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Book Review: Puddin’ by Julie Murphy (Dumplin’, #2)

Title: Puddin’ (Dumplin’ #2)
Author: Julie Murphy
Published: May 8th, 2018
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Rating: ★★★★★
Find the Author: Goodreads 

Disclosure: I received this ARC in exchange for an impartial review. As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.

It is a companion novel to Dumplin’, which follows supporting characters from the first book in the months after Willowdean’s star turn in the Clover City pageant. 
Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream—and to kiss her crush. Callie Reyes is the pretty girl who is next in line for dance team captain and has the popular boyfriend. But when it comes to other girls, she’s more frenemy than friend. When circumstances bring the girls together over the course of a semester, they will surprise everyone (especially themselves) by realizing they might have more in common than they ever imagined.

First Thoughts…

It’s no secret that I absoultely adored Dumplin’ when I read it a staggering two years ago! It was one of my favourite reads that year and when I heard that they were making a movie about Willowdean, my heart skipped a beat! I am so glad they’re putting a Plus Size character on the big screen for a movie about her and not about the “thin best friend” trope that we get nowadays. I remember that Dumplin’ had resonated with me a lot because I’m also plus size, and I found that there was a lot of truth in those small moments we all take for granted when we don’t know that what we’re saying or doing can affect someone. 

My Review…

In the sequel to Dumplin’, there’s Puddin’. (Okay, does the title remind anyone else of Harley Quinn’s line?) It’s essentially a companion novel to the first that follows some of the supporting characters from the first book. We have these two main characters – Millie and Callie – and they’re quite different from each other. Millie is a sweetheart, super positive and just one of those people who would have made the best friend when I was growing up. I never had a friend like Millie at all, or ones that understood what it was like growing up bigger than the other girls. So when I read that Millie usually goes to fat camp every year, I was ready for a story about losing weight, but then, her plans change. She isn’t going to fat camp this year. She’s going to chase her dreams and kiss her crush. The thought that Millie had this confidence that I can only dream of was exhilarating. 

But then Millie meets Callie. Callie isn’t like Millie at all. She’s harder, tougher and some may say, prettier. Basically, I felt like she might have been the “mean girl” type. She’s next in line for the dance captain and her friends (or enemies) and even boyfriend, are all popular. So when she meets Millie? It’s not smooth sailing. They’re brought together during the semester, and then their layers start unveiling their own flaws, beliefs and common ground they have. (By the end, I was even starting to like Callie – a character who I never would have thought I could.)
I’m just utterly blown away each time I read something by Julie Murphy. I’m an avid collector of her novels and to this day, nothing quite makes my heart happy like feeling like I can gel with the characters in a book series that isn’t all about the fat girl losing weight. It’s about the fat girl getting her dreams. Because weight? It’s just weight. It shouldn’t define who you are. And Dumplin’ and now Puddin’, have both been examples of just how to write an incredible, empowering and 5-star worthy YA novel. So it goes without saying that this has been one of my favourite reads this year so far! Huge, huge love for this book (and for Julie!).

Julie Murphy is a potty-mouthed Southern belle who was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but found her home in Fort Worth, Texas. She’s never seen Star Wars, but has yet to meet a made for TV movie she didn’t love. When she’s not writing, Julie can be found cruising Costco for free samples, watching Sister Act 2, stalking drag queens on instagram, obsessing over the logistics of Mars One, and forever searching for the perfect slice of cheese pizza. She lives with her bearded husband, two vicious cats, and one pomeranian that can pass as a bear cub. DUMPLIN’ is her second young adult novel.

Have you read Puddin’ or Dumplin’?


Let me know in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!


happy reading!

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Book Review: Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Title: Allegedly 

Author: Tiffany D. Jackson

Published: January 24th, 2017

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Find the Author: Goodreads 


I received this book for review on my blog! As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.


Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.


Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home.


There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary?

First Thoughts

Nothing had looked more inviting to me at midnight than Allegedly on my TBR shelf and since I was so, so behind on reading and reviewing because I’ve been hectically busy (sorry, world!) I thought it would be a perfect read to get back into the reading habit. The premise of Allegedly looked edgy and mysterious.


Review

As I began delving into Allegedly, I realised why I love reading books and started this blog in the first place. Mary is this flawed, striking character with a complicated past that begs the question of what kind of society we live in. As a child, Mary was accused and locked away for supposedly killing a baby when she was caring for it with her ill Mother. Over the years, Mary has developed a thick skin for the way her life has been unlike normal girls. She’s been kept in a sort of seclusion that she calls baby jail until she’s moved into a group home. Whenever she questions why she’s there in the first place, no one will answer her pleas. She constantly lives in the dark, waiting for someone to shed a little light on her and pull her out of the box she has been put into, because: Mary and her mother are Black, and were looking after a White baby. The media had portrayed them wrongly, and because of her hushed interview with detectives those years ago, they had filled in the missing information with what they assumed.

Now, Mary knows more than ever that she doesn’t want to live like this anymore. After meeting Ted on an assignment, she knows he’s the one that she wants, now more so that she’s expecting a baby. But when they tell Mary that her baby will be adopted and taken from her, she knows she’s got a fight on her hands if she wants to be happy and keep her child. Still, fighting their decision means facing the person she can’t stand, her Mother, and she’s going to have to delve into the past and the real her to reveal what really happened.

Allegedly is one gem of a read. It’s gritty, thought provoking and honest. It’s not shy of telling it how realistically life really is and how vicious the media can be without knowing the details. In this dark, raw read there existed Mary, this intriguing and powerful YA voice that begged to be heard. Her experience made me sad and mad, and sad again. There was more than just one twist (and one nearer the end that was totally unexpected) and the pace was steady enough to keep my attention throughout. I finished this mid-early morning, thanks to my insomnia, but that night I knew that Allegedly had just made those hours I couldn’t sleep tolerable. 

Overall, Allegedly is a five star firecracker that’s the definition of real. The characters, friendships, and sheer power of the premise was mind-blowing and it’s a book to make you really think about what you just read. Truly amazing. 



Perfect For:

Everyone who enjoys YA books. 


Rating:


Have you read Allegedly?


What did you think?


Let me know in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!


happy reading!

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Book Review & Tour: “Yellow Brick War” by Danielle Paige


Title: Yellow Brick War

Author: Danielle Paige

Published: March 15th, 2016

Publisher: HarperCollins

Find the Author: Goodreads


I received this book for review! As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.

In this dark, action-packed third book in the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, Amy Gumm—the new girl from Kansas—must do everything in her power to save Kansas, kill Dorothy, and make Oz a free land once more.

Amy Gumm’s mission to take down Dorothy Gale is not going according to plan. Dorothy has found a way to bridge the worlds of Oz and Kansas, and if the power-hungry dictator of Oz has her way, Kansas will be destroyed forever. Now, Amy has to team up with the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked to save her home, restore the balance between the magic and nonmagic worlds, maybe get the guy—and kill that not-so-sweet Kansas farm girl once and for all.

In the third installment of the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, Danielle Paige’s twisted versions of beloved Oz characters are back, including the biggest, baddest, most famous of all: the Wicked Witch of the West.

Welcome to the other side of the rainbow. Here there’s danger around every corner, and magic shoes won’t be able to save you.

I’ve been such a big fan of this series ever since I laid eyes on Dorothy Must Die. Something about the unique spin on Oz and Dorothy being the villain just rang all the right bookish bells for me.  
This series is a rollercoaster of ups and downs that include a huge variety of villains, witches and good girls gone bad, but Amy Gumm isn’t one of them. She’s the other girl from Kansas who was sent to kill Dorothy. See, Dorothy found a way back from Kansas to Oz and the power went to her head. Good is bad, bad is good and you never know who you can trust. Now, Amy is back and ready for more action, but the plan to kill Dorothy isn’t running as smooth as it should be. If Dorothy has her way, Kansas will be obliterated forever and Amy can’t let that happen. She needs to end Dorothy, even if that means teaming up with the biggest and baddest, fighting with magic and along the way maybe even find a little happiness. 
All they’ve got to do is follow the yellow brick road, right? Wrong – this Yellow Brick Road isn’t like the one you remember. It’s crumbling. Now Amy has to team up with the revolution and stop Dorothy once and for all.
Danielle never fails to disappoint with this series. It’s been a favourite since I can remember and the storyline never fails to be entertaining with action, excitement and a unique spin on Oz. Amy’s character building was perfect in the third instalment and I can’t wait to see her evolve further into the last instalment when it comes out. Danielle paints a picture of Oz so effortlessly and it’s never predictable- she leads us in a lot of different directions as to where the story can go and that way, I’m always turning the pages faster. Overall, Yellow Brick War is another brilliantly written, epic adventure in a distorted version of Oz. I’m always in awe book after book in this series with the edge-of-your-seat storyline and new revelations. If you haven’t picked up the series yet, this is your calling! You don’t want to miss this amazing series. I can just picture it becoming movies – it’s on my list of favourites that would be perfect for the big screen. Can’t you just picture Amy kicking butt on screen with Dorothy as the enemy?

YA Fans of Dystopia, Fantasy and Epic Adventure.

Have you read the Dorothy Must Die series?


What did you think?


Let me know in the comments, on twitter @LittleMemoirs or #YellowBrickWar and let the world know your thoughts this tour week! 


happy reading!

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Book Review: “The Girl Who Came Home” by by Hazel Gaynor




Title: The Girl Who Came Home

Author: Hazel Gaynor
Genre: Adult – Historical Fiction 
Release Date: April 1st, 2014 (UK)
Published by: Harper Collins

With thanks to Harper Collins for the copy of this novel! As always, my reviews are non-bias and fair.

A voyage across the ocean becomes the odyssey of a lifetime for a young Irish woman. . . . 
Ireland, 1912; Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Séamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.

Chicago, 1982 . . .

Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about Titanic that she’s harbored for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction—and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago. 
Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Came Home poignantly blends fact and fiction to explore the Titanic tragedy’s impact and its lasting repercussions on survivors and their descendants.

I was instantly intrigued by the story behind The Girl Who Came Home, and I’ve just begun diving into the Historical Fiction side of reading in Adult and YA reads. Hazel Gaynor’s novel looked just like what I was looking for.

Hazel Gaynor has written an exquisite tribute to the Titanic and it shows completely through the story as the plot plays out. I could see the extent to where Hazel had researched every detail of the events that follow and seep out into the storyline. 
Maggie and Grace were both very different characters in personality stances, and to see the development of each character built throughout the novel was really refreshing to read about, also knowing of the true events that had weaved into the book, too.
We all know something about the Titanic, whether it’s the little things or some of us may know more being History fans. Anyway I look at it, Hazel Gaynor has done a beyond amazing job of the extensive description, emotion and gripping events. I was mesmerized by every detail that just seemed to echo originality and charm. The Girl Who Came Home is a heartbreaking emotional read, keeping readers on their toes. It was ultimately about finding tranquility in the past, overcoming events and of course; love. 
It was different to most other Historical Fiction I’ve read, but I still managed to connect with the characters and care about them, which says a lot about how powerful the story has managed to pull me into it’s grip. There are just parts that left me speechless and other times where the descriptive narrative painted an image into my mind beautifully of those times, even as tragic as they were. 

Without giving too much away, finding the symbolism or peace within the story was my favourite part of The Girl Who Came Home or definitely the Maggie parts. I liked Grace’s parts, too, but Maggie’s were just incredible. 

Historical love-story fans, Historical Fiction fans or people who are fascinated with the Titanic or want to know more about it’s events. I would say just take a chance on it, because even the books we don’t think we’ll click with, just might surprise you.



Have you read The Girl Who Came Home?

What did you think? 

Tell me in the comments or at @LittleMemoirs on twitter!

happy reading!
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