The Vanishing Stair

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

The Vanishing Stair is the sequel to Truly Devious which I previously reviewed HERE. If you do not want Truly Devious to be spoiled at all, I would recommend not reading this book review.

You have been warned.

An amazon summary, "In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel in the Truly Devious series, there are more twists and turns than Stevie Bell can imagine. No answer is given freely, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.

The Truly Devious case—an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936—has consumed Stevie for years. It’s the very reason she came to the academy. But then her classmate was murdered, and her parents quickly pull her out of school. For her safety, they say. She must move past this obsession with crime.

Stevie’s willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham, be back with her friends, and solve the Truly Devious case. Even if it means making a deal with the despicable Senator Edward King. And when Stevie finally returns, she also returns to David: the guy she kissed, and the guy who lied about his identity—Edward King’s son.

But larger issues are at play. Where did the murderer hide? What’s the meaning of the riddle Albert Ellingham left behind? And what, exactly, is at stake in the Truly Devious affair? The Ellingham case isn’t just a piece of history—it’s a live wire into the present." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

ALRIGHTTTTT, so brief recap of how book one ended. Hayes had died, Ellie was strongly suspected of having killed him, and fled into the night. Stevie's parents, a bit frreaked out by all the activity on campus, their daughter being in the middle of solving this crime, decided to pull Stevie out of school and bring her home.

Stevie was very non-plussed by that event. Before she had been taken from campus, she discovered a new clue to the famous triple murder, or the Truly Devious case. She brings the tin full of various tiny items everywhere with her. She is obsessed with solving the Ellingham case despite her new circumstances... when a very strange offer comes her way. Her mother calls her home, only for Stevie to find Senator Edward King, father of David King (see previous book for romantic story arc). Stevie's parents are mildly obsessed with Edward King (again, see previous book). Edward King is in Stevie's living room to take her back to Ellingham. Stevie is caught up in the whirlwind that is Edward King where he takes her by private plane back to Ellingham. On the plane, Edward explains that he wants Stevie back on campus to be a calming presence for David, who has gone mildly... psycho while she's been gone. Stevie returns to campus with the instructions to kind of keep David in line. Very, yuck, situation; but she's back on campus!

Stevie returns to find the campus has a new security system set up, but she's quickly acclimated by her friends, and back into her classes. She also has an opportunity to do an internship with an author who wrote one of the most famous books about the Ellingham case. But, David is obsessed with trying to figure out what happened to Ellie, and is determined to have Stevie help him... but he doesn't know that his Dad brought Stevie back to campus.

Dun dun dunnnnnn That's enough summary.

A FANTASTIC SEQUEL. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. THERE'S GOING TO BE A THIRD BOOK.

Still as awesome as the last book, basically, imagine me regurgitating all the awesome things I mentioned about the last book here. Same brilliant story writing. Love, love, love it.

I also want to leave off with some thoughts.

This is spoilers, so don't read any farther if you don't want spoilers. Pretend I left off with a happy reading here and call it a day.

For reals.

So, George Marsh is revealed to be the original kidnapper to both the Ellinghams, That's what Dottie had been trying to tell Albert with her note in the Sherlock Holmes novel. George reveals that the kidnappers he hired to help him, he thought were basically dopes and would follow orders. Turns out he was wrong, and that's basically why Albert's wife died. However, we still don't know what happened to Alice. After the events of everything in this book, I suspect that Edward King, being a rich man, is actually the son of the original kidnappers who knows where Alice is. I suspect he hasn't come forward about Alice because there is something he wants from the Ellingham academy on some level, and also, probably because he doesn't want his wealth taken away or something and ruin his image as a senator. I highly doubt that Alice is alive, but it is entirely possible still. I also have a  sneaking suspicion that someone working for Edward King was set up to murder Stevie's internship author lady because she was either in on the truth, or too close to the truth. How did she know about the tunnels under the Minerva house? Also, I want to say the flour heiress is somehow involved, but I have no idea how. Also, the second note from book one that briefly appeared on Stevie's wall has not been resolved. I only have more questions. While I am enjoying these books so far, I hope there is some form of resolution in book three, even if the series continues into general mystery novels. I love Stevie and can't wait to find out about what case she solves next.

Happy reading!

The Problim Children

The Problim Children by Natalie Lloyd

Even though this was published on January 30, 2018, I read an advance reader's edition. Undoubtedly there are some differences between the version I read and the published edition.

I've also previously read A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd, which is why I decided to try out this book.

That being said, an amazon summary, "With a dash of Lemony Snicket, a dollop of the Addams Family, and a hearty dose of adventure, New York Times bestselling author Natalie Lloyd introduces a new series about seven strange and adventurous siblings who tackle problems together—even when their new neighbors try to tear them apart.

Filled with mystery, humor, and adventure, the first book in this new trilogy is an unforgettable tale of adventure, family, and finding the courage to face any problem heart-first.

When the Problim children’s ramshackle bungalow in the Swampy Woods goes kaboom, the seven siblings—each born on a different day of the week—have to move into their grandpa’s bizarre old mansion in Lost Cove. No problem! For the Problim children, every problem is a gift!

But rumors about their family run rampant in the small town: tales of a bitter feud, a hidden treasure, and a certain kind of magic lingering in the halls of #7 Main Street. Their neighbors, the O’Pinions, will do anything to find the secrets lurking inside the Problim household—including sending the seven children to seven different houses on seven different continents!" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

The Problim Children live out in the woods in a house that has just fallen to crumbles. They find a box which reveals a deed to their grandfather's house in the city of Lost Cove. The Problim Children, each born on a different day of the week, along with their pig and venus fly trap, set off to move into the house, moments before it was going to put up for general sale to the residents of Lost Cove. Their new neighbors, the O'Pinions, and in particular, Desdemona has many thoughts of the Problims moving in next door.

The old mansion is full of secrets, and it's up to the Problim Children to find out what hidden magic may be lying in wait for them. Their parents are off traveling for research, and are not around to help the Problim's solve their problems. Nothing to fear though, when all seven children are together, there's nothing they can't do.

...that's enough summary.

So each of the seven problim children have their own unique nuances (like the baby has a wide variety of toots at his disposal to communicate) and they shine through quite well. There's always a unique hint of magic floating around the Problim children who embrace being odd, different, or dare I say weird as their lifestyle. Which is delightful, but with their attitudes, can lead to some fantastic things.

I liked the story overall, and I would be curious to read the sequel, but sometimes I though the antics of the problim children hindered the story instead of help progress it.

All seven children were well represented, but I would be curious to see more about Mona and less about the twins. Maybe the next book will shift focus.

I really loved this one line in the book, "Make your life the best story you'll ever tell," Page 263 of the advance reader's edition. I'm curious to see what stories the problim children will tell.

Happy reading!

The Wicked King

The Wicked King by Holly Black

This is the sequel to The Cruel Prince, which I reviewed HERE. If you don't want anything ruined about The Cruel Prince, I strongly recommend skipping this blog post...because I'm going to start with a recap of the end of The Cruel Prince after the amazon summary. Look at all this warning I'm giving; that's how you know it's serious.

Also, I love Holly Black. I've gone on about this in previous posts, but just to reiterate, the love and fangirl noises are still real.

An amazon summary, "You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Alright, so where the crazy jaw dropping action left off in The Cruel Prince, only three princes are left who can hold the blood crown; Cardan, Oak, and Balekin. Cardan currently holds the crown and is sworn to follow any orders Jude gives him for a year and a day. Madoc is slighted, Jude still has her dais from Dain (even though he's dead), and Taryn is still going marry Locke. Jude has also worked out that Oak will grow up safely in the mortal world under the care of Vivi so he will not be corrupted by the fey before he becomes king.

The Wicked King begins about five months after the events at the end of The Cruel Prince. Cardan has been a mostly idle king, while Jude runs the throne in the background. She's constantly mitigating risks and trying to be prepared for any crisis that may arise. New fey have come out of different corners of the realm to see exactly what their king is like, and what power they may be able to garner from him... which puts Jude on even more edge.

As Jude anticipates and tries to circumvent all threats, she gets pulled in to a devious plot that sinks her into the murk of just how twisted the fey court can truly be.

That's enough summary.

This book picked up where the last book left off, spirited you off on adventure, had a well balanced cast of characters so there was never too much or too little going on at any one time, and also, managed to finish with another big bang. madness.

...like all books I love, I find it very difficult to talk about it. Mostly because I don't want to ruin anything or over-hype a very specific aspect of it and then ruin it for someone else.

I'm looking forward to the sequel...even though this book just came out.

Happy reading!

Driving by Starlight

Driving by Starlight by Anat Deracine

This story is set in Saudi Arabia. If depictions of women being oppressed upsets you, then I would recommend skipping this book review.

This story was pretty hard for me to read. Growing up in the USA, I've definitely had more freedom than other woman around the world. This book really drove that home for me.

An amazon summary, "Sixteen-year-olds Leena and Mishie are best friends. They delight in small rebellions against the Saudi cultural police―secret Western clothing, forbidden music, flirtations. But Leena wants college, independence―she wants a different life. Though her story is specific to her world (a world where it's illegal for women to drive, where a ten-year-old boy is the natural choice as guardian of a fatherless woman), ultimately it's a story about friendship, family, and freedom that transcends cultural differences." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Leena and Mishie are best friends, and seek out small rebellions against the Saudi cultural police. The book opens with them and a few of the other girls removing their abayas, before taking pictures in their hidden western clothes underneath. They are reprimanded by their headmistress in, well, a strict by nice way as she understands their need to rebel.

Leena's father is in prison for speaking out against the rules in Saudi Arabia. This is problematic for Leena and her mother since they need a chaperone or permission from a man, to do, well a lot of things. So sometimes Leena dresses up as a man to help them do stuff like, buy groceries. Leena also has a passion for law, which, I suspect is because of a combination of reasons. Inheriting her father's passion, her determination to find her own freedom, or to find freedom for others.

...anyways. So Leena really wants to get an internship, to go to university, and to continue her fight towards some semblance of freedom. Her best friend, Mishie, is the daughter of the minister, and her life is very controlled. They make perfect partners searching out for their freedoms...that is until their school merges with another all girl's school and Daria shows up. Everything starts to change, and Leena's fight towards freedom becomes even more aggressive.

That's enough summary.

So, I loved and simultaneously hated this book. I hated reading about how oppressed women are, but I also loved Leena and Mishie's spirits through their hardships. I loved the show of the culture that women forged for themselves rather than only living how men tell them too.

However, I got a little too caught up in the dramatics between the girls to fully appreciate the story. I got lost a few times and had to back to previous chapters to glean a clue that would help with the current page I was on. It was a little maddening, and this felt like a book that should have showed a little more rather than let the readers extrapolate so much.

There's also a moment with Mishie towards the end that I don't think was given any of the gravity that it deserved. Like, it was just accepted and completely moved on, and I wholeheartedly disagree.

It was still a very refreshing in the sense of plunging headfirst into ice waters on a very warm day for just pure culture shock for me, but I don't think that outweighs the pitfalls.

Happy reading!

Small Spaces

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

I usually avoid scary books as I don't really enjoy scaring myself or enabling someone else to scare me. BUT, I do like the scary books that there is something going on beneath the surface, a hint of actual evil, and rather mysterious.

Dun dun dunnnn, an amazon summary, "After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think--she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. 

Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. 
Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small." 

And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Right out of the gate, I have to disagree with how much the amazon summary gives out about the story. Let me try to do better.

Ollie is incredibly smart. She knows her own mind, and isn't afraid to be herself. She withdrew from clubs she participated in after something happened in her life. Her father adores her and tries to support her in her adventures. She's riding her bike home from school one day when she encounters a woman crying next to the river. She's muttering to herself and seems to be about to toss a book into the river. Ollie, who LOVES books, is like OH HELL NAW and kind of asks her some questions to distract her a little bit, and then lunging forward to snatch the book and run away.

She starts to read the book, which is about a young girl who entertains two brothers as suitors. After she makes her choice, the younger brother goes for a walk, and does not return. As Ollie is reading this book, her class takes a field trip to a nearby farm, where things are not as they seem. The bus driver is super creepy, but so are the seeming hundreds of scare crows all around the farm.... why are there so many scare crows, and why should she keep to the "small spaces"?

Dun dun dunnnn

So this book was fantastically creepy in every sense. The story is well paced, everything going on with Ollie has a slow reveal in a good way, and it's not too scary. I also had a good love/hate relationship with the side characters in the story that accompanied Ollie. The dynamics that Ollie have with the adults is also fascinating because she's treated as if she's on their level. I loved it.

I also loved Ollie in general. Everything from how she processed the situations, how she interacted with others, like, I wish I knew Ollie in real life. She's pretty fantastic. 

Besides Ollie, there's a great tone about the book. Almost as if the history of what happened before take on their own character.

I also liked the slow reveal of what was really going down on the farm. I do kind of wish the small spaces theme came back into more prevalent play throughout the story, but it was sufficient.

A good chilling story.

Happy reading!