A Fragile Enchantment - Allison Saft

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

From the cover:

"Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous gossip columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible."

 

I should start a series where I review books that are not YA but get classified that way because they're fantasy novels written by women with female main characters. Owlcrate, take note! Do your due diligence and put actual YA books in your YA subscription boxes instead of adult fantasy masquerading as YA.

Anyway, having gotten that off my chest...this book was fine. Strong "inspired by Bridgerton" vibes, but maybe having a mysterious, anonymous gossip who publishes scandalous things and seems to know everything that happens is a common conceit in regency era novels and I just haven't read enough to know that. That being said, the anonymous gossip columnist in this book honestly features more heavily in the synopsis than in the actual book. "Buzzing about their chemistry," no. "Publishes one vague rumor that was basically a non-issue and in no way connected Niamh to Kit," yes. 

This was a common theme in the book and probably the main reason I rated it as low as I did - there were a lot of threads (ha, because she's a seamstress) that were picked up and dropped in a very random way, almost like there were too many moving pieces and Allison Saft kept forgetting about things and then realizing fifty pages later that they hadn't come up in a while and shoving them in again. Which is weird, because frankly...there weren't a lot of moving pieces. And at the end of the day, the central drama to the story didn't really feel all that dramatic. It was very manufactured.

Manufactured drama aside, the book was fine. I didn't love Niamh, and Kit was eh. But some of the side characters were very intriguing (Kit's best friend, the princess and her...advisor? Lady's maid? And Kit's sister-in-law, loved them). If they had featured more heavily, I might have bumped this up a star. It was just too much of Niamh in her own head and very mercurial interactions between her and Kit, that was fine at first, but a whole book of it, yeesh, give me some variety.

Well...it's late, and I've been sick all weekend. So that's about all I've got to say about this book. As mentioned, I got this in an Owlcrate box, and it has a very gorgeous cover and sprayed edges. If you go into it not expecting a masterpiece, it's an enjoyable dessert read.

A Rover's Story - Jasmine Warga

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

From the cover:

"Meet Resilience, a Mars rover determined to live up to his name.

Res was built to explore Mars. He was not built to have human emotions. But as he learns new things from the NASA scientists who assemble him, he begins to develop human-like feelings. Maybe there's a problem with his programming...

Human emotions or not, launch day comes, and Res blasts off to Mars, accompanied by a friendly drone helicopter named Fly. But Res quickly discovers that Mars is a dangerous place filled with dust storms and giant cliffs. As he navigates Mars's difficult landscape, Res is tested in ways that go beyond space exploration.

As millions of people back on Earth follow his progress, will Res have the determination, courage - and resilience - to succeed...and survive?"

🚀🚀🚀 

If you had asked me if I thought a book about a Mars rover would make me cry, I would probably have scoffed, but cry at this book I did! It's a fairly quick read, mainly chapters from Resilience's point of view, but interspersed with letters written to Resilience from the daughter of one of the scientists working on Res's programming. And it is just so, so good. Seeing Resilience learn and gradually start to make their own choices, Fly's enthusiasm and determination...it was so sweet and inspiring. And the daughter's letters were so heartwarming and sometimes so sad. Gah. Never in a million years would I have predicted this book making me feel so many things.

Read Harder - February Fun

Breaking news! Sometimes it takes a long time to get books after you order them, leaving you with very little time to actually read them when you're in a short month. I was halfway saved, because after I picked Omega Morales and the Curse of El Cucuy I realized I had received a different book in that series in my subscription box before Owlcrate rudely discontinued their Owlcrate Junior box! So instead of The Curse of El Cucuy, I went with The Legend of La Lechuza...which I continually misread as the legend of La Lechuga. Understandable mistake, but not nearly as fear-inducing. Solid read, though!

Not "A Nation of Immigrants" got to me with like a week of February left, and it's a pretty hefty book, so I'm still working my way through it. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is amazing, though, so I know it's all going to be incredible.

Sneaky PS before we move on to next month's picks - I decided to DNF January's The Aurora Circus. There's nothing wrong with it, and I'm sure lots of people love it, but it just wasn't pulling me in, as much as I wanted it to. Gave it about a hundred pages and finally had to admit defeat.

And now, a drumroll please for our March challenges!

🥁🥁🥁

#5 - Read a sci-fi novella: The thing is...I'm going to need people to make more sci-fi specific book lists and fewer "SFF" lists. Science fiction is science fiction. Fantasy is fantasy. Why are we acting like they're the same thing? Anyway, I'm ignoring the "novella" part of this challenge and reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I've wanted to read it forever, so I'm doing it.

#6 - Read a middle grade book with an LGBTQIA main character: Well shit, this is so easy but also so hard to narrow down. I'm embracing not overthinking and going with the one of the first books to be on my radar for this challenge. Nikhil Out Loud by Maulik Pancholy. Make it so.

Oooh, and March means Spring Break means hopefully more reading time, so I'm going to do a third challenge and, fingers crossed, get a little ahead*. I'm saving #7 for April because the book I want doesn't come out until early April, so...

#8 - Read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited: Wow, a country I've never visited...going to be tricky, that's such a short list. (Get it, because I've only been to two other countries?) I'm out of my depth with this one, so I went with one of the first options I found that grabbed my attention. Abyss by Pilar Quintana.


*Getting ahead subject to availability of my hold on Parable of the Sower at the library. It has a pretty long wait, but sometimes they come in really fast anyway. At the very least, hopefully I'll stay on schedule.

No Place Like Home - Linh S. Nguyen

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

From the cover:

"Lan, a teenager who recently came to Canada from Vietnam, spends every day searching for a sense of belonging. Books are the only things that make her feel at ease. But it comes as a shock when a mysterious wind whisks her right into the pages of her latest fantasy read. More shocking still is the fact that she herself summoned this wind!

Plunged into the magical world of Silva, Lan realizes she has much to offer protagonists Annabelle and Marlow. Once a homesick reader and bystander rooting for the very characters that now stand before her, Lan is a budding witch who suddenly has the power to help their quest. Somewhere inside her lies the ability to not only save Annabelle and Marlow's home, but also to shape a familiar tale into something new. 

As Lan faces off against tree guardians, moving corn mazes, heart-eaters, and thoughtless kings, she finds that Silva is not so different from Toronto: new homes can be messy. Now, torn between several places at once, Lan begins to confront an important question: how do you redefine a lost home?"

📚📚📚 

Reading this book was kind of like making a peanut butter sandwich with chunky peanut butter when you're expecting smooth. You expect the story to unfold smoothly, spreading across the page, and then you're like wait...this isn't...hold on... Is this a weird metaphor? Yeah, it is, but that happened to me recently, so it was what came to mind. What I'm saying is that some of the transitions between action and the plot development were a little clunky. It's fine, it was still a good book, it just took some getting used to.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the story. I wish there was a little more natural, gradual character progression, but their adventures were exciting, and I loved the time they spent with the centaurs and the dryads. Part of my issue with the pacing and the way things unfolded was that the story jumped from one adventure into the next relatively quickly, and I kind of wanted the story to be a little longer, so we could get more detail and more development. Admittedly, though...this is a kid's book, and the quick movement from one challenge to the next might keep them more interested. So, take my reaction with a grain of salt.

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi

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

From the cover:

"There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster - and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also uncover the truth, and the answer to the question - how do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?"

📚📚📚 

Wow, how to even talk about this book. It clocks in at just over two hundred pages, so while it's heavy, it also went by in a blur. I think that was equal parts the length and the writing style - like their main character, Akwaeke Emezi doesn't mince words. The world is introduced and established quickly, Pet emerges from the painting, and the hunt begins. There's no meandering, no side quests. ONLY the hunt. 

I thought that directness was very suitable for the story being told, and I also really appreciated the way what the monster has done was made clear without actually saying "this is what you did, how dare you?" It's difficult to write about sensitive topics like this and strike the right tone/balance, and too often it almost veers into voyeuristic territory. I know it isn't intentional, and it's not like I think authors are out here relishing writing about such terrible things, it's just that sometimes the quest to paint the picture becomes...too much. This was an expert demonstration of how to tell a vivid, heartrending story without spelling out every little detail.

I also love how effortlessly inclusive this book was. Jam, the main character, is trans and chooses not to voice often (extra snaps for specifying VOICING and not SPEAKING), instead preferring to use sign language. Others in her life have learned sign in order to communicate with her, including the town's librarian, who is a wheelchair user, and her best friend, who lives in a three parent household. All of these details are woven into the story with no fanfare. It isn't something different or unusual, it's just life. It's how things are. That's so unusual in the majority of books, and we need more of it. Just...all around, such an incredible book. 

Finally, since I can't end this without saying something about him, Ube is the best example of what a librarian should be. Welcoming, inclusive, and a believer that even if someone is a kid, they deserve access to the truth and to accurate information. They deserve to be given the tools they need to make their own educated decisions. I aspire to be like Ube.

A Taste of Magic - J. Elle

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

From the cover:

"Twelve-year-old Kyana has just found out the family secret--she's the first witch in her family for generations! Which means mandatory lessons every Saturday at Park Row Magic Academy--a learning center hidden in the back of the local beauty shop. Kyana can't wait to learn some spells to help out at home. The only downside is having to keep her magic a secret from her connected-at-the-hip BFF Nae.

But then the magic school loses their funding, forcing the students to pay a hefty tuition at the school across town or have their magic stripped. Determined not to let that happen, Kyana enters a baking competition with a huge cash prize. After all, she's learned how to make the best desserts from her Memaw. But will Kyana be able to keep up her grades in both magic school and real school while preparing for the competition and without revealing her magic? And what happens when a little taste of magic works its way into her cupcakes in the first round of competition?"

🧁🧁🧁

 Oh, this was such a delightful read. Kyana is enthusiastic, creative, and passionate, both Nae and Ashley are so earnest and sweet, and Memaw is wonderful. Some highlights for me were the nuanced take on the boy that Kyana doesn't get along with (I goofed and already added the book to my school library's collection, so I don't have it with me to reference), the first round of the baking competition, and the public library being featured as a place Kyana regularly goes (what can I say, library shout-outs will always get a thumbs up from me). 

The one not-positive I have to say is that I don't think including Kyana's struggle with her math grade was necessary - it came up pretty early, but after that there was so much other drama going on that it almost seemed to be inserted as an afterthought. Like "oh shoot, I forgot I brought up that her math grade was low, better say something about that" instead of an actual part of the plot. That aside, I thought the story was great. The way J. Elle wove magic into the real world was delightful, and I loved the way Kyana dove into finding a solution to their school losing its funding. Her determination and refusal to quit really tugged at my heart, and seeing her pull multiple communities together to try and make magic happen was amazing.

Very solid read! I highly recommend it, and I hope my students enjoy it as much as I did.

Read Harder - January Edition

Starting the year off strong!

Hahaha not really, it took me until halfway through the month to even check out my first book (Pet) from the library. And then it was an ebook, which I'm pretty notorious for forgetting about because I never use my kindle, so it's usually tucked away, often with the battery almost dead. So it took even longer for me to actually start reading it. Once I did...it's not an easy read, but it's also hard to put down, so I finished it very quickly. And good god. It packs a punch, and it teaches an important lesson. I've got a review coming for this one.

For The Aurora Circus, I had a hard time finding it and finally had to fold and buy it on Kindle. TWO ebooks? Excessive. Neither I nor my kindle's battery have the stamina for that. Charged both batteries, though, and got into it, and...eh. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and it is not pulling me in. I had to double check that I hadn't accidentally picked the second book in a series, because we're dropped into the middle of so much unexplained stuff, which is fine, IF you give context as things progress, but that isn't really happening. I'll keep chipping away, maybe it'll get more engaging and I'll finish it, maybe I'll give up and DNF.

Anyway, February picks!

#3 - Read a middle grade horror novel: Oh yay, my favorite genre! Honestly, though, good challenge, because my students are always asking for more scary books, so this will give me some ideas. I'm going with Omega Morales and the Curse of El Cucuy by Laekan Zea Kemp. I don't know if it really counts as horror, but I don't care.

#4 - Read a history book by a BIPOC author: Oh, I have so many options for this on my TBR. After some deliberation, I'm going with Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.