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Anita Lock

RomanceContemporary Romance

The family you choose

Review by Anita Lock

An encounter with an autistic boy leads to a burgeoning romance in RaeAnne Thayne’s newest addition to the Haven Point series.

Katrina “Kat” Bailey is only in Haven Point for the month leading up to her sister’s wedding. She comes to the aid of new resident Bowie Callahan when Milo, his 6-year-old autistic brother, has a meltdown at the local grocery store. The seemingly self-absorbed yet handsome tech mogul is amazed at Kat’s ability to calm Milo and promptly offers to pay her $12,000 to babysit Milo for three weeks. She accepts, realizing that she can use the money to adopt a sweet little girl from a Colombian orphanage. Kat is excited to return to Colombia to rescue her soon-to-be daughter from her meager surroundings. But things get complicated when she falls in love with Bowie.

Fans of the Haven Point novels have much to look forward to in Serenity Harbor, the sixth installment in the series. Thayne weaves in romantic tension from the get-go, focusing much of her plot on developing the character traits of her young lovers. Kat and Bowie are no doubt attractive people outwardly. But inwardly, they are riddled with flaws—medically and emotionally. Thayne’s realistic characterization grounds the hope of falling in love with the trials and tribulations that so often come with it.

Serenity Harbor is riveting to the very end.

An encounter with an autistic boy leads to a burgeoning romance in RaeAnne Thayne’s newest addition to the Haven Point series.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Prepare for liftoff

Review by Anita Lock

An autistic student discovers his hidden abilities in Mandy Davis’ powerful debut.

Ten-year-old Lester Musselbaum is not happy about attending public school after his mom gets a library job and can no longer home-school him. School is filled with plenty of unnerving situations, including Ricky the classroom bully. To his advantage, Lester is good at science, especially aerodynamics, but Lester’s interest in this field makes his mom uncomfortable, having lost her husband to a rocket explosion five years before. She worries that Lester will follow in his father’s footsteps.

When Lester enters the school’s science fair and wins, the achievement only exacerbates Ricky’s bullying. And when a classmate offers Lester a piece of advice to remedy the intimidation, it turns out that following through with his friend’s counsel is easier said than done.

Lester’s narration provides a view into the world of an intelligent boy with qualities of autism spectrum disorder. He’s an underdog determined to find a way, even when it doesn’t seem possible. With a constantly moving plot that unfolds in short chapters, engaging dialogue and a well-defined cast, Superstar is an inimitable story bound to become an award-winning favorite.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

An autistic student discovers his hidden abilities in Mandy Davis’ powerful debut.

RomanceContemporary Romance

Opposites attract in an alpine office romance

Review by Anita Lock

Two strong-willed people find they have more in common than expected in Need You Now, the first book Nicole Helm’s new Mile High Romance series.

Brandon Evans is dealing with unresolved family issues while struggling to manage Mile High Adventure, his Rocky Mountain vacation business in Gracely, Colorado. Lilly Preston carries her own set of burdens. That said, Lilly, who is in desperate need of a job, accepts a PR position job at Mile High. The principal component of her job is to embrace Gracely’s legend of healing, which she wants to believe in spite of the painful problems in her own life. Regardless, Lilly takes the bull by its horns and attempts to whip Mile High into shape. But in order to have free rein over the business’ PR, Brandon insists that she pass tests by experiencing the great outdoors via Mile High Adventure tours. Lilly has no idea what’s in store, especially with Brandon as her guide.

Rising contemporary romance author Nicole Helm knows how to produce a tension-driven narrative punctuated with comedy from beginning to end. Helm’s manly adventurers may be tough, but they nevertheless have funny, memorable interactions with their new employee. A perfect example of the latter is Lilly penalizing the annoying grunts made by the men of Mile High with a Grunt Jar. While the romantic and sexual scenes have their steamy moments, Helm makes sure to throw in hilariously awkward and realistic interactions into the mix. Romance enthusiasts will be pleasantly surprised with what Need You Now has to offer.

Two strong-willed people find they have more in common than expected in Need You Now, the first book Nicole Helm’s new Mile High Romance series.

YA FictionYA

Shifting between future and past

Review by Anita Lock

BookPage Teen Top Pick, June 2017

A teenager gets a blast from her past as she faces the future in Jodi Lynn Anderson’s latest novel, Midnight at the Electric.

The year is 2065. Sixteen-year-old Adri Ortiz has been chosen to join a group of young scientists who will be living and working on Mars. As an only child who was orphaned at an early age, Adri is surprised to learn that her distant cousin, 107-year-old Lily Vega, would love to have her stay in her Kansas home during Adri’s three months of training for the mission. Adri is skeptical about her relationship with this kindly old woman until she finds a journal and letters from more than a century ago.

Anderson divides her plot into sections, contrasting Adri’s life against the lives of two women from different eras: Cathy Godspeed, who experienced both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, and Lenore Allstock, who lived during the aftermath of World War I. Although completely engrossed in Cathy’s journal entries and Lenore’s letters, Adri doesn’t anticipate the impact these women will make on her own life.

Although Adri is a talented, burgeoning scientist, she can often be apathetic. But Anderson plops her protagonist into emotional, three-dimensional stories that expand her heart and connect her to her lineage. Anderson seamlessly shifts between all three narratives as she connects the dots and draws her audience into an engaging, inventive story. This charming coming-of-age tale will have readers hooked from beginning to end.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

A teenager gets a blast from her past as she faces the future in Jodi Lynn Anderson’s latest novel, Midnight at the Electric.

YA NonfictionYAMemoir

An inspiring, resilient young voice

Review by Anita Lock

“They slashed my people with their machetes. They set my people on fire. They shot my people in the head.” Native Congolese Sandra Uwiringiyimana reflects back to the August 2004 massacre in Gatumba, Burundi, that took the life of her 6-year-old sister and mother in the opening passage of her new memoir, How Dare the Sun Rise.

Emotional numbness and sleepless nights follow for Uwiringiyimana and her remaining family as they struggle to live. Two years later, a United Nations resettlement program sends Uwiringiyimana and her family to live in the United States. But assimilating to “the land of opportunity” turns out to be a wake-up call for Uwiringiyimana, especially when others define her by the color of her skin. In order to embrace her true identity, Uwiringiyimana will have to face her deepest fears.

Uwiringiyimana and award-winning journalist Abigail Pesta have joined forces to produce a gutwrenching yet highly inspiring read. Together they offer a glimpse into a sparsely publicized, horrific event along with an intimate portrayal of a child who was born into war. Eye-opening chapters brim with Uwiringiyimana’s plight as a refugee, and she finds herself caught between two cultures amid her determination to make a difference in the world. Uwiringiyimana captures it best when she states, “We must not fall prey to the kind of thinking that separates us.” How Dare the Sun Rise sends a powerful message to the tenacity of the human spirit.

“They slashed my people with their machetes. They set my people on fire. They shot my people in the head.” Native Congolese Sandra Uwiringiyimana reflects back to the August 2004 massacre in Gatumba, Burundi, that took the life of her 6-year-old sister and mother in the opening passage of her new memoir, How Dare the Sun Rise.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

An underdog gets his own story

Review by Anita Lock

An unexpected turn of events places an unlikely pair—a slave and an enemy soldier—on a treacherous journey in Megan Whalen Turner’s newest adventure-filled novel, Thick as Thieves, part of her acclaimed Queen’s Thief series.

Highly esteemed among the palace household, Kamet oversees local and outlying estate finances for his Mede master, Nahuseresh. Although he is happy to hold such authority, the intelligent, brown-skinned slave also has to endure his temperamental master’s unexpected beatings. To Kamet, this suffering is worth the chance to become “one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in all the empire” as the next emperor’s personal slave. But Kamet’s hopes for a somewhat brighter future fizzle when he hears news of his master’s demise. The last thing Kamet expects is to run off with an Attolian soldier who promises his freedom. What follows is an unforgettable motley-duo adventure.

Aficionados of this creative series will be thrilled to follow Kamet’s character development as Turner places him front and center in her epic tale. Brimming with a host of pertinent foils, as well as a clever thief named Eugenides, Turner’s plot takes mature teen readers along on Kamet’s death-defying journey. With a well-defined cast and a captivating writing style, Thick as Thieves is a brilliant combination of artful storytelling, imaginative history (with maps) and a flurry of twists and turns—up to the very end.

An unexpected turn of events places an unlikely pair—a slave and an enemy soldier—on a treacherous journey in Megan Whalen Turner’s newest adventure-filled novel, Thick as Thieves, part of her acclaimed Queen’s Thief series.

YA FictionYA

Finding a way forward

Review by Anita Lock

A story about processing grief takes a different turn when painful experiences bring two teens together in Sonia Belasco’s profound debut.

Summer deals a severe blow to Damon Lewis and Melanie Ellis. Damon loses Carlos, his best friend, to suicide, while Melanie loses her mother to cancer. Both live in the shadow of loss, keeping their feelings guarded, but neither knows the other exists. Their hard emotional shells begin to crack when Damon takes a picture of a grieving Melanie at a local park. This awkward moment leads Damon to give her a picture of Carlos. Soon a romance blossoms between them, but friction develops when Damon blocks Melanie from his deepest pain.

Ten years in the making and inspired by a traumatic event in the author’s own life, Belasco’s novel sends a powerful message about the complicated nature of grief. Speak of Me as I Am teems with raw emotion as the dual first-person narratives center on Damon and Melanie’s personal struggles and their relationship. As chapters shift back and forth between the two protagonists, Belasco weaves in a third character. Tristan, who is best friends with Melanie, is a charismatic and confident gay teen, and he immediately connects with Damon. The deep ties between these three friends play a crucial role in the development of the young lovers and provides refreshing twists to Belasco’s gut-wrenching plot.

This powerful, emotional work should be earmarked to be a favorite with teen readers.

A story about processing grief takes a different turn when painful experiences bring two teens together in Sonia Belasco’s profound debut.

RomanceHistorical Romance

I Dared the Duke

Review by Anita Lock

It’s a battle of wills between a playboy duke and an infamous wallflower in Anna Bennett’s newest regency romance.

A recent addition to the Blackshire estate, Elizabeth “Beth” Lacey becomes a companion to the Dowager Duchess, grandmother of the rakish Duke Alexander Savage. Although Beth and the Duchess get along swimmingly, friction is evident between Beth and Alex, especially when he tries to get Beth to convince his grandmother that moving away to the countryside will do her good. Beth promises to follow the duke’s orders, but only if he grants his grandmother three wishes before her departure. Alex and Beth’s tension eventually evolves into romance, and for the first time, Alex reveals his well-guarded secrets—except for one that has the power to devastate their relationship.

There is plenty of irony amid the salacious scenes that grace the pages of Bennett’s latest novel, the second book in the Wayward Wallflowers series. Bennett introduces two seemingly opposing characters that have more in common than expected. Beth and Alex both understand pain and loss, but their radically different social situations alter the outcomes of their past trials. But even amid harsh life experiences, their feisty personas have enabled them to become survivors. Bennett combines a little of everything to produce an engaging story—strong character development, an abundance of cliffhangers, unexpected plot twists, thought-provoking human-interest themes, mystery and comedy—all carefully woven into one steamy romance. I Dared the Duke is a captivating page-turner that will become a new favorite among romance enthusiasts!

It's a battle of wills between a playboy Duke and an infamous wallflower in Anna Bennett's newest regency romance.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A friendship born out of sweeping social change

Review by Anita Lock

Charlie Ross is not looking forward to starting sixth grade, since his best friends will be attending different schools. His dad says new kids from a black housing development will be coming to Charlie’s all-white Wonderland Avenue School. Armstrong Le Rois is not looking forward to starting sixth grade either. Waking up at 5:30 every morning to take a bus to attend an integrated program at Wonderland is not his idea of fun. Charlie and Armstrong butt heads more often than not, but a weeklong class camping trip gives the boys an opportunity to build a friendship. 

Inspired by his own childhood experiences, debut author Steven B. Frank spins a tale that goes beyond racial issues. In first-person juxtaposed narratives, Armstrong and Charlie captures the viewpoints of two preteens caught in the shifting tide of school integration. While sprinkling his tale with popular vintage games, music and food of the 1970s as well as uproarious humor, Frank weaves in a poignant “out of every conflict comes an opportunity” theme based on Charlie and Armstrong’s relationship. Replete with unforgettable moments, young love and unexpected plot turns, this is a hilarious, heartwarming and timely read.

 

This article was originally published in the March 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Charlie Ross is not looking forward to starting sixth grade, since his best friends will be attending different schools. His dad says new kids from a black housing development will be coming to Charlie’s all-white Wonderland Avenue School. Armstrong Le Rois is not looking forward to starting sixth grade either. Waking up at 5:30 every morning to take a bus to attend an integrated program at Wonderland is not his idea of fun. Charlie and Armstrong butt heads more often than not, but a weeklong class camping trip gives the boys an opportunity to build a friendship. 

YA FictionYAMystery

A precocious gorilla solves a big case

Review by Anita Lock

Award-winning Swedish author and illustrator Jakob Wegelius pens a fascinating murder-mystery that features a multitalented gorilla, Sally Jones, who narrates the story via a 1908 Underwood No. 5 typewriter.

Sally’s seaman friend Chief accepts a peculiar transport job from a shady character named Alphonse Morro. In a strange turn of events, Chief is wrongfully accused of murdering Morro and sent to prison for 25 years. Now separated from Chief, Sally finds refuge at the home of Ana Molina, where she is given the opportunity to learn to repair accordions. After another strange turn of events, Sally learns that Morro is not dead but hiding somewhere in the Far East. Encouraged by the unexpected news, Sally embarks on a journey to prove her friend’s innocence.

Eighty chapters and more than 600 pages long, The Murderer’s Ape feels like a rebooted Alexandre Dumas novel. While the book’s length may be daunting, Wegelius’ audience is in for a pleasant surprise. The highly engaging narrative turns a fat novel into a light read. In the midst of Sally’s complex account, Wegelius weaves in a well-defined cast and punctuates his substantial story with over 100 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. The character portrayals at the book’s opening are particularly stunning.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Award-winning Swedish author and illustrator Jakob Wegelius pens a fascinating murder-mystery that features a multitalented gorilla, Sally Jones, who narrates the story via a 1908 Underwood No. 5 typewriter.

YA FictionYA

A masterful sculptor’s story of tenacity

Review by Anita Lock

Through 80 chronological vignettes divided into five dated segments, all set to a lilting prose, Jeannine Atkins brings to life the poignant story of a half Native American, half African-American artist’s persistent journey to greatness. While Edmonia Lewis is best known as a neoclassical sculptor as well as for her affiliation with Oberlin College, details of her life remain a mystery. Regardless of the lack of data, Atkins offers a believable fictionalized biography in Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis. 

In 1862, while attending the recently racially integrated Oberlin College, Edmonia is falsely accused of poisoning two of her classmates. Days later, she is viciously raped and beaten. Although acquitted of the poisoning charges, Edmonia is accused of stealing art supplies, and her one-year stay at the historic college is terminated and she is sent to Boston. While working as a housekeeper, Edmonia is given the opportunity to learn sculpture. During the next two years, Edmonia hones her craft and travels to Rome, the “City of Marble.” Over the course of 10 years, Edmonia creates a grand piece she titles “The Death of Cleopatra,” which she presents at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

Combining imagination and the power of words, Atkins’ powerful narrative aptly highlights the harsh indifference and discrimination that Edmonia faces as she forges ahead to fulfill her dreams. Stone Mirrors provides a window into the achievements of a tenacious woman of color in a white man’s world.

 

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Through 80 chronological vignettes divided into five dated segments, all set to a lilting prose, Jeannine Atkins brings to life the poignant story of a half Native American, half African-American artist’s persistent journey to greatness. While Edmonia Lewis is best known as a neoclassical sculptor as well as for her affiliation with Oberlin College, details of her life remain a mystery. Regardless of the lack of data, Atkins offers a believable fictionalized biography in Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis.

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