Review: No True Believers by Rabiah York Lumbard

No True Believers by Rabiah York Lumbard

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Pages: 304

Publication date: February 2020

Content warning: Islamaphobia, bullying, terrorist bombings, arrest, assault, marijuana use, illness, various non-lethal crimes

Available at: Amazon | Book Depository

Salma Bakkioui has always loved living in her suburban cul-de-sac, with her best friend Mariam next door, and her boyfriend Amir nearby. Then things start to change. Friends start to distance themselves. Mariam's family moves when her father's patients no longer want a Muslim chiropractor. Even trusted teachers look the other way when hostile students threaten Salma at school.

After a terrorist bombing nearby, Islamaphobia tightens its grip around Salma and her family. Shockingly, she and Amir find themselves with few allies as they come under suspicion for the bombing. As Salma starts to investigate who is framing them, she uncovers a deadly secret conspiracy with suspicious ties to her new neighbors--but no one believes her. Salma must use her coding talent, wits, and faith to expose the truth and protect the only home she's ever known--before it's too late.Salma Bakkioui has always loved living in her suburban cul-de-sac, with her best friend Mariam next door, and her boyfriend Amir nearby. Then things start to change. Friends start to distance themselves. Mariam's family moves when her father's patients no longer want a Muslim chiropractor. Even trusted teachers look the other way when hostile students threaten Salma at school.

After a terrorist bombing nearby, Islamaphobia tightens its grip around Salma and her family. Shockingly, she and Amir find themselves with few allies as they come under suspicion for the bombing. As Salma starts to investigate who is framing them, she uncovers a deadly secret conspiracy with suspicious ties to her new neighbors—but no one believes her. Salma must use her coding talent, wits, and faith to expose the truth and protect the only home she's ever known—before it's too late.

*This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. A copy of No True Believers was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Mini Reviews: I Know What You Read Last Fall

My life was pretty chaotic in September, October, and December, which means I read a lot of books, but I didn’t have time to review them. Instead of ignoring those poor books, I thought I’d do rapid-fire reviews. I’m not going to include summaries because then you’d be scrolling forever. Click the titles to open Goodreads.

*This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Reading And Walking: Sadie

Review: The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes

The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes

Genre: Young adult mystery

Pages: 493

Publication date: August 2017

Content warning: Arson, murder, suicide, war, mental and physical illness, prison, injury, death penalty
Available at: Amazon | Book Depository
*This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Molly Mavity is not a normal teenage girl. For one thing, she doesn’t believe that her mother killed herself three years ago. And since her father is about to be executed for his crimes, Molly is convinced that her mother will return to her soon. Finally, the hole in her heart will stop hurting.

Pepper Al-Yusef is not your average teenage boy. A Kuwaiti immigrant with serious girl problems and the most embarrassing seizure dog in existence, he has to write a series of essays over the summer . . . or fail out of school.

And Ava Dreyman—the brave and beautiful East German resistance fighter whose murder at seventeen led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall—is unlike anyone you’ve met before.

When Molly and Pepper are tasked with finding Ava’s murderer, they realize there’s more to her life—and death—than meets the eye. Someone is lying to them. And someone out there is guiding them along, desperate for answers.

Mini Reviews: Far From The Tree || Let It Snow

Mini Reviews: Daughter Of Smoke & Bone || Days Of Blood & Starlight

Mini Reviews: If I Was Your Girl || Dear Martin

Mini Reviews: The Foxhole Court || When The Sky Fell On Splendor

Mini Reviews: The Last Time We Say Goodbye || How It Went Down

Mini Reviews: The Gentleman’s Guide To Getting Lucky || The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats And Piracy

Mini Reviews: The Last Harvest || The Passion Of Dolssa

Mini Reviews: We Are The Ants || The Cresswell Plot

Review: Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Salt To The Sea By Ruta Sepetys

Pages: 393

Genre: Young adult historical fiction

Publication Date: February 2016

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety.

Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

Review: The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue By Mackenzi Lee || This Is How You Write A Road Trip Story

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings #1)

Pages: 513

Genre: Young adult historical fiction / fantasy
Publication Date: June 2017

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Mini Reviews: Blood Red, Snow White || Mongrels

Mini Reviews: Saint Death || The Long Shadow Of Small Ghosts

These books seem like the fiction and nonfiction sides of the same story, so I thought I’d review them together.

Review: The Smell Of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock || This Is How You Write Setting

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Pages: 240
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: February 2016

Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck suddenly comes her way. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.

Guys, I finally read the Smelly Houses book! You were right; it’s brilliant. I’m pretty sure this is my new favorite book of 2018 (so far).

Review: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Series: Arc of a Scythe #2

Pages: 504

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

Publication Date: January 2018

Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?

This review is for the second book in a series. I tried really hard to avoid spoilers, but you should probably check out my review of Scythe.

Do we have a release date for the next book in this series? I need it right now. I am not okay, guys! I’m deadish. A book shouldn’t just end like that! What happens next?

Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Series: Dread Nation #1

Pages: 464

Genre: Young Adult Alternate History

Publication Date: April 2018

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children to attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

Near the end of 2017, I heard that there was going to be a book about Civil War zombies released in 2018, and I freaked out a little. I LOVE historical fiction, and history can only get better with zombies. Is historical horror a genre? If not, it needs to be. If it is, I need book recommendations.

Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of saying that Dread Nation became my most-anticipated release of 2018. As soon as it arrived on my doorstep, I eagerly devoured it.

Review: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Pages: 226

Genre: Literary/Contemporary

Publisher: Vintage

Publication Date: July 2003

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. 

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructed universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favorite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

I agree with Christopher—this book’s brilliant narrator—about three things:

1. Dogs are important.

2. Blue Planet is one of the best TV shows.

3. Anybody who touches me deserves to be punched.