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...

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was a fun light read while tastefully bringing up questions the reader can ask themselves about their own personal lives. Heretics Anonymous created a world where different ideas are respected within a group and shows that this diversity can be used to enhance the group's abilities in certain situations. It is about not only being open minded to others' beliefs but also encourages one to challenge and grow in their own. The characters were written well and you follow the character development of the protagonist as he starts asking the harder questions. All of this is done inside a high school drama and a love story with some twists of comedic releases sprinkled throughout. It also has an underlying theme of taking ownership of your choices and being willing to receive the consequences for them. I really enjoyed this book and will keep an eye out for other works written by Katie Henry. View all my review...

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler My rating: 4 of 5 stars This addition to the Earthseed series took a twist with the story coming from the original protagonist's daughter's point of view. Throughout the book you follow Ashe's thoughts, Lauren's journals, as well as some writings from Ashe's father. The story continues with Acorn being established and facing adversity. Another extremist religious establishment threatens their existence and brings harsh circumstances the group must survive, unfortunately, not everyone did. In this process many of their children are taken, including Ashe when she was still only a baby. This book is her journey coming to know her past and confronting the truth of it. Although originally this was meant to be a trilogy, I do not feel a third book is necessary. Octavia leaves the reader feeling content ending the story. I did enjoy this book and, being written in 1998, felt there were very current topics and ideas present. T...

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve My rating: 3 of 5 stars As a fan of historical fiction, multiperspectivity, and mysteries this book held high interest to me. Based off of the Smuttynose murders that took place on New Englands Isles of Shoals in 1873 this book follows two women on different timelines. One, Maren, was the survivor of the event that took both her sister's and sister in law's lives. The other, Jean, is a journalist in current time assigned to take photographs for a magazine article on the event. Throughout the novel you follow Maren's childhood in Norway and events leading up to the murders and Jean's research with the case as well as her interactions with those she is traveling with on a small boat. This book is full of themes of jealousy, desire, and struggles with relationships both romantic or family. The book did start very slow and the first half you do have to stick with it, however, the ending is well worth it with a twist you do not see com...

A Cave in the Clouds: A Young Woman's Escape from Isis by Badeeah Hassan Ahmed My rating: 4 of 5 stars Badeeah's story is one of survival, resilience, and humanity. Her life journey unfortunately involved paths of violence and a lack of human compassion that no person should have to face. However, this biography showed her courage to not only survive herself but her strength and compassion in helping her family and other victims with her. At 18 Badeeah was driven from her home during an ISIS raid on her Ezidi village in Iraq. She was separated from her family, some did not survive or were considered missing after her escape, except for her young nephew who she posed as his mother. They were sold into a human trafficking ring. This eventually brought them to Syria where she was sold as a wife and was both physically and sexually assaulted during her containment. Together with another woman, who was sold with them, they were able to escape and be reunited with some of their fa...

Between Two Worlds: Lessons From the Other Side by Tyler Henry My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am very picky with biographies and memoirs. Some I really enjoy and others I do not care for at all. This one I enjoyed. Although it was a much lighter read than I was expecting it was well written. This book was about Tyler Henry and his experience of being a young adult medium with stories from his first paranormal experience, his start as an active medium, and some memories of people he worked with on his reality TV show. It had a good balance of personal opinion as well personal experiences. Tyler was able to answer and explain some frequently asked questions about spirits and life after death based on his experiences. He did well to explain why he came to these conclusions but also letting his readers know that these are his personal opinions and they are free to come to their own conclusions as well. Like I mentioned earlier it was a light read. I wish there were more stories from his rea...

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was my first book I read for fun after a semester of reading purely school materials and I was not disappointed. This book is about a group fleeing to the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise ship turned hospital and transport ship, taking German citizens and refugees to safety in the tragic historical event of Operation Hannibal. Ruta did an excellent job balancing the multiple characters point of view's in a way we as readers are not lacking vital information but also still having enough hidden from us to encourage further reading to discover answers. Joana Vilkas is a 21 year old girl from Lithuania. She is the cousin of Lina Vilkas, who is the main protagonist in Ruta's novel Between Shades of Gray . Florian Beck is a young Persian man who was an art restorer before fleeing. Emilia Stożek is a 15 year old Polish girl that was sent to farmland for safety but Russians came upon the farm and she fled. ...