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Slay by Brittney Morris

Hello my Kitten Gods and Goddesses! I have an absolutely stunning debut YA novel to tell you about today. Being a Southerner and a Librarian, race is an ever-present part of my life and I am constantly challenging myself to make sure that I don’t allow my white privilege to overwhelm my perceptions of interactions with patrons. Even so, this next novel I’m telling you about opened my eyes to an experience I previously had not considered. Slay by Brittney Morris tells the story of a young black female video game designer named Kiera and her experiences when her game becomes a hot button topic in the news. This novel deals with social justice issues in an elegant format that delivers an emotional gut punch. I have already recommended this one to tons of people that I work with and I can’t wait to recommend it to patrons. The dedication reads, “To everyone who has ever had to minimize who you are to be palatable to those who aren’t like you.” My dear readers, we need more of that in this world.

Title: Slay

Author: Brittney Morris

Author website: https://www.authorbrittneymorris.com/

Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)

Publish date: September 24, 2019

ISBN: 9781534445420

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Kiera Johnson is just trying to live her life, going to a predominantly white private school, making good grades, being with her boyfriend Malcolm, and planning their future at HBCU’s (historically black colleges and universities for those of you not in-the-know). She’s just a normal teen…with a little bit of a secret. When she’s not at school, or hanging out with her friends or Malcolm, she is Emerald, a nubian Queen in the virtual reality video game “Slay”. Not only is she one of only two moderators of this game, she is one of the creators along with another gamer, username: Cicada. Slay is a video game that celebrates black culture and black identity. Entry into the game requires an invitation from an existing player and is a carefully guarded secret that helps to protect the safe space that the game has become. Kiera was just a gamer who noticed that many of the characters in mainstream video games, even ones with non-human characters showed a stunning lack of diversity. Either there were no black characters or they were portrayed as villains or somehow “less-than” characters. When she encountered this racism in gaming, she came up with her own solution: create a game that celebrates blackness in all its forms. The result is a triumph, with hundreds of thousands of users.

Kiera chooses to keep her gaming identity a secret from everyone in her life, essentially isolating a second persona that is just for herself: Emerald. Of course, her two lives can’t stay separate forever and when aspects of the game invade real life, Kiera becomes trapped in a nightmare. Media outlets have seized on the game and claim it is a refuge for violence that is exclusionary and discriminatory towards white players. Faced with the enormous task of protecting the safe space she has made for her players while also protecting her own identity, Kiera is in a crisis and doesn’t know how or who to go to for help.

This book was a phenomenal read. In addition to the primary tension between Kiera’s online life and her real life, there are layered stories of her relationships with her boyfriend, her sister, her predominantly white friends, and even her parents. The reader experiences all of the different pulls on Kiera’s time and attention and her fear when it all threatens to come crashing down is palpable. I have seen this novel described as Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give and I think that’s a fair description, but it is also so unique. Having read a good deal of YA fiction, Morris’ style of writing, blending inner monologues with game text and phone messaging to tell the story is unlike anything else that I have read.

This is a fast read that will stick with the reader long after the last page has been read. The story reads as though it could take place in almost any town in America, although it is actually set near Atlanta. Kiera deals with so many of the issues that minority students across the country deal with in school. She is put into spokesperson-like roles for her entire race by students who she considers friends and she’s frustrated by the responsibility that she feels for educating them on these issues. This book does what all truly important books do, it challenges the reader to look into themselves and make a judgment. This is must-read for 2019 as far as I am concerned.

Want to go further into this world? The book has its own website where you can see some of the features about the game described in the book. Plus, if my review hasn’t sold you, there is an epic book trailer on there! https://www.slaythebook.com/.

In general, I’m leery of what happens when a book becomes a movie, but please, someone try to make this book into a movie. It’s that good.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed here. I heard about this book several months back on a podcast and added it to my Goodreads TBR list. When Goodreads emailed me that it was now available, I checked with my library and lo-and-behold, there it was. There was almost no line on this book, and that is an absolute shame.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

Social justice can be a tricky subject, but actually, I put this one at 4 glasses of lemonade because of an emotionally abusive relationship in the book. It also includes a physical relationship between teenagers that I can promise you some of my patron’s parents would flip their lid if I gave them. This story is absolutely appropriate for adults and I think most teens could not only handle it, they would benefit greatly from reading this story.

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Guten Tag Kittens! I don’t know about y’all, but Fall is just starting to make its presence known here in the South. Whatever the calendar might say, it’s been hot as Hades around here and I am loving the 15 degree drop in temperature we got this weekend. When the heat gets too oppressive down here I like to dive in to a read that gives me the heebie jeebies. Thankfully, I won a copy of Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall which cooled me down quick by giving me goosebumps for hours. This YA horror title came out just a few weeks ago and deserves some attention.

Title: Rules for Vanishing

Author: Kate Alice Marshall 42872940

Author website: http://katemarshallbooks.com/

Publisher: Viking Books (Penguin Randomhouse imprint)

Publish date: September 24, 2019

ISBN: 9781984837011

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

If you’re looking for a YA horror novel going into the haunting season, this one is a good bet. Rules for Vanishing follows two sisters, Sara and Becca, in Briar Glen, MA, in the spring of 2017. Told in the form of interview transcripts from a Dr. Ashford, first-person accounts from a number of teenage participants, and text messaging/email transcripts from the involved teens. One year ago, Sara’s sister Becca disappeared in the woods near the hometown. She was rumored to have been involved in a game related to a local legend about another teenage girl who disappeared in those woods named Lucy Gallows. For some reason, people in town believe that Becca ran away with a boy that she was dating, but Sara doesn’t buy it. She can’t figure out why people aren’t taking the legend seriously, but despite her own doubts, the legend of Lucy Gallows is her only lead, and she’s determined to follow that road in the woods wherever it may lead.

When all of the students at the local high school get a text message challenging them to solve the clues and go to the woods to free Lucy Gallows, many believe that Sara is behind taunt, but a few of her friends from before Becca disappeared are less certain, and they want to be there for Sara in any way they can. So, on the preordained night, the teens meet in the woods and the road appears to them. The rules for the road seem simple: stay with your partner, stay on the road, don’t let go, thirteen steps, get through all of the gates and you’ll be able to leave. The road is not easy and the teens are in for a horrifying trip from which they will not all return.

This read reminded me a lot of Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood. You’ve got teens in the woods on a magical and terrifying journey where they are in over their heads and being influenced by forces beyond their comprehension. The narrative style of Rules for Vanishing is unique, blending a little of the Blair Witch Project with modern technology to an enthralling effect. The paranoia builds and the reader is on the road just as much as the teens are, trying to figure out who to trust and keeping track of all of the major players and their motives. There’s more than just horror in this story however, as it also addresses the bonds of sisterhood as well as the evolving nature of multiple relationships.

The road gets real pretty fast, and while the copy I’ve got lists the ages as 12 and up, I would probably say 15 and up would be more appropriate. But then again, I’m a scaredy cat who won’t watch horror films and will only read YA horror, nothing more hardcore. The characters are well developed and the setting is richly detailed. The set-up is also there for additional books, focusing more on the mysterious Dr. Ashford than the sisters in this case. The ending is a little ambiguous for my taste, but the storytelling was masterful and I truly didn’t see any of the twists coming. If more titles are coming from this author, I definitely want to read them.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Readers’ Edition of this title from the publisher via BookishFirst with the expectation that I would write an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 2 glasses of lemonade= a book that you could probably recommend to family and close friends. They may not like everything that’s in it, but they’re not going to start sending you cards with holy scripture written in them as messages to get you back on the path of righteousness after reading them either.

This one gets a lower lemonade rating because there are some gruesome deaths and there’s a homosexual relationship. Before you get your pitchforks, remember that I am a Southern Librarian talking about the recommend-ability of this book to potential patrons. I loved this book, but I would hesitate to recommend it because of those two things unless I had a clear idea of the patron’s comfort level with those topics.

Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton

Hello Kittens! My experiment to read a little bit from every genre continues to succeed beyond what I could ever imagine. Had you asked me a few years ago, I would have told you vociferously that I do not read the Science Fiction or Fantasy genres. More and more, I am discovering that I am wrong about that. This week’s book is a case in point. I had never heard of Duncan Hamilton before, but now I am hooked and incredibly frustrated that the next book in this fantasy series is month’s away from publication. Also, I can now bond with my patrons on a certain library-related matter because my library does not currently carry Mr. Hamilton’s books! I’ll be working on that from my end, but in the meantime, I’ll be going to the next county over to read more from this author who shows us that chivalry is not dead, but it has put on a few pounds.

Title: Dragonslayer

Author: Duncan M. Hamilton Dragonslayer

Author website: https://duncanmhamilton.com/

Publisher: Tor

Publish date: 7/2/19

ISBN: 9781250209719 (for the uncorrected proof copy I read)

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Many people are looking for a great adventure now that the Game of Thrones TV series has come to an end and it’s going to be a while before we get the next book in that series (fingers crossed all you book optimists). Dragonslayer may help slake the thirst of those who want to dig in to another adventure featuring noble knights, sellswords, magic, and dragons. The story is set in the land of Mirabaya and focuses on the stories of Guillot de Villerauvais (also known as “Gill”), Solène, and Alpheratz. Gill is the last living Chevalier of the Silver Circle, a legendary group of knights that were known for ridding the lands of dragons, at least until the last few generations, when they became known for less-chivalrous activities such as drinking and gambling. Solène is a young woman living in a village in Mirabaya who is trying very hard to hide the fact that she possesses magical abilities. Magic has been outlawed throughout the land and she risks her life if she is discovered, but she is not in complete control of her abilities. Alpheratz is a dragon who has awoken from a long slumber to find that the world is nothing like he remembers.

As Gill is called upon to serve his country after years of wallowing in self-pity and alcoholic beverages on the outskirts of civilization, many will wonder if he is up to this task. Dragons were thought to be either extinct or a fairy tale and Gill hasn’t won a fight against something as measly as his own willpower in many years. Facing this threat will help restore some of his lost honor and give his life meaning again…possibly. Either way, as the last Chevalier of the Silver Circle, he’s the only option that Mirabaya has.

Solène, on the other hand, is finding the potential for freedom in this new quest. On the run for most of her life, she has finally found a community that does not shun her abilities. In fact, they appear to welcome it. She’s not out of danger, since magic is not accepted in the world at large, but with the protection of a seemingly all-powerful benefactor with connections to the king, Solène begins to relax her guard. Having met Gill, she has not doubt about his honor, but some significant concerns about his ability to get the job done. She’s willing to risk a lot to see that he succeeds.

Alperatz is out for vengeance. The humans have taken his family and his community from him. They have invaded his inner sanctum and misused the magic of this world. He intends to see them all punished for that. After all, with all of his kind gone, what does he have to look forward to other than an extended lifetime of loneliness?

At the beginning of the story none of these characters know each other but their destinies become entwined as everything progresses. The story has political intrigue, power struggles, betrayals, magical objects, and an only partially recovered history of events. It is incredibly fast-paced, putting a lot of storyline and history into 300 pages. Hamilton’s earlier works are also set in this world, but are not necessary to understand this story. The world-building is complex but not overwhelming for the first novel in this trilogy. There are plenty of questions left unanswered, but the reader gets all of the information that they need in the meantime.

The writing is simply beautiful. Hamilton’s work appears to have primarily been self-published up until this series, so hopefully working with a mainstream publisher will give him the recognition to launch these books to a larger audience. Fans of fantasy will enjoy the action-packed fight scenes and character development. With a cliffhanger ending that will have readers asking how soon the next book will be published, this is a promising start to a series I intend to see through to the end.

Disclaimer: I received an advance uncorrected proof of this title from the publisher through BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: The book has some death scenes that can get a little gruesome. It is an epic battle for survival after all. I don’t think that will stop most readers, but it is worth mentioning.

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan

Good day to you Kittens! This week I have for you pure delight in the form of a book. There are certain books that, when you read them, you know are written by a person for whom books bring great joy. Everything that I have ever read by Jenny Colgan brings this feeling to mind. She loves books and she loves people who love books. Her books tend to revolve around female characters and they typically end up being love stories. For those of you who might not be into that kind of thing, let me be clear, there’s more to each story than a romance. I would argue that Colgan’s stories are more about women finding themselves than they are about women finding a man. For these stories, the men are just window dressing. “The Bookshop on the Shore” is a follow up to Colgan’s 2016 release, “The Bookshop on the Corner”. A word to the wise, when you are looking for these books just keep in mind that Colgan’s U.K. Editions sometimes have slightly different titles and they have drastically different covers. “The Bookshop on the Shore” is out today!

Title: The Bookshop on the Shore

Author: Jenny Colgan

Author website: https://www.jennycolgan.com/

Publisher: William Morrow

Publish date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 9780062913555

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

The Bookshop on the Shore continues the story of Nina Redmond, a Librarian we met in The Bookshop on the Corner. Colgan returns to the town of Kirrinfief in Scotland, but this time the story focuses on a young woman named Zoe. Zoe is a single mom to an adorable boy named Hari. She is struggling to make ends meet in London as Hari’s deadbeat dad continues to come up with excuses for why he can’t help take care of his son, why he can’t tell his family about Hari, and why they can’t make their relationship work for Hari’s sake. At the end of her rope and unable to afford her rent, Zoe accepts a job offer in Kirrinfief. She will be acting as au pair to a well-established, though mysterious, family while also assisting Nina with the book van. Zoe has experience working with children and loves books…plus, she’s desperate, so this has to work out.

So, of course, it doesn’t work out at all. The children of the Urquart family are little hellions. She is not their first au pair and they want her gone. Their mother has left them and their father is absolutely no help at all and the housekeeper isn’t go to throw Zoe any bones. The one redeeming factor was supposed to be helping Nina with the book ban, but the citizens of Kirrinfief don’t know what they want in a book and they don’t want anything Zoe suggests for them. Hari’s father is still falling down on his responsibilities. Zoe’s at her limits and then, things get even worse.

This book is Jenny Colgan as her readers have come to expect. There’s humor, there’s romance, there’s plenty of unexpected mayhem caused by the very nature of the Scottish weather and people. Zoe is definitely given the fish out of water treatment by the locals. Colgan conveys some of the struggle of being a single parent, particularly to a child with some peculiarities with beautiful poignancy while not weighing the story down too much. Zoe’s life is hard and it wouldn’t be a stretch to understand how she could give up on herself and her dreams, but you know that she will always keep fighting for Hari. This story is about a mother’s unfailing love for her child and the strength of that same women when life throws everything it’s got at her.

The writing is clean and precise. The colloquialisms are easy to gather from context (at least they were for this American reader) and the interspersed cultural details about Scotland and it’s traditions will inspire readers to want to learn more. This book is an easy read. It doesn’t hit the reader over the head with the romance, and in fact I consider that the least important element to the story. Zoe is a triumph who will inspire so many people to get back up when life has bowled them over. This book was lovely while still dealing with the harsh realities many women face when it comes to motherhood and making a living.

Disclaimer: I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

I really went back and forth on whether to give this one the full 5 glasses of lemonade rating, but I held back for one reason: the story delves into mental health with both adults and children. For that reason, the book might need a trigger warning for some readers, especially those who are sensitive to the idea of medicating young children for mental health purposes. In general, I feel that I can recommend anything Jenny Colgan writes to any reader I come across who just needs a boost.

The Killer Across the Table by John Douglas

Hello Kittens! We’re going dark with this week’s review. John Douglas is the author or contributing author on over a dozen books dealing with the lives of serial killers and the FBI profiling teams that hunt them. He has done in-depth personal research on serial killers and their motivations as a former FBI Profiler. He worked with others to create the Crime Classification Manual that is used by law enforcement professionals as one of many tools in the fight to understand how serial killers think and act and how to stop them. “The Killer Across the Table” is another addition by Douglas to the field. While it is labeled as true crime, it doesn’t necessarily fit the mold for the genre. Douglas introduces the reader to 4 in-depth profiles of serial killers spanning several decades, but brings in stories from dozens more cases as support material throughout. This is a dark, disturbing read and I would recommend reading it in a bright happy place. These stories are real and they will turn your stomach.

Title: The Killer Across the Table

Author: John Douglas, Mark Olshaker

Author website: http://mindhuntersinc.com/

Publisher: Dey Street Books (HarperCollins)

Publish date: May 7, 2019

ISBN: 9780062910639

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

“The Killer Across the Table” is a deep dive by author John Douglas (with an assist in writing from Mark Olshaker) into his career working as an FBI profiler focused on serial killers. This book focuses intently on 4 specific serial killers and their victims with detailed descriptions of Douglas’ interactions with the murderers. In the process of telling these stories, Douglas takes the reader through the development of criminal profiling and how it has been applied in other cases since its inception.

My first impressions of “The Killer Across the Table” were that the writing was clear. It will get a little more polish before it goes to print, but the authors convey their points succinctly. It also lists two authors but is written with one distinct voice, which is not always easy to do, especially in non-fiction.

The stories are pulled from personal experience and evidence and there are numerous direct quotes from the serial killers themselves, which lend authoritative weight to the narrative. I also think the content would make good source material for anyone preparing to write a serial killer based thriller or mystery. It puts me in mind of the television show “Criminal Minds” but the authors actually helped inspire the Netflix show “Mindhunter”.

At times, it can feel like you are reading a best-selling thriller, but then the horror sinks into your soul, because all of this is real. It actually happened and is likely to happen again. At times I had to stop reading and go think some happy thoughts. These are truly unpleasant stories, but they are told with professionalism.

The author(s) comes down somewhat strongly on those who believe in the rehabilitative potential of these killers, dismissing their professional appraisals as naive, at best. It conveys the divide between law enforcement’s perceptions versus the mental health community’s, which is an important aspect to consider that is often overlooked.

The conclusion reads like a lollipop at the end of a painful doctor visit. These stories fascinate people, but Douglas does an excellent job of helping to explain why we are drawn to these horrific tales. It is an unexpectedly profound soliloquy on the human condition.

Criticisms: There is a story that seems to go nowhere regarding the Atlanta child killer. As far as I can recall they never circle around to clear that one up. Douglas frequently introduces additional stories in the middle of the larger narrative about these serial killers, and if the reader doesn’t pay close attention, it can feel disorienting.

My rating:

1 glass of lemonade= a book that can only be recommended to someone whose reading taste you know well, like a best friend. There may be a fair amount of curse words, spicy sex scenes, or potentially morally repugnant behavior. This does not mean that the book is bad, just that the audience might be a little more limited.

As a Librarian, this one would be tough to recommend, mostly because of the graphic descriptions. I would probably only be able to recommend this one in the context of a reader who was looking for true crime or source material to write their own thriller. However, with the rise in popularity of true crime murder-based content (think: television shows like Mindhunter, Criminal Minds, Making a Murderer or podcasts like My Favorite Murder and Serial.) this book could definitely be included in the context of a true crime book display.

Disclaimer: I was granted early access to this title from the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation that I would provide an honest review of the material.