It’s time to shout-out some great MG and YA books. My theme this week is: witchy goodness.
Continuing on with the Wyrd & Wonder theme of fantasy this month, I come to you bearing not only two fantasy novels, but two such books that happen to filled with witchy goodness. Of course, in one, the witches are the good guys, and in the other, they’re the bad guys. But hey, that’s the beauty of witches, isn’t it? They don’t have to play by your rules, okay? They do what they want.
MG Takes on Thursday is a weekly meme started by Mary @ BookCraic in order to celebrate amazing middle-grade books. I love this idea so much, but since I started working at the library, I’m over MG and YA, and sometimes the two blur together a bit, so I’ve decided to do both.
How to take part:
- Post a picture of the front cover of a middle-grade book which you have read and would recommend to others with details of the author, illustrator and publisher.
- Open the book to page 11 and share your favourite sentence.
- Write three words to describe the book.
- Either share why you would recommend this book, or link to your review.
MG Takes on Thursday
This book is …
#Ownvoices Latinx
Spooky
Funny
Perfect for …
Lower middle grade readers interested in ghosts.
Young fans of Ghostbusters.
Readers interested in Latinx family dynamics and culture.
Readers who want a mildly spooky read (but not scary).
Fans of witches and magic.
Brief Summary:
Lucely Luna can see the spirits of her ancestors. They live as fireflies in jars in the tree in her yard, when they’re not in the house, acting like normal families. But when dark, sinister forces threaten these spirits, Lucely is determined to do whatever it takes to stop the darkness and save her ancestors.
Page 11 snippet:
“Mamá?” Lucely asked cautiously. Mamá Teresa was the toughest person Lucely had ever known and she’d never seen her spirit do anything like this.
Her abuela looked up from the plate of fruit in front of her.
“No pasa nada, mi niña,” Mamá said, smiling. “Everything is okay.”
My Thoughts:
So, I didn’t love this book, but I thought it was fun, and I do think kids will enjoy it better than I did. I felt like it was a little meandering, doing a few too many things at once, and probably would’ve been a better read for me if it had just narrowed in on the main plot. That feels more like an adult problem, though, and this is an MG read.
This is an #ownvoices book with a Latinx protagonist, and gosh how I appreciated that! You know how you can sometimes tell when an author is just throwing in what they think bilingual people sound like? Yeah, you can tell that this is #ownvoices, because the Spanish is natural and makes sense where it is, and you have no idea how much I appreciated that! Also … Spanish! In English books. Yes. More of this.
This is a fun mix of family dynamics and ghostbusting. There will be hunting of ghosts in this one! Also, casting of spells, which is always fun. The writing in this is great. Easy to read, but also vivid enough to paint a detailed, creepy picture. Spooky, but not scary, and totally suited for young readers (or big readers who don’t want to lay awake at night watching the shadows move!).
There were definitely times that the action felt a little off or waylaid by something random, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the older pop culture references, but mostly, it was just fun.
YA Takes on Thursday
This book is …
Dark
Brutal
Action-packed
Perfect for …
Fans of Supernatural.
Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Readers who enjoy urban fantasy.
Fans of action-packed paranormal fight sequences.
Anyone who enjoys dark fantasy.
Readers who enjoy strong leading ladies.
Brief Summary:
Robin’s mother was wronged by witches years ago, and now she’s back for revenge. Armed with knowledge of the supernatural, years of training, and some unlikely sidekicks, Robin intends to take down the coven … until an even bigger threat arises in their place.
Page 11 snippet:
“Oh, honey, bless your heart,” said the crone, “I been expecting you all day.” She pricked the rind of the lemon with with a thumbnail and peeled part of it away, revealing not the white-yellow flesh Robin had expected, but the vital and fevered red of an internal organ. “It took you longer to get here than I expected. But then Birmingham is rather Byzantine, isn’t it? I remember when I was a child, when it was all gaslights and horse-drawn carts, the layout was so much simpler then.”
My Thoughts:
This book is doing a lot, and sometimes that didn’t always work for me. But for someone looking for a lot of action and fight sequences, this would be a great book.
The comp with Supernatural is a little too on-the-nose. This book is very much like Supernatural. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. It means the plot/structure was a little predictable, as a big Supernatural fan myself, but if those are the tropes you love and you’re not going in expecting some big, unexpected things, that works perfectly.
Hunt does a fabulous job of creating a dark, gritty atmosphere, though, and the fight scenes are fun to read. The paranormal elements in this are exciting, if not entirely unique, and the characters are sarcastic and enjoyable, especially Robin. And the creepiness. There’s a definite creep factor here that was just a big win for me.
Read my full review here.
You have 100% sold me on Burn the Dark!
Oooh, I hope you enjoy it! The sequel comes out soon, too.
I started to read Burn the Dark but got sidetracked for some reason. Now that you’ve reminded me, I’m curious to go back and read it😁
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…GOLDILOCKS by Laura Lam – Review
I didn’t love Burn the Dark, but I thought it was a fun adventure book, as long as you’re not looking for something too deep. It was great for just a fun in-between read. Probably fantasy’s equivalent of a beach read. xD
Ghost Squad sounds neat! (And yes to the Spanish. Even just the quote you picked was perfect!) But I’m not sure about that smoke coming out of the cat’s eyes on the cover… 😳
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Writing Wednesday ~ April 2020
What, are you telling me your cats DON’T have glowy green eyes that leak smoke? Pffft. To be fair, this is the Scholastic alternate cover, not the mainstream cover. I just love it, because it reminds me so much of the ’90s horror MG covers that I grew up with hehe.