2022 – Page 10 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)

Title: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)
Author: Juno Dawson
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: May 31, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft in this the first installment of this epic fantasy trilogy about a group of childhood friends who are also witches.
If you look hard enough at old photographs, we’re there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.

At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls–Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle–took the oath to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she’s a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.
Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.

Review:

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was established by Queen Elizabeth I to protect her. Now, centuries later, Helena is the High Priestess, leader of the coven. Her friends are: Niamh, a vet who uses her powers to heal animals, Elle, a housewife leading a secret life as a witch, and Leona, who left to create her own intersectional coven. After Helena discovers a young warlock with extraordinary powers they’ve never seen before, she brings him to be trained and examined by Niamh. However, the warlock holds a lot of secrets which threaten to turn the coven upside down.

As soon as I saw this title I knew I needed to read this book, but I went into the story without knowing what it was about. It was a fantastic witchy story that we need right now.

This story explores gender and gender stereotypes. This witch world was divided into female witches and male warlocks with nothing in between. However, when a transgender character entered the novel, it threw some of them off. There was a lot of transphobia which was disturbing to read, but that’s the point. The real world and fictional fantasy worlds have not been nice to transgender people, especially in recent years. This intersectional look at witches was such an important and powerful read.

The final few chapters of this book were completely shocking and unpredictable. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.

Thank you Penguin Books for sending me a copy of this book.

Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)

Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

How far would you go for happily ever after?
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings . . . until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy. . . .

Review:

Evangeline Fox believed in true love and fairy tales, until the love of her life left her to marry her stepsister. To stop the wedding, Evangeline makes a deal with the Prince of Hearts. He asks her to give three kisses, when and where he chooses. However, each kiss leads to danger, so Evangeline’s wish to get her fiancée back will lead to the destruction of many others.

I haven’t read the Caraval series, and I didn’t realize that this book was a spin-off until halfway though. This could be read as a stand-alone story, though there wasn’t much worldbuilding in this book that was probably in the original series. However, I loved this book.

There were so many fairy tale elements in this story that I loved. Evangeline was an orphan who lived with her stepmother and stepsister. There were curses and deals made, with some magic potions involved as well. Though this wasn’t a retelling of a fairy tale, I loved these fairy tale elements in this fantasy story.

Once Upon a Broken Heart is an exciting start to a new series!

Happy Pub Day – June 14

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

Thank You, Next by Andie J. Christopher

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tolá Okogwu

The Edge of Summer by Erica George

The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni

The Sea Knows My Name by Laura Brooke Robson

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos

Rise of the Vicious Princess by C.J. Redwine

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey

Love and Other Great Expectations by Becky Dean

Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie

The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho

Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne

Island Time by Georgia Clark

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach

Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering

The Bridesmaids Union by Jonathan Vatner

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Can You Believe It?: How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts

Title: Can You Believe It?: How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts
Author: Joyce Grant, Kathleen Marcotte (illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Nonfiction
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 7, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

For today’s tech-savvy kids, here’s the go-to resource for navigating what they read on the internet.
Should we believe everything we read online? Definitely not! And this book will tell you why. This fascinating book explores in depth how real journalism is made, what “fake news” is and, most importantly, how to spot the difference. It’s chock-full of practical advice, thought-provoking examples and tons of relevant information on subjects that range from bylines and credible sources to influencers and clickbait. It gives readers context they can use, such as how bias can creep into news reporting, why celebrity posts may not be truthful and why they should be suspicious of anything that makes them feel supersmart. Young people get most of their information online. This must-read guide helps them decide which information they can trust — and which they can’t.
Author and journalist Joyce Grant is an expert on how young people interact with and think about online media. Never judgmental, and often hilarious, she encourages readers to approach what they find online with skepticism and helps them hone their critical thinking skills to make good choices about what to believe and share. Engaging text is broken into manageable chunks, with loads of Kathleen Marcotte’s playful illustrations on every spread to help explain tricky concepts. Two fake articles are deconstructed step by step using the information found in the book, and an additional article allows readers to test their skills. This comprehensive book has strong curriculum connections in language arts and social studies. Endmatter features a glossary, an author’s note, sources and an index.

Review:

Can You Believe It? gives tips on how to spot fake news on the internet. There are tons of fake new articles posted on the internet every day. Some are clickbait, some are satire, but many are complete lies. It’s important to be able to spot them so that lies aren’t spread. This book is a helpful guide for kids (and adults) on how to identify fake news to stop it from spreading.

I’ve been so excited about this book since I found out that my friend Joyce Grant was writing it! Now more than ever, it’s so important to be able to spot fake news articles. There are many lies on the internet and children have so much access to technology, the internet, and fake news. It’s important to teach children critical thinking so they can find reliable news sources.

There were many practical examples of determining if an article is from a reliable source. Joyce referenced a fun Canadian ad for the “house hippo,” which was a tiny hippo that could live in your house, eating peanut butter crumbs and sleeping in shoes. That ad was meant to teach children that not everything that you see on TV is true. The commercial was actually brought back recently in an updated version featuring technology. It was a believable commercial, but obviously we don’t have tiny house hippos hiding in our houses. I loved seeing these kinds of real ads analyzed in this book using the tips on how to spot fake news.

Can You Believe It? is a great resource for children!

Thank you Joyce Grant and Kids Can Press for sending me a copy of this book!

Have you read Can You Believe It? What did you think of it?

Review: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

Title: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
Author: Jen Ferguson
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Heartdrum
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this complex and emotionally resonant novel, debut author Jen Ferguson serves up a powerful story about rage, secrets, and all the spectrums that make up a person—and the sweetness that can still live alongside the bitterest truth.
Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She’ll be working in her family’s ice cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend—whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort—and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word.
But when she gets a letter from her biological father—a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life—Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists.
While King’s friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family’s business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can’t ignore her father forever.

Review:

Lou is spending her last summer before starting university working at her uncles’ ice cream shack on the prairies. Her best friend Florence is working with her, as well as her newly ex-boyfriend Wyatt, who she wasn’t physically attracted to, and her old friend King Nathan, who is visiting from Toronto. One day, she receives a threatening letter from her biological father, who is supposed to be in prison for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, her mother is away for the summer, and she doesn’t want to share her troubles with her uncles who are struggling to pay the bills. Lou finds comfort in reviving her friendship with King, while trying to figure out how to stop her father from destroying her and her family.

This was a very emotional read. Lou had a lot of trauma in her past, from what happened to her mother and generational trauma as a Native woman in Canada. I appreciated that the author had a note at the beginning that warned of some potential triggers that are in the book, and she said it was okay if you couldn’t read it at this time. I tend to avoid emotional reads but after reading that author’s note, I felt like I was in safe hands with this book.

This book dealt with serious issues, such as racism, rape, and sexual assault, but it was written in a beautiful way. Lou was half white and half Métis, so she could pass for white, which she did when she was in school. That was compared to her friend King Nathan, who was Black, and couldn’t pass for white. Lou’s biological father threatened to take her family’s land from them, which reflected the way the land was stolen from the Indigenous peoples in Canada. Though these were serious topics, this story was beautifully crafted.

Most of this book was difficult to read because of the trauma that Lou and her friends faced, and if it’s difficult to read on a page, I can’t imagine what it would feel like to experience these things. At the same time, I’m very glad that this story has been written for a younger generation, and I’m glad that I read it.

Blog Tour Review: Slip

Title: Slip
Author: Marika McCoola, Aatmaja Pandya
Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 7, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From Eisner-Award nominated writer Marika McCoola and debut artist Aatmaja Pandya, an emotional coming-of-age graphic novel for fans of Bloom and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me.
Right before Jade is about to leave for a summer art intensive, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. How is Jade supposed to focus on herself right now?
But at the Art Farm, Jade has artistic opportunities she’s been waiting for her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary. Jade pours herself into making ceramic monsters that vent her stress and insecurities, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens: they come to life. And they’re taking a stand: if Jade won’t confront her problems, her problems are going to confront her, including the scariest of them all—if Jade grows, prospers, and even falls in love this summer, is she leaving Phoebe behind?

Review:

Jade is a young artist who has the opportunity to go to an art camp and possibly get a scholarship to an art school. However, right before she leaves, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. Jade is reluctant to leave her, but Phoebe needs to go into treatment. Jade finds it hard to stop worrying about Phoebe and blaming herself for what happened, but when she reaches deep down for those strong emotions, she can make her best art yet.

Jade’s art form that she created was pottery. I took pottery classes for years, so I loved seeing all of the familiar tools. One tricky thing about pottery is that the creation is partly out of your control when it’s put in the kiln. Jade had to deal with one of her pieces ruining the work of another artist. It’s a tricky art form but can be beautiful.

I appreciated the portrayal of mental health in this graphic novel. Though it doesn’t show the perspective of the person who attempted suicide, we can see the way it affected people around her. Jade blamed herself for not being there for Phoebe and she didn’t want to enjoy her time at the art camp because of it. In this way, Phoebe’s mental health struggles were reflected in Jade.

Slip is a beautiful graphic novel with an important message.

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a digital copy of this book.

Happy Pub Day – June 7

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

The Gravity of Missing Things by Marisa Urgo

Slip by Marika McCoola, Aatmaja Pandya

Spineless by Samantha San Miguel

Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

Can You Believe It? by Joyce Grant, Kathleen Marcotte

We All Fall Down by Rose Szabo

TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Twice as Perfect by Louisa Onomé

Empress Crowned in Red by Ciannon Smart

Happily Ever Island by Crystal Cestari

The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad by Natasha Deen

Out There: Into the Queer New Yonder edited by Saundra Mitchell

Game of Strength and Storm by Rachel Menard

Rise of the Snake Goddess by Jenny Elder Moke

The Holloway Girls by Susan Crispell

This Place Is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian

Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs

Zyla and Kai by Kristina Forest

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

Good Husbands by Cate Ray

Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook

As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr

Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins

Out of Range by Heidi Lang

Molly and the Machine by Erik Jon Slangerup

It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler

Before Takeoff by Avi Alsaid

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Family of Liars (We Were Liars #0)

Title: Family of Liars (We Were Liars #0)
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 3, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come.
A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.

Review:

In this prequel to We Were Liars, we visit the island off the coast of Massachusetts with the Sinclair family in the 80s. Carrie is the eldest daughter, with her youngest sister, Rosemary, having drowned the summer before. The family returned this year without acknowledging the missing family member. Then, a boat full of boys arrives at the island with a lot of drama for the Sinclair girls. The sisters have to navigate their new life with some betrayal and mistakes along the way.

This prequel starts off with spoilers for We Were Liars, so it shouldn’t be read first. Carrie narrated the story as her adult self looking back on that particular summer where her life changed. It was similar to We Were Liars in the way that it was the same family on the same island but it was quite different as well.

This story was a lot darker than We Were Liars. There were serious issues, such as drug and alcohol abuse, drowning, murder, cheating, and homophobia. Some of these scenes were really uncomfortable, but they also honestly showed the flaws in this upper class family, which led to the events of We Were Liars.

Family of Liars was a great prequel to We Were Liars.

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for providing a digital copy of this book.

Other books in the series:

We Were Liars

Have you read Family of Liars? What did you think of it?

Review: A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea #1)

Title: A Magic Stepped in Poison (The Book of Tea #1)
Author: Judy I. Lin
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 29, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, “These are the hands that buried my mother.”
For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life.
But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

Review:

Ning was responsible for brewing the tea that killed her mother and poisoned her sister, Shu. She needs to find the antidote for the poison before Shu dies. When Ning finds out there is a competition at the palace to find the best shennong-shi, master of ancient and magical tea-making, she knows she must compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, and Ning wants to request something to cure her sister. However, the competition becomes deadly and political, so Ning must race to save her own life.

This was a beautiful fantasy story. I loved the magical elements involving the tea. The tea was brewed with magic that could give the drinker or the brewer magical abilities. The competition was thrilling and suspenseful because each challenge had a dangerous twist.

This story moved along at a fast pace. There were lots of twists, especially in the final chapters. I couldn’t figure out how Ning was going to get out of her challenges in the final chapters, so I was surprised when she did. The story also ended on a cliffhanger, so I’m glad the sequel will be published so soon!

A Magic Steeped in Poison is a great fantasy debut!

Thank you Raincoast Books and Feiwell and Friends for providing a copy of this book.