"The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak" (221). Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone is a YA fantasy set in the Russian-inspired fictional world of Ravka. Ravka was once a great nation, until an impenetrable darkness known as the "Shadow Fold" ripped it in two and turned innocent people into flesh-eating monsters that thrive … Continue reading Shadow and Bone
"May the queens forever rule the day. Together, yet apart" (10). Astrid Scholte's Four Dead Queens is a YA Science Fiction novel that takes place in Quadara: a dystopian world ruled by...wait for it...four queens (!!!). Quadara is separated into four "queendoms," with each "queendom" following a unique set of rules and ways of living: Archia - … Continue reading Four Dead Queens
Does anyone else feel like spring was a blur? How is it June already? How is it summer? So, for the past few months, I've been doing the whole grad school thing while also living the librarian life, which means I didn't get the chance to read as much as I would've liked. Hence the … Continue reading Spring Wrap Up (March-May)
"I am always surprised to discover that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light" (246). Brigid Kemmerer's A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a YA fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast that takes elements from the classic fairy tale we know and love and puts a modern spin on it. In … Continue reading A Curse So Dark and Lonely
"Save the one, save the world" (72). Heather Morris' The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a historical fiction novel based on the true story of Lale Sokolov—a Slovakian Jew and survivor of the Holocaust—who did everything and anything he could to keep himself and the love of his life, Gita, from death. Becoming the concentration camps' … Continue reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz
"The truth often lies, unclaimed, in the middle" (3). Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo) is an adult historical fictional novel that pieces together the story of how a fictional 1970s rock band, Daisy Jones & The Six, rose to become one of the greatest rock … Continue reading Daisy Jones and the Six
My blood is my crime. If you look at it, it's still red. If you touch it, it's still wet. But if you listen to it, it speaks a single name in a pulsing chant. Romanov. Romanov. Romanov. I received a complimentary eARC of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this … Continue reading Romanov
Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis is a YA "dark" fantasy that tells the story of Nedra Byrsstain: a seventeen-year-old who wants nothing more than to study medicinal alchemy in order to stop the spread of a deadly plague that has been sweeping the northern territories of Lunar Island where her family lives. Luck … Continue reading Give the Dark My Love
Alynn the Librarian 