Historical Fiction · Review · Young Adult

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi | Book Review

A Very Large Expanse of Sea, by Tahereh Mafi, takes us back to 2002, a year after 9/11. The turbulent times make life harder for Shirin, the new sixteen-year-old Muslim girl at school where she is regularly stereotyped. She’s built an armor around herself in the turbulence and from having to deal with her parents’ constantly moving to new places. She’s aloof to the world and keeps to herself. Then she meets a boy, named Ocean, who wants to get to know her. The….

Historical Fiction · Review

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice | Book Review

Seven-year-old Jesus and his family depart Alexandria and head to Jerusalem and home. As the young messiah realizes the power he holds, he tries to find the answers to his questions. What is the secret behind his birth? Why does he have these abilities when others do not? In the meantime, his family tries to survive the turbulent society.

Historical Fiction · Modern Fantasy · Review

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Li Lan is a young girl from a good, bankrupt family. She soon learns that she her reclusive father left her with few marriage prospects. Then one of the Lim family’s women contacts her with a proposal. Marry her dead son in exchange for security. Li Lan and her grandmother are horrified by this offer. Her ghostly stalker haunts her, dragging her into the affairs of the afterlife. As she discovers dark secrets, she has to escape cold, ghostly clutches.

Historical Fiction · Modern Fantasy · Review

Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede

The Fairy Tale Series was created by Terri Windling with the intent of growing a collection of original fairy tale retellings. Patricia C. Wrede joined the series with Snow White and Rose Red. The two daughters of the Widow Arden, Rosamund and Blanche, obey their mother and gather herbs to help them survive in their Elizabethan English town. The widow does all she can to prevent rumors of witchcraft from spreading to them. Two princes of Faerie, both half-mortal, catch up when the elder returns from the mortal realm, but their meeting is broken up by two mortal sorcerers who steal the younger’s magic, transforming the prince into a bear. The bear wanders to the widow’s house. Can the girls and the older brother save the bear from the spell? Snow White and Rose Red tells the tale again with teen girls and the presence of the brother through the whole story.

Historical Fiction · Review

The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander

In 1962, The Sisters of the Holy Redemption holds one of the Magdalen Laundries, the workhouses of “fallen” women (unwed mothers, prostitutes, etc.), in Dublin. Most of the girls sinned by being too pretty, being too independent, or tempting a man. Teagan Tiernan and Nora Craven are sent to the convent for “tempting” a priest and for kissing a boy. They are renamed, given uniforms, have their hair cropped, denied contact with the outside world, and set to work in the laundry. They befriend each other and the nuns’ favorite Magdalen, Lea, and they plot escape.

Historical Fiction · Modern Fantasy · Review

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling

I waited too long to see the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which I will hopefully see the last full week of February. Failing that, I will see it after it comes out on DVD. I am reviewing the screenplay with unspoiled eyes.

Graphic Novel · Historical Fiction · Review · Young Adult

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa

Ehwa, a Korean girl raised by a single mother, overhears conversations that confuse her about the world and her body, and her mother answers her questions with wisdom. She learns what exactly it means to be a girl, a woman, and in love. As Ehwa grows up, she develops new understandings of love and comes to terms with her feelings for the two boys that caught her eye. Kim Dong Hwa’s The Color of Earth is a coming-of-age story about love and the rite of passage into womanhood.

Graphic Novel · Historical Fiction · Review

A Bride’s Story, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori

Series: A Bride’s Story, Vol. 1 Translator: William Flannagan Publisher: Yen Press Pub. Date: 2009 (2011 for this edition) Genres: Historical Fiction, Manga Pages: 191 Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars Along the 19th-century Silk Road, Amir Halgal, a twenty-year-old woman from a nomadic tribe, goes to live with the twelve-year-old boy she is betrothed to.… Continue reading A Bride’s Story, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori

Historical Fiction · Modern Fantasy · Review · Young Adult

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Synopsis from Goodreads: Philadelphia 1876. The Dead are rising. A zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor Fitt. Whoever controls the Dead Army has her brother. She avoids her mother’s choice of husband for the lab of Spirit Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel. The situation threatens her reputation, and the lives of everyone… Continue reading Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard