Jill's Book Blog

Blog Tour Review: To Kiss a Wallflower

Title: To Kiss a Wallflower
Author: Jen Geigle Johnson, Heather B. Moore, Anneka R. Walker
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Mirror Press
Source: Austen Prose
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 21, 2022
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

THE WALLFLOWER’S DANCE by Jen Geigle Johnson
Lottie Hughes likes people, as long as they aren’t too close. Does it bother her that no one asks her to dance? Yes, but she’s not sure how to drum up dance partners when she has almost no dowry, no title, and freezes up when anyone tries to talk to her. When she suddenly inherits a huge amount and is the new center of attention all over London, her secret dreams might come true but also her worst nightmares. Suddenly everyone wants to talk to her. Men ask her to dance. And she is inundated with interested suitors. She fights to stay close to the few friends she knows are true. One man saw her before her life changed forever. But does she want to accept his help when he, too, might be insincere?
LETTERS TO A WALLFLOWER by Heather B. Moore
Ellen might be beautiful and considered a diamond of the first water by Society, but she is so very tired of the pressure to marry a titled gentleman so that her beauty won’t go to waste. When her cousin Dinah dares Ellen to attend a ball with no frills and to stand with the wallflowers, Ellen takes on the dare. What’s in the wager for her? The prize cuttings of her aunt’s extraordinary roses. But what Ellen isn’t expecting is Lord Ravenshire to engage her in the most interesting conversation. When she confesses to him of her opposition in marrying for a title, he confesses his distaste of the London scene. They strike a bargain together, one which will either push them apart or lead to a future sweeter than either of them could have imagined.
TO MARRY A WALLFLOWER by Anneka R. Walker
Charlotte Winters is destined to spinsterhood until she turns down an unwanted proposal and everything changes. With gossip rampant, her father attempts to salvage her reputation by betrothing her to another. Soon she is sent off to her aunt’s to meet Lord Templeton, her intended. Anxiety-ridden, Charlotte begs her aunt to let her observe Lord Templeton from afar before their introduction. She never planned to pretend to be her fictional cousin to learn more about him, or to fall in love with Lord Templeton’s friend in the process. Lord Templeton dreads returning to the empty halls of Newcliff Manor. When his father’s old friend, Mr. Winters reaches out for assistance, Lord Templeton finds himself returning home engaged to a woman he has never met. Desperate to learn more about Miss Winters, he befriends her cousin. He wouldn’t have spoken to her, or lied about his identity, if he’d known the quiet woman would sneak into his heart.

Review:

To Kiss a Wallflower is a collection of three Regency romance short stories:

The Wallflower’s Dance: Lottie has always been a wallflower at dances, but when she suddenly inherits a fortune, all of the eligible suitors want to dance with her. She enlists the help of her best friend, Denny, to figure out who is genuine, but Denny be the man who can sincerely love her.

Letters to a Wallflower: Ellen’s been called the “diamond of the season,” but when her cousin bets her that she can’t attend a dance as a wallflower, Ellen takes up the challenge. Lord Ravenshire is looking for a ticket out of London and the season, so he stages a fake courtship with Ellen to get them both out of their seasonal duties, but they may find the love they didn’t know they were searching for.

To Marry a Wallflower: When Charlotte’s father suddenly arranges a marriage between her and Lord Templeton, she wants to get to know him before they officially meet. Charlotte poses as her cousin, and Lord Templeton poses as his friend, so they can secretly get to know each other, but they end up falling in love along the way.

This was a nice collection of stories about wallflowers. Each story explored a different romance trope: friends to lovers, fake dating, and miscommunication. The main issue I had with these stories is that they were so similar that they blended together. They had similar premises, with the heroine acting as a wallflower but ending up with their love interest in the end, so it’s not surprising they were so much alike. The stories also ended abruptly, like they could have been full length novels, but they were rushed at the end.

This is a good collection for fans of Regency wallflower stories.

Thank you Mirror Press and Austen Prose for providing a digital copy of this book.

Happy Pub Day – June 21

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron

Epically Earnest by Molly Horan

Jumper by Melanie Crowder

A Year to the Day by Robin Benway

The Name She Gave Me by Betty Culley

Never Coming Home by Kate Williams

We Weren’t Looking to Be Found by Stephanie Kuehn

In the Dark We Forget by Sandra SG Wong

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey

Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score

The Missed Connection by Denise Williams

Lies I Tell Myself by Beth Vrabel

The Drowning Sea by Sarah Steward Taylor

The Loophole by Naz Kutub

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun (Onyeka #1)

Title: Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun
Author: Tọlá Okogwu
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: June 14, 2022
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Black Panther meets X-Men in this action-packed and empowering middle grade adventure about a British Nigerian girl who learns that her Afro hair has psychokinetic powers—perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers, The Marvellers, and Rick Riordan!
Onyeka has a lot of hair—the kind that makes strangers stop in the street and her peers whisper behind her back. At least she has Cheyenne, her best friend, who couldn’t care less what other people think. Still, Onyeka has always felt insecure about her vibrant curls…until the day Cheyenne almost drowns and Onyeka’s hair takes on a life of its own, inexplicably pulling Cheyenne from the water.
At home, Onyeka’s mother tells her the shocking truth: Onyeka’s psycho-kinetic powers make her a Solari, one of a secret group of people with super powers unique to Nigeria. Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves embroiled in a momentous battle between truth and lies…

Review:

Onyeka has a lot of hair that is out of control most of the time. One day, when her friend begins to drown, Onyeka swims after her, and her hair somehow pulls them both out. Onyeka’s mother tells her that she’s inherited these special powers from her father, who was a Solari. The Solari are a group of people with super powers in Nigeria. Her mother brings her to Nigeria to find her father and get answers on how to control her newfound power at the Academy of the Sun.

This book is described as Black Panther meets X-Men and that’s the perfect comparison! Most of the story was set in Nigeria, in an advanced school filled with kids who have various super powers. The school was divided in four groups, by the type of power students had. The groups had to compete against each other and all the students had to compete against one another with grades and challenges.

I loved the message that something that was perceived as a weakness is actually strength. Onyeka’s mom had strict rules for how she had to treat her hair. It was often a mess and going in every direction, until she learned how to control it. What she thought was her weakness ended up being the source of her super power.

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is a great start to a middle school adventure series.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of this book.

Review: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)

Title: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #1)
Author: Juno Dawson
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: May 31, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft in this the first installment of this epic fantasy trilogy about a group of childhood friends who are also witches.
If you look hard enough at old photographs, we’re there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.

At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls–Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle–took the oath to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she’s a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.
Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.

Review:

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was established by Queen Elizabeth I to protect her. Now, centuries later, Helena is the High Priestess, leader of the coven. Her friends are: Niamh, a vet who uses her powers to heal animals, Elle, a housewife leading a secret life as a witch, and Leona, who left to create her own intersectional coven. After Helena discovers a young warlock with extraordinary powers they’ve never seen before, she brings him to be trained and examined by Niamh. However, the warlock holds a lot of secrets which threaten to turn the coven upside down.

As soon as I saw this title I knew I needed to read this book, but I went into the story without knowing what it was about. It was a fantastic witchy story that we need right now.

This story explores gender and gender stereotypes. This witch world was divided into female witches and male warlocks with nothing in between. However, when a transgender character entered the novel, it threw some of them off. There was a lot of transphobia which was disturbing to read, but that’s the point. The real world and fictional fantasy worlds have not been nice to transgender people, especially in recent years. This intersectional look at witches was such an important and powerful read.

The final few chapters of this book were completely shocking and unpredictable. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.

Thank you Penguin Books for sending me a copy of this book.

Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)

Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

How far would you go for happily ever after?
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings . . . until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy. . . .

Review:

Evangeline Fox believed in true love and fairy tales, until the love of her life left her to marry her stepsister. To stop the wedding, Evangeline makes a deal with the Prince of Hearts. He asks her to give three kisses, when and where he chooses. However, each kiss leads to danger, so Evangeline’s wish to get her fiancée back will lead to the destruction of many others.

I haven’t read the Caraval series, and I didn’t realize that this book was a spin-off until halfway though. This could be read as a stand-alone story, though there wasn’t much worldbuilding in this book that was probably in the original series. However, I loved this book.

There were so many fairy tale elements in this story that I loved. Evangeline was an orphan who lived with her stepmother and stepsister. There were curses and deals made, with some magic potions involved as well. Though this wasn’t a retelling of a fairy tale, I loved these fairy tale elements in this fantasy story.

Once Upon a Broken Heart is an exciting start to a new series!

Happy Pub Day – June 14

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

Thank You, Next by Andie J. Christopher

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tolá Okogwu

The Edge of Summer by Erica George

The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni

The Sea Knows My Name by Laura Brooke Robson

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos

Rise of the Vicious Princess by C.J. Redwine

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey

Love and Other Great Expectations by Becky Dean

Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie

The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho

Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne

Island Time by Georgia Clark

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach

Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering

The Bridesmaids Union by Jonathan Vatner

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Can You Believe It?: How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts

Title: Can You Believe It?: How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts
Author: Joyce Grant, Kathleen Marcotte (illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Nonfiction
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 7, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

For today’s tech-savvy kids, here’s the go-to resource for navigating what they read on the internet.
Should we believe everything we read online? Definitely not! And this book will tell you why. This fascinating book explores in depth how real journalism is made, what “fake news” is and, most importantly, how to spot the difference. It’s chock-full of practical advice, thought-provoking examples and tons of relevant information on subjects that range from bylines and credible sources to influencers and clickbait. It gives readers context they can use, such as how bias can creep into news reporting, why celebrity posts may not be truthful and why they should be suspicious of anything that makes them feel supersmart. Young people get most of their information online. This must-read guide helps them decide which information they can trust — and which they can’t.
Author and journalist Joyce Grant is an expert on how young people interact with and think about online media. Never judgmental, and often hilarious, she encourages readers to approach what they find online with skepticism and helps them hone their critical thinking skills to make good choices about what to believe and share. Engaging text is broken into manageable chunks, with loads of Kathleen Marcotte’s playful illustrations on every spread to help explain tricky concepts. Two fake articles are deconstructed step by step using the information found in the book, and an additional article allows readers to test their skills. This comprehensive book has strong curriculum connections in language arts and social studies. Endmatter features a glossary, an author’s note, sources and an index.

Review:

Can You Believe It? gives tips on how to spot fake news on the internet. There are tons of fake new articles posted on the internet every day. Some are clickbait, some are satire, but many are complete lies. It’s important to be able to spot them so that lies aren’t spread. This book is a helpful guide for kids (and adults) on how to identify fake news to stop it from spreading.

I’ve been so excited about this book since I found out that my friend Joyce Grant was writing it! Now more than ever, it’s so important to be able to spot fake news articles. There are many lies on the internet and children have so much access to technology, the internet, and fake news. It’s important to teach children critical thinking so they can find reliable news sources.

There were many practical examples of determining if an article is from a reliable source. Joyce referenced a fun Canadian ad for the “house hippo,” which was a tiny hippo that could live in your house, eating peanut butter crumbs and sleeping in shoes. That ad was meant to teach children that not everything that you see on TV is true. The commercial was actually brought back recently in an updated version featuring technology. It was a believable commercial, but obviously we don’t have tiny house hippos hiding in our houses. I loved seeing these kinds of real ads analyzed in this book using the tips on how to spot fake news.

Can You Believe It? is a great resource for children!

Thank you Joyce Grant and Kids Can Press for sending me a copy of this book!

Have you read Can You Believe It? What did you think of it?

Review: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

Title: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
Author: Jen Ferguson
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Heartdrum
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this complex and emotionally resonant novel, debut author Jen Ferguson serves up a powerful story about rage, secrets, and all the spectrums that make up a person—and the sweetness that can still live alongside the bitterest truth.
Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She’ll be working in her family’s ice cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend—whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort—and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word.
But when she gets a letter from her biological father—a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life—Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists.
While King’s friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family’s business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can’t ignore her father forever.

Review:

Lou is spending her last summer before starting university working at her uncles’ ice cream shack on the prairies. Her best friend Florence is working with her, as well as her newly ex-boyfriend Wyatt, who she wasn’t physically attracted to, and her old friend King Nathan, who is visiting from Toronto. One day, she receives a threatening letter from her biological father, who is supposed to be in prison for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, her mother is away for the summer, and she doesn’t want to share her troubles with her uncles who are struggling to pay the bills. Lou finds comfort in reviving her friendship with King, while trying to figure out how to stop her father from destroying her and her family.

This was a very emotional read. Lou had a lot of trauma in her past, from what happened to her mother and generational trauma as a Native woman in Canada. I appreciated that the author had a note at the beginning that warned of some potential triggers that are in the book, and she said it was okay if you couldn’t read it at this time. I tend to avoid emotional reads but after reading that author’s note, I felt like I was in safe hands with this book.

This book dealt with serious issues, such as racism, rape, and sexual assault, but it was written in a beautiful way. Lou was half white and half Métis, so she could pass for white, which she did when she was in school. That was compared to her friend King Nathan, who was Black, and couldn’t pass for white. Lou’s biological father threatened to take her family’s land from them, which reflected the way the land was stolen from the Indigenous peoples in Canada. Though these were serious topics, this story was beautifully crafted.

Most of this book was difficult to read because of the trauma that Lou and her friends faced, and if it’s difficult to read on a page, I can’t imagine what it would feel like to experience these things. At the same time, I’m very glad that this story has been written for a younger generation, and I’m glad that I read it.

Blog Tour Review: Slip

Title: Slip
Author: Marika McCoola, Aatmaja Pandya
Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 7, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From Eisner-Award nominated writer Marika McCoola and debut artist Aatmaja Pandya, an emotional coming-of-age graphic novel for fans of Bloom and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me.
Right before Jade is about to leave for a summer art intensive, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. How is Jade supposed to focus on herself right now?
But at the Art Farm, Jade has artistic opportunities she’s been waiting for her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary. Jade pours herself into making ceramic monsters that vent her stress and insecurities, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens: they come to life. And they’re taking a stand: if Jade won’t confront her problems, her problems are going to confront her, including the scariest of them all—if Jade grows, prospers, and even falls in love this summer, is she leaving Phoebe behind?

Review:

Jade is a young artist who has the opportunity to go to an art camp and possibly get a scholarship to an art school. However, right before she leaves, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. Jade is reluctant to leave her, but Phoebe needs to go into treatment. Jade finds it hard to stop worrying about Phoebe and blaming herself for what happened, but when she reaches deep down for those strong emotions, she can make her best art yet.

Jade’s art form that she created was pottery. I took pottery classes for years, so I loved seeing all of the familiar tools. One tricky thing about pottery is that the creation is partly out of your control when it’s put in the kiln. Jade had to deal with one of her pieces ruining the work of another artist. It’s a tricky art form but can be beautiful.

I appreciated the portrayal of mental health in this graphic novel. Though it doesn’t show the perspective of the person who attempted suicide, we can see the way it affected people around her. Jade blamed herself for not being there for Phoebe and she didn’t want to enjoy her time at the art camp because of it. In this way, Phoebe’s mental health struggles were reflected in Jade.

Slip is a beautiful graphic novel with an important message.

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a digital copy of this book.