Books

Teaser Tuesday: September 28, 2021

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I wake surrounded by smoke and sit up in my bed, disoriented.

– Katie Wismer, The Marionettes (The Marionettes, book 1), page 35

Version:
Paperback
Published August 17th 2021

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

First Lines Fridays: September 24, 2021

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First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

The lunar witches left a dead bird in the field again.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

Review: Victory Lap by K.A. Mielke & Riley Alexis Wood

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I received a free ebook copy of ‘Victory Lap’ from one of the authors in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure where this review is going to go, so I want to start off on the right foot by saying: I loved this book and I’m so glad I read it!

Victory Lap is a YA Contemporary novel featuring dual-protagonists Kiki and Josh. Kiki is a trans girl in her last year of high school, which also happens to be her first year “out”, and Josh is a boy taking a fifth year of high school because he doesn’t know what to do with his life.

This has got to be one of the most inclusive YA novels I’ve ever read, and it was so lovely. If you long for LGBT+ rep in your YA fiction, grab this book ASAP.

The writing flows well and yet the characters’ voices are very distinctive, which I assume is a facet of having two authors, but is very nice to see in a dual-POV novel. In fact, I would say all the characters are very distinctive and feel very real. They also feel very much like people I wish I knew (except for one….they know who they are).

The best part is, this book is so hard to put down once you pick it up! It’s so hard to find a book one just devours eagerly, but this is definitely one.

There are some difficult subjects dealt with that I should mention: There’s some crappy sex with iffy consent and references to self-harm, and obviously the inescapable homophobia and transphobia that is a sad aspect of this reality, and your average teen exposure to drugs and alcohol use. But nothing outside the norm for a YA novel.

Normally I try to end these reviews with a recommendation for who I think should read this book, but honestly in this case I just want everyone to read it. I’ve already bought my own physical copy and I can’t wait to reread this book! Seriously, even if you don’t always read YA, just go read this book.

Thanks to K.A. Mielke for reaching out and putting this excellent book on my radar!

Learn more about Victory Lap at KAMielke.com! There’s even a couple free chapters on the site to see if you like the writing! Victory Lap is available for purchase in eBook, paperback, and hardcover.

Reading Progress Report

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Lee is on page 40 of 352

What is this fucking writing style for Leon?? I have never been so annoyed by a character I actually like before…

I want to like this book, but one character is annoying and the other one has an internal monologue that reads like the minutes of a meeting.

Mini-Review: sometimes i fall asleep thinking about you by Catarine Hancock

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Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll start by saying, this hurt to read. That being said, I really needed to read it.

If you, like me, have been through the messy break-up, and the breakdown afterward, you should read this poetry collection. The poems are beautiful and often raw, and they tell a too familiar story — about being hurt by someone who promised you love.

Reading Progress Report

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February 26, 2021

Life has been….not so fun… And work has been crazy, but I’m still managing to read 3 books right now!

Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt (34%)
This is a regular reread for me and I’m loving it just as much now as I have every single other time I’ve read it. I’m just hitting the part where the main plot is about to kick off. Up until now it’s been world building and character establishment and a little of just showing how Gwyn’s life was before it’s all about to change. It sounds like that should be boring and I’ll admit it’s a bit slow, but being slow is the point and I still don’t find it boring.
For those who haven’t been on my blog before, this is the first in a series of loosely-connected, non-magical fantasy books called the Tales of the Kingdom. So basically it’s set in a fictional feudal-inspired kingdom (and neighboring lands) but there’s no magic or dragons, and each book is separated from the next by about a generation. Each book can be read as a standalone or as part of the series. This first book features innkeeper’s daughter Gwyn and legendary highwayman Jackaroo (but it’s not a romance between the two).

Victory Lap by K.A. Mielke and Riley Alexis Wood (40%)
I was sent this book by one of the authors and I am genuinely loving it. Josh’s chapters are interesting even though I think he needs some major character development. Kiki’s chapters are my favorite! She’s interesting and funny and I wish I could be friends with her in real life. I just want all the best for her!
This is a duel-POV novel featuring 5th year high school student Josh and senior high school student Kylie aka Kiki, a trans girl navigating her first school year officially “out”. The two meet in a Writer’s Craft class and become fast friends, but the rest of their lives are not going to smoothly. Josh’s girlfriend just left for college where she promptly dumps Josh for his best friend, and Kiki’s parents’ (and classmates’) attitudes about her identity leave a lot to be desired. Victory Lap came out in December of last year.

sometimes i fall asleep thinking about you by Catarine Hancock (28%)
I got this as a ARC from NetGalley and so far I’m very glad I did. It’s a tough read because it hits so close to home, so I’m going through it slowly, just a little bit each day. It’s already made me cry a couple times and I’ve highlighted sooo many quotes!
This book is a poetry collection about that feeling you have after a bad relationship ends with no real closure. It drops April 6th of this year and I’ll have a review up probably in early March.

Mini-Review: Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok

This review will be brief, seeing as I didn’t manage to actually finish the book. I only got to page 134 of 366 before I gave up. To be clear, this is not a bad book, I just didn’t really vibe with the characters. I saw a lot of potential for steamy drama and adorableness, but the actual characters were not people I wanted to read about personally, so I quit. The writing is solid and the premise is so promising. If you are reading this to decide if you will read the book, I would say go ahead and give it a try if you like fake-dating trope romance novels because there’s a good chance you will love it, it just wasn’t for me.

August 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

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Some Kind of Animal by Maria Romasco-Moore
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  Yes
Format:  eBook
Reading Dates:  August 1 – 7
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  So much running, so rarely do they just walk somewhere lol
Least Favorite Thing:  So….we’re all just cool with the dead people then?

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The short version of my review:  This book was weird, but enjoyable to read.

My Posts About Some Kind of Animal

The Sweetest Kind of Poison by Katie Wismer
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  August 2 – 10
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  As someone who has been in a toxic relationship with that Wrong Guy, this collection really spoke to me.
Least Favorite Thing:  Um….a couple of the pages weren’t properly in the binding? lol I don’t know, I can’t think of anything to genuinely dislike.

Man some of these made me cry, too. I used like half a stack of stickies marking my favorite poems.

My Posts About The Sweetest Kind of Poison

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
(Captive Prince, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  August 10 – 21
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The writing style
Least Favorite Thing:  Everyone’s totally cool with slavery, including the slaves…

I was determined not to like this book because the whole “slavery is a good thing actually as long as you are a nice person” thing made me feel icky. But the writing was engaging and drew me in against my will… Aaaand now I own the whole trilogy lol

My Posts About Captive Prince

In Progress