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paperprivateer's reviews
1454 reviews
The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Clue. Knives Out. Inheritance Games. But with witches!
I think some of those comparisons make sense. If you’re looking for a Knives Out look at aspects of society, an Inheritance Games situation with love options, or Tim Curry, you won’t find that here. But if what you’re looking for is *vibes* based on those, then you’ve got the right book.
There are a lot of things I don’t love in this book. I don’t particularly like evil witches or zombies or any kind of blood magic. And yet… I was having such a fun time reading the book that none of those things bothered me. It's also never graphic or gory enough to disturb my scaredy-cat self.
I liked the magic system overall. I liked the way the lines of magic were separated. For the most part I had a good idea of what each line could do and what made them unique, although it could have been more clear. I personally don’t love it when media uses Salem witches as a base saying they were real witches. I think it is a little disrespectful to the very real women who were murdered because of false accusations. Despite that, I enjoyed the magic systems. I appreciate how the magic was revealed a little at a time so I never felt like there was an overall info dump to try to explain how it all worked.
I liked the characters overall. It was tricky at first to remember who was a part of what family or even which characters the male POV character was referring to since the sisters were also using false names. However, by the end of the book, I felt like almost all of the characters were distinct and interesting. I also understood why all of the characters acted the way they did by the end of the book.
I didn’t love Auden as a POV character. I think he was used more to explain the magic systems than because he’d be a good person to see the story from. I think he would have been a stronger character just from Ruby’s observations. Once the excuse is made that the sisters must have lost their memory, we could have had other characters explain how the magic worked (which had to happen most of the time anyway) instead of having his perspective. When he was depicted in Ruby’s POV, he was a lot more interesting and likable for me than when it was his own POV.
My biggest complaint about the characters is that it’s essentially insta-love for four characters. It’s bad enough when it’s the main character, but it’s both sisters! Sure, things develop a little over time, but it’s more assumed than giving us significant reasons to root for either relationship.
The mystery was a lot of fun. It kept me guessing about how it would end. It wasn’t entirely unpredictable, but I enjoyed the twists and turns.
Overall, this is a great read for a spooky season, or anytime you’re looking for something a little dark and mysterious.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
I think some of those comparisons make sense. If you’re looking for a Knives Out look at aspects of society, an Inheritance Games situation with love options, or Tim Curry, you won’t find that here. But if what you’re looking for is *vibes* based on those, then you’ve got the right book.
There are a lot of things I don’t love in this book. I don’t particularly like evil witches or zombies or any kind of blood magic. And yet… I was having such a fun time reading the book that none of those things bothered me. It's also never graphic or gory enough to disturb my scaredy-cat self.
I liked the magic system overall. I liked the way the lines of magic were separated. For the most part I had a good idea of what each line could do and what made them unique, although it could have been more clear. I personally don’t love it when media uses Salem witches as a base saying they were real witches. I think it is a little disrespectful to the very real women who were murdered because of false accusations. Despite that, I enjoyed the magic systems. I appreciate how the magic was revealed a little at a time so I never felt like there was an overall info dump to try to explain how it all worked.
I liked the characters overall. It was tricky at first to remember who was a part of what family or even which characters the male POV character was referring to since the sisters were also using false names. However, by the end of the book, I felt like almost all of the characters were distinct and interesting. I also understood why all of the characters acted the way they did by the end of the book.
I didn’t love Auden as a POV character. I think he was used more to explain the magic systems than because he’d be a good person to see the story from. I think he would have been a stronger character just from Ruby’s observations. Once the excuse is made that the sisters must have lost their memory, we could have had other characters explain how the magic worked (which had to happen most of the time anyway) instead of having his perspective. When he was depicted in Ruby’s POV, he was a lot more interesting and likable for me than when it was his own POV.
My biggest complaint about the characters is that it’s essentially insta-love for four characters. It’s bad enough when it’s the main character, but it’s both sisters! Sure, things develop a little over time, but it’s more assumed than giving us significant reasons to root for either relationship.
The mystery was a lot of fun. It kept me guessing about how it would end. It wasn’t entirely unpredictable, but I enjoyed the twists and turns.
Overall, this is a great read for a spooky season, or anytime you’re looking for something a little dark and mysterious.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Witching Wind by Natalie Lloyd
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“She imagines her heart, broken. Covered in crackly fault lines. But love still shines, even through the broken places. There’s plenty of love-light to share, too. So that’s what she does.”
This is another magical realism book from Lloyd, and the things that often shine in her books are present in spades here.
First is the characters. Every character in this book shines, even some characters that never have “on-screen” time and are only mentioned. The side characters, even a toddler and the elementary school librarian, come to life and make everything feel like I could be put right in the middle of their school and point out the people I recognize. I also loved how while the grown-ups are flawed, they aren’t completely useless either. Parents tell kids they want to hear what their kid is struggling with, and adults listen when they point out things that need work.
Our two main characters are different, with different voices, personalities, and struggles. I often struggle with books with multiple POVs because it’s often hard for me to distinguish between them, but that isn’t the case here. Grayson manages to have an incredibly positive attitude despite her many disappointments and setbacks. Roxie is self-conscious and sad about what happened with her ex-best friend. Both need people to understand them beyond their defense mechanisms, and the way they view each other in their respective points of view help build the characters in a way you don’t often get to see in a single POV book.
The kids in this book might get to see some magical happenings, but they aren’t spared from how hard life can be. They’re dealing with body shaming, missing family members, growing up, disabilities, and class in the rural Appalachian Tennessee background. They have to learn how to deal with grief when what they’re hoping for isn’t magically solved.
The magic in this book doesn’t cure or fix, which is something I love. Too often, the magic comes in and solves all the problems. In this case, the magic helps them understand themselves and life a little better. The magic is well balanced with the real world, so I was never confused about what might be magic and what wasn’t, which can be tricky in magical realism books. The magic also fits well with the setting. Families having a “knack” for certain things is exactly the kind of magic that fits so well in Appalachia.
The other thing I can’t help but love is Natalie Lloyd’s prose. I often find myself highlighting sentences because they’re just so beautiful. I still think of one particular line from “A Snicker of Magic,” and I think there are a few sentences from this book that might stick in my head too.
Occasionally, the book was a little too sweet and idealistic for me as an adult reader, but I think it will resonate well with many readers.
Overall, this is another magically sweet story about things that are missing and finding ourselves.
This is another magical realism book from Lloyd, and the things that often shine in her books are present in spades here.
First is the characters. Every character in this book shines, even some characters that never have “on-screen” time and are only mentioned. The side characters, even a toddler and the elementary school librarian, come to life and make everything feel like I could be put right in the middle of their school and point out the people I recognize. I also loved how while the grown-ups are flawed, they aren’t completely useless either. Parents tell kids they want to hear what their kid is struggling with, and adults listen when they point out things that need work.
Our two main characters are different, with different voices, personalities, and struggles. I often struggle with books with multiple POVs because it’s often hard for me to distinguish between them, but that isn’t the case here. Grayson manages to have an incredibly positive attitude despite her many disappointments and setbacks. Roxie is self-conscious and sad about what happened with her ex-best friend. Both need people to understand them beyond their defense mechanisms, and the way they view each other in their respective points of view help build the characters in a way you don’t often get to see in a single POV book.
The kids in this book might get to see some magical happenings, but they aren’t spared from how hard life can be. They’re dealing with body shaming, missing family members, growing up, disabilities, and class in the rural Appalachian Tennessee background. They have to learn how to deal with grief when what they’re hoping for isn’t magically solved.
The magic in this book doesn’t cure or fix, which is something I love. Too often, the magic comes in and solves all the problems. In this case, the magic helps them understand themselves and life a little better. The magic is well balanced with the real world, so I was never confused about what might be magic and what wasn’t, which can be tricky in magical realism books. The magic also fits well with the setting. Families having a “knack” for certain things is exactly the kind of magic that fits so well in Appalachia.
The other thing I can’t help but love is Natalie Lloyd’s prose. I often find myself highlighting sentences because they’re just so beautiful. I still think of one particular line from “A Snicker of Magic,” and I think there are a few sentences from this book that might stick in my head too.
Occasionally, the book was a little too sweet and idealistic for me as an adult reader, but I think it will resonate well with many readers.
Overall, this is another magically sweet story about things that are missing and finding ourselves.
Mysterious Ways: A Novel by Wendy Wunder
Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.
I DNF’d this book at 29% according to the Kindle tracking. I rarely decide to DNF a book, but I tried multiple times and couldn’t do it.
I don’t decide not to finish books very often, but I just couldn’t with this book. Maya thinks she’s a god because she can read minds and knows everything. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know how to be a decent person. She’s rude and opinionated. Even if I sometimes agree with her opinions, I also don’t want a lecture as a reader about the patriarchy or capitalism right from the start of a book from a character who is supposed to be right about everything. There were so many generalizations, over-exaggerations, and dramatic claims that I couldn’t stomach it. I might share a lot of her opinions about those topics, but that’s doesn’t mean I want a lecture about just how very right she is about all of that. The multiple POVs (including the dog… no thank you…) made it hard to follow, and I just didn’t care enough about anyone to try to keep everything straight.
I guess the tone was supposed to be funny or snarky, but I found it so grating I decided continuing would be a waste of time for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review.
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
When a book starts with a note from the editor about how great and special the book is and how it’s going to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime classics, it puts a whole lot of pressure on the book to deliver. It was compared to Tolkien, Pullman and Lewis in the book promotional materials and reviews. And wow, that’s a lot to expect a book to deliver. I also feel a slight pressure as a reviewer to say if it delivered on that promise.
I wish all that lofty praise had been more restrained because I think it actively harmed my enjoyment of the book. Because while Impossible Creatures is magical and charming, it doesn’t live up to the promise on the first pages and all of the marketing. Is it special? Honestly, maybe, but hoping this would be miraculous and finding just… a nice book makes everything about it seem worse. In other words, I don’t think it’s fair to the greats like Tolkien OR this book to make that comparison. It should stand on its own so people can give it a fair shake based on what it has to offer without hoping for something that, ultimately, it’s not.
That said, I did find this book charming and fun. I would gladly recommend it to readers, and I’ll probably read it again.
In some ways, it felt like old-fashioned fantasy, almost like a spiritual sequel to books like My Father’s Dragon. Readers from the US who aren’t used to books that move a little differently or who don’t read many British children's books might struggle with the pacing and style. For me, it felt very nostalgic and perfect for a fantasy adventure.
The world is lively and interesting, populated by a cast of delightful characters. Although I struggled with the main characters feeling flat and uninteresting to me for the most part, I was enchanted by the side characters. I love books with magical creatures, and I enjoyed the interpretations of existing ones and the joy of new ones.
In spite of how charming I found the book in many ways, I felt like it kept giving me whiplash. I’d notice something that would take my breath away because it was beautiful and then the next moment be struggling with something. Sometimes, it was intricate and deep, and other times, it was shallow. “And then they did this.”
The book tries to be lighthearted and magical (and often succeeds)… and then they get chased by a murderer or something genuinely heartbreaking happens.
It should have a lot of emotion, but I just didn’t get that. When a family member dies, one of the main characters barely blinks an eye. One of the characters goes through needing to make an extreme decision and we *see* her freaking out about the decision, but I never felt it. We’re eventually told that there are deep feelings, but they surprised me because I hadn’t picked up on those until I was told that they were there. Other things, however, were over-described. While some of it painted a vivid picture, I would have preferred to show more character development or intricacies of the admittedly very interesting world instead of a lot of description of what a room might look like.
The writing style also threw me off. I feel like I know when someone just learned how to use semicolons because it’s like, “look mom, I can ride a bike!” And they want to show everyone their semicolons. This book had a LOT of semicolons and dashes. I love some good punctuation, but I feel like it should have been reined in, along with other choices that were so common that it felt less developed instead of a deliberate choice. I wish it had another round of edits to help make the prose shine so that things like semicolons didn’t become so frequent that they got distracting. So I’d be sitting there chewing through too much description and tripping over semicolons, and then the book would hit me with a gorgeously written line that I had to stop and think about.
Overall, I wish it had been longer to give more time to showcase the characters and give the two main characters more personality. But the beautiful world-building, the marvelous side characters, and the occasional show-stopping sentence make this well worth the read. I don’t think I’d categorize it with the greats like so much of the marketing and early reviewing has, but I’d certainly say it’s worth a read for the intended audience.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
I wish all that lofty praise had been more restrained because I think it actively harmed my enjoyment of the book. Because while Impossible Creatures is magical and charming, it doesn’t live up to the promise on the first pages and all of the marketing. Is it special? Honestly, maybe, but hoping this would be miraculous and finding just… a nice book makes everything about it seem worse. In other words, I don’t think it’s fair to the greats like Tolkien OR this book to make that comparison. It should stand on its own so people can give it a fair shake based on what it has to offer without hoping for something that, ultimately, it’s not.
That said, I did find this book charming and fun. I would gladly recommend it to readers, and I’ll probably read it again.
In some ways, it felt like old-fashioned fantasy, almost like a spiritual sequel to books like My Father’s Dragon. Readers from the US who aren’t used to books that move a little differently or who don’t read many British children's books might struggle with the pacing and style. For me, it felt very nostalgic and perfect for a fantasy adventure.
The world is lively and interesting, populated by a cast of delightful characters. Although I struggled with the main characters feeling flat and uninteresting to me for the most part, I was enchanted by the side characters. I love books with magical creatures, and I enjoyed the interpretations of existing ones and the joy of new ones.
In spite of how charming I found the book in many ways, I felt like it kept giving me whiplash. I’d notice something that would take my breath away because it was beautiful and then the next moment be struggling with something. Sometimes, it was intricate and deep, and other times, it was shallow. “And then they did this.”
The book tries to be lighthearted and magical (and often succeeds)… and then they get chased by a murderer or something genuinely heartbreaking happens.
It should have a lot of emotion, but I just didn’t get that. When a family member dies, one of the main characters barely blinks an eye. One of the characters goes through needing to make an extreme decision and we *see* her freaking out about the decision, but I never felt it. We’re eventually told that there are deep feelings, but they surprised me because I hadn’t picked up on those until I was told that they were there. Other things, however, were over-described. While some of it painted a vivid picture, I would have preferred to show more character development or intricacies of the admittedly very interesting world instead of a lot of description of what a room might look like.
The writing style also threw me off. I feel like I know when someone just learned how to use semicolons because it’s like, “look mom, I can ride a bike!” And they want to show everyone their semicolons. This book had a LOT of semicolons and dashes. I love some good punctuation, but I feel like it should have been reined in, along with other choices that were so common that it felt less developed instead of a deliberate choice. I wish it had another round of edits to help make the prose shine so that things like semicolons didn’t become so frequent that they got distracting. So I’d be sitting there chewing through too much description and tripping over semicolons, and then the book would hit me with a gorgeously written line that I had to stop and think about.
Overall, I wish it had been longer to give more time to showcase the characters and give the two main characters more personality. But the beautiful world-building, the marvelous side characters, and the occasional show-stopping sentence make this well worth the read. I don’t think I’d categorize it with the greats like so much of the marketing and early reviewing has, but I’d certainly say it’s worth a read for the intended audience.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Upscaled by Joseph John Lee
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I have to admit I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did. It’s a somewhat campy but ultimately cozy book with plenty of dragons, jokes, and fun characters.
A review of this book would probably be inadequate without noting some of the names of essential elements. The fact that the Inquisition of the Priory of the Thrice-Dead Prophet decided to ban dragons and forbid all questions about their heroic mission tells you a lot about the kind of humor and hijinks the book will contain.
The stakes are pretty high (the Inquisition is after them, after all!), but it never feels tense. Everything stays lighthearted and fun. The book’s humor might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The humor reminded me somewhat of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom series by Christopher Healy. There are stupid jokes and pop culture references that characters shouldn’t be making, considering that they’re in a fantasy world, but the book's silliness encourages the reader to just roll with it and enjoy the book for what it is. It’s not trying to be a serious fantasy with intricate rules. It’s trying to be a book with pie and dragons and silly jokes to make you smile, and it more than delivers at that. Once or twice the jokes pulled me out of the story for a moment and occasionally the jokes were a little forced, but overall I got a few chuckles.
I’m not entirely sure who the audience for this would be. A lot of the humor wouldn’t make sense to a kid, but an eleven-year-old main character (who doesn’t always act her age, unfortunately sometimes seeming much younger) isn’t going to appeal to a lot of older readers. Maybe it would be a fun read-aloud?
I wish the dragon had a lot more time because it sometimes felt like it was an afterthought in spite of being a main plot point, and some of the descriptions were repetitive or confusing. Despite the faults, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
While I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect book, I had a perfectly enjoyable time reading it. The flaws were overshadowed by the charm of the characters, the silly humor, and the overall fun time.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me a free copy to review in exchange for my honest review.
A review of this book would probably be inadequate without noting some of the names of essential elements. The fact that the Inquisition of the Priory of the Thrice-Dead Prophet decided to ban dragons and forbid all questions about their heroic mission tells you a lot about the kind of humor and hijinks the book will contain.
The stakes are pretty high (the Inquisition is after them, after all!), but it never feels tense. Everything stays lighthearted and fun. The book’s humor might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The humor reminded me somewhat of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom series by Christopher Healy. There are stupid jokes and pop culture references that characters shouldn’t be making, considering that they’re in a fantasy world, but the book's silliness encourages the reader to just roll with it and enjoy the book for what it is. It’s not trying to be a serious fantasy with intricate rules. It’s trying to be a book with pie and dragons and silly jokes to make you smile, and it more than delivers at that. Once or twice the jokes pulled me out of the story for a moment and occasionally the jokes were a little forced, but overall I got a few chuckles.
I’m not entirely sure who the audience for this would be. A lot of the humor wouldn’t make sense to a kid, but an eleven-year-old main character (who doesn’t always act her age, unfortunately sometimes seeming much younger) isn’t going to appeal to a lot of older readers. Maybe it would be a fun read-aloud?
I wish the dragon had a lot more time because it sometimes felt like it was an afterthought in spite of being a main plot point, and some of the descriptions were repetitive or confusing. Despite the faults, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
While I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect book, I had a perfectly enjoyable time reading it. The flaws were overshadowed by the charm of the characters, the silly humor, and the overall fun time.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me a free copy to review in exchange for my honest review.
Seasick by Kristin Cast, Pintip Dunn
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I’ve read a lot of high stakes YA thrillers this summer, and this was the one that kept my interest the best. Although maybe that’s because all of the ones I read weren’t that good.
The pacing of the plot was good overall, keeping things interesting without slowing things down too much, even as backstories are revealed. The entries from the gossip website add intrigue, and there’s enough action to keep my interest.
However, some of the murders required a lot of suspension of disbelief, and the way the characters jump into a relationship as soon as a pretty hurtful situation was cleared up is a little unrealistic.
My biggest problem with it is the lack of realistic responses to what’s going on. All of these people are getting murdered left and right, and yet the main characters are pretty chill about it and trying to sort out their love lives. There are a few moments where the characters panic, but overall nobody seems to care about what’s happening. They don’t even seem that freaked out by the fact that if more people keep dying, they might be the next to go. Even when the killer is revealed, the main characters basically go, “huh, interesting,” and get to business of stopping them instead of having a realistic, emotional response to the betrayal and strong emotions they should experience. Especially at the end, the remaining characters are seemingly just fine, having a great time and not at all emotionally traumatized by the things they saw and had to survive. I get that characters can’t cry and scream the entire time because things have to happen, but some reaction is important! These characters must have been on some medication that made them numb to the entire world around them.
The killer’s motivations don’t completely make sense either, and I’m not sure how some of what they did was even possible. I didn’t understand why any character was doing anything, and the reason the best friends stopped being friends was ridiculous.
Seasick is melodramatic and unnecessarily angsty, and the number of murders and the characters border on absurd. But I still have to admit that I thought it was a quick, fun read when I wasn’t thinking about it. Seasick has a lot of problems, but if you’re looking for a campy YA thriller, this could be a good choice.
The pacing of the plot was good overall, keeping things interesting without slowing things down too much, even as backstories are revealed. The entries from the gossip website add intrigue, and there’s enough action to keep my interest.
However, some of the murders required a lot of suspension of disbelief, and the way the characters jump into a relationship as soon as a pretty hurtful situation was cleared up is a little unrealistic.
My biggest problem with it is the lack of realistic responses to what’s going on. All of these people are getting murdered left and right, and yet the main characters are pretty chill about it and trying to sort out their love lives. There are a few moments where the characters panic, but overall nobody seems to care about what’s happening. They don’t even seem that freaked out by the fact that if more people keep dying, they might be the next to go. Even when the killer is revealed, the main characters basically go, “huh, interesting,” and get to business of stopping them instead of having a realistic, emotional response to the betrayal and strong emotions they should experience. Especially at the end, the remaining characters are seemingly just fine, having a great time and not at all emotionally traumatized by the things they saw and had to survive. I get that characters can’t cry and scream the entire time because things have to happen, but some reaction is important! These characters must have been on some medication that made them numb to the entire world around them.
The killer’s motivations don’t completely make sense either, and I’m not sure how some of what they did was even possible. I didn’t understand why any character was doing anything, and the reason the best friends stopped being friends was ridiculous.
Seasick is melodramatic and unnecessarily angsty, and the number of murders and the characters border on absurd. But I still have to admit that I thought it was a quick, fun read when I wasn’t thinking about it. Seasick has a lot of problems, but if you’re looking for a campy YA thriller, this could be a good choice.
Puzzleheart by Jenn Reese
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Perigee’s dad hasn’t been himself for a while, so Perigee arranges for them to visit their dad’s childhood home and reunite with his estranged mother. The Eklunds Puzzle House sounds like a magical, mysterious place full of adventure and thrill, but the bed and breakfast had never opened. But after Pedigree’s grandpa disappeared, the house isn’t the fun and wonderful solutions to the family’s problems that Perigree had originally thought.
I admit that when I saw that the house was a POV character, my brain immediately went, “No. Absolutely not.” But I kept reading and… liked it. It occasionally gave me Disney Channel “Smart House” vibes, but having the house as a character worked to increase the tension and mystery. The house’s perspective also helped keep the plot on track when otherwise the narrative might have been bogged down or distracted with puzzle solving.
Puzzleheart doesn’t shy away from difficult emotions. Perigee’s dad is depressed, their grandmother is grieving and Perigree has a panic attack at one point. His friend Lily deals with fear of her mom not coming home from helping in emergencies. Perigee is trying to keep their dad from falling apart, Lily is wanting to make friends but doesn’t trust people after being mistreated, and the house feels both abandoned and willing to be aggressive to get what it wants.
The book has clear lessons, but they didn’t come across as preachy. Perigree, in trying to solve their dad’s depression, needs to learn that they can’t be responsible for someone else’s happiness. Puzzleheart does a good job showing how that is too much pressure for a child and how much of a weight it can be while acknowledging the adult in the situation didn’t realize it was happening.
Overall, this was a fun puzzle adventure with complicated but sweet relationship dynamics.
Adventures of Mary Jane by Hope Jahren
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Mary Jane Guild goes on an unpredictable, emotional journey down the Mississippi River where she puts her skills at mathematics and knowledge of diseases to work in pre-Civil War times. When her aunt writes to her mother indicating things aren’t well at home, Mary Jane is sent to be the help her aunt’s family. On the way, she encounters unfriendly and friendly characters who teach her about what life is life for a variety of people in the time.
I haven’t read The Adventures in Huckleberry Finn in many years, so I went into this with no expectations other than vague associations that had more to do with Tom Sawyer than anything to do with Mary Jane. After I finished Adventures of Mary Jane, I looked up some summaries just to catch up what I may have missed from the reading. Although my Mark Twain advanced knowledge was a sparse, Mary Jane’s story could stand on its own and still interprets a few of the events in Huck Finn’s story in interesting ways.
In a lot of ways, this book could function as an introductory guide to the kind of people you might find along the Mississippi River. About halfway through, I joked that I would eat my Kindle if Mary Jane *didn’t* encounter a Jewish person by the end of the book (she did) because it seemed like we were going through a checklist of people Mark Twain himself didn’t have high opinions of.
The characters she encounters are a mix of people — genuinely good, truly bad, Christian, slaves, native, abolitionists, ship captains, Mormons, Jews, criminals, lawmakers, swindlers… I can’t remember them all. They all paint a colorful tapestry of people and ideas. The author describes these with varying characteristics of good and bad. As a Mormon myself, I got immediately worried when a pastor and his wife started describing Mormon people. Knowing Mark Twain’s opinion of Mormons, I was a little worried about what the book would contain. In fact, I was surprisingly pleased to see her historically accurate and kind portrayal of a religious people who were misunderstood then (and now). From what I can tell, Jahren’s handling of all the people of the time was well-researched, often taken from diaries or otherwise based on real people, and fair, although part of me did feel like the author was, in a way, trying to apologize for Twain’s negative opinions of many of these people Mary Jane encounters.
My biggest problem with the book is I’m not entirely sure who it is for. Mary Jane comes across as somewhat naive at times and overly optimistic, like something of an Anne of Green Gables meets Pollyanna traveling along the Mississippi. No matter who she encounters or what she faces, she’s always looking for the good in people and handling things far better than many adults would. Her relentless charm makes it seem like the book is for younger readers, but at the same time, some dark events would make me hesitant to recommend this book with no reservations to a general audience. Some of the events were jarring in the face of the character’s attitude. The way some characters described slaves made me feel physically ill, and a sexual assault was described in some detail about what had occurred. The book seems too young for a lot of young adult readers, but too old for middle grade because of that content.
There’s a decent amount of wanting to be the hero of the day (or, in one case, white saviorism) that could feel a little glaring. I imagine it’s hard to write a book that deals with topics like slavery and address modern sensibilities, and Mary Jane came across as a little too young and naive in her approach to it. Between that and the different types of characters showcased, the book occasionally has a preachy aspect to it that some readers may not enjoy.
Overall, I highly enjoyed this adventure. None of the characters are perfect, and the plot is just like an adventure with twists and turns and a new person to meet around every corner. In spite of the variety of characters and topics, I felt swept up in the story with every page. The story is full of happiness and sadness, adventures and courage, and so much more. While the “preachiness” and somewhat aggressive good attitude of the main character may be difficult for some readers to get past, I found the book to be a well-researched adventure worth reading.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery
The Beanstalk Murder by P. G. Bell
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Anwen hasn’t ever seen a giant, so it’s more than a little surprising when a dead one falls out of the sky and into her village. Anwen and her grandmother are meadow witches, so it’s their job to find out what happened to the giant. They plant a magic beanstalk to send a message to the giants in the Sky Kingdom, but Anwen and her rival Cerys accidentally get stuck in the Sky Kingdom. Anwen is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to the murdered giant before it’s time to go home — or before there’s another murder.
I wish this book had been around when I was a kid. It’s everything I looked for in a book. An interesting mystery, a fairy tale setting that is somehow unique and not focused on royalty, and interesting characters? I would have gone rabid for it.
When I looked at the cover, I expected this book to read younger than it did. I was pleasantly surprised to find a surprisingly sophisticated fairy tale murder mystery. While it’s not Agatha Christie, it holds up well for the age of the audience and the setting of the story.
The main characters don’t get along, and I appreciate how their relationship evolves with having to work together while still not becoming the best friends. The more they learn about each other, the more they understand why the other is the way they are. I do wish there was more information on why they didn’t like each other in the first place, but their characterization and relationship changes are strong enough that the context is not crucial. Their relationship adds emotion and tension to the plot when it might otherwise feel a little slow.
The side characters aren't all as well developed, but they are interesting enough to
The murder mystery has a decent amount of suspects and questions, making it harder to guess than other similar mysteries in middle grade books. The plot is still relatively predictable, but there are enough surprises to keep readers guessing. The plot has slower sections, but not so slow that I lost interest while reading.
Overall, I thought this was a quick, young read that young mystery and fairy tale lovers are likely to enjoy.
I wish this book had been around when I was a kid. It’s everything I looked for in a book. An interesting mystery, a fairy tale setting that is somehow unique and not focused on royalty, and interesting characters? I would have gone rabid for it.
When I looked at the cover, I expected this book to read younger than it did. I was pleasantly surprised to find a surprisingly sophisticated fairy tale murder mystery. While it’s not Agatha Christie, it holds up well for the age of the audience and the setting of the story.
The main characters don’t get along, and I appreciate how their relationship evolves with having to work together while still not becoming the best friends. The more they learn about each other, the more they understand why the other is the way they are. I do wish there was more information on why they didn’t like each other in the first place, but their characterization and relationship changes are strong enough that the context is not crucial. Their relationship adds emotion and tension to the plot when it might otherwise feel a little slow.
The side characters aren't all as well developed, but they are interesting enough to
The murder mystery has a decent amount of suspects and questions, making it harder to guess than other similar mysteries in middle grade books. The plot is still relatively predictable, but there are enough surprises to keep readers guessing. The plot has slower sections, but not so slow that I lost interest while reading.
Overall, I thought this was a quick, young read that young mystery and fairy tale lovers are likely to enjoy.
Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
If you’re going to run a heist with a large payout, going against the Pope and the Medicis is the obvious target. The Medicis have been extorting money from the people of Tuscany for years, and the people in Florence remember a time before the family’s rule began. Rosa is a seventeen-year-old con artist who is determined to pull off the ultimate heist. She recruits Giacomo a master of disguise, Sarra a tinkerer, Khalid a fighter and Michelangelo the famous artist. With the background of the unrest in Florence, the small group tries to pull off the impossible.
While I wouldn’t consider this a particularly accurate work of historical fiction, the setting and historical details (accurate or not) make a vibrant backdrop for the book. The historical setting add interesting color to the world, even if a reader familiar with the historical time period may have to occasionally suspend disbelief. It might not have been accurate, but it had the right feeling.
The characters have some shining introductory moments but don’t shine as much beyond that. The two girl characters are very similar. They both have “I am a strong, sassy woman who doesn’t need gender roles.” I think Sarra and Rosa would have been more interesting as one character isn’t of having two characters being average. Unfortunately, there’s not that much beyond that. Giacomo was my favorite and seemed to have the most characterization. Khalid I felt like I never got to know.
Their backstories are all tragic, but they don’t do much to establish the characters and either feel like they come too late or take too much time. There wasn’t enough time to develop the characters as individuals, and by the time we get more character details, the plot seems to get in the way. We also get almost nothing about Michelangelo, and I was confused the whole time why he was bothering to help them at all. It would have been enough character development for a movie, but for a book, it never felt developed enough. The lack of character depth also took away from the found family aspect that I would have loved otherwise. Not having the motivations for why they wanted to do this particular heist for so long also made it harder to care about that plot.
The plot was exciting at some points but frustrating at others. It started slow, and sometimes, the way things were described was hard to follow. It’s unclear sometimes how the different characters are needed or how the plan was developed. Switching POV characters every chapter also made it difficult to follow the main threads of what was going on. The last part was especially difficult to follow, and I had to reread parts to understand how they did the heist in the end. Needing to backtrack to figure out what happened took away from the momentum a heist story should have.
I think this is the kind of book that would make an excellent movie but didn’t quite make the book medium work. However, it’s a fun, historical-themed heist that I don’t regret reading.
While I wouldn’t consider this a particularly accurate work of historical fiction, the setting and historical details (accurate or not) make a vibrant backdrop for the book. The historical setting add interesting color to the world, even if a reader familiar with the historical time period may have to occasionally suspend disbelief. It might not have been accurate, but it had the right feeling.
The characters have some shining introductory moments but don’t shine as much beyond that. The two girl characters are very similar. They both have “I am a strong, sassy woman who doesn’t need gender roles.” I think Sarra and Rosa would have been more interesting as one character isn’t of having two characters being average. Unfortunately, there’s not that much beyond that. Giacomo was my favorite and seemed to have the most characterization. Khalid I felt like I never got to know.
Their backstories are all tragic, but they don’t do much to establish the characters and either feel like they come too late or take too much time. There wasn’t enough time to develop the characters as individuals, and by the time we get more character details, the plot seems to get in the way. We also get almost nothing about Michelangelo, and I was confused the whole time why he was bothering to help them at all. It would have been enough character development for a movie, but for a book, it never felt developed enough. The lack of character depth also took away from the found family aspect that I would have loved otherwise. Not having the motivations for why they wanted to do this particular heist for so long also made it harder to care about that plot.
The plot was exciting at some points but frustrating at others. It started slow, and sometimes, the way things were described was hard to follow. It’s unclear sometimes how the different characters are needed or how the plan was developed. Switching POV characters every chapter also made it difficult to follow the main threads of what was going on. The last part was especially difficult to follow, and I had to reread parts to understand how they did the heist in the end. Needing to backtrack to figure out what happened took away from the momentum a heist story should have.
I think this is the kind of book that would make an excellent movie but didn’t quite make the book medium work. However, it’s a fun, historical-themed heist that I don’t regret reading.