Happy Pub Day to these authors!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Fable (Fable #1)
Author: Adrienne Young
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: February 1, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one, and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father, and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him, and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. Fable takes you on a spectacular journey filled with romance, intrigue, and adventure.
Four years ago, Fable was abandoned by her powerful trader father after her mother drowned in a storm. Now, Fable is seventeen-years-old, and is fighting for her life every day by collecting gems from the ocean to trade. Her goal is to return to her father and take a place on one of his ships. Fable is finally able to pay her way out of town on a ship, the Marigold, with a trader named West. However, West isn’t who he seems. Fable has to work with the crew to stay alive in a dangerous life on the sea.
I wanted to read this series because of the beautiful book covers. The story was so great too! I don’t usually like tales about ships, but this one was fast paced and kept me reading. There was a lot of social politics involved, as well as dramatic twists at the end. I’m so excited to read the rest of the series.
Fable is a great start to a young adult series!
Have you read Fable? What did you think of it?
Title: Stone Blind
Author: Natalie Haynes
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mythology
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: February 7, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
A fresh take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman.
They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster.
The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.
When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge–on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon’s actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude.
Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon…
In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman–injured by a powerful man–is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa’s story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today.
Medusa was the youngest Gorgon sister, and the only mortal one. After Poseidon attacks her in Athene’s temple, Athene takes revenge on Medusa by turning Medusa’s hair into snakes and making her gaze turn anyone who she looks at into stone. Meanwhile, Perseus is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. When a king threatens to steal Perseus’s mother and marry her, Perseus is given a quest to save his mother by bringing the king the head of a Gorgon. Perseus goes blindly on the quest to get the head of Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon.
Medusa was always portrayed as a villain and monster in Greek mythology. However, this story shows how she was a victim of the Gods. She was attacked by Poseidon, then punished by Athene, who later helped Perseus behead her. Everything that happened to Medusa was done to her, making her a victim, not a monster.
Though this book tells a tragic story, there was also a lot of humor. The humor was often in the banter between the Gods, which usually contradicted each other or made them look silly and petty. This story was focused on the women’s stories. Each chapter was from the perspective of one of the female characters. This was refreshing because history is often through a male lens.
Stone Blind is a fantastic, entertaining story.
Thank you HarperCollins Canada for sending me a copy of this book.
Have you read Stone Blind? What did you think of it?
Title: Virtually Me
Author: Chad Morris, Shelly Brown
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: February 7, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
A mysterious package.
A new school.
A chance to be someone new.
A new virtual reality school where students get a fresh start.
The pandemic was rough on everyone, especially since school went from being a fun place where you could hang out with your friends to a bunch of heads in small rectangles all trying to talk at once. For Bradley, Edelle, Hunter, Jasper, and Keiko, that’s about to change.
A mysterious box arrives at each of their houses, and they’re invited to attend a virtual school. More than just being online, they’ll be able to create an avatar of themselves and interact with their friends and other classmates in real time using VR headsets.
For each of them, that presents an opportunity to become someone they’re not, or someone they haven’t been. For Bradley, it’s a chance to come out of a self-imposed shell. Edelle hopes everyone will see her for who she really is, not just for how she looks. Hunter is looking forward to pretending he’s still the person he was last year. Jasper wants to get over past assumptions. And for Keiko, it’ll allow her to disappear into the crowd.
For all of them, it’s a chance to see just how much they’ve assumed about each other in the past and maybe an opportunity to become friends.
The pandemic changed school, going from in person to online. At the start of the school year, some kids have decided to attend a virtual reality school. They are sent a headset and accessories to attend the school from their homes. Each student can create an avatar and name to represent themselves in the game. It can be created from real photos or made up. Bradley, Edelle, and Hunter all came from the same school to attend this virtual reality school, but they don’t realize they know each other. Bradley and Edelle both have fresh starts, using avatars that don’t look like their real selves. Meanwhile, Hunter has changed in real life, but he’s masquerading as the same person in the VR school. Though they each have a different reason for attending a virtual school, they each have to deal with different problems in this new environment.
This is a great story about contemporary issues. The pandemic changed the way school is taught, and I think the effects of that will be felt for many years to come. There have also been new opportunities for learning such as a virtual option. This story took it a step further by having students act like they were at a real school with a virtual reality set rather than sitting in front of a screen all day.
Bradley, Edelle, and Hunter each had different reasons for attending a virtual school. Bradley was uncomfortable with the way he looked and wanted to get away from the bullies from school. He gave himself a completely different look and persona with his avatar at the new school. Edelle got in trouble for bullying a girl at school, and her mom wanted her to learn to be less superficial. She gave her avatar a plainer look that didn’t have the beautifully styled appearance that she liked to have in real life. Hunter decided to attend virtual school because he had developed alopecia and he was uncomfortable with the way he looked. He made his avatar look like he did the year before at school. It was interesting to see how a new appearance at school made the kids behave differently. However, they still had to deal with the same school problems like bullying and peer pressure.
Virtually Me is a great new middle grade story!
Thank you Shadow Mountain for sending me a copy of this book.
Have you read Virtually Me? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you HarperCollins Canada, Shadow Mountain, and Penguin Teen Canada for providing copies of these books.
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Castles in Their Bones (Castles in Their Bones #1)
Author: Laura Sebastian
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: February 1, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series.
Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.
Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.
The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers.
Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?
Since Empress Margaraux gave birth to triplets, she planned to marry them off to princes in three different countries so that she could reign over them all. When they turn sixteen, Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are each sent to a different country to get married, with the promise that they will be reunited at home a year later. They have been trained to take down the monarchies using seduction, deception, and perhaps some magic. However, their mother did not tell them all of her plans. The three girls have to navigate around new countries and monarchies while dodging the tests that are put in their way.
I knew I would love this story because I loved Laura Sebastian’s Ash Princess trilogy. This one lived up to my expectations. The settings were descriptive and distinct. The three sisters were sent to different countries, and they each had to deal with a completely different situation with their new husband and politics at the palaces. There were loads of twists that I didn’t expect. The ending was shocking and I found it hard to believe that one thing really happened. I’m so glad I will get to read the next one soon, as it comes out next week!
Castles in Their Bones was a thrilling start to a fantasy series!
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for providing a digital copy of this book.
Have you read Castles in Their Bones? What did you think of it?
Title: The School of Mirrors
Author: Eva Stachniak
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
Source: Publisher, Tandem Collective Global
Format: Paperback
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Rating: ★★★★
A scintillating, gorgeously written historical novel about a mother and a daughter in eighteenth-century France, beginning with decadence and palace intrigue at Versailles and ending in an explosive new era of revolution.
During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. When the time is right, each girl is smuggled into the palace of Versailles, with its legendary Hall of Mirrors. There they meet a mysterious but splendidly dressed man who they’re told is merely a Polish count, a cousin of the Queen. Living an indulgent life of silk gowns, delicious meals, and soft beds, the students at this “school of mirrors” rarely ask questions, and when Louis tires of them, they are married off to minor aristocrats or allowed to retire to one of the more luxurious nunneries.
Beautiful and canny Veronique arrives at the school of mirrors and quickly becomes a favorite of the King. But when she discovers her lover’s true identity, she is whisked away, sent to give birth to a daughter in secret, and then to marry a wealthy Breton merchant. There is no return to the School of Mirrors.
This is also the story of the King’s daughter by Veronique—Marie-Louise. Well-provided for in a comfortable home, Marie-Louise has never known her mother, let alone her father. Capable and intelligent, she discovers a passion for healing and science, and becomes an accredited midwife, one of the few reputable careers for women like her. But eventually Veronique comes back into her daughter’s life, bringing with her the secret of Marie-Louise’s birth. But the new King—Louis XVI—is teetering on his throne and it’s a volatile time in France…and those with royal relatives must mind their step very carefully.
King Louis XV of France has teenage girls from all over the country come and live at a nearby villa. His mistress Madam de Pompadour oversees the training of these girls as courtesans for the King, though they are told they will be visiting with a Polish Count. Thirteen-year-old Véronique is one of these girls whose mother sends her away because she can’t afford to keep her. Véronique becomes a favourite girl of the King, but when she becomes pregnant, she’s whisked away to give birth in secret and then she must marry a merchant that has been chosen for her. Véronique’s daughter Marie-Louise has to grow up without her parents. She isn’t treated well by her guardians, until she is sent to be trained by a midwife in Paris. The woman who teaches her treats Marie-Louise like her niece, and gives her a good life. However, when Marie-Louise finds a piece in the puzzle to her parentage, she tries to find the secret of her birth.
This was quite a difficult book to read. There were some terrible things that happened to women and girls in the book, many of which were because of the time period but some still happen today. One thing that was interesting was the medical side of this story. Medicine has come a long way since the eighteenth century, but there was a female labour machine that mimicked the way a woman would give birth to teach midwives. This was an interesting piece of history that I didn’t know existed before reading this book.
The School of Mirrors is a tough read but it’s a touching story.
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada and Tandem Collective Global for providing a copy of this book.
Content warnings: child abuse, child death, mother death, childbirth complications, nonconsensual sexual encounters
Have you read The School of Mirrors? What did you think of it?
Title: Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo’s Hell Bent.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.
Galaxy “Alex” Stern will do anything to bring her mentor Darlington back. Though Lethe, the secret organization, has forbidden Alex and her friend Dawes from embarking on a rescue mission, she won’t let that deter her. Meanwhile, Yale staff members are dying in unusual ways that point to Lethe. Alex has to venture into places no one has gone before to save Darlington, her friends, and everything she calls home.
I can’t say much about this book without spoilers, but it was worth the 3 year wait. The story was unpredictable and so twisty, I never knew what was going to happen next. There was a little bit of flipping between the past and present in chapters which could be confusing at times, but this happened less than in Ninth House. There were some intense surprises throughout the story that will keep readers entertained!
Hell Bent is a fabulous new Leigh Bardugo book! I can’t wait to read the next one!
Have you read Ninth House? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Forever and Wednesday Books for arcs of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code
Author: Corinne Purtill, Marina Muun (illustrator)
Genre: Middle Grade, Nonfiction
Publisher: Rebel Girls
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 17, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
From the world of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes a story based on the exciting adventures of Ada Lovelace: one of the world’s first computer programmers.
Growing up in nineteenth century London, England, Ada is curious about absolutely everything. She is obsessed with machines and with creatures that fly. She even designs her own flying laboratory!
According to her mother, Ada is a bit too wild, so she encourages Ada to study math. At first Ada thinks: Bleh! Who can get excited about a subject without pictures? But she soon falls in love with it. One day she encounters a mysterious machine, and from that moment forward Ada imagines a future full of possibility—one that will eventually inspire the digital age nearly two hundred years later.
Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code is the story of a pioneer in the computer sciences, and a testament to women’s invaluable contributions to STEM throughout history.
Includes additional text on Ada Lovelace’s lasting legacy, as well as educational activities designed to teach simple coding and mathematical concepts.
Ada Lovelace was the daughter of poet Lord Byron. She loved fairytales and had a strong imagination. Her mother encouraged her to study math, to try and keep her in control. Ada fell in love with math and sciences, and was fascinated by the creation of machines. Though she couldn’t become a scientist as a woman in the nineteenth century, she has been given credit for her studies and research nearly two centuries later.
I didn’t know anything about Ada Lovelace before reading this story so I found it fascinating. She was quite ahead of her time in the way she thought about machines. Many of her ideas, such as machines that can create music or art, can be done today with our phones. Though she couldn’t get credit for her work during her lifetime, we now know what she was capable of creating.
This book also has some fun codes and activities that kids will enjoy doing!
Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code is an inspiring story for children and adults!
Thank you Rebel Girls for providing a digital copy of this book.
Have you read Doctor Who: Origins? What did you think of it?
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