by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Danielle Walker's Food Saved Me: My Journey of Finding Health and Hope through the Power of Food (Amazon | Bookshop.org) I have talked about how much I enjoy reading about food and also learning about food sources and how what we eat affects our bodies and health. I have been following Danielle Walker for many years and have all of her cookbooks. So, I was so excited to read her recently released memoir, Food Saved Me: My Journey of Finding

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) B. B. Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers I absolutely loved this brilliant book, B. B. Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers (Amazon | Bookshop.org), so much! It was fast-paced and compelling with excellent world building and an outstanding protagonist. I loved Amari right from the start, and I found her motivation, her desire to find her older brother Quinton who had disappeared, to be powerful and authentic. When the boo

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to partners NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Zoraida Córdova's The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book is now available for purchase! Zoraida Córdova's The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina begins with a letter. Orquídea Montoya is dying, so she calls her relatives to her home in Four Rivers to claim their inheritance. She’s lost touch with most of them, having d

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Today, I am sharing a book that I thought was a spooky fall read. I found Hester Fox's The Witch of Willow Hall (Amazon | Bookshop.org) compelling, bizarre, and surprising, with a spookiness that caught me off guard. The protagonist, Lydia, is a likeable character, and I enjoyed the witchy elements that she brought to the story. Catherine, the eldest sister, and foil for Lydia is a haughty, cruel person and reminded me a bit of Kate from Ea

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Friends, this one, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne (Amazon | Bookshop.org), was another five-star read for me, and it's one I absolutely wanted to share on here. I think what I found so captivating about this one is the way that through exploration of several of the Greek myths, Jennifer Saint highlights the way that women in the stories pay for the faults of men, be they mortals or gods. Although this one does not spare the reader

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partners NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital ARC of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book will be available for purchase on September 7, 2021. Certain Dark Things is full of things I already knew I loved: Vampire stories? Check. (I’m such a sucker for them all. Pun belatedly intended.) Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ability to transfer her fabulous, gritty writin

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) If you listen to the pod, you know I love a good memoir. We have talked about Ruth Wariner's The Sound of Gravel (Amazon | Bookshop.org) several times on the show, and I thought I would share my complete review of this fantastic memoir. In fact, I would say that this book is the book that lit the fire for my love of memoirs and my compulsion to read as many as I can get my hands on. Written by Ruth Wariner (known predominantly as Ruthie in

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I knew I wanted to read Steven Rowley's The Guncle (Amazon | Bookshop.org) from the first moment it came out, but it turned out to be much more than I expected. I loved Patrick from the moment the book began, and I quickly came to appreciate and empathize with his perspective on his niece and nephew, both of whom he adores but whom he's never had to care for in any central way. When their mom, his beloved friend and his broth

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I knew before I started reading that I would be giving John Green's The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet (Amazon | Bookshop.org) five stars. How did I know? I've been a long-time John Green fan. I started with The Fault in Our Stars (Amazon | Bookshop.org), in 2012, as the book was becoming a sensation. I picked up the novel, not suspecting the effect it would have on me, and didn't put it down until I finished it, ugly

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I wanted to read this one from the moment I heard the description, which incorporates a retelling of "The Wild Swans" fairy tale woven in with East Asian folklore and myths. Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy of Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review! This brilliant YA fantasy read focuses on Princess Shiori, who at the beginning of the story is worried about her up

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner Algonquin Books for the ARC of Rachel Donohue's The Temple House Vanishing (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. This one just came out on July 6! Rachel Donohue's The Temple House Vanishing is an atmospheric, gorgeous novel about the friendship between two girls and the charismatic teacher who lies at the center of their relationship. Louisa is the new girl at the Temple House, a scholarship girl who is m

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) I am not a huge reader of graphic novels, but I have a personal interest in Cece Bell's autobiographical graphic novel, El Deafo. One of my favorite people in the whole world, my cousin, Bekah, has a similar story—ill at a young age which led to total hearing loss in both ears, a cochlear implant before starting school, and similar struggles to Cece throughout the course of her life. It was extremely appealing to read a novel which chronicle

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I've been looking forward to reading Leah Johnson's You Should See Me in a Crown (Amazon | Bookshop.org) since it first released. In this young adult lit novel, we meet Liz Lighty, a remarkable teenager who is navigating her way through high school with big plans to study music in college. As the story opens, Liz learns that she has not received a scholarship to the college of her choice, which will make it impossible for he

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner Libro.fm for the ALC of Tahereh Mafi's An Emotion of Great Delight (Amazon | Bookshop.org). This book is now available for purchase. Tahereh Mafi has become one of my favorite YA authors. Whether it's the dystopian Shatter Me series (Amazon | Bookshop.org) or her previous historical YA novel A Very Large Expanse of Sea (Amazon | Bookshop.org), Mafi maintains a brilliant balance between complex characters and compelling plots.

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Thanks to Partner Random House for my copy of Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front. Ya’ll, I LOVED this book so much. Set in Britain during World War II, this book follows 4 women who are affected by the war and their circumstances in different ways. First, there is Audrey, a woman raising 3 boys on her own after her is killed during active duty in the war. She is an excellent baker and runs a pie business to support her sons and to make ends

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) In this retelling of Peter Pan, Aiden Thomas's Lost in the Never Woods (Amazon | Bookshop.org), we meet Wendy Darling as she turns 18. We quickly learn that she and her brothers disappeared five years earlier, and she was found in the woods six months later without her brothers. She has no memory of what happened during that time. In the present, she works as a volunteer at the local hospital and spends a lot of time with th

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partners NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the digital ARC of Deb Caletti’s One Great Lie (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book will be released on Tuesday, June 1. Deb Caletti’s One Great Lie is a stunning YA novel about gender dynamics and issues of power, perfect for consideration in the aftermath of the #metoo movement. Told in spare, gorgeous prose, the novel focuses on a girl who’s given her drea

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson is the gut-wrenching tale of Mary, a young woman accused and convicted of killing an infant in the care of her mother when she is just nine years old. Mary has been to what she calls "baby jail" and is now in a group home with young women who are in similar to her. Her current situation in the group home shapes her interactions and reactions with the people she encounters. Throughout the novel, Mary's reality

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I absolutely love Nicola Yoon's work and could not wait to read her latest book! Thank you to partner NetGalley for the ARC of this one; Nicola Yoon's Instructions for Dancing releases on June 1st, so preorder your copy today! The question at the center of this book is a hard one—should we continue to love others even though all love essentially ends in loss? It's a heavy question that resonates throughout this book. As the

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Jennifer Weiner’s That Summer (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, May 11. Somehow, That Summer is only my third book by Jennifer Weiner, but I definitely need to dive into her backlist because I devoured this novel. I could NOT put it down. It’s (1) a great summer read (and it’s finally feeling like summer!); (2) a bo