Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim {review}

Spin the Dawn 

by Elizabeth Lim

publisher: Knopf BYR

release date: July 9th, 2019

hardcover, 392 pages

intended audience: Young adult

series: The Blood of Stars, book 1

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There's just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia's task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor's reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

{Review}

This book. The Asian mythology, the Mulan inspiration, the adventure and romance, all of that was wonderful, but nothing fascinated me like the descriptions of gorgeous fashion design and sewing!! What a beautiful tale! 

Maia immediately drew me in with her dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, and having the heart, bravery, and sheer determination to reach for it, even when it meant putting her life on the line. She knew she had what it took and she pushed aside any and all backward thinking to prove herself.  The story is basically split into two parts, a contest and quest.  The contest itself was high stakes and very cut-throat, and I loved all the vivid descriptions of the clothing. The quest was so unique and adventurous with such imaginative world building, as Maia and the enigmatic Edan set off to aquire the ultimate magical materials held by the sun, the moon and the stars. Together the two parts of this fantastic and fashionable tale made quite an epic story!

{About The Author}
 

Elizabeth Lim grew up on a hearty staple of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Her passion for storytelling began around age 10, when she started writing fanfics for Sailor Moon, Sweet Valley, and Star Wars, and posted them online to discover, "Wow, people actually read my stuff. And that's kinda cool!" But after one of her teachers told her she had "too much voice" in her essays, Elizabeth took a break from creative writing to focus on not flunking English.
Over the years, Elizabeth became a film and video game composer, and even went so far as to get a doctorate in music composition. But she always missed writing, and turned to penning stories when she needed a breather from grad school. One day, she decided to write and finish a novel -- for kicks, at first, then things became serious -- and she hasn't looked back since.
Elizabeth loves classic film scores, books with a good romance, food (she currently has a soft spot for arepas and Ethiopian food), the color turquoise, overcast skies, English muffins, cycling, and baking. She lives in New York City with her husband.

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   INSTAGRAM

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon 

The Things She's Seen by Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina {review}

The Things She's Seen
by Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
♦publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
♦release date: May 14th, 2019
♦hardcover, 224 pages
♦Intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦arc from publisher for honest review

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.

Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire?

As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

{My Review}

Small but mighty! The Things She's Seen looks like a little slip of a book, but inside the story is a wondrous tale, a ghostly mystery full of scandal and sharp turns, a touching father-daughter relationship that has proven itself stronger than death, and a glimpse of aboriginal mythology and history.

The story is told in two perspectives. Beth is a recently deceased teen who hasn't left the side of her living father and now helps him in his job as a detective. He's the only one who can see her and sometimes it's just like she never left, other times he is consumed with the sadness and guilt that comes with grief.  Their path crosses with that of Isobel Catching, a supposed witness to a crime they are investigating and she lends her voice to the story with a curious tale of her capture by strange creatures told in verse.  Through it all we get a dark and magical look at both ancient and modern aboriginal culture, community, and legend. The history of the Stolen Generation is woven in in such a personal way and I love how it showed the characters finding strength in her ancestry. Meanwhile, Beth coming to terms with her ghostly existence and trying to help her father reconnect with the world was incredibly poignant. Though I do feel the darkly enchanting and courageous chapters in verse overshadowed the murder mystery plot just a bit, it all converged into a horrifying and satisfying end. I hope that this brother/sister author team write more like this. 

{ABOUT THE AUTHORS}

Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina are a brother-sister team of Aboriginal writers who come from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They've worked together on a number of short novels and picture books. Catching Teller Crow (original AU title of Things She's Seen) is their first joint YA novel. They believe in the power of storytelling to create a more just world.
(source: www.curtisbrown.co.uk)

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon 

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The White Road of the Moon 

by Rachel Neumeier

hitting shelves March 14, 2017

from Knopf Books for Young Readers

Leigh Bardugo meets The Sixth Sense in this story of one girl’s perilous journey to restore a lost order. 
 
Imagine you live with your aunt, who hates you so much she’s going to sell you into a dreadful apprenticeship. Imagine you run away before that can happen. Imagine that you can see ghosts—and talk with the dead. People like you are feared, even shunned.
 
Now imagine . . . the first people you encounter after your escape are a mysterious stranger and a ghost boy, who seem to need you desperately—though you don’t understand who they are or exactly what they want you to do. So you set off on a treacherous journey, with only a ghost dog for company. And you find that what lies before you is a task so monumental that it could change the world.

My thoughts:  While I don't like such a direct comparison to another author's style, I DO like the idea of  high fantasy Sixth Sense! :D  Ghost dogs, a cruel aunt, and a mysterious journey..it all sounds pretty bizarre and amazing!  The cool, slightly unsettling cover doesn't hurt either! 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

The Land of 10,000 Madonnas by Kate Hattemer {review}

The Land of 10,000 Madonnas 
by Kate Hattemer
♦publisher: Knopf BYR
♦release date: April 19, 2016
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: arc from publisher for honest review

Five teens backpack through Europe to fulfill the mysterious dying wish of their friend.

Jesse lives with his history professor dad in a house covered with postcards of images of the Madonna from all over the world. They’re gotten used to this life: two motherless dudes living among thousands of Madonnas. But Jesse has a heart condition that will ultimately cut his life tragically short. Before he dies, he arranges a mysterious trip to Europe for his three cousins, his best friend, and his girlfriend to take after he passes away. It’s a trip that will forever change the lives of these young teens and one that will help them come to terms with Jesse’s death. 

Review: The Land of 10,000 Madonnas sounded like a such a fun but heart-wrenching European road trip story, but sadly, it just didn't speak to me.  I felt like it was going for a certain level of depth and character growth through a group that was grieving and working together to fulfill their friend's wish, but it just didn't quite hit a mark of sincerity for me. 

Jesse has past away from a long-standing disease, and as his final months, he arranged to send his two cousins, two friends, and his girlfriend on a quest through Europe to find his estranged mother. They are each left a different set of clues and they must work together to find her. Problem is, they don't really know each other, and each are handling Jesse's death is their own way: with angst or guilt or heartbreak or what have you. There personalities don't mesh well, and while that's completely realistic to have a group that really gets under each other's skin, especially in an already emotional situation---watching them gripe at each other all through Europe with different levels of disdain, selfishness, or pettiness doesn't really make for an interesting read. 

Another problem I had was with the flow and writing itself.  The jump from present to flashback and back to present was breakneck and jarring every time.  Also, the story is told in five alternating third-person POVs, with a few journal entries from Jesse. While that may work sometimes, many times I found their voices just not distinct enough to pull it off and found myself having to back-read a page or two into a chapter to remind myself who was at the helm. 

There were things I did really like about this, though.  I did like a few of the slow-building comraderies between a couple of the characters, one that was especially hard-won. I liked the actual flashback moments with each character's memories of Jesse and what it brought to the story (though many times I didn't actually like Jesse himself).  And I actually really loved the way the story resolved itself.  It was not what I expected and I really enjoyed that turn in the story. 

Overall, I few engaging, humorous, and heartfelt moments, but not enough to overcome the issues that kept me from really enjoying this one. 

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Kate Hattemer graduated with a degree from Yale in Classics. She works as a bookseller in Cincinnati and is the author of The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy, which has received five starred reviews.

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER   •   INSTAGRAM

Add to Goodreads

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

A Most Magical Girl

by Karen Foxlee

hitting shelves August 2nd, 2016

from Knopf BYR

From the author of Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy comes the story of a friendship between two girls set in Victorian England, with magical machines, wizards, witches, a mysterious underworld, and a race against time.

Annabel Grey is primed for a proper life as a young lady in Victorian England. But when her mother suddenly disappears, she’s put in the care of two eccentric aunts who thrust her into a decidedly un-ladylike life, full of potions and flying broomsticks and wizards who eat nothing but crackers. Magic, indeed! Who ever heard of such a thing?

Before Annabel can assess the most ladylike way to respond to her current predicament, she is swept up in an urgent quest. Annabel is pitted against another young witch, Kitty, to rescue the sacred Moreover Wand from the dangerous underworld that exists beneath London. The two girls outsmart trolls, find passage through a wall of faerie bones, and narrowly escape a dragon, but it doesn’t take long for Annabel to see that the most dangerous part of her journey is her decision to trust this wild, magical girl.

Sparkling with Karen Foxlee’s enchanting writing, this is a bewitching tale of one important wand and two most magical girls. 

My thoughts:  I am absolutely enchanted with both the cover and the synopsis of this book!  ALL the magical stuff in a underworld existing below Victorian London?? Sign me up! :D

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

RED by Liesl Shurtliff {blog tour review + giveaway}

Today I'm super thrilled to have to blog tour for Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff rolling through!! This is fun retelling of Red Riding Hood by the author of two other middle grade retellings, Rump and Jack! Check out my review and then be sure to enter below for an awesome tour-wide giveaway!

RED 
by Liesl Shurtliff
♦publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
♦release date: April 12th, 2016
♦hardcover, 288 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦standalone
♦source: ARC from publisher for honest review

Red is not afraid of the big bad wolf. She’s not afraid of anything . . . except magic.
But when Red’s granny falls ill, it seems that only magic can save her, and fearless Red is forced to confront her one weakness.

With the help of a blond, porridge-sampling nuisance called Goldie, Red goes on a quest to cure Granny. Her journey takes her through dwarves’ caverns to a haunted well and a beast’s castle. All the while, Red and Goldie are followed by a wolf and a huntsman—two mortal enemies who seek the girls’ help to defeat each other. And one of them just might have the magical solution Red is looking for. . . .

Liesl Shurtliff weaves a spellbinding tale, shining the spotlight on a beloved character from her award-winning debut, Rump. 

And don't miss Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk, "a delightful story of family, perseverance and courage" (Booklist).

Review: I was taken by surprise by this fun new take on Little Red Riding Hood! I went in expecting a retelling, and was overjoyed to find a completely unique fairy tale mash-up adventure of some of my favorite stories, including Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White and Rose Red!

Red is a story with so much heart and depth to it.  When Red is faced with losing her Granny, she must stray from her familiar and safe path to find some magical way to help Granny cheat death.  But she'll find that these fixes come at a price, and through the people she meets, the friends she makes, and the realities she faces, Red finds her bravery, her patience, a precious bond with an unexpected ally, and she learns to reigns in her own worst fears.  The narration is fun, I loved the snarky dialogue between Red and Goldie and the way the two of them grow to be friends, despite Red's initial feelings toward her. I loved her connection with Wolf and really adored the sweet twist to the original story.  I really enjoyed the touches of magic throughout and Red's growth in to her own magical powers.

Red is a great story all around, like a fun Once Upon a Time for kids, with some really great life lessons to take to heart. Also, with the mentions of Red's previous adventures with her friend Rump, I'm definitely planning to pick up the previous books and see what else these characters have gotten up to!

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liesl Shurtliff was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the mountains for her playground. Just like Rump, Liesl was shy about her name, growing up. Not only did it rhyme with weasel, she could never find it on any of those personalized key chains in gift shops. But over the years she’s grown to love having an unusual name—and today she wouldn’t change it for the world!
Before she became a writer, Liesl graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in music, dance, and theater. She now lives in Chicago with her husband and three young children, where she still dreams of the mountains. Rump is her first novel.

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •   GOODREADS

*        *        *        *        *

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on...

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

How to Hang a Witch

by Adriana Mather

hitting shelves July 26th, 2016

from Knopf Books for Young Readers

For fans of Conversion and Mean Girls, comes a debut novel where the trials of high school start to feel like a modern day witch hunt for a teen with all the wrong connections to Salem’s past.

Salem, Massachusetts is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather. Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for thosetrials and immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?

If dealing with that weren't enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. 

Sam must come to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with the Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it's Salem. But history is about to repeat itself.

My thoughts: OKAY, now this sounds fun.  Anything Salem Witch Trial related will always have my attention, but you throw in a comparison to Mean Girls and a handsome ghost?? Yeah, I'm there. PLUS, the author is actually descended from the Mathers that were involved in the Trials.  I can't wait to read this!

Waiting on...

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Julia Vanishes

by Catherine Egan

hitting shelves June 7th, 2016

from Knopf Books for Young Readers

Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people's senses. 

It's a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it's a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned--crime pays.

Her latest job is paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A disgraced professor who sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets, spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the basement each night. And a mysterious young woman who is clearly in hiding--though from what or whom?

Worse, Julia suspects that there's a connection between these people and the killer leaving a trail of bodies across the frozen city.

The more she learns, the more she wants to be done with this unnatural job. To go back to the safety of her friends and fellow thieves. But Julia is entangled in a struggle between forces more powerful than she'd ever imagined. Escape will come at a terrible price. 

My thoughts: Lots of things catching my attention here: unusual abilities, odd assortment of characters, forbidden magic and a clever-sounding spy. This definitely has me curious!

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.  

Another Day

by David Levithan

 hitting shelves August 25, 2015 

from Knopf Books for Young Readers

In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author  of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn’t Justin at all.

My thoughts:  Every Day was amazing, one of my favorites (here's my review). So now it's Rhiannon's turn to tell the story and I am so excited!

Becky's View: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

Strands of Bronze and Gold
by Jane Nickerson
♦publisher: Knopf BYR
♦release date: March 12, 2013
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Strands of Bronze and Gold, book 1
♦source: ALA Midwinter

The Bluebeard fairy tale retold. . . .

When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.

Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.

Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.

Review: Strands of Bronze and Gold is a beautifully done retelling of the gothic fairy tale of Bluebeard.  Jane Nickerson does an amazing job writing in the classic style of fairy tales of old to give it the perfect tone and air of the mid 1800s.  It's like stepping back into a Brontë novel, but infinitely creepier.

This book is such an emotional read.  With it being a retelling, if you know the original story at all, you know exactly who the bad guy is, so you watching in horror as Sophia falls for his charm and exotic wit, all the while, your mind is screaming, "noooo!"  Then comes fear as she slowly realizes his true demeanor---his cruelty and madness literally seems to ooze out of his false facade, like a snake shedding skin.  Frustration set in when it becomes clear that because of the times and her situation, she truly is stuck.  There is also joy, as she finds a way to sneak in her moments alone in the woods and the happinesses she finds there.  Compassion takes over as her hopes are dashed that her family will save her, but they only manage to misunderstand everything and dig her deeper into danger.  And finally there is sheer terror as the terrible truth is revealed and Sophia must fight for her life. 

The spine-tingling moments of this story were my favorite part.  There were moments, one chapter ending in particular, that I literally had to pause and set the book down because my whole body was covered in chills.  There are ghostly encounters and a bit of gore, but I loved that despite all that, de Cressac was still the most terrifying threat to Sophia.

I loved how opinionated Sophia was about the ways of the world.  She had a good heart and an insatiable curiosity.  The story touches on the struggles of the slaves and the start of the Underground Railroad and ties the subject compellingly into the storyline.

A really wonderful debut and a definite must-read for fans of fairy tale retellings like me! 

From what I can tell, the following books in the series will be set in the same world, but possibly with different characters. I thought Sophia's story was very satisfyingly concluded, so I can't see it continuing wit her.  This is definitely a series I will be sticking with, though!

Find Jane Nickerson online: Website  •  Twitter  •   Facebook

Purchase Strands of Bronze and Gold:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Midnight Dress
by Karen Foxlee

hitting shelves October 8th, 2013 from Knopf BYR

description: Quiet misfit Rose doesn't expect to fall in love with the sleepy beach town of Leonora. Nor does she expect to become fast friends with beautiful, vivacious Pearl Kelly, organizer of the high school float at the annual Harvest Festival parade. It's better not to get too attached when Rose and her father live on the road, driving their caravan from one place to the next whenever her dad gets itchy feet. But Rose can't resist the mysterious charms of the town or the popular girl, try as she might.

Pearl convinces Rose to visit Edie Baker, once a renowned dressmaker, now a rumored witch. Together Rose and Edie hand-stitch an unforgettable dress of midnight blue for Rose to wear at the Harvest Festival—a dress that will have long-lasting consequences on life in Leonora, a dress that will seal the fate of one of the girls. Karen Foxlee's breathtaking novel weaves friendship, magic, and a murder mystery into something moving, real, and distinctly original.

My thoughts:  Small towns, witches,  murder mystery,...and the synopsis hints of an enchanted dress! This sounds so fun and right up my alley.