Review of Heartless Hunter, by Kristen Ciccarelli, read by Grace Gray

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Heartless Hunter

by Kristen Ciccarelli
read by Grace Gray

Listening Library, 2024. 12 hours, 9 minutes.
Review written September 23, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Heartless Hunter is an example of masterfully written young adult Romantasy. We’ve got the enemies-to-lovers trope, but nothing about this book felt stereotypical.

The beginning reminded me of a beloved classic, The Scarlet Pimpernel, with our first viewpoint character, Rune Winters, posing as an airheaded socialite interested only in fashion – but in secret rescuing witches from the new regime that would execute them. Rune showed her loyalty to the new regime by turning in her own adopted grandmother. Nobody but Rune knows she did that at the strong request of Nan herself, who knew they’d been betrayed – and didn’t want to see Rune killed alongside her. It was after Nan’s death that Rune discovered she, too, was a witch, which gave her extra resources and incentive in her quest to save Nan’s friends and fellow witches. Now Rune’s best friend and helper has suggested it’s time for Rune to accept one of her suitors, the better to get inside information on what the government is planning next.

The signature left behind by Rune’s magic is a small crimson moth. And Gideon Sharpe, captain of the witch hunters, has been trying to catch the witch who is the Crimson Moth for the two years that she’s been helping witches escape his clutches. And now there have been brutal murders of members of the Guard as well. When he learns that a magic signature was seen on one of Rune’s ships, it’s suggested that if he were to court Rune and join her high society suitors, he could learn if she’s the Crimson Moth.

Gideon knows that his brother Alex has long been in love with Rune. So she should be off limits. But Gideon decides he should find out if Rune is the Crimson Moth and save Alex from marrying a witch. He’ll stand down if he discovers she’s innocent. Or so he tells himself.

As for Rune – when Gideon begins to show interest, she reasons that no one could give her better inside information than the captain of the witch hunters. But can she keep him underestimating her?

To add to the fun, witch’s need blood to cast spells. And when they use their own blood to cast spells, the scars turn silver. In the old days, intricate silver scars were a badge of honor, but now they are all that’s needed to convict a witch.

Rune came into her power after the fall of the witch queens, so she hasn’t dared to cut herself. Instead, she stores the blood from her monthly cycle to cast spells, so she has no scars on her body. So – when Gideon finds excuses to see her naked, she has nothing to hide.

And yes, that gets as steamy as you might imagine. Yes, there’s a descriptive sex scene in this book, and lots of smoldering tension leading up to that scene. But it’s carried off far more subtly and compellingly than my description makes it sound. There are narrow escapes, misunderstandings, and misdirection – but there are also vulnerable moments. I appreciated learning that in this world, it’s not a simple case of witches are good and non-witches are bad to want to kill them. And that came from learning about Gideon’s back story.

And there’s a love triangle as well. Gideon’s brother Alex has indeed been in love with Rune for years, and she’s appreciated him as a true friend who knows her secrets. The author makes the choice Rune is faced with exceptionally difficult.

Oh, and did I mention the narrow escapes? The clever misdirection? The reversals and reveals?

The description says this is a duology, and it did leave me anxiously waiting for the sequel.

kristenciccarelli.com

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Review of Hello, Neighbor! by Matthew Cordell

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Hello, Neighbor!

The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers

by Matthew Cordell

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2020. 40 pages.
Review written July 7, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

Hello Neighbor is a picture book biography telling about the life and career of Fred Rogers.

It begins with the Neighborhood – showing a hand placing a car in the model neighborhood and explaining about the television show. Then it goes back and tells about Fred Rogers’ childhood and what brought him into doing television.

I like the way the book captures special things about the show, including the beginning and ending songs, the cast of characters, the special guests, the visits that showed how things were made, and of course the Neighborhood of Make Believe.

Fred played many roles in the making of more than 900 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He wrote the scripts. He was songwriter and singer, performer and puppeteer. He oversaw and approved what went on in every episode. Beyond his own contributions, he truly loved working with others. He respected and appreciated the talents and artistry of all who were involved in the creation of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. And because of this, everyone felt connected in a very sincere and personal way.

The illustrations along with the story help make this book special, as they capture so many scenes and people from the show. The spread at the beginning is especially wonderful with a quotation from Fred Rogers on top and a picture of him sitting at the piano composing, with all kinds of characters and things flowing out of the piano in a big creative cloud along with musical notes.

A lovely tribute to a man who was indeed kind and caring, put together in a way that respects and appreciates children. I am confident that Mister Rogers would have been delighted with this book.

matthewcordell.com
HolidayHouse.com

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Review of How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague

Contemporary, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?

by Anna Montague

Ecco (HarperCollins), October 22, 2024. 244 pages.
Review written September 17, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy signed to me at ALA Annual Conference.
Starred Review

No surprise – when I saw this title, I was delighted. And when I attended the Author Gala Tea at ALA Annual Conference and this author was signing Advance Reader Copies, the author was delighted when I showed her my name tag.

I had meant to read this book first thing when I got home from ALA, and I’m not sure what distracted me, but it got buried in a To Be Read pile. Then last week, my coworkers noticed the book because its publication date is approaching and pointed it out to me. I decided I needed to get it read before my Autumn Award Committee Reading (for CYBILS and Mathical Awards) got underway in earnest. Naturally, I was inclined to love the book, but I’m quite sure I would have anyway.

This author is a debut author and looked quite young to me, but despite that, she did a great job getting into the head of Magda Eklund, a psychiatrist who lives alone and is turning 70 soon. The birthday accentuates the absence of her lifelong best friend Sara, who unexpectedly passed away a year ago, and was planning to take Magda on a birthday trip.

When Sara’s husband shows up with a much younger woman, he tells Magda that this woman doesn’t want to see Sara’s ashes in his home, so he asks Magda to watch over them. And something in Magda snaps, so she sets out on that road trip with Sara after all. Never mind that Sara’s in the form of ashes in an urn.

So it ends up being a Road Trip Novel, with all the good things that entails – plenty of memories and introspection, but quirky characters and humorous situations along the way. Magda must confront that her love for Sara all along was more romantic than they ever admitted, but also what that means about living her life going forward.

This is a truly beautiful novel about coming to terms with the past and embracing the future.

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Review of How to Two, by David Soman

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

How to Two

by David Soman

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2019. 36 pages.
Review written October 4, 2022, from a library book.
Starred Review

Counting books are a staple for parents to share with young children, and this is a beautiful one. You’re counting children playing!

First, we see one child launching off a playground slide, and the words read:

How to one.

That’s pretty much how the text goes. “How to two” shows two kids on a seesaw.

At six, there’s a rainstorm, and the six kids play duck, duck goose under a shelter. The kids go further afield as the numbers get bigger, with “How to eight” involving Hide-and-Seek, and “How to ten” being a grand game of tag.

As the sun sets and parents take all the kids home again, the numbers go back down more quickly. And I almost missed it — but the endpapers at the back show animals to go back and count for each number.

The art is beautiful, the kids are exuberant, and the book does the job of teaching counting from 1 to 10.

davidsoman.com
penguin.com/kids

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Review of Bright Red Fruit, by Safia Elhillo, read by the Author

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Bright Red Fruit

by Safia Elhillo
read by the Author

Listening Library, 2024. 7 hours, 55 minutes.
Review written September 16, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

This book reminds me of The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo. In both books, we’ve got a young poet author writing about a teen poet growing as a poet and learning to perform her poetry – but also in conflict with her mother about a relationship.

In this book, our teen poet is Samira, whose family moved to DC from Somalia. Through no fault of her own, Samira has a reputation with the aunties as a Bad Girl, and she’s tired of her mother not sticking up for her. But when a poet in his twenties shows an interest in Samira and in her work, she feels like here’s finally someone she can talk with about things that matter.

As Samira gets close to Horus online, her girlfriends don’t understand how much he’s come to mean to her. Meanwhile, her aunt encourages Samira’s interest in poetry, but doesn’t know that Samira is using an open mic to meet Horus in person.

There are lots of red flags in the relationship, but we understand why Samira has pulled away from the people who would have helped her see that. I do like the way the book navigates the situation when trouble comes.

All along in the book, there’s a metaphor about Persephone. Persephone doesn’t have a whole lot of agency in the myth and is fooled into eating the bright red fruit of the underworld that dooms her. But the story is told as a struggle between Persephone’s mother and Hades. I like the way this book – and this poet – explores more deeply what it might have been like from Persephone’s perspective.

If I haven’t made it clear, even though I listened to the audiobook version, I could tell that the book is beautifully written in verse. This is one it would probably be worth reading in print form as well as the audiobook to better appreciate the art of the poetry.

safia-mafia.com

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Review of The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman, by Gennifer Choldenko

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

by Gennifer Choldenko

Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 309 pages.
Review written August 13, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Okay, disclaimer first. My timing with this book was most unfortunate. I read this one immediately after finishing And Then… Boom! by Lisa Fipps. The books set up a plot that is way too similar – both involving a mother who abandons her kids and a grandma who dies. Okay, in this one, Grandma died (recently) before the start of the book, but together with Louder than Hunger, by John Schu, which I read earlier this year, I’ve had quite enough of Grandmas dying, thank you very much! Can we put a pause on that?

This book and And Then… Boom! are both excellent middle grade novels, dealing with a super hard topic that honestly should be dealt with, and both do it well. But I do *not* recommend reading the books back-to-back. Both end happily, as they absolutely need to do for a middle grade audience, but both main characters go through a kid’s worst nightmare – the abandonment by their own mother, and having to face that their own mother is not responsible enough to take care of them.

The books are different. I prefer prose to novels in verse, because you get more detail, so I liked this one a little bit better, but I would not want to be on the Newbery committee this year, because I suspect there will be arguments about which one is more distinguished, and have a feeling some will gravitate to one and some to the other. (I could be totally wrong about this.)

Anyway, this book I read has a big bright spot in the character of Boo, Hank Hooperman’s three-year-old sister. It’s because of Boo, well, that and an eviction notice, that twelve-year-old Hank can’t keep trying to go it alone after his mother leaves and doesn’t come back.

So after some effort to figure out what in the world to do, Hank looks up the name Mom put on his field trip permission slip as an Emergency Contact, and it’s Lou Ann, a lady who was friends with his Grandma.

Lou Ann is happy to take care of Boo – she even does day care for preschoolers out of her home – but she isn’t so happy about taking care of Hank. She contacts Child Protective Services and gets Hank and Boo caseworkers. Meanwhile, while they’re trying to find Hank’s Mom and wondering how long Lou Ann will put them up, Hank attends a new school in the district where Lou Ann lives. He makes new friends and gets recruited for the basketball team, but he doesn’t want to tell anyone why he’s not sure how long he’ll stay.

Once again, let me assure you that it does end happy — because it would all be way too much to take if it didn’t. In many ways, it’s a tough read, and Hank is a kid you just want to make things better for. I kind of hate that Hank is hyperaware of the mistakes he makes because, doggone it, a kid shouldn’t have to have so much responsibility, and his mother doesn’t seem to be aware of her own mistakes at all.

So, yes, this is a powerful book, with characters you’ll care about, and believe it or not, plenty of humor and kindness to get you through the hard things. But be ready for some gut wrenching along the way.

gennifercholdenko.com

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Review of Somehow, by Anne Lamott

Musings, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Somehow

Thoughts on Love

by Anne Lamott

Riverhead Books, 2024. 194 pages.
Review written August 27, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Yes, when Anne Lamott brings out a new book, I need to read it. They are a little bit about faith, a lot about life, and always inspiring and encouraging.

Anne Lamott has a quirky perspective, and she knows how to bring the reader along with her, so we look at things a different way. She’s also self-deprecating and never makes you feel bad for being spiteful, angry, or whiny, because she tells hilarious stories of when she was all those things, too, and really, who wouldn’t be?

Anne Lamott writes about the human condition and helps us realize how much we have in common and that we’re all in this together.

I didn’t mark quotations in this one. There are lots of great paragraphs, but they’re generally all from a longer story and the power of her words is in the path she leads you down to get you there.

So I think for this review, I’m going to give you the first and last paragraph, to give you the flavor. Here’s how the book begins:

My husband said something a few years ago that I often quote: Eighty percent of everything that is true and beautiful can be experienced on any ten-minute walk. Even in the darkest and most devastating times, love is nearby if you know what to look for. It does not always appear at first to be lovely but instead may take the form of a hot mess or a snoring old dog or someone you have sworn to never, ever forgive (for a possibly very good reason, if you ask me). But mixed in will also be familiar signs of love: wings, good-hearted people, cats (when they are in the right mood), a spray of wildflowers, a cup of tea.

And here’s the last paragraph:

I’ll tell you what Blake actually wrote more than two hundred years ago: “And we are put on earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love.” If the younger ones in our lives can remember only this one idea, that they are here, briefly, a little space to love and to have been loved, then they will have all they need, because love is all they need, rain or shine – love, cough drops, and one another. Good old love, elusive and steadfast, fragile and unbreakable, and always there for the asking; always, somehow.

In between you’ve got the wonderful musings of Anne Lamott. I read a chapter each day and they always leave me feeling uplifted and more hopeful. If you haven’t read an Anne Lamott book yet, it’s time to dive in!

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Review of One of Us Is Lying, by Karen M. McManus

Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

One of Us Is Lying

by Karen M. McManus
read by Kim Mai Guest, MacLeod Andrews, Shannon McManus, and Robbie Daymond

Listening Library, 2017. 10 hours, 44 minutes.
Review written June 9, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

So — I finally got this wildly popular teen thriller read after hearing an interview with the author about her 2024 book, Such Charming Liars. I enjoyed this one tremendously.

The set-up is that five high school students get detention with the notoriously technophobic teacher at the school because someone planted a phone in their backpack – all five of them.

And then one of the students has a fatal allergic reaction after drinking water. They try to save him, but his epi-pen is missing, and all the epi-pens have been removed from the nurse’s office. It turns out there was peanut oil in the cup.

All four of the remaining students are suspects. It turns out that they, along with many other students at the high school, had strong motives for killing Simon. He ran a gossip website that was always accurate — and all four of them had secrets queued up on his admin site, ready to post.

There are four narrators to this audiobook because all four of the teens get to give their perspective. Their secrets have repercussions, and the pressures of the school finding out those secrets affect their lives beyond the murder investigation. And of course, there’s a murder investigation going on, too. The four kids include the girl who gets good grades and has her plans for Yale under control, the jock who’s getting recruited to play baseball, the rich girl who runs in the popular crowd, and the social outcast who’s already on probation for drug dealing. Because they’re all viewpoint characters, they all get our sympathy, and we become invested in the question of which one is the murderer.

This is an excellent thriller about interesting characters, and I’m happy to see it ended up being the start of a series, so I’ve got more books on my list immediately.

karenmcmanus.com

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Review of Crossing on Time, by David Macaulay

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Crossing on Time

Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World

by David Macaulay

Roaring Brook Press, 2019. 128 pages.
Review written May 6, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This new large-format David Macaulay book is amazing. Full of his detailed illustrations, it tells the story of steam travel, combined with his own story of crossing the Atlantic and moving to America aboard what was then the fastest ocean liner in the world.

This story of his own family making the trip when he was ten years old gives a deeply personal touch to a book packed with historical facts.

After the short introduction of his family setting out to move to America, where he planned to see the Empire State Building, then the tallest building in the world, the book tells us the history of steam power. And since this is a David Macauley book, along every step of the way we get diagrams explaining precisely how the various steam engines worked. We can appreciate each new innovation and how it expanded on earlier ideas.

Then we get into steamships, and the race to build faster and faster ships to cross the Atlantic. We see all the ships that won the Blue Riband – an award for the ship with the fastest time crossing the Atlantic in the westward direction. We also hear about a shipbuilder who dreamed of winning that award.

And then we shift to that shipbuilder finally getting a chance to build an enormous ocean liner, the em> United States that would indeed win the Blue Riband. There is an incredible fold-out cross-section of United States that spreads out to six pages long and has 100 items detailed in the diagram.

The United States was the very ship that took young David Macauley and his family from England to America, so the book finishes bringing us back to his story. I especially like the paintings from their voyage and the photographs in the notes in the back.

This wonderful book is packed with information and leaves you with warm feelings about the curious kid who grew up to create amazing books.

mackids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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Review of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 4, by Beth Brower

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion

Volume 4

by Beth Brower

Rhydon Press, 2021. 191 pages.
Review written July 27, 2024, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

Oh, how I love Emma Lion! I have to again thank my sister Becky for introducing me, but this volume 4 is the first one I purchased on my own after Becky gifted me the first three. It’s pretty sneaky – each volume is only about 200 pages long, so you think it won’t take you any time at all, but then you find yourself reaching for the next book as soon as you finish. I’d forced myself to read a book in between Volumes 3 and 4, but I’ve had enough of that and will be picking up Volume 5 tonight. By the time I’ve finished all seven volumes I currently own, I’ll have read more than a thousand pages – all in bite-size pieces.

Emma M. Lion is a twenty-year-old young lady of St. Crispian’s region in London, and this set of her journals covers September 1, 1883, to October 31. And yes, St. Crispian’s has some interesting traditions for All Saint’s Eve.

I said after Volume 1 that I wasn’t sure whom Emma is going to end up marrying, but by now I have hopes. However, this book is remarkable in that it portrays a young lady building a solid and wonderful friendship with three eligible young men at the same time – and those men are friends with each other.

In this volume her aunt is out of town, so Emma’s freed up from most social engagements, though plans are still going for her cousin’s upcoming Season in which she is to get six or seven offers of marriage, according to the plan. But meanwhile, the scoundrel Jack takes her up on her side of the bargain she made, with amusing and slightly scandalous results. But as the book ends, her friends help her deal with the burial of her lost love’s remains, when his family gets those back from Afghanistan. The poignancy of that part carried the book far beyond the wit and situational comedy of so much of the journals.

I won’t say much because yes, you have to start with Volume 1. But yes, this saga will pull you in and delight you.

bethbrower.com

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