues, social tension between Golds, Jades, and humans, tension and complex relationships with other characters - but those things are more background than something the book explores in depth. It makes the story less engaging and the characters shallower. The story picked up in later trials, adding more tension and making the characters more human. The trans representation was well done and refreshing to see done so casually. The world is intriguing and I'm interested to see it explored more. The Sunbearer Trials was a mediocre start to the duology, but it set up enough good things to come that I'm still looking forward to a sequel.

My thanks to Bookish First for the ARC! The Picture Bride grew on me slowly, but by the end I was fully invested. Historical fiction is not my favorite genre and because it's a translation there was some clunkiness to be expected, so it was a bit hard to get into at first. However, the relationships between the characters were developed well, with realistic complexities, and the strength of the bond between the main character and the other picture brides was touching. The exploration of the varying political views regarding Korean independence movements within the Korean community was intriguing and added depth to the story. Overall, by the end of the book, I had both become invested in the characters' relationships and stories and felt as though I had gained more insight into a segment of Korean history that I had previously known very little about.

Elsewhere was a beautifully written and highly atmospheric story exploring motherhood and self identity. The author did a wonderful job building the melancholic and dream-like mood throughout the novel. The exploration of the complex emotions associated with the mother-daughter relationships was done well, giving room for the more off-putting behaviors and feelings without glorifying them. The middle sections of the book portray the anxieties around what is the 'right way' to behave as a parent, if there is such a thing, and the judgement of others. While the themes and the tone are both very well crafted, the plot and the development of the main character were somewhat lacking. Vera, the main character, also seemed very distant and underdeveloped compared to the other characters, especially in the middle of the book. The plot also moved slowly and somewhat aimlessly except around the transitions between the five sections/chapters. While the other aspects of Elsewhere were enough to keep me engaged, if you are looking for something tightly plotted or action filled, this may not be the one for you.