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Book Review - Lovely War

📖Recommend for Grades 9 and up📖

Lovely War

by Julie Berry

It’s 1942, and a stylish couple makes their way into a hotel room where the Greek God Hephaestus finds them. It turns out; the couple are Greek Gods as well, Aphrodite and Ares, to be exact. Hephaestus is not happy to see his wife with another man, but Aphrodite spends the night telling a story about how love and war go together. The story is of four mortals, two couples, during World War I and how each one meets and falls and in love. More importantly, how the war and the gods played a role in their story.

An enjoyable historical fiction a story within a story. Readers may or may not understand what is going on with the gods and their time, but the story they tell is lovely. Berry has crafted an intriguing story about four people during the First World War and how it affects them individually and as a whole. 

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Book Review - Frankly in Love

📖Recommend for Grades 9 and up📖

Frankly in Love

by David Yoon

It’s an unspoken rule that Frank Li’s parents want him to date only Korean American girls. Which would be fine except Britt is European American, and she is who Frank finds himself flirting with and kissing. Enter Joy, who, like Frank, is Korean American and expected to date another Korean American. Except, Joy’s boyfriend is not Korean American. To appease their respective parents and see who they want, Frank and Joy decide to fake a relationship. Of course, with fake dating, there are always complications.

This book is more than a romance story, but frankly (pun intended) adding the drama Frank has with his family and the struggles of being a senior and applying to college take away the fun of summarizing it. However, it doesn’t take away from the story (well okay, maybe one storyline could have been taken out, in my opinion) and romance drama. Yoon weaves in racism, classism, and other forms of prejudice in a way that tackles the topics wonderfully. The characters are all well written and realistic, with Frank as a terrific narrator telling the whole story.

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Book Review - Dear Sweet Pea

📖Recommend for Grades 6 and up📖

Dear Sweet Pea

by Julie Murphy

Thirteen-year-old Patricia, aka "Sweet Pea" has her life turned upside down when her parents suddenly announce they are getting divorced. Now her father's living two doors down in a house almost identical to the one they once shared as a family with Sweet Pea splitting time between them. In the middle of them is the home of the local advice columnist Miss. Flora Mae, who entrusts Sweet Pea with taking care of her house and ensuring the mail for the advice column, gets from her house to her sister's where she is temporarily staying. During her first check-in, Sweet Pea finds herself reading some of the letters, then answering one which she includes in Miss. Flora Mae's stack. Now Sweet Pea finds herself answering a letter per column, and her secret doesn't help the drama going on with her family and her best friend.

Fun and entertaining, readers will be turning the page to find out what happens with Sweet Pea. While her name (though it's a nickname everybody calls her) may come across as odd, the character is wonderfully realistic. Sweet Pea is overweight, but Murphy terrifically makes that a noted but minor point of the story. Those who have divorced parents are likely to empathize with Sweet Pea and may find some similar feelings shared.

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Book Review - Patron Saints of Nothing

📖Recommend for Grades 10 and up📖

Patron Saints of Nothing
by Randy Ribay
It’s been years since Jay stopped writing his Filipino cousin Jun and even longer since he saw him in person. Upon learning of Jun’s death in connection to the drug war in the Philippines, Jay decides to change his spring break plans. Instead of staying home in the states playing video games, Jay, feeling there is more to the story of Jun’s death, decides to travel back to his country of birth to figure it out. Despite being born in the Philippines, he is viewed as an outsider due to being raised in the states. This causes him to face many roadblocks in his journey for truth.
Though Jay’s story is one of fiction, the Philippine Drug War is an actual event that started in 2016 and continues today. Those interested can do research on the topic for a better understanding. Jay’s story is realistic and messy, with Jun’s actions before his death, causing issues within his family that continue after his passing. Readers will sympathize with Jay’s hope that his cousin’s death wasn’t the result of him using drugs but rather a horrible mistake. The author wonderfully weaves Jun’s letters to Jay, as well as memories of Jay’s last visit, into the story to help show why Jay feels the way he does about Jun’s death. A heartbreaking story about family and personal growth with a bit of mystery and education.

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Book Theme Graphic - Read This Series - Chronicles of Nick

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