Tag: Cover Lovin’

A Monster Like Me – Wendy S. Swore

The world is a dragon; my book a shield.

Sophie believes a witch cursed her when she was a baby and she now spends much of her time with her head down, reading and rereading The Big Book of Monsters. She uses it to help identify and protect herself against the monsters surrounding her that are cleverly disguised as humans and searching for clues to figure out what kind of monster she is so she can find a cure. She’s also hiding her face from the world because she’s ashamed of her ‘monster mark’, a hemangioma (blood tumour) that appeared when she was only a few months old.

I really liked Sophie for the most part but she also made me really sad. My heart ached for her each time she called herself a monster and every time someone stared, pointed at her or bullied her. She’s so self conscious because of her ‘monster mark’ and spent so much time looking out for danger that she missed out on having a lot of fun.

With Sophie always on the lookout for the mythological creatures from her beloved book she’s able to find the magical in people, but she can also find the monster in people whose behaviour doesn’t warrant the title. I found it interesting that for a girl who is eager to hide her face from the world she was quick to judge others based on physical attributes. She matches up what she’s read with those she meets and random circumstances that she attributes to them (like the wind blowing) confirm to her that the person is really a monster. This can result in wholly inaccurate assumptions based on first impressions; Kelsi is the best example of this. He’s adorable and the voice of reason in this book, yet Sophie is certain he’s a dangerous shapeshifter.

I loved Autumn, Sophie’s friend, who’s eager to play along when Sophie tells her she’s a fairy. Given what Autumn’s family are dealing with it makes sense that her lively imagination helps buffer her from painful reality.

I think my favourite character would have been Mrs Barrett if she’d played a larger role. I was disappointed when she started to fade into the background and would have loved more scenes with her in them.

I don’t know that Ms. Cloe’s role in Sophie’s life was introduced. I assumed she was a therapist (I spent the entire book waiting for someone to finally get this girl some counselling) but wondered why a therapist would be giving a client a present. Sophie had to win a game with her mother and Ms. Cloe to get the prize, which I’m guessing Sophie’s mother bought, although this isn’t stated. Since the game involved chance, rolling dice and moving around a board, it was pretty convenient that Sophie won.

Initially I loved the excerpts from Sophie’s monster book between each chapter because of my love for mythology, although I did have trouble finding the connection between excerpts and their surrounding chapters at times. The excerpts did get a bit of a preachy vibe towards the end, focusing more on being a good person than monsters. Not that there’s anything wrong with the whole ‘be a good person’ thing but I was really enjoying reading about the mythological creatures.

The cover image is wonderful and drew me to the book in the first place. I particularly liked the monster marks added to the font on the title. I did notice that in the book Sophie’s monster mark is on the right side of her face and the cover illustration shows her hair hiding the left side of her face. Once I noticed that I naturally couldn’t unsee it.

Now for the part of the review that I agonised about and the entire reason it took me almost two days to post my review after finishing reading. I want to make it clear that I read an ARC so this may not be an issue in the final version of the book. With that in mind, if I hadn’t committed to reviewing this book I would have abandoned it as soon as one of Sophie’s classmates was introduced (at 58%) as the cringeworthy and offensive ”Zac the spaz”, regardless of how much I was enjoying it prior to then. Fair or not, that word tainted my enjoyment of the book from that point on so I’m really hoping this will not make it into the final version of the book. I expect this would have been a 4 star read for me if it wasn’t for that horrendous word.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

There are trolls, goblins, and witches. Which kind of monster is Sophie?

Sophie is a monster expert. Thanks to her Big Book of Monsters and her vivid imagination, Sophie can identify the monsters in her school and neighbourhood. Clearly, the bullies are trolls and goblins. Her nice neighbour must be a good witch, and Sophie’s new best friend is obviously a fairy. But what about Sophie? She’s convinced she is definitely a monster because of the “monster mark” on her face. At least that’s what she calls it. The doctors call it a blood tumour. Sophie tries to hide it but it covers almost half her face. And if she’s a monster on the outside, then she must be a monster on the inside, too.

Being the new kid at school is hard. Being called a monster is even harder. Sophie knows that it’s only a matter of time before the other kids, the doctors, and even her mum figure it out. And then her mum will probably leave – just like her dad did.

Because who would want to live with a real monster?

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Sawkill Girls – Claire Legrand

“There were monsters in that book.”

And I loved it! I can’t believe it took me so long to read this book or that this is my first Claire Legrand read. I have seriously been missing out!

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep. He’ll follow you home and won’t let you sleep.

So goes the island’s monster tale. But is the Collector just an urban legend? Why have Sawkill’s girls been disappearing? What happened to them?

Zoey needs to know, especially since her best friend Thora is the most recent missing girl, presumed dead for seven months. One of 23 girls.

Decades of dead girls. Poor girls and rich girls. Black and brown and white girls. All of them Sawkill girls.

I went into this book having read its blurb, and that’s all. I highly recommend you don’t know too much about this book before uncovering the secrets of the Sawkill girls yourself. So instead of me telling you much about the book itself I want to tell you who my favourite characters were, but quickly I want to address that romance. This romantiphobe wanted the romance to work, needed it to work, yearned to see more of it, despite everything that told me that it couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t work.

Absolute Favourite Character

Is it weird if I tell you that Zoey was my absolute favourite character? And also that in a lot of respects Zoey is me?! Some of the things that came out of her mouth felt like I’d spoken them.

Zoey is ME Example 1:

“Sorry. That isn’t helpful. God. I need to stop talking. I’m a really awkward person. It’s a chronic condition.”

Zoey is ME Example 2:

“Hi, Future Zoey, this is Past Zoey”

[Zoey, to her phone’s voice recorder]

Zoey is ME Example 3:

“Imagine, if you will, a sponge—“ “Animal, cleaning, or Bob?” Zoey interrupted.

Except sometimes Zoey was not me. At all. Because I would never say:

“Can I just say that I’m really disturbed by the number of secret rooms on this island?”

Because there’s no such thing. If Zoey was me she’d know that.

And a Very Close Second …

Grayson. Oh, I need a Grayson in my life. He’s adorable, he cooks, he cleans, he gives great hugs and did I mention he’s adorable?

But Let’s Not Forget …

the surprise standout character, the Rock.

No, not that one! Although he will always be a favourite.

Initially I found the Rock’s voice unsettling and a tad confusing but as I made it further into the book I began to look forward to those pages and they became my favourites.

I loved the creepy. I loved the moths. I loved the atmosphere. I loved the imperfect characters. I loved the diversity. I loved the girls sticking it to the patriarchy.

A girl with incredible strength. A girl who can vanish. A girl who burns.

Yes, I had some questions that weren’t answered and yes, I had the whole nitpick about how the moths’ markings on the cover of the book don’t match the colour described in the book but seriously, who cares?! If you haven’t already, you need to read this book!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken – or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight … until now. 

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SHOUT – Laurie Halse Anderson

This is the story of a girl who lost her voice and wrote herself a new one.

I expect I’m one of the only ones reading SHOUT before they’ve read Speak. I’ve had Speak on my ‘I absolutely have to read this book’ list for as long as I can remember but still haven’t read it. I searched my local library for it but they don’t own it. I tried for several years to buy it on Kindle but it wasn’t available to purchase in my country (I just checked and it’s still not an option). I finally bit the bullet and added it to my Book Depository order last year and it’s been looking at me ever since from my shelf, quietly asking me why I haven’t opened its pages.

Honestly? It’s intimidated me. It’s the book about sexual assault and while I’ve read so many others, I think I’ve worried about what it will bring up for me when I do finally read it. So, long story slightly shorter, my plan is to SHOUT, then Speak, and then SHOUT again. I’m interested to see if my perspective on SHOUT changes after I’ve read Speak. I guess time will tell.

The first section of this book is essentially memoir in free verse. Laurie takes the reader on a journey through a series of childhood memories; a father haunted by war when alcohol isn’t numbing his memories, a mother silenced, her own experiences of school, work and surviving sexual assault. I really loved reading about Laurie’s experience as an exchange student in Denmark and would happily devour as much information as I could about those 13 months; what I’ve read has sparked an interest in Danish culture.

The second section, which begins almost two thirds of the way through the book, broke my heart as Laurie shared just a handful of stories about her interactions with other survivors, whose young bodies have been invaded and lives changed, most often by those they know and should have been able to trust. Although this section made me cry one of the things that got to me the most was something hopeful – the colourful ribbons tied to fences in Ballarat, Australia in support of the abused, which ultimately created Loud Fence. The images of those ribbons of support broke me.

This section includes responses from readers, students who have heard Laurie speak, teachers and librarians; those who need to share their story, those who don’t understand what was so bad about Melinda’s experience in Speak, those who want to censor “inappropriate” reading material.

I’m not sure how to sum up the third section other than to say that it was the shortest section but also the one in which I shed most tears. Laurie’s final poems about her parents simply gutted me.

Although it’s clearly stated in the blurb I still hadn’t thought there’d be as much memoir as there was in this book. I’d expected a greater percentage of poems to be directly addressing sexual assault, even though there are plenty that do. When my expectations didn’t line up with reality I thought I’d be disappointed but I wasn’t and I’m already ready for a reread. I expect that I will revisit this book each time I read one of Laurie’s books that are mentioned here, to search out her favourite scenes and glimpses of the story behind the story.

There’s a vulnerability here and it’s entwined with strength, determination, courage, resilience and so much compassion. While I finished this book with a contented sigh I’m still yearning for more. Luckily for me, as this is the first of Laurie’s books that I’ve read (shame on me!), I still have plenty to explore.

Thank you, Laurie Halse Anderson, for sharing some of your life in this book, for breaking my heart, growing my empathy, giving me so many amazing passages to highlight and inspiring me. I will see you on Ultima Thule.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless.

In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society’s failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #metoo and #timesup, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice – and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

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The Star-Spun Web – Sinéad O’Hart

One thought was so urgent that it drowned out all the others: she’ll only be two worlds away – will it be enough?

Tess is my kind of heroine. She’s smart, stubborn, determined and a good friend. She conducts scientific experiments in a raincoat that’s seen better days and her lab is otherwise known as the detention room. She has a pet tarantula named Violet and will quite happily ruin brand new clothes by climbing up a chimney. Oh, and she can travel between different realities!

“Could it be true, then, to say that everything which could exist, does exist somewhere? That every choice made creates a ‘branch’ effect, where both outcomes can come to independent fruition, each entirely unknown to the other? It would mean an almost unimaginable abundance of universes, but who is to say such things cannot be true?”

I’m pretty sure I’ve never been emotionally attached to a tarantula before, but Violet somehow spun some web magic over me and I became fiercely protective of her. I also became very fond of Moose the mouse and grinned whenever Hortense the hockey stick was mentioned. I quickly moved from “huh, a pet spider” to “I’m going to boycott this book if Violet and Moose don’t make it to the end alive”.

Then there were the humans. While Tess was a great main character, Wilf and Millie were the ones I wanted to simultaneously adopt and be best friends with. Millie was an absolute sweetheart, while Wilf managed to snag the best lines in the book (most of my smiles, smirks and chuckles came courtesy of her). Of all of the characters they’re the two I desperately need updates about. I’m not greedy; just a book each where their individual stories are the focus would satisfy me. 😜

The settings came to life for me, particularly the chapel and Ackerbee’s. I love Ackerbee’s even more now that I’ve seen photos of the building it was based on, the Lafayette Building in Dublin. I need to live in that attic!

I can’t tell you how much I love that ‘home’ in this book doesn’t consist of buildings and ‘family’ doesn’t require you to share DNA with people. Tess’ home is with those who love her, including Miss Ackerbee, Rebecca, Wilf and all of the other girls at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, and Violet, of course.

If I’d read this book as a kid I would have loved that it didn’t talk down to me. While there were some wonderful analogies that made complex ideas easier to understand (my favourite image was sheets of paper illustrating parallel universes), it never felt like anything was overly simplistic. I definitely would have gotten my science geek on after reading this.

Sara Mulvanny’s cover artwork and Sophie Bransby’s design drew me to this book in the first place and now that I’ve finished reading I can appreciate all of the elements that were included. I also liked the web at the beginning of each chapter; it was simple but effective.

Eensy weensy nitpick: I wasn’t overly sure why Moose could travel between realities when Tess had to leave Violet behind each time she went to Thomas’ world. Maybe I missed something though. Also, unlike Moose, Violet never seemed to eat.

While The Star-Spun Web works as a standalone there are enough loose ends to warrant a sequel. I can imagine what’s next for some of my favourite characters but I’d much prefer to hear Sinéad O’Hart telling me all about them. I need to see Tess reunite with her father, visit other realities, relearn how to move between realities without needing the Star-spinner and foil Mackintosh and Mrs Thistleton’s dastardly plan.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Stripes Publishing, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book and for introducing me to a new (to me) author. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to add Sinéad’s debut, The Eye of the North, to my wish list.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

With her passion for scientific experimentation and her pet tarantula Violet, Tess de Sousa is no ordinary orphan. When a stranger shows up at Ackerbee’s Home for Lost and Foundlings, claiming to be a distant relative come to adopt her, Tess hopes to find some answers to her mysterious origins. But as she adjusts to her new life at Roedeer Lodge, it becomes clear that Norton F. Cleat knows more about Tess – and the strange star-shaped device left with her when she was abandoned as a baby – than he’s letting on. And when Tess discovers that the Starspinner is the gateway between her world and a parallel world in which war rages, she realises she may be the key to a terrible plan. A plan she must stop at all costs …

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Unwritten – Tara Gilboy

“What if every story ever written is a world in another dimension, waiting for us to find it?”

I was enchanted by this book from the very beginning. It explores the complexities of good and evil, and the power we have to write our own story, regardless of the roles and labels others have placed upon us. There’s action, drama and so much heart.

Gracie may look like a normal 12 year old girl but she’s actually the creation of Gertrude Winters, an author whose unpublished story includes Gracie, her mother and Walter, a boy in her class and an aspiring scientist. Gracie gets story glimmers, glimpses of what her life would have been like in the story, but she doesn’t know the whole story and is frustrated that her mother won’t tell her.

When Gracie learns the story’s author will be coming to her town she can’t resist. Here is the opportunity she’s been waiting for! If only she can speak to the author then she may finally find out who she really is and what her story contains. Things don’t go quite as planned and Gracie, her mother and other characters wind up in the world of the story.

I was captivated the entire time I was reading. I loved the greys in this story; the villains weren’t all bad and the heroes didn’t always make the right choices. I was easily able to imagine the story world and wanted to stay longer to meet more of the people who live there.

While this book works well as a standalone I’m greedily hoping for a sequel and/or spin-off. I’m interested in knowing what happens next for Gracie, Walter and Cassandra in particular. I’d also love to see how Gertrude, the author of Gracie’s story, would react if another of her storybook characters walked into her life and wonder what their story would be about.

I would like to know more about Cassandra, particularly her background and more about her motivations. She was an intriguing character who deserves more page time. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not but Cassandra in this story has some similarities to Cassandra from Greek mythology; although different in so many aspects they were both able to foresee the future.

Jomike Tejido’s cover illustration is absolutely gorgeous and captures the essence of this story so well. I’m not sure I would have read this story’s blurb without that cover sucking me in and I would have missed out on a gem.

Over the course of a single book Tara Gilboy has cemented her place in my ’Have to Read Everything They Ever Write’ Hall of Fame. I can’t wait to read whatever comes next!

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

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman is living a normal life, but she is haunted by the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an unpublished fairy tale she’s never read. When she was a baby, her parents learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be safe.

But Gracie longs to know what the story says about her. Despite her mother’s warnings, Gracie seeks out the story’s author, setting in motion a chain of events that draws herself, her mother, and other former storybook characters back into the forgotten tale. Inside the story, Gracie struggles to navigate the blurred boundary between who she really is and the surprising things the author wrote about her. As the story moves toward its deadly climax, Gracie realises she’ll have to face a dark truth and figure out her own fairy tale ending.

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Wayward Children #4: In an Absent Dream – Seanan McGuire

BE SURE.

I’m convinced the Wayward Children series are fairy tales for adults whose door never opened for them as children, who are holding out hope against hope that some day their door will finally appear.

Alas, that this is not a fairy tale.

Okay, Seanan, I hear you. So it’s not a fairy tale, but it’s a cautionary tale, right?

this is Lundy’s story, Lundy’s cautionary tale

This cautionary tale’s doorway leads to the Goblin Market which, despite the fact that I would never make it a day there, still made me yearn for my own doorway to appear. It also made me want to reread Every Heart a Doorway to revisit Lundy’s journey after the conclusion of this book.

Lundy is this tale’s Wayward and she’s a reader!

Everything was a story, if studied in the right fashion.

She won my heart before I knew anything else about this precious soul. Lundy is also a strict keeper of rules, which is exactly why her doorway would never even consider me a possibility.

Following the rules didn’t make you a good person, just like breaking them didn’t make you a bad one, but it could make you an invisible person, and invisible people got to do as they liked.

description

This is a book of friendship and loyalty, of being torn between what you want and what you need, and of pies. Oh, the pies! I need to eat all of the pies.

I adored the Archivist, had a soft spot for Moon and wish I had gotten to know Mockery. I loved learning about how the Goblin Market’s rules work and especially loved the idea, foreign in our own, that unfair things always come with consequences.

I’m also entirely in love with that cover artwork and the gorgeous illustrations. I need a print of that doorway in the tree that’s large enough to span an entire wall so I can gaze at it all day, waiting for it to magically transform into the doorway to my world.

I was disappointed that some of the most exciting scenes happened off the page. I wanted to witness firsthand the battles that had been fought and won by characters when I wasn’t looking, and to be told of their conclusion rather than being shown them was frustrating for me.

Maybe it’s wishful thinking but I keep hoping there will be a Wayward Children book that explores the world I should be living in and that the simple act of opening the pages will open its doorway for me.

“It is a place where dreamers go when they don’t fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming. Doors lead here. Perhaps you found one.”

How am I supposed to wait an entire year for Come Tumbling Down?!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she’s found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

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Kingdom of Needle and Bone – Mira Grant

The difference between hero and villain was so frequently in the paperwork that most people never thought to file.

I love this book and I need MORE! Part of me adored that ending and another part of me, the greedy reader part of me, needs to know what happens next! In detail!

This was my very first Mira Grant Seanan read and I’m in awe over how much I loved it. I accidentally found Every Heart a Doorway on my library shelf in October 2016 and it became, over the course of one day, my all time favourite book. However, I’d hesitated to try a Mira book as I had this bizarre notion that they may not be for me. Well, to that I now say, ‘Pish posh! And bring me another!’

Seanan’s characters become real to me in such a short space of time. I become fully immersed in their world and the only reason I didn’t finish this book within a day was because life vaguely imitated art. Nope, I don’t have Morris’s disease but I did have a lovely time with food poisoning.

The outbreak was beyond control long before anyone realized it was happening.

Julie Dillon’s dust jacket illustration is absolutely jaw dropping and made me need this book before I even read the blurb. It’s just so delightfully creepy and mysterious and sinister.

I would advise with this book that you read the blurb but not much else. I want everyone to experience this book as I did, not knowing how everything was going to unfold until it did so with each page turn. The only thing I would mention is that if you’re strongly against the use of vaccinations then there’s a fair chance this isn’t a book you want to add to your TBR pile.

No matter how much she wanted it, this was one nightmare she would never wake from.

I am the proud owner of copy 35 of 1250 signed numbered hardcover copies. ❤️

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

We live in an age of wonders.

Modern medicine has conquered or contained many of the diseases that used to carry children away before their time, reducing mortality and improving health. Vaccination and treatment are widely available, not held in reserve for the chosen few. There are still monsters left to fight, but the old ones, the simple ones, trouble us no more.

Or so we thought. For with the reduction in danger comes the erosion of memory, as pandemics fade from memory into story into fairy tale. Those old diseases can’t have been so bad, people say, or we wouldn’t be here to talk about them. They don’t matter. They’re never coming back.

How wrong we could be.

It begins with a fever. By the time the spots appear, it’s too late: Morris’s disease is loose on the world, and the bodies of the dead begin to pile high in the streets. When its terrible side consequences for the survivors become clear, something must be done, or the dying will never stop. For Dr. Isabella Gauley, whose niece was the first confirmed victim, the route forward is neither clear nor strictly ethical, but it may be the only way to save a world already in crisis. It may be the only way to atone for her part in everything that’s happened.

She will never be forgiven, not by herself, and not by anyone else. But she can, perhaps, do the right thing.

We live in an age of monsters.

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Wayward Children #3: Beneath the Sugar Sky – Seanan McGuire

Beneath the Sugar Sky is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Novella category.

This will always be the Wayward Children Road Trip book to me. As soon as this disparate bunch of kids piled into the school minivan and set off on their journey I rejoiced, and their adventure just kept getting better and better, venturing through different worlds on their quest to help Rini, who fell from the sky near the beginning of the book.

This book took me an embarrassingly loooong time to read and I take full responsibility because I loved it! It unfortunately became one of those reads where life happened in between. I only wanted to read it whenever I could fully appreciate the brilliance that is Seanan McGuire, and let’s just say that 2018 sucked for me.

Recharged by the impending release of In an Absent Dream 💜 I knew I had to finish this one and, even after months of not having read a single page, I slipped straight back into the story. I hope to do a review that does some sort of justice to this book after a reread but for now please enjoy a sample of my favourite quotes:

“It’s never a good idea to eat the ground,” she said blithely, cake between her teeth and frosting on her lips. “People walk on it.”

Chandeliers of sugar crystals hung from the vaulted, painted chocolate ceiling. Stained sugar glass windows filtered and shattered the light, turning everything into an explosion of rainbows.

“It’s going to be okay. You’ll see. Just hang on. This would be a stupid way to die.”

“Sometimes that’s all you can do. Just keep getting through until you don’t have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is.”

“Every world gets to make its own rules. Sometimes those rules are going to be impossible. That doesn’t make them any less enforceable.”

Everyone who wound up at Eleanor West’s School – everyone who found a door – understood what it was to spend a lifetime waiting for something that other people wouldn’t necessarily understand. Not because they were better than other people and not because they were worse, but because they had a need trapped somewhere in their bones, gnawing constantly, trying to get out.

There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests …

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

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Girls of Paper and Fire – Natasha Ngan

READ. THIS. BOOK. PLEASE.

I have so many library books at the moment that I’ve been desperate to read for so long and of course too many were due at the same time. I almost sent this book back unread and I’m so glad I didn’t! It turns out it’s one of my favourite reads of the year!

“When the world denies you choices, you make your own.”

Lei’s nightmares are haunted by the raid on her village seven years ago that saw her mother ripped from her life. This time the soldiers have come for Lei, a Paper caste girl with golden eyes. She is to undergo training as one of the Demon King’s Paper Girls, which is supposed to be an honour yet feels anything but.

I think of the Paper Girls who came before me. The dreams of theirs that might have died within these very walls.

The extravagance of palace life is unlike anything Lei has ever experienced with her loving family, who lead humble lives running a herb shop in their remote village. In the palace she is surrounded by exquisite gardens and is dressed by her own personal maid in stunning clothes with magic weaved through them! 😍 The glamour is only on the surface though, as Paper Girls are essentially the Demon King’s concubines, and this life feels like a prison to Lei.

There’s so much I loved about this book, from the gorgeous descriptions of the different castes of Ikhar and their history and spirituality to the strength of the women who inhabit it. There’s action, betrayal, loyalty, friendship, a romance that didn’t make me want to vomit and an underlying hope despite brutality.

“They can take and steal and break all they want, but there is one thing they have no control over. Our emotions,” she says at my nonplussed look. “Our feelings. Our thoughts. None of them will ever be able to control the way we feel. Our minds and hearts are our own. That is our power, Nine. Never forget it.”

I absolutely adore the cover image and Jeff Miller’s jacket design is simply breathtaking! I especially loved the Birth-blessing pendant on the front of the hardcover book.

I loved learning about the world our characters inhabit and I became immersed in Ikhara. I believed in this world and yearned to learn more about its history, its magic, its spiritual beliefs and its customs. I don’t think Ikhara would have come alive for me if not for the gorgeous descriptions that made me want to sigh with the satisfaction they gave me. I highlighted so many sentences that made me want to follow Natasha Ngan around and have her describe to me whatever she sees. Two of my favourites were about time and winter:

But time has a way of folding itself, like a map, distances and journeys and hours and minutes tucked neatly away to leave just the realness of the before and the now, as close as hands pressed on either side of a rice-paper door.

Colors drain from the gardens like calligraphy paints being washed away.

Wren was the standout character for me but I was surprised to discover that I also had a soft spot for acerbic Blue, despite and maybe because of all of the reasons that I probably should have loved to hate her. Lill was a sweetheart but I didn’t get much of a sense of her personality. Similarly the twins didn’t appear to have distinct personalities and unfortunately they became interchangeable for me. There were also a few characters that didn’t have a great deal of page time but I wanted to know more, who I felt more of a connection with than most of the Paper Girls: Zelle, Kenzo and Merrin.

I don’t want an easy life. I want a meaningful one.

I want so much to give this book 5 stars for the world the author transported me to alone but there’s something that’s niggling at me. This may be a problem with me, not the book, but sometimes I felt a disconnect between what I thought I should be feeling and what I was actually feeling. Without getting too spoilery, events would happen that would affect one or more of the Paper Girls and I’d think I should be crying, full of rage, joy, something … but wasn’t. I was always interested in knowing what was going to happen next but my emotions didn’t fire up. I was more upset by Lei’s dog getting skewered than anything that happened to the girls. I’m hoping a reread will clear this up for me.

What I Need Included in the Sequel/s

More Shamans – I loved the information about the shamans in this book but need more! I need to know more about their history, all of the cool stuff they can do, how they’re trained, and I need to get to know one personally.

Lei’s Eyes – There’s more than meets the eye here (sorry, I had to! 👀). I need their backstory!

More Mythology – There’s no such thing as too much mythology as far as I’m concerned. An entire history book about Ikhara? Sign me up!

Also, I need the next book in the series sometime soon. Tomorrow is good for me. 😜

We might be Paper Girls, easily torn and written upon. The very title we’re given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. But what the Demon King and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable.

And there is a fire catching among us.

P.S. I tried to buy a signed copy of this book from Barnes & Noble but they can’t ship it to Australia! I’m sure I’ll get over this at some point but not for a while. 😢

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honour they could hope for … and the most demeaning. This year, there’s a ninth. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it’s Lei they’re after – the girl with the golden eyes whose rumoured beauty has piqued the king’s interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king’s consort. There, she does the unthinkable – she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world’s entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.

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Skyward Volume 1: My Low-G Life – Joe Henderson

Illustrations – Lee Garbett

Colours – Antonio Fabela

I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, mostly because of that gorgeous cover and the flying. Who doesn’t wish they could fly?!

Willa was just a baby on G-Day when most of Earth’s gravity disappeared, her mother floated away and her father confined himself to their apartment. Twenty years later Willa wants to see the world but is stuck working and paying the bills while her father hides inside.

Not only did Willa’s father somehow predict G-Day, he also claims to know how to fix it but evil Mr Barrow will do whatever it takes to stop him. After all, Mr Barrow has profited from G-Day and is currently living the high life (low life?) on street level courtesy of the gravity boots he invented.

I loved the illustrations and colours used in this volume and especially enjoyed finding out what a rainstorm looks like in this low gravity world.

I have a lot of questions about how this new world works and hope to find out more when Willa reads her dad’s journal, maybe in the next volume because – cliffhanger! Grr!

There’s violence in this series, with floating blood droplets (and also some gag inducing floating beads of sweat), so it felt like it was more suitable for a young adult audience. I wish there was more depth to the characters, particularly the boring and clichéd baddie, but I’m interested to see what happens next.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

One day, gravity on Earth suddenly became a fraction of what it is now. Twenty years later, humanity has adapted to its new low-gravity reality. And to Willa Fowler, a woman born just after G-day, it’s … well, it’s pretty awesome, actually. You can fly through the air! I mean, sure, you can also die if you jump too high. So you just don’t jump too high. And maybe don’t get mixed up in your Dad’s secret plan to bring gravity back that could get you killed …

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