"Elite" by Kristen Young

About this book:

  “Where do you find safety when your world is falling apart?
    Apprentice Flick thought the Elite Academy was the answer to all her problems. But the revelation of her past turned everything upside down. Now, she is caught between two worlds set on a collision course.
    Will she embrace the chaotic memories that flood her every waking moment? Or will she run to the security of her Elite training?
    Discovering her parents’ identities takes her to a secret underground bunker where she finds new friends, opportunities, and maybe even love. But Flick must decide where her allegiances lie soon, or the Triumph of Love festival might bring about her demise.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Collective Underground” trilogy. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- There are other names for God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit (Composer, Lyric, & the Muse); Christians are called Sirens because they sing Scriptures; Many Scriptures (called fragments of the Song) are quoted, remembered, & sung (with the names replaced for the names used in this world); Prayers; Many Talks about the Composer, Lyric, & the Muse, & Lyric’s sacrifice for us (said to have taken the character’s “broken melody and replaces it with his own”, making Himself mute for his family to receive the Composer’s gift); 'H's are not capital when referring to the Composer or Lyric; Seeing Lyric; Kerr doesn’t think she’s good enough for the Composer and that He wouldn’t want her because she’s “done (bad) things” (*Spoiler* About a 1/3 through, she asks Lyric to be her home *End of Spoiler*); *Spoiler* Someone that professes to be a Siren is actually a traitor and that the Composer is a fairytale and is evil *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of Lyric’s tree, a festival that the Collective celebrates the day they had Lyric strung up on a tree, & a statue that they burn of Him every year; Mentions of Sirens meeting and singing songs (of Scriptures) & Sirens using a secret hand motion when meeting others; Mentions of the Love Collective trying to force others to swear oaths of allegiance and bow to Supreme Lover Midgate, and that even though it would be easier to do so, the Sirens did not (and were killed); A few mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of miracles; A mention of someone believing that they are the Composer’s “avenging angels”; 

             *Note: “Love all, be all” is used as a common greeting/slogan as well as others telling the apprentices to “find themselves in the universe”; Mentions of ghosts and ghouls (such as feeling like a ghost, haunting a place like a ghost, the ghosts of others chasing you, a ghostlike procession of cars, looking like a ghoul, & someone’s face looking like a ghoulish mask); A mention of someone being an alien due to a major personality change; A mention of the Stone Age primitivism. 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘gah!’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘what the—‘, two ‘blah, blah, blah’s, two ‘freaking’s, nine forms of ‘idiot’, and ten forms of ‘stupid’; A mention of someone being “full of it”; Made-up curses/phrases: a ‘love knows’, a ‘what the Love’, two ‘Love knows what’s, two ‘what in Love’s name’s, and three ‘for Love’s sake’s; Mentions of curses (including a couple by Kerr, said, not written); Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Kerr lies a few times for her or others’ safety; Pain & Panic (similar to panic attacks, up to semi-detailed); Being held at knife-point, being tied-up, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Recalling being slapped & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing other’s being hit/attacked, their injuries, & blood/bleeding (including some implied to be domestic abuse, up to semi-detailed); An explosion (up to semi-detailed); Kerr struggles with knowing about a family member’s death & feeling like she was a part of it happening and is a murderer (up to semi-detailed); Kerr feels like there’s blood on her hands for her position in the Academy (to report suspicious people where many of them are killed); Kerr starts to think that it would be easier if someone died (but that train of thought is stopped); Kerr recalling her abduction as a child (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a club with people drinking (barely-above-not-detailed); Many, many mentions of Hate (which threaten their empire), Haters (which are deemed the enemy (followers of the Haterman *Spoiler* Who is Lyric (Jesus) *End of Spoiler*) to the government system that is all about love), & the government tracking down Haters to kill them; Mentions of a show where Haters are publicly execution & Haters being beaten, their blood and pain, & weapons (border-line barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Mentions of Embracement (public executions); Mentions of murders & murderers (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of wars, fights, bombs, dead bodies, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hitting, being hit/slapped, seeing other’s attacked/hit, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (some implied to be domestic abuse, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of children being abducted & brainwashed (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of treason, a terrorist plan, bombs, & an explosion (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of thieves & stealing; Mentions of arrests; Mentions of nightmares (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a club, alcohol/drinks, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of the possibility of death or torture; A couple mentions of drug dealers; A couple mentions of bullies (Book #1); A couple mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of tattoos; A couple mentions of dead fish (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a statue of a Hater after their beheading; A mention of betting; A mention of urine; 

             *Note: A couple mentions of mental programming (brainwashing) that turns people into a vegetable. 

 

 

Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch; A bit of staring at someone’s lips (not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Warmth, Hand holding, Smelling, & Nearness (including Kerr’s nerves and “sensations” going off, up to semi-detailed); Recalling Touches, Embraces, Warmth, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (including a guy’s bare chest, barely-above-not-detailed); Kerr has a few warnings about a guy, but pushes them away because of how she feels about him; Kerr and a guy go to a Love Hotel for a mission (nothing sexual happens, but Kerr is very uncomfortable going there and there’s hints to what happens at such a place such as the guy teasingly saying they’ll have two hours of “passion”, a maid telling them not to “do doing what these animals do when they think nobody’s looking”, messing up a bed cover’s to implied something happened, & the hotel’s video entertainment that is “adult entertainment” and aimed for their clientele’s seedy taste); Seeing a club & women leaning on men while feeding them, the a man kissing one, & one of the woman being pushed onto a man’s lap (possibly prostitutes); Seeing a man’s eyes devouring woman bought to entertain him and other men (possibly prostitutes); A man asks if another man is “sampling the Nurseries [the place where underage Apprentices train] again” to which he replies that the man is drunk; Mentions of how “fraternizing” isn’t allowed between Apprentices unless it’s a festival time and then there’s a bunch of a couples being snuggled against each other, them kissing and touching each other, & their “canoodling”; Mentions of flirting & a girl toying with a guy (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of an older man being interested in the “juicy details” of a couple’s potential time together (implied to be intimately) & his hungry look; A mention of the air being charged with “pheromones and desire”; A mention of an Apprentice sitting on another’s lap (opposite gender); A mention of a chaperone; 

             *Note: A couple mentions of the Pleasure Tribe that does entertainment for population and someone’s physique” (said with a hesitation) being good for the performance stream; A mention of a woman’s teensy dress; A mention of testosterone. 

 

-Kerr Flick
                                1^st person P.O.V. of Kerr 

                                          Fantasy/Dystopian
                                                        295 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{Due to some suggestions (listed in the Sexual Content), the ratings are lower.}

Now this? This was the dystopian take-down-the-corrupt-government plotline I was looking forward to reading. The first book was mainly a lot of setting the stage of the world and characters, but this sequel was where the action happens. 

I have so many thoughts, but I lot of them of spoilers, so I’ll be vague when I say I felt justified for my dislike for a certain character and was nearly screaming when it was revealed I was right. 

Kerr acted a bit young at different parts, but I had to remind myself that she was basically brainwashed and never really hung out with the opposite gender, to excuse her reactions to different romantic/crush-like parts. On that note, though, there were a couple parts I was uncomfortable with such as Kerr and a guy going to a Love Hotel for a mission, and while nothing sexual happens between the two of them, there’s quite a bit of alluding to what happens at such a place. There are also hints of prostitutes and an official being attracted to minors that affected the ratings listed above. I would have happily given this book a higher rating had those parts not be in it. 

There’s a ton more faith content in this sequel compared to the first, thanks to Kerr learning more and the certain group of people. There’s other names for God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit (Composer, Lyric, & the Muse) but it’s all very obvious on Who they are talking about. 

I was concerned that this one would end on a cliff-hanger, but a big thank you to the author that it didn’t! I’m still eager to read the next book, but I’m glad I’m not on the edge of a cliff waiting to read it. ;) 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

 

"The Secrets of Emberwild" by Stephenia H. McGee

About this book:

  “A gifted trainer in a time women are not allowed to race, Nora Fenton prefers horses to men. They're easier to handle, they're more reliable, and they never tell her what to do. After her father's passing, Nora is determined to save her struggling horse farm, starting with entering her prize colt into the harness races at the 1905 Mississippi Fair. If she wins, she may have a chance at independence. But when a stranger arrives and starts asking disconcerting questions, she suspects he may have other motives than unseating her in the training job that is rightfully hers.
   Silas Cavallero will do whatever it takes to solve the mystery of his father's death--even if it means training an unwieldy colt for Nora, who wants nothing more than to see him gone. But when mysterious accidents threaten their safety and circumstances shrouded in secrets begin unlocking clues to his past, Silas will have to decide if the truth is worth risking ruining everything for the feisty woman he's come to admire.”


Series: As of now, no. 


Spiritual Content- Psalm 115:1 at the beginning; Prayers; Mentions of God (including a couple men who have been unkind to Nora saying that she doesn’t have the sense God gave a sow and another saying that an accident was God’s own hand of getting her to mind her own business); Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, & preachers; A few mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; A few mentions of sins (including Nora’s father telling her mother than Nora’s wayward behavior is a punishment for her sins); A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of Heaven; A mention of a miracle; 
             *Note: Nora calls a fire “Hades’ breath”.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘idiot’s, seven forms of ‘what in the heavens’, and eight ‘stupid’s; Mentions of curses (said, not written, including Silas holding one back); Being trapped in a fire & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Pain, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Very close calls with horses & both human and horse nearly being injured or killed (semi-detailed); Seeing someone kicked by a horse & dying (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing the final breaths of a parent & some grief; Nora fights the feeling of bitterness and resentment towards her parents and uncle; Silas faces some prejudice about his Spanish heritage (such as some men sneering at him and calling him “Mex”); Many mentions of a horse trampling it’s owner, if it was provoked, & the culprit/murderer (Silas’ father, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of a man’s plan to kill someone (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of illnesses & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of sabotage & close accidents; Mentions of a fire, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fights, fighting, & violence; Mentions of stealing & stolen items; Mentions of a bar, alcohol, drinking, gambling, gamblers, & bets/betting (Silas says he doesn’t play gambling card games); Mentions of tobacco; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of people grieving (a father, a mother, a husband); Mentions of a horse crying in pain & its injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of manure; A few mentions of a war & plantations; A few mentions of the deaths of horses; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a death from a work accident; A mention of the possibility of a horse being killed by coyotes; A mention of a wreck that could have caused a horse to be put down.
 
 
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, a top-of-the-head kiss, an almost (semi-detailed) kiss, two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, and two semi-detailed kisses; Recalling a kiss & an almost kiss (semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss & Wondering about being kissed (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, & Hand holding (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of blushes & winks; A few mentions of a man hinting to doubting that a child is actually his offspring (the mother was faithful to her vows, though); A mention of love “blooming between the intimacies of husband and wife”; A mention of a woman having to leave the area because she was “in the family way” (hinted out-of-wedlock); A mention of seeing a man forced a kiss upon a woman (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of wondering if a man stayed the night at a widow’s home (he did not);A mention of a man not having a lecherous look towards a woman; A mention of Nora thinking that what man wouldn’t find a woman acting like a wanton alluring; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Nora kicks a man in his groin; Nora wonders why she couldn’t have been born a boy, then she could do as she pleased and no one would be expecting her to get married (we see a lot of comments from Nora at the beginning about being married is similar to giving up her freedom); Mention of comments from men towards women that would be deemed sexist in today’s society (such as a her father believing that women should listen to orders without comment and daughters should be seen more than heard, her uncle berating her for wearing trousers, her father calling her ideas “foolish notions of an addle-minded female”, her father saying that she lacks the wits God gave a sow, etc); Mentions of breeding horses, mares being in season, & studs; Mentions of Nora’s uncle pushing her to marry a man seventeen years her senior; A few mentions of undergarments & blushing around the opposite gender’s ones; A mention of Nora thinking that she thought her uncle was more progressive (in regards to her wearing trousers). 
 
-Nora Fenton, age 28
-Silas Cavallero, age 29
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                            Set in 1905
                                                        352 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{Add a full star for older girls who like horses}

This was a wildcard book for me. I had never read a book by this author before so I didn’t know what I would be expecting, particularly in the regards to content found in the book. 

In that regard, it was on the cleaner side; nothing major for me to note, which I appreciate because that always makes a review easier. 

It should be noted, though, that I’ve never been a horse girl. You know those little girls that have posters of horses on their walls and collective horse figurines? That’s never been me. I don’t dislike horses or am afraid of them, I think they’re beautiful animals, but I have no extreme fondness for them. This book is very heavy on the horse aspect. Which shouldn’t have been as shocking as it was, but I would venture to say that there was more horse content than romance content. A positive for those who like horses, yes. Just not my personal thing. 

I think my main issue with this story was Nora. She was a little too “woe is my life” of being a woman in the early 1900s and had some anti-men thoughts because in her eyes, marriage means your freedom is taken away and nobody understands her. Until a new employee walks into her life, of course. I won’t lie and say that it felt cliché because of such elements. There was a lot of “Men.” and “Women.” comments from the two of them that I frankly got tired of fast. 

So, for me personally, it was an okay read, but not one I really enjoyed reading.

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.

"A Seaside Wonder" by Melissa Tagg

About this book:

  “In one evening, Indi's world falls apart. Enter the shy professor her family mistakes for her fiancé...make that ex-fiancé.
    Professor Philip West never wanted to return to Maine . . . or his grandfather’s miserable old house. But after his mother’s death, he’s now the guardian of a teenage half sister he barely knows—one who doesn’t want anything to do with him. He longs to help her heal, but he’s exhausted and numb, desperate for relief of his own. Maybe that’s why he’s so easily distracted when he happens upon the little shop with a name on its storefront window that sounds familiar, a hint of a mystery nudging him inside.
    More than a decade has passed since Indi Muir made the heartbreaking decision she’s never recovered from—though she’s certainly tried. She has a full life running her shop and creating the artsy pieces that fill its shelves. If she can just stay busy, she’ll keep her hurt and regret at bay. But when her ex-fiancé returns to Muir Harbor, he brings news that shatters her carefully built walls. Things only get worse when lurking danger comes calling at her childhood home.
    The one bright spot amid Indi’s turmoil is the shy stranger who wandered into her shop months ago and his moody but lovable sister. As she confronts her past and the mysterious threat facing her family, she’s intent on helping Philip win over his sister. He just might win over Indi, too, if they can overcome old secrets and wounds, outrun rising peril . . . and take a chance on love.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Muir Harbor” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, prayers, & faiths; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Going to a chapel; A quote from St. Augustine is said; On one Sunday, Indi thinks that she really would rather hide away in her workshop than go to church; Indi feels like God doesn’t see her or answer her prayers anymore, but recalls a time that God answered her prayers when she was a child; Indi & Holland have a discussion about God answering prayers & wondering if He’s just saying ‘no’ (a conclusion to their hurt is not really said at this point, but discussed later separately with other people); Indi was angry at God for asking her to do a hard decision that left her in a hole in her heart *Spoiler* At the end, Indi thinks that maybe God isn’t making the hole in her heart disappear, but is restoring her *End of Spoiler*; At one point, Philip wonders why he isn’t hearing God’s voice on a topic; Mentions of God & faiths; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches/chapels, church going, services, a sermon, & a pastor; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of a Bible; A couple mentions of a Nativity scene; A couple mentions of someone believing that something wasn’t a coincidence but from the Divine; A couple mentions of blessings; A mention of someone having a come-to-Jesus experience; A mention of someone not knowing another from Adam; 
             *Note: A mention of Indi saying that she has too many ghosts; A mention of someone looking like they saw a ghost; A mention of feeling bewitched by a town; A mention of a teen saying that goats have demon eyes. 
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘crap’, a ‘geez’, a ‘holy buckets’, a ‘holy crap’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sure as blazes’, a ‘where in blazes’, two ‘blasted’s, two forms of ‘darn’, two ‘for Pete’s sake’s, two ‘oh my gosh’s, two ‘oh my word’s, three ‘holy cow’s, three ‘heck’s, three forms of ‘idiot’, three ‘sheesh’s, three ‘what the heck’s, five ‘gosh’s, six ‘shoot’s, seven ‘dumb’s, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; A mention of Philip thinking of a name for someone that he doesn’t usually say out loud; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Eavesdropping; Being held at gunpoint, Being threatened, Being choked, Fighting, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); A close car crash, almost hitting a deer, & landing in a ditch (the people and deer are fine, up to semi-detailed); Philip has a panic attack (semi-detailed); Grieving the loss of family members & what could have been (both Indi, Philip, and side characters); Philip’s mother left him at his grandfather’s house after his father’s death and he’s felt unwanted since then (& struggles with resentment towards her for it); Indi drinks champagne at a wedding; Many mentions of deaths & grieving (a fiancé, fathers, a mother, daughters); Mentions of a car crash, death(s), & a missing toddler (Book #1 covers more about this); Mentions of fights, fighting, injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & passing out (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of criminals, crimes, intruders, break-ins, stealing, vandalism, arrests, an accidental theft, trespassing, & someone being pushed down the stairs (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a recovering alcoholic & drinking; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of divorces & how a father hasn’t been in contact with his daughter for twelve years; A few mentions of a man flinging himself off a cliff & being in a coma afterwards; A few mentions of the Vietnam war & a death; A few mentions of a bar; Mentions of a teen into the high school party scene and drinking; A few mentions of teenagers breaking into a rec center; A couple mentions of a train accident & death (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of a close car crash; A couple mentions of Lil being left on Maggie’s doorstep when she was a toddler; A couple mentions of a woman living her life drinking and depressed; A couple mentions of champagne at a wedding; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of someone doing a noble thing and not stepping off of a cliff (meaning literally or metaphorical is not said); A mention of jail; A mention of con-artists; A mention of pipe tobacco; A mention of needing to pee; 
             *Note: Mentions of HGTV & Hallmark; Mentions of brand names & items (Jell-O, Peanut M&Ms, Reddi-wip, 7-Up, Levi’s, iPad, iPhone, Keurig, Tupperware, & Band-Aid); Mentions of websites (Google, Uber, Airbnb, & Spark Notes); Mentions of TV shows, movies, & characters (Jeopardy, Star Wars, Gandalf the Grey, Willy Wonka, Clark-Kent, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Batman, & Robin); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of the Narnia books; A mention of Disney. 
 
 
Sexual Content- a chin kiss, five cheek kisses, a forehead kiss, a almost (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed) kiss, a not-detailed kiss, five barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, three semi-detailed kisses, a detailed kiss, and a very detailed kiss (including being pulled into his lap); Remembering a kiss (semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dates, dating, & exes; A few mentions of a father’s “little sidepiece” (a woman after his divorce); A few mentions of crushes; A few mentions of flirting; A mention of a newly married wife saying she can be very persuasive to her husband in a suggestive tone; A mention of a couple being caught canoodling; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: *Spoiler* In between her senior year of high school and freshman year of college, Indi got pregnant (with her boyfriend at the time, only details on it was that they had gotten more serious than either of them had been ready for and that she knew that when she slept with him that it was happening too fast but didn’t think about the consequences); He proposed and they were going to figure things out, but Indi called off the engagement and gave the baby up for adoption believing that it was the best thing for the baby, that God wanted her to do it (even though it hurt so much), that she was sacred to be a single mom, and that her and the father weren’t destined to be high school sweethearts; The father of the child resents Indi for this choice and says a couple harsh things, but apologizes later, knowing that he was still too into the party scene and that he willing signed the adoption papers; This is a huge part of the story and Indi trying not to thinking about her daughter, but then also wanting to have a relationship with her; It was an open adoption, though Indi hasn’t been in contact with the family, thinking that it’s better for everyone if she isn’t a part of their lives; Indi says that she wishes someone would have encouraged her that she could have been a good mother, but everyone said that she’d done something good and noble; In the epilogue, Indie gets to meet her daughter for the first time *End of Spoiler*; A handful of mentions of a married couple struggling to get pregnant & their prior miscarriages (*Spoiler* They are expecting triplets by the end of the book; a couple mentions of the husband badly wanting to fix it and the wife saying that “he fixed it, all right” and the wife expecting another miscarriage so she didn’t want to tell her husband *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of some adoptees not wanting to find their biological parents (like Indi being not curious about them at all) and those who want to know about them; A couple mentions of the Santa at the mall kissing the top of kids’ heads being sketchy.
 
-Indiana Joy “Indi” Muir, age 28
-Philip West, age 34
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                         Set in 2018-2019 (Prologue in 1969)
                                                        396 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I can’t say too much because of spoilers, but adoption & biological families were a huge part of that story and since that’s such a near and dear topic to my heart, I loved how the author highlighted how broken and yet how beautiful adoption can be. Those parts really made this story to me—and while it might sound corny, I truly mean it—touched my heart. The faith content wrapped into those elements were so raw and real, but so honestly written. 

On a lighter note, I’m not sure what it is about awkward, giraffe-like male leads that I enjoy reading about so much, but Philip matches that description to a ‘T’. I literally laughed at loud at times with him and Indi, they were so cute together and I loved that they were able to talk about deeper, personal topics and react well to the other’s past and feelings. It felt like a healthy relationship, even if a few parts were too kissy for my tastes.

I’m very eager to read the third and final book in this series once it releases next year. I was excited to read Indi’s story after the first book and now I’m even more curious about Lil’s story. 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher for this honest review.

"The Lost Melody" by Joanna Davidson Politano

About this book:

  “When concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant's father dies, he leaves to her the care of an adult ward she knew nothing about. The woman is supposedly a patient at Hurstwell Asylum. The woman's portrait is shockingly familiar to Vivienne, so when the asylum claims she was never a patient there, Vivienne is compelled to discover what happened to the figure she remembers from childhood dreams.
    The longer she lingers in the deep shadows and forgotten towers at Hurstwell, the fuzzier the line between sanity and madness becomes. She hears music no one else does, receives strange missives with rose petals between the pages, and untangles far more than is safe for her to know. But can she uncover the truth about the mysterious woman she seeks? And is there anyone at Hurstwell she can trust with her suspicions?
    Fan-favorite Joanna Davidson Politano casts a delightful spell with this lyrical look into the nature of women's independence and artistic expression during the Victorian era--and now.”


Series: Mentions and features characters from “A Midnight Dance”, review Here!  

Spiritual Content- John 1:5 at the beginning; Isaiah 60:1 at the end; A couple Scriptures are remembered & quoted; Many Prayers & Talking to God; Hymns are sung & played; Talks about God, being a light for Him, God fixing us, & apostle Paul; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Vivienne found comfort in talking to God when she was younger, not thinking of Him as a Father but as an imaginary friend who was with her when she was locked in the larder; Vivienne wonders at one point why would God create these people (patients) and weave madness into their lives (her firm thought of God as being ultimately good slips and wonders if she imagined Him in her childhood, but shakes the thought as she can’t bear the possibility of God not being real); God tells Vivienne to wash someone’s feet; Mentions of God; Mentions of those & events in the Bible (quite a bit about Paul); Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, & having a relationship with God; Mentions of hymns; Mentions of a priest’s hole; A few mentions of the Creator & His creation; A few mentions of Bible reading; A couple mentions of clergymen/parishes; A couple mentions of blessings & curses; A mention of a psalmist; A mention of an outspoken vicar’s wife being committed to the asylum because her ideas didn’t align with his; A mention of a funeral mass; 
             *Note: Many, many mentions of ghosts/specters (including rumors of a ghost at the asylum and things being ghostly); A few mentions of evil; A couple mentions of magic and a magician; A couple mentions of bad luck; A mention of someone describing melancholia as a wave and it “doesn’t matter what you believe about the Almighty or anything else. You can’t climb out.”; A mention of a man seeming otherworldly as if he has one foot on earth and one in Heaven; A mention of a patient having a fit of panic as if “someone tried to pull her soul right out of her body”; A mention of a patient clutching Vivienne’s gown like a demon; A mention of Thornhill thinking that God is blessing his (evil) plan. 
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘hush up’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘thank the stars’, two ‘leave off’s (used as a replacement for shut up/hush up); Set at an asylum and being around patients there (they can be admitted there for a number of reasons like: having delusions, hearing music or voices in their head, a great-grandmother not remembering the names of her children, post-partum depression, stroke victims, people born with epilepsy or mental illnesses, children born deaf or mute, etc.) & the some of the people in charge believing that they can’t be fixed and should be locked up so they don’t harm others; Pain, Being shoved, Being drugged, Being locked up/chained, Being pulled by her hair, Fighting back, Being held underwater, & Having a “spell” (similarly described as a panic attack or seizure, all up to semi-detailed); Seeing patients having seizure-like events, fighting the aids, being yanked and slapped by the aids, their screaming and crying, & overall mistreatment (semi-detailed to detailed); Hearing melancholia described (semi-detailed); Throwing up (barely-above-not-detailed); Possible social drinking (Vivienne has a glass of something at an event—the first glass is not said what is it, the second glass is said to be water); At the beginning, Vivienne has the opinion that those who are mad (insane) is a disease without a cure and are broken in a way no one can fix; Vivienne feels anger towards the laws that say that men own their wives; Vivienne lies to cooperate with the aids; Vivienne is told to write “I’m not a concert pianist” multiple times which starts messing with her sense of reality; Vivienne says that she grieves her father’s death, but is not unhappy about it; Mitchell is grieving the death of a loved one & recalls seeing their body (semi-detailed); Many mentions of patients being yanked and slapped by aids & their screaming, crying, and distress (semi-detailed); Many mentions of Vivienne’s father physical punishments of lashings and her being locked in a larder (and her being scared of the dark now because of this); Mentions of fires, a “mad” man killing people then setting a fire, & deaths (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of barbaric ways people punish others with (referring to an isolation ward where a patient is locked up and/or held underwater for long amounts of time); Mentions of patients that are deemed a “lost cause” and are locked up; Mentions of patients who are said to be violent & near savagery; Mentions of prisons & prisoners; Mentions of wounds, injuries, & pain (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of the deaths of infants/children & a patient being uncontrollable when she learns of her child’s death (including a couple that lost five of their six children, semi-detailed); Mentions of adults smacking children (boxing their ears) & one becoming deaf because of it; Mentions of drugs, being drugged, injections, & a death because of a “bad injection” (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of throwing up, vomit, chamber pots, & emptying them (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of a possible plan to drown those deemed “lost causes” (borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); A few mentions of a possible murder or suicide; A few mentions of a rumor of a skeleton being found at a place; A few mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of kidnappings; A couple mentions of fights & gunshots; A couple mentions of a man hitting another man; A couple mentions of thieves; A couple mentions of drinking & social drinking; A mention of a missing girl; A mention of a possible scam.
 
 
Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, an almost cheek kiss (barely-above-not-detailed), two semi-detailed kisses, a border-line semi-detailed //detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss (told in both point of views); Wanting to be kissed & kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Nearness, & Flutters (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of married couples kissing; Mentions of the moral dilemma of a doctor being attracted to one of his patients & a teacher attracted to one of his students (ages or age gaps are not brought up expect for the teacher being much older, a man tells the doctor that he’s putting others in boxes and that a woman should be more important to him than rules); A few mentions of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy & the couple getting married; A few mentions of a man leaving his betrothed for another woman; A few mentions of woman being committed into the asylum for either being caught kissing the master’s son or kissed by him (the person sharing this story isn’t sure which); A couple mentions of a couple mothers who were not married and having a baby; A couple mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a bawdy house; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mentions of a woman at the asylum having post-partum depression (never exactly said, but described in the same way with also details about the woman’s melancholia); A few mentions of a doctor ordering for a woman to have a surgery that means “she won’t be having no more babies” & an aid not seeing how the woman deserved that; A few mentions of a story (rumors) about a woman who went mad after her baby died; A mention of a baby that didn’t open it’s eyes; A mention of a dress hugging a woman’s curves (in her point of view); A mention of women entering menopause could be committed to an asylum; A mention of a man not wanting to raise another man’s child.
 
-Vivienne Mourdant
                P.O.V. switches between Vivienne (1^st), Mitchell (3^rd, x7), 
                         Someone else (1^st, x1), & Thornhill (3^rd, x1) 
                                          Set in 1886-1887
                                               384 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{Minus a full star for those sensitive to asylums, people being treated differently, & mistreatment}

I have very mixed feelings on this novel. 

I enjoyed all the faith content (it was well done and I liked the correlations to Paul) and the musical therapy sections were interesting, but it did take about half of the book for me to not feel stressed about things that were happening or were to come. 

Like other books by this author, there’s a lot of twists which keeps you on your toes when reading, and there’s also a lot of hints, but those hints are worded in a way that teases you and probably won’t make sense until the reveal of whatever happens. I like that, but at the same time, I feel left out. Because of that, I ended up rereading many different parts to make sure I was understanding what was going on.

I think the hardest part of this story for me was the asylum, it was good to see some kind workers to the patients, but, goodness, I had the hardest time trusting anyone. It’s still a really hard topic to read about, though, and I don’t feel like the back-cover blurb doesn’t give the heads up that Vivienne is in the asylum herself for the large major of the story, which I think should be an important thing to note. In that way, this book was heavier than I was expecting, but thankfully the faith content helped balance it out some. 

It was interesting to see characters from “A Midnight Dance”, I wasn’t expecting that at all with this novel due to the gap in time, but even with those parts, it wasn’t necessarily a happy element or even being-happy-to-see-those-characters-again element to me.

All of that said? Hmm, I’m just not sure. Mixed feelings fits well and the biggest factor into my personal rating is that I did not feel happy when I finished this story—yes, it’s a good ending, but I think I was mentally exhausted by the time I got there. 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.