Description: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
   But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Description: During her freshman year at college, Anna Xu investigates the unsolved on-campus murder of her former babysitter, as she and an old rival have to team up to look into the hate crimes happening around campus.

Description: When Harper Proulx and her newfound sibling travel to Hawaii to track down their sperm donor father, the man she discovers--a deep-sea diver obsessed with solving the mystery of a shipwreck--forces Harper to face some even bigger questions.Harper Proulx's life revolves around her boyfriend Ezra, what ifs, Instagram, and comments from her driven single mother who likes to show her off as a 'well done' project. Like many teens obsessed with social media, Harper gets tiny boosts of confidence when she receives likes and comments on her Instagram posts. When she comes across a photo of Dario who shares similar physical features with her, she beings to wonder about MF--her Maybe Father. She reaches out to Dario, the two meet up, and she realizes that her mother has withheld information from her. Soon she is swept off to Hawaii with her other half siblings to find their sperm donor father.

Description: After failing to come into her powers, Voya--a Black witch living in near-future Toronto--is forced to choose between losing her family's magic forever, a heritage steeped in centuries of blood and survival, or murdering her first love, a boy who is supposedly her genetic match.

Description: Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for. Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there? The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

Description: Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world's best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years--summers included--completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige, and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire.
    Among this year's incoming class is Ines Murillo, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline--only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. Even the school's enigmatic director, Viktoria, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves within the formidable iron gates of Catherine. For Ines, it is the closest thing to a home she's ever had. But the House's strange protocols soon make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when tragedy strikes, Ines begins to suspect that the school--in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence--might be hiding a dangerous agenda within the secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.

Description: Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and home schooled by strict grandparents, she’s cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel.
    In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide. The hotel’s charismatic young van driver shares the same nocturnal shift and patronizes the waterfront Moonlight Diner where she waits for the early morning ferry after work. Daniel also shares her appetite for intrigue, and he’s stumbled upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—might be secretly meeting someone at the hotel. To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell…discovering that the most confounding mystery of all may be her growing feelings for the elusive riddle that is Daniel.

Review: After loving Alex, Approximately and Starry Night by Jenn Bennett, I have been really looking forward to another great contemporary romance. Unfortunately her latest novel, Serious Moonlight, which features a mystery and a romance fell completely flat for me.
  The book is set in Seattle, Washington where Birdie Lindberg is a home schooled and extremely sheltered teen with narcolepsy. After the death of her single mother, Birdie was raised by her grandparents and her wild, eccentric-artist "Aunt" Mona. Birdie is great at solving mysteries and lives vicariously through her novels, but she can  not find her footing in real life. On the surface Birdie is a character that I would have loved as I too was a mystery loving teen, but she read far too young for an eighteen year old. I understood her awkwardness but I never felt connected to her. When the book opens we find out that Birdie had very first sexual encounter with a boy she just met and ghosted him, which kick starts this novel. I had a very hard time believing that a teen so sheltered would do this when all of her personality descriptions suggest otherwise. 
  We met Birdie's mysterious boy, Daniel Aoki, when Birdie begins working the graveyard shift at the historic Cascadia Hotel, where Daniel drives the hotel van. He wants to understand what happened between them, but Birdie just wants to forget. Still, she can't resist his invitation to help solve an intriguing puzzle about a local author who takes great pains to hide his identity in weekly visits to the hotel, and their sleuthing takes them all over the city.
  I thought Daniel was adorable, but he was not fleshed out as I had hoped. Bennett attempts to balance a happy, breezy love interest and one who is battling depression. I had hoped the mental health aspect would be further explored but it is not. I appreciated once again the inclusion of diversity of Daniel being half Japanese and half white with a hearing difficulty. Overall I felt pretty underwhelmed with this book and I did not feel surprised with the final reveal of the mystery either.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There is some language, sex is referenced and implied, and weed candy is consumed. Recommended for Grades

If you like this book try: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Description: Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”

Review: The Raven's Tale is a fictionalized account of Edgar Allen Poe's teen years.  Edgar “Eddy” Poe is desperate to escape the suffocating life of upper-crust Richmond, Virginia. He is looking forward to going to college and being free to follow his passion for poetry as well as getting away from his controlling foster father. The passionate and talented Edgar is close to achieving his goal when she appears. A girl in a dress of ashes and raven feathers, she is Eddy’s muse, whom he names Lenore. Lenore is fierce, powerful, and hungry for words, but she needs Eddy to commit to her so she can evolve from her new frail human form into a higher being. Poe has to decide whether or not he can continue his artistic expression or live his life without it.
   The story is narrated by Poe and his personified muse in alternating chapters. Edgar and Lenore share the present-tense narration in distinctive first-person voices. Several of Poe’s most well-known works are given the nod in the narrative, however, I found the alternating chapters at first engaging, but I soon found it tedious and repetitive. There is not much character growth for Poe as he whines and complains about his financial woes. I also found the discussion surrounding the family slaves to be troubling and problematic. I normally really like Cat Winter's infusion of supernatural into her stories, but The Raven's Tale was unfortunately a complete miss for me.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing images and underage drinking. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: Blood red Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick

Description: Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents’ expectations, but lately she’s finding that harder and harder to do. She rolls her eyes instead of screaming when they blatantly favor her brother and she dresses conservatively at home, saving her crop tops and makeup for parties her parents don’t know about. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life in Seattle and her new life at Caltech, where she can pursue her dream of becoming an engineer.
  But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, all of Rukhsana’s plans fall apart. Her parents are devastated; being gay may as well be a death sentence in the Bengali community. They immediately whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh, where she is thrown headfirst into a world of arranged marriages and tradition. Only through reading her grandmother’s old diary is Rukhsana able to gain some much needed perspective. Rukhsana realizes she must find the courage to fight for her love, but can she do so without losing everyone and everything in her life?

Review: Like many first generation of American immigrant teens Rukhsana is straddling two cultures-her Bengali culture and her American culture. The push and pull of pleasing her conservative parents and following her individual desires of pursuing college of Caltech and no longer hiding her girlfriend, Ariana is exhausting and hard. Rukhsana is a relatable character and who is a glimmer of a reflection rather than a clear mirror. This is mainly due to the debut author pitfalls in this book. We are told about Rukhsana's struggles with her Bengali culture, in particular with making her girlfriend and her friends understand why is it not easy for her to come out to her parents. Similarly, we are told how Rukhsana's family would be ostracized by their community if Rukhsana came out. I wished both of these important topics were fleshed out because they serve as the driving source for the novel. I also wanted to explore more of the Bengali culture besides the overdone gender double standards as well as the girl marries as soon as she is college bound cliche.
   The plot also meanders. The first three quarters of the book follow Rukhsana hiding her sexuality until she is caught making out with her girlfriend at home. Soon she is whisked away to Bangladesh under false pretenses to get married to a boy and attempts at exorcism of a jinn who is responsible for her homosexuality. In the last quarter we get backstories of Rukhsana's maternal grandmother who endured a child marriage, rape and physical abuse from her husband while being helpless in watching her daughter (Rukhsana's mother) be sexually abused. This attempt to ground the story and perhaps give context to the conservative upbringing are clunky because readers are not given a sufficient, balanced overview of the culture as a whole. What really left a bad impression on me is how an LGBTQ+ character's death served as a plot device and allowed Rukhsana's parents to do a complete three hundred and sixty degrees in accepting their daughter's love and life choice. Again there is an attempt to tell readers the dangers of being LGBTQ+ individual in Bangladesh rather than showing it.
  While I am beyond thrilled that more Muslim voices are being written and some even feature LGBTQ+ characters, I am still looking for a great title to support. The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali fails to fully explore the entire intersectionality of its main character. It might be great to have now, but we definitely need better.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There are mentions of homophobic and Islamophobic comments, language, and underage drinking, rape, and sexual abuse. Recommended for Grades 9 and up

If you like this book try: Autoboyography by Christina Lauren, Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

Description: In this retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry--until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider. A scandal and vicious rumor in the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won't make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and start having children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire them to dream of more. When an invitation arrives to the biggest wedding their small town has seen in years, Mrs. Binat excitedly sets to work preparing her daughters to fish for eligible--and rich--bachelors, certain that their luck is about to change. On the first night of the festivities, Alys's lovely older sister, Jena, catches the eye of one of the most eligible bachelors. But his friend Valentine Darsee is clearly unimpressed by the Binat family. Alys accidentally overhears his unflattering assessment of her, and quickly dismisses him and his snobbish ways. But as the days of lavish wedding parties unfold, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal--and Alys begins to realize that Darsee's brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.

Review: I had a very hard time reading Unmmariageable. I so very much wanted to read a fun, insightful retelling of Pride and Prejudice from my culture. My expectations were too high and instead I read what seemed like a very poor fan fiction of Pride and Prejudice without the charm, wit, and keen cultural criticism which made the original a classic.
  The author's writing was solid when it came to the description of events and showing how the world of Austen is not far from Pakistan's culture where woman are still defined by the clothes she wears and who she marries though she does not provide social context to readers who are unfamiliar with Pakistani culture. There are attempts at calling attention to fat shaming and the absurd ideal of beauty but it falls flat. The plot closely follows the original, but the characters are ridiculously named and much like a poke instead of a nudge of addressing the characters, completely flat and unlikable. Even our famous pairing is lopsided in which Alysbeth is completely annoying and insufferable that I had no idea why Darsee would be interested in her at all. There is no character development of Darsee and the romance between any of the characters is virtually nonexistent. Definitely skip this one and watch Bride and Prejudice for a South Asian spin on the classic. 

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong language, mention of drug and alcohol abuse, mentions of sexual situations and abortions, and crude sexual humor. Recommended to adults and older teens.

If you like this book try: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Description: Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There's the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: a good school, an arranged marriage. And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school, living in New York City, pursuing the boy she's liked for ages. But unbeknownst to Maya, there is a danger looming beyond her control. When a terrorist attack occurs in another Midwestern city, the prime suspect happens to share her last name. In an instant, Maya's community, consumed by fear and hatred, becomes unrecognizable, and her life changes forever.

Review: I was really looking forward to picking up Samira Ahmed's debut novel, Love, Hate & Other Filters because it featured a Muslim main character, took place in Illinois, and tackled Islamophobia. While I did like some aspects of the book and think it is worthwhile to read, I did have several issues with it.
Maya Aziz wants to go to film school and attend NYU to pursue her dreams of being a documentary filmmaker. She secretly applied to NYU and got accepted, but her parents think she will attend a local college. With her parents expectations combined with anti-Muslim backlash from a recent terror attack threatens to derail Maya's dream. 

Description: Shabnam Qureshi is a funny, imaginative Pakistani-American teen attending a tony private school in suburban New Jersey. When her feisty best friend, Farah, starts wearing the headscarf without even consulting her, it begins to unravel their friendship. After telling a huge lie about a tragedy that happened to her family during the Partition of India in 1947, Shabnam is ready for high school to end. She faces a summer of boredom and regret, but she has a plan: Get through the summer. Get to college. Don’t look back. Begin anew.
  Everything changes when she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt’s pie shack, and meets her there every afternoon. Shabnam begins to see Jamie and herself like the rose and the nightingale of classic Urdu poetry, which, according to her father, is the ultimate language of desire. Jamie finds Shabnam fascinating—her curls, her culture, her awkwardness. Shabnam finds herself falling in love, but Farah finds Jamie worrying.
  With Farah’s help, Shabnam uncovers the truth about Jamie, about herself, and what really happened during Partition. As she rebuilds her friendship with Farah and grows closer to her parents, Shabnam learns powerful lessons about the importance of love, in all of its forms.

Review: I had high hopes for Karim's That Thing We Call a Heart especially with two starred reviews from two esteem journals, Kirkus and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, but unfortunately for me the book fell flat in its execution.
  Shabnam is a secular Muslim who doesn't feel any attachments to Islam or her Pakistani culture in general. She feels comfortable fading into the background and just wants to get through her senior year of high school without any incidents so she can finally live her life on her own terms in college. Shabnam's summer before college brings lots of challenges and questions. Although she and her best friend Farah were once practically sisters, there's a distance between them now that Farah has chosen to wear hijab. Farah's bold and visual stance on religion draws attention to both her and Shabnam.
  I appreciated the variation of Muslim representation in the book. I didn't mind that Shabnam was not religious but her snide running commentary got on my nerves. Her careless actions, self absorbed personality, and her spineless personality is what I disliked most about Shabnam. She would not stand up for her best friend or even for her ethnicity when they were attacked in a tasteless Islamophobic jokes. I frankly lost respect for her and I did not understand why Farah, a vibrant character, would ever be best friends with her.
 Unlike Shabnam, Farah was a much more complex character that I wished got more page time. While she wears the hijab, she also has issues with religion and Pakistani culture. She talks about her frustrations of being perceived as 'not Muslim enough for her Muslim friends and too religious to her non-Muslim friends' due to her fashion statements and actions. I would have loved to get to know more of her and I wished the book spent more time juxtaposing Shabnam and Farah as it seems to indicate in the book's description.
 Regrettably, the book spends a lot more time on Shabnam's romance with Jamie, a boy she bumps into at the mall. The romance falls completely flat and insta-lovey as Shabnam is smitten quickly by being called "beautiful" a handful of times. Jamie feels more like a plot device than a fleshed out character. He comes off as a carefree person, but to me, he felt as someone who wanted to check off 'date an exotic brown girl' off his dating bucket list. It irritated me that Shabnam is willing to sleep with Jamie despite only being acquainted with him for twelve days and not knowing anything about his past, his family, or even his present/future. Her shock of her relationship status of being a summer fling was very anticlimactic.
  Karim makes a point to include the 1947 Partition between India and Pakistan as well as including famous Urdu poets in the story, but both of these story threads would have added a much needed layer of depth to this story, but they were used superfluously and did not add much to Shabnam's character development besides maintaining her exotic status in Jamie's eyes and those of her classmates. I was really looking forward to an exploration of what it means to be a Muslim American teen in That Thing We Call a Heart, but I only found glimpses of it in this book.  

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong language, underage drinking, drug use, and crude sexual humor in the book. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah, I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amélie Sarn

Description: The students of Gotham's most prestigious prep school are back and they've just survived one heck of a year within the walls of Gotham Academy. Now it's time for everyone to look back and experience some of the lost adventures from the school year that was.

Review: It is hard to call Gotham Academy Volume 3 a "volume" since it contains six meandering short stories that are written and illustrated by different graphic novelists. There were only a handful of stories that I liked and many others I disliked. While I liked the concept of the yearbook I was surprised how early it released considering how many unanswered questions that surfaced with the first two volumes of this series. What made reading this volume difficult is the inconsistency with the narrative text and the artwork of different graphic novelists who take a crack at the Detective Club. Overall this volume felt disjointed and I did not enjoy it.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There is some PG-13 violence in the graphic novel. Recommended for Grade 7 and up.


Description: When you're Gotham Academy student Olive Silverlock, winter holidays can be a drag. Luckily, when a new student shows up at Gotham Academy to keep her company while the other students are away, Olive finds what could be a brand new friend...or a whole lot of trouble. And when Maps, Kyle, Colton, Pomeline and the rest of the students of Gotham's #1 prep school return for a new semester, the adventures are twice as mysterious and twice as dangerous!

Review: I am not sure if Gotham Academy Second Semester is a spin off series for Gotham Academy or a continuation of the overarching story. All of our main characters return to a new semester. I was a bit hesitant to read this one since I was really disappointed with Gotham Academy Vol. 3, but ended up really enjoying this one. The plot and tension of this volume is a slow burn. Olive has a new roommate that starts to have a negative effect on her. We also have a small mystery where students have been brainwashed and kidnapped by a disgruntled teacher. At first glance I thought the graphic novel was pretty average since I figured the mystery early on but as I read on I was glad to discover a twist in the last half of the story. We get more background information on Olive's family history, what fuels her dark side, and there is a new romance development that I'm very curious to see where it goes. Luckily, the romance is not a love triangle. The volume does end on a cliffhanger so it might be a while to read what happens next. Gotham Academy Second Semester returns to the dark, gothic mystery setting that first grabbed my attention and made me curious about this series. I am glad that it is back on track.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong violence in the book. Recommended for strong Grade 8 readers and up.

If you like these books try: The Nameless City series by Faith Erin Hicks

When I was at the ALA Annual Conference, I talked to the Penguin Random House representative who spoke highly of DC's new imprint called the Young Animal which was created by Gerard Way, the leader singer of My Chemical Romance. I asked the representative about the imprint's targeted audience and content which he suggested were appropriate for teens. I wanted to find out for myself and asked for his suggestion on where to start. He told me he is a big fan of  Shade, the Changing Girl by Cecil Castellucci. When I saw it was an advanced copy was available for review on Netgalley I thought I would try it. Shade, The Changing Girl, will be published on July 18, 2017.


Description: Far away on the planet Meta, Loma's going nowhere fast. She's dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend and is bored out of her mind. She longs to feel things. That's where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come in. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer.

Description: There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: the boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: the brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose the Nice or the Bad?
  Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be—whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die. What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

Review: The Love Interest was one of my most anticipated debut novels of 2017. I was super excited for a diverse spy novel that flips familiar book tropes. Sadly, despite a fantastic premise the book is a major let down and disappoints in many ways.
Caden is a spy. He's spent most of his life so far in an underground facility called the Love Interest Compound, being groomed physically and mentally to become a Love Interest for someone influential. His job is to woo the candidate and win her trust while also divulging her secrets to the Compound who will later sell the information to the highest bidder. The concept of the Love Interest Compound is really cool, but the world building is unfortunately undeveloped. I had many unresolved questions regarding its creation and purpose. I did find it interesting though that the institution goes as far as altering the Love Interest physical features with surgery to ensure physical attraction, which reminded me very much of the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, and tagging them with a tracker much like we do to our pets. After a very long time Caden has been chosen and pegged as a Nice, the nerdy-boy-next-door type. He is given a script and plays the role as Juliet's long lost friend. 

Description: Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.
  Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

Review: The best way I could describe The Bone Witch would be a mash-up between fantasy and Memoirs of a Geisha. While an original concept, I had a really hard time getting into this book. It read as a very long prologue as this is clearly the first book in a series. 
 Tea is an asha, known for performing, fighting, and magic. Ashas are revered for their talents yet treated as outcasts and feared by their kingdoms. Tea stumbles upon being an asha when she accidentally raises her dead brother Fox. The narrative is split into two timelines. The past timeline details Tea’s early training as an asha and the future timeline shows a hardened, cynical Tea on a lonely beach raising monsters and planning war, relating her past to a nameless bard. I didn't mind the back and forth timelines as they were easily to distinguish the two and I also found the world building confusing but fascinating as the author combines several Asian influences into her book. I also liked the concept surrounding the heartglass which dictates a person's emotions and intentions. 
  The book is very slow pace and I mostly skimmed much of it as it could not hold my attention. We are told in the beginning about a dark force descending upon Tea's people, however, we don't hear of it until the last 100 pages in the story where all the action seemed to happen all at once. There is surprisingly very little magic performed in the book which I found disappointing. I also found some of the secondary characters such as Fox and Tea's mentor to be much more interesting than Tea herself. Tea was stubborn and headstrong and there were a few times she came across as very young. I really liked Chupeco's debut novel, The Girl from the Well, and I will keep an eye out for what she writes in the future, however, I struck out with this new series and don't plan to continue it.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing images. Recommended for Grades 7 and up.

If you like this book try: Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Description: Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
  Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?
  For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her. And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself. As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear—the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

Review: The Crown's Game was one of the most hyped books of 2016. I kept seeing it everywhere on the blogosphere and on booktuber's channels. I did a pretty good job dodging these titles, but alas curiosity got the best of me again. The Crown's Game did not wow me at all and despite its cool premise, it left me wanting more. 
 In an alternate 19th-century Russia, the tsar can call upon the abilities of an enchanter. Normally, only one exists at a time. In the rare case that two are born, they must compete, because Russia's inherent magic will allow only one to remain alive. Vika is an expert at controlling the elements and has been training her whole life to serve her country, unaware that another enchanter exists. Nikolai, best friend to the tsar's son, Pasha, has been training with his mentor explicitly for the Crown's Game. When the game begins, Vika and Nikolai take turns showing off their magical prowess for the tsar, creating wonders that get more powerful with each turn until the Crown Game finally begins.
 I didn't care for any of the characters in the Crown's Game and I found them so bland, one dimensional for my tastes. Furthermore Nikolai and Pasha seemed interchangeable to me until the author would point out their different social statuses. I expected Vika and Nikolai to have some suspicions about one another, but to my dismay they quickly became friends and starting to fall for one another. The "magic show" felt like I was watching a Disney montage instead of both enchanters displaying their strengths. Also it was so obvious that Nikolai, Vika, and Pasha would form a love triangle. Overall I felt very bored for most of the book and was further disappointed when the author seems to find a loop hole into her own premise of how only one enchanter can survive. Needless to say I will not continue this series.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: Infidelity and child born out of wedlock are mentioned in the story. There is also a scene at a bar. Recommended for strong Grade 8 readers and up.

If you like this book try: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo

Description: Have you ever had a grumpy day and not known why? Penguin is having a grumpy day like that. No matter what he does, he just can't shake it! Sometimes the only thing left to do is wash the grumpy day away and start over.

Review: We all have bad days where we are moody, sad, and grumpy. We can easily sympathize with Penguin who is in a very bad mood. He simply can't shake his grumpiness. He stomps inside and begins shedding layers. Off come the "grumpy boots," "grumpy overalls," even his "grumpy underpants." Unfortunately taking off his grumpy clothes doesn't put him in a better mood. He tries several things to help him feel better. After a nice cold shower, putting on some cozy pajamas, having a warm cup of cocoa to drink, reading his favorite book, and having a teddy bear by his side soon melts Penguin's grumpiness away. frown But not even stripping down to his birthday suit can brighten his disposition. 
 The simple text and illustrations captures Penguin's emotions. Younger readers will have a great time laughing at Penguin as he tries to brighten up his mood. The images and texts brighten as Penguin gets better and things start to look up. It's nice reminder that bad moods and bad days thankfully don't last forever. 

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: None. Recommended for Grades PreK-1.

If you like this book try: Leave Me Alone! by Vera Brosgol


Description: Your baby's first word will be ..."Dada!"  Right? Everyone knows that fathers wage a secret campaign to ensure that their babies' first word is "Dada!" But how does it work?
One of the most popular entertainers in the world and NBC's The Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon, shows you how.

Review: I'm a fan of the Tonight Show so I decided to check out Jimmy Fallon's picture book. While the illustrations are cute, there really is no story. It's a repetitive narrative of a male parent trying to get his child to say Dada as his/her first word and failing miserably. It was funny for the first few pages but then it got old really quick.

Rating: 2 stars

Words of Caution: None. Recommended for Grades PreK-1.

If you like this book try: Me and Dad by Maria Catherine, Because I'm Your Dad by Ahmet Zappa


Description:  Hearing, smelling, seeing, touching, tasting--our five senses allow us to experience the world in so many ways! With our ears we hear the birds sing; with our nose we smell the stinky cheese; with our eyes we see the moon and stars (and sometimes glasses help us see even better!); with our skin we feel the rain (and learn not to touch the hot stove!); and with our tongue we can taste our favorite foods.

Review: This is a great introduction to the five senses for younger readers. The author presents the five senses in a large-format featuring several small pictures of children on every spacious double-page spread. Each of the book’s five sections focuses on one of the senses, illustrated by a large, multicultural cast of toddler and preschool characters which was really nice to see. Like the simple texts, the illustrations are also whimsical and charming. The white space on the pages allow the reader to focus on the individual characters displaying the senses will help younger readers make the connection between the action and the senses.  I Hear a Pickle would be a great read-aloud and also very effective if used one on one.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: None. Recommended for Grades PreK-1.

If you like this book try: My Five Senses by Aliki, Taste the Clouds by Rita Marshall, Hello, Ocean! by Pam Munoz,

 I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective was my first gateway to mystery novels and that lead to my love of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. So whenever I spot a book or tv show that pays homage to the great detective it immediately grabs my attention. I've seen A Study in Scarlet Women pop up on many blogger's Waiting on Wednesdays posts and it didn't take long for it to be on my reading pile. Many thanks to Berkley and Goodread's Giveaway for providing me a copy of this book.

Description: With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.
When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her. But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.

Review: A Study in Scarlet Women is an example where my expectations and the realities of the book were like two ships passing each other by in the night and it greatly affected my enjoyment of this book. This is not to say that the book was bad, but for me it was under-whelming though I liked the clever winks at the classic stories and changes made by the author.
  I had several issues with the book. My biggest problem is with Charlotte herself who I felt was inconsistent throughout the story. Charlotte is suppose to be a genius and whose acute eye to observation astonishes everyone, but I was so frustrated how the simplest things eludes her. It made me angry and shocked that Mrs. Watson comes up with the idea that Charlotte could use her special talent to use and make a job out of it. Plus, Charlotte goes through extraordinary lengths to ruin her reputation in order to remain independent and "un-marriageable" but she has no idea how the repercussions of this impulsive thinking will tarnish everything she will ever do in Victorian England. I could not take Charlotte seriously and I did not find her believable at all. Plus, it doesn't help that she is a secondary character in her own story.
  The crime and investigation was just okay. It involved the deaths of characters that I didn't care about and though Treadles was a good guy, I found him to be rather dull. The investigation, normally my favorite part of a mystery, was slow paced and it dragged out for most of the book.
 There is also a hint of romance for Charlotte in the book that also didn't work for me. I have big issues with adultery and cheating. Though I get the forbidden love appeal, it's a ship that I can not support regardless of how much Charlotte and this person is meant to be. Overall A Study in Scarlet Women was an okay read. The Sherlockian in me was very disappointed, but if you enjoy mysteries set in Victorian England I would try it out. I'm not sure if I'm going to pursue this series.

Rating: It is somewhere between 2 to 3 stars.

Words of Caution: There is an allusion to sex and minor language. Suitable for older teens and adults.

If you like this book try: A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock, #2) available Sept 2017, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barrons (Jane Austen Mysteries, #1), Silent in the Grave (Lady Julia Gray #1) by Deanna Raybourn 

 The Star-Touched Queen has been featured on several blogs for quite some time, generating a lot of buzz, hype, and very high expectations. I was very much looking forward to this standalone fantasy that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology, but sadly the book failed to meet my expectations.

Description: Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire.

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.

Review: The Star-touched Queen has a great premise. The author has a very rich, descriptive writing style that is mesmerizing to the point of distraction, but the story's Achille's heel is its poor execution. The world building is hazy and weak. For example, many readers have commented that the story is a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, which would be incorrect as the Star-Touched Queen is very much influenced by a number of different Indian mythologies. This confusion is a telling mistake of how the author fails to set up and distinguish her different realms though we are taken to the Otherworld and the Underworld. Sprinkling Hindi words and detailed descriptions of clothing and jewelry does not count as efficient world building. 
  Though I liked the overall arching story of Maya, a young princess who lives in scorn because of the horoscope that decrees she will marry "death and destruction", there is too much packed into her story with hints of a former life, dormant magical abilities, love, betrayal, and redemption. The plot felt rushed and meandering, especially in the second half of the book. 
 Maya jumps from one place to the next with the author telling her story rather than showing it. As a result, I didn't really get to know Maya nor did I get the chance to care for her. The mythologies were so jumbled together that I really think this book would have been much better if there were more pages to spread the story out. There is a romance in the story, but it felt underdeveloped and inauthentic. 
 I would have loved to go on a journey to power and self-affirmation with Maya instead of being told how much she had changed. Character development is my favorite part of reading a book, but I was sad to see none of the characters fully fleshed out. While there is a companion novel coming out soon featuring a secondary character, I'm still not sure if I will pick it up anytime soon. The author has some great ideas, but she definitely needs to work on her craft and sharpen her writing skills more. 

Rating: This is a hard one to rate somewhere between 2 to 3 stars.

Words of Caution: There is strong violence that takes place mostly off the page, some language, and crude humor. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: The Wrath and the Dawn series by Renee Ahdieh, The Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas