Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book.
This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!
What I just finished:
This weekend I finished Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy by Kelly Jensen (editor).
What I’m currently reading:
I’m currently reading Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3) by Kendare Blake.
What I’m reading next:
Next I will be reading The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams.
What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy by Kelly Jensen (editor).
Goodreads Synopsis:
It’s time to bare it all about bodies!
We all experience the world in a body, but we don’t usually take the time to explore what it really means to have and live within one. Just as every person has a unique personality, every person has a unique body, and every body tells its own story.
In Body Talk, thirty-seven writers, models, actors, musicians, and artists share essays, lists, comics, and illustrations—about everything from size and shape to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from sexuality and gender identity to the use of makeup as armor. Together, they contribute a broad variety of perspectives on what it’s like to live in their particular bodies—and how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.
Come on in, turn the pages, and join the celebration of our diverse, miraculous, beautiful bodies!
Title: The Maple Murders (Riverdale #3) Author: Micol Ostow Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: October 15, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Riverdale is clamoring with excitement over news that an old town tradition is suddenly being revived: the Riverdale Revels.
The festival supposedly has a long history, dating back to the town’s settlers’ first successful maple tapping. But there’s no record of the Revels anywhere. Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead think there must be more to the story. And when a skeleton is uncovered in a 75-year-old time capsule on the first night of the festival, they know they’re right.
But a dead body in a maple barrel isn’t the only drama surrounding the Revels. The Royal Maple pageant (open to all Riverdale teens) is in full swing, but “accidents” keep befalling the contestants, including the gang’s friends.
Someone is clearly trying to put an end to the Revels once and for all — but who? And more importantly, why? Can Archie and his friends put a stop to the sabotage before someone puts a stop to them?
This original novel features a story not seen on the show!
Review:
The mayor of Riverdale, Hermione Lodge, has decided to hold the Riverdale Revels. That is an old festival that dates back to before the town was founded. Since they didn’t get to open the town’s time capsule on its 75th anniversary, they decide to open it to start the celebrations. However, when they open the Blossom Maple barrel that served as the time capsule, they find human remains. Jughead, Betty, Archie, and Veronica have to investigate where this mysterious body came from and why it was put into the Riverdale time capsule.
This is a great story set in the world of Riverdale. The characters sounded just like the actors on the TV show. I could practically hear them speaking the lines on the page. The story also showed the wide variety of characters, from the main characters of Archie and Betty to the minor characters of Kevin and Josie.
There were a couple of extended flashbacks that weren’t necessary to the plot. I didn’t even realize they were flashback scenes until the narrative returned to the present. Though these scenes were set off with a different typeface, they distracted from the main plot since they didn’t have to do with the present story.
I enjoyed this Riverdale mystery.
What to read next:
Death of a Cheerleader (Riverdale #4) by Micol Ostow
Title: Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From Author: Jennifer De Leon Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: August 4, 2020 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
First-generation American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly all-white school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.
Fifteen-year-old Liliana is fine, thank you very much. It’s fine that her best friend, Jade, is all caught up in her new boyfriend lately. It’s fine that her inner-city high school is disorganized and underfunded. It’s fine that her father took off again—okay, maybe that isn’t fine, but what is Liliana supposed to do? She’s fifteen! Being left with her increasingly crazy mom? Fine. Her heathen little brothers? Fine, fine, fine. But it turns out Dad did leave one thing behind besides her crazy family. Before he left, he signed Liliana up for a school desegregation program called METCO. And she’s been accepted.
Being accepted into METCO, however, isn’t the same as being accepted at her new school. In her old school, Liliana—half-Guatemalan and half-Salvadorian—was part of the majority where almost everyone was a person of color. But now at Westburg, where almost everyone is white, the struggles of being a minority are unavoidable. It becomes clear that the only way to survive is to lighten up—whiten up. And if Dad signed her up for this program, he wouldn’t have just wanted Liliana to survive, he would have wanted her to thrive. So what if Liliana is now going by Lili? So what if she’s acting like she thinks she’s better than her old friends? It’s not a big deal. It’s fine.
But then she discovers the gutting truth about her father: He’s not on one of his side trips. And it isn’t that he doesn’t want to come home…he can’t. He’s undocumented and he’s been deported back to Guatemala. Soon, nothing is fine, and Lili has to make a choice: She’s done trying to make her white classmates and teachers feel more comfortable. Done changing who she is, denying her culture and where she came from. They want to know where she’s from, what she’s about? Liliana is ready to tell them.
Review:
Liliana is a Latinx high school student in Boston. Her father has disappeared, but he has left before, though not for as long. Lili is accepted to a program called METCO, which is meant to desegregate schools. She starts going to a predominantly white school in a wealthy neighbourhood. The problem with the program is that Lili is still treated as an “other.” The METCO students are separated in social situations from the other students in the school, which further segregates them. Things get out of hand when Lili and the other students face racism from students and teachers. Lili has to figure out a way to fight back and show the world who they are.
This is a painfully honest story. Lili and the other students had to deal with some horrible racist situations from both students and teachers. It was really disturbing to see the teachers also making inappropriate comments. Lili also had a hard time at home because her father was gone. There were undocumented immigrants in her family, and it seemed like a problem that would be impossible to solve.
Even though METCO was a program created to bring students of different backgrounds to the school, it actually segregated the students more. Instead of being part of their whole school, the small group of students stayed together. The point of the program was to give them more opportunities in schooling, yet they were not guaranteed these opportunities even if they worked hard. These kinds of programs may be created with good intentions, but they need to fully integrate the students in the school, rather than separating them in their own group.
This is a must read book! I loved it!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Color Me In by Natasha Diaz
A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison
Have you read Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From? What did you think of it?
Title: The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) Author: Kiersten White Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy Publisher: Delacorte Press Source: Owlcrate Format: Hardcover Release Date: November 5, 2019 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a new fantasy series reimagining the Arthurian legend, set in the magical world of Camelot.
There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.
Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.
To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.
Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?
Review:
Princess Guinevere has arrived in Camelot to marry King Arthur. However, she isn’t the real Guinevere. She is a changeling that took the princess’s place at Merlin’s request. Guinevere has been sent to Camelot to protect Arthur from an unknown magical threat. As Guinevere learns more about the kingdom and tries to figure out the mysterious threat to Arthur, she realizes she doesn’t know much about herself and the world around her. Guinevere has to learn more about herself to get to the truth of Camelot.
I read stories about King Arthur when I was a kid, but I had forgotten the details before reading this story. I googled the story when I started it, so I did get some minor spoilers for the story. There were some twists from the original tale that modernized it and made it original.
This is a great introduction to the series. There were many hints of things to come. Guinevere’s past is a mystery, which I’m hoping will be explored in the next book. I had a lot of questions at the end, but these made me interested in the next book.
I really enjoyed this story!
What to read next:
Thorn by Intisar Khanani
And I Darken by Kiersten White
Have you read The Guinevere Deception? What did you think of it?
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen’s legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
