Bookworm Reads 2021 Part 5

​The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin - I loved this book! Rachel weaves a story of love, loss, trauma, magic, and healing in a brand new way! Clara is broken and fears so much about who she is as the only Everwitch in a century, and that with her use of her powers, the ones she loves are dead. This book is about not running from who you are regardless of your past, your mistakes, or whom you presume yourself to be. It's about finding a safe person that helps you see what's always been inside of you and helps you amplify others because of it rather than in spite of. One of my favorite reads of 2021 and of all time!​⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

The English Girl by Sarah Mitchell - I love a good war time forbidden love story! We follow Frances, Fran, as she works for the prisoner of war camp hosting German soldiers in her British village in the wake of WW2's end. There she meets the handsome Thomas, a prisoner that speaks English and steals her heart. She also meets Martin, a man who was medically excused from the war and has immense guilt about it, and he and Fran build a friendship which could develop into more. With the war right behind the world can Fran be with the man she loves or will a safer choice rule out? Great storytelling and weaving of real events with the fiction of the love triangle. I can't wait to get a physical copy!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

The Text God by Whitney Dineen & Melissa Summers - Super adorable story of love and faith. Jen is an artist trying to make her way in the New York art scene but is having a hard time. When she gets a mysterious text message from God, her life is changed forever. Gabriel Oliver Daly has a plan: make partner, marry Alexis, have a family, and everything will be the way he's alway imagined it. Wen he meet a pretty front desk clerk at the hotel he's supposed to meeting a friend's sister at, his life is also changed forever. Very cute and well written and part of a series that's fun ad innocent and very fun to read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

Shadows of Saigon by Mark R. Anderson - From just the cover art and title you know this will be a sad story, The U.S. involvement in Vietnam is messy and complicated and always has a sad ending. This was no exception. Written beautifully and weaves a tale of love and sorrow and the aftermath for our soldiers that served so faithfully. It's a good book overall and reading Grady's story will help put things in perspective for us to not take anything for granted. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas - This was a heartbreakingly beautiful retelling of Peter Pan and Wendy. Wendy went missing with her brothers 5 years ago and only she came back after being lost for 6 months. What happened to her in that time frame? She has no idea. She's tried to remember but can never get past the blackness that invades her mind when she tries. When Peter crash lands back in her town looking for her everything she's pushed down so deeply comes back to the surface but can she and Peter save the other missing children and Peter's life before the shadow takes hold forever? I absolutely loved this book! It was heartrendering, tender, traumatic, faithful to the fairytale, and brought fresh storytelling back to Neverland. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

Foretold by Violet Lumani - ​This book had many good qualities: a heroine with mental illness and dealing with grief, a magical world right under her nose that she's inexplicably drawn into, supporting characters that deal with their own trauma while helping their friend, and an overly supportive parent. Sometimes I didn't quite understand how the scrying worked. Even with explanations it was difficult to keep straight but I enjoyed how Cassie learns and develops as a person and scryer. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚

The Queen's Spy by Clare Marchant - ​A timeless tale of intrigue and the balance of spying with family life. Tom is both deaf and mute, making him the perfect spy for Queen Elizabeth while she waits for an assassination to come for her from her cousin Queen Mary of Scots. With Tom's ability to read lips and melt int the background he becomes entangle in the web of the Queen's spymaster but will it be too much for the family he leaves behind? Mathilde has never known home to be a place of refuge. Always on the run with her mother and then alone at the age of 16, her beloved van as seen her home and has always provided a way to escape. When she is summoned to England she learn her father left her his estate despite being told he died in an explosion when she was very small. Now with new found family, and dare she say even love, will she finally put down roots? Seeing how Tom and Mathilde's stories intertwine and mirror was fascinating and I enjoyed going back and forth in time between resent day and the Tudors!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📚