Are you ready to solve a magical murder case with the help of a ghost dog and a boy cheerleader, save the spirits of your hometown from an unforgiving curse, and spend summer break with your new friends at a seasonal library job after a harrowing accident? The Winter Edition 2021 of Bite-Size Book Reviews exhibits exciting titles by Darcie Little Badger, Stephenie Wilson Peterson, and Olivia Smit!
Elatsoe
Food Group: Young Adult
Flavor: Magical realism, contemporary fantasy, mystery, paranormal
Key Ingredients: Lipan Apache MC and mythology, a freaking fantastic boy cheerleader, ghost dog buddies, a girl who is actively uninterested in romance (a rare treat for readers like me!), humor, and an unpredictable mystery
Cookie Rating: 🍪 🍪 🍪 🍪 🍪
Taste Test: You can check out Elatsoe on Bookshop (support independent bookstores!), Amazon, or read my full review on Goodreads!
Chef's Note: This was my #1 read of 2020!
Grace's Ghosts
Food Group: Middle Grade
Flavor: Contemporary fantasy, paranormal, mystery
Key Ingredients: Cozy, ghostly mystery, positive parental relationships, budding friendships, a fantasy lover's treasure trove of magical abilities, witches + mages, mermaids + fairies, and - of course - GHOSTS!
Cookie Rating: 🍪 🍪 🍪 🍪
Taste Test: You can check out Grace's Ghosts on Bookshop (support independent bookstores!), Amazon, or Goodreads!
Seeing Voices
Food Group: Young Adult
Flavors: Contemporary, Christian
Key Ingredients: Library summer job, deaf/hard of hearing rep, sibling relationships, dealing with addiction, the changing dynamics of old and new friends, and big God questions
Cookie Rating: 🍪 🍪 🍪 🍪 🍪
Allergy Warning: Substance abuse, a core theme of the story, is dealt with both heartfully and tactfully.
Why "Bite-Size" Book Reviews?
These "bite-size" book reviews are a fun way for me to promote authors and provide short, tasty reviews for readers, but they're also a way for me to raise awareness for a debilitating digestive disease called gastroparesis.
People with gastroparesis have paralyzed stomachs. Severe cases (like myself) can only eat a few bites of food at a time, so we have to make those bites count! I hope these "bite-size" book reviews help feed your mind's appetite in the same way. You can learn more about gastroparesis by reading my blog post on Gastroparesis Awareness Month.
Kristiana Sfirlea is the author of the spookily hilarious MG fantasy novel, Legend of the Storm Sneezer. Her flash fiction, featuring clueless zombies, undercover werewolves, and grumpy ghosts, has been published by Havok, and her second MG novel, Legend of the Rainbow Eater, is contracted and in the works. Kristiana dreams of the day she can run her own mobile bookstore. Or haunted house attraction. Or a haunted bookmobile! (And this is precisely why writers should never become Uber drivers.) She loves Jesus, her family, and imaginary life with her characters.