bensbooks

[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Letters to Half Moon Street

London, 1815: where magic can be purchased at convenience, and the fashionable and wealthy descend for the start of the social Season. But 25-year-old Gavin Hartford finds the city intimidating when he arrives, alone, to his family’s townhouse. The only company he seeks is in his beloved books and weekly letters to his sister, Gerry. Then dashing man-about-town Charles Kentworthy gallantly rescues Gavin from a foolish drunken mishap and turns his life upside-down. With Mr. Kentworthy, Gavin finds himself discussing poetry and magic, confessing his fears about marriage, expanding his social circle to shocking proportions — and far outside his comfort zone. When family responsibility comes knocking, Gavin’s future looms over him, filled with uncertainty. As he grapples with growing feelings for his new friend, Gavin will need to be honest with Mr. Kentworthy — but he’ll need the courage to be honest with himself first.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Escape from Aleppo

Nadia stands at the center of attention in her parents’ elegant dining room. This is the best day of my life, she thinks. Everyone is about to sing “Happy Birthday,” when her uncle calls from the living room, “Baba, brothers, you need to see this.” Reluctantly, she follows her family into the other room. On TV, a reporter stands near an overturned vegetable cart on a dusty street. Beside it is a mound of smoldering ashes. The reporter explains that a vegetable vendor in the city of Tunis burned himself alive, protesting corrupt government officials who have been harassing his business. Nadia frowns. It is December 17, 2010: Nadia’s twelfth birthday and the beginning of the Arab Spring. Soon anti-government protests erupt across the Middle East and, one by one, countries are thrown into turmoil. As civil war flares in Syria and bombs fall across Nadia’s home city of Aleppo, her family decides to flee to safety. Inspired by current events, this novel sheds light on the complicated situation in Syria that has led to an international refugee crisis, and tells the story of one girl’s journey to safety.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Blu's Hanging

On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, life goes on for the three young Ogata children after the death of their mother and subsequent emotional withdrawal of their grief and guilt-stricken "Poppy." The eldest at 13, Ivah is now responsible for the safety and well-being of tiny Maisie, vulnerable and mute since their mother's passing; and for Blu, her uncontainable brother whose desperate need for love has made him vulnerable to the most insidious of relationships.

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[bensbooks]

Books 79-90 of 2024

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Sleeping Dogs by Sonya Hartnett

The New Life by Tom Crewe

Yesterday's Dead by Pat Bourke

The Minus-One Club by Kekla Magoon

Abnormal Statistics by Max Booth III

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Barracuda

Fourteen-year-old Daniel Kelly is special. Despite his upbringing in working-class Melbourne, he knows that his astonishing ability in the swimming pool has the potential to transform his life. Everything Danny has ever done, every sacrifice his family has ever made, has been in pursuit of this dream--but what happens when the talent that makes you special fails you? When the goal that you’ve been pursuing for as long as you can remember ends in humiliation and loss? Twenty years later, Dan is in Scotland, terrified to tell his partner about his past, afraid that revealing what he has done will make him unlovable. Haunted by shame, Dan relives the intervening years he spent in prison, where the optimism of his childhood was completely foreign.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: All The Young Men

In 1986, 26-year-old Ruth Coker Burks visits a friend in hospital when she notices that the door to one of the patient's rooms is painted red. The nurses are reluctant to enter, drawing straws to decide who will tend to the sick person inside. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. And in doing so, Ruth's own life changes forever.

As word spreads in the community that she is the only person willing to help the young men afflicted by the growing AIDS crisis, Ruth goes from being an ordinary young mother to an accidental activist. Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis, and in doing so becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of society.

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[bensbooks]

Books 67-78 of 2024

We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

Different for Boys by Patrick Ness

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman

The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

Take All of Us by Natalie Leif

Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken by Nita Tyndall

Alex in Wonderland by Simon James Green

The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury

It is 1399. Henry Bolingbroke, unjustly banished and deprived of his inheritance by Richard II, returns to claim his rights and deposes the king to become Henry IV of England. He is aided by the powerful lords of Northumberland, especially by his friend, Harry Percy. But the triumph of his accession quickly turns sour in the face of ever-growing crises in his new kingdom, and Wales is the most pressing and troublesome of these.

The specter of Richard holds sway beyond the grave, and the shadow of regicide, the memory of past crimes, and growing doubts and divisions cause a dangerous rift. The king also has powerful enemies who are all too willing to take advantage of this.

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[bensbooks]

ARC Review: Rascal

For queer teenager Jay, school is a jungle prowled by homophobic bullies. When Enya, a rumoured Satanist, hands Jay a direct hotline to Hell—a how-to book for summoning demons—Jay sees a way to punish his tormentors. Enter Rascal, a demon boy with charm, a wicked sense of humour, and a vendetta against his usurper brother who stole Hell’s crown. To Rascal, helping Jay is a perfect way to wreak havoc on Earth and win back his throne. As their twisted rampage escalates, Jay realises that dallying with a devil is as perilous as it is thrilling. Caught in a lustful entanglement with his enchanted boyfriend and Rascal, Jay’s quest for revenge spirals dangerously out of control. In Hell as on Earth everything has its price, and If Jay isn’t careful, his fixation on vengeance may demand the ultimate sacrifice. His immortal soul.

My review:

Rascal is a disturbing yet camp novel about a human and a demon. Jay is a social outcast, a queer human boy who is bullied at school, unliked by his parents, and desperate for something to change. So he summons Rascal, who is the son of the Devil and the two of them agree to get back at the people making Jay's life miserable.

This book doesn't take itself seriously, which leads to some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments between all the graphic violence and sex scenes. We alternate between Jay's chapters on earth, where he exacts revenge on his bullies and deals with first love; and Rascal's chapters in Hell, where he's dealing with social hierarchy issues because of his brother and father. Both characters deal a lot with morality, and how the events of the book warp them over time.

I enjoyed this; it was a fun, well-written read, and as long as you don't go into it thinking it's going to be a serious novel, you will have a good time.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: The Man with Night Sweats: Poems

The Man with Night Sweats is a haunting depiction of a world ravaged by illness that is part elegy for those who have been lost and part evocation of the changes that await those who survive. It is also one of the few works of literature that have fully met both the aesthetic and the moral challenges that the AIDS epidemic poses. The nobility and sobriety of Thom Gunn's forms enhance and underscore the gravity and pathos of his subjects. The results have the cathartic and healing power of great art.

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[bensbooks]

ARC Review: The Only Light Left Burning

Against the backdrop of a ravaged world, Andrew and Jamie have settled in a new community, more in love than ever. Finally they've reached safety and have each taken on roles and responsibilities in this new life. But it's soon clear they want different things: Jamie is ready to move on and take to the road, just the two of them. Andrew wants to remain in the safety of numbers. With a storm brewing up the coast they have no choice to head back into the wilderness where old enemies roam and they don't know who to trust. Can they find their way back to safety and each other?

My review:

The Only Light Left Burning is a phenomenal follow-up to the successful book All That's Left in the World. We return to Andrew and Jamie's story some months after the end of the first book, where they've found friends and work in their new community. But things aren't all roses, especially when Jamie isn't settled and doesn't want to put roots down, whereas Andrew thinks of the community as family and wants to stay.

But trouble comes knocking, and the two boys and their closest friends are soon on the road again. Much like the first book, there's a lot of post-apocalyptic problems the group has to deal with, from nature to unfriendly communities to relationship problems. Despite the cast of characters having expanded, it in no way retracts from the core of the series - Andrew and Jamie themselves.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it did not let me down for a single minute. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat, and the pages just fly by as you hope desperately for the good moments to come for the characters. A must-read!

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Full Circle

History professor Ned Brummel is living happily with his partner of twelve years in small-town Maine when he receives a phone call from his estranged friend--Jack--telling him that another friend--Andy--is very ill and possibly near death. As Ned boards a plane to Chicago on his way to his friend's bedside, he embarks on another journey into memory, examining the major events and small moments that have shaped his world and his relationships with these two very different, very important men. Growing up together through the restrictive 1950's and confusing '60's, Jackson "Jack" Grace and Ned Brummel took solace in their love for each other. But once they arrive at college in 1969 and meet handsome farm boy Andy Kowalski, everything changes. Despite Andy's apparent heterosexuality, both Jack and Ned fall hard for him, straining their close friendship.

Soon, the three men will become involved in a series of intense liaisons and bitter betrayals, coming together and flying apart, as they alternately hurt, love, shape, and heal one another over the course of years. From the heady, drug- and sex-fueled days of San Francisco in the wild seventies to the haunting spectre of AIDS in the eighties and the righteous activism of the nineties, their relationship transforms and grows, reflecting the changes going on around them.

Now, together again in the most crucial and intimate of settings, Ned, Jack, and Andy have another chance to confront the damage of the past and embrace the bonds of friendship and love that have stood the test of time.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: My Darling Dreadful Thing

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the only good thing in Roos’ life, which is filled with sordid backroom séances organized by her mother. That is, until wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop attends one of these séances and asks Roos to come live with her at the crumbling estate she inherited upon the death of her husband. The manor is unsettling, but the attraction between Roos and Agnes is palpable. So how does someone end up dead? Roos is caught red-handed, but she claims a spirit is the culprit. Doctor Montague, a psychologist tasked with finding out whether Roos can be considered mentally fit to stand trial, suspects she’s created an elaborate fantasy to protect her from what really happened. But Roos knows spirits are real; she's loved one of them. She'll have to prove her innocence and her sanity, or lose everything.

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ARC Review: Flash Flood

Seventeen-year-old Zack has been living with his foster parents, the Tates, for three years. He used to be an angry mess with a broken heart, but with their love and support he’s doing better now—and managing his ADHD. His foster brother, troubled fourteen-year-old Peter, arrived three months ago. Struggling with ADHD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Peter reminds Zach of himself before the Tates took him in. During a massive rainstorm, Peter runs away. While the Tates are out searching for him, the town announces a mandatory emergency evacuation. The river is flooding! Peter finally shows up and Zack takes charge, gathering supplies and trying to make sure Peter is okay. As the water rises, Zack and Peter have to figure out whether to sit tight and wait or try to escape…before they get washed away.

My review:

Flash Flood is about Zach, a teenager in foster care who is suddenly having to look after his foster brother Peter alone when their street and home floods. Zach and Peter both have disabilities that mean things aren't so easy for them, and the high-stress situations that happen to them within the book certainly don't help.

This fast-paced book uses very simple language, which is suited more towards middle-grade or readers who prefer easier books. It's a gripping book that doesn't linger too long on each problem that comes up, but keeps moving the overall plot along. It also has good basic information about ADHD and other disabilities that the characters have.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: A Tip for the Hangman

England, 1585. In Kit Marlowe's last year at Cambridge, he receives an unexpected visitor: Queen Elizabeth's spymaster, who has come with an unorthodox career opportunity. Her Majesty's spies are in need of new recruits, and Kit's flexible moral compass has drawn their attention. Kit, a scholarship student without money or prospects, accepts the offer, and after his training the game is on. Kit is dispatched to the chilly manor where Mary, Queen of Scots is under house arrest, to act as a servant in her household and keep his ear to the ground for a Catholic plot to put Mary on the throne. While observing Mary, Kit learns more than he bargained for. The ripple effects of his service to the Crown are far-reaching and leave Kit a changed man. But there are benefits as well. The salary he earns through his spywork allows him to mount his first play, and over the following years, he becomes the toast of London's raucous theatre scene. But when Kit finds himself reluctantly drawn back into the uncertain world of espionage, conspiracy, and high treason, he realizes everything he's worked so hard to attain--including the trust of the man he loves--could vanish before his very eyes.

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Grey Dog

The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd - spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist - accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community.

Her past - riddled with grief and shame - has never seemed so far away. But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly - which she calls Grey Dog - is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her.

As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one.

What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?

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[bensbooks]

TBR Highlight: Black Mamba Boy

Aden, Yemen, 1935; a city vibrant, alive, and full of hidden dangers. And home to Jama, a ten year-old boy. But then his mother dies unexpectedly and he finds himself alone in the world. Jama is forced home to his native Somalia, the land of his nomadic ancestors. War is on the horizon and the fascist Italian forces who control parts of East Africa are preparing for battle. Yet Jama cannot rest until he discovers whether his father, who has been absent from his life since he was a baby, is alive somewhere. And so begins an epic journey which will take Jama north through Djibouti, war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, to Egypt. And from there, aboard a ship transporting Jewish refugees just released from German concentration camps, across the seas to Britain and freedom.

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