Literate Girl in an Illiterate World

Midnight in St. Petersburg By Vanora Bennett ★★☆☆☆ 40% 384 pages Blurb St. Petersburg, 1911: Inna Feldman has fled the pogroms of the south to take refuge with distant relatives in Russia's capital city. Welcomed by the flamboyant Leman family, she is apprenticed into their violin-making workshop. She feels instantly at home in their bohemian circle, but revolution is in the air, and as society begins to fracture, she is forced to choose between her heart and her head. She loves her brooding cousin, Yasha, but he is wild, destructive and devoted to revolution; Horace Wallick, an Englishman who makes precious Faberge creations, is older and promises security and respectability. And, like many others, she is drawn to the mysterious, charismatic figure beginning to make a name for himself in the city: Rasputin. As the rebellion descends into anarchy and bloodshed, a commission to repair a priceless Stradivarius violin offers Inna a means of escape. But ...

Whoop Whoop! Book Recommendation Time! I cannot express my love for Finding Audrey enough. Finding Audrey is about a girl with social anxiety and her healing journey. This book is hysterical at some points and heart wrenching at other points. This book has the best of both worlds. I really want Sophie Kinsella to write some more YA really badly.  Since You've Been Gone is so perfect for summer or when you are feeling a little down. This book is about when Sloan's, our main character, best friend goes missing. Then, Sloan finds a list of stuff her best friend wants her to do before she comes home. And Sloan basically does them all.   Since You've Been Gone is super unique and the writing style is beautiful and deep. I love how much Sloan grows and becomes such a beautiful young person. This book is perfect for anyone and is like eating ice cream on a warm, lazy summer day.  Okay, so can we bask in the glory that is the cover of Everything, ...

Throne of Glass By Sarah J. Maas ★★★★.75 95% 416 pages Blurb After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dea...

Not If I See You First By Eric Lindstrom ★★★★.75 95% 310 pages Blurb The Rules: Don't deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public. Don't help me unless I ask. Otherwise you're just getting in my way or bothering me. Don't be weird. Seriously, other than having my eyes closed all the time, I'm just like you only smarter. Parker Grant doesn't need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That's why she created the Rules: Don't treat her any differently just because she's blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart. When Scott suddenly reappears in her life after being gone for years, Parker knows there's only one way to react-shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough on her mind already, like trying out for the track team (that's right, her eyes don't work but her legs still do), doling out tough-love advice to her ...

The General Rundown Sanctuary Bay By Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz Blurb In this genre-bending YA thriller, will Sarah Merson's shiny new prep school change her life forever or bring it to a dark and sinister end? When Sarah Merson receives the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the most elite prep school in the country-Sanctuary Bay Academy-it seems almost too good to be true. But, after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home, escaping to its tranquil setting, nestled deep in Swans Island, couldn't sound more appealing. Swiftly thrown into a world of privilege and secrets, Sarah quickly realizes finding herself noticed by class charmer, Nate, as well as her roommate's dangerously attentive boyfriend, Ethan, are the least of her worries. When her roommate suddenly goes missing, she finds herself in a race against time, not only to find her, but to save herself and discover the dark truth behind Sanctuary Bay's glossy reputation. In this g...

Rebel Mechanics By Shanna Swendson ★★★★☆ 85% 310 pages Blurb It’s 1888, and sixteen-year-old Verity Newton lands a job in New York as a governess to a wealthy leading family—but she quickly learns that the family has big secrets. Magisters have always ruled the colonies, but now an underground society of mechanics and engineers are developing non-magical sources of power via steam engines that they hope will help them gain freedom from British rule. The family Verity works for is magister—but it seems like the children's young guardian uncle is sympathetic to the rebel cause. As Verity falls for a charming rebel inventor and agrees to become a spy, she also becomes more and more enmeshed in the magister family’s life. She soon realizes she’s uniquely positioned to advance the cause—but to do so, she’ll have to reveal her own dangerous secret. My Thoughts "This is how you treat your friends? I'd hate to be your enemy." - Rebel Mechanics , p...

Instructions for the End of the World By Jamie Kain ★★★☆☆ 65% 215 pages Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest opinion review. This, however, does not change my opinion in any way, shape, or form. Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the review copy! Blurb He prepared their family for every natural disaster known to man—except for the one that struck. When Nicole Reed’s father forces her family to move to a remote area of the Sierra Foothills, one without any modern conveniences, her life is completely turned upside down. It’s not that Nicole isn’t tough. She’s learned how to hunt, and she knows how to build things—she’s been preparing for the worst-case scenario for what seems like forever. But when she and her sister, Izzy, are left alone in this remote landscape to fend for themselves, her skills are put to the ultimate test. She’s fine for a while, but then food begins to run out, the pipes begin to crack, and forest fires start to i...

The Wrath and the Dawn  By: Renee Ahdieh  ★★★★.75 95% 388 pages Blurb In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Sh...

Maus I  & Maus II By: Art Spiegelman ★★★★★ Blurb The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” ( The New York Times ). Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks ...

Dear Authors,  Once, when I was young, I believed that you were all the same, epic people creating epic stories. I now know the cold, hard truth. Not all authors are created equally. Most authors are the most caring sweet people ever, but some others do some questionable things.  Any author who shares their book with the world needs to be able to handle criticism. I know that some may say that I am not a real author because my work isn't yet published, and that "I wouldn't understand". However, I can deal with criticism. I hear someone say "This is horrid." and I retort, "How can I fix it?".  Before I listen to my critic's opinions, I ask myself a few questions. Be honest, is it really horrid? If it is horrid, how can you fix it? Who told you that your work was horrid? Does their opinion truly matter?  You and only you get to choose whose opinion matters in your life. If you want everyone to have an opinion that matters in your...

Guys, I actually did something over break!! I watched some of the original Star Wars and went to see the new one.... twice.  Aren't you so proud of me? I did something that has nothing to do with books! P.S. I don't really know how to review movies, so I hope these are okay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Wars: A New Hope ★★★ "The force can have a strong impact on the weak-minded." "Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" "Somebody has to save our skins." -Princess Leia "If you strike me down, Darth, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." I loved how this movie was both mysterious and action packed right from the beginning, so I was never bored. I loved the suspense that got me to the edge of my seat, and kept me there. However, I also felt that the movie was not very well explained in the beginning, but I felt that it i...

Wolf By Wolf By: Ryan Graudin ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 100% Teen Book Blurb: Her story begins on a train. The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, they host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball in Tokyo. Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele's twin brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move.  But as Yael grows ...