Across the Library

Do you like alternate histories? Maybe mixed with a little fantasy? I just finished An Affair of Poisons, and I loved it. It's an alternate history tale of a Shadow Society that poisons King Louis XIV and then takes power. There are two perspectives, one told by a poisoned, the daughter of the Shadow Society leader, who doesn't agree with what has happened, and a bastard prince who is fighting to save his sisters. The two meet and try to take back the city in the name of the boy's brother, the dauphin Louis. I thought it was a beautiful story with strong characters. There is romance but it is slow to build and handled well. It has poison and curatives, magic and intrigue. I highly recommend it.⁣

Rayne and Delilah's Midnight Matinee is book about friendship foremost, but the characters (real names Josie and Delia) also have strong character growth individually. The girls host a horror film show, broadcasting old B horror movies that are so bad they're funny. Their hosting show is a little corny, but that's part of its charm. When one girl starts dating and talking of moving on to other things, the other is afraid of being left behind again (her dad left when she was young). The two attend a horror con with hopes of making connections and keeping the show going, but this has crazy results. Delia also goes on a search for her father. In the end the two learn how to survive as individuals, but vow to be there for each other as well. ⁣ ⁣ Strong humor and character growth. As a book about friends, is it refreshing to see that the romance doesn't overtake that story. All around, a good book.⁣

 Wow. Just finished this book, and I think it's outstanding. I admit, I found it a little confusing at first, and at times it felt too long. But overall -- outstanding.⁣ ⁣ Claudia comes home from spending the summer with her grandmamma a little upset that she hasn't heard from her best friend Monday. Then Monday doesn't show up for school, for days, weeks, ever. No one seems all that concerned about it, other than Claudia. She's determined to find out where her best friend is even if the adults won't help her.⁣ ⁣ This is both a story of a close friendship between two teen girls, and a chilling take of a girl gone missing.⁣

Thirsty? Too bad. We take water for granted. Some people won't even drink tap water, and that can be understandable. But what happens when the taps run dry? Nothing to drink, you can't take a shower, and flushing the toilet is out of the question.⁣ ⁣ In 𝘋𝘳𝘺 by Neal Shusterman & Jarrod Shusterman the drought in South California just got worse. The water has been turned off, and people are just trying to survive. This book is fast-paced and a bit haunting because you can't help but think it could actually happen. ⁣ ⁣ I really enjoyed this one, but I will say, I wouldn't have minded if it had ended on page 367. That would have been some ending, but maybe a little too macabre for a young adult book.⁣