Review: Cute Little Lenormand

By Sara M. Lyons

Available now from St. Martin's Essentials

Review copy

A few years ago, a friend turned me on to tarot as a writing tool. From there, I learned techniques to use tarot to help myself make decisions. Lenormand is not tarot, but it is a similar fortune-telling card game. Cute Little Lenormand has been my introduction to this type of cards, and I think it has served well in that capacity.

Author and illustrator Sara M. Lyons endeavored to make a modern Lenormand, with gender-neutral cards and depictions that would be intuitive to modern life. The guide book covers the history of Lenormand, techniques to learn the cards and spreads, and detailed information about ways to interpret each card. There's also recommended further reading. One thing I liked throughout the guide book is that Lyons is very clear that she has her own biases and preferred way to read the cards and her deck is based on her preferences. 

There were very few things I didn't like. I did pick up that Lyons calls card 30, the Lily, "the feminine consort to the Whip's masculine energy. If the Whip is bondage and black leather, then think of the Lily as rose petals, satin sheets, and pink champagne." Lyons went through a great deal of effort to approach the deck in a gender-neutral manner, so throwing in that one random instance of gendering objects threw me. I also found Lyons' approach to card 14, the Fox, slightly odd. She focuses on it entirely as a career card throughout the book, with only a small mention in its write-up that it can refer to a person. This does tie back to her open preferences (she likes to read it as a job significator), but as someone new to reading Lenormand, I could have used more guidance in using it in other situations. Lyons usually provides more information on cards with multiple readings.

I found Lenormand easy to pick up based on this deck and had fun doing simple practice readings and working up to bigger ones. This is an extremely intuitive deck for me. Plus, the art is just cute.

As a physical object, the cards are well made and the mostly pastel pink and blue palette fits the cute theme. I do wish the deck came with a tuck box instead of an envelope in the back of the book. It would be more portable, and I don't like how the envelope looks pushing on the pages.

I think Cute Little Lenormand is a great choice for beginners. It's definitely easy for me to turn to when I'm having trouble making decisions.

Review: What Big Teeth

By Rose Szabo

Available now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review copy

A boy runs through the forest, pursued by monsters. He has no chance of escaping; they're toying with him, having fun. I know how fun it is because the narrator is telling me so. In fact, she thinks he looks rather delicious. So begins What Big Teeth. It's an electric, perverse opening, and the book struggles to regain that feel.

After that fateful night, Eleanor Zarrin was sent away from her wild family. Years later she returns from boarding school, fleeing the consequences of an incident with a schoolmate. She returns home a total stick in the mud. She's forgotten her family in those years away and struggles to handle their monstrous nature. She wants them to be polite and mannered and fit in, like she spent so long doing.

For quite a while, What Big Teeth builds mystery after mystery. There are the mysterious incidents that drove Eleanor away from her family and then back. There are questions about Eleanor's nature, who she truly is inside. There's her grandmother's mysterious accountant, who all the Zarrin's are mysteriously in love with (including Eleanor's father, cousin, sister, and self). So much is kept mysterious for so long that I'd find myself startled by facts, like Eleanor's sister Lucy being about five years older than her. 

What Big Teeth is not short on atmosphere. Rose Szabo has a way with creepy imagery and haunting emotions. But this is Szabo's debut novel, and it very much feels like it. The ending of the novel is filled with several chunks of exposition, some of which Eleanor could have figured out much earlier to get the plot moving a little more quickly. When characters are horribly maimed I had little reaction, because outside of Eleanor and Arthur the characters are extremely flat. This is the kind of debut novel that makes me want to read what the author writes next, even if I don't want to read this book again.

What Big Teeth is a defiantly strange novel. It is often deliberately off-putting, which is what makes it appealing to weirdos like me. I'd recommend it to fans of Hannah Moskowitz. A faster pace and more characters to be invested in would have served the story well, but Szabo has shown a strong sense of style.

Review: Addy: A Heart Full of Hope

American Girl Historical Characters

By Connie Porter

Illustrated by Dahl Taylor

Available now from American Girl

Review copy

Addy: A Heart Full of Hope picks up where Addy: Finding Freedom ended and collects the final three books in the Addy series, edited to flow as one story. Once again, I couldn't tell where the original books began and ended when reading.

I appreciate that Connie Porter didn't make Addy's story entirely about slavery. The American Girls have the burden of representing history to children, and Addy's time living free in Pennsylvania helps give a fuller portrait of Black lives in the late 19th century. At the same time, Addy:A Heart Full of Hope lacks the distressing details and terrifying flight of Addy: Finding Freedom. Most of the American Girl book series peaked in action with the final "Saves the Day" book. Not so for Addy, whose fundraising efforts can't compare to escaping slavery in a desperate flight.

Still, there are plenty of events to keep young readers turning the pages, including Addy's hope of reuniting with her older brother.

The "Inside Addy's World" section at the end of the novel provides more historical detail on life for Black people after the Civil War. This nonfiction section is an excellent extension of the novel, which is full of fascinating historical detail. I appreciate the advisory board that put so much effort into the Addy novels. I think these books are a great way to introduce young readers to slavery, the Civil War, community organization, and civil rights. I love that they're being repackaged for a new generation.

Since 2021 is the 35th anniversary of the Pleasant Company, a reproduction of the original Addy is currently available for sale, in addition to the current version.

Review: Yes, Daddy

By Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Available now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Review copy

Yes, Daddy looks like a salacious summer novel. Jonathan Parks-Ramage's debut is something much sadder. I'm not sure that the blurb does it many favors by promising decisive revenge.

The story starts with a glimpse of the trial of Jonah Keller's ex-boyfriend Richard, a famous playwright. From this glimpse, we know that when the time comes, Jonah is unable to tell the truth. He crumples on the stand and saves his own reputation, not letting anyone question whether he deserved it or what kind of victim he is. From there, Yes, Daddy starts an extended flashback detailing their relationship from beginning to end before revealing what happens after. (While taking some oddly meandering detours along the way.)

Jonah is a deliberately difficult protagonist to like. He's vain, shallow, selfish, and callow. Yes, Daddy forces a reaction to a victim who isn't likeable, who doesn't react like victim narratives say they should. I think it is a valid narrative avenue to explore, but I was pretty sick of Jonah before I made it even a third of the way through the novel. 

This is a dark novel, beyond the graphic scenes of sexual assault. Yes, Daddy also deals with harmful religious counseling, invasive and vicious tabloid journalism, incest, probable murder, and suicide. While it doesn't have a completely downer ending, it isn't very uplifting, either. All catharsis is minor.

I think Yes, Daddy is a well-written novel that tackles thorny issues and a prickly protagonist with sympathy. But I didn't much enjoy the experience of reading it.

Review: Addy: Finding Freedom

American Girl Historical Characters

By Connie Porter

Illustrated by Dahl Taylor

Available now from American Girl

Review copy

Addy: Finding Freedom collects three books in the Addy series, edited to flow as one story. I couldn't tell where the original books began and ended when reading.

Addy was the first Black doll made by the Pleasant Company, before they became American Girl. I appreciate the lengths they went to in order to tell Addy's story with historical accuracy and keep it appropriate for young girls. The novels were written with the help of an advisory board made up of historians and other experts, which I actually think would be useful for all the American Girl historical novels.

The story starts in 1864, when Addy is a slave on a plantation. The story does not gloss over the realities of slavery. One visceral, unforgettable image is when Addy is forced to eat the worm off a crop because the overseer was unsatisfied with her work picking insects. (This is a real thing that was done to children.) Even in escape, Addy's family has to make decisions about who is too young and too old to make the journey. Her father and brother are also sold before their family can make their attempt.

Not all of Addy: Finding Freedom is so gut wrenching. There's quite a bit of detail about the Black community in Pennsylvania. There are concerns about work, school, housing. No one can escape having a mean girl in their class. Addy is also concerned with paying it forward and helping others who are starting with nothing like she and her mother did. Along the way, she even gets a Christmas miracle.

The Addy books have meant a lot to generations of children. I'm glad the books are being republished with fresh, appealing covers. There's also an interesting section in the back with further historical information.

Since 2021 is the 35th anniversary of the Pleasant Company, a reproduction of the original Addy is currently available for sale, in addition to the current version.