Girls Like Us

Girls Like Us

by Elizabeth Hazen
Publisher: Alan Squire Press
Release Date:  March 2020

 

Girls Like Us is packed with fierce, eloquent, and deeply intelligent poetry focused on female identity and the contradictory personas women are expected to embody. The women in these poems sometimes fear and sometimes knowingly provoke the male gaze. At times, they try to reconcile themselves to the violence that such attentions may bring; at others, they actively defy it. Hazen’s insights into the conflict between desire and wholeness, between self and self-destruction, are harrowing and wise. The predicaments confronted in Girls Like Us are age-old and universal—but in our current era, Hazen’s work has a particular weight, power, and value.

I love reading poetry, and mostly I instantly feel them connected to me. But with Girls Like Us, it started slow I was confused at the beginning. But as I kept reading, & the poem’s came across as a rebel, and what WE (girls) go through most of our life. Called by names, Eyes those see us, Feeling we go through, Fears our mind has and Thoughts that keep us awake at nights.

I liked how different were each poem’s crafted, with different ideas portraying issues Girls/Women have. The book cover is exactly what the book talks about.

I like poems those rhyme, and this one has only one such poem. But still I quiet liked this whole book, and I would recommend whoever reads it, please read it like a “Spoken Poetry” because that way you will connect more to the poems and words. I realized this a bit later in 3-4th poem and after that, each poem spoke to me.

I would recommend these to everyone, who likes reading meaningful poetry that don’t naturally rhyme.

Moving Day

My mind’s
an emptied drawer, its clutter filed away.

Photograph

He left no trace
but an edge of shadow, the picture’s only flaw.

Driving Home at Dawn

Even now,
my fingertips tingle,
your name like a host
on my tongue.

Electricity

I lie until his
breath deepens and the ticking
clock becomes a heartbeat.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐  .5

Elizabeth Hazen is a poet, essayist, and teacher. A Maryland native, she came of age in a suburb of Washington, D.C. in the pre-internet, grunge-tinted 1990s, when women were riding the third wave of feminism and fighting the accompanying backlash. She began writing poems when she was in middle school, after a kind-hearted librarian handed her Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind. She has been reading and writing poems ever since.

Hazen’s work explores issues of addiction, mental health, and sexual trauma, as well as the restorative power of love and forgiveness. Her poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, American Literary Review, Shenandoah, Southwest Review, The Threepenny Review, The Normal School, and other journals. Alan Squire Publishing released her first book, Chaos Theories, in 2016. Girls Like Us is her second collection. She lives in Baltimore with her family.

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*I received an advance readers eBook copy of Girls Like Us, as part of Poetic Blog Tour in return of an honest review. 
The views are my own. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in 
final publication.*

Sparrow

Sparrow

by Mary Cecilia Jackson
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: March 17th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

In the tradition of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, a devastating but hopeful YA debut about a ballerina who finds the courage to confront the abuse that haunts her past and threatens her future.

There are two kinds of people on the planet. Hunters and prey

I thought I would be safe after my mother died. I thought I could stop searching for new places to hide. But you can’t escape what you are, what you’ve always been.

My name is Savannah Darcy Rose.

And I am still prey.

Though Savannah Rose―Sparrow to her friends and family―is a gifted ballerina, her real talent is keeping secrets. Schooled in silence by her long-dead mother, Sparrow has always believed that her lifelong creed―“I’m not the kind of girl who tells”―will make her just like everyone else: Normal. Happy. Safe. But in the aftermath of a brutal assault by her seemingly perfect boyfriend Tristan, Sparrow must finally find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past, or lose herself forever….

Content Warning : Physical/Emotional Abuse

Sparrow is the story Savannah Darcy Rose, who loves & is a ballerina (hence the name), lives with her father and Aunt Sophie. Friends call Savannah as Sparrow, and I was amazed by the details of ballet that was put in. It sometimes looked like a wonderful painting in words.

The book is written from two POV’s one from Sparrow aka Savannah and the other is Lucas, one of her best friend, her ballet partner (also he is in love with her, because why not. A girl and boy can’t ever be just a friend, rite!? )

Sparrow in just few pages falls in love with Tristan “King” and decides she will love him no matter what. Because he is Handsome, and rich and…(well what more does a girl need, rite!?)
But Tristan is not what she thought, and he can be very brutally brutal. Even after her friends/family, trying to reach Sparrow and seeing Red Flags, she just walked down the road to disaster.
But wait, there are some other secrets Sparrow hasn’t shared with the world(us & her family). Lucas is a best friend, so surely he knows ALL ABOUT IT.

Want to know what the secret is ? Well sure, go ahead and grab the book.

The story has so many cliche’s that I was not that happy with the book.
But let’s get to the good things that I LOVED about this book.

Writing, I loved the poetic, lyrical way the author Mary wrote the book. There were so many sentences which I just loved because the so poetic.
Friendship, I love books that show very strong friendship (and I really don’t care that if one of them is in love with another).

There are few strong female character’s that I loved. One of them is Lucas’s Granny Deirdre , with age comes the wisdom can be so true to this character. I loved her, and she reminded me of my grandmother.
Dr. Gray < you need to read to know about her role > _i don’t want to give out spoilers :P_

I close my eyes, lost in the memory of the canvases lined up against my father’s bookshelves, drying on easels in the dining room, propped up against the windows in the living room, on the cushions of the window seat at the top of the stairs.

It’s like grief walks with you, sits beside you in calculus class, asks you to pass the salt at the dinner table.

The little ones still have so much hope, even when there’s no hope left to be had. That’s how they survive. That’s how they bear their sorrows.

Sometimes all we can do is watch and grieve. And that has to be enough.

If you want to help her, then do her the honor of believing she has the courage to mend herself.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐  .7

Mary Cecilia Jackson has worked as a middle school teacher, an adjunct instructor of college freshmen, a technical writer and editor, a speechwriter, a museum docent, and a development officer for central Virginia’s PBS and NPR stations. Her first novel, Sparrow, was an honor recipient of the SCBWI Sue Alexander Award and a young-adult finalist in the Writers’ League of Texas manuscript contest. She lives with her architect husband, William, in Western North Carolina and Hawaii, where they have a farm and five ridiculously adorable goats.

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*I received an advance readers eBook copy of Sparrow, as part of FFB Blog Tour via Netgalley in return of an honest review. The views are my own.
All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.*

Jane Anonymous

Jane Anonymous

by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: January 7th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with Jane Anonymous, a gripping tale of a seventeen-year-old girl’s kidnapping and her struggle to fit back into her life after she escapes.

Then, “Jane” was just your typical 17-year-old in a typical New England suburb getting ready to start her senior year. She had a part-time job she enjoyed, an awesome best friend, overbearing but loving parents, and a crush on a boy who was taking her to see her favorite band. She never would’ve imagined that in her town where nothing ever happens, a series of small coincidences would lead to a devastating turn of events that would forever change her life.

Now, it’s been three months since “Jane” escaped captivity and returned home. Three months of being that girl who was kidnapped, the girl who was held by a “monster.” Three months of writing down everything she remembered from those seven months locked up in that stark white room. But, what if everything you thought you knew―everything you thought you experienced―turned out to be a lie?

Content Warning : Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Self-Harm, Stockholm Syndrome, PTSD, Panic Attacks

Jane Anonymous is the story about Jane, from Jane’s point of view in a Journal format writing “Then” & “Now”.
As the story has a “Now”, we immediately know all went well and I would have preferred it divided in first Then and second Now parts. Also because the story is given by Jane herself, she describes the relationship between her mother, and friend pretty well. But that same care I wasn’t able to see later in the chapters in “Now” part. and I felt so pity for Jane because she thought so high of them and they felt more like a people who taunt about things..

I was really spiraled by Jane’s time as a captive, it was so horrifying. Someone losing their independence and sitting in just a room for months.

There are also some twists in the story, but I had my doubts about those but still those came as more surprise when full story was revealed.

This was my first read by author Laurie Faria Stolarz, but am pretty sure I am gonna go and other published books by her.

Except I don’t want to think about tomorrow. I want to stat in the space between days-the space where I don’t have to worry about letting people down or saying the wrong thing.

Friendship is a two-way street, and I’ve been nothing but dead ends.

We’ve all carried our regret around like anchors, struggling not to drown.

Life isn’t a race. You go at your own pace, okay?

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ .25

Laurie Faria Stolarz grew up in Salem, MA, attended Merrimack College, and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College in Boston.

Laurie Faria Stolarz is an American author of young adult fiction novels, best known for her Blue is for Nightmares series. Her works, which feature teenage protagonists, blend elements found in mystery and romance novels.

Stolarz found sales success with her first novel, Blue is for Nightmares, and followed it up with three more titles in the series, White is for Magic, Silver is for Secrets, and Red is for Remembrance, as well as a companion graphic novel, Black is for Beginnings. Stolarz is also the author of the Touch series (Deadly Little Secret, Deadly Little Lies, Deadly Little Games, Deadly Little Voices, and Deadly Little Lessons), as well as Bleed and Project 17. With more than two million books sold worldwide, Stolarz’s titles have been named on various awards list.

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*I received an advance readers eBook copy of Jane Anonymous, as part of FFB Blog Tour via Netgalley in return of an honest review. The views are my own.
All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.*

Master of Restless Shadows by Ginn Hale Release Blast, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway!

Master of Restless Shadows, Book One by Ginn Hale

Series: The Cadeleonian Series, Volume 5

Publisher: Blind Eye Books

Release Date (Print & Ebook): October 8, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): 401 pp

ISBN Print: 9781935560630

ISBN digital: 9781935560647

Cover artist: Zaya Feli

Subgenre: epic fantasy, romantic fantasy, LGBTQ fantasy, queer fantasy, high fantasy

Order it now:

https://www.blindeyebooks.com/publications-1/pre-order-today-master-of-restless-shadows-book-one-by-ginn-hale

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Restless-Shadows-Book-Cadeleonian/dp/1935560638/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ginn+hale&qid=1561242936&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/939510

Book synopsis:

Freshly graduated Master Physician Narsi Lif-Tahm has left his home in Anacleto and journeyed to the imposing royal capitol of Cieloalta intent upon keeping the youthful oath he made to a troubled writer. But in the decade since Narsi gave his pledge, Atreau Vediya, has grown from an anonymous delinquent to a man renowned for penning bawdy operas and engaging in scandalous affairs.

What Narsi―and most of the larger world―cannot know is the secret role Atreau plays as spymaster for the Duke of Rauma.

After the Cadeleonian royal bishop launches an unprovoked attack against the witches in neighboring Labara, Atreau will require every resource he can lay his hands upon to avert a war. A physician is exactly what he needs. But with a relentless assassin hunting the city and ancient magic waking, Atreau fears that his actions could cost more than his own honor. The price of peace could be his friends’ lives.

About Ginn Hale:

Ginn Hale lives with her lovely wife in the Pacific Northwest. She spends the many cloudy days observing plants and fungi. She whiles away the rainy evenings writing fantasy and science-fiction featuring LGBTQ protagonists. Her first novel, Wicked Gentlemen, won the Spectrum Award for best novel. She is also a Lambda Literary Award finalist and Rainbow Award winner.

Her most recent publications include the Lord of the White Hell, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf and The Rifter Trilogy: The Shattered Gates, The Holy Road, His Sacred Bones.

She can be reached through her website: www.ginnhale.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Her Instagram account, however, is largely a collection of botanical photos…so, be warned.

Excerpt:

Inside the smoky confines of the Fat Goose, surrounded by boisterous drunks, gamblers and cold-eyed cardsharps, Atreau’s attention strayed from his cards to the wonderful book on the table before him. The leather cover looked supple and already well-worn as a favorite glove. He could see where fingers had cradled the spine and bent the cover, leafing through the pages again and again.

Placed in my callous hands, a testament of devotion, unspoken, and yet laid bare as a naked breast.

Atreau snorted at his own conceited turn of thought.

Still, the simple fact of the book’s existence pleased him.

He’d not seen the Haldiim translation and had half suspected that the publisher had forgone printing after the Cadeleonian volumes had been transformed into so much ash and smoke.

For a moment he pictured the dark young man who’d handed him the tome. How striking he’d appeared amidst so many Cadeleonians, and yet something about him—his angular jaw? Perhaps his long, lean build? Or it might have been his sharp brows and dark lashes?—Atreau didn’t know but something about the Haldiim physician had filled Atreau with a sense of familiarity. Absently, Atreau wondered if the young man had known that marigold petals clung to his dark curls like drops of gold.

“Stare at the cards all you want. The winning hand is still mine.”

Across the table from him Sabella Calies tapped the four cards she’d laid down and then took up her beer mug. Tall and weathered as a warhorse, Sabella was as much a fixture of the capital’s unseemly side as was her uncle’s Red Stallion sword house, where people gambled fortunes and lives on the speed of their blades. Over the course of her forty-odd years Sabella had taken both from a good number of men. But here at the Fat Goose the stakes were very different, as was the game. Here the kingdom stood to be lost to the church. Or won for Prince Sevanyo.

Atreau’s cards came very near winning but missed by only a point. He had indulged himself in the drama of making it appear a close match. Sabella played along, since the money would be hers no matter what cards he dealt. This game, like almost every other hand of cards he played, served as a pretext for Atreau to dole out Fedeles Quemanor’s payments to his informants and agents across the city.

Atreau pushed a plain coin purse to Sabella. She opened it and then pulled the drawstring closed again and dropped it into an inner pocket of her leather coat.

Between her lanky build, plain face and close-shorn brown hair Sabella nearly passed for a man. Certainly the heavy doublet and thick riding trousers she sported added to the impression, though they did not create a perfect illusion. Nor did she need them to. She’d patronized the Fat Goose for more than twenty years and all but the most callow of youths knew better than to cause her trouble.

She drew a sheaf of papers from her doublet and pushed them to Atreau. He skimmed the content quickly. It seemed that the royal bishop was collecting ancient scriptures, most having something to do with the Holy Savior’s final battle and the Shard of Heaven. Likely the bishop believed the holy blessings that had destroyed the demon hordes so long ago were desperately needed again now to combat a new threat to Cadeleon.

Five years ago Atreau would have found the entire matter amusing or perhaps thought the royal bishop deluded. But since then he’d seen both the wonders and horrors that ancient spells unleashed. He understood why previous generations of wiser men and women had attempted to hide them away.

“We need to know when and exactly what he intends to do with this,” Atreau said. “Actual places and dates would be good.”

“You don’t ask much, do you?”

“I don’t pay so little that I should,” Atreau replied.

Giveaway: Readers, enter to win 1 of 3 complete e-book sets of The Cadeleonian Series, Volumes 1 – 4 (Lord of the White Hell 1 & 2, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf 1 & 2)

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Giveaway: Readers, enter to win 1 of 3 complete e-book sets of The Cadeleonian Series, Volumes 1 – 4 (Lord of the White Hell 1 & 2, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf 1 & 2)

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