Plot: Marie has been living with adoptive parents Arrice and Franc in the town of Carmine. She can bake magic into her pastries, things like strength, luck, and love. There’s one problem, Marie has no memories from before four years prior. When thieves raid her town, Marie is captured and sold as a slave. Her master is an odd man named Allemas. Everything about him seems unnatural. He demands she make his customers her magical pastries. All the while, a transparent figure called Fyel is trying to get Marie to remember who she was. Can Marie ever remember who she was? Can she escape Allemas? Who was Fyel in Marie’s past life?
Rating: 3.6 – a different take on fairy tales
Opinion: This was an interesting story. I really liked this take on a few classic fairy tales. The story was very subtle about the fairy tales. There were one or two things that I picked up on throughout the story. They weren’t necessarily hinted on but could be picked up on if you pay attention to them. I don’t know why but I didn’t love what Marie truly was. Throughout the book I felt like there was a part of the book I was missing. Like there was another book that I should’ve read before this one. Maybe it was just me, but that kind of bugged me. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the twist on fairy tales and how magic is used throughout the book. This is a great book for anyone who loves fantasy and fairy tales.
Plot: Vivienne is a lacemaker in France in the late 1700’s, during the French Revolution. She’s in fear for her life as she’s made lace for Marie Antoinette and therefore royalty. When her aunt dies, she finds a letter from her late mother about passage to the newly created United States. But the letter is from Armond, who could possibly her estranged father. Vivienne is determined not to like him on their journey. He still offers her all the help she needs, any of which she declines. Vivienne finds her own way in the United States. But the French Revolution follows Vivienne to her new home. One of her neighbors has a son, Henri, that could possibly be the lost dauphin, the crown prince Louis-Charles. Jacobins, the people responsible for the revolution,are looking for him. Who can Vivienne trust? Can she keep Henri safe?
Rating: 4.0 – a slow start historical fiction
Opinion: I wasn’t sure about this book when I first started. I though it was going to be super dramatic. But it turned out to be a super interesting book. I didn’t know much about the French Revolution and I loved learning more about it. I didn’t know how much the United States wanted to help France and how much they did to help. It was also interesting to learn a little more about Alexander Hamilton and why he didn’t continue with his Secretary of Treasury position. I was pleasantly surprised that there were elements of faith throughout the book. It wasn’t the main theme of the book, but I’m glad it was there. This was a surprisingly good book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves sappy romantic book and historical fiction books.
Plot: Lillian Carter has just lost her mother to the Spanish flu. She’s had plenty of success as a model and relied on it so far. But things get complicated when she’s accused as an accomplice to her landlord’s murder. The police won’t listen to her side of the story, so she flees. She finds a job with the Frick family as a private secretary for their daughter, Helen. She’s able to hide there, hopefully until the murder case blows over. But not everything is as it seems.
Almost 50 years later, Veronica Weber is a model trying to make her way in the world. She’s found a gig at the Frick house. But she told the director off, and got asked to leave the set. But she gets locked inside with one of the workers during a snowstorm. They find clues to a missing family gem. Together they try to find it. Can they find it? Or is it gone forever?
Rating: 3.4 – a good historical fiction mystery
Opinion: This was a good historical fiction book. It was different than I thought it would be. There was still plenty of historical fiction. I hadn’t known about the Frick family before the book. The story was a bit dramatic for me. It also felt a little too similar to some of other super rich family stories I’ve read. Something always goes wrong or someone dies. In this case, it’s both. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it was a little predictable. While I did enjoy this, it wasn’t a memorable book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction with a little mystery.
Plot: Xanthe is finding a way to get Liam back. He vanished during their time travel back to the present. Xanthe knows Mistress Flyte took him, but now she needs to find an object to time travel with. Luckily, someone nearby has some items that can help. But which one can help? Once she finds one, can she find Liam? Mistress Flyte has other plans for both of them. The Visionary Society means to make it rich by time traveling for their own money making schemes. Their scheme would come at great expense to others. Mistress Flyte needs Xanthe’s help to stop them. But will Xanthe be able and willing to help? Can they stop the Visionary Society? Or will they change the course of time?
Rating: 4.4 – a great (most likely) final book in the series
Opinion: This was a great addition to the series. I’m pretty sure this is the last book in the series as everything got wrapped up nicely. But the way the book ended also left the possibility for more books later on. The last quarter of the book left me worried cause I thought there was too much left to wrap up. But the book wrapped up quicker than I expected. The ending was still great and I loved how it ended. I enjoyed the fact that the author combined two of her book universes together. It took me a little by surprise, but the clues are cleverly placed throughout the book that it’s part of the same universe as the other book. Most of the the time I kept thinking that a character sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until closer to the end of the book that I made the connections. I loved the combination of history and fantasy in this book. The author does a great job in all her books, and this one is no exception. This book is the great last book, I think, in the series. I highly recommend this book for those who love fantasy and historical fiction.
Plot: Chava, the golem, and Ahmad, the jinni, are still hiding in plain sight in New York City. Though some people are starting to notice them. They must find a way to survive or be outed. So they go deeper into hiding. But an old friend is looking for them. More of their kind are also looking for them, while trying to hide as well. Will everyone find what they’re looking for? Or will they be found out for what they truly are?
Rating: 3.6 – a good mix of fantasy and historical fiction
Opinion: This was a great sequel. There wasn’t as much of a big plot as I was expecting, but it was still an interesting read. There a lot more characters in this book to keep track of this time. The book also had different points of view. The views changed multiple times in a chapter, but it was really well done. A couple times at the beginning it took me a minute to realize which character I was following. There a couple times that caught me slightly off guard, too. Those parts weren’t as clear. I enjoyed details in the history of this book. There were lots of interesting details about ordinary life and life in other parts of the world that made this book so interesting. This book a fun read and I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction.
Plot: Stellaluna is a baby bat who fell out of her nest one night after an owl attack. She lands in a bird’s nest. The birds accept her only if she forgets how to be a bat and learns to be a bird. One day Stellaluna and her baby birds went too far away, got tired, and stop for the night. Stellaluna learns she can see in the dark. But can she get her and her friends home? Will she ever find her own family again?
Rating: 4.0 – a good story about friends and family
Opinion: This was a great kid’s book. I’ve always loved this author growing up. Her books are always loved her messages in her books. There’s a message of friendship and belonging. This book also talks about that it’s okay to be different. Differences are good, too. I love the pictures in this book. They’re so well done. I recommend this book for older children, as there a page of words next to the page of picture. It’s a great story for kids and belongs in all classes.
Plot: Maryim’s father and grandfather are moneylenders. But her father’s inability to collect money in return has left them destitute and mother close to death. Maryim takes matters into her own hands and starts collecting money herself. She’s so successful that people claim she can turn silver to gold. That draws the attention of the Staryk king. The Staryk people control ice and snow and all things winter. He steals Maryim away and demands she turn anything he asks into gold. If she doesn’t, he’ll kill her. But when the winter in Maryim’s town won’t end, she must find a way to save her people. Can she do it? Or will the winter never end?
Rating: 3.5 – a intricate retelling of Rumpelstiltskin
Opinion: This was an interesting take on Rumpelsiltskin. It started out well and was interesting. Then it got confusing for me for a fair amount of the book. The ending cleaned it up a fair bit and tied everything with a neat bow. I kept losing the story with all of the changing character points of view. The jumps between the characters made it harder for me to follow the story, too. The book also drops a certain character’s point of view for a long time, then go back to them. It also seems like there’s slightly different time jumps in the story. Sometimes when it changes between characters, it goes back in time slightly then catches up to another character’s timeline. All of this made it hard for me to relate to the characters. It was hard for me to be invested in this story, too. I did really enjoy the idea of this story, but all the characters and changing points of view made it hard to follow. This is a great story for people who don’t mind a bunch of characters and lots of points of view changes.
Authors: Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Belle Marion Greener has moved to New York City with her mother and siblings in the early 1900’s. She’s trying to look for a job for her to help support her family. Belle is colored but has lighter skin. She can pass as white. Her mother’s idea is to say they have a grandmother who lives in and is from Portugal to explain the color of their skin. Belle changes her name to Belle da Costa Greene. It’s a great risk but it gets her a personal librarian job for J.P. Morgan. Mr. Morgan is collecting rare and ancient manuscripts and art. Belle’s been hired to organize and manage it all. After she learns Mr. Morgan’s been paying too much for his art and manuscripts, Belle offers to negotiate better prices at auctions and private sales on his behalf. Mr. Morgan agrees. Over the years, Belle turns the library is one of the greatest ever. But she’s always on guard for someone to discover her secret. Can she keep up with this double life? Or will someone find out that she’s colored and use it against her?
Rating: 4.0 – a good historical fiction
Opinion: This was a great book. I enjoyed learning about life during the early twentieth century for black people. I always knew at the back of my mind that life’s always been more difficult, but not that extent. It was interesting to learn that some black people passed as white in order to ‘cheat the system,’ in a way. I understand that why they did it and why it could’ve felt like a betrayal to their friends and families. While this was a great book and I learned a lot, I feel like there wasn’t a ton of plot. It was just Belle’s life story telling of the more interesting parts of her life with J.P. Morgan and his library. I enjoyed learning more about the different societies in the early 1900’s. This is a great book for anyone who loves historical fiction.
This is an early release I picked from Book of the Month. It’s going to be released January 11.
Title: A Flicker in the Dark
Author: Stacy Willinghan
Genre: Thriller
Plot: Dr. Chole Briggs is a physiologist who’s finally starting to feel comfortable with her life. When Chole was 12, her family was turned upside down when they learned her father was a serial killer in their hometown. A news reporter starts to make her nervous when he wants a 20th anniversary of her father’s spree. Then more teenage girls start to disappear. It looks similar to what her father did. But her father’s in jail, so who is behind the murders? Chole wants to help find the killer but the police don’t want her help. Then she finds some evidence around her house and work place. Chole is running out of people to trust. Who can she trust? Can the police find who’s behind the murders? Who will the killer outwit them?
Rating: 4.3 – a good thriller
Opinion:This was a great book. I kept me on edge the whole time. Especially towards the end, I couldn’t put the book down. I wanted to know if my suspicions were true. Though I had my suspicions of two or three of the characters. In different ways, my suspicions came true. There were good plot twists throughout the book. And a few other plot points to throw suspicions on other characters. Two parts of the ending kind of confused me. I had to reread it to make sure I understood what was going on. Even though some of my suspicions were confirmed, it was different than I expected. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves thriller.
Thank you Mick Nash of Good to You for this review.
Title: Acid For The Children
Author: Michael Peter Balzary aka “Flea”, a popular bass player for the band Red Hot Chili Peppers
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir
Plot: A read about Flea’s childhood and formative years. The book dives into his adventures in Los Angeles, Southern California, Australia, and everywhere else in between. It focuses on his unconventional childhood, moving from “normal” New York to “bohemian lifestyle” Los Angeles, where anything goes. He writes about the characters he meets along the way (like his jazz playing stepfather), and the years before he was in the ultra-popular SoCal band you might have heard of, RHCP. As Flea himself describes it, it is his origin story that “ends where the Red Hot Chili Peppers begins.” His coming-of-age story chronicles his experiences through poetry, humorous anecdotes, and stories of danger, mayhem, & chaos. While trying to escape his turbulent home life, he finds family in communities of punk kids, outcasts, musicians, and artists who live on the edge. This leads to him finding music, himself, and friends, past and present, who he fondly remembers throughout the book in a witty, raw, entertaining way.
Opinion: Acid For The Children is one hell of a read. It takes you on a wild ride through the mind and life of Flea. This book is one of the most raw and honest books that I have had the privilege to read. Seeing the title and knowing the guy who wrote it, I did not know what to expect. When it comes to Flea, who does? It is 400 pages, which is long. But it is an easy read because of the way it is written and with some chapters being only a page or two. The book is written in sporadic thought, stream of consciousness, with a lot of humor (and humility), and with unwavering honesty. Flea does not make excuses for the life he has lived, the person he is, or the things he has done. He does not sugarcoat or write it to paint himself in a positive light only. He showcases and talks about his best days but more often, his worst. The book was extremely relatable to people who have struggled which is all of us. Talking about his parents’ divorce, his dad leaving, the effect on him, his struggles with fitting in, finding himself, and the adventures he got into running around unsupervised at a young age were all very relatable to me personally. Some of the stories he told mirrored my personal experiences detail by detail. It was scary but refreshing to know that somebody else knows exactly how I feel and was affected by it in similar ways that I was. We are doing what people call “trauma bonding” and Flea does not even know it…. yet. A theme early on and throughout is that he feels most comfortable by himself, in his own thoughts, and has always struggled with feeling like he fit in with groups of people, no matter who those people were. That hit home for me and can resonate with many others too. The book is so entertaining to read and really digs into every aspect of his childhood and young adulthood. He mentions so many characters he has met along the way that left an impression on him no matter how quick the interaction was with them. It made me think of all the crazy, random adults I met throughout my childhood & life and the little sayings, wisdom, & things that I have taken from them. I might have never saw them again, but they left me with memories that I still think about to this day. At the end, he even gives us a rundown of memorable albums, concerts, movies, and more that he enjoyed throughout his life. The title of the book might scare some away but even it has a purpose and meaning that is laid out by the end of the book. Acid For The Children is full of gems, life lessons, and vulnerability. This book is one that a seasoned reader or somebody who barely reads could pick up, get through, and enjoy. Those are always the best books to me, the ones that appeal to any and everybody.
A Bookworm's Book Reviews 