Isaiah Roby's Blog: MI Book Reviews, page 111

Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle

“Adam Bernard’s love-life is on ice.

Adam gave up his dreams of professional hockey when his mom died ten years ago; now his only focus is being the Jewish son his dad’s always wanted. Problem is, the pee-wee hockey team he coaches is in Boston for an international tourney the same week as Hanukkah. Now he’s stuck in a foreign city without so much as a candle. Enter Ben Daniels, the super-cute owner of the local kosher-style bakery. All Adam wants is a chance to celebrate the holiday away fro...

The Upside of Unrequited

“Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dyin...

Pulp

“In 1955, eighteen-year-old Janet Jones keeps the love she shares with her best friend Marie a secret. It’s not easy being gay in Washington, DC, in the age of McCarthyism, but when she discovers a series of books about women falling in love with other women, it awakens something in Janet. As she juggles a romance she must keep hidden and a newfound ambition to write and publish her own story, she risks exposing herself—and Marie—to a danger all too real.

Sixty-two years later, Abby Zimet can...

Nimona

“The graphic novel debut from rising star Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic, which Slate awarded its Cartoonist Studio Prize, calling it “a deadpan epic.”

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic n...

Long, Tall Cowboy

“GARRETT STONE is a cowboy with a ranch on the brink of financial disaster and a family reeling from the death of his father. The last thing he needs is an ex-lover resurrecting painful memories. MATT WALKER left after a summer of intense loving to pursue his dream of being a photojournalist. Years later, at the peak of his career, a near-fatal accident makes him reconsider his priorities, and he returns to Garrett’s ranch hoping for a second chance. But Garrett is determined to protect his h...

What We Left Behind

“Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They’ve been together forever. They never fight. They’re deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they’re sure they’ll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, theirs is bound to stay rock-solid.

The reality of being apart, though, is very different than they expected. Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, meets a group of transg...

The Possessed

“Jocelyn doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but when her mother and sister begin using a Ouija board to contact their dead father, she senses that it may lead to horrible consequences. Like the footsteps outside her bedroom door late at night. Or the pounding in the walls. Maybe even the reason why her sister is trying to ruin her life.

Jocelyn finds a rational explanation for every strange incident until logic breaks down and sinister events ratchet up, convincing her that an evil entity h...

Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom

“Elie Wiesel was a towering presence on the world stage—a Nobel laureate, activist, adviser to world leaders, and the author of more than forty books, including the Oprah’s Book Club selection Night. But when asked, Wiesel always said, “I am a teacher first.”

In fact, he taught at Boston University for nearly four decades, and with this book, Ariel Burger—devoted protégé, apprentice, and friend—takes us into the sacred space of Wiesel’s classroom. There, Wiesel challenged his students to expl...

Sailor Moon (novellas), Volume 3: Mercury Rising

Adapted by Lianne Sentar based on the 1990s hit Anime created by Naoko Takeuchi

“Sailor Moon is an international phenomenon that has generated billions in revenue and introduced entire generations to the world of Japanese entertainment. When a whimsical schoolgirl discovers that she is, in fact, the Princess Serenity, a tale of galactic adventures and mysterious romance begins. The hit TV series, the feature films, and the slew of merchandise were launched by this smash-hit manga.” -goodreads...

Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens

“In what may be Dickens’s best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of “great expectations.” In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered...