Hollowthorn and Artifice

Hollowthorn takes place on the first day of Hannukah and has a lot of Jewish culture in it, so it seems like a great choice for the first day of the holiday this year. 

Josephson, Kalyn. Hollowthorn (Ravenfall #2)

October 17, 2023 by Delacorte Press

Public library copy

Anna is excited that her father Henry will be visiting when her mother, grandmother, and older twin sisters travel to Ireland. Her father is not home long before an old friend stops by with a favor. Anna and Colin embark on a quest to help Salem, who needs Henry's help to subdue a demon who is after the Tree of Life. Strange things are happening in the Hollowthorn Woods, and the Ravenfall house is not happy, especially when it is left in the care of Aunt Elaine. The group, which includes the cat/jabberwok Max, travels through a portal into the Otherworld. They need to retrieve the Myrtle Staff from the Crypt and return it to the Tree of Life before the demon Ashmedai finds them. There's a lot of running around, and fighting of various entitities while on this mission, and Colin and Anna fight a bit. The bigger issue is what is happening back home without them, as the woods encroaches on the house, which is struggling mightily. Things are not always what they seem, and while the mission goes fairly well, the reason for it becomes complicated when they learn some secrets from the past. 

Strengths: Anna's magical skills are put to good use in this adventure, and she gets to spend a little more time with her father. Colin polishes his own abilities, and learns a lot about himself. The Otherworld is an interesting setting, and there is a ton of Jewish culture and folklore in this that I just don't remember from the first book. We do get to see a little of what is happening with the house, since the chapters alternate between Anna and Colin with occasionall input from Ravenfall. A good sequel to the first book. 
Weaknesses: Not a weakness with the book, really; I just wasn't in the mood for a magical quest in the woods. I was more interested in what was going on in the house, so preferred the first book. Younger readers will not feel this way and will enjoy the adventure. 
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who like their fictional magic to be a little dark, but want it broken up a bit by cocoa with snowflake shaped marshmallows. This felt more like McNichol's The Apprentice Witch, while the first was more murder-y. I'm curious to see how many books will be in this series; I feel like there could be one more. 

Cameron, Sharon. Artifice

November 7, 2023 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Isa's parents ran an art gallery in Amsterdam, but now that the Nazis have taken over and her mother has died, it is all she can do to take care of her father. When a tax bill comes due on the building, she sells a forged piece of art to the Nazis. One of the officers seems suspicious, and she later sees him looking at the fake address she provided. He leaves a note, and eventually contacts her. His name is Michel, and he knew her parents before, but was forced into the Nazi army by his father. He wants out, but needs Isa's help. He thinks she has ties to some resistance members, and she does, but not very useful ones. Her friend Truus is trying to smuggle Jewish babies out of danger, and Willem is helping her, but that itself is such a fraught undertaking that they don't have much to offer. Things get even more complicated after Truus kills a Nazi officer and Isa ends up taking care of a baby. Michel explains himself to Willem, and everyone tries to stay safe in the art gallery. Isa is determined to get more money for Truus' cause by selling more forgeries, and ends up contacting Van Meegeren, an artist who has been selling things to the Nazis. Isa manages to infiltrate his studio and find out a lot about his forgery technique, but she also gets caught up in a dinner party that he is having with some of the Nazi officials. She manages to get some helpful information, and when she returns to the gallery, asks for Michel's help in selling a forgery. Things go very wrong, because there are multiple copies of the same works. Her father has been struggling with a drug addiction, and there is very little time before the German deadline for the Netherlands to be "free from Jews". Will Is be able to juggle all of the people depending on her to provided safety and resources, or will she herself get caught and killed? (Slight spoiler-- there's a rather nice, happyish ending.)

Strengths: This was apparently based on the real story of Van Meegeren, as well as an effort to save Jewish babies, so that was interesting. I haven't read a lot of books involving the problems surrounding art during World War II (except for Fitzgerald's Under the Egg), but I know that there was a lot going on. There are also not as many books set in Amsterdam, with the exception of Winter's Bullet, Hidden Like Anne Frank, and Girl in the Blue Coat, so that was interesting. I am especially fond of books that talk about the Resistance, and Truus' plan to save Jewish babies was a good one. That it was funded by bilking Nazis made it that much better. There are a good amount of details about what it was like to go out into the streets of town, some about the scarcity of food, and a lot about the problems with knowing whom to trust. 
Weaknesses: This was more of a Young Adult title due to the length, introspective nature, and philosophical conundrums that Isa faces. 
What I really think: Now that our 8th grade language arts classes do not study the Holocaust (it has not been in our social studies curriculum for twenty years; having it in language arts was a vestige of long ago!), I don't need as many books about it. The ones I do need are for the readers who want descriptions of battles. I probably won't buy a copy for my library, although I might buy one for a friend who loves historical fiction like this.