The Stolen Heir

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by Holly Black
First sentence: “A passerby discovered a toddler sitting on the chilly concrete of an alley, playing with the wrapper of a cat-food container.”
Others in the series: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, The Queen of Nothing
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some disturbing violence, child abuse, and swearing, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Wren thought she was a mortal, until the day when her faerie parents came an violently took her from her mortal family. From there, they kept her in the Court of Teeth, abusing her and trying to make her as vicious as she was. But, she escaped back to the mortal world, prefering to live in the forest, scrounging for food, and breaking faerie spells instead. That is, until the heir of Elfhame, Oak, comes to ask Wren’s help going north to the Court of Teeth to overthrow her mother and rescue his father.

Of course, their quest isn’t that simple. There is a lot of mistrust and backstabbing, and some close calls, and some very tense moments. Black is not afraid to hurt or kill off characters, and there were moments that I was genuinely worried about Wren and Oak. And then the end… let’s just say, well, now I’m going to have to read the next book.

I’ll venture to say that no one understands the fae with all their charms and vicious nature, and no one writes better faerie books than she does. And this is an excellent addition to the Elfhame books.

Audiobook: The Inheritance Of Orquídea Divina

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by Zoraida Córdova
Read by Frankie Corzo
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is mention of abuse, one on-screen sex scene, and some swearing, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Orquídea Divina Montoya is dying, so she calls her family back to their home in Four Rivers so they can say goodbye. Once they get there though they are confronted with the decisions Orquídea made in the past. When the house burns down, Orquídea is turned into a tree, and three of them – her grandchildren Marimar, Rey, and great-grandchild, Rhiannon are left with magic marks – they are forced to figure out what Orquídea has done to bring them all to this point. Seven years after Orquídea’s death, members of the Montoya family are dying, and it’s up to Marimar, Rey, and Rhiannon to finally untangle all the knots Orquídea tied, and set everyone free.

I’m not usually one for magical realism, but I really loved this one. Part of it was the narrator: Corzo is incredibly talented at capturing the essence of a book and holding the listener’s interest. But there’s also a deeper layer to this book as well: it’s about generational trauma, and the choices one makes to survive. Orquídea is doing the best she can in a bad situation, and she is making decisions that backfire, but ones that also give her her family. It’s captivating and engrossing and heartbreaking all at once.

I’m so glad I finally got around to this.

Freewater

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by Amina Luqman-Dawson
First sentence: “Sanzi had broken yet another rule, but she didn’t care.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence against human beings – beatings and whippings, talk of removing fingers, and violence in the wild. It is in the Middle Grade section of the bookstore.

Homer is an enslaved boy at a plantation in the south. When we first meet him and his sister, Ada, they are running for their freedom. They’re supposed to be with their mother, but Homer insisted that they go back for his friend, Anna. Which meant that their mother, Rose, was caught. Homer and Ada kept running and found their way into the swamp. From there, they met some formemrly enslaved Black people as well as free Black people in their free community, deep within the swamp: Freewater.

This is less the story of Homer and Ada’s escape – that really only takes a chapter or two – and more of them learning to live free. Homer is obsessed with going back for his mom and works toward being able to do that. Ada is just a 7-year-old getting underfoot. They meet other children: Billy, who is a formerly enslaved person like them, and Sanzi and Juna who were born free in Freewater. Sanzi wants nothing except to be like Suleman – a tracker and explorer. Juna is a homebody and from all accounts, her mother’s “favorite”. We follow them as they experience life in Freewater.

I hate to say it, but I felt like this book was more Important than, well, Good. It is important: these stories of slavery need to be told. While people need to be shown as what they were: often cruel, but sometimes some of them were kind (if misguided). The struggles of Black people need to be told, and their joys and successes – like building a whole community in a swamp! – need to be written down. (The book is based on a real place, which is quite remarkable.)

But I wasn’t engaged. I slogged through until the very end, when it got exciting, as the children (and a couple of adults) raided the plantation wedding (wreaking havoc) during a wedding to rescue Homer’s mother. Luqman-Dawson captured the tension of doing that and made the stakes relatively high.

It was just a chore getting to that point. So, while I see the Importance and Value of this book and am glad it’s out there for people to read, it will not be my favorite.

Graphic Novel Two-fer

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Lost in Taiwan
by Mark Crilley
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: May 23, 2023
Content: There are some intense moments and the untranslated Chinese might deter some readers. It will be in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Paul has been sent by his father to live with his older brother, Theo, in Taiwan for a couple of weeks. It’s the last place Paul wants to be, and he’s more than content to spend it on Theo’s couch, playing video games. But then Theo leaves on an overnight trip, and Paul is alone. An online friend convinces Paul to go find an exclusive device, and Paul sets out with his phone’s GPS. He walks through winding streets and open fields, but when he gets to the store, he drops his phone in a puddle and is now stuck, somewhere in the city, with no way of getting back. Thankfully, he met a Taiwanese girl who did a study abroad in England and can speak English. They set off on an adventure to try and find Theo’s apartment. It takes all day, and on the way Paul learns that 1) putting the games down and getting off the couch is a good thing and 2) maybe his view of the world is pretty narrow.

It’s another beautifully drawn graphic novel from Crilley, and in this one, he manages to tackle both American exceptionalism and the beauty of Taiwan. It’s a fun read, not only for kids but for anyone who wants to experience what a day in Taiwan might look like.

The Faint of Heart
by Kerilynn Wilson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: June 13, 2023
Content: There are some disturbing themes in this one. It will be in the Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

At some point in the future (in this world at least), “The Scientist” has discovered a way for people to remove their hearts and numb them, thereby making them immune to all emotions. Pretty much everyone has done this, except for June. She clings to her heart, because she wants to feel, and wants to continue to draw. But, the pressure mounts, and her parents decide that June needs to go through the procedure. June fakes it though, wandering around the city, and finds a heart in a jar. This sets off a chain of events that will lead June to change the future.

This was such a gorgeously drawn book. It was the art that drew me to it in the first place. I liked the use of black and white, with June being the only pop of color. But the story was odd. Yes, I know it was all metaphorical, and it was an exploration of why we need feelings and art and why solely relying on our unemotional analytical side is not a great way to live. But I did get hung up on people living WITHOUT THEIR HEARTS. How did they function? How did the blood go through their bodies? I couldn’t let that go while I was reading.

Which may be a me problem, actually. Otherwise, it’s really good.

Audiobook: Blood Debts

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by Terry J Benton-Walker
Read by Bahni Turpin, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Torian Brackett & Zeno Robinson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or Listen at Libro.fm
Release date: April 4, 2023
Content: There is a lot of violence, a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs, and an on-screen sex scene. It will be in the Teen (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

The basic plot? Clem and Chris Trudeau are practitioners of Generational magic – a branch of magic along with Light and Moon and Necromancy. But their family hasn’t had the best history with it. Their grandmother was the leader of the Gen magic council but was framed for murder and killed by an angry mom. Their father was killed after something went wrong with a spell Chris cast. And their mother was slowly dying until they found the cause: a hex doll. Chris and Clem are determined (in spite of adults telling them to stay out of it) to figure out why their family has had such a run of bad luck with magic and fix it.

Truth be told, it’s a LOT more than just that. This book has everything. Family drama? Check. Solving multiple murders? Check. Stupid white people with grudges and guns? Check. Authorities refusing to help because the Trudeaus are black? Check. Zombies? Check. (Seriously.) Wonderfully sweet gay love? Check. Complicated gay love? Check. This book has EVERYTHING. It’s so much.

That’s not to say it was bad. It wasn’t. The audio is especially good – the narrators pulled me in and kept me coming back for more, even as I wanted to cringe and pull away because it’s a LOT. But, I really liked the magic system Benton-Walker dreamed up, and I liked the way he wove the challenges and triumphs of Black people into the book. There’s surprisingly a lot to talk about. (There’s just a LOT. Period.)

In the end, I think it was good? I’m still reeling from the end, and I want to know if there’s another, so at the very least, it hooked me.

Figure it Out, Henri Weldon

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by Tanita S. Davis
First sentence: “Fluorescent lights really, really sounded like bees, Henrietta decided, shifting in her seat.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Disclaimer: Tanita and I are both on the Cybils board, but I purchased the book.
Content: There’s some mild bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Henrietta – Henri for short – Weldon feels like she has a lot to figure out. She’s in 7th grade, but she’s just transferred to a public school, so the family could afford for her mother to get her Ph.D. It’s an adjustment, to say the least. On top of that, Henri and her older sister, Kat, are always arguing, though Henri feels like it’s always Kat picking on and nagging her. Kat has, especially, told Henri she is not to be friends with the Morgans – a group of foster kids living in the same home. Except the Morgans are nice to Henri. And then there’s math, which Henri just doesn’t get. As things start piling up, and she feels less and less like she has support at home, Henri wonders: Will she ever figure things out?

This was such a charming book. The sibling rivalry felt realistic, even though I felt bad for Henri – she was really trying her best, and her family just kept piling on. Families do that, though. And I can see how the youngest child would especially feel that. I liked the way Tanita depicted Henri’s learning disability; there are a lot of books out there on dyslexia and other reading disorders, but not much about dyscalculia, and I appreciated learning how Henri dealt with it. But, mostly it was a book about a girl trying to figure things out, which feels very 7th-grade. And I really really liked it.

Monthly Round-up: January 2023

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What do you do, if the first book you finished this year is not just your favorite of the month, but you know will be on your top 10 of the year? it’s a high standard to live up to.

Even so, this will absolutely be one of my favorites of the year:

In the Lives of Puppets

As for the rest:

Adult Fiction:

Now Is Not the Time to Panic (audiobook)
Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (audiobook)
The Flatshare

Young Auldt:

Saint
Seraphina (reread)
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (audiobook)

Non-Fiction

My Hygge Home (audiobook)
Spare (audiobook)

What was your favorite this month?

The Flatshare

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by Beth O’Leary
First sentence: “You’ve got to say this for desperation: It makes you much more open-minded.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is lots of swearing, including f-bombs, and some almost on-screen sex, as well as talk of sex. There are also references to emotional abuse. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore

Tiffy has just broken up with her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Justin. This time it was because he got engaged to another woman, and even though her heart is broken, she knows she needs to get out. The problem is her job working for a small publishing house isn’t going to get her anything fancy in London, and everything in her price range is, well, unsafe for habitation. That is until she finds an ad: Leon, a night nurse, is looking for someone to share his flat. The deal: he gets it during the day, and Tiffy will get it nights and weekends. Sounds ideal. But, then Tiffy and Leon start leaving each other notes, and over the months they realize that they’ve formed a sort-of relationship that actually blossoms into something more when they actually (well, accidentally) meet face-to-face.

There’s more to the story than that: Leon’s brother is in prison for something he didn’t do, and it’s Tiffy’s barrister friend who helps with that. Tiffy’s ex-boyfriend turns out to be abusive, and it’s Leon who helps (along with a therapist, yes) Tiffy process and deal with the emotional trauma. And there are side jaunts involving Welsh castles, knitting and crocheting, and a search for a lost love of a dying man. 

i heard a lot of good stuff about this one when it came out in 2019, but I stuck it on my shelf and said “I’ll get to it eventually” and then never quite did. It was only when I let my social media friends choose my current TBR pile that it actually made it on there, and I’m so glad it did. O’Leary is a good romance writer, hitting the tropes, but also giving us characterizations beyond the tropes. I liked that Leon and Tiffy seemed like real people and that O’Leary surrounded them with an excellent support system. It was all a big, happy found-family, and I adored it. 

I’m so glad I (finally) got around to reading it.

Tiffy has just broken up with her on-agan off-again boyfriend, Justin. This time it was because he got engaged to another owman, and even though her heart is broken, she knows hse needs to get out.

Audio book: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

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by Talia Hibbert
Read by: Amina Koroma & Jonathan Andrew Hume
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of sex and lots of swearing including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Celine Bangura is a driven person. She wants to succeed, be the best, and — not least on her list — show her deadbeat dad who left her, her sister, and their mother to start a new family that he’s better than he is. So, she signs up for an elite scholarship opportunity that will not only allow her to study law but will also give her that prime opportunity to show up her dad. But when her ex-best friend-turned-traitor Bradley Graeme decides to do the program as well? It’s just become that much more important that Celine get one of the coveted golden compasses.

However, once they get into the program, Celine and Bradley discover that not only do they work together well, their old friendship – once everything has been explained and forgiven – just might be something more.

This one was super cute. I liked that both characters were driven and smart, and that they didn’t sacrifice their goals for the sake of “being together”. I liked that neither character was perfect: Celine was dealing with the trauma of her dad leaving, and Bradley has OCD and anxiety and has to deal with at. But, most of all I adored listening to the narrators. They were delightful to listen to, and made an already fun story even more entertaining.

Highly recommended, and I may go check out some of Hibbert’s adult books too!

Reread: Seraphina

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by Rachel Hartman
First sentence: “I remember being born.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence, bigotry, and talk of sex (but none actual). It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore, but I’d give it to precocious younger readers.

I picked this one up again because Hartman released a new one in the series last year and I realized it had been too long, and I didn’t remember anything about the series. I don’t have much new to say about it from my gushing post when I first read it, nearly 10 years ago. Everything I said still holds: The writing is gorgeous, and the story is a slow build but worth it. The dragons are unlike anything you will have ever seen before. And ten years on, this is still incredibly relevant, dealing with bigotry and the attempt to quell discrimination against a different species. Hartman has an incredible imagination, and I wish more people knew about this series.

If you haven’t taken he time to experience this world, do. It’s absolutely woth it.