LA LA IN THE LIBRARY: TELL ME TUESDAY #164

LAST. NOW. NEXT.

NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR

TELL ME TUESDAY is a floating feature, depending on your reading style, where you tell us what you read last, what you are reading now, what you will be reading next from your tbr pile, and why. I am curious why people read what they read, so tell me!

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Joining us this week...
Jolene from JO'S BOOK BLOG
Plus, I love her PUPDATES with photos about her foster dogs!
&
Michelle from IN LIBRIS VERITAS
Stop by and have a look at their latest grabs and tell them yours!

MY GOODREADS REVIEW

★★★★★

MIDDLE GRADE

CONTEMPORARY

STANDALONE

AUTISM

Published September 12th - Netgalley

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

GOODREADS

★★

ANTHOLOGY

FICTION

ADOPTION THEME

Published September - Editor Unsolicited

I was sent a physical copy of this ARC after I had already gotten an ecopy from Netgalley, so I sent it along to Jolene from JO'S BOOK BLOG and we also decided to buddy read it. Neither one of us were that impressed, so we decided to do a quick mini discussion of it on our TMTs instead of blog reviews.

MY THOUGHTS

This was one of those anthologies I have talked about before where a publishing house (this time it was an agent) gets a couple of high profile authors to contribute stories to a themed anthology and then they fill the rest of the book with unknowns, some even previously unpublished writers. Collections like this are usually less than 50% good, and that would be okay if the publisher only charged $1.99, or even better, 99¢ for the ebook because they are basically promotional samplers. This ebook is $8.60! That's robbery.

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The biggest problem I had with this book, besides the duds, was that it was apparent many of the stories were not originally about adoption, and they were made anthology worthy by adding something about adoption, or foster care, or making the MC an adoptee and then juggling the story around to make it fit. A couple of the stories weren't even really about adoption at all. I really liked the one by William Ritter, the author of the Jackaby books, but it wasn't about adoption. Another thing was there were so many weak endings. Jolene mentioned this, too. I have a feeling many those were chapters from full novels doctored up to read like a short story. Again, okay if the book is 99¢, not okay if it is almost $9.00.

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My favorite was Peace of Paper by Courtney C. Stevens because I loved the realistic Contemporary writing style and it was a solid short story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was about how important it is to have family discussion and support when you are making a big life decision. I also really liked Twenty-Seven Days by Jenny Kaczotowski. It was about foster care and my aunt fostered children when I was growing up.

Others I liked a lot…

Tunneling Through ~ Shannon Parker

These Broken Stars ~ C.J. Redwine

A Kingdom Bright and Burning ~ Dave Cronnis

Webbed ~ Julie Esbaugh

Invited ~ Lauren Morill

(also one of Jolene’s favorites)

Upon the Horizon’s Verge ~ Sangu Mandanna

(another Jo fave)

*Nine good stories out of twenty-eight garnered this anthology two stars from me. There will be a more in depth review on GOODREADS some time this week.

JOLENE' S THOUGHTS

My favorite stories were Up by a Million by Caela Carter, Upon the Horizon’s Verge by Sangu Mandanna, Invited by Lauren Morrill, and The Take Back by Kate Watson. The reason these were my favorite, I think, is because I am adopted and so I related to them more. They had a very realistic feel to them which is why I connected with those stories. It is has never really bothered me that I am adopted but I have always wondered what my birth mother went through. Was it easy for her to give me up? Was it heartbreaking? I like what the author writes in Upon the Horizon’s Verge, “She does matter, I say. That’s why I want to give her up. She’s not my dream, but she is somebody else’s. She deserves to be there, with that somebody else. She deserves to be their dream.” I know I was my adopted parents dream. They tried for years to have children. In vitro was very new and expensive and there was no way they could have afforded it so they turned to adoption. It was their only chance of having a baby.

*Vist Jo's TMT to read more of her thoughts and see what she rated this anthology.

GOODREADS

MIDDLE GRADE

CHILDREN'S CHAPTER BOOK

STANDALONE

CONTEMPORARY

FRIENDSHIP - FAMILY

Publishes September 28th - Netgalley

I am loving this book. It moves along quickly and is not very long of a story. It would be perfect for a reluctant reader. The illustrations are fab, too.