Dumplin'

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Dumplin'

Julie Murphy

Balzer + Bray: 2015, 375 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Willowdean Dickson (Will to her friends, Dumplin' to her mother) lives in small town Texas where football and the local beauty pageant reigns supreme.  Will knows she's fat, calls herself fat, but never really had an issue with it.  That it, until Bo Larson comes into her life.  He's attractive, mysterious, and genuinely likes Will back.  But suddenly Will sees all her flaws and her confidence is gone.  So how can she get it back?  By entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant!  Dumplin' is funny, heartwarming, but also realistic and with some great references to the genius that is Dolly Parton.

Girl Waits with Gun

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Girl Waits with Gun

Amy Stewart

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2015, 416 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

For the three Kopp sisters, Constance, Norma, and Fleurette, a trip to town has serious consequences after their buggy is struck by a vehicle driven by local silk factory owner Henry Kaufman.  When Constance attempts to collect $50 from Kaufman to pay for the damages, the situation quickly escalates.  Before long, the Kopp sister are receiving threats from Kaufman and his shady associates by "brick mail" (a brick thrown through their window) threatening to kidnap Fleurette.  In addition to providing the Kopp sisters with surveillance and pistols, the local sheriff also enlists Constance's help in bringing the men involved to justice, a task few women would have dared in 1914.

Happily Ever Ninja

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Happily Ever Ninja (Knitting in the City #5)

Penny Reid

Caped Publishing: 2016, 376 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Penny Reid's Knitting in the City series is set in present day Chicago and revolves around seven women who meet once a week to drink wine and knit.  Each book in the series focuses on a particular member of the group.  They are can be read as a stand alone but there are little novellas that are recommended, especially #4.75 Ninja at First Sight which tells the backstory of our two main characters.

Fiona and Greg have been married for fourteen years and have two young children.  Husband Greg is often away months at a time for work and Fiona manages...perhaps a little too well.  She's bogging herself down but never shows any weakness and Greg feels like he's not needed when she feels the exact opposite.  When an emergency strikes the family and pushes Fiona into a more leading role, Greg is unsure of how to handle it.  This is a story about how difficult marriage can be, even if both people are still desperately in love with one another.  While that sounds dramatic, the book is actually quite humorous and a bit action-y as well!

Orphan Train

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Orphan Train

Christina Baker Kline

William Morrow Paperbacks: 2013, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

This book skips back and forth between the first-person narrative of Niamh and the third-person narrative of Molly.  Niamh is a young Irish immigrant who boards an orphan train to find a new family in the Midwest after she is orphaned in New York City around 1930.  Molly is a foster kid in modern day Maine.  In order to fulfill a community service requirement, she begins helping 91-year-old Vivian clean out her attic.  As Vivian and Molly spend more time together, they discover that they have more in common than either suspected.  

Carry On

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Carry On

Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Griffin: 2015, 522 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Rainbow Rowell first wrote about Simon Snow and Baz in her novel Fangirl.  In Carry On, Rowell has devoted a full novel to the characters that were only briefly mentioned in Fangirl.  Simon Snow is "the chosen one," the one who will stop the dark force that threatens the world of magic.  Except that he's pretty sure he's not really "the chosen one" since he's terrible at magic and is more focused on why his nemesis for the past seven years is missing from their last year at the Watford School of Magicks.  Baz has his own reasons for missing so much school but he won't share it with Simon.  After all, Baz likes seeing Simon squirm.  There is magic, teen angst, friendship, and relationship drama; after all, they are in high school, even if they have to deal with monsters on occasion.

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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Leslye Walton

Candlewick Press: 2014, 301 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Ava Lavender was born with actual wings like a bird.  Unsure of why, she decides to research into her family and see, perhaps, where she got this unusual 'trait' from.  Half of the book goes into Ava's family on her mother's side and how they are all unlucky in love and the other half is spent on how teenage Ava ventures out into the real world, with some wonderful but also terrible results.  The book is considered magical realism and Walton does a great job making the hints of magic real enough to make sense, even if it could never occur in real life.  I would recommend this book to older teens as it does have some strong language, not consistently but sprinkled throughout, and there are scenes of descriptive violence.  There is also a part in the book that can be a trigger warning for those who have experienced sexual assault.

Go Set a Watchman

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Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee

HarperCollins: 2015, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Go Set a Watchman follows Jean Louise "Scout" Finch as she returns to Macomb, Alabama, for her annual two week vacation from her life in New York.  A lot has changed since her childhood.  Most significantly, her father's steadfast morality seems, in Jean Louise's opinion, to have begun to waver.  Atticus was her touchstone, the one thing in her life that she could always count on, and viewing him as a flawed man, like any other, shakes her to her very core. 

Goodbye Stranger

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Goodbye Stranger

Rebecca Stead

Wendy Lamb Books: 2015, 304 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Goodbye Stranger is a middle-grade novel about changing friendships and relationships.  Set in present day New York City, the book follows the friendship between Bridge, Tabitha, and Em.  They're in 7th grade, still best friends forever, but things have been different lately.  Em "has curves now," is popular with the older soccer crowd, and is texting an 8th grade boy.  Tab believes most people have an ulterior motive and Bridge is still wondering what her purpose is in the world, especially after surviving a horrible accident while also thinking about what her new friendship with Sherm Russo means.  Throw in an unnamed high school girl who is dealing with betrayal on Valentine's Day and you've got the recipe for a funny and poignant novel that shows readers that no matter what age you are, it's still difficult to deal with changes in the relationships that mean the most to you.

Blood Orchid

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Blood Orchids (Lei Crime #1)

Toby Neal

Self-Published sold by Amazon Digital Services: 2011, 314 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Blood Orchids is the first of Toby Neal's series that focus on Hawaiian policeman Lei Texeira.  Lei had a very troubled past but is trying to move forward, even if she still has some spells that she'd rather keep on the down low.  On patrol, she and her partner find two murdered teenage girls and she wants in on the investigation, even if she hasn't been promoted to a detective just yet.  Adding to the stress is that fact that she is being stalked.  But working with the lead detective has been pleasant, even with all the chaos around her.  Readers should be aware that certain scenes can be triggers; there is sexual assault (adult and child) and some violence.

And Then There Were None

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And Then There Were None

(Also published as Ten Little Indians)

Agatha Christie

Bantam Books: 1983, 194 pages

(Originally published by Collins Crime Club: 1939, 272 pages)

Reviewed by Jessie Park

And Then There Were None is Agatha Christie's best-selling novel and also one of the best-selling books of all time, and for a good reason.  This mystery will leave you guessing until the very end.  A group of ten seemingly random people from all backgrounds are invited to spend time on Indian Island in England, all under different pretexts.  The real reason for their visit is to fulfill someone's sick sense of justice.  All of the people are charged with killings from their past but were never convicted or had to undergo any legal proceedings.  Stuck on the island with no way to leave, one by one the guests are killed off and the group realizes that the killer is one of them.  But who among them is the twisted killer?  Can they trust anyone?  Or even themselves?    

Bettyville

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Bettyville

George Hodgman

Viking: 2014, 279 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

In this memoir, author George Hodgman describes the time spent with his elderly mother at his childhood home in rural Paris, Missouri.  George took a break from his life as an editor in New York to attend a funeral with his mother in Paris. However, once he sees that Betty needs more help than he realized, George becomes her unlikely caretaker. Throughout the book, the author blends in background and anecdotes from both his and Betty's lives, particularly those that highlight the fact that Betty has never really acknowledged the fact that George is gay.  Overall, the book kept my interest, but the narrative at times felt meandering and unfocused.  I would recommend this to fans of family memoirs as well as those who are currently or anticipate caring for an aging parent.

The Pericles Commission

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The Pericles Commission (The Athenian Mysteries #1)

Gary Corby

Minotaur Books: 2010, 352 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Nicolaos is the son of a sculptor in Ancient Greece, during the time when democracy is still young and in danger.  The statesman Ephialtes, the father of democracy in Athens, has been murdered and the city is in chaos.  Nico has been given a commission by the young politician Pericles to find out who killed Ephialtes.  Nico works with Diotima, a virgin priestess of Artemis (much to Nico's chagrin) and occasionally with his often annoying younger brother Socrates.  Nico wants to be a politician and sees this commission as his way in but will he even be able to survive the investigation?  This is the first of six mysteries in the series by Gary Corby.