Genre: Historical Fiction

National Poetry Month Feature: Reviews of Your Heart My Sky & Turtle Under Ice

Since April is National Poetry Month, I thought I’d feature reviews of a couple of recent YA verse novels. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Your Heart My Sky highlights a time in Cuba’s history that many people don’t know about: “The special period in times of peace.” Sounds wonderful, right? Well, I suppose that’s how the government wanted people to see it, but many people in Cuba […]

Posted April 17, 2021 in Reviews / 3 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: The Sisters of Straygarden Place, Rival Magic, Quintessence, Horace Fox in the City, and The Clockwork Crow

As my regular readers know, I’m a round one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. Because of that, I’ve been reading LOTS of books lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will […]

Posted December 11, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 7 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of My Life in the Fish Tank; Girl, Serpent, Thorn; Flamer; and Graceling

I’ve got four reviews for you today: two YA fantasies, a MG contemporary, and a YA historical graphic novel. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! A compelling story about grief and mental health, My Life in the Fish Tank examines how secrecy and shame can be the root of pain. When Zinnia’s brother is in an accident, her whole life changes, not because he’s hurt but because […]

Posted September 8, 2020 in Reviews / 11 Comments

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed: Blog Tour Review

Amazon, B&N One thing you need to know going into this book is that it’s more of a slice of life book than a story about the Rodney King protests. Everything that happened in Los Angeles during that time informed how Ashley felt and responded to the world around her, but don’t expect much of the plot to revolve directly around that. Most of the story is just about her typical high school life—relationships with […]

Posted August 15, 2020 in Black History Month, Reviews / 11 Comments

Cub by Cindy Copeland: Graphic Novel Review

I’m guessing this graphic novel will be a big hit with middle graders! It’s perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier’s books because it’s very similar to her books in style (and some of the themes). I especially loved that Copeland included empowering messages about young girls without hitting us over the head with them. She shows the ways that she was treated unequally without having a graphic novel that constantly decries those injustices. For instance, there was […]

Posted January 9, 2020 in Reviews / 14 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Lady Rogue, The Silence Between Us, The Kingdom, and Sorry for Your Loss

I’ve got four reviews for you today: a YA historical fantasy, a YA sci fi, and two YA contemps. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! If you’re a fan of historical fiction with a gothic feel and a paranormal twist, this book will make your heart happy. The story follows Theodora as she travels across 1930’s Romania with her ex (who she has no closure with) in order to […]

Posted August 23, 2019 in Reviews / 20 Comments

Cape by Kate Hannigan: A High-Flying Historical Adventure!

This book is such a fun mixture of genres and formats: a historical fiction superhero novel with graphic novel elements! Right there, I was sold. This book will appeal to such a wide variety of kids, and I think it will get many of them reading about an era that they wouldn’t otherwise have thought they’d be interested in. The book is set in the US during WWII, and it highlights the real-life women (and […]

Posted August 6, 2019 in Reviews / 14 Comments

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos: Review & Giveaway

Planet Earth Is Blue is a heartwrenching portrayal of a little girl who can’t tell the world who she truly is. The book is set in the 80s and starts ten days before the fateful launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The story centers around Nova, a non-verbal autistic girl. She struggles to show the world that she is more than they think she is—that though she can’t speak well, she is intelligent and curious. It’s a […]

Posted May 10, 2019 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 18 Comments

Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton: Review & Giveaway

One woman’s choices in life follow her into the afterlife … and she can’t escape the consequences without unraveling the truth of her past. What Fed My Addiction: Creepy and atmospheric. The book takes place Under, which is a creepy afterlife that’s literally under the graveyard. All of the characters show signs of their deaths–often quite gruesome–and the world is made of dirt and devoid of light (aside from light from torches). Sutton does a […]

Posted April 12, 2019 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 18 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Slayer, Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc, Mera: Tidebreaker, and You’d Be Mine

I’ve got four reviews for you today: a YA urban fantasy, a YA historical in verse, a MG graphic novel and a YA contemporary. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! I honestly just want to randomly gush about this book because it’s a new installment in the Buffy-verse and it lives up to the brand!! I was both delighted and terrified to read this book. Buffy the Vampire Slayer […]

Posted April 5, 2019 in Reviews / 18 Comments