Birthday Month

I'll be taking a break from my blog while I celebrate my birthday. It's the one where I officially enter my late 20s so I'll be dealing with a mid-life crisis.

Littles by Kelly DiPucchio

5 STAR RATING

This picture book is told in rhyme and shows how babies are cared for while they grow up. DiPucchio pens the words while Ford draws the art. I completely loved this book. It is so cute. This would be a great read for toddlers who now have baby siblings. It shows them that they were babies once too and you should look after your brother or sister. The rhyme scheme makes this ideal for a story time. And the art goes along with the words beautifully. Ford did great with drawing all types of families and not bringing attention to it. It’s all love when it comes to families.

But shout out to the scene showing a mother breastfeeding her child. A baby eating should be acceptable to any and every one in all forms of media.

If You Were the Moon by Laura Purdie Salas

3 STAR RATING

If You Were the Moon tells the reader what the moon actually does while we’re all asleep. A small child wishes that she could be the moon, hanging out in the sky doing nothing. Each page then explains the moon’s purposes and how people on Earth celebrate it. Salas writes the facts while Kim draws the art. Salas did a good job using basic words for a younger audience. I’d recommend this for 4-5 year olds. It’d be a good read for any child interested in space. The tone is conversational and doesn’t feel too heavy for a child to read by themselves. Kim’s art is great; I personally disliked when the characters’ had their mouths open. It just looked weird to me.

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey

4 STAR RATING

The Boy on the Bridge is a prequel to Mike Carey’s first novel, The Girl with All the Gifts. It’s set 10 years before the events of the first book. We’re on the Rosalind Franklin, the abandoned war truck that was found by Melanie. Carey tells the reader what happened to the crew and how it came to be left in the middle of nowhere.

I thought this book was a sequel and was very interested in seeing the new world after the virus had become airborne. Instead, the clock is turned back and we’re dropped into political and survival turmoil with a group of people we don’t even know. I really liked the new characters and I’m happy the author decided to stick with multiple POVs. It really shows all the distrust within the crew and with the new world they’re trying to live in. There are a few similarities with the first novel but it has no problem standing on its own. The epilogue gives you a brief glance in what happened to Melanie but this novel could be read independently.

I listened to this book and the voice actor did a great job. I’m a sucker for British accents. I wasn’t bored one bit while she spoke. She read each character well.

Doctor Strange vol 4: Mr. Misery by Jason Aaron

5 STAR RATING

Mr. Misery is volume five in the newest Doctor Strange comic series. Strange never took on the full consequences for using magic and it created the entity, Mr. Misery. It’s a manifestation of all of Strange’s pain and suffering. Wong is its forced host and Strange is trying to find a way to save him.

I really enjoyed this volume. It’s my favorite one of the series so far. Misery is an excellent villain. This series have the best protagonists I’ve read in Marvel comics. They actually pose a real threat to our heroes. I couldn’t get enough of the action scenes. The art helped up to all the chaos and showed Misery as the menacing thing that it is. Now that Zelma is an official apprentice, I can’t wait to see her kick some mystical ass. Though, she’s already been doing that.

Snail's pace

Going for a "slow and steady wins the race" approach to my reading goal this year. Hence, the lack of progress I've made since two weeks ago.

Patsy Walker vol 1: Hooked on a Feline by Kate Leth

4 STAR RATING

Pasty Walker has literally been to hell and back. But her biggest struggle at the moment is finding a steady job. Walker aka Hellcat is a superhero in New York City trying to make the best of life, as we all are. I loved the art style. It compliments Patsy’s personality to a tee. She’s all bubbly and light now. I find it hard to believe she used to be…evil. I don’t know anything about her lore so this is my first exposure to her character.

The book itself was a light read and I enjoyed it immensely. I plan on reading the rest of this series. I hope it doesn’t disappoint me.

Apollo: The Brilliant One by George O'Connor

2 STAR RATING

I had taken a long break from this series. I honestly thought it was finished with the last volume I read. I’m not sure how I stumbled across this one but I’m glad to be reading these again. O’Connor does a great job retelling stories and lore surrounding the Greek gods. His writing style is compelling and is entertaining for all age groups.

I’m giving this entry a lower rating because I don’t like the god featured. Apollo was a straight up asshole who I feel no sympathy for. The only good things that came from him were the muses. I really enjoyed having them tell the tales of their favorite god. They give a sense of humanity to him where another POV wouldn’t.

Posthumously Published

I haven't made the time to read this past week. The only reason this book was finished was because it's an audio book and I could just zone out and listen. This book is part of the Book Riot challenge of 2018. This challenge was to read a book that had been published posthumously. I never read this book for school and it's such a well known book that I figured I was destined to read it.

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, read by Selma Blair
3 STAR RATING
Diary of a Young Girl is a real life diary by Anne Frank who lived during World War II. She lived in a hidden annex of an office building with her family and 4 other people on the run. They lived there for over 2 years before being discovered and arrested. Anne’s father was the only one to survive. He published his daughter’s diary for the world to read. It’s an intimate and blunt piece of work.

Anne did write her diary hoping that it would be published and read one day. She even went back and added notes to previous diary entries. I found her words to be almost poetic in tone. She had a very mature voice for her age. I could relate to her feelings. The dire situation made them even more intense. It was literally life or death if they were found out. The uncertainty of how her life ended can be an upset. After reading her private thoughts from age 12-15, you wanna know how it ends. But real life doesn’t wrap things up in a neat little bow. This was war and people died with no record of it. Anne Frank was one of them.

I listened to the “definitive” version of the audio book. Selma Blair read for it. Her voice was so smooth and low that it lulled me to sleep several times. I do think a more lively performance would have worked better.

New Year, New Books

My goal, again, is to read 100 books for the new year. I'll be including audio books and rereads. Adult, children, or young adult themes. Sci-fi to mystery, paperback to e-book. Anything I put my eyes to counts.

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle
4 STAR RATING
This is a modern love story between two people who aren’t neurotypical. Lily has severe ADHD and Abelard has Asperger’s. They are thrown together after a trip to the principal’s office and Lily is intrigued by Abelard. She’s never met a person who could understand her. They mostly communicate through texts. It’s a very quick read.

I read the e-book version of this novel. The chapters are very short so the book flows quickly and easily. Lily is the protagonist and the novel is from her POV only. She’s a very relatable character. I found her voice believable. I myself don’t have ADHD but it read as authentic. Abelard was an adorable love interest. I loved that he didn’t make any apologies for who he was and just dealt with life as it came. He embraced Lily and accepted her as she was. Their love was such a delight to read. I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a teen romance based in reality.






Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
3 STAR RATING
Milk and Honey is a collection of poems that resonated with so many people when it was first published and still continue to do so. It’s broken into four parts: the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing. The author puts her most intimate and heartbreaking secrets out there for an audience to hear and hopefully resonate with. The poems range from very short form to broken syntax paragraphs.

I thought I’d love this book much more than I actually did. The style of poetry didn’t hit me in the feels like I wanted. Poetry is subjective and can’t be pigeonholed into one prototype. That being said, I didn’t feel like most of the poems were poetic or flowed very well. The tone and subject spoke to me on many levels though. I could relate to what the author has been through. Some lines stuck out to me and I wanted to yell out, “PREACH!”

I don’t know if I’ll read her other work but this was a delight to read and its worth most of the hype it’s received.

Review for Best Women's Erotica vol 3 by Rachel Kramer Bussel

a free copy of the book was provided by Rachel Kramer Bussel for an honest review

It’s the end of 2017 and Rachel Kramer Bussel has released volume 3 of the Best Women’s Erotica. This a collection of short stories focusing on the pleasure of women and how they indulge in their most wanton fantasies. The themes vary from role-play to threesomes to BDSM. There’s a story here for everyone.

I absolutely loved this volume. It reminded me how amazing the first one was. The stories are all unique on their own but flow well together. Bussel does a great job of ordering the stories in a way that lets each stand on its own two feet but also support each other, leaving the reader with a complete and absorbing reading experience. It honestly felt like starting with a tease and ending with a climax. Bussel lets the authors shine, not including a short story of her own. I’m assuming it’s because she received quality work and didn’t have to pick up the slack in any way.

Though I loved them all, my favorite stories were:

The Birthday Gift by Abigail Barnette

Weightless by Rachel Woe

Demon Purse by Sommer Marsden

A Love Affair All My Own by R.J. Richardson

Falling by Charlie Powell

Bibliophile by Dee Blake

Guyliner and Garters by B.B. Sanchez

Red Satin Ribbons by Tamsin Flowers

Making It Feel Right by Annabel Joseph

I’m unclear on whether this will have another volume but I’m hoping it does. I say this each time but it’s still true; I’ll read anything Bussel puts her hands on. She is a great voice in the world of erotica.