Archive | July 2016

Item: Supergirl at Super Hero High
Rating: 4
Author: Meredith

Review: Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee (Blog Tour)

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee
Series: DC Super Hero Girls #2
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers on July 5, 2016
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Source: the publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

Get your cape on with the DC Super Hero Girls™—the unprecedented new Super Hero universe especially for girls! Readers of all ages can fly high with the all-new adventures of Wonder Woman™, Supergirl™, Batgirl™, and some of the world’s most iconic female super heroes as high schoolers!

Supergirl is the new girl in school—and she just also happens to be the most powerful teenager in the galaxy!

After losing her home planet of Krypton and everyone she knows, Supergirl has made a new home on Earth, but she’s isn’t so sure that Super Hero High School is the right place for her. Wonder Woman, other new friends, and a kindly librarian make her feel welcome, but breached inter-dimensional portals, invading alien armies, and bad dreams shake her confidence. It’s not easy being a super hero and a high school student all at once!

Award-winning author Lisa Yee brings mystery, thrills, and laughs to this groundbreaking series that follows DC Comics’ most iconic female Super Heroes and Super-Villains. Move over Batman™ and Superman™—the DC Super Hero Girls are ready to save the day and have fun doing it!

Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee (July 5, 2016 – Random House Books for Young Readers) This book was an incredibly fun read, so I’m really excited to be a part of this blog tour! I hope you enjoy my review!

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I loved this book!! It was such a fun, entertaining read. I really enjoyed the first book, Wonder Woman at Super Hero High, but I REALLY enjoyed Supergirl at Super Hero High. Everything about it – the writing, the characters, the plot – was epic!

I really liked Supergirl as a main character. I loved how klutzy and kind she was. These things made her feel very real and relatable. I loved learning her backstory, especially since I know a lot about Superman (and a little bit about Supergirl) from watching Smallville!

I don’t know if it’s just because we saw her through Supergirl’s dotting eyes, but Wonder Woman REALLY came into her own from book one to book two. She was stronger and more confident than she was in book one. Supergirl really envied and admired Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman could do no wrong in Supergirl’s eyes. But I also feel that Wonder Woman has grown and matured a LOT.

I said this in my review of Wonder Woman at Super Hero High, but I’ll say it again: If we don’t get a Harley Quinn story, I’ll riot! Also, if we don’t get a Poison Ivy story, I’ll riot!! I know from watching Batman & Robin that Poison Ivy becomes a villain and I know from seeing the Suicide Squad commercials that Harley Quinn becomes a villain; however, I seriously adore them! At least in this book series, as their teenage selves, I adore them! And I really, really want to get inside their heads and learn more about them.

There was a great quote in this book: “Unlike [Supergirl], they all seemed to fit right in and had everything figured out.” The context is that Supergirl was feeling down on herself and she was feeling envious of her classmates for “having it all together.” But I think the keyword here is “seemed.” From the outside looking in, Supergirl only saw one side of her classmates. She can’t know what they’re thinking or what their fears/vulnerabilities are. Everyone has them, even if we can’t always see them. I think this is a major lesson in this series – and an important one. People can look completely put together on the outside but be totally not put together on the inside. We can’t judge a person based on the face they show society because that face is only part of the story.

The revelations in this book were crazy and the action scenes were completely intense! I also think Lisa Yee’s writing was vastly improved in this book – and that’s not to say her writing was bad in the first book! Not at all. It was really enjoyable, but it was even better in this book. It was like Yee was more adventurous with her writing this time around and there was more “showing” versus “telling.”

The next book (which isn’t out until January – SOB!!!) is going to be Batgirl’s story and I’m REALLY excited! I LOVED getting to know Barbara Gordon in this book and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for her in her book. Plus, we’re almost guaranteed a decent amount of Supergirl, too (because of their friendship), which is awesome!

Overall, I really loved this book! As I mentioned in my Wonder Woman review, as someone who didn’t devour the DC comics, I was definitely a little bit behind on who everyone was and what some of the references were – though it was easier to remember everyone the second time around. But I knew enough and understood enough, so it was still incredibly enjoyable!

This is a short, fast read that I highly recommend to anyone who loves the DC comics, as well as to anyone who wants to get into the comics, but who wants a quick and easy introduction to the characters first!

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About the Author:

Lisa Yee’s debut novel, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, won the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award. With over two million books in print, her other novels for young people include Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, So Totally Emily Ebers, Absolutely Maybe, and a series about a 4th grader, Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) and Bobby the Brave (Sometimes).

Lisa is also the author of American Girl’s Kanani books and Good Luck, Ivy, and this year’s Lea Clark novels. Her novel, Warp Speed, is about a Star Trek geek who gets beat up everyday at school. A Thurber House Children’s Writer-in-Residence, Lisa’s books have been named a NPR Best Summer Read, Sports Illustrated Kids Hot Summer Read, and USA Today Critics’ Top Pick.

The Kidney Hypothetical – Or How To Ruin Your Life In Seven Days is Lisa’s latest novel for teens. Lisa’s 2016 books include the DC Super Hero Girls middle grade novel series and the American Girl, 2016 Girl of the Year books.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Release Day Blitz: Click Here to Start by Denis Markell

Jul19

Happy Book Birthday to Denis Markell, author of Click Here to Start, out today from Delacorte BFYR!

What if playing video games was prepping you to solve an incredible real-world puzzle and locate a priceless treasure?

Twelve-year-old Ted Gerson has spent most of his summer playing video games. So when his great- uncle dies and bequeaths him all the so-called treasure in his overstuffed junk shop of an apartment, Ted explores it like it’s another level to beat. And to his shock, he finds that eccentric Great-Uncle Ted actually has set the place up like a real-life escape-the-room game!

Using his specially honed skills, Ted sets off to win the greatest game he’s ever played, with help from his friends Caleb and Isabel. Together they discover that Uncle Ted’s “treasure” might be exactly that—real gold and jewels found by a Japanese American unit that served in World War II. With each puzzle Ted and his friends solve, they get closer to unraveling the mystery—but someone dangerous is hot on their heels, and he’s not about to let them get away with the fortune.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

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About the Author:

Denis Markell has written everything from off-Broadway Musicals to Situation Comedies and even funny birthday cards for family members. This is his second book for children. It was inspired by singing “Hush, Little Baby” to his son every night. For years. His fondest hope is that this will stop before his son goes to college.

Official Publisher Page – Simon & Schuster
Twitter | Goodreads

Review: And I Darken by Kiersten White

Jul6

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

And I Darken by Kiersten White
Series: The Conquerors Saga #1
Published by Delacorte Press on June 28th 2016
Pages: 484
Format: ARC
Source: the publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

I’ve been SO excited for this book ever since I first heard about it. A YA historical? YES, PLEASE! A “what if?” YA Historical? EVEN BETTER! But a YA “what if?” historical about Vlad the Impaler.. As a girl?!?! GIMME GIMME!!!!!!!!!!! And this book did NOT disappoint. I enjoyed it SO MUCH and I can’t wait for book two!

In a Q&A Kiersten did for her launch party at Mysterious Galaxy Books (and which was transcribed in Stacee’s recap on her blog, Adventures of a Book Junkie), Kiersten discussed the insane amount of research she did for this book – and it definitely shows! This book takes you back in time and makes you feel as though you’re living in the Ottoman Empire in the 1400’s-1500’s. It was so atmospheric, the story so richly detailed.. I fell into this world with ease.

The characters were intriguing and complex. It’s hard to say whether I liked them or not, but I don’t think the author’s goal was for the characters to be likable. It was more about understanding them and their actions and decisions. As Kiersten said in her Q&A for Mysterious Galaxy Books, “If you get to the end of the series and you’re wondering why you like [Lada], I’ve done my job.” This statement is SO TRUE – not just for Lada, for all the characters. But especially our main three: Lada, Radu and Mehmed.

To be blunt, Lada was bratty, scary, nasty, mean and stubborn.. She BITES people. But through all that, she’s fierce, feisty and determined. She refuses to let the fact that she’s a woman stop her from doing – and getting – what she wants.

Poor Radu started off as the runt of the litter – ignored, picked on and beaten up. But he changes SO MUCH, it’s not even funny. He goes from being a scared, crying, sheltered little boy to… This man. This strong, clever, cunning man with a heart of glass who covets what he can’t have. His boyishness still comes through at times. But otherwise, from beginning to end, he becomes a completely different person. His most interesting quality? The diplomatic way in which he talks himself into and out of various situations. He inserts himself into people’s lives and conversations in such a smooth way, they don’t even realize what he’s doing until it’s too late.

The unshakeable bond between Radu and Lada is proof that home is not a place, but that it is where your family is – and that family is what you make it. They might not have always shown it in words or gestures but they loved each other – and it was very endearing.

There were a LOT of other characters that I could talk about, but then we’d be here forever! So instead, I’m going to offer shout-out’s (whether for good reasons or not-so-good reasons) to: Bogdan, Nicolae, Nazira, Kumal, Lazar, Ilyas and Salih. I’m sure there are other characters I could shout-out, but these are the main ones I was either truly intrigued by or truly despised (give or take a few I left out).

Again, it’s hard to say whether or not I liked these characters, but I definitely liked their interactions with one another, as well as their various relationships. I especially loved the way Radu’s relationships – and everything that goes along with that – were handled.

I read a lot of mixed reviews about this book (before I read it) and I think I know why: This is unlike anything Kiersten has ever written. It’s pure historical fiction. That means it’s a little slow to get through because there’s SO much world-building involved. And I admit, it had a slow start and was a bit too long. But otherwise, it’s intriguing and absolutely a coming of age story – finding one’s place in the world, etc. And Kiersten did SUCH a great job with it.

Overall, if you couldn’t tell from my review, I LOVED this book SO MUCH and I CAN’T wait for book two – which you can get a sneak-peak of here! I HIGHLY recommend this for fans of historical and “what if?” historical. If you’ve read Kiersten’s previous books, prepare yourself for something COMPLETELY different than you’ve ever read from her before!