Author: jilljemmett

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.

Review: Iron Widow (Iron Widow #1)

Title: Iron Widow (Iron Widow #1)
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. 

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​ 

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Review:

Eighteen-year-old Zetian signs herself up as a concubine-pilot to avenge her older sister’s death. Girls are paired with pilots, who use their qi power to power their machines and fight the aliens beyond the Great Wall, and the girls are sacrificed for their power. In Zetian’s first battle, where she is paired up with the boy who killed her sister, she surprises everyone when she survives the battle but the pilot doesn’t. Zetian is more powerful than they expected, so she’s paired up with the dangerous Li Shimin, one of the most powerful pilots they have. Now that Zetian has some power, she wants to figure out the reason behind this misogynistic situation to save girls from being sacrificed.

This book definitely lived up to the hype. It was action packed and exciting. The beginning was a little predictable, when Zetian achieved what she set out to do as a concubine-pilot immediately. Soon after avenging her sister’s death, the story picked up and had some surprising twists.

Gender was a major theme in this story. Zetian lived in a misogynistic society where the lives of girls weren’t valued. Girls were sent to the battlefield to be sacrificed during alien battles. However, when Zetian gained some power, with having a high qi rating and having avenged her sister’s death, she was prepared to prevent girls from being sacrificed in the future.

Iron Widow is an amazing fantasy debut!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

Have you read Iron Widow? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – October 28

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 Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A lush gothic fantasy about monsters and magic, set on the banks of a cursed lake. Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Brigid Kemmerer.

There are monsters in the world.

When Violeta Graceling arrives at haunted Lakesedge estate, she expects to find a monster. She knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem.

There are monsters in the woods.

As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn…

There’s a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name.

Now, to save Rowan—and herself—Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: Questions for Rebel Girls

Title: Questions for Rebel Girls
Author: Rebel Girls
Genre: Nonfiction, Children’s
Publisher: Rebel Girls
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 19, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Questions for Rebel Girls sparks lively discussions with more than 500 kid-friendly questions inspired by real rebel women from the best-selling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series.

Jane Goodall devoted her life to studying chimpanzees. If you dedicated your life to one type of animal, what would it be?

When cyclist Alfonsina Strada began racing, she was so unstoppable that newspapers nicknamed her “the devil in a dress.” What would your cycling nickname be?

Celia Cruz is the Queen of Salsa music. Beyoncé is a pop superstar. Roxanne Shante is an amazing rapper. And Joan Jett is all about rock and roll. If you could be a singing sensation, what type of music would you sing? If you could perform a duet with anyone in the world, who would you pick? 

If you could meet any woman from any country and any time in history, who would it be? What would you ask her? 

Would you rather ask questions or answer them? Luckily, with Questions for Rebel Girls, you can do both!

Girls love to explore their feelings, uncover their personality, and decode the world around them. One way to do that is to explore their answers to provocative questions about anything and everything. Questions for Rebel Girls introduces readers to extraordinary women throughout history and asks them to imagine themselves in similar scenarios. Designed to ignite exciting discussions between little rebels and their siblings, friends, and grown-ups, Questions for Rebel Girls is packed with more than 500 entertaining and thought-provoking questions—including some questions submitted by young fans of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

Review:

This book is filled with questions and small bios for the Rebel Girls who have been featured in the other Rebel Girls books. There were one or two lines of a biography and/or a quote from each successful woman on almost every page. These women were athletes, actors, scientists, CEOs, and writers, among other professions from around the world. Each of these women have left a mark in their profession.

There were multiple questions on each page. These were thought-provoking and conversation-starting questions. There were a lot of this-or-that or would-you-rather questions that were a lot of fun to think about. Others would require more thought, such as “How do you communicate besides using words?” and “What is more important— to be popular, successful, or loved?” These could be great questions for parents or educators to use when discussing these topics with kids.

Questions for Rebel Girls is a great thought-provoking children’s book!

Thank you Rebel Girls for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Rebel Girls Lead: 25 Tales of Powerful Women by Rebel Girls

Rebel Girls Champions: 25 Tales of Unstoppable Athletes by Rebel Girls

Have you read Questions for Rebel Girls? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – October 27

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus. The expected publication date is November 30, 2021.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say . . .

. . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

What books are you waiting on this week?

Happy Pub Day – October 26

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

Why Is Everybody Yelling?: Growing Up in My Immigrant Family by Marisabina Russo

David Copperfield’s History of Magic by David Copperfield

Rest Easy by Warona Jolomba

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

I’m Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas by Tiffany Schmidt

What books are you most excited for this week?

Top Ten Tuesday – Recent Spooky Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is a Halloween Freebie, so I chose to list my Recent Spooky Reads. Here’s my list:

1. The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter

2. Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

3. A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

4. Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin

5. Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani

6. B*WITCH by Paige McKenzie and Nancy Ohlin

7. Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse

8. Spell on Wheels by Kate Leth, Megan Levens, Marissa Louise

9. Hush-A-Bye by Jody Lee Mott

10. The Hiddenseek by Nate Cernosek

(All book covers from Goodreads)

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Review: The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story

Title: The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story
Author: Charis Cotter
Genre: Middle Grade, Horror, Fantasy
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 31, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A creepy, mysterious dollhouse takes center stage in this atmospheric middle-grade mystery for fans of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.

Alice’s world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they’ve cancelled their yearly cottage trip — the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice’s mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady.

The house is huge, imposing and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect — not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that’s an exact replica of the house she’s living in. Then she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed — a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse . . .

When the dollhouse starts to change when Alice isn’t looking, she knows she has to solve the mystery. Who are the girls in the dollhouse? What happened to them? And what is their connection to the mean and mysterious woman who owns the house?

Review:

When she finishes school for the year, Alice finds out her parents are getting divorced and they’ve cancelled their yearly summer cottage vacation. Instead, Alice and her mother travel to a small town so that her mom can be a live-in nurse for an elderly lady, Mrs. Bishop. Alice becomes friends with Lily, a developmentally delayed girl, who visits the home while her mother cleans it. The girls find a dollhouse in the attic that’s a perfect replica of that house. When Alice goes to sleep that night, she wakes up in a dream with a girl next to her. In her dream, she sees a family who lived in that house from the 1920s, and who look just like the dolls from the dollhouse. Then, things in the dollhouse change when Alice isn’t there. Alice has to figure out what the connection is between her dreams and the dollhouse.

This was a really creepy story. There were many similarities between Alice’s story and the story from the past in her dreams. There were train accidents in both stories. Alice’s friend Lily was developmentally delayed, and a girl named Bubbles was the same in her dream. The dollhouse was also an important aspect of the stories. Alice discovered it hidden away in the present storyline, but it was just being built in her dreams. Since the two storylines were quite similar, it was a little disorienting sometimes to figure out what was happening.

There were some more mature themes than I expected in a children’s book. Alice was concerned about her parents getting divorced. In her dream, her friend Fizz was also afraid of her parents getting divorced, and she caused a rift between them. There were also references to alcohol abuse and the death of family members. These mature themes increased the tension in the story.

The Dollhouse is a creepy ghost story.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Screech!: Ghost Stories from Old Newfoundland by Charis Cotter

Have you read The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – October 25

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 The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – October 24

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 7 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story

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 The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A creepy, mysterious dollhouse takes center stage in this atmospheric middle-grade mystery for fans of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.

Alice’s world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they’ve cancelled their yearly cottage trip — the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice’s mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady.

The house is huge, imposing and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect — not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that’s an exact replica of the house she’s living in. Then she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed — a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse . . .

When the dollhouse starts to change when Alice isn’t looking, she knows she has to solve the mystery. Who are the girls in the dollhouse? What happened to them? And what is their connection to the mean and mysterious woman who owns the house?

What book are you in bed with today?