Courage Found

I received this book as an ARC from Black Rose Writing in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book on the whole was brilliantly constructed on a powerful concept. It also infuriates me how some people handle people who are different just by the power of hearsay and assumption in bullying Allie and threatening her with online posts. It bother me a little but that Allie lost all the people she has ever loved and trusted and literally feels alone so who does she turn to and who can help her. But her courage and tenacity she displays throughout the book will be very inspiring to young readers and if you have the power of courage within you, you can get through anything!

We will definitely consider this title for our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 4 stars.

A short read, exploring - in a rather simple way - the effects of cyber bullying.
Our narrator, Allie, finds herself drawn to a social media app as she tries to find out what people think of her. She finds message after message of abusive and rude comments about her. Upset, she withdraws into herself.
At this time her grandmother hands down a family heirloom, the diary of a young woman accused of witchcraft. Innocent, she stands firm and determined to not let those who bully her have the satisfaction of seeing her crumble.
Naturally, the diary gives Allie comfort. It allows her to draw on the strength of those around her and,rather unrealistically, it all gets sorted out amicably.
While I think this is a necessary story, and it was a short easy read, I’m not convinced it will really help anyone who finds the self in that situation.
Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication.

A simple but effective tale of cyber bullying paralleled with a tale from the past of colonial witch hunts. I enjoyed this as the character finds and draws strength from the past. A good concept and well executed, I just felt it was rushed a bit towards the end. It would have been better to make it a bit longer and resolve the story over a longer period, but I did enjoy it, just felt it lost a bit of momentum and storytelling due to this.

I received this book as an ARC from Black Rose Writing in exchange for an honest review.
3.75 stars

A short read about cyber bullying. Feels a little rushed at the end, could have gone into the story a bit more.

*I received an advanced copy of this book, in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are entirely my own*
This book had both good and bad aspects to it, but there was just too much bad to justify anything over 2 stars.
First off, this book seemed to be two ideas combined in an attempt to make one story and it just wasn't working. This author could have taken the parts with the diary and could have written an amazing historical fiction book. I am all for anything to do with the witch trials and those parts of the book were by far my favorite. The author could have taken the "modern" parts of the story and could have also written a middle grade story of a middle grader being bullied and how she dealt with it. And I say middle grade because that is the writing style of those parts of the book. The parts that aren't part of the diary were written as if they were meant for a middle grader, not young adult). I think both would have been great SEPARATE story ideas, but they just did not go that well together. The transitions were very poor. The story (minus the diary entries) wasn't all that interest or entertaining either. The only reason I finished the book was to read the diary entries.
Good ideas, bad execution of them.

Thank you to Black Rose Writing, for the arc of this book.
This wasn’t a bad read, about a subject that seems to be everywhere these days, cyber bullying.
However, I felt towards the end the book felt rushed, kind of like suddenly realising you have two pages left to finish and wrap the story up.

This novel brought together two girls, relatives, across centuries to deal with some of the most pervasive means of bullying in each girl's time -- accusations of witchcraft (outside of Salem) and social media harassment. It's a touching story about how, through a diary, one teenager can take comfort and learn from the experiences of her long dead ancestor. Both learn to reach out to their support systems, and both find that a bully's motivations generally have very little to do with those they torture. This is a valuable book for middle grade readers who may feel pushed to the outside, although it moves a little slow for adult readers.