Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

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Publication date: 1999; 2010 (this edition)
Publisher: Ember
Pages: 203
My rating: 3 stars
Ages: 12+

Blamed with her mother's death, Adeline Yen was treated as the lowest of the low in her family. Left at boarding school and forgotten, she was able to flee to Hong Kong just ahead of the communists. Trying to prove herself to her family and schoolmates, Adeline works hard to get good grades and earn a place in the world and her family.

This gives an interesting look at pre-communist China from the view of a child. There was also a lot about the Chinese written language and how it work (which was really fascinating).

It was a little juvenile, but that just made it easy to understand and more approachable for the audience that I believe Mah was writing for. The children who are ignored or blamed for things they had no choice in.

It was sad, but optimistic. Mah didn't seem to let the situations of her childhood negatively affect her. Instead, she worked hard and remained optimistic. This is probably because she had at least one adult who believed in her.

No language or sex.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

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Publication date: 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 291
My rating: 3 stars
Ages: 17+

Beatrix wants to be the next great anatomical artist and to do that she wants to do what da Vinci did and study real bodies. Jack is charming, ridiculously handsome, and . . . maybe a criminal. A chance meeting turns into something mutually beneficial, and then even more. But each has baggage that could interfere with their newfound romance. Can the heart actually break?

This was a somewhat standard teen romance novel. The writing was good, nothing was really off, but I can't say that it was something that stuck around with me after reading it, but it was entertaining to read and had interesting characters and intriguing conflict.

I had never thought about the fact that all those drawings in science textbooks were the hard work of someone studying the human body intensely and thoroughly.

The approach to mental illness was good.

There was some hard swearing and some sex as well as sex talk.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, illust. by Jim Kay

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Publication date: 2011
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 205
My rating: 3.5 stars
Ages: 11+
Awards: Carnegie Medal; Kate Greenaway Medal

One night, after midnight, a monster comes walking. It's not the monster from Conor's nightmares, so Conor isn't frightened. The monster tells Conor three stories in exchange for Conor's truth. But Conor doesn't know what that is and isn't sure he's willing to share.

I think what I liked most about this book is the simple way that it told truths. Villains aren't all bad, heroes aren't always good, and sometimes people leave you. (And now we shall have a sing along to "No One is Alone" from Into the Woods . . .) Ness presents everything in a way that I feel like younger kids would find it approachable.

Ness also includes the themes of acceptance, feeling emotions, and being there for others.

Kay's illustrations were mesmerizing. They showed movement and chaos, like what Conor must be feeling, but could also show stillness and peace. There was an orderliness to the chaos, and I probably could have continued to look at them for a long time to really get the feel of them.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak

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Publication date: 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pages: 329
My rating: 3
stars
Ages: 15+

When Stella meets a cute guy in Starbucks, she doesn't realize that he's the lead singer of the Heartbreakers--the biggest boy group in the world. With her sister sick, Stella doesn't have time to worry about Oliver Perry, especially since he's so famous. But when an opportunity comes to work with the band, Stella isn't sure if she can turn it down. With business and pleasure mixing, along with worry over her sister, Stella is in for an adventure of a lifetime.

This is a nice, fun light read that also deals with some heavier subjects like family, friends, illness, and taking chances. It's nice when something that could just be another teen romance, feeding into the adolescent fantasy of meeting someone famous, is actually a bit more complex and fleshed out.

Both Stella and Oliver are dealing with fears and insecurities that I think a lot of teens (and adults) are familiar with. And throughout the course of the book, they make progress, with a few setbacks, on overcoming them, which makes for good character growth.

There was some hard language and some mild sexual talk.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

All These Wonders ed. by Catherine Burns

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Publication date: 2017
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Pages: 327
My rating: 5 stars
Ages: 16+

Seeing Pluto for the first time. Surviving a concentration camp. Sharing custody of a dog. Summer camp. Each person has a story to tell, a story to share, about facing the unknown. The Moth has collected these stories into one volume, to share with the world.

I love these slice of life stories. They could be funny, sweet, sad, or happy. Each person shares something from their life that we can all identify with, even if we've never worked with a space craft or was a spy in WWII or been a refugee. But we've all lived life, experiencing new things, encountering death and birth, living through all those moments that make life what it is.

Because these are transcripts of oral stories, the voice of the person is kept intact, in a way that written stories seem to lose. I kept telling my family about certain stories I had read, even reading one out loud in it's entirety to my mom as she made dinner one night ("A Phone Call" from Auburn Sandstrom). Others I just summarized, though I'm sure really poorly.

Well worth reading. These are the things that help us see that we are a human family, connected by the things that are universal.

Some hard language and references to sex.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Season of Daring Greatly by Ellen Emerson White

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Publication date: 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 420
My rating: 2 stars
Ages: 13+

Jill Cafferty has made history as the first woman to be drafted onto a MLB team. That was the easy part. Now she has to deal with her new found stardom, her teammates, and the haters that come with it. Jill isn't sure if she can handle it, or if baseball is worth it.

This book had such great potential. The story of someone making history. . . it could have been such an amazing story. However, right off the bat, I was distracted.

The editing wasn't up to par. Usually I dismiss this as me just being an editor, but it was so prevalent, on every single page, that I just can't this time. Sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, chapter breaks . . . all of it together made it difficult to get into the story.

When I did try to ignore the editing, I started to notice little things about the writing. So much of the book was internal for Jill, but it was written in the third person. Changing it to first person would have made it much more approachable and bring the reader closer to Jill. Then we could have focused more on the difficulties and her insecurities in a better and deeper way. There were also parts of the book that were too long, which, if shortened, would have allowed for other parts to be longer or more fleshed out.

There was some language and sexual discussion.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

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Publication date: 2016
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 436
My rating: 3 stars
Ages: 16+

As a child, Liesl used to pretend to play with the Goblin King. Now she's grown and trying to give her brother the chance she will never have and those games have become hazy memories. Then Liesl's sister, Kathe, is taken Underground and Liesl must save her. The Goblin King, Der Erlkonig, is real, just as their play was. Now, Liesl must play his game to save Kathe, and in the process, accept something in herself she had kept hidden.

This book has a hints of The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, Labyrinth, and Red Riding Hood. It starts out strong, with interesting characters and dilemmas. Liesl is complex, striving for her family and her brother, but dismissing her sister as safe.

Then about half way through, the story started to drag a little. I felt that the same scene seemed to happen about three times, with Liesl expressing the same thoughts and feelings as she had before. The relationship was hot and cold, more complicated than I think it needed to be. Also, there were a couple of times when the tense changed from past to present, and I couldn't make sense why.

The ending, however, was strong, with a bittersweet feel that was a perfect end.

There was some sex, including one scene that was fairly graphic, and some mild language.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.