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Merci Suarez Changes Gears
Merci Suarez Changes Gears
Meg Medina | 2018 | Children
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
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#Merci Suarez #Net Galley Candle Wick Publishing Children's fiction Middle Grade
Release date September 11, 2018 368 pages

I was lucky enough to be selected to read this book before it is released. I enjoyed this book greatly. I gave it 4 stars.
This book is about a Latino family who live in Florida. The family consist of a grandma, grandpa, aunt, twin cousins, mom, dad, older brother and the main character Merci. They really aren't poor but nor are they rich. probably low middle class. Both of the older children go to a private school by way of scholarship. The dad owns his own business as a painter and to pay the children's books during the summer they painted the gym. They wear a uniform to this school. Merci isn't as smart as her older brother who loves science. She has lazy eye and has gone the process of wearing a patch and having surgery. Her eye still has some issues at times. The students are required to do community service at this school. Most students only have to do 40 hours but Merci and her brother have to do 60 hours because of their scholarship. She isn't thrilled about her community service which is being a Sunshine Buddy. She ends up being a buddy to a boy which is unusually for a girl to be buddy with a boy. All the other children tease her when she tries to make contact in school. This new boy Michael Clark is a very cute boy and all the girls talk about him.
This book is about Merci and the things she goes through not only at school but also at home. She hates have to help out with her twin cousins because now she isn't able to go to soccer try outs which she really wants to do because she has to her Grandma watch the twins. Her Grandpa whom she adores is sick and she does find out but is the last to know and gets upset with her family for not telling her sooner. She is scared and mad at the same time.
This is a great book for a middle grader to read because it will explain about the disease her grandpa has in a very understanding way. It will give them understanding on how you can work through some hard times.
It is hard to go into detail because I don't want to give anything away about this story. I read most of it in one setting.
The author did a great job.
  
Honey From the Lion (Love Across Time #2)
Honey From the Lion (Love Across Time #2)
Jackie North | 2018 | LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
beautifully written love story
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is the second book in the Love Across Time series, but you don't need to have read book one, Heroes For Ghosts, for this one to make sense. They are only related in that they both are time travel stories.

Laurie books himself a week on a dude ranch and on the first night there is caught in a snow storm along with a meteor shower. Waking up freezing, he manages to find himself in John's cabin, in 1891. John just wants to be left alone, to get on with his solitary life after the horrors of the war. Finding a freezing young man on his doorstep kind of throws him for a loop but the pair grow close. When Laurie gets caught in a storm again, and comes back to his time, he knows where he wants to be: with John. But how to get there?

I liked this, I liked this A LOT. Just one teeny weeny thing stopped it getting 5 stars, but I will come back to that.

Laurie is burnt out from work, and decides a dude ranch week is just the thing. First night there, he hears the legend of Old Joe and his little fox he found. Waking up in 1891, finding John and subsequently meeting the people in this legend, don't bother Laurie so much, as when he returns to his time. He KNOWS he needs to be with John, and when the lady on the ranch explains the legend PROPERLY, and what The Iron Mountain, the snow storms AND the meteor showers are said to do, Laurie knows, he KNOWS where he needs to be, and how to get there.

I loved that Laurie was almost totally UNphased by everything! He's like: Okay then! I went to sleep in 2018 and I woke up in 1891! Let's get on and live here! There wasn't really any panicking on his part, except when they went to town and Laurie was attacked, and I liked that he was all calm about everything.

I must admit, I thought he might have put the clues together about the legend before he did, but Laurie was enjoying his time with John. Teaching John all the pleasures he has missed up to now, even if it might get them killed. Coming back to his time, though, he sees it then.

It's not overly explicit, but it carries passion and love a plenty. Full of words and phrases of the time though. It takes time for Laurie and John to properly come together, and I liked being made to wait for it. It isn't a quick thing, them falling in love, it creeps up on them both and I loved that it did.

The only niggle I have is this: only Laurie has a say. I desperately wanted to hear from John, I really did. There were some important points that I needed to hear what he was thinking about, feeling, experiencing with Laurie, and he doesn't tell me. And if John had had a say, this would have been a 5 star read, I'm sure.

It's a beautifully written love story, this, don't mistake what I'm saying! It's just, I needed John, and I don't get him.

But even though only Laurie has a say, his voice is strong and clear and he grabbed me and did not let go. One sitting, 300 pages, two and a half hours, not a muscle moved off the sofa! Job done.

4 meteor stars, shooting across the sky.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**