All posts in Fiction

Rebel: The Legend Finale

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Rebel cover

At 10 PM my time, the stunning conclusion to Marie Lu’s Legend tetralogy, Rebel, came out. I stayed up all night to read it, and I wasn’t disappointed.

This review contains spoilers for the rest of the series.

When we last left Day and June, it was July 11, 2142. It had been ten years since Daniel (going by Day at the time) had nearly died and woke up with amnesia. After ten years living in Ross City, Antarctica, Eden was interviewing for an internship back in the Republic. At a train station, Daniel “met” June for the second time.

Rebel starts a month later. Daniel and June hadn’t talked much since that night, but June and the elector were going to visit Ross City. Despite their years apart and the amnesia thing, deep down, Daniel never stopped loving June. But are they too different now?

Eden

Rebel begins with Eden. I just want to give him a hug. He’s been living in his brother’s shadow his whole life. He’s hella smart, and shares the Wing boys’ compassion for the little guy. Even though Antarctica’s gamified level system is supposed to create a meritocracy, the way it’s implemented is unfair. Eden is bothered by this and is drawn to the dark side. Is he going down the path to self-destruction? Can his brother save him, or will their relationship be irreparably harmed? There’s some really great brother moments in this story.

Worldbuilding

I loved the worldbuilding in Rebel and how this book ties into the other books in the Luniverse. The Antarctican level system was obviously built on programming developed by Hideo Tanaka for the Warcross game. The book subtly mentions this game that once took the world by storm. The characters return to Los Angeles, which beautifully illustrates what the world might be like if it was recovering from a backwards dictatorship.

Daniel + June

If you read Champion (which you probably should before reading Rebel) then you’ve probably wondered whether Day and June really get back together.

So what happens? Daniel has never forgotten about her. There are some really cute moments in this book. Daniel, who has probably never had an awkward moment with a girl in his life, doesn’t know how to react around his former love. It’s absolutely adorable. They still have feelings for each other, but has too much changed? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Conclusion

If you didn’t pre-order this book (and have already read the other three books in this series) then run to your nearest bookseller and buy it. I’m definitely going to read this book again sometime after my hardcover edition has arrived. Rebel has the satisfying finale that we’ve all been waiting for. I loved it.  How much did I love it?  It’s a contender for my favorite book this year.  I stayed up past 7 AM to read it.  To quote page 376, after reading this book, “the final puzzle piece of my heart has fallen into place.”

The Fountains of Silence

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Fountains of Silence cover

I recently read The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. Thank you Bookish First for the Advanced Reader Copy! Sidenote here: it’s a great way to get free physical ARCs! If you want to join and use referral code 56cf541090ca608b4 you can help me get free books and be on your way to getting free books too. Anyway, this book occurs during Franco’s Spain and I liked it a lot.

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t think Franco’s Spain got a lot of publicity (or maybe it’s because he died in 1975). I don’t remember ever learning about it in school, except for maybe a sentence or two. He was a brutal dictator for decades. It’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve started to hear details about how his people suffered under his rule. The Fountains of Silence paints a vivid portrait of what it might have been like to live during this time.

Ana was a maid at an upscale hotel that catered to Americans shortly after the Franco regime started to do business with them. Daniel is a son of an oil tycoon whose parents want him to follow in the family business. He wants to be a photographer instead. He needs to take some brilliant photos while in Spain in order to get a scholarship to go to the school he wants without his parent’s financial aid. Daniel stays at Ana’s hotel for several weeks while his parents conduct business. Ana helps him with his photographs, and they quickly discover that they are compatible. Unfortunately, Ana isn’t supposed to fraternize with hotel guests, and Daniel’s family would prefer him to be with someone in his class.

Ana and Daniel aren’t the only characters of note here. Ana’s cousin Puri works at an orphanage. Her brother’s friend Fuga wants to be a bullfighter. There are corrupt businessmen, a friendly photo developer, and people to watch out for at the hotel. All these characters work together to paint a picture that helps the reader see what it would be like to live in Spain during the 1950s.

I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s danger, love, and a satisfying ending. The book is well-written, and the characters are memorable. The puzzle pieces of this book come together at the end very nicely.

The Fountains of Silence comes out on October 1st (like so many good books are this year) and I highly recommend it.

Allegedly – Not What I Expected

By Brookelorren on 4 Comments
Allegedly Cover

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson was not quite what I expected. It was a twisty ride with high stakes, moral ambiguity and a (perhaps) unreliable narrator. I recently read it and thought it was great.

Mary is sixteen years old, but she’s already a criminal in the eyes of the justice system. At age 9, she killed a baby. Allegedly. If the baby hadn’t been white, and she hadn’t been black, her story probably would have turned out differently.

We don’t find out the entirety of what happened until the very end, but we are slowly given details about the night baby Alyssa died as the story unfolds. Mary is neither the demon that the press makes her out to be, nor is she the perfect saint she thinks she is. And her upbringing, prior to baby Alyssa’s death, was certainly lacking, to say the least.

Allegedly is a great story and Mary makes an interesting narrator. In addition to being an engaging story, it raises questions about the criminal justice system in general. How do the courts treat people of color compared to white people? What about when people age out of the foster care system? What about the way teens in group homes are treated? The story has several levels of depth.

The ending… well. I wasn’t expecting that. I can’t really say much about it without giving away spoilers, but it certainly made me think.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book. It’s not a feel-good beach read or a happily ever after, but if you’re in the mood for something a little dark, then perhaps you’ll want to check out this book. The main character is both sympathetic and a little disturbed at the same time, the supporting characters are mostly disturbed, but it’s a book you won’t want to put down.

Cilka’s Journey

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Cilka's Journey Cover

I recently read Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. She is the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which I’ve heard of before and haven’t had the chance to read yet. Evidently, some of the characters in this story are in her other book. This was an enjoyable book that brings to light events that nobody really liked to talk about after World War II: what happened to some of the survivors.

After the concentration camps were liberated at the end of World War II, survivors still had a harrowing journey ahead of them. For some, their horrors weren’t over. Some of the newly liberated women were further victimized by their liberators. While people like Corrie Ten Boom spoke about forgiveness in The Hiding Place, not everybody was willing to be so understanding. Cilka Klein was one of those people who did not receive forgiveness from her liberators. After being raped for three years in a concentration camp, the Russians accused her of “sleeping with the enemy” and spying and was sentenced to a further 15 years of hard labor in a Siberian gulag.

Cilka’s Journey is based on a true story. It does a good job of portraying life in the gulag. The prisoners faced backbreaking labor, poor food, and horrid living conditions. The men victimized the women further. It’s not surprising that many people died there. Eventually, Cilka improved her life somewhat, but she was still in prison.

Cilka is the kind of person you want to root for. She often thought about others before she thought about herself. In addition to being kind, she repeatedly demonstrates bravery. You do get to find out what finally happens to her, but I don’t want to give away the ending.

Even though Cilka’s Journey deals with difficult topics, it is not overly graphic. Still, it has violence and sexual assault, which could be a trigger to some people.

The book is well-researched and contains a lot of accurate history inside. I like how Ms. Morris included an author’s note at the end telling the facts about Cilka. She also included information about the gulag she spent time in. I thought they were good touches.

Overall, I really liked Cilka’s Journey. It’s an important story that tells about a part of history that is often overlooked: what happened to some Holocaust survivors. I recommend it to people that are interested in World War II. I didn’t read The Tattooist of Auschwitz before reading this book. The book would probably be better if I had read that one first, but it’s not necessary.

Jukebox Joyride

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Jukebox Joyride cover

Over the summer, my boy and I listened to Jukebox Joyride while riding in the car together. He’s 12, and not all of the audiobooks I get are really appropriate for that age. Audible gives it’s members two free Audible Originals every month, and this was one of the choices.

Jukebox Joyride is an adorable trek through music history. George and his sister Jules live with their mom and love music. They used to live with their uncle too, but he disappeared a while back. Uncle Bob used to be an ethnomusicologist before he vanished.

It turns out, their Uncle Bob left them a magical music box that allows them to travel through time. The two kids travel to various time periods and get to experience music throughout history. They get to listen to early Jazz in New Orleans, meet Mozart as a child, and get to listen to music at an old medicine show. It’s a lot of fun.

Not everything is happy though. They are in danger, and so is their Uncle Bob. Will they be able to save their uncle, as well as music history? You’ll have to listen to this adorable story to find out.

Jukebox Joyride is a great middle grade book to listen to with your kids. Not only is it a lot of fun, but it’s also educational. They’ll get to listen to different styles of music in history and learn about different historical eras. They’ll get to learn more about Mozart (even Nannerl, who is the main character in Marie Lu’s Kingdom of Back, shows up in that part of the story). Even though it’s educational, there’s a lot of excitement, so it doesn’t make learning a chore.

I highly recommend Jukebox Joyride for middle grade readers, especially if you have long car rides with them. Or if you like middle grade books and have times when you listen to audiobooks. It’s no longer the free Audible selection, but the price is reasonable. Don’t waste your Audible credit on this one; it’s about $5, and unless you have a really cheap way to get them, it’s cheaper to buy it than use a credit.

Shadow Frost

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Shadow Frost cover

I recently finished reading Shadow Frost by Coco Ma. Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an Advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. It was really good… for a book that was written when the author was fifteen years old. While I enjoyed it overall, it wasn’t on the same level as a lot of my favorite books are.

The concept of this book is great. Asterin is a princess with a bit of fiestiness to her. When it’s discovered that a demon is running rampant through the kingdom, she volunteers to go, along with her best friend and four other guards. While out there, they discover that someone is trying to kill them. Asterin is a fairly powerful magic user and excellent swordswoman.

The biggest problem I had with this book was believability. Yes, I realize this is a fantasy book, so obviously you have to suspend reality on a bunch of things, but there are still universal elements we share in the human condition.

When Asterin’s mother, the queen, provides her with guards from another country, Asterin doesn’t seem to be suspicious. At all. I certainly would be. I did a foreign exchange with the Australian Navy once, but I certainly wasn’t guarding the Prime Minister’s daughter. Who lets new guards from a far-away country guard the princess? Furthermore, one of the guards decided to call the princess “brat” almost from the beginning. I think it’s meant to be witty banter, but could you imagine a foreign guard coming to protect Prince William when he was 17 or so and having the guard call him “brat” to his face? I can’t.

The love relationships didn’t seem believable either. The characters seemed to be sending mixed signals to each other. Is there a love triangle developing? Are they jealous of each other? Does she like him? Wait, what, he likes him? The characters that were supposed to be into each other didn’t seem to have a lot of chemistry between each other at the start. I couldn’t believe the depth of love that the characters were supposed to have for each other so quickly either. I’m not an opponent of instalove or insta-infatuation, but I just didn’t feel it here.

In Shadow Frost, a group of adventurers travel to attack the bad guy. It reminded me a bit of the Dragonlance books in that respect (which I loved). The plot had a bit of mystery to it, although I felt the author revealed some things a bit too early. The book had some plot twists, and I wasn’t sure who was who until we were almost at the end.

Overall, Shadow Frost was a solid debut for a teenage author. I didn’t dislike the book, but I’m not going to include it among my favorites either. I’m not sure if I will continue reading this series (so many books, so little time), but I would consider reading more books by Coco Ma in the future.

There’s Something About Sweetie

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
There's Something About Sweetie

There’s Something About Sweetie was the second book I’ve read from Sandhya Menon, although I have the Of Curses and Kisses ARC (thanks Sandhya!), so I’ll probably read that one next. I checked this one out of my local library and listened to it via audiobook.

Sweetie is an Indian American who sings for fun and runs like the wind. Oh, and she’s also fat. She reminds me a lot about Mirna Valerio — AKA the Mirvinator — a well-known overweight distance runner. Sweetie is okay with her weight, but her mother certainly is not.

Ashish Patel, Rishi’s brother from When Dimple Met Rishi (link is to review) is in a slump. He’s always been a ladies’ man, but after the first girl he really cared about left him, his confidence is gone. He can’t even play basketball the way he used to. In a fit of desperation… he asks his parents to set him up with someone. It worked for his brother, right?

His parents try to set her up with Sweetie, but Sweetie’s mother won’t have it. She thinks that Sweetie is too fat, and people will laugh at her if she dates an athletic boy. So they start seeing each other behind their parents’ backs. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.

My Thoughts

I really liked There’s Something About Sweetie. It’s lighthearted, funny, and the characters are likeable. At the same time, this book does have a serious message. People are more than their weight. Health and weight are a complicated issue, and just because a person struggles with their weight doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve a person to love, to wear nice clothes, or to enjoy a meal at a restaurant.

The characters were great too. Sweetie and Ashish don’t go to the same school and have different sets of friends. Not only do we get to know Sweetie and Ashish, we get to know their friends. Ms. Menon does a great job in giving both of them supportive friends that have their own interests and problems.

The book does a great job in instilling teenage insecurities into the characters. I love how it tells the story from both Sweetie and Ashish’s points of view. The book also is infused with Indian culture.

Conclusion

I recommend There’s Something About Sweetie, but you should probably read When Dimple Met Rishi first. Both stories are in the same universe, and Dimple happens first. You can read one without the other, but reading them in order brings more depth to the world the characters inhabit. And you’ll definitely want to read both of these before 10 Things I Hate About Pinky comes out (June 2, 2020).  There are a lot of great books coming out by this author and you should read them!

Who Put This Song On?

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Who Put this Song On cover

Who Put this Song On? is a memoir-type book about a girl who lives with depression at the time Barack Obama was elected president. I have to thank Netgalley and Delacorte Press for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy. While overall, I enjoyed this book, there were a few things that I found a little distracting.

The themes in this book had a lot of promise. Depression rep? I have a family member dealing with depression. Music? Hey, the girl on the cover is listening to music! There’s a lot to be excited about with this book.

What I Liked

Who Put This Song On? was well-written. I liked the main character, Morgan, who has been having difficulty with depression. Everybody experiences depression in different ways (my family member’s experience is different than Morgan’s) but Morgan’s experience seems realistic. I would expect that, considering that the author went through it herself.

I like how Morgan’s friends stick by her as she goes through this difficult semester. They seem to have a typical teenage friendship, hanging out in school, talking about their experiences with boys, and passing around a notebook where they all write down their thoughts. Morgan experiences setbacks in life, but that happens.

The community where Morgan lives seems to be full of ignorant people. While they probably aren’t actually as stupid as the author portrays them, since we are seeing them through her eyes, her perspective of them seems realistic. The world she lives in is well-described and thought out.

The book goes a little into racism and the lack of knowledge that a lot of people (of all races) that a lot of people have about the Civil Rights movement and about groups like the Black Panthers. Who Put This Song On? does a good job about making race a part of Morgan’s experience without making the book an issue book. Not that there would have been a problem if it had been an issue book, but that would have detracted from Morgan’s main struggle, which was depression.

What I Didn’t Like

While overall I liked Who Put This Song On?, there were a couple things that I didn’t like. The story doesn’t seem to have an overarching plot. Morgan does one thing, then she does another thing, then she does another thing. The story didn’t seem to have a climax or inciting incident or anything that most stories have. I think I would have liked it better if it didn’t seem like Morgan was always waiting for her life to begin.

The other thing that I didn’t like was the anachronisms in the story. It takes place in the fall of 2008 when Barack Obama gets elected. The high school students make mix CDs and reference a specific Saved By the Bell episode. Who was making mix CDs in 2008? ITunes came out in 2001, and from what I remember, nearly everybody was listening to their music via MP3s at this time. Saved By the Bell ended in 1993; assuming the characters were 17, they would have been two years old when that show ended. There was nothing, other than this reference, to indicate that they were ’90s television aficionados.

While Who Put this Song On? does mention a lot of songs, music didn’t have as much of a role in the book as I thought it would.

Conclusion

Who Put This Song On? was an entertaining book, but I did have a few issues with it (most of them were minor though). It’s a book that deals with the important topics of depression and racism through characters that are realistic and relatable. It’s not going to make the list of my favorite books of the year, however, it’s a book that might be really helpful to some people. If not, it does provide entertainment.

Ash Princess

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
Ash Princess cover

Ash Princess, by Laura Sebastian, is a story about a former princess (Theodosia) whose country was overtaken by another when she was much younger. Although the new kingdom has taken her in, she has become the subject of beatings and the butt of their jokes. Overall, I enjoyed it, although it didn’t have quite the addictive properties that some other books I’ve read this year had.

The book has a great character arc. Theodosia starts out as this mousy character that meekly takes beatings. Later, she becomes a heroine that is willing to take risks to help her people, which are slowly being exterminated by the ruling powers.

I really like how Theodosia grows to care for her people and has a conscience. The book has something to say about the world we live in today too:

I suppose it’s easy to be at home in a world where you are on top. It’s easy not to notice those whose backs you stand on to stay there.

p. 26

My comment after reading that quote was “Ouch.” I couldn’t help but think about people in other parts of the world making iPhones and cheap clothing at slave wages when I read that.

Ash Princess has some pretty good suspense to it. The main villain is pretty evil, but he’s not the only person Theodosia has to worry about. There are a lot of bad people in the ruling kingdom.

There’s a little bit of romance in this book and the possibility of a love triangle in the next book. I haven’t read any spoilers for Lady Smoke (the sequel), so I don’t know how that goes. I think the love interests have the opportunity for good character arcs as well. More romance would have been nice in this book; maybe the sequel will have it.

Overall, I enjoyed Ash Princess. It wasn’t quite as addicting as The Cruel Prince or some of the other books that will make my top 10 books of the year, but I recommend it nevertheless. I do plan on reading Lady Smoke at some point; I just don’t know when.

The Underground Railroad

By Brookelorren on 5 Comments
The Underground Railroad cover

I recently finished reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. It was a book that looked good to me for quite a while, and when I noticed it was available on audiobook at the library, I had to check it out. For the most part, I thought it was an enjoyable book; however, there were a few things about the book that detracted from the book (for me).

Cora is a young lady that grew up as a slave. When the plantation she lives on changes hands, she agrees to run away with Caesar, another slave. Along the way, they meet hazards, including slave catchers and even the people that are trying to help them.

What I Liked

The Underground Railroad uses a clever metaphor: the Underground Railroad in this story is an actual railroad. Literal trains take our protagonists to their new locations. It was a clever way to fictionalize the story.

I liked the characters, the tension, and the plot to this story. Cora and Caesar are being chased by a slave catcher, Ridgeway, who is irrationally fixated on them. The book also does a good job at portraying the horrors of slavery, as well as the awful things done to black people throughout history.

What I Didn’t Like

Although I liked the story overall, The Underground Railroad played very loose with history. If there was a time when North Carolina decided to kick all the black people out of the state, I have yet to hear about it. Did South Carolina set up clinics to take care of black people and provide them with free medical care? I don’t think so. While I was fine with the railroad analogy, I find it unbelievable that an ex-slave would have even considered staying in the slaveholding South.

Additionally, there were scenes that were unnecessary and/or confusing. When Cora changed her name, I originally thought it was a new character. There was a chapter about a gravedigger and I have no clue why it was put there. I felt the last chapter about Caesar was unnecessary. Maybe because the story was a little over 300 pages and the author thought the story would be too short without them? I would have rather had more scenes that were central to the story.

Overall

Despite the fact that my section on what I didn’t like was longer than my section on what I did like, I was entertained by the story and gave it four stars on Goodreads. I liked Cora and rooted for her freedom. The Underground Railroad could have been better, in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth reading. I recommend it, as long as you’re not looking for a historical book that actually follows historical facts.