I received this book from Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review. “While the nymph is growing into its new skin–the very thing that will protect it and hold its shape–it is at its most vulnerable. The act of becoming demands such softness,” (Montrone). Ten-year-old Leo spends her summers at her Nonna Tina’s hotel …
“When someone is your husband or father, that’s simply who they are. You don’t stop to question them, unless you’re given reason to, and they’d never been given reason to,” (Whittall 80). Having prevented a school shooting from taking place eight years prior, George Woodbury is a hero to the Avalon Hills community. He is …
“Family almost always means someone somewhere doesn’t get to be it,” (Smith 224). Petra and Patch remember a time they created a Ghost after hearing a horrifying story as children. Thirty years later, Petra finds a ghost horse making a mess and knows she can do only one thing: call her estranged sister for help. …
“Because if you aren’t unsettled, then there’ll be no sublime,” (Smith 114). In the near-future, two children find themselves alone. After their mother’s boyfriend drops them off at an abandoned house with food, promising to be back in a week while reminding the children not to go outside too often, the siblings wonder about the …
“Men don’t protect us, not really. They only protect themselves, or each other. The only thing men ever protected me from was happiness,” (Tintera 167). Best friends Lucy and Savvy were well-known and loved in their small town. Lucy married a handsome, rich man and Savvy was a friend to all, even friendlier with the …
“Here’s a word. Bereavement. Or, Bereaved. Bereft. It’s from the Old English bereafian, meaning ‘to deprive of, take away, seize, rob’. Robbed. Seized. It happens to everyone. But you feel it alone. Shocking loss isn’t to be shared, no matter how hard you try,” (Macdonald 13). After her father suddenly dies, Helen Macdonald decides to …
“What am I without religion? What am I without the safety of us?” (Jong 119). Tamara Jong explores her life growing up as a devout, practicing Jehovah’s Witness while also understanding the instability of her childhood from her father’s emotional distance to her mother’s alcohol addiction as she comes to lose and understand herself in …
I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review. “You wished for revenge. She heard you. SHE HEARD YOU. Do you understand? SHE! HEARD! YOU!” (Smith 11). After her Sister-Cousin dies on the Highway of Tears, a young Indigenous woman embarks on a journey with her na̱xnox to find the killer and …
I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review. “air escapes lungs / death punctuates / the body, this isn’t the scary part. / loving is. losing someone she loves is,” (panic wrap III, French 162). O and Z find each other during an acid rain storm becoming travelling companions and lovers …
I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review. “Charity is not a bone thrown to a hungry dog. Charity is a bone shared with a dog when you are both hungry. And loneliness is a kind of hunger,” (Welch 242). After an earthquake shakes the Pacific Coast of North America, animals …
Sarah O'Connor 