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

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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

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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

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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

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Review of Star Splitter, by Matthew J. Kirby

Science Fiction, Teen Fiction Review 0

Star Splitter

by Matthew J. Kirby
read by Jennifer Jill Araya and Cory Myler

Listening Library, 2023. 10 hours, 37 minutes.
Review written December 20, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.

I love the premise of this young adult science fiction story: In the future, humankind has figured out how to teleport to distant stars — by leaving our bodies behind. Specifically, they scan your “reference body” with a laser that destroys it at the same time. Then they send all your data — your consciousness and memories, along with all the specs of your physical body — and print you a new body in a distant location. This is a scary concept, and they have counselors and liaisons to help people adjust to the idea. Fortunately, the technology is wonderfully reliable and nothing ever goes wrong in transport. (There’s a set-up for you!)

As the book opens, one of the liaisons is thinking about a girl he prepared for teleportation named Jessica. She was the first person to ask if it hurts her reference body. She wasn’t happy that her parents had decided to send for her at their new assignment exploring a planet with a large volcano that had wiped out any previous life. They’d left Jessica behind six years ago, and now she’d rather be with her friends.

Next we see Jessica waking up on the alien planet, and something is very wrong. She’s in a body printer in a landing craft of the ship she was supposed to teleport to. The lander has crash-landed on the alien planet, and the first person she sees is — herself. For some unknown reason, the Jessica who teleported to the ship has printed another copy of herself with the data that got sent a few weeks before. (Something that’s definitely not supposed to ever happen.) Now they are the only two (one?) people on the planet.

So there’s a survival situation — they need to get to the habitat where their parents were supposed to be stationed and let the space agency know about the disaster and the people who died. Meanwhile, interspersed with the chapters on the planet, we get the story of what happened when the first version of Jessica teleported to the spaceship as planned.

I love the premise. And there’s some nice exploration about whether they will even get rescued or if the powers-that-be will simply print a new body for them back on earth. And how they feel about that. And which one of them? And if they use the earlier scan, what will happen to them?

The execution of the premise, for me, had some bumps in spots. Some of the things that went wrong and caused the disaster weren’t adequately explained, in my view. Some of the things they discovered on the alien planet were a little out there.

However, the way it was presented ratcheted up the suspense all the way, as you’re dying to know what actually happened and what choices they’ll make next.

The book reminded me of Neal Shusterman’s Scythe trilogy, because as with that series, death isn’t permanent, because they can fix you up with a new body and your old data. This would have taken place when the technology isn’t quite as developed, though, and people are still getting used to the idea that what makes you the person you are is not your reference body, but the data inside it.

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Review of Brownstone, by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Brownstone

by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Versify (HarperCollins), 2024. 318 pages.
Review written February 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Printz Award Winner
2025 Cybils Award Winner, Young Adult Graphic Novels

Brownstone is a graphic novel about an almost-fifteen-year-old girl named Almudena sent to spend the summer in New York City with the Guatemalan father she’s never met while her dancer mother does a European tour.

Almudena’s not happy about it. Her father doesn’t speak much English, and she doesn’t speak much Spanish. So the neighbor lady comes over to translate. Almudena’s not sure how she feels about that. The address is a brownstone that looks beautiful on the outside – but on the inside, her father is in the midst of renovating it.

This is a story of Almudena getting to know the neighborhood and the neighbors and learning about her Guatemalan heritage. She also bumps against some prejudice when she befriends a lesbian who runs the local bodega, and learns about gentrification when some of those neighbors have to move because of rising rent.

It’s all lovingly told, and I enjoyed getting to know Almudena’s new family, too.

We end up with social commentary in readable, interesting graphic novel form.

marjulia.com

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Review of Suddenly a Murder, by Lauren Muñoz

Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Suddenly a Murder

by Lauren Muñoz
read by Diana Bustelo

Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written October 30, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Suddenly a Murder is a murder mystery (no surprise there!) set in the stately home of Ashwood Manor on an island, where seven recent high school graduates are spending a week immersed in the 1920s.

We find out right at the beginning that Izzy brought a gold knife to the party and took it into Blaine’s bedroom not long before he was stabbed to death there. We also know she feels guilty. And doesn’t want the detectives to learn about any of those things.

Izzy’s the only one not from a wealthy family. She attended the private school because her mother is a teacher there. Since their Freshman year, she’s been best friends with Cassidy, who took her under her wing with a fierce loyalty. The party is Cassidy’s gift to Izzy, because both of them love the old murder mystery movie that was filmed in Ashwood Manor long ago. Cassidy makes sure that everyone gives up their cellphones and modern clothes, and she’s equipped all their bedrooms with 1920s costumes – as if they’re going back in time to an actual 1920s house party.

But naturally, murder wasn’t part of the plan. It’s Cassidy’s boyfriend who turns up dead. As the evidence comes out (with Izzy listening to police interviews from a hidden passage), we also get flashback chapters and find out that all the friends on the island had some motive or other to kill Blaine. But which one will the detectives decide is guilty?

I was a bit impatient starting out with these spoiled rich kids and their interpersonal drama, I’m afraid. But as the mystery went on, I did get pulled in, wanting to hear the denouement, which did, in fact, surprise me.

I like a nice cozy locked room (or isolated on an island) mystery, and this one’s fun because the suspects are all teens. This is a debut, and I very much hope the author will give us more well-crafted mysteries to enjoy.

laurenmunozbooks.com

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Review of The Moonlit Vine, by Elizabeth Santiago

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Moonlit Vine

by Elizabeth Santiago

Tu Books (Lee & Low), 2023. 360 pages.
Review written November 6, 2023, from a book sent by the publisher
Starred Review

The Moonlit Vine is a contemporary story of Taína, a 14-year-old descendant of Taíno women from Puerto Rico, combined with the story of those ancestors and a touch of magical realism with an amulet and zemi they handed down to her.

In the present, Taína’s older brother was recently in trouble for fighting and has been sent to live with their father, who has been living apart from them since he was sent to jail a few years ago. Her mother is working hard, leaving it to Taína to care for her younger brother, 7-year-old Luis, and watch over their abuela with Alzheimer’s.

And then Taína gets in trouble herself at school when she speaks up for herself a little too forcefully. On top of that, there’s gang activity in her neighborhood and she can’t get a straight answer from her brother what happened between him and the friend she has a crush on.

Taína’s modern-day problems are interwoven with stories of the women who went before her, starting with a great cacique of the Taíno people, Anacaona, who welcomed Columbus and worked to protect her people. Anacaona was the one who created the contents of the box that has been handed down all the way to Taína’s abuela.

The story is beautifully done, pulling in themes of community and family and standing together for change. The light touch of magical realism gives us an image of her foremothers standing with Taína. There’s an impressive amount of back matter about the Taíno people, who are definitely not extinct. This author did her research!

leeandlow.com

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Review of The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale

Audiobooks, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Goose Girl

by Shannon Hale
read by Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast Family

Blackstone Audio, 2012. 10 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written June 3, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Original review written November 24, 2003.
2003 Sonderbooks Stand-out: My favorite book of the year

In honor of #Sonderbooks25, my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’ve been revisiting my earlier reviews. My plan was to reread one book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs, and I’d decided to reread one for 2003 that I hadn’t read again in all that time – and then I did a search of the library’s eaudiobook collection – and found I simply had to give this favorite a listen. I’m also writing new reviews for the ones I reviewed before my “new” format in 2006 and when I added the blog.

And what a treat! This audiobook is a lavish production of a wonderful story. Every character who speaks gets their own voice actor, and there are musical cues throughout, reflecting the mood.

I’ve always loved fairy tale adaptations, and this is one of my all-time favorites. It makes sense of the original fairy tale and answers some questions. Why did the princess allow her lady-in-waiting to steal her identity? Why did they hang her horse’s head over the city gate? How did she make the wind drive the goose boy’s hat away so he wouldn’t bother her?

I love the way Shannon Hale shows growth in the princess Ani’s character. She starts out overawed by her mother and all too aware of her own inadequacies. Both Ani’s mother and her lady-in-waiting have a magical gift that helps them persuade people – a gift that Ani completely lacks. But over the course of the book, Ani learns the gifts she does have and the power she holds. When out of necessity she lives as a goose girl – she gets to know the working people of her new country – and gains a reason beyond herself to speak up and win back her crown.

This book began a whole series of the Books of Bayern, and so many reviews of Shannon Hale books that I gave them a webpage of their own. It still has a special place in my heart as the book that helped me discover the magic of Shannon Hale’s writing.

shannonhale.com
fullcastaudio.com

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Review of If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come, by Jen St. Jude

Science Fiction, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come

by Jen St. Jude

Bloomsbury, 2023. 406 pages.
Review written May 29, 2023, from my own copy, sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come begins on Avery Byrne’s nineteenth birthday morning. She’s walking to the river on campus, where she plans to drown herself. She’s written good-by letters and is ready to go.

But she’s interrupted by the news that a giant asteroid is going to strike the earth in nine days. It’s looking likely that not just Avery, but everyone she loves is about to die. That wasn’t how it was supposed to work.

Avery’s at an ivy-league university in New Hampshire, but she gets a call from her best friend Cass – at Pratt Institute in New York City – to meet in Boston. And Avery can’t help but promise to be there. She ends up traveling in a van with her roommate, Nigerian-born Aisha, and the professor who failed her first semester, along with his dog.

After some adventures meeting up with Cass in Boston, most of the book is set in Avery’s home town of Kilkenny, where her parents think they can make a bunker in the basement and survive the catastrophe. The asteroid is going to hit in Arizona, so it’s possible they might make it, if they can stockpile enough supplies.

The story plays out in the days leading up to the asteroid strike. And no, we don’t find out if they survive – not knowing and how you would live not knowing is what the book is about. The stories of the present are interwoven with stories of the past and what led to Avery’s deep depression.

Part of that is she’s long been in love with Cass, but wasn’t able to come out to herself as lesbian, let alone her family and friends. When the future is uncertain, somehow that seems more important.

The characters are nineteen, and there’s a somewhat detailed lesbian sex scene, so this isn’t necessarily for younger teens. This book is primarily about depression and seeing all you have to live for, as well as the importance of living for yourself, and not simply for others.

There are no pat answers in this book, but it’s beautifully expressed. I have to say that the writer shows Avery’s emotions so effectively, the book was a little sad to read. But it also realistically showed Avery coming to terms with her own attitudes that helped lead to her depression. And we believe in her plans to get a therapist and maybe take medication – if they all survive.

But I can’t express how beautiful and uplifting this book is despite all that. Avery does find joy and reasons to live. I was reading this book for the Morris Award, but my first time through, was so immersed in the book, I didn’t take much time to think critically about it. Whatever our committee ends up deciding, I highly recommend this book.

jenstjude.com
Bloomsbury.com

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