Galaxy Jones and the Space Pirates - Briana McDonald

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Galaxy Jones lives on the very, very edge of a star system in an inn run by her dads. She loves her home and her little family, but ever since the train station that serviced their part of the universe went defunct, tourists have stopped coming, and Lexi’s on the verge of losing it all. When the royal family stops at their inn on the way to a neighboring star system, Lexi’s dads hope for some good business, but Lexi knows from past experience with spoiled Prince Weston—and his annoying dog, Comet—to expect nothing but trouble.

Turns out, that “trouble” is a whole lot bigger than she anticipated. Weston has stolen something. Even worse, he’s stolen it from notorious pirates—former followers of Lexi’s idol, the famous pirate Astro Bonny—who have tracked him straight to her house. Problem is, Weston has lost the trinket somewhere in deep space. And now the pirates are holding all the adults hostage with the threat of destroying the inn if they can’t find what they’ve come for.

Lucky for Weston, Lexi has a plan. In exchange for his help saving the family business, she will use all her skills and embrace the adventurous spirit of the great Astro Bonny to help him find whatever it is the pirates are after. With some pluck, and a whole lot of luck, she might just pull it off—and make an unexpected friend along the way."

I haven't finished this book yet, but I need a book to review, and I've got some thoughts about this one, so it's happening. This was a subscription box book (the now-defunct Owlcrate Jr. box), and a fairly recent one. Rare, me reading a subscription book right away, but the cover drew me in.

Now, normally when a cover draws me in, it's because I've immediately fallen in love with it. In this case, it was less that and more that I was...a little confused? This version is a slightly toned down version as far as the colors - my cover is VERY pink, and just the whole vibe was like...what kind of story is this? Don't get me wrong, I think the cover art is unique and draws you in, but I also don't totally think it vibes with the actual story, which is an odd choice.

And speaking of the story, this book clocks in at 288 pages, and about halfway in, I feel confident in saying that is too long. The pace is a mess - nothing is happening, and then fast-forward a bunch of things happen in one chapter that should probably have been spaced out over at least a couple, and then nothing is happening, and then something is happening but it doesn't make sense...add to that, the character development is virtually nonexistent, and I just...I feel like it's a great idea that falters on the execution. 

Maybe someone with more patience would like it, but it isn't drawing me in, and while I will be adding it to my school library, I'm not sure if my students will have the patience for it either. But who knows? Maybe my opinion for it will change in the second half. I'll update if so.

Pacifica - Kristen Simmons

Initial draw: ✰✰✰✰
Character development: ✰✰
Plot/Writing style: ✰✰✰

Audiobook narration: ✰✰✰
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"For too long our people have suffered, plagued by overcrowding, disease, and lack of work. We have only just survived for too long. Now we must take the next step and thrive. Pacifica. A new beginning. Blue skies. Green grass. Clear ocean water. An island paradise like the ones that existed before the Melt. 

A lucky five hundred lottery winners will be the first to go, the first to leave their polluted, dilapidated homes behind and start a new life. It sounds perfect. Like a dream. The only problem? Marin Carey spent her childhood on those seas and knows there's no island paradise out there. She's corsario royalty, a pirate like her father and his father before him, and she knows a con when she sees one. So where are the First Five Hundred really going?"

I wanted really badly to love this book. The premise is interesting and very relevant right now, there's an introduction from the author that talks about her inspiration for the story being the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States, and I went into it expecting to be blown away. Then I spent about three quarters of the book trying to force myself to get into it. And finally, I gave up. I can't put my finger on what exactly it is about the book that didn't do it for me - more than anything, it just felt like a story that didn't quite know what to do with itself or where it wanted to go. Even when it comes to a synopsis, there doesn't seem to be a consensus, because there's the synopsis I included above, and then there's this alternate synopsis from Goodreads:

"Marin is corsario royalty, a pirate like her father and his father before him. Sailing the ocean to chase adventure is in her blood. But these days no one cares that the island town her people call home is named after her grandfather. They have a new leader, one who promises an end to their hunger – and one who thinks that girls are meant for the kitchen or the brothel. Marin knows she's meant for more than that, and with the sudden influx of weapons on the island, and rumors of a pending deal with the enemy oil nation in her wake, she knows a big score to gain the council's favor is the only way to save her people, and herself.

Ross lives a life of privilege. As the president's son he wants for nothing, but he longs for a life of adventure. On a dare, he convinces his best friend Adam to sneak out to the Docks, the site of local race riots between the poor Shorlings and the upper class. But when Adam is arrested along with the other Shorlings, and not even the president is willing to find him, Ross finds himself taking matters into his own hands. He journeys back into the Docks, ready to make deals with anyone, even a beautiful pirate, if it means Adam's safe return.

When Marin and Ross meet in dangerous Shoreling territory he sees a way to get his friend back and she sees her ticket home. The ransom a president’s son would command could feed her people for years and restore her family’s legacy. But somewhere in the middle of the ocean, Marin must decide if her heart can handle handing over the only person who has ever seen her as more than a pirate."

So...is this book about people being disappeared to a mysterious island that doesn't actually exist? Or is it about Marin finding a place with the corsarios and Ross tracking down his friend? This is a genuine question, because I read a lot of this book and I am still not sure, and I'm not convinced that Kristen Simmons knew for sure either. The plot, like these dueling synopses, was scattered, and that made it hard to nail down the driving action and actually care about anything that was going on. The characters suffered a similar fate - it wasn't clear what they were actually working toward from one moment to the next, and at times I felt a little bit like I had started reading in the middle of the book because there's so little development. Either synopsis would have made a great story, but both of them together was too muddled for me. Which is a bummer, because who doesn't want to read a dystopian novel about a badass woman pirate?

Straight On Till Morning - Liz Braswell

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Sixteen-year-old Wendy Darling's life is not what she imagined it would be. The doldrums of an empty house after her brothers have gone to school, the dull parties where everyone thinks she talks too much, and the fact that her parents have decided to send her away to Ireland as a governess - it all makes her wish things could be different.

Wendy's only real escape is in writing down tales of Never Land. After nearly meeting her hero, Peter Pan, four years earlier, she still holds on to the childhood hope that his magical home truly exists. She also holds on to his shadow.

So when an opportunity to travel to Never Land via pirate ship presents itself, Wendy makes a deal with the devil. But Never Land isn't quite the place she imagined it would be. Unexpected dangers and strange foes pop up at every turn, and a little pixie named Tinker Bell seems less than willing to help.

But when Captain Hook reveals some rather permanent and evil plans for Never Land, it's up to the two of them to save Peter Pan - and his world."

In this Twisted Tale, Nana catches Peter Pan's shadow while Peter sits outside the nursery window listening to one of Wendy's stories, but Peter never returns to London to retrieve it. Wendy keeps the shadow safe for years, hoping for the day he finally does come back. While she waits, Wendy goes through the motions of life as a young lady, helping her mother keep the household running smoothly, preparing after-school tea for her brothers, and being bored to tears. Her only moments of happiness come when she scribbles stories of Never Land in her notebook. 

No one understands her imagination or love of stories, and when her parents find her notebook, they are horrified. Wendy is sixteen, and according to them the tales she has spun are "not the product of a happy, normal girl." To save her from herself, they decide to send her to Ireland to become a governess. Desperate to escape being sent away and forced to leave her childhood dreams behind, Wendy does the unthinkable. She contacts Captain Hook and makes a bargain...Peter's shadow in exchange for passage to and from Never Land.

Aboard his pirate ship with Hook in possession of Peter Pan's shadow, things go downhill quickly. For starters, Wendy is not as adept at negotiating with pirates as she thought she was, and as a result, she finds herself a prisoner, forced to serve as the pirates' mother. Even worse, Captain Hook plans to use the shadow not only to capture Peter, but to bring about the destruction of all of Never Land. With the help of one of the pirates, Wendy manages to escape the ship and make it to Never Land. She finds Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys, but no one has seen Peter in ages. Will Wendy be able to free Peter's shadow and save Never Land without him?

Peter Pan is one of my favorite Disney movies, so I've really been looking forward to reading this Twisted Tale, and I was not disappointed! It got off to a slow start, and I wish they had showed Wendy in more of the awkward social situations she obviously despises rather than alluding to them or revealing them through her memories, but that's a small gripe. Once she makes it to Never Land, it's basically non-stop adventure, something Wendy notes is much more exhausting and frustrating and far less exhilarating than she always imagined. 

Wendy and Tinker Bell team up to find Peter Pan, and while Wendy and Tink aren't very taken with each other in the movie version, in this world their initially unwilling partnership gradually blossoms into true friendship. Their relationship is possibly my favorite part of the book. I also dearly love how progressively snarky Wendy becomes as the book goes on, culminating in a line I never would have expected could crack me up as hard as it did - "The deuce you say." Trust me...it may not sound funny, but it is. This book was a Girl Power anthem and a testament to the magic and might of storytelling.

Starflight - Melissa Landers

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe..."

Great read! Solara and Doran have hated each other since high school, but after they find themselves passengers aboard the Banshee, their close quarters force them to call a ceasefire. They form an uneasy truce, but life on the Banshee isn't always smooth sailing. Will their fledgling friendship survive assassins, pirates, and whatever secret they'll discover on the mysterious planet Doran's coordinates lead them to? More importantly...will they?