Publisher: Aladdin

A Bite Above the Rest by Christine Virnig: Review & Virnig’s Top Ten Addictions

Today I’m featuring A BITE ABOVE THE REST by Christine Virnig, a fun middle grade supernatural read set in a town that celebrates Halloween year-round. Read on for my review of the book, and then make sure you also check out the author’s list of top ten addictions to find out more about her! Buy from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org Imagine moving to a town where people dress in Halloween costumes all year long. It […]

Posted August 8, 2024 in Author Top Ten Lists, Reviews / 0 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Courtesy of Cupid, The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, Falling Short, and Dungeons and Drama

Today, I’m reviewing three MG novels a YA romance. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Courtesy of Cupid is one of the first true middle grade romances I can remember reading (where the romance is the primary focus of the book). In fact, it reads a lot like a YA romance, except that the relationship doesn’t make it all the way to kissing by the end of the […]

Posted February 5, 2024 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Between Monsters and Marvels, The Swifts, A Work in Progress, and The Land of Broken Promises.

Today, I’m reviewing three YA reads and two MGs. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! A unique middle grade fantasy with a big dose of mystery! When Dare’s father is killed, everyone says it’s a random stranger, but she doesn’t believe it. She’s sure that a monster killed him, even though monsters were supposedly eliminated completely. Dare is sent away from home, but she doesn’t stop searching for […]

Posted September 18, 2023 in Reviews / 2 Comments

Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms by Ryan Calejo: Review & Giveaway

Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms is the third installment in the series, and it continues the humor, adventure, and heart of the first two books. When a calaca (a Mexican skeleton of sorts) shows up at Charlie’s school and begs him for help, he can’t refuse. And of course, his incredibly intelligent and inquisitive longtime crush Violet is ready to put her sleuthing skills to the test and jumps right in to […]

Posted September 30, 2022 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 4 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

Bite-Sized Reviews of Violets Are Blue, Rewritten, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Closer to Nowhere

Today, I have a MG contemp, a MG contemporary fantasy, a YA dystopian, and a MG contemporary in verse. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Violets Are Blue is an incredibly realistic middle-grade depiction of a child dealing with a recent divorce and a mother’s downward spiral into depression and addiction. I think what I loved most about this book is how believable Wren’s thoughts and feelings are. […]

Posted November 4, 2021 in Reviews / 14 Comments

Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman: Review & Giveaway

Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD For any kid just beginning to understand the ways the world can let you down and how we can lift ourselves and others up against adversity. Frankie & Bug is set in Venice Beach in 1987, at a time when prejudices and outright hostility against LGBT people and people of color were commonplace (I suppose the same could still be said today, but I do think we’ve made progress). […]

Posted October 2, 2021 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 2 Comments

Squirrel Do Bad by Stephan Pastis: Review & Giveaway

Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD This fun graphic novel is zany and kooky and never takes itself too seriously. The story follows Wendy who takes advantage of her overprotective father’s absence to see a bit of the world (well, her town). Along the way, she gives a squirrel a sugary drink and he ends up going on a rampage of sorts and destroying the town. Wendy must find a way to put things back together before […]

Posted September 7, 2021 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 2 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of XOXO, The House in the Cerulean Sea, Greta’s Story, and The Beast Player

Today, I have a YA contemp, a MG (YA? Adult?) contemporary fantasy, a MG biography, and a YA fantasy! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This is the type of book that makes you so happy you don’t want to put the book down. I happily read it in two sittings. The story follows Jenny, who has always been focused on her music and getting into an elite […]

Posted August 12, 2021 in Reviews / 8 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Chance to Fly; You Should See Me In a Crown; Salty, Bitter, Sweet; The Memory Keeper; and The Stars of Whistling Ridge

Today I’ve got some bite-sized reviews of some of my recent reads: Two MG contemps, a MG contemporary fantasy, and two YA contemps. I hope these bite-sized reviews are enough to feed your fiction addiction! An utterly empowering book for anyone with a disability, The Chance to Fly follows Nat, a young girl with a spectacular singing voice who has always wanted her chance to shine in the spotlight. The only problem? She’s in a wheelchair, […]

Posted April 14, 2021 in Reviews / 4 Comments