The Wanderers / Anna Ziegler

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Wanderers
By: Anna Ziegler
Genre: Drama/ Play
Number of Pages: 80
Published: February 23, 2023
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Dates Read: May 28, 2023
Format: Library Book / Paperback

Esther and Schmuli are Orthodox Jews embarking on an arranged marriage. Abe and Julia are celebrities embarking on a dangerously flirtatious correspondence, despite both being married to other people. Just looking, the two couples couldn’t be more different, but once you get to know them, you find a hidden connection.

I haven’t really read a play since high school – over a decade ago. But I found this title while doing a book list for Jewish Heritage Month and decided I wanted to give it a go.

That being said, this play was pretty simple. Mostly interactions between two characters. I liked that because I could easily “see” the characters in their scenes.

I’m going to be honest and didn’t see the connection until a lot later in the story than I probably should have. But overall, I still enjoyed reading the play.

Stoked for This: June 2023

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment

I got this set up and going on the right day haven’t I?? How exciting! I’ve starting to try and keep everything written down BEFORE the day of – that seems to be helpful.

RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2023

Pageboy

by: Elliot Page

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’m not really one for celebrity memoirs – I mean, I’m also not one for memoirs in general (nonfiction is still harder for me to get into). But, I love Elliot Page and from the reviews I’ve seen around, I’m hoping this will be a good one to read.

The Wind Knows My Name

by: Isabel Allende

Why am I stoked for this release?

This novel follows two different timelines of children fleeing war/danger and immigrating to unknown lands. One set in Vienna, 1939, the other in Arizona, 2019.

Stories of immigration have been interesting to me, especially with the news at the US/Mexico border. How children get separated from their parents all while on the search for a better, safer life is crazy to me and I can only imagine what both a child and parents go through. I want to read these stories to know and understand.

The Endless Vessel

by: Charles Soule

Why am I stoked for this release?

In a few years from now, in a world similar to ours, there exists a “Depression plague” that people simply refer to as, “The Grey”. One young scientist from Hong Kong must travel through past and present and all over on her journey through the Endless Vessel.

This is a promise of The Midnight Library and Ready Player One, which are both books I very well enjoyed when I read them! Plus, as someone who battles with depression herself, I’d kind of like to see someone who is fighting in a world that has seemed to have given up.

My Murder

by: Katie Williams

Why am I stoked for this release?

This one is about a woman who is brought back by a government project after being a victim of a local serial killer.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my ID network and can happily watch murder show after murder show. Some times, those stories have unanswered questions. I’m curious to see to how the writer tells this story about someone who comes back.

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 13, 2023

The Love Report

by: BéKa, Maya (Illustrator)

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a cute, middle grade graphic novel about two preteens trying to figure out what couples last, while others fizzle.

There wasn’t a lot of graphic novels aimed at middle grade readers while I was growing up so I do enjoy seeing the market for nowadays.

Plus, the illustrations on this look adorable.

On Earth as It Is on Television

by: Emily Jane

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’ve got two alien novel coming out this month I’m stoked for. This is first one where one day, out of nowhere, spaceships appear over various US cities – they block out cell phone towers and Wifi – but almost as quickly at they appear, they leave. This novel tells stories of their visit and it’s aftermath with various characters.

I’m not sure why I’m suddenly attracted to first encounter novels, but hey – it’s a fun thing to think about!!

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 20, 2023

Old Enough

by: Haley Jakobson

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is about a bisexual woman in college finding her adult group of friends and what it means for her friends back from high school.

I absolutely loved my college experience and the friendships I made while going. Being away from where you grew up really allows you to find more out about who you are on your own.

I miss my college friends so much and I feel like this book will be a fun read.

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 27, 2023

The Road to Roswell

by: Connie Willis

Why am I stoked for this release?

My second first encounter novel of June here. This time with someone abducted by aliens who then wants to help their new out-of-this-world friend out.

I’m going to be honest; I had no idea who Connie Willis was before I saw this book in a pile of ARCs at work. I feel like she’s someone I should know about, because some of her stuff sounds like a fun read – but I think I’m going to start with this one and go from there 🙂

Dead Eleven

by: Jimmy Juliano

Why am I stoked for this release?

On a creepy island town obsessed with the year 1994, a mother arrives, hoping to learn the truth about her son’s death but there’s more to this town than anyone knows.

I haven’t read a lot of horror, but I like 90s horror films, so I want to give this one a go. Plus, I was born in 1992, my sister in 1994 – so I’m curious to read about that timeframe.

Lay Your Body Down

by: Amy Suiter Clarke

Why am I stoked for this release?

This one is about a woman who returns to her rural Minnesota hometown and comes to find a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone’s minds… and possibly a murder…

This is kind of another of my “guilty” pleasures – weird religious cults… mysterious behind them, how they members joined, what happened while in the cult, how they got out… it’s interesting to me.

This is also the author of Girl, 11, which is a book I know has received good praise, so I’m stoked for this one too.

Hurt You / Marie Mying-Ok Lee

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Hurt You
By: Marie Mying-Ok Lee
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Number of Pages: 254
Published: May 16, 2023
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Dates Read: March 23, 2023 - March 27, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Trigger Warnings: Racism, classism, disabled slurs and bullying

Georgia is a Korean-American high school junior who just moved to a new town in the suburbs so that her brother, Leo, who has significant developmental disabilities, can get better assistance. At her new school, she makes friends with members of the hagwon that runs in the back of the Korean barber shop. Her parents have a rough relationship due to the strain of raising Leo and Georgie does everything she can to help be a caretaker of her brother.

I slightly remember reading Of Mice and Men in high school – not every detail, but I remember the ending, so I was very curious to see how this book would go.

This book definitely deals with a lot that I honestly wasn’t expecting. Georgia takes on a lot of responsibilities in the caretaking for Leo and I was always forgetting he was the older brother – even though she talks about how he’s a big, strong young man. I’m glad her parents were aware of the situation though and had brought it up to her a few times in the novel because it does take a toll on her for sure.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I was rooting for Georgia and Leo and even though in the back of my mind, I kind of knew what would happen, I was still shocked at how the ending played out. It did come a little quickly for me, but I still liked the open-ending of it too.

This won’t be a book for everyone, but I still think it’s an important book that covers a lot of topics you don’t read about often.

*Thank you Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for a digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Paper Planes / Jennie Wood

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Paper Planes
By: Jennie Wood, Dozerdraws (Illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, YA
Number of Pages: 216
Published: May 16, 2023
Publisher: Maverick
Dates Read: May 22, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Former best friends Dylan and Leighton are stuck in summer camp for troubled youth after a life altering incident happened. If they don’t get a good evaluation at camp, they’ll get sent away to an alternative high school. While participating in activities and chores at camp, both teens reexamine what led them to their current situation.

This was a good read and a good story, but the storytelling was a little difficult to follow at times; it wasn’t always told there was a time jump and you had to distinguish between the color scheme of the pages. 

I wasn’t ever the biggest fan of Leighton to be honest. I know she was going through stuff and that she was hiding things from Dylan (they both were hiding things from each other), but I don’t know – I never felt like they were the best of friends like they were supposed to have been. I was also disappointed in the ending of it as I didn’t feel like there were conclusions to parts of the storyline.

I was still a fan of the graphic novel though and will for sure be recommending it to others. I really enjoyed the art and will be suggesting it to some for that reason. The representation and the storyline that some of the characters went through are important to share and I can see others enjoying it.

*Thank you Maverick and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

In the Lives of Puppets / T.J. Klune

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
In the Lives of Puppets
By: T.J. Klune
Genre: Fantasy
Number of Pages: 420
Published: April 25, 2023
Publisher: Tor Books
Dates Read: May 10, 2023 - May 21, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook / Library Book / Hardcover

Three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine named Nurse Ratched, and a small anxiety-filled vacuum named Rambo live with human Victor Lawson in the houses they’ve built into the branches of the trees in a forest – hidden and safe.

When Victor, Nurse Ratched, and Rambo find and repair an android with the label “HAP”, they learn of the dark past Gio and their new friend share. After getting back online, Hap unwittingly alerts robots from their past life to their current whereabouts and they capture and take Gio back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams.

Together, the makeshift family must journey across the country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Another amazing, beautiful, and touching found family novel from TJ Klune. I wrote down so many quotes from this novel (mostly from Nurse Ratched). I read over 100+ books a year and rarely do they make me actually cry – this one succeeded and therefore, it received 5 stars from me. And, like every year a new TJ Klune book comes out, this will be hard to beat for my choice of book of the year.

This is another book that, though it’s listed as SciFi/Fantasy, I can see so many people enjoying this. It does deal with Victor being the last human on Earth and the complications of loving those with an extremely complicated past, but it’s still a soft, found family read for me.

In the Lives of Puppets has an unforgettable cast of characters and the writing of Klune will make you care about an assembled group of robots and their human companion in a way I didn’t think would be possible.

I love this book and will be so highly recommending this to any and all for years to come.

*Thank you Tor Books and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Hungry Ghost / Victoria Ying

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Hungry Ghost
By: Victoria Ying
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 208
Published: April 25, 2023
Publisher: First Second
Dates Read: May 10, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: Disorder eating (bulimia), fatphobia, body-shaming, depictions of vomiting, purging, loss of parent, grief, verbally abusive parent

Hungry Ghost follows Valerie Chu while she deals with disordered eating in her senior year of high school when tragedy strikes her family.

I’m in love with the color palette of this entire novel – which, along with muted pastels and adorable, expressive lines makes the story all the more heartbreaking when it’s about a young woman struggling with her relationship with food and with her mother.

It was also interesting to me to be able to see the dynamics of a culture where there’s always good food, and also over-emphasize women being thin.

This is a painful read. The author did an amazing job at both showing and describing the struggles that Val is going through with her illness. People will feel seen after reading this. And those who aren’t dealing with the same struggles, will hopefully be able to have a deeper understanding after finishing this book.

I’ll be recommending this book for sure, but it will come with the Trigger Warnings attached. Take care of yourself.

The Eyes and the Impossible / Dave Eggers

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Eyes & the Impossible
By: Dave Eggers
Genre: Middle Grade
Number of Pages: 256
Published: May 9, 2023
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Dates Read: May 4, 2023 - May 7, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea where it’s his job to be the Eyes for the park’s three elders, the Bison. His friends – a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican – are Assistant Eyes, observing the comings and goings of the park who report their findings to Johannes, who then gives their, along with his own observations, to the Bison.

But changes are happening at the park – a new building means more humans, and more humans means more Trouble Travelers. And then there were the new animals called goats that literally appeared as a boatload. Upon their arrival, new, shocking revelations change Johannes’ whole world.

After I read Pax by Sara Pennypacker, I’ve kind of been on the hunt for another middle grade, animal book. I know there’s all kinds of these out there, but this one… it’s the way that Johannes’ voice is written I believe, that just gives me a warm, good feeling in my chest.

It was fun to hear Johannes and his friends explain things from the humans – sometimes they’re way off and it would give me a good giggle (like their viewpoint on time is way off, everything is 1,000 years and it’s just adorable).

This is going to be a book I can see myself recommending to anyone who just wants a chill, feel good book with animals. I’ve already talked about it pretty much nonstop since I got to work this morning. I know animal books are hard, and can be weird, but this one is cute and adorable.

*Thank you Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Daughters of Snow and Cinders / Núria Tamarit, Jenna Allen (Translator)Daughters of Snow and Cinders /

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Daughters of Snow and Cinders
By: Núria Tamarit, Jenna Allen (Translator)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 216
Published: May 9, 2023 (1st Published May 4, 2022)
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Dates Read: May 3, 2023 - May 4, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Fleeing her fire and war-torn homeland, Joana travels to the New World in search of gold to rebuild her life. Along the way she meets friends, foes, and an unlikely companion who may turn into her good luck charm. But the men in this New World are greedy and bloodthirsty for gold and along with a fearsome beast that’s lurking in the shadows, Joana has a lot to look out for if she wants to return home.

The themes of this graphic novel are of nature and protecting and living among/with it, human violence and what colonization has done to the plant.

The art of this is beautiful and interesting. I first saw this book as an ARC, so it was in black and white, and even then I knew I needed to read it in full color. Also, I’m a sucker for three legged animals and Peg had my heart within seconds, so I knew I needed to know her adventure.

I can see myself recommending this ecofeminist graphic novel to quite a few people.

*Thank you Fantagraphics and Edelweiss+ for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Queen in Comics! / Emmanuel Marie, Sophie Blitman

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Queen in Comics!
By: Emmanuel Marie, Sophie Blitman
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 176
Published: May 3, 2023
Publisher: NBM Publishing
Dates Read: May 2, 2023 - May 3, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

The history and making of the world famous band, Queen, in graphic novel form.

This is a great graphic novel about the highlights of the band Queen’s journey.

I enjoyed having bits in graphic novels and then covers in regular text format – it allowed me to read and get more about the band than one tends to get while reading a graphic novel.

Queen is one of my mom’s favorite bands, so it was nice to kind of read up on them more to see their history. Freddie Mercury is a legend.

*Thank you NBM Publishing for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Where You See Yourself / Claire Forrest

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
Where You See Yourself
By: Claire Forrest
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Number of Pages: 320
Published: May 2, 2023
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Dates Read: April 30, 2023 - May 1, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year of high school, she’s been looking at colleges for what feels like forever; there’s a spreadsheet and everything. But she’s had to, because finding a college that’s not only the perfect fit, but also accessible enough for Effie to get around on her own in her wheelchair has created a lot more boxes to check off on her selection.

Effie hasn’t told anyone yet, but she already has her heart set on a school in New York City with a major in Mass Media & Society that would set her up on her dream dream. She’s never been to NYC, but she can picture herself on campus via the pictures she sees in the brochures. When she finds out her longtime crush, Wilder, is not only applying but getting accepted early admissions, she feels like it’s the best place.

But, everything isn’t always as simple as it seems, and the universe seems to have other plans. As Effie navigates through her senior year with college visits, senior class traditions, internal and external ableism, and a lot of firsts (and lasts), she learns that she needs to be open to the change being presented in front of her and that by doing so, dreams she never even knew were there could flourish.

The representation in this book is amazing and beautiful and I just loved it so much. Effie, who is a wheelchair user, is learning throughout this novel how to advocate for herself and which battles she wants to fight and what others she may have to either come back to, or leave alone. In the later part of the book, she sees other wheelchair users in relationships and she mentions how she’s always wondered how she would have ever do x,y, and z, but that the others that she sees are doing it and it gives her hope and reminds her to kind of reevaluate how she thinks of her capabilities.

The friendships in this story are so cute and adorable – even the romance between Effie and Wilder. It’s nothing super crazy, and not the main focus of the novel, but still cute nonetheless.

I will be highly encouraging quite a lot of people I know to read this book. It has great representation and deals with the scariness of being a senior in high school and trying to find out what and where you’ll be going the next year. I think a lot of people will feel seen while reading this book.

*Thank you Scholastic Press and Edelweiss+ for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review