Rewind & Review #90

Created by Shae Has Left the Room.

~Had a monumental birthday.
~Went to Quebec for a week. See details in one post below and another post to come.
~Realized I go back to school in a week and a half. Not ready for that.

Books I Received for Review

Invictus by Ryan Graudin (from Little, Brown via NetGalley)
Things I'm Seeing Without You by Peter Bognanni (from Read Between the Lynes)

Books I Won/Traded for/was Gifted

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton (gifted by my AMAZING Secret Sister, Amanda)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Hamilton: the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (birthday gifts from my parents)

Books I Bought

Lucky in Love by Kasie West
Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

I purchased French editions of the following books while in Quebec:
Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Books I Read
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (4 stars)
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (4 stars)
Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae (reread)
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (3 stars)
Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas (3 stars)
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (reread)
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein (3 stars)
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard (3 stars)
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton (reread)
The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby (4 stars)
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski (3.75 stars)

Blog Posts You Might've Missed in the Last Few Weeks

   (from 7/10-7-15)

• From the Bookshelf to the Kitchen: Moon Muffins
• Review: This Is How It Happened by Paula Stokes (3 stars)
• So You Like... #54
• Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (5 stars)

   (from 7/16-7/22)

• A Birthday and a Blogoversary
• Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (5 stars)
• Review: Lucky in Love by Kasie West (4 stars)
• Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski (5 stars)

   (from 7/23-7/29)

• Some #QuietYA for Your Summer TBR List
• Quebec Travels, Part One
• There Needs To Be More YA Historical Fiction
• The Best of the Book Covers 2017 Edition
• Review: The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley (3 stars)

Review: The Bedlam Stacks

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
Grade: C
Release date: August 1, 2017
An ARC was provided by Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg and something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather’s pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness.

When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine—essential for the treatment of malaria—from deep within Peru, he knows it’s a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who’s made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground separates town from forest. Anyone who crosses is killed by something that watches from the trees, but somewhere beyond the salt are the quinine woods, and the way around is blocked.

Surrounded by local stories of lost time, cursed woods, and living rock, Merrick must separate truth from fairytale and find out what befell the last expeditions; why the villagers are forbidden to go into the forest; and what is happening to Raphael, the young priest who seems to have known Merrick’s grandfather, who visited Peru many decades before. The Bedlam Stacks is the story of a profound friendship that grows in a place that seems just this side of magical.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Right off the bat, I found The Bedlam Stacks less confusing than Pulley's previous title, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. However, tonally, it's not a story I enjoyed. I couldn't click with Merrick's narrative voice, although I loved the flashback scene in China. The dialogue didn't do much for me either; it felt monotone and didn't bring the characters to life for me. I also couldn't click with the writing style.
Also, I really, really wanted more of Minna. She's there for only a short part of the journey because of spoilery reasons, but I wanted her there for more of the story. Inti was a nice female presence, and I liked how The Bedlam Stacks challenged colonialism and assumptions about other people groups. The markayuq were super fascinating and creepy and one of my favorite parts.
Language was relatively clean until the end of the book when Raphael started dropping the f-bomb out of the blue.

The Verdict: Since I'm no longer the primary audience for YA, I'm trying to branch out a teeny bit, but it might be better if I stick to YA... Not a terrible story, but I couldn't connect with it in ways that people who primarily read adult fiction might.

Buy: Read Between the Lynes  Barnes & Noble

Will I be adding this book to my library?: Probably not.

The Best of the Book Covers 2017 Edition

So often, my "best of" book lists focus on a book's words, which, of course, are more important than its cover. After all, we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover. But sometimes... I do. Today I'm gonna feature most of the book covers I love for books that released/are releasing in 2017.

I'm noticing that, for the most part, I really liked covers with a bit of color to them this year.

What are your favorite book covers this year?

There Needs To Be More YA Historical Fiction

I'm a history minor (as I've told y'all many times), and I love, love, love YA historical fiction. I love that it's set in our world, so the world-building isn't as vast, but that it's set in another place and time and there can still be fantastical elements to it (like in the cases of Grave Mercy and Walk on Earth a Stranger).

It's perfect for authors who love research and/or who are fascinated with a particular time period or figure in history. It's perfect for teenage readers who want something a bit livelier than their history textbooks - and also perhaps something that doesn't tell the whitewashed version of history so many textbooks feature. (How many us of didn't know about the awesome black women who helped put man on the moon 'til Hidden Figures?)

I love YA historical fiction so much, I created lists for all the 2018 and 2019 releases. But making these lists (and voting on those for 2016 and 2017) has brought something to light that makes me sad.

There aren't enough YA historical fiction titles.

If the lists are accurate, 2016 got 54, 2017 is getting 33, and so far there's only 20 announced for 2018. I know this is a very first world problem to have, but I'm going to complain anyway.

I want more historical fiction, particularly not about World War II or even World War I. I want more historical fiction set at other royal courts besides Henry VIII's and Elizabeth I's. I want more historical fiction written by POC authors. I want more historical fiction set across the centuries; I know the sources are sparser past, like, the 1600s, but that means it's just easier to make things up.

I want authors to write stories that make teenage readers more excited about history. We're supposed to be very forward-looking in America, but if we don't study our past, we will repeat our mistakes. I want stories that showcase the women and African-Americans and Asian-Americans and Latinxs and Middle Eastern people of history. I want books about events in history I had no idea about.

After all, history is a story. A true one. So what could be better to inspire a book?

Quebec Travels, Part One

Hi, everyone! I got back from Quebec Saturday evening after twelve hours of travel. :P I've been slowly unpacking the last couple of days, but now I have pictures and stories to share with y'all. In this post, I'll cover Saturday the 15th through Tuesday the 18th, and then in a few weeks, I'll cover Wednesday through Friday.

July 15th
Woke up before 4 a.m. to catch our first flight. We had a layover in Chicago and then flew into Montreal. Our cab ride to our hotel took much longer than expected, so we had to adjust our plans for that evening. We ended up walking down to the river since it was only a few blocks from our hotel and then we had crepes for dinner and returned to the river once again because there were fireworks that night. It was a great welcome to Montreal.

Flying into Montreal!

Old Montreal had great Snapchat geofilters.

The Saint Lawrence River and the Old Port.

July 16th
My birthday! We got up, got breakfast at Starbucks (since we needed to get moving earlier than most cafes were open on a Sunday), and then took the metro up to the botanical gardens. Sidebar: the Montreal metro system was so easy to navigate. Loved it!
Anyways, we spent a couple hours at the botanical gardens, ate there, and then went to the Olympic Stadium. We went up in the observation tower, and my dad took a tour of the stadium, but my feet were really hurting by then (I was wearing shoes I'd had forever, but they were giving me blisters for some reason). Then we returned to the hotel and cleaned up for our fancy dinner that night.

The botanical gardens were so pretty! That top picture is probably one of my favorites that I took on this trip.

Views from the observation tower at the stadium.

If you can't read the sign, it says Le Chat Noir, which I only partially chose because of Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

July 17th
We started the day with breakfast in a cafe (I ordered chocolat chaud, of course) and then took the metro over to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. They had several paintings I added to my Pinterest board of art I like, and they had a whole building devoted to Canadian artists. Then we took the metro to the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood where we walked through the rain to La Banquise. There we got our first try of poutine. After that, we found the bus that would take us up Mont Royal, although we missed our stop and had to ride the bus until it circled back around. The views were great from the mountain. Once we came back down, we stopped by a bookstore called Renaud Bray, and I got four YA books in French (although I had to leave Crooked Kingdom and Snow Like Ashes behind D: ). After that, we returned to Old Montreal and ended up going to the crepe place again, mainly so we could order dessert crepes.

Monet can be found even in Montreal. This piece is titled "Main Path at Giverny."

Plateau Mont-Royal was so artsy and lovely.

Look at those staircases!

The city from the mountain.

Oh look, that's my face.

Some - but not all - of the YA section.

The oldest street in Montreal.

July 18th
Our hotel was right next to the Notre-Dame Basilica, so we got up early and toured that to beat the crowds and lines. It was gorgeous inside, although it was dim enough that pictures didn't turn out super well. Then we took the metro down to Marche Atwater, a mostly-open air market. Oh man, if I lived in Montreal, I'd go there every other day. We got berries for lunch and to take back to our hotel, we ate sandwiches, and we got a bunch of pastries to take back to the hotel as well. I got a pear tart that was absolutely delicious (although it was probably only my second favorite pastry of the trip; you'll have to wait for part two of this post series to find out why). In the afternoon, we walked down to City Hall and Chateau Ramezay, a history museum. After that, we went to Pointe-a-Calliere, which is a history/archaeological museum. Finally, we finished the night with dinner at a Polish restaurant, which was wonderful. 

Look at that architecture!

I loved the staircase off to one side in the basilica.

Across the canal from the market.

City Hall. Oh, and that sign is celebrating the 375th anniversary of Montreal's founding. It's also Canada's 150th birthday this year.

I just really liked this dagger, okay.

That's Pointe-a-Calliere. The shape of the entrance building to the museum is so cool.

Part of the museum is in the old sewers, and I loved walking through there.

The Polish restaurant was so cute, and I got to try my first pierogi!

Have you been to Montreal? Or Quebec? What was your favorite part?

Some #QuietYA for Your Summer TBR List

Summer may be halfway over (or almost over for me, since I go back to school in three weeks D:), but that doesn't mean it's too late to add some more books to your summer reading list! Particularly some lesser-known titles that may not have gotten as much attention this year.

1. You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

If you love Switched at Birth or art and deaf characters in general, this is a book for you.

2. Hunted by Meagan Spooner

A bit of a slow, introspective read, this is a wonderful Beauty and the Beast retelling with lots of Russian influence.

3. Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

I can't talk about this book enough. It is clever and funny and lovely.

4. Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

It's more than a pretty cover, with poetic language and plenty of uncomfortable questions.

5. The Heartbeats of Wing Jones by Katherine Webber

Sort-of historical fiction, it has an athletic, biracial protagonist and great family dynamics.

6. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

If you love swoony summer romances that aren't too fluffy, this is a book for you.

7. Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

A wonderful exploration of how poverty and gender stereotypes can affect things. It's basically a better version of Pitch Perfect.

8. Triple Threat by Gwenda Bond

You have to read the other Lois Lane books to fully appreciate this one, but I think there's still plenty to love in this installment.

9. And We're Off by Dana Schwartz

Europe travels and mother-daughter conflict.

10. The Wonder of Us by Kim Culbertson

More Europe travels with friendship thrown in. I really loved how the friendship wasn't perfect, but the girls didn't want it to die.

And as usual, I'm not really sorry most of the titles are contemporary. But I really hope you'll consider picking up a few of these books because they are so deserving of more love!