"Unforgiven" by Shelley Shepard Gray

Unforgiven (May 21, 2024) by Shelley Shepard Gray.*

<This is the first book in a series.>

Two former Amish live in the Amish community they grew up in. Seth Zimmerman is an ex-con, having served time for a death most know was an accident, in which he was fighting off Bethanne Hostetler’s attacker. These three years later, Bethanne is withdrawn from others due to the trauma. Tabitha Yoder, while not excommunicated from the church, was still shunned by many for divorcing Leon, even though her ex was so horribly abusive that she landed in the hospital with critical injuries. Their unborn baby didn’t make it. Seth has been helping Tabitha. Three years her junior, he had a crush on her as a 14-year-old schoolboy when Tabitha was their school teacher. He chops wood, drops off food and clears her driveway. He helps take care of her where others won’t. Slowly, Tabitha opens up to Seth, and an uneasy friendship emerges. Around this time, gifts begin appearing on her porch, and it’s obvious that they’re from her abusive ex. She’s fought through fire and has worked hard to maintain her freedom, and she intends to keep that freedom to live her best life.
        This is only the second story I’ve read by Gray, but I’ve already found that it’s easy to get swept up in her stories. I rooted for Tabitha and Seth right away, reading as they found happiness, redemption and forgiveness. I enjoyed the suspense element in this Amish contemporary romance novel. There is a refreshing blend of idyll and danger with the hesitancy of opening one’s heart to another and the power of faith and hopefulness. Her writing is charming and magnetic. Gray excels at her storytelling craft, and I look forward to reading more of her stories, including those in this new series set in Crittenden County, Kentucky.

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

"I Hope This Doesn't Find You" by Ann Liang

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You (Feb. 6, 2024) by Ann Liang.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Just as she looks on paper, Sadie Wen is perfect. She’s a school co-captain at Woodvale Academy, is on her way to becoming class valedictorian and is a model student and daughter, tirelessly helping her mom at her bakery. Her face hurts from the ever-present, model-student smile she keeps plastered on it. She manages this by channeling all of her frustrations into her email drafts. Take that Julius Gong, fellow school co-captain with annoyingly gorgeous, soft-looking hair! And you, power-tripping English teacher, and you, vainglorious classmate who claimed her science fair project as one’s own! No one will ever see them except her. She has a deeply ingrained need to be liked, accepted and forgiven. But then the day comes when the emails are sent out. (How??) Now everyone knows what Sadie really thinks of them, including Julius. The one person she’s sworn to hate may be the one person who appreciates the “real” Sadie, who doesn’t hide behind fake smiles, perfect grades and overachieving.

            Two Chinese Australian seniors take center stage in this contemporary YA novel filled with the awkward, dramatic romance that encompasses the teenage years. The novel is a lively, snarky one (with the occasional cuss word) that shows vulnerability in Sadie, Julius and even Sadie’s best friend, Abigail Ong, and includes underlying themes of perfectionism, academic stress, parental abandonment and the pressures of being a teenager on the cusp of adulthood. This bildungsroman is chaste (kissing is the extent, for concerned parents/readers), and I applaud Sadie for realizing that she doesn’t always have to be a people-pleaser. For anyone who enjoys a YA rom-com, I hope this book finds you.

2024 Reading Challenge - Update 8

 With the posting of Spare comes my eighth and final 2024 Reading Challenge Update! As it's a book featuring the life - thus far - of someone actually born into a royal family, it easily fits the "A Book That Features Royalty" tile. Hooray!

        I completed the self-created Challenge in the fifth month of the year. Subtracting $48 for the first four months in which I did not complete the Challenge, I donated $96 to my local church. Last Sunday, a check went into the Offering plate as a donation to the General Fund.

        Overall, this was a fun Challenge. At the outset, I felt gung-ho about making this an annual thing, but I've now changed my mind. As fun as it was, it added a layer of stress that I didn't need. Yes, it forced me to read books that I might never have read, but I also sometimes felt stressed reading library books to fulfill tiles when I have a full TBR shelf. Since this is undue stress that I can control, I don't plan to create a 2025 Reading Challenge.

        For the initial 2024 Reading Challenge post, click here.

"Spare" by Prince Harry

Spare (Jan. 10, 2023) by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex.

It’s easy to relegate Prince Harry to the role of second son, the Spare, the once lost-looking young boy trailing along at his mother’s funeral procession, growing up to act out. But he’s much more than how the media and tabloids have painted him. He’s always a son, a brother, later an uncle, a husband and a father. He’ll always be part of a royal bloodline, a veteran of the British Army and an advocate for social causes. Parsed into three parts, we see a carefree Harry who’s close to his adoring mother, the late Princess Diana, and the dramatic turn when she’s tragically gone, and he’s struggling at school, at life. There’s his time finding his place in the military and awakening his passion for social advocacy. And then he finds Meghan Markle, whose beauty strikes him “like a punch in the throat.” Their love story is a whirlwind fairytale filled with nightmare thorns.

            Full admission: I am guilty of growing up thinking of Prince Harry as a bad boy, up to no good. In comparison to my goody-two-shoes self, he actually was a bad boy. But he’s also had to live in a spotlight that I never will, and I can’t begin to imagine what that’d be like or how horribly I’d handle it, what vices I might turn to, to try to cope with such celebrity.

            Harry’s memoir is refreshingly insightful, compelling and harrowing. From doing his own laundry to drinking and controlled substance usage to PTSD, from his late mother to now-wife, from military service to racist and misogynistic attacks on Meghan and her family, and the vulture-like media and infernal paps (paparazzi), Harry leaves no stone unturned. One cannot blame him for wanting to share his story, and I appreciate his transparency. He can be disparaging, even toward members of his own family, but it’s no secret that there’s been a rift. There’s self-doubt and self-assurance, vulnerability and strength. This autobiography is intimate and authentic, as Harry details his adventurous road of highs and lows, from grief and panic to healing and love. Maybe you want to pick this up because of the hype or the spilling of royal tea, but I hope you stay for the candor.

            Since I empathize with sweating easily, these lines made me chuckle: “I wasn’t sure I could endure this kind of hot. The Australian Outback had a climate I didn’t understand and which my body couldn’t seem to accept. ... I wilted at the mere mention of heat: how was I supposed to put up with an oven inside a blast furnace inside a nuclear reactor set on top of an active volcano?” (p. 85)

"The Memory Thieves" by Dhonielle Clayton

The Memory Thieves (Sept. 26, 2023) by Dhonielle Clayton.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

Welcome back to the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors (ATI). This year, the great sky school is hovering above the Norwegian Sea. Please pack your wardrobe accordingly for the wintry elements.

Ella Durand, Brigit Ebsen and Jason Eugene are now Level Twos at ATI’s Lower School. This is the year they can wield stapiers (“a universal channellor to channel light”) and try out for the Marvel Combat teams. Since putting a stop to Gia Trivelino’s (the Ace of Anarchy) master scheming last school year, Ella’s found some celebrity. Unfortunately, not everyone back home in her New Orleans Conjure community supports her choice to return to the ATI. In their eyes, Ella and Aunt Sera Baptiste (who’s teaching at the Arcanum) are giving away Conjure secrets to the Marvellers. Ella and her friends want Conjurors and Marvellers alike to understand and accept the role of Conjurors in the creation of the school. She discovers the involvement of a Conjuror architect who also happens to be a many-greats grandfather. The blueprints would be a piece of history that’d prove to everyone that Conjurors have always belonged. The architect’s memory-cask would help, too, if anyone could find it. Digging deeper is put on hold when a mysterious, magical illness sweeps through the Arcanum, causing nosebleeds and fuzzy marvels. Is Gia somehow behind this illness? Why does new Level Two student Noémie Lavigne behave the way she does?

The return to the fantasy adventure world in the Conjureverse series is wonderfully, culturally diverse. This is a captivating sequel novel that enriches all who read it. In addition to a diverse cast, the story itself is immersive, inclusive, clever and thoughtful with dashes of mystery and plenty of magic. I absolutely want to live in this world! My sweet tooth does, too. Let me try Marveller-bars and caramel Paragon coins, cinnamon starbread and tornado tea with hiccupping honey. A word of advice that you eat the halo-halo within 20 minutes, otherwise your dessert will attack you! Good marvelling to you all!

            Book One: The Marvellers

A Poem: "April's Adventures Through Books"

Photo by Jonathan Borba via Pexels

April’s Adventures Through Books
It’s time for April to draw to a close.
There’s been adventure enough, I suppose.
A milestone birthday passed with quiet fanfare.
That night brought music and fancy plastic flatware.

I met Onasander Octagon, genius-recluse,
But I had to watch out; there were YAKs on the loose.
I traveled to Paris in 1944.
D-Day’s approaching in the second World War.

I rooted for Channi against the Demon Witch
And stayed right there through the heartbreaking pitch.
I paused for a spell at Hope Harbor’s Sandcastle Inn.
Charley’s fish tacos were devoured for the win.

I brushed up on the Ancient World’s Seven Wonders.
Only one stands, the rest plundered, fallen asunder.
I recapped the Salem Witch Trials, too.
What an awful blame game hullabaloo.

Adventures through books are a great way to traverse,
To meet characters who are richly diverse.
With imaginations, who knows what you will find

From the workings of an authorial mastermind!

Poems: Presenting Haiku Poetry 2

Photo by Thought Catalog via Pexels

Haiku on demand
National Poetry Month
My favorite month

The moon hides the sun.
There was a solar eclipse
On April the eighth.

It was cloudy here
The path of totality
Did not include us.

It’s my birthday month
A month of celebration
No aging here, ha!

Delivering hope
Through musical fundraising
The Night of Music

What is writer’s block?
Have you experienced it?
Write down your story.

We all have stories
Some small, some fantastical
Take charge. Write them down.

Find your ray of light
Project it onto others
Appreciate you!

Rutabaga's Reads 2024: Part 3

My second chapter books compilation of 2024 is already complete. My first set of chapter books for this year featured Mindy Kim, and this set features twins Astrid & Apollo. I checked all of these out from my local library.

Astrid & Apollo and the Awesome Dance Audition (Aug. 1, 2022) by V.T. Bidania.
   Evelt Yanait, illustrator.

<This is part of a series of books.>

The spark is lit after Astrid & Apollo Lee watch their cousin Lily in a winning dance competition performance. Lily tells her dance instructor, Teacher Yang, that Astrid & Apollo want to try out for the Number One Dance School. The twins aren’t actually sure they do, though Astrid enjoys dancing and Apollo likes gymnastics. They attend rehearsal so they can learn the routine they must perform for the audition that’s only a week later. Apollo faces a setback and has to make a split-second decision, even as he knows Teacher Yang doesn’t like surprises. Will his creative quick-thinking be the ticket or cost him his chance to be on the dance team?
        These stories are not in the order in which I read them. I continue to appreciate the positive vibe of these stories as well as the cultural traditions it incorporates so seamlessly. The energy in this story is effervescent, the writing is strong, and the plot is easy to follow along with and perfect for emergent chapter book readers. Yanait’s illustrations are vibrant, and the attention to detail on the Hmong costumes is beautiful. It’s a dynamic tale.
        Also in the series: Tae Kwon Do Champs

Astrid & Apollo and the Brilliant Book Report (Aug. 1, 2023) by V.T. Bidania.
   César Samaniego, illustrator.

<This is part of a series of books.>

Twins Astrid & Apollo are big readers. When their teacher, Mrs. Lor, assigns her students a book report, Apollo knows which book he’ll pick for the assignment. Then he discovers that Kiran, his best friend, has chosen the very same book! Mrs. Lor told the class that she “will give extra points for originality.” Apollo takes this to mean that he can’t choose the same book as his classmate, so he scrambles to find another, going so far as to checkout 25 books from the family’s local library! How will Apollo’s book report turn out?
        I know I’ve been gravitating toward stories with Asian/Asian American main characters because those stories weren’t around during my childhood, but these stories are very age-appropriate. I remember being in elementary school having to write book reports (and yes, I loved being assigned book reports). Bidania’s writing is fairly uncomplicated and would be strong choices for chapter book readers to try (they may need help with unfamiliar words like bánh mì). The text is accompanied by colorful illustrations by Samaniego, and the story as a whole is full of energy.

Astrid & Apollo in Concert (Aug. 1, 2021) by V.T. Bidania.

   Evelt Yanait, illustrator.

<This is part of a series of books.>

The solo isn’t a solo, but a duet! Astrid & Apollo are overjoyed to have been chosen to play a duet at their school’s recorder concert. They’ve put in a lot of practice, especially in the two weeks leading up to the concert, but their little sister, Eliana, keeps getting in the way. She thinks to create music like her older siblings with her paper party horn, but her music isn’t so lovely. It’s clear that she wants to be included. On show night, there’s double the disaster. The show must go on, but what will the twins discover?
        For anyone who’s ever had a younger sibling who’s wanted to do what you’re doing and have felt annoyed by it, this story will be relatable. Eliana’s choices garner negative attention, but it still resulted in the family, particularly Astrid & Apollo, noticing her. That Bidania used it as a gentle teaching moment is something to value. Yes, there’s frustration and upset, but after time has passed and awareness enters the twins’ minds, it opens up understanding and inclusivity of their little sister. That’s a sweet moment. The story overall is as dynamic as the others, and now I’ve been craving pho gao (“steamed rice rolls made from rice flour and water and filled with ground meat, onions, and other seasonings”).
        Challenge: The recorder song titles are based on real songs. Do you know which classic children’s songs they’re based on?

1. ‘Sparkle, Sparkle Giant Moon’
2. ‘Cold Round Rolls’
3. ‘Mario Had a Huge Sheep’
4. ‘The Icky, Biggy Buggy’

"Sandcastle Inn" by Irene Hannon

Sandcastle Inn (Apr. 2, 2024) by Irene Hannon.

<This is part of a series, but can be read as a standalone novel.>

Hope Harbor, Oregon, is nothing more than a stopover point for 33-year-old Vienna Price, who’s come to visit her nonconforming, carefree mom, Bev, owner of Bev’s Book Nook and maker of custom jewelry since her retirement. Vienna’s been recently fired from a high-end position with a boutique hotel chain. She holds an MBA with a double concentration in finance and marketing. Her planned-to-a-T life is crumbling, and she’s at loose ends. Traveling to Hope Harbor isn’t in Dr. Matt Quinn’s (a veterinarian) initial plans, either, but he goes to help his sister, Kay Marshall, nine years his senior, who raised him from age nine. Kay purchased Beachview B&B before seeing its disrepair and is in way over her head. Beachview B&B doesn’t just need a little TLC; it’s already on life support. Kay’s gone “Florence Nightingale” to care for a grandmother-figure who’s having surgery, leaving Matt with a foundering B&B and stuck in an “emotional wasteland” with his misplaced guilt after shattering losses. Vienna has the skills to revive the B&B. Has she the skills to mend a broken heart?
        Andrew and Paige Thompson, both in their upper 20s, are desperate for work after someone they trusted ruined their business and reputation. Andrew is in construction. The B&B needs a contractor. Might this be the project that gets them off rocky ground so they can gain stable footing yet again?
        While not my first novel from Hannon, it is my first in her Hope Harbor series, and it’s the 10th installment! This fictional town on the Oregon coast is one I’d happily visit. I’d snitch a homemade cookie and peruse the inventory at Bev’s Book Nook. I’d want to eat Charley’s fish tacos daily and grab pizza from Frank’s weekly. Hope Harbor embodies a whimsy and steadfastness that is delightful to read, even as the relatable characters grapple with life-altering events and piecemeal their lives back together. Faith is staunch, but not forceful. Hannon’s writing in this Christian, contemporary romance is warm and wholesome. The pacing is snappy, the dialogue unencumbered by lofty monologues. I wouldn’t say no to another visit to Hope Harbor!

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

"Her Radiant Curse" by Elizabeth Lim

Her Radiant Curse (Aug. 29, 2023) by Elizabeth Lim.

<This is both a standalone and prequel novel.>

There are two Jin’aiti sisters of Sundau in the Tambu Isles. Channari (Channi) is as monstrous as Vanna is beautiful. Channi wasn’t born with a serpent’s face, but Vanna was born with a golden light in her heart. Vanna’s the only person who values and loves Channi. Vanna was supposed to be the sacrifice to the Demon Witch, Angma, a tiger demon, as a newborn, so their mother could live. Angma plans to claim Vanna by her 17th birthday, which is two days away. As if that hasn’t weighed on Channi all these years, Vanna’s set to be married off in a vulgar betrothal contest that lines the coffers of the greedy. Channi vows to defend Vanna, lest she be bought by the horrific King Meguh. When Meguh makes a deal to kidnap Channi, Channi fights over land and sea to reach her sister with her best reptile friend, Ukar (a freckled green snake), and Hokzuh (he’s part dragon, part demon). While Angma cursed her face, it’s the Serpent King who filled her veins with his poison. Meanwhile, Hokzuh has neither the dragon nor demon halves of his heart. He knows Angma claims his demon half (his demon side is kept at bay by his moonstone), but he would not be able to see the golden glow of his dragon half even if he was standing right in front of it. How strong are the bonds of sisterhood when pitted against a Demon Witch and a half-dragon-half-demon desperate for both halves of his heart?
        A Legends of Lor’yan novel, this one’s cup runneth over with a fully-realized world of well-constructed cosmology that is beautiful and devastating. The setting is lush, the fantasy thrilling, and the Southeast Asian folklore is resounding. This fast-paced, action-fueled YA gives us characters to empathize with, courage to praise and explores the dark side of beauty while showcasing how deep the bonds of sisterhood run. For those who’ve read Lim’s Six Crimson Cranes duology, reading this particular character’s story will be heartbreaking and enchanting, in equal measure. Also, this might be the first time I’ve rooted for the slithery reptiles of the world, albeit a fictional one.