Heather reads! - @hwconductor

  *Contains minor spoilers* I want to start this off by saying this book is not your normal World War II historical fiction. I mean, you can see the main character's face on the cover! (haha) Jokes aside, most World War II historical fiction books rely so much on the violence and horrific things happening that the rest of the story gets lost. In The Circus Train, the characters and their relationships fuel the story. The war is truly in the background for the majority of the book, which is divided into 3 parts (the only part that contains in-depth scenes and depictions of what was going on outside of the train is Part 2). We begin in 1929 with the birth of our main character, Lena. Her mother, Gia, goes into labor prematurely and dies shortly after Lena is born. Because she was born so early, she is very weak and sick, which makes matters worse when she contracts polio. This leaves her unable to walk. From here we flash forward to 1938, aboard The World of Wonders circus train. Len...

 Jas Hammonds truly hit it out of the park with this debut novel. Family secrets, generational trauma, romance, racism in the deep south - this book covers a lot. And it does it beautifully! I truly couldn't put this one down. Avery is a seventeen-year-old girl who knows exactly what she wants. Or at least, she always thought she knew what she wanted. That is until her whole life turned upside down. It has always been her and her parents, school, extracurriculars, advanced level classes, and of course, her two best friends. But when her Mama Letty, her grandmother who she has no memories of, is diagnosed with cancer Avery's mother uproots them all and moves them to the middle of nowhere Georgia to take care of her. So now it is the beginning of senior year and Avery is starting a new school, with no friends and no idea what to expect.  Simone Cole is Mama Letty's neighbor and also a high school senior. She quickly befriends Avery and encourages her to give grouchy & col...

 I can't believe how long it has been since I posted on here. Honestly, it has been a rough almost two months. If you follow me on Tiktok, I know I haven't said anything about it. I'm trying to respect my kiddos privacy, but we have been through the ringer trying to get them the help that they need. You may have noticed that there haven't been as many B&N posts either on my Tiktok. I had to take a leave of absence and just started back this week. So those posts should be resuming, too.  Life has slowly been returning to normal but there are still daily ups & downs. I'm hoping to be back here posting more regularly. I have A TON of books to update you on and I can't wait to tell you about them all.