Reviews with TLC

A Gift of Fire: The Light-Bringer Series by Stephanie Stamm, the third and, apparently final, book in Stamm's trilogy picks up where A Gift of Shadow left off. This trilogy pulled me in and refused to let go even when I questioned the characters choices. I initially felt uncertain about how some of the relationships changes throughout the trilogy, but by A Gift of Fire , I was fully on board and cheering on the relationships as they developed. Lucky, her friends, and her family find connection, lose connection, and fight to rediscover their connection as they battle forces bent on destroying all the worlds in existence. I really enjoyed the play on expectations with good, evil, light, and darkness repeatedly proving that life is far more complicated and nuanced than we often see. The choices the characters, especially Lucky, faced about choosing how to use their powers made my heart pound and left me a little bit more aware of the potential consequences of the choices I make. Sta...

  A Gift of Shadows by Stephanie Stamm continues the story of Lucky and her friends from The Gift of Wings . Stamm weaves mythology into a story that is at once exciting, enlightening, emotional, and engaging. A Gift of Shadows illustrates how the truth lies in how power and knowledge are used rather than power being clearly good or bad. Stamm gently challenged my resistance to the changes Lucky was going through and had me alternately cheering her on and chastising her. New characters come into play further challenging Lucky's perception of who to trust and what her role is in the battle between good and evil.  A Gift of Shadows pits good against evil while subtly demonstrating that what appears good isn't always good and what appears evil isn't always evil. I finished reading A Gift of Shadows and immediately felt an urge to read book three... Hopefully, it'll be coming soon... Check back soon for my thoughts on other books I'm reading including: Cocaine: An U...

  Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay (also in poetry) is a novel written as a series of poems. Tregay does an excellent job pulling the reader into the life of Marcie. Marcie's mother moves the two of them across the country when Marcie's father leaves for another man. Marcie is devastated to learn they're not returning to Idaho at the end of the summer. As she seeks to feel connected to someone, anyone, she makes some questionable decisions as many teens do when faced when suddenly having to be the adults when a parent is unable to be a parent. The reader is taken along as Marcie faces her life, her parents, her decisions, and the consequences of expectations and conformity. This story contains elements of a love story but on a far deeper level is about how to embrace being one's self in a world that often tells us who we are is unacceptable.  Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe (also poetry) is a compilation of Edgar Allan Poe's fiction and poetry. Here...

  Naked for Tea: Poems  by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a book of poetry that gently but fiercely challenges conventional thought and expectations for living an acceptable life. Trommer paints pictures that ache in one moment and celebrate in the next. She explore life without apology. Please by Jericho Brown challenges the perception of life that says if we do all the right things, life will work out right. Brown unapologetically explores the way love and violence can get too mixed up in our minds leading us to equate love with violence until we stop fighting back. Brown explores expectations, conformity, and power in this examination of society, family, relationships, and culture. With poems that often feel voyeuristic, Please is more of a demand than an apology that requires the readers to examine their perceptions of the world around them. When Love Rises by Michelle G. Stradford combines poetry and sketches to paint a story of love, loss, and rediscovering love. Filled ...

I felt like I lived between the pages of  The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas the entire time I read it. The story infiltrated my imagination and stayed with me even when I wasn't reading and after I finished it. Even now, weeks later, the characters still resonate with me. I felt Starr Carter's pain as she watched her friend, Khalil, die and as she tried to navigate her life while trying to keep her status as the witness from becoming public. Thomas pulls the reader into Starr's life as she moves between two very different worlds highlighting the the way our life experiences taint our perception of ourselves and of others. As Starr fights with her friends and boyfriend as well as her family in the midst of a grief she hides even from herself, the reality that living two different lives never works crashes down on her and forces her to face the consequences that come with every choice she makes or avoids making. The Hate U Give is an intense, engaging, empowering, enlighten...

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is one of those books I feel like I should have read years, maybe even decades ago, and not just because it's a young adult book. As I read the words I was transported into the lives of the Logan family. I cringed even as I cheered for Cassie to stand up for herself. My fear for her safety battling my need for her to conquer the injustice she faced. I saw in her an innocent child who couldn't and wouldn't understand why her life as a young black child had different rules than those for the young white children around her. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a story about perseverance, persistence, and strength in the face of injustice, hardship, and deceit. Taylor creates a story that puts the reader in the midst of the Logan family's love for one another, for community, and for their land even as she forces the reader to feel the turmoil of unfairness, manipulation, and danger swirling around them for wanting to keep an...

I have to confess Crank by Ellen Hopkins sat in my to-be-read pile for quite a long time, several years, in fact. I'm not sure why. There was something about the book that intimidated me before I ever opened it. Maybe I resisted the idea of a book about drug addiction written in a series of poems. Once I started it though, I was drawn in, seduced, addicted... I wanted more. I read more than I intended at each sitting. I wanted to know more. I felt a connection to the characters in the story. I felt the allure and the self-disgust. I cried at the consequences the addiction brought to those involved. I cheered in the hopeful moments and bemoaned the lost moments. Hopkins pushes buttons with effective character building and story telling that feels at once voyeuristic, enlightening, poetic, real, and addictive

How To Be a Hero by Nick Sharma takes the reader on an adventure beside three young children wanting to become heroes by imitating heroes they've seen in movies. There's an element of fantasy to the story often leaving the reader wondering how much of what happens is the children's imagination and how much is real. Sharma examines how the imagination connects dots allowing us to see more in events than exists in a story sure to appeal to anyone who has ever dreamed of being a hero. I often caught myself rooting for Shaneel and Karishma instead of Amith, the self-designated hero of the story. Sharma weaves the characteristics of heroic behavior between the attempts to appear heroic in an engaging and inspiring story that's sure to send the reader on a gamut of emotional reactions. How To Be a Hero pushes the reader to examine how best to be a hero when facing the realities of life.  

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher connected with me in a way I didn't expect. I read this YA novel because my niece, Kaylee, asked me to. No other reason. I'd never heard of it. I knew nothing about it. Yet, if it was important enough for her to ask me to read it, I felt I needed to. Even with her description of the book, I'm not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn't what happened. I started reading and couldn't stop. I was already tired when I started and yet I read until exhaustion took over. I felt upset because I couldn't stay awake to finish it. The next day I even broke one of my own rules and recommended the book on social media before I finished reading it or reviewed it. I even emailed a friend to recommend it for his teenage daughter. I found myself on a quest I didn't understand to get this book in the hands of teens and the adults in their lives. When I finished it that night, I cried and cried. I felt pulled and pushed. I recognized a p...

E mbrace (The Gryphon Series) by Stacey Rourke continues the mission of the Garrett siblings to save the world from evil. Celeste struggles with her role as the Conduit and how to live a normal life with such a calling. Kendall and Gabe seem to balance life and their supernatural duties better than Celeste. Celeste's sarcasm keeps the reader on the edge of a giggle through much of the book and keeps the serious moments in check. At times Celeste's naivete will frustrate the reader even though the reader understands why she so desperately wants to believe in the good she thinks she sees even in the bad guys. Rourke's storytelling makes the reader want the bad guys to be telling Celeste the truth even when every instinct screams they're not. Rourke even manages to inject a healthy dose of humor into the fight scenes leaving the reader on the edge but smiling at the same time.   Embrace is a fun, fast read that leaves the reader begging for more.

Stacey Rourke's intriguing debut young adult (YA) novel, The Conduit , introduces readers to the Garrett siblings, Celeste, Kendall, and Gabe, who have been chosen to save the world from a mystical creature called Barnabus who is in a fight with another mystical creature called the Gryphon. Rourke uses humor to demonstrate the reluctance of her characters, especially Celest, to embrace being superheroes. The bond between siblings and, in turn, their bond with their feisty Grandmother keep the reader smiling even during the intense scenes that make the reader feel like striking out at the demons to help the siblings. As the siblings learn about their powers including where they came from and how to control them, they struggle with how their new powers and responsibilities will affect their lives. Their guide, Alaina, imparts the history behind their powers and responsibilities as well as how to use their powers. They alternately listen to her and rebel against her ju...