A Bookworm's Book Reviews

The Wishing Game – Meg Shaffer

Title: The Wishing Game

Author: Meg Shaffer

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: Lucy is a kindergarten aide with a love for reading. She’s been tutoring a kid named Christopher since she fostered him for a few weeks. She passed on her love of reading to him as it was one of the few things that could calm him down. Their favorite books are the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Lucy has grown fond of Christopher and wants to adopt him, but she can’t afford to and doesn’t have stable enough housing according to the fostering coordinator. Lucy and Christopher’s wish is to be able to be a family. A chance to be a family is answered in the form of a contest. The author of their favorite book series is offering the chance to win his newest book that hasn’t been published yet. All they have to do is answer the riddle to enter. Lucy’s answer is accepted and now she’s in the contest on the actual Clock Island. The author, Jack Masterson, has a series of challenges for Lucy and three other contestants. If they can win the challenges, they win the book. But the challenges bring up some painful memories for Lucy. Can she win? Or will one of other contestants win? Or will it all be too much for everyone?

Rating: 4.2 – a sweet story about family

Opinion: This was a sweet book. I liked how it talked so much about non-traditional families and foster care. I understand why there are so many restrictions in place, but at the same time I wish it wasn’t so hard for other families to foster and adopt. The characters in the book are well written and different in their own ways. I liked how they all connected to Jack Masterson’s books in different ways through their own pasts. The contest is different, too. There are different sort of challenges that force the characters to think in different ways and do things in ways that make them overcome things in a respectful and positive way. The way the competition was different than how I expected, too. It was nice to see something end in a way that was fair for everyone, in a sense. It was also nice for some of the characters to find a sense of peace through everything that happened to them. This book was a nice change of pace for me. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves books about the love of reading, overcoming obstacles, and good old fashioned competition.

Flesh and False Gods #1 – Chloe Gong

The second book, Vilest Things, is now available.

Title: Immortal Longings

Author: Chloe Gong

Genre: Fantasy

Plot: Calla is a disgraced princess who everyone in San-Er is dead. She killed her parents, the king and queen, of Er in cold blood. Calla fled and was presumed dead. She knows that the crown is corrupt. Crown Prince August knows better. He’s required her help with the city’s underground in exchange for help in the ‘games.’ The anual games are a contest for 84 individuals to kill each other for a chance for fame and riches. When most of the city is poor and desperate, lots of people enter for a chance to win. The trick is that people in San-Er can ‘jump.’ Their souls can jump from body to another. Some can do it better than others. Jumping is not without its risks, too. Calla enters for the chance to win and kill the king. She needs to rid the city of the other corrupt royalty. While competing, she meets Anton, another ex-royal. He’s been disillusioned and knows of the corruption. They join together so they have a better chance of winning. August disapproves. He insists that the only way to get rid of the corruption is to win alone. But who will win? Will Calla get her chance to finish her job? Can Anton and Calla work together long enough? Or will everyone’s secrets get the better of them?

Rating: 4.0 – a different kind of dystopian fantasy

Opinion: This book was better than I was expecting. It looked interesting and I was curious. I’ve read another book by this author and liked that one, but didn’t love it. This one was much better. There was a part of the book that gave me Hunger Games vibes, but it was different enough that I could really enjoy the book. I liked that the book kept more of its focus on the competition and the different goals of the characters. The world was well built and the jumping abilities had plenty of realistic rules and restrictions. It almost seemed plausible. There’s definitely going to be another book. Near the ending of the book, you realize there’s too much stuff to wrap up before the book ends. I hope the second one comes out soon. This book was too good to not know what happens in the next book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and dystopian future.

The Lost Sisterhood – Anne Fortier

Title: The Lost Sisterhood

Author: Anne Fortier

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Diana Morgan is a philologist at Oxford when she gets a message from a friend about an ancient language discovered in Algeria. The thing about this ancient language is that she’s seen it before in her Granny’s journal. The problem is that this ancient language hasn’t been seen before. When Diana gets to the dig site in Algeria, she finds a well funded site. The leader of the site is Nick and is unsure of her help at first. Then he has no choice when he sees the jackal bracelet on Diana as in the tomb on a high priestess. Together, they start looking into this ‘new’ ancient language and how it’s connected to Diana’s area of expertise, the Amazon women. But there are those who don’t want them to know about the Amazons and others who do anything to control the Amazons.

Rating: 4.0 – an interesting take on the Amazons

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I liked how the author turned the idea of the Amazons and worked the women into actual historical fiction. There’s lots of details and good historical world building and things that could’ve happened and been included in history. The books makes a good point about our dependence on technology. It makes sense and helps with some plot points of the books. I enjoyed the dual story line and both plots were well written. This is a great book so long as you don’t mind a longer book. I recommend this book for any who enjoy historical fiction.

Time and Again – Jack Finney

Title: Time and Again

Author: Jack Finney

Genre: Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi

Plot: Simon Morley is an artist with a local magazine when an old friend, Rube, offers him a different sort of job. It’s a secret government job that involves time travel. The lead scientist, Dr. Danziger, explains how to time travel. Simon seems to understand and agrees to take the job. His assignment is to observe and not interfere with someone delivering a letter in 1882. It takes Simon to find the right mindset to time travel, but he manages to do so with help from Kate. Together they watch the man deliver the letter. When Simon reports to his superiors, he learns that nothing has changed. Then he’s given a new assignment. This time, Simon must learn more about the person delivering the letter. He must go alone this time. The second time Simon goes, he meets Julia at the boarding house he’s staying at. She’s Jake Pickering’s girlfriend. Jake is the man who delivered the letter. The more Simon learns about Jake, the more he falls for Julia. But can they be together with all that Jake is up to?

Rating: 3.5 – an interesting take on time travel

Opinion: It’s easy to tell that this book was written in a different time. The original publication was in 1970. There’s a lot of unnecessary description. Everything that Simon saw was described in detail, the time travel was described in detail, and events were described in detail. It was annoying to me because it took away from the plot. There wasn’t a ton of plot anyway. The character development was slow, if at all. It felt like the standard ‘no one listens to the smart scientist’ plot we see a lot of nowadays. Overall, this wasn’t my favorite book. I recommend it if you like descriptive books.

Original Nancy Drew Series – Carolyn Keene

Title: Nancy Drew Series

Author: Carolyn Keene

Genre: Children’s Books, Mystery

Plot: Join Nancy Drew as she solves mysteries around River Heights and around the world. She always gets help from her dad Carson, boyfriend Ned Nickerson, and cousins Bess and George. Sometimes Officer McGuiness asks for her help solving a case. She’s always willing to go the extra mile to help solve a case but always willing to ask for help. There are new adventures and mysteries with every book.

Rating: 4.0 – a good mystery series for girls

Opinion: I grew up reading these books. I loved the mysteries and adventures. There’s always something to learn about solving crimes, other cultures, and how to help others. I always enjoyed how Nancy Drew always did things correctly and was always willing to help others. Yet she was always stuck up for herself and others. I highly recommend these books for any young girl who loves to read. With 64 in the original series, she’ll have plenty to read. Now there are computer games to play to teach her how to put those crime solving, puzzle working, learning to good use.

London Seance Society – Sarah Penner

Title: London Seance Society

Author: Sarah Penner

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Plot: Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to ask famed spiritualist and medium Vaudeline D’allaire about her recently murdered sister, Evie. Vaudeline’s specialty as a medium is speaking with the recently murdered. But Lenna and Evie are from London and Vaudeline can’t return to London for her own safety. So Vaudeline tutors Lenna so she can do the seance in London correctly. While doing a different seance, Vaudeline receives a letter that a close friend has past. That friend is the leader of the London Seance Society. Together the two women go to London to figure out how he died. But they go in secret for the women’s protection and at the insistence of Mr. Morris, who’s taken over the London Seance Society. When the evidence starts to point to someone within the society, who can Lenna and Vaudeline trust? Can they find the murderer in time? Or will there be two more victims?

Rating: 3.5 – an interesting murder mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I enjoyed learning about how seances work and the history around them. It was interesting to learn about how easily they can be faked. I’m sure this lead to all of the skepticism with seances. You could kind of figure out who did it earlier on in the book if you pay enough attention. The way everything ended up happening was really well written. I enjoyed how the big reveal went down. There were a few over the top dramatic scenes for me, but worked themselves out. Overall this was a good book. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys murder mysteries and historical fiction.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe – Emma Törz

Title: Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Author: Emma Törz

Genre: Fantasy

Plot: Ester and Joanna are half sisters who grew up in an isolated part of Vermont. Ester’s been moving every year to protect her family, no one remembers why, except Ester. Joanna’s stayed home protecting the books that contain magic. Ester can use the books and she’s not affected by the magic. Everything’s been going smoothly for both girls until Ester stays past her move date. Then she gets a mysterious envelope through a mirror telling her to run. She hesitates. Then Ester’s attacked. While on her travels she meets Nicholas and his bodyguard Collins. Nicholas is like her. Together they travel back to Vermont and to Joanna. Together they must find a way to stop whoever’s after them and the dirty plans they’re up to.

Rating: 4.0 – a different take on magic and family

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the different take on magic. That there were few people who were immune to magic and couldn’t use magic. There were strict rules on how magic spells could be made. The author did a great job with world and magic building. But anyone but the few immune could use magic. The author did a good job explaining how this kind of magic could be used for monetary gain how someone did just that. There were many gray characters in this book. They did things for good or bad regardless of consequence. It made the book more interesting. Overall I enjoyed this book. I recommend this book for anyone who loves magical fantasy.

Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson

Title: Just Mercy

Author: Bryan Stevenson

Genre: Memoir

Plot: Bryan Stevenson is a new lawyer in Alabama. He has a passion for representing inmates on death row. Bryan helps the Equal Justice Initiative. The first case that meant a lot to him was representing Walter MacMillan, a truly innocent man on death row. Walter’s case was a mess with corruption, incorrect procedures, and prejudice. Bryan tries his best to untangle Walter’s case and prove his innocence. All the while, Bryan shares insides on what it’s really like representing people on death row and the prejudices inmates face and what it looks like for the incarcerated. Can Bryan prove Walter’s innocence to the court? Can they work past the prejudices of the courts?

Rating: 3.5 – a heartbreaking court case

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I enjoyed learning about court cases throughout history. Though, the book was dense with lawyer speak and terminology. I also wish it would’ve focused more on Walter’s story and a little less on the background of other court cases and what lead to other people getting put on death row. Though the author did a great job describing the realities that those people face. Those additional stories distracted from the main story. Overall, I enjoyed this book. This is a good book for those who enjoy memoirs and don’t mind lots of technical terms.

Love on the Brain – Ali Hazelwood

Title: Love on the Brain

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Genre: Romance

Plot: Dr. Bee Königswasser has recently been asked to join a NASA project on brain stimulation in astronauts. The other lead on the project is Dr. Levi Ward, a guy Bee’s sure is purposely stalling her part in the project. But when she confronts him, he denies it. Then she overhears something she was not expecting. Levi talks with both of their boss, and he’s defending her and asking for things on her behalf. She’s shocked. They make a tentative peace and actually start making progress on their project. The more they work together, the more Bee and Levi start enjoying each other’s company. But with weird kinks showing up in the project, will their new found relationship last? Then when someone gets hurt, what will happen to their beloved project?

Rating: 4.0 – a sappy scientific romance

Opinion: I enjoyed this book. The science was well explained and it wasn’t overwhelming. The characters were relatable and interesting. There was a fun little twist in the book, I kinda saw it coming but was distracted by other plot points. There was another plot point I totally saw coming, though. The one little thing I didn’t love was the sex scenes. I’m okay with them in the book but it was multiple and descriptive each time. That’s when it bugs me. I really like that this author really put well written women characters in science fields and what they have to deal with in men dominated fields. It seems very accurate and well researched. Overall, I really liked this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves science and romance.

The Librarian of Saint Malo – Mario Escobar

Title: The Librarian of Saint Malo

Author: Mario Escobar

Translator:

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Jocelyn and Antoine marry in 1939 in Saint Malo, France. Shortly after, Jocelyn gets sick and Antoine is drafted into the French army. Jocelyn gets better while the Nazis start to occupy France. Jocelyn is a librarian and hides the books the Nazis deem unacceptable. Most in Saint Malo unwilling host a Nazi officer, making Jocelyn’s job of hiding books even harder. She meets an officer who enjoys books and is not as harsh as the other Nazis. He soon sees Jocelyn’s side of things. But will it be enough? Then Antoine returns after being a POW. He’s not the same and is sick. There’s also the French Resistance that ask for Jocelyn’s help. Will Antoine get better? Can Jocelyn save her beloved books? Or will the Nazis find them all?

Rating: 3.8 – a book lovers side of history

Opinion: This was a great book. I’d read another book that takes place in Saint Malo, but focuses on other aspects of the French Resistance. This was one person’s attempts to help save a piece of France. Jocelyn had little help from others. Yet she still held her head high and helped others as much as she could. While this book was sad, as most WW2 books are, there was still hope. Forewarning, the book has a sad ending. While the legacy of Saint Malo’s library lived on, not everyone who helped the library survives. There were a few slow parts, they were short lived. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction books.