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The Monsters We Defy

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  Title: The Monsters We Defy Author: Leslye Penelope Publisher: Redhook Rating: 5 Stars I received a free ebook download from Net Galley. Premise: In 1920s Washington, D.C., poor Black people are going missing, and a group of (mostly) 20-something adults with connections to the paranormal investigate. Things I Loved: 1. Everything.  This is an amazing story.  The characters are complicated, the research was well-done, everything is so well-described and fleshed out and immersive.  Seriously.  It's so good. Things I Did Not Love: ... I mean, the format of my ebook was a little odd?  It said it clocked in at almost 800 pages, but every "page" I turned counted for three pages, so there's something weird going on there.  But really that's it.  It's such a fantastic book that I'd have to get nitpicky to find something. Who It's Good For: Fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners series, historical fiction enthusiasts, paranormal fiction lovers, anyone look
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Goblin Market

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  Title: Goblin Market Author: Diane Zahler Publisher: Holiday House Rating: 3 Stars I received a free ebook download of this book from Net Galley. Premise: A novelization of Christina Rossetti's poem of the same name.  There are two sisters, one eats goblin fruit, the other has to save her. Things I Loved: 1. NEURODIVERGENCE.  The main character, Lizzie, is a neurodivergent synesthete.  While that's great on its own, it's the other characters' treatment of her that really makes this awesome.  Sure, a few of the village kids make fun of her for being different, but children are horrible beasts, so that's to be expected.  Everyone else, though, accepts Lizzie as she is.  Basically like "the older sister doesn't like cabbage, and the younger sister doesn't like hugs or loud noises."  That kind of normalization. It's just who she is, and that's awesome.  2. The interpretation of the source material. Christina Rossetti's poem is awesom
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Welcome and Ratings Explanation

 Welcome to See Mel read.  I'm a librarian, and rather unexpectedly that makes me an avid reader.  Here you will find rambling, in-depth thoughts on the books I read.  It may not always be cohesive, but as long as I'm coherent I'm taking the win. I will use the five-star rating system in my reviews, but I'll provide some context for what those ratings mean to me, as I think there's a lot of room for interpretation from person to person. 5 Stars - The Mary Poppins of books, practically perfect in every way.   4 Stars - Pretty good, but there were things that irked me. 3 Stars - This one is the most confusing.  A lot of books get rated 3 stars, and it means a few different things to me.  It can mean "this wasn't actually good but I was entertained anyway," "predictable plot but the characters kind of make up for it," "a really interesting concept that could've used more polish in the execution," or "I really have no strong f
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