Oh man. I was REALLY disappointed by this book-- especially since I'd been looking forward to it ever since it came out. I liked the author's debut novel, DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE, and really looked forward to seeing what she would do next. Especially since THE ONES WE'RE MEANT TO FIND was *checks notes* being compared to Studio Ghibli movies in the blurb and had one of the most gorgeous covers I've seen recently.
Sadly... I did not like it at all.
This is just SO confusing. I checked some of the one star and two star reviews to see if it would get better and it didn't seem to. This appears to be the kind of book where if you're not into it from the beginning, you're not going to be into it at the end. One of the POVs is about this girl marooned on a beach (first person). The other is this girl in a city environment who is looking for her missing sister (third person). I guess I was hoping, based on the cover, that the sisterhood dynamic would be more prevalent and less... I don't know, absent.
I also think I have a pretty good idea what the twist is. Definitely curious if I'm right, though.
Side note: not only is the cover gorgeous, the amount of design and thought that went into the layout is A+. I actually took a photo of the endpapers on my Instagram because they were so beautiful. If you're into some Nova Ren Suma levels of M. Night Shyamalan-like plot twists, this will probably appeal to you. But if you're looking for something that's more straightforward, give this a miss.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Gossip Girl meets Get Out is actually the perfect way of describing ACE OF SPADES. This YA book fulfilled the dark academia itch that I've been suffering ever since I read THE SECRET HISTORY and craved more stories set in exclusive schools built on secrets, treachery, and lies. The two narrators of this book are Chiamaka and Devon. Chiamaka is biracial and super rich, but she still feels like she's never going to be enough unless she pushes her ambitions further. Devon, on the other hand, comes from a poor family and really struggles to fit in at the private school. His biggest talent is music and he hopes, with the help of his understanding teacher, to get into Julliard next year.
Both characters end up facing even more pressure, though, when someone named "Aces" starts putting them both on blast, sending text messages, photos, and videos to the school detailing some of their most intimate, and damning, secrets. Secrets that could destroy their futures and their lives. Even though neither of them have ever really interacted before, both Chiamaka and Devon are forced to come together to figure out who it is at the school that has it in for them--
And why.
I honestly couldn't put this down. It was done so well. Devon and Chiamaka both felt like distinct people. I actually related to Chiamaka a lot because I also pushed myself really hard academically, and I know there are reviewers saying they didn't like her because she was cold and mean, but I actually related to that, too, because it's a social defense you can hide behind: pushing people away and not letting them get to know you because you're afraid of being hurt. Devon is definitely more accessible on an emotional level, which is why I think readers tended to prefer him. And his story is really sad. There were portions of this book that left me feeling kind of misty-eyed.
Less is definitely more when getting into this book and I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say that not only does the blurb actually rise to the occasion, but so does the story. It's dangerous and dark, filled with real stakes that push the characters to their limits and test their ability to overcome and endure. Once the book gets going, you won't be able to put it down, and the chaotic finish and fantastic ending are going to leave you feeling like you've just withstood an emotional hurricane.
I. Loved. This. Book.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Books like these are why I love ARCs. I end up being exposed to books I never would have thought to pick up for myself. A MUDLARK'S TREASURES is a fascinating memoir/history lesson. Mudlarking used to be a sort of low-class vocation, where people would salvage scrap from the Thames (AKA, London's sewer) for resale. Now, it is a hobby, sort of like a cross between a nature walk and geo-caching. Ted Sandling enjoys wading through the Thames at low-tide and seeing what he can dredge up.
In this short memoir, he details some of his finds and their microhistories. So you learn about the history of the wine bottle, a bit about the Roman occupation of London/Londinium, the usage of snuff and snuff boxes, and all sorts of other fun tidbits of knowledge. I love books like these, where the author's passion carries the narrative forward, and he's such an engaging narrator. Even though the timeline is nonlinear, it's fun to jump back and forth as he talks about what he's found and how it was dated and how it pertains to English history.
If you enjoy history and fun facts and love hearing people ramble on about their unusual hobbies, this will be the perfect book for you.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
It's been a while since I picked up a book that I wasn't into. I'm sorry to say that THE SEA IS SALT AND SO AM I fits that description. Usually when I get ARCs, I'm super excited and want to dive into them right away, but after reading the first chapter of this book, I set it to one side and avoided making eye contact. There's nothing really wrong with it... it just does a lot of things I don't really like. The sort of dreamy portrayal of mental health issues (not exactly romanticized but definitely sensationalized), the multi POV narratives (Ellis and Harlow sounded exactly the same, only Tommy stood out), and a claustrophobic small town setting where everyone is focused on the cliffs. I definitely think that this will appeal to some people, because I know a lot of people like those things, but it didn't work for me at all.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Wow! THE VERY NICE BOX was an ARC I accepted purely on impulse not really knowing what to expect-- and honestly, that's the best way to dive into this book. It starts off as one type of story and gradually becomes something else and I really don't want to say too much more than that because the surprise is half the fun.
I will say that THE VERY NICE BOX is kind of a funny, tongue-in-cheek satire of start-ups and tech culture. STADA, the company in this book, is an obvious parody of IKEA. Ava, the heroine, appears to be neurodivergent and she is suffering from grief and PTSD. Several years ago, her family and girlfriend died in a hit-and-run accident and she's closed herself off from everyone else as a result. When the marketing company hires a guy named Mat who's a total extrovert/people person, she rolls her eyes along with her friend because of how utterly obnoxious and upbeat he is--
Until she falls for him.
There are so many layers to this book. I kind of predicted one of the main twists pretty early but that didn't stop me from liking the book anyway. The characterization was really well done and so was the humor and the story. I also liked that there was a bit of a mystery, as well! Also, Ava is such a great character. Her introversion and grief were really well done and I liked how she stayed consistent to herself throughout the whole book. I love seeing STEM heroines in fiction, especially when they are portrayed as strong and having agency. This would make a great movie and I hope to one day see it on the big screen. It really is that good.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of TYLER JOHNSON WAS HERE, I couldn't keep myself from wanting to read this book once I heard about the premise. THINGS WE COULDN'T SAY has so many important themes, ranging from discovering one's sexuality to dealing with feelings of parental abandonment. The hero, Gio, is the son of a preacher and a star basketball player. But he's also bisexual and coming to terms with his feelings of his mom walking out years ago. Both those things play major roles in the story, when Gio thinks he might be falling in love for the first time-- and when the ghostly specter of his mother reappears solidly in his life.
THINGS WE COULDN'T SAY shares similar themes with other books I have read and enjoyed recently, specifically Kacen Callender's FELIX EVER AFTER and THIS IS KIND OF AN EPIC LOVE STORY, and Brandy Colbert's THE REVOLUTION OF BIRDIE RANDOLPH, so I think if you really enjoyed this books, you'll probably enjoy this one, as well. One of the things I really like about the YA coming out these days is the emphasis on healthy amounts of communication in relationships and the importance of setting boundaries. A lot of the YA I had access to as a teen glossed over these things, and I think it's really important that teens have examples of positive, healthy relationships in their fiction if they want it!
THINGS WE COULDN'T SAY handles its difficult subjects pretty well and I think it's clear that Jay Coles has grown a lot as an author since his debut. But something about the narrative fell a little short for me. Gio felt young-- and not young in a realistic way, but young as in, like, middle school (and I think he was supposed to be in high school?). With a lot of high school-age books, there's like this yearning to be taken seriously and seeing yourself as an adult, and I didn't really get that with Gio. The primary focus was on the lessons he had to learn about relationships and the like, which kind of made this feel like an afterschool special in some ways. I believe this was published by Scholastic, which is geared at a younger audience than other teen imprints, but it's something to consider when buying this for a teenager. It's definitely geared more towards preteens and young teens than older teens.
Overall, though, I liked this book and look forward to seeing what the author does next.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
There's nothing really objectively wrong with this one and a lot of my friends enjoyed it. I just didn't like the narrative style. It had a dreamy, sort of fragmented style of story-telling and kept switching POVs. I think it's YA and for a YA it's pretty dark, which I don't personally have a problem with, but it is kind of odd reading the YA equivalent of Fargo that's being told in a dreamy, Maggie Stiefvater style of prose.
I also kind of felt like I was just waiting around for something to happen. The villain was pretty chilling but he didn't actually do much. Loved the opening and the idea behind this and the cover is GORGEOUS, but the execution failed me. You might feel differently.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I'm actually kind of shocked that YOU'RE ON MUTE has such low ratings on Goodreads because I thought it was a very helpful and humorous introductory guide to using video calls. Maybe that's the problem, though-- it's very introductory. I think the ideal audiences for this book are probably high school and college students who are just entering the work force (and possibly the virtual dating game) and older adults who might not be as used to technology and were able to get around video calls pre-COVID because they worked in industries where tech wasn't exactly a necessity.
This book provides great tips, such as online etiquette, video safety, tips for video dates, and reminders that it isn't okay to take Zoom calls into the bathroom and that you should really mute yourself if you're in a big meeting where lots of people might be making small but cumulative amounts of noise.
YOU'RE ON MUTE *is* basic but I personally found most of the advice incredibly on-point and helpful. The only one I disagreed with is the one about taking video calls outside. I conduct a lot of my meetings from my porch because my house can get noisy and I prefer the natural light. This book says it's unprofessional and hard to see, but I think if you're in a shaded, clean area, it's totally fine.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
ZARA HOSSAIN IS HERE is so good. I thought the author's other book was only okay, as it had a lot of the problems that typically plague a debut, but the premise of this one was intriguing enough that I definitely wanted to see how the author improved-- which she did! So, so much. Like, this is the work of an established author who feels comfortable in her writing skin. It's a fully fleshed-out story with a strong protagonist, good pacing, and lots of suspense.
Zara is a Pakistani girl living in Texas. Her father is a physician with a work visa and they're waiting on their green cards. But the whole process might end up compromised when Zara becomes the target of vicious bullying from a school bigot. In addition to that, she's also trying to navigate her new relationship with a girl named Chloe, and the consequences of a ruthless act of discrimination that totally disrupts her family's life and her own dreams.
I loved the interactions between Zara and her friends, Zara and her girlfriend, and Zara and her family. I loved the unequivocal love between her and her parents and how they supported Zara in what she wanted. I also thought the author did a great job showing jealousy between friends in a way that isn't super toxic. And the relationship between Zara and Chloe was really cute and I liked all of the open communication and how even though Chloe's parents weren't the most tolerant, they tried to understand.
Definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for diverse sapphic YA!
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
This was such a good memoir. When I was a psychology student, I read a lot of mental health memoirs, sometimes because they were required and sometimes just because it was something I was interested in. As the author herself points out, such memoirs used to be notable and hard to find-- as it became more publicly acceptable to talk about and discuss mental health, however, there was a glut of memoirs about people who were suffering from various mental health problems as well as those written by their caregivers, creating public awareness and also removing the barriers erected by societal stigmas.
A ROOM WITH A DARKER VIEW is a beautiful memoir about Ms. Phillips's coming of age with two career-minded parents while also growing up under the shadow of a mother in the early phases of prodromal schizophrenia that gradually blossomed into a case that was quite severe. She talks about the hurt and confusion because sometimes her mother would say and do incredibly awful things. She talks about what it was like being her mother's caregiver, the side-effects of taking Haldol, and what happened when a pharmacist screwed up and her mother was given incorrect dosage and incorrect instructions.
I just can't say enough good things about this book. It was brutal and honest and fascinating. She doesn't dramaticize anything, and she doesn't try to portray herself or her mother as a martyr. The portions about mental health and feminism were fantastic, but I also liked the more "normal" parts too, like the culture shock of being a British student in an American school (and vice-versa), or her trip to Zimbabwe, where she talks about apartheid or the questionable legacy of her cultural anthropologist grandfather and how his own biases colored his research. It was just a fantastic book all around, textured and nuanced and deep, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys memoirs or has an interest in mental health.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I snatched this one right up because the premise sounded so cute. It's about a young girl named Nimra who ends up switching from a religious school to a public school, where she gets involved in a school band (Barakah Beats). It's middle grade but deals with a lot of grown-up issues, like changing friendships, staying true to yourself, finding your passions, practicing faith (and different interpretations of faith), and, of course, the feeling of finding something you're really good at and enjoy.
BARAKAH BEATS was just as cute as the cover made it look but as with other middle grade novels I have read, the narrator sometimes felt more like an adult writing what they thought a preteen should sound like and less like a preteen. I think it's hard to capture that mindset perfectly and it might not be something as many younger readers would pick up on. Overall, this was a light, enjoyable read.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I really like graphic-novels but I'm super picky about which ones I like, so making a selection sometimes ends up being totally random. DJELIYA is a post-apocalyptic fantasy graphic-novel based on West African folklore. It's about an evil wizard who lives in a magical ivory tower that ended up destroying the world. Now the kingdom is kind of a post-apocalyptic wasteland with people throwing their weight around for clout, power, and magic.
The hero and heroine of this book are Mansour, a prince who is the son of a powerful king named Keita, and Awa, Mansour's djeli, which seems to be something between a vizier and a bard. As they journey to the tower, they get caught up in various adventures and power struggles, while also learning more about their own pasts and ambitions. It's a thoughtful tale that incorporates African language, religion, and writings (with helpful translations on-page and a little mini-glossary in the back). The story was confusing for me to follow at first but all of the distinct characters and the layout of the panels made it easier for me to follow and pretty soon I began to enjoy myself a lot as I lost myself in this bizarre and colorful world.
At the back, Juni Ba says he was inspired by Cartoon Network, and I'm glad he said that because his style was reminding me of something-- 90s cartoons! All those bright colors, high contrasts, and stark linework really reminded me of the comics and cartoons I consumed in my youth. Reading this gave me an incredibly nostalgic feeling, even though it's a modern work. I liked that a lot. The content in this book is somewhat mature but not graphic in terms of violence or sex, and I would say that it would be OK for most teens to read. Especially if they love fantasy and dystopians. If you enjoy graphic-novels and are looking for a fun intro into West African folklore, this would be a great book for you!
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
BLUEBIRD was a book that I grabbed purely on impulse. I'm just such a sucker for revenge stories and even though I'm totally fatigued on WWII books, I couldn't resist. This had everything I love-- dangerous boys, dual timelines, family secrets, revenge, and real stakes. From the first chapter, I was sucked in, and I was really impressed at how darkly and deftly the subject matter was handled considering that this is a young adult book and usually the authors tend to write with kid gloves (to the detriment of the plot, sadly).
There are two alternating narratives in this book. One is about Eva, a German girl coming to America with her friend, Annemarie. She has a dark secret and revenge on her mind. The other story is about Inge, another German girl who comes from the ideal German family. Only... her life isn't as perfect as she thinks. And the reason her life isn't perfect is the same reason her mother hates her and her father treats her like a beloved but strictly disciplined dog. The narratives end up intersecting in an unusual and gradual way and while I predicted some of it, there were still plenty of twists that surprised me.
The less you know about BLUEBIRD, the better. I personally thought it was an excellent work of historical fiction. Some of my friends hadn't liked her previous books so I had avoided her other work but after reading this, I'm thinking I seriously need to check out her backlist. The only critiques I really have is that the last half of the book felt a little disorganized compared to the excellent beginning and I don't think the book really needed to be 400+ pages. There were a lot of pieces that felt redundant.
Since this is a book of wartime fiction, the usual trigger warnings apply. Nothing is graphic, but there is a lot of implied abuse and violence, and some references to human experimentation.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I actually put off writing my review for this because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I ended up going for a hike and then I came back and fell asleep, and when I woke up, I saw this book sitting on the armrest of my chair and sighed, like, "Oh, YOU. I don't like you."
UNSETTLED GROUND is sort of a mystery but not in the way you might expect. Instead of a traditional whodunnit, it's more of a gradual untangling of relationships and lingering resentments. The book starts out with the mother of two fifty-something-year-old twins dying of a stroke. The twins, Jeanie and Julius, are basically just above the poverty line and after she dies, they have to scramble to make ends meet and hold onto their home.
This was a difficult read because the more I read, the more I disliked all of the characters. The hook for me was the idea of picking apart the structure of this small English town and kind of looking into this poor family living off their land, but I predicted the "mystery" element really early on and there wasn't really a single character in here that I particularly liked or rooted for at all-- and I really disliked the end.
The writing was good and I thought the pacing was nicely done and the story kept me engaged to the finish, but man, this really wasn't what I was hoping for. I'm actually more excited about her other book, which I bought recently: BITTER ORANGE. It sounds more in line with my tastes and I'm really looking forward to it.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I enjoy reading trash as much as the next person but I do have a degree in the (social) sciences and I actually love biology, so whenever I can get my hands on books about botany, biology, psychology, or the natural world, I start to get grabby. Looking at the other reviews for GONE, I wasn't really prepared for what it was going to be about. I thought it was going to be about animals that were thought to have been extinct but weren't (such as the frilled shark or the coelacanth), or about weird animals that have been extinct for years that are really cool looking (like eohippus or the smilodon). Instead, the focus of this book was mostly about recent extinctions and features some pretty graphic descriptions of animal cruelty. What happened to the great auk and the huia were particularly upsetting.
GONE focuses on several creatures recently lost to history-- great auk, spectacled cormorant, Steller's sea cow, upland moa, huia, South Island kokako, Xerces blue, Pinta Island tortoise, dodo, Schomburgk's deer, and Ivell's sea anemone. Each chapter features beautiful full color illustrations of what the animals would have or were thought to have looked like in life, a description of their behavior and habitat, and, when known, the means of their destruction (usually human beings). Every animal gets its own chapter.
The tone of this book is, as others have pointed out, strange. Blencowe definitely adopts an elegiac air for these stories that shrouds them in gravitas, but there are odd notes of humor (that aren't disrespectful, just sort of read as the author trying to keep things from getting too dark). At times it reads like a travelogue because he is physically going to all of these animals' stomping grounds or to the museums that house their remains, and there are even moments where the narrative can feel almost whimsical. There's an incredibly darkly funny passage in here about a scientist who was so consumed with hatred over one of his rivals that he kept a piece of his spine on display after his death. I mean, that's just purely ridiculous. But then there are the really sad passages about animal deaths that are hard to read, and I think would be very upsetting for the animal lovers who might be tempted to pick this up.
I think if you really enjoy natural history and are okay with the darker side that sometimes accompanies scientific curiosity left unchecked (if presented as a cautionary tale), you may find this book interesting. I learned a lot and found parts of it fascinating and I loved the illustrations, but I would not read it again.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
THE HALF-ORPHAN'S HANDBOOK is a young adult book about grief. The heroine, Lila, has just lost her father to suicide and isn't handling it well. (Which is totally understandable.) When she finds out her mother has sent her to grief camp, she feels betrayed (also understandable). They work out an agreement that she has to stick it out for a week and then she can leave. Lila grudgingly goes and ends up striking up an acquaintance with some of the campers that makes her realize that things are better if you don't have to endure alone.
There's nothing really wrong with this book. I just didn't really like the style all that much. It felt a little bland, and maybe that's just because the heroine was numbed from her grief but I'm not quite sure it was, because even the more emotionally intense scenes rang a little hollow for me. I think it was just a stylistic incompatibility. It's compared to Emily X.R. Pan and John Green's works and I don't really care for either of those authors because I find them both bland and kind of obnoxiously twee and precocious, so maybe that's the issue.
I did love the author's note at the back of the book and recommend reading it, as it puts the work in perspective. For the right person, this will be a work of solace and comfort. It just wasn't that book for me.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Gah, the first blip in my near-perfect book streak. I'm sorry to give this a not-so-great review because as a psychology major, I love seeing mental health discussed in literature. Does that mean I'm going to be super picky about it? Yes. Ironically, the research element of this book is something I have no problem with. The author did a good job. In school, I had professors who claimed that DID (dissociative identity disorder) was a construct or made-up and then there were others who definitely believed it was not only real, but also a defense mechanism of the brain to shield the mind from extreme trauma (similar to a dissociative fugue or certain psychosomatic disorders). The author even discussed that controversy in the book, so points to them.
I just thought the mystery was a bit too cheesy for me. It focuses on a mom learning that her daughter might be a murderer, and I've found that mother-daughter books don't always resonate with me-- especially if they focus on the motherhood element. Sometimes thrillers have a more "women's fiction" feel to them and this definitely was that, in my opinion. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad book but it wasn't what I was looking for at all.
Your mileage may vary with this one!
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
The blurb compares this to The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar. I actually think a better pairing would be The Night Film meets American Gothic. THE LOST VILLAGE is about a documentarian named Alice who wants to create a project revolving around the abandoned mining town, Silvertjarn. But Silvertjarn is different than other ghost towns: things changed mysteriously after the arrival of a charismatic preacher and then all the townsfolk disappeared at once.
Alice goes to Silvertjarn with her crew: Emmy, Robert, Max, and Tone. The town is eerie, the perfect setting for a creepy documentary. But pretty soon, things start to get weird. Mysterious figures watching them in the rain. Equipment going missing. Vehicles blowing up. Disappearances. When one of the crew goes missing, it starts to look like the project might be more dangerous than even Alice ever thought.
THE LOST VILLAGE is a dual timeline mystery. The present tense is narrated by Alice. The past parts are narrated by Alice's great-grandmother, Elsa, who grew up in and lived in the town. This allows for the gradual dissemination of knowledge through the mediums of two unreliable narrators, neither of whom have a complete set of information at their disposal.
It took me a while to get involved in the book. It moved very slowly and at first it seemed like it might be the type of book to have a silly ending. But I stuck with it because I was curious and I'm really glad I did. Elsa's POV was the slowest but ended up being quite chilling. And Alice's POV became even more compelling as she began to question her own sanity and reality. If you enjoy slower-paced mysteries with dual timelines, I think you'll really enjoy THE LOST VILLAGE. Especially if you also like cold Scandinavian settings and the gradual unwinding of dark family secrets.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I thought this was f i n e. Just fine, though. TANTE EVA is set just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Eva is an older woman who is taking drugs and alcohol to cope with getting old. Her only real friend is the daughter of the sick woman next door and, soon, her niece, who starts out writing her letters and then claims she wants to visit.
TANTE EVA is a book about relationships. There isn't really a plot. It's just messed up people living their messed up lives while also portraying a very specific snapshot of Germany at a very specific point in time. I thought it was interesting but it didn't really grab me and I ended up skimming the last couple chapters. I almost feel like this would have worked better as a short story rather than as a full length novel.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
I love mysteries so I was excited to get a copy of THIEF OF SOULS. This is a really good noir crime drama set in China. The author is not Chinese but he majored in Cultural Anthropology in Harvard and lived and worked in China, so all of the details felt really vivid and meshed with the #OwnVoices works of fiction that I have read. The main character is a man named Lu who was given a promotion that was a punishment, as it banished him from Harbin to the rural countryside, where there isn't really any "real crime."
Until, of course, one day there is.
Not only is this a murder mystery, it's also a really interesting look at the idea of "face," and how complex the business relations can be in China when everyone is trying to follow protocol. The perp is super creepy and the backstory for them was great, too. Lu is also very sarcastic and jaded, which you would expect for a noir crime hero. I found myself really liking the dark humor in the book as it fit well with the mood the author was trying to create.
I think if you like Scandinavian-type crime thrillers, you'll really enjoy this, as it has the same hardened noir vibe. I see that this is book one in a new series and I'll definitely be reading book two.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!