Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Rivals by Katharine McGee

Image: Penguin Random House

Rivals by Katharine McGee. American Royals #3. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~12 hours, 37 minutes. Read by Brittany Presley. Listening Library/ Books on Tape, May, 2022. 9780593584408. (Review of e-audiobook downloaded from the public library.)

Happy 'I'm melting' Tuesday! The heat continues in NJ, and while not as bad as other places in the U.S., it isn't conducive to the yard work I have on my to-do list! We had a little excitement in the neighborhood yesterday. My neighbor finally broke ground on her addition, and thanks to the previous owner's un-permitted and shoddy work and faulty marking by the gas company, the backhoe hit the gas line. Talk about starting a project with a bang! Here's hoping the rest of the work goes smoothly.

Teen Tuesday features Rivals by Katharine McGee. This is book three of the American Royals series, so as usual, I will be a bit vague in my summary. Even though the main characters in this series are older teens, the alternate history aspect and storytelling from multiple points of view are just plain fun. 

Beatrice is settling into her new role and about to host a week-long event called The League of Kings. Samantha seems to be settling down nicely with Marshall and Jefferson is starting college. There's plenty of court intrigue, high fashion and backstabbing to keep listening, and a "wait, what?" ending that will leave fans of the series panting for the next installment.

Ms. Pressley continues to keep the delivery breezy and fun. She employs a variety of voices and accents. While you can jump into this series at book three, why miss all the soap-opera-ish fun? Here's a link to my review of American Royalty. Happy reading.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: American Royals II: Majesty by Katherine McGee

Image: Penguin Random House

American Royals II: Majesty by Katherine McGee. Unabridged downloadable e-audiobook, ~13 hours. Read by Brittany Pressley. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio, September, 2020. 9780593216866. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday TMS Readers! I hope you are enjoying the break and reading a lot! I also hope that the sky is clear enough to see the last full moon of the year. The thirteenth full moon of 2020, known as the Cold Moon will rise at 4:12 and achieve full brightness at 10:30. You can also catch it as it sets tomorrow morning at 7:52. Mother Nature has not been kind to us regarding all the amazing celestial events that have been occurring lately - the lunar eclipse, the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter and the Ursids meteor showers.

Teen Tuesday features American Royals II: Majesty by Katherine McGee. Majesty is the eagerly awaited conclusion to American Royals, which was featured on a Teen Tuesday on Election Day. Any plot synopsis will spoil the ending for American Royals, so I will just say that surprises are in store for fans of the first book. Devious plans are afoot that will test the confidence of a couple of major characters. 

All-in-all, I loved the development of all the main characters, even the unredeemable ones. For a romance, these two books were nuanced as well as breezy fun. I was surprised to learn that Majesty is considered the conclusion of this series though. There were lots of loose ends that weren't so neatly tied up, in my opinion. Oh well. I enjoyed the alternate history aspect very much as well as the fast pace and tabloid fun of this book. 

Again, the narrator did a fine job maintaining the pace and tone.

Teen fans of romance and royal-watchers will find lots to like in these two books. 

Teen Tuesday: American Royals by Katharine McGee

Image: Penguin Random House

American Royals by Katharine McGee. 464 p. Random House Books for Young Readers/ Penguin Random House, September, 2019. 

It seems apropos on this Election Day to feature an alternate history. What if George Washington were made king of the newly formed United States of America instead of elected president? Teen Tuesday features American Royals by Katharine McGee. This is pure escapist fun. King George the Third and his family rule America. George's father abolished the ascendancy rule of first male as heir to the throne, so his eldest, Beatrice, will become America's first queen someday. She trains for that role with purpose and dedication. Her parents give her a file filled with eligible royal men to consider as husband material. There's a slight problem though. Beatrice has fallen for a commoner.

Meanwhile, Beatrice's fraternal twin siblings, Samantha and Jefferson, are taking a gap year between high school and college. Jefferson enjoys his role as America's most eligible bachelor and Samantha is considered the family rebel.

The fast-paced narrative switches POV and keeps the action lively. The reader is treated to court intrigue and shenanigans. This is the first in a series which is sure to charm. I read this one with my ears and really enjoyed it. The narrator's breezy style matched the breezy tone of the book. The nice thing about coming to a series later is that the wait time for book two is shorter. I placed a hold on the sequel right away! Review coming soon.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland. 336 p. Balzer + Bray, February 2, 2020. 

Publisher synopsis: After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s America.

What’s more, this safe haven is not what it appears—as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won’t be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by—and that Jane needs her too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane’s back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it’s up to Katherine to keep hope alive—even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.

I was totally riveted by Dread Nation and absolutely cannot wait to revisit this world.

#tbt: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. The Bartimaeus Trilogy #1. Miramax Books/ Hyperion Books for Children, 2003. 9780786818594. (Own.)

#tbt features The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. This is book one of The Bartimaeus Trilogy in which the chapters alternate between the first-person, foot-noted narrative of Bartimaeus, an ancient Djinni and Nathaniel, the twelve-year-old apprentice who released him, and whose story is told in the third-person. Nathaniel is a prickly, arrogant and unlikeable apprentice magician whose mentor, Arthur Underwood is uninterested at best and negligent at worst. Since Underwood won't teach him properly, Nathaniel sets out to teach himself. He releases Bartimaeus and enslaves him to do his bidding. Barti is magically bound to do so, but seeks to kill Nathaniel at the first opportunity. This alternate universe fantasy is thrilling, suspenseful and often hilarious. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. Unabridged e-audiobook, 10 hours. Narrated by Bahni Turpin. HarperAudio, April, 2018. 9780062822956. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Now, I don't like horror in general and zombie stories in particular. Except when I do. I force myself to read it because I have students who love horror. When I do read horror, it's usually been well-reviewed. I'd been hearing a lot about this one so when it popped up on the "new" list of audiobooks on Libby, I gave it a try. Bonus points for Bahni Turpin narrating. 

I will try to give a synopsis of this alternate history/ zombie mash-up; but I won't do justice to the world that Ireland has built. Zombies rise during the battle of Gettysburg derailing the efforts to abolish slavery. We don't know much about Jane McKeene except she's a crack zombie fighter training to become an elite attendant who will protect Baltimore's wealthy, white elite from zombie attacks. Plans go awry and Jane, her nemesis and her ex are shipped out west.

I loved Jane's voice from the start, smart and sarcastic, brash and bold. Of course she gets in trouble thanks to her mouth! The story is fast-paced and suspenseful. Events are totally believable! There are a fair number of social parallels to today as well. I was unaware that this is the first of a duology and cannot wait for the next installment.

As usual, Bahni Turpin turned in another flawless performance. 

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

279 p. Candlewick Press, February 12, 2013. 9780763665531. (Borrowed)

In an alternate London of 1956, where the outcome of an un-named war was different, Standish Treadwell lives with his grandfather in an awful neighborhood called Zone 7, misses his parents and is barely surviving at school. He is not just dealing with bullying classmates, but brutish teachers who not only routinely cane their students, but one beats Standish's classmate to death in a harrowing scene. Thankfully, the repressive government does not stand for it. Unfortunately, the punishment is meted out in front of the class. (Shudders.)

When Standish's best friend and protector, Hector, goes missing and he is done with his grandfather's peculiar ways, Standish starts to seek his own answers. He may be labeled a dummy due to his dyslexia and a freak due to his heterochromia (two different eye colors), and, as such, at risk for removal due to the government's standards, but he is an astute observer and possesses a strong moral compass as well as great courage.

I read this disturbing, utterly brilliant novel in one sitting and it absolutely shredded me. The suspense is nearly unbearable, the world-building is vivid and if you don't read the final chapter through tears, you have no heart. I highly recommend this alternate history/ dystopia. I won't soon forget this one.