The Bookshelf

“For every girl who has ever felt powerless”   is it bad to say the dedication was my favorite part of this book... Hi, I am back again with another novel that I did not particularly enjoy.  *Minor spoilers, but no major plot spoilers” Powerless written by Lauren Roberts is about a girl named Paedyn who lives in the slums as a thief in the Kingdom of Ilya ruled by “Elites” who possess fantastical powers. Anyone who does not have powers, “Ordinary’s” are hunted down and killed if they are found living in the Kingdom. The main character is one of these Ordinary's, using her skills of reading peoples body language to pose as a Psychic and hide among the Elites. However, after she unknowingly saves one of the princes of Ilya, Kai, she is picked to participate in a game that demonstrates the Elites powers called the Purging Trials. Paedyn spends the rest of the book trying to survive the trials and hide her identity as an Ordinary, while also uncovering secrets about her Kingdom a...

I’d like to share a few things about Edgar Allan Poe’s style of writing and why I think he is such an interesting American voice. This is my first time reading his short stories, but I now have a good sense of his favorite themes and types of characters. His stories are told using first person narration, usually by a character who seems insane. However, the seemingly-insane narrator walks us through his hyper-logical process of carrying out a horrible deed, whether against others or himself. The narrations explore the pathological thoughts of people doing and thinking terrible, unacceptable, taboo thoughts, usually about harming for no good reason. This is what makes the thinking pattern so perverse. More disturbingly, the narrators show delight in committing perverse acts against innocent victims, but they can’t explain exactly why. However, in the end of these stories, the narrator feels overwhelming disgust for his crimes. Although these stories sound like deathbed confess...

     In my last blog post, I was still reading This Golden State , and I wrote about what I thought of the book so far. Now, I have finished the book, and I will give a summary of the entire story and my thoughts on the book overall.  As I mentioned before, Poppy is the main character. She has a little sister named Emma, a mom, and a dad. Her family has been on the run for as long as Poppy can remember. Every time they move to a new place, she does her best not to make too many friends or get too attached. Poppy has spent her entire life giving up things that she loves. Often, the reader glimpses at the internal struggle Poppy goes through; she really wants to have a normal life (have a phone, finish a year at one school, drive a car) but at the same time, she’s frightened at what would happen if she was recognized. She doesn’t know for sure, but every time she does something against her family’s rules of staying hidden, police cars arrive and they have to move away....

Hello! I'm Sloane, and I'm reviewing Top Story  by Kelly Yang. This is the fifth book in the Front Desk  series. I read the other books in the series a while ago, and then realized there was a fifth book, so I read it recently! In the first  Front Desk  book, the main character, Mia, moves from China to America, and her parents get jobs at the Calivista motel. The motel is owned by Mr. Yao, who overworks Mia's parents and treats them badly, while Mr. Yao's son, Jason, bullies Mia at school for helping at the motel. Mia and her parents help immigrants stay in the motel, which they have to keep a secret from Mr. Yao. Mia has to navigate her new life and pursue her dream of being a writer. *Spoilers for the Front Desk series (books 1-4)* In Top Story , Mia is in Chinatown during winter break with her mom and her friend Lupe, while her dad stays in Anaheim, California to run the Calivista motel. Mia is going to a journalism camp, while Lupe is going to the stat...