Sophia's War Review

Sophia's War

Author: Avi

Publisher: Beach Lane Books

Synopsis:

    It is 1776, and Sophia Calderwood and her parents are returning to New York City after the British have occupied it and burned half of it to the ground. Sophia hopes to get news of her brother William, who is serving in the Continental Army. Before she can, however, a British officer by the name of John André is ordered to move into their home. Sophia, although only twelve, develops an infatuation with André. 

    Around this same time, Sophia discovers that her brother has been captured by the British and is being held on the Good Intent, a ship where many American soldiers that have been captured by the British are being kept. Conditions are not good. Smallpox runs rampant, thousands die, there are little blankets, food, and water. Sophia vows to avenge the men in those ships. 

    Four years later, in 1780, she gets the chance. A man by the name of Robert Townsend comes to her and asks Sophia if she'll work for him as an American spy. She'll be a servant in the house of a British general and collect information that will help the Americans win the war. Sophia agrees, and begins work right away. 

    But once Sophia begins her spying, she realizes that there are plans to capture West Point, an American fort that, if lost, could cost the Americans the war. There is an American traitor and a British officer that have plans to meet and during this meeting, the American traitor will tell the British officer the weaknesses of the American fort. What's more, the identity of the traitor to the Americans is so shocking that no one would believe Sophia if she told them.

    So Sophia sets out to stop this meeting from happening. She is alone, because who would believe a fifteen-year-old girl with no evidence? 

    What happens next will change the course of American history.

My thoughts:

    I had read this book a couple of years ago, but forgot how good it was until I reread it! Sophia is a relatable character, and the way the story is told is very unique. I also learned a lot about the British occupation of New York and the prison ships that the Continental soldiers were kept on. 

    This book is a page turner that kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to know what happened next (even though because it was historical fiction I already knew how events were eventually going to play out). 

    One thing that I didn't like was how the phrasing of the book seemed a little bit formal, but not so much that it was boring. It seemed like if there was a younger reader reading this book, they might stop reading because of that, but other than that, I really enjoyed this book.

    This book is middle grade, although I highly recommend it for all ages!

    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars! 

YA Books I'm Excited for in 2018!

    2017 may be almost over, but when 2018 begins, there will be a whole plethora of new YA book releases. Here are some of the ones I'm looking forward to the most:

A Court of Frost and Starlight, by Sarah J. Maas
    If you know me (or have been paying attention to this blog at all), you know that I am obsessed with Sarah J. Maas books, especially the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series. The fourth book will be released on May 1st, 2018. I can't wait!!

The seventh Throne of Glass book, also by Sarah J. Maas
    It doesn't have a title yet, but this won't discourage readers from counting down the days until the book is released (sometime in fall 2018). And hope that no one we like dies.

The World of Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
    Seeing a pattern here? I honestly don't know what it's about, but I'm still excited. This book will be released on May 1st, 2018.

The Fates Divide, by Veronica Roth
    This is the sequel to Carve the Mark, which came out in January 2017. I have no idea what will happen, but I can't wait to find out. This book will be released on April 10th, 2018.

War Storm, by Victoria Aveyard
    This is the fourth book in the Red Queen series, and it's supposed to be released May 15th, 2018. I'm almost afraid to read it because I feel like a bunch of major characters are going to die. 

Legendary, by Stephanie Garber
    This will be the sequel to Caraval, which was released last January. I'm not sure how the story will be continued, since it seemed to have wrapped up pretty well at the end of Caraval, but I liked the first book, so I'm going to read the second. Legendary will be released on May 29th, 2018.

My Plain Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton
    I read My Lady Jane over the summer and absolutely loved it. My Plain Jane is about Jane Eyre, which I tried to read but ended up abandoning. Maybe reading My Plain Jane will lead to me reading Jane Eyre! This book will be released June 26th, 2018.

Book 3 in the Three Dark Crowns series
    This book is untitled, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending of One Dark Throne and I'm excited to read this book on September 4th, 2018, when it is released!

    I hope you got some suggestions for what to read in 2018 from this post, although all of the books are in a series, so I'd suggest reading the other books first. Feel free to add a comment telling me what books you are excited about in 2018! 

Betsy-Tacy Review

Betsy-Tacy

Author: Maud Hart Lovelace

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Synopsis:

    There are no other girls Betsy's age on her street, so when a new girl moves into the house across the street, she is very excited. When Betsy meets Tacy, so begins a lifelong friendship that was based on they author's experiences of her own friends. The entire series follows Betsy and Tacy as they grow up, documenting their adventures, sorrows, and joys.

My thoughts:

    I haven't read the entire series yet, just the first four books that were combined into the one, but I really like it so far. It reminds me a little bit of the Anne of Green Gables series, which I also enjoyed. I feel like a lot of people can relate to Betsy and her friends even though they lived in the early 1900s. I did have a couple of questions though. Maybe someone knows the answer? The first one was if the author wrote this to be realistic fiction but couldn't happen now anymore because the time period is too long ago, is it considered historical fiction? Or is it still realistic fiction? The second one wasn't really a question, more of an observation. I noticed that the parents in this story didn't seem to keep track of their children as much as parents today do. For example, when Betsy and Tacy were 5, their fathers would go to work and their mothers would stay home, and their mothers would basically be like, "Okay, go play now," and Betsy and Tacy just ran around the town and surrounding areas having fun. At the age of five!! If that happened today the parents would be labeled as "bad parents" but back then it was just considered normal. 

    I can't wait to read the rest of this series!

    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Alex and Eliza Review

Alex and Eliza

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Synopsis:

    Albany, New York, 1777. As the threat of a revolution hangs over the American colonies, the Schuylers, one of New York's most prominent families, are holding a ball with hopes of getting one of their three eldest daughters --Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy-- engaged. Among the guests is Alexander Hamilton, a young aide to General George Washington. 

    Hamilton is there to bring bad news to the Schuylers, but he cannot help but notice Eliza Schuyler. And thus begins a romance that will change American history.

My thoughts:

    I'm pretty certain Alex and Eliza was written because of Hamilton the musical (in fact, to get in the mood, I'm listening to Hamilton as I write this post). I enjoyed both (the book and the musical), although they did have some differences, which means neither were entirely historically accurate, but that was okay, because it didn't make the quality of the story worse. I really enjoyed learning more about Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler and their lives because listening to the musical you get a feel for what happened, but it's always nice to learn more. 

    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

    Have you listened to Hamilton? Do you like it? What's your favorite song? Favorite character?

Girl in the Blue Coat Review

Girl in the Blue Coat

Author: Monica Hesse

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis:

    In 1943 Amsterdam, Hanneke works with the black market to deliver extra rations of sought-after goods if the customers pay. Her work keeps her family fed, clothed, and sheltered. She has no desire to join the resistance movement against the Nazis, but she considers this her small act of rebellion.

    One day a customer comes to Hanneke and asks for help finding something. Only, it's not extra meat or lipstick, it's a person. A Jewish girl named Mirjam who was hiding in the house but mysteriously disappeared, leaving no clue as to where she could have gone. At first, Hanneke wants nothing to do with this mystery, but eventually ends up trying to find Mirjam. If Hanneke fails, both her and Mirjam will most likely die. 

My thoughts:

    I thought that the mystery in this book was very intriguing and I think the fact the Hanneke made several wrong turns in trying to solve the mystery made the story more realistic. 

    I also thought it was cool that there were so many ways that a civilian could perform small acts of rebellion and not be out there yelling that the Nazis were bad and immediately get shot. For example, a lot of people had hidden cameras that took pictures to prove after the war that the occupation really happened. There were also people that smuggled babies and toddlers out of the holding place where Jewish people were kept before being sent to the concentration camps. They took the babies and toddlers to new families so that they could have a chance to live their lives. 

    In conclusion, this book was action-packed, suspenseful and taught you a lot about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. I'd recommend it to middle grade readers and older.

    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

How to Put off Reading A Bad Book

Do you hate the feeling of knowing that this book is bad? Do you want to find out what happens to the characters but you just can't stomach one more badly-written phrase? Yeah, me too (it's happening to me right now, in fact). Here's what I do to keep from reading the book:

DNF (do not finish) it.

This one is probably the easiest and simplest option out there. If you abandon the book, you won't have to read it. Problem solved. But if you still want to find out what happens, or you hate the book but it's required reading, check below.

Read other books.

I hate that when I'm reading a bad book I spend more time on my phone because I don't want to read. So I end up reading other books too (just the other day I read 3 so I didn't have to read a book I didn't want to).

Bribe yourself.

I once had a book that was required reading and it was awful. I ended up saying to myself, "If you can finish this chapter, you get to read something better." Reading that bad book was torture, but at least I got through it.

Go slowly.

This one seems kind of obvious too, unless you need to finish it by a certain date. I once had a different required reading book that I had about 3 weeks to read. I read like 5 chapters in the first 2 weeks because the book was so bad, and I had to cram the rest of the book into one week. But if there's no date the book has to be finished by, this is an okay tactic. Although it might get annoying that you're still reading it after a while.

Convince yourself it's not that bad after all.

Okay, fine, this one probably won't work. But hey, you can still give it a try!

    Do you have other things you do when you're reading a bad book? Share below in the comments!

My August TBR

    August is upon us, and with that, the last full month before a lot of schools (mine included) start again. I recently made my August TBR, and decided to share it to this blog. 

August TBR:

• Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
• Girl in the Blue Coat, by Monica Hesse 
• Alex and Eliza, by Melissa de la Cruz 
• I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson
• These Broken Stars, by Meagan Spooner and Annie Kaufman
• The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han

TBR in my bullet journal