Cemetery Girl by David Bell

 

Goodreads synopsis: A missing child is every parent's nightmare. What comes next is even worse in this riveting thriller from the bestselling and award-winning author of Bring Her Home.

Tom and Abby Stuart had everything: a perfect marriage, successful careers, and a beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then one day Caitlin vanished without a trace. For a while they grasped at every false hope and followed every empty lead, but the tragedy ended up changing their lives, overwhelming them with guilt and dread, and shattering their marriage.

Four years later, Caitlin is found alive but won't discuss where she was or what happened. And when the police arrest a suspect connected to her disappearance, she refuses to testify. Taking matters into his own hands, Tom tries to uncover the truth--and finds that nothing that has happened yet can prepare him for what he is about to discover.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: R. Lots of swearing, some violence, and a discussion of sexual abuse.

My thoughts: I have a lot of thoughts about this book, and they mostly fall into what wasn't great about it, and what I appreciated about it. The prose was poorly written at times and there were a few subplots that didn't really need to be there and didn't pan out very well. It was clearly a first novel, and the author had room to improve, but that happens with anyone.

This book covered some dark subject material, and that alone means it's not for everyone. But on top of that, there isn't any character in the book who is easy to like. The main character is selfish and self centered. He has a very specific idea of what should happen when his daughter is found, and when that isn't what happens, he doesn't handle it well. It struck me as painful but important to look at our responses to other people's trauma and our expectations of what people should be and how we think others should respond to their own pasts. Tom expects his daughter to be the same after 4 years of being kidnapped and abused, and when she comes back with Stockholm syndrome, rather than trying to understand or help, he refuses to let go of his mental image of what she should be like and ends up holding that against her. Even if he would never admit as much to himself.

It's a harsh, real look at our responses to trauma, notably the trauma of others, and how we expect them to react to it. It's a nasty, raw, gut punching, real look at dealing with and being there for the mental health of others, and how we so often fail at that.

At least, that's what it was for me. And ever since I read it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

 

Goodreads synopsis: THE RETURN OF THE KING, which brings to a close the great epic of war and adventure begun in The Fellowship of the Ring and continued in The Two Towers, is the third and final part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, “The Lord of the Rings.”
In these three books, which form one continuous narrative, Tolkien created the saga of the Hobbits of Middle-earth and the great War of the Rings. Praised by such writers and poets as W. H. Auden, Richard Hughes and C. S. Lewis, “The Lord of the Rings” – that special world of beauty and terror and meaning – holds a secure place among the books that will live.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG-13. Fantasy violence.

Thoughts: I reread this series entirely for the ending, and I realized I didn't read it as closely as I wanted to. But overall it's a solid series and has a lot of good themes to dig into. It can be a slog sometimes, but the story is great and it's clear why it's a fantasy classic. Even if Tolkien's dialogue tags are all exactly the same. :P

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

 

Goodreads synopsis: In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG-13. Some violence and swearing.

Thoughts: I've heard a lot about Murderbot recently, and I was excited to give it a try. It definitely was a lot of fun, and Murderbot's internal monologue was a lot of fun to read. It was also very solid as a novella. It didn't feel stretched out, or too shortened. It was well paced, well written, and overall enjoyable. I didn't find it completely groundbreaking or anything, but I do look forward to reading the rest of the series at some point.

Stones in Water by Donna Jo Naopli

 

Goodreads synopsis: The day Roberto and his friend Samuele are rounded up by German soldiers and put on a train marks both a beginning and an end. The boys have now become part of the war, providing forced labor for the Nazis at various work camps deep inside German territory. And it's the ending to all they've known -- before their lives as children in Venice, their innocence. For Roberto, the present is unbearable -- backbreaking work, near starvation, and protecting Samuele's secret that, if discovered, would mean death for both boys. Escape is Roberto's only hope, but the Russian winter is upon the land -- and any hope seems remote. But compared to the horrors he has suffered, can freezing be worse? Using the shimmering language that has marked her books Zel and The Magic Circle, Donna Jo Napoli writes a wrenching novel of a boy caught up in a war he hates. As pure as the snow that covers the vast lands he must cross, and as hard as the gift stone he carries with him as a kind of talisman, this is both a war story and a survival story. It is not only the story of how Roberto lives to tell his tale of cruelty and terror, but also how dreams and hope can endure despite the harshest tests. Donna Jo Napoli based this novel loosely on fact.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: Heavy PG. Mild violence, and several focuses on genitalia.

Thoughts: This was definitely an odd book in some ways. For the most part it was a standard kid's book. I do appreciate a lot how it was written about a facet of the German occupation that isn't talked about much. I hadn't even been aware of it before this book. However, the way the author wrote the young boys was awkward at times, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. And it was obviously written with a sequel in mind. But overall it wasn't a bad read.

The Power Within by Kate Sinclair

 

Goodreads synopsis: The world is in ruins. After the Great war of 2046 the United States government has collapsed, leaving warring crime syndicates and gangs to run the country. But, something deeper and stronger lies underground waiting for it’s chance to strike. Georgia Puttman is just a shy fifteen year old girl who tends to keep to herself and only listens to the things going on around her. But when she is suddenly kidnapped and given supernatural powers, she must learn to overcome her fear in order to do what is right.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: PG. Some non-described violence.

Thoughts: I know the author, but was not asked to review this

It is evident that this is the author's first book, and there is room for improvement. My main comment was that it could have stood to be a much longer story, with a lot more world and character development. But it is clear that a lot of thought and work went into this book, and I enjoyed the heart behind it. Not for everyone, but nice to support a young, beginning author.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

 

Goodreads synopsis: Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.

In the tradition of timeless stories like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create an unforgettable story of friendship, art, and hope.

My rating: 2 stars.

Content warnings: Some poop jokes.

Thoughts: I honestly didn't expect to really like this book, but I didn't expect it to be this disappointing. For as thick as the book was, there was maybe 10 pages of actual story. To add to that, I couldn't stop thinking about Charlotte's Web the whole time (before I saw that in the synopsis), and the entire story felt like a retelling of that, much better story. Ivan was okay enough, but he's never going to be Charlotte, and I was just wishing I was reading that instead. If you like monkeys it might be nice, but otherwise, I'd suggest just reading Charlotte's Web instead.

All the Way Home by Patricia Reilly Giff

 

Goodreads synopsis: It’s August 1941, and Brick and Mariel both love the Brooklyn Dodgers. Brick listens to their games on the radio in Windy Hill, in upstate New York, where his family has an apple orchard; Mariel, once a polio patient in the hospital in Windy Hill, lives in Brooklyn near the Dodgers’ home, Ebbets Field. She was adopted by Loretta, a nurse at the hospital, and has never known what happened to her own mother. Someday, somehow, she plans to return to Windy Hill and find out. When a fire destroys their orchard, Brick’s parents must leave the farm to find work. They send him to live in Brooklyn with their friend Loretta, even though Brick knows that their elderly neighbors need his help to pick what’s left of the apples. The only good thing about Brooklyn is seeing the Dodgers play–that, and his friendship with Mariel. Maybe, together, they’ll find a way to return to Windy Hill, save the harvest, and learn the truth about Mariel’s past.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: PG.

My thoughts: I expected more baseball from this book, but overall it was sweet and a neat read. It didn't have the normal kid's book complaint where things just start to happen and then it ends. It definitely felt like a whole and complete story, and one with a bit more depth than normal at that. It was sweet and an enjoyable story, and my only complaint is that the baseball it mentioned on the back cover wasn't in the story as much as I thought it would be. But certainly worth the read.