When You Wish Upon a Lantern by Gloria Chao: A Review

Liya Huang and Kai Jiang were best friends for years before The Biggest Misunderstanding Of All Time ruined everything. Now they haven’t spoken in more than a year. Which is shocking when their parents’ stores are right next to each other. But it also makes a lot of sense since their parents hate each other. Even without Kai, Liya always had her grandmother in her corner. But after Nǎinai’s death, Liya feels lonelier than ever–especially when her parents never seem to want to talk about Nǎinai–or much of anything else if Liya is being honest.

When Liya finds out that the family’s Chicago wishing lantern store is struggling, she’s determined to save it with or without her parents. But big plans to save the store are going to require a lot of help. Which brings Liya back to Kai–the one person who might understand everything the store means to her–and the one person willing to help when Liya decides it’s the perfect time to revive Nǎinai’s tradition of secretly making people’s wishes come true.

Being with Liya now feels like the best parts of their childhood friendship even if Kai wishes they could have more. Liya is also a welcome reprieve from Kai’s frustratingly oblique father and dense-as-a-rock brother. Dealing with them at all is bad enough. It’s so much worse knowing they don’t appreciate Kai’s artistry with the baked goods in their family bakery.

Making wishes into a reality is a lot harder than it looks. Attempts to get a puppy adopted end in tears. A manufactured meet-cute between two senior citizens accidently sparks a love triangle. With Kai by her side, Liya wants to believe it will be enough to save the shop, restore their friendship, and maybe even end their parents’ feud. But that’s a lot of hope to pin on a few paper lanterns.

If they want to grant their own wishes, Liya and Kai will have to confront what–and who–they really want before everything changes again in When You Wish Upon a Lantern (2023) by Gloria Chao.

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Chao’s latest standalone is set in Chicago’s Chinatown community. The story alternates between chapters narrated by Liya and Kai giving readers a wider view of the story behind their disconnect than either protagonist has at the start of the story.

While the main plot is very focused on the wishes and saving the shop, Liya also embarks on a poignant emotional journey as she works through her grief for her beloved grandmother. This tender treatment makes Nǎinai feel like a character in the story as Liya looks back on the life of a woman who touched so many lives. Kai, meanwhile, confronts what it means to have invested so much of himself in the family business when his father and brother have no use for his contributions.

Chao is at the top of her game in When You Wish Upon a Lantern delivering genuine laughs and an adorable romance all at once. Buoyantly hopeful and just a little bit silly, When You Wish Upon a Lantern is an ode to community and friendship in all of their joyful forms. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: The Charmed List by Julie Abe, Throwback by Maurene Goo, A Pho Love Story by Loan Le, Cafe con Lychee by Emery Lee, The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, An Arrow to the Moon by Emily XR Pan, Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks, Recommended For You by Laura Silverman, This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura, Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

You can also read my exclusive interview with Gloria!

Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team by Andrew Maraniss: A Non-Fiction Review

The year is 1976. Women’s Basketball is part of the Summer Olympics for the first time ever. The US women’s basketball team won’t bring home gold but if they play their cards right they could still see themselves on that podium.

What’s even more amazing is the journey the team took to get there.

Nationwide tryouts attracted known athletes and aspiring amateurs, college stars, and women who never had a chance to play on an international stage. Hardscrabble matches made it unclear if the team could even qualify for the Olympics and, when they did, the coaches realized that the US Olympic committee had so little faith in them that they hadn’t allotted beds for them at the Olympic pavillion.

In Canada things aren’t much better with the sixteen-woman team crammed into a two room flat filled with bunk beds and one bathroom for them to share.

Everyone knew that the 1972 passage of Title IX would change everything when it came to collegiate sports for women. Four years later, the US Women’s Basketball team has a chance to prove just how much. Getting to the Olympics is already going to change the landscape of women’s sports for years to come. But only one team will ever be the first in Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team by Andrew Maraniss (2022).

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Maraniss takes a holistic approach to this story offering backgroun on the sport and women’s role in basketball from its inception in Canada right up to the 1976 Olympics alongside chapters detailing the major players in the 1976 and the team’s journey to the Olympics. With a roster filled with women who go on to leave a lasting impact on basketball as both players and coaches, basketball fans will recognize many of the key figures including Billie Moore, Lusia Harris, Pat Head and so many more.

Inaugural Ballers does assume a basic knowledge of basketball for readers so some descriptions of game play might go over the heads of readers not well-versed in the game. That said, even with little to no understanding of basketball or the 1976 Olympics, Maraniss does an excellent job laying out the stakes for the Olympic game and also detailing the team’s lasting legacy on women’s sports to follow. Talking about the 1976 Olympics also goes hand in hand with detailing the impact of Title IX on school and collegiate athletics programs and the disparity the women’s team faced while being at the literal top of their game–feminist concerns that Maraniss unpacks throughout the story without ever bogging down the narrative.

Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team is the best kind of narrative non-fiction filled with high stakes, memorable characters, and team you have to cheer on.

Possible Pairings: Courage to Soar by Simone Biles, No Stopping Us Now by Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Let Me Play by Karen Blumenthal, Pillow Talk by Stephanie Cooke and Mel Valentine Vargas, Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa, Gender Inequality in Sports by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, My Shot by Elena Delle Donne, Attucks! by Phillip M. Hoose, The Matchless Six by Ron Hotchkiss, One Life by Megan Rapinoe, Game Changers by Molly Schiot, Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin, Hoops by Matt Tavares, Play Like a Girl by Misty Wilson and David Wilson

It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano: A Review

Yasmín Treviño is determined to make the most of her sophomore year after her first year of high school was largely a wash thanks to Hurricane Humphrey. Yasmin is ready for this year to be different. She’s going to dominate marching band. She’s going to finally steal the first chair spot in the flute section from her best friend Sofia. She’s going to build up her college application materials. And she’s going to keep pining after her safe (as in totally unattainable) crush drum major Gilberto Reyes. It’s going to be a great year.

Except almost immediately things start to go wrong. After seeing videos of bullying at a band camp party, Yasmin is certain the right thing to do is report the incident. Which she does. Except the school administrators only notice the underage drinking. And suspend the entire low brass section including Sofia’s gross boyfriend.

Turns out low brass is kind of important for a marching band. And Yasmin’s fellow band members are less interested in her one girl crusade against bullying and more concerned how they can have a marching band without low brass. Which is how Yasmin finds herself abandoning flute (just for the season) to learn how to play the tuba alongside the ragtag group of freshman boys who comprise the low brass replacements.

Yasmin is surprised by how quickly, and how well, she starts to fit in with the “low brass-holes” in her new section including taciturn section leader Bloom. But making new friends doesn’t change the fact that Sofia seems to hate Yasmin and doesn’t have any patience left for what Yasmin always thought was a friendly rivalry.

With a mean-spirited gossip account documenting every one of Yasmin’s missteps and the end-of-semester band competition getting closer, Yasmin is going to have to march double time if she wants to make good on her plans to have the best sophomore year ever in It Sounds Like This (2022) by Anna Meriano.

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It Sounds Like This is narrated by Yasmin who is Mexican American. Set in Texas, the story has a lot of diversity among the main and supporting cast including characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Yasmin’s Catholicism is also a part of the story as she tries to find a sponsor for her quickly approaching Yasmin’s sister Ellen is nonbinary and Bloom is asexual with both asexual and aromantic identities being explored further in the story.

Anyone who lived through 2020 will appreciate Yasmin’s desperation to make the most of things once her school goes back to normal but even the most patient of readers might be frustrated by Yasmin’s singular focus on succeeding–often while steamrolling those around her. Yasmin tells readers repeatedly that her rivalry with Sofia is friendly but her actions and the way she speaks to Sofia about it tell a different story. While Meriano depicts and authentic and honest friend breakup between the two, we never really see Yasmin owning up to how her own bad behavior contributed to their deteriorating friendship. A strong and well-developed cast of supporting characters help to make up for the relative lack of nuance in Yasmin as a main character.

It Sounds Like This is deeply grounded in all things marching band and sure to be a treat for anyone familiar with (or hoping to learn more) about that life.

Possible Pairings: Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi, Ophelia After All by Raquel Marie, Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina, Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills, The Trouble With Destiny by Lauren Morrill, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

Lovely War by Julie Berry: A Review

December, 1942: The Second World War is at its height when two beautiful people make their way through the lobby of a glamorous Manhattan hotel seeming like none of the worlds ills can touch them. In some ways, that’s true. But in others the Greek goddess Aphrodite and her love Ares are intimately familiar with the very human woes of war. After all, isn’t it all something they’ve seen so many times before? Caught out by her husband Hephaestus, Aphrodite promises to tell him a story that will break even an angry god’s heart in exchange for her freedom.

It starts in 1917 when everyone thought one war would be enough to end all wars. Hazel and James meet at a London party. James is about to start basic training; Hazel on the verge of a conservatory education and career as a pianist. But love has a way of throwing everything off course even when the two are separated all too quickly after that first electric meeting.

Their paths cross and hopelessly intertwine with another couple–or another would-be couple because Aphrodite, of course, would never interfere in human affairs–when Hazel meets cynical Colette. A Belgian singer who is sure love is lost to her after the war’s early tragedies, Colette is unprepared for the immense feeling and the promise of a second chance when she encounters a young Black soldier named Aubrey. As a member of the 15th New York Infantry, Aubrey and the rest of his all African-American regiment are ready to fight and hopefully to make some good music along the way too now that jazz is finally taking off.

Across a backdrop of danger, trauma, and prejudice Aphrodite weaves a tale of love and war. But, as Aphrodite knows better than most, only one of them is strong enough to overcome every obstacle–and it’s not war in Lovely War (2019) by Julie Berry.

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Lovely War is a richly detailed and thoroughly researched story that integrates elements from Greek mythology with carefully depicted historical fiction. Check out the audiobook for a vibrant full cast production.

Berry is at the top of her game in this multi-layered story primarily narrated by Aphrodite with interludes from other gods including Ares and Hades all closely following Hazel, James, Colette, and Aubrey. Moments of melancholy and violence inherent to a story set during wartime are interspersed with bright, vivid moments of love and friendship between the four main characters as their stories–and their lives–are inextricably woven together.

In less expect hands, Lovely War could have become a dense and unwieldy story. Instead, with Berry’s expert prose, Lovely War is an evocative and vivid story of war, hope, grief and–of course–of the ultimate strength and power of love. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Masters of Death by Olivie Blake, The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, The Fountains of War by Ruta Sepetys, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Practice Girl be Estelle Laure: A Review

“I guess that’s what life is. I guess we don’t get to be just happy or sad or winners or losers or in love or not. We have to be people and that means always being mysteries, even to ourselves.”

All seventeen-year-old Jo Beckett wants is to be in love. Maybe, if she finds the right boy, she’ll finally be able to fill the gaping hole left behind by her father’s death and the way her mother seems to have fully moved on with her second husband and Jo’s four-year-old half-sister.

Jo has fallen for a few boys. She’s hoped.

They’ve never fallen for her. But Jo is grateful they can still be friends. That’s easier when the boys are all on the wrestling team her father used to coach and she now manages. Isn’t it?

Then Jo learns the truth at a party. The boys might see her. But not as a friend and certainly not as a potential girlfriend. They never have. Instead, Jo is a “practice girl”–the perfect girl to hook up with before getting serious with someone else.

The revelation is devastating. And infuriating. But it’s not one Jo is going to let define her as she tries to find her way back to herself in Practice Girl (2022) by Estelle Laure.

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Practice Girl is an emotionally raw story. Jo’s loneliness and grief are palpable as she struggles to figure out how she became a girl that so many people are willing to dismiss. Jo and most main characters are cued as white.

After finding out how the wrestling team sees her, Jo decides to join the team to prove her worth to the boys–and herself. Training again for the first time since leaving the junior high team forces Jo to confront her complicated feelings about her father–a legendary high school coach but a flawed husband and father–while also pushing her limits to get back in condition for upcoming matches. The structure of the wrestling season and Jo’s matches offers the perfect contrast to the introspective narration and shadow work Jo does throughout this story.

Additionally, Jo examines her fraught relationship with best friend Sam (and his girlfriend) as well as the path that led Jo to think she couldn’t be friends with other girls. With help and support from unlikely places including old friends and Sam’s wrestling rival, Jo starts to dismantle the internalized misogyny that has informed a lot of her high school career while also calling it out among the team.

Practice Girl is a visceral,  provocative story about a girl learning how to embrace love–both in the world and for herself.

Possible Pairings: A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley, It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood, The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, The Best Laid Plans by Cameron Lund, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado, We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian, My Eyes Are Up Here by Laura Zimmerman

Crying in the Bathroom by Erika L. Sanchez: A Non-Fiction Review

Erika Sanchez grew up in Chicago in the 1990s. The daughter of Mexican immigrants she grew up knowing how to laugh and how to cause trouble for her family and anyone else caught in her vortex.

A lot has changed in the intervening years. Now she’s a renowned poet and novelist. She’s in love. She’s started a family. She’s happy more often than not.

But before that she had to get through the year her vagina broke, a soul-sucking corporate job, an affair with a man that lasted longer than it should have after she learned he was married, and several episodes of debilitating depression. All of which she talks about in Crying in the Bathroom (2022) by Erika L. Sanchez.

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Sanchez’s memoir is raw and authentic as she explores personal autonomy, humor, colorism and beyond in this essay collection which she also reads for the audiobook. At times abrasive and sharp, Sanchez’s struggles are grounded in authenticity as she struggles through depression, tries to reconcile her understanding of her adult identity with motherhood, and explores the cultural nuances of humor.

Crying in the Bathroom is an exploration of navigating adulthood and growing up that is often funny, sometimes cringey, and always relatable.

Possible Pairings: Fruit Punch by Kendra Allen, Black Dove by Ana Castillo, This is Really Happening by Erin Chack, Finding Me by Viola Davis, This Will Be Funny Later by Jenny Pentland, Making a Scene by Constance Wu

*An advance listening copy of this title was provided by the publisher through Libro.fm*

Last Chance Dance by Lakita Wilson: A Review

Smarting from her parents’ divorce in eighth grade, Leila Bean thinks it must be fate when she meets cute Dev Rajan while shopping for schools supplies the summer before freshman year. A habitual viewer of reality dating competitions, she knows better than to waste the opportunity.

Four years later, Leila and Dev are easily their high school’s most unproblematic couple. Which is why Leila is devastated when Dev decides to break up with her just before graduation instead of taking their relationship long-distance during college. Aside from the confusion of being out of a committed relationship for essentially the first time, Leila is devastated that this will be her biggest memory from high school.

Leila is skeptical when her best friend suggests the distraction Leila needs is to take part in her school’s annual Last Chance Dance. As its name suggests, the dance will give Leila a chance to match with 3 unrequited crushes (if the interest is mutual) and one algorithm-chosen wild card.

No one is more surprised than Leila when she’s matched with all of her crushes–and her longtime nemesis. Going on dates with athletic Kai, activist Mason, and bookstagrammer Eva is fun but the biggest surprise for Leila is that class clown Tre’–orchestrator of her biggest humiliation in eighth grade (and possibly her entire life)–might be an actual contender for a date and maybe even more in Last Chance Dance (2023) by Lakita Wilson.

Find it on Bookshop.

Leila and most of the characters in her Maryland neighborhood school are Black; characters fall across the LGBTQ+ spectrum including bisexual Eva and “masculine presenting lesbian” Bree. Dev is cued as Indian American and Hindu.

Opinions will vary but this adult reader was unable to willingly suspend enough disbelief to buy into a school sanctioning a very complicated dance like the Last Chance Dance and balked at Leila’s pride in acting like half of an old married couple with Dev at the novel’s start. While some readers might have a hard time getting in Leila’s head when it comes to her singular focus on relationships, the story does a lot to tease out her motivations and flesh out her character.

Wilson’s breezy narrative and the inventive premise ultimately make a winning combination in Last Chance Dance where Leila learns how to trust again while figuring out how to define herself outside of her relationship status.

Possible Pairings: Dramatically Ever After by Isabel Bandeira, Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett, Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant, I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest, The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar, Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

*A more condensed version of this review appeared as a review in an issue of School Library Journal*

The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider: A Review

In the great kingdom of Camelot, Arthur is reluctant to embrace his position as prince and future king even after pulling the sword from the stone. He was drunk, it was a joke! How can an old sword mean he’s destined to be a great hero when he would much rather be a botanist who spends all his time in the library?

Lancelot is happy to flirt with almost anyone who crosses his path. Except the last time he picked very badly and everything went very wrong leaving him demoted to a castle guard instead of following his dreams of becoming a knight who will faithfully serve Arthur.

Emry Merlin’s future has never been as certain as her twin brother’s. It’s always been clear that Emmett would be the child to follow in their father’s footsteps serving as Camelot’s court wizard. Nevermind that Emry works harder and better when it comes to all things magic. Instead, Emry settles for using her magic to create alarmingly realistic stage effects.

At least, she used to.

With the sword out of the stone, things are changing in Camelot and Emmett is summoned to court to take up his role as court wizard. Except he can’t go. Which the current king, Uther, is not going to appreciate. At. All.

It seems simpler–and safer–for everyone if Emry go instead. It’s not hard to disguise herself as Emmett. It will only be a week. Except the longer Emry spends at court the more she’s caught up in the court’s intrigues and scandals, more drawn to Arthur’s inner circle, and even his longtime enemies like Lord Gawain. The more time Emry spends at court the more she learns about her magic. The more she finds herself drawn to Arthur.

When secrets are revealed and alliances threatened, Emry will have to choose between her own ambition and the prince she’s come to love in The Other Merlin (2021) by Robyn Schneider.

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The Other Merlin is the first book in Schneider’s Arthurian duology which continues in The Future King. Most characters are cued as white with characters falling across the LGBT spectrum notably including our narrator Emry who is bisexual.

With irreverent banter, anachronisms, and a healthy dose of teen spirit The Other Merlin is a fresh a take on familiar source material. Emry breathes new life into Camelot as she contemplates how privilege (especially in the form of wealth) and gender identity offer different characters wildly different opportunities. Emry knows she is as deserving, possibly more deserving, than her brother to act as court wizard. Whether the rest of Camelot will be able to see that beyond her gender remains to be seen in this first installment.

Multi-faceted characters, numerous side plots, and lots of action and humor make The Other Merlin a page-turning adventure. Readers faithful to the Arthurian canon may be flummoxed by Schneider’s numerous changes but those looking for an original retelling will appreciate her interpretations and updates.

Possible Pairings: Once & Future by AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy, Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend: A Non-Fiction Review

You’ve read the story of Jesse James
of how he lived and died.
If you’re still in need;
of something to read,
here’s the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

You might think you know the story of Bonnie and Clyde–the love struck couple who went on a crime spree throughout Texas in the 1930s. Over the years they have been immortalized in stories, songs, and on film.

Thanks to the advent of photography, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were documented in newspapers which printed Bonnie’s poetry left behind after a fortuitous flight from a safe house. The media and the public were quick to latch onto these ill-fated young people ready to cast them as a modern answer to Robin Hood.

Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend (2018) by Karen Blumenthal unpacks this sensationalized story to look at the facts.

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By examining the poverty of their neighborhood and the other barriers they faced growing up in Texas Blumenthal tries to offer some explanation of how two poorly educated teens became two of the most notorious criminals of our time.

Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend is a quick and informative read with numerous photos and first-person accounts from witness statements. Recommended for true crime enthusiasts and mystery readers of all ages.

Possible Pairings: Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow, Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller

The Brilliant Death by A. R. Capetta: A Review

Everyone in Vinalia knows that magic and the streghe who use it only exist in stories. Or they did before Vinalia’s unification under the Capo and rumors that magic has returned to Vinalia.

No one knows that Teodora di Sangro is a strega who can change people into objects. For Teo and her siblings family has always been fate, forcing them into roles they may not want. Teo is proud to belong to one of the Five Families. But she also knows that as a girl she will never truly have a place at the table the way her brothers do.

Desperate for her father’s approval, Teo takes it upon herself to address any threats to the family. Instead of killing their enemies, Teo uses her secret strega magic to transform them into objects like music boxes or mirrors that decorate her room.

When the Capo’s latest bid for power leaves Teo’s father poisoned and the heads of the other families dead, Teo knows she is the only one who can answer the Capo’s summons to the capital and find an antidote. But first she will have to transform herself to look the part of a di Sangro heir by becoming a boy.

Unable to learn this new magic alone, Teo enters into a bargain with Cielo, a mysterious strega who can switch between male and female forms as easily as opening a book. Teo’s transformation and her journey bring her into the center of Vinalia’s sinister politics as she tries to save her family in The Brilliant Death (2018) by A. R. Capetta (formerly Amy Rose Capetta).

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The Brilliant Death is the first book in Capetta’s latest fantasy duology.

Vibrant imagery and vivid language imbue The Brilliant Death with wonder and intrigue in a world inspired by Italian folklore. In addition to unraveling plots and facing dangerous enemies, Teo explores her gender identity and what it means to be a girl (or not) in her world alongside her sexy genderfluid magic tutor Cielo whose dry wit and charm only increases the chemistry between them.

A highly original magic system and a protagonist who is as ruthless as she is fiery make for a fast-paced adventure. Fans will be eager for the conclusion of this duology.

Possible Pairings: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao, Rule by Ellen Goodlett, The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green, For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Nocturna by Maya Motayne, Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson, Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte, Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West

*A more condensed version of this review was published in an of School Library Journal as a starred review*