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Jukebox Joyride

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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

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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!

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.

The Future of Another Timeline

By Brookelorren on 1 Comment
The Future of Another Timeline cover

The Future of Another Timeline is a time travel story written by Annalee Newitz. I recently had the chance to get an Advanced Reader Copy, thanks to Bookish First and Tor books. Oddly enough, it’s the third time travel story I’ve read in the last 12 months.

The story expertly revolves around two characters: Beth and Tess. Beth is a Riot Girrl in the early 1990s (her timeline starts in 1992). Her life is changed after she goes to a concert and witnesses a murder afterwards. Tess is in her late 40s and works in academia. Her official job is to go back in time to study different time periods, but she’s also part of a secret group that is editing the timeline so that women have more rights. She also goes back to visit Beth in the 1990s so she can fix the damage her former self created (but that’s a secret).

Beth is trying to navigate her senior year of high school, getting good grades, having fun with her friends, and dealing with a friend who has gone off the rails. Tess, in the other timeline, is trying to repair a timeline in which a group of controlling men have tried to create a time when women are nothing more than breeders.

As the story switches between their points of view, you discover more about the world and about the two people in the story. The way Ms. Newitz hides the information is genius. I was surprised to find certain details at different points in the story, but I won’t include them here.

The time travel mechanism in this story was interesting. The time travel machines are built into the earth itself, and you can access them from certain places in the world. Her worldbuilding around this possibility was quite clever. In this incarnation of Earth, everybody knows about time travel (although not everybody can do it). I also liked the way actual historical facts are interwoven into the story.

As a conservative libertarian, I tend to disagree with some of the main character’s politics (and probably the author’s too). The book is a little too pro-abortion for my taste; however, that didn’t keep me from enjoying the story as a whole. It was well-written and, for the most part, I agree with what Tess was trying to do.

The Future of Another Timeline is not a YA book, although some older YA readers might enjoy it. There isn’t anything that’s too explicit; however, some scenes might be a little too mature for younger YA readers. One of the protagonists is in her late 40s.

Overall, I thought this was a well-written story with an interesting plot and realistic characters. If you’re looking for a time travel story with a bit of a punk rock edge to it, you’ll probably like The Future of Another Timeline. It won’t be released until September 24th, but you can pre-order it now.

On the Come Up

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On the Come Up cover

On the Come Up is a book by Angie Thomas about a girl that wants to be a rapper and whose prospects are looking good. I recently had the opportunity to read this book on audiobook. I highly recommend this book on audiobook because of the lyrical nature of this book. This book is musically oriented, which was probably one of the things that drew me to it.

Bri is a girl living in a poor neighborhood that is bussed to a school in a nicer part of town. Her mom is having difficulty making ends meet; her brother helps to provide for the family. Her dad was killed several years ago; prior to his death, he was an up-and-coming rapper.

Bri has skills and is compared to her dad all the time. When she gets the opportunity to battle in the ring, everybody else finds out she’s good too. It gives her opportunities which draw her into a world that might be a little too much for her. She has to decide whether to follow her heart… or fame.

There was a lot I liked about this book. One thing I liked was the immersion into the rap world. Bri’s lyrics are pretty good (especially on audiobook). I used to listen to a lot of rap, so all the references to the old-school rappers was pretty enjoyable.

Bri herself is an interesting character. Ms. Thomas makes her well-rounded, with a little bit of a temper but a heart for her family. The world is also populated by a struggling single mom, an aunt with some questionable ties, and friends that provide us with realism and tension. I also enjoyed the setting.

I definitely recommend On the Come Up. It is an issue book that deals with topics like poverty, racism, violence, and being true to yourself when you’re pressured to be someone else, so I’d skip it if you’re looking for something light and fun. If you are looking for something with a little substance, then you might want to pick this up. Especially on audiobook!

Satellite Bible Atlas

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Satellite Bible Atlas cover

I recently finished reading the Satellite Bible Atlas by William Schlegel. This is the best book of Bible maps I’ve ever seen. If you have a Bible, you probably have a few maps in the back of your book… but none of them are likely to compare with the vast variety of maps assembled here.

After a few general maps of the Levant, the Satellite Bible Atlas is arranged in chronological order. It starts with Abraham and moves all the way through the years of early Jewish rebellion in the Roman world. As the settlement names change over time, the adjoining maps also change. Each map is accompanied by a page of explanation. Often, the explaining page will include quotes from the Bible or even archaeological tablets that have been found discussing the events from that time period.

Sometimes when I read the Bible, my eyes glaze over at all the place names I don’t recognize. Maybe it’s just me, but probably not. This book helps me visualize where most of these places are. It’s certainly not a book that you’ll want to read in a day. It’s not meant to be a page-turner like a lot of books I review here. However, this is a book that you can use as a reference book. Even though I’ve finished reading the book, I’ll probably refer back to many of these maps again at some point in the future.

I’d recommend the Satellite Bible Atlas to several types of people. If you’re interested in ancient maps, if you want to know where all those little towns in the Bible are, or if you’re interested in ancient history, you might like this book. Otherwise, you probably won’t find this book to be very interesting. But if you are, then this is the best collection of Biblical-era maps I have seen.

The Lady Rogue

By Brookelorren on 4 Comments
The Lady Rogue cover

Jenn Bennett’s The Lady Rogue is a historical adventure/romance set in the late 1930s. I have to thank Netgalley and Simon Pulse for providing me with an advanced reader copy. I enjoyed the other book I read by Ms. Bennett, Alex, Approximately (link is to my review), and I liked this book as well. This is definitely a different kind of book, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Theodora is a spirited girl who gets into trouble and loves crossword puzzles. Her dad left her in Turkey while he goes and traipses around Romania in search of Count Dracula’s magical ring. When he disappears and Huck, a boy she has a history with, shows up, they have to go on a trip to try to find him and rescue him. All while their funds are dwindling, they’re being chased by bad guys, and people around them are dying.

I loved the characters in this book. This book is set in 1937, so the mindset of people was a little different back then than it is now, but Theodora is adventurous and smart. I really liked her character. She and Huck obviously have a lingering attraction to each other, and their interactions are fun to watch. It’s also fun to find out exactly what happened and watching them work through their conflict. If you like enemies to lover’s books, this has got a little bit of that going on (also a twist on there’s only one bed).

The Lady Rogue has a great setting. Reading the book, you get to experience a little bit of old Turkey, the countryside of Romania, a haunted forest… it’s a lot of fun. The descriptions are great and well done. I enjoyed the historical context to this story as well. It was fun to learn about Dracula and Romania.

If you’re looking for an adventure story with a spirited heroine, evil magic, bad guys, and magical artifacts, then The Lady Rogue might be for you. It has a hint of romance to it (probably less than many of her books), but the other exciting elements of the book make up for it. I highly recommend it. It won’t be released until September 3rd, but you can pre-order it now.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea

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A Very Large Expanse of Sea cover

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi deals with a teenage girl in the year following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. It is a story that can act as a warning of what can happen when we don’t treat people like… people. I thought it was a good book.

I purchased the special Target edition with bonus chapters, so I’ll comment about that as well.

Shirin is a sophomore in high school who grew up in America, but whose parents had immigrated from Iran. She chose to wear a headscarf, even though it caused trouble for her with her classmates. She also seems to have a huge chip on her shoulder, although she doesn’t realize it. You can’t particularly blame her, not when people give her one glance and assume she’s a terrorist or is weird. When Ocean James, a boy who is assigned as her biology partner, befriends her and later becomes something more, they both develop as people, and eventually, the community starts to come around as well.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea was entertaining. Shirin has a distinctive voice and you have to feel for her. Over time, you also start to see where she’s going wrong (although to be fair, the people around her aren’t saints either). I thought she was well done and realistic.

Themes

A huge theme in this story is how hatred can hurt yourself and the people that you care about. People looked at Shirin and automatically assumed that she hated America, or was a terrorist, or there was something wrong with her. As a result, they hurt their community when they tried to intimidate Ocean in an attempt to get him to break up with her. I guess I can’t say how because I don’t want to give away spoilers.

At the same time, Shirin hurt herself when she defaulted to hate for the people around her. Sure, a lot of the people in the school were jerks. Still, she hurt herself by shutting herself off. She said herself:

I could no longer distinguish people from monsters.

p. 110

It eventually worked itself out, but both she and the community had a lot to learn before they got to that point.

The Romance Aspect

While this is a story about teen romance, it’s really more about other things. Shirin pushes Ocean away for most of the story, even though she likes him. Even though he tells her repeatedly that he doesn’t care what other people think, she worries about how people will react to them being together. There is some kissing, but as the majority of the book is spent with Shirin trying to stay out of a relationship, there’s not too much of it. Still, first love is definitely one of the subplots of the story.

Bonus Chapters

The special edition that I bought came with bonus chapters told about Ocean’s reaction to meeting Shirin. It was interesting to see things from his point of view: his thoughts about his home life, sports, and what he thought of her for the first time. As of this writing, you can still buy it on Target’s web site. I thought the bonus chapters were interesting, but they don’t really provide more information than you already know after reading the book.

Final Thoughts

While I liked the book overall, I did think that the people’s hatred seemed exaggerated for that era. To be fair, I lived in Italy during the time that this story would have taken place, so I wasn’t really in the middle of American life at the time, but it didn’t feel like this from my perspective. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t pockets of places like this school where the people were jerks, I just don’t think it was the norm. At any rate, if people were only mildly bigoted, it wouldn’t have made such an entertaining story.

If you’re interested in a sweet love story between two people of different cultures, where they have to deal with a lot of bigotry, you might want to try A Very Large Expanse of Sea. I thought it was pretty good.

Ghost Fire

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Ghost Fire cover

I recently read Ghost Fire by Wilbur Smith with Tom Harper (thank you to Bookish First and Simon and Schuster for the Advanced Reader Copy). Even though it was the first Wilbur Smith book I read, evidently, he’s written a lot of books. I really liked the book and would read more books by this author in the future.

Theo and Courtney grow up in India in the mid 1700s. Courtney is something of a wild child, and Theo always looks out for her. Until the death of their parents tears them apart. They spend the next several years growing into adulthood, without each other. Both of them go through a lot of adventures and travel the world, unaware of what the other is doing.

What I Liked

One of the things I liked about Ghost Fire was its historical accuracy. I’m a student of history, so I actually figured out ahead of time what one of the things the characters would have to go through would be (they were in Calcutta in 1756… I won’t give it away if you don’t know). Although I was expecting this event to occur, I didn’t know how it would affect the characters. Courtney and Theo were also affected by the French and Indian War. The book really emphasized to me how interconnected a world we live in. Even in the 1700s, something happening in Europe would affect both India and North America.

I also liked the characters. Courtney makes her own choices, even though it tends to go against the societal norms of the day. Although Theo doesn’t agree with them, towards the end of the book, he begins to accept them. Theo grows as a person too, from a cautious boy whose sister pushes him into doing things to a man who is willing to risk his life for the sake of others.

I’ve seen some comments that the book was misogynistic towards Courtney; however, I think the book reflects society’s attitudes well for the time period.

Other Things to Note

Ghost Fire is not a YA book even though the main characters are young adults for most of the book. Back in the 1750s, young adults often lived as adults, and the book reflects that. The vocabulary is more like that of an adult book as well (as in SAT-type words, military jargon, and Indian vocabulary) Trigger warnings you might want to be aware of: there’s an attempted rape and there’s widespread racism.

While I did enjoy Ghost Fire, I think it missed an opportunity with the ending (although in order to avoid spoilers I can’t say how). I wasn’t disappointed with the ending; I just thought there were a couple of things that would have made it more awesome. Nevertheless, if Wilbur Smith wrote more books about these two, I’d read them. This book doesn’t come out until September 3rd but you can pre-order it now.