Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 6

To balance the amount of YA novels that I read, here is a compilation of inspirational fiction novels. All authors included here are familiar-to-me authors.

The Orchard (Sept. 6, 2022) by Beverly Lewis.

*This is a standalone novel.*

The Hostetler family are orchardists in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and have been for generations. For Ellie, the orchard must be as beautiful as the Garden of Eden, such is her love of God’s beauty at work amongst the fruit trees. Her twin, Evan, as the youngest son, will one day manage the orchard that their Dat currently manages and their Dawdi before him. Once close siblings, Evan’s been continuing his Rumschpringe as Ellie’s about to be baptized. It’s 1970 and when Evan’s draft number is called up in the lottery for the Vietnam War, the family is shocked to learn that he never sought conscientious objector status, as would support the Old Order Amish belief in non-resistance and non-violence. The community reacts to this development with some community members and even some of their own relatives giving them the cold shoulder for Evan’s wayward ways. Though she’s seemed to catch the attention of another young Amishman, Ellie finds easy conversation with Sol Bontrager. Not only is he the brother of her best friend, Leah, he’s a conscientious objector and is already baptized. Sol’s steady presence is a balm in Ellie’s shifting world. With Evan serving in the Army, who will take over the orchard? Will Evan return home alive?

            With her peaceful, heartwarming, cleanly romantic, faith-based novels, it’s easy to see how Beverly Lewis continues as best of the best in Amish fiction. This novel explores ground I’ve not seen from her by adding a Vietnam War-era backdrop to the familiar Lancaster County setting. Her plot includes twists in Ellie’s relationships and the tumult that the Amish community endured because of their pacifism. The Hostetler family’s orchard is a gentle place of solitude, perfect for reflection or even falling in love, the story a soothing escape from the contemporary, despite characters facing uncertainty in a nation fractured by war. Another star story from my favorite author of Amish fiction.

To Disguise the Truth (Jan. 18, 2022) by Jen Turano.

*This is the final novel in a trilogy.*

The past is catching up to her. When Mr. Arthur Livingston arrives at the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency in September of 1887 determined to hire them to locate missing heiress Miss Eugenia Howland, Eunice Holbrooke knows her gig might be up. Despite the widow’s weeds she’s worn for seven years and the veils over her face, secrets are going to come to light. She is Eugenia. Arthur’s goal is to be known as a leading mining industrialist, even though his family name precedes him as a member of the New York Four Hundred. Mason Mines has been successful with Arthur in the picture, but that picture changed somewhat seven years ago when Eunice’s patriarch grandfather, who was a tyrant, even to his relatives, was murdered. James Mason had not a compassionate bone in his body, so the list of suspects isn’t short. Eunice refuses to return to Butte, Montana, but she isn’t quick to share why. Arthur, an annoyingly handsome yet irksome man, may not be the “scourge of the earth” that Eunice describes him as. In fact, both of them may be more sensitive and romantic than the other thinks. It won’t be easy to discover with Eunice prepared to avoid him; she even takes an out-in-the-field assignment that lands her in Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum, but Arthur is no ordinary gentleman. Confronting her past may set Eunice free, but it’ll be dangerous, as there’s still a murderer or murderess out there. Good thing Eunice is skilled with a gun and has boxing skills to boot.

            Turano’s stories are always a delight to read and this closing novel in The Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency trilogy is no exception. Turano has a flair for writing historical fiction that is true to the times as far as setting/fashions/etc., while giving readers captivating characters, especially strong, independent women, witty dialogue, chaste romance and potentially dangerous situations that you know the main characters will make it through to a satisfying ending. The women of the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency are definitely women I’d want on my case if I needed their assistance. The story moves fluidly with its clever writing, bustling plot and the banter of the characters. I’ve been reading Turano’s books for years now, and I don’t plan to quit!

            Book One: To Steal a Heart

            Book Two: To Write a Wrong

To Treasure an Heiress (Jan. 4, 2022) by Roseanna M. White.

*This is the second novel in a series.*

Adventure can be found amongst the Isles of Scilly, and Elizabeth “Beth” Tremayne has always felt the pull of adventure. Adventure pulls at her now as she seeks more of a pirate (Mucknell) or pirate prince’s treasure (Prince Rupert), long thought to be tall tales and Tas-gwyn Gibson’s storied blustering. Turns out there is truth to all of those tales, evidenced by the old collection of letters and a map Beth has found (letters from 1650, and it’s now 1906) and the silverware recently found. She’d been searching on her own, but after mistaken identity pulls others into the fray, there are now too many hands in the cookie jar. One of those involved includes the 26-year-old Marquess of Sheridan, Theodore (Theo) Howe, a man that Beth finds insufferable. Beth’s big chip on her shoulder is that the beloved, inherited trinket box she entrusted to Lord Scofield – who’s a vile man – got sold to Sheridan instead of returned to her, and Sheridan refuses to return it to Beth. Sheridan loves a good archaeological adventure and inserts himself into Beth’s adventure. He’s enamored with her, and Beth doesn’t despise him quite so much as she’d like to think she does. With the villainous Scofields (father and son, Nigel) and their dastardly ways a real threat, will Beth’s impulsive choices and the call for adventure find her in a dangerous trap?

            The second installment in The Secrets of the Isles is as fresh as I imagine the air was in 1906. Crisp and refreshing, fitting for an adventure. Beth is headstrong and impulsive where her brother is calm and grounded and Sheridan is good-hearted and patient (and a bit incorrigible, too!). Sometimes Beth’s strong will had me picturing a petulant child and not a young woman, but it’s part of what makes Beth Beth. I love the humor, laughing aloud at Sheridan turning whatever Beth says into a proposal (“That’s brilliant.” “I do.” “You do what?” “Weren’t those your marriage vows?” p. 147). White is adept at creating historical fiction characters that are of the time, but the lead female characters are filled with spunk, independence and assertiveness. The plot isn’t mired in extra tangents, the story of  tragic love and piratical adventure melding with newfound love and island adventures mixing with a secondary character’s struggle to forgive herself and release her internal shame, which may then open her heart to accepting someone who truly loves her. It’s not a sappy story, though it does have moments that make the reader say, “Awww!” Another strong inspirational, historical fiction novel from White.

            Book One: The Nature of a Lady

Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 5

Time for the first YA compilation post of 2023! This set contains two familiar authors and one that’s new-to-me. Are you familiar with any or all of them? What have you been reading?

Blade Breaker (June 28, 2022) by Victoria Aveyard.

*This is the middle novel in a trilogy.*

Allward is a world divided. The Companions^ have just won their first battle, forcing the kraken back to its monstrous world, but they’re far from winning the war. They travel over Allward from the vast desert of Ibal to the wine-laden prince of Trec and back to Galland. They encounter the Tempestborn, Hell Mel’s vessel. Meliz an-Amarat. Corayne’s mother. They’re angling to close another Spindle, but they’re waylaid by time, monsters and assassins. Allies are needed, but who can the Companions trust when they’re the most wanted individuals in the entire Ward? Because anyone out there could take Corayne - dead or alive, according to the posters plastered around - to the power-hungry Queen Erida of Galland (out to conquer all of the realms of the Ward) and her prince consort, Prince of Old Cor Taristan. Taristan is seemingly invincible with power granted to him by What Waits, the Torn King of Asunder who waits to be free of Asunder, hence the reason Taristan and Ronin, the wizard priest, are looking for more Spindles to tear open. Conquering the entire Ward looks easily possible for Erida and Taristan with the Ashlanders of Asunder, an army of skeletons and rotting corpses. It should also be easy to track down Corayne and/or Konegin, her scheming cousin, yet they both continue to elude them. The Companions and their allies, including Dom’s Vederan cousin, Ridha, a princess of Iona and daughter of the Monarch (Isibel), must rally the world against a common enemy with their wickedly unstoppable army. The fate of Allward rests on the edge of a blade.

            Reading this epic fantasy is to read chaos. It’s not that it’s disjointed; there is simply so much going on all the time. Aveyard volleys amongst multiple character perspectives, and even though each voice is distinct, there are too many perspectives (six). My heart wasn’t really into reading this 578-page YA novel, and I know this affected my attitude toward it. Still, it is a masterpiece of fantastical proportions that schemes with realm takeover and brims with violence, survival and treacherous journeying. It is easy to feel hatred toward the evil antagonists of the story and want to rally allies for the Companions. The world is richly-imagined, the plot busy and complex, the characters deeply flawed but also doggedly resistant. The diversity of skin tones and inclusion of queer and nonbinary characters is casually represented and easily accepted. The pace of this middle novel in the Realm Breaker trilogy is relentless, the adventure unceasing.

            Book 1: Realm Breaker

            ^The Companions

            +Corayne an-Amarat: Teenager, the daughter of a pirate and a Corblood heir she never knew, with the world on her shoulders

            +Andry Trelland: Formerly a Gallish squire, now a fugitive as much as Corayne, has an honest face

            +Domacridhan: Of the Vedera, an immortal of Iona, who grieves

            +Sorasa Sarn: An Amhara Guild assassin, outcast, who will face her past, and it will be ugly

            +Sigaalbeta Bhur Bhar a.k.a. Sigil: A bounty hunter of the Temurijon, a broad woman whose resting face is also fierce

            +Charlon “Charlie” Armont: A fugitive priest with a remarkable talent for forgery

            +Valtik: An old sorceress with mighty power who sings to herself a lot, usually in Jydi, talks in rhyme

Girls of Fate and Fury (Nov. 30, 2021) by Natasha Ngan.

*This is the final novel in a trilogy.*

*There is a trigger warning.*

Papers (Paper caste) are fully human and are unadorned with no animal-demon features. Of all the castes, they’re the most mistreated. Paper Girls are nothing more than pieces for the king to use and discard, to be “good little cut-out girls with nothing but reams of blank pages in place of hearts.” Lei has been forcibly returned to the Hidden Palace, a place with opulent walls that house the scars of trauma and tragedy and is ruled by the sadistic Demon King of Ikhara. While allies work to figure out how to get her out of the palace, Lei determines to stay until she can free the other Paper Girls, save the Demon Queen (Shala), figure out how to remove the magic cuff and its counterpart or at least nullify it, and kill the Demon King. The last time Lei and Wren saw each other was amidst a furious battle, and they’d had a heavy conversation in which painful things were said and a divide was rent. But the thing about being apart, both in significant peril, means they miss each other like a piece of them is actually missing. The showdown is coming. How many allies will give their lives to bring down a Demon King? “Fire in. Fear out.”

            I don’t recall if each book contains a trigger warning, but this one does and is right to. It states: “Please be aware that this book contains scenes of violence and self-harm, and references to sexual abuse and trauma recovery.”

            The final novel in the Girls of Paper and Fire trilogy is epic and reading it brings a near-constant rush of adrenaline. Ikhara is a world of magic, but also one of the Sickness, Qi draining, meaning magic is ebbing. It’s glittering and elegant, but also brutal and blood-soaked. The world-building is lush, but the world is toxic. There is wonder and violence, the action sequences so frequent that it can be hard to catch one’s breath. It is a trilogy with a strong LGBTQIA+ pairing. The story can unfold as tenderly as new love, but usually cuts as sharp as a blade or a demon’s talon. Ngan’s writing is impressive, but be aware that it’s a brutal story and is not a walk-in-the-park to read. The battles are climactic and heavy, the story full of fire, but themes of overcoming trauma and the fierceness of love – friendship, too – run satisfyingly deep.

            P.S. My favorite throughout the trilogy has been Kenzo. Moon caste. He’s a wolf demon. Young Lill is a close second. She’s a doe-eared demon.

            Book One: Girls of Paper and Fire

            Book Two: Girls of Storm and Shadow

When You Wish Upon a Lantern (Feb. 14, 2023) by Gloria Chao.

*This is a standalone novel.*

Chicago teens Liya Huang and Kai Jiang are Taiwanese Americans living in Chinatown. Their families are feuding, like the Capulets and Montagues or the Hatfields and McCoys. No. Wait. They’re like Cowherd and Weaver Girl¹ – Niúláng and Zhīnǚ – and the magpie bridge. Liya and Kai have been friends since they were children with their parents’ businesses next door to each other (Liya: When You Wish Upon a Lantern; Kai: Once Upon a Mooncake). They share an alley, much to the anger and chagrin of Mr. Huang, who is very vocal about what he thinks of those Jiangs! Kai is not like his father or his older brother, not that Mr. Huang can be convinced. Liya’s avoided Kai for months, ever since the boba incident, in which she vomited all over their shared table. So. Humiliating. It’s when Liya discovers that her family’s lantern store is struggling that she goes to Kai and shares a secret: she and Nǎinai are the ones that secretly fulfilled the wishes people wrote on their sky lanterns. Her grandmother has since passed away from cancer. Liya wants to return to the wish-granting that her Nǎinai started, which Liya stopped once she passed away, and put plans into action to save the store. With Liya and Kai working together and rekindling their friendship, might something more bloom? Or will their feuding families make the way impossible, ruining any wishes they have for one another?

            In this culturally rich YA story with alternating points-of-view, cringe moments, laugh-out-loud dialogue and insecurities to navigate, my first novel from Chao is as luminous as a floating lantern and as golden as a mooncake. It’s easy to ship Liya and Kai, for they’re so obviously meant for each other. Duty to family is a present, natural theme, though Kai’s brother’s treatment of him and referring to him as “Poop Son” had the mama bear in me roaring (though I’m not a mom, nor a bear). There are barbed words, but mostly this narrative pulses with warmth and the magic of first love. It’s charming and heartfelt with a deep connection to their community. To read this is to be seamlessly immersed in traditions and folktales that are folded into the narrative just so. “May your wishes find the light!”

            Sugary sweet lines that made me chuckle: “...Kai is a hot baker. He’s a cinnamon roll who can make cinnamon rolls.” (--Stephanie Lee to Liya, p. 213)

            ¹ The mythology is significant to me, because Cowherd and Cloud Weaver (a.k.a. Weaver Girl) are included in “Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies,” which is the book I finished right before this one.

Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 4

In this compilation, you’ll find two familiar and one new-to-me author. This isn’t on purpose, but all stories are part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears (Aug. 4, 2020) by Tehlor Kay Mejia.

*This is the first novel in a series.*

            Stay away from the Gila River, as it is a place where children mysteriously disappear, a place where monsters of myth lurk. 12-year-old Paolo Santiago prefers science and logic, would rather obsess over outer space or ponder the wonders of algae as a fuel, than heed her mother’s stories of La Llorona, the wailing ghost mother who drowned her own children and now seeks others to drag into the river, or any other stories of legend. Major. Eye. Roll. She blames her mom for why no one takes people like them seriously, like the local police when her best friend, Emma Lockwood, goes missing. Together with her other best friend, Dante Mata, they will take refuge with Los Niños de la Luz, an army of child warriors who don’t age as long as they help guard the world’s liminal spaces. The third quarter is approaching as well as the solstice, which is a double whammy. It turns out Pao’s mom was right. Things like chupacabras and manos pachonas (i.e. disembodied hands) exist, but so do fantastical weapons like the Arma del Alma. Pao and Dante will help the niños, but her priority is saving Emma. Into the rift she’ll go to confront relentless spirits (ahogados) and other monsters like lechuzas (shape-shifting witches). But who is the biggest bad of all? Who is Ondina, because she’s no typical ahogado? As if being 12 doesn’t have its own growing pains and the emergence of “boy-girl weirdness” between her and Dante, logic has sailed out the window while the stuff of myth has moved right in.

            Although I initially struggled with Pao’s brattiness, I was still swept up in Mejia’s Mexican legend and how the author draws on her Latinx heritage to conjure creatures of lore and meld them with the contemporary world. Despite the fantasy element, there are realistic plot points: socioeconomic differences and immigration status and the stereotypes associated with both. Probably all of Pao’s bratty behavior and bad attitude stem from anger issues and her inability to forgive others. The mother-daughter strife is real and deep; Pao’s been trying to push away her Mexican ancestry too long. The imagery of the story is colorful, the prose engaging, and the mindset of an angry, insecure preteen tumultuous and therefore believable. Action is plentiful, the southwestern setting is full of cacti, and there is good character development. Many should be able to understand the scattered Spanish phrases by context if they do not outright know them. I plan to continue the series. After all, how can I resist a world full of sinister magical forces?

            Clever line: “Her anger was the perfect breeding ground for this supernatural bacteria.” (p. 294, paperback ed.)

Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe (May 5, 2020) by Carlos Hernandez.

*This is the second novel in a series.*

Three weeks have passed since Sal & Gabi saved Iggy, but life is anything but calm. Culeco Academy is in the midst of tech week. They’re preparing for Rompenoche, and they will break the night with their performance of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for parent-teacher conference night. Sal’s encountered “FixGabi,” who’s popped in from another universe, and has told Sal that Papi Vidón, a calamity physicist, will create a remembranation machine that will close all the holes (tears) in the multiverse, but instead of fixing it, will break the world that Sal lives in. FixGabi lost her own Sal, but says there’s nothing to worry about until the remembranation machine becomes sentient, and, well, it asked Sal this morning if it was alive, and Sal said yes, so ... whoops? Maybe? I mean, FixGabi isn’t exactly like his own Gabi, but he can still trust her. Right? What Sal does know is that, when the machine is on, he feels “as empty as a grave without a ghost. Just a soulless corpse.” On top of that, he wants Yasmany to find a new home and winds up co-directing Culeco’s performance after he’s too truthful (the biggest sandwich of them all). Sal’s a showman, but that’s a lot for even him to juggle. He isn’t on his own, what with the Gabi from his own universe, and Yasmany, who’s now his friend (quite a difference from mere weeks ago when Yasmany wanted to beat him up), though Yasmany knows nothing of multiverses. There’s also his AI friends: Sweeps, the entropy sweeper, Brana, the remembranation machine, and Vorágine, the talking toilet. Yes, you read that correctly. A talking toilet. Whether breaking or destroying or fixing, just this one universe has enough going on!

            The sophomore installment in the Sal & Gabi Series is the best kind of calamitous, for it’s a “wonderboom” of high-octane entertainment, madcap adventure and tickle-your-funny-bone moments. Hernandez seamlessly weaves science fiction with middle school mayhem while focusing on family (biological and found), friendship, self-awareness and the impact love can have on someone who readers intuit is abused and feels unloved. It is simultaneously hilarious and heartwarming with an ever-moving plot and Cuban influence. Sal appears to identify as aromantic. New readers to this series from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint should definitely begin with the first novel. This series is the opposite of a “stupid-and-mayonnaise sandwich” and is as tasty as a homemade empanada.

            Book 1: Sal & Gabi Break the Universe

Tristan Strong Destroys the World (Oct. 6, 2020) by Kwame Mbalia.

*This is the second novel in a series.*

*Spoilers included if one hasn’t read the first novel.*

Three weeks have passed since Tristan Strong’s return to his grandparents’ farm from Alke, the land of West African gods and African American folk heroes. His time there was harrowing and exhausting, but victorious. He’s still missing his best friend; there is trauma surrounding him, but there will be no rest when his nana is abducted by a masked villain covered in iron monsters (fetterlings, brand flies, a hullbeast and a bossling) called the Shamble Man. With Anansi trapped in the SBP (Story Box Phone), he and Tristan find themselves back in Alke. He reunites with familiar faces like Ayanna and the loud-mouthed and sticky Gum Baby. He meets new allies in Keelboat Annie, Lady Night (a boo hag) and Junior, though his start with Junior is rocky, and who is Junior, really? Since Nana’s abduction, Tristan’s Anansesem ability seems to have left him. How can he be a storyteller if he can’t tell stories? The Shamble Man, possibly a MidPass god, blames Tristan for everything and wants to exact revenge. Something is terribly wrong with John Henry after he’s attacked. Missing like his nana is Mami Wata, goddess of Nyanza, source of the City of Lakes. Along this new quest, Tristan will find that he isn’t the only one dealing with trauma. Trauma is a deeply distressing event, and sometimes others handle trauma very badly. Tristan is a hero, but he has major fails, too. He must overcome the brutal truth of failure and knit the brokenness back together, because if he and his allies can’t save Alke, it and his world will fall.

            The second in the Tristan Strong Series packs a punch. With its focus on what it means to be part of a diaspora and the effects of trauma, this sequel story is heavily weighted in tough stuff that’s not easy to discuss. There’s heartbreak, but humor, too. The humans are all Black and have varying shades of brown skin. The action is nonstop, the world-building is magnificent, and concluding this story reminds me that I haven’t bought the next story and need to. The way Mbalia takes folktales and mythology and threads them like any master weaver is impressive. Tristan is the series’ Anansesem, yes, but Mbalia is the real storyteller, and his story showcases that stories are communal. One person may weave a tale, but stories don’t come from only one. They come from all over the world or Alke or the multiverse!

            Book 1: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

"The Sun and the Star" by Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro

The Sun and the Star (May 2, 2023) by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro.

*This is a standalone novel.*

There is a grumpy ball of darkness and a demigod Care Bear. Translated, Nico di Angelo, “Italian son of Hades,” and Will Solace, “Texan son of Apollo,” are the grumpy ball and the Care Bear, respectively. They have a quest to rescue an old friend from Tartarus where the weather is “always hellish with an 80 percent chance of noxious clouds and scattered monsters.” A voice has been calling out to Nico, and he’s almost certain it’s Bob, the reformed Titan formerly known as Iapetus. And Rachel Elizabeth Dare has been spewing the same prophecy a dozen times now. It’s clear to Nico that he needs this quest, whether or not Mr. D (Dionysus) and Chiron feel the same. Will, being Nico’s boyfriend, is adamant that he is coming along. How can a child of Apollo, a being made of light, survive in the deepest, darkest part of the (Under)world? Not only that, but how will they enter Tartarus without Hades knowing? After the Doors of Death “incident,” no one is allowed to enter Tartarus. But that is where Bob is. That is where she is. It isn’t only monsters that they must endure, for they will also encounter blood clouds, monster regeneration blisters (“zits” per Nico) and the River Acheron a.k.a. the River of Pain. They are a duo where a quest normally is a trio, but Will and Nico have each other. And Bob would make three. So, save Bob! And don’t become demigod coleslaw!

            A walk in the park this isn’t. A hair-raising, adrenaline-inducing journey through the death pit of eternal gloom it definitely is. Fortunately, it is chock full of Riordan’s signature goofy banter with superb writing from both Riordan and Oshiro. While the collaborators ground the Greek mythology-based standalone in humor, pulse-pounding action, death-defying adventure and imaginative world-building, they also skillfully weave an emotive plot containing tender romance with the complexity of self-identity and mental health. There is a plethora of diversity, and I’m not referring to diversity of monster types, though they are varied and multitudinous.  With a range of skin tones and relationships, there’s a good chance each reader can find herself/himself/themselves in at least one character. I was delighted by the Percabeth cameo and by the story as a whole. Still, I think I’ll bypass a visit to Tartarus and avoid geysers of suffering, acid-rain fields and the like. If you’re planning a trip down, down, down, remember to pack plenty of nourishing lizard jerky and top-rated SPF – that’s “skink protective fat” – used regularly by the innovative and delightful troglodytes.

            P.S. I want Persephone’s garden. It has bushes of diamonds, trees of glittering rubies and a special breed of night-blooming cereus that only opens in the presence of the darkness within others.

            P.P.S. I also want a spartos like Small Bob. A spartos is created from the fang of a saber-toothed tiger. When not in saber-tooth-tiger form, Small Bob looks like a calico cat.