michellehogmire

A personal and intimate story collection, Babak Hodjat’s The Konar and the Apple is a vivid exploration of childhood memories in Iran after the revolution. Drawing on autobiographical material, Hodjat shares defining moments of his lived experience, such as inventing a soccer board game and putting on a play with friends, alongside stark descriptions of the Shah and horrifying scenes of war. This collection eloquently rides the line between upsetting defeat and inspiring triumph; although the narrator has seen appalling violence, he ultimately survives and thrives, for an inspiring and evocative work of autobiographical fiction.

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A summer stay at an uncle’s cottage in England turns into a risky search-and-rescue mission in Doug Weller’s Calico Rae: The Twisted Towers, an entertaining work of middle grade fantasy about the enduring link between people and animals. Twelve-year-old Calico Rae learns that she can command a leopard, and she must put this power to good use when her older brother is kidnapped by an abusive, nefarious being. With some elements of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, Doug Weller’s book stands out for its imaginative characters and perilous plot points that will keep young readers turning the pages.

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The second title in a children’s series about the delightful adventures of a witch, Konstantinos V.E. Adamopoulos’ Badfreaky: The Cherry Snake and the Indecisive Dragon is an entertaining story about good and evil and the dangers that can cross your path. Badfreaky, a formerly bad witch who turned good, struggles against various mystical creatures on the way to achieve her goals. Illustrator Leoni Katsarou’s dynamic illustrations enhance the tale, as well as the interactive puzzles sprinkled throughout. While Badfreaky does touch on serious subjects like mental health, the book is mostly fun and games in an oral history-inflected format, which […]

A young woman time travels from 21^st century Brooklyn to the early 1900s in Carrie Hannah’s captivating work of time travel fiction, Crossing the Dateline: A Historical Novel of Time Travel, Untold Secrets and Mystery. Justine is an overworked 28-year-old whose mom mysteriously left when she was a child. After discovering a portal to the past, Justine unearths the facts about a perplexing painting that explains an enigma about her family. A fascinating historical thriller about the collision between past and present, Hannah’s entertaining work brilliantly twists the grandfather paradox into an original and inventive love story.

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A drunken wedding results in a knotty relationship in Erin Lynne’s witty and sexy romance novel About That Rule – the second title in her About That series. Best friends Samantha and Nate elope during a night of debauchery in Las Vagas and need to wait ninety days before they can legally end the marriage, setting off three months loaded with sexual tension, tantalizing secrets, and inevitable sparks. The outcome to Lynne’s set-up is no doubt predictable, but About That Rule is a funny, sensual, and smartly written friends-to-lovers tale that stands apart in the genre.

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