Feb 07 2022
This effortlessly sweet debut YA novel touches on several very common insecurities in young people worldwide, and gently guides readers through how to cope with them via its smart, if sometimes reactive, heroine Charlie Vega. Charlie is a sixteen year-old who’s never been kissed, tho she often imagines what it might be like in the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/07/fat-chance-charlie-vega-by-crystal-maldonado/
Jan 12 2022
This was a very interesting tale of four squabbling royal siblings who must come together to save their country, marred by some weird instances of under-writing. It’s certainly a page turner in the back half, and who doesn’t love a non-generic fantasy setting? Inspired by Indian mythology, with a distinct matrilineal bent, this is an …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/12/the-ivory-key-the-ivory-key-duology-1-by-akshaya-raman/
Dec 09 2021
Funny story, I actually had a brief Twitter conversation with the very lovely Sophie Gonzales about this book and how, while it is a romance, it isn’t a rom-com, as many are expecting. I thought this misapprehension was due to a combination of the cartoon-y cover and the glowing blurbs that all accentuate how light …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/09/if-this-gets-out-by-sophie-gonzales-and-cale-dietrich/
Dec 06 2021
Gosh, ’tis the season for some truly affecting graphic novels! The Last Witch is the story of Saoirse, a young Irish girl who just wants to beat her best friend Padraig to the witch’s tower on the outskirts of town one Imbolc, never mind the superstitions about witches coming out to prey on children that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/06/the-last-witch-fear-fire-the-last-witch-1-5-by-conor-mccreery-v-v-glass-natalia-nesterenko/
Nov 08 2021
It’s sheer coincidence that I saved this for Native American Heritage Month, but I’m so glad the Hugos forced me to finally get around to reading it! Elatsoe is the full name of Lipan Apache Ellie Bride, a teenage girl who lives in a Texas much like our own but with certain significant differences. For …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/08/elatsoe-by-darcie-little-badger/
Nov 07 2021
Circassians! The father of Allie, title character and first-person narrator of Courtney’s novel, comes from a Circassian family. They’re an ethnic group originally from the Northern Caucasus. After their encounter with an expanding Russian Empire went the way of most encounters between small peoples and the empire, the vast majority of Circassians were expelled to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/07/all-american-muslim-girl-by-nadine-jolie-courtney-2/
Oct 05 2021
Oof, this graphic novel hit me in my comic book-loving heart. I’m not saying I was Azi growing up — I mean, her dad is nuts even by Asian parent standards — but certain of her trials hit me as hard as a hammer blow to my psyche. The story goes like this: Noah Ramirez …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/05/needle-and-thread-by-david-pinckney-ennun-ana-iurov-michah-myers/
Sep 27 2021
Yooooo. I love any book with an unapologetically, righteously angry female lead and this one did not disappoint! Also, Zetian is a disabled heroine who kicks ass! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such positive disability rep, which is partly on me but, let’s face it, mostly on publishing. Add to that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/27/iron-widow-iron-widow-1-by-xiran-jay-zhao/
Sep 10 2021
I admit that I flinched a little when I read the blurb for this on receiving the Wednesday Books circular. How much would I, a progressive Muslim, find in common with a bunch of evangelical Christian church kids? Apparently, quite a lot! I’m glad I put my trust in Wednesday Books on this: when they …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/10/never-saw-you-coming-by-erin-hahn/
Sep 03 2021
Who’s ready for a brand new story arc in the Enola Holmes universe? As we swiftly discover in the opening pages of this latest installment of the series, Enola has reconciled with her brothers and is living as an independent Consulting Perditologist in London. However, she’s dismayed that her brothers, famous old Sherlock and Mycroft, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/03/enola-holmes-and-the-black-barouche-enola-holmes-7-by-nancy-springer/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire