Source: The Publisher

May 31
No Place Like Here by Christina June: Review & Giveaway

No Place Like Here by Christina June: Review & Giveaway

Current Giveaways, Reviews 24 ★★★★

Ashlyn has lived her life trying to measure up to her father’s expectations, but it’s always been a losing battle. So, even when he ends up in prison for tax evasion, he somehow still has a hold over her that she can’t quite break. She’s shipped off to work at a wilderness camp with her cousin—something she never would have chosen for herself—and she spends the summer wishing she could just go back home again. But the camp teaches her a few things about how capable she truly is, and she starts to realize that if she wants change, she’ll have to learn to speak up—as terrifying as that is for her. I felt for Ashlyn, and I could relate to her inability to speak up and her desperate need to avoid conflict. And I think almost any teen will understand Ashlyn’s sense of powerlessness in a situation that feels… Read more »

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Mar 09
Bite-Sized Reviews of The Revenge of Magic, Hey, Kiddo, and Born a Crime

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Revenge of Magic, Hey, Kiddo, and Born a Crime

Reviews 24

I’ve got three reviews for you today: a Middle Grade fantasy, a MG/YA graphic novel, and a YA memoir audiobook. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This book is filled with action and adventure right from the very start, and I flew through it! The story follows Fort, who witnesses his father’s death when a giant claw reaches up through the ground and pulls him under. When he’s offered the chance to learn magic and get revenge on those responsible, he jumps at it. But he soon discovers that things aren’t as simple as they seem and there are lots of people at his new school hoping he’ll fail. And, of course, that makes us root for him even harder, knowing that his teachers have put him up against practically impossible odds. Throughout the story, we get clues about the mysterious voice in… Read more »

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Mar 06
Bite-Sized Reviews of Song for a Whale, A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean, The Color of Lies, and The Lunar Chronicles

Bite-Sized Reviews of Song for a Whale, A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean, The Color of Lies, and The Lunar Chronicles

Reviews 18

I’ve got four reviews for you today: two Middle Grades, a YA, and a YA series . I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This is one of those books that takes you into the heart and mind of a character whose experiences you might not be able to completely relate to—and you come out all the richer for it in the end. The story focuses on Iris, a Deaf girl who struggles to communicate with many of the people around her and to find her place in a world that doesn’t seem to know how to define her. When she learns of a whale with a similar issue, Blue 55, who can’t communicate with other whales, she makes it her mission in life to let him know there’s someone out there who understands him. I connected to Iris right away, even when I… Read more »

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Feb 15
Bite-Sized Reviews of A Curse So Dark and Lonely, The Simple Art of Flying, and The Language Inside

Bite-Sized Reviews of A Curse So Dark and Lonely, The Simple Art of Flying, and The Language Inside

Reviews 32

I’ve got three reviews for you today: a YA fantasy retelling, a MG contemporary(ish), and a YA novel in verse. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This book! So much perfection! Lately I’ve honestly been slogging through a lot of my reading. I’ve been tired and unmotivated and most of the books I’ve read have felt really long. I don’t think it’s been the books’ fault—it’s just the state of mind I’m in. And then I picked up this book. And I flew through it. Every time I put the book down, I was just waiting for the moment I could pick it back up. It was pure magic. It’s hard to imagine a fresh take on the Beauty and the Beast story, but this one has so many nuances: First off, there’s the heroine with cerebral palsy whose condition doesn’t define her in any way–it’s just a fact about… Read more »

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Feb 09
Between Before and After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry: Review, Giveaway & McQuerry’s Top Ten Addictions

Between Before and After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry: Review, Giveaway & McQuerry’s Top Ten Addictions

Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 23 ★★★½

Between Before and After is a touching story of believing in the miracles of everyday life and forgiving yourself for the mistakes of your past. The story alternates between 1955 and 1918 to the early 20’s. When Molly discovers that her mother has a secret in her past that might ruin their family’s happiness, she’s determined to find out what it is. In the meantime, her uncle is being investigated by the church because he performed a miracle, and the turmoil and disbelief that this sparks turns their life even more upside down. The book follows Molly in her quest to learn the truth and flashes back to Molly’s mother’s life as a struggling orphan after the Spanish flu of 1918. I’ll confess that I’d unraveled the mystery of her mother’s past pretty much right from the start, but I still enjoyed reading Molly’s discoveries and finding out how it… Read more »

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Nov 26
Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret by Trudy Trueit – Review & Giveaway

Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret by Trudy Trueit – Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 10 ★★★★

This is a fun and adventurous first book in a younger middle grade series. Filled with high-tech gadgets and virtual reality(ish) simulations of distant lands, it’s sure to capture readers’ imaginations. At the end of the book, there’s even some real-world discussion of innovations that could lead to the many different types of tech in the book—I loved that real-world tie-in. Cruz’s virtual “journeys” to different lands were interesting—I especially loved the trip to the butterfly conservation area in Mexico—and they always had a bit of excitement thrown in as well. Kids will appreciate the diverse cast (especially the Scottish character, whose distinct phrases are really fun), and the fact that they can learn some interesting facts throughout the book without feeling like they’re learning. I’m guessing this book would have been a big hit with my kids a few years ago. Be forewarned that this is very much a setup to… Read more »

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Nov 20
Bite-Sized Reviews of The Lying Woods, What If It’s Us, Between Shades of Gray and The Hotel Between

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Lying Woods, What If It’s Us, Between Shades of Gray and The Hotel Between

Reviews 34 ★★★★★

I’ve got four reviews for you today, a YA mystery, a YA contemporary, a YA historical fiction and a MG fantasy. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! I always think I don’t really like mysteries, but then I read a book like this and it blows me away and I just want MORE! I have no idea how to review this book without giving things away, so I’m actually not going to say much at all except that I read this in one day (practically in one sitting), and I LOVED every minute of the reading experience. Okay, at the very beginning, I wasn’t so sure I was going to like Owen (the MC) and his friends, and there were a few moments when I thought certain characters were being ridiculously judgy toward the Owen (and his responses weren’t always great). But the story was engrossing,… Read more »

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Nov 19
The Camelot Code: The Once and Future Geek by Mari Mancusi – Review & Giveaway

The Camelot Code: The Once and Future Geek by Mari Mancusi – Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 6 ★★★★

This series is a fun middle grade romp through Camelot! What Fed My Addiction: King Arthur! I love all things Camelot, so the concept of this book had me hooked right from the start. Kids can get a little lesson on these epic characters in a fun format! (This makes me want to reread A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.) The story gives us a lot of the original Arthurian legends and then puts them in a spin cycle. Video games. Sophie and Stu love RPG-style video games, and I could see how this one would be lots of fun. They also sounded like realistic kids—I’ve had some of these same arguments with my teenagers over the value of video games vs. “real life” and their arguments mirror Sophie and Stu’s pretty nicely. (I was glad that there was a balance between the idea that video games can be a worthwhile… Read more »

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Nov 16
Amber & Dusk by Lyra Selene: Review & Giveaway

Amber & Dusk by Lyra Selene: Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 6 ★★★★

There was a lot to love about this unique fantasy. I found myself engrossed in its world of perpetual daylight! What Fed My Addiction: Lyrical writing. This is a lush fantasy, filled with lavish sights and spectacular magic, and Selene’s writing style works perfectly for this genre. (In her Goodreads review of her own book, she says she writes what she loves to read: “Prose that tastes like sugared secrets.” That should give you a good idea of what to expect.) I love this type of writing. The worldbuilding. Selene did a fantastic job with the worldbuilding in this book. We are introduced to a unique new world with a lot of complex elements, but it never feels too overwhelming. I felt like I could picture most of the world in beautiful detail, and I loved the magical system. The book features a unique mythology that Selene created just for this world… Read more »

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