Review of Wooing the Witch Queen, by Stephanie Burgis

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Romance, Starred Review 0

Wooing the Witch Queen

by Stephanie Burgis
read by Amanda Leigh Cobb

Macmillan Audio, 2025. 8 hours, 33 minutes.
Review written June 12, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve long enjoyed Stephanie Burgis’s books for kids – fun fantasy stories with imagination and heart. They always make me smile. So it was something of an adjustment to listen to a sexy romantasy for adults from her – but in the end, it, too, has imagination and heart and made me smile.

The set-up is that Archduke Felix from the ever-expanding Empire has been controlled and abused for most of his life by his father-in-law. He’s not even allowed to study governance, but kept busy with literature and poetry. But now that his beloved wife has died, he knows that his father-in-law is laying plans to kill him. So he has nothing to lose. He’s going to go to the neighboring country where the Witch Queen Saskia has overcome her evil uncle and taken control – because she is the one person who’s successfully stood up to the Empire’s forces so far.

He grabs a dark cloak and is surprised when no one stops him, and he’s apparently welcomed to an audience with Saskia. What he doesn’t know is that she recently placed an ad for a dark wizard to put her magic library in order – her uncle left it in disarray. And as Felix is waiting at the door, he hears her telling her allies how happy she would be to execute Archduke Felix – because of all his father-in-law has done in his name. So when she mistakes him for a librarian, he takes the job.

And it turns out that studying literature and poetry is perfect training for being a magical librarian. And Saskia finds him surprisingly kind and careful – unlike any other dark wizard she’s ever met.

But of course he can’t just settle down and stay a librarian. He’s going to have to tell Saskia the truth at some point, and hopefully before the Empire finds a way to take down Saskia’s magical wall and annex her kingdom.

This book starts a trilogy that includes Saskia’s allies, the other two “Queens of Villainy.” I’m going to want to read them all.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/help.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Beauty Reborn, by Elizabeth Lowham

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Beauty Reborn

by Elizabeth Lowham

Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2023. 200 pages.
Review written June 27, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a sweet retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It reminded me a little more of the Disney version than of the original fairy tale, since there’s a library in the castle and a Gaston-like villain and a scene with wolves in the forest. But I always love retellings of this story, and this was no exception.

In this version, the villain raped Beauty before she went to the castle. She feels like it was her own fault because she’d been in love with him. But when she said No, he got angry, and ended up taking what he wanted. Beauty took her father’s place at the castle, almost hoping the Beast would finish her.

But then… I like the way the relationship between Beauty and Beast develops, with him at first afraid to let her see him, and Beauty at first getting triggered by any touch. I love the way the others in the story, beginning with Beast, do not turn from her in disgust (as she expects) when they find out what happened to her.

I’m still a bigger fan of Robin McKinley’s two retellings, Beauty and Rose Daughter, but you simply can’t have too many retellings! I loved what this one brought to the story as to why the hero became a Beast – and I like the resolution at the end. This was a love story I could believe in and got completely behind.

This book has no sex scenes, despite Beauty having triggers because of the previous rape. This is refreshing – I’m starting to feel like sex scenes are obligatory in YA novels – and makes the book extra nice for younger teens or for older teens who don’t actually want sex scenes in everything they read. I hope I don’t sound judgmental! I mostly enjoy the sexy YA novels. But it was nice to read a solid YA romance set in medieval times that realistically had them waiting for the wedding (as they most likely would have done in medieval times). This is one that I could believe the two fell in love with each other and that they will indeed live happily ever after.

elizabethlowham.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/beauty_reborn.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Fireworks, words by Matthew Burgess, pictures by Cátia Chien

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Fireworks

words by Matthew Burgess
pictures by Cátia Chien

Clarion Books, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written July 15, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

The world needed a truly excellent picture book about the Fourth of July, and now we have one. Though in fact, the book doesn’t mention the name of the holiday, so we had a bit of discussion whether to shelve it with holiday books here in the library. But books for Independence Day are few and far between – and this one begins with a hot summer day, so it definitely fits.

And the book is so evocative! It begins as two brown-skinned siblings wake up and venture out “across steamy city sidewalks.” The impressionistic pictures by Cátia Chien make you feel the steam – and feel the joy when later the kids play in a fire hydrant that sprung a leak.

Besides the wonderful illustrations, the descriptions are full of onomatopoeia. We’ve got “plip plop plip” on this page with an illustration full of juice and joy:

And in the thirsty afternoon
we watch the knife slice
the great green watermelon
into shining red wedges.

Chins drip sweet drips.

We also hear sounds from street performers playing music and Grandma cooking dinner in a pan.

But no surprise that the highlight of it all is when the kids climb to the rooftop of their building and see fireworks streak across the sky.

We’ve got all sorts of firework sounds and now an accent of florescent pink that we saw on the cover and the endpapers. And the kids dancing with joy far below. It brings you right into a fireworks display.

Then there’s a close-up on the kids’ wide-eyed faces before a fold-out page gives you the Finale.

And it ends like every good picture book – snug in bed – but this time with visions of fireworks dancing in their heads.

This is for sure destined to become a summertime classic. And don’t miss the opportunity to explain to little ones how fireworks shows will go before they experience their first. They’ll know to expect bright lights and loud sounds – and exuberant joy.

matthewjohnburgess.com
catiachien.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/fireworks.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon, by Grace Lin

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon

by Grace Lin

Little, Brown and Company, 2025. 340 pages.
Review written July 4, 2025, from my own copy, purchased at ALA Annual Conference and signed by the author.
Starred Review

Grace Lin’s new book has the hallmarks of her other award-winning works: Beautifully illustrated by the author (one of the few people to win both Caldecott Honor and Newbery Honor) and woven through with Chinese mythology. This one, rather than being set in a mythical land, is set in a modern city’s Chinatown.

I got to hear Grace Lin speak about this book, and the reason she likes to make beautiful books is that when she was a child, she loved lavish, beautifully illustrated editions of Grimms’ and other European fairy tales. But she had one book of Chinese fairy tales, and it was ugly with sparse black-and-white pictures and stilted translations, giving her as a child the impression that Chinese fairy tales weren’t as good. No child will ever get that impression from Grace Lin’s books!

And the special edition of the book I got at ALA is a stunningly beautiful book with sprayed edges showing a dragon and a lantern. Inside the book, there’s a picture for each chapter and frequent full-color images. When a tale within the story is told (and there are several), the tale is set off with a colored border.

But besides the beautiful look of the book, the story is a perfect tale for younger readers ready to listen to a chapter book – I hope this book is featured in many, many classroom read-alouds for years to come.

The main characters of the book are Gongshi – spirits of stone.

It is impossible to tell just by looking at a stone if it is a Gongshi. But, eventually, the right kind of human will feel the spirit’s dream like one feels the sun after it rains. And that human will take the sleeping stone and carve it. And the stone becomes a statue.

That is when the Gongshi awakens.

It turns out that the elaborate City Gate leading to Chinatown is a portal to the magical home of the Gongshi. They go out into the world and protect and help humans. But when they take a break, they go home through the gate. Those gates normally feature two lions, the Lion and the Lioness. The Lion holds a ball – the Sacred Sphere – and the Lioness holds a Lion Cub. In the spirit world, that lion cub is named Jin, and he becomes the hero of this story.

Though he doesn’t start out as the hero. In anger, he kicks his zuqiu ball in the house, and it knocked over the pedestal holding the Sacred Sphere, which rolled away. Jin was not able to stop it, and it rolled right out the gate. Then a man took it from him. And when Jin tried to go back through the gate to his mother, the gate was closed!

On the other side, all the Gongshi are trapped as well by the closed gate. So they can’t come out to help. Jin must somehow find the Sacred Sphere and open the gate. And yes, that quest involves a girl he meets – a girl who can see and speak with him – and a dragon – a dragon who currently has the form of a worm.

The story weaves together several tales and perspectives from both sides of the closed gate. Every tale has a part in the eventual resolution, and it’s a wonderfully woven story of young ones rising to the occasion and making the world better, against enormous odds.

gracelin.com
lbyr.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/gate_the_girl_and_the_dragon.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Always the Almost, by Edward Underhill

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Always the Almost

by Edward Underhill

Wednesday Books, 2023. 307 pages.
Review written July 21, 2023, from my own copy, sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

Always the Almost is a sweet teen romance about a gay trans boy during his senior year of high school. He came out as male last year, changing his name from Melissa to Miles, and his long-time boyfriend broke up with him soon after. If only Miles can show Shane that he’s still the same person inside, maybe he can win back his heart.

The title refers to Miles’ habit of coming second place in the big annual Tri-State Piano Competition. For years, he’s come in second place to Cameron Hart. This year, Miles’ teacher says he needs a new teacher to help him do his best in this his last chance to win. The new piano teacher, instead of working on technique, asks Miles questions about who he is and what his competition piece means to him – questions that Miles is only beginning to know how to answer.

But while Shane isn’t paying much attention to Miles, there’s a new kid at their high school who is. Eric immediately asks his pronouns and seems to see Miles for who he is. Maybe he can help get over Shane? Meanwhile, Miles’ long-time best friends, Rachel and Paige, have started dating each other, which is great when everyone is happy. But makes Miles miss being part of a couple.

The story is wrapped up in the piano competition, and I love the way Miles deepening his understanding of the Tchaikovsky piece also deepens his understanding of his own identity, and that’s explained on the page in a way we can understand it, even without hearing the music. (I’d love to hear this in an audiobook with classical music accompaniment!) Miles and his friends make some mistakes along the way, but they’re very human and understandable mistakes, and the reader feels for both sides. The relationship between Miles and Eric is portrayed with plenty of authenticity, and we feel for what it might be like for someone just beginning to show the world who they truly are also try to show one person more deeply who they truly are.

This sweet trans romance didn’t strike any wrong notes. Reading it left me with a smile.

edward-underhill.com
wednesdaybooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/always_the_almost.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of A Woman of No Importance, by Sonia Purnell

Audiobooks, Biography, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

A Woman of No Importance

The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

by Sonia Purnell
read by Juliet Stevenson

Books on Tape, 2019. 13 hours, 54 minutes.
Review written July 8, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I wish I remembered what prompted me to put this amazing nonfiction audiobook on hold, because it was a great tip. I don’t do a great job of reading big thick nonfiction tomes, but as an audiobook, it kept my interest all the way.

The author researched one of the most important spies of World War II, Virginia Hall. Yes, she was American, from Baltimore – but most of the time she did her spying for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) before the United States even entered the war.

Not only did Virginia Hall face obstacles and being underestimated and dismissed because she was a woman – she was also disabled, an amputee with a wooden leg. Those things kept her from getting to go far in the U.S. diplomatic corps, so when World War II started, she found work with the SOE.

She was in “free” France under the Vichy government for most of the war, building more and more networks in the Resistance, sending more and more information to the Allies, and helping the cause more and more. She was the sort who wouldn’t let them send her back to safety, even when it became apparent the Germans were figuring out who was causing them so much trouble.

All along the way, she faced frustrations because her assessments and requests weren’t given the weight due her experience – because she was a woman. But still, her expertise and skills made her incredibly effective and helpful for the Allied cause.

The story is riveting – especially the bulk of it where she is working in war-time France. It’s truly amazing how much she accomplished right under the noses of her enemies. This book helped me understand that her many years of service and the wide variety of ways she helped the Allied cause.

soniapurnell.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/woman_of_no_importance.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Deep Dark, by Molly Knox Ostertag

Award Winners, Graphic Novel, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Deep Dark

by Molly Knox Ostertag

Graphix (Scholastic), 2024. 478 pages.
Review written February 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Printz Honor Book

This graphic novel is the story of Magdalena, a teen graduating from high school and living in a desert town in California. Mags has secrets, and she doesn’t let anyone get close. Her main secret is behind the trapdoor to the basement, but she keeps it closed when anyone is around. She takes care of her Abuela, works at the fast food place, and sometimes hooks up with a girl who’s cheating on her boyfriend. That suits Mags fine, since this girl doesn’t ask questions or ask for a commitment.

And then Nessa comes back. Nessa lived in town when they were kids, and Mags was the first person she told that she was a girl. Now she’s fully transitioned, and beautiful – and she has some memories about the basement in Mags’ house that she wants to clear up.

So Mags is pulled to Nessa – but that goes against everything she’s ever been told to do or even feels like she deserves.

There are plenty of metaphors to this powerful paranormal story. Funny how it’s so easy to see that a character is deserving of love, isn’t it? You’ll feel honored to travel this journey of self-acceptance with Mags.

mollyostertag.com
scholastic.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/deep_dark.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes, written by Julie Leung, illustrated by Yifan Wu

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes

The Story of Architect I. M. Pei

written by Julie Leung
illustrated by Yifan Wu

Quill Tree Books, 2024. 40 pages.
Review written February 19, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a picture book biography of I. M. Pei, the international architect. It shows him as a boy, Ioeh Ming Pei, before he officially changed his name to his initials. He spent his summers and Suzhou and admired the rock gardens, with rocks sculpted to be further formed by the water.

The book talks about his career as an architect and how he wanted to make beautiful shapes that would last generations. His first big project was the Kennedy Presidential Library. He went on to do striking work in many countries – including the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris and the modern wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.

What I love most about this biography is the many pictures showing his work. The art is bright and colorful, and I didn’t realize until I looked at it how familiar so many of I. M. Pei’s buildings would be. Now I know something about their creator.

jleungbooks.com
yifanwuart.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/mr_peis_perfect_shapes.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of A Bright Heart, by Kate Chenli

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Bright Heart

by Kate Chenli

Union Square & Co., October 17, 2023. 331 pages.
Review written May 29, 2023, from an advance reader copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

As this book opens, Mingshin is being tortured and killed by her betrothed, Prince Ren, the man she funded and strategized with so he would become king. He tells her that he will marry her cousin, the one he always loved anyway, and no king would marry a commoner like her.

But as she lies dying, she begs heaven for a second chance – and something happens. She wakes up two years earlier, before she met Ren, soon after they moved to the capital city and the king announced that there would be a competition among his sons as to who would succeed him.

Now Mingshin knows that Prince Ren, as well as her uncle and cousin, cannot be trusted. Can she save her mother from her terrible death in the other timeline as well as their loyal servants and protectors? Can she keep the fortune they inherited from her father? And more importantly, can she keep the cruel Ren from winning the throne and stay alive?

But after being so horribly betrayed, when Prince Jieh shows an interest in Mingshin, she is afraid to trust him, either. After all, no royal would truly be interested in a commoner, would he? And when things start happening differently in this timeline, she’s not sure what course to take.

There’s magic involved in this story, and how it works is a bit murky at times, but we find out along with Mingshin, so that didn’t bother me too much. I like her cleverness and her determination to set things right.

Although this book comes to a resolution, there are many ongoing details, so I will look forward to the continuation of this story. A strong debut novel, with promise of more to come.

katechenli.com
unionsquareandco.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/bright_heart.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Rebellion 1776, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

Rebellion 1776

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. 416 pages.
Review written June 18, 2025, from an Advance Reader Copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

Here’s a side of the American Revolution I had never heard. We’ve got Elspeth, an ordinary girl living in Boston in 1776 and working as a maid. Her mother and brothers had died of smallpox in Philadelphia, so her father took the two of them to Boston, and he found her a position as a maid. The book opens as cannons are firing from both the British, under siege in Boston, and from the Patriots, trying to dislodge them.

The British and Loyalists are driven out, and Pappa plans to evacuate at the same time. Elspeth doesn’t want to go, so she hides overnight – but Pappa never shows up! Did he leave without her? Did something happen to him? While she’s trying to find him, to get in touch with him, Elspeth works for the family that replaced the loyalist judge she’d been serving. But her position is precarious as a girl without her father there to vouch for her.

And then smallpox comes to Boston. Elspeth has had it, but now folks are being inoculated – given a light dose of the disease – which is still a dose of the disease. And still takes months to run its course! (And I thought being sick for a day after a vaccination was bad.) And her good friend wants to enlist as a soldier. And the 16-year-old ward of the family she serves has independent ideas. And there are nefarious characters making use of wartime to enrich themselves.

The whole tale pulled me in and made me think about ordinary people during wartime – and how most folks simply want to live their lives. But world events can make that difficult.

It was a delight to read about Elspeth’s resourcefulness and courage as she holds on when it seems like she’s alone in the world.

madwomanintheforest.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/rebellion_1776.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?