Book Reflections

Content Tags: Pedophilia, Manipulation, Abuse, Gaslighting, Grooming, Fantasy Description from  Storygraph : Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go. If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here. If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood... it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back. And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it…. Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds. And stepping through those doors exacts a price. Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I was emotional just from reading the Dedication and Author's Note for this book. The reason that Antsy is lost is heavy and a terrible reality for far too many ch...

Content Tags: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Fatphobia, Bullying, Psychological Abuse Description from  Storygraph : In this latest addition to Seanan McGuire’s beloved Wayward Children series, students at an anti-magical school rebel against the oppressive faculty. “Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you’ve already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.” There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn’t as friendly as Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. And it isn’t as safe. When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her “Home for Wayward Children,” she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn’t save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster. She w...

Content Tags: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Transphobia Description from  Storygraph : A young girl discovers a portal to a land filled with centaurs and unicorns in Seanan McGuire's Across the Green Grass Fields, a standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-wining Wayward Children series. "Welcome to the Hooflands. We're happy to have you, even if you being here means something's coming." Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late. When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to Be Sure before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines--a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes. But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem... A standalone Wayward Children story containing all-new characters, and a great jumping-o...

Content Tags: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Death, Murder, Sororicide, Drowning, Necromancy Description from  Storygraph : When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister--whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice--back to their home on the Moors. But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome. Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken. Again. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This was my favorite book in the Wayward Children series. So far, at least. The banter resulting from the communication styles and personalities of the characters was fantastic. I especially loved Jack and Sumi's interactions. Each cha...

Content Tags: Fantasy, Death Description from  Storygraph : This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ In Every Heart a Doorway , Miss Lundy does not use anyone's first name, only honorific and surname. In an Absent Dream  provides the backstory to that habit, which I really appreciated. In the "real" world, the only people I've encountered that refuse to use anything other than honorific plus surname are elitist assholes, so it felt a bit like a weird sticking point with Miss Lundy. It's even c...

Content Tags: Fantasy, Death/Dead, Fatphobia Description from  Storygraph : Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third book in McGuire's Wayward Children series, returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children in a standalone contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the real world. When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can't let Reality get in the way of her quest - not when she has an entire world to save (Much more common than one would suppose.) If she can't find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn't have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Go...