I saw this book on Twitter and it felt very tempting to read and buy, so I preordered and lo and behold, it did not disappoint.
For starters the house where Betsy lives is full of ferns and it has a piano and she’s the daughter of two famous pianists, so she has to become the next one, like them. Her very patient grandfather is happily teaching her despite the potential failures.
Betsy tries so hard to make her parents porud but something just doesn’t work, instead she gets a letter on the post with the promise of a secret way to be able to play the piano like her parents. It comes free, but the only thing is, she has to keep the method a secret.
She accepts and oh, the delightful brilliant madness of this comes true. I loved the secret method and it just made me feel happy to read the book.
There was a lot of “want to hug you and reassure you” feelings towards Betsy as she is doing her best to impress her parents. It highlights how conversations adults have can make a big impression on a child and affect their perception of themselves and of their future.
And of course there’s a lot of humour and things to make you smile and the sweetness of a good children’s book that will leave you feeling like you’ve just had a nice plate of warm cookies, your favourite kind.
I recommend this book if you like music, fun families, crazy stories and lots of little giggles, and of course, if you are curious about what the 44 tiny secrets are.
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin. illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Rating:
Look, a book that mixes dragons and tacos? Yes please! And lovely friend saw it and decided it was the perfect gift sonow I have a cute tiny dragon holding a taco at home.
Isn’t it adorable?
The book is all about how dragons love tacos with cute drawings of different types of dragons, what to put on the tacos to make dragons love them more and what to avoid and even features a taco party (this felt perfectly like it was describing me as I love hosting taco parties and sharing the taco love around) so it was most certainly the right book for me and I kept cooing over it.
And it comes with the little plush toy which is a nice bonus. I recommend it is a gift for a child (or an adult like me that loves dragons and tacos) and it will mean a lot fo time spent in joy looking and playing with the taco dragon and pondering what dragons one might have over for a taco party when it is possible to do that again!
Due to some technical issues (aka, my husband was in hospital) no pretty jigsaw picture this time! And as a disclaimer I was provided a free copy by the publishers so I could review the book for this tour. This doesn’t affect my review or views on it.
The Great Revolt made my reenactor and history buff heart all happy inside. We get to meet Matilda (usually goes by Tilda in the book) and her father Thomas. And let me start by saying that this is a book where both the father and the child are part of the story and it is done well. I found this refreshing to read since normally the parents get killed or out of the picture, but Thomas is part of the story as much as Tilda is.
And both have their own motives, personalities and ideas, which makes this a book with well fleshed characters, several interesting points of view and conflicting ideas and just a lot to read about in a relatively short book.
At first I felt like I wanted desperately to get to teh juicy parts of the revolt but then I just wanted to learn more and more about the characters and their world, so bonus points on making this a world I can feel I am a part of. It was also good to read Thomas being okay with his life and seeing it as “better than what other options could be”. Yes, maybe it could be better but he is content, and again, usually everyone is unhappy or if they aren’t, they’re the villain, but that is not the case here and the dynamics of interactions and relationships are a lot more grey than just black and white.
Obviously, revolution comes at a cost and Tilda gets in some interesting adventures and makes some new friends. I kinda felt happy to read all the variety of the book and to feel part of that revolt and march to London to talk to the king.
I’d say if you are into history, into sweeping tales and wonderfully interesting books this is one for you. It has a lot of interesting points I don’t see often executed this well in a book. (If you want anything to compare to, I’d say it reminded me of Sally Nichols books or that style of historical but putting in the middle of the action but not from the safe point).
For my stop in this blogtour, I will do a spoiler free review of the book. This will be hard since there’s so much going on in the book.
As a disclaimer, this book was provided to me by the publisher so I could be part of the blog tour. This does not affect my views of it (and I also have a hardcover copy of it that wasn’t from the publisher).
French Revolution, interesting abilities, aristocrats in hiding trying to make a difference, and lots of schemes, yes, please!
You will find all of that, plus a lot of treason, intrigue, and interesting characters in Kat Dunn’s Dangerous Remedy. We start with a grand escapade which is set in a prison. The mission is to recover a prisoner that they’ve been told shouldn’t be. Will they be able to pull such an intense mission or not?
And what happens once they realise that what they had been told about the mission wasn’t true at all, putting them into an interesting dilemma?
My favourite part of the book was the characters, they have these grand ideas and all the secrets and motives. The ones they share with the group and the ones they keep close to their heart (and the question is if the heart ones are good for the group). Obviously, this causes some interesting questions and there is also the romance between two of the main characters that will cause some interesting disruptions in decision making, clouding judgement sometimes. All good elements to consider for the group dynamics.
It was also fascinating to see the concept of “but what if reality wasn’t exactly as it is but just a tiny bit more interesting in such a way that it involves almost a human Frankenstein experimenting part into it and it throws our cast into a bit of backstabbing, doubting and pondering where trust should be while they’re at the same time trying to fight off the outside?” Trouble not just from others but in their own ranks is like adding an extra dollop of mischief to the mix.
Oh and don’t forget that there is bi representation, that one of the characters has some interesting electric/electricity powers (I want to know more of this part) and that there’s a lot of trying to save the day when the day refuses to be saved.
If you are intrigued by the French Revolution, Frankenstein kind of ideas, heists, treason and high stakes, then this is a book for you to look into and enjoy. I recommend getting some pastries and coffee to go along with your read to set up the mood.
After reading Gods of Jade and Shadow, I knew Silvia was an author I would keep loving in future books, and Mexican Gothic just settles that even more.
If you are interested, I did a live tweeting thread as I read it with all my opinions, and the memories it brought back as I read.
If you’re feeling lazy and your question is “is this a legit Mexican Gothic novel?” then the answer is ABSOLUTELY! As a Mexican with family from nearby the area that inspired the book and that lived for a third of my life or so near abandoned mining towns, this book struck deep in my memories of Mexico, of my childhood and teenage years and the stories my family would tell. Yes, there aren’t really any tacos, sombreros or anything that screams Mexican to a foreigner, but from a subtle mention of a Zote bar of soap to other elements in the story, it was as Mexican as can be and even better.
This is how you do great own voices representation, and how you write a POC book. You don’t need to go guns blazing stamp in your face that this is indeed about Mexico, you just subtly reveal the depth of Mexico by the small hints, by the story. The gentle hints at a life lived in a country both by someone of Mazatec origin (one of the many native people of Mexico) and by colonist (English) attempting to make money out of cheap labour and taking away our silver, are superb.
Now for the actual story, we start with Noemí having her socialite life disrupted by an odd letter from her cousin and she’s suddenly thrown into this gothic decript house where things are just a bit too odd and she can’t seem to understand fully well what’s going on.
We kow something is dodgy with the Doyle and the way they are treating her cousing and her too, and yet, what is wrong exactly because you can’t just say “they’re dodgy” as grounds for say a divorce or for sending your cousin to a psychiatrist.
If you need to compare to something this is like a wonderfully modern lavish Rebecca but 10 times better, with the horror part of it developing gently around you until suddenly you’re overcome by it and you need to read until the end because how can you not find out what is exactly going on.
Now, for sanity and to warn other readers, one trigger warning I HAVE to give is sexual assault, attempted many times, but the main attempt was quite intense (extremely well written) and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Which it is absolutely meant to. And given the context and the way it was written, it had a powerful effect on me but not as badly as such scenes would have in other books. Other items to consider into your content/trigger warnings: gaslighting, manipulation, colonialims, heavy racism, eugenics.
So now I will take about the racism/eugenics and hard topics part. As I read Mexican Gothic I had moments of anger due to the view the Doyles have on race and the superior vs inferior being (this becomes a major plot point and it is done with a masterful weaving of threads to form a spectacularly spooky rebozo) but I also cheered for the intensity that Noemí mustered and how she had a way of speak her mind. She did not stay quiet. And I loved her for it.
I keep praising Silvia’s writing but you can see she has honed her craft. The writing is that of someone with experience and knowledge, she can weave that tale and have you deeply wrapped in it. And the story can be brutal, it can hurt you deeply and yet, you will love it because it does exactly what it needs to do and even more. It is a credit to her mastery of words that despite how much anger I mustered about the topics in the book, I came out of my reading it satisfied.
All I can say from here is that everyone should read this book. Even if you aren’t into Gothic books, or horror, or Mexico, honestly, you need to read this because it is absolutely a master book worth every word in it.
PS. that mouse in the picture came from Tequisquapan, México. It’s a nice little reminder of my country without it being too in your face.
This was included in a Book Box Club box and I was cautious. I have read The Chaos Walkign trilogy and did not like it, so wasn’t sure how to go about this one but I mean it has dragons, so I had to give it a fair chance.
My best summary is that this is a conspiracy during the Cold War with a very American/US view of the world, but with magic and dragons. If you like conspiracy theories and that type of books, this is definitely up there, it has a lot of the elements for it, which is probably why I wasn’t so keen. And obviously the outlandish things can actually exist in the book because dragons and magic.
The writing style still didn’t sit too well with me as it isn’t character driven yet it requires you to be with the characters for it to move through the plot, so it’s hard as you can’t engage as much and it just the magic, dragons and cosnpiracy taking it through and it wasn’t enough for my liking.
However, the whole dragons and magic concept was fascinating and it was probably my favourite part of the book same as the whole prophecy and the little twists regarding the main character around it (without spoiling, it is not about our main character). It did take me a while to get into liking them because it starts with an obvious “it’s Russian, it’s evil or spying on us” view and that wasn’t a great start to get me liking it (I did give it the benefit of the doubt but it still kinda fell flat).
I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if this was a full fantasy, not based on the Cold War and America vs Russia and more just nations warring and the dragons caught in the middle. That would’ve been probably my favourite approach and given this a star more.
A friend gifted me this book out form my wishlist and I had it there because it has foxes and the artwork looks adorable!
A short cute book celebrating diversity (even if it is mostly with animals) and being different. It is in a way a readalong, an activity book and just cute to look at. Each set of pages has some information about the animal in the opposite page and then the idea is to find the one that is not like the others (hints of what makes it different are in the description).
At the end you also have more activities ifyou want to, and you could read this along, or hand to a child to just be mesmerised by the many animal sin the pages and the subtle differences (or the poignant ones) and what makes them special. Or play a “which one do you feel like right now?” I can see a lot of potential of keeping younger children absorbed in it and the little details.
All in all, a cut ebook for searching, celebrating differences and just larning a tiny bit about animals.
Giant Days Volume One by John Allison, Lissa Treiman (Illustrator), Whitney Cogar (Colors)
Rating:
At some point I got a sampler for this and then on a whim bought the first volume. Completely forgot about it. And recently I was doing a clear up and organising of my graphic novels/comics and this one popped up. I decided that since it looked short I’d give it a read and decide if I was actually into it or not.
You can guess what the result was… (I have somehow now purchased up to volume 13).
The three girls that share a dorm room/area are as interestingly differnet as can be. Innocent ray of sunshine, “normal” and drama queen. And well, this is a delightful mix. I giggled a lot and also I found it refreshing that the drama queen isn’t trying to be one and even bets against causing drama intentionally or not (it doesn’t go well for her bet), our normal girl isn’t that normal (woops, even if she tries) and the cute innocent sunshine has a bit of gloom and bad luck around her.
I like their weird adventures and the relationship between them which made this a fun read, the artwork worked well to give a laidback college vibe and keeping it fun even fi topics range from lighthearted crushes to mental health and drugs.
I obviously will keep reaidng once the next volumes arrive, so expect more reviews to come about Giant Days!
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls. Edited by Hope Nicholson.
Rating:
I bought this on a whim, because I consider myself a geek (and nerd) “girl”. And my curiosity was picked. This did not disappoint.
The anthology starts with a set of cartoons from Margeret Atkinson and it goes on with a mix of short stories, essays, comics and illustrations about the many aspects of being a girl and geek. It is about the spaces we made, and then got taken and had to reclaim. But it is also about gleefully enjoying going into a comic store and being the odd one out but still loving the comics loads.
The book covers a wide range of experiences and of course not all of them rang for me but I could still enjoy them, and there were some I read and felt like they had been watching me as I grew up. Giggles, concern and sometimes a lot of nostalgia ensued.
And part of me wished I had seen this book when I was younger, I would have felt less like the only one going through it and more like part of a bigger thing, in a better way. It’s hard to capture all the stories into a single review but I had a soft spot for some of the comics in it and just enjoyed reading about others visiting shops, conventions, and more.
It is nice to know that some things never change, but that others do and they can be better, more open to others, more accepting.
I can recommend this anthology as a pick and mix read that you can read one or two stories, maybe a comic or two, and drop then come back to it for some more fun stories later on.
The Boy who Dreamed of Dragons by Andy Shepherd. Illustrated by Sara Ogilvie.
Rating:
I discovered The Boy who Grew Dragons a while back and adored it so I ended up buying all three books. And then they announced there would be a fourth one and I immediately preordered it because between the cute illustrations and the adorable story, I was sold (plus, dragons, very important part).
The best way I can summarise what the book is all about is to say that it is a transition story, from what happened in the previous three to what is to come if there are more books (which I hope there are). There a lot of changes for the superhero squad, and some new characters added.
Tomas is struggling to cope with the changes and feels like things are moving too fast, but there are ways around them and change brings growth which is a lesosn he definitely has to learn in this book. Plus one of the new characters brings potentially lots of new stories to the game (and I am hoping they will come in more books for sure). We see more Flicker and more dragosn whcih was enjoyable, I just was sad that my original idea of what dreaming of dragons meant wasn’t what happened but I still liked what the title implied to (and it was more fo a “I went expecting/guessing this and something else happened but I still wish this one thing was something in this universe” maybe it will be at some point…)
One of my favourite things is the cute dragons and how unique they are which was wonderful to see here. And the relationships of family like how Tomas and his sister Lolli get along and I love that, or when he interacts with his grandfather. It is lovely to see some family around and the dynamics behind them.
As I mentioned before, the artwork is great and very enjoyable, giving the story a little bit more fun and depth. So go get the first one, or maybe the whole set, because maybe you will suddenly find an interesting fruit and need to know how to deal with the little dragon that may pop out of it!
