Contemporary – Page 30 – Jill's Book Blog

Blog Tour Review: Made in Korea

Title: Made in Korea
Author: Sarah Suk
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Publisher
Format: Ebook, Paperback arc
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Frankly in Love meets Shark Tank in this feel-good romantic comedy about two entrepreneurial Korean American teens who butt heads—and maybe fall in love—while running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school.
There’s nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their school’s most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris.
Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parents’ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to “make new friends,” he sees an opportunity—one that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents won’t cover…
What he doesn’t realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTY’s biggest competitor.
Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in school—all while trying to resist the undeniable spark that’s crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.
But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.

Review:

Valerie Kwon has a business with her cousin at school where they sell Korean beauty products. Valerie is saving her money to take her grandmother on a trip to Paris in the summer before she starts college. In their senior year, Wes Jung moves to town. His mother works for a company that manages a popular K-Pop band. When Wes’s mother gives him some K-Pop cosmetics to bring to school to give to his friends, he learns what a lucrative business it could be to sell them. Wes wants to save money to pursue music studies in college, which his parents don’t approve of. Wes becomes major competition for Valerie’s business. Their competition gets intense, leading them to make an all or nothing bet. What they don’t count on is falling for each other, but only one business can win in the end.

The idea of student run businesses in high schools has pros and cons. It’s a great way for young people to learn about how to run a business and manage money. There were a couple of other student businesses, other than Valerie’s and Wes’s, but those were the two cosmetic ones so they were direct competitors. There were a few opportunities throughout the years for the businesses to sell their products and earn awards.

There were also consequences to these kinds of businesses that were addressed in the story. The students were earning real money with these businesses. That made the stakes much higher since Valerie and Wes had big plans for their potential earnings. This also made them take chances with their businesses that had moral and legal consequences. Valerie and Wes had to deal with the consequences of breaking the rules with their businesses. This story accurately represented what could go wrong with a student run business.

Made in Korea is a great young adult novel!

Thank you Simon and Schuster for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

Sarah Suk (pronounced like soup with a K) lives in Vancouver, Canada where she writes stories and admires mountains. When she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the water, taking film photos, or eating a bowl of bingsu. You can visit her on Twitter and Instagram @sarahaelisuk.

Sarah is represented by Linda Epstein at Emerald City Literary Agency.

Tour Schedule:

May 17th
Nine Bookish Lives – Interview and Review
Emelie’s Books – Review, Favourite Quotes & Mood Board
Read in the Clouds – Review
HerBookishObsession – Review & Mood Board

May 18th
The Book Dutchesses – Review
teatimelit – Review
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review
Jill’s Book Blog – Review

May 19th
The Book View – Review
Sincerely, Manasa – Book Look
The Book Review Crew – Review & Favourite Quotes

May 20th
sunnysidereviews – Interview
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review
iambibliomane – Review
Kait Plus Books – Promo Post

May 21st
Stuck in Fiction – Promo Post
Diary Of A Bookgirl – Review, Playlist & Mood Board
Thindbooks Blog – Review
Rania’s Rambling Reads – Review & Playlist

May 22nd
DJREADSBOOKS – Review & Favourite Quotes
B for Bookslut – Review & Favourite Quotes
Ellie Turns the Page – Review & Favourite Quotes

May 23rd
Living, Loving and Reading – Interview
Thin Bookish Girl – Review, Favourite Quotes & Mood Board
Storme Reads A Lot – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Made in Korea
Belle’s Archive – Review

Where to buy:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Made-Korea-Sarah-Suk/dp/1534474374/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Made+in+Korea+by+Sarah+Suk&qid=1615752839&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/made-in-korea-sarah-suk/1137941907

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Made-Korea-Sarah-Suk/9781534474376?ref=grid-view&qid=1615752846689&sr=1-1

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/made-in-korea/9781534474376-item.html?ikwid=Made+in+Korea+by+Sarah+Suk&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=7bde4a04f6ad4431d17461508ad58dd0

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781534474376

Giveaway:

One winner will receive a finished copy of Made in Korea. The giveaway will end on May 24^th.

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fc15a59531/

Have you read Made in Korea? What did you think of it?

Review: Just Pretend

Title: Just Pretend
Author: Tori Sharp
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A graphic memoir, in which a young girl uses her active imagination to navigate middle school as well as the fallout from her parents’ divorce.
Tori has never lived in just one world.
Since her parents’ divorce, she’s lived in both her mom’s house and her dad’s new apartment. And in both places, no matter how hard she tries, her family still treats her like a little kid. Then there’s school, where friendships old and new are starting to feel more and more out of her hands.
Thankfully, she has books-and writing. And now the stories she makes up in her head just might save her when everything else around her—friendships, school, family—is falling apart.

Review:

Seventh grader Tori lives with her mom and her older twin siblings, and she visits her dad on weekends. Her parents treat her as a little kid, even though she’s growing up. At school, she struggles with making new friends and keeping her old ones. When they begin to bond over their love of writing or their friendships, something comes between them. Tori continues to write her own story while she tries to cope with the rest of her life.

In this graphic novel, Tori has to deal with many issues of growing up. She had problems at home, with juggling the two homes of her parents, as well as older siblings who liked to tease and bully her. She also had problems at school with her friends and her school work. The middle school years are filled with emotional relationships. Between her family and friends, Tori had to figure out many relationship dynamics that come with growing up.

I could relate to Tori in this story. Tori tried to write a story with her best friend, and I did the same thing in middle school. My friends got bored with writing after a while, like Tori’s did, but writing is still my passion. I could relate to the way Tori got lost in her fantasy world. I think other young artists will be able to relate to Tori as well.

Just Pretend is a great middle grade graphic novel!

Thank you Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: From Little Tokyo, with Love

Title: From Little Tokyo, with Love
Author: Sarah Kuhn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.
If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale–being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business–she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold.
All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness–searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo’s hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe…finally finding a sense of belonging.
But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn’t so kind. Rika knows she’s setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don’t happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?

Review:

Seventeen-year-old Rika doesn’t believe in fairytales. Her two cousins, who she was raised with, are named after Disney Princesses: Belle and Aurora. Rika has never felt like she fit in anywhere. Her mother died in childbirth, and never knew her father, so she was raised by her aunts. Rika is half Japanese, so she has never fit in with their traditional Japanese community. She’s even too aggressive in her judo classes, with a reputation for biting a boy. Rika’s life changes when she catches the eye of Grace Kimura, the most popular rom-com actress, at a parade. That chance meeting makes Rika question the story behind what happened to her mother. Along with Hank Chen, a hot young actor, Rika goes on a hunt around LA to find her mother.

I loved the fairy tale aspects of this book. Rika’s family was obsessed with fairy tales. Her cousins were named after princesses, and they constantly watched romantic comedies. Since Rika didn’t feel like she belonged in her family or community, she didn’t think she deserved her happily ever after. Once she met her prince, Hank Chen, her life turned into the rom com she never expected.

A big theme of this story was fitting in. Rika didn’t feel like she fit in with her family, since she wasn’t a sibling, and she didn’t fit in with the Japanese community since she was only half Japanese. Rika felt like she was the only one to experience it, but then she learned that everyone feels left out at some point in their lives. Even the people who seem to get along with everyone wherever they go, don’t fit in everywhere. It’s easy to think that a problem is unique to yourself, but once you talk about it, you can learn what you have in common with everyone else.

From Little Tokyo, With Love was such a fun rom com!

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

Blog Tour Review: Lucky Girl

Title: Lucky Girl
Author: Jamie Pacton
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A hilarious and poignant reflection on what money can and cannot fix

58,642,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize.
Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse . . .
Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Then . . .
Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town — it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when . . .
Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money. As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing

Review:

Seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather buys a lottery ticket on a whim one day and ends up winning the $58 million jackpot. There are a few reason she can’t cash it. First of all, she’s underage. She could wait until she turns eighteen, but she still bought the ticket while underage so she would face a misdemeanor if she claimed it. She could let her mother cash it, but that is another problem. Her mother is a hoarder who has been filling their home with other people’s discarded mementos since Jane’s father died. If Jane’s mother cashed in the lottery ticket, Jane is afraid of what she would spend it on. Jane’s best friend Bran wants to be a journalist, so he investigates the mysterious lottery winner. At the same time, Jane’s ex-boyfriend also wants to find out who the winner is because he has big plans of what he would do with the jackpot. As time goes on, there is more excitement around who won the lottery ticket in their small town, and Jane has to decide what she’s going to do with it.

This is the third novel that I’ve read in the past month about someone winning the lottery. In two of those books, the person couldn’t cash it in because they are or would be in trouble with the law. Everyone dreams of winning the lottery, but it isn’t the dream that is seems. Jane and Bran researched past lottery winners and read about the horrible turns their lives took after winning. Many ended up dead or bankrupt. The lottery seems like it would solve all of life’s problems, but it causes a lot of new problems.

One thing I didn’t really believe was the ending of the story. I won’t give away what Jane’s ultimate decision was in terms of if she cashed in the ticket or not. She talked so much about what the future could be like if she cashed in the ticket, and I don’t think the future she had planned at the end of the story was believable. It went against what he learned throughout the story about past lottery winners. This was a YA story, so it had a positive outcome, but I don’t think it was the most realistic ending.

This is a thought-provoking read!

Thank you Page Street Kids and TBR and Beyond for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

Jamie Pacton is a Young Adult and Middle Grade author who grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She has a BA and MA in English Literature, and currently teaches English at the college level. While pursuing her dream of being an author, she worked as a waitress, pen salesperson, lab assistant, art museum guard, bookseller, pool attendant, nanny, and lots of other weird jobs in between. Her writing has appeared in national and local magazines, and she spent many years blogging for Parents.com. Currently, Jamie lives in Wisconsin with her family and a dog named Lego. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is her YA debut novel and her sophomore novel, Lucky Girl, is forthcoming in Spring 2021. She has also published a MG novel, Farfetched, under the pen name Finn Colazo.

Tour Schedule:

May 10th
HerBookishObsession – Interview
Rania’s Rambling Reads – Review & Mood Board
Rae’s Reading Lounge – Review & Favourite Quotes
Featherboundbooks – Review

May 11th
Fangirl Pixie Blog – Review
The Mind of a Book Dragon – Review & Journal Spread
Jill’s Book Blog – Review

May 12th
Nine Bookish Lives – Review
Kait Plus Books – Review & Journal Spread
Melancholic Blithe – Review & Playlist

May 13th
Stuck in Fiction – Interview
BookishEnds – Review & Mood Board
Julie Anna’s Books – Review & Journal Spread

May 14th
The Writer’s Alley – Review, Playlist & Mood Board
Pages & Plots – Promo Post
The Clever Reader – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Lucky Girl

May 15th
The Book Dutchesses – Review
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review & Favourite Quotes
iambibliomane – Review

May 16th
Shelf Love – Interview
Storme Reads A Lot – Review & Own Experience Post
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review

Where to buy:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44779664-lucky-girl

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Girl-Jamie-Pacton/dp/1645672085/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lucky+girl+by+jamie+pacton&qid=1615045241&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lucky-girl-jamie-pacton/1137455966?ean=9781645672081

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Lucky-Girl-Jamie-Pacton/9781645672081?ref=grid-view&qid=1615045238562&sr=1-1

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/lucky-girl/9781645672081-item.html?ikwid=lucky+girl+by+jamie+pacton&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=b734b7585532adac97e9a92d68f5e745

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781645672081

Have you read Lucky Girl? What did you think of it?

Review: Kate in Waiting

Title: Kate in Waiting
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: April 20, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Contrary to popular belief, best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are not codependent. Carpooling to and from theater rehearsals? Environmentally sound and efficient. Consulting each other on every single life decision? Basic good judgment. Pining for the same guys from afar? Shared crushes are more fun anyway.
But when Kate and Andy’s latest long-distance crush shows up at their school, everything goes off script. Matt Olsson is talented and sweet, and Kate likes him. She really likes him. The only problem? So does Anderson.
Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved. This one might even bring the curtains down on Kate and Anderson’s friendship.

Review:

Kate Garfield and her best friend Anderson Walker have always shared crushes. They also share a love of theatre. At their summer camp, they both crushed on Matt Olsson, who didn’t seem to know they existed. However, when they start their junior year of high school, they’re shocked to see Matt Olsson has moved to their school. Kate really likes Matt, but Anderson really likes him too. Their feelings are stronger than their usual communal crushes. They each spend time with Matt in different situations, but eventually someone will get the guy and the other will get their heart broken.

This story was such an emotional rollercoaster. Kate and Andy experienced the whirlwind of first love and first heartbreak. I loved both Kate and Andy, but I knew that only one of them could win Matt’s affection in the end. I was rooting for them both to win, even though that couldn’t happen. I will say that the ending was perfect!

This story had great diversity. Kate’s friends were gender diverse. Andy was gay and their friend Raina was trans. They didn’t know the sexual orientation of their other friend Brandie, but they were okay with that and didn’t force her to tell them. Kate was Jewish, which I don’t see a lot in YA novels. Even though there are many Jewish YA authors, they don’t necessarily put that into their stories, so I was glad to see this aspect of Becky’s life in this story.

This was a beautiful story about first love in high school!

Review: Meg and Jo

Title: Meg and Jo
Author: Virginia Kantra
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Retelling
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: December 3, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The timeless classic Little Women inspired this heartwarming modern tale of four sisters from New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra.
The March sisters—reliable Meg, independent Jo, stylish Amy, and shy Beth—have grown up to pursue their separate dreams. When Jo followed her ambitions to New York City, she never thought her career in journalism would come crashing down, leaving her struggling to stay afloat in a gig economy as a prep cook and secret food blogger.
Meg appears to have the life she always planned—the handsome husband, the adorable toddlers, the house in a charming subdivision. But sometimes getting everything you’ve ever wanted isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
When their mother’s illness forces the sisters home to North Carolina for the holidays, they’ll rediscover what really matters.
One thing’s for sure—they’ll need the strength of family and the power of sisterhood to remake their lives and reimagine their dreams.

Review:

Meg and Jo are the eldest March sisters. Jo moved to New York City to follow her dream of being a writer, but she’s working as a prep chef and writing an anonymous food blog on the side. Meg is the reliable sister who stayed in their hometown and has a family of her own. All of the March sisters are summoned home at the holidays by their mother’s sudden illness. They need to come to terms with the decisions they’ve made and rebuild their family bond.

This story reimagines Little Women. All of the sisters are young adults who have chosen their own paths. Despite living in different cities, they’re all brought back home by their close bond. Even though the characters are older than the girls in the original Little Women, they had to face the same dilemmas. Jo was conflicted about following her dreams, and had an affair with an older man. Meg took her place as the oldest sister by looking after everyone, but she ended up with too much on her plate. They were the same characters, but older and in a contemporary world.

The bond of sisterhood was important in this story. There were other famous sisters mentioned throughout the story which reinforced this sisterhood bond. Meg and Jo referred to themselves as Elizabeth and Jane from Pride and Prejudice many times. The sisters liked to watch White Christmas which also has a famous pair of sisters. The relationship between Betty and Judy in White Christmas was more of a mother/daughter relationship, which represents the bonds between Meg and Amy, and Jo and Beth. Both of the sisters mothered one of the younger girls. Despite all of the problems the March girls faced, they supported each other.

This was a great retelling of Little Women. The sequel, Beth and Amy, comes out in a couple of weeks, and I’m excited to read it!

Review: The Cost of Knowing

Title: The Cost of Knowing
Author: Brittney Morris
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Dear Martin meets They Both Die at the End in this gripping, evocative novel about a Black teen who has the power to see into the future, whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death, from the acclaimed author of SLAY.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes up short.
It’s hard to for him to be present when every time he touches an object or person, Alex sees into its future. When he touches a scoop, he has a vision of him using it to scoop ice cream. When he touches his car, he sees it years from now, totaled and underwater. When he touches Talia, he sees them at the precipice of breaking up, and that terrifies him. Alex feels these visions are a curse, distracting him, making him anxious and unable to live an ordinary life.
And when Alex touches a photo that gives him a vision of his brother’s imminent death, everything changes.
With Alex now in a race against time, death, and circumstances, he and Isaiah must grapple with their past, their future, and what it means to be a young Black man in America in the present.

Review:

Sixteen-year-old Alex and his younger brother Isaiah live in a gated community outside of Chicago with their aunt. Since their parents died in a car accident, Alex has had the ability to see the future of any item he touches. He calls this his curse because he can’t touch anything without seeing the future. This includes when he touches his car and sees it sinking underwater, and his girlfriend who he sees breaking up with him when he touches her. These visions make it difficult for Alex to live his life, so he avoids touching things. Even though he has attempted to change these visions, they always come true. One day when he picks up a photo of his family, he sees that his brother is going to die soon. Alex doesn’t have much time to try and save his brother in the few days he has left.

Alex’s power of seeing the future sounds like it could be an interesting power to have, but I could feel his helplessness in this story. He tried to make the visions not happen, but they always came true. Despite him seeing that his brother was going to die, I kept hoping that the vision wouldn’t come true. This feeling reminded me of how I felt reading They Both Die at the End. In that book, despite the title, I kept hoping for a different ending. I had that same feeling while reading this book.

Alex and Isaiah were both Black boys living in a predominantly white neighbourhood. I won’t give away any spoilers, but they had to face racial injustice multiple times in this story. It’s so disturbing to keep reading stories like this and see them reflected on the news. I found this one especially hard to read because it was such an emotional story. Even if you know what’s coming, it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. I really hope these racial injustice stories will one day no longer be relatable, but for now, it’s so important they are told to give people a glimpse of what it’s like to be Black in this world.

This was such a powerful story. I think everyone should read it!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Sky Above Us

Title: The Sky Above Us
Author: Natalie Lund
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Philomel
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 13, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of We Speak in Storms comes a twisty, psychological thriller about three friends searching for the truth in the aftermath of a plane crash.
The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering overhead. Then they and their classmates watch in shock as a plane crashes into the water. When the passengers are finally recovered, they are identified as Izzy’s twin brother, Israel, Cass’s ex-boyfriend, Shane, and Janie’s best friend, Nate. But Izzy can feel when her brother is in pain, and she knows he’s not really dead. So she, Cass, and Janie set out to discover what actually happened that day–and why the boys were on the plane.
Told in alternating timelines and points of view, this powerful and captivating novel follows the three boys in the weeks leading up to that fateful flight, and the girls they left behind as they try to piece together the truth about the boys they loved and thought they knew. A spellbinding story about the ripple effects of tragedy, the questions we leave unanswered, and the enduring power of friendship.

Review:

The morning after a beach party, Izzie, Cass, and Janie are woken up by a plane flying overhead. They watch the plane crash into the ocean, and Izzy instantly knows who was on it. The victims are pulled out of the ocean: Izzy’s twin brother Israel, Cass’s ex-boyfriend Shane, and Janie’s secret boyfriend Nate. Each of these girls had a strong connection to the boys. They have no idea what would drive the boys to crash a plane, but they need to find out to get closure. This story is told through alternating timelines, with the boys’ stories before the crash and the girls’ stories after the crash.

This was a devastating story about grief. The girls mourned the loss of the boys in their own ways. The boys also had their own grief that they experienced before the plane crash. Shane had to mourn the loss of his relationship with Cass. Nate mourned the loss of his future soccer career after an injury. Israel experienced his death in a past life every night in a dream. All six of them, and their parents, had different ways of experiencing grief.

One fascinating part of this book was the experience Israel had of remembering his past life. He’d had dreams since he was a child of a man dying in a car crash. He knew that the man was him from a past life. There was a forum he used to speak to other people who also remembered their past lives. I hadn’t thought much about this phenomenon before reading this story, but the circumstances around the man dying, who Israel believed was him in a past life, made Israel’s claim quite convincing.

This was a tragic story that had me hooked from the beginning until the end.

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

Review: Your Corner Dark

Title: Your Corner Dark
Author: Desmond Hall
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Atheneum
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: January 19, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

American Street meets Long Way Down in this searing and gritty debut novel that takes an unflinching look at the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and how far a teen is willing to go for family.
Things can change in a second:
The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica.
The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble.
The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters.
And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there?
As Frankie does things he never thought he’d be capable of, he’s forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.

Review:

Frankie Green lives with his father in Jamaica. When he gets a scholarship letter from the US, he knows he has his ticket out of Jamaica. To celebrate, Frankie decides to go to a party that is put on by his uncle’s gang. Frankie’s father doesn’t get along with his brother, but he shows up at the party and gets shot. Frankie has to get money quick to save his father from a bad infection, so he joins his uncle’s gang. Frankie’s life takes a sudden turn, changing the future he had planned.

Frankie was an ambitious boy. He had big dreams of studying engineering in the US. He worked so hard all of his life, but one small decision he made derailed all of his plans. This shows that just one moment can change your life, for better or worse.

This story dealt with some serious topics. Frankie had to join a gang in order to get his father medical care. He gave up his dream of becoming an engineer in order to save his father’s life. That’s something I’ve never had to face, and I’m sure many other readers haven’t had to deal with either. It’s so important to read stories like this, with diverse lifestyles, to understand a little of what life could be like in other places in the world.

This was a suspenseful read!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour Review: Sugar and Spite

Title: Sugar and Spite
Author: Gail D. Villanueva
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 20, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can a bully be defeated by a magical love potion?
Jolina can’t take Claudine’s bullying any longer! The taunts and teasing are too much. Though Jolina knows she’s still in-training to use her grandfather’s arbularyo magic, she sneaks into his potions lab to get her revenge. Jolina brews a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion.
And it works. The love potion conquers Claudine’s hateful nature. In fact, Claudine doesn’t just stop bullying Jolina — now she wants to be Jolina’s BFF, and does everything and anything Jolina asks.
But magic comes with a cost, and bad intentions beget bad returns. Controlling another person’s ability to love — or hate — will certainly have consequences. The magic demands payment, and it is about to come for Jolina in the form of a powerful storm…
Magic and reality mingle in this brilliant new middle-grade novel by Gail D. Villanueva that asks whether it’s ever okay to take away someone’s free will.

Review:

Eleven-year-old Jolina has moved with her family from the city of Manila in the Philippines to an island town to live with her grandfather. Her grandfather practices arbularyo magic, and he is teaching it to Jolina. When Jolina is bullied by Claudine, the popular, and rich, girl in her bible study class, she decides to make a love potion to make Claudine like her. Jolina has to be careful because she hasn’t made a potion like that on her own before. However, every spell and potion has consequences that Jolina will have to face during a powerful storm.

This is the first book that I’ve read that is set in the Philippines, though I’ve had many friends from there. This setting really became a character in the story. It had a vibrant description. I love it when the food from different cultures is described in books. There were a particular kind of candy, called yema balls, which played an important role in the story. There was even a recipe to make them at the end of the book, so I may have to try them!

There were some potentially triggering events at the end of the book. There was a typhoon and the death of a pet. These were emotional scenes that could be triggering to some readers, but these events were crucial to the plot.

I really enjoyed this middle grade story!

Thank you Scholastic Press and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

Gail D. Villanueva is the author of Sugar And Spite (Scholastic, 2021). Her debut novel, My Fate According to the Butterfly (Scholastic, 2019), was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, an Amazon Best Book of the Month Editor’s Pick, and a NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Born and based in the Philippines, Gail’s daily routine includes running a web design company with her husband while trying to keep up with the shenanigans of their many pets—dogs, ducks, turtles, cats, and random birds they befriend in the backyard. Learn more at http://www.gaildvillanueva.com.

Tour Schedule:

April 19
Kait Plus Books – Interview
The Book Dutchesses – Review & Favourite Quotes
Melancholic Blithe – Review & Mood Board

April 20th
Jill’s Book Blog – Review
The Writer’s Alley – Review, Playlist, & Favourite Quotes
The Reading Chemist – Review

April 21st
The Last Rader – Top 5 Reasons to Read Sugar and Spite
Booker T’s Farm – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Sugar and Spite
Balancing Books and Beauties – Review & Creative Post (List)

April 22nd
Nine Bookish Lives – Interview & Review
Stuck in Fiction – Top 5 Reasons to Read Sugar and Spite
Wishing Upon a Star – Review & Favourite Quote
Justice For Readers – Review & Mood Board

April 23rd
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review & Favourite Quotes
Notes From a Paper Plane Nomad – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Sugar and Spite
Miss Linda Bennet – Fanart

April 24th
Enthralled Bookworm – Interview
PopTheButterfly Reads – Review
Yna the Mood Reader – Review & Favourite Quotes

April 25th
Morena Monologues – Review & Journal Spread
Lu is lost in books – Review & Favourite Quotes
I’m Into Books – Promo Post

Where to buy:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52664780-sugar-and-spite

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Spite-Gail-Villanueva/dp/133863092X/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3VPTZ8NSJDFZY&dchild=1&keywords=sugar+and+spite&qid=1612106428&sprefix=sugar+and+spite%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-4

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-sugar-and-spite-gail-villanueva/1136883201?ean=9781338630923

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Sugar-Spite-Gail-Villanueva/9781338630923?ref=grid-view&qid=1612106440747&sr=1-1

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/fr-ca/livres/sugar-and-spite/9781338630923-article.html?ikwid=sugar+and+spite&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=410b71e185c6c273f588b0a51a91d464

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781338630923

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