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Book Review: All Kinds of Other by James Sie
In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts to protect themselves, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears. Two boys are starting at a new school. Jules is just figuring out what it means to be gay and hasn’t totally decided whether he wants to be out at his new school. His parents and friends have all kinds of opinions, but for his part, Jules just wants to make the basketball team and keep his head down. Jack…
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Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he…
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Book Review: The Toll by Cherie Priest
State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, and you’ll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven. But you’d better hope not. Titus and Melanie Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car . . . When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the…
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Book Review: The Judas Robe by Larry Rodness
During the height of the Spanish Inquisition a ruthless inquisitor by the name of Bishop Roberto Promane tortures a fellow priest, Father Sanchez, for information about the whereabouts of a relic known as The Judas Robe. The robe holds the key to some highly sensitive secrets about Jesus that Pope Sixtus does not want revealed. Promane succeeds in uncovering the robe only to lose it to Sanchez’s rescuers, the knights of The Order Of Christ. Present Day Joel Gardiner, a pre-med student, is attacked one night by thugs after leaving a campus pub. A young woman named Sophia rescues him…
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Book Review: Moon Child by Gaby Triana
The Craft meets The Shining in this slow-burn Florida gothic horror. 18-year-old Valentina Callejas was raised to do what her Catholic grandparents say to do. But Valentina feels a different pull--an affinity with nature, a desire to read tarot cards and study the occult. After ditching her church retreat, Valentina flees home and ends up five hours away at Macy’s house, a half-sister she’s never met until now. When a mysterious wolf leads Valentina to the abandoned Sunlake Springs Resort, she meets the “clairs,” young psychics drawn to the hotel’s haunted history. They’ve been waiting for her, they say, to…
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Book Review: It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story by Lauren Morrill
A delicious love story with all the toppings, Lauren Morrill’s It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story is a contemporary YA rom-com about love, friendship, and pizza, perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han. After her mother gave birth to her in the bathroom of a local pizzeria, Beck has been given the dubious privilege of having minor fame, free pizza for life, and a guaranteed job when she turns sixteen—a job she unfortunately can’t afford to turn down. Now she’s stuck with her geeky co-workers instead of taking Instagram-ready shots with her best friends (and her epic…
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Book Review: The Concrete Vineyard by Cam Lang
Packing an intellectual punch, this smart murder/mystery will have you guessing and gripped! Why would anyone want to murder one of the most respected senior citizens, Niagara-on-the-Lake has ever had? Retired history professor Edward Mitchell was surely not long for the grave, so why would someone risk life in prison to kill him? Picking up the clues is the reluctant Homicide Chief Detective, Bryan Dee. Thinking he might be out of his depth he is happy to enlist the aid of his friend, Kris Gage. But when Dee reads the deceased's last entry in his diary, 'time to take care…
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Book Review: We Are The Fire by Sam Taylor
In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Pran and Oksana―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place. Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both. When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana…
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Book Review: Falling From Trees by Mike Fiorito
Falling from Trees is a collection of tales in the tradition of Italo Calvino, Jorges Borges, Stanislaw Lem and even Philip K. Dick. And while coming from the speculative tale tradition Falling from Trees strikes out new territory in exploring consciousness, identity and the human condition. More than just embodying ideas, these stories are written with heart and longing. And humor. Some of the tales may have an apocalyptic feel, but hang in there, Falling from Trees, will delight you and restore your hope.
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Book Review: 100 Kisses by Malia Ann Haberman
Kylee Jones will be sixteen in two months, and she’s never kissed a boy. Her best friend Colleen has decided that she doesn’t want Kylee to be that girl who turns “sweet sixteen and never been kissed.” When her scheming twin brother tricks Colleen into making a crazy bet that Kylee has to kiss thirteen boys before her birthday, things go from not-so-bad to terrible. And now this crazy bet could ruin her chances with the only boy she actually wants to kiss. Emerson McKay is the new guy at school, with a terrible secret about why he had to…
