Rome's Pride

  Thorn by Intisar Khanani My rating: 2 of 5 stars Thorn is a young adult novel of a Grimm’s fairy tale, The Goose Girl , reimagined. It follows a princess who is not happy with her life as she is never good enough for her mother and the target of her brother’s abuse. She dreams of a life where she can be free from the responsibilities of her royal miserable life. Instead of freedom, however, she is given away in an arranged marriage to a prince she has never met. On her journey to meet him in his kingdom with another girl that has a grudge against her, magic changes the princess’ course. She attains her desired freedom, but at what cost? As her life is turned upside down she learns about a plot against her to be wed prince. Can she save him while keeping her newfound freedom? Or will she have to choose between being responsible for his demise due to her silence or voluntarily walking back into the life she felt trapped in. Thorn has many twists and turns while following Princes...

  Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza My rating: 3 of 5 stars Sanctuary is a young adult alternate reality fiction novel. It takes place in America during the near future of 2032. In this dystopian take of the country, the fight against immigration and the use of racial profiling and discrimination has evolved into a chilling reality. Walls are being placed to separate those wanted from those deemed not worthy. Identification chips are placed into every citizen to help weed out illegal immigrants in order to be deported back from where they came from or put into detention camps. After violence keeps erupting against this new reality, California decides to take a stand in solidarity. They have chosen to become a sanctuary state to all immigrants in the country seeking it. Sanctuary follows Vali and her family on their journey from trying to survive in America as immigrants to making the escape to safety in California. The questions are, can they make it? Or will California’s consequence o...