This is not a Ghost Story, by Andrea Portes

 Savvy's Reviews

Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!

This is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

I am not welcome. Somehow I know that. Something doesn’t want me here.

Daffodil Franklin has plans for a quiet summer before her freshman year at college, and luckily, she’s found the job that can give her just that: housesitting a mansion for a wealthy couple.

But as the summer progresses and shadows lengthen, Daffodil comes to realize the house is more than it appears. The spacious home seems to close in on her, and as she takes the long road into town, she feels eyes on her the entire way, and something tugging her back.

What Daffodil doesn’t yet realize is that her job comes with a steep price. The house has a long-ago grudge it needs to settle . . . and Daffodil is the key to settling it. (GoodReads.com)

First of all, add this to the stunning covers collection because ooooh it’s aesthetic. (Insert sparkle emoji here.)  I snatched this one up right away. This book is as candid as I have ever seen and I absolutely love it. We follow Daffodil Franklin in her stream of consciousness narrative, which can be annoying to most readers but let me tell you… Daffy and I are one hive mind. Have you ever read a book and thought to yourself “I’m not entirely convinced I didn’t write this in my sleep?” Because that’s what this book did for me. 

We have all been Daffy at one point or another, struggling through the toughest parts of life, trying to find meaning after something devastating. And what do we do in these instances? We punish ourselves just like Daffy does in this novel. What I love about this book, however, is that this is a story of heart and soul redemption. At its core this book was a haunted house full of regret and sorrow, but you’re never going to want to put it down. 

It’s fast paced in a smooth jazz kind of way (figure that one out) and will have you questioning your own sanity at every turn (which we all know is my favorite kind of Sunday afternoon entertainment.) all while moving your glasses when you turn your back or opening all the cupboard doors when you leave the room. 

We’re all twisted in a way. Just enjoy it and embrace it. Pick up this book and tell me you don’t get yourself confused with Miss Daffodil Franklin. I will definitely be adding this one to my personal library. 

Savvy B. is an avid Young Adult fiction superfan. 

Savvy's Reviews will be archived here, so you can catch up on all her thoughts on her latest reads.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

 Savvy's Reviews

Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

When this book first appeared in bookstores, no one quite knew what to make of it. I begged my mother for weeks to take me to get my own copy until, finally, she caved. This book has sat happily dusty on my bookshelf for years. Every once in a while I will pick it up and look through it at the fascinating found photography collection that Ransom Riggs shares with us. 

But I never read it. I don’t know why, because as a child and even now as a young adult, all things horror and creepy are exactly what I claim as my aesthetic. As a photographer, the digitally enhanced photographs in this book are forever fascinating and captivating. 

I was finally able to pull this book off my shelves and force myself to really fall in love with the story. Which I did. This story takes place on the fantasy island of Cairnholm, off the coast of the very real country of Wales, which just makes me feel all the more connected to this book. My family comes from Wales and I’ve spent many a school project doing ancestry research on my Bowen heritage and the beautiful land of Wales. 

Had I read this book when it was first published, I might have gotten frustrated with the amount of time it took Jacob to actually find the home and its inhabitants. But knowing what I know now (that there are now six novels in the series) I can fully appreciate the build up of this magnificent world. I’m fully committed and completely married to the world that Ransom Riggs has created and I am itching to get started on “Hollow City”.

I found myself really falling in love with the characters and their peculiar little family. There is so much story left to tell and so many more photographs to find. I absolutely adore this series and am more than thrilled to announce that you can now get all six plus novels from the Randolph County Public Library, including the newest addition to the series “The Desolation of Devil’s Acre”.

Savvy B. is an avid Young Adult fiction superfan. 

Savvy's Reviews will be archived here, so you can catch up on all her thoughts on her latest reads.

Fable, by Adrienne Young

 Savvy's Reviews

Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!

Fable by Adrienne Young 

For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one, and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father, and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.

But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him, and Fable soon finds that West isn't who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they're going to stay alive.

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. Fable takes you on a spectacular journey filled with romance, intrigue, and adventure. - GoodReads.com

This book is like if Kiera Knightly got her own Pirates of the Caribbean movie and I’m here for it. I could not put this book down. I have been wanting to read it since it came out in September of 2020. Of course I was instantly hooked simply because of the stunning cover. Yes, I judge books by their covers. Have I not mentioned that? When I found out about “Namesake” and I saw that these covers fit together to form perhaps the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen, I instantly fell in love and ordered my own copies of each. They sit on the bookshelf in my living room, facing out. 

Besides being a stunning design, this book is non-stop when it comes to storyline and the strength of this novel is really something else. I would definitely recommend this book to ANYONE, whether they love fantasy or not. It really has something for everyone. The strong female leads are wonderful and inspiring. I will definitely be reading these books over and over again.

Savvy B. is an avid Young Adult fiction superfan. 

Savvy's Reviews will be archived here, so you can catch up on all her thoughts on her latest reads.

Bone Gap, by Laura Ruby

 Savvy's Reviews

Not sure you want to dig into that new book? Let Savvy do the hard work for you! Here's her latest review!

I wanted to like this one. Believe me… trust me… I wanted to like this one. I love the idea of Magical Realism as a genre. But this book was an absolute trudge to get through. It took a long time to get interesting and even longer to grab my attention. 

I almost gave up on it several times but I actually needed to read this one for a school assignment so I pushed through hoping that something magical was about to happen and I’d end up falling head over heels for this book. 

Everyone knows the town of Bone Gap, Illinois is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. (Literally, apparently. This is what really grabbed my attention about this book.) So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. (Are you serious? Why not?!) After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?

*SPOILERS* 

Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. (This is where the book really lost me.)  But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go. (I personally believe that if you’re in love with someone and you give up on finding them after a measly four weeks… you couldn’t have really loved that person in the first place…)

I cannot, no matter how much I try, give up on a book I don’t like. I can probably count the number of times that I’ve put a book back with no intention of ever picking it back up again on one hand. I’m always afraid that I’m just a page away from the most magnificent book ever written. The hidden gem. 

But in this novel, I couldn’t find myself caring about the characters. I just had no sympathy for them. It didn’t make a lot of sense even though the bones of an excellent book are there, it’s just in the wrong skeleton. It has real potential. Maybe it would make a better movie, but it’s personally not a book that I will pick up again.

Savvy B. is an avid Young Adult fiction superfan. 

Savvy's Reviews will be archived here, so you can catch up on all her thoughts on her latest reads.