Espresso Yourself AND Brew Diligence

Espresso Yourself & Brew Diligence

Maya's Blogs books 1 & 2

by Lara McKenzie

 

Super fun snarky blog of a human working in a supernatural coffee shop.

Rating: 5/5 

 

The E.M.M.A. Effect

The E.M.M.A. Effect
by Lia Riley

Avoid! 

Rating: 1/5

The Unteachables

The Unteachables

by Gordon Korman

 

Go Luck Yourself

Go Luck Yourself

by Sara Raasch

 

A satisfactory and fun sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas.

 

Onyx Storm

Onyx Storm

by Rebecca Yarros

 

Review: Meh. Too much stretching, not enough actual plot.

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Snowglobe

Snowglobe

by Soyoung Park

translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort

Eww. AVOID!

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

by Kirsten Miller

3/5

 

A Fate of Wrath and Flame

A Fate of Wrath and Flame

by K.A. Tucker

Tell Me Three Things

Tell Me Three Things

by Julie Buxbaum

10 Things I Hate About Prom

10 Things I Hate About Prom

by Elle Gonzalez Rose

Winter Lost

Winter Lost

by Patricia Briggs

Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing

by Rebecca Yarros

Didn't See That Coming

Didn't See That Coming

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Psyche and Eros

Psyche and Eros

by Luna McNamara

At the Speed of Lies

At the Speed of Lies

by Cindy L. Otis

Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s 

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

I Kill the Mockingbird

I Kill the Mockingbird

by Paul Acampora

Jane & Edward

Jane & Edward

by Melodie Edwards

 

In a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, Jane is the child of a literature professor who died when she was young, forcing Jane to enter the foster system. Years later, Jane leaves waitressing to become a legal assistant to Edward Rosen. The two bond and the story parallels the original tale by Charlotte Brontë.

Final thoughts: Decent retelling with little name drops and Easter eggs from the original story. My biggest problem is the logic issue with how Jane becomes a wealthy woman. It makes absolutely no sense and shows the author doesn't understand college textbook publishing.

Rating: 3.5/5

Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari and the Night Brothers

by B.B. Alston

A few months ago, Amari's brother disappeared and there has been no word what happened to him. After yet another visit from the local police, Amari received an odd briefcase from her brother. In it is a very ugly suit and a pair of goggles. Those goggles show Amari that there is a world all around her that she never knew existed.

Supernatural creatures are real and they live in and amongst regular humans.

With this briefcase also comes the invitation to spend the summer training at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. While Amari is interested in the bureau and its history, she's much more interested in finding out what happened to her brother. She wants to pass the training but only to help her get her brother back.

But her particular gift is illegal and there are many who don't want her to succeed.

Final thoughts: Harry Potter knock off with a great lead character and a decent plot structure but with poor world-building and too many things inserted just to be cute.

Rating: 3/5

Enter the Body

Enter the Body

by Joy McCullough

Under the stage, beneath the trap door, the women of Shakespeare's plays wait to be called up to die again in yet another retelling of their stories. But on this day, three of the women take the time to tell their stories and maybe even change the narratives.

Cordelia, Ophelia, and Juliet share their sides of the stories for which they are famed, while also showing that they are more than what one man put on the page.

Final thoughts: This is a sometimes glorious and sometimes draining read, but the worst of it is the inaccuracy. This is meant to change the course of the lives of the women that Shakespeare created, and I get that. What I don't get is changing the ages of characters. For a fan of The Bard, getting Hamlet's age so terribly wrong is practically a sin. In the play, Hamlet was approximately 30 when his father died, but he is referred to a boy in this book and written like a teen who couldn't become king because of his age (and totally forgetting that Denmark has an ELECTED monarchy, regardless of age). Ophelia is also portrayed as a teen and both of these ages are not only inaccurate, but those errors affect the story McCullough is trying to tell. Let's also add in that McCullough states Ophelia would never have been able to marry Hamlet even though, in the play, Gertrude specifically mentioned that she had hoped Hamlet would marry her. Confusing Rosaline and forgetting that she is a cousin of the Capulets makes the very ending a little incestuous. This might be an interesting addition to the reading list for an Advanced Placement Literature course, but it relies heavily on knowing the original plays and may not be accessible to those who are unfamiliar with Shakespeare's tragedies.

Rating: 2/5