MADreads for Teens

Teens posts by Jane J

Murder at the club

Cover of The Bangalore Detectives C
A review of The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harin Nagendra

Kaveri Murthy has recently joined her doctor husband, Ramu, in Bangalore in 1921 India. And while Kaveri is happy with her new husband, she's chafing a bit under the watchful eye of her new mother-in-law and her expectations of what a "good" wife should be. Kaveri is smart and has dreams of continuing her education, but knows that much will depend on what her husband may allow. When Kaveri witnesses strange interactions at the club and a murder occurs directly after? Kaveri is determined to investigate.

Posted by Jane J on Nov 26, 2024

Graphic is good

Cover of Sapiens: A Graphic History
A review of Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind, Volume 1 by Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave

We've all got them. Books we think will make us smarter but that are just a bit too daunting every time you go to pick them up and read. Mine in recent times has been Yuval Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. I placed it on hold, had the hold come in, checked it out and then returned it unread. I think that probably happened a couple of times.

Posted by Jane J on Nov 18, 2024

Old favorite, rediscovered

Cover of Troubled Waters
A review of Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

I used to love to wander through a bookstore and feed my reading need (this on top of checking many stacks of books out of the library). But at some point I stopped buying all those print copies, partially for space reasons, partially because of the changing bookstore landscape and partially because I was reading more and more digitally. So what's my version of strolling through the bookstore aisles? Late in the evening I look for ebook deals online to see if there's anything that catches my fancy (this on top of the library books I check out electronically and read on Libby!).

Posted by Jane J on Oct 15, 2024

Loyalties will be tested

Cover of The Silence of Bones
A review of The Silence of Bones by June Hur

June Hur's debut novel is a police procedural set in 1800 Joseon, Korea. Seol grew up in rural Korea but because of the family's poverty was sent by her sister to serve an indenture for the police bureau in Joseon. As an indentured servant she's to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself as she cleans and runs errands. The monotony of that work is occasionally broken when she's asked to help in crimes involving women. Males in 19th century Korea aren't allowed to touch non-familial women, thus Seol is called upon.

Posted by Jane J on Aug 20, 2024

Finding your love (hold the garlic)

Cover of Fangs
A review of Fangs by Sarah Andersen

My last couple reviews have been books with darker theme and tone, so I thought I should switch it up. Now, if you've seen the book cover and title, Fangs, you may be thinking, how is a book about a vampire (and a werewolf, btw) going to lighten things up? Here's how: throw in a sweet, quirky romance and about as many (sometimes groanworthy) dad-type jokes poking fun at paranormal stereotypes and you have a graphic novel that will have you smiling (for sure) from first to last, and likely giggling often along the way.

Posted by Jane J on Aug 8, 2024

Criminally explained

Cover of Unspeakable Acts: True Tal
A review of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession by Sarah Weinman

Sarah Weinman has been in and about the crime writing world for years. She's written for the New York Times and Vanity Fair as well as for more genre connected publications like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and for the CrimeReads site (highly recommended if you're a crime/mystery fan). Her first full length book was about the connection between the book Lolita and the real life kidnapping of Sally Horner in 1948.

Posted by Jane J on Jul 24, 2024

What the dead forget

Cover of The Dead Cat Tail Assassin
A review of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark

Clark introduces readers to a new fantasy world in this latest novella and I'm so here for it.

Eveen is a an undead assassin. When she died she was offered a chance at an undead life - though she has no memory of how that came to be or why she would have made such a choice. As part of her deal she owes her goddess years of service as an assassin. As the goddess's assassin she has to follow 3 rules:

Posted by Jane J on Jul 1, 2024

The distaff side

Cover of Our Woman in Moscow
A review of Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams

In 1951 two British government officials, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, left on a boat sailing from Southampton to France and then disappeared. Though there were suspicions that they had defected to the Soviet Union, this wasn't confirmed until five years later when they appeard at a press conference in Moscow. In the years after this it became clear that they were not the only two British "gentlemen" to have been recruited by the KGB, there were at least 3 others and they all became known as the Cambridge Five.

Posted by Jane J on Jun 25, 2024

Finding your place

Cover of The Very Secret Society of
A review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Mika Moon pretends to be a witch in her social media videos and enjoys the sense of community she has with her followers. But unbeknownst to those she's met online, Mika really is a witch. And no one can know. Primrose, the woman who raised Mika is very firm on the rules for witches. And rule number one is tell and show no one. That rule has led to a peripatetic life and no long-term connections for Mika. Until now. She’s received an email: Witch Wanted.

Posted by Jane J on May 6, 2024

Lessons in love

Cover of The Guncle Abroad
A review of The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley

I was late to The Guncle party and truthfully only got it read because I needed to read this sequel. So here I am having read both in quick succession which had pros and cons as a reading experience. Before I get into those pros and cons, let me set the scene.

Posted by Jane J on Apr 30, 2024

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