Legendborn

By Tracy Deonn

490 pages

Hardback

YA Fantasy 

LGBTQIA+

Owlcrate 

Books by Black Authors 

This was just a fantastic book. 

There is a secret society, magic, demons, oaths - set against the backdrop of college, early college for the protagonist. 

It deals a lot in grief. 

It's not all hack/slash kill the demons. 

The summary on this page amuses me - 

I also love that Bree is not amazing at everything. She doesn't pick up the weapons in the training arena and beat everyone who has been training their whole life. 

It's obviously going to have a sequel, not sure if it's ramping up to be a duology or a trilogy. 

The characters are great and diverse- not just becuase of race & confronting racial issues, but also it's perhaps the first mainstream YA books I've read with a non-binary character in an important role; they are not the protagonist. There are also several gay relationships. I feel that all of these are treated with respect by the author. 

author info

And another special bonus for us Owlcrate subscribers: 

design in the inside of the dust jacket

I loved this book and I'm really looking forward to the next one!

Among the Beasts & Briars

By Ashley Poston

338 pages (plus a "post credits" scene) 

Hardback

YA Fantasy 

Owlcrate 

I devoured this book. It was one of those ones that I kept itching to pick up again as soon as I put it down. 

front cover

Synopsis

It was creepy (those monsters in the woods!) and not entirely predictable (most of my guesses were right, but a few surprises). 

I liked the world and the characters. I wanted more. (The post credits scene sets up a possible next book - but everything is wrapped up pretty neat and tidy.) I was both glad and sad that it wasn't the start of a series. 

Plus, what a gorgeous book! 

Look at that pretty signature page! At those gorgeous burgundy page edges! 

That map!

The secret, inside the dust jacket artwork!

Owlcrate subscribers also got a letter from the author:

and I think some of those above pretty features were also elusive for us. 

I've Read one other book by this author: Heart of Iron. I've been meaning to pick up the sequel for a long time, but haven't managed to. 

This book is great. I really enjoyed it!

Dread the Harvest Moon

By Sarah Glenn Marsh

339 pages

YA Fantasy

LGBTQIA+

Softcover 

This is a companion novel to Fear the Drowning Deep, but you don't have to have read that one in order to understand or enjoy this one. 

The setting is the same, and there are overlapping characters. The events of that book impacted this one, but the plot is distinct. 

The protagonist of this book is the sister of the protagonist of the previous book. The last book was about sea monsters; this one is about fairies. 

This one is told mostly in the structure of letters (to her sister) that feel more like diary entries. 

Sisters! Art card & bookmark.

Has a slow burn romance between the protagonist and another girl on the island, during a time when that was not acceptable. 

It's set in 1915, and effects of the war are also reaching the island. 

This is a fun, quick read, and the author is a fantastic person. She has been in to talk to my Creative Writing classes a number of times. 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

By Ocean Vuong

Fiction

242 pages

So. 

This is one of those rare books that I didn't finish. 

It sounded good. 

It had good reviews. 

It had an interesting opening.

But I stopped right here. On page 94. 

I didn't care about any of the characters. There was no plot line that I could discern, just a series of character sketches and disconnected scenes. 

So, yeah. My book club picked it, and I was curious what they thought of it, but in the end I didn't even get to go the meeting because I had a PhD conflict. 

Maybe I'll like the next pick more. 

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches

By Maggie Stiefvater 

Illustrated by Morgan Beem

187 pages

Graphic novel

Paperback 

I never read much Swamp Thing before; this is a reboot. 

This was great! And a very quick read - maybe about an hour?

I love the art.

and the shifts in tone. 

The relationship between the various family members is interesting, relatable, and realistic. 

The protagonist has diabetes, and it's not a plot point. Just a characteristic. 

When I ordered from my local bookstore, I was able to get it personalized & signed! Shout out to One More Page Books! ❤

This was a cool origin story, and I'm curious to see where it goes next!

Horrid

By Katrina Leno

Hardback

322 pages

YA Fiction 

Owlcrate 

I read this book in just about 4 hours. 

Told in third person, it's the story of a teen and her mom moving to a spooky old house after the dad/husband dies. 

The prose in engaging, and it's set up kind of like a mystery novel in format - and mystery novels are featured in the story as well. 

And there are ghosts. 

Author letter.

Reverse of author letter with signature page.

Cool art on the inside of the dust jacket - I think this is an Owlcrate exclusive thing. 

First page. 

This was a really engaging book with a super dark ending. And it's a stand-alone! Not the start if a series or trilogy or duology. I really liked it. 

Starsight

By Brandon Sanderson

Hardback

Sci-fi

457 pages 

Library 

This is the sequel to Skyward. 

I picked it up on impulse at the library when I went to get the next book for my book club. I like this one far more! To be fair, I have enjoyed everything I've read by this author. 

Solutions and Other Problems

By Allie Brosh

Humor

518 pages

Hardback 

I was so excited when I heard that this was coming out! I loved Hyperbole and  Half - her previous book. 

The art style is weird but charming, and the stories she tells feel honest and true. 

There is no chapter 4. 

The book is listed as Humor for the genre, but I would have thought Creative Non-fiction? It's memoir, I believe. 

Allie Brosh did the words, and the pictures, and even the jacket design. 

It's a cute, and funny, and sad book. 

It weighs a million pounds. Seriously, I think this might be the heaviest book I've ever owned. It made sense when I thought about it, becuase they had to use thicker paper so all that ink wouldn't just bleed right through. 

I actually pre-ordered the book, and got a signed copy. I'm weirdly happy about having signed books. 

I loved this book.

Check out her website if you want a preview of one of the chapters: Hyperbole and a Half

Star Daughter

By Shveta Thakrar 

YA Fantasy 

Hardback

435 pages

Owlcrate 

First off, what a gorgeous book.

This is the Owlcrate exclusive cover. The regular one is more gold. The photo doesn't capture the shiny beauty of this.

Those purple dyed page edges! 🤩

So what's super cool about this book is that it is literally about personified stars. Which is really hard to conceptualize. 

But I think that the world created here is interesting and believable. 

Letter from the author.

Signed - in silver, of course!

Author bio. And I love her photo! The colors!

I love that it's a stand alone novel. 

I love that I didn't expect all of the things that happened, especially at the end. 

Will I read it again? Maybe? But I am glad I read it. It was a fun, interesting, and different novel.

Also, I did this for my students as an example of sharing their choice reading: