Book Review: Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Book: Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Genre: MG Historical Fiction

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This was last month's book club book as part of our Utah Book Month. Does anyone remember when we used to have a whole month celebrating our Utah authors? And a bunch of us bloggers hosted it? Yeah, good times, those. Anyway, we like to give a nod to those memories and still read a Utah author in our book club. It's great!

One of our favorite Utah authors is Jennifer Nielsen. She's pretty awesome, both as an author AND a person. So she often ends up on our lists. There are so many books to choose from. Personally, I'm way behind in keeping up with her. 

She has a line of historical fiction books so we ended up choosing one of those. This one tells the stories of five different kids during WWI, from all their points of view and ends up weaving their stories together in a really interseting way. We have the boy who witnessed the Archduke's asscination, the girl who is trying to become a nurse like her mom, the girl who is the son of German military leader, and the Russian boy fighting on the front lines. I found all their stories to be quite compelling and hopeful.

I mostly had a problem feeling like, could kids really do these things? It was hard for me to imagine. I know others in our book club had issues with how sweetly and neatly everything was wrapped up and how it all worked out so well. Granted, this is for a MG audience, but I do agree that everything seemed a bit too perfect. 

That being said, I still enjoyed reading about all these kids and look forward to trying to catch up with all the other books of hers that I have yet to read! I do wish there were more like The False Prince though. That one still remains my favorite! 

Author Event: Jennifer A. Nielsen and Heather Clark

 Not only are concerts back, but authors too!

I've really been missing going to author events but this past week, they are back! This event was to launch the debut book for Heather Clark called Lemon Drop Falls. And her author friend Jennifer A. Nielsen, and a favorite author of all or ours, was there as part of it. 

This book is a middle grade book about a girl dealing with her anxiety and fear after her mom dies. I think. Heather told us about when she herself almost died and how rough it was on her kids and especially her one daughter. So that's the inspiration for the story. 

The both of them told several other stories and it was all very inspiring. Hearing Jen's publishing story of how she tried and tried and tried and was rejected by everyone even the place that takes everyone, was really inspiring too. It really just hits home how if you want something bad enough, you just can't give up.

So I ended up with both of their books and we stood in line for quite awhile waiting for them to be signed. When it was our turn ,Jennifer give me my own personal writing pep talk and I felt fired up for... about an hour. Now that I've come down from the evening, I still feel very... I think what I mostly feel is that I'm just riding some band wagon and that I'm not for real enough in this writing quest... and I guess until I take myself seriously, no one else will either. It's a hard thing to do and something I will struggle with forever I'm afraid. 

Anyway, the biggest thing I took away from that pep talk is there are people out there who need my stories and why should I let MY fear get in the way of that happening...like just suck it up and stop worrying about it so much. 

It was a great night and I'm so glad I went. Next week the library is having its annual best books of the year talk and we plan on supporting that one too. I wish I had more time to do all the things, like read all those books that they will make me want to read!

Here's some pictures from the night:

With Jennifer. 

With Heather

Can you see our smiling eyes?

So exciting to be back at it, supporting the authors!

Book Review: On These Magic Shores by Yamile Saied Mendez

 

Book: On These Magic Shores by Yamile Saied Mendez

Genre: MG magic realism-ish

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I've been anxious to read this author for quite sometime now. She was someone I met way back in the big book blogging days before she became famous.  (Her books are currently making quite the buzz especially after she was chosen as a pick for Reese Witherspoon's book club.) And I think this was a great first choice for me to read!

It's about a 12 year old girl and her two sisters. Her single mom works hard to keep them going, but one day when the mom heads to work... she doesn't come home. And she doesn't call, and they have no idea what's happened.

So our girl  tries to keep going as if all is well. But that's really tricky when she has to go to school. And she finds out the day care her mom uses for the baby is crap. And she wants to try out for Peter Pan and get the role as Wendy. And she needs to figure out how to get food for them. 

Her mom has told them stories about fairies, which she rolls her eyes about, but turns out it appears these fairies might actually be helping them somehow. Or SOMEONE is anyway. She ends up befriending a cute boy that actually does help them in the small ways he can. And the neighbor helps them a bit. And she finally gets the courage to contact  her grandma that she doesn't even know... to see if SHE can help. 

It's all very moving and sad in bits, but funny in bits too and cute and wonderful in all the family and friend connection stories. We do find out what happened to the mom and in the end some hard choices have to be made, but it all works out and I think all three of these sisters are in a better place. 

I totally enjoyed finally reading one of Yamile's books and hope to add more to my list soon! 

Book Review: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright

Book: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright

Genre: Historical romance

Rating:  ★ ★ ★

This a fun story about our girl Caroline, who is just too smart and witty for the guys of her time. Whenever she says her opinion about things, and she has a lot, all the suitors get scared and back off. So when her cousin (who owns the house she lives in) gets married, she basically gets kicked out and has to figure out her prospects. Turns out a neighbor decides Caroline would be PERFECT for her son... who happens to work and live in India. So an arrangement is made whereby Caroline heads off to India to meet this guy, with the deal that she will give him a chance, and get to know him...but she doesn't have to agree to a marriage unless all things work out. 

And so... she heads off to India... which will take THREE MONTHS by boat. (It really struck me this time about how travel used to be... can you imagine a three month journey to another country? And we think a 13 hour plane ride is nearly unbearable! Yeah, you really gotta commit that THAT vacation!)

Well, and so on the boat, life gets interesting. She takes to the sea like a pro and loves the activity there and walks around sketching everything. 

And then there's the captain of this boat. He's intriguing to say the least! But when she opens her mouth to say her thoughts... will he be turned off and run away? And how can she be attracted to him when she has a dude waiting for her in India? Hmmmm???

Then we get the POV of the captain. And how he is baffled at this girl and torn about what he should do about it if anything. 

Okay, so I really enjoyed the story, and the setting. Most of it on the boat, and some in Mumbai. And Caroline is a great heroine. But the captain... I don't know.. I didn't really warm up to him. He seemed a bit gruff and even mean at times. I wanted to like him so much more than I did! Ah, I hate it when that happens! I also wanted a more sparky romance... more intense. 

But that's really my only complaint about this one! Lots of fun side characters and some crazy goings on occur. It was a very interesting time in history for sure. 

Anyway, you should totally check it out and let me know what you think of our captain!

Also, thank you to Shadow Mountain for continuing to send me Proper Romances to read, even though I am so behind in my reviewing! 

Here's more info about the author:

JULIE WRIGHT was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s lived in LA, Boston, and the literal middle of nowhere (don’t ask). She wrote her first book when she was fifteen. Since then, she’s written twenty-five novels and coauthored three. Julie is a two-time winner of the Whitney Award for best romance with her books Cross My Heart and Lies Jane Austen Told Me and is a Crown Heart recipient. Her book Death Thieves was a Whitney finalist. She has one husband, three kids, one grandbaby, one dog, and a varying amount of houseplants (depending on attrition). She loves writing, reading, traveling, hiking, snorkeling, playing with her family on the beach, and watching her husband make dinner.

Book Review: Paul, Big, and Small by David Glen Robb

 Book: Paul, Big, and Small by David Glen Robb

Genre: YA Contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is a cute story, that deals with all the hot button topics in a sensitive not in-your-face way, something you know I always appreciate. 

We have Paul, who is like a junior (I think, now I forget how old he is) in high school, but he's so short he looks like a little kid to everyone. His method of survival is to blend in and not make a big scene and hope everyone ignores him. He's suffered a lot from bullying and his goal is to avoid that as much as he can.

And he kinda sorta likes this girl who he's known since he was 7... but she doesn't know he exists until things get going in this story. She is very big... very tall, and very black. But her last name is Small... which of course, everyone finds extremely funny. But, turns out this unlikely pair end up being quite likely to become friends.

And then we have Big, a nickname given to our third character because he is.... big. A big Polynesian dude with an extremely sunny disposition who everyone likes. He can dispel any tension in a room by just walking in. He's great!

And so these three become friends and deal with the craziness of high school life... including the bullies that cross their paths. We learn some backstories regarding the bullies that deals with depression and mental health. And we also deal with some cancer sickness with our own trio.

All of this is set to the backdrop of not only high school, but a climbing school that Paul loves and where he excels and feels himself.

It's all very heartwarming despite some of the heavy topics it deals with. I kinda loved that. And these characters are especially great. 

Book Review: The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J. Scott Savage

 Book: The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J. Scott Savage

Genre: MG fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I was happy to nab this one from NetGalley for an early review. Wow, it's been awhile since I've done that! 

This is an awesome tribute to Alice in Wonderland and its author Lewis Carroll. We have two kids who are struggling in the real world, who meet up and quickly bond over their respective issues. As they are hanging out in the library, they stumble upon the lost diaries of Lewis Carroll which transports them straight to Wonderland itself!

But something is off in this Wonderland. All the familiar characters are there, but everyone is different. Things don't seem right. These two kids quickly realize that not only do they need to figure out how to get home, but they need to save Wonderland too! They go through adventure after adventure having to solve problems and riddles all along the way to accomplish their goals. Kids will love this. There's also a ton of learning thrown in, learning about different animals, learning vocabulary, etc. Kids, and parents, will love this even more! 

So yes, there's much humor and fun in this book that both kids and adults will enjoy, especially those who love Alice and her adventures. It's fun to see these kids have a similar, yet very different experience in Wonderland. And then come out of it stronger and better and much much more confident about dealing with their real life struggles. Perfect. 

This book will be published early September. Look for it!

Book Review: Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

 Book: Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Genre: YA historical

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Another awesome book by a favorite author! This one is about resistance fighters during WWII. We follow the story of one girl who gets kicked out of her Jewish ghetto in Poland and ends up joining a resistance gang. They spent a lot of time sneaking food and news in the ghettos, and, in one instance anyway, sneaking out babies. And also sabotaging the supplies of the Nazis who were occupying their cities.

This story has our girl involved in one of the first (the first even?) armed attacks by Jewish people, and then later, she was part of the huge Warsaw ghetto uprising. So most of the book is her path to getting to this event. And then living through it. We see her bonding with her fellow resistance fighters and learning to trust and rely on them. We learn about some of the real life leaders of these cells, all of who were very young. We learn about the courage and tenacity of these people during this hard and terrible time in history. It's hard to read about the things they went through, but it's also uplifting to see the strength of people.

The book as an afterword that adds to the understanding of everything that happened, which I really appreciated. And the author mentions that the point of the book is not place judgment on how any one person acted during this time, which I also appreciated. People chose all sorts of ways to survive this terrible-ness, and we, reading from the future, have no idea how bad it was and what prompted any of them to do what they did. It's so very eye opening. 

So, yeah! Another great book club read!

Book Review: Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts by Nancy Campbell Allen

Book: Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts by Nancy Campbell Allen

Genre: steampunk fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is a fun one about a feisty girl, Emme O'Shea, who is on a mission to fight for Shape Shifter rights. She is making quite the name for herself in society as the spokesperson for this cause. And in so doing, she tends to get herself in a lot of trouble. The dude who happens to always be there to pull her out, and then arrest her, is her nemesis of a detective...Mr. Oliver Reed. He doesn't think twice about literally throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to the slammer! 

But then one day when she is about to set off to Scotland for a summit where she will be giving the keynote speech trying to change legislation in favor of Shifters, she is sent a life threatening message. And suddenly she finds this detective has now been appointed as her bodyguard! 

This makes for an awesome scenario in which lots of fun banter, flirting and compromising moments arise. Not to mention life and death adventure! And they both quickly find that they don't hate each other quite as much as they originally thought.

This book is very very loosely based on Cinderella but I only found a few similarities... mostly a wicked step sister, a carriage filled with pumpkins, curious mice, an ally named Gus, some fancy shoes, and midnight. LOL! So yeah, very fun! Throw in some vampires and you have it all, right? 

So yeah, I really enjoyed the banter and many romantically charged moments. And of course the steampunk setting. Always fun. 

This book, due to be released in October, is part of the Proper Romance line from Shadow Mountain, and specifically part of the steampunk romance line. (I reviewed another book in this line here. The stories have no connection as far as I can tell, just the world and setting.) Thank you to Shadow Mountain for the opportunity read and review another fun book!

Here's a fun book trailer:

And more about the author:

Nancy Campbell Allen is the author of seventeen published novels and numerous novellas, which span genres from contemporary romantic suspense to historical fiction. In 2005, her work won the Utah Best of State award, and she received a Whitney Award for My Fair Gentleman. She has presented at numerous writing conferences and events since her first book was released in 1999. Nancy received a BS in Elementary Education from Weber State University. She loves to read, write, travel, and research, and enjoys spending time laughing with family and friends. She is married and the mother of three children. Visit her at nancycampbellallen.com, on Instagram @authornancycampbellallen, on Facebook at nancycampbellallen, or on Twitter @necallen.

Book Review: The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

Book: The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

Genre: YA dystopian
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This one is set in a world where different groups are living separately from each other, trying to survive each in their own way. Poe Blythe is with the group that settles in one place, but forages the river for gold treasure. They fear the group they call The Raiders, that moves from place to place and tries to steal from them. 

The book opens with an ill fated trip where the boy Poe has been friends with her whole life is killed. She is forever after trying to get revenge on The Raiders by designing ships that destroy them instantly if they try to come aboard.

So this story centers on the voyage where she is made the captain and they go out to gather more gold. Of course things go badly and Poe is forced to make many hard decisions. She doesn't know who to trust and she is driven nearly crazy trying to understand what is right and wrong. 

She, and those she gathers around her, find out many things and learn that the world is not black and white and not exactly as they have been led to think all these years. It's quite eye opening.

I enjoy these kinds of stories where you end up realizing there are no sides. There really are no good guys and bad guys, that everyone is just trying to survive in their own way, and that once you learn the stories of everyone, then you might have a better picture of life. And also get more and more confused!

It's beautifully written with unique and believable characters, especially a strong leading girl, which we all love, right?

I really enjoyed it! Thanks for another great one Ally Condie!

Book Review and Blog Tour: Lies, Love and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Julie Wright

Book: Lies, Love and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Julie Wright
Genre: contemporary romance
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is just the sort of book I'm craving all the time these days! A simple fun light romantic story!

Our girl, Silvia, has an interesting connection to Audrey Hepburn. For one thing they both had cancer, and in fact the day Audrey died was also the day that Silvia, as a five year old, lost her eye to cancer. But the other thing is that Silvia looks like Audrey! Also, she is very much into movies. In fact, she grew up to be a movie editor and is tying to make it big in Hollywood behind the scenes.

But she has a crappy boss, which mean a lot of this story is about her struggle dealing with the ruthless business that is movie making. While that part of the story was okay, I am sure you are not surprised to know that I was much more about the romance!

Because there's this guy that she has thought of only as a friend, someone she used to work with before she got her current job. Then one night he comes to the rescue when her boss fails her yet again. And suddenly she is thinking of him a little differently. But it might be too late since he's dating someone else.

And so it goes... the two of them figuring out that they have always liked each other. And it's fun to be part of. Also, there's fun interaction with Silvia's grandma and that's nice. I love seeing young people getting along well with the old. Know what I mean? And respecting them and realizing they are people too and have loves and passions just like when they were young.

There are a LOT of movie references in this book, so if you are into that thing you are going to love this! I knew many, but not all. There are also a lot of references to Audrey Hepburn movies as can be expected. Again, I knew some but not all. It was fun though, all of it.

Bottom line: Cute fun story with all the troubles a single working person might have to deal with. Very clean and sweet romance. I totally enjoyed it!



Thanks to Shadow Mountain for having me participate in this blog tour!

Book Review: The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis

Book: The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis
Genre: YA? MG? Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I can't really decide if this book is categorized as a YA or an MG... the character is 14... so I guess it could go either way yes?

Anyway, it's been a year since our girl Emmy's best friend died. Before she died, Kim told Emmy that she planned to come back and visit her so to be prepared. So all that year, Emmy tried to do all the things they'd planned but Kim never came back to visit her. So Emmy is upset and trying to figure out what she has done wrong and why Kim won't show herself.

In the meantime, we bounce from this present day stress to the years before... and we learn all about Kim and the friendship these two have and the plans they make in the face of Kim's death from congenital heart disease. We learn about Emmy's insecurities and fears. We learn that they take classes from a bogus dude who claims to know how to help people communicate with their dead loved ones.

It sounds a little weird, yeah? But I loved it. So much. The writing style is totally up my alley and is a style I wish I could learn how to do. So simple, but power packed. Beautiful prose. I just love it. And in the process we bond instantly with these characters, especially Emmy and her dilemma. How she misses her friend so bad and wants to talk to her again so bad, and yet she needs to move on with her life. It's heartbreaking.

And yet, told in such a cute and funny way.

Did say I loved it? Because, I did!

I'm glad I remembered I had this one sitting around waiting to be read!

Book Review: The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright

Book: The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
Genre: novel based on a true story (is that it's own genre? Sort of a novelized memoir?)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


Hey it's our book club book and book club isn't happen for another week and a half and I have the book read already! Things are CHANGING around here!! LOL.

I loved this guy's other book, The Rent Collector and this book has had it's fair share of buzz (man I seem to be catching up on all the buzz lately.. well some) and so the book club voted it in and here we are!

It's about a boy who grew up in India until he was about 8 years old, and then bam, one day he was kidnapped and sold to an orphanage where he was then adopted to an  American family, which happened to be located here in Utah. This is that crazy crazy story!

Because later when he grew up, he went back and found his Indian family! With hardly ANYTHING to go on. He had no idea what city to look in... and we are talking INDIA here! It's really an amazing story. And I loved it! I devoured this book in fact.

The story is novelized to fill in all the missing blanks from when he was a kid and to change around a few characters, but if I'm understanding correctly, it's basically following exactly what happened. Someone just took him off the street one day when he was waiting for his dad and they took him to an orphanage. Luckily, it seems he was treated well and life was actually better for him, but still... his family! His mom! He even tried to escape at one point, but went back to help the sick girl that needed his knowledge because he knew what plant would help her.

When he arrived in America, he tried to explain to his new family that he still had a family, but it took awhile for his English to be good enough to get through to them. And once it did, they tried as best they could to figure it out, but everything led to a dead end. So after awhile, they gave up.

So it wasn't until he was in college that he started feeling a draw to his country. He meet some wonderful people and they helped him get back (mostly.. he had some resistance too.) And once he was there, he went off just some small clues and started combing the area to figure it out. The way he finally ends up finding them is... amazing. And yes, I cried.

Anyway, his life has turned out be be pretty good in the end.  And he has been able to live sort of teh best of both worlds. But he still struggles. Because of this question: Is it good that he was kidnapped and taken from his family? Because look at what he has now... and how he has been able to help the people in India... so, was it good thing?  Ah, it hurts my heart to try and answer this question! I'm sure we will discuss at book club and find all the answers!

The book was beautifully written. Sometimes a touch too flowery in description for my taste, BUT I did devour it and could hardly put it down, so it's obviously engaging and paints a wonderful picture of what life must have been like in India... and afterwards... for this guy.

Book Review: Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Book: Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

What a fun summery book! I loved it. It's about a girl whose mom dies in the beginning and she gets sent to live with her dad in Italy, at least for the summer, maybe for longer. Problem is, she didn't even know this dad existed until her mom was dying and saying to her....how about you go and live with this dude!

He lives in Florence, in an American WWII cemetery where he runs the place. This creeps Lina out at first, but it grows on her. She meets a boy one day when she is out running and... he grows on her too.

In fact, she actually enlists his help in solving the mystery behind her mom and dad. Like what really happened and why did they never keep in touch all these years?

Lina gets a journal that her mom left behind which is an account of the summer she meet her dad and between that and doing some digging on their own, they piece together the story.

So in fact, it's the story of both Lina dealing with her mom's death and learning about her dad, and the story of her mom and what happened that summer many years ago. So there's some heavy subjects, but they are handled well and lightly. If that makes sense.

It's so fun to have been to theses cities (both Florence and Rome) and to be able to picture everything that's being talked about. They truly are awesome romantic cities where awesome love can blossom!

Movie Review: The Death Cure

Movie: The Death Cure

Genre: Dystopian drama/adventure
Starring:  Dylan O'Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Rating: Two thumbs up

I loved the first movie. The second one was weird, but okay. So I went to this one wondering what I'd think this time around. And let's just say I don't remember a thing about the book except that I wasn't that fond of it probably. The ending bugged me? I can't remember. (I just looked up my review and it was most unhelpful... I think basically the books was a blur for me!) So I had no notions of what to expect with the movie.

BUT, that being said, I really quite enjoyed the movie. Like quite a lot! The production and overlook of it was amazing actually. I continue to really love the casting... all the dudes that play these boys are awesome. The girls... eh.. they're okay. And the bad adults? They do the part well. The good adults.. .they are awesome.

So the movie opens with a fantastic action scene! Ah, it was a great! Our crew is trying to rescue the kids that have been captured by WCKD .... their buddy Minho being one of them. Do they succeed?

Well, mostly. But they failed with regard to Minho... so now they head for the big city (I don't think it was ever named in the movie, but the book says Denver) where all the people are pitted against each other... those out side the walls and those in.  Those without the cure, and those who are hoping to have the cure any second... by testing those who are immune.. like Minho.

And Thomas' lady love Teresa, is also there and working with these guys trying to find the cure.

So anyway, they get in, and all this stuff goes down. It was all quite nail biting at times. Some stuff was of the "suspend your disbelieve" sort.. like there's NO WAY they could have done that. But it was entertaining at least.

Galley appears again ... and provides some much needed comic relief. Ah, that guy! He was awesome in this one! We needed so much more of him!

Well, anyway. It was a bit long... and there were some slow moments in the middle. But I quite enjoyed it all and the ending was pretty good except for one thing that bugged me and I was like, seriously? Was that necessary? I need to go see if it matches the book now, since I do not at all remember.

And PS can I just say that I'm pretty sure Dylan O'Brien probably has the most beautiful eyes ever? Dang boy. Am I right, or am I right?

Also, he suddenly looks and seems WAY too old to be playing this part... like, he grew up you know? Good thing this is the last one. This is the last one, right?

The trailer:


One other thing I wanted to say... and I probably say this every time with regard to James Dashner's success with The Maze Runner. Ten years ago (I think it was ten.. .maybe nine) almost to this very day we went to a book blogging party and he was there as an up and coming author. He was working on The Maze Runner at the time and so he told us all about it. He was so excited and he was all, guys... this is going be awesome! I remember thinking.. wow he has some vision thinking it's going to do so well and be so excited. And now, look at how it's all gone down pretty much just like he wanted it to. Was it all luck? A little. Was it a lot of his drive and ambition? I bet some, yes. Was it connections he made? Probably that too. But whatever it is and however you feel about him, he saw this dream, he wanted it, and he made it happen. It's very powerful to me to have been around, sitting here in the sidelines and watching it happen. My hats off to him...way to go Dashner Dude!

Book Review: Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr

Book: Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr

Genre: YA contemporary
Rating:★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is a tiny little book and yet it took me, what, two months I think to read it. Hmmm.... I guess mostly because I was distracted, but also because it was a sad story and so I wasn't always compelled to pick it up and read it. You know?

Gem and Dixie are sisters, and pretty much complete opposites. While Dixie is beautiful and popular, Gem, our narrator, is a bit of a recluse, and constantly worried about life. About her sister, her mom, her dad who left them, school, and everything. One day when her dad suddenly shows up out of the blue, he leaves behind something that changes her life. And not really in a good way.

But this instigates her to take some pretty rash actions. Basically, she takes her sister and runs away. And so much of the book is while they are on the run, even though it seems like they are just "taking a break."

Well, and so after awhile, her sister wants to go home, but Gem does not. It's a dilemma.

Anyway, the bottom line for me in this story is that there is hope for kids in this situation. Gem does the right thing and everything turns out okay for her. Even though the story does not have a true happy ending. But I think that if kids who live in situations like this find this book and read it, they will understand, I hope, that there are people who will help them and that things can be hopeful and will get better some day.

So.. a good book, well written and all that, but not your happy fluffy heart warming story. But we've come to expect that from Sara Zarr! You gotta think and ponder stuff when you read her books!

Book Review: Our Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia hand, Jodi Meadows

Book: Our Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

We went to the launch of this book back in the spring and since book club choose to read it for our Utah Book Month pick, I actually got to it sooner than I probably otherwise would have. So that's something!

I've always been fascinated by the story of Lady Jane Grey, what a sad and tragic tale! So it was with interest that I read this, wondering how they turned it into a fantasy/comedy.

Turns out the premise is that in this alternate world, some people can turn into animals. And some people hate the people that can turn into animals. (Kinda like people back then either hated or identified with Catholicism). So Lady Jane gets married to one of these animal changer people and she thinks it's pretty cool, but it does cause some issues.

And then when Edward supposedly dies (yes in this book he doesn't really die) and Mary wants to take over, then Jane and G (which he goes by in this book) have to deal with that. In history it doesn't end well, but in this book.. things turn out much much better!

There's a lot of crazy comedy and nods to pop culture like The Princess Bride and Monty Python and other such silly stuff! It was really fun and made for a fast read, all the while a smile on your face! I totally enjoyed it. The romance made me frustrated, but other than that, it was a lot of fun.

Utah Books Week 2017!!!

Tomorrow kicks off a week celebrating Utah books and Utah authors! This is the sixth year we've done this event and while it's waned a bit in participation, we still feel just as strongly about supporting our local authors. And there's a lot! We've often said that there's something about Utah. There are authors everywhere... authors who write amazing books!

If you'd like to participate, be sure to check out the official blog to see what's being planned. There's an Instagram challenge and a Twitter chat next week, for instance. But mostly, read some Utah books and let us know what you think of them!

Here's a stack of books I'd like to get to.. if I can manage it. (I have doubts that it will happen, but one can dream.)

 But what I hope to mostly concentrate on is Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr, which is on my Kindle.

LET'S DO IT!

Book Review: The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Book: The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:★ ★ ★ ☆☆

This book has been on my radar forever I think. Years at least. Finally got to it thanks to book club. This author is local and I've been to a few of her classes at conferences which has made me curious as to what sort of book she writes. So here's what I think.

This one is about a girl who has just graduated from a magic sort of high school and instead of getting picked to do the magic she wants to do, she ends up paired with the dude who does paper magic. Which I guess is boring and disappointing.

Well, so she decides to just deal with it and begins to learn some pretty cool folding techniques. (I decided I do paper magic at my work. Dang, but I fold a lot!!!) And she also decides that the magician teaching her is not so bad after all. In fact, he's kinda cool.

But then a bad lady from his past comes and steals his heart and she (our heroine) has to go rescue the heart and in the process, she finds herself immersed in this guy's life. And she learns so much about him that she, you know, decides she loves him!

So, I enjoyed the premise, even more than I thought I would. But the story fell a bit flat for me. I wanted the romance to be developed (cause it wasn't AT ALL developed) and there just to be MORE to it. I know the book club peeps didn't enjoy the learning what's in the guy's heart bit, but I thought that part was not bad. That was the main juice of the story... learning about the magician. It wasn't about the girl, but about him.

The writing itself was good, fine, lovely. Nothing to complain about there. Especially consider this is a first book. But that is also why I think it had a few problems. It was a really short book and I think we all agreed that had it been longer and meatier, we would have all enjoyed it more.

Book Review: Switching Gears by Chantele Sedgwick

Book: Switching Gears by Chantele Sedgwick

Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I bought this at the writing conference I went to a few weeks ago, especially since it was written by the author in charge of the conference and someone I connected with years ago through blogging. Also, this is a companion book to her book I read awhile back called Love, Lucas. That one was about the sister of boy who died from cancer. This one was about the girlfriend of the same boy.

Well, they never actually were officially boyfriend/girlfriend, but she lived next door to him for years and loved him forever. They only confessed just before he died. Sadness. And so this story picks up a few months later and she is still dealing with his death and his loss.

So she immerses herself into her love and hobby of mountain bike racing. There's a new-ish boy (it's been about a year since he moved in) that has bugged her since he arrived and who actually took over her position as captain of the bike team. She does not like him.

Which means, of course, that they will connect! And so that's the love story. He's had his eye on her since the beginning but she has been annoyed by him. All that changes of course, and he is not what she thought he was. It's a blast to read/watch unfold.

Meanwhile, she has her family life situation to deal with too, which is that her mom is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. More sadness. Yes.

But despite all this sadness, I totally enjoyed this book. Fast and easy to read. Lovely romance. Cute characters. Fun look at mountain biking, which... why would anyone do this? CRAZY! Anyway, these books remind me of Kasie West sort of books and you all know how I feel about those!

Great job Chantele! Okay... so what's next??/

Book Review Thoughts: Ever The Hunted by Erin Summerill

Book: Ever The Hunted by Erin Summerill
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆


One day we were passing through Cedar City and my husband dropped us all off to do some collaboration videos with our kpop youtuber buddies, MADoverKPOP... and since he had time to kill while waiting for us, he went to the book store on Main Street, (called Main Street Books of course) which just happens to be owned by a fellow book blogger from my past life, Megan from Posey Sessions!

So he went to say hi and then said to her, "what book should I buy?" and that's how it came to be that we ended up with this book from that trip and our little stop in Cedar City.

(Here's hoping you enjoyed that story!)

So Erin is one of our local authors who I've seen hanging out in the author circles and finally (I think it's finally, I think she's been working on being published for quite awhile...) she has her own book to present to us! Yeah Erin!

It's set in fantasy world/kingdom and opens when our heroine, Britta, is just emerging after a two month long isolation/mourning time for her father's death. She is starving since she had no one to take care of her during that time. So she goes hunting. And gets caught for poaching. She bargains for her life by agreeing to find her father's murderer, which sadly it appears that her best childhood friend is being accused of.

This sets into motion the story which includes her hunt for this boy followed by the discovery of who she really is, who the murderer really is, and how they can find him and save the king who has been possessed these past months (years?).

Now, while that scenario doesn't sound all that different from many stories, I found myself sucked in and intrigued and interested... and found myself quickly turning pages and not thinking about all the other things I should be/wanted to be doing... which is what seems to happen lately when I try to read.

And so... we broke the cycle! At least with this book! And I enjoyed it a ton and became thoroughly wrapped up in this world. So seriously, you should all go read it. :)