Book Review – Page 24

September Hopefuls

This month my genres are going to be all over the place! From Self Help to Fantasy I am going to cover it all, well kind of. There are more than five genres in the world but all five of my books I would say touch different genres and ideas from each other and so I am very excited to get started with this months picks!

My Line Up

Romance

Self Help

Poetry

Fantasy

Historical Fiction

Like I said all these books are very different than one another and I think that adds to all the fun! Two of these books are part of buddy reads which I still haven’t decided if I fully enjoy or not, but I am really trying! The other three books are ones I need to tackle so I can say that I have read them, they have been on my shelf for quite sometime.

I haven’t really read a poetry book before so when my new work friend recommended me “I Would Leave Me Too” by Halsey I honestly was kind of skeptical. I am not the best at understanding poetry and I am afraid I will just make a fool of myself trying to interpret the meaning behind the words. However, you will never know unless you try!

I am trying to read through all the Harry Potter books this coming year, one each month. This is part of a buddy read so it helps me to stay motivated to get it read. Also my boyfriends family are having a Harry Potter themed Halloween party so I should probably start finding a character I resonate with. Any help with this is very much appreciated!

“The Intellect” is an Indy book published by a seventeen year old! Yes, you read that correctly! I am so excited that she asked me to represent her book and to try and spread the word about her new romance novel. I am about halfway through the book and I am in love! If you would like to check out her book I will add a link so you can get your own copy.

“You Should Talk to Someone” has been catching my eye for months! I just keep putting it off because I’m not really a non-fiction self help kind of girl but honestly after the month I have had lately I could use some guidance in life. This will most likely be apart of a buddy read as well this month, maybe the other people in this group can help me get my life together!

Last but not least is “The Rose Code”, historical fiction is also out of my comfort zone but I mean who can turn down this gorgeous cover? I have also read so many wonderful reviews on this book and now that the hype has started to slow down I think now could be the perfect time to dive into this book.

Last month was crazy but this month might be worse. I am trying to balance a new job while also taking care of a three week old kitten and honestly I am sleep deprived! I haven’t really picked up a book in over a week and that is kind of depressing, but reading four books last month was a win for me! Now my goal is to keep that up with my busy schedule! Wish me luck!

If you are interested in reading one of these books with me lets do it!

How to buy a copy of “The Intellect” Use code “TheIntellect10” for 10% off your entire purchase

Book Review “The House in the Cerulean Sea” By TJ Klune

I finished this book a little over a week ago and honestly I have tried typing this review a million times but life has been super busy this past week and extremely stressful! I started a new job and though training has been going very well that doesn’t mean starting a new job and making new friends is easy. Also I found a 3 week old kitten in the dumpster at the new job and me and my boyfriend decided to take him in and adopt him! This has been challenging because I have to feed him every few hours, help him use the bathroom, teach him to play, help him regulate his own body heat and so much more! I am currently typing this while holding a squirming kitten, wish me luck!

“Whenever I want you,” he sang quietly. “All I have to do is dream.”
Direct quote from book.

About The Book

Publication Date: March 17th, 2020 2020

Author: TJ Klune

Publisher: Tor

Page Count: 396

Main Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Fantasy

GoodReads Rating: 4.49

“The things we fear the most are often the things we should fear the least. It’s irrational, but it’s what makes us human. And if we’re able to conquer those fears, then there is nothing we’re not capable of.”
Direct Quote from book.

Synopsis

Linus Baker lives a very boring and structured life always following the rules, working for the Department In Charge Of Magical Youth. His job is to make sure the magical kids living in orphanages are being taken care of or if the children need to be moved. His office space seems fairly hostel with a boss who doesn’t care about her employees, hardly any room to move between your desk, and no personal belongings are allowed! His mouse pad is a picture of an ocean saying “don’t you wish you were here?”

His structured lifestyle gets a wrench tossed in it when he is summoned to go to Marayas Island, a place Linus has never heard of. Everyone who is on the island has been filed away into a classified folder.

Who exactly is on this island? Why is their existence classified? Will Linus learn to break the rules?

This book is filled with magic, friendships and finding yourself.

Hate is loud, but I think you’ll learn it’s because it’s only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as you remember you’re not alone, you will overcome.”
Direct quote from book.

Rating

A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with. You may not live on the island, but you can’t tell me it’s not your home. Your bubble, Mr. Baker. It’s been popped. Why would you allow it to grow around you again?
Direct quote from book.

Review

This book was very well written and I learned to fall in love with each character individually. My personal favorite character was Sal, he had such a rough past that made him super shy but protective and I feel as if his character progressed the most throughout the entire book.

I feel as if this book started off super slow! It took till about 60% of the way through the book for me to really get into it. With such great reviews from everyone I assumed I would fall in love with the book immediately and I didn’t, but this is ok! Story building takes some time and with this book it paid off. By the 60% mark in the book I started to connect all the characters and I ended up just loving the whole story.

The reason why I am giving it four stars is due to how long it took me to get into the book. The ending of this story was really heart warming and extremely cute! I would love a second book!

(Book Review) “Razorblade Tears” By S.A. Cosby

This was one of my buddy reads that I signed up for this month. I think I was the last one to finish the book despite us not having our discussion till the end of this month. I only have two more buddy reads to finish this month with so little time left, I am getting slightly nervous!

About The Book

Publication Date: July 6th, 2021

Author: S.A. Cosby

Publisher: FlatIron Books

Main Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

Page Count: (BOTM Edition) 319

Goodreads Rating: 4.25 Stars

“It wasn’t Isiah being gay that caused problems between the two of you. It was how you dealt with it or didn’t deal with it that caused problems.”
Direct quote from book. Page 47

Synopsis

Two ex-con fathers lost their married sons in some horrific hate crime. Despite not approving of the relationship their sons had, the fathers are out for blood to avenge their sons’ deaths because the cops have no leads! Through all the challenges these men go through they find acceptance for their sons and each other but can they get revenge on whoever did this horrendous act?

This book highlights the struggles the LGBTQ community and Black communities face with acceptance, racism, and everyday life trials.

“This is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t want to, really. But for once I’m gonna put this devil inside me to good use.”
Direct Quote from book. Page 96

Rating

Review

I have really been into reading books about the LGBTQ community lately and I am so happy I added this to my completed pile. The books I have read have been very LGBTQ positive and this book has a lot of darker tones. You see the community from the perspectives of fathers who really disapprove of their gay sons but after their sons pass away due to a hate crime you can see their fathers start to slowly understand their sons lives and choices a bit more and become more accepting of the choices their sons had made. It was just a really beautiful story about two very tough topics that I feel like authors avoid.

The other topic that got talked about heavily in this book was racism, particularly about the black culture. Ike, the father to one of the sons, is a black man. Buddy Lee, the other father, is a white man who grew up in a very racist family and has some habits that need to be broken. Throughout the whole book Ike teaches Buddy Lee the proper way to address issues with racism and things he should or should not be letting out of his mouth. Ike really brings up tough issues in this world that we need to correct.

These topics are things we all need to take time to educate ourselves on just a little more so we can all be more accepting of each others lives. This book was very insightful but mostly emotional! S.A. Cosby really knows how to pull at your heart strings while speaking the truth!

I only had one problem with this book but after doing some quick research I realized it has nothing to do with the book and wasn’t the authors fault. The issue was that it had a lot of grammar errors! I found out that it is because I read the Book of the Month version of this book and they got the book before the final edits went through. So just a heads up, if you have the BOTM version their will be a lot of grammar errors.

Overall I loved this book! It talked about tough issues, It was very emotional and the story was beautiful! I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants a good thriller/mystery that talks about some tough topics.

“Yeah, you can’t hide that you’re black. But the fact that you think I should hide who I am proves my point. Like Dr. King said: an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Direct quote from book. Page 141

This quote is in reference to a part in the book where Ike tells a gay guy that he can hide who he is cause unless he tells anyone he is gay no one would know, but Ike is black everywhere and can’t hide who he is. But like the quote says why should anyone who is gay have to hide who they are just to make everyone else comfortable? Something to really think about!

Possible Trigger Warnings

Racism

Hate Speech

Violence

Homophobia

Murder

Grief

QOTD: What is your favorite book subscription company?

(Book Review) “Among the Beasts and Briars” By: Ashley Poston

Good Afternoon everyone! With this review I would like to try something a bit different. In my previous book reviews I just give you a synopsis, my rating and then my review. This time I would like to do those things but also give you a bit more information on the author and the book. At the end I would love if you left some comments about whether you like my normal reviews better or this new style.

This book is a buddy read I started with some of my friends on bookstagram. We each put up options for our book and then had a randomizer choose the book we would actually be reading and this was the winner! I was very excited about this book winning because I don’t read a lot of fantasy and I want to jump into new genres.

About The Book

Publication Date: October 20th, 2020

Author: Ashley Poston

Publisher: HarperCollins

Page count: 352 Pages

Main Genres: Fantasy/Young Adult

GoodReads Rating: 3.83

“Never let anyone make you feel unworthy. You deserve the moon just as much as anyone else.”
Direct quote from book.

Synopsis

Possible small spoilers Ahead

The kingdom of Aloriya is kept safe by the kings magical crown. Legend says the first king of Aloriya, 100 years ago, made a deal with the Lady of the Wilds in order to protect his kingdom and was gifted the crown. While Aloriya was prospering the forests around grew dark and were filled with monsters, the forest soon become forbidden.

Jump forward 100 years. Cerys is the royal gardeners daughter and grew up along side the prince and princess of Aloriya. All it took was one mistake, the prince went into the forest, his guard following him in to protect him and Cerys mom ran in after them. The boys never returned after the woods took them. Cerys mom showed back up at the house but the curse had taken over her body.

Cerys is now 17 years old, her best friend is still the princess but she now has a fox companion. At the royal coronation the curse strikes back and takes the rest of Cerys friends and family. Cerys and Fox now have the task to defeat the curse but everything they thought they knew turned out to be a lie. Will they reverse the curse in time to save all that fell victim to it?

“Just because you are born a gardener’s daughter doesn’t make you any less worthy than someone born into royalty.”
Direct quote from book.

Rating

Review

I don’t typically read fantasy books, this is only my second one since starting my bookish journey a year ago. It’s not that I don’t like fantasy it is just the world building that I get lost in. Each new world in fantasies have their own rules and ways of life that you need to learn in order to fully understand the book. My brain is fairly simple and I like things based in our everyday world. However, it really is fun to dive into something completely different and new.

With my point of view on fantasies laid out in front of you I think we can officially talk about my review and how I really felt about this book as a whole.

I really enjoyed this book! I feel that the world building was done very nicely and you could see yourself living in Aloriya and being apart of these characters world. I also thought that the main characters, Cerys and Fox, they had such a cute and playful relationship through the entire book. I found myself marking so many cute scenes between them or even just their little fights because those little moments really created that relationship between them.

The reason why this book didn’t get the full five stars from me was because of grammar errors and repetitiveness. Just like how I marked all the cute scenes between the main characters I also marked all the grammar errors that I found and there were too many for my liking, it became really distracting and would pull me out of the world that the author so beautifully created. The repetitiveness got kind of old. A lot of the story was them walking through the wild woods which I mean is a big part of the storyline but it was like lets walk for a bit, lets fight this monster, lets argue and then do it all over again. I just wanted something that pulled me into the story for that whole middle part of the book.

I am so glad I got the chance to read this book. I probably would have never of picked this book up on my own so I am lucky my bookstagram friends push me to try new things. I would recommend this book to anyone who is like me and wouldn’t typically pick up a fantasy book. It is definitely worth the read if you can get past the grammar errors.

“The people who die never really leave. That we carry them with every breath we take, until the wind itself is gone.”
Direct quote from book.

About the Author

Ashley Poston has been in the publishing industry for about ten years! She has had here novels featured on the Indy’s Next List and even Teen Vogue. She is the author of seven books but soon to be eight! Her next book is set to come out summer of 2022, so we only have a year left to wait. In the mean time check out her other books; Geekerella, The Princess and the Fangirl, Bookish and the Beast, Heart of Iron, Soul of Stars and Battle of the Bands.

I think my favorite fun fact of Ashley is that she is a true crime fan! So relatable!

I got the Author information from Ashley’s website

Throwback Thursday (Book Review): “Red, White and Royal Blue” By: Casey McQuiston

I posted my review for Casey McQuiston’s second book “One Last Stop” earlier this week. It only felt right to post a throwback book review from when I read Casey’s first book “Red, White and Royal Blue”. I read this book At the beginning of November 2020 and fell in love instantly! Let’s dive into this review!

Synopsis

Alex Claremont-Diaz is a young College boy who dreams of being the next big politician. With his mom being the first female president in the White House, what could possibly hold him back? Maybe a prince who he hates, maybe the lack of knowledge he has for his own sexuality, or maybe his mother’s competition for the 2020 election.

Rating

Review

I was seeing this book all over bookstagram with some amazing reviews! Seeing these reviews made me immediately download the book on my kindle and I devoured it!

This political love story pulled your emotions every which way and had you rooting for the best possible outcome. Putting this book down is extremely difficult because it’s just that perfect!

If you are looking for a romance novel, LGBTQ Novel, or even something a little political based on our nation’s tough times. This book has something for you!

I didn’t run into any issue with this book much like “One Last Stop”. Casey just has this way of creating amazing characters and writing a story that pulls you in within the first chapters! I can not wait for her next book to come out, I will for sure be one of the firsts to grab the book off of the shelf.

QOTD: Have you read both of Casey’s books, even just one? I want to hear your thoughts!

July Wrap up

At the beginning of this month I made a pretty big TBR hopeful list for myself that I really wanted to tackle. Did I complete my hopefuls or did I fall short? Lets find out!

The Honest Truth

These three books were my main hopefuls for this month! I got “The Maidens” and “One Last Stop” in my June Book of the Month box and was dying to read them! “Devil’s Knot” came in a true crime premium book box from One Night Stand With a Book and I have been dying to read it since!

I am going to be honest with you, I only read one of these hopefuls and that was “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston. I know I will get around to the other two books hopefully soon! I have read so many great reviews about “The Maidens” that I need to hop on that train soon!

What Did I Really Read

Did you really think I only finished one book this last month? I am a slow reader but come on, I’m not that slow!

I read a total of four books this month, one of which was a graphic novel. Have you read any of these books? Would you count a graphic novel towards your reading goals?

Five Star Ratings

“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston

I gave this book a five star rating because it truly deserved it!

The characters in this LGBTQ book were written so well and I could really find someway to relate to each and everyone of them. From true crime to psychics you can find some reason to love these characters.

I hope everyone will give this book a try.

Check out my full review here!

“Black Lantern” by Chris Bodily

This was my first ever graphic novel, I stumbled across this gem at an art festival in Utah! Turns out Chris is also from Utah and created this gorgeous piece of work!

The cat Julius is my absolute favorite! He is so cute and hilarious! I haven’t wrote an official review yet but you should give it a look!

Four Star Reads

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

I gave this a four star read because it didn’t fully live up to the hype but was still really good! It started off a little slow but the ending was so good!

This is a very talked about book and honestly I would be so surprised if you haven’t read this one yet, but if you haven’t here is your sign!

Check my full review out here!

Three Star Reads

“A Type of Hunger” by Pamela D. Beverly

I found this book just scrolling through blogs and read a comment about an author wishing for some more reviews, and so that’s what I did.

This book received three stars because it had many grammar errors that were very distracting and the story felt very rushed towards the end.

This was a self published book so the grammar errors make sense and are expected. Please support Indy Authors!

Read my full review here!

Overall

Last month went a lot better than I originally expected. I have lately only been reading two or three books each month so to get four books finished I am pretty happy with that! I am hoping I can keep this momentum up for August and read at least four books!

QOTD: How many books did you finish this month? Did you read all the books on you list or did you mood read?