Mini Reviews Wrap Up July 2020

Posted July 31, 2020 by Julie S. in Wrap Ups and Mini Reviews / 2 Comments

Here at Chapter Break, we don’t always write a full review of every book we read. Well, now we decided to do these monthly wrap-up posts with roundups of our reviews this month and mini-reviews to fill in the gaps. Enjoy!

I haven’t finished a single grown-up book. But I’ve been reading a ton of kids’ books. Reading with kids is good. Writing reviews for a 20-page kids book isn’t as fun. HMU on Goodreads for the stars for all the ones I felt like rating.

The Treehouse Trio by Lauren Eresman: A sweet book about Kidpreneurship. These three best friends combine their talents to try to start a business, and while they go try out their ideas, they come across a bigger project to solve a problem. It is a great book introducing friendship, working as a team to solve problems, and having an entrepreneurial spirit. This book would be great for older kiddos who can independently start a Kidpreneurship of their own.

Nevernight: I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. Would it be as good as the Illuminae or Aurora books (co-written with Amie Kaufman)? Let me tell you. Yes. Yes it is just as good. All the hallmarks of a great novel for me: some political intrigue, action\adventure, romance, betrayal, even some sword fighting. Imagine, if you can, Hogwarts but to teach future assassins. Except where the staff and other students are genuinely encouraged to (or at least not discouraged from) practice their assassin arts on each other. Cool world-building. Great characters. Though I would not call it YA; it’s more MA with very graphic violence and surprisingly well done sex. Very worth checking out!

Gideon’s Sword: I just couldn’t wrestle up any feelings, good or bad, for this book. Which made sense at the end when I realized it was in the same book universe as Ice Limit, which I also didn’t enjoy. Turns out, I don’t care about risk assessment as much as Preston and Child.

Engagement and Espionage: Continuing in my obsession with Cletus Winston, Ms. Reid gave me the best birthday gift – an entire series of his own! This book has the usual humor and sexy times that I expected. With the added bonus of a side of mystery. And Cletus not being perfect, much to his own consternation. Totally worth checking out once you’ve read the other books in the series.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: My honest opinion of this is that I probably would not have read it if it weren’t for book club. But also, it’s very worth reading. I really appreciated the YA language. This made the difficult subject matter approachable. Lots of introspection after reading this. You should check it out. Just make sure to read the Jason Reynolds version.

Books we reviewed this month:

[2 Jul] Gates of Mars by Clark Hays, Kathleen McFall ★★★★★
[21 Jul] Landing in My Present by Mary Walker Clark ★★★★★

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