Reviews, Etc.

BOOK NEWS: February 28, 2023

BOOK NEWS: February 28, 2023

Posted on by Jaymie

It’s the final release week of February – let’s take a look at some of the books releasing his week.

Books for Kids

The Recess Genius – A book-loving girl becomes the playground fixer, but it doesn’t leave her much time for reading. This is from the author of the delightful Help Wanted: Must Love Books, so I will definitely be picking this one up!

Books for Older Kids

Finally Seen – A girl left behind in China with her grandmother while her parents and younger sister moved to the US is finally reunited with them after five years. But her transition is much harder than she imagined. And her hurt feelings compound things. So when a book at school that makes her feel seen comes under attack, she will have to decide if she is willing to fight for herself in this new land where she feels like such an outsider. This is on my list, too!
Hilo: Gina and the Last City on Earth (Graphic Novel) – Book 9 in the fantastic Hilo series. Gina and her friends are back to try to save the world! This is going to be fantastic!
The House Swap – Two girls find common ground when their families do a house swap. This looks awesome!
A First Time for Everything (Upper Middle Grade – nonfiction graphic novel) – Coming of age memoir from Dan Santat.

Books for Adults

The Neighbor Favor (Trade Paperback) – A woman looking to exert some control of her life, starting with securing a date for her sister’s wedding, reaches out to her sexy new neighbor for help.  But she has no idea he’s the reclusive author she was emailing for months, growing closer, until he ghosted her. I am all in on this one!

REVIEW: The Art of Getting Noticed by Campbell/Knetzger

REVIEW: The Art of Getting Noticed by Campbell/Knetzger

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Bigfoot Littletoe III isn’t sure he fits in with his family. No matter how hard he tries, he never gets captured on film The rest of his family members are regularly part of Bigfoot sightings.

Bigfoot stumbles across a new friend named Nessie who is in town on vacation. And she encourages Bigfoot to stop trying to be who he thinks he’s supposed to be and instead have fun and find out who he really is.

But when Nessie is discovered, she has to go back home. And Bigfoot struggles to find joy in his new activities without his new friend.

Review

This is a cute and colorful early chapter book for kids between 7 and 10. At its core, it’s a friendship story. It also introduces the idea of trying to fit in vs finding your own path. And it touches on the question of where our satisfaction should come from – an audience of fickle strangers or from yourself and those who really care about you? That’s a lot to pack into an early chapter book!

I think the cryptid characters – mainly Bigfoot, Nessie, and an unexpected surprise appearance – give this a fun, unique take on a friendship story. Cryptid fans should give this a try. I would read more adventures with these characters.

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good+

REVIEW: Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

REVIEW: Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Ace in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Murder follows Mallory Viridian. She lost relationships over these murders, like the one that happened two rows away from where her boyfriend was trying to propose. She can’t live near her family because they are afraid of her. She even dropped out of college after witnessing a double murder.

One tiny upside is that Mallory is brilliant at helping solve the murders. But everyone mistrusts her so much, she can’t actually go into law enforcement. It got so bad on Earth that Mallory fled to a space station where there’s only one other human. And she thought she was finally safe.

Then the space station agreed to accept more human residents.

Review

This was a unique story. There’s multiple narrators, as well as several time jumps. Then the author builds a clever and unique space station with alien species. In some ways this is a hard story to tell. The main action is at Station Eternity, centered around the arrival of the humans and the fallout of what happens when they arrive. But all of the contemporary story is built on dozens of past moments – experiences for the main character as well as ways the larger cast links together. The author does a great job of weaving all of those things together. But it makes for a story that feels long and slow at times.

The story was different and intriguing enough to keep me pushing forward with it. But there were times I thought about cutting it loose. I’m glad I stuck with it because the pieces come together well in the end, and the story was satisfying as a whole. And I am intrigued enough by the whole thing that I would consider reading book 2 when it comes out.

Sci-fi fans and mystery fans should check this one out. Give the story time to play out, trusting that you will be rewarded in the end. (Language)

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good +

BOOK NEWS: February 21, 2023

BOOK NEWS: February 21, 2023

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the new books out this week!

Books for Older Kids

Lasagna Means I Love You – A girl new to foster care finds a handmade cookbook with family stories so she starts to collect other recipes and stories, hoping to find some family stories for herself. I am so excited to read this one!

Books for Adults

Best Served Hot – When the online battle between two restaurant critics starts to get attention, they agree to do some joint events for additional publicity.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country – The crew of the Enterprise are scattered on a strange world after a mysterious shuttle malfunction.

REVIEW: Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

REVIEW: Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Beatriz, Daphne, and Sophronia – triplet princesses, born to both rule and ruin. Each left for their assigned country and prince; each expected to marry and then enact their mother’s plan. But nothing has gone as expected.

Beatriz has discovered unexpected powers while also facing betrayal. She’s sequestered in a nunnery under charges of treason.
Daphne has been the target of several assassination attempts, but not from the corners she might have expected.
And Sophronia….

The triplets have gone off course from their mother’s plan – but the Empress has been working her own scheme all along. And she’s not the only one.

Review

AMAZING! This was fantastic! The minute I finished, I sat, stunned. What a ride.

In some ways this is the sort of mid-trilogy book that mostly serves to set up the big action of book 3. There’s not a ton of ground gained here. That being said, there were some fantastic moments and fascinating reveals. The book is completely engrossing, and I loved it! But at the same time, I feel like it mostly kept me in a holding pattern for book 3.

There’s some great character development going on in that “holding pattern,” though. We continue to learn about the triplets and their mother as well as other friends – and villains – from book 1, Castles in Their Bones. Once I finished the last page, I was ready to start over again. Sadly, I have fallen behind in my reading, so a re-read will have to wait. On the plus side, once my personal print copy arrives, (hopefully with the UK cover which matches book 1 better than the US cover), I’ll be able to book tab this like I did book 1.

This was a fun book annotation practice I tried in January. I really missed the ability to continue tabbing with my e-ARC.

Fans of book one should immediately pick up the sequel – and carve out time because you won’t want to put it down. Fans of the author’s Ash Princess series should definitely check this series out asap – I think you will love it!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ – I loved it! Would re-read.

REVIEW: The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

REVIEW: The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

For years, Evan has used the skills the Orphan program gave him to help people in desperate need of his talents as the Nowhere Man. But the US government didn’t like that. They said he could have a pardon for all he’s done – under orders and under his own conscience – if he stopped being the Nowhere Man. But he didn’t. And they have hunted him down.

Now he has a new offer – help the President by taking out a problem and his pardon agreement will be reinstated. But X is working on his own terms – he needs to check the guy out for himself. But what he finds isn’t what he expected.

Review

I read this series for two reasons:

One, my husband loves it. I read one of the early books for a family challenge a few years ago.
Two, I love the series characters.

But these books are often dark and super violent. So they don’t always click for me. I’ve even skipped a couple along the way. This one really only worked for me about 60% of the time. Most of the scenes with the villain fell flat. He was annoying. I hated him, but not in a “he needs to pay”/someone needs justice sort of way. More in a “when can we get back to the good stuff?” way.

Honestly, EVERY OTHER THING in the book (other than the violence/gore/icky bits) was a delight – Joey, other old friends, Evan’s personal growth. Even the scenes with the governmental powers that be who were coercing Evan were brilliant. Emotionally, I felt like I was reading two different books – one laugh-out-loud-funny and smart and sharp while the other was flat, bland, and colorless. I’m not sure if the author was trying to create a sort of Moriarty character here, (which I don’t enjoy in Sherlock Holmes either – although the recent Enola Holmes movie did an amazing job with the character) but it did not work for me.

I think there’s a lot here for series fans to enjoy. I bookmarked many perfect moments as I read. Readers who really get into the villainous interchanges here will find this to be the full package. But if the villain falls flat for you too, this may be an “only okay” addition to the series. Newcomers should not start here. I think this book only has a chance of being satisfying if you’ve read enough of the previous 7 stories. Context matters here. (Language, sex, sexual references including references to sexual assault, gore, violence)

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good+

BOOK NEWS: February 14, 2023

BOOK NEWS: February 14, 2023

Posted on by Jaymie

Happy Valentine’s Week! Here are some new books you might love!

Books for Kids

Super Pancake (Chapter Book Graphic Novel) – A struggling young pancake develops superpowers and wants to use them to help her town.

Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults

On Air with Zoe Washington – A sequel to From the Desk of Zoe Washington. Now that her birth father is out of prison, Zoe wants to help him achieve his dream of opening a restaurant.
When You Wish Upon a Lantern – Liya has to team up with her former best friend to help save her family’s wishing-lantern store.

Books for Adults

End of Story – Susie’s unhappy to discover that the contractor for the house she inherited is her ex’s best friend. But even more surprising is the divorce certificate he finds in the house – dated 10 years in the future and with THEIR names on it.
The Last Orphan – Book 8 in the Orphan X series. Evan’s been able to stay one step ahead of the US government for years, but that advantage is now gone, and the President offers him a deal – if he eliminates someone she says is too dangerous to live, she will leave Evan alone. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year – A writer living in Scotland for a year to write a cookbook starts to see reasons to make her stay more permanent.
The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days – Faith-based blessings for the lives we actually live. I have this on my wishlist.

REVIEW: Cranky Chicken Party Animals by Katherine Battersby

REVIEW: Cranky Chicken Party Animals by Katherine Battersby

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary and Review

Cranky Chicken and Speedy the worm explore parties in their latest adventure.

Another delightful grumpy/sunshine buddy book starring Cranky Chicken and Speedy. The sass is a little stronger in this one, and I cackled more than once.

If you are looking for a book kids and their grownups can enjoy, this series is a winner!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.

REVIEW: A Good Day to Pie by Misha Popp

REVIEW: A Good Day to Pie by Misha Popp

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Daisy’s primary business is baking pies. But only a special segment of her customers know about “Pies Before Guys.” That’s the mostly-secret baking business where wronged and wounded women can buy a magical pie that will make the man stop his shenanigans. It’s not Daisy’s fault that for some of these trolls the only thing that will stop them is their death.

Daisy is doing a TV bake off with the hopes of winning money to keep funding Pies Before Guys. But she doesn’t expect that one of the contest judges is the man she’s supposed to deliver a magical pie to on the way home. When the judge later dies – without the help of Daisy’s special baked goods – she starts looking for a killer.

Review

Not unlike an excellent pie, an excellent mystery requires the right ingredients at proper amounts, blended together. Murder, Lies, and Deadly Pies was my favorite book of 2022. That’s a lot to live up to. But A Good Day to Pie was up to the task.

I was afraid the baking contest might be a drag for me – I don’t watch baking shows, and I’ve read other books recently with a similar setting. But this really surpassed other examples of the set up. I was riveted by the competition and zipped through every challenge to see what would happen next. And I adored the little community formed by the contestants.

For a long time I worried that the murder would keep Daisy from using her magic, but that worry was unnecessary. Everything was woven into the story, and I was supremely satisfied how it all came together.

This is a distinct and different series that is hitting me in a way I didn’t know I needed. It seems weird to love a series with a protagonist who is essentially a killer. But the way Daisy’s power works means she only provides the pies and magic. The “victims” bring on their own demise by their lack of repentance. That might feel too dark for some readers, but it’s hitting just the right tone for me these days. I’ll be sticking with Daisy and Pies Before Guys for the long haul! (Language)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.

BOOK NEWS: February 7, 2023

BOOK NEWS: February 7, 2023

Posted on by Jaymie

It’s the first release week of February. Let’s take a look at what is releasing this week.

Books for Kids

The Library Fish Learns to Read (Picture Book) – The fish on the librarian’s desk decides she wants to learn to read.
Bigfoot and Nessie and the Art of Getting Noticed (Chapter Book Graphic Novel) – First in a new series. Bigfoot’s family is disappointed in his inability to be photographed while Nessie gets more attention than she wants.

 

Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults

City Spies: City of the Dead – Book 4 in the City Spies series. The young spies work to thwart a series of cyberattacks.
Nat for Nothing (Graphic Novel) – Book 4 in the Nat Enough series. Nat experiences friend issues while also trying to figure out what her “thing” is when all of the students at her school have to join a club.
Daughters of Oduma – In a world where young girls compete in fights for their futures, a retired fighter has to step back into battle to save her found family.
The Severed Thread – Sequel to The Bone Spindle, a gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty tale. I have both books on my wish list!
Stardust in Their Veins – Sequel to Castles in Their Bones, from the author of The Ash Princess. Three princesses trained by their mother to be her ticket to world conquest have found clarity thanks to distance from their mother, but they are still reeling from the events of book 1. I am gearing up for a re-read of book one so I am ready to dive into this one immediately!!

 

Books for Adults

A Good Day to Pie – Sequel to Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies, my most favorite read of 2022. This time Daisy is participating in a baking competition, but also delivering some of her super secret magical pies. But when one of her targets turns out to be a judge at the competition – and then dies before she delivers his murder pie – she’s pulled into a mystery again.
Just My Type – Two journalists – who happen to be high school exes – are pitted against each other by their boss to write relationship articles against type. She’s been in many long term relationships, so she has to write about being single and staying single while he has to stop being a player and write about being good boyfriend material.
Not Your Ex’s Hexes – Book two in the Supernatural Singles series. Rose is no longer the next Prima for her supernatural community, so she is trying to find a new path. When an animal rescue mission goes awry, Rose ends up having to serve community service hours with a grumpy vet – the one she hooked up with a few weeks earlier and can’t get out of her mind. Book 1 in this series  was one of my top 10 favorite reads from 2022. I reviewed this one last week – you can read my review here.
Of Manners and Murder – First in the Dear Miss Hermione Mystery series. Violet’s first Agony Aunt letter leads her to a murdered woman and a mystery to solve.
Secretly Yours – An uptight professor on sabbatical hoping to write a novel clashes with a bubbly landscaper from his past who is working at his family’s vineyard.
Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (Or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God) – From the author of  How the Bible Actually Works and The Bible Tells Me So. Dealing with life’s “curveballs” without losing faith.