Julia and Romano

Written by Eric Walters
DCB Young Readers 

978-1-77086-823-6
Ages 13+
304 pp.
March 2026

 

When sixteen-year-old Julia Anderson's mom, Susan Eden, moves the two of them to Campbell River, BC, Julia a.k.a. Jules is not impressed. Not only is she leaving her boyfriend Paris, and friends like Jodi, Shannon, and Beth behind, she must leave the big city Toronto for a smaller community where the major industries are forestry and fishing. But, because Mom caught Jules's dad cheating and wanted a new start, she accepted a job as the executive director and lawyer for the environmental group Eco-Guardians at Campbell River.

 

So, while Mom is busy dealing with a logging company eager to cut a disputed tract of forest, as well as with associated businesses like the mill, Jules goes exploring. When she is accosted by dangerous Steller sea lions, she meets local teen Cody who takes her for fish and chips. She doesn't know much about him, as he goes to the other high school in town, but the two bump into each other a few times, and he shows her around town. Cody is smitten and becomes very protective of her. He warns her to be careful around some people, like the Devil Dogs, a local biker gang, and at her first bush party.

 

Even as the two teens are falling in love, they learn that Julia's mom has been fighting Cody's dad, Raphael Romano, who owns Royal Lumber Mill. The two teens had never realized that the conflict their parents had was with each other because Jules has her father's last name. And his dad and her mom are not pleased about Cody and Jules's relationship.

 

As in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet which inspired Julia and Cody's story, there is conflict between families, a secret relationship, and a love that cannot be broken. Even the teens see the similarities, they anticipate a happier ending.

“This isn’t Romeo and Juliet,” Cody said. “This is Julia and Romano. We’re free to write our own story and this one can have a happy ending.” (pg. 148)

I'm glad the Forest Kid Committee (Red Maple) put this novel on its summer reading list because that means teens (and late middle-grade readers) have already been enjoying the story of Jules and Cody. I'm also glad that I finally got to review this novel. Beyond its sweet Shakespearean inspiration, Julia and Romano is influenced by the unique location of Campbell River, focusing on the land, its people, and its industry. Campbell River becomes a character in itself, shaping the way people interact, the struggles they have, and how the environment dictates so much. Eric Walters, extraordinary storyteller and observant writer of the human condition, tells Jules and Cody's story as a function of their place: how they meet, how they date, and how they are conflicted. He gives them latitude to be themselves and to grow to be new people. This is how Julia and Romano differs from Shakespeare's play. Eric Walters's characters are not doomed by their circumstances. They can be more than the legal and environmental feud between their families. They can make change happen and continue to love.

 

Don't worry that Jules and Cody's story will end as Romeo and Juliet's did. Eric Walters has written a love story that will endure.

A Deadly Inheritance

Written by Kelley Armstrong

Tundra Books

978-1-77488-803-2 

424 pp.

Ages 14+

March 2026 

 

Understanding where you fit in the world is rare here. Embracing it is even rarer. (pg. 45)  

For seventeen-year-old Liliana Green, getting by since her mother died recently is everything to her. That and avoiding the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services. She works two part-time jobs, works hard at school to get that full scholarship to college in September, and she sells stuff to make rent. When lawyer Cecilia Robbins appears on her doorstep and announces that Liliana to be the grandchild of the billionaire Chamberlains, Liliana's financial troubles appear to be over. She's whisked away to Westdale, her mother's alma mater and a school that only admits the wealthiest of students. 

 

Of course Liliana has lots of questions, especially why her mother never went to her parents for help, but once she's at Westdale, Lili just has more questions. She may be enjoying the perks of being part of a billionaire family—". . . I'll enjoy what I can, while I can" (pg. 20)—but she still has to navigate meeting new peers who see her as the new Chamberlain girl. She becomes friendly with Maddox Moreno, son of a tech wizard, and Theo Dubois, son of an actor and a director, although the two boys have a cool relationship with each other. And Lili is invited to join Allegra Khan, Polly Reeves, and Isolde Brandt in the Lilith society, one of four societies on campus. 

Soon Lili is being recruited to join the race for that year's Optima, a prestigious competition that would win her a place in an elite networking group outside the school. Even before she has agreed, she's targeted and told to watch herself. Would her competitors really try to eliminate her? But Lili has another mystery to solve when she learns her mother was the Dux (leader) of the Liliths, and ran away with her father before she graduated. Why did they run away? What does it have to do with the death of a scholarship student? And what secrets is Westdale keeping?

 

Like many boarding schools, Westdale is a microcosm of good and bad and ugly. There is a clear class structure and distinct peer groups. There are secrets from the past and mysteries from the present. There are rules to be broken and a system to work in. And there is danger hiding everywhere. Kelley Armstrong takes us into a school of the fabulously wealthy and lets us watch as the students form alliances and friends, tread cautiously around others, and do what they can to safeguard themselves and support those for whom they care. But no one is ever safe. So, as we learn more about the secrets behind Liliana's parents, Rose (Rosalyn) Chamberlain and Will Green, and several suspicious deaths, including that of Maddox's sister and that of a friend of Rosalyn's, Kelley Armstrong twists and turns the reader into believing no one is to be trusted. She gives us all the clues but she cleverly tangles us into seeing connections where there are none and ignoring key players because they seem inconsequential. Still, even if you pay attention, Kelley Armstrong will surprise you, both with her ending and the solution to the mystery. And there's nothing better than the unraveling and intertwining of plot threads leading to a refreshing and a gratifying denouement, which is what you always get with Kelley Armstrong's suspenseful reads.

Recommended Reading

Written by Paul Coccia

Zando Young Readers

978-1-63893-149-2

320 pp.

Ages 12-17

January 2025

 

Seventeen-year-old Bobby Ashton has got a plan for the perfect summer before college. He's got plans for a perfect job, the perfect boyfriend, and more. The problems with planning everything down to the last second is that "it only takes one second to throw it all off." (p. vii)

 

All goes amiss when Bobby's big-gesture proclamation of love for his crush Truman becomes a streamed fiasco of broken glass and more, landing Bobby and his mother Cass in the office of Little Elm College's Dean Perez. Bobby loses his job at Campus Books, is removed from his freshman liaison gig for the Big Summer Reading Festival, and he could lose his scholarship and even his admission. His grand gesture was an epic fail, but Bobby is nothing except determined and resilient. His mother, a renowned but retired artist, makes a deal with the Dean to create a sculpture for the college out of the broken glass, and Bobby promises to stay out of trouble.

 

First thing Bobby does is get his Uncle Andy, a friend of Cass's, to let him work at his bookstore Corner Books, a  run-down bookstore that mostly carries used books. And with that new endeavour, the plan for The Summer of Bobby (AKA Bobby Ashton's Plan for the Perfect Summer Before College) begins to transform. Everything Bobby thought he needed for the perfect summer, from the job and the boyfriend to his fashion and achievements, start to change. His tasks may start off as seemingly manageable, like playing nice with crotchety Gladys at the bookstore to overhauling Corner Books to bring in more customers, but Bobby is nothing but persistent. And his new reputation as the Book Whisperer, the young man who knows just the right book for each person, helps make things happen.

 

One of the bookstore visitors Bobby meets is Luke, a college student, with whom he becomes friends. But Bobby knows that after his romantic fiasco, Dean Perez had warned him off of boys, telling him that, "Adolescent crushes will still be there after you graduate." (p. 10) That doesn't stop Bobby from doing a little matchmaking with others, like Luke's roommate Jerome and Mya, the coffee shop girl, his mom and Andy, and even best friend Wanda and a gamer called chickn-backflip. Will it be enough romance for Bobby, affectionately called Casanova by Luke a.k.a. the love Grinch, or will Bobby find himself falling for the least romantic guy around?

 

If you're a book lover, you'll adore Recommended Reading for its literary references and bookshop character. If you're a romantic, you'll fall in love with the dreamy Bobby and his efforts to help others connect, and find his own true love, albeit circuitously. If you appreciate reading about characters that are real, dealing with issues of missteps that need to be corrected and of body image and self-acceptance, while being fanciful and hopeful, then Paul Coccia's Recommended Reading is recommended for you. Paul Coccia, whose earlier books include I Got You Babe, Leon Levels Up, On the Line (co-written with Eric Walters) and The Player, gives us teens who are authentic in their feelings, whether it be their fears or loves, relationships or insecurities. These teens haven't got it all figured out, yet, but they are looking for ways to understand themselves and how they fit in with others. There are no easy fixes–are there any in life for anyone?–but they're trying. Bobby is looking for love and to have a positive impact on his community. He makes mistakes but he connects with people, whether through his book recommendations or through his sensitivity. And he does so with personality–and lots of book and movie references–and an awesome fashion sense.

 

Bobby may be the Book Whisperer but he's also the guy you want to have in your corner to cheer you on, help you find love, and to appreciate yourself. And with Recommended Reading, Paul Coccia gives readers the opportunity to fall in love with Bobby.

Queen Among the Dead

Written by Lesley Livingston

Zando Young Readers

978-1-63893-018-1

416 pp.

Ages 14+

January 2023

Hold onto the reins of your horse or your chariot because Lesley Livingston is going to take you on an epic ride through Celtic mythology. There will be conflict and battles, romance and magic, questionable birthrights, and imminent death, and oh so many characters. Like I said, epic.

 

Young Neve lives with her older sister Úna and their father who is the Dagda, leader of the Tuatha Dé, the descendants of the Scathach Queen, and rulers of Eire. Neve wishes she could become a warrior and that her sister could become the next Dagda, but neither is possible for the two crown princesses. Still Neve likes to sneak away from the palace and head into more dangerous areas like Blackwater Town of the oppressed Fir Bolg villagers. As a child, Neve had met a rogue Druid apprentice and thief named Ronan on one of these jaunts and he'd helped her fight a demon using a banned spell stone. Seven years later the two restless spirits become reacquainted when Neve saves Ronan from the óglach who are sent out with their harrow hounds to hunt down illicit magic users and spell traders. But more than this reintroduction is the recognition that there is some magic between them, and not just of the romantic kind.

As Gofannon, the Dagda's chief Druid advisor and monument builder, begins to assert control while the Dagda obsesses over the erection of his formidable mortuary temple, it becomes evident that there is much manipulation of persons and magic in a struggle for power. Who will survive and who will rule is all up to Lesley Livingston.

This is another world, something Lesley Livingston creates with finesse. It's Eire, long ruled by the Tuatha Dé people, led by the Dagda after defeat of the shape-shifting Fomori and their elite female warriors, the Faoladh. It's the oppression of peasants and the Druids usurping the power of magic. It's a high fantasy built upon Celtic mythology with mythical creatures, potent magic and struggles for control. But it's also the story of a boy and a girl from different backgrounds who are drawn together to make the world right for themselves and others. 

The two of them would never truly be able to understand each other. Or each other's worlds. They both carried hidden fire, but they were not the same. Unleashed, Ronan's would be snuffed out by harrow hounds.

     Neve's, he feared, might just burn until the whole realm was on fire. (pg. 125)

This is Zando Young Readers inaugural young adult novel, and I can't think of a more dramatic entry to the YA booksphere than with Lesley Livingston and her Queen Among the Dead. Both have the drama of superb storytelling. As she has done in her earlier series like Wondrous Strange, Starling and The Valiant, Lesley Livingston drops us into worlds that are real and yet not. That's because she bases these stories in legitimate mythologies and immerses readers in the cultures of those legends. The stories were real to those cultures, and they become real to readers of Lesley Livingston's books. Even though she embeds magic and creates the fantastic characters who can make the impossible happen, she will have you convinced to look up the Fir Domnann and the Fé Fíada in Wikipedia. I won't give it away though I will warn you to keep crib notes as Queen Among the Dead is packed with characters, creatures, places, and cultures of wildly unique names. At over four hundred pages, this novel packs a lot of story and it's a story that will draw you and hold you there and take you for a wild ride. And all I can hope is that there is more story to come because I need more of Neve, a young woman who learned she was a warrior in more ways than she'd known.

Made 4 You

Written by Eric Walters

DCB

978-1-77086-661-4

296 pp.

Ages 13+

September 2022

 

Except for the headaches which have started plaguing her–and for which she has had multiple MRIs–seventeen-year-old Becky James's senior year is mapped out as getting good grades, prepping for the SATs, volunteering at a seniors' residence, and partaking in extracurricular activities like school band and social justice club and managing the boys' basketball team.  Then she meets Gene Newman, a previously-homeschooled student from New York state whom she will host and offer assistance.

As smart as Gene is, he needs support to fit in at their Nobleton, Indiana high school. His first-day blue suit and shiny brief case, as well as his formal speech, make him a standout. But he's a fast learner, following Becky's advice with respect to dress and more. Soon he's not just fitting in but he's attracting attention as an exceptional student, saxophone musician and basketball player. As they spend more and more time together, and Gene reveals the research his adoptive parents have been conducting on human intelligence and strategies for learning, the two teens become closer. But it's not smooth sailing for the young couple as there are secrets that could put them both in danger and perhaps keep them separated forever.

When science fiction is written well, it becomes less fantasy and more possibility, and Made 4 You is so plausible that readers will wonder if the story is based in reality. (Of course, that's also the finesse that is Eric Walters's writing.) Research on human intelligence is vast and expanding, as scientists look to how we learn, apply and adapt, so raising a young man like Gene who can learn anything quickly and thoroughly is not surprising. However, the depth of his learning, from math to sports and social interactions, is astounding, especially as it is coupled with empathy and love. Because Eric Walters takes Gene beyond the genius he is and makes him into a teen in love, Gene is a complete, albeit extraordinary, human.  And with dangerous adversaries looking to exploit the science behind Gene's intellectual development, Made 4 You goes beyond a sci fi romance into a thriller and action adventure. It's a story that has it all: sweet moments of falling in love, mysterious scientific research, and chase scenes across land and sky. Moreover, with Eric Walters at the writing helm, not only is it a story made for any middle-grader or teen who reads across genres, Made 4 You is also complex, nuanced and full of heart. (Even the dedication will give readers an "Awww" moment of pause.)

The Player

Written by Paul Coccia

Lorimer

978-1-4594-1576-8

181 pp.

Ages 14+ (RL 2.0)

March 2021

Cooper knows he's gay. He was out to his old hockey team and even had a boyfriend on the team but, since it folded and his boyfriend moved away, Cooper is now back to keeping  this sexual orientation a secret to his new team, the Great Blues. So when his teammate Pesh makes a move on Cooper in their hotel room at an away game, he's pleased. But Pesh is an enigma to Cooper. The teen, the son of British Sri Lankan parents who aren't behind his hockey dreams of becoming the team's centre and captain on his path to going pro, is also going out with Bobbi, a girl who wants to go into sports PR and handles Pesh's social media and brand. 

 

Pesh likes flirting with Cooper and making out with him on away games but also starts wanting to fool around before games, convinced it improves their game. But, regardless of this "secret pre-game action" (pg. 110), Pesh is always one of the guys, leading the locker room chatter about girls, while driving his team with practices and high-handedness to ensure he'll look good to the scouts. Meanwhile Cooper can't resolve Pesh's egotism and expectations with the excitement of being in a relationship, albeit a secret one.

While Bobbi takes on helping Cooper with his image, having figured out that he is gay and determined to help him come out in a sport with little practice in being inclusive, Cooper works to keep his relationship with Pesh a secret from her, not wanting to hurt his new friend or jeopardize his position on the team or with Pesh.  But secrets are a dangerous currency and Cooper has to balance what he wants, what he feels and what he knows is right if he's to survive the evolving hockey drama.

 

Because The Player is part of Lorimer's SideStreets hi-lo series, addressing mature teen issues and written with text to engage the reluctant or less experienced reader, Paul Coccia helps all teens hear the voices of young men who are gay, or bicurious, or something else. As he did in his earlier book Cub (2019) and now in The Player, Paul Coccia makes sure that we see relationships like between Cooper and Pesh for what they are: young love, intoxicating and fulfilling, born of attraction and common interests. But as in any relationship, things can go wrong when the individuals have different expectations about exclusivity, openness and needs. The fact that Cooper is gay and Pesh bicurious or perhaps bi is irrelevant. What is important is what Cooper thinks and feels, because The Player is told in his voice. It's through him that we experience Pesh's actions and his own discomfort with Pesh's less-than-straightforward approach to their relationship and that with Bobbi. But, as in any relationship, it's being yourself first and foremost that gives you the strength to be able to give to another. By standing up for himself and what he needs, not only trying to be something for someone else, Cooper opens himself up to greater things in hockey and love.

Torch (The Flight and Flame Trilogy, Book 3)

Written by R. J. Anderson

Enclave Publishing

978-1-62184-160-9

239 pp.

Ages 11+

February 2021

 

 

When we first met the piskey Ivy in Swift, the first book in R. J. Anderson's The Flight and Flame Trilogy, she'd been determined to look out for her family and friends of the Delve, worried about poisonous air and long-held conflicts with spriggans, faeries and even humans. But, because of her unique wingless nature, Ivy has always had to prove herself. In the second book, Nomad, while looking to help the piskeys of the Delve escape the tyranny of her Aunt Betony, the Joan i.e., the queen of the Delve, Ivy becomes romantically involved with the spriggan-faery Martin whose own story needed telling. Then, after a violent confrontation with the Joan, a handful of piskeys, including Ivy's little sister Cicely, brother Mica and his fellow hunter Maddock, follow Ivy above-ground.

Now, Ivy is challenged to providing a safe home for the piskeys who've followed her, but worries that she could never become the Joan they need, as she lacks the skill of making fire at will. Things become worse when a deception is perpetrated to make her appear to make fire, and she is compelled into a betrothal with Maddock who offers to act as her Jack, the consort to the Joan. But Ivy and the piskeys know that Betony will not stand to lose her people to Ivy and an attack is sure to come. Fortunately for Ivy, she can rely on the help of faeries Thorn and Broch, and especially Martin who comes to her aid time and time again. Unfortunately, Martin is a spriggan and hated by the piskeys for being so, and Ivy must hide her love for Martin from her people.

But Martin, who had always believed himself to be the last of the spriggans who'd been killed off in conflicts with the piskeys, discovers a barrow of chambers with spriggan treasure, arms and stores. Most surprising are the egg-like shells harbouring young spriggans. While Martin nurtures the awakened young spriggans, about thirty boys and girls, becoming a true leader to his people, Ivy is torn between being with Martin, doing what's right for her own people, and contending with their distrust of all spriggans and faeries. Though Ivy knows that Martin has had his own issues with her people, she has come to trust him and he repeatedly shows himself to be worthy of that trust. But can Ivy find a way to save the piskeys, from the poison in the Delve and the tyranny of Betony and her Jack Gossan, bring peace between those who distrust and discriminate, and still be with Martin?

 

R. J. Anderson may be writing about fantastical creatures like piskeys, spriggans and faeries but the hostility between these groups and Ivy's need to balance her own wishes with the obligations she feels to her people are as human as anything we might experience. Mica's infuriating knows-better attitude and Cicely's petulance when she doesn't get what she wants are all too human, as is Ivy's unhappiness with being pressured to do what everyone else decides is the right thing to do. When she leads with her heart, driven by her love for Martin and her people, she leads well as a true Joan would.

But Torch is also a book of fantasy, of incredible people who inhabit Cornwall and beyond. Some are tasked with digging while others protect treasure. They can shape-shift and cast glamours and spells and wards of protection.  The worlds of Torch, as in Swift and Nomad, are both imaginative and real, and R. J. Anderson has excelled at making the reader feel everything from the gentleness of love to the anger of frustration with her characters. Thankfully through all that emotion and otherworldliness, R. J. Anderson has resolved her tale of the Cornish piskeys and their neighbours with much heart, happiness and hope, demonstrating that it's possible to find the way through conflict and prejudice to understanding and love.

The Upside of Falling: Guest review

This review was written by teacher Elizabeth Cook.

 

Written by Alex Light

HarperTeen

9780062918055

288 pp.

Ages 12-18

February 2020

 

Also available as an audiobook from

HarperAudio

 Narrated by Caitlin Kelly and Austin Rising

6 hr 41 min

 

The Upside of Falling is a YA novel that focuses on two teenagers in high school who improbably come together under unique circumstances. Coming together is weird enough; staying together is another matter.

 

Brett Wells is the most liked guy in high school. He's captain of the football team and is helping the team achieve great success this year. Moreover he's a really good guy, known for being kind to everyone, a trait which he may have inherited from his generous parents who've just donated a ton of money to redo the football field.  Brett Wells would be considered the guy who had it all. 

 

Becca Hart would be the opposite. Few people at school would know who she is. A bookworm, Becca regularly has her nose between the pages of a book while she sits under a tree on the far side of the school property. Unlike Brett, Becca's life is one that is far from perfect. Her father left her and her mother five years ago and her best friend abandoned her for the popular crowd two years ago. It's no surprise that Becca prefers to shy away from any connections just to avoid being left behind and disappointed yet again.

When Becca finds herself being publicly accused of being a loveless loner by her former best friend, she lies that she is in a secret relationship. Brett, overhearing this declaration, steps in and puts his arm around Becca to save her from a horrible confrontation. Later, they agree  to continue the fake relationship so they might both achieve something they need: for Becca, to avoid being made into a laughing stock and for Brett, to appease his father about getting a girlfriend. Along the way, they both learn more about the other and what they need for themselves.

 

Written in the alternating voices of Becca and Brett, a style of writing I especially like and which was enhanced by the audiobook's dual narrators, Alex Light's portrayal of her characters was authentic and powerful. Becca's character especially resonated with me as, like many readers, Becca uses books as a personal means of escape. Her anticipation of the happy ending in her books is a balm to daily stresses, as it is for so many, and helps her deal with feelings of abandonment. It's no wonder she carries a book around everywhere, even to a high school football game where she's expected to be paying attention to her boyfriend.

As a young adult novel, The Upside of Falling offers a fabulous read while addressing important and true-to-life issues of belonging, divorce, relationships, and love, and still giving readers the happy ending Becca always looked for.

 

~ Reviewer Elizabeth Cook is a teacher in the Halton District School Board. She is an avid reader and fan of Canadian literature.

Deadly Curious

Written by Cindy Anstey

Feiwel and Friends

978-1-250252272

304 pp.

Ages 13-18

June 2020

Investigating required a fair amount of questioning, thinking, and rethinking–mental exercises that she found invigorating. But there was a noble purpose to her questions now: solving a crime. What could be more rewarding than assuaging the pain brought on by the premature ending of a life? Yes, Sophia nodded to herself, she had found the perfect way to spend her days. (pg. 99)

Eighteen-year-old Sophia Thompson, first introduced in Cindy Anstey's The Hummingbird Dagger, has decided that, now that her prospects for marriage have dissipated because of family troubles, she will pursue a career as an investigator. Reading "Investigating Murder and Mayhem: A Runner's Journey" with aspirations of becoming the first woman to be appointed to London's police force known as the Bow Street Runners, Sophia responds to a summons from her cousin Daphne Waverley who fears the ineptitude of the local constable looking into the murder of her older brother, Andrew, a year earlier. But a request has also been made for Bow Street to assist the haberdasher-cum-constable Marley so new trainee Mr. Jeremy Fraser, 20, is sent with a driver/assistant Hal Stacks to the town of West Ravenwood.

But with a recent change of law that prohibited hunting on common lands, many locals see Mr. Fraser as an authority figure and are reluctant to assist him in his inquiries. Fortunately, Sophia, who is seen as being a harmless woman, places herself in a position to help the attractive Mr. Fraser. With her irritable Uncle Edward having recovered a knife in the woods, the scene of the crime, Aunt Hazel spending an inordinate amount of time with the Reverend's daughter, Charlotte Dewey, who makes herself quite at home at Allerton Park, and a series of mishaps threatening both Daphne and Sophia, the young woman feels compelled to work with Jeremy to share information and pursue her own inquiries, with her lady's maid Betty in tow. 

In a twisted story, intricate with subplots of poaching, jealousy, murders old and new, and romances suitable and not, Deadly Curious keeps the reader enthralled, never knowing whether a knife merchant or a local constable or even an herbalist might have a role in the multiple murders that take place around West Ravenwood. Though I may have guessed the involvement of one character–my years of reading Agatha Christie and other cozies has given me practice in predicting outcomes–Cindy Anstey has created a multitude of sophisticated characters who all seem to be viable suspects. From a footman and housekeeper to the local surgeon and even Daphne's other brother William, all are complex and multi-dimensional and present as potential threats. Moreover they all react realistically and uniquely and the reader will feel as if they've been dropped into a Jane Austen mystery with charming characters and reprehensible ones, from the landed gentry to merchants and those in service. And the plot will carry them all from the unknown of a whodunit to a satisfying resolution and even a happy ending and new beginnings.

• • • • • • •

Though several of the characters in Deadly Curious were introduced in Cindy Anstey's The Hummingbird Dagger (2019), readers can be assured that Deadly Curious is a solid standalone historical YA mystery.  Still I encourage all readers to also read The Hummingbird Dagger for an equally compelling Regency mystery with a hint of romance.

The Hummingbird Dagger

Written by Cindy Anstey

Feiwel and Friends

978-1-250174895

352 pp.

Ages 13-18

2019

The year is 1833 and a young woman is injured in a carriage accident caused by 14-year-olds Walter Ellerby and friend Henry Thompson. Though the men in the carriage are reluctant to accept any help for the young woman, Walter's brother, Lord James Ellerby, 20, demands she be taken to their home and a doctor called. The carriage and its driver and patrons continue on their journey.

But the young woman has no memory about who she is, except for haunting nightmares of a dark room and a dagger with the hilt of a hummingbird.  She asks to be called Beth, the only name she can recall, and becomes a companion to eighteen-year-old Caroline Ellerby. As they attempt to discover who she is, James, Caroline and Beth discover greater mysteries, including that the carriage she'd been on was not the regular carriage between London and Exeter as had been expected and the trunk they'd been given as hers was actually filled with men's clothes. Then someone tries to break into the house, Caroline and Beth are accosted on the road and a man is found dead. As they try to determine who Beth is, a myriad of characters, from the Reverend Cranley's wife, to Henry's mother, sister Sophia and visiting uncle, Gilbert Renfrew, become part of the story, along with those who make claims to be related to her. It soon becomes a game of whom to believe and who should not be trusted, as the mystery of Beth’s identity is tied with the danger that someone means to harm her. But, with Beth's memories seeping back ever so slowly, the question is whether the young people will discover her story before the nightmares related to that hummingbird dagger become her reality.

Blended with a budding romance or two, some shenanigans by Walter and Henry that actually unearth more clues, red herrings peppering the narrative, and several sting operations that are either fruitless or go awry, The Hummingbird Dagger is a historical mystery at its finest. For some readers, the historical time will be the hook, as it’s set in Regency Britain, a time when a folly is a structure, when a law against privateering is being discussed in the House of Lords, and young ladies require chaperones. But it’s the mystery that compelled me to read on. Cindy Anstey layers suspicion with hope and the nefarious with the respectable and creates a story of such depth that the villains are not easily identified and their motivations shrouded. She carries that dangerous riddle of Beth's identity flawlessly, never playing up the amnesia as crutch for the story, always drawing the reader along with each revelation. It's like putting a puzzle together with James, Caroline, Beth and Walter all finding pieces and hoping they'll fall together. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Still Cindy Anstey resolves Beth's story with a happy enough ending that does not feel contrived or predictable.

For a thrilling historical mystery, with the distinct atmosphere of Regency England and a touch of romance, Cindy Anstey's The Hummingbird Dagger delivers.

• • • • •

Next I review Deadly Curious, a legacy sequel of The Hummingbird Dagger but also a strong standalone mystery that focuses on Sophia Thompson as one of the protagonists. Look for it next here on CanLit for LittleCanadians.

Rogue Princess

Written by B. R. Myers

Swoon Reads (An imprint of Feiwel and Friends)

978-1-256-30343-1

294 pp.

Ages 13-18

January 2020

There is no greater power than the power of choice. (pg. 175)

Delia is a princess who lives on the planet Astor. With turning 18, she must now choose a prince to marry. In fact, princes from the neighbouring planets of the Four Quadrants are gathering at the palace, ready to win her hand, including Prince Felix, a military man from Trellium, Armano from Delta Kur, Oskar from the Kalasta Belt, and the lovely Prince Quinton. Though Delia knows the importance of her ancestry and the traditions of Astor, as handed down from Arianna, the first queen of Astor, she aspires to more before she weds. This leads her to reprogram her android seamstress Marta so that she might escape, changing into the uniform of the Queen's Guard and hijacking a patrol ship.

But Delia is not alone. Unbeknownst to her, Aidan, a kitchen chore boy at the palace, has just stolen a dagger he found in a prince's room and is making his escape too. Aidan too has aspirations, helping himself to small trinkets so he might earn the money to leave behind the Dark District of Astor where he lives with his cruel stepfather and stepbrothers, Drake and Morgan.

This is Delia and Aidan's introduction to each other and one that will change their lives. He eventually learns that she is Princess Delia but, because he never tells her the truth, she believes he is a prince's bodyguard and then her secret bodyguard. Ultimately she returns to the palace and he to his home to slave to his family but they are thrown together time and time again, each trying to help the other and growing closer in their affections and admiration. But neither is as they appear. She is not the pretty princess who wishes to don beautiful gowns and live away from her people in her glorious palace. He is not just a simple servant. Together the rogue princess and the mysterious boy find their way to something extraordinary for themselves and the planet Astor.

B. R. Myers' new young adult novel of speculative fiction is dense with subplots, with nasty, odd and charming characters–I loved Delia's sister, Shania–

A double stranded necklace of colorful shells hung to his waist...He strode away, the shells clicking softly.
"I like a man who is also a wind chime," Shania remarked smartly. (pg. 13)

and with fantastic settings that my measly review cannot accommodate everything. I'd love to mention the pirates, the six-handed man, the sandworms and the plot to overthrow the Queen but there just isn't the space. But I can tell you that B. R. Myers has written a dashing version of Cinderella in which the princess doesn't need to be saved, that the bad guys are sometimes the good guys, and love can flourish under the oddest of circumstances. And she does it with humour and attention to detail that immerses the reader in circumstances rife with absurdity and tragedy.

"...but I'm hoping you can join me in dessert later."
"Join you in dessert?" Delia had an image of sitting in a large bowl of cream and berries with Prince Felix staring at her from the opposite side of the rim. (pg. 131)

The blurb on the back cover of Rogue Princess accurately describes the novel as a "gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of 'Cinderella'" but it's so much more. It's a romantic read in which the girl and boy save each other and a planet and their people by choosing to make paths for themselves while still honouring those who created them.

You Owe Me a Murder

Written by Eileen Cook

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-1-328-51902-3

359 pp.

Ages 13+

March 2019

Travel provides opportunities for new experiences, for meeting new people, and for personal growth.  But for seventeen-year-old Kim, her summer trip to London with Student Scholars for Change seems doomed from the beginning. Not only is she no longer in a relationship with Connor for whom she'd initially signed up for the trip, he is travelling with new girlfriend Miriam, and Kim has to watch it all from the sidelines of their small group of eight Vancouver high schoolers. But after meeting English girl Nicki, who challenges her to steal a bottle of duty-free vodka and lets her vent about Connor all the way to London, Kim is ready to find "a new me" (pg. 41), one that could be daring and isn't a quitter.

Being good at something doesn't mean that it isn't hard or scary–it just means that you keep moving forward when other people quit. (pg.25)

But in that vodka-infused venting session, Kim prepares a list titled "WHY I HATE CONNOR O'REILLY AND WHY HE DESERVES TO DIE" and Nicki suggests that she will kill Connor and Kim could kill Nicki's mom whose alcoholism is making her life miserable. Of course, Kim barely remembers their laughable discussion until Connor is killed in a Tube station and she gets a message that reads "You're welcome" along with the news story about his death.

Panicking, Kim doesn't know to whom she can turn. Worse still, the police begin investigating and Kim realizes her silence about her relationship with Connor is going to make her look suspicious. Worst of all, Nicki still has the incriminating document and is using it to blackmail Kim into murdering her mother.

So while sightseeing in London and relishing a budding romance, Kim tries to evade a drunken commitment to homicide, investigate the mysterious Nicki, and keep herself and others safe from a girl who purports to be owed a murder.

I would call You Owe Me a Murder a roller-coaster except that ride suggests highs and lows and twists and turns and this young adult novel has no lows. From start to finish, it's more like a high-wire act: tense, dangerous, and unrelenting. With Eileen Cook's exceptional plotting, You Owe Me a Murder becomes a magnificent melding of relationship angst with psychological thriller. It's a waiting game for the reader who is compelled to read through to learn whether Kim will go with through the murder pact or become victim to Nicki's vengeance. With characters like Kim and Nicki, and even secondary ones like Connor, Miriam and Alex, You Owe Me a Murder becomes a complex study in human behaviour as young people fall in and out of love or lust, seek revenge and fulfilment, and try to discover who they really are and what they are capable of being and doing.

Like Hitchcock's movie Strangers on a Train, Eileen Cook's You Owe Me a Murder demonstrates that meeting the right or wrong person can turn your life upside-down, and finding the way to right things may require courage and recognition that the truth hides in the details. (pg. 324)

The Center of the Universe

Written by Ria Voros

KCP Loft (An imprint of Kids Can Press)

978-1-5253-0038-7

512 pp.

Ages 14-18

April 2019

...we slam into people around us, invisibly, all the time. Through things we say and don't say. What we do and don't do. That we are slowly changed by the constant bombardment. That we consume and are consumed, until we become products of our interactions, made of old and new parts, simultaneously broken and healing. (pg. 351)

When her mother, GG Carter, celebrity and news anchor, goes missing, seventeen-year-old Grace's world becomes warped, though not shattered. She'd already been arguing with her mother who is obsessed with her reputation and her work, often putting it before her family, even missing out on important events like Grace's astrophotography exhibit. (Grace is a budding astronomer, an active member of Star Club and a fan of Elizabeth Tasker.) Though Grace thinks her mother has been more stressed lately, it's evident that her mother has been keeping her cards close to her chest for awhile, and Dad even wonders if GG just needed some time away. But when Grace's dad gets a text from GG that reads "I'm not coming back. Don't look for me. Goodbye." (pg. 50), which he is convinced didn't come from her, Grace begins to pull memories and evidence together to learn what truly happened to her mother.

In tandem with her mother's disappearance, Grace is connecting with her crush, Mylo McLean, who has his own family issues including a powerful mother whose parenting causes him much stress. Together Grace and Mylo support each other knowing the struggle of having well-known mothers but, when Mylo admits that his father has been gone for five years and may be living on the street, the two realize that being in limbo puts them in a similarly unique place, the Perpetual Waiting Room (PWR).

He could sit in my PWR with me because we actually shared the waiting room. We were sitting against the same wall, staring at the same old magazines, waiting for different people to come through the door. (pg. 201)

The Center of the Universe may revolve around GG Carter's disappearance as her family struggles to learn what happened to her and then to reorganize upon her return home but she is not the center of Grace's universe. Her actions may impact her daughter but Grace exerts her own pull on those around her. While she may not realize her impact, she still draws others to her, including her young brother, her grandmother, her friends, her love interest and even her mother, and it's her story that Ria Voros has appropriately made the focal point. There is much discussion about perspectives and perceptions, especially with regards to GG Carter's back story, but Ria Voros makes Grace a compassionate and astute teen, especially as she attempts to process what she learns about her mother, while choosing what and whom she needs in her own life.

Ria Voros has written an extraordinary young adult novel about a mother-daughter relationship that is turned inside out but, first and foremost, The Center of the Universe is a coming of age for Grace as she learns who she is, with and without her mother, and that she is a star in her own universe.

We Contain Multitudes

Written by Sarah Henstra

Penguin Teen

978-0-735264212

384 pp.

Ages 14+

May 2019

We might as well take advantage of the fact that we don't owe each other anything, that no one else is ever going to read what we're writing, that it's just me and you and whatever we feel like saying. (pg. 19)

When Adam Kurlansky and Jonathan Hopkirk begin their correspondence, it's as an assignment for Ms. Khang's English classes. Kurl, as he is widely known from excelling at football and basketball, is repeating his senior year while Jo is a Grade 10 Walt Whitman aficionado. Though their first letters follow their teacher's directives to introduce themselves and discuss topics like their heroes, Jonathan really gets into the writing, sharing about his father Lyle and sister Shayna, his passion for poetry and folk and bluegrass music, and what is happening around school, including the bullying he endures at the hands of a group of students he calls the "butcherboys." His narratives are generally observational, always poetic and often psychologically astute, though it takes some time for Kurl to begin to share his secrets including of physical abuse and his take on his own life and the people in it, as well as what he sees happening to "Little Jo."

I mean weird kids do have this aura to them.  It's like a smell almost. They're stuck somewhere in their heads, in some kind of a bubble. People can't really help themselves: They see a bubble, they want to pop it. (pg. 12)

But as they continue to correspond, now beyond the assignment's scope, Jo and Kurl develop a relationship on paper and in person, and one that brings emotional and physical support and finally love.  We Contain Multitudes may be an examination of how we present a multitude of selves to ourselves, our families, our peers and strangers but We Contain Multitudes is a love story. It's about finding love through words and sharing those multitudes of ourselves and developing new selves with others.  Jonathan is a son of a single dad and a dead mother with a fuzzy history, a brother, a poetry lover, a musician, a victim, and an aesthete while Kurl is a brother, a punching bag, an athlete, a thinker, a cook, a hard worker, and a secret-keeper. But with others, they are more because we are all combinations and permutations of our selves, depending on others in or not in our lives and on the events that change us. Our identities are sweeping and dynamic, and we all contain multitudes. And isn't it wonderful when two become even more because of love?

I am completely, one hundred percent of the time filled up with you. (pg. 189)

Sarah Henstra may have won last year's Governor General Literature Award for her adult novel The Red Word (ECW, 2018) but I'm gratified that she has returned to her YA roots. (I reviewed her first book Mad Miss Mimic (Razorbill, 2015) and interviewed Sarah Henstra too.) The writing is exquisite, the voices of Jonathan and Adam deep and sorrowful and passionate, and the convergence of their stories creates something bigger than the parts.

As I finished this novel of letters, a book I didn't want to leave, hopeful of the many multitudes of Jonathan and Kurl still to come, I'm overwhelmed with the infinitude of these young men and of Sarah Henstra's story. They and it know to  "Be real and be true" (pg. 9) and are, and I want more.

The Sound of Drowning: Book launch (St. John's, Newfoundland)

Because I failed to include this book in my post
about upcoming winter and spring releases of youngCanLit
(now amended),
let me promote the book launch for

Katherine Fleet

and 

her new young adult novel

The Sound of Drowning

Written by Katherine Fleet

Page Street Kids

978-1624147111

384 pp.

Ages 14-18

March 2019

on

 March 26, 2019

at

7 p.m.

at

Chapters

70 Kenmount Road

St. John's, Newfoundland

About the book:
Meredith Hall has a secret. Every night she takes the ferry to meet Ben, her best friend and first love. Though their relationship must remain a secret, they’ve been given a second chance, and Mer's determined to make it work. She lost Ben once before and discovered the awful reality: she doesn't know how to be happy without him…

Until Wyatt washes ashore―a brash new guy with a Texas twang and a personality bigger than his home state. He makes her feel reckless, excited, and alive in ways that cut through her perpetual gloom. The deeper they delve into each other’s pasts, the more Wyatt’s charms become impossible to ignore.

But a storm is brewing in the Outer Banks. When it hits, Mer finds her heart tearing in half and her carefully constructed reality slipping back into the surf. As she discovers that even the most deeply buried secrets have a way of surfacing, she’ll have to learn that nothing is forever―especially second chances.

Retrieved from Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40046016-the-sound-of-drowning on February 17, 2019.

The Beauty of the Moment

Written by Tanaz Bhathena

Penguin Teen Canada

978-0-7352-6374-1

384 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2019

Reviewed from advance reader's edition

They say that those who look to the past are often saddened, those who look to the future only are anxious and those who stay in the present are content. While this is tremendously oversimplified, it could describe the experiences of seventeen-year-old Susan Foster who has immigrated from Saudi Arabia with her parents to Mississauga. Actually, although her father, whom she calls Appa, came with them to purchase a condo and a car, arranged for driving lessons for Susan and registration for school, and generally got Susan and Amma established, he has returned to Jeddah to his work as a doctor, hopeful of soon joining them permanently. So, except for regular Skype visits and phone calls to friends and family, Susan and Amma are left to navigate their new lives in Canada essentially alone.

While Alisha, her best friend in Jeddah, insists Susan is lucky to be in Canada, away from dating restrictions, Susan sees the complexity of her new situation. She will be living alone with her mother, a woman who focuses only on Susan's academic excellence and is bitter that they've moved essentially for Susan's education, and away from Appa who seemed more amenable to Susan's artistic proclivities.

In Jeddah, my father played the role of a buffer, the water to my mother's fire, a tree that bent to her wind instead of resisting its pressure. (pg. 75)

Though Susan has always excelled at school, she is learning that she is much better at rote and memorization than at interactive learning like labs and even her driving lessons. And not doing well is not an option, especially as Appa is directing her to medical school and Amma to engineering. She can't even tell them that what she dreams about is going to art school.

And then there are the boys. Actually there is one boy, Malcolm Vakil, who has caught Susan's eye, as she has caught his. Dealing with the death of his mother and a father who is abusive and cheated on his mother, Malcolm turned his grief and anger into behaviours his teachers and father see as problematic. But, though he's had a history of sneaking out, drinking and smoking, doing drugs and dating the beautiful but capricious Afrin Patel, Malcolm finds himself drawn away from those behaviours and towards Susan.

The Beauty of the Moment, told in alternating chapters from Susan and Malcolm's perspectives, focuses on the merging of two teens' stories, rich with back stories and future ambitions. Because their story is neither straightforward nor uncomplicated, exactly as life is, The Beauty of the Moment takes the reader backwards, sideways and in circles as the two may or may not find their way to each other and contentment in their family situations.

Tanaz Bhathena rocketed onto the YA CanLit scene in 2018 with her debut novel A Girl Like That (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018) that captured the tragedies of a Saudi teen's relationship with a boy in a place of gender inequality and religious restrictions. By moving this story to Mississauga, while tethering it to Saudi Arabia via Alisha and Appa, Tanaz Bhathena expands her story to one of immigration and cultural contrast.  Yet The Beauty of the Moment is still a story of teens because Susan and Malcolm could be any teens, dealing with family, school, dating and considering their futures. Their stories are just more complicated because of cultural expectations.

Still it is the way Tanaz Bhathena tells their stories, imbuing them with the distinction of their situations and with the eloquence of voice and thought, that uplifts the plot. It may be titled The Beauty of the Moment, but the book makes sure to see that the lifetime beyond the moment helps create that beauty. There are former lives that we think were better but also hold uncomfortable memories. There is the future which generates dread but holds the promise of opportunity and change.

"Nothing lasts forever," I say. "Not this snowflake. Not our homes, not our families. But it doesn't mean you can't live in the beauty of the moment." (pg. 221)

It's being mindful of that moment and all the beauty it entails that brings contentment, and that's what Susan and Malcolm ultimately attain. That's a beautiful thing.

When Life Gives You Demons

Written by Jennifer Honeybourn

Swoon Reads

978-1-250-15823-9

262 pp.

Ages 13-18

July 2018

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When Life Gives You Demons, the kind that possess people and make them levitate and revolve their heads, you get an exorcist.  But if you're sixteen-year-old Shelby Black, who is training to become an exorcist with her Uncle Roy, a priest, sometimes you're just not the exorcist who's up for the job.

Uncle Roy doesn't like family members to be present during an exorcism. They have a tendency to freak out when they see steam coming out of their loved one's ears. (pg. 6)

There is so much for Shelby to learn about exorcising demons. She's learning how to detect them and she always carries her silver crucifix, handcuffs, and bejeweled spray bottle of holy water. She's almost got the Latin incantations right and is diligent about writing reports about the exorcisms they conduct. Shelby really wants to help out, especially as Uncle Roy is seventy and exorcisms seem to being taking more out of him now. But she's still a novice, only studying how to conduct exorcisms for the past five months, ever since her mother Robin left suddenly to train at some secret exorcism school in Italy. Unfortunately Shelby fears her mother's departure had more to do with the hurtful things she said to Robin in an argument the night before.

While Shelby seems to keep bumping into possessed beings–and even a few suspected possessions that aren't–she's crushing on her peer tutor, Spencer Callaghan. But there's some weird stuff going on with him too. Spencer's brother Mike has a tattoo of the sign of the beast i.e., 666, and a dog called Cerberus. But Spencer gives her a black onyx protection rune necklace. Does he know something? How is she going to tell him what she is, especially after she learns from her uncle that her mother had become possessed while doing an exorcism and now may be a portal to the underworld?

When Life Gives You Demons is not horror, though it could have been. There are creepy demons.

The man's face contorts, and he's spitting and foaming at the mouth. And then–oh Lord–the head starts to revolve on his neck, bones cracking and popping, until it twists all the way around and his face is on the wrong side of his body.
      I wince. I really hate it when they do that. (pg. 160)

But Jennifer Honeybourn gives Shelby a humourous sarcasm about her unconventional vocation, seemingly unimpressed by the possessed she encounters. I suppose it could get a little weird seeing demons but, to Shelby, it's more annoyance, especially when she's on a first date with Spencer.

Unfortunately, my plan to ignore the demon across from me is about to backfire, because he seems to have come out of his trance.  His face has turned a dark shade of red, and he's beginning to snort. Also, his butt is hovering a few inches off the seat, so that's just great; now he's levitating. (pg. 158)

I am not a horror fan and suspected that Jennifer Honeybourn's story might be a bit too much for me but I was wrong.  It's the right mix of teen angst–though perhaps a little different than that for most teens–with Shelby crushing on Spencer while trying to find and save her mother.  There's suspense, a little romance, some family conflict, and those demons, making When Life Gives You Demons a great YA rom-com for readers who like a little paranormal with their flirtations.

The Defiant

Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1-44344-631-0

371 pp.

Ages 13+

January 2018

Gladiatrix Fallon went from king's daughter to human chattel and fighter and finally Victrix in Lesley Livingston's The Valiant (HarperCollins, 2017) but, instead of resting on her laurels and rewards as bestowed by Julius Caesar himself, she's still fighting, now to restore sister's legacy and keep her fellow gladiatrices alive to battle another day.

The Defiant begins with a mock sea battle between Fallon's sister Sorcha's academy, the Ludus Achillea, and that of their rivals, the Ludus Amazona, which belongs to the nasty Pontius Aquila whom Fallon discovered in The Valiant to be part of a dark cult called the Sons of Dis who feast on the hearts of fallen fighters.  But that rivalry explodes when Pontius Aquila arrives claiming that the gladiatrices at the Ludus Achillea have revolted against the Lanistra (Sorcha) who is absent and must be dead. He has bought the ludus from her second in command, Thalestris, who is now also gone. Aquila who had been thwarted when he first wanted to purchase Fallon is determined to have her fight for him. With a little help from her Roman paramour Caius and his fellow legionnaire Quintus, as well as a few unlikely allies, including a kitchen slave, the murderer of her first love and a supposedly-dead Gaulish chieftain, Fallon with many of her oath sister gladiatrices escape and embark on a new struggle: to save Sorcha from the vengeful Thalestris and reclaim the ludus.

I wish I could tell you so much more about the plot of The Defiant, including the legionnaire's instruction of the formidable gladiatrices in coordinated team fighting; the battle with the Amazons, a reclusive group of women on Corsica; Fallon and Cai's romance amidst new trust issues; the reappearance of the vile Nyx, Fallon's rival in Caesar's arena; and a myriad of characters whose trustworthiness is always in question. But a single post is not sufficient to share the richness of Lesley Livingston's newest book.

However, I can tell you that, like every book I have ever read of Lesley Livingston's, there is so much complexity to her plotting, a blend of fantasy infused with well-researched reality, here the history of ancient Roman times, that readers will experience the full effect as a sensory experience. There is brutality and inequality, discrimination and power struggles, and moments of tenderness, sorority and much passion.   

Most importantly, The Defiant has positive messages about the strength of women to battle for themselves and determine their own destinies as they can.  Fallon and Sorcha, and even nasties like Nyx and Thalestris, defy the odds to rise in a paternalistic world, to choose for themselves beyond the rule of men, an intriguing concept for their time. They are sisters in arms and philosophy.

Help me see that we are not the equal of man, we are better. (pg. 248)

But Lesley Livingston goes beyond that decisive message and masterful plotting and characterizations.  She writes with command of language.  Every word embeds the reader in the time and place of The Defiant, often with colourful imagery that reveals and amuses.

The next morning I awoke with a head full of sheep's wool and bootnails. (pg. 37)

Fortunately, The Defiant is not the end of Fallon's story. In February of 2019, The Triumphant, the conclusion to the Valiant series, will be published, and there is news of a series in development at The CW based on the first book in the series.  There may be much in her world that wants to put her down but readers of Lesley Livingston's fantasy would never let her fade away.  She is valiant, she is defiant and she will be triumphant.

⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔

We're delighted that Lesley Livingston will be joining YA authors Natasha Deen and Kari Maaren on a speculative fiction panel at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival on Sunday, September 9, 2018.  We're sure to have a great discussion and you'll get a chance to hear the authors read from their works, to ask a few questions, and to even get a book or two autographed.  Do come and join us!

Summer Constellations

Written by Alisha Sevigny

KCP Loft, an imprint of Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0043-1

264 pp.

Ages 14+

May 2018

When you wish upon a star, you're a few million years too late. That star is dead, just like your dreams. (pg. 24)

Seventeen-year-old Julia Ducharme lives with her mom and nine-year-old brother Caleb at the campground they own and run. Even with all the work she does there, from carpentry to plumbing and sales at the Sugar Shack, Julia loves the Charming Pines Campground. But the past year has put an emotional and financial strain on the family after Caleb was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome from which he is just now recovering his strength and the use of his legs. No wonder Julia is looking forward to the return of Dan Schaeffer, her love interest from the previous summer. But when Dan and his parents arrive in their new and massive RV, he has a gorgeous girlfriend named Taylor in tow. Worse yet, Mom reveals that, because of expenses incurred over the past year, she is looking to get the campground appraised for possible sale to developer Mr. Constantine and his son Nick.

It doesn't take Julie long to fall for Nick, a former musician who is teaching Caleb to play guitar and helping them fix up their grandfather's old cabin in the woods. In fact, Nick is even trying to find a way to help Julia's family fundraise for the campground. Still Julia and Caleb feel that time is running out for the Pines and wonder if they can find a hidden treasure Gramps alluded to in his old journal. But will they find the means to save the campground before Julia falls completely in love with the young man whose intentions may not be as clear as he indicates?

There's still time for a summer YA romance and Summer Constellations will fit the bill nicely by taking you to the Charming Pines Campground for some swimming, star-gazing and new love. It's sweet summer fare perfect for the beach or camping or lounging in the heat with a cool drink. Just as she gave us in her YA novel Kissing Frogs (Fierce Ink Press, 2014), Alisha Sevigny knows the right balance of highs and lows to keep the story going and a happy ending worthy of the journey. Without drama that requires the reader to suspend disbelief, Alisha Sevigny gives us a light, but not lightweight, novel for teens reflecting their typical worries about relationships, home and the future but reassures that there will always be pinpricks of light that light up the darkness.

Immortal Reign: Falling Kingdoms, Book 6

Written by Morgan Rhodes

Razorbill

978-1-595-14824-7

391 pp.

Ages 13+

February 2018

I have avoided reading Morgan Rhodes's conclusion to her Falling Kingdoms series ever since I got my autographed copy at the beginning of February. I knew it would be stellar–it was– but, after five books, I wasn't ready to say good-bye to Magnus and Cleo, Jonas and Lucia, Nic and Felix and the rest that live in Mytica and elsewhere and carry Morgan Rhodes's story through every power struggle, magical conflict and romantic interlude. But, the time has come when I have to honour this final book, Book 6 in the series, and share with you the tempest that is Immortal Reign.

When last we visited the worlds of Falling Kingdoms, much deception resulted in the Kindred gods taking over the bodies of mortals to allow them reign: the fire god, Kyan, took over Nic's body; the earth Kindred took over Olivia's; the air Kindred went to Taran; and the water goddess took Cleo as her vessel. Because the ritual was interrupted, Cleo and Taran still have control over their bodies though Kyan is determined to remedy that by coercing Lucia to perform the ritual. But with the recent birth of her daughter, Lyssa, during which Lucia lost most of her magic, the sorceress is determined to do what's right for her daughter, including imprisoning Kyan back in his amber orb and reuniting with her father King Gaius and her brother Magnus. But all is more complicated as Magnus fights for his life after being buried alive, the king is assassinated and Lyssa is kidnapped.

Meanwhile, the Kraeshian empress Amara is set for her Ascension but, as much as she wants to rule, she is realizing that much of what she desires has been directed by her manipulative grandmother Neela. Still Amara has perpetrated far too many atrocities, against her family and others, for anyone to be her true ally so to whom can she turn? She intends to make things right, or somewhat right, but she has a lot of relationships to mend.

"I regret very few decisions I've made these last months, but I deeply regret how I've treated you. I've been horrible to you."
     Ashur gaped at her. "Horrible? You stabbed me in the heart." (pg. 57)

The dialogue is so clever, often draped in mirth, especially the banter involving Magnus, Jonas and Felix. Still the situation with the Kindreds is dire and, while Cleo and Taran fight off the powerful Kindreds attempting to take over their bodies fully, and Magnus, after freeing himself with some powerful dark magic, does all he can to keep Cleo safe, Lucia tries to regain her magic by stripping Jonas of his so that she might continue to fight for her daughter.

There is so much more to tell about Immortal Reign but  trying to condense a review of the book into a few sentences is near impossible. Morgan Rhodes's story telling is bigger than the worlds she has created in Falling Kingdoms. Her tale weaves in and out, backwards and forwards and sometimes sideways, and still creates a tightly-knit story of struggles, love and redemption.

We don't change. We are who we are throughout our lives. We can try other paths, other roads, but it never works. (pg. 294)

Immortal Timotheus believes these words as he says them but Immortal Reign shows us that change is possible for all.  From Book 1 to Book 6, all the characters have changed, becoming more sympathetic, less silly, less violent or self-righteous, more accepting of others and their mistakes, and open to possibilities they would never have accepted previously as viable or desirable.  I have grown to love each and every one of them as they've descended and ascended and transcended into the bountiful characters for whom readers have cheered and booed. (Check out some of the astounding fandom drawings of the characters that readers have shared on the Falling Kingdoms wiki, Tumblr, Pinterest and numerous blogs. These readers love these characters as much as I do.)

Morgan Rhodes could not have written a better ending to her six-part series. It's satisfying with unexpected elements and a frisson of the predictable (hurray for Magnus and Cleo finally getting together). She lead us through widespread rebellions and strife between nations, as well as personal triumphs and tragedies. And we followed. And we would do so again.  With Morgan Rhodes at the writing helm, it's a pleasure to accompany her on the voyage.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

If you haven't read the whole series, do check out my reviews of Books 1 through 5 for a taste of what you've missed and the order to follow to get caught up. You'll definitely want to do so.

1. Falling Kingdoms (2012)
2. Rebel Spring (2013)
3. Gathering Darkness (2014)
4. Frozen Tides (2015) 
5. Crystal Storm (2016)