Little Women Adaptation, Changeling by Molly Harper, Tiffany Blues by MJ Rose, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Though I've seen at least 4 adaptations of Little Women, this one sounds like a real delight. I will be watching for it when it debuts.

Little Women Adaptation: Emma Watson will join Greta Gerwig's remake of Little Women

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz38104244,

"playing the part originally intended for Emma Stone, who was unable to

join the project because of promotional obligations for the Fox

Searchlight film and award season contender The Favourite. With

production expected to start next month, Sony moved quickly to approach

Watson," Variety reported.

Gerwig is writing and directing, with Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Saoirse

Ronan, Timothee Chalamet and Florence Pugh in negotiations to star in

Sony's retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel.

I have four books to review, three that I loved and one that I loathed, so lets get right to it.

Changeling by Molly Harper was a book I bought when I read a great review of it on Gail Carriger's Facebook page (she writes British supernatural steampunk books that are diverse and wonderful). The subhead on the book is "A novel of sorcery and society," which made it sound a bit too prim for my usual tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised, on opening it, that this novel is a real page-turner full of wit and warmth, a Cinderella story that will keep you reading until the wee hours. Here's the blurb: If 14-year-old Cassandra Reed makes it through her first day at Miss Castwell's Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies without anyone discovering her secret, maybe, just maybe, she'll let herself believe that she really does belong at Miss Castwell's.
Except Cassandra Reed's real name is Sarah Smith and up until now, she lived her whole life in the Warren, serving a magical family, the Winters, as all non-magical "Snipes" are bound by magical Guardian law to do. That is, until one day, Sarah accidentally levitates Mrs. Winter's favorite vase in the parlor...
But Snipes aren't supposed to have magical powers...and the existence of a magical Snipe threatens the world order dictated during the Guardians' Restoration years ago. If she wants to keep her family safe and protect her own skin, Sarah must figure out how to fit into posh Guardian society, master her newfound magical powers and discover the truth about how an ordinary girl can become magical.
"Molly Harper's Changeling is masterful fantasy--a spunky Cinderella story with a heroine who's equal parts compassion, determination, and pure magical delight." --Rachel Vincent  

I agree with Ms Vincent that this book is masterful, from the smooth and silken prose to the swift and decisive plot. The characters are what really shine here, though, and Sarah is a tough girl with a big heart who grows and changes into a powerhouse by the end of the book. I sincerely hope that there are more books to come in this series, and sooner rather than later, as now I'm hooked on this stratified world and its denizens. I'm giving it a solid A, and recommending it to anyone who enjoys supernatural steampunk fantasy.

Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose is her 18th fiction novel, (I've read at least 14 of them) and, as with her past fiction, it's a delicious feast of the senses to read, full of color and scent and passion and mystery. Here's the blurb: The New York Times bestselling author of The Library of Light and Shadow crafts a dazzling Jazz Age jewel—a novel of ambition, betrayal, and passion about a young painter whose traumatic past threatens to derail her career at a prestigious summer artists’ colony run by Louis Comfort Tiffany of Tiffany & Co. fame.
New York, 1924. Twenty‑four‑year‑old Jenny Bell is one of a dozen burgeoning artists invited to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s prestigious artists’ colony. Gifted and determined, Jenny vows to avoid distractions and romantic entanglements and take full advantage of the many wonders to be found at Laurelton Hall.
But Jenny’s past has followed her to Long Island. Images of her beloved mother, her hard-hearted stepfather, waterfalls, and murder, and the dank hallways of Canada’s notorious Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women overwhelm Jenny’s thoughts, even as she is inextricably drawn to Oliver, Tiffany’s charismatic grandson.
As the summer shimmers on, and the competition between the artists grows fierce as they vie for a spot at Tiffany’s New York gallery, a series of suspicious and disturbing occurrences suggest someone knows enough about Jenny’s childhood trauma to expose her.
Supported by her closest friend Minx Deering, a seemingly carefree socialite yet dedicated sculptor, and Oliver, Jenny pushes her demons aside. Between stolen kisses and stolen jewels, the champagne flows and the jazz plays on until one moonless night when Jenny’s past and present are thrown together in a desperate moment, that will threaten her promising future, her love, her friendships, and her very life.

The part about the stepfather should read "alcoholic rapist and abuser" instead of "hard hearted," which was the least of his crimes. Of course he's a Christian minister who is charismatic at first, and attracts Jenny's none too bright mother, who marries him and then discovers that he drinks and beats her into submission, and refuses to allow her to paint or ply her trade as an artist (she also paints Ouija boards) because he's jealous and controlling and evil. When Jenny's mother finally fights back, she kills him by accident, and because she's pregnant with his child, Jenny, who is only a teenager, decides to take the rap for her mother and gets sent to a heinous reformatory for two years, after being vilified in the press. Her mother dies giving birth to the evil reverend's baby, (the baby dies as well), so it's all for nothing, and Jenny bears the scars of her mother's abandonment and her years of pain in the reformatory. The story centers around her time at the Tiffany estate, where she's learning to paint in color again and opening her heart to Tiffany's grandson, while being stalked by someone who knows about her past and is trying to expose her. I really disliked Jenny's wealthy friend "Minx" who kept forcing Jenny into situations she wasn't prepared for without any consideration for Jenny's feelings,and I think Jenny was too kind to forgive Minx for all that she'd done. But the mystery is tantalizing and the lush prose and elegant plot kept me glued to the page throughout this fantastic novel. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who is fascinated with the beauty of Tiffany's glorious stained glass windows and jewelry. 

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi was the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon's pick for a summer reading book, and was thus rocketed to stardom by viewers of that program (though I gather it was already selling well before it got the TV book group boost). I had heard from friends that it was similar to Harry Potter, but set in a future dystopian Africa, so with that, I was all in. A surprisingly violent and war-torn atmosphere peppers the book, but the sparkling prose and brilliant plot keep the complex and fascinating characters moving constantly on their quest to bring back magic and stop the suppression/eradication of white-haired magicians from their land. Here's the blurb:

Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut.
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for an enemy.

There are so many twists and turns in this book, you have to pay close attention to what is happening or you'll miss an important plot point and get lost. Complex and riveting, this is a story that deserves a series as long as GRRM's Game of Thrones (and a TV series to match, please). Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, the author threw a spanner into the works and something else happened, and I was left gasping as the plot thundered on and I worried that Zelie wasn't going to make it. I don't want to give too much away, but the growth of two of the female protagonists is breathtaking and brilliant, and I couldn't give the book anything less than an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes complex fantasy novels full of magic and legends and prophecies. 

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah is this month's book group book. A non fiction memoir, this book's subhead is "stories from a South African childhood," and because stand up comic Trevor Noah took over for John Stewart on the Daily Show, I assumed that there would be a lot of funny bits to this tragic story of growing up in during a heinous time in South African history. Unfortunately, there's very little that is funny about Noah's story, and a lot that is painful, ugly and depressing. Women are treated especially poorly in South Africa, and Noah doesn't seem too bothered by it, unless it's happening to his mother, and even then, he doesn't raise a hand to help get the ex-husband who tries to murder her put behind bars. There's also a lot of cruelty to animals, especially cats, that gets a pass from Noah, who develops into a cruel young thief and DJ without much of a conscience. Here's the blurb:

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.
The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

I didn't find any of the stories particularly hilarious, I just found them painful and ugly and uncomfortable. I also felt that Noah was truly conceited in the worst sense of the word, and his "wit" was nothing more than crude commentary, for the most part. Noah can string a sentence together, but I was bored halfway through the book. Yes, I am sure it was honest, from his POV, but that was the only honest thing about Noah, who delights in his underhandedness. I can only give this memoir a C, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a diehard fan of the Daily Show, and Noah's crude sense of humor.