Review: Strong Like the Sea

Title: Strong Like the Sea
Author: Wendy S. Swore
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: May 25, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Featuring a secret ocean code with a hidden message for YOU to decipher!

Even though twelve-year-old Alexis was born in Hawaii, she won’t surf or swim with her friends—not since the ocean and its hidden creatures swept her out to sea. Instead, she grabs her best detective hat and decodes her mom’s latest challenge

Alex’s mom works in counterintelligence and leaves codes, ciphers, and puzzles behind for Alex to solve, always with a “treasure” at the end. It’s a brilliant game between them, and Alex loves figuring out her mom’s puzzles—especially the tricky ones—but when an emergency at sea puts her mom in possible danger, solving the next one suddenly feels far more urgent.

Friends help as Alex races to decipher each clue before time runs out, but when the trail leads to grumpy old Uncle, his enormous dog Sarge, and a sea turtle unlike any other, the challenge changes into something bigger than any before. With storms on the horizon and lives on the line, Alex must face her fears to solve Mom’s challenge and save those she loves. With her ohana to help, she must be strong like the sea.

Review:

Twelve-year-old Alexis was born in Hawaii but she’s scared of the water. Her mom travels with the navy, and she leaves codes and puzzles for Alexis to solve while she’s gone. Alexis has to solve her most difficult puzzle yet. She needs help to solve it, including from her grumpy Uncle. Before she can finish it, her mom goes missing. This becomes Alexis’s most important challenge, as she races to finish it to make her mom proud.

I would have loved this book when I was a kid. I loved puzzles and mystery stories. Alexis had many different types of puzzles to solve, including treasure hunts and codes. These sounded so fun, and may spark an interest in puzzles for young readers.

I loved the island setting. I haven’t been to Hawaii but I definitely want to go after reading this story. There were many Hawaiian terms used throughout the story, but they were either explained in the context of the sentence or in the glossary at the end. Food was an important part of the story as well. Most of it sounded really delicious, except for the stinky fruit they used to make a healing tea. I loved learning about Hawaiian culture in this story.

Strong Like the Sea is a great middle grade novel!

Thank you Shadow Mountain Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Sugar and Spite by Gail D. Villanueva

Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby

Have you read Strong Like the Sea? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – May 24

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 Strong Like the Sea by Wendy S. Swore.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley.

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

Unboxing: Once Upon a Book Club YA Box – September 2020

This month, I was chosen by the Once Upon a Book Club VIP Program to receive a box to review. I was sent the Miss Meteor box from September 2020!

This book subscription is special because there are gifts that you open while you’re reading. Each gift corresponds to something that is mentioned on a page in the book. When you get to the pages with a corresponding gift, there is a sticky note reminding you to open your gift. This makes the reading experience so fun!

This is the book with the four gifts. The book was Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore. It’s a fun YA Sci-fi story. My review for Miss Meteor can be found here.

Now here are the gifts that went along with the book:

The first gift was a pink spatula.

The second gift was a mini cornhole game.

The third gift was a beautiful lace mantilla, or shawl. This will be a perfect light cover up in the summer.

The last gift was a purple iron-on patch that says “Meteor Tours.”

This was another beautiful box from Once Upon a Book Club!

If you’d like to purchase something from Once Upon a Book Club use my discount code Jemmett10 to get 10% off anything on the site!

Thank you Once Upon a Book Club for providing a subscription box in exchange for a review. 

Do you get any subscription boxes? Which ones are your favourite?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – May 23

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… Strong Like the Sea

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 Strong Like the Sea by Wendy S. Swore.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Featuring a secret ocean code with a hidden message for YOU to decipher!

Even though twelve-year-old Alexis was born in Hawaii, she won’t surf or swim with her friends—not since the ocean and its hidden creatures swept her out to sea. Instead, she grabs her best detective hat and decodes her mom’s latest challenge

Alex’s mom works in counterintelligence and leaves codes, ciphers, and puzzles behind for Alex to solve, always with a “treasure” at the end. It’s a brilliant game between them, and Alex loves figuring out her mom’s puzzles—especially the tricky ones—but when an emergency at sea puts her mom in possible danger, solving the next one suddenly feels far more urgent.

Friends help as Alex races to decipher each clue before time runs out, but when the trail leads to grumpy old Uncle, his enormous dog Sarge, and a sea turtle unlike any other, the challenge changes into something bigger than any before. With storms on the horizon and lives on the line, Alex must face her fears to solve Mom’s challenge and save those she loves. With her ohana to help, she must be strong like the sea.

What book are you in bed with today?

Six for Sunday – Best Character Arcs

This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2021 can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Best Character Arcs. Here’s my list:

1. Jem Carstairs – The Infernal Devices series

2. Kaz Brekker – Six of Crows series

3. Rhysand – A Court of Thorns and Roses series

4. Ronan Lynch – The Raven Cycle series

5. Cardan – The Folk of the Air series

6. Lila Bard – Shades of Magic series

(All book covers from Goodreads)

Did you make a Six for Sunday list?

Review: Cool for the Summer

Title: Cool for the Summer
Author: Dahlia Adler
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Lara’s had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He’s tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he’s talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe…flirting, even? No, wait, he’s definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara’s wanted out of life.

Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.

Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she’s finally got the guy, why can’t she stop thinking about the girl?

Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It’s about the things we want and the things we need. And it’s about the people who will let us be who we are.

Review:

Lara has had a crush on Chase Harding, the star quarterback at her school, for six years. When she starts her senior year, Chase finally notices her and starts flirting with her immediately. However, Lara isn’t the same girl she used to be. She spent the summer with her mom at her mom’s boss’s summer house where she met Jasmine, the daughter of her mom’s boss. Lara and Jasmine had a summer romance that Lara thought was in the past since Jasmine was going back to her home with her mom. Now that Jasmine has moved to Lara’s school, she is a constant reminder of their summer fling. Lara has to wonder if it was just a fling and she should enjoy the attention from Chase, or if she has deeper feelings for Jasmine.

This was such a fun story. It would be perfect for summer because there were many scenes from Lara and Jasmine’s summer spent at the beach. There were also lots of feelings in this book. Lara was experiencing so many emotions, with her surprise feelings for Jasmine and her dreams of dating Chase coming true. This was a heart pounding story about figuring out your teenage romantic feelings.

This story explored what it means to identify as bisexual. In other novels that I’ve read with bi characters, they have a hard time defining their feelings. Lara had always had a crush on Chase so she assumed she was straight. When those feelings were finally recognized by him, she thought she had to be with him since that was her dream. However, she started to question her sexuality after having a relationship with a girl. For some reason, it’s sometimes difficult for people to accept that people can like both girls and boys, including the person experiencing those feelings themself. It’s possible to identify as bisexual and be in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex or the same sex, without being identified as straight or gay. Lara had to come to terms with her feelings before she could become her true self.

Cool for the Summer is the perfect summer read!

Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Have you read Cool for the Summer? What did you think of it?

Blog Tour Review: The Edge of Strange Hollow

Title: The Edge of Strange Hollow
Author: Gabrielle K. Byrne
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Imprint
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Welcome to Strange Hollow. Beware the Grimwood.

Poppy Sunshine isn’t like everyone else in Strange Hollow. She’s not afraid of the Grimwood, home to magical creatures like shape-shifters, fairies, witches, and even a three-headed dog.

Banned from the wood by her parents, Poppy longs to learn everything about it and imagines joining her mother and father as they hunt the forest’s cursed magical objects. So when her only family disappears on a routine expedition, she and her friends must break every rule to save them. But Poppy soon discovers that things in the Grimwood are rarely what they seem…

And the monsters who took her parents may not be monsters at all.

Review:

Poppy Sunshine is a human who lives in Strange Hollow. The Grimwood is outside of her house and filled with magical creatures. Poppy isn’t scared of the Grimwood like the other people in town because her parents are the only humans allowed in. However, Poppy’s parents won’t let her go inside. Poppy decides to break their rule and enter the woods with her friend, Mack the elf. She soon learns that her parents have disappeared. Poppy has to travel through the Grimwood to find her parents and unite her divided world.

I love it when fantasy worlds have a connection to our real world. Strange Hollow is a town filled with humans who are scared of the magical creatures in the Grimwood. This human connection to the fantasy world always makes it seem like the story is closer to our reality.

This story was about two groups who were divided by their beliefs. Penny bridged the gap between the humans and the magical creatures since she was friends with both of them. This is both a timely and an historical issue, since there always seem to be large and dangerous conflicts going on in the world. Penny was a strong character who fought for both sides since she was connected to both of them. She was the only one who had this unique position between the humans and the magical creatures. This was an example of how a conflict that had lasted for many generations could be resolved with the strength of a little girl.

The Edge of Strange Hollow is a great middle grade fantasy novel.

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

What to read next:

Rise of the Dragon Moon by Gabrielle K. Byrne

Changeling by William Ritter

About the author:

Gabrielle Kirouac Byrne lives in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where she writes fantasy for kids of all ages. Gabby studied opera in Philadelphia, medieval studies in New York, literature in Scotland, and marine biology in Washington. Stories are the common thread that tie all her interests together. When she’s not writing, you can find her fishing spineless zooplankton out of the Salish sea with her family. In Gabby’s debut MG fantasy, RISE OF THE DRAGON MOON, the princess of a frozen Queendom fights to free her mother from the clutches of treacherous dragons. Gorgeous world building, and lush prose will immerse readers in this coming-of-age adventure in which a fierce girl tackles insurmountable odds with wit, strength, and heart. 

Tour schedule:

May 17th
Kait Plus Books – Interview
lousbookstuff – Review & Favourite Quotes
TLC Book Nook – Review & Mood Board

May 18th
Twirling Book Princess – Promo Post
The Writer’s Alley – Review & Mood Board

May 19th
Stuck in Fiction – Promo Post
Sugar, Spice and Stories – Review
Mahkjchi’s Not-So-Secret Books – Review & Mood Board

May 20th
Subtle Bookish – Interview
The Book Dutchesses – Review

May 21st
Nine Bookish Lives – Promo Post
Books tales by me – Mood Board
Jill’s Book Blog – Revew

May 22nd
dinipandareads – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read The Edge of Strange Hollow
I Dream in Books – Review & Playlist

May 23rd
Frolic Media – Interview
The Nuttybookworm Reads Alot – Review
Balancing Books and Beauties – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read The Edge of Strange Hollow

Where to buy:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Edge-Strange-Hollow-Gabrielle-Byrne/dp/1250624665/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Edge+of+Strange+Hollow+by+Gabrielle+K.+Byrne&qid=1615750133&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-edge-of-strange-hollow-gabrielle-k-byrne/1136619246

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Edge-of-Strange-Hollow-Gabrielle-K-Byrne/9781250624666

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-edge-of-strange-hollow/9781250624666-item.html?ikwid=The+Edge+of+Strange+Hollow+by+Gabrielle+K.+Byrne&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=fb1607e37d9139d15f4cd3420c11cda1IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250624666

Giveaway:

One winner will receive a finished copy of The Edge of Strange Hollow. The giveaway starts on May 17th and ends on May 24th.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fc15a59532/

Have you read The Edge of Strange Hollow? What did you think of it?

Review: The Last Thing He Told Me

Title: The Last Thing He Told Me
Author: Laura Dave
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: May 4, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

We all have stories we never tell.
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her.

Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.

Review:

The day that Owen Michaels goes missing, he sends a note to his wife that says “Protect her.” His wife, Hannah Hall, knows that the note is referring to his daughter, Bailey. Hannah has never been close to her stepdaughter, but now she has to protect her. Then, they find out what happened. The company that Owen works for is being charged with fraud, and his boss and closest friend has been arrested. Owen has disappeared without a trace. The more that Hannah searches for him, the more she has to realize that her husband isn’t the man she thought he was.

This was such a suspenseful read. I read some reviews that said this story had a slow pace. I don’t think it was slow, but it wasn’t action packed like a lot of popular thrillers. The chapters were short which always makes me read a book faster. This was more of a psychological suspense story, without a lot of explosive action.

This story kept me guessing until the end. I really had no idea where the story was going to go, so I had to keep reading to find out. The pieces of the puzzle of what happened with Owen unraveled slowly and everything came together at the end. I would have liked a more impactful ending, but I was pleased with where they ended up.

The Last Thing He Told Me is a suspenseful thriller!

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

What to read next:

Lucky by Marissa Stapley

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Have you read The Last Thing He Told Me? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – May 20

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 Malice by Heather Walter.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale. 

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.

You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after. 

Utter nonsense. 

Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either. 

Until I met her. 

Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse. 

But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world. 

Nonsense again. 

Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—

I am the villain.

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