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Showing posts from August, 2021

So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix / Bethany C. Morrow / Book Review

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SO MANY BEGINNINGS: A LITTLE WOMEN REMIX Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March are best friends as much as they are sisters. With the Civil War still raging, they lean on each other for support each and every day. Their lives are tough but so much better than they were before they reached the Roanoke Freedpeople Colony--one of the first of its kind. For the first time, the sisters can see a future for themselves where they can be free to pursue their dreams, however different those dreams may be. Beth is a talented seamstress. Amy loves to dance. Jo has a wit that must be shared with the world. And Meg, teacher to the colony, wants to settle down and have a family all her own--once an impossible dream. And these futures may all be possible--if the war goes the right way. But the freedom these girls have found is tenuous as the war fluctuates. Their colony is safe--for now--but any day, things could change. And not even the Union supports the colonies...

A Dragonbird in the Fern / Laura Rueckert / Book Review

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A DRAGONBIRD IN THE FERN Princess Scilla is dead--murdered--and nobody knows who did it. Scilla can't find peace, can't move on, until there is justice, and her vengeful ghost grows stronger by the day. Princess Jiara wants to set her sister free--and protect her family from the deadly attention of the spirit--and she will do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe and happy. Even if that means marrying her sister's betrothed. Her family needs the strong alliance--and all evidence points to the assassin being part of this foreign court. But Jiara doesn't know the language. Her dyslexia makes it difficult to read in her native tongue, let alone a foreign one, and the customs are strange and foreign to her so far from her family. Worse, her sister's ghost has followed her to her new home, growing more violent by the day--and less able to be reasoned with. And with her sister's killer still out there, nobody is safe--lea...

Six Crimson Cranes / Elizabeth Lim / Book Review

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SIX CRIMSON CRANES As the youngest child and only daughter of the Emperor, Shiori shouldn't have much to worry about. She has six older brothers to worry for her, after all. But that's just on the surface. In reality, Shiori is betrothed to a barbaric lord from the north--whom she has never met. She possesses illegal magic that, at the very least, can bring paper birds to life and could get her killed if discovered. And on top of all that, she's discovered a rogue dragon prince living in the nearby lake. If all of that isn't enough to handle, Shiori discovers her stepmother is in fact a wicked sorceress, and in order to keep her secret safe, the queen curses Shiori and her brothers, banishing them all. Her brothers turned into cranes, Shiori is left penniless and unknown--and without the ability to speak, lest her brothers die. She is determined to break the curse, to bring the truth to light, and to reclaim her family's rightf...

The Sea is Salt and So Am I / Cassandra Hartt / Book Review

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THE SEA IS SALT AND SO AM I West Finch is one hurricane away from falling into the sea, but Harlow Prout is determined to keep her seaside town afloat. She spends her days campaigning, planning, plotting, scheming--all to get the residents on board. But the town itself isn't the only thing at risk of falling beneath the waves. Harlow's best friend Ellis MacQueen is more likely to run from problems than face them, and his twin brother Tommy is knee deep in depression, one wave from being overwhelmed. When a potentially-devastating storm hits West Finch, Tommy sets out on a swim he doesn't plan to return from. The waves come crashing, threatening life as Harlow knows it. But then the storm ends. The sun returns, and Tommy returns, too, an unlikely rescue. This rescue changes everything between Harlow and the twins. Nothing stays secret long in this small town. PROS Ocean Love This book ...