jessica42980's reviews
629 reviews

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on December 10, 2021.
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I read Jill Dobbe’s previous memoir of living in Cairo, Egypt titled Kids, Camels, and Cairo several years ago. Having been to Egypt, her writing brought me right back to Cairo and those wonderful memories of my family trip I was on with my aunt, uncle, mother, and sister.  That was to be my final trip with my uncle as he passed from lung cancer just two months later.  Needless to say, I looked forward to reading Only in India and taking a trip without ever having left the house!  

Jill and her husband left Cairo and then India was their next destination in their teaching adventures.  India is not on my bucket list, but I have seen Bollywood movies, movies in general, and tv shows taking place in India and enjoy all the colors that are present.  I honestly do not know much about India, but reading Dobbe’s memoir I definitely learned about the country, culture, religions, and history.  I now definitely want to see the movie Gandhi that stars Sir Ben Kingsley, it is sad to say that this ignorant American did not know about the circumstances of his death.

The memoir actually starts at the end of their time in India when she and her husband had to suddenly leave due to visa issues.  As I read of her time in India, I enjoyed going on her journey of remembrance with her, as I ‘experienced’ India for the first time.  There are definitely huge culture differences and she shows us the culture shock experienced by her and her husband.

It is written similar to a diary, so the memoir is honest and full of their experiences, good and bad while also seeing how the Dobbe’s react to certain situations.  They are presently living in Honduras, so I look forward to a memoir that takes place there, so I can journey to another country I have never been to!  

I have had this memoir on my kindle for a few years, but just now picked it up.  I read it as a part of #Diverseathon2021, and this month’s prompt is a book set in India.

If you are interested in travel memoirs or teaching in foreign countries, I definitely recommend looking into Dobbe’s books. I wish it had not taken me this long to read Only in India, but there are so many books and not enough time!  She has one more memoir written that I find myself wanting to read!

Only in India: Adventures of an International Educator is recommended!

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on December 6, 2021.
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In a post-COVID Britain, babies are now being born without taking a breath. These incidents have slowly risen over time where it is nearing one in two babies being born stillborn, even with healthy mothers and pregnancies.

In this dystopian world, citizens have slowly been giving up their freedoms without much concern (down to pregnancy tests monthly for those females starting at age 14!). And now young pregnant girls have started to go missing. Emma is a midwife who has seen the instances of still birth babies rise dramatically, and now her own daughter Lainey is pregnant. Because of this, both of their worlds have changed to the frightening unknown.

This novel gives a realistic feel for how things could actually happen if COVID worsened and spread to the unborn and affect the population in a grand scale.  But here in the US, the fallout from a rise in governmental power and lack of general freedoms would cause anarchy and chaos on the grand scale.  

The Hush gives the reader a great deal of things to think about in terms of the British government and our actual world.  This novel leaves you thinking are we actually headed in this direction, pandemic or not?  Book clubs would have quite the conversations in regards to this novel.

The Hush is recommended. 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 29, 2021.
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Lost Boys  is based off the real-life Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.  The specific year is 1982 and Reza is 12 years old and Iran sends their young boys off to war.  If they die, then they will be considered a martyr and Reza’s mother is more than happy to see him off.  Reza is conflicted to go but his best friend Ebi is very excited.  In Iran they have no freedoms, they can’t even sing or let alone listen to music without punishment.

Reza finds out the grim reality of war and finds himself separated from Ebi and in a POW camp. The boys there are treated in a range of ways from friendly with a teacher whom Reza bonds with over their love of music to being treated terribly by some of the guards.

I liked Reza and was rooting for him the whole novel.  I was hoping that he and Ebi would be reunited.  Lost Boys gives you an idea of what life was like in an Iraq POW camp without being graphic. I enjoyed this quick and easy read as I saw Reza’s growth over his time at the camp, but the end of the novel left too many unanswered questions.  The novel needed at least an epilogue or a follow up novel for the reader to get the whole story: When you become invested in characters, you need the whole story!

Despite the lack of conclusion, I would recommend the novel as it gives a US reader an experience of unfamiliar events at a time in the past with an unfamiliar country. And that has been the point of #Diverseathon2021: Diversifiying your reading this year by reading books with a certain type of character or places you might not normally read. And I would not have normally read Lost Boys.

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 28, 2021.
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The Marriage Test is a novella that takes place in December, but that is all in regards to a ‘holiday’ story. Justin proposes to Ava after a short romance.  Eva’s family has a long-standing tradition where engaged couples must go on a ‘quest’ of sorts to the Florida Everglades to retrieve a frigate bird's egg and then they make their marriage cake (not their wedding cake). For generations, the couples who have succeeded have had long happy marriage while the couples who do not complete the quest or fail to attempt the quest at all fail at their marriage, which includes Ava’s parents. And Ava is determined to complete this quest.  

Ava and Justin prepare for their quest along with their friend Walton (who does not agree with the relationship) as a witness to the events.  We get to go into the Everglades with the trio and have a bit of an adventure.  For me, I was expecting more of the quest than what we got, so it was a little bit of a let down for me, but there is a reason to this.  The shortness of the quest and other signs point to you knowing how this story should go.  

This short story is a complete story and optimistic at the end. I really enjoyed the idea of couples going on a quest to prove their upcoming marriage along with the baking of the marriage cake. This short story shows how everything that is supposed to happen does.

Karissa Vacker narrates the audiobook. She is a narrator I enjoy, so her narrating the story was a pleasant surprise for me.  If you enjoy short stories that have a little bit of an adventure and romance, The Marriage Test will be one for you to read!

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear as a double review with my co-reviewer Kim on December 1, 2021.
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The Santa Suit is a cute novella that will get you all ready for Christmas!  As with many of her more recent novels, MKA has characters that deal with houses that are ‘fixer uppers’, this time newly divorced Ivy buys an older farm house called The Four Roses without seeing it.  Unaware of how much work needs to be done on the house until she sees it firsthand, Ivy finds herself overwhelmed as the previous owners left their personal possessions. This includes a Santa suit which she just can’t throw away. Inside the suit she finds a very old letter written by a little girl wanting her daddy to come from the war.  Ivy then becomes determined to find out what happened to the little  girl and her family.  

 

Ivy becomes friends with a local girl who is engaged to a man she has never actually met, and she isn’t exactly how she described herself to him.   There is also a potential romance and starting over for Ivy. 

 

This is an enjoyable Christmas tale without a complex story to it and everything wraps up nicely in a sweet and cute novella that we need after the last couple of years.  If you are a fan of MKA, do yourself a favor and read The Santa Suit this Christmas season!  

 

The Santa Suit touched me personally, from when I was in middle school on, my own dad played Santa every Christmas. It was something he loved doing. Listening to the audiobook brought back those memories.

The Santa Suit is recommended! 

 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 23, 2021.
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Five Perfect Strangers shows the stupidity and drama of young adults and why car companies don’t tend to rent cars to people under age 25!  Mira is a high schooler flying alone trying to get home for Christmas.  Her plane lands as a huge blizzard is set to hit the area.  With her anxiousness to get home, Mira decides to catch a ride with her flight seatmate Harper and friends.  But things are actually far from what they appear…As everyone in the car are actually strangers to each other and someone is up to no good!

The whole novel is in the car with few stops and the drama that continues.  The group faces wreck after wreck as the weather worsens and their phones start dying and things start disappearing.

This is a novel that shows that having common sense works; Don’t go out in weather that is going downhill fast with complete strangers as you could be risking your life in multiple ways.  Unfortunately, most people (including all of our characters) do not have common sense these days, but then we would not have this novel if Mira did!

The novel just did not work for me as we arrived to the climax and found out the responsible party. It came too much out of left field and there were also some outstanding questions left at the end.  These characters were not sympathetic at all, so I did not care what happened to them.  I have been lucky in the past that most of the YA/NA (Young Adult/ New Adult) books I have read have not had the overbearing drama that this novel did, otherwise I would not be able to read YA/NA!

Unfortunately, this is not a novel I can recommend. 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 19, 2021.
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Simone does not have an easy life:  Born with HIV and having to change schools, living with both of her dads who won’t let her even see her gynecologist on her own, now she meets a boy she is interested in.  But what about her HIV status and possible sex? She thinks things are going fine and then at her new school she gets an anonymous note in her locker…

If you want to read a novel with diversity then Full Disclosure will be the novel to read as it is extremely diverse. Full Disclosure talks very candidly about many subjects that most YA novels steer clear from: Sex and sexual health, vibrators, masturbation, and much more.  It also raises awareness about HIV and how it can be transmitted that the reader may or may not be familiar with. It also shows how one faces life living with HIV and when/how they should choose to disclose their status to others.   

Due to the nature of the novel, I would suggest parents read this novel first before passing it on to your teen.  This would be to see if your teenager is ready to read a novel like this, but also for the parent to prepare themselves as they may find themselves having to answer questions that may be raised. I would say this would be for the older teenagers from ages 16 and up.  

All of these characters are realistic and candid with their situations, and Simone and Miles are just cute together along with being honest and open with each other. In some ways they seem more mature than their age, which is understandable for Simone as she has been living with HIV her entire life  

Full Disclosure is recommended!

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 17, 2021.
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 My Secret Sister shows how at home DNA testing can be like opening Pandora’s Box: Are you sure you actually want to take the test as you never know what family secrets you may bee revealing.  This is the kind of book that book clubs are made for: Covering many topics ranging from IVF, parental issues, medical issues, deceit, and at home DNA testing, this one will have many discussions!  

 

The author started writing this novel before Covid-19 and chose to keep it out of the story.  I am glad she chose this as it would have muddied the waters of an already complicated situation.  As Covid-19 will most likely always be with us, it doesn’t have to be present in novels that deal with medical situations.  

 

We have three narrators throughout the novel with Claire, Marianne, and Becky and see each of their sides with a variety of emotions. I was pulled in the most with Becky’s chapters.  I am not a parent, but have a sister with a physical disability, so I identified with Becky.  I can see mothers identifying with Claire and women who have experienced fertility issues identifying with Marianne.  Needless to say I think every reader will identify with one of our narrators.  

 

I was intrigued and also unsure with what was going to happen and we get some twists and turns as well. Are we going to have a happy ending or not?  My Secret Sister really starts moving around the last third of the novel, but the final twists just did not work for me, as they really came out of left field. 

 

Otherwise, I did enjoy this novel and look forward to what else Westwood has written! 

 

My Secret Sister is recommended. 

 I received a copy as a part of the blog tour that I volunteered for. 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 10, 2021.
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 Rick is not a sequel to George/Melissa, but a companion novel that has the same set of kids, only now they are in middle school.  Rick has been best friends with Jeff forever, despite Jeff being a bully to others.  Now being in middle school they are starting to experience life changes and Rick comes across the Rainbow Spectrum Club which is where kids on every part of the spectrum of the LGBTQIAP+ scale can come together and be themselves without retaliation.  This includes Melissa, who used to be known as George. Now being in middle school, Melissa is fully embracing who she is.  

 

Rick, as well as the reader, lean about the various types of genders and identities that currently exist.  These can be very fluid, which references the + in LGBTQIAP+.  Rick starts to think about who he may actually be since he has never given much thought to it and his friendships in general.  

 

This is another novel by Alex Gino that showcases how everyone can be who they are and who they will become.  I enjoyed seeing the relationship between Rick and his grandfather.  Rick learns and accepts his grandfather for who he actually is and how much they have in common. The author themself narrated Rick.   Normally I am all for the author narrating their novel, but the narration did not really work for me with Gino’s voice.  

 

Both George/Melissa and Rick are needed novels with the way our ever-changing world has become. 

 

Rick is recommended! 

   | All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on November 2, 2021.
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A lot of reviews have focused on the fact that this novel came ‘too soon’ and was ‘too much’ for us still being in the COVID-19 pandemic. For those that say it was ‘too real’, this is the point of the story! The description clearly states that this takes place in the pandemic, so of course it will be the heavy focus! It’s a bit of a YA romance taking place during the pandemic. If a pandemic story will feel ‘too real’ for you, then stay away from it and any other book that may be about COVID-19! 

For me I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, and what Jonah and Max face was and is still happening. We just get the plus of a possible romance that may or may not bloom. This novel is about so much more than Max and Jonah: it deals with class and privilege, mental health and even the previous AIDS pandemic in the 1980s-90s. 

I was not too attached to Jonah or Max, in fact I was more attached to Arlo and his story and the mystery associated with him. I was 1000% invested in Arlo. The novel handles Jonah and his anxiety and panic attacks with perfection! Max also seems real with her life situation in being of the lower middle class and having to work to help out her mother. 

This is definitely a YA novel, where the characters just a bit immature for me, but I still enjoyed the novel. The grim realities of COVID-19 are also faced with hospitalization and death of characters. For some readers this could be a trigger warning as it might be a bit too much reality to happen in a fiction novel, but it is part of the pandemic we still face. 

I did enjoy Hello (from Here) and listened to the audiobook version, and surprise to me when I started it: Michael Crouch is one of the narrators!!!! And I have to say I love the cover of this novel too! It’s perfect!

Hello (from Here) is recommended, though you might want to proceed with caution of the potential triggers