Squire is a story about Aiza, a girl who wishes to be a knight. Throughout all of her childhood she has struggled as she is a part of the Ornu people who were captured long ago and are not granted full citizenship. Knighthood is her only path to citizenship and her one true desire. But things are a lot harder than Aiza expected. The war isn’t as black and white as it might have seemed. Maybe she isn’t being turned into a noble knight, but just yet another killing machine.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the finale to the Hunger Games series, and follows Katniss after the 75th Hunger Games. District 12 has been destroyed, and the survivors have been evacuated to District 13, long believed to be destroyed. Peeta, her fellow victor, has been taken by the Capital. A revolution is growing, and Katniss is a major part of it. However, to do this, Katniss has to become a symbol and a pawn for President Coin.
The Henna Wars is a LGBTQ+ romance novel by Adiba Jaigirdar. Nishat is surprised by the lack of response that she receives when she comes out as a lesbian to her parents. She soon realizes, however, that her parents think that it's a phase which will pass if they simply don't mention it. Nishat tries to go along with the plan, with hopes of proving to her parents that being a lesbian is okay, when a childhood friend, Flávia, walks back into her life.
Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar, is a LGBTQ+ romance novel.When Hani comes out as bisexual to her school friends, they tell her that she can't be bi if she's only ever dated guys. To defend herself, Hani lies that she's actually dating a girl at school - Ishu. Ishu and Hani are opposites, but make a pact to pretend to date each other because it benefits them.
The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater, is the first book in The Raven Cycle series. It stars Blue Sargent, the daughter of a psychic, and four boys who attend Aglionby, the local private school. Her entire life, Blue has been cautioned that she will be the cause of her true love’s death. Blue doesn’t care, as she doesn’t believe in true love.
Artemis Fowl is a fantasy novel by Eoin Colfer. It is the first novel in the Artemis Fowl series. It follows Artemis Fowl, a child genius who decides to kidnap a fairy named Holly Short for ransom in order to reinstate his family fortune. However, he has to contend with the magic of these dangerous fairies to succeed with his plot.
Five Little Pigs is a mystery novel written by Agatha Christie. It is the 25th novel in the Hercule Poirot mystery series, but the novels do not need to be read in order. It follows Poirot as he investigates murder of a famous painter, Amyas Crale. The painter’s wife, Caroline Crale, was convicted, but 16 years later, her daughter receives a posthumous letter from Caroline proclaiming her innocence. This book is another classic from Christie. As usual, it’s well-written.
This book took me a total of 2 days to complete. I was delightfully surprised when I learned that this was the first published book of Madeline Miller, as I’ve read some of her other astonishing and addicting works. This story revolves around the famous Greek hero Achilles and his companion he held for most of his life- Patroclus. Rather than retelling the classic and widespread stories of Achilles’s heel, Miller took an alternative approach to the myths and lifted from the dusty covers the factor of love and friendship, in addition to the hardships and glory the hero faces.
Incredible story, plot, all of it. Very unexpected and not predictable, just when you think it stops there, it doesn’t. The main characters Evelyn and Monique sit in an interview each day to document Evelyn’s story—hardships and fame. Unexpectedly, Monique seems to learn from Evelyn and grows as a human, combating unpleasant memories of her ex-husband while working for an ever-growing news reporting company. What seems so simple as a one-on-one conversation erupts to be larger than you’d expect, with mixed confusions and changing sides every other chapter.
Brain on Fire is a true story of first-hand experience of the author. The book walks us through the author's life and this condition that she developed in which her brain in a sense was on fire. The author uses very detailed descriptions to show us what her life was like while suffering through this extremely difficult time in her life. The book gives us the message that even when you are physically and mentally at your worst, never give up.
