Review: Once Upon an Eid

Title: Once Upon an Eid
Author: S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (editors)
Genre: Middle Grade, Short Stories
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Once Upon an Eid is a collection of short stories that showcases the most brilliant Muslim voices writing today, all about the most joyful holiday of the year: Eid! 

Eid: The short, single-syllable word conjures up a variety of feelings and memories for Muslims. Maybe it’s waking up to the sound of frying samosas or the comfort of bean pie, maybe it’s the pleasure of putting on a new outfit for Eid prayers, or maybe it’s the gift-giving and holiday parties to come that day. Whatever it may be, for those who cherish this day of celebration, the emotional responses may be summed up in another short and sweet word: joy. The anthology will also include a poem, graphic-novel chapter, and spot illustrations.

The full list of Once Upon an Eid contributors include: G. Willow Wilson (Alif the Unseen, Ms. Marvel), Hena Khan (Amina’s Voice, Under My Hijab), N. H. Senzai (Shooting Kabul, Escape from Aleppo), Hanna Alkaf (The Weight of Our Sky), Rukhsana Khan (Big Red Lollipop), Randa Abdel-Fattah (Does My Head Look Big in This?), Ashley Franklin (Not Quite Snow White), Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (Mommy’s Khimar), Candice Montgomery (Home and Away, By Any Means Necessary), Huda Al-Marashi (First Comes Marriage), Ayesha Mattu, Asmaa Hussein, and Sara Alfageeh. 

Review:

This is a collection of middle grade stories about Eid and Muslim celebrations. Each story is written by Muslim authors from around the world, who talk about different ways to celebrate.

Each of the characters had different traditions and different family structures or situations, which reflects the diversity of the world. Though all the characters share the same religion, they have different ways of celebrating Eid. Their traditions were different depending on where they lived, because some places have a bigger Muslim population for them to celebrate together as a community, whereas others celebrated quietly at home. Some characters had different celebrations because of a sick family member, which changed the way they could celebrate with family and friends. These different styles of celebrating reflected the way people celebrate holidays in different ways around the world.

I had many Muslim friends while I was growing up, but I didn’t know much about Eid. I knew they fasted in the days leading up to the holiday and that the date of the holiday changed depending on the moon, but I didn’t know much about the actual celebrations. This was probably also because people celebrated differently depending on what country they were from and their family circumstances. I feel like I understand the holiday much better after reading this book.

I loved this short story collection! I hope there will be more diverse short story collections for young readers to give readers of all backgrounds something to relate to, and to teach other readers about different traditions.

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

What to read next:

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan

Have you read Once Upon an Eid? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – May 7

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 Night Spinner (Night Spinner #1) by Addie Thorley.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Before the massacre at Nariin, Enebish was one of the greatest warriors in the Sky King’s Imperial Army: a rare and dangerous Night Spinner, blessed with the ability to control the threads of darkness. Now, she is known as Enebish the Destroyer―a monster and murderer, banished to a monastery for losing control of her power and annihilating a merchant caravan.

Guilt stricken and scarred, Enebish tries to be grateful for her sanctuary, until her adoptive sister, Imperial Army commander Ghoa, returns from the war front with a tantalizing offer. If Enebish can capture the notorious criminal, Temujin, whose band of rebels has been seizing army supply wagons, not only will her crimes be pardoned, she will be reinstated as a warrior.

Enebish eagerly accepts. But as she hunts Temujin across the tundra, she discovers the tides of war have shifted, and the supplies he’s stealing are the only thing keeping thousands of shepherds from starving. Torn between duty and conscience, Enebish must decide whether to put her trust in the charismatic rebel or her beloved sister. No matter who she chooses, an even greater enemy is advancing, ready to bring the empire to its knees.

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

Review: The Mothers of Quality Street

Title: The Mothers of Quality Street
Author: Penny Thorpe
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 5, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The ups and down of three plucky factory girls, set in Britain’s best loved wrapped chocolate factory.

The Quality Street Factory is fizzing with the news that the King and Queen and the two young princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, are going to visit the Mackintosh Factory where the country’s favourite wrapped chocolate is made. The factory floor is heady with excitement but plans are dealt a blow when a much loved staff member is the victim of a poisoning incident.

Everyone is under suspicion, which only adds to Reenie Calder’s woes, anxious that her new promotion has only made her stick out even more like a sore thumb. Can she and her friends, Mary and Diana, get their heads together and find the malicious troublemaker before something unthinkable happens?

Review:

The King is coming to visit the Quality Street factory. Everyone is excited about planning the event. They bring married women back to work, who lost their jobs when they got married, because they need more workers on the floor. A sudden scandal threatens to cancel their event when poisoned candy is found. They have to figure out how to make the workers happy, while also preparing to receive the King.

I loved the style of writing in this book. The first line was great: “The toffees for the window display had been carefully painted with strong poison.” I had never heard of candy being painted with poison, so this line hooked me right from the start. The poison was meant to deter rats from eating the candy, but the candies ended up in the wrong hands. Another great line was “She looked like a tart’s handbag turned inside out,” which described a new worker at the factory. These lines made the story so entertaining.

There was some great dramatic irony in this book. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the characters don’t know yet. Right at the beginning the owner of the candy store paints the candies with poison, but then he doesn’t properly dispose of them, so a customer ends up buying them by accident. Throughout the first half of the book, we wait to see who will end up eating the poisoned chocolates, while the characters don’t even know they exist.

There were some other subplots as well, including ones about women returning to the work force after having children and the planning for the King’s visit. I found it so absurd to think that the women couldn’t return to their jobs just because they had gotten married or had children. It happened back then, in 1937, but it seems crazy to imagine today.

This is a great story! Make sure you have chocolates nearby while you read it!

What to read next:

The Quality Street Girls by Penny Thorpe

The Whispers of War by Julia Kelly

Other Books in the Series:

  • The Quality Street Girls

Have you read The Mothers of Quality Street? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – May 6

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 Influence by Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham. The expected publication date is June 30, 2020.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Get ready to delve into the world of teen influencers like you’ve never done before–from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of PRETTY LITTLE LIARS Sara Shepard and sixteen-year-old actress and social media personality Lilia Buckingham comes a twisty mystery that takes place in the fiercely competitive world of Internet stars.

After a video she makes goes viral, everyone knows Delilah Rollins. And now that she’s in LA, Delilah’s standing on the edge of something incredible. Everything is going to change. She has no idea how much.

Jasmine Walters-Diaz grew up in the spotlight. A child star turned media darling, the posts of her in her classic Lulu C. rainbow skirt practically break the Internet. But if the world knew who Jasmine really was, her perfect life? Canceled.

Fiona Jacobs is so funny–the kind of girl for whom a crowd parts–no wonder she’s always smiling! But on the inside? The girl’s a hot mess. And when someone comes out of the shadows with a secret from her past, it’s one that won’t just embarrass Fiona: it will ruin her.

Who wouldn’t want to be Scarlet Leigh? Just look at her Instagram. Scarlet isn’t just styled to perfection: she is perfection. Scarlet has a gorgeous, famous boyfriend named Jack and there’s a whole fanbase about their ship. To everyone watching online, their lives seem perfect . . . but are they really? The sun is hot in California . . . and someone’s going to get burned.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Prince Freya, Vol. 1

Title: Prince Freya, Vol. 1
Author: Keiko Ishihara
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Manga
Publisher: VIZ Media
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Rating: ★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

To save her kingdom, a simple village girl must live a royal lie.

The powerful kingdom of Sigurd has slowly been conquering all the lands that share its borders, and now it has turned its voracious attention to the small, resource-rich Tyr. Tyr cannot hope to match Sigurd in strength, so in order to survive, it must rely on the intelligence, skill and cunning of its prince and his loyal knights. But should their prince fall, so too shall Tyr…

Freya thinks of herself as a simple village girl, but her idyllic life is shattered when she is caught up in the aftermath of a treacherous Sigurdian plot. She bears a striking resemblance to her country’s beloved Prince Edvard, who lays dying from poison. Without its ruler, all of Tyr will quickly be engulfed by Sigurdian violence. Now Freya must take Prince Edvard’s place and lead his valiant knights in defending the realm!

Review:

Freya is a girl who lives in a small village with her sick mother. Her adoptive brothers work with the prince in the kingdom. They visit one day and Freya finds out that she is needed to impersonate the prince. Prince Edvard is dying and Freya looks exactly like him, so she has to become the prince. Freya has to leave her own life behind and transform into Prince Edvard.

This story was fast paced. I found that there was so much happening that it was difficult to process the information. Even the characters had to move along quickly to new changes, without really thinking about what happened. There were deaths and changes, like Freya becoming the prince, which they didn’t really have time to think about.

There wasn’t enough background on the story. I had so many questions about the world and the history of the characters that weren’t answered. We didn’t find out much about Prince Edvard and why they would need Freya, a country girl, to impersonate a prince who was dying. There wasn’t a reason that a young girl looked exactly like the prince, enough to be able to fool all of his friends. This background information wasn’t given, so I was left with a lot of questions about the story.

Freya was also an unlikeable character. She cried constantly. The other characters even told her to stop crying because people would guess that she wasn’t the prince. The way she was always crying and whining made me question again why she was chosen to impersonate the prince, since she didn’t behave like him at all.

This story was a little disappointing and cheesy. I don’t think I’ll be continue with this series.

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

What to read next:

Not Your Idol, Vol. 1 by Aoi Makino

Have you read Prince Freya, Vol. 1? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Party in the Title

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 Things I’d Have at a Bookish Party. I decided to choose Books with Party in the Title. Here’s my list:

1. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

2. Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

3. Party Princess (The Princess Diaries #7) by Meg Cabot

4. The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3) by Jasmine Guillory

5. The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess

6. The Party by Robyn Harding

7. The After Party by Anton DiSclafani

8. The Bachelorette Party by Karen McCullah Lutz

9. Party of Two (The Wedding Date #5) by Jasmine Guillory

10. Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

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

Happy Pub Day – May 5

Happy Pub day to all of these new books!

The Betrothed (The Betrothed #1) by Kiera Cass

Once Upon an Edi by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (editors)

The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard

Dark Skies (Dark Shores #2) by Danielle L. Jensen

Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally

Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Forged in Fire and Stars by Andrea Robertson

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Hunting November (Killing November #2) by Adriana Mather

What books are you most excited for this week?

Blog Tour Review: The Summer Villa

Title: The Summer Villa
Author: Melissa Hill
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Three women. One summer reunion. Secrets will be revealed…

Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amid dappled lemon groves and fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship.

Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate.

But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting… Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life.

An epic summer read about food, friendship and the magic of Italy, perfect for fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Susan Mallery.

Review:

Six years ago Kim, Collette, and Annie ran away from their lives and ended up in the same villa in Italy. They didn’t know each other and came from different countries: the U.S., England, and Ireland. Though they had different backgrounds and different reasons for wanting to escape their lives for a few weeks, they all connected that summer. Now it is six years later and Kim is hosting a grand reopening of the same villa, which she has transformed into a wellness retreat. It seems like the perfect time for the three women to reunite, but they each bring their own personal problems back to Italy, where it all began.

This story alternated perspectives between then, six years ago, and now in the present. It also alternated between each of the three women. Things were slowly revealed in each timeline, but some details were held until the end, which built up the tension and surprise. I was shocked at some of the twists that I didn’t see coming.

One thing that this story demonstrated is how things in life can change so quickly. The women were struggling with life before they went to Italy the first time, but they each had life changing events happen there. These events changed the course of their lives in ways that didn’t seem possible at the beginning. This shows that even if you think you’re going through a difficult time in the present, there is no way to predict how your life will change years from now.

I really loved this story!

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

What to read next:

Summer in Sorrento by Melissa Hill

The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore

About the Author:

MELISSA HILL lives in south Dublin with her husband and daughter. A USA TODAY and international #1 bestseller, she is the author of 13 novels, including The Gift of a Charm and A Gift From Tiffany’s. The Gift of a Charm was a USA TODAY bestseller. Hailed “the queen of the big plot twist,” she combines all the warmth and humor of contemporary women’s fiction with plots that keep readers guessing from page to page. Melissa also cowrites forensic thrillers with her husband, Kevin, under the pseudonym Casey Hill, featuring crime scene investigator Reilly Steel. For more information, visit www.caseyhillbooks.com.

Have you read The Summer Villa? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – May 4

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 Summer Villa by Melissa Hill.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Mothers of Quality Street by Penny Thorpe

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Once Upon an Eid by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (editors).

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

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – May 3

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 9 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?