Fiction Review: The Ferryman

With my husband's encouragement, I chose The Ferryman by Justin Cronin from my stack of Big Books in late August. It was longer than some of the other books still in my pile, but he assured me it was a quick, gripping read. And he was right! This inventive novel from the author of The Passage trilogy (and a very different (not sci fi) novel,  The Summer Guest) took me on a rollercoaster ride, with surprises around every corner.

Proctor works as a Ferryman, a very respected position, on the island of Prospera. There was some sort of global crisis out in the wider world that resulted in the creation of this hidden, remote paradise. No one dies on Prospera. Mental, physical, and emotional health is constantly monitored, and when someone's rating starts to decline (and definitely before they hit 10%), they "retire." Ferryman like Proctor guide them through this transition phase and accompany them to a ferry, where they will travel to a neighboring island known as the Nursery. There, they will be "reiterated," eventually taking the ferry back to Prospera as a new 16-year-old iteration (with no memory of their past life/lives) to start fresh. Proctor remembers his own ferry ride to Prospera at 16, meeting his adoptive parents, Cynthia and Malcolm, who were delighted at his arrival. Now, Proctor enjoys his important job--and is very good at it--but he has started to have some difficulties. First, his mother dies (actually dies) in a very unexpected and unusual way, and now he's been summoned to retire his own father. Even more disturbing, Proctor has been dreaming, which isn't supposed to happen to Prosperans, and his dreams are increasingly disturbing. He begins to see cracks and flaws in their perfect society, as he wonders what is happening to him.

That is just the broad framework of the earliest chapters in this unique novel, which is continually surprising. As Proctor's journey continues, the reader goes along for the ride. Every time you think you have something figured out or know what's coming next, there is another shocking twist you never saw coming. It's a truly unique science fiction plot that provides insights into our own humanity and society (as the best sci fi does), like this passage:

"It's been my experience that a lot of human interaction comes down to just these sorts of exchanges, less an actual conversation than a form of parallel confession--the two parties performing their interior monologues, not really listening to each other but merely taking turns. I do not mean this cynically or as a statement of personal superiority; I'm as guilty as the next guy."
 

Cronin's writing pulls the narrative along at a fast pace; this was indeed a quick read because I couldn't bear to set it down. His characters are fully fleshed-out and feel real so that you are rooting for (or booing for) them throughout the story. I love this combination in a novel: unique, gripping plot with plenty of emotional depth and thoughtful insights. The end result is truly magical and a delight to read, and the ending was perfect. I wish I could read it again for the first time, not knowing what was coming.

538 pages, Ballantine Books

Random House Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - August: Seasons, Elements, Weather
Big Book Summer Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. It sounds great, with multiple narrators.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

Fiction Review: How High We Go in the Dark

I've been hearing great things about How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu ever since its release in January 2022 and saw it recommended by lots of top magazines and other review outlets. I listened to it on audio this month, and even with all that advance hype, this very unique novel told in widely varying stories over generations surprised me with its warmth, humor, and creativity. 

In the first of these linked stories, in 2030, Dr. Cliff Miyashiro has come to a remote site in Siberia where his daughter recently died so that he can finish her important work. Global warming has created a huge rift in the ice that grows larger every day, uncovering woolly rhinos and other extinct animals. His daughter, Clara, a scientist like himself, was working when she felt into the giant crevasse and discovered the perfectly preserved body of a young prehistoric girl before she died. Unfortunately, her colleagues also discovered the girl had died of an ancient virus that has now been unleashed. The next story, City of Laughter, takes place a few years later in California. A young man and struggling comic takes a job in a euthanasia park for the "arctic plague's" youngest victims. Since there are not yet any cures, and the end stages of the disease are painful and horrific, parents and their dying children can stay in the park, so their kids can have one last day filled with laughter and fun before their hearts are stopped painlessly during one last exciting rollercoaster ride. While working there, he has an affair with one young mother and becomes very attached to her dying little boy. 

The stories mostly move forward in time, taking place mainly in California and Japan, each one focused on a different character, though you can often see connections to previous stories (for instance, there is a later story about Cliff's wife and their granddaughter, Clara's daughter). The stories paint a picture of the apocalyptic world, as the virus ravages populations and people come up with creative ways to deal with the virus, the dying, and the dead. Topics range from "elegy hotels," where bereaved families can spend a few more days with their disinfected, preserved loved one to a talking pig named Snortious P.I.G. who was created after splicing human DNA into pig DNA to grow and harvest more organs for transplant to changing Japanese customs after cemeteries become full. There is even a story set 100 years in the future, on a spaceship, where the crew has just woken up from stasis, as hundreds more people sleep on, to search for a habitable planet.

I hope you're still reading and didn't turn away at that second paragraph thinking, "Nope, too depressing for me!" Because that's the stunning thing about this book. In spite of its dark subject matter, this is a novel about the resilience of humanity, about the creativity and adaptability of our race. It is ultimately uplifting and even funny at times (I loved Snortious P.I.G.) ... and they do eventually discover a vaccine and cure for the virus. The stories range from amusing to poignant to surprising, but they are always deeply moving, delving into the essence of what makes us human. It is science fiction wrapped in a very character-driven, thought-provoking, philosophical approach. The writing is beautiful, and each individual story is completely immersive, especially in the excellent audio book with 15 different narrators. Characters of Asian descent are featured in every story, creating another connecting thread. You come to care for each character, so when you see him or her mentioned in a later story (that perhaps references that person tangentially or features a family member or friend), you smile at the connection because connections are a big part of this novel as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this original, compassionate novel about the essence of humanity that filled me with wonder and hope. Just writing about it here makes me want to start back at the beginning and listen to it again.

320 pages, William Morrow Paperbacks

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Reading Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Japan

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook, from the first chapter of the novel, here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  
  

Fiction Review: When She Woke

Back in 2010, I read Mudbound, an award-winning historical novel by Hillary Jordan and loved it (and read it again for book group in 2019 - review here). So when Jordan published a second novel, When She Woke, I got it in 2011 as soon as it came out in paperback. And then ... it sat on my shelf! I can't explain why it took me so long to finally read it, but I'm glad I did. This future dystopian novel that riffs on A Scarlet Letter, with hints of The Handmaid's Tale, is entirely different than Mudbound but just as compelling and well-written.

"When she woke, she was red."

So begins the story of Hannah, a young woman in near-future Texas. In her society, all but the most violent criminals get their skin dyed a color to match their crime, to relieve prison overcrowding. Red means murder. Hannah spends her first month as a "red" in a small, transparent cell, with a live feed that people watch for entertainment, as she tries not to go mad from the isolation and boredom. While there, Hannah thinks back to the events that landed her there: her illicit love affair with a married man and her illegal abortion to protect his identity in a world where genetic testing is routinely carried out so that fathers will support their children. She also remembers her innocent past before she met the man, growing up in a very sheltered family, among a strict religious community. She is a seamstress who used to work for a bridal salon, and before the affair, her worst crime was secretly sewing beautiful (but not properly modest) dresses for herself, to wear in private. Now, after a month in the cell, she is released to the wider world, to begin her new life with red skin. Her mother refuses to speak with her, and her sister's controlling boyfriend won't let her contact Hannah, so she is almost alone in the world. Strangers avoid her on the street or openly harass her. Her father tries to help by sending her to a sort of halfway house, focused on reforming its female criminal residents. Hannah has a long road ahead of her, making a new life for herself and considering for the first time ever, what she thinks, apart from her family and church.

That's just the very beginning of the novel because I don't want to spoil this gripping tale filled with so many unexpected twists and turns. It is suspenseful and compelling but also immersive, as the reader inhabits Hannah's mind and sees everything through her eyes. Jordan has created an imaginative dystopian world here that, like the best dystopian fiction, is firmly rooted in our real world. Chillingly, some of the details she includes--like the pervasiveness of reality TV and the overturning of Roe v. Wade--have come to pass in our real world in the 12 years since the book was published. That rooting in the real world makes this novel very thought-provoking; it would be perfect for an open-minded book group discussion. Hannah is an absorbing main character and heroine, struggling against not only her sentence but over 20 years of indoctrination and being told not to think for herself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this engrossing, original novel--it was worth the wait!

341 pages, Algonquin Books

Highbridge, Recorded Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge (this should count extra after sitting on my shelf for 12 years!)

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Texas

R.I.P. Challenge
 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   
  

Fiction Review: Upgrade

My husband and I are huge fans of Blake Crouch, both his novels and the TV shows based on his books and/or screenplays. We both enjoyed the shows Wayward Pines and Good Behavior, based on his novels and screenplays. Recently, he has written an excellent trio of science fiction thrillers: Dark Matter (my favorite), Recursion, and now Upgrade. And I just read that Apple TV+ is making Dark Matter into a TV series, and Netflix bought the rights to Recursion for a movie adaptation! Like those novels, Upgrade is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller based on a terrifying scientific premise. (links here are to my reviews).

In the near-future, Logan Ramsay is working for the GPA, Genetic Protection Agency, a new government agency tasked with stopping any genetic modification research. The GPA is the result of an agricultural experiment gone terribly wrong. A researcher genetically modified the insects that feed on rice in China so that instead of harming the rice, the insects would cause stronger, healthier rice with greater yields. But unforeseen consequences resulted in a global famine that the world is still recovering from, decades later. Logan himself was a genetic biologist imprisoned for his work, and he joined the GPA as a condition of his release. As the novel opens, Logan and his partner, Nadine, are leading a raid on a laboratory in Colorado, based on information obtained from a scientist they just arrested. They have a whole SWAT team with them, but as Logan enters the building first, he is hit by some kind of explosion that rips right through his protective gear. Hospitalized for weeks afterward, Logan experiences extremely high fevers and terrible pain,. They guess that he was exposed to something from the explosive device, but none of the doctors can identify the infection that seems to have seized him. He recovers and is released from the hospital and sent back to his wife and daughter. Soon, though, Logan begins to notice changes: small at first but growing over time. He can think more clearly, speed read complex books and understand everything, and remember every word he's ever read in his life, like single lines from in-depth scientific reports he reads decades ago. Logan also notices physical improvements in strength and stamina. He suspects that whatever infected him at the laboratory introduced a genetic hack into his body; he's been upgraded. He figures out that what's happening to him will soon be forced on the entire population ... and he's the only one who can stop it.

And, that is just the beginning! As always with Crouch, this novel starts with a bang (literally) and takes off at breakneck pace. There are unexpected twists and turns around every corner and a whole lot of surprises. All of that makes it an excellent thriller, but the subject matter is also fascinating and thought-provoking. Crouch (as Logan) digs deep here into the ethical and moral implications of upgrading the human race and of the mind-bending concept of humans trying to save humanity by engineering our own evolution. This is the kind of science fiction I love, the kind that makes me think. Logan and the other characters are fully developed, so that you are rooting for him, to both save the world and hang onto his humanity as he becomes something new. This thoughtful, page-turning thriller was engrossing and gripping, with a very satisfying ending. It's a very close second to my favorite, Dark Matter! I hope this one gets adapted for TV or movie, too.

337 pages, Ballantine Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Colorado

R.I.P. Challenge

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here (from the beginning of the novel--it sounds good!) and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm (the same audio sample is available here) and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

Fiction Review: Afterland

My husband and I both loved The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes' suspenseful, creepy novel about a time-traveling serial killer (and its fabulous TV adaptation). So, when I saw Beukes' name while book shopping for my husband last year, I picked up her novel Afterland, another action-packed sci fi thriller.

Chillingly, this dystopian and post-apocaylptic novel begins in June 2023 in a world that looks very different from our own present. In the aftermath of a new, unique pandemic that only affects those with a Y chromosome, more than 99% of the males around the globe have died. In this new post-pandemic world inhabited mainly by women, the few remaining boys and men have become much sought-after. As the novel opens, a woman named Cole escapes with her twelve-year-old son, Miles. They are on the run from the U.S. government, from their latest luxurious but stifling protected custody, and even from Cole's own sister, Billy. Everyone wants something from Miles, and Cole's instinct as a mother is to keep him safe from all of it. They got stuck in the U.S. during the pandemic when her American husband died, but now Cole desperately wants to get herself and Miles back home to South Africa, and away from the U.S. government. As they travel across the country, switching cars and hiding in various abandoned homes, Miles dresses like a girl and pretends to be Mila. In escaping from Billy's horrible scheme involving Miles, Coles is worried she may have actually killed her sister. They encounter groups of women along the way--including artists in a communal-living home in Salt Lake City and some crazy female church group all dressed in neon-colored robes in Colorado--but Cole doesn't know who she can trust. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, Billy is reluctantly teamed up with some really rough characters chasing after Cole and Miles, to make sure Billy keeps her promise to deliver the precious boy to the highest bidder.

The suspense never lets up here, as Cole and Miles/Mila travel across the U.S., trying to stay safe, keep Miles' real identity a secret, and make it to the East Coast so they can find a ship to take them back home. Beukes' world-building here is creative and immersive in this post-apocalyptic all-female world that is still new and unstable.  With Billy and her criminal handlers hot on the trail, the danger to Cole and Miles is very real and imminent, keeping the narrative moving at a fast pace and the tension high. It's a pulse-pounding, action-packed thriller set against a fascinating, unique backdrop. I very much enjoyed the ride.

404 pages, Mulholland Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Utah

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. It sounds like a great audio production.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    
  

Teen/YA Review: Scythe

My husband, son, and I are big fans of Neal Schusterman, author of dozens of outstanding middle-grade and YA novels. Two of our favorites are the middle-grade Skinjacker trilogy (starting with Everlost), an imaginative look at the afterlife, and the YA dystopian series that starts with Unwind, which is still a family favorite, many years later. Schusterman doesn't just write fantasy and science fiction, either. Bruiser is a mostly realistic YA novel about abuse, with a bit of a supernatural twist, and Challenger Deep is a creative, powerful YA novel about mental illness, based on the author's own son's experiences with schizophrenia. So, I wanted to read Scythe even before I heard all the rave reviews. I don't know why it took me so long! It was just as good as I expected.

Scythe takes place in a far-off future, where technology has evolved to the point where there is no more suffering. The Thunderhead (which began with the present-day "cloud") has evolved into intelligent AI that oversees every aspect of life, so there is no more need for government or politics. Disease has been eradicated, and nanites in each person's bloodstream automatically heal injuries, treat pain, and even control mood to prevent anger or despair. Even middle seats on airplanes have been abolished! Sounds like a pretty great way to live, right? The only problem is that with no natural death and humans now essentially immortal, the world needed a way to control population so it wouldn't outstrip the world's resources (which are carefully apportioned by the Thunderhead so everyone gets what they need). The answer to that problem was to designate certain humans as Scythes who are tasked with gleaning (i.e. killing) a certain number of people each year to keep the world in perfect balance. Ideally, these Scythes operate under a strict moral code and are revered for their role in society, but as is always the case where humans are involved, not all Scythes follow the rules and aspire to ethical behavior.

In this world, two ordinary teens, Citra and Rowan, have recently been selected by Scythe Faraday (each Scythe chooses a historic name) to train as Scythes. Neither of them wants to dedicate their life to gleaning, but that--along with evidence of honesty and compassion--is precisely why Scythe Faraday chose them to be his apprentices. He's one of the good guys and begins to train Citra and Rowan rigorously in killing techniques, as well as old world history and philosophy and the moral code of the Scythes. Their training is interrupted, though, as some of the Scythes with more selfish motives intervene.

As in all of Schusterman's dystopian novels, he has created a thoroughly unique and fascinating future world, where you can easily see the chilling links back to our own world. His novels are always gripping and suspenseful, yet thought-provoking, and Scythe is no exception. The reader quickly comes to like Citra and Rowan--and Scythe Faraday, too--and all of the characters are interesting and three-dimensional. It's an action-packed story, full of surprising twists, that kept me turning the pages. Schusterman has done it again, with another thoughtful, high-stakes dystopian thriller. I can't wait to read book two, and I've already moved Scythe onto my husband's to-be-read pile, because I know he'll love it, too.

435 pages, Simon & Schuster

Audible Studios

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Challenge

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

    (as an Audible production, it seems the audio is only available through Audible)

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

Middle-Grade Review: The Strangers

I always enjoy Margaret Peterson Haddix's middle-grade novels, and The Strangers, book one in her Greystone Secrets series, is no exception! Like some of her best, it combines kids who feel real with a twisty, intriguing science fiction plot.

The Greystone kids live with their mom in a house in Ohio and live a pretty normal life. Chess, short for Rochester, is in 6th grade and is protective of his younger siblings. Emma is a math whiz in fourth grade. Second-grader Finn is active and enthusiastic and keeps things fun. One day, the three of them come home from school to find their mom engrossed in the TV news. As they watch with her, they hear the stunning report that three siblings in Arizona--named Rochester (who goes by Rocky), Emma, and Finn--have been kidnapped. As the reporter provides details on the missing kids, the Greystones realize that these kids not only share their names but also their ages and birthdates. How is that possible? The next morning, their mother abruptly leaves on a business trip, which is unusual for her. She works from home as a graphic designer, and on the rare occasions that she travels, it's usually planned well in advance. The kids are staying with their mom's friend who has a daughter a year older than Chess. They discuss the strange circumstances of the past 24 hours and decided to investigate. They're allowed to visit their house to feed and check on their cat, and when they do, they realize that the bizarre things happening have only just begun.

This is just the kind of story that Haddix excels at, with interesting kids, strange things going on, and lots of secrets and mysteries to uncover. The four children investigate what's happening and uncover mysterious codes, secret rooms, and some major surprises. When the twist was revealed, I squealed out loud because it was just perfect (and the kind of plot I really enjoy in fiction). As always, Haddix has created three-dimensional characters that the reader quickly comes to care about. Here, chapters are written from alternating viewpoints, so you get their very different perspectives on what's going on. The audio production was well-done, and the story and its mysteries provided gripping suspense that helped me finish this unique novel in record time. I definitely want to read books two and three now!

433 pages, Katherine Tegen Books

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  

Middle-Grade Review: It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit

For Middle-Grade March, I listened to four middle-grade audio books (check out my first two reviews here), and enjoyed them all.

In It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds, twelve-year-old Eddie has a great plan for the summer. He has some chores and is responsible for his own laundry, but Eddie decides to wear every piece of clothing in his room first. Then he'll only have to do laundry once, in the middle of the summer! Brilliant, right? Maybe not so much because on Day 40, wearing his last item of clothing (his bathing suit), his enormous pile of dirty laundry is discovered by his mom. She grounds Eddie, even though it's Beach Bash day, the highlight of the entire year in his town, when everyone heads to the beach for a fun day in the sun. Everyone except Eddie, who will be home doing his laundry. As Eddie starts his second load, thinking of his family and friends all enjoying the beach, the power goes out. He tries to text his mom, but cell service is out, too. Eddie's best friend comes by, and the two of them go through the neighborhood and find three other kids. As evening comes and they remain without power or cell service, the five kids band together. No one comes back from the beach and there is no sign of anyone else in the neighborhood, so the kids gather supplies and take care of themselves.

I enjoyed this funny novel about friendship, though it is unusual. Despite the promise of its intriguing premise, not much happens here. It's not really an adventure or apocalyptic story, and it ends without knowing what is happening in the wider world (it's unclear if it's a standalone or the set-up for a sequel). The focus is just on these five kids. Eddie is a very charming and amusing narrator. He explains early on that he has ADHD, so his narrative tends to ramble with lots of tangents. The overall tone is not dark or scary; it's all very fun and light, about the kids getting by on their own ... and having fun!

304 pages, Scholastic

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - I

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes - Ohio

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

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Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Two Great Middle-Grade Novels on Audio

I've been enjoying Middle-Grade March, an annual reading challenge, and using it to help me catch up on some middle-grade books on audio. Here are two that I've enjoyed this month:

First up, I listened to Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, which combines mystery, thriller, family drama, and science fiction. It won the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

Twelve-year-old Katrina is in the witness protection program with her parents. The three of them are very close but live isolated lives, on the run from a dangerous drug cartel and unable to stay in one place for very long. Katrina is only the latest of her names; she's been choosing them alphabetically and is up to K. New place, new name. Their new location is something different, though. They usually live in cities, where they can get lost in the crowd and blend in. This time, they are in an RV, pulling into a trailer park in a small town in Georgia. Katrina's parents are hoping that this will allow her to have some independence and maybe even make a friend or two. And right away, Katrina meets the boy in the trailer next door, Parker, who is a computer whiz her age. Things are looking up. But then, everything goes wrong. Katrina's parents are missing, and she and Parker are on their own ... and on the run again. 

As Katrina tries to find her parents and is on her own for the first time, long-held secrets are uncovered, lies are revealed, and the danger builds. This is an excellent (award-winning!) and very twisty thriller with a gripping story that kept me rapt. It's an outstanding audio, wholly original and completely compelling.

320 pages, Scholastic

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges

Alphabet Soup - C

Literary Escapes - Georgia 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!
 
  

Or you can order Concealed from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

 

My second audio book this month was completely different but just as good: Can You See Me? by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott. 

 

Eleven-year-old Tally is starting sixth grade and middle-school. She's extra nervous about this big change because she's autistic. Her parents are very supportive (and so is her older sister, most of the time!), but no one at school--kids or teachers--knows about her autism, except her best friend. Tally works very hard to try to fit in and be like everyone else, but she's not like everyone else. She sees and hears and feels and notices everything and is constantly trying hard to act "normal." Her nemesis, a mean boy named Luke, is here, too, making things even harder. The pressure Tally feels to not seem weird builds and builds, until it finally starts to come out. Along the way, she finds an unexpected ally in her new drama teacher and a new friend in a three-legged dog.

This honest story about empathy and kindness puts the reader right inside Tally's perspective, experiencing the world as she does. It includes diary entries--a suggestion from a counselor--and Tally's tips for others interacting with those with autism that she hopes will someday help others. In fact, the diary entries were written by a real-life girl with autism, the co-author Libby Scott, who was just nine years old when this book was published! Libby's contributions add to the authenticity of this wonderful novel. Listening to it on audio makes the experience of being in Tally's shoes even more immersive and insightful. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot.

368 pages, Scholastic

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge (and mini-challenge: #ownvoices)

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   

 

Or you can order Can You See Me? from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.