Showing posts with label faith - jewish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith - jewish. Show all posts

Monday, 20 June 2022

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Review: From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos (#Ad)

A photo of the From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos hardback on top of the proof, the former on a diagonal to the left, the latter on a diagonal to the right. They're on top of a large Progress Pride flag, witht he chevron pointing to the bottom right. The books are on the chevron, so they white, pink and blue lines for trans people are visible. There is a small rainbow pin resting on the left of the proof.

I was sent a proof for free by Harper360YA for the purposes of providing an honest review.

From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos


Published: 8th March 2022 | Publisher: Balzer + Bray | Source: Publisher
Rebecca Podos’ Website

Lambda Literary Award–-winning author Rebecca Podos returns with a rich, transporting, genre-bending contemporary Jewish fantasy about the power of history, the complicated nature of family, and the search for identity amidst it all.

Hannah’s whole life has been spent in motion. Her mother has kept her and her brother, Gabe, on the road for as long as she can remember, leaving a trail of rental homes and faded relationships behind them. No roots, no family but one another, and no explanations.

All that changes on Hannah’s seventeenth birthday when she wakes up transformed, a pair of golden eyes with knife-slit pupils blinking back at her from the mirror—the first of many such impossible mutations. Promising that she knows someone who can help, her mother leaves Hannah and Gabe behind to find a cure. But as the days turn to weeks and their mother doesn’t return, they realize it’s up to them to find the truth.

What they discover is a family they never knew and a history more tragic and fantastical than Hannah could have dreamed—one that stretches back to her grandmother’s childhood in Prague under the Nazi occupation, and beyond, into the realm of Jewish mysticism and legend. As the past comes crashing into the present, Hannah must hurry to unearth their family’s secrets—and confront her own hidden legacy in order to break the curse and save the people she loves most, as well as herself.

Rebecca Podos, award-winning author of Like Water, returns with a contemporary fantasy of enduring love, unfathomable loss, and the power of stories to hold us together when it seems that nothing else can.
From The StoryGraph.

The StoryGraph | Goodreads


Continue reading Review: From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos (#Ad)

Wednesday, 2 March 2022

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Fantasy by Jewish Authors

A purple blog graphic reading the words Fantasy by Jewish Authors in black, surrounded by illustrations of open and closed books in various shades of purple.

Ad: Titles with an asterisk (*) were provided to me for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Links with a circumflex (^) are Ad: Affiliate Links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I'll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Fantasy by Jewish Authors


At the beginning of the year, I started thinking about the #RamamdanReadathon; whether it will be happening this year and what I would want to read if it does. And it occurred to me that, because of the readathon, books by Muslim authors were the only books by authors of a specific faith that I sought out. That, comparatively, I read very few by authors of faith. I decided that this year I would try to change that, by seeking out books by Jewish authors. As I'm currently in the mood for fantasy, I've focused on fantasy books by Jewish authors^.

Below is the list I put together; adult and YA, some new titles, some older titles, and some yet to be released. They range from general fantasy, to fantasy specifically about Jewish people.
Continue reading Fantasy by Jewish Authors

Saturday, 29 January 2022

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Review: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Links with an asterisk (*) are Ad: Affiliate Links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I'll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid


Published: 8th June 2021 | Publisher: HarperVoyager | Source: Bought
Ava Reid’s Website

A dark, evocative and unforgettable fantasy debut steeped in Hungarian history and Jewish mythology, perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden.

Stories don't have to be true to be real...

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king's blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.

But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he's no ordinary Woodsman - he's the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it's like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.

As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they're on, and what they're willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.
From The StoryGraph.

Purchase from Bookshop.org*
The StoryGraph | Goodreads


Continue reading Review: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Saturday, 28 August 2021

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Review: Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler

Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler

Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler


Published: 11th May 2021 | Publisher: Wednesday Books | Source: Bought
Dahlia Adler’s Website

Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It's about the things we want and the things we need. And it's about the people who will let us be who we are.

Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life.

Except she's haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.

Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl?
From The StoryGraph


Continue reading Review: Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler

Monday, 8 October 2018

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Review: A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma

A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren SumaA Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma (proof) - Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina’s cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather and two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother—a bond Bina thought was unbreakable.

Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her. She has an old suitcase, a fresh black eye, and a room waiting for her at Catherine House, a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village with a tragic history, a vow of confidentiality, and dark, magical secrets. There, Bina is drawn to her enigmatic downstairs neighbor Monet, a girl who is equal parts intriguing and dangerous. As Bina’s lease begins to run out, and nightmare and memory get tangled, she will be forced to face the terrible truth of why she’s come to Catherine House and what it will take for her to leave...
From Goodreads.

I was sent this proof for free by Algonquin Young Readers for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger Warning: Seeming suicide attempts.

Warning: This review features mild spoilers. Do not read any further if you do not want this book spoiled for you.
Continue reading Review: A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma

Monday, 30 July 2018

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Mental Illness in YA Month Review: All the Ways the World Can End by Abby Sher

All the Ways the World Can End by Abby SherAll the Ways the World Can End by Abby Sher (Review Copy) - Lenny is preparing for the apocalypse. Every night, she researches vacuum decay, designer pathogens, that inexplicable sleeping sickness knocking people out in Kazakhstan. Not many sixteen-year-olds are this consumed with the end of the world. But Lenny needs to have some sense of control. Her dad is dying of cancer. Her best friend Julian is graduating early and moving three states away. She's having to rehearse for a toe-curling interpretive dance show at school, and deal with her mum's indefatigable jolliness and smoothie-making in the face of the disaster they are confronting. The one thing keeping her hopeful is Dr Rad Ganesh - her father's oncologist. Surely Lenny can win him round to her charms - and he can save her father? From Goodreads.

I was sent this ARC for free by Hot Key Books for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger Warning: This book features self-harm, homophobic language (overheard on a train), and the protagonist using ableist language.
Continue reading Mental Illness in YA Month Review: All the Ways the World Can End by Abby Sher

Sunday, 29 July 2018

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Mental Illness in YA Month Review: The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller

The Art of Starving by Sam J. MillerThe Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller (Bought) - Matt hasn’t eaten in days.

His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal. But Matt won’t give in. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp—and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he’s going to find out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away.

Matt’s hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have . . . powers. The ability to see things he shouldn’t be able to see. The knack of tuning in to thoughts right out of people’s heads. Maybe even the authority to bend time and space.

So what is lunch, really, compared to the secrets of the universe?

Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq’s life, then use his powers to uncover what happened to Maya. All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay. No problem. But Matt doesn’t realize there are many kinds of hunger… and he isn’t in control of all of them.

A darkly funny, moving story of body image, addiction, friendship, and love, Sam J. Miller’s debut novel will resonate with any reader who’s ever craved the power that comes with self-acceptance.
From Goodreads.

Trigger Warning: This book features suicidal ideation, self-harm and homophobia.
Continue reading Mental Illness in YA Month Review: The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller

Monday, 29 January 2018

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Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (#Ad)

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky AlbertalliThe Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

I received this eProof for free from Puffin via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love-she's lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can't stomach the idea of rejection. So she's careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie's orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly's cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness-except for the part where she is.
Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny, flirtatious, and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's an awkward Tolkien superfan, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
From Goodreads.
Continue reading Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (#Ad)

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

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Review: The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine LockeNetGalleyThe Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (eProof) - When sixteen-year-old Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon to 1988 East Berlin, she’s caught up in a conspiracy of history and magic. She meets members of an underground guild in East Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the Wall—but even to the balloon makers, Ellie’s time travel is a mystery. When it becomes clear that someone is using dark magic to change history, Ellie must risk everything—including her only way home—to stop the process. From Goodreads.
Continue reading Review: The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

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Review: Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen

Playing With Matches by Suri RosenPlaying With Matches by Suri Rosen - When 16-year-old Raina Resnick is expelled from her Manhattan private school, she’s sent to live with her strict aunt-but Raina feels like she’s persona non grata no matter where she goes. Her sister, Leah, blames her for her broken engagement, and she’s a social pariah at her new school. In the tight-knit Jewish community, Raina finds she is good at one thing: matchmaking! As the anonymous “Match Maven,” Raina sets up hopeless singles desperate to find the One.

Can she find the perfect match for her sister and get back on her good side, or will her secret life catch up with her?

In this debut novel, Suri Rosen creates a comic and heartwarming story of one girl trying to find happiness for others, and redemption for herself.
From Goodreads.
Continue reading Review: Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen