What Does a Princess Really Look Like? It’s not at all what Chloe imagines.  In this adventure with her dads, Chloe learns that a princess is more than a crown and pretty dresses.  A princess is kind, observant, and stands up for what is right. Throughout the story, Chloe represents all of the ways to be a strong woman (or even a strong human) with the different aspects of a princess that she draws.  

​Friends, I like to think of myself as crafty, but after reading The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater, I think Alanna Okun shares a whole new level of crafty.  What Dear Fahrenheit 451 did for our favorite books, Okun does for our favorite creative expressions.  She uses the common thread (ha!) of crafting in each of her essays to share her anecdotes of love, loss, relationships, grief, triumph, and tribulation. To me, she is the Cheryl Strayed of crafting because she is able to blend her wit and sage advice into a story about knitting on the subway and still find a way for it to relate to me, the random reader.  No matter what kind of crafts you are into, she finds a way to compare the experience of creating, abandoning, revising, and (maybe) finishing a project to life events. It’s a great read to pick up and put down at your leisure (which I would recommend) or even to binge in a couple of sittings. 

I think we all can agree that book people are the best people, and you should definitely date one if you get the chance.  Lucky for me, I snagged someone who is almost as much as a bookworm as I am.  A few weeks ago he finished a series he has been reading for the better part of my knowing him.  In today's guest review, he covers that series and a genre I have been neglecting lately: science-fiction.  I'm very excited to share his thoughts on this series (especially since it was my library card that was used to check out many of these titles).  

​Without further ado, please welcome my first guest reviewer, Rayce, with his review of Ben Bova's The Grand Tour!

A book that explores the many forms of grief that comes with unexpected loss, The Beauty That Remains follows three teens at they learn that life can still be beautiful in the midst of the hard.  The book flips between the three narrators, and a little over half-way through you see the threads that connects their stories. This book examines more than just grief, though. Targeting the YA audience, it tackles coming-of-age, LGBTQ themes, love, guilt, anger, and passion.  This would be a great story to pass along to a young person that may be struggling with a major loss, just so they can see their thoughts reflected on the page. I know I would have loved to read this one after I lost several loved ones in high school. This one does have trigger warnings for suicide, biphobia, drug use, grief, death, car accidents, leukaemia, and physical and mental abuse, which made the book seem pretty heavy at times.  Overall, a solid three star read to pass along.

Kate Bailey isn’t an extrovert.  Instead of hanging out with friends like a “normal” teenager she’d rather be on her family’s lake, alone with her thoughts, the sun, and the water.  Kate finds herself pushed out of her comfort zone when she is chosen to co-host the school’s podcast so she can give advice to her fellow students. Kate is hesitant at first, but finds that she’s pretty good at both listening and giving thoughtful advice, that is until an anonymous caller asks about a topic she has little experience in: love.  Kate thinks she knows the caller interested in her best friend, Alana, and the more time Kate spends with who she thinks is the caller, the more she herself falls for him.  I loved this fun summer romance, and I think you will too! 

The Dead Inside is not like any other book I’ve read for Kid Lit Exchange.  It’s heavy and heart wrenching, providing a glimpse into the 16-month stay the author, Cyndy Drew Etler, had at a place called Straight Inc.  Straight Inc. is described as a horrific place, where all free will and reason were thrown out the door. After a few wrong decisions and years of conflict in her home, Etler’s mother and step-father sent her to the “rehab” facility, telling her she was going to boarding school.  What follows is Etler’s degrading and painful account of the ways Straight Inc. attempted to change who they thought she was into an unfeeling, emotionless lemming.

If you were a fan of Nancy Drew but thought the only thing missing was a bit more adventure-look no further than Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold!  Kitty is a brave young pilot with the desire to prove herself. She leaves her small Canadian fishing village to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales from her plane high above.  Little does Kitty know she will encounter more than whales! She faces a motley crew of criminals, stolen gold, and maybe a real-life curse! Kitty’s adventure is full of history, action, and mystery-a perfect combination for any age.  

I haven’t always been a fan of The Bachelor.  I used to think it was crummy television, but after I moved in with girls that love the show I found myself watching too.  Now I’m knee-deep in roses, fantasy suits, and Neil Lane diamonds (okay, I wish on that last one, but you know what I mean).  The thing is-I don’t think I like it for the right reasons, which is why I couldn’t wait to read Amy Kaufman’s behind-the-scenes look at the franchise.  Read more to see if I gave Bachelor Nation a final rose and why I still watch The Bachelor! ​