The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Set in the south, eyeball deep in the Reconstruction after the Civil War, this story follows the life of Jo Kuan, the only Asian milliners assistant in Atlanta. Despite her hard work ethic and endless talent within the art of hat making, she is told that she is fired. Her boss tells her simply that the customers don’t appreciate her mouth.

When Jo returns home to the man who raised her, she finds out that their home is threatened. Unable to rent or own a home, Jo and Jin hideaway in the basement of the Bells. They’ve been a surrogate family for Jo, just without their knowledge. She learned to love the complexity of the English language as the Bells publish their paper. She owes them, even if they don’t know it.

So Jo starts an Aunt Agatha column, using her sharp mind and even sharper tongue to bring needed subscriptions to the Bells paper. But can Atlanta’s society handle the controversial words from Jo’s pen.

But as Jo takes a job with one of the wealthiest family’s in Atlanta she soon discovers that she might not know those she loves most dearly. Jo’s search for her real parents takes her on a dangerous path that not only crosses paths the worst criminals in town. But also Nathan Bell, the young boy she grew up with, who never knew she was there. How can Jo keep it altogether? How can she keep her home? Find her parents? Protect Jin,the man who raised her since he found her on his doorstep, from the worst of the worst within Atlanta?

This was such a wonderful book. It was compelling from the get go and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Jo is sharp tongued but compassionate. It’s her compassionate heart that reaches out to everyone around her that is compelling. She cares for the man who raised her, for the Bells who live above her, and the servants she serves with. I loved her brand of wit. I enjoyed Nathan as well, he was chivalrous and sweet. I love that he was a rather plain looking man, but it’s his personality and heart that shines through. It’s a romance that I enjoyed thoroughly. I can highly recommend this book.

If a child of mine wanted to read this I would be ok with 15 years old. There are a few moments of threats of violence, an affair is mentioned (not described at all) and a naked man is implied but not described, for these I give this book 3 out of 10 on the cootie meter.

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

Our Dark Duet is the sequel to This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab. The first book ended the story with Kate and August separating, going in different directions to fight off the evil overtaking their city in very different ways.

For Kate, that means going monster hunting, rogue. She meets a rag tag band of teens and uses their tech savvy to maneuver around the city and slay the monsters. It suited her for a while, but when she discovers a monster that is unlike the ones they’re so familiar with, she has to find August.

August is now a commander of sorts for the task force. The military type operations hunts monsters and reaps souls in very efficient manners. But when innocent people begin going awol on each other in violent and brutal forms, they realize that the evil is changing.

When Kate and August reunite, it’s a bit tricky. Kate is the daughter of the former enemy of August’s father. It’s tense. People don’t like her. But they believe her when she reveals details about the new breed of monster.

This story is really slow going. It’s not a super fast paced work, and I was personally okay with it. It also wasn’t the happy ending that so many of us like to see in fiction, but it was an ending that made sense to the characters and the story.

There was a lot more swearing in this sequel, and there was a lot of the same violence and gore. There was an interesting idea of who are the monsters, really? Kind of in the way, is Bruce Wayne a disguise for Batman, or is Batman a disguise for Bruce Wayne.

There was no sex, one kiss. It’s not a romance novel.

I liked that Schwab stuck to her beautiful writing style, and I love that she wrote the novel that needed to be written and not one that just suited fans. I will warn you, many of you won’t enjoy it if you demand an ending that is rainbow and unicorns.

I Nerd Nicole give this book a 7 out of 10 on the cootie meter for violence, swearing, and dark themes. 15 and up would be okay to read, in my opinion.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Have you ever thought about what would happen if your sin caused manifestations of monsters? Like, real ones, not just metaphorical ones.

Well, in the Monsters of Verity Duology, that idea is explored.

Schwab captured my attention yet again with another book that sucked me in and had me invested from the very first chapter.

Verity is separated into two sectors. One sector is essentially run and controlled by a crime boss who manages the violent monsters. Humans pay Harker for medallions they wear, which tell the monsters that they’re off the menu.

In the other sector, the government task force is trying to eliminate the monsters. Slowly, but surely. See, they have a few special monsters that reap souls of sinners. Like sirens, they play a song and the soul is called to them. The other two breeds of monsters are much like werewolves and vampires.

The story progresses from two viewpoints. The daughter of Harker, Kate. Kate wants to prove herself worthy of her father and strives to be ruthless just like him. Only, she can’t quite stuff her humanity down far enough to do that.

On the other side, we follow August, the adopted son of the task force leader, who just so happens to be a monster that can take the soul of a sinner. August, who was literally birthed out of a mass shooting, wants nothing more than to just be human. When Kate and August’s paths cross, they’re thrown into accepting themselves for what they really are, as much as accepting each other.

This novel has a lot of violence. Naturally, the subject matter of violence breeding monsters would mean there’s some pretty intense stuff. There is no sex. There is some swearing. This book read much more like a literary novel than it did commercial YA fiction. This Savage Song won’t be right for a lot of readers, but for the ones who like things to take their thinking to a different level, this might be a solid choice.

For violence and mature themes, I NerdNicole give this book a 6 out of 10 on the cootie meter. I would recommend readers be above the age of 14 before reading, and only if they aren’t sensitive to violence or horror type reads.

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

The Unbound is the sequel to The Archived, which I reviewed last week. In this installment of Mackenzie Bishop’s adventures with the Archives, things get weird. Weirder than before.

Mackenzie arrives on her first day at her new fancy school to find that sweet old Wesley Ayers attends the same school. She’s also surprised to find that he’s not a total goth, guy liner wearing dude, but he’s actually one of the popular handsome guys. This is both a good and bad thing for Mackenzie. While it is a relief to have another Keeper around, it’s emotionally trying, because Mackenzie pushed aside Wes’ feelings that he revealed to her. She said she needed time.

Folks, I’m here to say that Wesley gives her space and time while still making it clear that he hasn’t lost interest. He is a solid friend to her, despite all the crazy she goes through as she starts to have visions of Owen.

That’s right. Owen is back. This guy has found a way to manipulate the voids and cause Mackenzie a great deal of distress.

Without spoiling everything, I’ll say that the mystery is slow going, but once it’s going, it’s high stakes and lots of ‘what’s going to happen now?!’ There are new surprises. Some that can be predicted a mile off, and some that were pleasantly unexpected. Schwab’s writing talents include the ability to make us readers figure out just enough to feel clever, and then pull the rug out from under us.

There is an introduction of a few new characters. They mostly give greater insight to Wes, and work toward his character arc more than anything. There’s the hint of a love triangle, but it dies quickly, as it should.

There’s no sex, no drinking. There is some swearing. It’s not gratuitous, but it is there.

There is a VERY intense scene that has the appearance of self harm. In one of the delusions, Owen manipulates Mac to cutting her own arm, making it look like she tried to kill herself. She DID not want to hurt herself.

Wes, sweet Wes, is the only one who believes her when she tells him so. He is protective, loyal, dedicated and patient. He’s the rare, healthy choice for a protagonist. He does sneak into her bedroom, but they don’t have sex. It’s more of an emotional comfort moment of “you know what I’ve been through, I need you here,” kind of thing.

I Nerd Nicole give The Unbound a 5 out of 10 of the cootie meter for violence and emotional trauma.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

First off, I’m just going to give a little shout out to Nerd Dani for pulling the weight of the blog this year. I’ve been working on finishing my own novel this year, and it’s taken a lot out of me. Nerd Dani is the epitome of awesome.

Now, back to business.

The Archived is a book I stumbled upon on Hoopla. I wanted a supernatural read, but I didn’t want the cootie stuff that’s so common. That’s how I found this one.

The Archived is set in our modern world, with a twist. There’s another world, or realm, if you will, where there are libraries stored with histories of the dead. It’s like the stacks section of your public library. But with dead people.

But it’s not *quite* as creepy as it sounds. The Histories (capital H required when referring to the dead in this story) aren’t corpses. They are essentially copies of the body that held the life history when they died. It’s usually pretty chill in the Archive. But occasionally, these Histories wake up.

The protagonist, Mackenzie Bishop, is a Keeper. She’s one of the humans that is tasked with putting the Histories back to sleep. She loves her job, but after she loses her little brother, it gets harder to face the realization of what it is she does. And when she begins to feel lonely, tired of lying to her parents about what she’s doing (because she can’t tell them she inherited the Keeper job from her grandfather) she starts to question how things are done in the Archive.

I will not give away plot points for this review, because Nerd Dani and I were both pleasantly surprised at some of the twists and turns we encountered in The Archive.

But here’s what I will say…

This book is so well written. Mackenzie Bishop and all the other characters, including one of my favorite male leads I’ve ever encountered in fiction (his name is Wes, you’ll likely adore him), are so thoroughly fleshed out. As a reader, I felt like these were real people.

The concept was fresh for YA.

The idea of Histories, while not biblical, at all, of course, doesn’t feel like it’s competing with scripture for an explanation of the afterlife. It feels like a fantastical exploration.

There’s no sex, no drugs, and only one swear word that I can recall. There is some kissing, but it is not graphic nor smut. It does show how emotionally stuck Mackenzie is, and how she uses the male character as an escape. That’s worth a conversation with the kiddies if they read this.

Mackenzie does have to lie to her parents, a lot. But the saving grace for this, is that she doesn’t want to, nor does she enjoy it. It is a job requirement.

There’s a handful of violent encounters and emotional trauma addressed here. Mackenzie has to physically wrestle and fight with some Histories to get them to sleep.

Wesley Ayers is the most adorable human, but you can’t tell him I said that.

This book is the first in a trilogy, but only two books are completed so far. The CW Network has just recently picked this series up for a TV adaptation though. We are cautiously optimistic about it.

I Nerd Nicole give this book, The Archived, a 4 out of 10 on the cootie meter for the violence and macabre nature of the thematic elements. I’d recommend at least 14 years and up.

Henry, the Gaoler, Serenity House Book 2, by A.W. Exley

Henry Evans, at the young and reckless age of 15, decided it was his patriotic duty to volunteer to serve in the army, defend England in the Great War (World War 1) Henry served under Colonel Jeffries, the father of his very best friend, Ella. The only keepsake from that Henry keeps on him at all times is a picture of his childhood sweetheart- Hazel. The girl who won his heart the moment she hit between the eyes with a rock. The most beautiful girl in the world, back in England she’s trapped in a high tower, constructed by her father, for her own protection.

But as the war progresses, the horrors Henry witnesses steal his voice, shell shock (today we call it PTSD) the doctors call it. So Henry is sent home to England, his body is whole, but his mind, unable to handle the horrors, silenced him. But he finds solace in returning to a routine, resuming his friendship with Ella, and tending to the Spanish flu victims that start to drop like flies.

Henry finds Hazel, still locked in her tower of stone. Quickly they make a plan to help her escape- both her tower and her overprotective, zealot parents. But as the Spanish Flu starts to loosen it’s hold upon England, and Henry plans to rescue his fair maiden, new dangers arise- quite literally. Those poor souls that passed away from the flu have now returned, only much different.

Can Henry and Hazel survive overbearing parents and the vermin (zombies) in order to find their very own happily ever after?

I loved this book. I quite literally finished it in one day, which I know doesn’t sound impressive but when your days are busy and you have a small child running around, that’s actually quite an accomplishment. The writing was unbelievably well done, and the perspective of a young man struggling with PTSD was a beautiful kind of difficult to read. The prose was wonderful, and the book itself was lovely, fast-paced, and poetic. It’s a book I can easily recommend to young adults. Although I contend that this falls under the adult part of the young adult category.

If a child of mine wanted to read this I would be ok with them reading it around 17 years old. For war violence, zombie violence, and blush worthy kissing, I give this book 5 out of 10 on the cootie meter.

Ella the Slayer (Serenity House Series Book 1) by AW Exley

What happens when you take the classic fairy tale of Cinderella

and add in elements from Buffy the Vampire Slayer,

Zombieland,

and Downton Abbey?

Well you get this story….

Ella is the daughter of a country knight and his house keeper. Their marriage was short lived as Ella’s mother passed away when Ella was very young. Her father remarried a woman named Elizabeth, a mother with two daughters, Louise and Charlotte. Ella longs for some motherly affection from her new stepmother, but she only finds cold disdain, for Ella’s mother was only a lowly housekeeper. Ella’s father returned from the Great War (World War 1) a changed man, his body was whole but his mind was simply gone, leaving behind only a shell. Now in charge of the home, Elizabeth is cruel to Ella, forcing her into servitude, flogging her when Elizabeth feels like it.

But when the Spanish flu ravages the country of England, and thousands upon thousands die, only to rise from their grave a couple of weeks later, Ella is needed. Ella’s father raised her to protect herself, her father raised her to be a soldier. Afraid to dispatch their loved ones, and the possible moral implications, the members of Ella’s village step aside and name Ella their Slayer. It is her duty to protect the village, and track the movements of the vermin. That is, on top of her duties as a ladies maid, scullery maid, and her fathers caregiver, all within her own home.

Ella is fine with this situation, it’s been her life for months. But it’s when the local duke returns from war that her world turns upside down. Seth was a captain in the army, and moved home to take over as his father had recently succumbed to the Spain’s flu, and had to be put down after having risen from the dead. What he finds in Ella is a beautiful and resourceful woman, who looks at him and doesn’t see a duke, someone close to the crown; Ella sees him as an accomplished soldier, and someone who is willing to help her to protect the village. Can they learn to work together? Or will class, station, and meddling step relatives keep them apart?

This really was a fun book. It’s very fast paced and just so fun to read. Ella comes across as someone who does what’s necessary, she genuinely cares for those around her. Seth comes across as someone who couldn’t care less about class divides, and is just a young man who wants to prove that he’s more than a title.

I will say that there seems to be a very casual view of sex. Nothing was overtly graphic but there were a handful of blush worthy kissing scenes. And in the end sex is implied, but only vaguely. There are a couple mild swear words. I wasn’t impressed with the casual attitude towards sex and marriage, but I feel like the excellent writing and character development outweigh that tremendously. It’s one I can easily recommend to those who enjoy a good action/horror book from time to time.

If a child of mine wanted to read this book I would be ok with them reading it between ages 14-16. For violence involving zombies, a few blushworthy kisses, and some swearing, I give this book 4 out of 10 on the cootie meter.

October’s Theme

This upcoming month us nerds are going to review books that have elements of horror involved. Horror novels for YA audiences, what could possibly go wrong??

Enjoy 😉🎃

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni

Ivy is very shy, she has one best friend Harold, but this year in high school he is overwhelmed by his study load and involvement in clubs, so this leaves Ivy alone for the school year. Only she’s discovered this new social media app for artists, where they can post their art anonymously called The Veil. Ivy is an artist, she paints, draws and photographs, but she won’t post, even anonymously.

With a new art teacher Ivy is finally being pushed and graded on her art. This is something Ivy has dreaded. To distract herself Ivy decides to put some kindness in the world- she wants to figure out the identities of the anonymous artists and bless them somehow. For one Ivy buys the fancy paintbrushes she likes, for another she paints a portrait of his own self-portrait in his time in chemotherapy, and one she gives the artist space to talk about her parents divorce. As she searches through her classmates to find the identities for her favorite, anonymous artists she knows nothing could go wrong? Right?

But after someone uses Veil to say something dumb and mean the parents at the school are out with pitchforks and torches, with a full blown case of cancel culture. And they are after Ivy’s favorite app. What do you do when everyone you love hates something you love?

Ok so, I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand Ivy was incredibly relatable, I was definitely the shy “I would rather touch a live snake then let anyone ever see anything I have created” kid in high school. Ivy is sweet and naive, and has a lot of good to give the world. But there was a lot that frustrated me to no end. Poor NerdNicole had her phone blow up the entire day that I read this because I so incredibly frustrated.

First off the romance was super flat. Like, literally she spends a good chunk of the book thinking her love interest is gay, and she tries to arrange a coming out party for him. Literally.

To add to that there’s a huge “debate” about free speech in America. Just in case you’re not up to date on our rights in the constitution here a refresher

Look at Article one, you know, the first one. We are guaranteed the right to free speech. There’s a reason for that, the founding fathers saw what a government limitation on speech does to a populous. Does these leave room for people to say really dumb and hurtful things? Absolutely. But in order for there to be freedom there has to be the ability to choose the right, loving choice. It’s not loving or kind when you only say it because the government says you have to. When it comes to personal freedoms the freedoms recognized in the the bill of rights is essential. Right now in other countries it’s not recognized, and people are being fined and jailed for just saying words. Not inciting violence, but for just holding an opinion that the government doesn’t agree with.

This is shown in the book through the character of Tag. He’s the dumb, teenage boy that said dumb and hurtful things on the social media app. Guess what happens to him- he gets doxed (if you don’t know that term it means his private information was leaked to the public, and especially in the case of a minor it is illegal, dangerous, and straight up evil) he gets suspended, and gets kicked off the football team. By the way Tag, yeah the football team was the only chance he had of going to a good college, he was up a football scholarship. His life was ruined because he said something awful and dumb on an anonymous social media app. Now take a minute and think of all the dumb, hurtful stuff we have all said. Because let’s be honest, we have all said dumb and hurtful stuff. Now imagine that the consequences for that ruin your life? Not really fair or ok is it? That’s literally happening right now, in the real world. It’s not just fiction.

The insane thing is all of this is applauded in the book. Ivy’s parents, best friend, and Tag’s own twin brother all say it was the right thing to do.

It’s just…. it’s not. Should there have been some private intervention with Tags family and the school administrators? Absolutely. He’s 17 and just a dumb kid. If this was just a book I probably wouldn’t get so riled up about it, but it’s literally happening. It’s happened in multiple cases this year. Children are being doxed and prevented from going to college because they said something wrong OR an adult straight up lied and accused them of awful things. Should we work to make this world a better place? Absolutely. But cancel culture is not how we get there. Witch hunts are not how we get there. We come alongside people and help them, not write them off and ruin their lives. Ok I am done.

Honestly I don’t know if I can recommend this book. It was beautifully written but bad for my blood pressure.

I think I would only be ok with my child reading this if they were writing a research paper on the insanity of cancel culture. There’s really nothing in this that would give it cooties, it’s fairly innocent, but I am giving it 10 out of 10 cooties just for making my day crazier than it needed to be.

Transcendent by Lesley Livingston

Mason Starling, accomplished fencer, high school student, and…… Valkyrie, must thwart Ragnarok- the end of the world. But it seems that every decision she makes only serves to bring it about. Like when her boyfriend Fenn lays dying in front of her, and she strikes a deal with an Egyptian god of the dead that makes Fenn, essentially, unkillable, it only serves to make him The Fennrys Wolf. You know, the one from the Norse myth…. who brings about Ragnarok?

But with her ragtag group of friends- including a semi-god descended from Poseidon, her brother Roth, The Fennrys Wolf, her fencing teacher who also just happens to be The MacBeth, the Egyptian god of death Anubis, her own dead mother-who happens to be the goddess Hel, Fenn’s own dead mother, and her perfectly normal friend Heather, who has a crossbow Cupid gave her when she was on the subway. What could possibly go wrong?

This was a really fun conclusion to the Starling trilogy. There were so many spinning plates in the air, but I felt like Livingston handled it all beautifully. The subject matter of this book was pretty dark, the end of the world and all, but there were so many moments of humor and sweetness sprinkled throughout that it balanced out so well. The hard stuff wasn’t denied or ignored, but was handled with some realism. It’s a book that I can easily recommend. I will say that the magic in the beginning of this book had a slightly darker tone, I didn’t have any problem with it simply because the magic was where the realism stopped (as in it didn’t mirror witchcraft) but I wanted to point it out because I know this level of magic is different than the first two books.

If a child of mine wanted to read this book I would be ok with ages 15-17. For some slightly darker magic (nothing graphic or overt) and some violence I give this book 3 out of 10 on the cootie meter.