A reading journal... mostly.
A reading journal... mostly.
I throughly enjoyed reading The Winning Ingredient. Mostly because I love scenes of Mia in the kitchen constantly experimenting and baking, and then having her friends be her taste testers. I've imagined myself on both ends as I too love to bake, and I love receiving home baked goodies.
The introductions to multiple Tamars and Fayards was something I easily got used to. They each have characteristics that got carried over through the different time periods, making their relationship evident, and simply inevitable. Also, in every life we get a glimpse of the push and pull between the two of them: one clearly being all in, and the other constantly hesitant. I also appreciated the little moments of recognition, because at some point it was the one thing I was waiting for.
From William C. Morris Finalist Nafiza Azad comes a thrilling, feminist fantasy about a group of teenage girls endowed with special powers who must band together to save the life of the boy whose magic saved them all.
Meet the Wild Ones: girls who have been hurt, abandoned, and betrayed all their lives. It all began with Paheli, who was once betrayed by her mother and sold to a man in exchange for a favor. When Paheli escapes, she runs headlong into a boy with stars in his eyes. This boy, as battered as she is, tosses Paheli a box of stars before disappearing.
What I enjoyed the most about this book are the nods to the fairytales and children's story we all grew up with: Little Red Riding Hood, Aladdin, Hansel and Gretel, The Three Little Pigs to name a few. It's fun seeing these on the first time Filomena steps into Never After. Even the name of the place, Never After, seems like a reference to Neverland from Peter Pan (or that could be just me, haha!).
Life In The Balance also dealt with more mature things that I would’ve expected. It talked of alcoholism and what it does to a family, and to a person. It talked of friendship and the different ways people could become friends. It also showed what pressure to perform and to fulfill a legacy can do to a kid.
