Review: Sage Carrington, Eighth Grade Science Sleuth — By Justin Scott Parr

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com

Title: Sage Carrington, Eighth Grade Science Sleuth

Author: Justin Scott Parr

Rating:  ★★★★☆ (3.5 of 5)

Genre/Pages: MG fiction / 216

Summary: “Every 12-year-old’s two favorite words: Summer vacation. No cold weather. No school. Just months of free time ahead.

Best friends Sage Carrington and Isabel Flores are making the most of their summer break when they discover an antique treasure map near the Washington Monument. But when faced with difficult clues and a bully in the form of Edwin Hooser, the tween girls must use every bit of imagination, drive, and intellect to outsmart Edwin and decipher the map.

Join Sage and Isabel on a journey through the nation’s capital as they try to solve the puzzle and recover a priceless bounty.”

Cover Review: I adore this cover! Every little thing on it comes straight out of the book, and the artwork is amazing! Fabulous attention to detail. 

My Review: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As a nineteen year old, I’m not exactly the target audience for this book, but I read it to my little sister, who enjoyed it. I really have nothing against MG books, and I’ve read and enjoyed many of them, even as an adult, but this one just wasn’t really my style. I’d say it’s aimed more at 6-10, then it is at the typical MG age range of 8-12. Even though the protagonist is a 12 year old, I think the book just seems a bit younger than that.

Characters: The characters were well developed, and fun to read. I especially appreciated the real and hard issues that these characters deal with — bullying, divorce, failure, and cancer, to name a few. However, these issues are dealt with in such a way that they aren’t too intense for a middle grade audience. I think this book actually does a fabulous job of showing young children cope with these issues, and perhaps helping readers to find ways to cope with these or similar issues. The camaraderie and friendship between the two leads is beautiful and reminds me of my own childhood best friends.

Plot: The plot felt a bit all over the place at times, but overall, I think it was fast-paced enough to keep little kid’s attention, even if they can’t quite keep track of all the different things going on. Kids will for sure enjoy following Sage as she goes on her treasure hunt and various science-y adventures. 

Content Advisory: It’s a MG novel. A girl almost drowns in a pool, and a girl also gets in a crash during a soapbox car race.  Deals with topics like divorce, cancer, and bullying.

To Sum It Up: I think as an adult, this book is best read with a young child, rather than just alone. Reading it to a child helps you to enjoy and appreciate it for what it is — a fun story of adventure, friendship, and determination aimed at young children. I recommend this book to readers aged 5-10. 

Review: Blast of the Dragon’s Fury — by L.R.W. Lee

 

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com.

Title: Blast of the Dragon’s Fury (Andy Smithson, #1)

 

Author: L.R.W. Lee

Rating:  ★★★★★ (5 of 5)

Genre/Pages: High Fantasy / 200

Summary: “From the After Life, ten-year-old Andy Smithson’s relatives initiated a curse 500 years ago. Now they no longer agree it should continue and one is willing to sacrifice Andy’s life to end it. Unaware of the disagreement and with no say in the matter, Andy is unexpectedly and magically transported from his home. He finds himself in the Land of Oomaldee, facing mortal danger at every turn as he seeks to find a scale from a rare red dragon, the most ferocious of dragon species, to break the curse and save his life.”

Cover Review: A++ This cover is absolutely beautiful! Low-budget, but compared to mainstream published books, this is the Mona Lisa. (Have you noticed yet that I hate mainstream clipart covers?)

My Review: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. I really did! It took ages for me to get around to reading it, but literally from the first page, I was hooked. This is one of those books where the second you start to read it you get completely transported to a world of ghosts in the afterlife submitting revenge plans to companies and getting authorization from the afterlife government to bring a modern ten year old into a medieval world to break an ancient curse. Crazy, huh? But you kinda fall in love with it immediately. 

Characters: I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical about a ten-year-old protagonist. Most books I read nowadays are YA, where the protagonist is 12 at the very youngest, but usually 16. Often, young characters suffer from a severe lack of realism when they suddenly become master swordsman and battle strategists overnight. But that’s not quite what happened with this book. Yeah, you kinda have to suspend disbelief when dealing with a character this young, but I say go out and hang out with some ten year olds for a while, and maybe it won’t seem quite as unbelievable to you. Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. Now that I have totally derailed this paragraph, I’ll suffice it to say that ALL of these characters were complex, layered, and emotionally engaging. 

Plot: Wow, did I love this book or what? It was like going home to the MG books of my childhood. But I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that even as an adult (still haven’t fully accepted the fact that I’m 19 now) the plot of this MG novel was still wild, fun, and unpredictable. This book was more than just a fun read, though. It was a tale of friendship, of forgiveness, and of redemption. It was an adventure unlike any other. 

Content Advisory: Characters are put in deadly and intense situations. But this book is written for 8-12 year olds, so it’s really not very scary.

To Sum It Up: Do you know a ten year old? If yes, absolutely read this book with them, they will love it! If no, read this book yourself, you will love it! I highly recommend this book for readers 6 and up. 

Review: North of Nowhere — by Liz Kessler

Summary and cover image from goodreads.com. Image links to amazon page

Title: North of Nowhere

Author: Liz Kessler

Rating: ★★★★☆

Pages/Genre: 272 / Fantasy

Summary: The sleepy seaside village of Porthaven hides a mystery: Mia’s grandad has vanished, and nobody knows why. When Mia and her mom rush to Porthaven to help her grandmother, Mia imagines long dreary days with no one to talk to except for the old-time fisherman at her grandparents’ pub. But that’s before Mia finds a diary on an empty, docked fishing boat and starts exchanging notes with a local girl named Dee, a girl who seems much like her. Mia is excited about having a new friend, but why do their plans to meet each other never materialize? And why does Dee claim to be stuck at home due to violent storms when Mia sees only sunny skies? Will Mia be able to solve the mystery of where — and when — her grandfather and friend might be before time and tide forever wash away their futures?

My Review: I adore Liz Kessler, so, obviously, I was psyched when I heard about this book. But then I read the synopsis and *YAWN* instant boredom. Even for a middle grade reader. So I expected to hate this book. I thought it was gonna be your stereotypical girl goes to live with grandparents for vacation, she’s absolutely distraught, because the place doesn’t have internet, coming of age, stupid romance, yada yada yada. But it was LIZ KESSLER. So I had to read it.

Boy, was I glad I did! Everything I listed above? Despite the first chapter, it’s not like that — not at all. It was a mystery. But a fun one. The clues slowly appeared (at first, so subtley that it wasn’t until later you realized they had been there), and throughout the book you’re slowly putting pieces together, until… BAM! MIND. BLOWN.

Content Advisory: It’s a middle grade novel written by an acclaimed middle grade author. Nothing inappropriate at all.

To Sum It Up: Time travel. Never thought it could be accomplished in a way that left me satisfied and without questions. But it was. It was amazing. Fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyable cover-to-cover. A fun, light, read, I recommend North of Nowhere for anyone ages 6+.

Review: Dreamwalker – by Rhys Bowen & C.M. Broyles

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com. Image links to Goodreads book page.

Title: Dreamwalker (Red Dragon Academy, #1)

Author: Rhys Bowen & C.M. Broyles

Amazon. Goodreads.

Summary: Seven children. Seven special powers. One enemy.

Addy is a typical California surfer girl until her mother dies and she is sent to a strange boarding school in Wales, where one hallway leads not to another part of the school but to another universe. Addy has always had vivid dreams. Now it seems this power to dream has made her the enemy of the powerful ruler of Gallia.

How can Addy and her new friends be any match for the powerful Grymur who calls himself The One in a world where nothing makes sense.

If you loved Harry Potter, this is for you.
By New York Times bestselling author and her daughter.

Genre/Pages:  MG Fantasy/284

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 of 5)

My Review:  Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy! Okay, I have a major problem with the marketing of this book right off the bat. Did you catch that last sentence in the synopsis? “If you loved Harry Potter, this is for you.” No. Okay. NEVER EVER do that. Major Marketing Mistake #1: Comparing your book to Harry Potter. You immediately set the expectations so high that it is not physically possible to meet them, and by the time someone starts reading it, they do one of two things: a) compare every aspect to HP and talk about how you just stole the whole story from JKR or b) spend the entire book trying to figure out why on earth it was compared to Harry Potter since all it has in common is an aunt who doesn’t like you and a strange and potentially slightly magical boarding school in Europe. Then they’re slightly disappointed cuz it wasn’t a Harry Potter-esque at all. This was the second type. Comparing yourself to Harry Potter IS unequivocally setting yourself up for failure. Okay, for the rest of the review I refuse to mention Harry Potter, because this book is nothing like HP and shouldn’t be compared to it.

All of that aside, and once I finally got past the confusion and disappointment, I actually really enjoyed this story.

Hero/Heroine: Addy. Well, well, well. Actually I liked Addy. There wasn’t much about her that really stood out, but she was an enjoyable character. She made me laugh. Actually, all of the Seven had really great dialogue. I’d just wished we’d gotten to know some of them a bit better, but what with the length of the book and the fact that it’s definitely a series, it’s understandable. Addy is a California surfer girl with strangely realistic dreams, who finds herself in a strange and potentially magical/dangerous boarding school in Wales. She had a healthy dose of stubborn and sass, but still knew how to handle herself in a tough situation, and valued friends above all else. I really liked her. Great character. There was a lot of great character development and inter-character relations too, all of which I’m VERY excited to see fleshed out more in the coming books.

Plot: I thought that the authors did a really great job with the plot. My absolute favorite element of the writing of this book was the fuzzy line between dream and reality. I absolutely adored it! In fact, this book did a really good job of the slightly controversial “only give your reader as much information as the character has” tactic. A lot of authors can’t pull it off — but these two did! I loved it! It was really great being left in the dark for once, and truly being just as confused and off balance as your characters. And the whole mirror world concept? Very intriguing. I’m looking forward to learning more about it. I found the writing a bit jerky at times, largely due, I expect, to the Writing Duo. But it wasn’t difficult to follow, so it’s all good.

Content Advisory: What’s that MPAA ratings always say? “Some Thematic Elements”? Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s a middle grade novel — there ain’t nothing bad in here.

To Sum it Up: Please. Do not judge this book by it’s lame synopsis. Give it a chance. You’ll probably enjoy it. I really enjoyed it. More than anything else, though, it just whet my appetite. There’s SO MUCH I don’t know. I’m looking forward to learning more in future books! It’s a middle-grade novel. Got a definite Charlie Bone feel to it. It made me really happy to be able to delve back into a Middle-Grade world. I’ve missed those days! Fun, light, story. As long as you expect that going in, you’ll love it. I recommend it to readers 5+.

Have you heard of this book before? Have you read it? Did you like it? 

Review: Blood of Olympus – by Rick Riordan

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com. Image links to goodreads book page.

Title: Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus, #5, AKA BOOK THE END)

Author: Rick Riordan

Summary: Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they’re stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it “might” be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Genre/Pages: Mythological Fantasy/502

Rating: ★★★★★ (5 of 5)

My Review:  For me, the end came quietly. This will not be an all-caps review. My emotions were not all caps. It was a quiet, gentle, agony… but it left almost a sense of peace — definitely a sense of … not happiness … more like, serenity. When I finished it, it wasn’t a throw-the-book-across-the-room-shove-your-face-in-a-pillow-and-scream moment. I gently closed the book, placed it next to me on my bed, laid down, covered my face with a blanket and pillow and softly began to cry as I quietly mumbled nonsensically. Absolutely spoiler-free, it went something like this (add lengthend sylablles and shaky breathes as needed): “and now I’ll never know. What if — . What if — . and now I’ll never know. Rick, you’re so mean. why are you so mean, Rick? I’ll never know. It’s over. forever. The end of an era. But, what if — .” It was a daring conclusion, and I’d never read anything like it. It was wholly original. In other words, this was an epic conclusion to a phenomenal series.

Hero/Heroine: Well, there ARE ten main character, so this’ll probably get complicated. Narrators: Piper, Leo, Reyna, Nico, and Jason. Other main characters: Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, and (kinda sorta), Octavian. Rick does a fabulous job of creating separate characters with seperate roles, without getting them confused, or lessening the role of any one character. A lot of people complained that Percy didn’t have a major role. Wellll… he DID get 5 books in PJ&O, Son of Neptune, AND House of Hades. He’s already played the majority of his role in the final stand. The others had to step up. Equal importance does not mean they all have the same job. Okay, off my soapbox. Anyway, this is the first time we get a POV of Reyna and Nico. They were both FABULOUS. I love Reyna. I thought we were allowed to discover a lot of important background info on these characters, they developed greatly. In fact, Rick Riordan responded to a tweet of mine about Reyna:

Plot: It wasn’t as shocking or world shaking as some of his other books have been, but it was still wonderful and perfect, in a completely different way. There was never a dull moment, but the whole book had a sense of EASE to it. I loved how it all went down. It was the perfect balance between the characters, locations, and Points of View. I think Rick did a wonderful job of wrapping up each character’s story, even if they didn’t have a POV. This book was perfect.

Content Advisory: Duh. It’s Rick Riordan. There’s nothing bad. It’s intense, there are a some teenage deaths, but nothing horrible. 

To Sum it Up: Just read it, alright? Give it a chance. There may have been a few things I didn’t ADORE about the book, or things I wish could have happened, but Rick knows best. It was all perfect. So perfect. I love this world. This series. This is the end of an era. My childhood. It’s over.

Something new I’m starting: Using Reenin from Deviantart’s sketch Reading Zone, as a guide, I will determine which Reading Posture I was using during this book. :)

Blood of Olympus Reading Posture: Lost to Reality Reading

Click here to see Reenin’s sketch on Deviantart!

Have you heard of this book before? Have you read it? Did you like it? 

Review: Temping Fate – by Esther Friesner

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com. Image links to Goodreads book page.

Title: Temping Fate

Author: Esther M. Friesner

Summary: Until she stumbled upon the Divine Relief Temp Agency, Ilana Newhouse was having a hard time finding a summer job. Apparently, a T-shirt that reads “Orc: The Other Green Meat” isn’t appropriate for an interview. But when she reports for her first day as a temp, Ilana discovers why Divine Relief isn’t shy about hiring someone a little left of ordinary. Ilana is temping for the extraordinary, life-controlling, Greek mythological goddesses, the Fates. Now her summer is going to be less about surviving a stuffy office and more about avoiding being turned into a pig, or worse!

Genre/Pages: Mythology/288

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5 of 5)

My Review:  The premise of this book was TO DIE for. I absolutely adored the world that Esther Friesner created. I mean, how perfect is it? The gods (and other mythological characters) hire high school students to temp/intern for them?! That wasn’t a very good description, but, seriously, this world is THE BEST. I’m in love with it. It was a completely new twist on Greek Mythology in Modern Day. It’s nothing like Percy Jackson, but I feel it will appeal to a lot of the same type of people. This is definitely NOT a book that a boy would enjoy. I can think of absolutely zero guys I would recommend this too. 

Hero/Heroine: Ilana: Ugh. In Friesner’s attempt to create a feminist strong female character… she ended up creating a stubborn, whiny, and incredibly arrogant teenage girl =who spent all her time talking about how tough and stubborn she was, and how much everybody hated her that nearly every time she talked I just rolled my eyes and sighed. She was a decent character, but had a far to high an opinion of herself and how much the world hated her. Not Friesner’s best character, but still enjoyable.

Plot: Ehhh… As I said. Sold on the world. Loved it. That’s the real reason this book has such a high rating. Cuz honestly… The characters? Wasn’t really a huge fan. The sexism? Hated it. The plot? It was… meh. It was a fun plot, and an enjoyable one in the moment.  But it’s one of those books, where in retrospect, you just think… Wait. Why did I read that, again? I think that Friesner created an INCREDIBLE world, one with AMAZING potential. And I almost feel like she spent SO MUCH time creating this to die for world, that she just mashed together a few lame plots from various MG fiction novels. It felt very Break-Up Artist meets Gimme a Call… inside a Greek mythological world. The plot (outside of the office) focused almost entirely on the wedding planning and bridezilla-ness of Ilana’s sister. Been there, read that. Watching her sister’s backstory unfold was fascinating, to say the least. I found it very intriguing how all the pieces of the story fit together. I did enjoy the ending of the book, even though the “big reveal” was one of those “really?” *smh* moments. If a sequel ever came out, I would read it, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of this plot. I also found it a bit feminist heavy (Don’t get me wrong, I am a teenage girl), however, I felt that this book was very degrading to men, and by extent very offensive to anyone with an honorable man in their life. All of the male characters were solely there for the purposes of a love interest, and most all of them were pathetic. A bit too much Female superiorty, and not enough gender equality. I was very disappointed.

Content Advisory: A handful of minor cuss words. (B-, D-, H-, S-). Some thematic elements. A Greek god is naked at one point. Very sexist and offensive at times.

To Sum it Up: All of that last paragraph aside, I did enjoy this book. It was a fun, fluffy, read, and a fresh, new take on modern day Greek mythology. I recommend it to anyone looking for a little-thought required book who is over the age of 10+.

Have you heard of this book before? Have you read it? Did you like it? 

Review: Wednesdays in the Tower – By Jessica Day George

Cover image and summary from goodreads.com. Cover links to goodreads book page.

Title: Wednesdays in the Tower Author: Jessica Day George Summary: A castle that is constantly rearranging itself, and a young royal family sworn to protect it… Celie, Rolf, and their beloved Castle Glower are back in this exciting sequel. Strange things are afoot in Castle Glower: new rooms, corridors, and even stables keep arriving, even when they aren’t needed. Celie’s brother Bran, the new Royal Wizard, has his hands full cataloguing an entire storeroom full of exotic and highly dangerous weapons, while Celie has her hands full . . . raising the creature that hatches from a giant egg she finds! Will they be able to find out what’s making the Castle behave this way in time?

Genre/Pages: Fantasy/235

Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5 of 5)

My Review: Sequel to the fantastic children’s (middle-grade) novel Tuesdays at the Castle, I had high expectations for Wednesdays in the Tower. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, and overall, I definitely liked the 1st book better, pace-wise.

That aside, however, I still thorougly enjoyed this book. It was great getting to come back to Celie and Castle Glower (and even Rufus!), and it was still exciting , overall. It just took a while to get to the climax, which was then almost rushed (or maybe I was just speed reading. Hm.).

The plot twist was entirely unexpected. I can guarantee to you that I NEVER EVER saw that one coming. This book did a lot more world-building then the last one, and I LOVED it! As you probably know, one of my favorite parts of books is the world building. I absolutely adore world-building. And the characters! They were just as great (if not better) than in Tuesdays. My favorite would definitely be Bran. Celie’s great too, though.

Content Advisory: Absolutely nothing. Wednesdays in the Tower is a completely clean middle-grade novel.

To Sum it Up: Fun, exciting, humorous, and clever, Wednesdays at the Tower is very Jessica Day George. AND THE ENDING! She’s just evil. Pure evil. I will absolutely DIE if I can’t read the next book! I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait that long. Awful cliff-hanger, just FYI. I highly recommend this book to ages 6-Adult. Fun for the whole family!

Have you heard of this book before? Have you read it? Did you like it? 

Update on ARC AUGUST:

I’m currently in the middle of reading The Ifs by J.D. Pooker.