Your Weekly Review Roundup!

Hello Readers!

Welcome to this week's blog! We have been very busy fulfilling Curbside Pickup requests, so we don't have as many reviews for you this week. But, the titles we were able to review are great nonetheless.

Here we go!

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Available to Easton Residents in print, as an e-book and e-audiobook on Overdrive.

Intended Audience: Adult

Reviewed by: Lynn

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell is a compelling novel about the #MeToo movement and a twisted, manipulative relationship between a fifteen-year-old student and her forty-two-year-old English teacher, which continues on and off for seventeen years. At times dark and disturbing, it is the tragic story of Vanessa, a loner who is flattered and excited by the attention she receives from her sophomore English teacher, Jacob Strane. So begins a sexual relationship that continues intermittently throughout the years until she is thirty-two. This relationship continues to haunt Vanessa and it affects her relationships with her parents and her future boyfriends for years to come. When another one of Strane's students comes forward with sexual harassment allegations against him, Vanessa is forced to reexamine her own relationship with him.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Available to Easton Residents via print, Playaway, e-book on Overdrive and Hoopla, and as an e-audiobook on Hoopla and RBDigital

Intended Audience: Teen

Reviewed by: Mary Beth

This is one of those stories that stays with you long after the final sentence. It’s that good. Xiomara Batista is a high school sophomore, a twin, the daughter of a devout Catholic mother and a distant father. Navigating life in her mostly Dominican Harlem neighborhood and questioning everything about her life, she finds refuge in her poetry. A poetry class and introduction to spoken word poetry set her on a path of further self-discovery and a life-changing confrontation with her mother. A powerful, unforgettable story.

This book has also received some awards, including the 2018 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and is a 2021 Nutmeg Nominee/High School.

Have a good week!