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Showing posts from June, 2021

June Wrap Up

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 June is officially over! Ion sad to say that this hasn’t been the best reading month for me. After finishing the Grishaverse trilogy, I got into a bit of a reading slump   Book Reviews: The Sky Blue s  by Robbie Couch Rating: 4 stars Synopsis:  Sky is openly gay. Living in a small town, he's never been comfortable being himself around others. Sky decides to go full-throttle gay by asking out his crush, Ali Rashid, to prom. Sky has thirty days to put together the perfect promposal. When Sky's plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a homophobic e-blast. When his friends and classmates start to stand up for him, Sky starts to hunt down the hacker. But what will happen at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky keep his newfound confidence? Or will he go back to being invisible? My review Love and Other Natural Disasters  by Misa Sugiura Rating: 4 stars Synopsis:  Nozomi Nagai has the perfect summer planned out. She has an internship at a museum in San Fransico. To make things be

June Book Haul

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 At the beginning of this month, I had so many books on my TBR that I decided to put myself on a book buying ban. That ban lasted for about a week. A Midsummer Night's Dream  by William Shakespeare The first book I picked up this month was A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the beginning of June, I read Romeo and Juliet. I liked it a lot more than I thought I was going to. For my second Shakespeare novel, I wanted to read  A Midsummer Night's Dream . Goodreads synopsis: There's trouble in the Fairy Kingdom. King Oberon wants to each Titania, his proud wife, a lesson. Things heat up when four young nobles arrive in the enchanted forest from Athens. They're all in love- byt with the wrong person. It's up to Puck, a playful sprite who isn't above a but of mischief after dark, to do his master's bidding, trick Queen Titania, and dial down the drama among foolish lovers. With a certain potion at his disposal, what could go wrong? The Threads of Magic  by Alison Cr

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

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 Ari can't wait to move to Baltimore with his friends. He wants nothing more than to get out of his small seaside town. If only his dad would let him quit his job at the family bakery. While interviewing possible candidates, Ari meets Hector, an easy-going guy who loves baking. As the two work together in the bakery, love starts to bloom. Bloom was an adorable graphic novel. Also, the art in this graphic novel was great! If you looking for two soft boys falling in love, look no farther than Bloom.  Ari absolutely stole my heart away! He was so cute. Ari and Hector were made for each other. They had such a cute, fluffy romance. Both of the main characters were flawed in a way that was... different from other books. Does that make sense? I liked that they never really "fixed" their flaws. They embraced what was wrong with each other. Apart, Hector and Ari were complete messes. Together though, they seemed to complete each other while highlighting their faults. The first hal

I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee

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 I loved I'll Be the One  much more than I was expecting to. From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. This was such an amazing book that I would recommend it to EVERYONE! Skye's been told her whole life that fat girls can't dance. Despite the years of negative comments from her mother, Skye learns to love her body. She dreams of becoming a K-Pop icon and when she finds out about the TV competition You're My Shining Star she knows that this is finally her chance. However, Skye didn't expect her fellow competitor, Henry Cho, to be so cute and charming. The message it sends is one everyone needs to hear. It's about loving yourself regardless of what you look like. I think that's really important. Especially in today's society where people are so openly shamed for not being a certain body size. Another thing that I loved about I'll Be the One  was all the LGBTQ representation. There were lesbians and bisexuals- it was great! It seemed

Dread Nataion Playlist

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The Dread Nation  series was great! I loved this duology! It's definitely one of my favorite historical fiction books. Like I've done with a bunch of my other favorite books, I made a music playlist for Dread Nation . Enjoy! Some Nights- Fun Novocaine- Fall Out Boy Old Me- 5 Seconds of Summer Burn the House Down- AJR Born for This- The Score The Jungle- Zayde Wolf Bury Me Face Down- Grandson About Dread Nation  Jane McKneene was born a few days before the dead began to rise. After the Civil War, zombies took over the planet. Humans live in fear of the plague. Thanks to the Native and Negro Reeducation Act, Jane attends a school that teaches her how to fight off and kill the zombies. When families around Baltiom go missing without a trace, Jane and her friend Kate discover a terrible conspiracy that will change her life forever. Book review

My Favorite Books of 2021 So Far

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We're about halfway through 2021! Six months down and six to go! Though 2021 didn't start off great (raids on the capital, new variations of the virus, etc.), it's getting better. There has been a lot of great stuff to come out of this year so far. The  Shadow and Bone  TV show, our first female vice president, and so much more. At the moment, I'm in a bit of a reading slump, but that doesn't mean I haven't found a bunch of new favorites so far this year. I've read 83 books so far this year, but here are my five favorites. 5. My Calamity Jane  by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows The first book I want to talk about is  My Calamity Jane . Fans of Scooby-Doo  will love this hilarious historical fiction. I couldn't stop laughing. I can't wait for My Contrary Mary,  the next book written by this amazing trio!  Synopsis:  The Wild West is full of outlaws, gun-slingers, and garou. Yes, the wild west is full of werewolves. Calamity Jane has bee

Annie Get Your Gun

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By now I've done a lot of musical recommendation posts but I have to say Annie Get Your Gun  has been the hardest by far! There's No Business Like Show Business Where Dreams Descend  by Janella Angeles     "There's No Business Like Show Business" is the opening song of Annie Get Your Gun  so it's really just an introduction to the characters and the setting.  Where Dreams Descend , show business is something that's constantly coming up. Synopsis: I liked  Where Dreams Descend  a lot! But, it's really no surprise that I liked the book so much though. Like seriously, you can't tell me this book is a "combination of  Moulin Rouge  and  Phantom of the Opera " and expect me not to love it.  Kallia has never left Hellfire House. The place that kept her prisoner for so long made her feel trapped. When she escapes, she finds out about a competition to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus. When she enters alongside her assistant, Aaros

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

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 Jane McKneene was born a few days before the dead began to rise. After the Civil War, zombies took over the planet. Humans live in fear of the plague. Thanks to the Native and Negro Reeducation Act, Jane attends a school that teaches her how to fight off and kill the zombies. When families around Baltiom go missing without a trace, Jane and her friend Kate discover a terrible conspiracy that will change her life forever. If there's one thing this book made me realize, it's that I'm in deep shit once the zombie apocalypse begins. There was so much excitement in this story. I think I lost count of how many thrilling fight scenes there were. There are some books that you know, from the very beginning, that you will finish the series. Dread Nation is one of those books. I'm determined to finish this series. I loved this book from the very beginning. Jane was such a badass. I think it was interesting how each chapter began with a letter from either Jane or her mother. This

The Henna Wars Playlist

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Girls/Girls/Boys - Panic! At the Disco Way Less Sad - AJR Is There Somewhere - Halsey I Want to Break Free - Queen Summer - Calvin Harris Firework - Katy Perry About The Henna Wars  When Nishat comes out to her parents, they don't accept her as who she is. They say Nishat can be whoever she wants as long as she's not herself. They also say Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat can't hide who she is, but she also can't lose her family. In a world where no one else seems to except her beside her family, Nishat is running out of people she can confide in. As if that wasn't bad enough, an old friend from her childhood comes back into her life. Nishat falls for Flávia right away. When a school competition has students create their own business, Nishat and Flávia both chose to do henna, even though Flávia would be appropriating Nishat's culture. Full review

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

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 Ravka's fate rests in the Sun Summoner's hands. She has to destroy the Fold and defeat the Darkling before it' too late. To do that, Alina will need to find Morozova's third amplifier. The firebird is the only thing that stands between her and saving Ravka. That's it. That's all that happened in this four hundred-page book. Ruin and Rising  was so much longer than it had to be. For the majority of this book, the main cast of characters hiding in the mountains. The epilogue was also incredibly boring. I ended up skipping it altogether. It was a struggle to get through this book. I wanted to put it down, but I kept hoping it would get better. So far, this is my least favorite Leigh Bardugo book. The ending of this book was unsatisfying and pretty cliché. It was also pretty predictable. I'm not a huge fan of happy endings and this is why. Everything seemed to end too perfectly for Mal and Alina. I hate Mal. I wish he died. It would have made for a much better

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

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 After escaping from the Darkling, Mal and Alina are hunted across the True Sea. Alina finds that it becomes harder and harder for her to conceal her power and her identity as the Sun Summoner with each passing day. It isn't long before the Darkling reemerges from the fold with dangerous new power, forcing Alina to return to the country she abandoned. As her power grows, Alina can feel herself slipping away from Mal and towards the Darkling's grasps. As the second book in the Grishaverse  trilogy, I expected it to be just as good as Shadow and Bone . I thought Seige and Storm  was a little mediocre though. Not a lot happened for the majority of the book. The last 10% is when stuff really got interesting. I was expecting a super sad ending. A friend of mine told me it was the saddest character death ever, but I didn't really feel sad at all. I'm not really emotionally invested in any of these characters. I think the Malina ship is super bad. They have no chemistry and al