Eight Books That Will Get You in the Back to School Spirit (Or Make You Run Screaming from the Memory of High School)

Whether you're in high school, college, or far removed from both, I'm of the opinion that that "back to school" time affects us all. It's a season of fresh starts and learning and office supplies (I can't be the only one obsessed with office supplies). Pick from my carefully curated list below to reminisce about or get excited for going back to class!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Goodreads │ Amazon

The perfect book about being whisked away to a magical school to learn strange and frightening things. Even if you're a Muggle, it's hard not to get the urge to jump on the Hogwarts Express and head back to school after reading this first installment of Harry Potter. The new illustrated edition is even more magical than the OG.

Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Goodreads │ Amazon

From the author of the beloved Princess Diaries series, Avalon High mixes high school with Arthurian legend in a fun and engrossing way. Your school may frown on showing up with a coat of armor or horse though, so don't get too carried away.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Goodreads │ Amazon

On a more somber note, Speak shows the side of high school no one wants to talk about, including the protagonist. This novel is so powerful and moving and important. A must-read.

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Goodreads │ Amazon

Have you ever seen those girls in high school that seem so perfect, like they have it all together? Emily, Aria, Hana, and Spencer were those girls, until their best friend and leader Alison disappeared. Now they're getting threatening notes from an anonymous "A" that leads them to believe that Alison may not be gone after all. You may have seen the show on TV, but the book series has a completely different conclusion, and is equally enjoyable.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Goodreads │ Amazon

Dropping down to the middle school era, Wonder is the heartwarming story of Auggie, born with a facial defect that's prevented him from attending school before 5th grade. As Auggie navigates his new school, he also has to deal with the way his classmates and teachers look at and treat him differently. Told from several different perspectives, Wonder is a beautiful story about kindness and acceptance in one of the harshest environments humans can suffer: middle school.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Goodreads │ Amazon

When a girl named Stargirl starts attending Mica High, a school where conformity is key, Leo and his classmates don't know what to think. Stargirl is unapologetically strange, but also incredibly kind. As the high school sways in public opinion over whether Stargirl is in or out, Leo gets to know her and her way of thinking and is changed forever. Stargirl is such a sweet novel, an authentic tale of being yourself in a world that often seems mass produced. 

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Goodreads │ Amazon

Eleanor and Park is an adorable first love story that starts on the bus, with a Walkman and a few comic books. I love the way Eleanor and Park's relationship builds up from friendship to something epic, despite the pressures of high school and home life. 

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads │ Amazon

Maggie Stiefvater writes nothing but gold, and The Raven Boys is no exception. The first in a series, this novel follows Blue, born into a house of clairvoyants, and Adam, Gansey, Ronan, and Noah, students at the exclusive private school Aglionby. Magic runs amock as their paths cross and fates and legends come into play. One of my absolute favorites.

Rust and Stardust, or, the One in Which I Mostly Lose All Hope for Mankind

Rust and Stardust by T. Greenwood

Pages: 368

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 7th, 2018
Cover Comments: This is a beautiful cover, and every element in it: the red ribbon, the stars in the background, and the way the ribbon is worn and tattered, speaks to the book's plot and feel.

First Lines: "The girls at school had a club, a secret club with secret rules."

Goodreads 丨 Amazon

Camden, NJ, 1948.

When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute—unless she does as he says.
This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way. 

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Review

What a tragic novel, about a tragic life. There should be no surprise going in that this is a very sad novel, about the life of Sally Horner, the inspiration behind Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Sally is slyly abducted from her life in Camden, NJ, after she steals a notebook on a dare from classmates and is apprehended by a man who tells her he is with the FBI. The events that follow are equally unbelievable and upsetting. 

T. Greenwood pulls from the facts of real events, but adds her own take on what might have happened in between the stark realities we know from Sally's case. Points of view swap between Sally, her mother, her sister, and other people Sally encounters throughout her harrowing journey. The changing around of POV lent interesting perspectives to Sally's story. Alongside the horror of Sally's life in Frank LaSalle's clutches, we have Sally's mother wondering why Sally would have gone with this man, Sally's sister Ella worrying about her sister as well as her young child, and various sympathetic characters who meet Sally and realize that something isn't right.

I had never heard of Sally Horner before picking up this book, so I was on the edge of my seat as her story progressed, amazed at how many opportunities passed by where someone, even Sally herself, could have saved her from her situation. In the beginning, I found myself frustrated as Sally let her politeness and fear of authority and the law keep her from saying anything to anyone until it was almost too late. I bristled at the myriad suggestions that characters made that Sally had done this to herself by going "willingly" and that she had a part in the blame for the sexual acts LaSalle forced on her. As much as I wanted to blame these things on Sally being a young girl in 1948, these same issues could be keeping girls today from getting the help that they need. 

I hesitate to give Rust and Stardust a full five stars because I thought that Sally's reasoning for not escaping or telling someone about her situation was not written very convincingly, and Sally's inner monologue throughout this whole book did not quite ring true for me. She's constantly confused by LaSalle's identity and why he is doing these things to her, but her thoughts never made this inner conflict very clear. Obviously, LaSalle deluded the real Sally Horner for years, but I felt it could have been written more convincingly than it was here.

As heartbreaking as Rust and Stardust is, I felt that T. Greenwood did well at not using the abuse that Sally endured for their shock factor. There were abuse scenes that were nauseating and starkly painted, illustrating Sally's fear and shame, but brief and non-graphic. Even throughout all the hardships that Sally had to bear throughout her captivity, I was touched by the notes of hope throughout the novel. Sally finds friends in unlikely places - a traveling circus member, her next door neighbor in her trailer park, a friend in her school whom she dares to tell her real name. These are mostly details fabricated by Greenwood, but I hope that the real Sally was able to find these lights in a dark sky too.

4/5 stars

I received this novel through a giveaway on Goodreads. This in no way affects my opinion.

Six August Releases I'm Super Excited About

Hi friends! There are so many good books coming out this month, so I thought I'd round up a list of my most anticipated new releases. From light contemporaries to epic fantasies, it's a good month for new reads.


1. Nightblood by Elly Blake

Release Date: August 21st, 2018

Goodreads │ Amazon 

Ruby's world has changed more than she ever could have imagined. She's in love with a powerful Frost King. She's the heir to the Fire Throne. And she may be a Nightblood--the spawn of a vengeful deity hellbent on releasing his wraithlike Minax from their prison. Once freed, these beasts will roam the earth, devouring every last person until he or she is nothing but an empty husk. But Ruby is able to control the Minax to a degree, and now she, her beloved Arcus, and her friend Kai must find a way to bring Frostbloods and Firebloods--sworn enemies--together to make a stand against a foe more deadly than any they've faced.

In this heart-pounding finale of Elly Blake's gorgeously written and action-packed Frostblood Saga, the fate of Frostbloods, Firebloods, and all of humanity is at stake.

I've really enjoyed the Frostblood series by Elly Blake (check out my review of Frostblood here). I love elemental magic, an interesting romance and a strong, complicated female lead, and this series has got it all in spades. There were some interesting mythology & world building developments in Fireblood that has me super excited to continue the series.

Side note: does "Nightblood" make you think of something from another fandom?

2. Rust and Stardust by T. Greenwood

Release Date: August 7th, 2018

Goodreads │Amazon

Camden, NJ, 1948.

When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute—unless she does as he says. 

This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way.

I was lucky enough to win an advanced copy of this book on Goodreads, and it's next on my list. It sounds chilling, and already has great advanced reviews, so I think it'll be a memorable read. 

3. That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

Release Date: August 28th, 2018

Goodreads 丨 Amazon

It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story--that she died proclaiming her faith. 

But it's not true. 

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did--and didn't--happen that day. 

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up...

School shootings are obviously a heavy and emotionally charged topic, and I'm interested to see how Keplinger tackles the subject. I read and really enjoyed her previous novel The DUFF, and I hope she fares as well on a more series subject.

4. The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby

Release Date: August 7th, 2018

Goodreads 丨 Amazon

Girl Online meets Wild in this emotionally charged story of girl who takes to the wilderness to rediscover herself and escape the superficial persona she created on social media.

Mari Turner’s life is perfect. That is, at least to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down and posts a video confessing she’s been living a lie—that she isn’t the happy, in-love, inspirational online personality she’s been trying so hard to portray—it goes viral and she receives major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir trail. Mari and her late cousin, Bri, were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday. But that was before Mari got so wrapped up in her online world that she shut anyone out who questioned its worth—like Bri.

With Bri’s boots and trail diary, a heart full of regret, and a group of strangers that she meets along the way, Mari tries to navigate the difficult terrain of the hike. But the true challenge lies within, as she searches for the way back to the girl she fears may be too lost to find: herself.

 

I love to see the issue of the disconnect between social media and our real lives addressed in a book. This one sounds so interesting, and I love the hiking aspect. I read Moonglass by Jessie Kirby back in 2011 and found it just so-so, but I have high hopes for this one.

5. Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America

Release Date: August 14th, 2018

Goodreads 丨 Amazon

From Amy Reed, Ellen Hopkins, Amber Smith, Sandhya Menon, and more of your favorite YA authors comes an anthology of essays that explore the diverse experiences of injustice, empowerment, and growing up female in America.

This collection of twenty-one essays from major YA authors—including award-winning and bestselling writers—touches on a powerful range of topics related to growing up female in today’s America, and the intersection with race, religion, and ethnicity. Sure to inspire hope and solidarity to anyone who reads it, Our Stories, Our Voices belongs on every young woman’s shelf.

This anthology features essays from Martha Brockenbrough, Jaye Robin Brown, Sona Charaipotra, Brandy Colbert, Somaiya Daud, Christine Day, Alexandra Duncan, Ilene Wong (I.W.) Gregorio, Maurene Goo. Ellen Hopkins, Stephanie Kuehnert, Nina LaCour, Anna-Marie McLemore, Sandhya Menon, Hannah Moskowitz, Julie Murphy, Aisha Saeed, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Amber Smith, and Tracy Walker.

Can I get a yassssss? I'm so pumped to see a nonfiction anthology by diverse female writers for young female readers. This sounds so inspirational and thought-provoking.

6. Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Release Date: August 28th, 2018

Goodreads 丨 Amazon

Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming--especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understand that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush--the original Persian version of his name--and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

Okay, how amazing is this? It makes me so happy to see diverse authors and subjects in YA. Exploring a different culture alongside an lgbtq teen dealing with mental health sounds all kinds of relevant and illuminating. These are topics that need to be written about more often. Also, check out the FAQ on the author's page to learn (as I just did) not to ask *that* question.

That's all folks! Any new releases you're excited about this month that I've passed over?

Cover Love (2): Since We Last Spoke

Cover Love is a bookish meme that I'm starting every Wednesday in which we select our favorite recent cover reveals! Feel free to join in on the linky below.

 

My pick for this week is the lovely Since We Last Spoke by Brenda Rufener. 

 

Release Date: April 2nd, 2019

Goodreads │ Amazon

When true love is shattered by tragedy—how much would you risk to save it all?

When Aggi Frank and Max Granger finally admitted their feelings for each other last December, it felt like love was beautiful and endless... until it wasn’t.

A fatal car accident involving their older siblings throws their lives into sudden chaos. And with a restraining order now in place between the two bitter households, Aggi and Max’s love runs cold. Being together again seems like a distant fantasy, even though they share the same driveway.

Still, Plum Lake is a small town, and staying apart can’t last forever. Aggi and Max eventually reunite at a lake-house party hosted by a mutual friend and break the ice after a year of silence. But just as they begin to rebuild their relationship, the unthinkable happens when Aggi’s little sister, Grace, flees from home after their father spirals into a fit of rage. With a support system of friends close by, Aggi and Max must confront each other and their families in the hopes of mending all the broken pieces.

Perfect for fans of Jennifer Niven and Nicola Yoon, Brenda Rufener’s (Where I Live) second heartbreaking and uplifting novel captures the ups and downs of star-crossed lovers in the face of unimaginable grief, the fragile balance of their family relations, and the rocky journey to healing, peace, and forgiveness.

I love everything about this cover. The snow and tress, the font and color of the title, the two houses blowing smoke, the two figures standing on opposite sides of the driveway, the way the trees form the shape of a heart.

 I haven't read Brenda Rufener's debut, Where I Live, but I definitely want this pretty thang on my shelves. Happy reading!

Series Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver, or the One Where Love is a Disease and I Can't Really Argue That

The Delirium Series by Lauren Oliver

        The Delirium series by Lauren Oliver consists of three books, and four novellas. I read the first book, Delirium, in 2011 and only a short seven years later, I just finished Requiem! If you haven't heard of this series yet, it's a dystopian novel that takes place in a world that has outlawed love, aka the disease amor deliria nervosa. While I absolutely love the idea of love as a disease, along with the accompanying "side effects", you really have to suspend disbelief to inhabit the world of Delirium. Once done though, it's a wonderful story.

Symptoms of Amor Deliria Nervosa

PHASE ONE:
-preoccupation; difficulty focusing
-dry mouth
-perspiration, sweaty palms
-fits of dizziness and disorientation
-reduced mental awareness; racing thoughts; impaired reasoning skills

PHASE TWO:
-periods of euphoria; hysterical laughter and heightened energy
-periods of despair; lethargy
-changes in appetite; rapid weight loss or weight gain
-fixation; loss of other interests
-compromised reasoning skills; distortion of reality
-disruption of sleep patterns; insomnia or constant fatigue
-obsessive thoughts and actions
-paranoia; insecurity

PHASE THREE (CRITICAL):
-difficulty breathing
-pain in the chest, throat or stomach
-complete breakdown of rational faculties; erratic behavior; violent thoughts and fantasies; hallucinations and delusions

PHASE FOUR (FATAL):
-emotional or physical paralysis (partial or total)
-death

If you fear that you or someone you know may have contracted deliria, please call the emergency line toll-free at 1-800-PREVENT to discuss immediate intake and treatment.

      The story centers on Lena, a normal girl living in Portland where she meets Alex and contracts the dread disease amor deliria nervosa. I thought the love story between Alex and Lena was very well done and sweet, building up instead of going straight for the instalove. There are two main love interests in the books, Alex and Julian, and lots of complex circumstances involving each of the relationships that I won't spoil for you. Oliver manages to give each of the romances its own tone and meaning while never really straying into love triangle territory.

“I love you. Remember. They cannot take it.”

      The last book in the series, Requiem, is foremost in my mind and where most of my complaints about the series rest. In Requiem, I found the plot to be very slow for most of the book, with too much focus on angst, and some questionable decision making and blindness on Lena's part. However, I thought the ending was a perfect wrap on the series, and left me with this inspiring passage:

“Take down the walls.
That is, after all, the whole point.
You do not know what will happen if you take down the walls; you cannot see through to the other side, don't know whether it will bring freedom or ruin, resolution or chaos. It might be paradise or destruction.
Take down the walls.
Otherwise you must live closely, in fear, building barricades against the unknown, saying prayers against the darkness, speaking verse of terror and tightness.
Otherwise you may never know hell; but you will not find heaven, either. You will not know fresh air and flying.
All of you, wherever you are: in your spiny cities, or your one bump towns. Find it, the hard stuff, the links of metal and chink, the fragments of stone filling you stomach.
And pull, and pull, and pull.
I will make a pact with you: I will do it if you will do it, always and forever.
Take down the walls.” 

 I've also read and loved Before I Fall and Panic by Lauren Oliver, and I'd highly recommend them as well. They're very different from this series, but the great writing and characters shine through. I'd also give a lukewarm recommendation to the four novellas that accompany this series. They're enjoyable insights into Hana, Annabel, Alex, and Raven, but definitely skippable if you're not one for bite sized books.

4/5 big faces on covers

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Dare to Love 

***If you buy through the links above, I receive a small percentage of your purchase.  Thank you for supporting your local poor graduate student!! ***

Glass Sword, or, The One In Which Mare Provokes Me to Violence

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Pages: 444

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: February 9th, 2016
Cover Comments: I love these simple and clean covers, and this one is particularly effective with the themes within the book of fragile power.

First Lines: "I flinch. The rag she gives me is clean, but it still smells like blood."

If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different. Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind. Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever? The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

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Review

Oh, Glass Sword. I had such high hopes for this book. I read Red Queen a year or two ago and have fond if slightly fuzzy memories of it. While I still find the world Victoria Aveyard built very interesting, I could. not. stand. the main character, Mare Barrow, in Glass Sword. Herein lies an itemized list of reasons I find Mare unbearable.

1. Can you say high horse?

I can't even count the amount of times that Mare refers to herself as a very important and special person. She goes on and on about the symbol she is to people, the incredible power she wields, and how no one can really understand what she's going through.

I'm playing my tiny sad violin for ya, Mare.

2. Bloodlust.

Okay, I'm all for a hero with flaws or even a really good villain, but Mare is neither. She kills without mercy and seemingly only regrets any of these deaths when they become another reason for her to feel sorry for herself.

3. Prejudice.

Even though Mare thought she was a regular Redblood for most of her life, she now treats Reds without powers as literal scum beneath her boots. She talks about Kilorn, one of her closest friends and one of the few people who stands by her by the end, like this:

"Who is he to question my orders? He's no one. A fish boy with only good luck and my foolishness to protect him. Not like Shade, a teleporter, a newblood, a great man."

For someone who has been treated as "less than" for her whole life, I'm disappointed that Mare would turn this quickly.

4. Empathy = 0%.

Mare has no sympathy for anyone other than Newbloods (only because they are integral to her mission) and herself. She doesn't care about Silvers who have helped her, the deaths of anyone not close to her, or even the fates of thousands of Red children.

5. Cheese with that whine?

Despite being the most horrible person in the book, Mare doesn't seem to realize what a sacrifice others make just being in her presence, and constantly whines about everyone and everything else. She even seems strangely offended by inanimate objects, calling an office "offensively organized" and a door "offensively red".

Mare has definitely had some bad things happen to her, but no more than her other friends, and certainly not enough to warrant her level of whining.

*itemized rant over*

I found the plot to drag throughout most of the book. The romance between Cal and Mare was so awkward and stilted, and Mare's trust issues make it impossible for her to have a real relationship at this point anyway, so it's painful to see her even try. I got so sick and tired of hearing the line "Anyone can betray anyone." Mare takes this advice to strange conclusions, trusting her gut feelings about complete strangers, but watching her back around lifelong friends.

As a result of the above items, I found myself completely unsympathetic to Mare even when horrible things happened to her, so I'm not sure how I'll rally behind her in the next book. However, I'm really interested to see if Maven is really as heartless as he seems, and I hope King's Cage takes Mare's character in a different direction. If not, this quote from my favorite character might ring true:

"Mare, I am very afraid for you. Things have been done to you, things no person should suffer. You've seen horrible things, done horrible things, and they will change you. I'm so afraid for what you could be, if given the wrong chance."

2/5 glass swords

Throwback Titles (2): Tender Morsels, or, The One with All the Man-Bears and Squeamishness

Throwback titles are books that I've been meaning to read for a very, very long time, but have just now gotten around to it. In other words, it's that book you picked up in middle school that may have been a little bit above your reading level, and also happened to have 14 sequels. And what do you, a rational adult do now that you've realized that you stopped a mere five books from finishing the series? Continue, of course.

That's most of my stories, but I consider a throwback title to be any book 5 or more years old. Let's clear these babies out of to-be-reads and remind people of their favorite 2005 novel! I'll be posting a throwback title every Thursday (naturally). Please join in the fun by adding to the linky below and adding my graphic (or one of yours, as long as it links back here) above to your post!

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Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Pages: 436
Publisher: Knopf Books
Publication Date: October 14th, 2008
Cover Comments: This is a beautiful cover, and one of the reasons I was attracted to this novel. It even gives subtle clues about what sadness lies within, in the expression on the girl's face, and the claws digging into her back.
First Lines: "There are plenty would call her a slut for it."

Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?

Review

I read reviews on Tender Morsels before I started it, so I thought I was prepared for the nastier elements of this dark fairy tale: rape, bestiality, etc. Even so, I wasn't prepared for those first few chapters of hopeless cruelty. After I got through that part, I was so relieved for Liga and I was able to settle in and enjoy Margo Lanagan's writing. And y'all, it is gorgeous. So beautiful, in fact, that this book can almost get away with not really having much of a plot for 3/4 of the book. Almost.

Tender Morsels is very much a dark, Brothers-Grimm esque fairy tale, with unpleasant topics out the wazoo. That 3/4 part of the book that I mentioned where nothing much happens? Basically the only thing that happens in that section is the main characters of the book making friends and perhaps a little bit more than friends with bears. To be fair, these bears are men in the true world, but Liga and Branza have no way of knowing that. Not being in a society of any sort, Branza, I suppose, would have no idea of the wrongness of it either though. This whole section made me pretty squeamish, so obviously I tried to intellectualize myself out of the discomfort. Here's what I came up with: Liga would not allow a man with any sexual intentions of any sort into her dream world, especially since she created it after traumatic events involving men. But the growing Liga, who has come to feel safe in her world and perhaps wanting more to life now, is curious about the idea of romance - maybe not even consciously. So in come the bears who are men, but not really men. Her world is trying to find a way to grow with her without breaking the no-men rules of young Liga's world. I also think there must be something symbolic about how only men break into Liga's dream world, and only men of no real threat, either being a "littlee-man" or men in the skin of bears. Anyway, wanna-be English major rant over.

I really enjoyed the last part of the book, in which everyone makes their entry into the true world (I don't feel that that's a spoiler since it's in the synopsis). I love love love the character introduced around this time. As Urdda describes her:

"She had a different kind of boldness, a strength that did not defy that of men so much as ignore it, or take its place without question beside it - Urdda wanted some of that boldness."

Lanagan's writing really shines through this character. Liga and her daughters adjusting to the true world after their dream world reminded me of Room, in which the young boy has to adjust after being trapped in a small, never-changing room. Branza especially can't fathom the cruelty that exists in this true world, although she does have a bit of a bite to her, as we find out. I love this gem of a paragraph below about adjusting to the world:

"Now you are in the true world, and a great deal more is required of you. Here you must befriend real wolves, and lure real birds down from the sky. Here you must endure real people around you, and we are not uniformly kind; we are damaged and impulsive, each in our own way. It is harder. It is not safe. But it is what you were born to."

Verdict: First off, I certainly would not recommend Tender Morsels to anyone under the age of 17, possibly 18, or with anyone who might be triggered by rape scenes. Those scenes are not all that graphic, but they do paint a very clear picture emotionally, which is even harder sometimes. If you are one who devours pretty prose and doesn't mind a meandering plot or themes of bestiality, I'd give this a shot. I give it 3 stars for the writing and the achingly lovely ending.

3/5