The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

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Fantastic sequel to The Beautiful!

As the tale unfolds, the background story of each member of Bastien’s unique family is revealed. The mystery surrounding the Court of Lions unravels. Celine now works as a seamstress in a shop with Pippa and two other women. Odette is the benefactor of the shop but Celine has no other memories of Odette or anything surrounding Sebastian. Celine does keep having intense dreams about a man she doesn’t recognize and they make her wonder who he is. Pippa mentions the restaurant Jacques’ and Celine’s memories click a little, so she goes to the restaurant expecting answers, only to be turned away and even more confused. As Sebastian searches for a way to be unmade, he learns who Celine truly is and becomes part of the deal to return her to her heritage. Another secret reveals itself and brings the Brotherhood (werewolves) and the Fallen (vampires) to a chaotic frenzy. Fantastic sequel to The Beautiful! 5 stars!

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

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Wonderful character building!

Hanneke lives in Holland with her mother and father. She’s a young woman who has lost her boyfriend in the war, who works as the undertaker’s receptionist and also helps the undertaker with black market dealings. Her jobs support her family. On one of her deliveries, an elderly woman confides in Hanneke that she’d been hiding a Jewish teenage girl, in her home, in a secret compartment behind her pantry. The girl is missing and there’s no evidence of how she left the house. The woman pleads for Hanneke to help her find the teenage girl, Mirjam. Hanneke reluctantly agrees to help so she starts searching for any information she can find on Mirjam. As she’s searching, she inadvertently ends up at a resistance group meeting and becomes accidentally involved in a delivery of a Jewish baby, to an adoptive family, after the baby’s family had been detained by the Nazis. Hanneke learns about all of the ways that young adults around her have been helping with the resistance and she sees how selfish she was by keeping to herself and not becoming involved but that changes during her search for Mirjam. The young adults work together to find Mirjam and help everyone they can in this inspiring story of young heroism and perseverance. A wonderful character building historical fiction book, 4 stars!

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

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African mythology, culture and history!

Simi has been a mermaid, a Mami Wata, for only a short time but she’s starting to lose her human memories. When she goes on land and transforms into a human, she grasps at memories of her family and holds onto them tightly so she won’t forget once she’s a mermaid again. Her duty is to help souls move on after death and she thinks she’s helping a young man who has just been thrown overboard from a slave trader ship. She assumes he’s dead and she’s ready to perform her task when his eyes open. He is chained and manacled and injured. He loses consciousness and she carries him over her shoulder as she swims to an island. His name is Kola and together they call on the creator of mermaids for help in getting him home. Kola and Simi go through a roller coaster of experiences together to get him home, save his siblings and help the mermaid creator. Simi isn’t supposed to develop feelings or attachments to any human but she grows to care for Kola. They meet the messenger to the gods, Esu, and discover the horrible trickster that he is. Tidbits similar to The Little Mermaid story but with the added African mythology, culture and history! 4 stars!

Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson

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Perseverance and Strength Shine Through Sachiko’s Story!

This nonfiction book takes us back in time to show us what life was like for Sachiko and other Japanese families during World War II. The historical facts include racism in America, Japan and Germany, information on Japanese Internment Camps, the treatment of prisoners of war by Japan’s soldiers, the reason for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan. I could only read this in bits because of the horrific results of the bombs on the citizens. Sachiko was at the site of the Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion and her family died one by one because of the short term and long term effects of the bombing. After Japan’s surrender, American soldiers became a large presence in the Japanese communities. I learned quite a lot from this book that’s just a little over one hundred pages; the stifling of information concerning the atomic bombs, propaganda after WWII, the research coalition set up to gather information about but not help the bomb survivors and the statistics of long lasting radiation sickness. Perseverance and strength shine through Sachiko’s story and I’m grateful to have read this inspiring book that teaches us to strive for peace. 5 stars!

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

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Intrigue, mystery, and adventure!

Catherine loves to bake and wants to be a professional baker but her parents think that baking is servants’ work and they want her to marry the king, even if it’s against her wishes. The king seems very interested in Catherine’s baking and possibly for marriage with her. She’s not remotely interested. Jest, the new joker, fascinates Cath and the two of them develop a relationship. The Jabberwock continues to terrify and attack the people and Cath tells the king that he should be doing something about it. The king happens to be more interested in parties and happy thoughts than the safety of the kingdom. This fairytale retelling is full of intrigue, mystery and adventure as we learn the story of the Queen of Hearts from Wonderland. Enjoyable, suspenseful and heartbreaking, 5 stars!

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

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Tumultuous, action-packed, heart wrenching and beautiful series finale, 5 stars!

The fourth and final book of Ember in the Ashes series!
Laia stays allied to the Shrike and their goal is to get Musa’s ex fiancée’s (Princess Nikla) help against Keris, the Commandant. Elias stands between the jinn and the Augur Cain and learns the truth of the Augurs and what they did a thousand years ago. Keris’ story keeps getting hinted about in order to bring her down. Laia’s traveling to talk to the tribal storytellers for information and tries her best to break through to Elias. More battles take place and Helene fights to keep her feelings for Harper low on her list of priorities. This series seems to have an endless amount of surprises which keeps me on my toes! Tumultuous, action-packed, heart wrenching and beautiful series finale, 5 stars! This is a wonderful series and I would read it again!

Steelstriker by Marie Lu

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The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier!

The story opens six months after Skyhunter ends. Talin has been transformed into a Skyhunter for the Premier and Red is in the woods with some Strikers, doing what they can to fight the Federation. Talin and Red haven’t sensed much of each other but they are both missing their connection and they each keep trying to reach out to the other one. While sleeping, Talin sees through Red’s eyes what the rebels are planning. The premier sees everything through their connection and is able to sabotage them. Jeran and Red escape but the rest of the group gets captured. Talin is sick with worry and tries her best to subdue the connection with the Premier, even trying to survive without sleep. The premier forces the captured Strikers to compete in a game against Ghosts. They’re trapped in a maze made up of metal sliding walls. Only two of the four survive. The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier. Intrigue, brutality, torture and the horrific making of ghosts kept the story hopping until the very end, 4 stars!

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

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A fun, clean romance!

The story opens as the main character, Prudence, awaits her class partner for their group project presentation. Quint shows up late and acts nonchalant. She believes that she’s done all of the work but the teacher gives her the lower grade because she struggles with teamwork. She’s allowed an extra credit assignment and grade if she’ll do more research on the topic and demonstrate her ability for teamwork. She volunteers at Quint’s family owned sea animal rescue center for her research. During summer break, Prudence expands her horizons and broadens her perspective. She also helps catch an embezzler. A clean read with some unexpected happenings, 4 stars!

*I also listened to the audiobook which was fun to listen to!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Food for thought!

Nora feels like her life is pointless and that she’s useless. She overdoses and ends up at the Midnight Library, an in-between place where she looks at her large book of regrets and chooses different lives to try out, all from choices she makes differently in her past. As soon as she feels disappointed in each life, she’s brought back to the Midnight Library to choose a different path. A fascinating read that gave me much to ponder.

Quote- “You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.”

  • Matt Haig, The Midnight Library
  • character quote by Mrs Elm

Food for thought, 5 stars!

Pony by R.J. Palacio

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A western adventure full of action and mystery!

Pony tells the story of a young boy who takes refuge in a tree during a violent storm and when the tree is struck by lightning, receives a burn on his back in the shape of that same tree. The burn heals into a very unique scar. His father revives the boy by using a fireplace bellows. This man is interested in photography but turned to boot making to support his family but the lightning incident stokes his love of art and photos. The young boy, Silas, was born the same day his mother died. So, Silas and his father are without her. Pa is kindhearted and loving and cares deeply about Silas. One night, three riders with pistols drawn, arrive at their home demanding that Pa and Silas go with them. They won’t say why other than their boss wants Pa to work for a week and then he’ll let him return to his home. The riders brought an extra horse and a white-faced pony with them so Pa and Silas could ride along. Pa makes Silas stay behind. The pony shows up soon after the riders leave with Pa. Silas is worried that Pa has been hurt so he rides Pony (Silas’ name for the small horse) and goes after Pa’s trail. He finds so much more than he expected and meets several different allies along the way. Pony is a western adventure full of action and mystery, told with a continuous sense of awe; I loved reading it, 5 stars!