From the publisher, “They still haven’t found the body of the first and only boy who broke Alessandra’s heart—and they never will. Since then, all of her relationships have been purely physical. And now at eighteen years old, Alessandra is ready for more. The plan is simple:
1. Make the king fall in love with her.
2. Get him to marry her.
3. Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.
It’s no small task, but Alessandra wants a kingdom and is going to do everything within her power to get it. She knows the freshly crowned Shadow King will be her toughest target yet. Shrouded in a mysterious power, no one is allowed to touch him.”
But, as forces combine to try and keep Alessandra from earning the king’s heart, she wonders if perhaps she’s already lost her own.”
The author has cleverly written an excellent story involving passion, intrigue and scheming, around two characters who are not terribly likeable. Alessandra is a narcissist and Kallias is a brooding power-hungry king obsessed with expanding his empire, caring not a whit about his people. They deserve each other, but together, not the rulers I’d want running a kingdom. Alessandra becomes a bit more personable as she makes friends at court and as she comes to love Kallias. The storytelling is excellent, crisp writing, action, fast moving plot, romance, and a twist at the end. I’ve enjoyed the author’s other books and will continue to eagerly read everything she writes.
eGalley review Publication date 2.25.2020
Yea!!! Once again Cotton Malone has been persuaded by his old boss, Stephanie Nelle to come out of retirement, just one more time. Cotton is in Bruges attending a rare books auction for a client when he becomes involved in trying to prevent a theft of a sacred relic from a cathedral and ends up in jail (of course he does) and is released at the request of Nelle (of course he is). It seems that there is to be an auction of incriminating information about the president of Poland with several countries invited, Russia and the United States in the mix. Nelle is unhappy with the designated U.S. representative and talks Cotton into attending. The ensuing romp takes us from Bruges to Poland to the ancient salt mines near Krakow. There are plenty of twists of plot and narrow escapes, lots of blood and action. And of course, the best part is the afterword where Berry tells what is history, what is fiction.
There are sixteen stories, an excerpt from book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Veiled Throne, and a new novelette. I sometimes skip the preface, (mainly when I am itching to start reading a favorite author like Ken Liu) and I am so glad I took time to read it this time. Not only did Liu explain how and why he selected stories, he mentioned that these stories are best understood if read in order. Since I usually jump around, that was very good advice.
From the publisher, “Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice, Adalyn Grace’s All the Stars and Teeth is a thrilling fantasy for fans of Stephanie Garber’s Caraval and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.
The book begins in Philadelphia during a streetcar strike in 1910 with a newspaper clipping about a streetcar being driven by a black man into a department store. Then we go with his mother, Spring, to the hospital where she sits by Edward’s bed, determined to tell him about himself and about her struggle to survive as a slave. Accompanied by the ghost of her sister, she begins by telling him a story that spans several generations. It begins with a free black 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped in 1843 and taken to a Maryland farm to be a “breeder”. The account that follows is difficult to read as the violence and brutalities are told with detail. I read this book because it is longlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It is a story that needs to be told, a telling of women’s trials as slaves and as free, but at times it is evident that this is a debut for the author. I tended to lose characters in the narrative, sometimes the plot twists are telegraphed. Over all, It just felt a bit uneven.
From the publisher, “From the award-winning author of Flygirl comes this powerful WWII romance between two Japanese teens caught in the cogs of an unwinnable war, perfect for fans of Salt to the Sea, Lovely War, and Code Name Verity.
From the publisher, “Witty and charming, this contemporary young adult novel follows a girl as she navigates secrets, romance, and danger in an aging grand hotel. Way up in the Swiss mountains, there’s an old grand hotel steeped in tradition and faded splendor. Once a year, when the famous New Year’s Eve Ball takes place and guests from all over the world arrive, excitement returns to the vast hallways. Sophie, who works at the hotel as an intern, is busy making sure that everything goes according to plan. But unexpected problems keep arising, and some of the guests are not who they pretend to be. Very soon, Sophie finds herself right in the middle of a perilous adventure—and at risk of losing not only her job, but also her heart. The holiday romance of Love Actually meets the playful mystery of Clue in this captivating novel for teens.”
When he left office in 1797, George Washington planned to stay busy with “rural amusements.” But it was not to be. He was in debt. The farm was a money pit. He needed to rid himself of his many slaves, but could not because they belonged to the estate of Martha’s first husband. He found himself in the midst of quarrels between the Federalists and Republicans. Then, when the relationship with France became ugly, John Adams decided the country needed an army and it needed Washington as commander in chief. So much for his plans for a quiet, rural retirement.
Amaya was sold to a debtor ship filled with children conscripted to pay off familial debts. She spent 10 years diving for pearls, gutting fish, beaten and starved until she escaped. With the help of Boon, a man she saved from drowning and who later saved her, they plot revenge to those that wronged them. A primary target is the wealthy merchant and owner of the debtor ship whose son, Cayo, is to be used in the plot to destroy that family. The plot gets a bit twisty. We delve into Cayo’s backstory and of course discover he’s a likable though troubled sort. This first book in the planned duology wraps a few things up, but all the players are in place for the next book.
In the 1820s most Americans did not see a need to educate black children. Reading, writing and a bit of math would do very well. After all, these children were seen as inferior. But the people who established the New York African Free School system saw things differently. This is the story of two boys who became friends at the Mulberry Street New York African Free School: James McCune Smith (1813-1865) and Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882). Smith became a physician, graduating from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, becoming the first African American to hold a medical degree. He worked for the abolitionist movement from within, quietly using his medical education to show that blacks were not at all inferior. Garnet became a minister and an eloquent passionate speaker who was able to move hearts and minds. The two friends disagreed, often violently, on the best way for blacks to attain true freedom. In an era where most saw only two options for freed slaves, continued subjugation or return to Africa, these two childhood friends sought a better solution. This is an amazing story. That the sons of enslaved mothers could become well-educated and successful in influencing public opinion through writing books, speaking before adoring crowds, even speaking before Congress, during this time period is a monumental achievement. I highly recommend this book.
This year, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. That’s usually the beginning of the story. But the story begins in 1553 with Queen Mary’s cleansing of the church. No, it really begins several hundred years before that. This story encompasses the beginnings of the Church of England, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and of course the Puritans. It is a history of oppression and intolerance. This is a difficult book to read, quoting many early tracts and books. There is way too much information, too many sects with too many rules, too many preachers, too many people who died for their faith. It would be useful for scholars, but it is not for the casual reader.
From the publisher, “Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone—even the lowborn—a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders. Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn’t be more different. Annie’s lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee’s aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet. But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city. With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or to betray everything he’s come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves…or step up to be the champion her city needs. 
r, “In a snow-covered land where monsters rule the icy tundra, only song weavers hold the power to control these vicious giants. But for centuries song weavers have been the subject of suspicion—how can those who hold so much power be trusted?
From the publisher, ““Who do you want to be?” asks Mr. Van Deusen. “And not when you grow up. Right here, right now.” 
We take cloth for granted. It has just always been there. Cotton, silk, wool, linen, have been with us forever, nothing special. But this book shows how fabric has shaped our civilizations, has allowed us to go to extreme places, to do extreme things. This wonderful story takes us from a cave in the republic of Georgia where traces of the oldest fibers known to have been used by humans were found, (fibers more than 30,000 years old), to the fabric used in space suits. We travel around the world to China where an empress makes the first silk, to Egypt, where linen was filled with magic, to the Vikings, whose ships had sails made of wool. We meet makers of lace and weavers of wool, athletes and astronauts. I love fabrics, so I enjoyed this book very much. But if you are a person who doesn’t know the difference between velvet and denim, and really don’t care, you might enjoy the book a little bit.
YA Lit Ramblings 
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