So good. I really like Brown's work and I look forward to putting many of her suggestions into practice in my own life.

I read this for book club. It was a good read, with lots of ideas about how to change our power systems. The depressing part was reading it so many years after it was written and knowing where we are now.

I liked a lot about this book. It was very dramatic. Ever has tried living by her family's rules her whole life. She dresses modestly, and she is on the path to medical school, even though the sight of blood makes her sick. Her parents decide to send her to a Mandarin immersion program in Taiwan for the summer. There, Ever finally gets to stretch her wings. Ever makes a lot of decisions during the summer in her attempt to break all of her parents rules, most of which might go too far in a direction she doesn't want to go in. It was an enjoyable read, but there is a lot of drama and a lot of unhealthy behaviors.

Auggie lives on an island with an amazing set of stables, which he is in charge of. The stables are full of magical creatures like a Gargantula. Auggie’s companions include Fen, a “stick-in-the-mud” that change into whatever Auggie needs him to be. A woman named Miss Bundt also lives there, near the Plotting Shed, where she builds things that the island’s owner, Professor Cake, requests. Auggie is happy minding the stables but wishes for a friend. One day, the stables shudder as a new stall is added. Inside the stall is a swamp, where Auggie meets Willa, a wispy critter who thrives in the moonlight. However, Auggie doesn’t know that others are hunting Willa as well. Who are they, and how can they outsmart them?

Auxier said his goal was to write a read aloud that the whole family would enjoy, and I think he did an excellent job. There is enough meat here to give people of all ages something to think about. Illustrations were not final in the ARC, but I liked what I saw. Demidova does a great job of catching the magical creatures, and they remind me a bit of Quentin Blake’s illustrations in Roald Dahl books. Expect to learn about lots of cool magical creatures and look for more books in the series to continue learning about who else wants these magical creatures.

I would hand this to those that also enjoyed books like Unicorn Rescue Society, Princess in Black, Owl Diaries, or Zoey and Sassafrass. If you are a fan of the author’s Peter Nimble series, familiar characters and places will be referenced along the way.

Very cute. I think this would be good for any kid who has someone neurodiverse in their class, or just for kids who really like animals.

I did come into this book with some opinions, because I knew a little about Elizabeth Bathory, mostly from this site: https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/elisabeth-bathory . This book plays into the traditional view of Bathory, which the link I list above contests somewhat (but it does describe gore, so read those parts at your own risk.) So I have mixed feelings about that.

Anna is the daughter of a midwife, skilled at herbs and medicines for her time. Of course, that also means people call her a witch. She runs into Bathory at her wedding procession, and circumstances bring them together twice more, until eventually Anna becomes a scullery maid at Nasdady Castle. Since the money Anna makes will support her family, she looks for ways to rise in the ranks. And although she loves Elizabeth, something is deeply wrong at Nasdady Castle.

So, again, I don't believe all these things are truth about the real Countess Bathory. However, it wouldn't be as much of a gory, horrific story without it. It is gory. I do like the ways it reflects on what power women could have at that time, and how they were viewed. I also could see how a teen would get wrapped up in all of it, doing the best she can and realizing when she fails. I did like the ending for Anna, which was a little bittersweet but felt right.

Auggie lives on an island with an amazing set of stables, which he is in charge of. The stables are full of magical creatures like a Gargantula. Auggie’s companions include Fen, a “stick-in-the-mud” that change into whatever Auggie needs him to be. A woman named Miss Bundt also lives there, near the Plotting Shed, where she builds things that the island’s owner, Professor Cake, requests. Auggie is happy minding the stables but wishes for a friend. One day, the stables shudder as a new stall is added. Inside the stall is a swamp, where Auggie meets Willa, a wispy critter who thrives in the moonlight. However, Auggie doesn’t know that others are hunting Willa as well. Who are they, and how can they outsmart them?

Auxier said his goal was to write a read aloud that the whole family would enjoy, and I think he did an excellent job. There is enough meat here to give people of all ages something to think about. Illustrations were not final in the ARC, but I liked what I saw. Demidova does a great job of catching the magical creatures, and they remind me a bit of Quentin Blake’s illustrations in Roald Dahl books. Expect to learn about lots of cool magical creatures and look for more books in the series to continue learning about who else wants these magical creatures.

I would hand this to those that also enjoyed books like Unicorn Rescue Society, Princess in Black, Owl Diaries, or Zoey and Sassafrass. If you are a fan of the author’s Peter Nimble series, familiar characters and places will be referenced along the way.

Thank you Netgally for the review copy

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved Wilder Girls, so when I saw that Power was back with another book, I was very, very excited. This book is about the different ways we pass our sins on through our family, but very specifically what does a mother pass on to her daughter, to her granddaughter? Margot's life has always been just her and her mother, no information about anyone else, until one day she discovers the phone number of her grandmother. This leads her on a search for family, but what other secrets will be revealed?

There are some horror elements, but I almost prefer this one to other horror stories I've read, where the suspense builds and the actual gore is somewhat limited.

This is such a good gamer story about what doxxing (releasing information about where someone online actually lives so they can be harassed) can really do. I also appreciated that they showed how hard it can be to track.

I honestly loved the Divya sections much more than the Aaron sections. The struggle of being a successful female gamer/streamer was more interesting to me than a male gamer who isn't getting paid by the indie studio (although I suspect that is more common than I think) and whose parents aren't entirely supportive. It does illuminate different parts of the gaming world, but I really thought the Divya/Beckah parts were powerful and would have loved even more of that.

Amora is destined to be queen of Visidia based on her bloodline. All she has to do is pass a demonstration of her soul magic, showing how an execution is done. When that goes awry, she joins the pirate Bastian to perform another demonstration that will prove her ability to lead. Nothing goes smoothly, of course.

I read some so-so reviews about this book before I read it, but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Amora's magic is gnarly, and wouldn't be my preferred magical type, but I guess she doesn't have a choice. I was annoyed that her father kept everything from her and she hadn't found anything out, but I did enjoy the general questing, the stowaway, and that the love triangle isn't the center stage part of the book.