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

Working as a wench ― i.e. waitress ― at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.

Company policy allows only guys to be knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But the Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight. As other wenches join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they’ll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval―if they don’t get fired first.

Moxie meets A Knight’s Tale as Kit Sweetly slays sexism, bad bosses, and bad luck to become a knight at a medieval-themed restaurant.*

*Summary from Goodreads

Title: The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly
Author: Jamie Pacto
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Targeted Age Range: Young Adult
Representation: Half Indian love interest, Black bisexual side character, transgender minor character, non-binary minor character
Trigger Warnings: Sexism, racism, underage drinking, underage smoking, mentions of sex, transphobia
Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Review: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.*

*Summary from Goodreads

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Review: In Tune by Yeyet Soriano

FIRST SET

Between fulfilling family obligations and navigating the tricky social climate at her private school, Sydney Mendoza tries hard to keep a balance.

Himig Raymundo, on the other hand, knows the feeling of living in the shadow of his successful parents and the agony of being with schoolmates who won’t let him forget it. 

When Sydney and Himig get “volunteered” to be the stars of High School Night by their batchmates who want to see them fail miserably, they band together to prove everyone wrong, and, in the process, find the one silver lining in the prank – each other.

SECOND SET

In the midst of college applications and entrance exams, Sydney finds herself at a crossroads: work abroad to earn money for her family or continue on to college on al all-expense-paid scholarship. Ironically, Himig, the school campus’s reluctant star, becomes the rock that anchors her so she won’t get lost in the fray.

No longer bound in anonymity, Himig gets a chance to finally step out of his famous parents’ shadow and show everyone who he really is, as Sydney reveals to him her most hidden secret*

*Summary from Yeyet Soriano’s website

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Blog Tour & Review: Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher

Thank you so much to The Book Terminal for organizing this blog tour and providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Poppy, Lily, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their best friend, Raven. So when they discovered he was suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they came up with a lethal plan: petals of poppy, belladonna, and lily in her evening tea so she’d never be able to hurt Raven again. But someone got cold feet, the plot faded to a secret of the past, and the group fell apart.

Three years later, on the eve of Raven’s seventeenth birthday, his stepmother turns up dead. But it’s only belladonna found in her tea, and it’s only Belladonna who’s carted off to jail. Desperate for help, Belle reaches out to her estranged friends to prove her innocence. They answer the call, but no one is prepared for what comes next.

Now, everyone has something to lose and something equally dangerous to hide. And when the tangled web of secrets and betrayal is finally unwound, what lies at its heart will change the group forever.*

*Summary copied from Goodreads

Title: Lies Like Poison
Author: Chelsea Pitcher
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing)
Genre: YA, Mystery/Thriller, LGBTQ+
Targeted Age Range: Young Adult
Representation: Transgender main character, black main character, bi/lesbian main characters, black side character, gay side characters
Trigger Warnings: Parental death (on-page), forced starvation, mentions of drug use, homophobia, mentions of abuse (verbal and physical), implications of rape, mentions of suicide, kidnapping
Rating:  ★★★★☆

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Review: The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

“I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they’ll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next.”

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame, and fortune. Yet it’s Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain’s future king. And when Bex can’t resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick’s sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he’s fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she’s sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.*

*Summary from Goodreads

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Spotlight: Where Dreams Descend

October is Filipino American History Month, so I thought that it would only be fitting to spotlight Where Dreams Descend by Filipino-American author Janella Angeles!

From the second I heard about Where Dreams Descend I knew that it was going to be a book that I would love. As a theatre teacher and lover, seeing a book described as Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge and The Night Circus (another one of my favorites!) made me immediately add it to my to be read list and eagerly await the days until its release. However, what made me more excited was seeing that the book was not only written by Filipino-American author, Janella Angeles but that the main character Kallia was also a woman of color. 

Title: Where Dreams Descend
Author: Janella Angeles
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Age Range: Young Adult
Trigger Warnings: alcohol and drinking, mind manipulation, controlling/possessive behavior, misogyny, mentions of blood and injury, missing persons, grief/loss.

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Discussion: Leading an Antiracist Book Club

Real talk: race and discrimination is nothing new. What’s new is that people are having more open conversations about it than they have previously. This year especially there have been many posts with reference links to books, articles, films, documentaries and podcasts,all focused on the topic of race. A common phrase being thrown around is “to educate yourself” and we should, especially if it’s not something that we face daily. We should educate ourselves on things that others face, but sometimes doing so can be difficult especially when doing it alone. I personally am someone who likes to process out loud and likes to do so with others, which is why starting an Antiracist Book Club has been so beneficial for me.

While I am not an expert, nor do I have all the answers, there are many things that I have learned about running an Antiracist Book Club and I wanted to share those tips in the hopes that they encourage others to do the same!

In this post, I’ll discuss things that I have found successful as well as some book recommendations to help you start your own Antiracist Book Club.

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Review: I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan

Hi, all! It’s Caitlyn here! October has begun, and with that means it’s the beginning of All Hallows Reads! If you’re anything like me, you also think that Fall is the perfect time to curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good mystery/thriller, so I’m kicking off the season with a review of the newly released I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan.

In her small town, seventeen-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago, she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again. At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true-crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way. When another little girl goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers, with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much is she willing to reveal about herself in order to uncover the truth? Dee’s about to find out what’s really at stake in unraveling the mystery of the little girls who vanished.*

*Summary copied from Goodreads

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