The Writing Retreat

 

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz 320 pages

 

I go on a writing retreat once a year, so when I saw this title in the library, I had to check it out!

 

For the past year, Alex has had writer’s block. She blames it on her breakup with her girlfriend, Wren. The opening chapters set up how destructive Alex’s life is since the two are no longer together.

 

Ursula, a friend, enters one of her old stories into a writing contest. The Grand Prize is a month-long writer’s retreat led by Alex’s all-time favorite, feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Of course, she gets in, otherwise there would not be a novel. Alex is one of five women invited to the retreat. In addition to working with Roza, the winner will receive a publishing contract and a one-million-dollar reward. There is a lot at stake.

 

The retreat is held at Roza’s upstate New York estate, Blackbriar. Roza is eccentric and the women who care for her and her estate are also eccentric. That leads to a few weird rules and timeframes that seem impossible to meet. Each woman must write 3,000 new words for her novel and submit them to Roza everyday by midnight. If one of the women misses the deadline, she is invited to leave. That is a tough assignment for Alex who has not written a word in over a year.

 

Alex is in a frenzy. Wren is also there, so tensions are high. During the cocktail hour at the beginning of the retreat, Roza tells the group about the people who used to own Blackbriar. This opens a portal to the spirit of Daphne, the house’s former mistress. And that portal provides Alex with her novel.

 

In addition to watching the ladies write, all sorts of weird things begin to happen. The Writing Retreat has all the elements of a great gothic mystery. It also centers on the themes of friendship, creativity, courage and ambition.

 

Th plot is a little over the top for my tastes and too many graphic sex scenes. I’m not a prude, but it got old after a while. I was also disappointed that readers never learn the topics the other women are writing about. I loved the eeriness of Blackbrair and the author’s ability not to foreshadow too many of the happenings.

 

I had to know what happened, but not sure I would recommend this to anyone. Therefore, The Writing Retreat receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Tha Magic of Lemon Drop Pie

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden 352 pages

On a hot, hot summer day, there is nothing better than staying indoors with a light, fun book. “The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie” is the perfect book to read indoors, or for sun lovers, lying on the beach or in a hammock.

Lolly Blanchard is in a rut. When her mother died ten years ago, she put all her dreams on hold. She took over her mother’s role at the family’s diner and acts as a mother to her thirteen-year-old sister, Daphne. She rises before dawn every day to make the lemon meringue pies for which the diner is famous. She takes care of the books and runs the front of the house. Dad is the chef, but he is still so lost in his grief that he can barely function.

One day, Daphne discovers one of Lolly’s high school journals where she listed her life goals. Much to her dismay, she has not completed any of them, and it’s even harder that there are only five. Four big goals and one smaller goal, but still.

Lolly sinks into a funk. Her thirty-third birthday is just around the corner. The diner is slowly losing business and bills are hard to pay.

Great-Aunt Gert, an eccentric old woman, gives Lolly a most unusual birthday present:  three lemon drops. But these aren’t just any lemon drops; they are magical. Each one will give Lolly the opportunity to “live a single day in a life that might have been hers.”

Lolly uses the lemon drops to answer some of her biggest regrets. She decides to spend a day with her mother, open a restaurant overseas and made a life with the only man she has ever loved.

This was a sweet, sweet (no pun intended) story. The choices Lolly makes with the three lemon drops will open her eyes to see the new possibilities in her existing life. And on learning of a fourth lemon drop that will allow her to stay in one of those lives, Lolly discovers the strength and happiness she had no idea could be hers.

A light read for a sweltering day, “The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie” is the perfect beach read and receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

One Italian Summer

   One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle 272 pages 

I’ve spent ten days in Italy back in the summer of 1997. I threw coins in the Trevi Fountain, so hopefully its legend is true, and I’ll go back someday. In the meantime, I must settle for books that take place in the country of my ancestors.  

Author Serle sets her novel along the Amalfi Coast in the town of Positano. Her descriptions of the colorful houses and shops, the beauty of the clear ocean, the steep stairs that rival San Francisco’s hills, the bright sun and the cool breezes lacing through your hair made this reader feel as if she were there.

 

In the novel, Katy and her mother, Carol, had planned a trip to Positano for Carol’s sixtieth birthday. Unfortunately, Carol dies. Katy is devasted by the loss of the mother and best friend. After much persuading from her family and friends, Katy decides to go...alone. Upon her arrival, Katy is sure she has done the right thing; she can feel her mother’s spirit tagging along.  

The hotel is gorgeous, the views are heavenly (no pun intended) and the service is remarkable. Katy has a plan; to do all the things she and Carol had planned to do: visit Capri, shop, eat, drink, sunbath. It was to be the perfect getaway. 

In the hotel’s lobby, Katy meets a woman who looks exactly like her mother. No, it can’t be. She dresses, sounds and acts like Carol. Through some quirk of time travel, the woman is indeed her mother. Only she is thirty years old.  

Over the course of the novel, the two women bond. Katy learns to let go of her grief and realize that her mother’s spirit will always be with her. Learning to let go involves a romance... or two...as well as getting to know Carol in various other ways. 

“One Italian Summer” was a delightful read and a perfect getaway for those of us who won’t be traveling again this year. This book receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.  

The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All

The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All  by Josh Ritter 304 pages

The protagonist of songwriter Josh Ritter’s second novel is ninety-nine-year-old Weldon Applegate, lying on his deathbed in a hospital. Tubes are coming out of his arms, and he is on oxygen. He seems to this reader to be passing in and out of consciousness.

When he is out of it, Weldon returns to the forests of Cordelia, Idaho, almost a century earlier; back to a time when he was a child and the Applegates were considered the best lumberjacks in the industry. When his head is clear, he recounts a life of murder, mayhem, avalanches, bootlegging and all sorts of axe-swinging adventures.

Weldon’s father, Tom, was a lumberjack who promised his wife that he'd stay safe and never jack again. After his wife dies, he and Weldon move to Cordelia, a town full of lumberjacks and near the Lost Lot, a cursed tract of land that Tom owns. Tom works in the town general store but finds himself making a deal with a larger-than-life lumberjack-of-legend, Linden Laughlin, who turns out to be a devil in disguise. Weldon tells us the whole story in tall-tale style from those times through when technology and industry take over.

The story structure follows Weldon’s mental state, moving from one adventure to another without any division. I found this hard to follow. The language is rough, but realistic for the time period. It didn’t bother me, but I just didn’t like the story. For me, the action moved a snail’s pace, but I think it was me and not the story. I wasn’t as drawn in as I had hoped to be, but I will admit to learning a lot about lumberjacking. Therefore, “The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab  444 pages

Summary from Goodreads:  France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. 

And here's what I thought: I was SO happy to finally get this book -- I've been on the holds list forever!!!  And this story definitely did not disappoint -- I was sneaking pages here and there, staying up way too late reading . . .   definitely a story that I became immersed in really quickly. I thought the idea of the bargain that Addie makes was really imaginative and I liked the way the story moved back and forth in time, so you understand just how she is able to navigate through years of being alive.  The settings feel historically accurate and the characters are all believable, as well.  I don't know if I'd quite call this book a fantasy story --- more like magical realism mixed with some historical fiction?  I'll be adding this one to the list to add to my home collection.

The Ladies of the Secret Circus

The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers  454 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Paris, 1925: To enter the Secret Circus is to enter a world of wonder-a world where women tame magnificent beasts, carousels take you back in time, and trapeze artists float across the sky. But each daring feat has a cost. Bound to her family's strange and magical circus, it's the only world Cecile Cabot knows-until she meets a charismatic young painter and embarks on a passionate love affair that could cost her everything.

Virginia, 2005: Lara Barnes is on top of the world-until her fiancé disappears on their wedding day. Desperate, her search for answers unexpectedly leads to her great-grandmother's journals and sweeps her into the story of a dark circus and a generational curse that has been claiming payment from the women in her family for generations. 

And here's what I thought:  Secret circus? Sign me up!  If you like stories of circuses, and things like Cirque du Soleil, as well as dark fantasy, this is your book. I really enjoyed this book and the back-and-forth in time storytelling.  This circus is fascinating, but there's something very dark at play here and as the pages turn, more and more is revealed, bit by bit. A ticket may be something you want, but is it worth your soul?  Can you pay off a lifetime of bad acts by performing a circus act?  Definitely a dark story, and a bit of heartbreak here.  Smoothly paced, this story builds in intrigue with each page and there is a dark current running all the way through.

The Lost Apothecary

 The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner  320 Pages

 I am so glad (Y-A-W-N) that I didn’t start this spellbinding novel (Y-A-W-N) on a work night; I could not turn the pages fast enough. Author Penner uses dueling timelines and three heroines in the novel of poisons, potions, revenge, intrigue, betrayal and discovery.

The first timeline is London, February 3-11, 1791.  Nella continues her mother’s work in a hidden back alley apothecary shop. Her business is strictly word of mouth; the shop is hidden for one reason… to help women get rid of the men in their lives who have abused and/or betrayed them. As the novel opens, Nella is awaiting a new customer, the second heroine, Eliza to arrive. Eliza is on a mission of mercy from her employer. Eliza is captivated by Nella’s work and becomes her unwanted assistance.

The second timeline is London, present day. Caroline Parcewell has arrived in the city on her 10^th anniversary trip, sans husband James. She is devastated by James’s infidelity and must decide what course her marriage will now take.  The worst part is that Caroline and James had decided to try for a baby a few months earlier. Unwilling maintain the itinerary she had planned with James, she stumbles upon a group of mudlarkers about to embark on a new adventure. This group scours the muddy bank of the Thames, looking for items from long ago. A waylaid historian, Caroline joins the group and discovers a light blue vial with a single logo---that of a bear on all fours. The historian in Caroline’s heart bubbles to the surface and sends her on a journey that will lead her to her true self.

I highly recommend The Lost Apothecary, which receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Starless Sea

 The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern  498 pages

"Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.

A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery."

Okay, this is a long summary for a book that while lengthy, doesn't have much story to its story. Which is funny, since it's a story about stories. But it is very, very beautifully written and if you can keep track of who is who, and some of the intertwined storylines, it's a fantastic read. What does the bee mean? The key? Who are these people that Zachary meets and can he trust any of them? The story will shift beneath your feet so don't trust that you can trust anything -- just follow the threads as best you can. I re-read this book for a book group meeting and mentioned that reading this is like listening to classical music where the composer has a line --- a string of notes or a melody -- that you hear and then follow through the entire piece. If it's Mozart or Bach, the notes are sometimes hard to recognize because they may be in a different key or backwards, but part of the pleasure of listening is to try to find them.  And so it is with this book.

The Midnight Library

 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig  288 pages

"Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?"

Nora Seed finds herself facing these questions one night when she has decided she'd tired of being alive. Faced with choices in her books in the Midnight Library, Nora has the opportunity to undo some of her regrets. But does that mean a happy life? Nora will be required to reach deep inside herself to determine if any of these lives are truly worth living.

I liked this book enough to buy it after I read the Library's copy -- which tells you it's pretty good. I really enjoyed this book and not only the story, itself, but the writing. I found Nora to be an interesting character and the way the story progresses, you go along with her as she explores the different possible lives she can lead. Definitely some parts that made me get a lump in my throat --- but that's a good story that does that.

The Starless Sea

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern   498 pages

"Built from fables, myths, and fairy tales, Morgenstern's long-awaited second fantastical novel (following The Night Circus) delves into a vast subterranean library, the Harbor on the Starless Sea, a giant, maze-like, subterranean library where all languages are comprehensible to everyone, and time moves differently. Its wonders include moving statues, edible stories, and a sea made of honey. Narrative-obsessed grad student Zachary Rawlins happens upon an old, authorless collection in the campus library. Among the tales of an improbable land of books and their devotees is an anecdote from Zachary's own childhood, a time when he found a magical door but chose to walk away, disbelieving. Desperate to understand and longing for a second chance at adventure, Zachary investigates and finds a literary party thrown by a secret society. He goes through a painted door in Central Park and into the Harbor itself, now long past its heyday and mostly deserted. Aboveground, the secret society is trying to close as many doors as possible, hoping to keep the Starless Sea hidden. Aided by otherworldly Mirabel, whose motives and history are obscure, and alluring Dorian, a former society member who opposes the closing of the doors, Zachary works to understand how the Harbor fell into disrepair and what he can do to protect it. He also learns what it means to be not just a reader but a part of the story, and what happens after that story ends."  Summary from Publisher's Weekly because I absolutely could not figure out how to summarize this story in a way that made sense.

I have read and re-read The Night Circus several times, so I had looked forward to this book --- and absolutely was not disappointed.  For the first time in a long time, I wound up reading slowly, taking in bits of the story at a time, instead of whipping my way through the story. This could have been partly because I had a pretty awful cold for a week and was sleeping more than I was reading.  Beautifully written, this book reads like Morgenstern crafted it, instead of just writing it. Words are chosen with care to create beautiful, evocative descriptions and each chapter unfolds a little more of the story.  So, it's reading a beautifully written book about stories, which seems tailored for those readers who love fables, fairy tales, magical realism and magic.  This is a book I plan to buy so I can read it again and again.  

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe

 Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber   336 pages

Anna Kate has come home to Wicklow, Alabama. Not really home for her, but it is where her Granny Zee lived all her life and where she owned and operated The Blackbird Café. Now that Granny Zee has died, it’s up to Anna Kate to run the café for three months before she can sell it, close it, or do what she wants with it.  Luckily, it’s summertime, and Anna Kate doesn’t have to head back to Boston where she will enter medical school.

The townspeople are very interested in Anna Kate. Seems like the majority of those who frequent the café never even knew Zee had a granddaughter until Anna Kate showed up. Anna Kate’s mother left town shortly after a car accident that killed her boyfriend, son of a prominent family, and never looked back.

The café is one of the center pieces…a place to grab a bite, as well as the magic that can be found in the blackbird pies. Anna Kate jumps right in and learns the restaurant business and takes over the pie-baking. There’s a secret to the blackbird pies.

If a person eats a piece of the café’s blackbird pie, she/he will receive a message from a departed loved one.  It work. Many of the local townspeople are there when the café opens for breakfast to make sure the pies don’t sell out before they can get a piece.

The a flock of birders start showing up to see and hear the blackbirds that live in the mulberry tree behind the café. They only come out at midnight, singing their haunting melody and bridging the gap between this world and the next.  As rumors of the rare blackbird sightings spread among bird lovers acros the world, Wicklow becomes more and more of a tourist destination.

The Anna Kate has to come face-to-face with one of the town’s most prominent families, the Lindens. Seems she looks exactly like their late son, AJ, who was killed in the aforementioned accident. Having moved around most of her life, seldom staying in one place more than two years, Anna Kate can’t decide if she wants a relationship with her new-found family or not.

Anna Kate has a lot of decisions to make in the next three months.  Readers of this sweet little  stor will love to follow along as Anna Kate charts new territories in almost every aspect of her life.  I was never sure how Anna Kate knew so much about Wicklow since she had never visited the tiny town. That’s why “Midnight at the Blackbird Café” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Book Charmer

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins   368 pages

The small town of Dove Pond, North Carolina, is slowly dying. Most of the shops and businesses have all moved away. But the people who live ther love it; generations of their families have called it home.

Sarah Dove is one such person. A descendant of the town’s founders and the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Sarah has a special gift. Most people in the town know that she has a unique ability to find the right book for the right person at the moment they need it. But what most people don’t know is that the books talk to her. Sarah and the books don’t have conversations, but Sarah understands the noises they make. It’s really kinda cute. No wonder she became the town librarian.

Recently a new family has moved in down the street: Grace Wheeler, her foster mother Mama G, and her neice, Daisy. Sarah feels, and the books confirm, that Grace is the one who can save Dove Pond.

Grace has other plans. She left a high paying, successful job in finance to care for Mama G, the woman who took in Grace and her sister, Hannah, when no one else wanted them. It wasn’t easy trying to raise two very angry little girls. Now that Mama G has been diagnosed with dementia, Grace is taking her to her hometown of Dove Pond.

Grace has vowed she will only stay a year. She vows not to get involved in making friends and especially not to get involved witht the motorcycle-riding bad boy who lives next door and sends shock waves pulsing through her body when their eyes meet.

I found Grace’s vow alittle strange in that who knows how long Mama G might live. And then there is Daisy. An angry little girl whose mother died and left her. Since there wasn’t a father in the picture, it’s up to Grace to raise Daisy. She doesn’t seem to have any ideas what to do with her, much less if she takes yer back to Raleigh and her eighty-hour-a-work-week lifestyle.

But I need not to have worried too much. Grace, reluctantly, becomes the head committee chairperson of a local festival. The festival is important to the town, it’s tradition to host it every year. The townspeople won’t let it die, no matter what.

All these struggles make “The Book Charmer” a sweet read. I feel that the title  of the novel is a bit misleading because Sarah, the book charmer, is a secondary protagonist.  I expected more of Sarah. I wasn’t overly happy with the ending, But it does set the characters and the town up for a sequel.  Therefore, receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Finding Baba Yaga

Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen, 141 pages

“You think you know this story. You do not. A harsh, controlling father. A quiescent mother. A house that feels like anything but a home. Natasha gathers the strength to leave, and comes upon a little house in the wood: A house that walks about on chicken feet and is inhabited by a fairytale witch. In finding Baba Yaga, Natasha finds her voice, her power, and herself.... A contemporary retelling of an iconic myth about a young woman discovering her voice by a beloved and prolific American storyteller.” I’m not sure that I really liked this very much.  I honestly don’t know who I would give this to either.  I love fairy tales and horror and books in verse have grown on me some and this book has all of that but I didn’t care for it.  I also generally like books by Yolen.  This book was dark and kind of predictable.  It ended up being more hopeful, but it didn’t feel that way.  I think that the contradiction in that bothered me. 

Metropolitan Stories

Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson    208 pages

I’m not a huge television watcher, but I do enjoy watching the behind-the-scenes shows at zoos. Watchers get to take a peek behind the curtain at what it takes to care for the thousands of animals in their care. Fascinating stuff.

I feel the same way about Christine Coulson’s new novel, “Metropolitian Stories.” From a writer who worked at that renown institution for more than 25 years, reads are taken through to the offices, the storage rooms, the cafeteria and what seems to a million-mile labyrinth of hallways that connect the myriad of buildings, galleries and studios. On the down side, I had no real idea of where the vignettes were actually happening, and that confused me a bit. But it didn’t stop me from reading.

 I loved all the stories, but my favorite is “Meats and Cheeses.” It involves a 4,000-year-old leg of lamb. The narrator, Kate, is on a mission of a different kind, but winds up in a room full of hats---all types from pith helmets to straw boaters. Hebe and Helen, who work in the room, are a

riot. It seems that Kate’s, who has only been with the Met about a year, main job is to deliver the yellow interoffice envelopes known as “cheeses.” She is following a hand-drawn map and trying to get a sign off for a China exhibition’s title wall.  I won’t write anymore as I may give it away, but Kate’s adventures through the maze of hallways looking for a blue door is the perfect story for readers to understand the complexity of working at the Met.

Light-hearted, full of whimsy and just plain fun, I give “Metropolitan Stories” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

What You Left Me

What You Left Me by Bridget Morrissey, 287 pages

“If I Stay meets While You Were Sleeping in this beautiful and heartbreaking novel told in dual perspectives about friendship, family, and all the other threads that bind us together. Martin and Petra meet for the first time at graduation, and though they've shared the halls of their high school for four years without crossing paths, there's an instant connection the moment they're seated next to each other at the commencement ceremony. Then a car accident puts Martin into a coma; and Petra is somehow left picking up the pieces, using friends, family, and shared dreams to keep their surprise connection going. Together they must unlock the truth of his situation, and with time running out, their bond becomes Martin's best shot at waking back up to the life he's left behind.”  This book is one that will make you think.  I liked it, but it was also very sad so it was a difficult book to read.  Teens that like magical realism and don’t mind a sad story will like it.

The Woman in the Lake

The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick     320 pages

From Goodreads:

London, 1765

Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.

Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

250 Years Later…

When a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at its foundations by the gown’s power over her until she can't tell what is real and what is imaginary.

As Fen uncovers more about the gown and Isabella’s story, she begins to see the parallels with her own life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gown—and its past—seems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic revelation set to destroy her sanity.

My Review:

I was invested in this book right out of the gate. It was so interesting and the back and forth between past and present was really cool and intriguing. 

I loved the mystery that was threaded throughout the story. The bizarre nature of the gown and what it might be capable of was such a subtle threat and the suspense that was paired with it really moved the story along.

I thought the characterization was really strong in the three main women. There was good depth built for each and they each have their own personal quirks that differentiate them from each other. I think what I like most is that each woman is strong in their own way and they are each the hero of their own story.

Overall it's a really nicely structured mystery historical fiction and I highly recommend it.

American Street

American Street by Ibi Zoboi     324 pages

From Goodreads:

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.

But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.

Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream? 

Wow, this book really packs a punch! I did not have any idea the book would end up where it did. Zoboi does an excellent job of slowly building tension, of taking a single issue and branching it out, weaving it into a network of issues so tangled that you, the reader, can't imagine what the best path would be to take. You can only sit back and hope that Fabiola makes it out okay, and preferably gets her mother back. The writing is excellent, every character with strong, distinct voices creating a tightly woven fabric of family, because, after all, it's what you you do for fam.

I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book because it was so sad. I don't like reading sad books. But it's an important look into immigrant life in America, and of a particular city that has suffered much at the hands of gentrification. Fabiola's story is powerful, evocative, and it demands reading.

Hurricane Child

Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callendar     256 pages

"Twelve-year-old Caroline is a Hurricane Child, born on Water Island during a storm. Coming into this world during a hurricane is unlucky, and Caroline has had her share of bad luck already. She's hated by everyone in her small school, she can see things that no one else can see, and -- worst of all -- her mother left home one day and never came back. With no friends and days filled with heartache, Caroline is determined to find her mother. When a new student, Kalinda, arrives, Caroline's luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, seems to see the things Caroline sees, too. Joined by their common gift, Kalinda agrees to help Caroline look for her mother, starting with a mysterious lady dressed in black. Soon, they discover the healing power of a close friendship between girls."

This book was not for me. Not only were the main characters unlikable, but the themes in this story seemed much too heavy to be geared toward young readers (now, I know, depending on where children grow up and what their sexual orientation is, or what their home life is like, this story isn't any worse than what they've experienced, but the way this story is written doesn't seem like it would bring a reader in, especially a young reader. The writing style, to me, doesn't seem as if it were written for the age the main character is, but this is my opinion). I will just say that I don't know what kind of reader I would ever be able to recommend this book to, because the story is challenging, the narrative is a bit all over the place, and there is not much of a plot.

Hurricane Child

Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender, 214 pages

“Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother.” This book was hard to read for me.  The topic was a little tough, first of all, and the characters just didn’t hold my interest as much as I want. I really disliked some of them too.  I liked the story and it was executed fairly well, but it moved a little slowly in parts.  Overall, I’m not sure that I would seek out other books by the author or recommend this to kids, but I can’t say that I’m sorry that I read it.