What Am I Reading? – Chapter One

Hi Everybody!

Now that my Book Reviews From the Vault series is finished, I have decided to show you what I have been reading. I call this series “What Am I Reading?”

It’s fairy simple. I will display titles that I am reading at the time of the post and talk a bit about them. I usually read about three books at a time. However, I am a slow reader, so there will be times that I will only show one new book, or I might only do this series once a month, instead of every other week.

Anyway, let’s get started.

The first book that I will discuss is Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith. This is a realistic and cultural young adult book about Louise – a Native American teenager who dumps her first boyfriend after he makes a very insensitive remark about her race. She then spends her senior year working on the school newspaper with Joey Kairouz – the ambitious new photojournalist – and covering the backlash to the musical director’s color-conscious approach to casting The Wizard of Oz. Oh, and she might have feelings for him.

I picked up this novel because I discovered that it takes place in the same universe as another book that I read recently called Rain is Not My Indian Name. The protagonists of both books are apparently cousins. It’s good and pretty woke so far. We’ll see how I feel about when I finish it.

Up next is What Was Your Name Downriver?: Tales of the Shattered Frontier by Anthony Lowe. This book is western fantasy novel about two women – Evaline and Trivan – navigating a hostile environment with wit and weapons as they try to get back to civilization.

I have never read a book that contains both western and fantasy elements, and so far, it’s pretty engaging. It’s like a buddy film but in book form. I’m rooting for them to get to their destination.

And finally….

Yes, I’m doing it! I’m finally reading, as in listening, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens!!!

Since I’m sure that a good chunk of people who view this website have already read this book, I will give a very brief summary of it. Here it goes: a woman named Kya who lives alone in the marsh in mid-twentieth century North Carolina becomes a suspect in a murder case, but she is not what the villagers say.

I like it so far. I like how the book alternates with Kya’s backstory and with the investigation, and how it focuses on what she does as opposed to implying, “Poor Kya.”

Cassandra Campbell narrates the book, yet she has a tendency to voice almost every character with the same Southern accent. This makes it kind of difficult to follow whose talking.

And there we have it. This concludes the first “chapter” of my new series “What Am I Reading?”

Let me know what you think of this series!

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