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The Seventh Veil of Salome Review
1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.
So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.
Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.
But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.
Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.
While this has gotten a lot of stars and attention from celebrity book clubs, I was disappointed.
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Dear Canada
Much like it’s US counterpart, Dear Canada features the fictional diaries of pre-teens, and some teens during important moments in Canadian history. Since we have no education about events happening north of our borders, this was an educational primer for me. It was super interesting what events were the same, and what were unique to Canada.
(more…)#barbarahaworthattard, #canadianhistory, #carolmatas, #dearcanada, #gillianchan, #historicalfiction, #janandrews, #janetlunn, #janetmcnauaghton, #jeanlittle, #julielawson, #karleenbradford, #katherinebradford, #marshafochukskypuch, #maxinetrotter, #norahmcclintock, #perrynodelman, #rachelreads&reviews, #rubyslipperjack, #sarahellis, #scholastic, #sharonstewart, #susanaihoshi -
Book Highlight: For the Rest of Us
From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.
Is there anything better than getting to join your friends or loved ones in a holiday celebration? These authors bring you into their homes for their beloved traditions, sharing the warmth, trials and peace these celebrations bring.
Ah, but I did mention trials. Whenever family comes together, sometimes spats and hurt feelings are an unavoidable conflict. Especially when you’re trying to be yourself. Kelly Loy Gilbert deals with the generational divide and homophobia in “This is How It’s Always Been.” Olivia wants to bring her new girlfriend to Lunar New Year because she wants to share it with Laurel, and because part of her wants to know whether or not her family will accept her. But it becomes more than that as she realizes their non-acceptance isn’t going to taint her happiness or her self-esteem.
“A New Day” by Abdi Nazemian covers similar beats to Olivia’s story as his protagonist hides his boyfriend from his disapproving Maman to keep family peace on Nowruz (Persian New Year). An aim even more complicated by the dawn of COVID restrictions. While it has the same premise, the voice was funnier. I enjoyed both.
Another one I enjoyed was Aditi Khorana’s “The Return” where Lakshmi is obligated to educate her elitist classmates about Diwali, and finds the courage to call them out on their privilege and ignorance.
A really moving story I enjoyed was “Honor the Dead to Honor the Living” by Sonora Reyes. A girl with schizoaffective disorder tries to get her family to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos instead of burying the memories of family members who’ve died too soon. This was poignant one in discussing grief and her own fears about being forgotten as a shameful secret.
Another story I enjoyed was “Habari Gani” by Kosoko Jackson. It also deals with grief through eight emotive letters from son to his dead mother, sharing his feelings about Kwanzaa and how the memory of her life upheld the eight tenants.
“Merry Chrismukkah, Loser” by Katherine Locke was a lovely way to end the collection in classic rom-com standard as Noa and Jordan grapple with their unresolved feelings through numerous funny debates.
Those were my favorite stories, but there were other entries that readers will enjoy as the anathology covers a wide spectrum over the twelve months. For example, Valentine’s Day. Technically not an underrated holiday, but Laura Pohl puts a unique twist to it in “P.S. I (Don’t) Love You.”
Elis, a Brazilian exchange student, engages in a rom-com mishap of sorts when he sets out to get his best friend together with his crush so he’d can alleviate his jealousy over how focused his friend is over a crush and not their dwindling time together, and what it means for their friendship.
“Holi Hail!” by Preeti Chhibbier also deals with romance. Vritika has a multi dimension imagination trip that helps her to find the joy of Holi and letting go of grudges when her ex dumps her and moves on way too quickly.
“Eid Without a Plan” by Karuna Riazi, and “Hill Country Heartbeat’” by Candace Buford are more introspective.
The former deals with anxiety and procrastination as the protagonist faces as she tries to figure out what she wants during her gap year and planning Eid harvest festival in place of her grandmother. The latter features a girl’s homecoming to Texas and grappling with how things changed and blatant bigotry.
The two Jewish stories, “Elijah’s Coming to Dinner” by Natasha Diaz, and “Making Up is Hard to Do” by Dahlia Adler forgo romance to focus on friendship. Diaz’ story is similar to the Holi entry where a family prank war has Aviva realizing the love of her cousins and that she’s truly wanted in the family. Meanwhile, Adler’s Jewish year long story has two BFFs coming to forgive each other after a year of abandonment and estrangement, reflecting the holiday’s focus on forgiveness.
The only story I didn’t enjoy was ‘‘Tis the Damn Season by A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy. It focuses on the winter solstice, and with sprites like Puck, and Birch it’s bound to be more fantastical. But I was just confused.
4 stars. A nice anthology that brings more holidays to the forefront for all to enjoy.
#a.r.capetta, #abdinazemian, #aditikhorana, #anathology, #anewday, #candacebuford, #corymccarthy, #dahliaadler, #diadelosmuertos, #diverse, #diversereads, #diverseromance, #diwali, #eid, #eidwithoutaplan, #elijah’scomingtodinner, #habarigani, #hillcountryheartbeat, #hinduholidays, #holi, #holihail, #honorthedeadtohonortheliving, #islamicholidays, #jewishholidays, #juneteenth, #karunariazi, #katherinelocke, #kellyloygilbert, #kosokojackson, #kwanzaa, #laurapohl, #lunarnewyear, #makingupishardtodo, #merrychrismukkahloser, #natashadiaz, #nowruz, #p.s.Idon’tloveyou, #preetichhibbier, #quilltreebooks, #rachelreads&reviews, #ramadan, #sonorareyes, #thereturn, #thisishowit’salwaysbeen, #tisthedamnseason, #valentine’sday, #wintersolstice, #worldholidays, #YA -
The Taylors Double Review
This is going to be a unique as The Taylors are two novels, one middle-grade, one YA by two different authors focusing on the same group of friends as they navigate love and friendship through their namesake, Taylor Swift. So let’s start with Calonita’s.
Taylor (aka Teffy to her family) is terrified to start middle school.
She wishes she could fade into the background, unnoticed. But on the first day of school, she finds herself in the spotlight when it’s revealed that her homeroom class has four girls all named Taylor! There’s a couple of things they can agree on: Taylor Swift is the greatest singer-songwriter of all time…and they are definitely going to need nicknames.
Soon, Teffy’s outside her comfort zone, going out for cheerleading and starting a friendship bracelet-making business. And when the Eras tour comes to town, the four friends will do whatever it takes to get tickets.
But then, a surprise betrayal changes everything. Teffy’s learning to speak up for herself, but it’s hard. Can she say what’s on her mind and keep her new friends for good?
Sad to say that although I’m a fan of a lot of Calonita’s works, this one was an average title.
Part of the limitation is that it the story is only viewed from Teffy’s lens, and her journey as a shy wallflower learning to become confident, and trusting that her friends won’t automatically leave her for the popular girl.
Not only was it not the most original coming of age story with another predictable plot of kids plotting to raise money so they could buy tickets for something they want, but it felt more like it was trying to set itself up for the next book. You know, establish each Taylor’s personality, and some of the supporting cast.
But I suppose any Swiftie would appreciate how the chapter titles are her songs, and relate to the love the girls have for their favorite singer and how it unites their friendship.
2 stars.
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Top 5 Magic Attic Club
Perfect since there are five girls in the Magic Attic Club. What is it, you may ask? Released in the mid-90s, the Magic Attic Club was a brand of dolls with accompanying books and accessories encouraging kids to embrace their imagination and friendship. Apparently they were very popular back then because I found a wiki and everything.
Here’s the summary from the fan-made wiki: The line focuses on a group of ten-year-old girls–Alison McCann, Keisha Vance, Heather Hardin, and Megan Ryder, and later joined by Rose Hopkins–who are given a magic key bestowed by an enigmatic woman, Ellie Goodwin, which gives the girls access to her attic. In the attic is a trunk and wardrobe filled with costumes, and a magic mirror. When the characters dress up and look at themselves, they are transported into many different worlds both past, present, and fantasy. The adventures provide life lessons on how to deal with situations in the girls’ personal lives. After their first adventure, the girls form the Magic Attic Club that they share as a secret, and they make a promise to share all of their adventures with one another.
It’s a bit of magic, a bit of history, and thanks to Internet Archive (go donate!), I was able to read all thirty books and its four super specials. Here are my five favorites. One for each girl who get five books each.
Heather Takes the Reins: This was a fun story where the real world plot has Heather facing pressure from her quiz bowl team to carry them to victory. Thanks to her drassage-riding adventure, she learns the importance of finding everyone’s (and every horse’s) personal strengths and learning to communicate that a team can’t rely on one person, it’s called teamwork for a reason.
Megan’s Masquerade: Contrary to what the cover looks like, Megan goes back to the Revolutionary War. Not only was it fitting with my general historical fiction theme this year, but has an awesome message about history is not only about war and important figures, but also about the ordinary citizens that affect change even though their names aren’t in history books.
Keisha Discovers Harlem: Not only is it a good primer about the Harlem Renaissance, communicating the excitement and creativity of the era, but highlights that African-American history isn’t confined to the Civil War, and the Civil Rights (important as they are) and suffering, but they had joy and prosperity in their community as well.
Alison Rides the Rapids: I think this was the most relatable of the books as no matter who you are, chances is that you’ve dealt with anxiety over a test or project. This had a good message about learning to keep a cool head under pressure, and tackling things one section at a time.
Rose Faces the Music: Another nice message about learning to deal with consequences of one’s actions, and how things can get quickly misconstrued and exaggerated in the world of DC politics.
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Bedeviled
“Mom always said my dad is the devil. I never knew she meant it literally!”
All Angel’s father (a.k.a. the Devil) wants is to be a part of her life. And in return he has the power to give her anything she wants—including popularity and a date with her long-time crush, Cole Daniels. But Angel will only accept him on her terms: get out of the devil business and leave his special powers out of the equation. Is Angel condemning herself to an eternity of lunch at the losers’ table? Or can she and Daddy Dearest strike some kind of deal?
Ah yes, I found the second book of this series about thirteen years ago at the library book sale. Perhaps more. My mom asked if I wanted to buy it, and I passed, but it stuck in the grey folds of my mind, and I’ve finally read the series.
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Girls Survive P2
Thanks to the wonder of Hoopla (available to anyone who has a library card so hop on it), I’ve been given the chance to finish the rest of the Girls Survive series so let’s get to it.
This batch of books are historical events I already know of thanks to class/Dear America so I didn’t get any new insights to it, but they would be intense primers for kids just learning about history.
The two most impactful were Lena and the Burning of Greenwood by Nikki Shannon Smith, and Lucy Fights the Flames by Julie Gilbert.
The former may be more familiar to people as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Greenwood was the name of the black part of the town, the Black Wall Street of America at the time and as one can imagine, earned the ire of the whites by existing and successful. Smith did a good job of not only highlighting the sheer horror of the situation (it was literally a massacre, there is no downplaying that with Lena in fear of her family and entire neighborhood being killed by the whites looting their town or the bombs being dropped on them).
But it is not only tragedy, she puts emphasis on how they will rebuild, and the dignity of their community seeing them through. Nothing will make them cower or diminish their accomplishments, that would be letting the bigots win.
Lucy Fights the Flame gets a first-person POV of the Triangle Factory Fire. The Dear America book, Hear My Sorrow, on this subject only views the fire from the outside, witnessing helplessly as girls jump or burn to death. Lucy, an young garment worker is actually in the factory when the fires starts and Gilbert makes it a heart-pounding immersive experience, highlighting all the ways the unsafe factory conditions led to their deaths.
The other two books by Nikki Shannon Smith trails similar themes in her other books, Sarah’s Journey West, and Ann Fights for Freedom ie. the importance of family, a young girl learning about the bigotry of the real world and finding the courage she never knew she had in the face of danger. Sarah’s Journey West highlights the often forgotten black pioneers heading west for a new life during the Gold Rush which is admirable. But dragged a bit compared to her other stories. Can’t really blame her as it does sound like walking on the prairie trail was tedious in certain stretches. She also wrote a lot in the Author’s Note about how she wanted to emphasize how the Gold Rush and subsequent manifest destiny led to the displacement of Native Americans, but they were only present in one chapter, so if she wanted to emphasize it I wished she had put them in more.
Ann’s Fight for Freedom was a nice story, perfect for American Girl fans who wanted more action from Abby in her journey on the Underground Railroad as Ann takes charge of her family when her Dad gets captured mid-escape. I also enjoyed how Ann was distinct from her other protagonist in the series, being “an old soul” in a young body.
The two other Gilbert books I read focused on sea voyages: Constance and the Dangerous Crossing, and Penny and the Tragic Voyage. The former, Gilbert takes a more thoughtful tone befitting a young girl in the 1600s on the Mayflower. More concerned with religion and practicality of finding life in the New World although Constance gets to be the hero of the story, solving major problems in the historical narrative like when the mast was broken, suggesting a new Mayflower Compact and so on. Honestly, I’m not a fan of when the original character becomes the originator of historical events nor I’m a big fan of the 1600s so this book was meh for me.
Penny’s book was more interesting as it is probably the only lower grade historical novel focusing on the sinking of the Lusitania. It was just as tragic as the Titanic even though it featured less people because it was yet another example of how mitigating factors came to spell ruin. Set as WW1 was heating up, the passenger ship gets hit by German torpedoes and is widely believed to be the reason the US joins the war. False as the US joins two years later, but it did prompt widespread anti-German sentiment so people were more sympathetic to joining the war. I also learned that the British government had the opportunity to send help, but didn’t because they hadn’t wanted the Germans to know they decoded their messages. Horrible but such was the nature of war.
Next are books of more historical events I know, but specifically comparing it to their I Survived counterparts.
#1600s, #annfightsforfreedom, #capstonepublishing, #constanceandthedangerouscrossing, #girlssurvive, #goldrush, #historicalfiction, #juliegilbert, #lenaandtheburningofgreenwood, #lowergrade, #lucyfightstheflames, #lusitania, #mayflower, #nikkishannonsmith, #pennyandthetragicvoyage, #rachelreads&reviews, #sarah’sjourneywest, #trianglefactoryfire, #tulsaracemassacre, #undergroundrailroad, #ww1 -
Whatever After
As I may have mentioned, besides being a year of historical fiction, I’ve also decided to dive into some nostalgia. Whatever After came out back in 2012, and I only got through the first seven books before dropping it. So it was interesting to see how the story evolved since I last picked it up.
The plot of the first book is: Once upon a time, my brother and I were normal kids. The next minute? The mirror in our basement slurped us up and magically transported us inside Snow White’s fairy tale.
I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.
But hey — we’re heroes! We stopped Snow White from eating the poisoned apple. Hooray! Or not. If Snow White doesn’t die, she won’t get to meet her prince. And then she won’t get her happy ending. Oops.
Now it’s up to us to: Avoid getting poisoned
Sneak into a castle
Fix Snow White’s story
And cross our fingers that we make our way back home. . .
The rest of the series predictably follows the siblings as they venture into each fairytale, sometimes accidentally messing it up, sometimes intentionally and the new happily ever afters they prompt.
That’s the gist of what I remembered, but I should have kept going after book 7 because Mlynowski introduces an overarching mission for Abby and Jonah to rescue Maryrose (the fairy that sends them through all these fairytales) from her cursed mirror. Little by little, the cause of Maryrose’s curse, her greater family, and the reason why she sends Abby and Jonah to fairytales is revealed culminating in one big finale.
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Kelly Yang Interview
Kelly Yang is the award-winning author for kids and young adults with popular titles such as the Front Desk series, Parachutes, Little Bird Laila, and more. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about her work, and share what’s coming next. Enjoy!
1. When did you feel ready to start pitching your own book, and how did your first publication come about?
I wrote my first book FRONT DESK originally for my son, to get him to read and to tell him about my childhood. At the time, I didn’t think it would be a book, but he enjoyed the experience of me writing and reading a chapter a day to him so much that he encouraged me to do something with it.
So it was really because of my son that I felt ready to start sharing it. I sent it to an agent in New York and from there, we submitted it to publishers.
In total, FRONT DESK was sent to 20 publishers, and 19 rejected it. But one woman, Cheryl Klein, at Scholastic, decided to take a chance on it!
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Seeing Stars Review
*I received this free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.*
Mona Mashad grew up on camera, with millions of fans around the world tuning in to see her every move. Nothing was off-limits: not her first pimple, her first crush, and definitely not the death of her father, Mashad family patriarch and the best dad ever, Ali.
After more than a decade on screen, Mona has discovered the key to being the most famous teenager on the planet: never let your guard down and never give your heart away (because if it breaks, the whole world will know).
But she didn’t expect to meet Lucas Sterling, notorious heartthrob and only son of Jordana Sterling, the beloved President of the United States. Lucas sweeps Mona off her feet—he literally saves her when she falls down the stairs at the Met Gala—and for just one second Mona wants to let her walls come down. So, it hurts a lot when he betrays her, and even more when their moms demand they pretend to keep dating to appease their respective fan bases.
Normally, a fake relationship would be manageable for Mona. After all, she’s used to playing a part for the camera. But pretending to fall in love with Lucas when she’s still furious with him is no easy feat. And things get extra complicated when she meets Kai. A (hot) surfer and all-around normal guy. For the first time in her life, she can forget the cameras and just be…Mona. Could he be the escape from this fake reality that Mona needs? Or will fake dating America’s most eligible bachelor lead to real feelings?
For Jalili’s sophomore novel she got to show off her versatility by taking us through the Mashad’s latest reality show all about Mona, and her now infamous fake romance.
I’ve noticed some authors tend to have reoccurring trends with their characters with certain traits popping up in different protagonist, but Mona, and the structure of her novel is drastically different from Josie’s narrative in Finding Famous. While Josie has a tendency to overthink, spiral and overshare, Mona epitomizes confidence and has an instinct for thinking about how her actions would look for the Mashad brand, for viral moments, and for tv. FF was your typical normal girl thrust into Hollywood while this is a third person omniscient with talking head confessionals from the reality show.
As such, Mona feels a bit distant to the reader. While we are let into her head as she aspires for this reality show to be no-holds barred in telling the truth, one always gets the feeling that there’s a barrier between. It’s never a feeling that Mona is an unreliable narrative, but that she’s distant enough from the events that she’s able to retell the story and rehearse it into perfect soundbites.
But hey, that’s entertainment, and with the reality show angle, it sells the entertainment value. It was like a soap opera between the semi-self destructive/impulsive tendencies of Mona, the fake-dating angle, and the love triangle she gets entangled in despite her efforts to protect her heart.
Now, love triangles can be tired, but in Jalili’s hands, it works. You’re not quite sure who will be endgame as both are strong contenders.
Sterling matches Mona in having a similar life-style, similar player dating style, and similar hardship in losing a father while dealing with a workaholic mom who tends to monetize private moments for their careers. She can relate with him.
Kai is the normal boy who doesn’t care about pop culture whatsoever, allowing Mona to have a chance to have a friend who doesn’t know anything about her/have expectations of who she is with all the benefits and baggage that come with being a Mashad. She can relax with him.
In fact, I thought Kai and Sterling were both so good for Mona I was thinking “Maybe a throple could work?” or “Maybe she ends up with one, gets amicably divorced in the future/he dies, and gets a second chance romance with the other.” Yeah, I was equally rooting for them both.
And while the love triangle is a big part of the story, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the impact of family. While Josie was learning about her half-family, Jalili can dispense with the “getting to know you” and immediately show the fierce bond the Mashads have for each other. Within one scene, we see exactly how importance the sisterly relationship is between Mona, Meesha, and Melody. Readers can appreciate other sides to their personalities that they wouldn’t have been able to from Josie’s POV because Josie doesn’t have that history, Mona does.
We also see how that bond can hurt as well with Mona feeling lost having to hide her fake relationship from her sisters, and just feeling left behind with Melody and Meesha happily coupled while she’s dealing with a shitshow.
There is the fact that Mona has been defined as the wild Mashad. It’s a role she’s grown up with, and leans into it, knowing that it’s her brand and her shield when she needs to defend someone she loves. However, it also pigeon-holes her that people tend to only see her mishaps. It was particularly piercing during a fight with Meesha when she basically implies Mona was an idiot with no self-respect. You could feel her pain. It doubly hurts that Mona does know her worth most of the time.
She knows she’s pretty even though she’s “fat” (you know, Hollywood fat) compared to her sisters. She knows she’s smart, getting into Harvard on her own merits. She’s confident in she thinks that as long as she knows her good qualities, she’s fine. But one can tell she needs more. She needs that shoulder.
The shoulder that was her father’s. Ali always believed that she was a star in of itself. Another star for Jalili is that a reader can palpably feel Mona’s love and loss for her father whenever he’s mentioned on the page. Their bond was real, and the blurred lines between public consumption of Ali’s reputation and familial remembrance makes it feel cheap. It’s poignant as it dovetails nicely with Mona’s own confusion about who the real Mona is as the brand Mona, and personal life Mona are enmeshed with the fake dating scam.
Mary also gets a chance for nuance. She’s such an interesting character with her dual sides. On one hand, she’s single-minded, manipulative manager of the Mashad empire where even coercing her daughter to fake date a guy she hates without compunction feels so icky. She’s not warm, talk about your feelings mother. Yet she carries so much feeling for her family, arguably the same intensity of emotion that Mona has, only she’s learned to control it. You can see a lot of similarities in the two which is probably why they butt heads just as much. The reveal of how she and Ali really met was so sweet. Honestly, I’d love to read a prequel with her.
The other characters get their chance to shine too. While Josie is involved (and we get some insight to how her inclusion in the show has been received in-universe), and has some pretty funny moments, Jalili wisely keeps her as a tertiary character, breaking the norm where characters make their former protagonists big parts in the sequel. It allows the reader to be more immersed with Mona’s POV and her world which is drastically different from Josie’s.
We get answers to how Meesha’s breakup with Bunny went (although I still wish to know how the public outside of Bunny’s fandom reacted to the news, I understand Meesha dealing with biphobia would probably require a different book to go in-depth), Josie and Timmy’s continued relationship and Axel and Melody’s marriage. Axel kinda annoyed in the first book, but he was funny here. Maybe it was colored by how Mona is happy because he makes Melody happy even though his new age woo-woo is ridiculous.
New characters like Sterling, and Kai are well-done, and his little bro, Rudy, is absolutely adorable. Def fav character in here. Plus Jalili’s worldbuilding is top-notch, creating a parallel Hollywood world with its own brands, celebrities (namedropped alongside well-known ones or thinly veiled expys), more tolerant world with a feminist president (we can only dream!).
Spoilers below about the end of the love triangle
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 