Month: January 2021

Every Single Lie

In Rachel Vincent’s new page-turner, Every Single Lie, she presents the reader with a scandal in a small town, social media bullying, and rumors. It’s a fabulous combination.

Beckett just dumped her boyfriend, Jake, because she thought he was cheating on her. When she sneaks back onto campus to take a French test, Jake’s baseball teammates coming down the hall make Beckett decide to hide in the girls’ locker room, which is closed for remodeling. However, someone else has been there first, because in an abandoned school duffel bag, Beckett discovers a dead newborn baby.

Beckett’s mom is one of the detectives in town, and she and another police officer question Beckett as a witness. But someone has started a Twitter account using the name of the defunct high school newspaper, and before she knows what’s happening, Beckett is presumed to be the baby’s mother/killer.

As Beckett tries her best to find the truth and do right by the baby – named “Lullaby” Doe by the anonymous Twitter account, she has to deal with death threats and a town that just wants to add more fuel to her family fire, which started with the scandal of her veteran father’s overdose and death less than a year before.

I won’t spoil the ending, but it was a good one, and Vincent took the plot through a collection of wrong suspicions before we get there. The characters are well-developed and I didn’t figure out who the real mother was until just before it was revealed.

A worthy read for sure.

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club

I have to be honest, what drew me to this book was the cool cover art. I hadn’t read any Malinda Lo books before, but I’m always interested in broadening my horizons. And this historical novel featuring an Asian-American teen waking up to her sexual identity definitely met my expectations and then some.

Lily Hu is a good Chinese girl, living in Chinatown, with Chinese friends, in the late 1950s. As she’s reading the newspaper one day, she spots an advertisement for a male impersonator performing at a place called the Telegraph Club. She sneaks the page out of the paper and is transfixed by the headshot of the singer. Working in a group in class one day, Lily realizes she has things in common with their Caucasian groupmate, Kathleen, and soon the two become friends. It is Kath who takes Lily – at her request – to see the impersonator at the Telegraph Club.

The book is told mostly from Lily’s perspective, but Lo also peppers the storyline with historical snippets about Lily’s father, mother, and aunt, giving the story a full multi-generational feel. She also uses Cantonese words, all defined in footnotes, which brings an authenticity to the novel. I loved the depiction of Lily’s journey and exploration of who she is and who she wants to be. The ending was hopeful and satisfying at the same time.

I love reading Own Voices books, because they allow me a window into cultures I am not ordinarily a part of. Lo does a fabulous job here with a Chinese lesbian in a time when being out and proud was not something one did. I highly recommend this book.

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Angel of Greenwood

I don’t remember learning about the Tulsa Race Massacre in school; rather, I learned of it from watching the TV series Watchmen on HBO. In this stunning novel, author Randi Pink takes us to Greenwood – the site of the Massacre – and gives us a fictional account of what happened in 1921.

Angel of Greenwood centers on the story of two teenagers, Angel and Isaiah. Isaiah is a disciple of W.E.B. Du Bois, believing the words of Du Bois can help advance the Black Man in the wake of World War One. Angel Hill prefers the words of Booker T. Washington. Isaiah is the best friend of the town troublemaker, Muggy Little, Jr., and as such, has a not so great reputation. Angel lives up to her name in Greenwood, being a helper to all around her and a genuine nice girl.

At Sunday school one morning, Isaiah really notices Angel for the first time when she dances in praise, and he can’t stop thinking about her. It isn’t until their literature teacher asks the two to join forces to bring literacy to the masses in the form of a bicycle and wagon to tote books in that the two get to know each other without the distractions of the rest of Greenwood society.

The book leads us to the tragedy – the Massacre that began with a white woman’s scream on May 30 and ends with Greenwood literally burnt to the ground. Pink’s fictional account is heartrending. This book is not an easy read. It’s not entertaining to read about an entire town of people losing their homes, their belongings, and for some, their lives, just because they were not white. And in today’s culture, it’s an especially hard but necessary read. While I can’t say I enjoyed the book, I’m glad I read it. It’s an important book.

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Lore

I fell in love with Greek and Roman mythology when I was in middle school, and am always excited when I find a book that has mythological connections. The cover of Alexandra Bracken’s Lore was enough to make me want to read it. Medusa!! Go Gorgons!

Lore Perseous is a member of one of the families descended from the original gods. Every seven years, there is a hunt, an Agon, that forces the nine original gods to walk as mortals and be hunted by descendants who, if they kill a god, gain that god’s power (and immortality). Lore is the last of her line, believing her entire family was killed by Wrath, the “new Ares.”

But this is not a simple story! After years living in hiding, avoiding the hunt, Lore is drawn back in kind of against her will by two people – one, her dear friend Castor, who is the “new Apollo” but who she believed dead, and the other, a wounded Athena, one of the last remaining original gods.

With the aid of Castor’s friend Evander and her own friend Miles, Lore has to figure out how to end Wrath’s terrible plan for the Agon, and keep herself and those closest to her safe.

I really enjoyed this book. Bracken depicts a very intriguing backstory for her characters, and the twists and turns were unexpected. I couldn’t wait to turn the page and find out if Lore and company were going to succeed. There is treachery and betrayal fit for a story based on Greek mythology and I thought the depictions of the Gods and their descendants was clearly well researched and woven into the story.

If you like modern stories based on the Greek myths, you need to add this book to your library like now.

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