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Days of Sand by Aimée de Jongh
Review by Finn Miller
6/6/22
5/5

Days of Sand is a historical fiction graphic novel centered around life in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Looking for work during the depression, photographer John Clark takes a job taking pictures of the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was an area of the Midwestern US where dust storms ran rampant and crops started to die off, leading to a drought and an economic crisis as food shortages started to effect the coasts. John Clark and the government's aim is to get pictures of the situation in the Dust Bowl to put in the newspaper, so that people see the chaos and destruction and start to help out the farmers. John Arrives in Oklahoma optimistic, motivated to take the pictures and show the world what was going on here. However, doubt starts to surface in him when he realizes that taking pictures won't actually change the environmental situation here. He also notices that a lot of the pictures the government wants him to take need to be faked, which stirs the doubt even more. He starts to talk and interacts with the people there, looking to get pictures of the residents struggles. However, the residents shun him and most refuse to let him take pictures, saying that he should be bringing food and supplies instead of an expensive camera. All this tension comes to a breaking point when a tragic passing of someone that John had gotten to know very closely occurs, due to a sickness caused by the dust. Done with the job, John lets it go and chooses to live a new life, away from the faking and the lies and with the people surrounded by the sands.

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Review by Nate Rumberger
5/12/22
4.5/5

Ready Player One is a fictional novel about a teenage boy named Wade Watts, who lives in a futuristic world. He's on a journey in an realistic video game-like simulation that was created by James Halliday, who was the most famous man in the world. In this version of our planet, everything is destroyed by climate change, war, and poverty, making the Oasis a perfect escape for the billions of people living in the vast, overpopulated world. When Halliday died, he left a contest within the virtual world, granting the winner the ownership of the Oasis as well as Halliday's multi billion-dollar fortune.

There are three levels to winning the Oasis contest, and Wade is the first to join the leader board, by discovering the Copper Key. He is followed closely by his frenemy, Artemis, making them the only two that have reached the leader board in over three years. After word gets out, everyone knows where to find the first key, including the Sixers, who are members of IOI, a company that regularly uses unfair tactics to win the contest. As his journey to win the contest continues, Wade is bombarded by his own feelings for Artemis. They both know that the contest is more important than their feelings, and after struggling to figure out the next clue, Wade eventually finds the Jade Key. He then figures out clues that lead to the second gate, and later acquires the Crystal Key. The Sixers are far ahead though, as they have already surrounded the third gate with an impenetrable shield around it's location.

To clear the last gate, he and his friends devise a plan that requires Wade to be captured by IOI, and be sent to work as a prisoner. He later uses his computer skills to escape the prison, and he warns his friends that the Sixers are willing to kidnap them to win the contest. Wade sends out a message for help, and within no time, there's a war between the Sixers and everyone else outside the last gate. Wade barely survives the trek to the gate, and finally solves the last puzzle to win the contest. He spits the winnings with his friends and Wade is no longer worried about the Oasis.

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Educated by Tara Westover

Review by Cecily Wagstaff

6/1/22

4.5/5

Educated by Tara Westover is a Memoir about Tara Westovers childhood, specifically tracking her educational triumphs. She for the first 17 years of her life did not go to school. Her parents are extremist mormons that live off the grid. The book tracks her growth from not going to school to getting into BYU and finally going to Cambridge University, the top university in London. It shares all parts of her upbringing including the goary but true and accurate parts. I would recommend this book to anyone, preferably over the age of 14.

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They Both Die at the End
5/24/22
Review by Sofi Bohrer-Clancy
3/5
They Both Die at the End is a story that follows Mateo and Rufus through their last day of adventure together. On September 5th they both receive news that they are going to die that day. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers but meet through an app called the Last Friend. They spend their last day together doing all of the things they have ever wanted to do. I think it was an intersesting book, seeing how they reacted to the news of finding out they were going to die. Rufus and Mateo had very different lives and perspectives on what they wanted to do on their last day.

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Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Review by Cecily Wagstaff
5/31/22
5/5

Everything Everything is a fiction novel about a young teenage girl named Madeline that has a disease called severe combined immunodeficiency, which stops her from going outside. Her mom Pauline is a doctor, and her dad and brother died when she was little, because of an accident. A couple days into her 18 year, she sees a truck in her next door neighbors driveway, and sees that new people are moving in. The family has a teenage boy, and her room is right across from his. They share emails, and start talking. They talk about Madelines life and also Ollies life, because his family is aggressive and rude towards him.

One thing that is dangerous for the disease is seeing other people, but Madeline's nurse Carla found out about the emails that the boy Olly and Madeline have been sending back and forth. After some begging, Carla set up a thirty minute meeting after Olly had to go through a cleansing room. These meetings became regular until, Madeline saw Olly getting yelled at and hit by his dad, and Madeline ran outside and tried to help him. Her mom, Pauline was in shock, and ended up finding out. She fired Carla, her nurse of over a decade, and took away email privileges. This frustrated Madeline. She was upset about it, but she thought that she risked her life. After one week of her vitals being the same, she wondered if she was lucky.

She started getting really sad, and was thinking about the point of life. Why should she live in a house where she cant leave, or do anything for the rest of her life. A couple days before, her mom gave her computer privileges back, so she looks up two tickets to Hawaii. One for her and one for Olly. She goes and meets him outside, and he agrees to go with her. A couple days into the trip, everything was going great, she was fine, but she started to have issues, and couldn't breath. She goes to the hospital, her mom comes, and is extremely mad.

They head home, and Madeline is extremely sad. But later that day, she gets an email for her doctor from Hawaii, and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. She started to wonder what exactly would happen to her if she went outside and if she was actually sick. She looked through her moms paperwork from the hospital trip when she was young, a couple months after her dad and brother passed. After that one hospital visit, she couldn't find anything. She started questioning if her mom was making her disease up. Could she be?

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A Loss of Words by  Lou Ann Walker

5/30/2

Reviewed by- Tessa Matteri
4/5

A Loss of Words  is a memoir that follows Lou Ann Walker through her childhood and into adulthood. Lou Ann grew up as a CODA (child of a deaf adult). Both her parents were deaf and Lou Ann had to navigate life despite the setbacks that often came her way. Lou Ann had a very abnormal childhood, as you can probably assume, she was the eyes of both her parents and held a lot of responsibility in her household. As she grew up she began seeing life from a new eye and some of it was very ugly to her. After college she worked many hard jobs including being an ASL teacher, a writer, and an interpreter for court. She encountered audism in multiple ways and saw just how biased our society can be towards the deaf community. This book is filled with information about Deaf culture and without even realizing it I learned so much from just reading. Through this book Lou Ann helped me to step into her life and get a glimpse of her world which was truly fascinating. I highly recommend this memoir. I have learned a lot because of it.

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Dry by Neal and Jarod Shusterman
Review by Owen Martin
Completed 4/2/22
5/5

Dry is a book about a high schooler named Alyssa Morrow, although it has moments from other people's perspectives. The book is set in California, and the storyline is that there is no water for anyone in the state anymore, hence the name dry, referring to how one day the taps ran dry. Alyssa has to find a way to get water with the help of her neighbor Kelton, whos family is super prepared for this kinda thing, her younger brother Garret, and a girl named Jacqui. They have to journey across the state, deal with people so thirsty theuy call them water zombies, and find Alyssa's parents, who went missing.

Overall, I think this book was an entertaining read, and I would definitaly recommend it to anyone who likes other books by Neal Shusterman, like Scythe.

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Ten by Gretchen McNeil
3/06/22
3.5/5
Reviewed by: Alicia Lopez-Nicotera

The book Ten is follows the story of the two teens Meg and Minnie. They take a trip to an island for a 3-day house party hosted by  Minnie's ex-boyfriends new girlfriend. After arriving, they make themselves comfortable in the house awaiting the hostesses' arrival the following day. Over the course of the three days, many events happen. This story has common topics such as love, friendship, and mystery. I would recommend the book to people who like mystery books and thrillers.

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Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Review: Takumi Schmidt
Completed: Incomplete
Rating: 5/5

Monsters of Men is the sequel to my last book I reviewed, The Ask and The Answer, and the finale to the Chaos Walking trilogy. It details the separation of Todd and Viola on either sides of a war. The groups they represent, The Ask and The Answer respectively, both discover that they have to fight a third party, the Spackle. The Spackle are a race of creatures that lived on the planet before the colonists moved there in hopes of a peaceful life, and after a massacre and being treated as slaves for many years, they are very unhappy with the residents. Throughout this book, we see Todd and Viola try to negotiate and fight with the Spackle, as well as with each other as they both have resources that the other needs. Todd also gets taught by who was previously his mortal enemy, Davy Prentiss, as Todd rubs off on Davy and Davy rubs off on Todd. Todd has to grapple with siding with his enemy, who he's seen do horrible things, as he seems to end up in the right.

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Ready Player 2 By Ernest Kline
4/6/22
3.5/5

Ready Player 2 is the sequel to Ready Player 1. It is set in a world about 80 years in in the future where anyone can put on a head set and go into a hyper-realist simulation called the OASIS. The main character has recently become co-owners of the company that run it and has discovered a new headset that the late creator had kept hidden. It has the power to access the wearers brain and feed them emotions and feelings from the simulation. While some people have their doubts, they mass produce these headsets to replace the old ones. However, not to long after the simulation is taken over and the characters have to go on a quest to save it. The book feels a bit rushed and kind of feels like it was just made because the author was pressured. I think this book would be better if it was on its own and not a sequel. I would recommend anyone to read the first book and if they enjoy it read this one.

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Completed the first week of semester 2
Jade City by Fonda Lee
4/5
Reviewed by: Ian Love

Jade City is a fantasy book that mostly takes place on an island called Kekon which was made to resemble 70's Hong Kong. It is about a clan of people who where split into 2 after a fight between the leaders. The story takes place as a war is about to set in with the main characters being the leaders of one of the clans. Jade City is an action-packed book with a well-built story. There are many fights and losses. It is a story with the main character unknowing of his fate and what role it will play in the future of the island.

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Evershore by Brandon Sanderson
Review: Ethan Hargunani
Completed: 5/14/22
Rating: 5/5

Evershore is a fantasy/science-fiction novella that fits into a larger series of books as the most recent addition. The story describes the journey of a young pilot with his crew on a mission to make alliances and defend alien worlds. He is also having trouble with a mysterious power that causes him to “explode”, damaging objects near him. Also, through a random turn of events, his group has to take care of many slugs, which can teleport, explode, go invisible, or communicate intelligently. What a weird story.

I gave this book 5/5 because I really like the main series of books (called Skyward), and this book helped fill in many of the blanks in the series. It added some interesting details, as well as illustrate some more subtle facts, like how important alliances are, or free speech.

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5/15/22
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
5/5

All the Light We Cannot See is a fictional book that takes place during World War 2 in occupied France. The story follows the journey of a young Nazi and a blind girl until they eventually cross paths. The book is pretty intense so I would only recommend this to someone that wants something more serious to read.

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Review: Adeline McKenzie
Date of completion: 5/13/22
Rating: 5/5
Ender's Game follows a young boy in a future world who is shipped off to military school to train to destroy the buggers(an alien race who tried to destroy humanity). Ender moves up the ranks quickly and is youngest in all of his platoons. There are betrayals, wars, and personal discoveries. His greatest fear throughout the book is turning into his brother Peter who is ruthless and cruel. He struggles to become his own person and live up to the standards his leaders/ teachers have set for him. I would definitely recommend this book but the sequels aren't that great, besides Children of the Mind.

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The Beast Player By Nakoho Uehashi

Review: Sayuri Hara

Date of completion: 4/13/22

Rating: 5/5

The Beast Player is a fantasy novel that takes place in a world full of fearsome beasts. The main character, Elin, is strong, smart, and caring. She begins as the daughter of a Toda Steward- her mother taking care of the beasts used by the warriors that protect the land. From a young age she has always wanted to take care of the beasts. However, a series of events turns her life upside-down, forcing her from her mother and eventually leading her to meet a Royal Beast who changes her life. As she begins to discover more about the Royal Beasts and Toda, all she wants to do is protect and study the beasts, but she soon realizes how intertwined the beasts are to the politics in her world. Soon she has to figure out how to prevent a war without bringing harm to her, her friends, and the beasts.

I gave this book a 5 out of 5, because its plot, world, and characters were very interesting. The author did a good job keeping the reader engaged, and the book was full of strong female leads, jokes, and plot twists.

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That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
Review: Malaika Dechet-Wetzel
4/14/2022
5/5

Lee is a survivor of a school shooting that happened three years earlier at her school, Virgil County High School. Her best friend Sarah McHale died in the shooting, as well as 8 other students. The shooting is well known because of Sarah's story. It is said that when the shooter entered the bathroom where Lee and Sarah were, Sarah stood up to the shooter and was brave and remained faithful to God until she died. The police later found a cross necklace in the bathroom that everyone assumed was Sarah's. Her story was inspiration for religious people everywhere. The thing is, it's not true. Lee remembers huddling in the bathroom with Sarah, and the person who really stood up to the shooter was a girl named Kellie, who was forced to leave town after everyone harassed her for saying Sarah's story wasn't true. Three years later, Lee wants to get the truth out. She tries to set the story straight, to tell everyone that it didn't happen. But Sarah's story is important to a lot of people, and they don't want Lee messing with the story. The book is through the eyes of the six survivors of the shooting.

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4/10/22
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
4.75/5

This book covers the journey of an Indian Boy who is to move to Canada with his family's Zoo when the ship he is on sinks.  He his marooned on a life raft with an Orangutan, Zebra, Hyena, and a Bengal tiger.  After just a few weeks, the only two that remain are Pi and the tiger: Richard Parker.  They survive by catching fish and obtaining water through solar mills and rain water.  Pi asserts himself as the alpha and this is the sole reason he is able to survive.  They run across a carnivorous island where they are able to take meerkats and seaweed with them on their journey to the mainland.  Through the accounts of Pi's journey you see what it takes for a human to survive, both physically and psychologically.  The morsels of a human psyche that remain after seven months of constant anxiety from food, water, and a tiger, you can examine what makes us tick, and replicate in your own life.

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Piecing Me Together by: Renee Watson
Review: Brooklyn West
Completion: 2/28/22
Rate: 4/5

This book is about a young women who finally finds her voice. That young women is Jade Butler she is a Junior at St. Francis. Throughout the book Jade goes through many obstacles,some harder than others. She went through a lot of body dis morphia, distrust, and she also felt alone in some situations .While she goes through her journey of junior year she finds new friends, new mentors, but most importantly she find her voice. A voice she has always been told is " too loud" or "too ghetto". When she finds that voice shes been needing to let out, she feels free. I enjoyed reading this book because reading about Jades journey through school had helped me focus on mine and has helped me realize that I have a unique voice and i need to share that to the world.

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On the come up by: Angie Thomas

Review: Brooklyn West

January 22 2022

5/5

On the come up is a very exciting and interesting novel. This book had me as a reader feel happy, sad, and worried. This book is about a 16 year old named Brianna Jackson. She's a very determined and bright girl. Ever since she was little she has always wanted to be a rapper just like her dad. Through the story it shows the twists and turns as well as the drama she has to go through to get there. That is with not only with her family but her friends too. In this book she gets to try to find her music career but she also finds herself, not who she thinks everyone wants her to be, but who SHE wants to be.

I rated this book a 5/5 because it is so interesting. As the reader you never know what's going to happen next there are so many twists and turns in the book. The only thing that I would change is the fact that there is no sequel.

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January 21, 2022
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Review by Nate Rumberger
4.5/5

The Hate U Give is a fictional, but realistic story of a young teenage girl balancing life between the upperclass suberbs where she attends school, and the poor, lowerclass neighborhood she calls home. The story is driven from systemic racism, injustice for police brutality, and is nothing less then current issues in our country. The main character, Starr, experiences all of this first hand when her closest friend, Khalil, is brutally shot in front of her two eyes. Not only is Starr trying to process all the emotions flooding her daily life, but she also must deal with the constant issues in her neighborhood, and school.

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Divergent

January, 24th 2022

Veronica Roth

4/5

Reviewed by Marie Johnson

This book focused a lot on putting yourself before others, which was really refreshing considering a lot of main characters have a hero complex. The main character (Tris) struggles with choosing what she wants over what her parents want. Choosing selfishness before selflessness goes against everything she's been taught in her family's faction (Abnegation). Ultimately she chooses to go to Dauntless, the faction of the fearless, In doing so she meets Christina, Will and Tobias Eaton who goes by Four who you later find out also came from Abnegation. She learns that there is a reason why Dauntless are called the faction of the fearless, but toughs it through. She finds out early in the book that she’s a Divergent, which is someone who’s able to recognize the fact that they are in a state of stimulation when being injected with serums that this Divergent book world seems to have so many of. Tris and Four finds out that things are bigger than they seem, and unintentionally get caught in a war between their old faction--Abnegation, there current faction--Dauntless and Tris’ brothers faction Erudite.

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by Patrick Ness
December 5, 2021
5/5

The Ask and The Answer is the second book in the Chaos Walking series, taking place directly after the events of the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go. All of the residents on the planet the book takes place on can hear all of the men's thoughts, called Noise. In this book, a boy named Todd and a girl named Viola end up separated from each other and find themselves in either side of a war. They each progress further into the ranks and ideologies of their respective sides, both having their own reasons and justification for their own actions that continue to contradict each other's more and more. It is a fascinating dive into how war can change someone from an innocent and hopeful person to a hardened and determined individual.

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December 21st, 2021
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
5/5
Reviewed by Alicia Lopez-Nicotera

The book Opposite of Always is a fiction story about a senior in high school named Jack, who falls in love with a freshman in college named Kate. He meets her at a party and they become friends and then their relationship grows. They get to know each other and Jack finds out that she is terminally ill. Jack is then sent back in time to relive this experience again. He's repeatedly trying to find ways to keep her alive and healthy. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it was really interesting to see the different ways Jack tried to approach this problem.

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Counting by 7’s
January 15th
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Review by Sofi Bohrer-Clancy
4/5
Counting by 7’s is about a 12 year old girl named Willow Chance who lives in Bakersfield California. She is thought of by her community as ‘gifted’ and ‘different’. She comes home from school one day only to learn both of her parents had been killed in a car accident. Willow has no other relatives to take care of her after the accident so a friend from school takes her in. It takes Willow a couple months to settle in but eventually she becomes passionate about gardening again. She starts a big project which shows a big step in her emotional healing. The chapters shift between Willows first person narrative and a 3rd person narrative.

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January 20, 2022
Dune by Frank Herbert
5/5
Dune is the story of a boy named Paul Atreides, heir to the throne of house Atreides.  House Atreides has been commanded by the emperor of the known universe to take control of a desert planet called Arrakis, the only source of a valuable material called spice. All seems well, until house Atreides is attacked by a rival house and Paul is cast into the desert. Surrounded by giant sand worms and brutal sandstorms, Paul must learn to use his gift and live among the sand people to fulfill his destiny.
I loved this book, it does such a great job creating what a future society might look like and has a fascinating exploration of politics and conversation.

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The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 5/5                            10/4/2021

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The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 5/5                            10/4/2021

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The song of Achilles is a retelling of the Iliad written in the perspective of Patroclus. This book is a story about the life of Achilles, and Patroclus and his relationship. It tells the story of both of their roles before and during the Trojan war. Overall, a compelling and deep book, that would wouldn’t be able to stop reading. Really a pleasure to read.

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January 18th, 2022
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
Review by Owen Martin
4.5/5

Game Changer is a fiction novel about a high school football player named Ashley Bowman who becomes the center of the universe. He accidently changes the world just by sacking the quarterback in a football game, and he doesn't even realize it at first.
However, as strange things start to happen, he tries to change things back, but ends up making things worse. The story follows him as he tries to fix the mess he made with some help from his friends and some mysterious beings he calls 'the Eddies'.

I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes dystopian themed novels. It gets a little weird at the end, thats why its a 4.5/5.

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November 18, 2021
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
5/5

Six of Crows is a fictional book about a group of misfit thieves, mercenaries, and spies and their insane plan to rob the most secure place on earth. They get a job from a thieves guild in the city of Ketterdam that tells them to rescue a hostage from the Ice Court, a fortress that has the greatest security know to man. The story follows them as they scheme, rob and kill to finish the job. There are many plot twists, interesting characters, and unforgettable moments. I highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for an action packed story and an amazing world.

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January 18th
Paper Towns by John Green
Review by Tessa Matteri
5/5

Margo Ross Spegalman is an adventurous and crazy girl who is always being reckless and will do anything to add excitement to her life. She is known for always skipping class and taking month long trips by herself against her parents will. Life seems normal until an unexpected night that gets Q (her next door neighbor and childhood friend) involved in herlife unlike any time before. After a night full of illegal activities, Margo becomes a mystery that Q takes upon himself to figure out. She leaves a trail of clues to help Q connect the dots, but as he gets closer to finding her he becomes less and less sure about the girl he thought he knew.

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12 January 2022
By: Richard Bach
Rating 4/5

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a seagull. He is brought up in a society where all anyone wants to do is get food. Whether it be a dead fish or a stale piece of bread, all of his family, friends, and peers are constantly fiending for a fix. From a young age, he discovered and used flying to spend time and to occupy his mind with anything other than food. His hobby of flight soon becomes a way of life and consumes everything he does. No one in his flock likes this, this leads them to 'outcast' him. Essentially banishing him from the flock. With all of his freedom, his passion for flight becomes a need for perfection, which is noticed by two elder gulls. He joins them to go on a journey of self-discovery and knowledge seeking. He is a fast learner and soon becomes a teacher himself, spending the rest of his days finding other gulls who are outcast and teaching them the way of flight and how thought itself can be a unique journey.

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January 7th, 2022
No one here is lonely by Sarah Everett
Review by Benton Carter
4/5

No one here is lonely is a non fiction novel about a service known as "in good company". The service gives the user the ability to communicate with the deceased over the phone, or at least highly realistic programs that mimic them. In the case of Eden in good company is used to talk to her friend Will who died in a car wreck. The story has a lot of dramatic dynamics involving Eden and her best friend Lacey. They have been best friends for years. Problems start when Lacey decides to break tradition and not go to summer camp with Eden as a counselor. Eden uses this as an excuse to not tell Lacey about in good company. These actions snowball into many problems between the two.

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November 15th, 2021
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Review by Cecily Wagstaff
5/5

The Hate U Give is a Nonfiction story about the life of a black child in Southern California. It is about a young girl named Starrs journey through the loss of her childhood best friends death, which she was present for. She is gathering her voice and her own powerful thoughts after the passing, which is not her first time going through seeing her friends die. Not only does she have struggles at home and in her neighborhood, she also has problems at school. She attends Williamson, a majority white private school, where she is having issues with friends who are being inconsiderate and rude, as well as making racist comments.

The story is a very powerful message, that shares what a young black teen had to go through, and what her whole family had to go through with police brutality and unkindness among their peers. It has a lot of rich and full moments, that bring empathy and more thought into situations that others have to go through. I really enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

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January 7th 2022
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
4.5/5

American Street is the fictional story of teenager Fabiola Toussaint as she and her mother immigrate to the United States from Haiti. Unfortunately, her mom is detained at the border and Fabiola is left to adjust to living in a rough neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan with her American cousins, who have a tough reputation at school and in their neighborhood. She misses Haiti, and Detroit is cold and unfamiliar to her. She eventually gets involved in a drug dealing situation and has to stay true to herself and her cousins. Throughout the book, the author dives into current topics such as racial discrimination, immigration, family separation, and finding one's identity. I thought this book was very well written and relevant to today. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

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23 December 2021 (3rd time I have read)
Kalahari by Jessica Khoury
4.5/5

Kalahari is set in the Kalahari desert as the name suggests, and it is set in the present. The book is about a girl who has lived with her parents who are biologists for her whole life. They have been living off grants and need some money, so they host an event where teenagers can come and live in the desert for a week and learn about the wildlife. It starts out pretty relaxed with some mentions about the main character's mom who died in an accident. There is then a call that comes from the game-warden who tells the group about poachers. The dad runs off to find them and scare them away, leaving them to fend for themselves. They then go on a journey through the desert to find the dad who has gone missing, uncovering secrets and finding out about something very dangerous. It is pretty funny and the characters grow a good amount. There is some romance in it as well. I gave it a 4.5/5 because it doesn't have a sequel.

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Black Wings Beating by Alex London

27 November 2021

Rating: 4/5

Black Wings Beating is the first book in the Skybound Saga, and is a complex fantasy novel. It takes place in a world formed around falconry and is told from the perspective of Kylee and Brysen- twins whose destinies don’t quite line up with what they truly want. However, when their friends and family are threatened and war begins to move towards their home, they must travel together to trap the ghost eagle, the greatest, but also most feared bird in Uztar. This book is full of complicated relationships and plot twists, and the world the author creates is unique and interesting. It was an entertaining read.

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3 January 2022
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
5/5

Scythe is set in a dystopian world where the human population is out of control and people called scythes select citizens to kill. The book is about a boy and a girl that find themselves on the path to becoming a scythe, but they don’t like the prospect of having to kill people. The story follows their journey about navigating what they believe is right or wrong, and what they choose to do. I enjoyed reading it and I would recommend it to anyone that wants a suspenseful, action packed book.

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The Martian by Andy Weir

Januraury 3 2022

Rating 5/5

The Martian it about an astronaut named Mark Watney who gets stuck on mars. He is presumed dead because he got hit by an antenna from their home on mars, the hab. It turns out, he very much alive. The story is about his journey to try and get off mars before his food runs out and his struggles with isolation. It is thrilling, and has lots of twists and turns but, it very funny.

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Summoner: The Outcast by Taran Matharu
28 November 2021
Rating: 5/5

Summoner: The Outcast is the prequel to the Summoner trilogy. It shows the adventure of commoner boy who is found to have powers that had been previously reserved for nobles only. The boy, who's name was Arcturus, started at the magic academy and was met with discrimination, friendship, and most importantly adventure, as he and his friends had to defend the nation against violent orcs.

I don't often read this genre much anymore, choosing to stick with science fiction, but it was recommended by a friend and I am glad I read it. It was written in a very relatable way that made me empathize with a lot of the characters and look forward to the next page.

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Lovely War by Julie Berry
30 October 2021
5/5
Lovely War is a book by Julie Berry. The book is about Aphrodite getting caught cheating on Hephaestus. Since she is the Goddess of Love, she claims that she cannot actually feel love. When the other Gods and Goddesses decide to put her on trial, she tells them a story of 4 mortals who she believes show real love. Hazel, James, Aubrey and Colette meet from hardships they had to face. Each of their stories told beautifully by Aphrodite. It's a beautifully written story, about love and fun, and I loved reading it.