bad parents

Brightly Shining

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by Ingvild Rishøi (Author,  Caroline Waight (Translator)
First sentence: “Sometimes I think about Toyen.”
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Release date: November 19, 2024
Content: There are four instances of the f-bomb, and some very bad parenting. It will be in the Christmas section of the bookstore.

Melissa and Ronja’s father can’t seem to hold a job. When he’s sober, things are going well, but all too often, he falls off the wagon and into the bottle again. This time, after he gets a job at a Christmas tree lot and ends up drinking again, Melissa decides to take matters into her own hands. She bargains with the miserly lot owner to take on her father’s job for him (and work off the big advance he took). That leaves Ronja alone, but she’s unhappy that way. So, she joins Melissa at the lot. Everything goes well… until it doesn’t.

Much like the Hans Christian Andersen tale “The Little Match Girl”, this one is hopelessly sad. It’s a reminder that not everyone gets magical Christmases and that there are those for whom the holiday is not wonderful. (And that some of those people are children.) There are brief moments of hope, and Ronja narrating the book helps, but it’s really just… sad.

The writing is gorgeous, though, and Rishoi knows how to be evocative. But, mostly, this was a bleak Christmas tale. Maybe it’s a reminder to be thankful you’re not spending your Christmas Eve under a tree in a tree lot, in the middle of a storm, with a drunk father who doesn’t even bother to come and find you.

So very sad.

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.

Plain Jane and the Mermaid

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by Vera Brosgol
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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!

Audiobook: Rainbow Black

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by Maggie Thrash
Read by Hope Newhouse
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, frank talk of sex, and descriptions of a murder scene. It’s in the Mystery section of the bookstore (for a lack of a better place to put it.)

Lacey Bond had an idyllic childhood, out in the New Hampshire woods with her hippie parents who ran a daycare. But then, when she was 13, her parents were arrested on 30 counts of pedophilia, with the townspeople – and more importantly, therapists and prosecutors – accusing them of witchcraft and Satanism, and doing Unspeakable Things with the children. These children also said that Lacey was there, was forced to be a part of it, which Lacey knows she wasn’t. Except, none of the adults believe her. And then, when her older sister, Eclair, is brutally murdered in their house, Lacey is thrown into the system. She does have a friend – Dylan (I hope that’s spelled right!) – who is trans, and who is taken away to live with her abusive biological father and creepy older brothers. Lacey becomes panicked – she has endured a LOT of trauma – and ends up making a decision that puts Lacey and Dylan on the run to Canada.

Fourteen years later, this all comes back to haunt them as they are trying to move past their traumatic childhood and create a decent life for themselves.

It’s a weird book – excellently read by Newhouse – not quite horror, though there is a lot of talk of Satanic Panic and Lacey is often in situations that could be called horrific – not quite a mystery, mostly because there’s no mystery about who is doing these things. I think, in the end, it’s a condemning look at what happens to a kid who – through no fault of their own – gets caught in the system. Of the adults trying to manipulate and coerce the kids to their ends. The adults who weren’t able or just didn’t help out as much as they could. And of the adults who just don’t believe the things the kids say, if they don’t line up with the story they want or need. Also taking a hard look at the consequences when kids take their lives into their own hands. It’s harrowing and sad, though Thrash injects humor along the way.

I don’t think I liked this one in the traditional sense, but I did find it compelling – especially on audio – and it did give me a lot to think about.

Audiobook: Chaos Theory

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by Nic Stone
Read by the author and Dion Graham
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing (I don’t remember any f-bombs); teenage drinking; talk of mental health, self-harm, and a parental affair. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Ever since Shelbi moved to Georgia, she has one rule: don’t get close to anyone. A former “friend” hurt her badly at her last school, and her mental health can’t handle it. What she doesn’t count on is Andy, who she passes one night, sitting in the back of a cop car, having totaled his car because he was wasted. In fact, he seems to often have too much to drink. As they fall into friendship, and become closer, they both realize that there’s a lot ot unpack. Shelbi with her bipolar diagnosis, Andy with his self-medicating with alcohol (not to mention a distant mother, and the death of a younger sister that he blames himself for).

This has to be one of the cutest books about really tough subjects that I’ve eve read. I loved the dynamic between Andy and Shelbi – Dion Graham was a specatular narrator, and Stone was quite good as well – and the way they both supported and pushed each other. It was a very cute romance, but underneath was all the hard-hitting issues that Stone is known for. She looks very unflinchingly at mental health, grief, substance abuse, and what it takes to make a relationship really work.

In short, it was an excellent book, especially on audio.

Funny Story

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by Emily Henry
First sentence: “Some people are natural storytellers.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
ARC pilfered from the box our awesome Penguin rep sent the store.
Release date: April 23, 2024
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and on-page sex. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Daphne has uprooted her life and moved to northern Michigan – a smallish town on Lake Michigan – because her fiance, Peter, wanted to move home. All is fine and good: she has a dream job as a children’s librarian and she’s planning their wedding. Until the night of Peter’s bachelor party, when he decides he can’t live without his best friend and love of his life, Petra. He calls off the wedding, and heartbroken, Daphne turns to the only person she can think of who can understand her heartbreak (and has an empty room): Petra’s ex-boyfriend, Miles.

Their stint as roommates is uneventful until they get invitations to Peter and Petra’s wedding. Then, when they drunkenly RSVP and Peter calls to ask why, Daphne lets out that she and Miles are “dating”. Thus begins the fake dating scheme to get back at Peter and Petra, which might just turn into something more.

Henry is a solid romance writer, and this one is right up there with the best of her work. I think she’s justifying her leap to hardcover: this one is as much about Daphne’s self-discovery and learning to make and cultivate friendships as it is about hitting all the romance tropes. I love that both Daphne and Miles are complicated characters, but that they learn, develop, and grow together in ways that are just delightful. Henry knows how to write banter with the best of them, and even though the characters aren’t enemies, there’s some pretty smart and fun banter going on. And there’s palpable tension coming off the page when they get together.

If Henry decides to publish her grocery list, I’ll read it. She’s just that good. And this one is no exception.

Blood Justice

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by Terry J. Benton-Walker
First sentence: “Granny was dead, and no one gave a damn — a truth that Velntine Savant choked on for the entirety of her grandparents’ poorly attended joint funeral service.”
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Release date: April 23, 2024
Others in the series: Blood Debts
Content: There’s a lot of violence and a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs. It will be in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Blood Debts, obviously.

There’s so much going on in this book it’s going to be hard to sum up. Let’s just say Valentina’s grandparents are dead, and she hates her parents and wants revenge on the Trudeau twins and get her power back, and will do anything to it. Clem has an undead (or mostly alive?) boyfriend that he’s been hiding from the world while he tries to figure out how to more alive him. Cris is Angry at Everything and Everyone and is taking Justice into her own hands. Adults are somewhere in there, but not doing much of anything. And there’s an unhinged evil god lurking around.

I was talking to co-workers about this one and this sentence came out of my mouth: “It’s like Riverdale, but with magic and set in New Orleans.” Honestly, that’s the most accurate description for this train wreck of a book. It’s so very soap-y and twisty and all the 16-year-old are acting like grown adults and like children at the same time. Everyone is always so full of Guilt and Secrets and Plots, it’s ridiculous.

And yet. I finished it. I am invested in this silly, overly dramatic, very Queer soap opera. I do want to know how it ends, though i think Benton-Walker could drag it out as long as he wanted to; much like Riverdale, Something is always happening to put the Teens in Peril. Why does it have to end? I do appreciate Benton-Walker tackling racisim, homophobia, the abuse by cops, and general corruption in politics. It’s a lot to deal with, but it’s a lot of a book, so it fits in well.

I think this one gets filed under: it’s a hot mess of a book and not much fun at all, but it’s compelling, and so it’s worth reading.

Bride

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by Ali Hazelwood
First sentence: “This war of ours, the one between the Vampyres and the Weres, began several centuries ago with brutal escalations of violence, culminated amid flowing torrents of varicolored blood, and ended in a whimper of buttercream cake, on the day I met my husband for the first time.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: February 6, 2024
ARC pilfered from the shelves at my place of employment.
Content: This is very, sweary, very violent, and very, very spicy. Quite a bit of on-screen interspecies sex. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

Misery is used to being, well, miserable. Having spent her entire childhood as the Vampyre collateral in the human world, she never really fit in with her people. And because she’s a vampyre, she doesn’t fit in with the humans, even though she’s been “passing” for a few years. And now, as she’s being “given” (generous word; forced? compelled?) to be the bride of the Were alpha, she figures it will just be another place she doesn’t fit in. In fact, the only person she cares about is Serena, her companion in childhood and best friend, who has gone missing. Misery is determined to figure out what happened to Serena, and she won’t let anyone – least of all her Were husband – get in her way.

The only other Ali Hazelwood book I’ve read is her YA Check & Mate, which was cute, so I really don’t have a frame of reference for her books. On the one hand, she’s doing some fascinating things with vampire and werewolf lore. I liked that she leaned into them being different species, and the politics of dealing between the three – humans, vampires, werewolves. I can see where she’s pulling things from – the idea of mates on the Were side, or how vampires drink pre-packaged blood – but I thought she had a fresh take.

The sex scenes were good, although, by the end, I had issues with the direction she was taking them. I just felt that Misery at the beginning was not quite the same character as Misery at the end. The best part of this one, though, was the secondary characters. They were a lot of fun and kept me going through the book. There was a pretty good twist I didn’t see coming, but it didn’t bother me. I thought it was pretty clever. i am guessing it’s going to be a series, based on the ending, and I do have to admit that I’m curious as to where Hazelwood is going to take the story.

Leeva at Last

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by Sarah Pennypacker
First sentence: “Leeva Thornblossom flew outside the instant she heard the Nutsmore Weekly thunk against the door.”
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Content: There is some exceptionally bad parentingbordering on neglect and abuse, but if you’re reading Roald Dahl, this one will be fine. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Last week my 17-year-old daughter and I watched the movie version of Matilda again. It had been a while since we had seen it, and we were in the mood for something fun and familiar. We talked the whole way through – about how horrible the Wormwoods were (and how much fun Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman were having playing them) and how despicable Miss Trunchbull was. We talked about how Dahl loved to write terrible adults and sometimes terrible children, but how there’s always one good adult to help the good children through. 

I know it sounds odd to begin a review about Pennypacker’s book this way, but that’s what I thought about quite a lot while reading Leeva at Last. Leeva Thornblossom is the good child, self-educated (not magical though), smart, and kind with absoutely despicable parents. Her parents are obsessed with Fame and Money, so much so that they make Leeva do everything else. Her mother is the mayor of the town, and is practically a facist dictator. Her father is the town treasurer, and is embezzling money (or rather, having Leeva do it becuase she’s Good at Math) becasue he’s obsessed with having it (yes, he is storing it all in boxes in the attic). One day, though, Leeva sneaks out through the hedge, discovers the libary and the kind librarian and her nephew, and her life changes for the better. 

I kept comparing it to Matilda because it felt so much like it, from the plot and the characters to the illustrations done by Matthew Cordell (which felt very Quentin Blake-y). It evoked the spirit of Roald Dahl, and yet… I’m not sure it quite succeeded. Dahl is not a kind writer. He is not a sweet writer, and he doesn’t pull any punches. Miss Trunchbull is, simply put, evil. And the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are atrocious. There is nothing redeemable about them, and there is something quite terrrifying. Pennypacker got the unredeemable bits about Leeva’s parents – in the end, while they don’t get their comuppance, they are not redeemed – but they’re not terrifying. They’re just silly. And kind of annoying. Which, if you’re trying to channel Dahl, kind of misses the mark. 

Even so, Leeva was a fun little book, and I think it’s admirable that Pennypacker attempted to write something that tried to be like Dahl. I’m sure there will be many people over the years who come to thoroughly love this one. 

Audiobook: Check & Mate

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by Ali Hazelwood
Read by Karissa Vacker
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of sex, and off-page sex. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Mallory Greenleaf was once a chess prodigy. Her grandmaster father would take her around to tournaments, and she would play. And win. But then, four years ago, when she was fourteen, she quit. Since then, her father left the family and then died in a car accident, her mother deals with a chronic pain condition, and Mallory has been keeping everything together by working as an auto mechanic. 

Then, her best friend badgers her into playing at a charity tournament, and she inadvertantly beats Nolan Sawyer, the number one player in the world. From there, Mallory gets sucked back into the world of chess, winning a paid fellowship, and she begins winning again. The difference this time? She and Nolan are like magnets. Sometimes repelling each other, but also inexplicably drawn together. 

This one was super fun. I don’t know how it is in Hazelwood’s other books, but she does younger siblings really well. Mallory’s sisters were a lot of fun, and I found myself laughing aloud several times. I liked all the chess stuff (I really enjoyed watching The Queen’s Gambit a couple years ago) and Hazelwood can write tension really well. I like that she’s tackling things like sexism in the chess world, as well as blaming yourself for the mistakes of others, and learning how to let go of having a super strict control on your life. Mallory and Nolan’s relationship was a good one – a lot of push-and-pull, and some great banter, with a really good resolution. 

And Vacker’s narration – she read When In Rome – was absolutely delightful. I do need to listen to her read more books, because I thoroughly enjoy listening to her. 

In short: it was a quick read that was tons of fun to listen to.