popthebutterfly's reviews
2449 reviews

The Garden of Second Chances: A Novel by Mona Alvarado Frazier

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
Disclaimer: I received this arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: A Garden of Second Chances 

 

Author: Mona Alvarado Frazier 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Diversity: Mexican Indigenous MC, Black Mexican character, Latina Bisexual character, BIPOC characters 

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, criminal justice, immigration 

 

Publication Date: June 6, 2023 

 

Genre: YA Contemporary 

 

Age Relevance: 15+ (language, slight gore, alcohol consumption, gang violence, violence, rape mentioned, pregnancy mentioned, racism, death, infanticide mentioned, suicide shown, domestic violence, abuse of power, Christianity) 

 

Explanation of Above: There is some language in this book. There is some slight gore, violence, gang violence, domestic violence, infanticide, and death shown and discussed. Alcohol consumption is mentioned. Rape and pregnancy are mentioned. There are scenes of racism throughout the book. Suicide is shown and mentioned in this book. There are scenes of the juvenile detention center guards abusing their power. There are mentions of the Christian religion. 

 

Publisher:  SparkPress 

 

Pages: 376 

 

Synopsis: She didn’t run because she killed him, she ran because she didn’t. But no one believes Juana, an undocumented seventeen-year-old incarcerated for her husband’s death. Amid the chaos of prison and her grief, she creates a garden in the yard. A safe space. A place where she gains strength to take on the system before she loses her child. 

Juana, a seventeen-year-old mother, is sentenced to prison for murdering her husband. She claims she’s innocent—but no one believes her, including the prison staff and a gang leader in her block who torments her. 

Juana’s troubles aren’t confined to prison, however—she’s undocumented, and her husband’s bereaved family is now threatening to take her baby from her forever. Feeling hemmed in on all sides and desperate to stay out of trouble, Juana creates her own refuge in the prison yard: a garden she created. As she digs in the soil, nurturing the plants, she remembers her courageous, long-deceased mother, who she knows would never give in or give up. Juana’s only hope for saving herself and her baby is to prove her innocence—but how? 

 

Review: This book was so amazing to me. I absolutely loved reading every word of this book and the book definitely was something right up my alley because of my background in the criminal justice field. I loved seeing a POV of someone who was in a juvenile detention center and I think that YA could use more POVs of this, not to scare kids because this book wasn’t about someone who deserved punishment but to help kids see themselves more in books, especially if they have been victims of the corrupt prison system. The book made several excellent points about the system and its failures. The book  also made several good points about finding strength and inspiration to get out of heinous situations like this one. I loved how well written the book was and how moving every word and page was. I thought that the world building was also excellent. This has truly been one of my favorite all-time reads. 

 

The only thing I’d ever deduct from the book is that the book kind of leaves you hanging on what happens after the ending. I’d love a second book to that and I’d love to see what happened with the other girls in the detention center. I also wanted to see more POVs in the story, just based on my background and having seen so many different stories come out of juvenile court, but what I got was very perfect. 

 

Verdict: I absolutely loved it and I highly recommend this book for study and personal reading. 

Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson

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dark funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
Disclaimer: I purchased this book from my local bookstore. Support your Indie Bookstores! 

 

Book: Landscape with Invisible Hand 

 

Author: M.T. Anderson 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Diversity: MC with a chronic illness (mentions a name, but it didn’t look like it was an actual name when I googled it? But if I’m wrong please correct me) 

 

Recommended For...: 

 

Publication Date: September 12, 2017 

 

Genre: YA Dystopian Sci-Fi 

 

Age Relevance: suicide mentioned, slight romance, bullying, slight language 

 

Explanation of Above: There are a couple of mentions of suicide and scenes of bullying. The romance is slight and there is some slight cursing in the book. 

 

Publisher: Candlewick Press 

 

Pages: 149 

 

Synopsis: When the vuvv first landed, it came as a surprise to aspiring artist Adam and the rest of planet Earth - but not necessarily an unwelcome one. Can it really be called an invasion when the vuvv generously offered free advanced technology and cures for every illness imaginable? As it turns out, yes. With his parents' jobs replaced by alien tech and no money for food, clean water, or the vuvv's miraculous medicine, Adam and his girlfriend, Chloe, have to get creative to survive. And since the vuvv crave anything they deem "classic" Earth culture (doo-wop music, still-life paintings of fruit, true love), recording 1950s-style dates for the vuvv to watch in a pay-per-minute format seems like a brilliant idea. But it's hard for Adam and Chloe to sell true love when they hate each other more with every passing episode. Soon enough, Adam must decide how far he's willing to go - and what he's willing to sacrifice - to give the vuvv what they want. 

 

Review: I think this is my new favorite dystopian read! I loved that the book wasn’t scary in like a horror sense, but when you think about it it’s absolutely terrifying. The main focal point of the book is our MC and his family as they try to get money to survive in an economy run by aliens who don’t understand Earth economics. The hellish Earth left after they’ve assumed power is startlingly worse than the current predicament we’re in and in the end the “solution” was very bleak but freeing. I didn’t really expect this to be the book I got when I started reading it because I only had seen the movie trailer prior to picking up this read, but the book I got was so much better than I thought it would have ever been and I only hope the movie does it justice. The book also took me awhile to get through, while short, because it left me with a lot of things to ponder about the world as the author clearly intended this to be commentary on modern day politics. I also loved that the MC was a chronic illness rep, as you normally don’t see that in dystopian reads. I loved this book. I would love anything set in this world. 

 

The only issue I had with the book is that the pacing is quick as the book is quite short. I would have loved to see more character development from some of the side characters, but otherwise I loved the read. 

 

Verdict: I highly recommend this one. 

House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 
Disclaimer: I received this book from the library. Support your local library! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: House of Many Gods 

 

Author: Kiana Davenport 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 3/5 

 

Diversity: Hawaiian MC and characters, Jewish characters 

 

Recommended For...: historical fiction readers 

 

Publication Date: June 26, 2007 

 

Genre: Historical Fiction 

 

Age Relevance: Animal violence, gun violence, drugs, language, abuse, and religion mentioned. 

 

Explanation of Above: While I had to DNF the read, for what I did read I noticed that there were some animal violence, drugs, and gun violence in the book. There is some cursing and abuse. The Christian religion and the Jewish religion are also mentioned. 

 

Publisher: Ballantine Books 

 

Pages: 352 

 

Synopsis: From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands. 

 

Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific. 

 

As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai’s story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai’anae coast to the glittering harshness of “new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love. 

 

Review: I had to regrettably DNF this book at 50 pages. While the book has such beautiful writing, I was just not able to process it all. The book was a confusing for me and there were so many characters to keep up with. The book also had a back and forth timeline that made the read a bit more confusing and in the end, it was me not the book. 

 

Verdict: The book wasn’t for me, but it might be for you! 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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4.0

Offred is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, which was once a part of America. As a handmaid, her job consists of going outside once a day to shop for food for the home of her Commander, his wife, and the two Marthas, who are the women who clean and cook for the Commander and his wife. When she does this chore she must wait for another handmaid as they are only allowed to walk in groups of two, and they walk to town where the signs are pictures now instead of words. Women are no longer allowed to read. Offred and her handmaid companions pay for their food by way of tokens, because money is no longer valid in Gilead and women are no longer allowed to have money or make money of their own.

As Offred and her walking companion go home they walk by The Wall, a place were they see the dead bodies of religious priests, people caught engaging in love affairs, and dissents. When Offred returns home she rests until the next days journey to town. Offred and the other handmaids are not allowed to drink, smoke, consume caffeine, or engage in excessive extracurricular activities, because it is thought those would effect their health. They are also not allowed to commit suicide and so their rooms have no glass in them or anything that could be turned into a blade. Baths and toliet times are also regulated.

The handmaids are to undergo health screenings once a month to see if they are pregnant and to make sure they are healthy. The doctors sometimes make offers of sex to the women out of pity. Why? Because the handmaids have an important function in Gilead. They are the fertile few who will help reverse the declining birth rates that effect Gilead. They are to participate in a ceremony each month in which the handmaids lie on their backs between the legs of their Commander's wife while the Commander tries to impregnate his handmaid. This is the reason the handmaids are highly valued, they have viable ovaries and are Gilead's only hope for children. If a handmaid gets pregnant and gives birth, there is a chance the child could be deformed or imperfect. This happens fairly often. If a handmaid is able to give birth they will never risk being sent to The Colonies, a place where people are either forced to clear away the radioactive waste or forced to farm for Gilead.

Offred remembers the time before when she went to college and had a job. She made money on her own, had unlimited access to knowledge and was allowed to smoke, drink, and consume caffeine. She remembers her husband, Luke, and their daughter. She remembers making love with Luke and giving her daughter baths. She especially remembers the day her daughter was taken from her and Luke disappeared. The life she had before is gone now and all she is left with are the memories.

The book, especially at the beginning, mainly focuses on Offred's thoughts and memories. At times it is hard to discern between what is present and what is past. It is also hard to tell what is true and what is made up in her mind, as at times she admits she doesn't remember what happened and what she made up in her mind. As discovered in the end, Offred used fake names throughout the book and didn't speak her own name. The book is presented as a memoir and in the end you leave the book not knowing much more than what you knew going into the book. Offred is a vague, unreliable protagonist and is very scattered at times in her writing.

I loved how Offred presented her story as a back and forth narrative between the present and the past and her hope for the future, but I had issues as her as a protagonist. She did something that not a lot of protagonists in modern books do: she gave up. She didn't fight back or try to escape. She accepted her position and only mildly disobeyed, and even that disobedience was at the insistence of the Commander and/or his wife. The book was also depressing and offered little hope for a good outcome, as I believe Offred died at the end of the novel. This book would definitely not be something I would recommend reading in one sitting. I tried and ended up so depressed I had to stop reading.

Besides those issues, I wholeheartedly believe this book is something that needs to be read, especially in today's time. No matter your views on the future of America, the important aspect of this book is what could happen if people's rights were taken away, something that could happen at any moment either today or 100 years in the future. It's important to read books like these in order to be remembered that our rights can be taken away as easily as they were given to us and that's something all people should be weary of.