Summer Fridays

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by Suzanne Rindell
First sentence: “When her eyes catch on the little clock on the far wall beyond her desk, she realizes it’s past noon.”
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Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some swearing, including a couple of instances of the f-bomb, as well as some off-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Sawyer is a publishing assistant in New York, engaged to Charles who is an associate at a high-powered law firm, and she is pretty sure her life is set. Then, during the summer of 1999, Charles is gone a lot due to a case and gets closer to his co-worker, Kendra, and Sawyer is left alone to fend for herself on the long, boring summer Fridays. She decides on a whim to play tourist in this city she now calls home, and joining her is Kendra’s boyfriend, Nick. Soon a friendship blossoms between the two of them… and maybe something more.

First my quibble: the marketing says its “You’ve Got Mail for a new generation”, and I’m sorry, but that shows a lack of knowledge of what You’ve Got Mail is. This is not that. It is sweet and charming, and not really a romance in the traditional romance sense. It is a love story, and a good one at that, and it’s a good story about second chances and finding someone who fits the life you want instead of you fitting into the life that others think should have. I loved the interactions between Nick and Sawyer (though I wasn’t really sold that he was in love with her when he said he was, but that’s probably just me) and I loved their summer Friday activities. You can tell that Rindell loves the city and wants to share that love.

it’s a good book, overall, even if it’s not really what I expected going into it. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Monthly Round-Up: May 2024

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May was a weird month; there were two whole weeks in the middle that I didn’t read a single book, which is really unusual for me. I did have a favorite:

The Mystery of Locked Rooms

It’s everything a Middle Grade book should be. And, with that, here’s the books I DID read this month:

Adult Fiction:

Happy Medium (audiobook)
Sunbringer
Lies & Weddings (audiobook)

Graphic Novels

Plain Jane and the Mermaid
Amulet: Waverider

Middle Grade

Across So Many Seas
Bridge to Bat City

The Mystery of Locked Rooms

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by Lindsay Currie
First sentence: “‘Angle it the other way!’ West screeches, holding his mirror up in the air.”
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Content: There are some mildly intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (graes 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Sarah and her two best friends West and Hannah love doing escape rooms, and they’re good at them. So, when Sarah’s house gets foreclosed and she learns about the Triplet Treasure in an abandoned funhouse outside of town, Sarah decides – and of course, West and Hannah come along – that she’s going to break into the funhouse and find the treasure.

This book is fantastic! It’s tight – it takes place mostly over one day, as we follow the kids through the funhouse as they solve the riddles and face their fears to get to the end. It’s everything I like about a middle grade books – no romance, not super high stakes, and a tight story that pulls the reader through the book. I liked that the parents were good; the house was being foreclosed because Sarah’s dad has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and couldn’t work anymore, and her mother couldn’t quite make enough money to make the mortgage payments. It’s smart, it’s fun, and I think there’s a lot of kids out there who will enjoy it. Give it to those who liked Mr. Lemoncello’s Libraray, and they’ll enjoy figuring out these as well.

Audiobook: Lies & Weddings

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by Kevin Kwan
Read by Jing Lusi
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are the uber-rich doing the uber-rich things, including just being despicable to other people. There is talk of sex, drugs, and getting high, and there is swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

 Dr. Eden Tong has grown up in the cabin next to Greshamsbury manor, where her father – while a noted oncologist – is the personal doctor to the Earl and Countess Gresham. While she is good friends with the Greshams – especially Rufus, her best friend – she doesn’t want to get involved in all their old money exploits – flying everywhere on a whim, wearing designer clothes – and she doesn’t have any intention of marrying Rufus (no matter what his Chinese mother thinks). Yet, as the oldest, Augie gets married on the Big Island of Hawaii, Eden finds herself pulled into the Gresham drama. 

There’s more to it, of course: Kevin Kwan’s books are a meandering mesh of drama and Rich People Doing Rich Things. There are a ton of characters (I really liked Freddy Farman-Farmehian (which probably isn’t spelled right) to keep track of, as well as jetting around to exotic locations to enjoy (not to mention all the clothes and food!). It’s a lush, wild, winding book, with an ending that I called but didn’t mind that I did. I loved Lusi’s narration; there were a lot of characters to handle, and she did it beautifully. 

In short, it was a delightful romp of a book and I’m glad I read it.

Amulet: Waverider

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by Kazu Kibuishi
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Stonekeeper, The Stonekeeper’s Curse, The Cloud Searchers, The Last Council, Prince of the Elves, Escape from Lucien, Firelight, Supernova
Content: There is some fighting and other intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore. 

This is the last installment in the Amulet series. The overarching conflict is resolved (mostly), and most of the loose threads are wrapped up. It’s the culmination of 16 years of story. 

I went back and reread the entire series — it’s been nearly 6 years since the last one came out — and I was struck by how much the series changed throughout the story. What starts as an adventure story ends up more introspective, exploring ideas of control, free will, and choice. I wonder how much the events of the world affected the story – if it had been written faster would it have been a different story?

The art is still remarkable, with pages that take your breath away. And I think it’s a good ending for this series. It’s such a monumental graphic novel series, that I’m a little sad that it’s over. I hope there are more stories to tell in this world. 

Plain Jane and the Mermaid

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by Vera Brosgol
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are some mildly scary moments, and the plot does hinge upon people getting married. It’s in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Jane’s parents have died in a freak fish cart accident, and because they have no surviving male heir, the house and assets will go to Jane’s odious cousin. That is, unless she gets married. She wants to keep her house, so she proposes to the prettiest boy in town, Peter, who wants to get out of the fish business. Except he’s charmed by a mermaid and dragged to the depths of the sea to marry her instead. Jane – determined to keep the house – goes after him. Adventures ensue. 

Brosgol says in the afterward that she’s always wanted to write a folktale, and this certainly qualifies. It’s less about the plot and more about Jane’s growth, realizing that she is worth more than what she looks like and that she is capable of achieving what she desires. There’s a strong anti-beauty culture message throughout the whole book, which I think Brosgol manages without being didactic or heavy-handed. And the art, like all of Brosgol’s books, is just delightful. 

I hope there are kids who will find this and enjoy it, because I did!

Bridge to Bat City

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by Ernest Cline
First sentence: “Once upon a time down here in Texas, in part of the Lone Star State known as the Hill Country, hidden at the edge of a rolling green forest, there was this bold old beautiful cave.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Some younger kids might be turned off by the references, though there are illustrations, and it’s not overly long (or dealing with crushes or puberty!). It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore. 

To understand the tall tale part of this book, you kind of need to know the history (which Cline helpfully puts in the back of the book).  In 1982, the city of Austin re-did and expanded the Congress Ave bridge, so that it could expand and contract with the weather better. Soon after this, a bunch of Mexican free-tailed bats took up residence, and by 1984, the population had grown to over a million. 

This is Cline’s version of how the bats got there. It involves a girl named Opal Flats, from Lubbock, whose mother dies and whose uncle takes her in at the family farm in the Hill Country outside of Austin. The TV show Austin City Limits plays a role, as does ‘zines, former governor Ann Richards, and Willie Nelson. There’s also a pet armadillo, a flying saucer, and – oh, yeah – Opal can talk to the bats.  

The subtitle of this one is “A mostly true tall tale” and that fits perfectly. Although it’s set in the 1980s and a lot of kids won’t get the music references (who’s Buddy Holly?!), I think it would make a perfect read-aloud. Cline says in the afterward that it’s based on a tall tale he’d tell his kids when they were small, and I think that’s the best way to approach the book. It feels like someone’s telling you a story, and I think it’s meant to be read aloud. It started slow for me, but the more I read, the more I liked it. It’s kind of silly, and it’s definitely over the top (the part where the bats – who also love music – discover ZZ Top, Run DMC, Selena, and Willie Nelson is pretty hilarious). But it’s got a good heart, and in the end, is all about just accepting new things and having an open mind (oh, and corporations are bad). 

You kind of have to love a book like that. Which I did. 

Sunbringer

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “Arren’s heart screamed.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Godkiller
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, plus lots of violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore. 

Spoilers for Godkiller, obviously. 

Our intrepid trio of Elo, Inara, and Kissen have separated – Kissen over the cliff after killing the god Hseth; Elo and Inara back to Kissen’s sisters to tell them of her death. Once they get there, though, they find a rebellion against a king who is overstepping his power. In fact, the hopeful ending of Godkiller is dashed, as Hseth refuses to stay dead, and Arren – our king who is only alive because he is channeling a god – decides to become a god instead. It’s complex and winding, yet utterly simple: stop the god and the king. It’s also utterly impossible.

I adored this one as much as I adored the first. I love that Kaner is playing around with the ideas in mythology without directly drawing from them. I can see hints of mythologies, but this really is its own thing. She’s got solid characters, who are grumpy and off-putting in an entirely loveable way, and she knows how to plot to keep me (at least) turning pages. And there’s representation – Elo’s Black, there’s a Deaf character, and pretty much everyone is some sort of queer, and it’s a delight. I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy. I have all the faith in the world that Kaner will stick the landing. 

Audiobook: Happy Medium

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by Sarah Adler
Read by Mara Wilson
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s sweary including many -bombs, and has on-screen, explicit sex. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore.

Gretchen Acorn is a con artist. She runs a business where her job is to connect to the spirit world and help her clients connect with their dead loved ones. She tells herself that she’s doing them a service, comforting them in their time of grief. Then one of her clients pays her to go perform an exorcism at the farm of her bridge partner. Gretchen was expecting a quick, weekend job with a nice septuagenarian, and instead gets Charlie Waybill – hot, skeptical, and not at all grateful Gretchen is there. She also gets… a real ghost and a family curse. So, instead of performing an exorcism, she’s tasked with keeping Charlie at the goat farm because his life is in danger if he sells. And she ends up upending her own life in the process. 

By any measure, this was a fun book – a morally gray main character (that you can’t help but really like), a hot guy that pushes her to question her life, while also understanding where she comes from, a clever ghost sidekick. There are baby goats and goofily-knit sweaters! And a slight love triangle, not to mention a sassy best friend (that isn’t a goat). There are bad parents and questionable decisions. Oh, and the narrator is fabulous too. 

But. 

Something is off with it. I’m not sure if it was the sex – they were exceptionally rough, and there was some transactional quality to it that rubbed me a bit wrong – or if it was something else – the quick way Charlie came around to Gretchen (it was only a month, and yet there are books that move faster and I don’t mind), or… I’m not entirely sure. So, while I enjoyed this one, I didn’t outright love it (at least not as much as I loved Adler’s first book). It’s worth reading, though.

Across So Many Seas

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by Ruth Behar
First sentence: “The sound of trumpets coming from the direction of our town gates tears me from sleep, my dreams forgotten as I jolt out of bed.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are some instances of hatred toward Jews, deaths of parents, and overly strict fathers. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

These inter-connected short stories follow girls in the same Sephardic Jewish family from their exile in Spain in 1492, to their lives in Turkey and one girl’s exile from there to Cuba, to finally landing in Miami in present times. Three of the stories follow a direct mother-daughter line; the fourth is their ancestor in Spain. While there isn’t much of a plot except for these girls’ experiences, there is a lot of history here, much of which I didn’t know. 

Behar is a talented writer, capturing quite a lot in a few words. It’s an elegant little book, and I appreciated that it was interconnected stories rather than trying to be one long novel. It was just enough to keep me interested and yet dense enough that I felt I connected with the characters are well as learning something new. 

I’m not entirely sure it’s for kids, but maybe some out there will find an interest in this story. It’s a good one.