Author: Schizanthus Nerd

Sheets – Brenna Thummler

I was bowled over by Brenna Thummler’s illustrations in Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel so when I heard she had written her own graphic novel I was all in. I simply adore Brenna’s ability to capture an image and present it in a way that I want her to draw the entire world for me. Seriously, I can’t get enough. Her use of colour is absolutely gorgeous and she’s able to evoke the emotion of a scene through colour as well as the images. I enjoy finding Easter eggs so I loved that Anne of Green Gables is in view a couple of times in Marjorie’s school library.

As soon as Sheets downloaded on my iPad I devoured it. That was months ago and I never got around to telling anyone how amazing it was… until now. This graphic novel is amazing!!! I’ve just read it for a second time and I’m still in love with the artwork. I felt there was something missing in the story that I couldn’t put my finger on during my first read but I didn’t feel that way during my reread.

Marjorie’s mother died last spring and since then her father has been essentially MIA, holed up in his bedroom most of the time. Marjorie (at 13!) has been left to singlehandedly run the family laundromat business, do the household chores, look after her father and younger brother, and attend school. Any combination of these would be a monumental ask and that’s before you take into consideration that she’s grieving her mother and feels completely alone. The family business is in danger of closing, with some help from Mr Saubertuck, who is the dastardly villain of the story.

Wendell is also lonely. He died a year ago and doesn’t fit in with the other ghosts. Wendell discovers the laundromat and accidentally makes life more difficult for Marjorie, but perhaps there’s a way for these two lonely kids to help each other.

During my first read I had trouble getting past the fact that 13 year old Marjorie is effectively running the family business by herself because her father’s grief has made him withdraw from his life. I couldn’t believe that the customers could be so mean to a kid who shouldn’t have been doing all of that work in the first place and that no one who was alive stepped up to help her or her family.

During my second read I focused more on the friendship between Marjorie and Wendell. It’s such a sad story, dealing with the pain of grief and feeling all alone in the world. However it also touches on forgiveness and perseverance, and is ultimately hopeful.

I’m really keen to see what Brenna comes up with next. I don’t care what the story is; I just want to see more of her beautiful illustrations.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.

Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.

When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain. 

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The Leading Edge of Now – Marci Lyn Curtis

I don’t think I’ve ever agonised about a book review as much or for as long as I have for this book. See, I’m conflicted. I absolutely loved the style of writing and most of the pieces that made up the main character. I also highlighted so many sentences that I want to read to you so you can sigh with me about how perfectly they capture the feel of the story. I want to bathe in sentences that are simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking like these:

Now would be the proper time to speak. But I’m pretty sure that my mouth has been blown apart and then reattached backward and inside out, a couple of miles north of my vocal cords.

I can feel all the loose ends in my life tangling around my ankles like seaweed, threatening to pull me under.

Memories are like land mines that I step on everywhere I turn.

At the same time, this book pushed so many of my buttons. I don’t expect other readers to feel the same way as I do about the niggles I had because hopefully your experiences have been different than mine, but I try to write authentic reviews and I can’t do that if I gloss over the not so shiny things in life.

The story begins with Grace moving in with her only living relative, her uncle Rusty, who has been MIA from Grace’s life since her Dad died. Grace has been in foster care for the past two years and has been dealing with her grief by herself, as well as the impacts of a sexual assault she experienced a few weeks before her father died.

The aftermath of sexual assault is painfully authentic in Grace’s character. The lingering shame, self doubt, fear, anger, grief and many other legacies of sexual assault are explored. I loved Grace’s resilience and bonded with her over her ability to speak sarcasm fluently. She thinks she knows who raped her but, because of medication she’d taken, that night is almost entirely a blank. As a result she doesn’t know who to trust and I wound up suspicious of almost everyone at some point in the book so I felt the author did a great job of creating an atmosphere of uncertainty.

While this book tackles some big issues the swoonfest diluted their impact for me. Boy wonder was a sweetheart but I would have liked him much more if he wasn’t so frustratingly perfect. As a huge romantiphobe I wouldn’t have chosen to read this book had I realised that swooning was going to be as prevalent as it was.

Longing, fiercer and more powerful than ever, is a hand on my back, propelling me toward him.

Had I bypassed this book I would have avoided sentences like that one and been relieved of some annoyance and nausea, but I also would have missed out on some stellar ‘I have to highlight this!’ writing. I wish that the lovey dovey parts had been replaced by friendship and banter between Grace and boy wonder but I expect most readers will love the romantic interludes. What really annoyed me was that it seemed that no matter what Grace was facing everything eventually boiled down to whether boy wonder still liked her or not.

I felt that where Owen was mysteriously going at exactly the same time every Saturday fell within Captain Obvious’ jurisdiction and there were a few other developments that I picked up on well before they were revealed. I mention this only because I usually suck at knowing what’s going to happen in a book before it does.

So, this is probably where my review will start to sound like a therapy session. Apologies in advance.

Some of the characters seemed to waft into a scene to impart the knowledge required for the next step in the investigation before disappearing from the book entirely and the mystery of who raped Grace unfolded too easily for me. I almost stopped reading the book when I found out who the rapist was because I didn’t find it believable that it was this particular person.

I despised Rusty’s character even though I think he was supposed to be sweet, if misguided. When the care of a traumatised teenager has been entrusted to you then irresponsibility is never going to be cute or endearing. I wanted to yell at him or smack him off the page or something.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible to envy someone’s experience in foster care but apparently it is. Grace only has two foster placements in two years and the second set of foster parents sounded like they should have been nominated for Foster Carers of the Year. While it’s refreshing to hear that good foster parents do exist the foster kids I’ve known haven’t lived in any award winning homes. It would have been more realistic to me if Grace had had some dodgy placements before hitting the foster kid jackpot.

The takeaway seemed to be (to me but you may not read it like this) that if you are raped it’s your responsibility to report it to the police to protect that person’s other potential victims. This puts so much pressure on a person who is already traumatised and while I’m all for reporting if that’s what the person wants to do it is their choice. While it would be incredible if the justice system actually dispensed justice in these cases it can be harmful to someone who has experienced sexual assault to attach their healing to an outcome for the perpetrator. On RAINN’s website there are statistics that I thought of when the characters were trying to push Grace to go to the police.

“Out of every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free. 310 are reported to police. 57 reports lead to arrest. 11 cases get referred to prosecutors. 7 cases will lead to a felony conviction. 6 rapists will be incarcerated.”

I don’t quote this to discourage anyone from reporting sexual assault. I’ve personally reported some sexual assaults but not others so I can see the benefits and pitfalls of both options. I only want to say that if you have experienced sexual assault it’s your choice whether you report or not. Reporting is not the only path to healing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Just when Grace is beginning to get used to being an orphan, her estranged uncle suddenly comes forward to claim her. That might have been okay if he’d spoken to her even once since her father died. Or if moving in with Uncle Rusty didn’t mean returning to New Harbor. 

Grace once spent the best summers of her life in New Harbor. Now the place just reminds her of all she’s lost: her best friend, her boyfriend and any memory of the night that changed her forever. 

People say the truth will set you free, but Grace isn’t sure about that. Once she starts looking for it, the truth about that night is hard to find – and what happens when her healing hurts the people she cares about the most? 

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Perfectly Creamy Frozen Yogurt – Nicole Weston

Here I am in my winter pyjamas with thunder rumbling in the background. Apparently this is a good time to tell you about some tempting treats to cool you down on a hot summer day, and why not! I love frozen yoghurt regardless of the season!

Once you devour the recipes for the five basics (tangy & tart, vanilla bean, chocolate, dark chocolate and coffee), you’re then treated to another 51 flavours of fruits, sugar and spices, and chocolate and nuts. The subsequent chapters allow you to drool over:

  • Cookie and brownie sandwiches
  • Cakes, cupcakes, and pies
  • Semifreddos, terrines, and bombes
  • Popsicles, bonbons, and other treats, and
  • Sauces.

The frozen yoghurts I most want to try are (take a deep breath; there are a lot!) coffee, lemon meringue, mango, apple pie, maple bacon, spiced pumpkin pie, Dulce le Leche, tiramisu, gingerbread, and cookies ‘n’ cream. I also need ginger spice cookie sandwiches, coffee lovers’ cake, caramel banana cream pie, cinnamon bun pops and sugar cookie bowls in my life.

I was pleasantly surprised that the amount of ingredients needed for the confectionery bliss contained in this book didn’t compete with the entries in a phone book; a lot of the recipes had fewer than ten ingredients. I was shocked that I actually knew what each ingredient was, the aisle where I could find most of them in my local grocery store and how to pronounce the ones I wouldn’t be able to locate without assistance. Sidebar: there are so many recipe books on the market at the moment with ingredients I’ve never heard of!

It’s highly recommended that you use an ice cream maker for these recipes because it’s easier and doesn’t result in the potential chunks of ice mixed in with your flavour that can happen when you mix without one, but you’ll find instructions for both options in this book.

There are accompanying photos for each of the frozen yoghurts but only some of the other sugary goodness is pictured. I’ve been the proud creator of some fairly spectacular culinary epic fails so whenever I attempt a new recipe I prefer for there to be photographic evidence that the creation is possible and what it’s supposed to look like if you get it right. I can’t be expected to know how much laughter is appropriate if I can’t compare my finished product with the original.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Storey Publishing, LLC for the opportunity to drool over this book. Now that I’ve made myself sufficiently hungry I’m going to work out which flavour I want to try first and consider investing in an ice cream maker.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Learn to make frozen yogurt at home that’s just as light, smooth, and delightful as what you buy. You’ll use Greek yogurt as a base and a basic ice cream machine to make these 56 flavor recipes that range from traditional to artisanal, including black cherry vanilla, toasted coconut, peach Melba, chai spice, watermelon, maple bacon, chocolate malted, pistachio, and browned butter pecan. An additional 50 recipes for treats like blueberry sugar cookie sandwiches, brownie baked Alaska, Neapolitan semifreddo, cinnamon bun pops, and salted caramel swirl bonbons ensure this is the sweetest guide ever to making and enjoying frozen yogurt.

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Someone Else’s Shoes – Ellen Wittlinger

Twelve year old Izzy wants to be a comedian but life hasn’t been funny for a while now. Since her parent’s divorce she rarely sees her father. He’s remarried to someone too young for him and they’re having a baby soon so Izzy feels like she’s been replaced. Izzy lives with her mother who seems too preoccupied with everyone else’s problems to listen to Izzy’s.

Her mother’s dentist boyfriend has a 16 year old son, Ben, who is mean and scary. Plus Izzy now has to share her home with her annoying 10 year old cousin, Oliver, and her Uncle Henderson. Oliver’s mother died by suicide and while Izzy is sad about her aunt’s death she doesn’t really understand why it happened or why it’s making her uncle act so strangely.

Izzy knew from experience that when something bad happened to you, your friends got scared, as if they could catch your problems.

Izzy, Ben and Oliver come from different worlds and don’t seem to have any common ground but they wind up on a road trip together searching for Uncle Henderson when he suddenly goes missing. The three kids, through death or divorce, have all experienced the loss of a parent and they all feel abandoned. They each deal with feeling invisible in their own way. They’re kids that wouldn’t normally choose to spend time together but discover they’re not so different after all.

I initially found Izzy’s attitude annoying and sorry, Izzy, but I think your comedy routine needs some work. She grew on me though. Throughout the book Izzy becomes more empathetic and learns that not all change is bad. I thought Oliver was a sweetheart from the beginning. The character that surprised me the most was Ben who, while I think we’re supposed to dislike him (at least initially), I loved from our first meeting.

“Be always tender, a little fragile. It’s not a weakness if your heart breaks just a little.”

I loved that this book didn’t shy away from difficult discussions. Izzy asks questions about her aunt’s death by suicide that I expect would be typical of any child trying to understand and I thought her mother’s answers were quite sensitive and age appropriate. I appreciated that grief wasn’t one size fits all in this book; each character responds to loss in their own way.

I did have a problem with one aspect of the discussion surrounding suicide. I’m not sure how others will feel about this and perhaps I’m being overly sensitive but I was wary of the discussion of the method used. While all of the details are not revealed enough were that I wondered about the wisdom of their inclusion.

Given the subject matter this could have been a devastating book but it was ultimately hopeful, with a focus on the children supporting one another and becoming family.

10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day. In America National Suicide Prevention Week is the Sunday through Saturday of the week surrounding this date. In 2018 this is 9 to 15 September.

If you are thinking about suicide, please know that you are not alone and help is available.

In Australia you can call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

In America you can call 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

A list of international suicide hotlines can be found at https://www.befrienders.org

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Izzy, a twelve-year-old budding comedian, feels pretty miserable about her family life – her father is remarried with a new baby on the way, her mother is dating Izzy’s dentist, Dr. Gustino, whose rebellious sixteen-year-old son Ben is a huge hassle, and now her cousin Oliver and Uncle Henderson are moving in with Izzy and her mother. Of course, Izzy feels bad for her ten-year-old cousin – his mother recently committed suicide – and Uncle Henderson has become zombie-like ever since.

When Uncle Henderson disappears one day, Izzy finds herself on an impromptu road trip to upstate New York with Oliver and Ben, the three of them seeking family and acceptance.

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Nature Craft – Fiona Hayes

This book is adorable! I’ve come across so many kid’s craft books that contain instructions that I doubt I could follow, let alone the child that’s supposed to be able to construct the marvellous creations. Thankfully this isn’t one of those books.

With step by step instructions accompanied by step by step illustrations and photos of the final masterpieces this is the type of book that makes me want to borrow one of your kids so I’m not the only one having fun making all of this cuteness. There are also templates included for the shapes you need to cut out. I love that the basics of each project come from nature so there’s a built in excuse to wander outside and rummage for an assortment of items including feathers, twigs and seashells.

While each project also requires additional crafty items there’s nothing overly expensive on any of the lists and a lot of items are used for multiple projects. Besides the items specific to each project you’ll also need:

  • PVA glue or a cool-melt glue gun
  • Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Felt-tip pens
  • Pencils
  • Scissors
  • Ruler.

The animal projects in this book are “Aww!” worthy with sweet little faces and googly eyes. I can definitely see kids wanting to make these for themselves and if I was a parent my kidlet would earn a serious amount of brownie points if I received any of these critters as a gift.

I anticipate this book being a hit with parents, babysitters, teachers and child care workers, along with adults like me who will most likely be pretending we’re buying the items at the craft store for our non-existent children. I want to make the owl, the tortoise, the rabbit, the dragonfly, the mice, the penguins, the tree frogs, the lizard, the hedgehog, the dinosaur, the mushrooms … Okay, fine! I want to make everything!

If you’re like me and your crafty enthusiasm outweighs your crafty expertise then it looks like the worst that could happen is that your finished critter will have more character than intended. I can definitely see a craft day with my mother coming soon.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – QEB for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Make fun animals and objects from nature’s finest materials! Collect twigs, fir cones, feathers, leaves, shells, and pebbles from your yard, park, or vacation, and create animals and objects with them.

Stunning projects included are a bird nest bowl made with feathers and leaves, a nut mask and feather mask, seed pod flowers, and fir cone owls, a feathery bird bookmark, fir cone fish mobile, painted snail shells, and a twinkling night light jar. Learn about the nature around you whilst being creative.

Perfect activities for parents and children to do together. Over 40 crafty makes feature a well-balanced mix of techniques, materials and colours for a range of ages. 

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What If? – Anna Russell

Josh is a drummer, is good at maths and loves The Beatles. He also needs to count the cracks in the ceiling and perform specific rituals exactly the right way or something really bad will happen. Josh has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and that is why I needed to read this book.

I have a family member with OCD and I was the one that unofficially diagnosed them several years before someone qualified to do so concurred. Besides living with it I’ve spent countless hours researching OCD to try to get into this person’s head, to understand why the light switch has to be turned on and off so many times and why they’ve had a catalogue of obsessions and rituals, some constant and others morphing, over the years.

When I discovered this was a hi-lo book I was initially disappointed as my first hi-lo experience was a let down. I was pleasant surprised by this book though, finding the explanations of what OCD is and how it affects Josh’s everyday life easy to understand and accurate. I really liked Josh’s psychiatrist, who takes a perplexing condition and explains the basics in a down to earth way.

There are descriptions of Josh’s struggles before and after his diagnosis and I appreciated that his treatment was multifaceted. I did feel that Josh’s acceptance of his condition and how quickly he began to learn to manage it wandered into wishful thinking territory but acknowledge that that may be my experience talking.

I thought the information given to Josh about a family member towards the end of the book was obvious from the beginning but again I concede that my experience may account for my “I already knew that” moment. I loved that the other characters accepted Josh and tried to understand what he was going through and that his diagnosis wasn’t the end of the world, resulting instead in learning to manage it and accepting help from others.

I was interested in the characters’ stories but didn’t become emotionally invested with anyone. However I don’t think it’s fair to automatically expect a lifelong bond with characters you meet during such a short book.

While I would have liked the impact of Josh’s diagnosis on his family to be explored further I understood that the length of the book made a deep dive on the issues raised prohibitive. Similarly the impact of the death of another character’s parent was only lightly touched on. I loved the way that music was woven through the story.

I really liked that this book was told in verse; the way it was written made poetry more accessible than anything I came across in high school. Besides its intended purpose as a hi-lo book I think What If? would also be a helpful introduction to OCD for teens who have recently been diagnosed and their family members, regardless of their reading level.

Thank you to NetGalley and West 44 Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Josh Baker isn’t sure why his brain tells him to do things that other people don’t need to do: checking his locker again and again, counting cracks in ceilings, and always needing to finish a song, for starters. He is a talented drummer, a math genius, and he knows everything about rock and roll. Yet, he knows his problems have the power to hurt his family and make him fail at school. When Josh is diagnosed with OCD, it’s a blessing and a curse. Can he overcome his thoughts, or will they break him?

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Hocus & Pocus #1: The Legend of Grimm’s Woods – Manuro

Illustrations – Gorobei

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid and I’ve loved graphic novels since then so a combination of these in game form seemed like a trifecta that couldn’t fail. In Hocus & Pocus you have the choice of character and which magical creature you will take on your adventure. Aimed at kids in middle school this interactive graphic novel includes “choices, puzzles, mysteries, and powerups”. For this adventure you will need a die, pencil and eraser.

Pocus has pink hair so naturally she was who I wanted to be for my first adventure.

My choice of magical creature was also easy; the Boxobullfrog, “who keeps a bunch of weird things in its mouth to take when you need them”. I barely looked at the other options. Why wouldn’t I want a creature that produces handy weirdness when required?!

So with my character and creature chosen I took off on my adventure and fairly soon I was lost. I ended up on the exact same path in the forest several times and I thought for a while that I was going to be lost forever. There were times where I wandered around paths with no story. I went from a panel where all I needed to do was choose a number, flipped to the number and found another panel where all I needed to do was choose a number.

On my second adventure I decided to be Hocus with his hair sprayed pompadour. I kept my Boxobullfrog because “weird things in its mouth”! There was no other option for me although this little critter wasn’t as useful to me this time around. While I didn’t get lost on a path this time I had to return to the map of the castle so many times I felt the urge to scream in frustration. If I wound up at the Groundhog Day map again in a future adventure I’d write down each number I followed from it so I didn’t accidentally wind up at the same place so many times more than once.

There are rules to follow regarding whether your magical creature is awake or asleep which involve searching for its food in the drawings and marking boxes on your Adventure Tracker. I probably would have loved this part when I was in the age group the book is intended for but now that I’m old it felt too much like homework to me and so I may have cheated, deciding that my magical creature was always going to be awake when the story gave me the option of obtaining their help. I expect a lot of kids will enjoy making notes each time they find some food for their creature or a star.

Because my brain has a habit of connecting pieces of information that have no relevance to one another (thanks, brain!) this book reminded me of an article I read last week where someone was discussing the differences between Pass the Parcel from the good ol’ days and now. Back when I was a child sometimes the music stopped on you during a game and sometimes it didn’t. When the next layer was opened there’d be a cheap plastic toy or a lolly or nothing. Apparently every layer now has a toy (that’s not some cheap plastic thing) and everyone has to win something or they’ll feel left out. Hold on; my brain is about to try to connect the dots for you.

In this story it felt as though no matter what I chose everything would end up fine in the end and that it was more an illusion of choice than the real deal. There was always the possibility in the Choose Your Own Adventures of my childhood that the wrong choice could be dangerous for the character and potentially lead to their demise but when I read this graphic novel straight through I didn’t uncover anything dastardly, which was disappointing. I was encouraged by the amount of panels I came across when I read from cover to cover that I hadn’t already seen so you could potentially read this a number of times and discover different parts of the story, albeit with the same ending.

The illustrations were cute. I particularly liked the tree at the crossroads in the Woods of the Treemen that looked like it was shrugging, not knowing which path to choose either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for granting my wish and giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Introducing a new series of interactive graphic novels – first published in France, and translated/transported to English language readers by Quirk Books.

Enter a world inspired by all of your favorite fairy tales – complete with gingerbread houses, a girl dressed in red, and seven children lost in the woods. Hocus & Pocus offers a new kind of reading experience – part game book, part graphic novel, and part Choose Your Own Adventure story. Readers can play as Hocus (a girl) or Pocus (a boy), choose a magic animal companion, and enter a colourful fairy tale forest of riddles, magical objects, and unusual characters. Succeed or fail, it’s all up to you! 

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Black Bird of the Gallows #2: Keeper of the Bees – Meg Kassel

I need all of the stars for this one but it feels more appropriate to say it like this: 💛🐝🖤🐝💛

I was initially denied early access to this book and I completely understood why. This is the type of book I’m supposed to want to avoid. The love between this girl and (sort of) boy is insta and as sweet as honey (sorry, I had to go there) so it makes perfect sense that a romantiphobe should steer clear. So why did I beg for it? Because I should have wanted to stay far, far away from its companion, Black Bird of the Gallows and I really enjoyed that, so I just knew this would be the book for me, despite everything that screamed otherwise.

What attracted me to Black Bird of the Gallows was intense insta cover love and I was quite shocked when I also loved the story. This time around, while another gorgeous cover drew me to it, my memory of being drawn into Angie and Reece’s story (and love) gave me the confidence that Keeper of the Bees was for me. However, I didn’t expect to love this one more!

Our main characters, Essie and Dresden, are both damaged, victims of cursed lives. People either don’t even notice them at all or steer clear of them. They’re desperately lonely outcasts. Essie experiences a reality that ‘normal’ people don’t and her hallucinations cause people to fear her. Dresden is a beekeeper, feeding off peoples’ fear and condemned to wear the features of the victims of his curse. Their instalove appears doomed from the get go and although this goes against my very being to say this, I was hoping their love would find a way from their introduction.

There’s something about the agony of the person they once were fighting against what their curses have transformed them into that I really connected to. Essie’s struggle to distinguish the boundaries between the reality she sees and the reality others see was heart-wrenching. The struggle of a beekeeper, being bound to an existence where over the course of centuries you’re witnessing the worst humanity has to offer with no hope in sight, no known end to your pain or isolation, broke me.

While the curses of the harbingers, beekeepers and their mythology are explored in both books, the focus is different in each book. In Black Bird of the Gallows one of the main characters is a harbinger of death, whereas in this book it’s a beekeeper. I always love learning the mythology in characters’ worlds and adore the mythology of this series. Once again Meg Kassel’s writing is gorgeous and intoxicating. While the world of Black Bird mesmerised me, Keeper of the Bees made me a believer and I need more!

I was delighted by Dresden’s unorthodox friendship with Michael, one of the harbingers, and I loved Stitches. Now I definitely need a companion book where a Strawman is the focus as I have to know more about these mysterious beings.

Essie’s aunt was my favourite entirely human character; her ability to see beneath the curse to the girl Essie truly was made me love her and want her in my life. I know what it’s like for people to see a label or what’s on the surface and to fear or resist getting to know what lies beneath so the insights into the complexities of people, the light and the dark, captivated me.

While this book could be characterised as a romance it’s so much more and it’s the so much more that had me hooked. There’s the exploration of mental illness, the murder mystery, the growing unease of an impending catastrophe, the impact of our past on our present and the underlying hope of overcoming that which seems impossible.

As this is a companion, not a sequel, you could read this book first but I’d highly recommend you read both because they’re just so good! Also, if you read Black Bird of the Gallows first you’ll be rewarded with a ‘where are they now?’ segment, a fleshing out of the mythology and an appreciation of just how remarkable Essie and Dresden’s love is, along with Dresden and Michael’s friendship, in this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Keeper of the Bees is a tale of two teens who are both beautiful and beastly, and whose pasts are entangled in surprising and heartbreaking ways.

Dresden is cursed. His chest houses a hive of bees that he can’t stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries – since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people.

He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations. His bees want to sting her on sight. But Essie doesn’t see a monster when she looks at Dresden.

Essie is fascinated and delighted by his changing features. Risking his own life, he holds back his bees and spares her. What starts out as a simple act of mercy ends up unraveling Dresden’s solitary life and Essie’s tormented one. Their impossible romance might even be powerful enough to unravel a centuries-old curse. 

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Bridge of Clay – Markus Zusak

DNF @ 22%

Okay, so maybe I’m just not supposed to read Markus Zusak’s books. I wanted to care, I tried to care, but I don’t care and I’m feeling quite un-Australian about the whole experience. I was interested in the mother’s backstory and probably would have enjoyed this book had she been the focus but I had no interest in her sons. They’re the kind of rough and tumble boys I avoided in high school and it turns out I’m still not interested in their fights or why they think it’s a good idea to steal letterboxes when they’re drunk.

Perhaps if I’d managed to make it to the end of the book I may have found a soft spot for at least one of the brothers but I found getting through each chapter a slog and finally decided that life’s too short to turn yourself inside out trying to like a book simply because you think you should.

From what I can tell from trying and failing to love this book, it eventually boils down to the following sentence:

Clay builds a bridge.

When I raised my white flag it was clear that Clay was going to physically build a bridge with his father and in doing so I’m guessing he also manages to build a bridge over the chasm separating father from sons. I know so many people love this book already and wish I was one of them but I admit defeat. If you read this book I really hope you love it.

Once Upon a Blurb

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance. 

At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge – for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle. 

The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

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The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter – Tim Collins

Illustrations – Sarah Horne

I blame myself for needing wanting to read every book with ‘dinosaur’ in the title. Not being familiar with this series it took me a little while to realise that our main character Ann lived in the 1800’s. It took me until the end of the book to find out that it’s set in 1870. Ann’s story is told in diary form and is inspired by the life of Mary Anning who, along with her brother, found the first complete Ichthyosaur skeleton in 1811.

Ann finds fish lizard bones and her father, who’s essentially a snake oil salesman, sells them to tourists as a “cure” for whatever he deems wrong with them. His scams and tactless sales pitch tends to get him into trouble and Ann appears to take on somewhat of a parental role, trying to keep him out of trouble and entertained.

One day a surgeon who collects fossils encounters her father’s stall, realises the scientific importance of her discovery and after some setbacks Ann and her father wind up visiting the New World (America) on an expedition to hunt dinosaurs. Despite the old men at the Geological Society dismissing her due to her age and gender Ann is determined to become a great scientist.

I never really connected with Ann’s character although the story did grow on me over time. I found the writing to be very matter of fact and mostly a series of “I did this”, “I went there” and “That happened”. Ann’s continual references to believing she was cursed each time something went wrong irritated me after a while. Perhaps it just wasn’t my type of humour but there was only one part that I found smirk worthy and based on the blurb I’d expected ‘hilarity’.

I still don’t know how Ann qualifies as the “World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter” as she seemed pretty great at it, so much so that even though she is uneducated, unqualified and a girl (shock, horror!) she is the first to discover several dinosaur species.

I did like the ‘Get Real’ facts scattered throughout the book, my favourite of which involved William Buckland who “attempted to eat his way through the entire animal kingdom, and is known to have served his guests mice on toast and roasted hedgehog.” Ew!!

The sections at the end of the book where I learned about Mary Anning’s life and some other notable dinosaur hunters were interesting. Also included are a timeline and glossary.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press, an imprint of North Star Editions, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Meet Ann – a smart but unlucky teenager keeping a diary of her life as she hunts for dinosaur bones. When she gets an opportunity to search for fossils in the American West, Ann is determined to turn her luck around and show the world her discoveries.

The hilarious Long-Lost Secret Diary series put readers inside the heads of unlucky people in unfortunate situations. The accessible, irreverent stories will keep young readers laughing as they learn the importance of not being afraid to learn from one’s mistakes. Get Real fact boxes featured throughout, as well as a glossary and additional back matter, provide historical context and background.

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