Penny Thoughtful: All Things Books and Running

As a historian by training, I can handle this kind of horror. Due brilliantly shines a light on these, unfortunately all too real aspects of historical horror, all the ugly skeletons in the closet – in this case, the closet of the United States – the skeletons that have started to come out of the…

I found this book an absolutely adorable delight. Podesta weaves in Christmas magic a la “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause” to tell this story of recovering through grief and Christmas magic. The book is already on my classroom shelves. Kagawa did an excellent job bringing this story to a believable conclusion. I really…

Although I did not read the final two books in this series back to back, I nearly did so I will write a combined review, especially given the fact that these are the fifth and sixth books in a series. I have little to say in these views here that I have not already said…

While it may look like I have a more reasonable TBR, the Goodreads Choice Awards come up this month and along with that, my now annual challenge to read through at least two categories, maybe three. On top of that, I have decided to make my own page count reading challenge a la National Novel…

This book has an absolutely fantastic audio production. I highly recommend the audio read over the physical read. Having previously read Magoon’s middle grade works, I expected more of the same. This is not a middle grade read. Although some might categorize this as YA, I would not. I think this is an adult work…

I enjoyed this look at yet another piece of relatively hidden history. That being said, I do not know if this story and the writing style would appeal to middle grade readers. Watkin’s prose, while engaging, reads at a higher level but not one that might be considered academic. I do recommend this book, just…

I knew going into this book that I had a high probability of liking it given the similarity of my fantasy takes to Jade from Jaderayreads(Youtube) who loves this book and series. The book did not disappoint. In fact, it delved far further into political intrigue than I expected given the premise of a prophesied…

Benton-Walker transitioned well from YA to middle grade, keeping their dark humor while toning down the gore (but not eliminating it completely) to create an engaging apocalyptic fantasy. My only criticism is the emphasis on the budding romance and the main character’s identity. While many kids at this age struggle with how to fit in…