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The Crystal Ribbon by Celeste Lim

⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Cheap. I cost them five silvers. They cost me my family, my life, my freedom, and my future.”

I found it pretty hard to get into this book (as shown by the fact that I finished reading it pretty recently), it was pretty slow to start. And I've come to realize that I just don't enjoy historical fiction. It was also surprisingly dark pretty quickly. There are elements of child abuse, child marriage and sexual violence present in this story.

The Crystal Ribbon is about 12-year-old Li Jing. Her province is watched over by the deity the Great Huli Jing, this name similarity is a source of teasing for Jing. Her father a poor tea farmer decides that the only way to survive the winter is to sacrifice Jing for the greater good by selling her to a wealthy family in the city. In this new household she is expected to be a bride and nursemaid for the family's young son. She is treated poorly by the family and is eventually sold off into a worse situation. She decides the only way to get out of it is to run away. With the help of a spider and a nightingale, Jing might just find her way home.

Although the writing and story were quite easy to understand, I found it quite long and boring. The pacing also felt off it seemed to flip between how much time was passing as the author pleased. The fantasy aspect itself was something I quite enjoyed, it borrowed a lot from Chinese mythology which I have never explored so that was interesting to learn about. It was really nice reading about the relationship between Jing and Chang Er in her 3rd home after the mistreatment of Jing for so long. I don't think I would re-read this book or recommend it to anyone unless I was 100% sure they were looking for this kind of book, unlike some of the other books on this list (*cough* *cough* Legendborn *cough* *cough* which I recommended to about 6 friends as soon as I finished the last sentence).

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Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“It’s not a silly whim to want to prevent suffering, it’s heroic.”

I found this book really interesting. It introduced me to a mythology I wasn't entirely familiar with beforehand, only knowing about a few stories from Mexican Folklore (La Llorona, El Chupacabra), so this book introduced me to a few more stories.

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears is a story about a 12-year-old girl and her 2 best friends, Dante and Emma. Paola is entirely space-obsessed and dying to test out her new telescope on the banks of the Gila River. The one problem is that all 3 kids have been warned about avoiding the river at all costs after a schoolmate drowned there the previous year. For Pao, she's been told to avoid the river for much longer. Growing up, her mom told her stories about La Llorona, a ghost woman who roams the banks, searching for children to drag into the depths of the river. On the night when Pao, Dante and Emma are supposed to test the telescope, Emma never shows up. Now, Paola thinks that maybe there's some truth behind her mom's stories.

As a kid I was absolutely obsessed with all of Rick Riordan's books, and seeing this was part of "Rick Riordan Presents" I had a good feeling about how I would feel about this story. Although I'm not a huge fan of fantasy novels, I found it pretty easy to get into this one. The pacing was steady and it didn't ever lose my interest or bore me.

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The Hardy Boys Adventures #2: The Deadliest Stunt by Scott Lobdell, Paulo Henrique and Tim Smith

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"For a final time: Oh, brother"

This was probably my easiest read of the reading project, it was a graphic novel, so the writing isn't as dense as any of the other books. It made for a nice, quick and light read while in the middle of the term which was nice.

This book contained 4 different stories about teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, agents for American Teens Against Crime, or ATAC for short. In the first story Abracadeath, Frank and Joe are tasked to find the missing assistant of famed magician the Great Marconi. His assistant? A black lab named Poppy. As their investigation begins they realize that when looking at a group of magicians, nothing is as it seems. The second story is Dude Ranch O'Death. When a group of teens goes missing from a camp for troubled teens, it's up to brothers Frank and Joe to get to the bottom of their disappearance. The duo must go undercover to figure out what exactly is going on at this camp, and whether or not everyone else is in danger. The Deadliest Stunt is the third story of the book. In this story, the boys are taking a backseat and acting as support instead of the primaries on this case. Their task? Supporting stuntwoman Lindsay Rider as she tries to uncover a diamond smuggling ring at the "First International Competition for Female Teen Stunt Performers". And this may just be their deadliest mission yet. The final story in this book is Haley Danelle's Top Eight. Haley seeks out the help of Frank and Joe when her close friends start disappearing one by one. It's up to the boys with no support from their agency to solve the mystery before her whole top 8 has vanished.

I had a lot of fun reading these stories. When I was about 9, I became obsessed with all things Nancy Drew. I read almost all the books in any format I could get my hands on including the graphic novels, this book felt a lot like those graphic novels did. It was a nice jump back into mystery, which even though I don't reach for often is a genre that I do typically enjoy when I do. I would definitely reach for more books in this series if I was looking for something lighter to read or to get me out of a reading slump.

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Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Don't make your life about the loss. Make it about the love"

Wow! When I finished this book that was the only thought on my mind. I'm not usually a big fan of fantasy novels but with this book I found myself truly giving this book my full attention. The magical system in this book is really cool and I found it pretty easy to understand. It was a little slow to start, but when it got started it really got started and I just couldn't stop reading.

Legendborn tells the story of Bree, a 16 year old girl attending a program for high schoolers at UNC Chapel Hill. Bree's mother dies in a car accident before the story even begins and throughout the book Bree is shown to be struggling with this sudden and tragic loss. Very quickly, she finds herself involved in a secret society dedicated to fighting demons on campus. When Bree realizes that there's a connection between her mother's death and this society, she starts to think that maybe it wasn't a simple car accident that killed her mom. And now she's determined to get to the truth even if it means infiltrating the Legendborns. She recruits Nick, a self exiled Legendborn to help her out and as they're drawn deeper into the society, they're also drawn closer together. When she learns of an impending magical war, Bree must decide if she should take down the society or join their fight before it's too late.

Deonn's writing had me completely engaged in the story. The way she wrote about Bree's grief and the connections she's trying to establish to her roots had me flipping pages when I probably should have been focused on other work.

I'm almost upset this was the first book I read for my reading project because all I want to do is crack open the second book, but I have 3 more books I need to read before I can do that.