Don't Date Rosa Santos

Don’t Date Rosa Santos
by Nina Moreno
Disney-Hyperion, 2019. 336 pgs. Young Adult.

Rosa Santos has always known about her family’s curse. Her grandfather died as he and her grandmother fled Cuba. Her father died shortly after her mother found out she was pregnant with Rosa. Both men were taken by the sea. When Alex Aquino comes back to town, Rosa knows she should stay away from him (especially because he owns a boat). Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.

This book hit especially close to home for me as Rosa’s abuela, Mimi, reminded me a lot of my own grandmother. I thought the author did a great job of portraying what it’s like to live in a bilingual household. Rosa was a really enjoyable main character because she had a lot of confidence while still being vulnerable at times. I liked the dynamic between Rosa, her mother, and her grandmother and felt that the emotions throughout the book were really authentic. I would recommend this book as a great summer read for anyone who wants a small taste of Cuban Florida.

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The Lady from the Black Lagoon

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
by Mallory O’Meara
Hanover Square Press, 2019. 336 pgs. Nonfiction.

Milicent Patrick was the woman who designed the Creature from the Black Lagoon (or The Creature for short). Unfortunately, history and the male ego have all but erased her contribution to the movie. Mallory O’Meara, horror movie enthusiast, just happened to stumble upon a picture of her with The Creature. O’Meara thought Milicent looked stunning in her dress, heels, and pearls and immediately wanted to know who she was. Thus began a years long search for Milicent. Where did she come from? How did she become the designer of The Creature? And more importantly, where did she go afterwards?

This book is part Milicent’s personal history, part a history of the horror movie industry, and part memoir/detective story as the author hunts down any available information regarding Milicent’s life. This is the author’s first book—her day job is working as a horror movie producer—and that gives the book a tone that you don’t usually see in nonfiction. The author is really casual in the way she relays information and her footnotes more often than not contain snarky side comments. This serves to make the book extremely readable and I found myself reading it much faster than I usually read nonfiction books. O’Meara does a great job addressing the misogyny and sexism that Milicent faced throughout her life and ties it in with the #MeToo movement in current times along with her own personal experiences. My only critique is that sometimes O’Meara’s voice borders on too casual and I feel it makes her lose some credibility as an author. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of horror movies or who wants to see a little historical context for the #MeToo movement.

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Kid Gloves

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos
by Lucy Knisley
First Second Books, 2019. 248 pgs. Nonfiction Graphic Novel.

Lucy Knisley had always wanted to be a mother. But when it came time to get pregnant, it turned out to be a little harder than she’d thought it would be. First, she had a miscarriage. Then, she had another one. When she finally did have a successful pregnancy, there were many health complications ending with a very dramatic labor and delivery.

This is such a great book about pregnancy. The author weaves her own personal experiences with sections detailing the history of obstetrics and gynecology. In addition, she debunks common myths and misconceptions regarding conception and pregnancy in a clear and transparent way. Knisley discusses the facts of pregnancy, the emotions that accompany it, and so much more. By being so raw and open with her personal story, she demystifies a lot of things regarding pregnancy and, I felt, also created a channel for people to discuss experiences with miscarriages. This graphic novel is great for anyone who has been pregnant, currently is pregnant, or hopes to be pregnant sometime in the future. It is also a good resource for anyone who just wants to learn more about conception and pregnancy.

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Serious Moonlight

Serious Moonlight
by Jenn Bennett
Simon Pulse, 2019. 432 pgs. Young Adult.

Birdie just got her first job working the graveyard shift at a hotel in downtown Seattle. Unfortunately, one of her coworkers just happens to be the boy that she had an awkward “encounter” with the other day. Determined to move past that incident, Birdie and Daniel find themselves teaming up to solve a mystery involving a mysterious local author.

This book does a great job portraying flawed characters in a sympathetic way. Birdie never knew her father and her mother died when she was young. She was raised and homeschooled by her overprotective grandparents and grew up pretty isolated from others her age. Birdie also suffers from narcolepsy (undiagnosed) and must learn to deal with all of these things as she starts her new job. Daniel, on the other hand, is deaf in one ear and had his own incident in high school that is explored later in the book. I thought this book really delicately handles different forms of grief while also being tactfully sex positive.

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Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc

Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc
by David Elliott
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2019. 208 pgs. Young Adult

Joan of Arc was called by angels to support Charles VII in recovering France from English rule. This book of poems tells her story through people she knew as well as inanimate objects that she interacted with. It details her beginning and ultimately her end.

I know hardly anything about Joan of Arc, so this was a really interesting introduction to her story. The author uses a mix of modern poetry and poetry formats that were popular at the time of Joan of Arc. I felt like I was learning about both history and poetry at the same time! Overall, I thought the poems were well-written and it was especially interesting to get the perspectives of inanimate objects like Joan’s dress or sword. I would recommend this for people who like short collections of poetry (especially older forms) or anyone who wants a good, brief introduction to Joan of Arc.

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The Library Book
by Susan Orlean
Simon Schuster, 2018. 310 pgs. Non-Fiction.

On April 28, 1986 the LA Public Library caught fire. The fire reached a temperature of 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage and destroying or damaging more than a million books. It took years for the library to recover and rebuild, but with the support of the community, many volunteers, and generous donors they were able to.

This book is one part true crime, one part history of the LA Public Library, and one part love letter to the modern library. I really enjoyed the way that Orlean wove the three narratives together and I didn’t find one more engaging than the others. She starts each chapter off with a few book titles that relate to the chapter and their call numbers which I thought was a nice touch. I would recommend this for anyone who likes light true crime, LA, or libraries.

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On a Sunbeam

On a Sunbeam
by Tillie Walden
First Second, 2018. 533 pgs. Young Adult Graphic Novel.

Mia is a new member of a team that travels through space repairing broken-down structures. As she gets to know the other members of her team, she opens up about her time at a boarding school and the girl she fell in love with while there.

The art throughout this book is amazing. The artist chose to only use colors in blue and red hues and I feel like that helps to bring the reader into an outer space type of atmosphere. One thing that is difficult is that the world isn’t explained super well. It appears that this world (universe?) is entirely populated by women, but that’s not necessarily immediately apparent. I did enjoy the slight whimsical touches that the author included throughout; like that their ships were all shaped like fish and basically every part of The Staircase. I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for a more diverse graphic novel or those who have already read and enjoyed other books by this author.

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The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves
by Roshani Chokshi
Wednesday Books, 2019. 388 pgs. Young Adult.

In Paris, 1889 the Exposition Universelle is about to open with its main attraction--the Eiffel Tower. Séverin Montagnet-Alarie is a treasure-hunter and a wealthy hotelier who has a bone to pick with society’s most powerful organization, the Order of Babel. But when the Order needs his help, they offer him a bargain: his true inheritance for the use of him and his crew. Séverin, along with his band of misfits, will have to use their wits and unique talents to find the artifact that the Order is looking for.

I’m a big fan of heists so I was really prepared to love this book. However, it was a little less about the heists themselves and more about the characters and the political climate with the Order of Babel. I found the writing to be confusing sometimes especially during action sequences, but the reader still gets a pretty good sense of this version of 1889 Paris. A big draw for this book is that it has an extremely diverse cast of characters. There are characters of color, characters on the LGBT spectrum, and possibly characters with mental disabilities (not explicitly stated, but implied). I would recommend this book for readers trying to read more diverse books as it checks pretty much every box.

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The Feather Thief

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Viking, 2018. 320 pgs. Non-Fiction.

One evening in July 2009, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist broke into the Tring Museum, an outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. His objective? To make off with as many rare bird specimens as his suitcase could carry. Rist planned on keeping some of them for his own personal use, but others he planned to sell to fund a new gold flute he had his eye on. Who would (illegally) buy dead birds? Let me introduce you to the Victorian salmon fly-tying community. 

I first heard a version of this story on the podcast This American Life and worried that reading the book would feel really repetitive. That was not the case! Johnson includes so many details from Wallace’s scientific expeditions (the guy who caught the birds in the first place), to the history of fly-tying, to details on the heist itself. He also does a great job of conveying information without info-dumping. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys true crime stories in general, but particularly as a non-violent/gory true crime option.

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The Archived

The Archived
by Victoria Schwab
Hyperion, 2013. 321 pgs. Young Adult.

When you die, you become a History which then gets filed in the Archives. Mackenzie is a Keeper. It’s her job to return Histories to the Archives if they ever wake up. After moving with her parents to an old hotel, the number of Histories that she’s assigned to return increases and becomes harder to manage. As more and more Histories find their way into her territory, it becomes clear that something is wrong with the Archives.

This book’s entire premise was fascinating to me. I loved Schwab’s take on the afterlife (which is essentially a library). For the first 2/3 of this book I just had so many questions and didn’t feel like I was getting any answers, but by the end almost all of my questions were answered. I liked Mackenzie as a main character overall, but I felt so frustrated at how secretive she was. Sometimes she had good reasons for keeping secrets, but at other times it felt like her reasoning was an angsty, “They won’t understand!” Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for people who don’t mind diving into a semi-complicated world and waiting a while for any kind of payoff.

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Sadie

Sadie
by Courtney Summers
Wednesday Books, 2018. 311 pgs. Young Adult Fiction.

Sadie was always more of a mom to Mattie than an older sister and when Mattie is found dead in the woods, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. She decides to hunt down the man who she thinks did it—her mom’s ex-boyfriend, Keith. This book is told in alternating perspectives between Sadie’s first person narrative and a podcast called The Girls hosted by West McCray.

I love true crime podcasts so I thought this book would be right up my alley with the podcast element. The reader can choose to either listen to the actual podcast or just read the podcast’s transcript in the book, which is what I did. This book was so much heavier than I anticipated and deals with hard topics including drug addiction, sexual abuse, and pedophilia. The podcast element is interesting and creates the opportunity for a third person narrative that keeps the suspense alive. I would recommend this book for others who enjoy true crime podcasts as long as they don’t mind the difficult content.

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Little White Lies

Little White Lies
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Freeform, 2018. 400 pgs. Young Adult.

Sawyer Taft is doing just fine when her rich grandmother, Lillian Taft, shows up at her front door with an offer and a contract. If Sawyer agrees to live with Lillian for nine months and participate in a debutante season, Lillian will pay her $500,000. Although Sawyer doesn’t forgive Lillian for ignoring her and her mother for the last 18 years, the promised payout is too good to pass up. That’s how Sawyer finds herself rubbing elbows with members of high society, going to brunch at the local country club, and in a jail cell with three other debutantes.

I really enjoyed Sawyer as a character. She was smart and tough but had a softer side to her as well. I thought her development throughout the story was great and seemed genuine as she came to care for her cousin and the other debutantes. I thought the story was told well through flash backs that kept the reader intrigued. I also enjoyed that the focus of the story was more on Sawyer’s relationships with her mother, Lily, and Lillian instead of with a boy. My only criticism is that the ending was sudden with a giant twist that didn’t seem wholly necessary. I would recommend this book for anyone who is already a fan of Jennifer Lynn Barnes or anyone who is looking for a book filled with secrets and intrigue but limited on the romance.

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The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window
By A.J. Finn
William Morrow, 2018. 449 pgs. Fiction.

Dr. Anna Fox used to be a brilliant child psychologist, but now she can’t even leave her own house. An accident last winter has caused her to become agoraphobic and she now spends her time self-medicating and drinking bottle after bottle of Merlot while observing her neighbors. Anna is particularly interested in the new family that moved in across the park—the Russells. One night, she sees something she shouldn’t and the walls she has built up to keep herself safe start to crumble.

I’m new to the mystery/thriller genre and to unreliable narrators, so maybe I was a little too easily impressed by this book and all of its twists and turns. However, I thought it was a quick and engaging read that had me hooked from the beginning. Even though I enjoyed it overall, I was often frustrated with Anna because of how much she drank—it seemed like a simple solution to get people to start taking her seriously would be to stop mixing alcohol with her medications. I also wanted her to get one of those weekday pill boxes so she would stop double and triple dosing. This book had me guessing from beginning to end and I would recommend it for other people who are also new to the genre.

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Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories
Edited by Stephanie Perkins
St. Martin’s Press, 2016. 400 pgs. Young Adult Fiction

Anything can happen over the summer and in this book, 12 best-selling young adult authors give their take on summertime romance. The stories range in genre from contemporary to fantasy to horror and more. Along with summer love, characters navigate tough issues such as broken families, life after high school, and figuring out who they are.

This book is great for anyone who loves a good summer romance story since you have 12 to choose from. Even if you’re not looking to read all 12 stories, with such a wide range of subgenres, there’s definitely one in here to suit your mood. This book is marketed as being “love stories” so that makes things a little more predictable plot-wise—the main character and the love interest WILL get together—but that still doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of it happening. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of one (or more) of the authors included, or to anyone who wants to spend half an hour reading a story with a guaranteed happy ending.

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The Geography of Lost Things

The Geography of Lost Things
By Jessica Brody
Simon Pulse, 2018. 320 pgs. Young Adult Fiction

Even when he was alive, Jackson was a terrible father and it's going to take a lot more than his 1968 Firebird convertible to change Ali's mind. She plans to sell his final gift to her as quickly as possible so that she can save her childhood home. Luckily, she finds a buyer right away, but he's 300 miles up the California Coast and she can't drive stick. Enter Ali's ex: Nico. Despite not agreeing with her decision to sell the car, Nico offers to drive her the entire way for a cut of the profit. As they drive, however, he tries to convince her to "trade up" to get the money she needs instead. Starting with a hair tie, Nico is convinced that they can raise $25,000 simply by trading things on Craigslist.

This is a fun road trip story with likable characters, an emotional main plot, and a quirky subplot. The book moves quickly as Ali and Nico trade items and make their way up the Western coast of the United States. The plot left plenty of room for character growth and it was enjoyable to watch Ali come to terms with her father and their relationship. I did think her inner monologue was tiring and repetitive at times, but other than that, this is a great read for anyone who wishes they could go on a spontaneous road trip.

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