A Review of Sadie by Courtney Summers

Wow.

Sadie hit me a lot harder than I expected, which makes sense because there was nothing expected about this read.

Sadie is another multi-perspective novel (it seems 90% of books are now) and it alternates between the perspective of Sadie and the perspective of West, a journalist (?) who is doing a story for a podcast. Sadie is on an odyssey to process her grief over the tragic loss (murder) of her 13 year old sister Mattie.

What follows is a gritty, harrowing look at what happens when children are raised in deprivation. There's more to it than that, of course, and I won't give spoilers for this one, but at its heart, this novel encourages readers to ask themselves how things would have been different if Sadie and Mattie would've grown up with some love and support. It really brings up a lot of questions, some that we find ourselves struggling with every day: does blame really matter? Can people be redeemed? What responsibility do we have to act when we see a stranger in need?

At first, I had a lot of trouble reading this book. I don't always love it when I don't know what to expect and there was something about Sadie that defied all my expectations for what it "should" be. I expected it to be a thriller/mystery type book based on the description. A book about a young girl hitting the road to bring justice to her sister's killer sounds like it should be the next big thriller. It's not that, though. Sure, there are clues, witnesses, false identities, etc. There are all the elements of a mystery, but Sadie (much like Sadie) resists those expectations. Is it a drama, then? A family drama? That doesn't quite feel right either. While we learn about Sadie's neglect at the hands of her drug addicted mother, the rivalry she has with her mother for the love of her sister, and even a surrogate grandma who resents the mom, calling it a drama feels too easy. Nothing in this book fits an easy formula.

I definitely recommend this book. It's as deeply satisfying as it is unsettling, and while it's occasionally hard to read, it's so worth it.

4/5

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Life of a Banana by PP Wong

One sentence plot summary:

In this book, Xing Li undergoes drastic changes after the untimely death of her mother on her twelfth birthday.

Spoilers Throughout:

I wanted to like this book.

I thought, okay. The story of a young Chinese girl who struggles to balance being British with her Chinese culture. That is a story that has endless potential.

In a lot of ways, the Life of a Banana did reach that potential. It illustrated the challenges that come from desperation to fit in, highlighted the lack of understanding between British children and immigrant parents, and really looked at what familial problems can do to a person. In addition to race and ethnicity, the book tackled issues of abuse and mental illness in a relatively honest way.

Still, I just didn't enjoy it. I didn't like Xing Li's voice and often felt that in the effort to make her sound like an adolescent, they missed all the surprising insightfulness that twelve year olds can demonstrate. I felt like the oversimplification of her character didn't do justice to the pretty gripping story that was right below the surface. A protagonist with a little more depth could have really brought those issues to the surface in a more compelling way.

As it stands, the book wasn't that interesting. Most scenes are short and lack full development. Nothing much happens and a lot is talked about. By far the most memorable scenes in the book are when Xing Li, her brother, Uncle Ho, Aunt Mei, and her grandmother share family dinners because those are the scenes that really highlight that tension between the grandmother's expectations and the kids' desires.

My biggest beef with this book is that I want more. I want to know what happened to Uncle Ho (my gut was that when grandma said he was dead, she meant it as a figurative death, but since we never see him again after he is institutionalized for suicidal thoughts, we can't be sure). I want more than three pages of the deep friendship between George Tan and Rose, a storyline that wasn't really introduced until about 95% into the book. I want more of everything. If all the plot lines were developed just a little bit more, I would recommend this book. As it is, I don't. I can't recommend something that has left me feeling so, so unsatisfied.

Thanks so much to Net Galley for the ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

3/5

Review of In Peppermint Peril by Joy Avon

I think the secret to really enjoying a cozy mystery is understanding the genre when you begin reading. Yes, there will likely be some dubious evidence. Yes, the super sleuth will often act in ways that make you go "hmmmmm." All of that is par for the course when you have a book genre that typically involves an amateur (usually with a job that either involves book or baking) solving a crime. Because let me put it this way: if you are reading this blog, you are probably into books, right? Does your bibliophile status qualify you to solve crime? I think not.

In Peppermint Peril, a first novel by Joy Avon, was not super different than other cozy mysteries I've read and, to be completely fair, the things that slowed my enjoyment of the book were pretty much all genre convention issues. Why is Callie butting into a police investigation of people she barely knows at this point in her life? How is she so nosy that she can just barge into people's lives and insist they answer personal questions? Beyond that, WHY are these people answering her? Especially considering the fact that to be forty years old, she seems a little naive.

Here's the other thing... the romance is weird. She spends a lot of time with this policeman that she initially butts heads with and even though he resents her totally unsolicited and overbearing presence in his police case, they seem to fall in love (it's open-ended). I thought about putting a spoiler warning here, but honestly, if you've ever read a book you'll smell it from their first interaction. Still, it was a cute romance, Falk seems like a nice guy who loves his family, and he tolerates Callie's busybody tendencies (that extend beyond amateur sleuthing) very well.

I would read this book. I know I'm not selling it, but again, you have to know what it is: it's a quick read; it's a whodunit without gore or excessive violence; it's charming.

Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

3.5/5

Review of Anna-Marie McLemore's Blanca & Roja

One sentence plot summary: Blanca & Roja, a modern reimagining of the classic fairytale "Snow White and Rose Red," tells the story of a family, plagued by a generations old curse.

I haven't been reading a lot of fantasy lately, but boy am I happy I picked this up. I'm not even sure that I would classify it as fantasy: there are supernatural elements, but I would consider it more magical realism than fantasy. Either way, without splitting hairs, this was the most breathtaking book I've read in a long time.

For me, Roja drives this story.  She's hard not to fall in love with: she's complicated, insecure, gets most things a little bit wrong, and sees the worst in most people, but she's also introspective, a bit fearless, loyal, and sharp. She is the opposite of a fairy tale character (but small spoiler: not the opposite of Blanca, no matter how much she sees herself to be), neither villain nor heroine. Those things are kind of a given with any good novel and any developed character, but something about the way it drives this tale makes it a little more special.

This is a fairy tale. And a family drama. And a love story. A really, really pretty love story. It's at once full of passion, but also innocent. Most of all, though, I think this is the story of finding your place in the world. It tackles issues like gender and race without ever making them feel politicized or like anything more than a small part of who a character is. To me, though, the theme that really drives this novel was finding who you are outside your family. As you can probably tell from the title, Blanca & Roja, the two sisters who are under threat from the curse, are at the center of things and as much as it's a fairy tale and love story, it's a story of finding out who blanca is without Roja and vice versa. As  Roja reflects: without the glow iff her, no one ever saw me. Without her, there was no me. Snow-white on her own was still her own fairy tale, but Rose-Red, alone, was only half a story (McLemore).

I enjoyed reading Roja's struggles to find herself apart from Blanca and, even though this book switched between four perspectives (Blanca, Roja, Page, and Yearling), I couldn't help it feel it was more ROja's story than anyone else's. The others had beautifully written passages and were great characters, but part of me felt that they were less intertwined characters than people who contributed to the narrative of Roja's coming of age. Maybe that's unfair or reflects my own bias in ROja's favor, but there it is.

This was my favorite read of the year and, while it's only July, I can't see it getting much better. The writing was lyrical and poetic, the characters well developed, and who doesn't freaking love a fairy tale?

5/5.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.