A Bookworm's Book Reviews

This Story Might Save Your Life – Tiffany Crum

Title: This Story Might Save Your Life

Author: Tiffany Crum

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Benny and Joy are best friends who run a famous podcast called This Story Might Save Your Life (TSMSYL for short). They talk about an unusual situation someone survived and then talk about how they would survive. Their manager, and Joy’s husband, is charge of ads their upcoming podcast tour. The more the tour goes, the more controlling Xander of the podcast becomes. Then they into some trouble with one of their ads. The more time passes, the more Joy retreats and the more controlling Xander becomes. Then Joy disappears. The evidence points to Xander at first. Then the evidence points to Benny. But who really is behind Joy’s disappearance? Did Xander or Benny really do it? Or someone else? Can they find Joy before something happens to her?

Rating: 3.7 – a different kind of mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. Though, it wasn’t as mysterious as I thought it was going to be. You get some answers too early in the book for my tastes. It took away the mystery for me. Though I give the author credit for giving the reader lots of distractions for who really is behind Joy’s disappearance and what really happened to some of the other characters. The nonlinear timeline helped give some background information about the characters. This works better for the story because you get more information about the mystery while learning about possible motives of the characters. I wish some of the motives would’ve been a little less obvious, though. I’m glad Benny and Joy had a support system that helped them escape from Xander’s schemes. And that the perpetrator got justice in the end. I enjoyed the friendship that Benny and Joy had and that it didn’t turn into a cheating scandal or romance at the end of the story. It would’ve distracted from the story too much, but given a better motive for Benny. I wished one or two more things would’ve been answered a little more clearly. Overall, I still enjoyed this book, just wish it would’ve been more mysterious. It could be good for someone who’s getting into mysteries. I recommend this book for anyone who wants an easy to read mystery.

American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins

Title: American Dirt

Author: Jeanine Cummins

Narrator: Yareli Arizmendi

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: When Lydia’s family is killed by the cartel group, Los Jardineros, she grabs her son Luca, whom Lydia hid during the shooting, and flees Acapulco. Lydia must be careful because the leader of Los Jardineros is still looking for her. He left notes around her house and car. So she and Luca go on foot to grab some cash and find other means of escape. First, Lydia tries the train and airport, but the clerks want ID, which Lydia doesn’t want to use in case the cartel comes looking for them. So, they’re forced to hitch rides on buses for the first leg of their journey. As they get closer to the border, they meet other migrants. Lorenzo wants to escape his past life with the cartels. He tends to tag along even when the others don’t want him. Then there’s Rebeca and Soledad, two sisters from Honduras. They escaped their local cartel and seen too much for teenagers. The more they travel, the more they learn about each other’s stories. But can they learn to trust each other? Can they all make it across the border? Rebecca and Soledad have a Coyote lined up for the two of them. Will he take Lydia and Luca, too? Or will they need to find a different path? Or will the cartel catch up to the two of them before they can be truly free?

Rating: 3.7 – a story of overcoming all odds

Opinion: This was an interesting book. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that starts with the characters feeing for lives and learning their backstory along their journey. So it took me a little bit to connect with the characters. I wish there would’ve been a chapter or two before of backstory before Lydia and Luca had to flee. There were also a lot of characters introduced at the beginning it took me a minute to get everyone straight. Once I knew a little bit more about the characters, I really got into the story. The author did a good job of showing the reader what the characters saw and how they felt. At times, I felt like there was too much description, but it was usually when the characters were traveling and not a lot of danger. I thought there would be a little bit more danger as the characters were escaping from their respective cartels. Part of it seemed a little too easy to get out of danger. Granted dangerous things did happen and it was terrifying and I’m glad they escaped. But the danger seemed a little philosophical the way some of the characters thought of it. All this to be said, this was my first audio book. It might’ve been the way the narrator read the book, or how I perceived it. I can see why people choose audio books, but I still prefer ebooks and actual books. That way I don’t accidentally space out during an important scene. Which I might’ve done once or twice. It made it harder for me to go back and listen to when I stopped listening. I might try another audio book later, but for now I’ll stick ebooks or actual books. Back to the book, I did enjoy it for the most part. I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a good realistic fiction book about what migrant families go through.

Queering the Color Line – Siobhan B. Somerville

Title: Queering the Color Line

Author: Siobhan B. Somerville

Genre: History, LBGTQ+

Plot: Black people and LBGTQ+ people have always been pushed to the side. Their part of history has always been erased or not talked about. Siobhan talks about their history and how they contributed to society at the turn of the last century and into the 1930’s. Siobhan gives examples of how different types of movies, books, other forms of media back then shaped how people viewed black people and LBGTQ+ people. The author talks about how straight white, black, and LGBTQ+ people thought about those forms of media. There was support and opposition from all sides.She also talks about how the words like gay, lesbian, and queer have changed over the past century. There are also points about the words origins and how they came to be what they mean now.

Rating: 3.5 – a well researched history of black queer people

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I read this for a book challenge with my local bookstore. Part of it is reading a book a book by an LBGTQ+ author. I’d asked a coworker about it and this is one the books he recommended. This one seemed the most interesting. While it was interesting, I didn’t expect it to be so academic. I thought it was going to focus more on the history of black LBGTQ+ people and less on the academic research of the time period. It was a lot of here’s what these people thought of the minorities of the time period. Here’s some reasons why they thought like that and here’s some examples to prove it. It read a lot like a college textbook. I looked into the author a little bit and saw that she’s a professor at Purdue and/or Illinois (different sites said different things). Which explains the well researched, textbook feel of the book. While the book was informative and I feel like I learned something, it wasn’t the right book for me. I’m glad I learned new things about groups of people that you don’t really hear much about, especially when people don’t want to talk about them as much. While this book isn’t for me, I’d recommend it for someone who loves educational textbook-like history books about minorities.

Everything is Tuberculosis – John Green

Title: Everything is Tuberculosis

Author: John Green

Genre: Science

Plot: John explores the history of tuberculosis and how it’s still prevalent today. He talks about how the disease shaped history. There’s still so many people today who live and die with the disease. John met Henry in his travels to Sierra Leone. He lives in Lakka, in Sierra Leone, place for people with tuberculosis. Henry has a medical resistant tuberculosis. He’s not sure he’ll survive because of the lack of funds and support in his country. Henry’s plight is like so many suffering with tuberculosis in poorer countries like Sierra Leone. John talks about the costs of the medicine for the disease. How pharmacies price gouge the medicines. How there’s not enough doctors and nurses who know how to treat the disease in those countries. John talks about how the disease takes a toll on the family’s who have someone with the disease. There’s still a stigma with the disease. These statistics intertwine with Henry’s story and his will to live. John also talks about how is travels learning has affected him and his promise to help those who have tuberculosis.

Rating: 4.0 – a great insight of the world of tuberculosis

Opinion: I thought this was an interesting book. There was so much information about what’s going on in the world with tuberculosis. I didn’t realize it was still so prevalent. I learned about in history classes, so I thought it’d been more or less eradicated. I’m not entirely surprised at the pharmacies who price gouge the medicine. But I am glad some countries are fighting back against the biggest companies and working on getting prices lowered. The more I read about Henry’s story, the more I thought he wasn’t going to survive. I actually sighed in relief when he didn’t. With all of the information, statistics, and history in the book, I still found the book easy to understand. This is the first John Green book I’ve read. I’ve heard about his YA books, but seen one of the movie adaptations. It seemed a little cheesy but heartbreaking. I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of this book. He really seemed to care about the people in his book. With all of his popularity, he truly seems to care about others, especially those poor and hurting. It was one of the few times I’ve followed an author because I appreciate what he’s done for others. Overall, I really liked this book. It’s full of science, history, and humanity. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants an easy to understand science and history lesson.

The Witch and the Tsar – Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Title: The Witch and the Tsar

Author: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Plot: Yaga is a half goddess living in the Russian countryside. She avoids mortals due to past hurts. The occasional mortal seeks her out for healing remedies. When Tsar Ivan’s wife Anastasia comes seeking a cure, Yaga’s life starts to get complicated. No one else has been able to help Anastasia. Yaga goes to Moscow to continue treatments. Then Ivan accuses Yaga of hurting Anastasia, Yaga escapes to the woods again. When Yaga hears that Tsar Ivan is pillaging every village and city to find ‘traitors,’ she must finds a way to stop him. On top of everything, Tsar Ivan has magical help destroying everything. Yaga soon finds help with a band of soldiers. Will Yaga and her newfound friends be able to defend the common people against the tsar? Or will he destroy everything in his path?

Rating: 3.5 – an interesting retelling of the Baba Yaga mythology

Opinion: This was an interesting story. I haven’t heard many stories about Baba Yaga. So I was curious to learn about a different side of her. The added historical fiction aspects made the story about Ivan the Terrible was a great touch. I enjoyed the combination of mythology versus history. I liked how the author explained the reason for Ivan the Terrible’s madness. I also liked that both sides had magical half gods/goddesses and magic. There’s always a good story with the good guys with longer odds taking on the bad guys with lots of help going against each other. Though, it helped that the bad guy’s foot soldiers were spread out throughout Russia. As much as I liked the ideas of the book, the pacing of the story was slow. There were so many side quests, it kind of distracted from the main story. It made it seem like the stakes were lower since there were so many distractions with a slower main plot. It also made it harder for me to connect to the characters. I really wanted to care, but I just couldn’t. Though I was still curious about the story and characters to see how the story ended. The ending was satisfying and wrapped up everything in a nice little bow. Overall, I did like the story. I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a mythology and historical fiction combo.

A Good Animal – Sara Maurer

Title: A Good Animal

Author: Sara Maurer

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: Everett Lindt has grown up on a sheep farm near Sault St Mary on the upper peninsula of Michigan. His dreams are to take over the family farm when he’s done with high school. He has no desire to see the wide world and knows what he wants from life. Then he meets Mary, a new girl in town, and only there because her father took a job with the local Coast Guard. Mary wants to go to college and be an artist. She craves something bigger than herself and her independence. Despite their differences, Everett and Mary start dating. Everett tries to show Mary the joys of farm life. Mary tries to convince Everett of a life outside of his family farm. One choice could change everything for everything. Will Everett and Mary be able to figure it out on their own? Can they find an adult they trust? Or will everything come crashing down around them?

Rating: 4.0 – an interesting small town, coming of age story

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I wanted a change of pace for a book and thought this would be a good one. I wasn’t disappointed. The author did a good job making me roll my eyes while I was reading about the teenage boy’s antics. I got a kick out of the fact that Everett related everything to sheep. I mean, you relate to what you know, but I still found it funny. I also liked that Mary called him out on the fact that everything was related to sheep. I also understood the fear and shame the characters to big decisions the characters had to make. It was also the 90’s in a rural, midwest town. There were certain things you didn’t do and certain things were taboo. You don’t always to admit to your parents how bad you messed up and want to fix it without them knowing. I think the parents knew something was going one, but didn’t want to push them into saying anything until the kids were ready. As soon as certain things happened in the book, other things were bound to happen. I really wished they hadn’t but am glad everything turned out okay in the end. Part of me wonders what would’ve happened if they’d talked openly with their parents about what had happened. But I do applaud Everett and Mary for wanting to do the right thing. Overall, I really did like this book. It’s a great story in trying to do the right things when everything blows up in your face, especially when you’re a teenager. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a coming of age story in a small, midwestern town.

The Boxcar Librarian – Brianna Labuskes

Title: The Boxcar Librarian

Author: Brianna Labuskes

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Alice Monroe is copper king’s daughter trying to get books to the miners at their isolated mining towns in the 1920’s. People around her say that the miners don’t need books. A local man, Sydney, with lots of connections helps Alice get the funding and books she needs. Alice starts building her boxcar library. After a long search for a librarian, Collette Durant lands at her door. Collette and Sydney convince Alice to come along and escape her sheltered life. Alice reluctantly agrees and learns to love the life on the road. Then something happens to Collette, but no one knows for sure what exactly happened. But after ten years, Millie Lang is gets stuck helping create a guide for exploring Montana after the original people miss the deadlines. Millie tries to find what went wrong and how she can fix it before the next deadline. When she learns about the Boxcar Library, Alice, and Collette. Can Mill find out what happened to Alice and Collette? Or will whoever’s behind the incident get the better of them?

Rating: 4.0 – a different part of history

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I enjoyed seeing a different side of history. I was really curious how the two different storylines were going to connect. Especially since I was getting pieces of all the stories at the same time. I liked that there were one or two characters that bridged the two stories. The plot was a little slow to start but picked up as the stories started to connected. I found it interesting that there were connections to modern day times even though it was a historical fiction book. It kind of reminded me of the phrase ‘those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’ The history was well researched and well spread out. There wasn’t any info dumps and small repeats for a couple of things. I also liked that that the book focused more on the women’s side of the story. You don’t see as many stories about women in historical fiction, especially as the main characters. The men were important but the story was told by the women. I think this book would be good for a book club, even though it’s 400 pages. It might be a good one to read after the holidays, so people have more time to read it. Overall, I really liked this book. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves historical fiction.

Rings of Fate – Melissa de la Cruz

Title: Rings of Fate

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Plot: Aren is a barmaid at Raven’s Beak. She’s taken over after her father got sick. Between running the tavern and taking care of her twin sisters, she has no time for anything else. That is until Prince Dietan arrives on a quest to find a wife. He wants to join his kingdom with the one Aren lives in and thought the best way to do that would be to marry a commoner. Aren hopes he’ll pick one of her sisters. But Prince Diatan offers Aren a deal instead. His marriage proposal is a cover so he can get rid of his curse. If she accepts Diatan’s proposal, her family will be taken care of, and she’ll an adventure that she’s always longed for. Aren accepts after she sees how her sisters have fallen for the prince’s generals, and how much Deitan needs a guide. Together, they search the kingdoms for a way to find to break Prince Deitan’s curse. But is there even a way to break the curse? Or is there a way to control the curse? Or will the monsters and mad kings get the better of them?

Rating: 4.3 – a different kind of adventure fantasy

Opinion: I really liked this book. There were lots of fun characters. The author did a good job writing their relationships. It was easy to see how the characters cared about each other. The characters had lots of fun banter. They spoke in modern day language despite living in a middle age like setting. I think the author made it work, but it was weird a first. Or maybe I just looked past it because I enjoyed the story so much. It was a simple idea but well done. It was different enough that I liked how the author retold the story. Though if I didn’t know this was going to be a part of a series, I would’ve been more worried about the characters. I thought the magic system was interesting. Though I wish I learned more about it throughout the book. I hope there’s more about the magic in the later books. And I was thinking that there should be one way for the characters to learn about the magic system, especially Dietan. The author hinted it at the possibility for people to learn, but it’s frowned upon. Dietan started to teach himself but I want him to get a teacher so he can learn how to control his curse. I wonder how the author will continue the series because she kind of wrapped up a lot of the plot points. So I’m curious to see where the rest of the series goes. The one thing I was a little confused about was the time passage. Some times things came about too quickly. Relationships started after a day or two. Travel and healing had strange time jumps. There were times I thought only a day had passed, but multiple had passed. But the author did try to explain how the time had passed. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a great romantic, adventure fantasy. It’s also a great easy read. I highly recommend it to any who loves adventure fantasy.

The Thread Collectors – Shauna J. Edwards & Alyson Richman

Title: The Thread Collectors

Authors: Shauna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: In 1863 Louisiana, Stella a black woman living mostly on her own with her sister, Ammanee, and mother, Janie. She’s allowed her own little Creole cottage under certain conditions from her Master Fyre. Secretly, Stella sews maps to freedom on scrap fabrics for other slaves who are running away. Her beau, William, is a black musician who’s lended out to other slave owners for musical entertainment. But William’s had enough and decides to escape and join the Union Army and play for them. There he meets Jacob, a Jewish musician who’s also playing with the Union Army stationed in Louisiana. They start playing together and young Tommy joins them as they play for the officers and soldiers. Meanwhile, in New York, Jacob’s wife Lily makes a quilts and rolls medical wraps for Union soldiers, as well as helps the abolitionist movement while waiting for Jacob to return. When Lily doesn’t hear from Jacob for some time, she makes the brave decision to go look for him in Louisiana. There she meets with family on the Confederate side of the war. Lily also meets William and Stella. Can she make peace with her Southern family? Can William and Stella help Lily find Jacob? Can William and Stella trust Lily to do the right thing? Can Jacob even be found? Or is it too late?

Rating: 3.7 – a different side of the Civil War

Opinion: This was an interesting book. Though it took me a little bit to figure out all of the characters and who was related to who and how they were all related. There were a lot of them introduced right away. Their relationship was said once then not mentioned again until later, so it made it a little harder to track. For some reason I thought Stella and Lily would be working on their sewing projects more together, and not focusing on their own projects. For some reason I found Jacob’s rescue a little underwhelming. I get the reasons why William couldn’t go back right away and I’m glad that Stella really wanted to help William find Jacob. But Lily coming in to save the day seemed a little too easy. Thought it made sense why she had to do it, it just seemed a like there should’ve been a little more risk with getting Jacob from the house he was staying at. But once I got into this book, I really did like it. I wish I’d learned more about women’s projects to help soldiers and runaways during the Civil War. You hear more about the nurses near the battles and the women leaders, but less about the common women who are also trying to help the soldiers. I wanted to learn more about the maps the runaways used to help them escape to freedom. It made me happy that there were other ways people helped each other escape. The authors made me understand what it was like for those people during the Civil War in Louisiana and why they acted the way they did. I also learning a little more about a different part of the South during the Civil War, too. It’s rare to find a happier story about the Deep South during that time. Overall, I really did enjoy the book once I got into it. I highly recommend this book who enjoys learning about different perspectives of the Civil War and historical fiction.

The Correspondent – Virginia Evans

Title: The Correspondent

Author: Virginia Evans

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot: Sybil Van Antwerp has an almost daily routine of writing letters and emails. She writes her friends about the daily goings on around her neighborhood and with her neighbors. Her main concern is that she’s slowly losing her eyesight. Sybil also has a strained relationship with her children and ex husband. She wants to connect and help but isn’t sure how. When her son gifts her a DNA kit for Christmas and old acquaintances start writing, Sybil is forced to confront her past hurts and come to terms with them. Over time, she starts to heal and make peace with the things that have happened in her life. Sybil also finds new friends and family along the way. But does she have enough time to reconnect with her family? Can she really make up for lost time? Or will everything come crashing down too soon?

Rating: 4.0 – an interesting letter style book about growing old

Opinion: This was an interesting book. It took me a little bit to get into because it’s all letters from Sybil to her friends and family, and their return letters. I felt like it took me a little bit to connect with the characters because of the different format. I do wish there was a mix of letter writing and real life interaction. I feel like it would’ve made it more relatable. I would’ve helped me follow the story a little easier to follow. Some of the time jumps and character switches are harder for me to figure out at first. It was also about older people and people at different stages in their lives, which also made it a little harder to connect at first. Once I started reading more, the more I started to understand where Sybil was coming from. Writing is her safe space. It helps her relate to the world around her. It gives her time to say the right thing. It’s also gives some meaning to her life as most of the people in her life are far away. Though, I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall for some of Sybil’s antics with Mick and Theodore. It really made her personality shine. She had such wit about her. She knew what she wanted and went for it, even in her old age. Though she had her setbacks, she found ways to fix it. I did find it nice, despite her bravado, she still had fears and falters. People call her on it and she has to find a way to fix it. Overall, I did end up enjoying this book. It was a sweet story of family and coming to peace with things at the end of life. I did like the different style of writing and using a letter format for the entire book. I highly recommend for anyone who wants a different style of reconnecting to family book.