MADreads

Portia Hobbs was introduced in Alyssa Cole's A Princess in Theory (the first in her Reluctant Royals series) as a friend of that heroine. Portia was a bit of a mess; partying too much, drinking too much, and definitely too many men. As Duke opens she's just arriving in Scotland to take on an apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker. If that sounds odd, Portia would agree.

I’m not crying, you’re crying. It definitely was not me sitting at the reference desk crying happy, joyful tears while reading this book. You must be thinking of a different children’s librarian. This is a book about walking to school, easy peasy, how can that be a tear jerker?? But the simple love the little boy in this book has for his mama, his Gogo (grandma), his Tata (grandpa),and the small but meaningful differences in each walk will warm your heart. But the days he loves best are when his Papa takes him to school.

“In the back corner of the little synagogue in the shtetl that was so small and out of the way it was only called Shtetl, there was a table where an angel and a demon had been studying Talmud together for some two hundred years.”

Epic is a skate boarding star with tricks and moves so big they earned him his nickname. But when he moves to a new neighborhood, suddenly his tricks aren't so fun without a crowd of friends. He tries new sports to meet friends - football, soccer, basketball - but they all leave him feeling let down. When his father encourages him to try one more ride, Epic kicks, pushes, and flips his way down to the bodega picking up admiring bystanders on the way. Pretty soon he has a whole new crew, ready to kick and push with him.