raethereviewer's reviews
861 reviews


I’m officially hooked on Beverly Jenkins! I absolutely loved every bit of this. The romance was amazing and so was the writing. I love how there is a lot of historical context melded into the story. It’s also clear that Beverly Jenkins has built a whole universe of interconnected romances and now I want to follow all of these couples.

I enjoyed this a lot. This novella does a great job of showing how oral storytelling is maleable and each story told changes depending on perspective. The high stakes of this made it very engaging. It was such a great story!
emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

I’ve been a fan of Jen Wang’s work for several years now and got sent a finished copy of Ash’s Cabin a couple months ahead of release. I absolutely love Ash’s character development throughout the story and the illustrations are magnificent. This is the kind of book that I think would resonate heavily with many teens today. It shows how hard life can be when the people closest to you don’t seem to understand you, at all. The lessons that Ash learns along the way, both on survival and human connection, were told in such an engaging way that I couldn’t put this one down. I’d recommend this to teen readers, especially 9th and 10th grade.

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I finished this book in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. It’s 2 am and all I can think about is Rhine’s pining.

I’m generally very light on my reviews of middle grade but this novel has so many problems that the only reason I finished it was because I wanted to give a true and thorough review. The whole plot of this hinges on the fact that Alice’s parents believe in “unschooling,” a practice that has been around in concept since the 70s but in recent years has gained popularity among some parents dissatisfied with public schooling. I’m sure many people adhering to it have good intentions but there is a growing sect of far-right, “parents rights” advocates who are part of this “unschooling” practice and much of it ends up being educational neglect for their children. It’s one of those things that sounds so “radical” and “goes against the status quo” but in practice, kids often aren’t learning what they should be for their grade level, often falling behind significantly.

Another issue I have is the lack of depth in the family relationships. Her parents are described through quirky attributes and we see a lot of the personality aspects that Alice has inherited from them but there is so little conflict between her and her parents, despite the truly outrageous things she gets into. On the other end, this could’ve been one of those stories of a child who is being neglected and searches for knowledge to fill that lonely space (think something like Matilda) but her parents are presented as loving and happy in the few moments that they’re actually present in the story.

I don’t even want to go in too much on the university campus setting. I think it could’ve worked so much better if Alice was a student at an adjoining private school that could be part of the university, something many universities have for kids of faculty and those in the local community. 

The ghost element was interesting but the pacing wasn’t great. So much of this story dragged and when things finally started moving and happening, it was basically the end of the novel. So much of this felt disjointed. I don’t think I’d recommend this to students because they probably would be too bored to finish it.
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes

This is one of those stories that throws you in without worrying about exposition or if you understand what’s going on, and I quite like that. It’s very immersive in the storytelling. We get a good understanding of this empress and what she went through without much focus on the two characters that have come to gather these stories. I originally thought it’d be similar to The Monk and the Robot series since I’ve seen it compared to that for the cozy, short aspect and though I think it’s great for fans of that duology, this is VERY different. There is an unlikely friendship that forms but that unlikely element comes from class differences. This story deals with women’s roles in society and how even the most prestigious are “disposable” to powerful men. I’m planning on continuing the series to see what more comes of this world.
adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

I’ve seen a lot of people talking about Swim Team and though I loved that graphic novel, I think it’s important not to compare the two. This story doesn’t delve heavily into history or “bigger picture” issues. This one is more about interpersonal conflicts, parents not understanding what’s important to their kids, and learning to accept change. It touches on bullying and healthy ways of coping with anger. I think this story would be great for upper elementary, mainly 4th to 6th.

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I ended up enjoying this even more than the first book. It was great seeing more of Dex and Mosscap. They way they interacted with one another was so sweet. I love the philosophical bits that were thrown in every so often. I listened to this during car rides and it made driving a lot more enjoyable.

I’m such a sucker for Freaky Friday-esque body swaps and this was such a fun take on it. I love the focus on sisterhood in this story. Each of the girls have pros and cons to their place in the birth order but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn something from one another. Similar to the first book, I’d recommend this for upper elementary.

This was really cute and great for a classroom library. The focus on forming genuine friendships was explored really well and I like the family element of Becca being a child of divorce. I’d recommend it to 3rd grade and up.