Christina Li's Ruby Lost and Found is a thought-provoking middle grade novel that focuses on family, friends, and healing. Ruby has felt lost since her Ye-Ye passed away. She and her grandfather were incredibly close, and she doesn't understand how everyone else has moved on so quickly. With one of her best friends moving away [...]
Good Vibes Only is more than just a patch on Natty's backpack. It's her view on life, and she won't let anyone get her down. Even if Natty's mom left their family and keeps flaking on visiting. And she and her dad moved in with her grandparents. And she's having a hard time connecting with [...]
I didn't always love short stories, mostly because I kept wanting more, and they kept ending. But I always want to spend more time with characters I love, and that knows no form. Novel, novella, or short story, great characters always make me want to spend more time in their world. My love for short [...]
If Ellie Engle had a superpower, it would be invisibility. Ellie likes things simple, normal. Especially after her dad left. Even more after her Poppy died. Normal means spending time at her best friend Abby's busy, happy house. It means feeding Burt the Betta fish. It means reading comics and waiting for Abby's gymnastics practice [...]
Erica Bauermeister's No Two Persons is a love letter to books and the power of connection they hold. This novel is unlike any other I've ever read. Each chapter features a new character, with select crossovers. It almost feels more like a short story collection, yet they are clearly all connected. When we put our [...]
Throwback by Maurene Goo is a fun rom-com with mother-daughter drama with time travel. Throwback has Back to the Future vibes with a Freaky Friday slant. Samantha gets sent back to 1995 after an epic fight with her mom, unable to get back to her own time until she completes a mystery mission... all while [...]
I have the hardest time reviewing the books that touch my heart the most. This review is going to be a little different. A little less formal. A little more like a conversation. I want to tell you why this book brought tears to my eyes, filled my heart with hope, and will stay with [...]
Angie Thomas's middle grade debut is just as stunning as her bestselling YA novels. Nic Blake knows that being a Remarkable in an Unremarkable world isn't always easy. Every time an Unremarkable sees her dad use the Gift, they have to move. She's never been to a Remarkable city, and her dad won't even teach [...]
Samantha Markum's You Wouldn't Dare is the perfect summer read. It has it all: a cute beach town, a tight-knit community, the friend group you always wanted, a friends to lovers romance, witty banter, and a swoon-worthy setting. Graham, Lucy, Milo, and Junie have a friendship for the ages. Sure, Lucy and Graham are super [...]
Patricia Park's Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is an engrossing young adult novel. It's one of those books that pulls you in immediately and doesn't let go. Alejandra Kim has felt like an imposter since she first became a student at her preppy Quaker Oats school. She can't forget she's there due [...]
Auriane Desombre's middle grade debut is a reverse parent trap: what if two potential step-sisters worked together to break their parents up? Autumn has lived with her mom and brother in New York City her whole life. She and her BFF Saskia finally get to explore the city just the two of them-- well, a [...]
*There will be spoilers for Healer of the Water Monster in this review, as Heroes continues the story from Healer* Heroes of the Water Monster is just as breathtakingly beautiful as Healer of the Water Monster. There's a lot of change in the air for Nathan. His mom is moving, and not just moving-- moving [...]
Mahalia wanted a big Sweet 16 party like her friends, but it wasn't in the budget. She knows it's too late for a Sweet 16-- but what if she threw herself an epic coming out party? A party to end all parties, a party that celebrates being young and queer and full of joy? She [...]
Gillian McDunn's newest release When Sea Becomes Sky is a masterpiece. If I may be so bold, it feels like her soulmate book. That might sound like a weird thing to say. It probably is-- I don't know this author! How can I make such a claim? And...What's a soul mate book, anyway? Let's say [...]
What if your biggest dream came true, right in the worst part of your life? Twelve year old Fin loves all things space. With his mom in the hospital after a severe accident, his whole life is different. Then Fin gets life-changing mail: his invention he entered into competition to be one of the first [...]
January was a slower reading month for me, as I was at my grad school residency for eleven days. Those days were full of lectures, community, workshops, and creativity, but left little room for reading. I'm also officially in my third semester, which is the critical thesis semester, so my upcoming reading is rather focused. [...]
Billie Slate and her BFF Kat are sick of wallowing. Other people wallowing, that is. That is how Snap Out of It is born, in a fit of drunken laughter late one night, and shifts the course of Billie's life. Part performance art, part minor therapy, part magic, Snap Out of It centers on the [...]
Would middle school you be happy or disappointed in how your life turned out? This is the truth Georgie must confront: she has not lived up to the goals and expectations of her middle school hopes and dreams. She didn't even do the things in her hometown that she always planned on. Now that she's [...]
The week between Christmas and New Year's often feels like a time warp. The kids are still out of school, but work goes on, and what day is it again? Though Christmas is over, the decorations are still hung and a pile of Christmas-y sweets is taking up a whole corner of the kitchen (holiday [...]
My latest post for Knoxville Moms is a bookish holiday shopping guide! You can view the post on their website here. Books make excellent holiday gifts, whether you're shopping for babies all the way up to great-grandmas. Here's a thorough list of highly recommended books, from a book nerd, to help make your book shopping [...]
Two former child stars with a complicated past move from Hollywood to home in Erin Hahn's Built to Last. Shelby Springfield used to be Hollywood's It Girl. Now, she refinishes furniture in her Michigan workshop while flipping houses alongside her dad. Cameron Riggs, her former co-star, works behind the camera making documentaries with National Geographic, [...]
What if your ex wrote a screenplay about your breakup? Even the most secure of people would experience some kind of anxiety over that. In Andrea J. Stein's Typecast, this scenario sends preschool teacher Callie spiraling into her past. It does more than dredge up the past; it makes her question everything about the path [...]
Happy Native American Heritage Month! Though we celebrate Native peoples every month, I love being extra loud this month. Wado, thank you, for celebrating Native American Heritage Month with us. This post was written on ancestral Cherokee and Miccosukee land, by a citizen of Cherokee Nation. If you're looking to add some Native voices to [...]
I always know I can count on Kelly Harms for a great story in a gorgeous setting, and her latest novel Wherever the Wind Takes Us doesn't disappoint in any regard. Becca has recently broken free from her toxic marriage to a wealthy man, and is now broke, but in possession of a fancy sailboat. [...]
If you’ve read any other books in the Beartown series, you know what you’re getting into with Fredrik Backman’s latest book and the final book in the series, The Winners. In the final installment to this series, the residents of Beartown and Hed face extraordinary circumstances. Set two years after the events in Us Against [...]
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer is a middle grade collection of short vignettes that whisk readers away to the not so distant past, where a bicycle with a banana seat and room on the handlebars was the star of summer. This beautiful novel transports readers to 1980s Prince Rupert, where Mia and her [...]
Jesse Q. Sutanto's Well, That Was Unexpected is a YA rom-com that hits the mark perfectly. Sharlot's life is turned upside down when her mother finds her in a compromising situation, and subsequently takes her to her mother's birthplace of Indonesia for the summer. Sharlot thinks this is the worst punishment ever... until she discovers [...]
Jasmine Warga's A Rover's Story is a gorgeous combination of science and imagination that takes readers on a unique and engaging journey. Resilience is a Mars rover built to do a certain job a certain way, at least according to the other Mars rover, Journey. But Resilience, or Res, sees the world differently than Journey, [...]
Lizzie Blake is a bit of a mess. Her bedroom is a disaster, she's barely hanging on to her job at a fancy bakery, and she is definitely NOT looking to add a love interest to the mayhem that is her life. Lizzie breaks her cardinal rule of only having one night stands upon meeting [...]
I absolutely adored book one in the Honest June series, and I was beyond excited to get an advanced copy of the second book. June is still grappling with Victoria's curse/gift of always telling the truth. This time, she's hiding her desire to star in the school's production of The Wiz from her dad, who [...]
My latest Knoxville Moms post is available! You can view it here. If your algorithm is anything like mine, you've seen the flower-filled, fairy light strewn, creek-splashing, gorgeous view montage videos that immediately have you scouring Zillow for a house in the forest/near the beach/in a high-rise/on a mountain. Whether it's fluttering autumn leaves, blooming [...]
"Stories aren't fiction. Stories are fabric. They're the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them." Thus begins Sarah Addison Allen's latest release, the one waited for patiently by legions of loyal fans. From the first sentence on, every reader can rest assured-- it was absolutely worth the wait. I’ve never [...]
Nothing makes me pick up a book faster than a dog on the cover. Strange? Probably. True? Absolutely. The only problem with books that feature dogs is the general fear that the dog won't make it to the end of the book. So rest assured, these book recommendations are safe reads as far as canine [...]
Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie series is the book release I look forward to all year long. From the moment I finish one book, I'm nearly desperate to lay my hands on the next one. You can read my reviews of Quinn's previous titles in this series here, here, and here. The thirteenth installment in [...]
Hannah Brooks is great at her job. Like, really great. Part of what makes her excel is her ability to blend in coupled with her incredible skillset of being able read people and decades of jujitsu experience. That's why she's one of the two top personal protection agents, AKA bodyguards, at her company. But life [...]
In her latest novel This Place of Wonder, Barbara O'Neal acutely captures the nature of grief, the aching of belonging, and the powerful effect hope and time can have on both. Famed chef Augustus Beauvais dies unexpectedly, leaving behind two daughters, an ex-wife, a girlfriend, and a sagging empire. The women who mourn him are [...]
Historical fiction fans, if you haven't read Angela Jackson-Brown yet, you are seriously missing out. Lucky for you, the author of When Stars Rain Down has a new book coming out. The Light Always Breaks will be available tomorrow, July 5! Author photo by Chandra Lynch, Ankh Productions Angela Jackson-Brown was kind enough to answer [...]
Angela Jackson-Brown's The Light Always Breaks is set in 1940s Washington, D.C. yet (unfortunately, angrily) much of the discourse is still relevant today. Eva Cardon is a successful restaurant owner. This would be impressive on its own, but she's also only 24, Black, and it's 1948. She's using her exceptional business prowess to help feed [...]
Evan Griffith's Manatee Summer is sure to cement itself as a beloved childhood favorite in the hearts of young readers. It'll be a book they look back on fondly, the one that kindled their love of manatees, that captured the essence of the first taste of real responsibility while shining a light on that tender [...]
As a total and complete book nerd, I love books of all kinds, from KidLit to literary fiction to beach reads to short stories to...basically everything but horror, because I'm a big scaredy-cat. But there's just something about summer that makes me want to read beachy rom-coms and stories heavy on character development and plot [...]
To say I'm a fan of Jenny Colgan's Mure series would be an understatement. Have I lost endless time on Google, trying to find the island that inspired Mure? Maybe. Have I mentally cast an entire limited series in my mind? Perhaps. Have I imagined moving to this fictional island and befriending its fictional inhabitants? [...]
Annabel Monaghan's Nora Goes Off Script is utterly delightful from start to finish. Screenwriter Nora usually writes TV romance movies that bring in a reliable check and follow a reliable formula. But the collapse of her marriage led her to write something completely different and new, and now her words are headed to the big [...]
How do you put into words a book that touched your heart? I adored David Levithan's Answers in the Pages, but I knew this review would be incredibly difficult to write. Levithan captures the heart and humanity of an often-discussed issue in an accessible and easily digestible way. It put into words that feeling, deep [...]
Ebony LaDelle's Love Radio is a love letter to Detroit, to young love, and to figuring out how to love yourself. Prince Jones may only be in high school, but his status as a DJ giving love advice has elevated him to nearly local celebrity levels. Danielle Ford has all but withdrawn from her former [...]
Maggie Stiefvater whisks readers away to long ago Scotland in Bravely, a novel continuation of the Pixar movie Brave. As a longtime fan of Brave, I was both ecstatic and apprehensive about a novel continuation. The same conundrums that put fear in the hearts of readers as their favorite books are adapted into films persists [...]
It's almost June, somehow, and I just finished my first semester as a graduate student. I'm working towards earning my Master of Fine Arts in writing for children and young adults, and so I have been doing a LOT of reading. Here are my top reads of 2022, so far: Picture Book: Fry Bread, Kevin [...]
Tae Keller's Jennifer Chan is Not Alone is an engrossing and relatable novel for middle grade and adult readers alike. Insightful and incisive, Jennifer Chan is Not Alone tackles crucial topics with authenticity and vulnerability. Mallory has survived middle school--so far-- because her best friend Reagan has taught her how to fit in. Mallory's world [...]
My latest post with the Knoxville Moms is available here! See below for a sneak peek! Somehow, summer is just around the corner. Reading is a wonderful way to maintain those hard-earned skills developed during the school year, all while encouraging imagination and building empathy at the same time. But staring down shelves and shelves [...]
Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World is the perfect blend of fun rom-com, depth, and humor that make for a memorable read. The well developed characters, idyllic setting, and a plot that tackles heavy topics make this a summer must-read. Alexis has grown up shouldering the weight of a lengthy family legacy that ultimately makes [...]
Sixth grader Winnie Zeng has two goals: survive middle school and beat her longtime opponent David at Chinese school and piano competitions. To prepare for middle school, Winnie has studied comic books and anime. The only problem is that one common thread in those stories is magical powers, and she obviously doesn't have those. Or [...]
Paw Prints in the Sink 