This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
The engrossing voice and outsider's perspective from a young narrator with a brain condition will reward readers of Almond, the debut novel from Won-Pyung Sohn. Yunjae's underdeveloped amygdalae--two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei in the brain--mean that he doesn't experience emotions the same way most people do. His mother and his grandmother raise him with great care, writing down instructions for him to memorize, such as to move away if a car comes close to him and to smile back when people smile at him. Then, at age 16, he is suddenly and violently rendered alone.
Yunjae describes his story as "about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me." A new student, Gon, arrives at school and sees Yunjae's lack of fear as a challenge to his bullying skills. Yunjae has the idea that learning about the angry Gon may be the key to understanding emotions, and the two develop a surprising friendship.
The narration by a young protagonist with a disorder that affects his ability to identify and express feelings will rightly draw comparisons to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, but Sohn's insightful depiction of an outsider's perspective on society around him will also please fans of other narrators who sharply consider the world at a remove, such as in The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Readers will treasure the opportunity to see the world through Yunjae's eyes and watch him as he grows. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: This self-proclaimed monster's story will draw readers in with its insight and empathy.

This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​Creatures of Charm and Hunger by Molly Tanzer (Creatures of Want and Ruin) combines a dark, gothic adventure with a moving and often humorous story of relationships. In northern England, near the end of World War II, two young women face a test to become diabolists, studying in order to make a pact with a demon in exchange for power. The test itself is only the beginning of their trials. One, Miriam Cantor, a Jewish German refugee, learns that her parents, still in Germany, are suspected of betraying the Société des Éclairées to the Nazis. Meanwhile, Jane Blackwood, the daughter of Miriam's guardian in England, faces the possibility that she may not succeed as a diabolist. The Société has too many secrets to let failed students go their own way, and Jane takes increasingly drastic measures to ensure her future.Miriam and Jane were dear friends when they were young, but as they grew, their relationship became more strained and, of the two, Miriam followed more closely in Jane's mother's footsteps. As Miriam's search for her parents leads her to a Nazi diabolist plot, she takes greater and greater risks to defeat it, and as Jane's dangerous methods jeopardize her own mother, the two together will need to face what they were taught in order to defeat evils both human and supernatural. For a diabolist there are no shortcuts, only sacrifices. Tanzer's third in the Diabolist's Library series will delight and captivate new readers and series fans alike. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: In a gripping gothic tale, two young women wrestle with literal and figurative demons to protect their families and their futures during the last days of World War II.