Book Reflections

June Reads: Bite Me, Royce Taslim by Lauren Ho* ⭐⭐⭐ Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Barely got in my fourth book for June finishing the last bit of it all of the last day of the month. Woo! The last three of these are rereads that will never stop being books I enjoy to reread. The first one I will likely never reread. It had a lot of potential and really, really, really  needed a better editor. Pending Reads: Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson* This is My America by Kim Johnson* He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard The Cousins by Karen M. McManus [ Still  Not Officially Pending, but on my priority TBR: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn and The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna] *(Not Quite) YA Book Club reads

  May Reads: Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ At The End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What a FIVE STAR month of reading which was the plan! After many months of being in a reading slump, the plan was made with my sister to have a chill month reading in May. Lots of great books! Three were new books to me that I really enjoyed and two were tried and true faves. <3 Punching the Air was one that had been on my TBR since September 2020 and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It is written in verse and tells the story of an innocent person who was falsely convicted and incarcerated.  Debating Darcy is a book I picked up while book shopping with my besties in January 2023. And I really loved this retelling of Pride and Prejudice. The new version and the twists on the original characters was excelle...

April Reads: With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rust In The Root by Justina Ireland ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min ⭐⭐⭐⭐ It really felt  like I had read more than 3 books in April. Though, I have made some progress on He Who Drowned The World  which is pretty long, so maybe that contributed to the feeling. The books this month were all great at least! I had some minor gripes or things I would've changed in With The Fire On High and Beating Heart Baby  which is why those are less than 5 stars.  And Rust In The Root was a re-read that was even more excellent the second time through. That's definitely a book that I will go back to multiple times and it will always be such a great mix of fantastical elements with historical aspects that need more attention placed on them. So powerful. Pending Reads: He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi* At the End of Everyt...

March Reads: Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fools in Love by multiple authors* ⭐⭐⭐⭐ It was a slow going reading month for me, March. Finished ear-reading Obsidio on the drives to rock climbing early on and got very wrapped up in finishing the latest installment in The Halfling Saga (A Vicious Game) that it distracted me from finishing the two book club reads this month. Barely finished Fools in Love on time and was a bit late at finishing With The Fire On High (see below).  The Halfling Saga is one with quite a few trigger warnings, but it is excellent so far. All of the subjects are handled with great care and intention. There have been a few plot twists already in the series that I was definitely not  expecting and this book was no different. I cannot wait for the next book to be released (and it hasn't even been announced yet!) Fools in Love was a bit hit or miss with some of the short stories. There were a few that I ...

February Reads: Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman ⭐⭐⭐⭐ If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon* ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I ear-read Illuminae and Gemina while doing yardwork this month. I deducted a star from both of those because of some fatphobia and other problematic comments. But the production of this series audiobooks is phenomenal! Sunny G's was not deducted a star for the same reason. There were some things that could've been a bit stronger in that one, so it got knocked a star. The Bennet Women I was really looking forward to because it's a spin on Pride and Prejudice. There were some really excellent aspects to the story and overall I really dug it. It followed the P&P blueprint well enough to get the connection without being so exact that it wasn't a truly creative deviation. If I Was Your Girl was a re-read ...

New year, new format! And it's definitely not because I lost motivation to do individual reviews for every book toward the end of 2023... January Reads: Drag Me Up by R.M. Virtues ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I enjoyed all three books, but I deducted a star from Drag Me Up because I really  wish the author would've included a content warning for kink. Apparently "romance" (even one labeled as erotic) is way to wide a spectrum of possibility for me. Beyond the way-more-graphic-than-I-enjoy sex scenes, the writing was compelling and I liked the retelling element (Hades and Persephone).  The Hate U Give and All My Rage are both such powerful books about the bigotry and other harsh realities can have on people and the ripple effect those things can cause. I highly recommend both books. Pending Reads: He Who Drowned The World by Shelley Parker-Chan The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair If I ...

One of my reading goals for 2023 was to read more books from my TBR "pile" and I could've done more, but 11 out of 49 total books read is not terrible. It definitely feels like more than I've gotten through in previous years. Now on to 2024 and more reading funsies! 2023 TBR Reads A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown Added to TBR: April 2021 Removed from TBR: February 2023 Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender Added to TBR: February 2021 Removed from TBR: April 2023 Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire Added to TBR: January 2019 Removed from TBR: April 2023 In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire Added to TBR: January 2019 Removed from TBR: May 2023 Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire Added to TBR: January 2019 Removed from TBR: May 2023 Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Added to TBR: November 2021 Removed from TBR: July 2023 A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair Added to TBR: March 2023 Removed from TBR: August 2023 Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassand...