Purple Hibiscus

By Achiede

Very readable, quite compelling. I read this in lieu of some of my grad school work.

The Handmaid's Tale

By Margaret Atwood

Silence Fallen

Fire Touched

Night Broken

By Patricia Briggs
Hardback
Library
341 pages

Amazing ending.
Book #8 in the Mercy Thompson book series.

Summer read #21 Sky in the Deep

By Adrienne Young
Hardback
335 pages
Owlcrate

What a freaking lovely book.
Amazing.
Fierce.
Yay.

Summer read #20 The Unbound

Summer read #19 The Archived

Summer read #18 Crewel

By Gennifer Albin
Hardback
357 pages
Library book

Spinsters control the world - like the mythological fates.

I'm left wondering about many things -
Partly, the craft/art side of it all

Summer read #17 Daughter of the Siren Queen

Summer read #16 The Night Bus

By Janice Law
Hardback
349 pages

Library book

Adult realistic fiction.

A little mystery, a little psychological thriller, a little gaslighting.

Cath runs away from home, gets sick, is mugged, and loses her memory. Her sister-in-law retrieves her, but her family is super weird and crazy.

It didn't end up exactly the way to thought it would, although this ending is close to one of the resolutions I considered.

A compelling read.

Summer read #15 My Plain Jane

By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Hardback
447 pages
Owlcrate exclusive

A humorous, funny, paranormal take on Jane Eyre.
The protagonist, Jane, who sees ghosts, leaves the terrible orphanage to become governess for Mr. Rochester's little girl. Her best friend, a ghost, goes with her. Her other best friend, Charlotte Bronte, follows soon after.
Jane Eyre's experiences fuel Bronte's writing.
Also, there is some romance. And a bunch of fun allusions. And ghosts.
It was amusing, and a good read.

It switches point of view for different chapters, which is sometimes really annoying to me, but I didn't find troublesome or distracting here.

I'm looking forward to the author event this evening! Finished reading just in time!

Summer read #14 The End of Oz

By Danielle Paige
Hardback
277 pages + B&N exclusive epilogue

Book 4
This book splits point of view for the first time, alternating between Amy and Dorothy.
I didn't like it at first, but I'm not sure how the story could have been done as well without it.
I LOVED the epilogue.
A good series, but I'm not going to go hunt down the supplemental stories.

Summer read #13 Yellow Brick War

By Danielle Paige
Hardback
270 pages

Book 3 in the series. Again, plot twisty and weird.

Summer read #12 The Wicked Will Rise

By Danielle Paige
Paperback
293 pages

Book 2.
Lots of weird and confusing plot twists.

Summer read #11 Dorothy Must Die

By Danielle Paige
Paperback
452 pages

A retelling/reworking of wizard of Oz. Dorothy has returned, is evil, and Oz is in trouble.
Book 1 of 4.

Summer read #10 The Silver Mask

By Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Hardback
232 pages

Magisterium book 4
One more to go, but it won't be released until September.

I wasn't sure how they could continue into this book or stretch it into a 5th, but they did a great job.

Summer read #9 The Bronze Key

By Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Paperback
249 pages

Book 3

That's not at all how I expected it to go...

Summer read #8 The Copper Gauntlet

Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Paperback
264 pages

Book 2! A quick read...

Summer read #7 The Iron Trial

By Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Paperback
295 pages

This is a re-read. I purchased it at the Scholastic book fair a couple of years ago; I just bought the next 3 books in the series.

It's a young adult, fantasy, easy read. The magic is interesting, the world is interesting, and the antagonist is neat.

I like the dog a lot.

Summer read #6 Wanted

By Betsy Schow
Paperback
298 pages

Scholastic Book Fair purchase

The sequel to Spelled. This book focuses on Rexi as the main character instead of Dorothea.
Maybe I read it too fast, but there were a few confusing parts. It feels a bit like she just tried to squish together as many allusions as possible. A bit overboard.
Sets up for a third book, not sure if one has been written - or if I'll read it.
I like the very end.

Summer read #5 Spelled

By Betsy Schow
Paperback
345 pages

YA Fantasy/Retelling/Twisted Tale

This one is a repeat for me. I bought the sequel at the Scholastic book fair, and I didn't remember this one well enough.

Lots of humor, an interesting story, and a fun fairy tale mashup.

Summer read #4 the Lace Makers of Glenmara

By Heather Barbieri

Paperback
268 pages
Adult realistic fiction
Scholastic Build a Box purchase

This book was way more compelling than I expected.
Kind of a classic plot: woman has some drama, goes on walkabout, finds a cute town that is suffering economically, but people do cool crafts, and the woman helps them monetize it and saves the town.
It is very much about family and relationships.
It brought me to tears a couple of times.

I might keep this one.

Summer read #3 Darker Still

Darker Still
A Novel of Magic Most Foul

By Leanne Renee Hieber

317 pages
Paperback
Scholastic Build a Box

YA Gothic

A take on Picture of Dorian Gray.
Interesting, but not going to read it again.
A bit overdramatic, but that fits the style, I suppose.
To keep in the classroom shelf? Probably not.

Summer read #2 The Mountain Between Us

By Charles Martin

Paperback
326 pages
Adult fiction
Scholastic book fair purchase

So, I thought I knew what was going to happen in the end. And I was kind of right. But I feel like the author was dishonest about how we got there, so I don't like that. But overall it was a good book, so I'll probably hang onto this one and put it on my classroom bookshelf.