Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

 Book: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What a lovely fantasy story! It's a very loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin in which we have our girl who is so smart and takes over her dad's money lending business... in so doing she ends up making a ton of money... thus... she turns silver into gold. 

Well, so when the Staryk king (the mystical people who rule the winter) gets wind of this, he comes to her and demands he turn his silver into gold. If she doesn't he will kill her, he if does, he will marry her. What a choice she has, yes? Because let's just say he's not a very a nice dude.

Meanwhile, we get the stories of several others characters, with the assumption that all the stories will converge at some point, and of course they do.

One of them is the peasant girl who ends up working for our girl who is turning silver into gold. And how she and her brothers have to deal with abuse in their house and how they try to escape it. And how that ends up getting them right in the middle of the craziness that's about to go down. 

And the other one is the girl who ends up being forced to marry the tsar. Turns out that tsar is possessed. And she needs to figure out a way not be killed by the demon.

And it all goes down when the girls try to destroy the various monsters ruling them, and how that showdown is basically a fight between fire and ice.. .and wow. It's crazy!

But then... are they really happy to be the ones destroying these guys in their lives? Hmmm....

I really loved the rich detail and beautifully story telling. I really needed romance though... I really thought I was going to get romance! AHHH!!! So other than that, everything else was fabulous! 

Book Review: What Stars Are Made Of by Sarah Allen

Book: What Stars Are Made Of by Sarah Allen

Genre: MG contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This was a cute story about a girl with Turners Syndrome, something that I wasn't at all familiar with. So we as readers learn all about that and how it affects our girl and all the stuff she had to deal with.

Our girl is also very into science so when she gets an assignment to write about someone in history who is not in her history book, she knows just who it will be! 

And thus begins her quest to actually get this person added to the history book.

She's quite the tenacious kid and it's lovely to see that. It's a very heart warming story and I actually learned a lot from it. 

Book Review: My Life as a Potato by Arianne Costner

 Book: My Life as a Potato by Arianne Costner

Genre: MG contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

What a fun cute story! I really enjoyed this one about a middle grade kid who feels like he is cursed by potatoes! And that seems to be confirmed when he ends up having to be the mascot at his new school where the mascot is... A POTATO! 

Turns out he kind of has a knack for this sort of thing, but still he doesn't want anyone to know. So ends up lying to get away with it all. Which makes him feel bad towards his friends. 

It also turns out he's becoming popular at this new school. And he sometimes finds himself wanting to help the underdogs, but remain popular. Which as we all know, is sometimes a conflict of interest. 

So how does he solve all this issues?

I fell in love with this character from the very first page and I love it when that happens. Rooting for him all the way! He's an adorable kid, I know this! LOL. A truly funny story with lots of heart. Awesome.

(This one read a little bit older than some of the other MG books I've been reading lately... which probably contributed to the fact that I enjoyed it a lot. But not TOO much older. It was pretty spot on, really, perfect for grabbing all sorts of audiences.)

Book Review: Kits and Cubbyholes by Loralee Evans

 Book: Kits and Cubbyholes by Loralee Evans

Genre: MG fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★

This one is along the vein of Magic Treehouse, where our kids have the ability to time travel. In this particular story, a kid from the 1700's comes to the present day and the kids are all like... "Hey, don't you remember the time we visited YOU?" 

But alas, he doesn't! Which means somehow perhaps something happens to the memory of the kids in the past? 

Anyway, so this book is the present day kids trying to figure out how to get this kids back to his time. In process they all end up witnessing an event they've heard about.

The fun thing about this book is the premise that when they kids go back in time, they end up in the stories of their very own ancestors. Which would be pretty cook, yeah? But also quite disconcerting! 

The part that made me a little crazy was that they just kept referring to their previous adventures, and I kinda wish we were experiencing an adventure... but it just felt like they were trying to get the one kid back and not a whole lot was happening. Until that event at the end, which was just a little bit of this book.

Anyway. Cute story. 

Book Review: Horace and Bunwinkle by P.J. Gardner

 Book: Horace and Bunwinkle by P.J. Gardner

Genre: MG 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I wasn't too sure about this one, not being a huge fan of talking animal books. But it looked fun and easy, so I jumped in and guess what?

I thought it was adorable! An ornery stuffy dog and a cute lovable pig become siblings... and they end up teaching each other all kinds of things about getting along and loving life. 

They get in all sorts of trouble and have all kinds of adventures... along with the fact that there's a mystery to solve. The mystery of the missing pets!

Very cute with loads of fun animal characters. My immediate thought was how fun it would be to read aloud, especially by someone who loves to do voices. So upon finishing it, I sent it to my granddaughters with the suggestion that their mom and/or dad read it with voices! I'll let you know how that goes over!

But regardless, hopefully they'll have fun with it (yes there are even cute fun pictures!) and it will get a second life with them. 

Reading Recap: March 2021

 

On our walk one day in March.

Here's what I read this month:

A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright: Our girl is on her way to India to meet her potential husband, but meets the captain of the ship in the meantime. 

On These Magic Shores by Yamile Saied Mendez: Three sisters trying to survive when their mom suddenly disappears.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue: Our heroine goes to see if the talk of a young girl starving herself, yet surviving, is true or a hoax.

96 Miles by J.L. Esplin: A survival type story of two brothers and their two friends walking the 96 miles to get help during a countrywide blackout.

Kits and Cubbyholes by Loralee Evans: The coolness of traveling back in time and meeting up with your actual ancestors.

Horace and Bunwinkle by P.J. Gardner: The antics of stuffy uppity dog and a cute piglet... and how they solve mystery of the missing pets. 

Favorite was for sure 96 Miles. 

Goals for April: 

• The book club this month is Spinning Silver. I need to find it at the library.
• I want to read some books that are laying around being neglected. 
• I need to find some good love story books. 

What are you all loving lately? Let me know!