Teen Tuesday: Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

Image: Penguin Random House

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino. 320 p. G.P. Putnam's Sons/ Penguin Young Readers, July, 2023. 9780593533796. Review of finished, purchased copy.

Happy Tuesday TMS Readers! We have been gifted with another gorgeous summer day. Please take advantage of it and get out in nature. Teen Tuesday features Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino. This first-person narrative is told by seventeen-year-old Lilah. She has been partially deaf since birth. She wears hearing aids and her IEP calls for an FM system, but they aren't always used, so she relies on lipreading and her hearing aids to "pass," but it's sometimes frustrating and challenging. 

She wants to brush up on her ASL (American Sign Language) skills and applies to be a camp counselor at a summer camp for deaf and blind children. She has fond memories of the camp as she attended one summer when she was in the eighth grade. At camp, she meets a variety of campers and counselors with varying degrees of deafness and blindness. Oh, and one really cute boy.

In addition to being a cute, slow-burn romance, readers will learn about the deaf community - about the myriad degrees of deafness and their causes, as well as the challenges they face in a sometimes uncaring hearing world. Ms. Sortino is deaf and Give Me A Sign is her debut novel. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

HC Image: Macmillan Publishers

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaidirdar. Read by Priya Ayyar. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Dreamscape Media, June, 2023. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features an absolutely adorable romance called The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaidirdar. Seventeen-year-old Shireen Malick was born in Ireland to Bangladeshi parents who immigrated there and opened a donut shop called You Drive Me Glazy. They work hard at the shop and Shireen does not mind helping out as she loves to bake. Business hasn't been so great since there are a lot of donut shops around, including one down the block called The Bakers Dozen. Shireen's parents feud with the Hwangs over recipe stealing, so Shireen and Christine have kept their romance a secret until their recent breakup.

Shireen applied to be a contestant in a brand new baking contest featuring teen bakers, called The Junior Irish Baking Show. Shireen thinks she has as good a chance at winning as anyone and planned on entering. Then Christine asked her not to, saying that she was entering. Both girls hoped the exposure would help their family's business. Of course, both girls are accepted as contestants and of course, the two are paired in the very first bake-off. Of course, there's a cute girl from Dublin named Niamh (pronounce Neev) who seems into Shireen. Or is she? Drama much?

Shireen is out and unapologetically fat. She adores her supportive parents and misses her bff, who is spending the summer in Bangladesh. She also suffers from anxiety, but has methods of coping as she clocks the casual racism, fatphobia and Islamophobia she encounters, especially as she begins to do well on the show. Shireen is an endearing, hilarious narrator who loves a good pun. And the desserts! Yum! If you love to bake or have a sweet tooth, you will enjoy this book. Fun fact: a TMS graduate won a baking show as an eighth grader some years back. The entire school was rooting for her and it was such a treat to receive a sample of her baking.

I always enjoy Ms. Ayyar's performances. She imbued Shireen with zing and sass with a dash of uncertainty. 

Arc Review: House of Marionne by J. Elle

Image: Penguin Random House

House of Marionne by J. Elle. 432 p. Razorbill/ Penguin Young Readers, August 29, 2023. 9780593527702. (Review of bound manuscript courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Tuesday! I hope you are enjoying the sunshine and relative cool this morning! Boo and I were finally able to get in a nice long walk this morning. Teen Tuesday features House of Marionne by J. Elle. This is a fantasy series starter and will release in late August.

Seventeen-year-old Quel is used to life on the run with her mom. Quel possesses a dark magic she calls Toushana and an elite band of assassins called Draguns are tasked with hunting down anyone with this forbidden magic and killing them. So far, Quel's mom has been successful in keeping her hidden by moving frequently, but Quel messed up and now she's separated from her mom and the safe spot they were to meet in turns out to be not-so-safe. She turns to the one person her mother has forbidden, her grandmother. Turns out, her grandmother is headmistress of House Marionne and is delighted to reunite with Quel and determined to have her hone her magic and debut.

Quel is relieved to be safe, eager to learn magic that she hope will tame her toushana, but not too thrilled about the wardrobe, curtseying and etiquette lessons. She's also terrified of Jordan. He's been assigned to mentor her, but he's also a Dragun. What will happen if he finds out who she really is? And why is he so hot? It's distracting and dangerous.

Sinister and gothic with a steamy, slow-burn romance and plot twists galore. This was fun. Look for it August 29. Apparently, there's a limited edition first printing available for pre-order. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday: Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

I can't believe I did it again! I posted to my school's learning platform and forget to upload. 

Image: Penguin Random House

Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis. 296 p. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Random House, September 26, 2023. 9780593625361. (Review of a bound manuscript courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Tuesday and Happy Independence Day! Teen Tuesday features Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis. Seventeen-year-old Ross Quest is an accomplished thief. She works in the family business. The Quest family, led by Ross' mother, are international thieves and Ross' particular talent is planning escape routes. The family motto is "trust no one." Ross planned her own escape from the family, at least for the summer, so that she could be a normal teen for once. She almost got out, but the heist went south and now her mother is being held captive and her ransom is 1 billion dollars. The only chance she has of raising that kind of money is by entering the Thieves Gambit, a heist competition where the winner gets one wish. All she has to do is win and ask for the billion. Easy, right?

If you are a teen or know a teen who enjoys heist novels, put this one on your radar. It's due out on September 26. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy. Thieves Gambit is a pulse-pounding page-turner with enough twists and turns to give you whiplash. Ross is a smart and snarky narrator whose nemises include her former best friend and a guy whose good looks and smooth demeanor are so disarming, Ross begins to doubt everything she's been taught.

Teen Tuesday: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Image: Penguin Random House

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood. 356 p. G.P. Putnam's Sons/ Penguin Young Readers Group, November 7, 2023. 9780593619919. (Review of bound manuscript courtesy of publisher.)

Eighteen-year-old Mallory isn't going to college because she needs to pay her family's bills. When her bff begs her to play a charity chess tournament, Mal reluctantly says yes, because she's be left behind in a few weeks when Easton goes to college. She was a rising star in the chess world, but gave it up years earlier. She's slated to play against none other than chess wunderkind, Nolan Sawyer, aka Kingkiller and, she beats him! He wants to play again, but she's done with chess. Her win catches the eye of Defne, who offers her a fellowship to play chess. She declines. That is, until she loses her job as a mechanic. She lies to her mother about the fellowship, wanting to protect her, but when she begins winning and rockets up in the standings, her lies become more difficult to maintain. And then there's the possibility/ probability that she will have to play Nolan again.

This rom-com was fun-smart, snarky and slow-burn swoony. I adored Mallory's voice. I loved the chess as the center of the story and the fact that the author addresses the sexism that exists in the sport through Mallory, who doesn't suffer fools lightly. Some suspension of belief regarding her family remaining in the dark is required.

Chess is really popular among my students since the pandemic. They are always rushing through their work to get to the chess set in my library's lounge. There are a couple of girls who are really good. I was hoping I could add this book to our library's collection. While I loved it, it's a bit mature for most middle school readers, but highly recommended for high school collections and public libraries.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hrs., 28 min. Read by Jason Geneo, Anthony Keyvan and Kyla Garcia. Quill Tree Books/ HarperAudio/ HarperCollins Publishers, October, 2022. 9780063240834. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy penultimate Tuesday of my school year! Teen Tuesday features The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. I love Mr. Silvera's books, but rarely book talk them generally at my middle school because they are better suited for a high school audience. I particularly enjoyed his 2017, They Both Die at the End. Over the years, a fair number of eighth grade readers discovered it, which made me happy. The First to Die at the End is a prequel to They Both Die at the End and it's brilliant.

Death-Cast is about to launch and the world is divided over the "service" it will provide. The founder has discovered a way to predict the day someone will die and subscribers receive a call around midnight so that "deckers," as they have been named, can live their best life for their remaining hours. Two boys meet at a launch party in Times Square. Orion has a heart ailment and is waiting for a transplant. Valentino has just moved to New York to pursue a modelling career. He recently came out to his parents and they are not accepting. His twin sister, Scarlet is due to arrive the following day. Sparks fly between Orion and Valentino in the moments leading up to midnight when the first calls will be placed. Wouldn't you know it, one of them receives the very first call, which was placed by the founder himself.

This heartbreaking novel, while mainly centered on the first-person narration of the boys, occasionally shifts to third-person points-of-view of supporting characters and takes place in twenty-four hours. While it is not necessary to read first, fans of They Both Die at the End will be tickled to discover Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the prequel. The plot is fast-paced and absolutely riveting and the budding romance is just so sweet. Just when I thought I had figured out how the plot would play out, there was a twist that called into questions all of my assumptions.

It's a good thing I read this one with my ears. Reading through tears would've been difficult. The narrators were all new to me and each did a terrific job with pacing and voices. 

This book belongs in all libraries serving teens. Highly recommended. Happy reading. Happy Pride month.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen

Image: Penguin Random House

Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowman. Of Mermaids and Orisa series #2. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~11 hours. Read by Betide Badaki. Books on Tape/ Listening Library, September, 2022. (Review of e-audio borrowed from the public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowman. This sequel to Skin of the Sea picks right up and, to avoid any spoilers, I will be vague. The mermaid Simidele has made a promise in order to save the ones she loves and leaves them without explanation. She is now bound to the god Olokun, who in turn made a promise to release Esu, but he reneges on that promise. Without Esu forever binding the ajogun, these malevolent beings begin wreaking havoc on land and in the sea, threatening the entire world.

Both of these books are steeped in West African mythology and the world building is lush, vivid and cinematic. I continue to prefer reading books like these with my ears for the melodic delivery and proper pronunciation. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Cursed by Marissa Meyer

Image: Macmillan

Cursed by Marissa Meyer. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~16 hours. Read by Rebecca Soler. Macmillan Young Listeners/ Macmillan Audio, November, 2022. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Cursed by Marissa Meyer. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! This conclusion to the duology that began with Gilded hits the ground running and doesn't let up! Serilda can't escape the clutches of the Erlking without putting those she loves in danger. She's trapped in the castle awaiting a marriage she doesn't want. She's cursed and once she learns of the Erlking's plans, so is everyone in the world.

The writing is lush. The world building is astounding. The plot is intricate and layered with plenty of twists, turns and betrayal. And that cover! So gorgeous! Teen readers who love fairy tale retellings absolutely must read Ms. Meyer's work and must read Gilded before Cursed.

Rebecca Soler's voiced Serilda perfectly, adding to the suspense. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by Deepa Samuel. Scholastic Audio, April, 2022.  9781338813746. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library. Own hc.)

Happy Tuesday! It's a dreary, gray, rainy but mild day here in northern NJ. Teen Tuesday features Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. This updated and fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice centers around Leela Bose, a star on her public school speech and debate team and Firoze Darcy, a member of the exclusive Netherfield Academy debate team. This hating to dating romance wonderfully captures Jane Austen's themes of classism and sexism and adds issues of racism and homophobia.

The cast of characters is diverse, with Leela being a Bengali American and biracial Darcy being half Pakastani and half white. Leela's teammates are multiethnic and very smart. Dr. Dasgupta brings the world of high stakes high school speech and debate culture to life and cleverly hides easter eggs for fans of the original. Fans of Pride and Prejudice will get a kick out of this clever retelling, but readers unfamiliar with the classic will be able to enjoy it as well. Recommended. 

Teen Tuesday: The First Thing About You by Chaz Hayden

Image: Candlewick Press

The First Thing About You by Chaz Hayden. 368 p. Candlewick Press, September, 2022. 9781536223115. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

The Daily Book Talk/ Take Two: Happy Tuesday! Argh! I was in the middle of writing my Teen Tuesday post early this morning and accidentally closed the page in my school's learning platform, which doesn't have an autosave feature!

Teen Tuesday features a hilarious and heartwarming debut, The First Thing About You by Chaz Hayden. Fifteen-year-old Harris has moved from California to New Jersey because his father got a better job. He's hoping to use this opportunity to start living "a real teenage life," which includes finding a girlfriend. However, Harris has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which means he's wheelchair bound and totally reliant on others for eating, bathing and doing school work. It's kind of hard to get people to look past the "kid in the wheelchair" to see Harris for who he is. He also has a theory about colors. His go-to conversation starter is, "What's your favorite color?" The answer gives Harris an idea about possible compatibility. The first person to reach out to him is Zander, whose favorite color is yellow. Yellow and blue mix well. When he's paired with Nory in Physics class, she assumes that he's not smart because of the wheel chair. Additionally, she won't tell him her favorite color. He's disappointed because she's smart and pretty.

While he and his mother interview nurses to hire, she attends school with him, trying to keep the fact that she's his mom on the down-low. She's actually pretty cool and Harris appreciates the fact that she shoulders most of the burden for his care and is a fierce advocate for him with the school. He has an IEP and the school is not prepared to accommodate him. After the first nurse that was hired failed epically (and hilariously), Harris' mom reluctantly hires Miranda, a nursing student. She is a former student of the high school and has a reputation for making bad choices. Still, she works well with Harris and he's happy.

Teen readers will be immediately captivated by Harris' wry narration. The author also has SMA and explores themes of friendship and belonging authentically. Harris is a memorable character, bright, irreverent and introspective and The First Thing About You is a smashing debut. I'm looking forward to reading more from Mr. Hayden.

I always look up the availability of my daily book talks in our library cooperative for my students. This morning, I discovered that The First Thing About You is available as an e-audiobook! I'm eager to reread this with my ears! Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds

Image: Penguin Random House

Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds. ~10 hours. Read by Emily Lawrence. Listening Library/ Books on Tape, October, 2022. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday! Did you get up to watch the lunar eclipse? It started here around 4AM and I happened to awaken at 4:15 and peeked at it through my bathroom's skylights. I up and dressed and out with the dogs an hour later and saw the last of the moon go dark. It was quite a show, with a beautifully clear sky that also featured a sparkling Orion following the setting moon.

Teen Tuesday features Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds. Shira Barbanel is a bright, driven high school junior who is unlucky in love. She's looking forward to spending her winter holidays in Nantucket at her grandparents' sprawling estate with her extended family. As luck would have it, her uncle's intern and current crush, Isaac will be there as well. She's hoping to move her crush into something more. 

As luck would have it, she shares a flight with her nemesis, Tyler Nelson and ends up sharing a cab to her grandparents' as they are also neighbors. The power is out and the rest of the family are stranded on the mainland, so Shira and Tyler make do and Shira lights a fire and the first candle of Hanukkah. While she detests Tyler for being a player only interested in hooking up, she recognizes that she needs to up her flirting game if she wants to capture Isaac's attention and asks Tyler to teach her to flirt. Tyler wants a meeting with her media mogul uncle in exchange. And so the enemy-to-lover trope plays out on snowy Nantucket where the rich residents host a slew of holiday parties, giving Tyler and Shira plenty of time to get together to practice. There's plenty of angst and humor in this fluffy concoction.

Eight Nights of Flirting is a stand-alone companion to Ms Reynolds' 2021 debut, The Summer of Lost Letters. Emily Lawrence imbued Hannah's narration with angst and self-deprecating humor. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday: Talk Santa to Me by Linda Urban

Image: Simon & Schuster

Talk Santa to Me by Linda Urban. 280 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster, September, 2022. 9781534478831. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Tuesday! Teen Tuesday features Talk Santa to Me by Linda Urban. Frankincense Wood, call her Francie, is fifteen-year-old and lives in Hollydale, Indiana. She's still grieving the death of her beloved grandfather, who was the patriarch of her family's Christmas-themed store and Santa school. The business isn't doing very well and her wretched Aunt Carole has moved back home to try to change the business model. Francie's trying to stay connected to her best friend, Alice Kim, who still attends the parochial high school she used to attend. That's getting hard. Francie is also dealing with vicious teasing by the school's hockey team due to an unfortunate kissing situation from two years earlier. While she has no interest in remedying the memory of that disastrous first kiss, she can't stop noticing Hector Ramirez, who has great shoulders and other intriguing attributes.

Francie's first-person narrative sparkles with humor both self-deprecating and sly. She unabashedly loves Christmas and all things Santa. She's awkward and angsty and totally relatable. This gentle rom-com is comfy and warm like your favorite flannel pjs.

Teen Tuesday: Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde

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Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde. 336 p. Charlesbridge, October 18, 2022. 9781623543693. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde. This utterly beguiling debut comes to us via Australia and is publishing next Tuesday. I read it back in May and was dying to blog about it then, but the publisher asked me to wait until closer to the pub date. Today seems a good day to post my review, as it is National Coming Out Day.

Henry Hamlet is entering his final year at his boys high school in Brisbane and has no idea what he wants to do after graduating despite being class president and on the debate team. Not only is he not popular, he earned an unfortunate moniker after epically vomiting at a party. Luckily for him, his best friend, Lennon Cane, exudes effortless charm and Henry is content to ride his coat tails. 

When Henry reluctantly attends another party, he's knocked for a loop when Len takes a dare to make out with Henry and Henry...likes it? Wow, it never occurred to him that he might be gay, but he's unsure how Len feels and absolutely does not want to jeopardize their long friendship. It turns out Len feels the same about Henry and the two embark on a secret romance.

Henry's penchant for overthinking is at turns hilarious, heartbreaking and infuriating. His internal dialogue is instantly compelling. Henry and Len are so charming, authentic and vividly drawn, they feel real. I wish they were real. I loved that Henry's extended family were so supportive and involved. He loved them unabashedly and I loved that. The dialogue between all the characters crackled with humor and energy. Not one missed note or caricature. Ms. Wilde captures the poignancy of first love so beautifully that my cynical self felt no need for an eye-roll. It was a pleasure to reread in order to write this post and I'd even read it with my ears, if there's an audiobook just to hear it in an Aussie accent. 

Hand Henry Hamlet's Heart to teen fans of Simon v. the Homo Sapien Agenda or the Aristotle and Dante books. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez

Image: Macmillan Publishers

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by Mark Sanderling. Macmillan Audio/ Macmillan Young Listeners, March, 2020. 9781250265371. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday! It's the first day back for my students! Too bad it's rainy! Teen Tuesday features Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez. Ollie is the narrator of this fluffy with a side of sad lgbtq romance. He's out and proud and visiting his aunt in North Carolina for the summer. She has cancer and he has been babysitting so that his mom can spend time with her sister at a lake. He has a summer fling with Will, who has suddenly ghosted him. As he's angsting over that, he learns that his parents decided to relocate to North Carolina for the school year - his senior year - in order to take care of his aunt and her family. Ollie is devastated, of course, but soldiers on, 1. because he's a good guy and 2. because he adores his aunt and her kids. 

Little does he know that Will is a basketball star at the school he will be attending and that Will is firmly in the closet. Oh the drama! Luckily, Ollie is befriended by a trio of besties who have his back, Juliette, Niamh and Lara. He also joins a band.

This was a fluffy, fun read that also had moments of tenderness and depth. I absolutely adored the narrator and his performance. 

Teen Tuesday: Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka

Image: Candlewick Press

Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka. 320 p. Candlewick Press, October, 2020. 9781536207767.

Happy Tuesday! It's the last Tuesday of summer break! What will you be reading today? Sometimes arcs get buried and it takes me a really long time to uncover them. I'm so sorry it took so long to find this. Argh!

Teen Tuesday features Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka. This first-person narrative features Chloe, a Bay area high school senior and over-achiever until she collapses during cross-country practice. She needs a new heart, so her life, senior year and college plans are put on hold when she is placed on the transplant list. She basically has to hope to stay alive until someone with a match to her dies.

Once she receives her heart, she finds herself plagued by bloody nightmares every night and "memories" of people and places. Her friends have graduated and are getting ready to move away to college while she's stuck in summer school catching up. She has been accepted to college, but needs to finish her senior year. She also begins to do un-Chloe-like things like driving too fast, lying to her parents to hang with a new friend and sneaking out to take surfing lessons with Kai, a half-Japanese surfer. She's definitely falling for him.

This angsty, realistic romance takes a bit of a sci-fi detour as Chloe researches parallel universes and cellular memory in an effort to understand her nightmares. Chloe also muses on the race to compete for the "best" colleges that high school readers will find relatable. Chloe's reliability as a narrator may be called into question and readers may need to stop to reread in their race to the climax in this satisfying read.

Tardy Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Flip the Script by Lyla Lee

  

Image: HarperCollins 

Flip the Script by Lyla Lee. Unabridged audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by Greta Jung. Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins, May, 2022. 9780063250260. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Sorry about this late posting. I sat down to write this post so many times yesterday and got sidetracked by anxiety and other responsibilities. 

Teen Tuesday features Flip the Script by Lyla Lee. Sixteen-year-old Hana moved from the U.S. to Seoul so that she could pursue a career in acting, specifically K-drama. She landed a starring role opposite a swoony K-pop star turned actor, Bryan Yoon. Though the two have a lot of on-screen chemistry, the ratings weren't sufficiently high enough for the producers, who concoct a fake-dating scenario to boost them. Oh, and they also re-wrote the script to introduce a love triangle and hired a frenemy of Hana's to play the role.

This was mindless fun. I learned a fair amount about K-drama. I think I would've enjoyed it more had I read with my eyes. I found the narration stilted, particularly the male voices. There were these weird pauses before each male spoke, almost as if the narrator were trying to call the voice up. This is strange to me because the same narrator did the author's debut, I'll Be the One, and I enjoyed her performance then.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Rivals by Katharine McGee

Image: Penguin Random House

Rivals by Katharine McGee. American Royals #3. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~12 hours, 37 minutes. Read by Brittany Presley. Listening Library/ Books on Tape, May, 2022. 9780593584408. (Review of e-audiobook downloaded from the public library.)

Happy 'I'm melting' Tuesday! The heat continues in NJ, and while not as bad as other places in the U.S., it isn't conducive to the yard work I have on my to-do list! We had a little excitement in the neighborhood yesterday. My neighbor finally broke ground on her addition, and thanks to the previous owner's un-permitted and shoddy work and faulty marking by the gas company, the backhoe hit the gas line. Talk about starting a project with a bang! Here's hoping the rest of the work goes smoothly.

Teen Tuesday features Rivals by Katharine McGee. This is book three of the American Royals series, so as usual, I will be a bit vague in my summary. Even though the main characters in this series are older teens, the alternate history aspect and storytelling from multiple points of view are just plain fun. 

Beatrice is settling into her new role and about to host a week-long event called The League of Kings. Samantha seems to be settling down nicely with Marshall and Jefferson is starting college. There's plenty of court intrigue, high fashion and backstabbing to keep listening, and a "wait, what?" ending that will leave fans of the series panting for the next installment.

Ms. Pressley continues to keep the delivery breezy and fun. She employs a variety of voices and accents. While you can jump into this series at book three, why miss all the soap-opera-ish fun? Here's a link to my review of American Royalty. Happy reading.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Cinder and Glass by Melissa de la Cruz

Image: Penguin Random House

Cinder and Glass by Melissa de la Cruz. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours. Read by Lauren Ezzo. Listening Library/ Books on Tape/ Penguin Random House, March, 2022. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday! It's going to be a lovely day today! I hope you get outside, get some exercise, then sit in the shade with a good book. I took Boo for a medium-long walk, went to yoga class, and will be heading into the garden with an audiobook soon.

Teen Tuesday features Cinder and Glass by Melissa de la Cruz. This is a lush and lovely retelling of Cinderella set in the late 1600s at Versailles during the reign of King Louis XIV. Cendrillon's hopes of becoming a lady-in-waiting in King Louis' court are dashed when her beloved father suddenly remarries and dies soon after. Her stepmother assumes ownership of the chateau and Cendrillon is reduced to a life of servitude. She had hoped her godmother would eventually marry her father. Cendrillon wonders why she doesn't visit. She's isolated and lonely. So when the king decides to have a ball in order to pick 25 maidens for his son, Prince Louis to court, Cendrillon decides to attend.

Setting aside Cendrillon's infuriating naïveté, something teen readers won't notice, but this old lady did, fans of fairy tale retellings will love it. This fast-paced romance may have familiar trappings, but there is plenty to delight, with plenty of court intrigue along the way. The narration was well-paced and engaging. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi

Image: Penguin Random House

Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~7 hours. Read by Mitra Jouhari. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio, May, 2021. 9780593411483. (Review of e-audio downloaded from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi. This breezy first-person narrative features fourteen-year-old Parvin (pronounced Par-VEEN, not Par-vin) Mohammedi, who is starting high school thinking she will rock it and is crushed when her new boyfriend dumps her at orientation because she's "too much." What does that even mean? Luckily, she has two bffs to turn to for comfort and she video chats with her college-aged aunt in Tehran, Iran regularly and her parents are supportive even if they do work long hours and don't cook much. When she spies her ex holding hands with another girl, she blurts out that she has a date for homecoming. Now all she needs to do is tone herself down and emulate all the white girls in her favorite rom-coms-be quiet and demure, not hairy and no snort-laughing. oh, yeah, and snag a date for homecoming so she can save face.

Her friends Fabian and Ruth and her aunt all tell her not to change herself-that she should be liked for who she is, but Parvin is wrestling with being bi-racial. She looks nothing like her blond, blue-eyed mother and doesn't feel Iranian enough, especially in Farsi school, where she struggles to learn the language.

Parvin is perfectly entertaining as she blunders her way through a variety of cringeworthy, yet relatable situations. Layered inside the humor are her deft observations of Islamophobia, micro-aggressions and outright racism as well as the shifting sands of high school hierarchy.

Perfectly Parvin is the author's debut and a series starter, so if you like rom-coms and irrepressible characters, you're in for a treat here. I read this one with my ears and appreciated the fluency of the narrator when pronouncing Farsi. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday & Audiobook Review: Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon.

Image: Penguin Random House

Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~7.5 hours. Read by Shahjehan Khan. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House, February, 2022. 9780593411308.

Teen Tuesday features a pensive debut, Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon. The only thing Sunny Gill's brother, Goldy, left him when he died a year ago was a notebook filled with ramblings. Goldy was an alcoholic who died from alcohol poisoning and while Sunny is still grieving, he's also furious at his brother for not choosing to stay sober-for making bad decisions. With prom looming on the night of Goldi's barsi, Sunny decides to make a series of rash decisions starting with ditching his turban, cutting his hair and shaving his beard and ending with attending prom alone instead of the Snollygoster Soiree with his bestie Ngozi.

He doesn't even recognize himself and is beginning to think going to prom was a huge mistake when Mindii breezes in, steals Goldy's notebook and dares him to really make good "rash" decisions. Sunny hops onto the back of Mindii's motorcycle and off into the Fresno night to make a series of rash decisions.

While fast-paced and often humorous, Sunny is introspective and wrestling with grief, insecurity due to his stutter and with his Sikh faith. Mindii is empathetic and a good listener, and as the night goes on, the two form a sweet bond as she coaxes Sunny to live a little.

I appreciated the narrator's gentle, thoughtful approach to Sunny as well as learning the proper pronunciation of Sikh and Punjabi words.