Review of Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodge

Audiobooks, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Cruel Beauty

by Rosamund Hodge
read by Elizabeth Knowelden

HarperAudio, 2014. 10 hours, 17 minutes.
Review written April 19, 2022, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

This is a Beauty and the Beast tale with complicated and beautiful world-building. I chose this audiobook because none of my audio holds were available and I wanted something to listen to while cleaning house. So I searched for books read by my favorite narrator, Elizabeth Knowelden. She makes any book a magical experience. As soon as I checked the book out, several of my holds were available all at once, but I was already hooked and finished this book before I was willing to look at any of them.

All her life, Nyx has known that when she comes of age, she will marry the Gentle Lord — and she must destroy him. She has been trained in just enough of the magical arts to make the Gentle Lord’s magical castle collapse in on him to free Arcadia forever. The catch is that she would be trapped as well. The Gentle Lord supposedly keeps the demons in Arcadia in check, but not always successfully. Since the time of the Sundering, Arcadia has been separate from the rest of the world with the Gentle Lord ruling over them. He makes bargains with people — bargains that pretty much always turn out badly for those who agree to them. Before her birth, Nyx’s father made a bargain for children, with the price that one of his twin daughters would have to marry the Gentle Lord on her 17th birthday. But he forgot to include that his wife would have the strength to bear children, and Nyx’s mother died in childbirth.

All her life, Nyx’s family has been preparing her for this task, but unsurprisingly, she’s not happy about it. She’s expected to avenge her mother and bring about the deliverance of Arcadia, but at the cost of her own life. When she gets to the Gentle Lord’s castle, nothing is as she had thought. She works on the plan to find the hearts of water, fire, earth, and air to negate them and bring down the castle, but as she follows this quest, she learns that’s not going to free Arcadia after all.

And it turns out there are two beasts in the castle. There’s the Gentle Lord, known as Ignafex, and his shadow-servant, Shade — who is only in human form at night. They share the same face, but Ignafex has eyes of a demon. Nyx needs to find out who they are and how they got there, or she’ll never be able to defeat the Gentle Lord — and there are questions and secrets and layers to everything.

I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed this book as much if I had read it myself, but as always, Elizabeth Knowelden cast a spell and enthralled me with this complex and dangerous world.

rosamundhodge.net

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Review of Anatomy: A Love Story, by Dana Schwartz

Audiobooks, Historical, Teen Fiction Review 0

Anatomy

A Love Story

by Dana Schwartz
read by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell

Macmillan Audio, 2022. 9 hours, 35 minutes.
Review written July 2, 2022, from a library eaudiobook.

Here’s an atmospheric tale set in old Edinburgh and read with a wonderful Scottish accent.

Hazel Sinnett is a young lady who’s always known she’s going to marry her cousin Bernard, a viscount. But she’s also always wanted to be a surgeon, studying her father’s books, even though it’s not a profession for a young lady.

When she tries to get into a demonstration at the Anatomists’ Society of a new gas that will put patients to sleep during surgery, a chance encounter with a Resurrection Man named Jack gives her a way to watch.

Jack Currer makes some money by digging up dead bodies and selling them to the Anatomists’ Society so they can study them. So when Hazel gets thrown out of the Anatomists’ Society because she’s a woman, but is challenged to try the exam anyway — she needs some corpses to study, and Jack can help.

But at the same time, they discover many of the corpses are mutilated, with body parts removed. And some of the Resurrection Men are going missing.

There are so many atmospheric undercurrents and warnings of danger and a touch of romance as Hazel must surmount numerous obstacles in order to become a surgeon.

With excerpts from an old medical textbook, I wondered how much of this was based on fact. Well, a lot of the setting is real, but by the end the reader realizes this isn’t actually quite our world that they live in. It’s certainly a dangerous one, though, and I was on the edge of my seat navigating it with Hazel.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Gather, by Kenneth M. Cadow

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Gather

by Kenneth M. Cadow

Candlewick Press, 2023. 325 pages.
Review written June 26, 2024, from a library book.
2023 National Book Award Finalist
2024 Printz Honor Book
2024 Capitol Choices Selection
Starred Review

I finally got this book read a few days before I get to go to the Printz Award Ceremony and get to hear the author give his speech. I only wish I’d gotten around to it sooner.

In many ways this book reminded me of Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, as it is also about a poor kid living in rural America with a lot going against him. This book features a giant, lovable dog — a dog named Gather. Here’s how Ian, the sixteen-year-old narrator, explains his name:

I thought I’d name him Hunter at first, since he knew how to take care of himself. But since he was eating mostly vegetables he found on his own, well, that’s how I came to name him Gather.

Everyone who sees Gather offers up speculation as to what breed he might be, and it gets to be comical how few suggest the same thing. Gather’s a lovable dog who stays with Ian through everything.

The book opens in November with Ian’s mother’s friend bringing her back from the hospital. His mom has had trouble with drugs ever since she hurt her back and lost her job at the nursing home. Ian’s family has lived on this land for hundreds of years, and he used to go over it all with his Gramps. But Gram left after Gramps died, and then his dad left, and now it’s just Ian and his mother, who doesn’t have as much connection to the land as Ian does.

As they figure out ways to keep going, we learn that Ian can fix just about anything mechanical and has all kinds of savvy about things that aren’t taught in school. He goes to school, but has to drop off the basketball team to try to find a job. And while Ian goes around with Gather, helping people out, making money here and there, we learn about Ian and about his rural community. And when trouble comes, we understand how they all come together to help Ian, and we understand his heart.

Ian – whose name is short for Dorian Gray Henry – is one of those kids in literature that I just want to give a big hug. You come to appreciate what a great kid he is, but also how much is stacked against him. Reading this book, and spending time with Ian and Gather, is a treat.

candlewick.com

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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.

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Review of Thirsty, by Jas Hammonds

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Thirsty

by Jas Hammonds
read by Alaska Jackson

Macmillan Young Listeners, 2024. 8 hours, 10 minutes.
Review written June 25, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

You love to see it when a debut author wins an award for their first novel (in this case, the John Steptoe Award for New Talent for We Deserve Monuments) and then goes on to write a second book that’s even better. For both books, Jas Hammonds has shown great skill in creating characters, but this one found its way deeper into my heart.

In the summer after high school, Blake and her beautiful girlfriend Ella want nothing more than to get into the secret Serena Society for accomplished Black women. Ella’s mother is even still the advisor for undergraduates in the society, so she’s a sure thing. But Blake doesn’t have the connections, the clout, or the money of Ella’s family.

But Blake finds that she can be the life of the party – and impress the president of the Serena Society – when she drinks. She transforms into Big, Bad Bee, and she’s not afraid to be somebody.

When her best friend expresses concern about Blake’s drinking, her reaction is anger and defensiveness. But as the pledging process gets more intense, Blake ends up having a lot to grapple with.

I didn’t see myself in Blake. I went to a Christian high school and college and, believe it or not, we didn’t drink at parties. But Jas Hammonds skillfully pulls us into Blake’s perspective and we’re completely with her, understanding her pull to alcohol and her need to impress the richer kids around her. The author paints a picture of addiction that is sympathetic to Blake’s plight rather than condemning her. And not to give anything away, but I do like the way it resolves, both realistic and hopeful.

jashammonds.com

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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.

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Review of When You Look Like Us, by Pamela N. Harris

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

When You Look Like Us

by Pamela N. Harris
read by Preston Butler III

Quill Tree Books, 2021. 8 hours, 54 minutes.
Review written March 22, 2022, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2022 Odyssey Award Winner for Excellence in Audiobook Production for Young Adults

This audiobook takes the perspective of Jay Murphy, a young Black teen who is tired of covering for his sister. When he gets a call from her late at night, he thinks she’s been sampling the wares of her drug dealer boyfriend and hangs up on her. He covers for her with their grandma in the morning, but then she doesn’t turn up that day or the day after that.

When Jay finally goes to the police, they seem to think a Black teen brought whatever trouble she got into on herself. So Jay’s going to have to track her down himself. He gets some help from the pastor’s daughter — the one he used to tolerate because his grandma made him teach little kids’ Sunday school with her. But when lead after lead turns into a dead end, Jay is afraid his sister has met her end.

And why do people assume he’s trouble just because of how he looks?

This mystery will pull at your heart while drawing you into Jay’s world. Since it’s an Odyssey winner, I wasn’t surprised that the narrator did an excellent job bringing the book to life.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of My Contrary Mary, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows, narrated by Fiona Hardingham

Audiobooks, Historical, Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

My Contrary Mary

by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
narrated by Fiona Hardingham

HarperAudio, 2021. 12 hours, 18 minutes.
Review written March 12, 2022, from a library eaudiobook

Well, this crew of authors who play fast-and-loose with history have finally turned away from Janes to write about Marys — Mary, Queen of Scots, in this case, and an upcoming book about Mary Shelley.

I’m afraid I’m getting a little tired of the style, though it is fun if you’re in the right mood. I liked that this one went back to the world created in their first book, My Lady Jane. In this world, instead of Protestants and Catholics fighting about the thrones of Europe, you’ve got Verities and Edians. Edians are shapeshifters who can transform into their inner animal and believe everyone has one. But Verities believe humans should be human and Edians should be put to death.

Once again, we’ve got three viewpoint characters, each written by one of the authorial trio (though we don’t know which gets which character). Mary, Queen of Scots, has been growing up in the court of France along with her betrothed, Francis the Dauphin of France. The other viewpoint character is Aristotle, who goes by Ari, the daughter of Nostradamus. She does get visions, but they aren’t helpful at all. (The modern reader will enjoy recognizing scenes from modern films.) What Ari is good at is making potions. And that skill is commandeered by Catherine de Medici, Francis’s powerful and scheming mother.

To add to the fun, Mary and her four ladies-in-waiting, who are also named Mary but have nicknames, are all secretly Edians themselves. Mary can turn into a mouse, which is perfect for court gossip – and spying.

But there’s lots of intrigue going on at court, and Mary and Francis are doomed to ascend the throne of France much sooner than they meant to.

I’m not sure how much of real history you’ll learn from this book. The authors give Mary a happy outcome — which is very different from what happened to her in her real life. I confess, I enjoyed her Happily Ever After — even if the repercussions probably would have completely changed the modern world. I also really enjoyed that we saw the characters from My Lady Jane and got to see how well their lives were going.

That book had an outcome that matched very well with history — resulting in Queen Elizabeth on the throne even though Lady Jane Grey and King Edward weren’t actually dead, they were Edians. This book? Well, if it happened, European history would have turned out very differently, with less war and death, which is all good in my book.

Read these books when you’re up for silliness and happy endings involving historical characters who suddenly got much more interesting.

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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?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of The Girl in Question, by Tess Sharpe

Contemporary, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Girl in Question

by Tess Sharpe
read by the Author

Little, Brown and Company, 2024. 408 pages.
Review written June 10, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Girl in Question is a sequel to the amazing thriller The Girls I’ve Been, and yes, it’s a worthy successor. If you like thrillers even a little bit, pick these two up.

I won’t say too much about the plot, because I don’t want to give away the twists from the first book. Let’s just say that some very, very bad people are after Nora and her friends. Some of the same bad people they thought they’d dealt with in the first book. Which is terrifying right there.

Nora has plans in place to disappear. After all, that’s how she grew up — doing the con, then stepping into a new life. But now, Nora likes her life. She’s very much in love with Iris. And Wes is like a brother to her. Wes has a girlfriend now, but they’re even going to let her come along on their backpacking trip through the mountains.

But out in the wilderness isn’t a great place to have angry thugs after you.

There’s danger and violence and manipulation — and lots of reversals and surprises — along with lots and lots of tension.

At the end of the day, let’s just say that bad guys shouldn’t mess with Nora and her friends.

There’s a whole lot more I could say, but I don’t want to give anything away. Please believe me that these books are amazing!

Okay, I will let you know how the book starts, with the chapter heading “Day Seven: The Cabin”:

I’m tied to the chair. It is not an ideal defensive position. My fingers keep going numb. That won’t do. I shift, trying to get the blood flowing.

The “Day Seven” heading does foreshadow that there will be flashbacks to how we got there — and there’s going to be more after Day Seven.

Bottom line, besides being kickass, these characters are fiercely loyal and have taken their lives back after trauma, and I love that despite apparent odds completely against them, the bad guys are in for a surprise.

tess-sharpe.com

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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.

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Review of Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Teen Fiction Review 0

Huda F Are You?

by Huda Fahmy

Dial Books (Penguin Random House), 2021. 188 pages.
Review written December 30, 2021, from a library book

This is a graphic novel loosely based on the author’s high school years. She started high school in a new city (Dearborn, Michigan) and a new school, where she was no longer the only one wearing a hijab.

So if she no longer stood out as the one hijabi at the school, who was she? Where did she fit in?

The highly relatable search for identity in high school makes a fun graphic novel. Of course there are missteps making friends and plenty of awkward attempts at fitting in. Teens will relate, whether they are Muslim or not, and those who are not will gain some insight and empathy along with the laughter.

PenguinTeen.com

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Unseelie, by Ivelisse Housman

Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

Unseelie

by Ivelisse Housman

Inkyard Press, 2023. 423 pages.
Review written March 4, 2023, from a book sent to me by the publisher.

This is a debut novel I read in consideration for the 2024 Morris Award, with a review written before any discussion with the committee.

This book begins with this inscription before the story:

Stories tell of children stolen away by faeries, replaced by inhuman look-alikes.

These look-alikes, they say, could be identified by their strange speech or silence. They cried without reason or never showed any emotion at all, and struggled to relate to a world that seemed foreign to them. Folklorists theorize that these stories were early descriptions of autistic children – proof that autistic people have always been here.

But once, they called us changelings.

Unseelie is a story told by a changeling. But she lives with the twin sister the faeries tried to steal – because their mother went to the Seelie Court, and when offered a choice, refused to give up the baby she already had and brought up both girls as her own.

But now at seventeen the girls are on their own, living by their wits, with twin Isolde having developed into a clever thief and pickpocket. On the night of Revelnox, she has a plan to break into the local manor and steal the treasure hidden behind locked doors.

When they go after it – this particular lock needs two people to pick it – it turns out they’re not the only ones who had that idea. The treasure turns out to be a compass. For Isolde and for the other two would-be thieves, the compass only brings a vision of a faerie guardian. But when Seelie touches it, it magically goes into her skin and now shows on her palm. What nobody else realizes is that the faerie guardian also gets inside her head.

The book is about their quest to follow the compass to an unknown treasure. It’s not long before they’re forced to join forces with the others who tried to steal it, who have a personal history with the lady of the manor. But they’re also being chased by the manor’s security forces.

Seelie has trouble with crowds. And textures. And other things. She’s used to Isolde looking out for her. But now her magic has been stirred up, and when she gets angry, it flares out in dangerous ways. Can she learn to control her magic? And what about the faerie guardian of the compass?

They travel in an enchanted coach with a cat that’s really a brownie. (I loved that part.) Their journey seems a little random, but after all, they’re following an enchanted compass while trying to avoid pursuit.

I enjoyed the book and especially the portrayal of an “autistic” (without using that word) heroine, who’s different, and discriminated against for being a changeling. I did think how the magic in that world works was pretty murky – though, to be fair, Seelie is just figuring it out. I absolutely hated their reasons for living on their own in the first place, and didn’t completely understand the coincidence of four people going after the “treasure” at the same time, nor any of their motivations to try so hard to get it. I also didn’t appreciate that, although there was a map at the front, I had no idea where they were on the map except at the very beginning. (Was I just not reading carefully enough?)

Those are all nitpicky things. I was reading in a nitpicky way because I was reading for the Morris Award. As a first novel, this was delightful and the author shows lots of promise. (And needing to understand the magic and the location is an affliction that not all fantasy readers have anyway.) I enjoyed my time spent with Seelie and Isolde.

The most frustrating part, though, is that the story is not finished yet. This is the first book in a duology, and I will be watching for the concluding volume. (Looks like it’s scheduled for September 2025 – a long wait.)

IvelisseHousman.com
InkyardPress.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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.

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Review of A Complicated Love Story Set in Space, by Shaun David Hutchinson

Audiobooks, Romance, Science Fiction, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Complicated Love Story Set in Space

by Shaun David Hutchinson
narrated by Kevin R. Free with Gibson Frazier and Candace Thaxton

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2021. 11 hours, 2 minutes.
Review written December 24, 2021, from a library eaudio

Well, the title of this book tells the truth. This is a very complicated love story, and it’s set in space.

In fact, the book begins when 16-year-old Noa North wakes up in a spacesuit outside a ship. He remembers going to sleep in his own bed and has no idea how he got in space. He’s not feeling good about it. And when he gets to the airlock ready to go into the safety of the ship, a voice tells him that the ship is about to explode and he needs to patch a hole on the outside of the ship. Which is not an easy thing to do.

And that’s just the beginning of their adventures in space. There are only two other people on the ship – DJ, the owner of the voice that helped him fix the ship, and Jenny, whom they later find locked in a restroom. They are all sixteen years old. But are they the only people on board?

The things that happen to them after that, ranging from finding another person on the ship, fighting an alien monster, and getting stuck in a time loop, all seem oddly episodic. On top of that, their efforts to get back to earth are consistently thwarted. But things really get interesting as they begin to discover why they’re on the ship in the first place and who put them there.

But meanwhile, Noa’s wrestling with a bad experience in his past that makes him afraid to give in to his feelings for DJ. Can they find love in such a complicated setting?

The story, once we know what happened, all seems wild and farfetched, but let’s be honest, it’s still a whole lot of fun. Noa is endearing, and you’ve got to feel for a guy who wakes up in outer space. Don’t read this one for believability, but do read it for a fun romance between two guys caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

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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?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.