I is for Into

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

Focusing on an A to Z of my TBR (to be read) list, each letter will have books starting with that letter on my list, a book I’ve read and reviewed (with the review!) and one of my books matching the letter with a link about more info about the book (I’ve published some new books, so take a look).

I chose the books this year quite randomly from my Goodreads Want to Read page. Some are quite creatively added to letters.

I know there were suggestions in last year’s Reflection post that I skip my TBR and just get on with the review, but I like knowing what I have left to read for each letter (and how far I’ve come with all the reading challenges I’ve done) so things are staying the same. Scroll down to the reviews if you’re not interested in what my TBR still contains. FYI, you might encounter issues with commenting if you don’t tick all the boxes marked as mandatory (especially the privacy one).

Let the fun begin!

If you’d rather check out my folklore post for today, go here.

My TBR

About the Book I’ve Read

Into the Tall, Tall Grass by Loriel Ryon

A girl journeys across her family’s land to save her grandmother’s life.

Yolanda Rodríguez-O’Connell has a secret. All the members of her family have a magical gift—all, that is, except for Yolanda. Still, it’s something she can never talk about, or the townsfolk will call her family brujas—witches. When her grandmother, Wela, falls into an unexplained sleep, Yolanda is scared. Her father is off fighting in a faraway war, her mother died long ago, and Yolanda has isolated herself from her best friend and twin sister. If she loses her grandmother, who will she have left?

When a strange grass emerges in the desert behind their house, Wela miraculously wakes, begging Yolanda to take her to the lone pecan tree left on their land. Determined not to lose her, Yolanda sets out on this journey with her sister, her ex-best friend, and a boy who has a crush on her. But what is the mysterious box that her grandmother needs to find? And how will going to the pecan tree make everything all right?

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

A journey through the desert brings two sisters closer to each other, teaches them about themselves and each other and their ancestors. It also helps them to accept that their grandmother is dying – the journey through the magical grass was her gift to them.

As a family of witches (brujas, the townspeople call them in a mean way) – though not the evil, eat your cat kind – they have had these special traits passed from mother to child for longer than they can remember.

Yolanda, the MC, has to deal with her grief over her grandfather’s death, the grief of knowing her grandmother was dying, abandonment issues (real and imagined), and jealousy over the fact that her twin had a family trait and she didn’t.

As they travel through the grass to the last pecan tree – her grandmother’s final request to take her there – Yolanda learns how much grief she’d caused herself in the way young teens are prone to do. She also learns how to forgive herself and be there for her sister.

There’s this sweet part near the end where Yolanda still believes she can save her grandmother and the old woman tells her that life is precious because it’s finite, and her twin adds that loss makes love so much sweeter.

Well-paced, full of suspense to make one want to read more, beautiful setting, a touch of magic, and full of the angst of being a twelve-year-old girl. Having the dog there (so cute!) and having Yolanda care about it was what kept me reading when her teenage whining got too much.

What bothered me about the story: a wheelbarrow with a wheel that can become flat. I’ve never seen one like that, as all the wheelbarrows I’ve ever worked with had hard plastic (and metal) wheels. Also, how could these twelve-year-olds carry a full-grown woman and wheel her around in the wheelbarrow? Butterflies and bees following commands didn’t defy belief, but the wheelbarrow did.

I’ll still recommend it for others to read – especially children.

A poignant tale about death, loss and love.

My Book

Irascible Immortals Series Collection

I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?

You can now support my time in producing book review posts (buying books, reading, writing reviews and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.

*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*

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