Category: Fantasy

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BOOK TOUR: The Rat Queen

The Rat Queen by Pete Hautman

From National Book Award winner Pete Hautman comes a mysterious modern-day fairy tale about developing a moral compass—and the slippery nature of conscience.

For Annie’s tenth birthday, her papa gives her a pad of paper, some colored pencils, and the Klimas family secret. It’s called the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Every time Annie misbehaves, she has to write down her transgression and stick the paper into a hidey-hole in the floor of their house. But Annie’s inheritance has a dark side: with each paper fed to the burna, she feels less guilty about the mean things she says and does. As a plague of rats threatens her small suburban town and the mystery of her birthright grows, Annie—caught in a cycle of purging her misdeeds—begins to stop growing. It is only when she travels to her family’s home country of Litvania to learn more about the burna that Annie uncovers the magnitude of the truth. Gripping and emotionally complex, Pete Hautman’s inventive yarn for middle-grade readers draws on magical realism to explore coming of age and the path to moral responsibility.

Thank you to @candlewickpress for sending me a copy of the book and teaming up with me for a great giveaway! Check out how to enter below:

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win a copy of The Rat Queen

– follow me, @candlewickpress and @storygramkids on Instagram

– tag a friend in the comments

For An EXTRA entry

– visit @busymomsreadtoo tomorrow and repeat these steps!

RULES

– Giveaway will end Nov 21st at midnight EST

– US Only

– not affiliated with Instagram

-must be 18 or have parents permission

-must be a public account

#TheRatQueenTour #TheRatQueen #PeteHautman #candlewickpress #storygramkids #booktour

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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in the Mexican Yucatán, this is a story about a mad scientist, his human-hybrid creations, and his insidious intentions. It is also an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, but with a fresh feminist perspective.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Historical Fiction | Science Fiction | Horror

Doctor Moreau is a man of science and a purported man of God. Ironically, and hypocritically, though, he uses scientific experiments to play god over his creations, animal-human hybrids who he and his patron hope to use for slave labor. When the doctors daughter Carlotta starts asking questions about the world she has always known, she discovers a tangled web of secrets and lies—and must decide which side she wants to be on.

“Her whole life had been a pretty fiction, a story the doctor had spun.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

In SMG style, this story is oozing with gothic language, vintage fashion, complex characters, fast-paced action, and sizzling romance.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my auto-buy authors because everything she writes is golden. She uses beautiful images and paints stunning magical settings just with a few words. I love her style, and The Daughter of Dr. Moreau is as good as Moreno-Garcia’s previous works. I especially loved Mexican Gothic, and Gods of Jade and Shadow. This is yet another great and amazing tale from one of the greatest storytellers of our Generation.

Thank you to Netgalley for gifting me an eARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Marple: 12 New Mysteries

For the first time in 45 years, Agatha Christie’s beloved character Miss Marple returns to the page for a globe-trotting tour of crime and detection. This wonderful collection is written by all of the newest greats: Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware join Agatha Christie to create a new compendium of Miss Marple’s adventures.

Agatha Christie is quite literally the best-selling novelist of all time (outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare). She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, 19 of which feature Miss Jane Marple as the MC. She is one of Christie’s best-known characters. Because she has such a strong personality and style, it is difficult to replicate her character in a way that stays true to Agatha Christie.

Unfortunately for me, I did not love it as a collection. I really wanted to like it. I tried for a few weeks to read this and set it aside each time, hoping it would get better, and it never did. I really wanted to DNF it, but because I like some of the authors I decided to push through, and luckily libro.fm came through with a September ALC, so I was able to finish it on audio. I think that the authors had a hard time duplicating her character at best, and disrespectfully bungled her character at worst. Though there were a couple of standout stories that I did enjoy: Jean Kwok’s The Jade Emperess, Naomi Alderman’s The Open Mind, and Natalie Haynes’ The Unravelling were among my favorites.

Because each author has their own idea of Miss Marple, IMO, they did not align with the real Miss Marple, or with Agatha Christies writing. There was too much variety for me to believe it was the same character, and each author’s creative liberties clashed too much to be a cohesive collection. The essence of Miss Marple herself became muddled, as if there were too many cooks in the kitchen. This is the limitation with short story collections, and sadly it just wasn’t for me.

While some of the stories may have been “fine”, all this collection of stories did was prove that Miss Marple could only be written by Agatha Christie.

Thank you to William Morrow – HarperCollins for sending me an Advance Reading Copy of this title. All opinions are my own.

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BOOK TOUR: Happily Ever Island by Crystal Cestari

Welcome to Happily Ever Island, the most pixie-dusted vacation a Disney fan could ever imagine.

Head-in-the-clouds romantic Madison and driven pragmatist Lanie are unlikely best friends, but the two would do anything for each other. So when Madison’s life starts to fall apart, Lanie agrees to join Madison for the test run of Disney’s newest resort experience during their first college spring break: Happily Ever Island—an immersive vacation destination, where guests can become their favorite Disney character for a week. Madison decides to go as the iconic princess herself, Cinderella, with Lanie as bow-wielding Merida. It’s not Lanie’s idea of fun, but she knows Madison needs her, and besides, she could use the break from her strenuous courseload anyway. Plus, maybe she’ll get to shoot things.

But once on the island, Lanie and Madison begin to drift apart. Madison finds herself either missing out or messing up all the enchanting moments she has dreamt her whole life about, and is forever running into their annoyingly perfect (and distractingly cute) vacation’s coordinator, Val. Meanwhile, Lanie unexpectedly finds herself swept up in the magic of it all. She strikes up a secret romance with Prince Charming—but there’s no telling whether he’s just playing a part.

In this delightful YA rom-com inspired by Disney fandom, get swept up in a whirlwind of laughter, tears, and more than just a touch of Disney magic.

Thank you to @disneybooks for sending me a copy of the book and teaming up with me for a great giveaway! Check out how to enter below:

GIVEAWAY
Enter on Bookstagram to win a copy of Happily Ever Island!

TO ENTER
– follow @rosesandreviews (me), @crystalcestari, @disneybooks, and @storygramtours
– like my Happily Ever Island Giveaway Post on Instagram here
– tag a friend or two who you think will be interested!

RULES
– Giveaway will end Aug 15th at midnight EST
– US ONLY
– not affiliated with Instagram
-must be 18 or have parents permission
-must be a public account

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I, Antigone

As a classicist, I am a big fan of Greek myth retellings, and I am happy for every chance I get to read them. In I, Antigone, Carlo Gébler paints a beautiful picture of a world filled with Kings and Queens of the ages, and brings a new twist to one of the oldest stories in the world, the story of Thebes. If you thought you knew the whole story, think again.

Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC. Of the three Theban plays, Antigone is the third in order of the events depicted in the plays, but it is the first that was written. The play expands on the Theban legend that predates it, and I, Antigone is written in the same spirit for a modern audience.

Most modern myths have many versions and variations, and will pull from various sources like Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles. I was interested to see which myths Carlo Gébler would include in Antigone’s world. I was excited to find the author took inspiration from various sources and included many gods and goddesses into the story, all while giving them a modern spin.

With this books we get many stories in one. Many myths make up the grander tale of the Greek king, Oedipus. Within the story of Oedipus, we also get the stories of Europa and the bull; their children Minos and Adamanthus; Cadmus’ search for his sister Europa, and his founding the founding of the great city Thebes; how Cadmus’ great-grandson Laius became king at Thebes, and how he brought a great curse upon his line.

Retellings of the Greek myths and legends are really popular right now, and I, Antigone is a great read for fans of Madeline Miller and Scarlett St. Claire.

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A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson

This book reimagines the lives of Dracula’s brides, and tells the story from their perspective. Reminiscent of a love letter from the past, the language and imagery is dark and hauntingly beautiful.

Part 1 is eerily relevant reading during this pandemic. “Plaugetime is different. It stretches and looms.” When she talks about the ways the plague affected their community, I was reminded of the current Coronacirus epidemic and I felt more connected to history. “The world we had all known, it seemed, was drawing to a close.” Pandemics are nothing new: humans have been surviving deadly epidemics for centuries. And we always manage to come together to fight the problem as one collective group, overcome the hardships we face, and ultimately survive.

“Those years are a dark smear across my memory, everything feels blurry and hollow. Plague drains not only victims, but while cities of life. It freezes trade, decays parishes, forbids lovemaking, turns childbearing into a dance with death. Most of all, it steals time.”

Continue reading “A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson”
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Cazadora by Romina Garber

The Cazadora cover, featuring a girl, Manu, being split in two by her inner wolf. Manu's hair grows into wild foliage, all set against a bloodred background.

Cazadora by Romina Garber

Magical Realism | Fantasy | YA

If you enjoy magical realism, you will love Romina Garber’s newest book in the Wolves of No World series. Netgalley gifted me a free e-ARC of the sequel, Cazadora, and I was so excited to jump in and finish the series! In the follow-up to Lobizona, Romina Garber continues to weave Argentine folklore and real-world issues into a haunting, fantastical, and romantic story that will reunite readers with Manu and her friends as they continue to fight for a better future.

“That’s why every new generation makes improvements.”

First of all, I love that this book was filled with Spanish aphorisms and phrases, and includes vocabulary in-context to help teach Spanish to non-speakers. As someone who is constantly trying to improve my Spanish, this is something I really appreciate seeing in new books. Garber does it well, allowing the reader to infer meaning from context clues without needing to use a translator. However, I can also really appreciate having the translation dictionary available if I do need it, conveniently built into my e-reader. It saves a lot of time not having to click out of the book, and as a visual learner I enjoy seeing side-by-side translations because it really helps me to understand spelling and pronunciation.

Continue reading “Cazadora by Romina Garber”
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Aridane by Jennifer Saint

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I am a huge fan of Greek myth retellings so I was really excited to get the chance to read this story. I have seen it around bookstagram and the first thing that drew me to it was the beautiful cover art, but what kept me hooked was the story. Jennifer Saint weaves a wonderful tale full of of heroes and monsters, and brings a new twist to a classic myth. If you thought you knew the whole story, think again. Beautifully written and utterly captivating, Jennifer Saint builds a magical world for the sisters Ariadne and Phaedra to grow and discover themselves.

“To me, running through the maze of my home, it looked like a butterfly. And it was a butterfly I would imagine as I emerged from the dim cocoon of the palace interior to the glorious expanse of the sun-drenched courtyard.”

Retellings of the Greek myths and legends are really popular right now, and Ariadne is a great read for fans of Madeline Miller and Scarlett St. Claire. Most modern myths have many versions and variations, and will pull from various sources like Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles. As a lover of Greek mythology, I was interested to see which myths Jennifer Saint would include in the world she created for Ariadne. I was excited to find the author took inspiration from various sources and included many gods and goddesses into the story, all while giving them a modern twist.

Continue reading “Aridane by Jennifer Saint”
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A Lobizona Reading List

I love when books name-drop other books. Not only is it a great way to introduce readers to classics, but it instantly forges connections between the works, and it is like the authors are having a conversation with each other. By mentioning another work, you  instantly draw similar themes to mind, and in that way one author responds to another’s ideas. 

lobizonaThis book did an amazing job with this. Romina Garber used Lobizona as a platform for introducing young readers to Latin classics, and I will be looking forward to more book recommendations in the next installment of the series, Cazadora, which is set to be released in August.

“Falling hopelessly into the world of a story was always my favorite feeling.”

Manu’s character is very well-read. Her homeschooling allowed her plenty of time and enough freedom to read through both a traditional course list of white-washed classics, as well as Perla’s essential Latinx recommendations (with room to spare for Harry Potter!). For a teen, that is pretty diverse.

As I was reading, I thought it would be so fun to join a book club with Manu! So I put together a list of all of Manuela’s favorites. Keep reading to find out what Manu is reading — but be careful, because they are all still banned in Lunaris!

cienanosOne Hundred Years of Solitude

“I’ve been trying to read Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece as slowly as possible so I can relish the writing, but it’s so good that I’m already two-thirds of the way through.”

First of all, this specific quote is relatable AF. I can’t even count how many times I have had this experience while reading! And I love that I can connect with Manu’s character over our love of books.

Second, I love that this book is referenced so many times. The hidden town of Macondo is a great parallel for the secret world of Lunaris. For years the town is solitary and unconnected to the outside world, similar to Manu’s sheltered upbringing. Inevitably, Macondo becomes exposed to the outside world, again like Manu. Eventually, Manu and Lunaris’ secrets are revealed, and I won’t spoil the endings, but I can see some foreshadowing happening here!

Continue reading “A Lobizona Reading List”

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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic: Moreno-Garcia, Silvia: 9780525620785: Amazon.com: Books

This was a rather disturbing read, to be honest. I think it needs a trigger warning: there is drug use, rape, cults, suicide … but the imagery is beautiful, and the symbolism is on-point. The pictures that Moreno-García paints are stunning, vivid, magical. The world building is beautiful, but the magic system was, admittedly, strange. Even though it was a bit of my comfort zone at times, I really enjoyed the story.

Mexican Gothic takes us back in time to an old-fashioned world, where women are painted as mercurial and melodramatic, and expected to “mind [their] words and learn [their] place”. In an old house darkened by rotting memories, the inhabitants desperately cling to the past. But Noemí Taboada is a modern woman, a bright light, and she will do anything in her power to save her cousin Catalina from wasting away into the darkness. But is she strong enough to save Catalina from the gloom that engulfs High Hill?

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Continue reading “Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia”
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Mexican Gothic

Mexican Gothic: Moreno-Garcia, Silvia: 9780525620785: Amazon.com: Books

This was a rather disturbing read, to be honest. I think it needs a trigger warning: there is drug use, rape, cults, suicide … but the imagery is beautiful, and the symbolism is on-point. The pictures that Moreno-García paints are stunning, vivid, magical. The world building is beautiful, but the magic system was, admittedly, strange. Even though it was a bit of my comfort zone at times, I really enjoyed the story.

Mexican Gothic takes us back in time to an old-fashioned world, where women are painted as mercurial and melodramatic, and expected to “mind [their] words and learn [their] place”. In an old house darkened by rotting memories, the inhabitants desperately cling to the past. But Noemí Taboada is a modern woman, a bright light, and she will do anything in her power to save her cousin Catalina from wasting away into the darkness. But is she strong enough to save Catalina from the gloom that engulfs High Hill?

Continue reading “Mexican Gothic”
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Midnight Sun *spoilers ahead*

I saw a lot of opinions on this book, and I had worries going into it, but I honestly thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

First of all, it is fiction. We aren’t vampires, and nothing is perfect. Including Meyer’s writing. But, despite the problems with this series, it was an entertaining story and I had a good time reading it. I loved the nostalgia and the extra detail we got about Edward’s life, and that’s what makes this book a good read. And, even though Edward is a crazy vampire stalker, we know from the original books that Bella truly loved him back. And I just love a good love story!

But there is so much to unpack in this book. Lets get the problematic statements out of the way. Edwards exclusionary “you don’t belong here” comments. His true belief that humans are not “equal” to vampires. The obsessed vampire stalking. None of that behavior is acceptable, and I can understand why there is criticism around this book. But I enjoyed Midnight Sun for what it was, a new chapter to Edward and Bella’s story.

It had a very Anne Rice vibe to the writing style, with all of Edwards inner dialogue. I have seen a lot of criticism around this particular element of the writing, but I totally understood and appreciated the references to Interview With A Vampire.

I am not a super religious person myself, but I found a lot of religious symbolism in Meyer’s writing. She uses light and dark as symbols for good and bad

The very first page of the book brings up the afterlife and sin. So, I was immediately looking for that as I read through the book. I found lots of religious language, and found references to Edward committing basically all of the 7 Deadly Sins throughout the text. I also found Edward asking all of the existential questions that religion(s) attempt to answer.

“She should have died today, Edward.”

So, the vampires are playing God. Saving Bella’s life. Deciding the rapist should go to jail. Carlisle as a doctor, saving human lives, who believes “every life is precious”, pitted against Jasper’s desire to let fate take its natural course. The fact that Carlisle created another vampire like himself at all is drawing a parallel between God the Father and Carlisle the father. “We tried to live to a higher standard. A gentler, more peaceable standard. Because of our father.” What gives him the authority to make these decisions? What even controls destiny, anyway? Continue reading “Midnight Sun *spoilers ahead*”

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