Burn by Patrick Ness

Burn by Patrick Ness
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book awesomely Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt. I loved the audiobook version of this historical fiction book that also weaves in drag0ns, humans, goodness/evil, Russia and satellites. I loved Sarah and Jason both good, kind, honest teens who are hated by the locally racist sheriff because Sarah' mom was black and Jason's parents are Japanese. But life in 1957 is not always fair and Sarah's dad hires a dragon to burn their fields. But this blue dragon is highly intelligent, has a message for Sarah, and has evil forces working against them. When Sarah, Jason, the sheriff and the dragon clash, something awful happens, and that brings an assassin into the picture too. Malcolm is a Believer, who has been groomed to kill someone. He is great with knives and dangerous. As he falls in love with another man; another no no from the racist sheriff; they run away together and are pursued by law enforcement. I loved this book until they arrived in a new alternate universe and then the story just got bogged down bringing the reader up to speed in the new world. Evil was raging here and with Covid I find some books and what happens in them really turn me off, just like this book.

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This beautiful book is about the end of World War II in California and how the Japanese were taken to the internment camps. Henry Lee is the boy telling the story and is Chinese and his parents send him to an American school and make him wear a sign that says "I am Chinese" which most people ignore. He is bullied in school and at home must speak only English (even though his parents don't understand English). Life sucks for Henry Lee, until one day Japanese Keiko Akabe starts at his school and works beside him in the lunch room. Henry cherishes their friendship, and it blossoms into love. When Keiko's family must report to an internment camp, Henry begins to correspond with her. He also visits her when he is asked to help in their kitchens on a weekly basis. As he grows older, Henry promises to wait for her. There is so much in this story to love. Henry is older when the story begins and he remembers his childhood, has an acrimonious relationship with his son and is despondent over the death of his wife, no she is not Keiko. Such a great story, I loved every minute of it and so will you.



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