Enjoyed the characters. I could picture myself in this little town with the colorful descriptions.

Django Wexler makes cool worlds in his books that are very easy to see while reading. This is a cool one that has both high tech (leftover from a previous war between the Chosen and the ghouls) and magic in the the forms of deiat and dhaka. Only the centarchs (specially chosen by the Chosen before they fell) can use deiat, but anyone can use dhaka (which is why the Twilight Order, made up of centarchs, has banned it). This story varies between the viewpoints of Maya (a centarch in training) and Gyre Halfmask who is trying to bring down the Order and the Republic because it is stifling and killing the people living there with its bans and rules against using dhak items. What is cool is that the dhak items are the high tech, like flight motivators, and core analytica. Plus the Chosen had skyships that crashed. Of course the dhakim use the tech to make plaguespawn and those aren't fun at all. They go around looking for more body parts to add to their own. Between the darks parts of the dhakim and the corruption in the Twilight Order, I wasn't sure who to root for, so I rooted for both Maya and Gyre, who are trying in their separate ways to create a better society. This is a good book to read and I cannot wait for the next one to come out as this one definitely ends on a cliffhanger!

This was a pretty good book. While not my favorite from Connelly, it was certainly interesting, and there were enough twists to keep me hooked. If you like Connelly you'll like reading Echo Park.

A middle grade novel encompassing life of an African American girl in Detroit in the 1940s, showing family dynamics and racism. As Betty grows up, she is involved in civil rights, obtains an education culminating in a PhD after her husband, Malcolm X, is assassinated. A quote by Betty's daughter in the author's note - "It is not falling that defines you, it's the process of what you determine to do each time you stand."

This was definitely a pretty exciting book! And all because Zahru wanted to go to a party with her friend, Hen. Zahru is only a Whisperer (which I think is a pretty cool power, even if no one else does) and so is not eligible to go to the party before the great race of the heirs to decide who will be the next ruler after their father dies. The name she chooses (her mother Lia) puts her in the wrong group and she ends up chosen as the sacrifice due to the cruelty of one of the royalty. The three sibling heirs, Kasta, Jet, and Sakira have their own personalities (Suspicious about everyone and has a dark side, Trying to be a good guy but needs to grow a backbone, and Party girl looking for the next adventure) that kept the story interesting and rolling at a good pace. Many adventures ensue in the desert race, from stealing a firespinner, to escaping from mercenaries. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one, especially with how it ended.

Written for the younger reader but tells the story of The Danish people and how they helped the Jews in WWII.

Cute book

I love learning about minimalism, so this book was very helpful and informative.

First in the graphic novel series. A hybrid of sci fi and dystopian genres, this is about a dysfunctional family of created superheroes. Would I recommend this book? Perhaps. It would depend on the reader.

I really enjoyed Heather Webber's last book, Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe and when I saw that she was going to be publishing another book, I was so excited! Especially since it is in the same vein as her last book, a small Southern town and a bit of magic in both people and a special buttonwood tree. I really like both Blue Bishop and Sarah Grace, whose two viewpoints make up the story. Blue has a knack for finding things and one day she finds a baby left at the buttonwood tree which has its own specialness. The Bishop name has been sullied over the years by Blue's con father, drunken mother and criminal brothers and so people hold it against her so they don't want her to have the baby. Sarah Gracehas her own talent of being a house whisperer and is in her own unhappy marriage but still tries to keep going with renovating old houses to rent to lower income families. There are also snippets of the judge as people of the town relate their experiences of Blue. Those were fun to read too. This just left me with such a good feeling after reading it and I think this quote from the ARC describes it perfectly. "This is the South after all, where there's always a touch of magic in the air." I definitely recommend this book as a good escape! And I can't wait for more books like this!