Tag: 3.5 stars

The Infinite Pieces of Us – Rebekah Crane

When Esther’s family move to Truth or Consequences they are weighed down by all of the lies, secrets and judgements they bring with them. Esther’s big “mistake” has necessitated the move and her sister and once best friend Hannah doesn’t want anything to do with her, her stepfather Tom is more controlling than ever, her mother refuses to talk about it, and the family in general vacillate between judging Esther and trying to pretend they’re not all keeping a secret. Both girls are now homeschooled and missing the lives they left behind in Ohio.

This is a book with iced mocha Frappuccino soy lattes, pools that are as parched as the desert, red tacks on maps, Heaven in Blockbuster, a gigantic Touchdown Jesus, terrible math jokes, and the search for truth.

I am a sucker for books with road trips and quirky personalities living with quirkier names. Where the Heart Is started the quirky thing with me and as a result every book with quirk since then has been judged against my love of Novalee, Sister Husband and Lexie.

This book has Color and Moss; Color cleans houses when she’s not at school and her brother Moss (also known as Fungus) runs through the book in his short running shorts. Jesús (pronounced Hey-soos) works at a cafe and wants someone to ‘froth his wand’. Beth is the proud owner of humourous science shirts and can be found singing in the church choir.

I’m a romantiphobe anyway so maybe take this with a grain of salt; I suspected going into this book that there’d be romance involved but it didn’t really work for me. It felt like we went from this guy is standoffish to the point of seeming to actively dislike her to oh, they’re kissing now without much of a progression.

I did get a little misty eyed at one of the ‘Aw, I want friends like that’ moments. I didn’t particularly like Esther although I really liked most of her friends and wished their stories were fleshed out more. Although she was the main character I actually found her story to be the least interesting. In this book all of the kids are dealing with really big issues including abandonment and homophobia but this, being Esther’s story, relegates most of this to the periphery.

I waited the whole book to find out what truth Jesús was going to include in his senior statement and wondered how his secret remained one for so long. I wanted to know what the deal was with Color and Moss’ mother. I wanted the situation with Hannah to result in something much more satisfying and appropriate than her getting grounded.

I wanted there to be some resolution for Amit. I wanted to hang out with Beth’s parents. I wanted Tom’s character to develop rather than all of a sudden changing in the end to wrap the story up more neatly. I wanted Esther and Hannah’s mother to be who she was instead of pretending to be who her husband wanted her to be.

The only parents in the book that I had any respect for were Beth’s but they were only spoken about, not on the pages themselves. The rest of the parents needed a swift kick up their abandoning, homophobic, judgemental ‘consequences’.

I preferred The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland; I think I was destined to compare the two. I don’t remember having so many outstanding questions at the end of Grover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyscape for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Pondering math problems is Esther Ainsworth’s obsession. If only life’s puzzles required logic. Her stepfather’s solution? Avoidance. He’s exiled the family to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to erase a big secret from Esther’s past. So much for the truth. Now for the consequences: an empty swimming pool, a water-sucking cactus outside her window, a goldfish rescued from a church festival, and Esther’s thirst for something real.

Step one: forget about her first love. Step two: make allies. Esther finds them in Jesús from the local coffee bar; a girl named Color who finds beauty in an abandoned video store; Beth, the church choir outcast; and Moss, a boy with alluring possibilities. Step three: confess her secret to those she hopes she can trust. Esther’s new friends do more than just listen. They’re taking Esther one step further.

Together, they hit the road to face Esther’s past head-on. It’s a journey that will lead her to embrace her own truth – in all its glory, pain, and awesomeness.

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The Grerks at No. 55 #1: Nelly the Monster Sitter – Kes Gray

Illustrations – Chris Jevons

‘If monsters are real, how come I’ve never seen one?’ said Nelly.

‘Because they never go out,’ said her dad.

‘Why don’t monsters ever go out?’ said Nelly.

‘Because they can never get a babysitter,’ said her dad.

So Nelly becomes “Nelly the Monster Sitter!”, which is pretty much everything you imagine it is. Think The Baby-Sitters Club except it’s just Nelly, not a club, and she babysits monsters, not kids; although to be fair, some of the kids the BSC looked after were more monstrous than the monsters in this book. Nelly even keeps a record of her monster sitting experiences, just like the BSC girls did.

Nelly’s parents are comfortable with her monster sitting although her twin sister Asti, like many people, is afraid of monsters. Although fun and lighthearted, this book does have a subtle commentary underlining it about acceptance of those who don’t look like you and finding friendships with amazing people/monsters that others are too scared to get to know.

The Grerks at No. 55 is the first in the series so introduces Nelly and her family and sets the scene for future books. The only thing that had me a little squirmy about its inclusion was when Nelly glues millions of fleas to the wall, gets her friends to paint over the still alive but stuck fleas and calls it decorating.

The monsters in this book are imaginative and easy to picture, especially when the descriptions are paired with lovely illustrations that bring the monsters to life. I’m interested to see what adventures Nelly experiences when she knocks on the doors of her future monster customers.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Ever played catch with a six-legged Gog, or made pancakes with an oozy orange Squurm? Every time Nelly rings on a new monster family’s doorbell she’s up for a new challenge. Come on her monster-sitting adventures in this laugh-out-loud funny first book in the series.

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Epiphany – Priya Sridhar

Illustrations – Meg Owenson

Kelli has known she can speak to objects and hear them reply for most of her life. Objects will even do what she asks them to. Since her parent’s divorce Kelli has kept quiet about her abilities but after doing paid surveys at the university where her mother works, Kelli’s abilities are suspected by researchers. Kelli joins a group of other children and young adults with potential ESP and telekinesis abilities for a three week study at the university. It isn’t long before the participants begin to disappear.

I enjoyed this book, although I am left with some questions (including why the blurb gave away so much of the story. Yes, I have too, but the blurb paved the way). I think my favourite character was Kelli’s pillow, whose role is to protect and comfort her. I can definitely imagine chatting away to an empathetic pillow when I have trouble sleeping.

I was annoyed by Kelli’s mother’s refusal to believe at the end of the book, despite all that she’d witnessed. She rambles to her daughter, “But Talia insisted on being part of that study anyway. And now look where that got her.” So much blame for Talia, so little responsibility for Kelli’s mother. Surely she would have found out all of the details of the study prior to allowing her daughter to participate.

I wondered how Kelli’s pillow knew what advice to give her but, all things considered, I suppose the pillow could have been given information from the walls. While I witnessed glimpses of what some of the other participants could do they never became characters I was invested in so I’d like to learn more about them.

It made no sense to me that when Kelli sneaks into Talia’s office she uses the computer to message her friend to do research on the person running the experiment instead of just using the desk phone to call her mother for help. We find out in the next chapter that the phone is in the same office as the computer. If the baddie was as smart as they obviously thought they were then they’d have known it was probably not the best idea to experiment on the children of their coworkers. If you’re going to do dodgy experiments on kids then surely anonymity is fairly high on your wish list, right?

While I thought the reason behind Kelli’s powers fading as the experiment progressed was obvious I’m not exactly the target audience for this book. If I was 8 to 12 when I was reading this I’m fairly certain I would have been pleasantly surprised when I learned why this was happening and probably wowed by it.

This book made me think about supposedly inanimate objects. As a kid I believed that objects could feel, long before I’d heard of animism, and even now I find myself unconsciously apologising to my car if I stall her. (Yes, my cars have all had names and personalities. I’ll happily admit to my weirdness.) Anyway … about the inanimate objects in this book.

Do walls and doors talk to one another and if so, what are they saying about us? Since Kelli seems to be the only one who can hear them when they respond to her, do the doors, walls and pillows think humans are essentially rude for refusing to acknowledge them? How does a pillow heat itself on command and can I ask mine to always remain cool? I also wondered how Kelli could drag a bag along the sidewalk, knowing that if she ever spoke to it she’d probably hear about how inconsiderate that was.

Following the end of the story there’s a glossary, discussion questions and writing prompts. From what I can gather from Goodreads there may be at least another two books following this one and I’m definitely interested in hanging out with Kelli again. I really want to know what happens if she ever tells her best friend about her abilities and whether her mother will ever believe they exist.

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

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Kelli talks to objects, and the objects talk back. However, Kelli has kept her powers of ESP and telekinesis hidden until a psychological study notices her potential. Kelli agrees to the psychologist’s program, interested in learning more about her abilities. She also meets other people with powers of their own. But when test subjects begin to disappear, Kelli discovers the curious psychologist is much more like a mad scientist eager for power.

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Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul – Nikita Gill

In these short stories and poems you’ll find well known fairytales with insights into characters, backstories and different endings. Sleeping Beauty doesn’t wait for a Prince to awaken her; she does it herself. Jack is willing to face a giant to escape his abusive mother. Tinkerbell embraces her anger.

My absolute favourite was this empowering gem:

Once Upon a Time II

But the universe never promised
you this would be easy,
after all, you are the hero here.

And heroes are meant
to be forged golden
from the blaze.

It is up to you to rise again
from the fragmented shards
your foes left of you.

You must lift a sword
with reborn strength and take on
the demons in your ribcage.

You must devastate the chains
every violent person
has brutally placed on you.

And you must show them all
how they were simply
characters in your story.

But you, you are the author
of this spellbinding tale
built of hope and bravery.

Out there may be monsters, my dear.
But in you still lives the dragon
you should always believe in.

Each time I read it I can feel myself sit up straighter and the resolve to rise up gets stronger. I don’t usually quote an entire poem but I had to here. I love it!

Towards the end of the book I began to wonder if the author had run out of fairytales and was simply fuelled by anger. Poems like The Modern-day Fairytale and Ode to the Catcaller Down the Street felt like I was suddenly reading another book altogether, one that wasn’t enchanting and empowering, just mad. Perhaps if there were two sections in the book the shift would have been easier to process.

Some stories and poems fuelled my hope, showing me victims becoming survivors and villains humanised. Others left a bitter aftertaste. Life’s like that though. While we want our happily ever after, it’s not guaranteed. When we think we have nothing left we find reserves of strength we didn’t even know we possessed. Some things life chooses for us but it’s our choices that define us.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Poet, writer, and Instagram sensation Nikita Gill returns with a collection of fairytales poetically retold for a new generation of women. 

Traditional fairytales are rife with cliches and gender stereotypes: beautiful, silent princesses; ugly, jealous, and bitter villainesses; girls who need rescuing; and men who take all the glory.

But in this rousing new prose and poetry collection, Nikita Gill gives Once Upon a Time a much-needed modern makeover. Through her gorgeous reimagining of fairytale classics and spellbinding original tales, she dismantles the old-fashioned tropes that have been ingrained in our minds. In this book, gone are the docile women and male saviors. Instead, lines blur between heroes and villains. You will meet fearless princesses, a new kind of wolf lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent Gretel who can bring down monsters on her own.

Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations by Gill herself, Fierce Fairytales is an empowering collection of poems and stories for a new generation.

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Riley Thomas #1: The Forgotten Child – Melissa Erin Jackson

I loved the beginning of this book. It has banter between friends, TV series binge watching and an upcoming road trip to a haunted ranch that used to be the home of a serial killer. The main character is a true crime enthusiast who’s also more in tune with the spirit world than she’d like to be. Ever since the “Great Ouija Board Fiasco” in her childhood Riley has tried to squish, deny and otherwise ignore her ability to see dead people.

I was all in during the lead up to the weekend at the ranch and I loved the ooky spookiness of her time there. I loved Pete, the ghost boy she meets over hot chocolate; Pete became my favourite character. I even enjoyed the banter between Riley and Michael, a sceptic who was dragged along to the ranch because he lost a bet.

Michael, or Mr Perfect as I came to think of him, was a nice addition to the story during his initial banter with Riley but I ended up finding him nauseatingly perfect and hoped he’d turn out to be a serial killer in disguise. I was creeped out that Mr Perfect called Riley “my girl” and she goes all swoony about it when the serial killer also called his victims his girls. I also wondered how it was possible that Michael didn’t know what a séance was when he kept talking about his cousin who works as a medium.

Once the story left the ranch my excitement began to fade as this serial killer ghost story morphed into more of a romance (yes, I’m a romantiphobe), one that seemed to be a way for the characters to pass the time while they were waiting for people to respond to their murder investigation phone calls and emails. Naturally there’s the obligatory sex scene along with the follow up description of the next night – “They were two insatiable beasts”. Ugh! Trashy romance novel jargon is also borrowed, mentioning the serial killer’s “manhood”. Ugh! Eye roll!

I enjoyed the chapters that helped tell the story of the serial killer; the way he thought, what he was trying to accomplish and the history of some of his victims. I thought I would really like Mindy, the girl who lived, but was disappointed that she was mostly typecast as ‘helpless victim’. Fair enough, considering what she’d experienced but I wanted more for her. It also didn’t seem plausible that this woman who’d been in hiding since her escape would be so easy to find or that she’d respond to Riley in the way that she does.

I liked Riley’s character and really enjoyed the scenes when she was fangirling about her favourite TV series with another character as I could relate to that (maybe a little too well). I mostly enjoyed it when Riley chatted with her best friend Jade but Jade’s habit of spouting sexual euphemisms, while intended to be funny, had me practicing my eye rolling. The best (worst?) one was “cattle-prodding your oyster ditch with his lap rocket”. Seriously?

I did find Riley’s transition from denying her ability to embracing it a tad rushed but considering her experience at the ranch it was fairly understandable. I also found the wrap up of the story predictable right down to the police arriving fashionably late. I was really irritated by some of Riley’s actions including baiting the suspected murderer, leaving a key under her door mat for Mr Perfect when she was being stalked and mindlessly contaminating a crime scene even though she was obsessed with true crime and should have known better. Then again, it would take some of the fun out of reading a horror/mystery/paranormal book if the main characters didn’t do stupid things that you want to yell at them through the pages about.

I’m interested in reading the next book in the series because there was a lot to like about this book. I enjoyed the engaging style of writing and became hooked almost immediately. I was captivated until Riley left the ranch and turned into a swooner (is that a word?) who worries if her new boyfriend will yell at her for doing something stupid. It probably seems like I wouldn’t want to read on after essentially pulling this book apart but after such a strong beginning I have faith in this author’s ability to become one of my favourites. It feels like there’s potential for the characters to grow and given Riley’s still learning about her abilities I’m curious to see how the series progresses.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Ringtail Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The dead can speak. They need her to listen.

Ever since Riley Thomas, reluctant medium extraordinaire, accidentally released a malevolent spirit from a Ouija board when she was thirteen, she’s taken a hard pass on scary movies, haunted houses, and cemeteries. Twelve years later, when her best friend pressures her into spending a paranormal investigation weekend at the infamous Jordanville Ranch – former home of deceased serial killer Orin Jacobs – Riley’s still not ready to accept the fact that she can communicate with ghosts.

Shortly after their arrival at the ranch, the spirit of a little boy contacts Riley; a child who went missing – and was never found – in 1973.

In order to put the young boy’s spirit to rest, she has to come to grips with her ability. But how can she solve a mystery that happened a decade before she was born? Especially when someone who knows Orin’s secrets wants to keep the truth buried – no matter the cost.

CW/TW: Adult language, sexual situations, discussions about sexual assault

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Pearl #1: Pearl the Magical Unicorn – Sally Odgers

Pearl is a unicorn whose magic doesn’t exactly turn out how she plans. All she wants to do is share some apples with her best friends in the Kingdom, Tweet the firebird and Olive the ogre. However, each time she tosses her head or wiggles or prances something unexpected happens, like strawberry milkshake falling from the sky onto one of her friend’s heads.

Perhaps it would be better if Pearl didn’t try to use her magic after all. Then Pearl and her friends encounter three big gobble-uns who are planning something dastardly (and smelly).

This is a cute friendship story during which Pearl’s friends help her to believe in herself. Young readers who enjoy sugary sweet stories will enjoy hanging out with Pearl and her friends. I wasn’t a fan of Pearl’s random exclamations which included “Purple potatoes!”, “Cold crumpets!”, “Sizzling salad!”, and “Toddling toads!” but I’m not exactly the target audience; they may find these funny.

This book is extremely PINK! Pink things fall out of the sky, the illustrations are greyscale with lots of pink and plenty of words are pink too. I really liked the illustrations, particularly those showing Pearl suspicious, confused and cranky. I actually found the illustrations funnier than the story and they’re most of the reason why I will be ordering the second book of the series from the library. Also the second book is called The Flying Unicorn; flying combined with dodgy magic is something I want to see.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Meet Pearl. She is a magical unicorn. But Pearl doesn’t quite know how to use her magic. With the help of her friends, Tweet and Olive, can Pearl believe in her magical self? And what happens when Pearl and her friends stumble upon three naughty, stinky gobble-uns!?

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Copycat – Hannah Jayne

Spoilers Ahead!

This book took me back to the Point Horror books of my childhood (if their characters swore). Addison is a 17 year old who is obsessed with a series of books and writes fan fiction on her popular blog. Reader dream #264 comes true for her when the mysterious author of the Gap Lake books contacts her and asks for her help in generating buzz for the upcoming series finale.

Addison and her best friend Maya stumble upon the body of the most popular girl in school, the details of which eerily mimic those of the snippets of the new book the author has asked Addie to post on her blog. Addie begins to wonder whether the person contacting her really is the author or if she’s talking to the killer.

While there was nothing specifically wrong with Addie’s character it was Maya that made the book for me. I loved her snarky quips and the banter between her and Addie. Spencer, ex boyfriend of the dead girl and Addie’s crush, and Colton, who is not so secretly in love with Maya, both felt mostly two dimensional. I wasn’t a fan of Addie’s dad or Maya’s parents, although I’m fairly sure Mr Garcia could twist my arm and force me to eat some of his cooking.

I loved the snippets of the Gap Lake book that the author sends Addie as they had a creepy teenage horror vibe. I’ve read so many books like this and am a lot older than the target audience so I found the plot really predictable and I knew who was responsible for the murder early on. Had I read this as a kid I expect the whodunnit aspect probably would have floored me. The explanations espoused during the baddie monologue are quite groan worthy.

I was fortunate enough to have an ARC but life happened so I read it after its release. This became a fun game for me once I realised that the library book in one hand and the Kindle in the other didn’t always match. I preferred the ARC, mostly because there are two missing chapters in the final version. Not a lot happened in the first one but without it the continuity was off and I did flip back through the pages of the book to try to work out what I’d missed before I realised the ARC version made the story flow more smoothly.

My favourite difference between the ARC and the final version is totally irrelevant to the story itself but talked about food which always holds my attention. In the ARC Mr Garcia gives Addie “lessons on making something like gumbo or étouffée”. In the final version it’s his “signature enchiladas”.

I had a few irks and question marks while reading and think I may have tripped over some plot holes but there was nothing that made me want to stop reading.

Early on we’re told multiple times that Maya’s mother is the chief of police and her father is a homicide detective. I got it the first time. The descriptions of Addison’s saliva were also repetitive and included “Addison’s saliva tasted sour”, “Her saliva soured”, “her saliva going sour”, “saliva that tasted like hot metal”, and “her saliva tasting bitter”.

Addison’s phone pinged twice and another character mentions how insistent the person sending the message is. When Addison checks her phone there’s one message, not two.

When her blog was hijacked I screamed at Addie to take some screen shots so she had some evidence but alas, she didn’t hear me.

Maya is hit by a car and taken to hospital by ambulance. Addie is driven home at the same time. Addie walks in the door, slumps to the floor and calls Maya. Maya’s mother tells Addie that she’s taking her daughter home now. She was hit by a car! Either Barry Allen works at the hospital or she’s a meta so heals rapidly (yes, I’m currently bingeing The Flash! Why do you ask?!) or something is wrong with this picture. After knowing that Maya has been taken home Addie has a thought bubble: “You’re the reason Maya is lying in a hospital bed somewhere.” Then Maya’s parents are at work together maybe an hour later while their daughter who’s been hit by a car is either home alone or in the hospital. Perhaps this is a job for Schrödinger?

There were a few others but you get the point. It’s the sort of thing you expect to be picked up during the editing process and because I wandered through several ‘huh?’ moments I started questioning whether I was stupid, having missed a whole pile of information, or whether I was super smart for finding them when those before me didn’t. I’m still unsure.

Overall this was a fun, easy read and I’ll be checking to see if my library has any more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Everyone is dying to read the latest book in the popular Gap Lake mystery series, and Addison is no exception. As the novels biggest fan, Addison is flattered when the infamously reclusive author, R.J. Rosen, contacts her, granting her inside information others would kill for. 

But when the most popular girl in Addison’s high school is murdered, Addison can’t help but think that life may be imitating fiction. And as other terrifying events from the book start happening around her, Addison has to figure out how to write her own ending – and survive the story.

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Definitely Daphne – Tami Charles

Spoilers Ahead!

Annabelle and her father usually travel where her mother’s work takes her but this time her mother’s assignment is TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) and Annabelle and her father have to stay behind. While she’s serving in Afghanistan for six months Annabelle and her father will be living civilian life. For Annabelle that means the seventh grade, in an actual school with other kids.

All of a sudden the shy girl who used to enjoy being homeschooled while wearing her pyjamas is having fashion emergencies and hiding out in the janitor’s closet. To help Annabelle adjust to civilian life and get a support system in place before her mother’s deployment her parents arrange therapy for her.

This was an easy but predictable read. I loved that the main character’s mother is in the Air Force. I haven’t come across a book for this age group that talks about what it’s like to be a military kid before so I loved that this book explored different characters’ feelings and behaviours relating to this experience. There’s a build up to when Annabelle’s mother needs to leave but the leaving itself doesn’t happen in this book so you don’t get to find out how Annabelle copes when it actually happens.

While I liked the concept of Annabelle talking about trying new things on her vlog I had to suspend my disbelief to get through the sections where the other kids at school are discussing Daphne in front of her, not realising that Annabelle is Daphne. What’s happening in Daphne’s world coincides perfectly with what’s happening at their school and the vlog begins soon after the new kid arrives; the new kid who just so happens to look exactly like Daphne if she was wearing a wig, costume and glasses. Annabelle’s ability to hide in plain sight rivals that of a superhero.

I would have liked to have gotten to know Annabelle’s mother better but enjoyed drooling over her father’s amazing homemade dinners, especially the pizza. I liked Annabelle’s friend John but I never really got much of a sense of Clairna or Nav’s personalities.

I wasn’t quite sure how Rachael was supposed to be maintaining her status as fashion queen if money was tight in her family. I also never figured out what made her so popular that her legions of fans needed to wait outside the bathroom to take selfies with her other than the fact that she’s pretty, but then again I actively avoided the popular kids at school so I doubt I’ll ever understand popularity.

I didn’t find Daphne’s vlogs particularly funny but I may be too old and decrepit to understand their humour. I’m always hesitant when I come across kids using slang and referencing specific songs in books because it dates them so quickly so I have that concern for this book. Personally I think the whole ‘squad’ thing has already been overdone.

With the hype surrounding the Daphne’s first two vlogs it didn’t make sense to me that there’d be almost no interest in the third. I would’ve thought that a significant amount of the people who watched the first two would have also watched the third. How would they know it wasn’t as good if only 9 people saw it?!

While I understood that Annabelle has spent years being homeschooled she talks about watching Netflix and references watching rom-coms so I was surprised that she was as clueless about school life as she was. She didn’t know what a locker was or what ‘putting your face on’ means. I did appreciate some of the other humour relating to Annabelle’s lack of experience in the American school system though.

I was more than a little shocked that it was possible to get an emergency Sunday afternoon appointment with a therapist and that when Annabelle’s mother rang the therapist out of the blue they got straight through. I also cringed when the therapist continually shared details of their appointments with Annabelle’s parents.

In my experience therapists will outline any exclusions to the confidentiality of their appointments up front and while it was true when the therapist said that nothing shared in the appointment would leave the room, Annabelle’s parents were brought into the room to catch them up. While it didn’t seem to be a big deal for Annabelle I know that if I’d attended therapy as a kid and the therapist had then told my parents everything I told them, any trust I had developed with the therapist would have been broken. I hope that kids who read this book aren’t put off by this.

Hopefully the age group this book is marketed towards won’t have already heard variations of this story so many times they could tell you how it’s going to play out step by step but most of the story felt clichéd to me. You’ve basically got a new kid who’s trying to fit in. They become friends with the nice kids who they ditch when the queen bee pays them the slightest bit of attention. Eventually they realise they made a mistake, realising that their nice friends are actually true friends.

Then you’ve got the super obvious secret identity cliché that only one special person and the queen bee figure out before the big reveal. If the main character finally tells everyone the mystery person is actually them and that they’ve been lying to everyone for so long they risk losing every friendship. Oh, and the big reveal can only ever happen at the school dance in front of the entire school.

Despite the clichés this was a sweet book and I did enjoy it. I think military kids in particular will find themselves in Annabelle but those whose parents move frequently for work will also relate to constantly being the new kid. I thought Annabelle’s struggles were handled sensitively and appreciated that her strengths were also highlighted.

Completely irrelevant but welcome to my brain: Because I’m weird I tend to accidentally notice patterns in books. If I was going to go all Sesame Street on you this is where I’d tell you that today’s review has been brought to you by the number 2. In the space of three sentences I found ‘Second Chance’, ‘two carts’, ‘Two Tony’s’ and ‘two hours later’. Further down that page there were ‘two screens’. I’m sure this was unintentional but once my brain sees something like this I then look for it for the rest of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In front of her followers, Daphne is a hilarious, on-the-rise vlog star. But at school Daphne is the ever-skeptical Annabelle Louis, seventh-grade super geek and perennial new kid. To cope with her mom’s upcoming military assignment in Afghanistan and her start at a brand new middle school, Annabelle’s parents send her to a therapist.

Dr. Varma insists Annabelle try stepping out of her comfort zone, hoping it will give her the confidence to make friends, which she’ll definitely need once Mom is gone. Luckily there is one part of the assignment Annabelle DOES enjoy – her vlog, Daphne Doesn’t, in which she appears undercover and gives hilarious takes on activities she thinks are a waste of time. She is great at entertaining her online fans, yet her classmates don’t know she exists. Can Annabelle keep up the double life forever?

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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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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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