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 The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter.
Goodreads Synopsis:
A creepy, mysterious dollhouse takes center stage in this atmospheric middle-grade mystery for fans of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.
Alice’s world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they’ve cancelled their yearly cottage trip — the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice’s mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady.
The house is huge, imposing and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect — not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that’s an exact replica of the house she’s living in. Then she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed — a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse . . .
When the dollhouse starts to change when Alice isn’t looking, she knows she has to solve the mystery. Who are the girls in the dollhouse? What happened to them? And what is their connection to the mean and mysterious woman who owns the house?
Title: The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Graphic Retelling of The Secret Garden Author: Ivy Noelle Weir, Amber Padilla (illustrator) Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Contemporary Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: October 19, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The Secret Garden with a twist: in this follow-up to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, this full-color graphic novel moves Mary Lennox to a New York City brownstone, where she and her very first group of friends restore an abandoned rooftop garden…and her uncle’s heart.
Mary Lennox is a loner living in Silicon Valley. With her parents always working, video game and tech become her main source of entertainment and “friends.” When her parents pass away in a tragic accident, she moves to New York City to live with her uncle who she barely knows, and to her surprise, keeps a gadget free home. Looking for comfort in this strange, new reality, Mary discovers an abandoned rooftop garden and an even bigger secret…her cousin who suffers from anxiety. With the help of her new friends, Colin and Dickon, Mary works to restore the garden to its former glory while also learning to grieve, build real friendships, and grow.
Review:
After her parents died suddenly in a car accident, Mary Lennox moved to New York to live at her uncle’s home. Her uncle has traveled constantly for work since his husband died, so Mary is left with his housekeeper and neighbour. While she’s exploring the house, Mary discovers a hidden garden that used to be tended to by her uncle’s husband. She also finds her uncle’s son, Colin, who is kept away in his room because he suffers from anxiety and panic disorder. Along with her other new friend Dickon, Mary helps rebuild the garden and learn how to grieve.
I haven’t read The Secret Garden since I was a kid, so I don’t remember the story very well. I’m sure a lot was changed in this adaptation to make it modern. Mary came from a high tech home in Silicon Valley, and she had to get used to life in New York. One thing I didn’t understand was why she didn’t start school right away since she moved there in the winter. Her uncle mentioned her starting school in the fall, and once Mary said something about online school, but it was strange that she would have been out of school for so long.
I appreciated the representation of anxiety and panic disorder in this book. Colin was kept away from the rest of the house because he was so anxious. The anxiety started after his father died. It was difficult for others to understand his feelings at first, because the doctors said there wasn’t anything physically wrong with him, though he felt pain in his chest when he experienced anxiety. Luckily, Mary figured out a way to help Colin manage his anxiety and live a fuller life.
The Secret Garden on 81st Street is a great, modern adaptation.
Thank you Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero, Bre Indigo (illustrations)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
About the author:
LIvy Noelle Weir is a writer of comics and prose. She is the co-creator of the Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning graphic novel Archival Quality (Oni Press), the upcoming The Secret Garden on 81st Street (Little, Brown for Young Readers), and her writing has appeared in anthologies such as Princeless: Girls Rock (Action Lab Entertainment) and Dead Beats (A Wave Blue World). She lives in the greater Boston area with her husband and their two tiny, weird dogs.
Title: Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3) Author: Sarah J. Maas Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy Publisher: Random House Source: Purchased Format: Hardcover Release Date: August 7, 2018 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
When the Bat’s away, the Cat will play. It’s time to see how many lives this cat really has. . . .
Two years after escaping Gotham City’s slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking.
Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing’s undoing.
Review:
When Selina Kyle was growing up, she had the responsibility of taking care of her sister who has cystic fibrosis. She learned to fight, and made money by fighting for Carmine Falcone, until she was eventually caught and sent away to an assassin training facility. Now, two years later, Selina has returned to Gotham City as the wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She plans on stealing what she can from Gotham’s wealthiest residents. Batman just happens to be out of town, but he’s left his friend Batwing in charge. Luke Fox, aka Batwing, is Holly’s new neighbour and the son of one of the wealthiest families in Gotham. Batwing takes on the newest thief in Gotham, Catwoman, and tries to stop her before she destroys the town.
This is a great origin story for Catwoman. I haven’t read a Catwoman comic, so I was fairly new to the character. What sold me on the story is that she teams up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, my favourite comic character. Those two villains were Catwoman’s connection to the worst criminals in Gotham, which increased her threatening power.
This story had some serious moments. At the beginning, Selina was taking care of her sister alone as a teenager. Her sister was sick, and they couldn’t afford the extensive medical care she needed. They had an abusive mother who abandoned them and they didn’t know their fathers. This was, unfortunately, a realistic side of the story, but Selina eventually got her vengeance on that society.
Catwoman: Soulstealer is a great DC Comics story!
What to read next:
Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas, Louise Simonson, Samantha Dodge
Rebel Girls Champions: 25 Tales of Unstoppable Athletescelebrates the stories of 25 phenomenal women in sports all written in fairy tale form. It is part of the award-winning Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series.
This paperback collection showcases some of the most beloved stories from the first three volumes of the New York Times best-selling series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. It also features brand new tales of game-changing athletes and their drive, resilience, and sportsmanship. In Rebel Girls Champions, young readers can win the World Cup with Megan Rapinoe, flip and tumble with Simone Biles, and land breathtaking snowboard tricks with Chloe Kim.
Coming out directly after the Tokyo Olympics, Rebel Girls Champions will include the most thrilling anecdotes from the 2021 Games.
The exciting, easy-to-read text is paired with colorful full-page portraits created by female artists from all around the world
Review:
This book gives descriptions of 25 women who are accomplished athletes. These women have broken records and made changes in their sports.
The stories in this book were very current. Many of the athletes mentioned appeared in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Those games were referenced multiple times, including Hidilyn Diaz, a weightlifter from the Philippines who broke an Olympic record, and Simone Biles, an American gymnast who made the tough decision to take care of her mental and physical health and step back from the Olympics.
This is an inspiring children’s book!
Thank you Rebel Girls for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Rebel Girls Lead: 25 Tales of Powerful Women by Rebel Girls
Questions for Rebel Girls by Rebel Girls
Have you read Rebel Girls Champions? What did you think of it?
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 The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.
Goodreads Synopsis:
The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.
It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.
The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: Lies My Memory Told Me Author: Sacha Wunsch Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Science Fiction Publisher: Inkyard Press Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: October 19, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From the thrilling voice of Sacha Wunsch comes a heart-stopping psychological mystery in a world where memories can be shared—and one girl can’t trust any of them.
Enhanced Memory changed everything. By sharing someone else’s memory, you can experience anything and everything with no risk at all: learn any skill instantly, travel the world from home, and safeguard all your most treasured secrets forever. Nova’s parents invented this technology, and it’s slowly taking over their lives. Nova doesn’t mind—mostly. She knows Enhanced Memory is a gift.
But Kade says Nova doesn’t know the costs of this technology that’s taken the world by storm. Kade runs a secret vlog cataloging real experiences, is always on the move, and is strangely afraid of Nova—even though she feels more comfortable with him than she ever has with anyone. Suddenly there are things Nova can’t stop noticing: the way her parents don’t meet her eyes anymore, the questions no one wants her to ask, and the relentless feeling that there’s something she’s forgotten…
Review:
Nova’s parents invented Enhanced Memories, which is technology that allows you to instantly gain a memory, including learning a skill, traveling the world, or doing a dangerous activity. Now, people can live through risky activities, such as skydiving or doing drugs, without any dangerous consequences. Though Nova’s parents created Enhanced Memories, she doesn’t know the real impact of this technology on the world. Then, she meets Kade. Kade has an anonymous YouTube account where he does risky activities that are now obsolete since people don’t have to do them to have the experience. Nova and Kade have different opinions on the effects of Enhanced Memory, but she is still drawn to him. When people start treating Nova differently, she starts her own research into what Enhanced Memories, and her parents, are really hiding from her.
This story hooked me right from the start. Immediately, there were things in Nova’s life that didn’t make sense. When she was out with friends, there were people who would approach her, thinking she was someone else. Nova worked part-time in a nursing home with a memory care unit. There were some great practical uses of Enhanced Memory with those patients, since their memories could be saved before they were lost. However, as with all inventions that seem helpful at first, Enhanced Memory was used in harmful ways as well.
Nova was a senior in high school, but the storyline about her school got lost throughout the book. The story focused more on her part time job and her social life. It would have made more sense to have that school storyline continue, since she was still a teenager. I also would have loved to see a longer ending where there was more closure. I really enjoyed this story, and I would love to see what happens next.
Lies My Memory Told Me was a great new YA contemporary novel!
Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
This Is Why We Lie by Gabriella Lepore
This Town Is Not All Right by M.K. Krys
About the author:
Sacha Wunsch grew up dividing her time between the family farm in Canada and traveling to numerous fictional worlds. She was a bookseller before discovering her love of writing mind-twisty novels – which has proved an excellent job since she gets to blame all the TV she watches on her love of storytelling. She now splits her time between the city and the lake, and still travels to made-up worlds as often as she can.
Have you read Lies My Memory Told Me? What did you think of it?
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 Gilded by Marissa Meyer. The expected publication date is November 2, 2021.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times-bestselling author, returns to the fairytale world with this haunting retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.
Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.
Or so everyone believes.
When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her… for a price. Love isn’t meant to be part of the bargain.
Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.
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 Online Resources for Book Lovers. Here’s my list:
Jill's Book Blog 