I'll be posting a wrap up for the OWL read-a-thon challenges later this week, but most of these books fit a prompt or I added to fill a prompt. I'm enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone with these read-a-thons and challenges to find really great reads.
Books/Ebooks/ARCs
- Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
- Review
- This was a great retelling of The Wizard of Oz. I've been meaning to read this forever and I'm glad I finally got to it. It is darker than the first book, but I still enjoyed it. The kids have to put the story back the way it was as their good hearted change had unintended consequences in the real world.
- Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre (illustrator)
- I won a copy of this via a Book Riot giveaway. Huge thanks to KaBoom and imprint of Boom Studios for hosting the giveaway and sending me an ARC. This is a YA graphic novel. It has some mythology, sci-fi, and my only complaint is that it wasn't long enough. For kids it was probably the perfect length to keep their attention, I just didn't want it to end, I wanted it to keep going. That is more of a compliment than a complaint. This was highly entertaining and beautifully illustrated.
- The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
- Review
- Technically I'm not done with this, but I'll finish it tomorrow. This is due out on May 7th. It mainly follows Ogden Milton and his offspring through time starting in 1935. The timeline and perspective jumps around, I prefer a more linear timeline or for several chapters to stay in one time period or another so I can engage with one set of characters. I found it hard to stay focused because it switches years or character almost every chapter. The story and characters were interesting and the history is really well done.
- Things We Never Said by Samantha Young
- Review
- This is the third book in Sam's On Hart's Boardwalk Series. This is due out on May 7th. I really loved Dahlia and her story is heartbreaking. This book was really emotional. This series makes you feel like you are a part of the community and every time you read one of the books it is like coming home after a long trip. If you like romance you have to give this a shot.
- Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
- Review
- My son and I both really enjoyed Nevermoor. He devoured this as soon as I brought it home from the library. I think he read it in 24 hours and it has been killing him not to tell me what happened. This is a bit darker as Morrigan learns about wunder and the legacy she is inheriting from past Wundersmiths. She is also learning the ins and outs of the Wunderous Society and learning to interact with other people. There is a conspiracy within her unit and Morrigan is again at the center of all of the bad things happening. I really enjoy this series. I can't wait for the next one.
- Time by Penny Reid
- Review
- I this came out on April 15th. This completes The Laws of Physics trilogy. I'm sad it is over, but I'm happy that Mona and Abram got the ending they deserved. I'm also holding out that Penny will give us more stories from this series hopefully Allyn and Poe will show up in the future with books of their own. This covers a ton of issues and wraps up many of the outstanding issues Mona and Abram have with each other and with other people.
- When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
- I'm not a big poetry reader, but I enjoyed most of these. The poems are fairly straightforward and I liked that. I didn't have to struggle to figure out the meaning, it was usually right there in your face what he was talking about. Sometimes the poems weren't to my taste, but I found his writing style for the most part to flow nicely and his writing to be beautiful. This fulfils the Read Harder prompt for a collection of poetry that has been published since 2014.
- Skyward. Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, and Antonio Fabela
- I read this for the OWL readathon. I was watching Hardback Hoarder's Library Haul video and she mentioned it as set in the future which is a prompt I was struggling with. This is pretty entertaining and the plot is interesting. Gravity is basically broken and the main character has to fix it in future volumes. It was a quick read and I'll be checking out volume 2 soon.
- Star Mage #1 by J.C. De La Torre (author) and Ray Dillon (illustrator)
- This has a lot of potential. I'm not a big comic reader so maybe because I've only read omnibuses I felt like this was over before it had a chance to get started. It was only 24 pages, so by the time we find anything out about the main character it was over. Fortunately this is a little older and the other issues are available. This was another OWL prompt read.
- The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
- Review
- This was an impromptu read, but it fit into my OWL challenge for a book with a red cover. I was watching BooksandLala Trash my TBR update and she recommended it because so many of her subscribers said it was a good thriller and that she would like it. It is a short little book and follows a group of friends in the in the 1986 and 2016 through a series of weird events. It is told from the perspective of Ed, one of the friends, who has his own strange experience. It is captivating and I didn't want to put down this creepy, thriller.
Audiobooks
- City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
- I really enjoyed this. If you are looking for a middle grade/YA ghost story I recommend this. It isn't very long, but I really enjoyed it. I can't wait for the next one. This installment is set in Scotland and the main character can travel between the world of the living and the dead.
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- I'm so glad I finally took the time to enjoy this. It was such an impactful book. It was hard to listen to at times, but the writing is beautiful and the message is so important. I now understand why it is the winner of so many awards and the #1 book on The Great American Reads list. The audio is excellent, I highly recommend it.
- Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
- I listened to this right after To Kill a Mockingbird and I don't think it is as good. As a sequel it just doesn't stand up. The plot doesn't always match up and the message just isn't as good. Knowing that this was written first and never intended to be published by the author that makes a lot of sense. Lee's writing is beautiful and the narration is wonderful. Had I not read them back to back, this might have been OK, but it just isn't as good as Mockingbird and you can tell it was written first and just isn't as good.
- The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
- I love this series. I was worried Vasya wasn't going to play a part in the beginning, but this tale involves her brother and sister as much as it does her. We get to know Sasha and Olga a bit more as well as many other characters. Vasya is still up to her antics of not being a prim and proper maiden and getting herself into predicaments. I still love the folklore behind this series and can't wait for the next one.
- Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
- This fulfils the prompt for a book written in prison. I don't think he actually wrote this while he was working in the prison, but we are going with it. I also read Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, so I'm covered there. This is a memoir of a very well educated, Orthodox Jewish man, who after giving up his faith finds himself needing a job that pays better than the one he's got. He applies to be a prison librarian, and these are the tales which are quite raw and real of his experience there. The narrator does quite a great job of capturing the personalities of the inmates.
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
- This has gotten a ton of hype. I admit I didn't know much about the plot, but I kept hearing how scary it was. This is a work of literary fiction, and while there are plenty of harsh conditions and graphic situations (read trigger warnings) this is by no means a horror novel. The characters experience very real fear based on the things they are experiencing in the wild Alaskan territory. I'm not a big literary fiction reader and while this is extremely well written it just isn't the type of book I prefer. It is very good, just not the type of book I normally go for.
