A double homicide upsets the quiet Swedish village of Blackwater. The residents are left dealing with finding the murderer while dealing with their own personal issues. The two main characters, Annie Raft and Johann Brandberg, face communes and cults while coping with their issues of isolation and fear which is the main theme of the novel.

In this adult book, while the writing is very pretty, the plot is very confusing; the point-of-view was messy. The novel is translated from Swedish. There was character development, but it was lost in the flip-flopping of the characters’ stories. The reader’s full attention is required and multiple readings might be necessary in order to fully understand the plot development.
Final verdict: It is an interesting book, but, will leave the reader more confused than satisfied.

— Faith E.

This dystopian novel takes place after the Seventeen Days of destruction. Eliza, the second princess of England, must find her captured brother and sister and stop the man who killed her mother. Eliza, pretending to be one of “the evil people” sees how they evil people fight and rule. Thus, educating her to become more passionate for the people and the crown.

If you are looking for a literary read, this is not the book. However, if you are looking for an engaging, fun, fast-paced read, this is your book. Teens will be able to relate to the characters especially Eliza, who depicts a strong heroine, and her younger brother, who is a symbol for freedom and growing up. There are some very fun plot twists. The romance between Eliza and Wesley seems a bit unnecessary. The end is very powerful, but some of the impact of the ending is lost when the reader realizes that there will be a second book. This book is smartly-written and readers will enjoy the wild ride.

— Faith E.

Suffer Love, Ashley Herring Blake’s debut novel, will appeal to readers who enjoyed John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars or Nicola Yoon’s Everything Everything. The main characters, Hadley and Samuel (Sam) have the same attraction-with-a-complication, although in this case the complication is not medical. Sam’s mother had an affair with Hadley’s father. Sam realizes who Ashley is long before Ashley makes the connection. Sam’s decision not to share that information provides much of the tension throughout the novel.

The novel is told from alternating points of view, which is occasionally disorienting. It’s helpful that each chapter is titled with the name of the character from whose point of view that chapter is told. There is a good deal of vulgar language. Sadly, though, the characters seem to use profanity as casually  and unconsciously as many high schoolers do today.

This book is told through the eyes of young Rosa who lives on the lower Baja Peninsula with her family. Rosa tells her followers about Mexico being in North America with beaches, deserts, rain forests, and mountain ranges. Rosa’a parents take tourists on whale watching tours. Rosa goes to school after a breakfast of fried eggs, beans, and sauce on a tortilla. In school “we are learning about archaeology (say: ark-ay-AHL-oh-jee), which is the study of ancient cultures. There are many places in Mexico where the remains of ancient cities still stand.” Her school is taught in Spanish in the morning and in English in the afternoon.  In history, they learn about the Olmec, Mayans, Aztecs, Europeans explorers and conquerors. People “fought many battles with Spain… won their freedom in 1812… became Mexico!”

Lunch is the big meal of the day. There are after school programs for children while their parents go back to work.

Rosa likes the November holiday the Day of the Dead.

Rosa’s family eat a light supper before she goes to bed.

The first page of this book is a glossary of eleven entries. The last page is “ALL ABOUT MEXICO” which includes: the official name of the country, population, capital, official language, total area, government, currency, fun facts, and flag.

This book does not have a table of contents or an index.

This is a super quick overview of China for young readers. I was pleasantly amazed at how much information there was packed into these brief 32 pages! In 32 pages the book breaks China up into four regions: North, West, South, and East.  The North has the Gobi Desert, the West has the Himalayan Mountains, the South has the rain forests, and the East has the majority of large cities, such as, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Xi’an, and Beijing.

The book is introduced by a young Chinese boy telling the reader about his home country of China. His name is Jin. He lives in Hangzhou with his mother – who works at a bank, his father- -who works for a power company, and his Aunt Jun- who has come to the city looking for work.  The reader follows Jin on a typical day, starting with a breakfast of noodles with eggs. Then, off to school. Jin learns about the 40,000 years of China’s history. It includes a brief line or two about the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties, along with the Mongol’s invasion, and the 1912 rebellion against the emperor. “My favorite part of history is learning about all of China’s great inventions. The Chinese are credited with inventing paper, printing, silk, and fireworks.” After lunch, they study science about the dinosaurs in the Gobi Desert.   They, also, study English, computer, art, music, and gym on various days. After school, dad picks Jin up for a snack. Jin is excited about tomorrow’s Dragon Boat Festival. The book closes with Jin’s family eating dinner.

The first page of this book is a glossary of fourteen entries. The last page is “ALL ABOUT CHINA” which includes: the official name of the country, population, capital, official language, total area, government, currency, fun facts, and flag.

Does not contain an index and table of contents.

Jess is feeling very sad because it’s her birthday and she is missing her parents. She hasn’t even received her birthday present in the mail!
In order to cheer Jess up, Ella and her friends plan to make a magical glitter bomb as a birthday surprise. However, Ella does not stick to the recipe and adds extra of the special ingredient just to be sure it goes off, sending a glittery message into the air. Unfortunately, when Ella delivered the special surprise, it went off with such force, it broke a priceless statue at the academy! Ella is sure she will be expelled, until the guardian angels realize a bird has hidden the missing mail and Jess’ birthday present in the statue!! This story is filled with cute, adventurous characters that readers will fall in love with. This is the second book of the Angel Wings series.

Ella is an angel at the Guardian Angel Academy, with big dreams to be a guardian angel someday. Although Ella is an angel, she seems to get herself into all kinds of trouble. Ella has made some true angel friends in Poppy, Tilly and Jess, and she has met a grumpy angel, Primrose!
In order to cheer Tilly up from her homesickness, Ella goes on an adventure to Rainbows End, a forbidden area where the remembering flowers grow. When Ella finds a flower to take to her friend, she loses her map to find her way back home. Good thing she has true friends to come to her rescue! This story is adorable in the cutest way with all of the many special ideas written within! Readers will fall in love with the angels and their adventures!

In this sci-fi second volume in the Undertow Trilogy, Lyric, a teenage girl, must find and rescue all the people the government stole from her city of Coney Island. She must also face difficulties among her circle of so-called friends. Lyric, with her special power of controlling water, must learn who to trust and who not to trust for the better of the world.

The first volume, Undertow, was action-packed with a great main character. Unfortunately, this book was dull through the majority of the book and the main character was very stereo-typed as a ditzy teenage girl. Lyric was written as very power-hungry person, but was willing to change herself for a boy. The story was not predictable, but the element of surprise was not exciting. The last 100 pages were a good read — more action and more character connection. However, in the last chapter, the genre changed from sci-fi to complete fantasy, which some may view as positive, but, some readers may find it to be too disconnected from the book. Hopefully, the third book in the series will portray the main character with a different outlook and be filled with non-stop action.

— Natalie S.

In this contemporary novel, Lily, a junior in high school, begins to leave notes under her desk in chemistry class and someone responds to her notes…which eventually blossoms into romance.

This book is super cliche; typical mean girl with the guy she can’t get. The main character changes herself so much throughout the book that she is not the person you first meet. Although this is a predictable story, it did have worthy aspects in its plot: 1. Good family values, 2. Moral strength in the main character; and, 3. True to high school life. This book is written for those readers who enjoy a light romance book.

— Natalie S.

This biography of Hillary Clinton, part of A Real-Life series of biographies, is better suited for school age audiences than the other Clinton biographies I have in my library collection. Living History or Hard Choices, for instance, are both considerably longer and have a higher reading level, making them less accessible to students who want a quick biographical overview.  Hillary Clinton: American Woman of the World features photos, including recent ones from the 2016 campaign, a Time Line, Further Reading and Viewing, Sources and Source Notes, and an Index.

This 2016 biography is a good addition to school libraries. Other biographies in the A Real-Life series include Sally Ride, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.