Off Book: CITY OF GHOSTS by Victoria Schwab

Summary: (from Scholastic)

Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspecters, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can really see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspecters head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass and Jacob come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil.

Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

Review:

I can't BELIEVE I was lucky enough to get a copy of Victoria Schwab's latest, her first middle grade book! Thank you, YALLWEST (I'll also have an ARC review of GRIM LOVELIES coming soon).

I read this the day after YALLWEST and really enjoyed it. I haven't read much middle grade since my daughter started reading too much and too fast for me to keep up reading ahead/with her, but CITY OF GHOSTS reminded me of some of my favorite middle grade from my own childhood. It made me think of my daughter's cousin Sid Fleischman, and his spooky, engaging stories, like The Ghost on Saturday Night.

The story starts off with exciting elements, particularly the ghost best friend, and keeps adding to them, exploring the system of ghost rules Schwab has established, all the while keeping it compelling to the main character, the relatable Cassidy. The book has a satisfying puzzle, but leaves things open for further books in the series, which I think kids will be eager for.

Schwab opens the ARC with a letter and says she likes scary stories, but is afraid of them. I don't think this book is too scary for most kids, but thrilling as it dips into different spooky locales (never with overwhelming description) and rises to a cinematic climax. I think CITY OF GHOSTS will meet the demand of my students who are always looking for more spooky stories.

Young readers will likely also enjoy the references to Harry Potter and explanations of American versus British vocabulary. And the exploration of supportive, if complicated, friendship is stellar. I also liked how the parents are present and a part of the story, something that I've seen readers asking for, rather than another orphaned main character.

The excitement for this ARC being handed out was great, the line very long, and I don't think that those who scored a copy, nor those who read the book when it comes out in August, will be disappointed.

Off Book: ISLAND OF THE MAD by Laurie R King

Summary (from LaurieRKing.com)

A June summer’s evening, on the Sussex Downs, in 1925.  Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are strolling across their orchard when the telephone rings: an old friend’s beloved aunt has failed to return following a supervised outing from Bedlam.  After the previous few weeks—with a bloody murder, a terrible loss, and startling revelations about Holmes—Russell is feeling a bit unbalanced herself.  The last thing she wants is to deal with the mad, and yet, she can’t say no.

The Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, yet she seemed to be improving—or at least, finding a point of balance in her madness.  So why did she disappear?  Did she take the family’s jewels with her, or did someone else?  The Bedlam nurse, perhaps?

The trail leads Russell and Holmes through Bedlam’s stony halls to the warm Venice lagoon, where ethereal beauty is jarred by Mussolini’s Blackshirts, where the gilded Lido set may be tempting a madwoman, and where Cole Porter sits at a piano, playing with ideas…

Review:

I'd just finished another (modern, high school-aged) Holmes adaptation when I received an e-ARC of ISLAND OF THE MAD, so I happily dove into the latest in the series I had discovered as a high schooler myself.

I read the first Russell and Holmes book as a teenager, over a winter break when a personal tragedy had struck my life. Going with Mary Russell on her adventures, the greatest starting over her winter break at Oxford, was a lifeline. Mary was better than me, but similar in ways not many girls were in the few teen girl protagonist books I got my hands on were. Going to see Laurie King at a book signing was the first author event I attended outside of school author visits. These books, therefore, have always held a special place in my heart. I've also enjoyed King's other series, some of which cross over with her Sherlockian exploits.

Each book offers clearly copious historical research, arch humor, and a certain twist, whether it's exploring the romance of Russell and Holmes, shining a light on the darker dealings of the British Empire, or digging into the psychological damage of trauma and addiction. ISLAND OF THE MAD seems to give a vacation to the poor Russell and Holmes, who have been on one grueling adventure after another in the last several books. During their efforts to ascertain the safety of a friend's aunt, they get to enjoy themselves, helping to invent water skiing and Cole Porter lyrics. (In this way it's more in the vein of THE PIRATE KING than some of their darker adventures, though there are heftier themes present as well.)

King's writing is always engaging and utterly readable. I noted down several lines that had me bursting out laughing, as Russell contemplates attacking her boorish dinner companion with a fork and runs through her own feminist thoughts to herself. The dinner with the awful lord is like Facebook with your parents' cousins, except you're hoping the lord will be a murder victim, rather than just blocking the distant family members.

The book delves into downright chilling discussions of fascism taking hold in democratic nations and thugs succeeding and taking power, and the very real implications this has on people's lives, especially queer people and women. In this way King makes this historical book relevant to today's unfortunate political situation as well as providing a cathartic response in the success of Russell and Holmes' and the friends they enlist to help.

I attended a panel at a book festival this weekend and at the "Thrillers" panel someone mentioned Laurie King's method of using a spreadsheet to ensure clues are dropped at a good pace and the characters' lives are fully worked out. The care she takes is evident in the clear presentation of her plots. This book has the bonus fun of (often short) chapters from Holmes' (third person limited) POV, which, ultimately, delightfully intersects with Russell's efforts on the behalf of her friend's relative.

I can't speak specifically to the representation of mental illness--it appears respectful--but as always King brings in positive viewpoints on the reality of life for queer characters living in a less accepting time. This makes King's books some of my favorite historical mysteries. If you haven't read any of King, I do recommend starting with THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE, but when you do make it through the first few you could skip ahead to ISLAND OF THE MAD for a fun adventure.

Off Book: BLOOD WATER PAINT

Summary (from Penguin Random House):

Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father’s paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome’s most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost. 

He will not consume
my every thought.
I am a painter.
I will paint.

Joy McCullough’s bold novel in verse is a portrait of an artist as a young woman, filled with the soaring highs of creative inspiration and the devastating setbacks of a system built to break her. McCullough weaves Artemisia’s heartbreaking story with the stories of the ancient heroines, Susanna and Judith, who become not only the subjects of two of Artemisia’s most famous paintings but sources of strength as she battles to paint a woman’s timeless truth in the face of unspeakable and all-too-familiar violence. 

I will show you
what a woman can do.

Review: 

Listen: just read this book. You must read this one. (TW for sexual assault is the exception.)

This book truly makes you feel. You feel the messy, misleading, confusing, elating life of the artist. A friend of mine, when I recommended it, balked at reading a novel in verse, but the poetry is simple, sweeping you up in the mind and life of Artemisia. The chapters where Artemisia's mother tells her stories, in prose, seem slower at first, but the mother teaching her daughter how to face this world is so compelling, I found myself enjoying them just as much. Enjoying may the wrong word. Craving perhaps--as I imagined and mourned how women must help each other face the reality of our world, as I anticipated the triumph of the biblical women's stories. This book is searing. I meant to read it all at once but I had to put it down, as my dread grew. For the entire second half I was tearing up. 

The author told this story as a play originally, and I could imagine how powerful the story would be enacted on stage. It holds that kind of magic as a book, the feeling you are witnessing a story, hearing the testimony of women's voices. It's wonderful that as a book so many more can experience Artemisia's story.

A Soft Place to Land

Scene: lunch out with the Schwartzkins

Rookie: *scooting into my space until he is cuddling my arm, which is trying to feed me vegetables but whatever, CUDDLES*

Rookie: Ahhhhh! *pretends to fall and cuddles harder into my arm* Good thing I found a cushion!

Me: Moms are a soft place to land, as the song sort of goes. Everyone needs a soft place to land

Rookie: Am I your soft place?

Me: Yes

Owl, thoughtful: I think I'm mine

And that pretty much sums up the Schwartzkins right now.

Off Book: WHITE RABBIT

"Rufus Holt is having the worst night of his life. It begins with the reappearance of his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian—the guy who stomped his heart out like a spent cigarette. Just as Rufus is getting ready to move on, Sebastian turns up out of the blue, saying they need to "talk." Things couldn’t get worse, right? Then Rufus gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. He and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife beside the dead body of her boyfriend, Fox Whitney. April swears she didn’t kill Fox. Rufus knows her too well to believe she’s telling him the whole truth, but April has something he needs. Her price is his help. Now, with no one to trust but the boy he wants to hate yet can’t stop loving, Rufus has one night to clear his sister’s name . . . or die trying."

Thanks to the generosity of Karen M. McManus I had the opportunity to read an ARC of WHITE RABBIT by Caleb Roehrig, and, well, I read it in one day. That's really all you need to know that this YA thriller is successful at drawing you in, keeping you turning pages. This was a satisfying almost old-school mystery, with a shocking set-up with the bloody sister holding the knife, and the protagonist tracking down and talking to suspects, but the menace of the killer lurking in the mist and shadows through one wild night keeps the suspense brewing. And the relationships take this over the top. I adored the main relationship explored between Rufus and Sebastian, but Rufus' history with and feelings about his sister, father, mother, and classmates were compelling as well. No spoilers here, but lines like describing broken ceramics at a busted-up party as "bloodthirsty confetti" and a suspect like "the daughter of Regina George and Voldemort" made me have to put down the book for a second to grin. Rufus is a truly realized, highly complex main character, and his worst night ever made for a great day of reading (and night, though I was only able to finish as it got dark because my husband came home and kept me company as I stayed up to finish because THIS BOOK IS SPOOKY IN THE BEST WAY). 

Off Book: See All The Stars by Kit Frick

"We Were Liars meets 13 Reasons Why in this thrilling debut novel that sweeps readers away as they try to solve the mystery of what happened then to make Ellory so broken now."

You guys. This book consumed me. I read it in two days and can't stop thinking about it. From the first page I could tell it was masterfully written. Halfway through I wanted to tell teachers how great it would be for students to read. And once it was over I wanted to see it replace in the curriculum a certain ancient tired book that we already hated back in the 90s.

Reading this book is like watching a terrible impact, a ship inevitably hitting an iceberg, and the girls' collision contains all the iciness and destruction of such an event. You want to scream at the characters, each fully realized, to avoid the mistakes they are heading towards, and then you just have to watch, have to turn another page to see it all play out.

It's a powerful book, but it's not all bleak. The puzzle of how Ellory attempts to put her life back together is just as compelling as how these four girls went from a tight orbit to scattered apart. And Kit Frick deserves a standing ovation for pulling it all off.

In Which I Feature DAUGHTER OF NO TEMPLE (AKA I SUBBED TO PITCH WARS!!!)

I've just submitted to #PitchWars, a mentoring contest run by Brenda Drake and supported by many amazing authors in the writing community. I'm in the lovely "waiting to hear" phase (actually very short for the publishing industry, so it's not so bad!) and since I couldn't put *everything* I love about my book into my query, I decided to share here. 

The book I submitted (mentioned in my #PimpMyBio post) is called DAUGHTER OF NO TEMPLE. When I sat in the movie theater watching Wonder Woman I was excited (okay yes because it was freaking WONDER WOMAN but also) because these were the kinds of fights I was writing about (I watched so many hours of fight expert videos on YouTube!), with a woman kicking ass. And the costumes were very Guerran/Volieran. I had been worried some of my fights were too over the top (okay no one jumps as high as in WW) but everyone loved WW, SO. Confidence! BUT THEN I realized an even better comp for DONT might be She-Ra. For reasons. That I won't go into so I don't spoil the book. (Don't worry, she's not like secretly Lukas' sister, like He-Man. Or Star Wars. Not that they look anything alike.)

But I *can* share Random Facts About DAUGHTER OF NO TEMPLE:

~The working title (just so I could keep files easily searchable and refer to it when speaking with my family) was CLEAVE. Hahahahahayeah. It was this whole swords/cutting away/clinging to/falling in love idea. Contronyms are fun! But it was never going to be the real title.

~There are Easter eggs, some of which allude to Pride and Prejudice, Florence and the Machine, and Hilary Clinton.

~My critique partner asked if the male main character, Lukas, was intended to be autistic, because of things like how he hyperfocuses and fidgets (and he's brilliant). Honestly a lot of him came from myself (haha, not the brilliant part, the socially awkward part). I did shape it the way my CP wondered. I hope he is indeed the kind, positive rep my CP noted him to be.

Two words: Awkward Darcy <3

~Arina is plus size. So is Cal, the secondary female character. I left their descriptions somewhat vague so that readers can picture them how they want, but I picture Arina as a stout, curvy softball player or weight lifter, basically, with thighs that can break a man's neck. Arina is a warrior, Cal hikes through forests and climbs mountains, and both save the world.

~Arina was also partly inspired by this Chilean protester: 

YES.

~Petra was partly inspired by Natalie Dormer:

Those eyes.

~Lukas I figured out after getting a good sense for Arina--what his skills were, what he looked like, and what had wounded him, and how that informed who he had become. That in turn revealed to me why he feels how he does about Arina.

~Aja was inspired by two students of mine from years ago, down to looks and mannerisms. They didn't get into physical fights, but were passionate like Aja.

~Markos was inspired by a few different actors and ideas in my head, but one was Edward James Olmos. THAT VOICE.

~Cal took the longest to develop. I had ideas for her for throughout the book, but I only figured her out as I made my way through the whole draft. Even after revisions and CP input I might still be figuring her out, TBH. But I adore her. Everyone loves Cal!

That's all for now! You can also read more about my background in last year's #PimpMyBio. I'm going to try to dive back into planning my next book, which is still a secret but I'm super-excited about. You know how they say when you're terrified to write a book, when you think you can't handle it, that means it's the right book to write and will be amazing? Well, this book is apparently going to be really amazing. 

Maybe also how I'm feeling about the Pitch Wars wait.