Across the Library

This new take on fairy tales focuses on Violet, a prickly court seer that doesn't particularly care if she is likeable. She certainly doesn't care if Cyrus, the prince she saved years ago, earning her place in court, likes or hates her, as she rather hates him. But it is her place as seer to prophesize whether he will find love in time to break his curse and save the kingdom from war and destruction as the previous seer's prophecy foretold. This book does so many things well! The "villainous" main character - this is my favorite type of character, so the bar was high, but this book does it well. The author made Violet properly prickly and supposedly unrelatable, but that just made me love her so much. Enemies to lovers - the chemistry is believable and enjoyable, moving the story forward as well as the rest of the plot. The beasts - The beasts were described so uniquely and beautifully, a strange combination of plant, fur. and horns. Camilla - Rivaling Violet and ...

  I read in an interview with Maggie Stiefvater that this book would appeal to both fans of the Disney movie Brave, as this is a sequel to the movie, and to her longtime fans. I happen to be an adult fan of both. I decided to rewatch the movie before reading the book because even though Merida is my favorite Disney princess, I haven't seen the movie since it was released, and I wanted to make sure it was fresh in my mind in case I needed to remember any plot points. This is not necessary though, as readers new to Merida's story can still find enjoyment in the book. It picks up a few years after the movie, and though it does occasionally mention the events of the movie, it is an entirely new story, where Merida, the princess of DunBroch, must spend a year trying to bring change to her family in order to save them after making a bargain with two gods. In a way, I think rewatching the movie first hindered my enjoyment of the book, because for the first half, I kept hearing movie M...

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.⁣

Title: Girl at the Grave Author: Teri Bailey Black My Rating: 4 stars I've had this young adult book for a while and finally got around to reading it, and then still I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get into it.  Once I started though, it went by so quickly and and I engaged and excited.  It turned out to be a nice, kind of spooky, murder mystery, perfect for October! It is the set in the 1800's. Valentine is a teen girl who is a bit of an outsider, but not for the typical reasons one might be.  Her mother was hanged when she was a little girl for murdering a man, who was a prominent member of society.  The man's son, Rowan, is now a classmate of Valentine's, and he tends to watch her closely, in contempt she thinks.  Soon after the book starts Valentine finds out her mother was innocent, but the person who tells her this turns up dead, and it may have been murder.  Surprisingly Rowan wants to help her find out who the new murderer is ; m...

Title: Onyx and Ivory Author: Minee Arnett My Rating:  5 stars I'm not in love with the cover or the title, but the book? Absolutely! This has earned its spot in my top 3 of the year! In this young adult fantasy, the main characters are around 19-20.  Kate's father was a traitor, having tried to kill the king, and that has left her with the name "Traitor Kate." Plus she has had to hide her wilder magic ability to speak with and control animals else she be judged for that as well, since wilder magic is illegal. But then she rescues her old friend, Prince Corwin, from a drake attack and things begin to change. Corwin doesn't want to rule. He has accepted that his brother, Edwin, will likely be the heir. Then he sees Kate again as she rescues him from the drakes and old feelings are rekindled.  But there are more important issues at hand...why are the drakes, typically called nightdrakes, attacking during the day? Is wilder magic involved? Right at 500 p...

Title: Sky in the Deep Author: Adrienne Young My Rating: 4.5 stars Eelyn is a warrior, taught to fight and survive.  She is fighting alongside her clansmen when she sees her brother fighting on the side of the enemy -- the same brother that died five years before.  Feeling betrayed she goes after her brother, only to be taken alive by the enemy, and forced to live with them for a while.  In time, she finds herself developing feelings for one of the enemy clan.  And after an attack by another clan that nearly decimates the enemy clan and her own, she has to work to bring the two clans together. I really enjoyed this well-written warrior tale.  Unlike a lot of typical YA books, the romance was not immediate, it took some time before Eelyn began to trust Fiske and developed feelings for him.  The summary on the book would have you think it happens faster than it actually does.  Eelyn is a strong female character with loyal ties to her family. T...

Title: This is Our Story Author: Ashley Elston My Rating: 4 Stars Five boys go hunting in the woods.  Only four come out.  An intern working with the assistant district attorney begins to think it may not have been an accident like the boys are leading everyone to believe.  This is a well-told mystery, full of secrets and plot twists.  I really enjoyed the writing style, and the build up.  There was however one thing that annoyed me.  The author used a variation or exact phrasing of "framed her face with his hands" over and over, enough that it was very noticeable.  I was also a little underwhelmed by the reveal of who shot Grant, but the book was so well done otherwise, that I am still giving it 4 stars. The author is actually local to my area, but I did not know much about her going in.  I had not read her work before this, but I would like to read more. 

Title:  Honor Among Thieves Authors: Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre My Rating: 3.5-4 stars Zara is used to living in the outskirts of town, fending for herself, thieving when she has to, to take care of herself.  Then she is chosen as an Honor for the Leviathan program -- the Leviathans are a race of sentient ships that have partnered with humans to explore the expanse of space to learn about other planets.  They have helped humans survive, and have asked humans to help them with this project.  At first Zara is hesitant, but she quickly, though reluctantly, finds herself trusting Nadim, her ship, and Beatriz, her new tour partner. Together they form a cohesive team, ready to face the challenges that come. I really liked this book, but I was a little unsure about the relationship between Nadim and Zara.  I don't want to go into details because I don't want to spoil anything.  I was just a little unsure about the intimacy between a large ship and a h...

Title: Losing Brave Authors: Bailee Madison (Actress) & Stefne Miller My Rating:  3 stars Payton was there a year ago, when her twin, Dylan, was taken, or possibly killed, but she can't remember what happened. She believes Dylan may still be alive, and now more girls, who look somewhat like her, have also gone missing. Payton is determined to find out what happened to all of them. In the beginning, Payton is pretty unlikeable, but she undergoes some decent character growth that makes her easier to stomach. However, the writing style was hard for me to stomach, especially the first 40 pages or so, but I kept going because I was interested in seeing where the story went. I wasn't exactly surprised by the story, but it did get better.  I think Madison has decent ideas, but if she truly wants to be an author, she needs more practice.

Title: Weave a Circle Round Author: Kari Maaren My Rating: 2.5 Stars I'll be honest -- I struggled to get through this book, and I think I'm going to struggle with this review. Without giving away the secrets of the plot, I'll just say that Freddy, her little sister Mel, and her step-brother Roland find themselves with strange new neighbors, Josiah and Cuerva Lachance, who have a strange house as well.  There's a strange sequence of time travel plopped into the middle that is far too abrupted.  I think iti's supposed to seem that way, but in my opinion, it is not well done, and makes the story too confusing. There were interesting bits.  I liked some of the rpg elements that were included.  I liked that there was a deaf character and sign language.  I was intrigued by Josiah, and a little bit of the secretiveness of the characters, but it just didn't play out in a satisfying way. I thought the descriptions of the three characters, Josiah, Cuerva La...

Title: Reign of the Fallen Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh This is a fantasy story of a world where mages exist, their powers determined by the color of their eyes.  This particular book focuses mainly on the necromancers, those who bring the dead back to the living world.  The Dead must remain completely shrouded ; if even the tiniest bit of their flesh is seen by a living person, they turn into a Shade, a monstrous creature that feeds on both the Dead and the living. The royal family has been using this method of returning to life for centuries ; in fact, the king himself has been ruling for 200 years.  Though he resists change, he is a well-liked king, as is the rest of the royal family. Our main character is Odessa, nicknamed Sparrow, and she is one of the necromancers.  She is very good at what she does, maybe to the point of being a Mary Sue character, although she does have flaws. All is going well, until one of the necromancers is killed by a Shade....

Title: Before I Let Go Author:  Marieke Nijkamp I was intrigued by the summary of this book. Two girls, best friends, living in a small town in Alaska. One moves away, and the other says she will wait for her. Just before the girl is supposed to come back and visit, her friend dies. She goes back to the town to try and find out what happened, but she is treated like an outsider. I was disappointed in the book. It felt like it was missing something. It didn't really feel like it went anywhere. Corey, the girl who moved away, did come back, and she does find out what happened to her friend, but it is rather anticlimactic. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to believe the townspeople, especially Kyra's parents, would be that awful. I know there are bad people in the world, but whole towns of them, like this? I don't know. I did like the fast pace of the short chapters and the writing style for the most part, though the addition of the scripts in the middle w...

Title: Children of Blood and Bone Author: Tomi Adeyemi Release Date: March 6, 2018 I received an ARC of this book through the library I work at.  I was really excited to read this one.  The cover is beautiful, and the story is just as lovely.  What can I say without spoiling it? This book is about a girl who lives in a world that used to have magic, but the magic has died.  The king saw to that eleven years ago, killing the magic and the adults who once had it.  The girl, Zelie watched them take her mother, beat her father, and she has worked to never lose another family member.  Now there is a spark, a hope that magic may return.  A rogue princess that escapes the castle and brings that hope.  But there is also a prince who threatens that hope, and their father, the king, will see to the final death of magic if he has anything to say about it. There is so much more to this book than just magic. There is the world it takes place in....

Title: Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Good, Book 1: The Road to Epoli Authors: Ben Costa and James Parks At first glance, the cover art of this graphic novel could lead you to believe that it is meant for children.  It is actually intended for teens, and once you dive into the book you can see this through the art that might be too scary for young children, and the plot that may be too deep for young children to understand.  There are also a couple of things brought up that are inappropriate for children. Rickety Stitch is a singing, and lute playing, skeleton with a soul, an unexpected creation no doubt.  An unusual song that he cannot fully remember haunts his dreams, giving him little clues as to who he may have been in life.  This is a soul-searching story of some depth about this skeleton trying to find out who he is and who he once was.  Along for the ride is his friend that only he can understand, the Gelatinous Goo.  This fun quest story ...

Title: Truly Devious Author:  Maureen Johnson Cover: I like the cover. The title font is fitting for a mystery. The cover is a little busy, but not overly. Review:  Stevie, who is a crime buff, is off to a specialized high school, where students get to focus on their own specialities. Stevie's plan is to solve the cold case of the murder and missing person case of the wife and daughter of the founder of the school, from back in 1936. But then a current day student ends up dead, and she gets wrapped up in that mystery. Are there connections? Will Stevie solve the cases? I have to start by saying that even though I've only read a few of her books (the Shades of London series), I adore the author Maureen Johnson, or at least what I know about her from her online personality, and what I saw in person once at ALA. She is fabulously quirky and fun. I saw a little bit of that personality in Stevie in the beginning of the book and then again about three quarters of the way t...

Title: The Cruel Prince Author: Holly Black I have read two other series by this author, one YA and one middle grade, and really enjoyed both. I've been interested in some of her other recent books, but have not had a chance to read them. Cover: I have seen three covers for this book: the one I have pictured, a variation of it that is black instead of white (Barnes and Noble exclusive, I think), and a purple one that shows a throne. I think all fit the book. Review: Once again, I have the unpopular opinion of not liking a book as much as the general populice seems too. Everywhere online I see people raving about how great this is, but I'm just kind of meh about it. The premise is that Jude and her sisters were taken in by a faerie when they were young, after said faerie killed their parents. Fast forward to when Jude and her twin are seventeen. Jude longs to be a faerie, to be like them, but for the most part, they are not treated well by the faeries around their ag...

Title: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Author: Mackenzi Lee Cover: I'm not sure that the cover properly represents the book, but the guy on the cover does look attractive and arrogant enough to be the main character. Review:  This book takes place some time in the 1700s, when a young respectable man is expected to take over his father's estate, and words such as homosexuality and bisexual were not in use. Monty is bisexual, has found himself in possession of strong feelings for him best friend, and his father is not accepting of this at all. Monty, his best friend Percy, and Monty's sister Felicity, are ready to set off on a Grand Tour across France and such, but Monty's father makes it clear that this will not be the party Monty thought it would be. And so they set off, with Monty's arrogance and ego in tow, and those cause trouble at each stop. At least, Monty does. They find adventure, danger, mystery, pirates...but will they find love? Thi...