I'm Still Here Review

Hello Interwebs!

My most recent read is I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. This is one of the two books Reese Witherspoon selected for Reese's Book Club for June/July. This is a memoir written by a black woman about being black in the United States. As always there may be some spoilers after the picture of the cover. 

This book is hard to review like I normally do but I'll give it a try. This book is important. It doesn't pull punches and calls out white people in the US and challenges them...us to do better...to be better. The thing I wasn't expecting when I started it was how religious the author is and how important her faith is to her story. This was both a barrier to my understanding of her and the thing I understood the most. I grew up in the church. I grew up in a white country evangelical church here in Oregon. I left Christianity first, I found that my faith is too organic to be constrained by a building and by the hate that I've seen in evangelicals as a whole. I left that church second, I found their positions to be intolerable and I found that I would always be considered a second class citizen within those four walls. I left Christianity for paganism and the church for a small corner of my apartment and for all the beauty the outdoors holds. In that respect I didn't understand her reliance on Jesus and in the God of Abraham. But in my history I found the common ground that helped me understand what she was saying about the white church and what they need to do to become the solution and not the problem. The church I used to attend is white, it's very white and old. There aren't many young families, there are next to no children, and there have never been any people of color. They're the church that rents out space to a Latinx church, holds joint services and potlucks a few times a year, and a joint Christmas bilingual program every winter. They claim it makes them inclusive...it doesn't. I remember as a teenager going to a conference in Portland, OR. This was a conference that had hundreds...if not a thousand young people, from middle school through college, and their youth pastors. I can count on one hand how many people of color I saw there and one was my brother's friend. I went to a white high school. The only people of color there were Latinx. I work in healthcare. I've been a caregiver, a medication aide, and now a CNA. My coworkers are predominantly white. I know I'm privileged. I know that although I may worry about my son, I won't have to worry someone will hate my beautiful blue-eyed boy because of the color of his skin. I know that although I have a family member in prison, I don't have to worry about the treatment he receives inside those walls because he's white. This book wasn't just a story about her and her life and her experiences. It is a challenge to do better and I think that is all I'm going to really say about this book. 

Yours,

Richelle (and Emma) 

By the Book review

Hello Internet!

Another book review for you, this one is the first book I actual read in the month of July: By the Book by Amanda Sellet. I read this book from 29 May 2020 and 9 July 2020. This is a young adult contemporary romance that I rented from the library and gave a 4/5 stars. As always spoilers abound. 

This book is about a girl named Mary who is going to public high school for the first time after her private school, that was through the college her parents teach at, closes. Her only friend ditches her on the first day in public school but afterwards Mary saves a group of three other girls from making a mistake on a player of a guy with her knowledge of classic literature (dubbing him a Vronsky from Anna Karenina) and they take her into their group. While the four girls come up what they dub the “Scoundrel Survival Guide”. They make a guide to avoid the bad guys using Mary’s knowledge of literature and the bad boy archetypes. In return, the other girls teach her how to navigate high school and real life. As navigates high school and friendships, Mary keeps crossing paths with the bad boy “Vronsky” who it turns out she’s been misjudging based on assumptions. Things come to a head when he dances with her at the winter formal and then kisses her. Her friends are initially mad at what seems like a deception, but she makes up with them and everything works out for the best: she has friends and gets the guy.

As a huge fan of classic literature and stories (my all-time favorite book is Persuasion by Jane Austen), I loved this book. I felt a deep kinship with Mary down to being an introverted bookish little weirdo with very few friends. I liked how she grew over the course of the book, how her friends changed her, and how she was willing to reevaluate her preconceived notions. There was some nice solid lesbian representation with Mary’s sister, and I liked how everyone in her family is weird and unique, but her parents completely support their kids and anything they decide to do. It was a solid contemporary story that is more about friendship and being yourself rather than romance.

In conclusion, solid read, definitely recommended. I might get a copy of my own. Solid 4/5 read.

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

The Golden Compass Review

Hello Interwebs!

Here’s another book review for you! This is one for another book I re-read listening to the audio book: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. I listened to this from 6 July 2020 to 7 July 2020 while on vacation with my partner and son. This was a 5/5 star read for me when I first read in while in middle school 20 years ago and it really held up as a 5-star read. This was my partner’s first exposure to the book and he also found it highly enjoyable.

 As always, spoilers abound after the book picture. 

The Golden Compass follows 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon on their adventures in a fantastical steampunk version of our world. In Lyra’s version of the world the world is dominated by an international catholic based theocracy known as the Magisterium. Humans’ souls exist outside of their bodies in the form of talking animals known as daemons. Daemons can change form until the child goes through puberty when the daemon falls into a settled form. At the beginning of the novel, Lyra and her daemon live at Jordan College in Oxford under the guardianship of the college’s Master. While hiding in the retiring room for the scholars Lyra sees the Master slipping poison into her Uncle, Lord Asriel’s wine. Lyra saves Lord Asriel from the poison and is allowed to spy on his lecture about mysterious elementary particles called “Dust” that is more attracted to adults than children and have something to do with the Northern Lights and a city in a parallel universe that can be seen in the lights of the aurora. The scholars agree to fund the research and Asriel departs. Lyra’s life continues in Oxford with her friend Roger, the kitchen boy, and other children in the city although stories of children abducted by the sinister “Gobblers” are being told. Then Roger is taken, and a glamourous woman named Mrs. Coulter with a sinister golden monkey daemon comes to Jordan College and decides to take Lyra to her home in London with her. The morning before she departs, the Master gives Lyra a truth-telling device called an alethiometer, the title golden compass, with a caution to keep it secret from Mrs. Coulter. While acting as Mrs. Coulter’s assistant in London, Lyra learns that she is the head of the ‘Gobblers” known officially as the General Oblation Board. Lyra doesn’t understand what exactly is happening, but she runs from Mrs. Coulter’s during a party and is saved from the Gobblers herself by the Gyptians. The Gyptians are nomads that live in boats traveling the canals and have had many of their own children taken. One of the Gyptian women, Ma Costa, has had her son Billy taken from her and the King of the Gyptians reveals that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are Lyra’s real parents and she was nursed by a Gyptian woman to keep her safe from her mother’s jealous husband, the Gyptian woman being Ma Costa. The Gyptians begin an expedition north to rescue their taken children and Lyra is taken along with the expedition. Along the way they gather the armored bear Iorek Byrnison, the dispossessed King of the Bears. Lyra uses the alethiometer to find his missing armor and in return both he and his human aeronaut friend, Lee Scoresby, join the group. She learns that Lord Asriel been captured by the Magisterium and imprisoned in Svalbard by the armored bears. The search party keeps going towards a place called Bolvangar, the research station held by the General Oblation Board where they believe the kids are being kept. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra and Iorek detour to a village where they find an abandoned child who has been cut away from his daemon and soon dies. In an attack by bounty hunters, Lyra is captured and taken to Bolvangar where she finds both Roger and Billy Costa. They find the daemons of the cut children and with the help of a witch’s daemon sets them all free. Lyra is seized by the doctors there and they almost perform an intercision, the cutting process between child and daemon before Mrs. Coulter arrives on her visit to the research station and saves them. Lyra escapes from Mrs. Coulter and escapes the station by activating the emergency alarm and setting the building on fire. They are rescued by Scoresby, Iorek, the Gyptians and the witch clan headed by Serafina Pekkala whose daemon had helped Lyra save the severed daemon. On the way to Svalbard in the balloon, they are attacked, and Lyra falls out of the balloon but is taken to Svalbard and its king the usurper Iofur Raknison. Lyra tricks Iofur into fighting Iorek, who kills Iofur and retakes his place as King. Along with Iorek and Roger, Lyra finds her father Lord Asriel who tells her everything he knows about Dust; that it created parallel worlds and that the Church believes it is the physical mark of sin on a person. The church is researching severing children from their daemons before puberty hits and the daemons gain a fixed form and therefore before original sin descends on them and they lose their innocence. Lord Asriel then takes Roger into the snow and Lyra follows with Iorek. When Iorek cannot go any further he joins the battle between the bears and the witch clans that follow Asriel as well as Mrs. Coulter and her Tartar army. Mrs. Coulter follows Lyra to the top of the mountain where Asriel severs Roger from his daemon, killing Roger to harness the energy released during the process to tear a hole in the aurora and open a door to a parallel world. Mrs. Coulter refuses Asriel’s offer to help him and remains behind when he leaves through the portal and then Lyra and her daemon follow him through.

 This book is great as it has rich, vibrant realistic characters that exist in a familiar world that is somehow still completely fantastic and unlike our own. The villains are completely villainous and still catch you by surprise, especially Lord Asriel. They don’t just say they’re villains, but the book shows you why they’re villains and has warnings about the dangers of extremism. Lyra’s mistakes aren’t stupid ones but rather ones made with the innocence and naivete of a child. The secondary characters are just as fleshed out and rich as the main ones and you feel alongside them as events unfold in the book. The audio book is especially good because it is performed by a full cast which makes it feel like an old-time radio show.

 After finishing the book and returning from our vacation, my partner and I watched the BBC show His Dark Materials that just finished its first season. The show stars Dafne Keen as Lyra, James McAvoy as Lord Asriel, Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, and Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby. It was very well done and covered the events in the first book along with some of the events you get in the second book via flashbacks as they occurred alongside the events of the first book. The show was well cast and well-acted and a faithful adaptation of the series. I’m looking forward to re-reading the other two books as well as giving the new series in this world The Book of Dust a try with my rental of the first book La Belle Sauvage. I highly recommend both the books and the BBC series, and it holds up as a 5-star read.

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Murder on the Orient Express Review

Hey Interwebs!

 Another review here. This one is for Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I listened to this one as an audio book. The audio book was read by Dan Stevens. I listened to it over two days 6/27-6/28 and gave it a 4/5 stars. As always spoilers abound, although I’m not sure there’s many people who do not know the general plot of this book. 

Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s best-known books and was published in 1934. This one features the famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot who is travelling aboard the famed Orient Express back to England. While stopped in the snow a man is killed in his first-class compartment. The man, known aboard the train as Ratchett had approached Poirot early in the journey asking for his help. Ratchett had claimed that someone was trying to kill him and asked to hire the detective to protect him. Poirot refuses. The first night Poirot sleeps in his first-class cabin but is awakened by a cry from Ratchett’s compartment next door and other small occurrences on the train. The next morning, he is informed by his friend Mr. Bouc, an owner of the railway informs Poirot of Ratchett’s murder and enlists his help. The body reveals he had been stabbed 12 times and the window left open to trick investigators into believing the murderer had left the train. The only true clue is a scrap of paper with the name ‘Armstrong’ on it. The paper reveals to Poirot that Ratchett was really a man by the name of Cassetti who had kidnapped and subsequently killed a three-year-old girl named Daisy Armstrong. Poirot interviews all the passengers and conductor on the train, everyone who could have been involved and begins to unravel the mystery. In the end all the passengers and even the conductor are found to have a connection to the Armstrong family and motive to kill Cassetti. The Countess Andrenyi was Helena Goldenberg, Daisy’s Aunt;  English governess Mary Debenham was Daisy’s governess; Antonio Foscanelli, the Italian in second class was the chauffeur; Ratchett’s English butler Masterman was Armstrong’s valet; missionary Greta Ohlsson was Daisy’s nurse; Russian Princess Dragomiroff was Daisy’s mother’s godmother; temperamental American Mrs. Hubbard was Linda Arden the famous actress and Daisy’s grandmother; Colonel Arbuthnot was a friend of Daisy’s father and Mary Debenham’s lover; Cyrus Hardman the American private detective hired by Ratchett was in love with the French maid who committed suicide after Daisy’s death; Hildegarde Schmidt, Princess Dragomiroff’s maid was the Armstrong’s cook; and Pierre Michel, the conductor was the father of the nursemaid who killed herself. Each of the players minus Countess Andrenyi took part in the murder of Cassetti and the Countess’s husband took her place. Upon discovering the solution, Poirot tells them two possible solutions: 1. That someone from outside the train came aboard, killed Cassetti, and left again before the train was stopped by the snow; or 2. The real solution in which all the individuals came together to kill Cassetti. Mr. Bouc, the doctor who had been acting as a coroner, and Poirot decide that the first option is the story that will be told to the authorities as, in this case, justice has finally been done.

After finishing the book, I re-watched the recent movie adaptation of this book from 2017 starring Kenneth Branagh as Poirot. There are many changes to characters: Colonel Arbuthnot being changed to Dr. Arbuthnot the character combined with that of the doctor in the book; Mr. Bouc is changed from a director of the line to the director’s nephew, Pierre Michel is now the nursemaid’s brother instead of her father, and Hardman poses as an Austrian scientist for much of the film. The worst change to the movie adaptation is the ending. The ending of the book, brilliant in his treatment of this locked room mystery is thrown out to be replaced with Poirot being held at gunpoint and threatened until he agrees to keep the reality of the mystery a secret. The movie was well cast and although the case was underutilized, the only real issue I had with it was in the ending.

The audio book of this was great. Dan Stevens did highly entertaining voices for each of the characters which made it a very pleasurable book to listen to. I highly recommend the audio book for a reread of the book, if not for the first experience with the story. I found this copy on Libby to rent from the library and I think I will be listening to the other Poirot mysteries that Dan Stevens performs as well. Highly recommended, 4/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Birthday Book Haul

Hello Interwebs!

My 32nd birthday was this past weekend and for my birthday my mom took me to Barnes & Noble and bought me a book...then I bought some more since I had some birthday money. So most of these are from Barnes & Noble but there's one from Target in the pile as well as one from Amazon. 

So there's the stack of them. I got eight books total: 6 hardcovers and 2 paperbacks. I went into it knowing very little about four of them, aside from the fact that I'd heard about them and the author on booktube and one being the current Barnes & Noble book club pick. 

First up I have Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli (2020) which I ordered in hardcover from Amazon. 

This is a novella written in Albertalli's Simonverse series. I have all the other books in this series and I absolutely love them. This series started with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and then continued on with The Upside of Unrequited and Leah on the Offbeat. This new novella follows the characters we know from the previous books and is written via emails back and forth now that they've all gone their separate ways in college. I'm absolute trash for these books and I will probably be rereading the whole series before I read this new book. 

The second book I got in this book haul is Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz (2020), which I got from Barnes & Noble. 

 . I was first lured in by this absolutely beautiful book and then picked it up when I read the description in the front cover. This is a young adult retelling (sort of) of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. This book re-imagines what would have happened if after Jo turned down Laurie's marriage proposal, she had ended up reconsidering things and tried to win him back. Little Women is one of my favorite books. I love the 2019 movie and I actually like how everything wraps up in the original novel. I think Amy and Laurie are well-suited for one another and equally so that Jo and Professor Bhaer are also perfectly suited. With that being said, I'm very interested in what the story would look like if it had gone this way. 

Third is the current Barnes & Noble book club pick Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland (2020). 

This is a historical fiction novel that takes place in the 1930s in Atlantic City. Florence lives with her family in the apartment above their bakery while they rent out their house to vacationers during the summers. Florence comes home from college for the summer determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel but finds not only her sister's young daughter there but also Anna who recently immigrated from Nazy Germany. After a tragedy happens during one of Florence's training swims and she dies, her mother tries to keep the secret from her sister Fannie while she's on bed rest for her pregnancy and pulls everyone in the family and the household into a web of secrets and lies. It sounds like an interesting summer-based historical fiction novel that I'm looking forward to. 

THe fourth book is the one I picked up at Target while running errands (it was 30% off), 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand (2020). 

This is about a woman, Mallory, who gives her son, Link, instructions on her deathbed to call a number she had written on a paper in her desk drawer. A man named Jake McCloud answers. It unfolds that Mallory and Jake met in 1993 and their bond continued through their own separate lives until Mallory discovered she was dying. This seems like a nice summer novel and I love the cover so much. Everyone is always talking about Elin Hilderbrand's novels and the covers always seem like the best summer books. 

The fifth book I got was The Deep by Alma Katsu (2020), which I also got from Barnes & Noble. 

This is a historical fiction/horror novel that takes place on the Titanic and the Britannic and seems to involve some sinister presence haunting the ship. I read one of her previous novels, The Hunger, about the Donner party with a mysterious creature involved in the tragedy and really liked it so I've been wanting to pick this one up for a while. 

Next is a Sci-Fi novel called The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (2020). 

This is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that takes place in New York City and is about a group of people who can suddenly sense bits of the soul of the city in their own lives. I don't really know much about this book but I know a lot of people on Booktube love N.K. Jemisin and her writing and have been raving about this book so I got it to give it a try. 

Then I have Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand (2019).  

This was the very popular book by Elin Hilderbrand that was released last summer. It's a historical fiction novel that takes place in 1969 and is about the Levin family who spend the summer every year with the grandmother in Nantucket but things are changing. Only the youngest child, Jessie is around the others involved in protests and war while she's with her grandmother and her mother. Both the family and the country experience upheavals and I've heard this is a great summer novel and has a great cover. 

The last book I got is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016). 

This is a historical fiction novel about two sisters living in Africa, one marries an Englishman and becomes a privileged lady living on an estate while her sister ends up being sold into slavery. It follows the family's stories through the years to present day. It sounded really interesting and I am looking forward to getting into it. 

So that's it, all the books I got for my birthday last weekend. I am really excited about a lot of them, even if I picked them up on a whim. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Lady Emily Double Review

Hello Interwebs!

This is a double review for the first two books in the Lady Emily series by Tasha Alexander. The first book in the series is And Only to Deceive which I read from 17 June 2020 to 22 June 2020 and I gave it a 3.5/5 stars. The second book in the series is A Poisoned Season which I read from 27 June 2020 to 29 June 2020 and I gave this one a 3.75/5 stars. 

 First up is And Only to Deceive the first book in the series. As always, spoilers abound...possibly...

So, this is the first book in the series, and you are introduced to the heroine, Lady Emily Ashton. Emily is a proper Victorian lady living in London. She was widowed shortly after her marriage and is living in her late husband's home, still in mourning but finally her own woman in charge of her own life. In the mourning period following her husband's death Emily discovers he had a passion for Greek antiquities and begins learning what she can about it all to get to know him better. She learns he was a great patron of the British Museum and donated many priceless Greek antiquities there. When she finally makes it to his home in the country she discovers a statue that he had donated to the museum and after she has to have it repaired she learns that the one in her possession is real and the one in the museum a clever forgery. She discovers that there's many antiquities that are supposedly in the museum, but the real ones are in her late husband's personal collection. With the help of her late husband's best friend Colin and her new suitor she investigates the forgeries in the museum and the fact that her husband may be alive. But in the end, she solves the forgery case and discovers that her new suitor killed her husband to keep him quiet about the forgeries. She solves the case; her husband's best friend Colin professes his interest in her and she lives happily ever after for the moment at least. 

This book was good. It's a straightforward historical mystery. I am obsessed with the Victorian era. I found and binged the PBS series Victoria on Amazon Prime and read books about Queen Victoria and documentaries on streaming services and YouTube, so I was down for this book and I liked it. My only issue with this book is there was a lot of explanation and backstory involved in this book. But once you got the meat of the story it was a good gripping mystery, even if I did figure it out before Lady Emily. It was still a fun ride. 

So, the second book is called A Poisoned Season and it is the second book in the Lady Emily series. 

In this novel, Lady Emily is finally out of mourning for her late husband and is enjoying a flirtation with her late husband's best friend Colin. Colin is a detective/agent of Queen Victoria who is paid to investigate things that the Queen wants handled delicately and quietly. During the season in London, a man has come into play who claims that he is the descendant of Queen Marie Antoinette while a series of thefts of artifacts that once belonged to the late Queen of France. After convincing an acquaintance to report the theft of a diamond that was owned by the late Queen, the man is murdered, and Emily promises his widow that she'll investigate it. In the background of her investigation is a secret admirer that is sending her letters in Ancient Greek. As with the first book Emily solves the case, discovers the true heir to the French throne, deposes the imposter and accepts Colin's marriage proposal. I liked this book better than the first. There was a lot less build up to the action of the novel and Emily is a fun, intelligent woman who is living outside the norms for her time. I love her relationship with Colin and the fact that he will not be stifling her studies and detective playing in the future. 

I gave this book a 3.75/5 stars on goodreads and fully intend on reading the rest. These are quick reads and nice little mysteries. I highly recommend them for anyone who wants a fun time. 

So, there's my review of the first two Lady Emily Mysteries both by Tasha Alexander. More reviews coming this week!

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

 

The Baby-Sitter's Club

Hello Interwebs!

On July 3^rd Netflix released a new TV show called The Baby-Sitter’s Club. When I was a kid, The Baby-Sitter’s Club was the absolute best book series by Ann M Martin. I had all the books, plus the specials, plus the monthly club where I got new books. The Baby-Sitter’s Club is the first book series that made me really fall in love with reading and I wanted desperately to be as bold as Kristy, as cool as Claudia, as sophisticated as Stacey, as solid as Mary Anne and as California surfer girl as Dawn. As an adult I recognize that I am 100% Mary Anne down to the fact that my longtime partner, like Mary Anne’s longtime boyfriend, is a man that I’ve known since I was twelve. So, I binge watched the series like a grown up. The series takes the first eight books plus one of the specials in a 10-episode first season.

Book One and Episode One: Kristy’s Great Idea. Kristy Thomas watches her mother make phone call after phone call looking for a sitter for Kristy’s younger brother when Kristy has a great idea. Why not make a club where parents can call one number and reach a bunch of babysitters at once. With her best friend Mary Anne and their other friend Claudia and Claudia’s best friend Stacey the baby-sitters club is born. The book and the show are pretty similar in this episode with some updates. The landline phone they use is a vintage clear one (like the ones that were popular when I was growing up in the 90s) from an Etsy shop and they talk about Postmates to get pizza. 

Book Two and Episode Two: Claudia and the Phantom PhoneCalls. This book was about a phantom phone caller who isn’t there when you pick up. In the book the baby-sitters get mysterious phone calls while on the job. It turns out that it is a boy who is trying to ask Kristy to a dance. Another boy is doing the same to try to ask Claudia out. In the show Kristy gets mysterious phone calls and it turns out that it’s a grounded Mary Anne who is apologizing to Kristy. The dance subplot still exists but in this case Claudia can only go if she passes her math test which she doesn’t and the boy who calls her is relegated to a small role as the boy she likes in her art class. 

Book Three and Episode Three: The Truth About Stacey. This book is primarily about Stacey who has diabetes and is hiding it from her friends. This was my first real experience in diabetes outside of my grandmother, with someone my own age. It deals with the illness and the stigma illness has in kids. In the show it incorporates how social media can be used to hurt people when a video of Stacey having a seizure because of her diabetes is sent around to the parents with a viral video. After the video is released the girls call a meeting with the parents where Stacey explains what’s wrong with her and why she had the seizure. A parent who is an endocrinologist explains what she’s witnessed with her being a babysitter for her daughter and her maturity level. 

 Book Four and Episode Four: Mary Anne Saves the Day. Mary Anne acknowledges that she’s the least cool member of the Baby-Sitter’s Club, it has Mary Anne hanging out with Claudia’s grandmother Mimi while Mimi tells her about her mother who died when Mary Anne was 18 months old. Her single father babies her and she is very submissive in her personal life which is why she’s the bossy Kristy’s best friend. Mary Anne’s dad decides the friends are bullying her when she asks for advice in being more assertive and while they’re mad at her she meets the new girl Dawn. Dawn is changed from blonde California girl to Latina which is fine by me as everything is better with more diversity. In the show Dawn’s parents divorced because her father is gay, and the kid Mary Anne babysits is a transgirl. It’s a very natural and unforced way to bring the series to the modern day. Dawn’s aunt is pagan and as a pagan myself I loved the inclusion of a witch and how not concerning it was to most people. I love how Dawn rolls with the punches and just accepts Mary Anne the way she is. Then the little girl Mary Anne is babysitting for gets sick with a high fever and no one picks up the phone and her friends are still mad at her so Mary Anne calls 911 and handles everything herself, including dressing down the nurse and doctor who address Bailey as a boy instead of the girl she is. Her father shows up to see her standing up to them and realizes she’s more capable than he thought. Her experience gives her confidence to talk to her dad and to stand up for herself with her friends. The plot is similar to the book but with the trans storyline update. 

 Book Five and Episode Five: Dawn and the Impossible Three. Dawn and Mary Anne’s parents, who were high school sweethearts are dating again which makes both girls pretty excited. Dawn gets pushback from Kristy about joining the club, so she gets roped into babysitting for the newly divorced Ms. Barrett and her three out of control children. The mom comes home to a straightened-out house and better-behaved children and takes advantage of Dawn’s kindness. The Barrett boy, Buddy goes missing while the mother is gone and unreachable. Dawn calls the police and her mom, and it turns out that the father picked him up for swim class while the mother didn’t mention it. Dawn and Kristy become reluctant friends after Kristy helps her with the missing child and reveals it’s because her own dad is gone while all the other kids from separated homes have involved dads. This story is very much like I remembered but I really liked how this storyline dealt with the different ways families are and how they all work the best they can. 

Book Seven and Episode Six: Claudia and the Mean Janine. Claudia designs a new room for Mary Anne and is chosen to be featured in a special art show. Janine, Claudia’s sister is cold and a genius and Claudia’s complete opposite. During a game of trivial pursuit while Claudia and Janine are arguing their grandmother Mimi has a stroke and ends up in the intensive care unit. Claudia is an outsider in the family with all their smarts and her art, but Mimi always understands. But in the hospital Mimi can’t talk very well and it scares Claudia how nothing is the same and its not the Mimi she knows. Then Claudia’s art show doesn’t go well. The things she knows that she’s good at art and Mimi understands her aren’t so clear. Janine and Claudia bond over Mimi’s injury and the fact that Claudia’s drawings of what Mimi says gets Mimi talking in Japanese to Janine about Manzanar and she begins her road back to her family and who she was before the stroke. In the book, Claudia must choose between art and the club when her grades slip, and Janine helps her. I liked how they worked in Claudia’s family’s history in the US as Japanese Americans and the sisters bonding over that instead. It adds depth to not only Claudia as a main character but also her sister and Mimi as secondary ones. 

Book Eight and Episode Seven: Boy-Crazy Stacey. Mary Anne and Stacey accompany the Pike family to the beach for a week to help babysit. Stacey falls in love with a much older lifeguard on the beach, ditching Mary Anne with the kids. Mary Anne makes friends with a pair of age appropriate boys and tries to get Stacey to hang out with them. Stacey keeps blowing Mary Anne off and abandoning her with the kids and cancelling their plans to hang out during their down time. Stacey gets a present for the older boy while she’s hanging out with Mary Anne and the two boys their age but sees her crush kissing his girlfriend and runs off humiliated. Mary Anne comforts her and Stacey spends the last day of their trip hanging out with her friend and the other two boys. This is pretty true to how I remember the book. 

Book Six and Episode Eight: Kristy’s Big Day. Kristy’s mom finally gets married. Kristy’s new stepdad is wealthy, and it causes clashes with Kirsty’s single mom with multiple kids without much money. The day of the wedding Kristy and her mother have an argument when Kristy is wearing a different dress than the one originally picked out as a bridesmaid and its revealed that Watson, her mom’s fiancée, bought Kristy a new dress since the old one made her look like a banana and the replacement dress was $800. Kristy gets mad in return since her mother is having a big princess wedding that costs a fortune and let Watson buy Kristy’s older brother a brand-new car. The wedding goes off without a hitch and Kristy tries to find the opportunity to talk to her mom and apologize but it never seems to be the right time. As Watson and Kristy’s mom drive away, they stop, and her mom runs back to talk to her before she leaves. The entire episode has a definite theme of how things change but the really important things stay the same. Even though Kristy’s family is changing, she’s adding a stepdad and two step-siblings to it, and she’s getting a new house and even growing up physically with the start of her period but at the same time she and her mom are still there for each other like they always have been. 

Episodes 9 and 10: Hello, Camp Moosehead! Super Special #2Baby-sitter’s Summer Vacation. This is based off one of the super special books which were at least twice as long as others. The girls are split up among cabins. Kristy can’t be in charge at camp, Mary Anne becomes friends with Stacey’s ex-best friend Lane as they put on a musical, and Claudia and Dawn take on income inequality at the camp with the arts and crafts. Claudia ends up being put under house arrest in her cabin for running an unsanctioned art class. Dawn stages a lie-in to protest Claudia’s house arrest. Stacey and Lane end up in the infirmary together with poison ivy after a fight and end up making up. Then Mary Anne takes over the leading role in her play and Kristy’s younger stepsister disappears. This two-part episode also introduced Mallory and Jessi who become junior members of the club. This also gives the best first look at Mary Anne and Logan and their longtime relationship in the books. The session at camp ends with the girls being promoted from campers to counselors-in-training and having the best summer. To be honest I don’t remember much about the book, but I liked the episodes a lot. 

In conclusion, The Baby-Sitter’s Club is everything I wanted from a TV series based on the books that made my childhood. There are updates due to it being based in 2020 rather than the 90s when I originally watched it. I still love the characters and they still feel like my best friends. The fact that instead of a group of white girls with Jessi as the token black girl and Claudia as the quirky Asian girl, we have a biracial Mary Anne and a Latina Dawn. I love that they babysit for a transgirl, that characters are gay, and there’s variation. At the heart of the story they still use a landline in Claudia’s room, Claudia still hides junk food in her room, they still use flyers and all the girls look and act like 12/13-year-old girls. I still love this series and I will watch every episode of the show they put on Netflix. I also have a burning desire to reread all these books.

Happy Watching (and Reading)!

Richelle and Emma

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly Review

Hello Interwebs!

Here we are with another review! This one is for The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton. I read this book from 22 June 2020 to 27 June 2020 and I gave it a 4/5 stars on goodreads. This is a young adult contemporary romance and it was light and cute, just like I needed in June. As always, spoilers exist past this point. 

So this book is about a high school senior named Kit Sweetly who works as a wench (server) at a Medieval themed dinner and a show style restaurant (probably something like Medieval Times)  who desperately wants to be a knight like her older brother is. One night her brother is unable to go out as a knight so Kit dons his armor and rides as a knight in his place. After winning the night's tournament, she removes her helmet revealing herself as a girl in a Lord of the Rings "I am no man" moment. And with that she opens a can of worms. The video goes viral on the internet and she is dubbed "the girl knight" and although she gets a lot of public support both her Uncle who owns the branch of the restaurant threatens her job if she pushes the issue and corporate tells her that although her stunt brought in business and the company is floundering she is not to continue her path to be a knight and they will not change the policy. She doesn't agree and continues to push things with a website, a documentary of her and other girl employees going through knight training and finally a TV appearance she pursues her dreams to be a knight and finally she and her friends take over the tournament one night, they prove themselves as knights and due to the public support of the girls they are allowed to be knights. Kit takes her brother's place as a knight after his serious injury and her brother takes their Uncle's place as king of the castle in the show. She gets into the college of her dreams but decides to take the full ride scholarship to her community college to save up money to go so as not to put financial stress on her and her family. She also gets the guy, her male best friend who works at the restaurant as a herald. 

This book was a cute little contemporary feminist chick lit packed full of LGBTQIA+ representation. There's an individual that's nonbinary and a transwoman included in the bunch, neither are ever misgendered. Kit fights tirelessly against the patriarchy and is passionate about the women who defied cultural norms during the medieval period and badass warrior women and knights in pop culture. I didn't think that the feminist message sounded forced and I liked her a character. The romance with her friend was there but it wasn't the most important thing by any means and it was a natural friends to lovers progression. They had a strong friendship that naturally evolved into a romance. 

So in short, this was a cute little fluffy book that I really enjoyed. It was fun and genuine and full of pop culture references, if that's your thing. I gave it a 4/5 stars and recommend it as a fun read. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Beach Read Review

Hello Interwebs!

I'm finally taking the time to do a bunch of my back logged book reviews. This series will be all the books I read in June plus the beginning of July. 

First up is Beach Read by Emily Henry. I read this from 5 June 2020 to 16 June 2020 and I loved it. This book got me going in the month of June and this is definitely one of my favorite books so far. As always spoilers will definitely exist in this review. 

So this book follows our main character of January Andrews who is a writer of romance/chick lit novels. We meet January as she's going to a lake house that her father owned. Her father has recently died and upon his death, January found out that he had been having an affair which had been conducted at this lake house and that her mother had known about it and accepted it. So with a book deadline looming at the end of the summer and no faith left in love, January has gone to this house owned by her father and used for his affair to clean it out for sale and hopefully be inspired to write her book. Then she meets the next door neighbor, August Everett, or rather re-meets him. August "Gus" was her rival back in college and is a successful author as well, of very serious literary fiction, the exact opposite of January's chick lit. The only thing they have in common is that they are both convinced the other doesn't like them and they're both suffering from writer's block. When they make each other's acquaintance again they propose a deal: he will write a chick lit novel and she will write a literary fiction novel and the one who has the first and most successful book release will be the winner. To accomplish this, every week one day they will have a chick lit training session on one day and a literary fiction training session on another. As the summer wears on Gus and January realize that their rivalry was entirely in their own heads and based off of misunderstandings and they discover that not only do they like each other but they just might be falling in love. By the end of the summer both books are written and the two are now a happy couple. 

This book was amazing. It was light, fluffy heartwarming chick lit and exactly what I needed. I've been reading such serious books lately and this is exactly the kind of book I needed. I dropped the serious books I'd been reading to read this instead and it broke me out of my reading slump. January was such a relatable character, one I could very easily see myself in. This book wasn't just a romance with her and Gus, although that was a great relationship starter, but it was also about her getting to know who her father really was, accepting that, and learning about her own place in it all. Towards the end she's convinced to read the letter her father left for her at the time of his death and that leads to a safe full of letters, one written for every birthday by her father. This inspired me to do the same thing with my son, write him a letter every birthday for him at some point in the future. All in all this was a great book and I gave it a solid 5/5 stars and will recommend it to literally everyone. In fact, I've already given my copy to my mom to read. 

So that's my review for Beach Read. Go read it and love it. 

Happy reading!

Richelle

July TBR

Hello Interwebs!

Here is my July TBR, although as always this may be subject to change. It usually does at some point. 

Currently I've got two books in progress: one eBook, one audio book both from the library and both YA Contemporary/Romance. I'm hoping to read them in the next week, especially since they're both due soon. 

• By the Book by Amanda Sellet; this is  an eBook and I'm currently halfway done with this book. It's about a girl named Mary who is obsessed with classic literature. After switching schools her sophomore year of high school she makes new friends and they begin working on what they call the Scoundrel Survival Guide, a guide to boys using classic literature archetypes. It's super cute and I really enjoy it so far. 
  
  
  
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. This is an audio book, that I basically picked because the audio version is read by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It's about two Hispanic boys who become friends when Dante offers to teach Aristotle to swim and they form a friendship that changes them both and teaches them important truths about themselves and their place in the universe. Also really entertaining and you can't go wrong with an audio book read by Lin-Manuel Miranda. 
  

The next category of books I want to read in July is to continue the Lady Emily Mystery series by Tasha Alexander. I've actually already borrowed the eBook of the third book from my library and then I've bought the subsequent novella and fourth book in the series for my Kindle since neither is at the library either as an eBook or as a hard copy. 

• A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander, book 3 of the Lady Emily series. 
  
  
  
• The Bridal Strain: Emily and Colin's Wedding by Tasha Alexander; this is the short story that fits in between books 3 and 4. 
  
  
  
• Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander, book 4 of the Lady Emily series. 
  
  
  

Finally in honor of July containing America's Independence Day and with Disney+ releasing the musical Hamilton for streaming on July 3rd I want to be reading Hamilton-esque books. I currently own 6 books: one on Kindle, one on Audible, and four hard copy books. So in no particular order here we go. 

• The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs; this is a fictional novel about the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler. I have this book on my Kindle. 
  
  
  
• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow; this is the in-depth biography that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the musical and I have this as both an Audible audio book and as a paperback book but I only have the audio book version with me currently so I might try to listen to this one. 
  
  
  
• Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J Mazzeo. This is a nonfiction biography about Alexander Hamilton's wife Eliza Schuyler. 
  
  
  
• My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. This is a fictionalized account of Eliza's life. 
  
  
  
• Love & War by Melissa de la Cruz; book 2 of the Alex & Eliza trilogy. This is a young adult historical fiction book about Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler. The first book follows Alex & Eliza's courtship up to their wedding and the subsequent books continue their story. 
  
  
  
• All for One by Melissa de la Cruz; book 3 of the Alex & Eliza trilogy. 
  
  
  

Finally the book club picks for July, I don't know if I'll read them or not but here they are. 

• Friends and Strangers J. Courtney Sullivan; this is July's Read with Jenna pick. 
  
  
  
• I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown; this is one of the two June/July picks for Reese's Book Club; this is a nonfiction memoir. 
  
  
  
• The Guest List by Lucy Foley; this is the other June/July pick for Reese's Book Club; this is a thriller. 
  
  
  

So that's all the books on my July TBR; I have no confidence that I'll read all of them but I'm planning to read at least a number of them. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

2020 2nd Quarter Wrap-Up

Hello Interwebs!

So here's my check in for the second quarter of 2020, the months of April, May and June. It will be general stats regarding my goals as well as the books I read in the second quarter of the year. 

First the 6 month goal check in. 

• 33 books read out of 40 which is 14 books ahead of schedule according to GoodReads. I'll adjust this goal as needed as the year goes on. 
• 7 audio books
• 90 books bought, this is not going well. 
• 19 library books, mostly Ebooks and audio books. 
• 5 Nonfiction books
• 13 Kindle books

Next total number of pages read in the second quarter of 2020 (April, May, June):

• 6586 pages 

And the total number of pages for 2020 so far (January-June)

• 11923 pages

The shortest book I read in the second quarter of 2020 was: 

• The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman; 269 pages. 
  
  
  

The longest book I read in the second quarter of 2020 was: 

• Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland; Dread Nation series book 2. 
  
  
  

Average book length I read in the second quarter of 2020 was:

• 387.4 pages

The most popular book I read, according to the rating on GoodReads was:

• Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman  with a rating of 4.49 stars out of 5 
  

The least popular book I read, according to the GoodReads rating, was:

• The Hunger by Alma Katsu 
  

And my average rating of the books I read for the ratings I gave them was:

• 4.179/5 stars

My personal favorite book was Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. 

My personal least favorite book was Year One by Nora Roberts. 

So there it is, my summation of my second quarter reading (April-June). Going forward I'm hoping to keep plugging along with what I'm doing. So here's to a good second half of 2020. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma