"Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me."— Stephenie Meyer
Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry Genre: Middle Grade Fiction Date Published: March 14, 2017 Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
A girl with Tourette syndrome starts at a new school and tries to hide her quirks in this debut middle-grade novel in verse.
Astronomy-loving Calliope June has Tourette syndrome, so she sometimes makes faces or noises that she doesn't mean to make. When she and her mother move yet again, she tries to hide her TS. But it isn't long before the kids at her new school realize she's different. Only Calli's neighbor, who is also the popular student body president, sees her as she truly is—an interesting person and a good friend. But is he brave enough to take their friendship public?
As Calli navigates school, she must also face her mother's new relationship and the fact that she might be moving, again, just as she starts to make friends and finally accept her differences.
Forget Me Not is a debut novel by Ellie Terry. This is a story of a young girl with Tourette’s Syndrome and how she copes with life. I wish there could have been a decent adult in her life. I understand her teachers and admin not understanding what was going on. Especially since she and her mother were attempting to keep it secret, but her therapist was also a disappointment. Her mother had no redeeming qualities. She was selfish and pretty useless. So, Calli's forced to figure out a lot of things on her own. It’s written as a short story, and things were definitely rushed a bit, but it also felt like it was unfinished in the end. I mean there was a clear ending, but it all wrapped up so quickly, and it just felt rushed and like something was missing. It's great that she helped herself.. sorta, but that's not realistic for most people.. and certainly not one so young. I wanted the book to show how she could get help. I'm sure there are young people out there that could benefit from some guidance. I love the concept and the characters. I just feel like it needed more.
Ellie Terry writes heartfelt contemporary fiction for middle-grade readers. Her middle-grade debut, a verse novel titled FORGET ME NOT, was published in 2017 by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan. She lives in southern Utah with one husband, three kids, a dog, a hamster, and a snail.
Turned (The Vampire Journals #1) by Morgan Rice Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Paranormal Romance) Date Published: November 14, 2013 Publisher: Self
In TURNED (Book #1 of the Vampire Journals series), 18 year old Caitlin Paine finds herself uprooted from her nice suburb and forced to attend a dangerous New York City high school when her Mom moves again. The one ray of light in her new surroundings is Jonah, a new classmate who takes an instant liking to her.
But before their romance can blossom, Caitlin suddenly finds herself changing. She is overcome by a superhuman strength, a sensitivity to light, a desire to feed--by feelings she does not understand. She seeks answers to what’s happening to her, and her cravings lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. Her eyes are opened to a hidden world, right beneath her feet, thriving underground in New York City. She finds herself caught between two dangerous covens, right in the middle of a vampire war.
It is at this moment that Caitlin meets Caleb, a mysterious and powerful vampire who rescues her from the dark forces. He needs her to help lead him to the legendary lost artifact. And she needs him for answers, and for protection. Together, they will need to answer one crucial question: who was her real father?
But Caitlin finds herself caught between two men as something else arises between them: a forbidden love. A love between the races that will risk both of their lives, and will force them to decide whether to risk it all for each other…
Turned is the first book in the Vampire Journals by Morgan Rice. Caitlin never thought she was anything but human. Now that her vampire instincts are kicking in, she’s not perfect at it. I actually enjoyed that about her. It made her behavior more believable. Because of this she finds herself running for her life.. literally. The instalove felt rushed. I kinda hoped we would have more build up there. All in all, this first book introduced us to Caitlin’s life and her world nicely. I’m curious what happens next.
Morgan Rice is the #1 bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the epic fantasy series THE SORCERER’S RING, comprising seventeen books; of the #1 bestselling series THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, comprising twelve books; of the #1 bestselling series THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY, a post-apocalyptic thriller comprising three books; of the epic fantasy series KINGS AND SORCERERS, comprising six books; of the epic fantasy series OF CROWNS AND GLORY, comprising 8 books; of the new epic fantasy series A THRONE FOR SISTERS, comprising eight books (and counting); and of the new science fiction series THE INVASION CHRONICLES. Morgan’s books are available in audio and print editions, and translations are available in over 25 languages.
Charm (Crave #5) by Tracy Wolff Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal Romance) Date Published: November 8, 2022 Publisher: Entangled: Teen
He's under my skin . . .
After Katmere, I shouldn't be surprised by anything. Including the existence of a world beyond my world called the Shadow Realm. Yet here I am, stuck in a strange, dangerous place with the worst of the supernaturals, the monster that other monsters fear: Hudson Vega. He might be Jaxon's brother and ridiculously hot, but he's a complete bona fide pain in my ass.
The question is whether we'll find a way out before I kill him . . . or run out of time.
She's stealing my heart . . .
It's a truth universally known—at least according to Grace—that everything is my fault. But I have a nasty suspicion that Grace isn't as human as she thinks, and she's the one keeping us trapped. Now we'll have to work together not only to survive, but to save all those we've come to call family who live here.
Because there's something connecting us. Something stronger than fear . . . and way more bloody dangerous.
Charm is the fifth book in the Crave series by Tracy Wolff. I’ve been excited to get my hands on this one! We finally get to see what was going on with Grace and Hudson during those months. You really get to see all of Hudson’s sides. I enjoyed getting to know him even better. Watching his relationship with Grace develop was fun too. I wasn’t sure where the plot was really going for a while. It was entertaining, don’t get me wrong. I just want sure of the “why” of it all. But, not that I’ve read the blurb got the next book, I get it. This part of the story line sets us up perfectly for the next book, and I absolutely can’t wait!
Have you read the other books in this series?
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Tracy Wolff is a lover of vampires, dragons, and all things that go bump in the night. A onetime English professor, she now devotes all her time to writing dark and romantic stories with tortured heroes and kick-butt heroines. She has written all her sixty-plus novels from her home in Austin, Texas, which she shares with her family.
Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Fantasy Romance) Date Published: June 5, 2012 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Shadow and Bone is the first book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I can’t believe I waited so long to read this book. It was fantastic! I haven’t watched the Netflix series yet, so I can’t compare the two, but I definitely will check it out after I finish this trilogy. I love how this story was built and how each character is multidimensional. There is so much going on with them… Inner conflicts along with everything going on around them. You think you get to know them, and they show you more of themselves. This was an intense read, and I feel like I’m in for a crazy ride. I couldn’t put this one down, and I can’t get started on the next one fast enough.
The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke’s house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches.
The boy and the girl had arrived within weeks of each other, two more orphans of the border wars, dirty-faced refugees plucked from the rubble of distant towns and brought to the Duke’s estate to learn to read and write, and to learn a trade. The boy was short and stocky, shy but always smiling. The girl was different, and she knew it.
Huddled in the kitchen cupboard, listening to the grownups gossip, she heard the Duke’s housekeeper, Ana Kuya, say, “She’s an ugly little thing. No child should look like that. Pale and sour, like a glass of milk that’s turned.”
“And so skinny!” the cook replied. “Never finishes her supper.”
Crouched beside the girl, the boy turned to her and whispered, “Why don’t you eat?”
“Because everything she cooks tastes like mud.”
“Tastes fine to me.”
“You’ll eat anything.”
They bent their ears back to the crack in the cupboard doors.
A moment later the boy whispered, “I don’t think you’re ugly.”
“Shhhh!” the girl hissed. But hidden by the deep shadows of the cupboard, she smiled.
In the summer, they endured long hours of chores followed by even longer hours of lessons in stifling classrooms. When the heat was at its worst, they escaped into the woods to hunt for birds’ nests or swim in the muddy little creek, or they would lie for hours in their meadow, watching the sun pass slowly overhead, speculating on where they would build their dairy farm and whether they would have two white cows or three. In the winter, the Duke left for his city house in Os Alta, and as the days grew shorter and colder, the teachers grew lax in their duties, preferring to sit by the fire and play cards or drink kvas. Bored and trapped indoors, the older children doled out more frequent beatings. So the boy and the girl hid in the disused rooms of the estate, putting on plays for the mice and trying to keep warm.
On the day the Grisha Examiners came, the boy and the girl were perched in the window seat of a dusty upstairs bedroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mail coach. Instead, they saw a sleigh, a troika pulled by three black horses, pass through the white stone gates onto the estate. They watched its silent progress through the snow to the Duke’s front door.
Three figures emerged in elegant fur hats and heavy wool kefta: one in crimson, one in darkest blue, and one in vibrant purple.
“Grisha!” the girl whispered.
“Quick!” said the boy.
In an instant, they had shaken off their shoes and were running silently down the hall, slipping through the empty music room and darting behind a column in the gallery that overlooked the sitting room where Ana Kuya liked to receive guests.
Ana Kuya was already there, birdlike in her black dress, pouring tea from the samovar, her large key ring jangling at her waist.
“There are just the two this year, then?” said a woman’s low voice.
They peered through the railing of the balcony to the room below. Two of the Grisha sat by the fire: a handsome man in blue and a woman in red robes with a haughty, refined air. The third, a young blond man, ambled about the room, stretching his legs.
“Yes,” said Ana Kuya. “A boy and a girl, the youngest here by quite a bit. Both around eight, we think.”
“You think?” asked the man in blue.
“When the parents are deceased . . .”
“We understand,” said the woman. “We are, of course, great admirers of your institution. We only wish more of the nobility took an interest in the common people.”
“Our Duke is a very great man,” said Ana Kuya.
Up in the balcony, the boy and the girl nodded sagely to each other. Their benefactor, Duke Keramsov, was a celebrated war hero and a friend to the people. When he had returned from the front lines, he converted his estate into an orphanage and a home for war widows. They were told to keep him nightly in their prayers.
“And what are they like, these children?” asked the woman.
“The girl has some talent for drawing. The boy is most at home in the meadow and the wood.”
“But what are they like?” repeated the woman.
Ana Kuya pursed her withered lips. “What are they like? They are undisciplined, contrary, far too attached to each other. They—”
“They are listening to every word we say,” said the young man in purple.
The boy and the girl jumped in surprise. He was staring directly at their hiding spot. They shrank behind the column, but it was too late.
Ana Kuya’s voice lashed out like a whip. “Alina Starkov! Malyen Oretsev! Come down here at once!”
Reluctantly, Alina and Mal made their way down the narrow spiral staircase at the end of the gallery. When they reached the bottom, the woman in red rose from her chair and gestured them forward.
“Do you know who we are?” the woman asked. Her hair was steel gray. Her face lined, but beautiful.
“You’re witches!” blurted Mal.
“Witches?” she snarled. She whirled on Ana Kuya. “Is that what you teach at this school? Superstition and lies?”
Ana Kuya flushed with embarrassment. The woman in red turned back to Mal and Alina, her dark eyes blazing. “We are not witches. We are practitioners of the Small Science. We keep this country and this kingdom safe.”
“As does the First Army,” Ana Kuya said quietly, an unmistakeable edge to her voice.
The woman in red stiffened, but after a moment she conceded, “As does the King’s Army.”
The young man in purple smiled and knelt before the children. He said gently, “When the leaves change color, do you call it magic? What about when you cut your hand and it heals? And when you put a pot of water on the stove and it boils, is it magic then?”
Mal shook his head, his eyes wide.
But Alina frowned and said, “Anyone can boil water.”
Ana Kuya sighed in exasperation, but the woman in red laughed.
“You’re very right. Anyone can boil water. But not just anyone can master the Small Science. That’s why we’ve come to test you.” She turned to Ana Kuya. “Leave us now.”
“Wait!” exclaimed Mal. “What happens if we’re Grisha? What happens to us?”
The woman in red looked down at them. “If, by some small chance, one of you is Grisha, then that lucky child will go to a special school where Grisha learn to use their talents.”
“You will have the finest clothes, the finest food, whatever your heart desires,” said the man in purple. “Would you like that?”
“It is the greatest way that you may serve your King,” said Ana Kuya, still hovering by the door.
“That is very true,” said the woman in red, pleased and willing to make peace.The boy and the girl glanced at each other and, because the adults were not paying close attention, they did not see the girl reach out to clasp the boy’s hand or the look that passed between them. The Duke would have recognized that look. He had spent long years on the ravaged northern borders, where the villages were constantly under siege and the peasants fought their battles with little aid from the King or anyone else. He had seen a woman, barefoot and unflinching in her doorway, face down a row of bayonets. He knew the look of a man defending his home with nothing but a rock in his hand.
Check out the other books in this trilogy!
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.
