It’s time again to ask ourselves the three W’s:
What if books could talk?
What if they each had a unique personality?
Which book would call to you?

Wait, no, that’s not right. We ask these three W’s:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

               

Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega
★★★☆☆ || Goodreads
This was a buddy read with Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads. I wanted to love this, but I came away a little lukewarm. It felt like it was trying to pack too much into too short of a story for me. The idea is super cute. The protagonist’s ancestors live as fireflies in a tree in their yard, and they protect the town. But something dark is coming, and their strength may not be enough. Sounds super cute, right? I enjoyed the creepiness at first, but by the end, it dissolved into what felt like a knockoff Ghostbusters, instead of the cute heartfelt story the first part had going for it. I also had a really hard time placing when this book was supposed to be set. There’s a lot of references to ’80s and ’90s pop culture, but I had assumed it was a contemporary, but I guess maybe not. I don’t know. It irks me a little when I can’t decide when something takes place, but that’s a me thing. I did love the bilingual rep and the bits of Spanish that are thrown in!

What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon by Henry Clark
★★★★★ || Goodreads
That is a forever title, but if you read this book, you realize that it suits the voice just perfectly. It reminded me of Terry Pratchett a bit in the easygoing, silly voice, yet still somehow pulls together into a meaningful story. Had a great STEM-positive focus without beating the reader over the head with math or science. More like, hey, look, you accidentally did science, which you’ve been wanting to do, because for some reason, magic isn’t enough for you (silly ungrateful magical worlds). It was a fun, clean read that I would for sure recommend for kids (and there’s plenty for adults to enjoy, too, which is a bonus if you’re an adult who’s into middle grade or a parent wanting to read with their kid).

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis
★★★☆☆ || Goodreads
I actually wasn’t sure how to rate this one. I don’t use half stars, but if ever I were tempted, this would be one of those times. It’s a little more than a three, but not quite a four. So what do you do with that? Except maybe drink. Drinking sounds like a good solution. The creep aspect in this book is turned all the way up to 10, and I really enjoyed that. What I enjoyed less was the weird, awkward, shoehorned romance (definitely wasn’t needed, since it doesn’t go anywhere in the book) and the protagonist’s use of Optimal (yes, capitalized like that) in deciding the best course of action. It was soooo repetitive and didn’t really add anything to the character. It felt like a quirk just for quirk’s sake. I looooved the ending, though. And that’s all I’m going to say. If you’re curious, you’ll just have to come back on Friday for my blog tour stop and full review.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon
★★★★☆ || Goodreads
Look, an audiobook! I did it! I figured out that I can actually kind of focus on this if I listen as I work doing mindless things. Huzzah! I gave this book four stars because the audiobook is read by Daveed Diggs, and he was A-freaking-mazing. If I had read this myself, the book probably would’ve been three stars. Actually, scratch that, it probably would’ve been a DNF, since even though this is technically fantasy, it reads very contemporary, if that makes sense, and there just wouldn’t have been enough action to hold my attention. I did end up enjoying it, though, and the book is so stinking quotable. I kept being struck over and over again by these just absolutely beautiful thoughts and phrases. Would I read Rivers Solomon? Probably not. But would I do another audiobook of their work? Heck yes. It seems to work out better for me for this particular genre.

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman
★★★★★ || Goodreads
Another audiobook! This one, though, was a re-read. First time listening, though. Honestly, it was just as good. A little harder to follow on audio, I think, for me, but one I definitely still enjoyed. I don’t have much to say here except that if you haven’t read this, you obviously should. It’s one of those things that’s not quite what you expect, which Backman is so fabulous at doing, and it will definitely tug on those heart strings. It starts with the narrator proclaiming, on Christmas Eve, that he has killed someone, if that helps persuade you just a little.

This Week’s Reviews

The Edge of Everywhen by A.S. Mackey
Status: 20%

A unique middle-grade novel, The Edge of Everywhen tells the story of Piper, a 13-year-old self-proclaimed book nerd whose world has been upended after the death of her mother. She and her autistic little brother (and best friend) Phoenix cling to one another as they are forced to move a thousand miles away from everything familiar and live with their rich, estranged aunt.

Piper reaches to the books on her shelf for comfort, but it is one unique book, Novus Fabula, who offers true guidance as the omniscient narrator in the story. It watches them arrive at their aunt’s home, with tired hearts and stones in their stomachs, and now its whispered voice must point the children to depend upon the sovereignty of God during the most dire times as they await word of their missing father.

“What’s that you say? Books cannot speak? On the contrary, dear Reader. Quite the contrary. Books are one of the few things on this earth that truly speak, from the moment the first word is penned until the book’s last Reader has drawn their final breath. Let me show you.”—Novus Fabula

Full of mystery and intrigue, The Edge of Everywhen story bridges the chasm between faith-based and fantasy kid-lit genres. It is a book-lover’s book, carrying the reader right into the adventure as Piper and Phoenix embark upon a life-changing journey, in search of their father and of a faith to call their own.

Soooo … 20% in and I don’t really have much at all to say? I haven’t really decided how I feel about this one yet. On one hand, the voice in it is rather cute. The narrator is a book itself, which is pretty unique. On the other … it feels like nothing of consequence has happened yet at 20%, and the narrator has this annoying habit of bouncing around. I read a lot of non-linear stories, and I usually love it, but this one feels a little too unfocused, where we start with the kids arriving at the house, then jump back to the “beginning,” then jump to another character, then jump back to where we started. It’s a little much for me. There’s also a lot of name-dropping other books, like making a reference to Narnia, and then it’s like, “Of course you’ve read Narnia, right?” At first, I really liked this, but now I’m a little lukewarm on it, because it’s happened with at least three or four different books, and what if the kids haven’t? This feels like unnecessary pressure to read books that they may not actually be interested in. Then again, it could also be great for some kids who might want the recommendations and then go check out those books. So we’ll see if my opinion on that changes or not.

               

Sooo … have I mentioned how bad I am at TBRs? In some ways, I’m ahead of where I planned to be, but in most ways, I’m behind. I mean … I read stuff! Just … not the stuff I had intended to read. Huh. So nothing really major has changed on this list, somehow.

I did figure out that there are some audiobooks that I can listen to while I play games and work without really losing pertinent information, so that’s exciting! I managed to read a couple books that way this week.

Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my grandmother’s death, and while I intended to start My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, as it turns out, I just wasn’t in a good headspace for it. So I plan on doing that this week.

I’ve still got Rogue Protocol pulled up and ready to be read. I tried to get the audiobook for it, thinking that’d be a good one one to listen to, but nope. My library doesn’t have it.

And continuing on with being a slacker, I’m still planning on reading Dragon Ops (next, actually, soon as I finish my current read) and then The Faith Machine and I need to stop with the slacking. If you see me slacking, poke me with something pointy.

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