#young adult book recommendation

[gothgleek]

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

“If you ask me, she’s too good for him.”

“He’s the supreme monarch of our land, and she’s a treacherous witch whose sins scream to the sky for the gods to strike her down.”

"I do like her.”

[reedreadsbooks]

Book Review: Dreadnought by April Daniels ✨🏙️⚡️

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

(5/5)

After Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero, is killed in combat, closeted trans girl Danny Tozer inherits his powers and is transformed to have the body she’s always wanted to have. Now she has to deal with having superpowers and being an out trans woman, all the while hunting down the supervillain who murdered her predecessor.

This book was phenomenal, and I’m kind of at a loss for words to describe how much I liked it.

To start, I love the world of this book. This is such a classic superhero story. Daniels uses the conventions of the genre without making things feel like a parody and subverts tropes just enough to make the story distinct.

I also really love Dreadnought as a trans narrative. This book doesn’t shy away from transphobia. Between Danny’s parents, kids at her school, and other heroes she meets, we get a pretty broad and realistic representation of the types of abuse a young trans woman might face. There’s also so much trans joy in this book. It was really nice to see Danny come into herself, and it was cathartic to watch her realize that no one could take her transition away from her. This is the type of story that will give trans kids hope for the future.

I would recommend this book to literally everyone. In fact, I plan on recommending this book to literally everyone. But because that’s not helpful, I’ll be more specific and say I highly recommend this book to fans of Andrew Joseph White. Obviously, it’s very different from his work, genre-wise, but I think the themes are really similar. If you like Hell Followed with Us and The Spirit Bares It’s Teeth, I can definitely see you liking Dreadnought.

[jessread-s]

TW: kidnapping, sexual assault, sexual harassment, drugging, misogyny

✩🎁❄️Review:

If you are hoping for a fluffy, festive romance, this is not it. 

Set after the Caraval series, “Spectacular” follows Donatella Dragna as she embarks on the ultimate holiday adventure to find the perfect gift for Legend. 

I LOVED the first half of this book. It was a joy to return to Valenda and spend more time with Scarlett, Tella, Julian, and Legend. Rosie Fowinkle’s gorgeous illustrations truly bring them to life! The red accents Fowinkle added to her images paired with Garber’s whimsical writing definitely got me into the holiday spirit. 

Unfortunately, this book took a turn for the worst near the halfway point that left me feeling uncomfortable. Simply put, this book fails to take consent into consideration. 

🚨‼️SPOILER ALERT‼️🚨

To go into more detail, Tella is drugged and kidnapped at one point in the story. She wakes up in the Spice Quarter—a place riddled with gambling pits, drug dens, and brothels. Soon after, she is forced to change into an outfit that leaves her scantily clad so that she can show off her backside to a man whose identity is not known. She is then taken to his private room where she is blindfolded, gagged, and restrained. Once there, the man touches and kisses her without her consent. The reader ultimately finds out that the mystery man is Legend, but honestly, that did not make the whole series of events better in my eyes. Had she known it was him all along, what transpired would still be considered assault given that she did not consent to any of it. Readers fresh off of Finale might be able to connect what happened here to the letter Tella wrote in which she asked Legend to kidnap her. Why Legend thought this would be such a great holiday gift is lost on me. As someone who hasn’t read Finale in years, I did not make the connection. Neither did Tella, which is what made the whole thing icky. 

🚨‼️END OF SPOILERS‼️🚨

I was hoping for more ScarJulian content at the very least, but their presence is more akin to a cameo. I hope that the next one (which is alluded to in the epilogue) does not follow in its predecessor’s footsteps. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[stephaniemccrea]

Omg. So I'm doing a read along with my daughter, and I gotta say I was not expecting to absolutely love this series as much as I do. I'm in book 2 now, but I just gotta give a hell of a shout out to Tamora Pierce for such an enjoyable work.

Also, these new covers are absolutely fantastic. It is very appealing to the anime kids of this age, as I can attest to. My daughter immediately gravitated to this series over the many book options I presented to her. Yeah, try telling an 11-year-old not to judge a book by its cover. But then put this next to the 80-90s mass market paperback editions for Wild Magic, Diana Wynne Jones, Shannon Hale, and a few others, and she's gonna pick this.

Some of the topics are maybe slightly for an older age group than I was expecting, but my daughter is obsessively burning through them. I will have to explain some of the behind closed doors activities and explain to her that there is no such thing as a magical contraceptive charm pendant sadly; well, maybe an IUD is the closest thing we have. 😅

Anyways, I would definitely recommend this set for any young adult readers into fantasy. Hell, even old readers who love a fun fantasy.

I also read Sabriel and would recommend that, it's probably safer for younger ages/general audience as it was only ever glimpses and kisses if that.

And on a darker note reading The Women by Kristin Hannah, because I loved The Nightingale. It's so good. Late, but finally, a part of the 'Kristin Hannah rip my heart out with your historical fictions, and I will say please and thank you, and come back for more' train.

[booksinmythorax]

So you're an adult who wants to start reading for fun, but you don't know where to start

I'm a librarian, and I hear at least once a week from people who sheepishly tell me that they'd love to start reading for fun (for the first time or after a long break). Here's my best advice broken down into bullet points, but start here: there is no shame in being a beginner.

-Think about what you do enjoy and start from there. So you're not a book person. Do you like movies? Television? Podcasts? Music? Tabletop games? Video games? What other media do you like and what does it have in common? Make a little list and Venn diagram that shit.

Maybe you're into stories about fucked-up families (Sharp Objects, Succession) or found families (lots of realplay TTRPG podcasts, Leverage, Avatar: The Last Airbender) or fucked-up found families (various Batman media, Steven Universe, The Good Place). Maybe you mainly watch or listen to stuff for the romance (Taylor Swift music, The Best Man, Heartstopper) or the sci-fi horror (The Magnus Archives, M3gan, Nope) or the romantic sci-fi horror (Welcome to Night Vale). And hey, maybe you're not a fictional media person at all. What do you like? What do you want to know about? World history? True crime? Home improvement? Birdwatching? Gardening? Various animals and their behavior? Human psychology? Cooking? If it's a thing, there are books about it. Start there.

Think about why you started to dislike reading. Did an adult snatch a book you thought looked cool out of your hands and say "Don't read that, it's below your reading level/above your reading level/a comic, not a real book"? Did school give you an endless parade of miserable, bleak books and tell you they were universal stories about the human condition? Or did it maybe only give you stories with saccharine, unearned happy endings, or only show you stories about straight cis wealthy abled white kids, or keep you from reading entire books at all in favor of endlessly dissecting tiny passages out of context? (For some vindication, check out "How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading" by John Holt.) Did you have an older sibling or a friend who was better at reading? Did adults put you in competition with that other kid and make you feel like shit about it? Were you in a situation where you were good at reading in one language, or even more than one, but required to read in another that you were still learning? Did this make you feel like you were "behind schedule" or like you shouldn't read at all? Or was reading just harder for you than it seemed for other people? Did reading give you headaches? Did the letters or numbers seem to float around on the page? Was it hard for you to focus for long enough to get through a whole book? Did you need to learn to read differently than the kids around you could? Did adults punish you for this instead of helping you? (Look, I'm not a doctor, but if any of these apply to you, consider going to an optometrist, a psychologist, and/or a psychiatrist to talk about these things if they're persistent and interfere with your life.) Or maybe you're burned out on reading. Maybe you did an advanced degree in literature or writing or history or some other reading-heavy discipline and you're just tired. Maybe your professors or classmates got snobby about what constituted "literary" works and their good opinion didn't line up with what you actually enjoy. You get to be sad and angry about these things, if they happened to you. They're also clues to how to move forward if you'd like to read more, or enjoy reading more.

Give yourself permission to read whatever you want, in whatever way you want. Wanna start with young adult books? Middle grade books? Awesome. Many of them have stories that are sophisticated and complex. Starting with re-reading the first books you enjoyed reading could help jog your memory about why you initially found it fun. Hell, even picture books are a good start. Have you read a picture book lately? Those things are getting cooler every day. Comics and graphic novels? Those count as reading. Many of them are published for adults, though again, the ones published for a middle-grade or young adult audience are often complex and moving. If you're an anime fan, give manga a shot. The source material for many anime go deeper into the characters and stories, especially now that anime seasons are often truncated to 12 episodes for entire series. (The right-to-left thing is easier to get used to than you think, too.) Romance novels and mystery thrillers and science fiction and fantasy? Those count as reading. Many of the things you might have liked about the books you read as a child or a teenager are present in adult "genre" fiction, and many of the things you might despise about adult "literary" fiction (god, I hate that word, but that's another post) may be absent from those titles. E-books and audiobooks definitely count as reading, and they're often more accessible than paper books for some people. Anybody who tries to genre- or format-shame you is a dick and not worth talking to.

Go to your local library. All right, shameless self-promotion here, I'll admit it. But I promise you, if you walk into a library and say "I'm an adult, I stopped reading a while ago, and I'd like to start back up again but I need suggestions," you will make someone's day. I get asked for my opinion about books approximately once a month. I get asked how to use the printer approximately eighty-five times a day. I love helping with the printer and I'm saying that unironically, but my colleagues and I absolutely adore "readers' advisory" questions. If you come with the answers to the above questions about your preferred genres, formats, and reasons you'd like to read, it'll help the process, but most of us are trained to ask follow-up questions to get you the best possible book match. Do not apologize. You are not bothering us. It is literally part of our job. We want people to know that reading is fun, and you are a people.

[murasaki-cha]

My mom seeing my copy of Assistant To The Villain: Oh this is the book you got yesterday, what's it about?

Me: Oh it's a fantasy romance with lots of comedy. I love it so much, I just finished it yesterday.

My mom: *teasingly* Oh does it have any spicy scenes~?

Me absentmindedly: God I wish

My mom who doesn't really know how much romantasy na I read: What?

Me realising my mistake: ....What?

[richincolor]

Crystal's 2024 Favorites

This year was full of awesome new young adult books and as usual it was difficult to figure out which ones would make my list of favorites. There were about ten that stood out, but these are the final four that really made a lasting impression and I would highly recommend.

The Quince Project by Jessica Parra [Our Group Discussion] Wednesday Books

Castillo Torres, Student Body Association event chair and serial planner, could use a fairy godmother. After a disastrous mishap at her sister’s quinceañera, all of Cas’s plans are crumbling. So when a local lifestyle-guru-slash-party-planner opens up applications for the internship of her dreams, Cas sees it as the perfect opportunity to learn every trick in the book so that things never go wrong again.

The only catch is that she needs more party planning experience before she can apply. When she books a quinceañera for a teen Disneyland vlogger, Cas thinks her plan is taking off…until she discovers that the party is just a publicity stunt and she begins catching feelings for the chambelán. As her agenda begins to go off-script, Cas finds that real life may be more complicated than a fairy tale.

But maybe Happily Ever Afters aren’t just for the movies. Can Cas go from planner to participant in her own life? Or will this would-be princess turn into a pumpkin at the end of the ball?

Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier [Crystal's Review] Clarion Books

In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope had gone, the tale came with a warning.

Every wish demands a price.

Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.

Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign. Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time-hope.

But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape…that of the dragonfruit itself.

A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1) by Hafsah Faizal Farrar, Straus and Giroux

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur [Crystal's Review] Feiwel & Friends

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

More aroace book recs

Just found this book, and while it hasn’t come out yet it sounds like something out of my wildest dreams (comes out january 29)

Autistic aroace main character and queer side characters

“A great death is in the air” Arlo is lost. He thought he had everything figured out. Go to university, fall in love, get a job. But life doesn't always work like that, and before he has a chance to figure it out, he dies. In the space of a night, Arlo is plunged into a world of blood and immortality and finds a group of people who swear to always have his back. Dying is never easy, and they promise him eternal safety. But something is after him, something no one could have ever predicted. He craves to figure out his purpose before he falls into something he can never come back from.

There’s also vampires

[eruden-writes]

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

This is the book that had me sobbing in bed a few nights ago. I found this book in the bin store, caught by the absolutely gorgeous cover art.

I didn't realize it was a young adult novel until I started reading, but I should've known. Young adult novels seem to have the most appealing cover art to me.

Where the Dark Stands Still is heavily inspired by Polish folklore while also having the feel of Howl's Moving Castle and Beauty and the Beast. It's really quite splendid.

The story follows Liska Radost - apparently a 17-year-old, but it was vague throughout the book - who is a girl with magic who happens to live in a Polish village entangled in Christian ideology. Meaning magic is seen as a sin. Liska does her best to hide her powers, but her magic does trigger and cause problems, at times.

In an effort to get rid of her magic, Liska takes to the nearby spirit woods, the Driada, during Kupala night. There, she hopes to find a legendary flower that will grant her a wish. Instead, she finds the Lesky, a powerful "demon" that offers her a bargain.

She is to stay and manage his manor for one year. At the end of that time, he will relieve her of her magic.

Throughout her stay, it's hard to trust the Lesky. He's enigmatic and sometimes refuses to answer Liska's questions, mostly pertaining to his past. It made Liska and Lesky's relationship a tense one, where the reader gets the vibe that he is using her for something sinister.

Over her stay at the manor, Liska also encounters different spirits and demons. Some of which become beloved friends or aid her in finding answers to her questions. Others of which try to kill her.

The romance with the Lesky definitely builds, which I appreciate. It's almost always fraught with a "what if" sensation, since Liska knows the Lesky could be using her. I don't appreciate that it builds over the course of four months, however. I wish it had been a longer timeline.

Interestingly, the book is written in present tense, which doesn't detract from the enjoyment. It was a unique facet I wanted to mention. The descriptions are very lovely and are not overly drawn out.

What others might care about:

Arrogant and distant male lead. There's reasons why he acts this way, but it's definitely a trope in YA. But he's bi, since we learn about one of his prior lovers, so marginally more palatable.

Big ole age gap. Yep, the Lesky is 700+ years old, although he doesn't look (nor act, in my opinion) much older than Liska. I'm willing to overlook this, since the Lesky is bound to/cursed by an ancient god.

Explicit violence and gore. The whole book is beautifully written and I honestly appreciated the detailed descriptions of violence and wounds. It really fit the vibe of the story.

Animal death. The Lesky's former lover had a dog that died terribly. His spirit is still wandering, depicting the dog in its mangled state.

Vague sex scenes befitting a young adult novel. I won't begrudge a young adult novel for having vague intimacy. However, coupled with the big ole age gap, other readers may not like this.

Overall, this is a solid 5 out of 5 for me. Some parts aren't to my taste, but not enough to detract from the story. Everything works phenomenally well together.

[SPOILER BELOW, DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILED]

In an effort to disengage himself with the old god who wants to take over his body and cause havoc, the Lesky ends up killing himself. Just before he dies, he ends up transferring his powers and guardianship of the Driada to Liska without her consent. This scene was so very heartbreaking and the following scenes, when Liska wakes up and processes what happened, is also heartbreaking.

I was a sobbing mess. I'm a little misty-eyed just typing this up.

While this was extremely well done, I'm also conflicted. The long-lived male lead finally finding love having to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, while leaving their lover reeling in emotional agony, losing something so special that they fought so hard for? I feel like this is an oddly specific trope that's prevalent in stories like this.

Thankfully, because the Driada is a spirit wood, there's a dangling ending that may be sweeter for Liska and the Leszy.

[mfred]

🎃 October Reading Wrap-up 🎃

I read quite a few spooooooky books this October and now I am here to talk about them!

Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley

It's not perfect but the story really kept me turning the pages. Annie Lane is not likeable in the best kind of way. I loved her anger and her thirst for retribution. 5 stars.

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

Poignant! Emotional! And yes, a total gory & bloody slasher story. 5 stars.

Red in Tooth and Claw by Lish McBride

I liked this one enough to keep reading even though it was sooo sloooow. And, not nearly enough horror for me. But a compelling plot and characters I really rooted for. 4 stars.

The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir

This is not one of those stories that explains itself clearly and concisely through to the end. Some things are left murky and unexplained. I kinda liked it, it sorta worked, but not quite. 4 stars.

A History of Fear by Luke Dumas

Really twisty and convoluted, and really good at conveying a growing sense of dread. 4 stars.

Chopping Spree by Angela Sylvaine

This was super fun, like a 80s slasher movie in book form. 4 stars.

Killer House Party by Lily Anderson

This didn't come together as well as I wanted it to. It wasn't quite enough of anything: scary enough, emotionally impactful enough, funny enough. 4 stars.

[rlbookreviews]

Paper Towns by John Green My rating: 5 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this young adult novel when I was in school. I definitely will read this book again since I rediscovered it again while I was going through my old books. I love the friendship Quin and Margo has in the book. If I had to pick a favorite quote from the book it would be this one, "The town was paper, but the memories were not." Chapter 19, page 227 I recommend all young adults and adults to read this book View all my reviews

[thatstonerfriend]

I’m not sure if anyone who follows me is big on reading, but I’m just getting back into it (I’m terrible at feeding my hobbies). Anyways, I’m a HUGE lover of young adult books. It’s one of my top favorite genres, I just think the writing in Y.A. is unmatched and transformative.

I just read Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. When I tell you I devoured this book. The plot, the characters, everything was perfection. The education and insight it gives into the LGBTQ+ world, especially for young adults; it’s amazing. I wish I’d had a book like this growing up. One that made me realize the differences and fluidity in sexuality and gender and how beautiful every aspect of our community can be.

I highly recommend this book if you like Y.A. Fiction with a post apocalyptic feel. Normally I’m not an apocalyptic girly but everything about this from the religious turmoil and family trauma, to the romance and community is utter perfection.

[itsbooktimepeople]

Muse of Nightmares

★★★★★

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR STRANGE THE DREAMER

Muse of Nightmares picks up right where Strange the Dreamer left off, and it does not disappoint one bit. There is so much encompassed in these 528 pages that I don't even know how to describe it. To start, though, Muse of Nightmares is jam packed with themes of love and healing. Romantic love, platonic love, familial love, self-love... it's all in this book, and every kind of love is handled so well. And then there were the intertwined (parallel?) stories of Minya and Nova, and the reason they made such compelling, sympathetic villains was this: at the heart of all their "evil," they were really just scared, traumatized children doing what they thought was right. Out of all the books I've read, it's not uncommon for them to have an intentional message, but Muse of Nightmares really says something, and says it memorably, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. Just like with Strange the Dreamer, this book's strength lies in its characters. All of them changed so much throughout the course of this story while still remaining true to themselves. I already brought up Minya and Nova, but beyond that Lazlo experiences a lot of development, and so does Thyon Nero, of all people. The history of the gods of Weep is uncovered as well, and it explains so much about the gods' actions in the previous book. Muse of Nightmares also possesses an amazing plot. Everything that was introduced before gets wrapped up so nicely, whether that be the plots between characters or the entire multidimensional mystery of where the gods' bastard children were disappearing to or even where the seraphim came from. Every question I had was answered, and even better, it was answered just in the nick of time---slowly enough to inflict suspense, but quickly enough that I figured it out right before the reveal. That's all I have time to write right now but I just have to say I still think Laini Taylor is a genius and I loved this duology and I might have to buy it so I can reread these books over and over again. I completely recommend this series to everyone who enjoys fantasy!

Strange the Dreamer

★★★★☆

In middle school, I remember reading and really liking Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. That, and a friend's recommendation, inspired me to pick up Strange the Dreamer, and I'm so glad I did.

What is this book about? It's so creative and wonderful that it's hard to describe, but in short: Lazlo is an orphan obsessed with the lost city of Weep. Sarai is a half-goddess who lives in a giant floating citadel above the city. Lazlo accompanies other experts to Weep in order to help discover the secret of the citadel, and discovers the twisted history of the old murdered gods of Weep.

If that summary doesn't sound enticing, don't worry, because it doesn't do the book justice at all. On a more fundamental level, Strange the Dreamer is about love, both the power it gives us and has over us. It's about prejudice. It's about judging people for their parents' mistakes, and it's about what makes a hero or a villain.. (Let me just say, the themes in this book were presented excellently.)

So, as always, I will start with the things I liked.

High on the list is characterization, because holy smokes, Taylor knows how to write a protagonist. The scene where Lazlo first came to the library almost made me cry because it reminded me so much of why I fell in love with stories in the first place. He's a very genuine character, and something that really struck me was what a good person he is. I mean, lots of books have "good person" main characters, but we were never told that Lazlo is good. It's shown through his actions, and that makes all the difference. He's always willing to lend a helping hand, but he also knows when to back off, and understands that people have to star in their own stories.

And our other protagonist, Sarai, was also great. Her gift of entering and altering other people's dreams is explored deeply, and so is her relationship with Minya, who manipulated her into using her powers to bring nightmares to the citizens of Weep. A lot of Sarai's perspective dwells on her guilt and turmoil and longing to be considered a normal girl, but it never feels repetitive or annoying. When Sarai is sad, so is the reader, and when she's happy the reader rejoices.

Speaking of which, the romance also deserves a shout out. I'm not usually a fan of lovey-dovey books, but Sarai and Lazlo were so sweet together that I couldn't help but enjoy this one. They tell each other their deepest secrets and support each other's most difficult decisions. Maybe it's just me, but I also loved how slow they took their relationship. And, I think my favorite part was that, even though Sarai was raised to despise humans and Lazlo was told horrendous stories about the blue gods of Weep, they came to understand each other's people as well as love each other. And the ending completely broke my heart, but anyway

However, as wonderful as the characterization is, it pales in comparison to my favorite aspect of Strange the Dreamer, which is the sheer creativity. I think Laini Taylor must be a genius or something. I don't want to spoil the story, but let's just say the dilemma Weep is facing, the creatures that used to live there, the fact that everyone in the book has two hearts (one that pumps blood and one that pumps spirit), the tattoos the women of Weep receive, and of course the writing style... Reading this book really does feel like stepping into a dream.

To anyone who loves fantasy, I completely recommend Strange the Dreamer. I can't wait to read the sequel!

[jessread-s]

✩⚔️🐉Series Review:

⋆ Found family

⋆ Multiple povs

⋆ High fantasy

Growing up, my dad was completely enamored by “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of The Rings”. Try as I might, I found the books he continues to put on a pedestal hard to get through (nobody tell him I said that). But I think I found what he loves so much about those books in Victoria Aveyard’s “Realm Breaker” trilogy. From the very first page, Aveyard completely immersed me in her complex world and invested me in the lives of her diverse, well-developed characters. With each new chapter, I couldn’t get enough of the dynamic between the Companions and held my breath as their lives were continuously jeopardized the closer they came to completing their quest to save the realm. And of course, because this is a Victoria Aveyard book, there were many betrayals that caught me by surprise, swoon-worthy (yet subtle) romantic moments, and epic battles that held my attention as I progressed through each book in the trilogy. The ending is everything I could have wanted and more and still leaves the door open a crack for more mischief to occur. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

@vaveyard @epicreads @morgana0anagrom

[mollyhats]

Kids Book Recs for Palestine

Are you looking for a way to aid a family in need while also getting a leg up on your shopping?

Are you looking forward to seeing friends/relatives in the next few months only to realize "oh no, what do I bring?" Have a baby shower you need to bring a book to instead of a card? Got a kiddo at home who absolutely tears through every book you give them--or, conversely, refuses to open them?

Hi, I'm Molly. In my day job, I work in the children's section of an indie book store, connecting patrons to books they and their young loved ones will love. And I'm offering the same service from the comfort of your own inbox! Unlike online rec lists (which often fall into broad categories or only offer info you could get from the back cover), I will walk you through what makes me think a certain book will appeal to your audience and what content to be aware of going in, and you can ask follow up questions and clarify what does and does not work.

How it works:

Step 1

Send me proof that you d*nated to Marah's Family's Gaza Evacuation Fund. (Tumblr post here, verification info here)

Step 2

Message or ask me proof along with as much of the following information as possible

Age of recipient

(This can be approximate; if you're looking for YA for an adult, you can say that)

Reading level if applicable

(Listing books they've read recently is helpful here, e.g. Magic Tree House for newer readers. You can also think page count, illustrations or no, etc)

Books they enjoy

(Consider especially if you have some idea of why. For example, somebody might like Percy Jackson for the snarky narration, the epic quests, OR the weaving the fantastic into modern America)

Things they like to read about (or just enjoy in general)

(These can be tropes, topics, character types, general genres. For younger kids, if you know their favorite animals or activities, that's a great jumping off point. If they prefer graphic novels, here's the place to say so.)

Any concerns

if there's anything you want me to particularly warn for (such as the dog dying), lmk here. I'll still give you some basic tws but these are ones to keep in mind through the whole process.

Step 3

I'll get back to you with some recommendations, and we can go from there.

Short example conversation

(this was a casual conversation with a friend 2 years ago. My repertoire has grown exponentially since then)

TL;DR give to a family stranded in Gaza, and get professional, personalized assistance in finding the perfect board, picture, middle grade, or YA book(s) for you or a loved one.

[caffeinated-bibliophile]

Tell me, please: what was the last really good YA book that you read?