Genre: Historical Fiction

(Tiny) Bite-Sized Reviews of Turn the Tide, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, When Winter Robeson Came, and The Scorpio Races

Today, I’m reviewing a few books I read just for fun. I don’t think I’d get around to writing a true review (even a bite-sized one) for any of these, but I want to give them a mention, since they deserve it. So instead I’m writing “tiny bite” reviews—I hope these will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Turn the Tide is an inspiring verse novel that will help kids think about the environment and […]

Posted August 17, 2022 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Bloody Fool for Love, Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Bravely, Aru Shah and the End of Time: the Graphic Novel, & Ultimate Book of the Future

Today, I’m reviewing two YA historical fantasies, a MG fantasy, a MG fantasy graphic novel, and a MG historical verse novel! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Bloody Fool for Love is a historical fantasy prequel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer that focuses on Spike, the vampire we all know and love! Spike has always been my favorite character from the Buffy franchise, so I’m pretty much automatically […]

Posted August 9, 2022 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Ballad & Dagger, Spineless, Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, and Mina

Today, I’m reviewing a YA contemporary fantasy, a MG historical fiction, a MG fantasy, and a picture book! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Ballad & Dagger lends a fantastical twist to the immigrant experience. It’s set in Brooklyn, but in a diaspora community from a fictional island that sank into the sea. The island’s population was a blend of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews, and it […]

Posted July 13, 2022 in Reviews / 6 Comments

The War on All Fronts by Kim Oclon: Review, Giveaway & Author AND Character Top Ten Addictions

Today I’m featuring THE WAR ON ALL FRONTS, an LGBTQ YA historical that takes place during the Vietnam War. Check out my review, along with Kim’s list of top ten addictions, bonus lists of the two MCs’ top ten addictions, and a giveaway of the book! This YA LGBT historical fiction novel highlights the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the personal turmoil of living in a world that can’t accept you for who […]

Posted May 24, 2022 in Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 7 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Ogress and the Orphans, The Button Box, Home Is Not a Country, and El Cucuy Is Scared, Too!

Today, I’m reviewing two MG fantasies (one historical), a YA verse novel, and a picture book! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! With its distinctly fairy-tale feel, The Ogress and the Orphans tells a story of misconceptions and misunderstanding and the way we can sometimes judge each other without thiking and without evidence. The ogress has spent years trying to bring joy to the townspeople by leaving them […]

Posted April 15, 2022 in Reviews / 5 Comments

YA Reads for Black History Month (and Beyond!): Daughters of Jubilation and Ain’t Burned All the Bright

Today, I’m focusing on YA books with Black protagonists for Black History Month, but these books are great reads any time! In addition to those two reviews, scroll down to see one other book recommendation as well. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction. Daughters of Jubilation is a story of power and the ways it can be wielded for both good and evil. Having grown up in the […]

Posted February 23, 2022 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Instant Karma, Inkling, and Kingdom of Secrets

Today, I’m reviewing an adult contemporary/historical fantasy (Surprise! I don’t review adult books here on the blog often), a YA and a MG contemporary fantasy, and a MG steampunk fantasy. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! I know I don’t review many adult books here on the blog anymore, but I couldn’t resist mentioning this one. And since so many of my YA blogger friends read V.E. Schwab, […]

Posted February 11, 2022 in Reviews / 8 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Across the Desert, Our Violent Ends, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, and How to Be Ace

Today, I have a MG contemporary, a YA historical fantasy, a MG historical, and a YA graphic novel memoir. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Across the Desert is a captivating survival story about not giving up on someone who needs you. Jolene feels helpless in her home life—ever since a serious accident, she constantly skates the boundaries of a panic attack while her mom grows more and […]

Posted January 22, 2022 in Reviews / 9 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Recipe for Disaster, What About Will, The Magical Imperfect, My Magic Wand, and Delicious!

Even though the Cybils finalists have already been announced, I still want to review the remaining books I read as a judge for the Poetry category. (I’ll have one more post after this one.) I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Recipe for Disaster is actually a mostly-prose novel with some poetry and recipes mixed in (often the poems are also in the form of recipes). The result meant […]

Posted January 12, 2022 in Cybils, Reviews / 5 Comments

Cybils Poetry Finalists! And Bite-Sized Reviews of Everywhere Blue, Snow Birds, You Don’t Have to Be Everything, and Call Me Athena

As my regular readers know, I was a round-one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Poetry category. Well, the finalists have been announced, so I thought I’d share them! You can check out the lists of finalists for the other categories on the Cybils website. Since I hadn’t yet reviewed four of the finalists on the blog, I thought I’d feature those reviews for you now. (I’ve already posted reviews of Me(Moth), Starfish, and […]

Posted January 7, 2022 in Cybils, Reviews / 8 Comments