“Spitting gold” Carmella Lowkis

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Atria Books (Simon & Schuster). To be published May 14, 2024.

It was April of 1866 and, for the past two years, Sylvie thought her former life as a medium was behind her. She and her sister Charlotte had earned their living pretending to banish or raise ghosts for money, learning everything from their parents. After a con gone wrong cost them their business and almost landed them in prison, she married a rich older man who took her away from her drunken, abusive father and the life of poverty she’d led. Though she felt guilty about leaving Charlotte, she needed to save herself and agreed to his request that she leave the life of a medium behind her forever.

One rainy day Charlotte surprised her by showing up at her home begging for help as their father was dying, there was no money, and she needed Sylvie. A rich family was eager to dispel a ghost who had been haunting them and, if successful, the payout would help Charlotte and her father. Sylvie knew what her husband had forbidden her to do but her love for Charlotte overcame her reluctance. Unfortunately, she’d soon find out that ghosts, as well as the living, can be revengeful. The peaceful life she’d led for the past two years was about to forever change.

I LOVED this book! I voraciously read it from cover to cover, eager to see what would next befall the sisters. The author’s research into life in 1866 France for the rich and those living on the outskirts of acceptable society was eye-opening.

Highly recommended for Adults.

 I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

“The secret library” Kekla Magoon

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Candlewick Press. (To be published May 7, 2024).

Delia is almost 12 years old and misses her grandfather terribly. After he died, her mother is more determined than ever that Delia learns to become a proper businesswoman to eventually take over the family business. Delia doesn’t want to sit behind a desk with boring business work. She wants to have adventures but, without her grandfather, feels stifled and lonely. At the reading of his will he left her a brown envelope that her mother promptly locked away for her 21st birthday. With cunning and skill Delia retrieves the envelope from her mother’s locked safe and finds a letter from him as well as a mysterious map.

The map takes her to an abandoned field which turns into a magnificent, secret library. Inside Delia is directed to shelves filled with secrets from people across the centuries. Whenever she chooses a book, she goes on adventures in different times and places where she learns about her family’s history. She sees her dad alive, years before her parents got married, and also gets to see a side of her mother that she’d never seen in the past.

As Delia learns more about her family’s past, she becomes troubled as well as elated and proud. Her family held onto a lot of secrets on their way to becoming the Peteharrngton’s. She’ll have to draw on that strength to become the girl she wants to be, in order to change her present into her past.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It would make an excellent Newbery winning title. That’s how good it is. Well done, Kekla. Well done.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

“Chain of Thorns” Cassandra Clare

Rated 5 stars ***** Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster). The last hours $3. 778 p. 2023.

Heartbroken because she believed James to be in love with Grace, Cordelia accepts Matthew’s invitation to spend time sightseeing in Paris. Though he had declared himself in love with her, he promised to respect her as a friend and vowed Paris would help them both to forget their troubles. She agreed to go if he would stop drinking, and he agreed.

James is desperate to find Lucie, so he can go to Paris and reunite with Cordelia. She had run away after Grace came to visit him, and he is eager to explain about the bracelet. When he finally arrives, he is shocked at what he learns about his best friend and his wife.

Belial was ruthless in his quest to possess James, turning dead Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters into demonic weapons of mass destruction, sending every adult Shadowhunter to Idris, and threatening to kill everyone he loved if James didn’t agree. Lucie, James, Cordelia, Matthew, and the rest of the Merry Thieves refused to leave the city, hoping to save it from Belial’s demons. However, when James finally gave in to his grandfather, he and Matthew were taken to Edom where Matthew, suffering from alcohol withdrawal, would also die if no one came to help them.

Desperate to save him, Cordelia and Lucie set out to look for a way to get to Edom. She and James had reconciled when she learned about the bracelet, and they had spent several days in wedded bliss as they finally were able to reveal their true feelings to each other. Now Belial was threatening their happiness. Cordelia had managed not to draw her sword or any weapon in previous battles for fear of her role as Lilith’s paladin, but she knew she would be forced to do so to save James. She would do anything for the man she loved.

Heartache and despair are big themes, where hope also finds a place to breathe. Hope is also part of the bonus short story at the end of the book.

Cassandra Clare led readers on a long ride of nail-biting anxiety through the three books of the series, but did not tie everything up into a neat bow at the end. The various open endings tell me she plans on coming back with a future series involving these characters. You heard it here first.

Highly recommended for ages 16 and older.

“Chain of Iron” Cassandra Clare

Rated 5 stars ***** Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster). The last hours $2. 656 p. 2021.

In part two of The last hours series, many plots are underfoot.

Jesse is a spirit caught between the living and the dead and, though he’s a ghost, Lucie has fallen in love with him. She and Grace are sure he can be brought back to life, so she is using her powers with the dead while Grace resorts to dark magic as they try all sorts of spells to reunite him with his preserved body. Unfortunately neither of them knows Belial has plans for Jesse’s body that don’t include Jesse.

James is reveling in the love he feels for Cordelia since the bracelet Grace had bound him with for four years has broken. Embarrassed to tell her Grace had kept him in a love coma for years, and afraid to tell her of his love because he thinks she sees him as only a friend, James stays silent about his feelings. Later that silence will cost him greatly.

Cordelia is keeping her own secrets, especially the one where she accidentally became the paladin of Lilith, forced to do her bidding the moment she lifts her sword. Despite everything wrong going on in her life, she is living her happiest dream with James by her side. Lately it seems as if he’s trying to make their fake marriage work, and has feelings for her, but the night he breaks her heart again is the last straw.

The ongoing Shadowhunter soap opera of love, betrayal, action, adventure, despair, and hope kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next to James, Matthew, Lucie, Cordelia, and their band of Merry Thieves. The cliffhanger ending will keep readers in suspense if they don’t have part 3 “Chain of Thorns” handy. I have it handy.

Highly recommended for ages 16 and older.

“Maizy Chen’s last chance” Lisa Yee

Rated 5 stars ***** Random House Children’s Books (Penguin Random House). 276 p. 2022. (Includes “Author’s note,” and “Resources.”)

Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen expected to be bored when she and her mother left Los Angeles to spend the summer with Oma and Opa in Last Chance, Minnesota. Their restaurant, the Golden Palace, had been in the family for over 100 years and was the only restaurant in town. As she spent time with her sick grandfather he told her stories about its former owner, her great-great grandfather Lucky. Lucky’s travels from China to the United States and the work done by him and other Chinese immigrants on the railroad were just some of the family histories he shared.

While learning about the prejudice endured by Chinese immigrants, the Golden Palace was hit by a series of hate crimes. She had already experienced microaggressions in town from those who believed she’d come directly from China and not Los Angeles, that her family always ate rice, and referring to her as “you people.” However, when a hate-filled note, vandalism, and a racial slur painted on their mascot were directed at her family, Maizy was determined to find the culprit. She was not going to let prejudice ruin her family.

Historical anecdotes about Chinese life in America’s 19th century eerily resemble the current hate crimes against Asian Americans. Lisa Yee did an excellent job relating Maizy’s life to her ancestors, reminding us everyone needs to do their part to make sure prejudicial sins from the past are not repeated in the present.

Highly recommended for ages 11-14.

“This Indian kid: A Native American memoir” Eddie Chuculate

Rated 2 stars ** ARC. Focus (Scholastic). 207 p. (Includes Q & A with author). To be published September 23, 2023.

Author Eddie Cuculate is both Creek and Cherokee, and believed books about the Native experience didn’t focus enough on everyday lives of Native Americans who didn’t live on reservations. “This Indian kid” is his answer to that void as, through photographs and memories, Cuculate traces his life growing up in Oklahoma. From kindergarten through high school Cuculate details his memories that, ultimately, led to a career in sports writing and fiction.

Typically, after a spat with his stepfather, the family would split which necessitated Eddie attending different schools almost every year. His mother would shuttle his siblings off to others while he stayed with her parents in the country. Sometimes they would move due to a job change or another reason. Life with his grandparents afforded time to fish, play baseball, enjoy time with his friend Lonnie, and feel a stability lacking in other areas of his life.

Though chapters are labeled with the years in which Cuculate recounts his memories, he tends to jump back and forth across the years which creates a disjointed feeling to the book. I struggled to get through it, as it failed to hold my attention.

I will leave it up to readers ages 15 and over to decide if you want to read it or not.

“The cursed moon” Angela Cervantes

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. Scholastic Press. 211 p. Published September 5, 2023.

Rafe and his younger sister Brianna live with their grandparents because their mother is in jail. One night his eccentric neighbor warns him against telling scary stories during a blood moon. Rafe loves writing and telling scary stories but disregards the warning and regales his friend with a story about a girl who convinces a boy to jump into a pond to get her notebook. The boy disappears, and she warns his friend that the Caretaker is coming to get him too.

Soon after telling his story Rafe starts to see ghosts and learns the Caretaker has always made an appearance during a blood moon when someone told a scary story. Each time he came, a child disappeared. Rafe is frightened because he has begun to receive warnings that the Caretaker is coming. He need to protect Brianna but will first have to figure out how to stop the Caretaker.

This book will hook young, reluctant male readers as they eagerly turn the pages to see if the Caretaker will come for Rafe. Be sure not to read this at night, and keep your lights on…

Recommended for ages 11-15.

“I am not alone” Francisco X. Stork

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. Scholastic Press (Scholastic). 306 p. (Includes “Author’s note” and “Mental health and Crisis resources.” Published July 18, 2023.

Alberto is 18 and has been living illegally in the United States for three years with his sister and her young son. He works at odd jobs, sending half of his earnings to his mother and sister in Mexico, while trying to earn his high school equivalency diploma. Alberto was upset when he started to hear a voice calling him names or telling him to do bad things. Hoping to keep the voice at a distance he called it Captain America, but the voice grew louder. When a woman was murdered at a job he was working, Alberto couldn’t remember what happened. The police wanted to arrest him, but Alberto went on the run – hoping to prove his innocence.

Grace had her life planned out. In a few months she would graduate, attend college with her boyfriend, and become a psychiatrist. When her parents divorced, she seemed to lose focus. School and her boyfriend paled in importance as she struggled to figure out her place in the world. When she met Alberto, he was cleaning the windows in her apartment and seemed nice. They shared time together making pottery which he’d learned how to do in Mexico, so Grace was surprised to hear he was accused of murder.

His illegal status, the voices he heard, and the murder accusation were red flags signaling her to stay far away, but Grace was certain she needed to help him. However, time is running out because Captain America has decided Alberto doesn’t belong in this world and Alberto is listening to him.

Stork realistically portrays Alberto’s mental state of mind, while Grace’s character depicts a bystander who sees this struggle and decides to either turn away or help. Stork emphasizes not losing sight of the person behind a mental illness.

I believe this should be a 2023 Pura Belpre Young Adult Author winning title. Here’s hoping the January 2024 announcements from the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards will prove me correct. I will be in attendance that day to root for “I am not alone” to win.

Highly recommended for ages 17 and older.

“Big chicas don’t cry” Annette Chavez Macias

Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. Montlake. 2022.

Mari, Gracie, Selena, and Erica are cousins and best friends. They and their huge Mexican American family always get together for holidays, card games, and the annual making of Christmas tamales. Everyone talks English, Spanish, Spanglish, as well as the languages of hugs and love. When they get together the cousins bounce ideas, hurts, experiences, and romantic escapades off each other while Welita, their great-grandmother, is the glue that holds everyone together. She wants them to be happy, and to remember the importance of family. They had promised to always be there for each other but, when Mari’s parents got divorced and she moved away, things changed. She stopped coming around and, as the years passed, never made time for them. Though everyone missed her, their anger made their hackles rise whenever her name was mentioned.

In a back-and-forth narrative each cousin talks about their lives, and the love they feel for Welita and their family. It will take a tragedy to make sense of their own lives, and for the girls to understand what Welita has been telling them.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down and stopped every now and then only to wipe my tears away. The love and support for family that pours off the pages are extremely realistic and will leave readers sighing at the end wanting to continue their stories. Will there be a part two? I don’t know, but I would love it!

Highly recommended for Adults.

“A train to Moscow” Elena Gorokhova

Rated 4 stars **** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2022.

In 1950, when Sasha was seven, she heard a play on the radio and knew she wanted to become an actress. Her dream would have to remain a secret as life in Russia was hard, since both Stalin and her grandfather ruled their territories with iron fists. Sasha didn’t conform to her grandfather’s belief that no one should question his or Russia’s ways, so she received many beatings from him for her infractions. After finding her missing uncle’s journal, which detailed the horrors he faced in World War II, she felt even more as if she were living a life of lies.

When Sasha decided to audition for a prestigious Moscow theater, she fought her own insecurities as well as her mother and grandfather’s negativity. Only her grandmother had a silent faith in her desire to leave Ivanovo and become a great actress on the forbidden stages of Moscow. “A train to Moscow” is Sasha’s story of how she escaped Ivanovo physically, but could never truly escape it, her memories, or her family.

The brutality and stringency of life for Russian soldiers during World War II and for Sasha under the Communist Party are detailed as she grows from a child to a woman of twenty-five. Sasha’s story is one of love, strength, loss, betrayal, and courage.

Recommended for Adults.