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Book Review: Finding Phoebe

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Finding Phoebe
by Ellie Katz

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Coming of age YA drama

Growing up, Phoebe Carasso developed a stutter that made life difficult for her. She survived up to and through high school by relying on her twin brother, David, to talk for her, protect her, and be her best friend. After graduation, David goes to college out of state, while Phoebe is staying near home, thus forcing her to face the world on her own.

The heart of this story is overall well done, with Phoebe learning who she is without her brother and trying to navigate social situations that she used to avoid. Though “avoid” really means that she went to social events with her brother but sat in the corner. What I find the most interesting about this book is the exploration of an introvert that might not be a true introvert, but only became such due to psychological issues. Her stutter does not manifest around people she’s comfortable with, so being around strangers or mere acquaintances, which during her adolescence included everyone outside of her family, she either wouldn’t speak or would give only the shortest of responses when addressed. Thus, she’d be wiped out from every social encounter, which is the mark of an introvert. However, to my mind, at least, when Phoebe gets out into the bigger world, she actually seems quite happy to be around people. Maybe not to the point where she gains energy from it, as an extrovert would, but when she’s mostly with friends and in situations she’s grown comfortable with, she doesn’t seem as sapped of energy when she doesn’t spend as much time trying to avoid stutter. It made me question the source of my own introvertedness, if perhaps it at least wouldn’t be as strong as it is if I didn’t have the social anxiety issues that I have.

On the other side of things, though, this book suffers from being fairly bloated. There is a lot of focus on what is being eaten at meals, on outings Phoebe and various friend groups go on, and on minor details in the plans being made for those outings that are completely unnecessary to the story. By the halfway point, I started to do a lot of skimming when Phoebe and her friends were going to go ice skating or to a museum, and I think the book could have been cut down by at least 100 pages and not suffered any loss to the story and character development.

Phoebe herself comes across as nearly a Mary Sue. Yes, she has a couple of flaws, but outside of her stutter and a stubbornness that crops up close to the end of the book, she’s interested in everything, great at everything she tries, and, even though she spent all of her life until now in silence, somehow a great friend and host without really having to try too hard. She attracts everyone she meets, whether they knew her when she was still quietly sitting in her brother’s shadow or have only met her as she’s tried to break free. And there are times when she is talking to someone she only just met, says more than the 2-3 words that help her avoid her stutter—multiple full sentences that I thought must be a triumph for her, but turned out to not be anything? Maybe she was doing her other trick, very carefully enunciating the words, and the author felt it would be tedious to explain that every single time she did that, but since the alternative is that Phoebe just doesn’t stutter and somehow isn’t aware that she’s managed to avoid it, I think the reminder would have still been helpful.

Due to Phoebe’s tendency to be great at nearly everything she tries her hand at, this book has almost no conflict. Her brother provides most of it, but overall, it feels really shallow and…nice. I don’t know another word for it. Maybe because the book’s author is a psychotherapist, the characters are really good at analyzing themselves and each other (when they get past Phoebe’s stubbornness and take the time to discuss their issues). It just felt overall shallow and unrealistic to me. However, since my issues with the book are probably more based on my own personal preferences as a reader and a writer, if you’re interested in the book, please check out other reviews at the link below.

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

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Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping

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Sunrise on the Reaping
The Hunger Games prequel #2
by Suzanne Collins
Read by Jefferson White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for The Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

I’m just going to say up front that I did not expect to care about this book. Similar to the other prequel, I didn’t think it was necessary. Why do we need to see Haymitch’s games? We already know he wins and we even know how. Why do we need to be shown yet another reaping, another Hunger Games? And hearing my daughter call it “Sunrise on the Weeping” over and over didn’t endear it any more to me—she hadn’t read it yet but had seen that online. I’m not a particularly emotional person, and I dislike it when I feel an author is trying to manipulate my emotions, which is what I anticipated here. I am here to say that I was mostly wrong in all of my assumptions. I even teared up a few times while listening to the audiobook, though still not as much as my daughter did when she read it.

I expected a rehashing of the same basic elements from the first book in the trilogy, but the reaping was different; the training time was different; the Hunger Games were very different. It really is its own story overall, while being connected to the main series and the previous trilogy in ways that I absolutely loved. I’ve seen many TV shows where there’s an episode that shows some time in the past, and the connection between characters that know each other in the main timeline of the show is shown earlier than it should have been and feels awkward and forced. In this book, there are several characters from the main trilogy that show up, and none of it feels awkward and forced (except one, but I can live with that). I really liked seeing everyone that appeared, and their roles brought events from the main series to light more. After my daughter read it, we discussed so many nuances that we both had found in it, and I just really appreciate the continuity and detail that Collins included.

I have to admit that the last part of the book dragged a little for me, but I think that was one of those areas where there was emotion that didn’t affect me like it does others. The epilogue, though, was brilliant! Overall, any issues I had with the book were minor enough that I can’t even bring the rating down half a start. I really liked it and look forward to reading the series again some time to be reminded of some of the related details. I did listen to the audiobook, and Jefferson White was an overall good narrator (though maybe if I’d read it instead of listening to the audiobook, I could have glossed over some of what dragged so much at the end). If you’ve read the main series and aren’t sure about reading this prequel, I’d definitely recommend it, though I highly recommend reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes first if you haven’t yet.

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October in Review

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I read 15 books last month, another higher-than-average month, with a page count only barely lower than last month. It’s been a good stretch of reading for the last 3 months, but that will come to end in here in November, as I spend more time writing and less time reading. With my current rate of listening to audiobooks, though, the number for November might not dip as low as it has when I did NaNoWriMo in the past.

Here are the books I read in October:

Edgeland
Carpenter 20
HTTYD 2
Poirot 20
Maze Cutter
Pennypickle
gambit
Castle in the air
Bleak Creek
7 Things
not-if-i-save-you-first
Lemoncello 2 GN
lost-lt
Sunrise

Edgeland by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski (2.5 / 5)
Dachshund Through the Snow by David Rosenfelt (4 / 5)
How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell (3 / 5)
The Maze Cutter by James Dashner (2 / 5)
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (3.5 / 5)
The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (4 / 5)
Ms. Pennypickle’s Puzzle Quest by Chris Grabenstein (5 / 5)
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones (2 / 5)
The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal (4.5 / 5)
Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible by Michael F. Bird (3 / 5)
And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter (1.5 / 5)
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics: The Graphic Novel by Chris Grabenstein (4.5 / 5)
The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch (5 / 5)
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (5 / 5)

This list includes 3 ARCs and 3 re-reads. My favorite book from October was Sunrise on the Reaping. I started 2 series, continued 4 series, and finished 2 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, the Graphic Novel

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Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, the Graphic Novel
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series
by Chris Grabenstein
illustrated by Douglas Holgate

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Children’s adventure, graphic novel

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.

After their big win in Mr. Lemoncello’s escape game, Team Keeley is challenged by basically every kid in the country. They all want their chance at stardom (starring in commercials for Mr. Lemoncello games) and are unhappy that the contest was so localized. So Mr. Lemoncello grants them their wish, because hey, that means he gets to create more games! The top teams in each region of the country are chosen and invited to Ohio to compete for full college scholarships—against Kyle’s team. The only problem is that Kyle isn’t so sure he’s up to the challenge this time.

I read and reviewed the original book (see review here), so this review is less about the story and content than it is about the graphic novel format. That being said, I enjoyed the story a little more this time than the previous, and I think that might just be because the graphic novel format lends itself so well to this series! Mr. Lemoncello is such a character as it is, and he’s really brought to life in images. (Maybe they should have gone with animation when they made a movie out of the first book.) It’s fun to see the library itself, as well, and being shown the puzzles feels more natural this way (not that I’m complaining about Grabenstein including visual puzzles in the original books). As for this book, though, I think that fans of the series will enjoy this new format, but I’d imagine that the idea for it is more to encourage kids who don’t care to read regular books to pick up this illustrated version and enjoy the story. Since I had already read the original book, I can’t say for sure how the story will come across to a newcomer, but I think it would be a fun read for 8-12-year-olds!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Castle in the Air

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Castle in the Air
Howl’s Moving Castle #2
by Diana Wynne Jones
read by Jenny Sterlin

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

When Abdullah purchases a magical flying carpet, he quickly meets and falls in love with a sheltered princess who is then snatched away by a very powerful creature. In his attempt to rescue her, Abdullah ends up traveling with a band of magical and non-magical creatures alike.

I’m really sad about this follow-up to Howl’s Moving Castle, which overall was an enjoyable, whimsical book with characters that I fell in love with. Though Abdullah grew on me throughout this story, most of the rest of the characters were kind of flat or ended up being…something unexpected. The story is at least as meandering and difficult to follow as its predecessor, but without as much of the charm I enjoyed in the previous book. On top of all of that, I was really surprised by some of the choices Diana Wynne Jones made with this book. Two overweight women are used as compensation and grateful that at least they’re able to get married. In fact, there was so much degradation of women in this book that I kept forgetting that it was published in 1990 and not decades before AND written by a woman. I’m not normally one to point out this kind of thing, but it really threw me off. Plus, I’m not a fan of insta-love, which is a major point in this book.

Because of the connections to the previous book, there was a point nearish the end that I began to speculate about how Howl, Sophie, or even Calcifer might be included in this story, and that probably ended up being my favorite thing about the book. Of course, being near the end of the story, it just wasn’t enough to redeem the rest of the book. And to explain any further would involve spoilers, but I will at least say that I have read many reviews that lamented how little characters from the previous book were involved here, whereas I was pretty satisfied with it overall (after all, this isn’t a continuation of their story, but a separate story that they are involved in, and I think that’s pretty clear from the synopsis). If you read the previous and loved the characters enough to want to see anything else involving them, you might give this book a try. Otherwise, I don’t think there’s much to recommend about this book. There is one more book left in the series, and since it’s also narrated by Jenny Sterlin (who does a spectacular job), I’m looking forward to seeing if the last book brings back the charm of the first.

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Book Review: And to All a Good Bite

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And to All a Good Bite
Andy Carpenter #32
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a man who once saved a puppy from a burning building is arrested for murder a year later, defense attorney Andy Carpenter is a little less reluctant than usual to take his case. A man who can save a dog’s life can’t possibly want to harm a human, right? This case takes Andy into another area that is foreign to him—high end art.

I may have sounded a little snarky in my synopsis, but really, sometimes Andy’s belief in a client’s virtue simply due to how they treat dogs makes me roll my eyes. Still, that doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book (maybe because I’ve gotten so used to the crazy amounts of dog love in this series). I always enjoy Andy’s team, and I liked seeing the inclusion of Corey, a former K-9 cop that is one of the major characters in the spin-off series, The K Team, which I haven’t read yet but plan to start soon. I really liked the angle of Nazi-stolen art in this story, which I felt was a fresh and interesting area to explore for this series. And the conspiracy, though twisty as always, comes together really well in the end.

Andy sarcasm in this book reminded me of why I love these books, and overall, this one ranks up there for me in this series. I don’t know how much longer the series will go on, but it’s good to know that Rosenfelt still brings an enjoyable story 32 books in. And Grover Gardner continues to portray Andy perfectly. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: The Final Gambit

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The Final Gambit
The Inheritance Games #3
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA mystery, romance

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Inheritance Games.

Avery Kylie Grambs is now only weeks away from inheriting the huge estate left to her by a stranger, but not only does she still have to live at Hawthorne House for the rest of that time in order to inherit, she has to survive. When a stranger shows up asking for help, Avery Kylie Grambs may not trust her, but she can’t stop the Hawthorne brothers from forming their own opinions—opinions which may or may not lead to destruction. A very risky gamble.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first 2 books in the series, but I pressed on for my daughter, who considers this one of her favorite books series ever. That is mostly because I was not a fan of the love triangle/romance angle in the first 2 books, which was based way more on physical attraction than I prefer and involved Avery Kylie Grambs toying with the hearts of 2 brothers. In the first couple of books, I assumed Avery Kylie Grambs was going to end up with Grayson Davenport Hawthorne, if only because of romance tropes I’m used to, so I was surprised that she “chose” Jameson Winchester Hawthorne by the end of book 2. I thought that would mean that there would be a lot more angsty romance stuff in this book, but fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as I expected (not that there wasn’t some, though, including weird flashbacks to a scene that I figured I must have forgotten in book 2 but turned out to not actually be in book 2 and eventually, after teasing us about it several times, was shown in its entirety in book 3). But that means that I was able to enjoy this third book more for the puzzles and investigation, which were always the main draw of this series for me.

Though this ended up being my favorite book of the series, I still didn’t love it, and that has a lot to do with the fact that I started to strongly dislike Avery Kylie Grambs in this book. And Grayson Davenport Hawthorne. Though I liked Jameson Winchester Hawthorne more, so I guess the brothers part evens out some. (I still think they’re all ridiculous though). Xander, who has been my favorite Hawthorne brother throughout the series, retains his place and actually has an arc in this book that was one of my favorite things about the series.

Here at the end of the main series, I have to say that I am not much of a fan of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s style. Both her prose style and her overall plotting style. In my review of the previous book, I mentioned that we seem to get an answer for why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire estate to Avery Kylie Grambs, who was a complete stranger to him, making it a very risky gamble, but in the 2nd book, we’re given a different reason, but with half the book to go, we find out that that actually isn’t the reason either, and by the end, I didn’t know if any answers given in that book were “final” or not. Yeah, no, they’re not. It’s one thing to let a story or mystery stretch over 3 books, but it’s a whole other thing to give “fake” answers along the way that are discounted in the next book. I just do not care for that. As for her writing style, if you were at all confused or annoyed by my usage of full names throughout this review, then you understand my feelings. This is not the only time I’ve seen/heard full (either first and last or even first-middle-last) names used in what is supposed to be a romantic setting, and I’d heavily dispute whether there is actually any romance in that. But here, it’s used all through the story, including by the villain, and I’m sure that’s not supposed to be romantic. Even besides that, Barnes has a tendency toward repetition, with phrases, scenes, etc. Like “a very risky gamble” being overstated to death by the end of this book.

I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to continue with the series that follows this one or the bridge book. Part of me feels like it could be better, because the love triangle will be behind us and Avery is in them less, but part of me feels like it could be a waste of time if my other issues with these books persist. I’m interested in one of Barnes’s earlier series, so I may read some of that to see if I can handle reading her books outside of this trilogy. As for this book and series though, I think most people probably won’t be bothered by the same things as me and would enjoy this more than I did. But if you struggle with high-angst love triangles or a love triangle involving siblings (or the normalcy of people who barely know each other sleeping together, which I didn’t even get into in my review), you might want to pass on the story.

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Book Review: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

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Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Hercule Poirot #20
by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I think I’m starting to get burnt out on this series. I spend a lot of time while listening to these books guessing at reasons why each different character could be the murderer. But not using logic and reason within the story, rather I try to figure out which is the least likely or the one that will surprise the me the most, and then try to figure out how and why they might have done it. I’m usually wrong. I’m not sure if enough information is given to the reader to allow us to truly use logic and reason to pinpoint the killer, but even if it were, I’ve never been great at guessing mysteries correctly anyway. That said, I did have a correct guess about the killer in this book, but that’s partly because I’ve been waiting for this particular outcome for several books now.

I did like the overall mystery in the end, and Poirot is in fine form. I miss Hastings though. And I’m noticing more and more than he goes through several “possible” reveals before he gets to the final one, and by the time he gets to the final one, I’ve got mental whiplash. I think he’s telling us the truth, but that’s not it…then maybe it’s this, but no…it’s not. Because of the aforementioned waiting for this type of killer to come up, I know I’ll never forget the outcome of this book, but with others like that, I can’t really remember who ended up being the bad guy. In the end, I liked the book, but maybe I would’ve liked it more if I weren’t listening to them all so closely together. Still, I think this story is worth reading—or listening to the narration by Hugh Fraser, which is as great as ever.

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Book Review: Ms. Pennypickle’s Puzzle Quest

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Ms. Pennypickle’s Puzzle Quest
by Chris Grabenstein

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade adventure

Twelve-year-old Benjamin Broderick is into puzzles and random knowledge. Eighteen-year-old Ethan Broderick is into sports and girls. These brothers don’t have much in common and aren’t very close, and it won’t get any better once Ethan leaves for college in the fall. Though being coerced into taking a road trip together isn’t how Ethan wants to spend the beginning of his summer, he can’t deny that the perks might just be worth it. Especially when Benjamin wins them a chance at a million-dollar prize, and all they have to do is work together to solve a series of puzzles set up by the eccentric puzzle purveyor, Ms. Pennypickle—before their competition beats them to it.

This book was a lot of fun overall to read. I really felt for Benjamin, who keeps trying to connect with his brother without being pushy. And Ethan isn’t mean or bad, he’s just an 18-year-old about to go out into the world and not exactly thinking about how his little brother fits into his life anymore. There were parts to this book that felt a little too convenient or coincidental or just unrealistic, but it all made sense in the end, and in a way that I really enjoyed. There’s a twist to this book that I didn’t see coming, and then a second, smaller twist that I anticipated, based on the first twist, though that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy to be right. It actually reminded me of one of my favorite movies, but to even say what that movie is would be a spoiler for this book, to those who know the movie.

The book has a lot of interesting trivia in it, especially about Route 66, introducing me to locations that I’ve never heard of and probably never would have, but I have to admit that it made me want to take a road trip to experience some of these places. There is also plenty of humor and a fun shout-out to Grabenstein’s much-loved Lemoncello series. And speaking of that, I appreciate Grabenstein wanting to go in a new direction from that popular series yet still wanting to include puzzles in this book. I felt there was more diversity in puzzle types in this book, and I really liked trying to solve some of them along with the characters. And while it’s difficult to avoid comparing Ms. Pennypickle with Mr. Lemoncello, due to them both being eccentric, rich, genius puzzle creators, I noted some personality differences in Ms. Pennypickle that made her her own person. And the story focuses more on family and relationships than the end goal. I don’t know that this book can become a series, but I do hope Grabenstein continues to write puzzle-filled, adventurous books like this. I really recommend this book for kids around 8-12, and for parents too—any age, really, especially those who like games.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: The Maze Cutter

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The Maze Cutter
Book #1
by James Dashner

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain spoilers for the series that precedes it: The Maze Runner series.

Seven decades after the events at the end of The Death Cure, the final book in the previous series, the lives of the descendants of those who were sent to an island to live in peace and safety are disrupted. A ship appears bearing a woman who insists that some of them need to come back to the mainland with her. Meanwhile, the 3 parts of a mysterious authority group called the Godhead are at odds with each other.

I don’t think I’ve ever finished a book and felt like I was given so little info as I did at the end of this book. Things happened, but ultimately, nothing happened. It was a 250-page set-up for whatever is going to come later, but all that happened here is that we’re given little tiny bits of info that don’t really amount to a whole picture of anything. People are taken by one faction, then another, then another, and in the end, I have no idea who is with who and who is good or bad.

I don’t actually remember a lot about the end of the main series, but I remember that I felt like James Dashner had gone off the rails. The first book was good, but things just went all sorts of weird directions after that. This is basically a continuation of that. I decided to give this continuation series a try because of how much I liked The Maze Runner (the first book, not the entire series) and hoped maybe we could get back to those somewhat simpler roots. That is definitely not what we have here. One good thing, though, is that this first book makes it pretty clear that Dashner has plotted the entire continuation trilogy from the get-go, which is not at all what I feel like happened with the first trilogy. It seemed like he wrote the first one, was pleased it went well, and then just pantsed the rest of the trilogy. This feels like the opposite so far, but the first book doesn’t seem to have its own story goal that gets resolved, at least nothing I can pick out, which explains why I felt like nothing really happened.

I’m going to continue this series, but only because I jumped the gun and requested an ARC of the 3rd book in the trilogy. Since it’s one long story, I can’t exactly just skip the middle book. I do hope it gets better, but at this point, I wouldn’t really recommend the book to anyone, whether you’ve read the original trilogy or not. (On the other hand, if you enjoyed the first trilogy, that probably means that what bothered me about it doesn’t bother you, so there’s a decent possibility that you’ll enjoy this book more than me.)

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