Wrap Up | February 2021

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Hey everyone! It’s that time of month again and once again I’m going to just do bullet point updates since that is what feels comfortable for me right now. If you want to see all the books I read and my ratings on books that I read that I don’t necessarily cover on the blog – you are more than welcome to add me as a friend or follow me over on Goodreads. There are some books that I don’t always write up full reviews for, but I always rate them over there.

February was weird for me, I was very much in a semi-reading slump, mostly because I wasn’t feeling well. There were lots of naps and taking it easy when I wasn’t working. This is something that is just normal when it comes to my auto-immune conditions and while I don’t love it, it’s something I have to recognize and listen to or I will make myself sick.

For my TBR game I read three of the six books I had selected. I did recently finish a fourth one from January’s list since I was in the middle of it when the month changed. I did not tackle any of my carry over books from previous months. February was a bit of a slumpy month for me.
I didn’t pick up any Nancy Drew books, so I didn’t advance any farther on that.
I did read another volume of Fruits Basket and completed Locke and Key so I did make progress there.

I didn’t really have a favorite book last month, though the last volume of Locke and Key did get five stars from me. I felt it was a really strong conclusion (even though I already knew what happened) and I’m glad I finally finished the series in its original material.

Happy reading!

Review | Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson

March 4, 2021March 4, 2021 DeAnne2 Comments

Shirley Jackson is one of the most important American writers of the last hundred years. Since her death in 1965, her place in the landscape of twentieth-century fiction has grown only more exalted.

As we approach the centenary of her birth comes this astonishing compilation of fifty-six pieces—more than forty of which have never been published before. Two of Jackson’s children co-edited this volume, culling through the vast archives of their mother’s papers at the Library of Congress, selecting only the very best for inclusion.

Let Me Tell You brings together the deliciously eerie short stories Jackson is best known for, along with frank, inspiring lectures on writing; comic essays about her large, boisterous family; and whimsical drawings. Jackson’s landscape here is most frequently domestic: dinner parties and bridge, household budgets and homeward-bound commutes, children’s games and neighborly gossip. But this familiar setting is also her most subversive: She wields humor, terror, and the uncanny to explore the real challenges of marriage, parenting, and community—the pressure of social norms, the veins of distrust in love, the constant lack of time and space.

For the first time, this collection showcases Shirley Jackson’s radically different modes of writing side by side. Together they show her to be a magnificent storyteller, a sharp, sly humorist, and a powerful feminist.

I cannot find any patience for those people who believe that you start writing when you sit down at your desk and pick up your pen and finish writing when you put down your pen again; a writer is always writing, seeing everything through a thin mist of words, fitting swift little descriptions to everything he sees, always noticing.
~Memory and Delusion (lecture on the craft of writing)

As an avid fan of Shirley Jackson’s work, I was excited to finally pluck this one off of my bookshelf and get it off of my TBR. If you have never ready any of Jackson’s work I will say that I would not recommend starting with this, I would start with her collection of short stories containing The Lottery.

Having already read a good number of her short stories and novels, this was a wonderful collection of her previously unpublished or uncollected short stories, essays, humor and lectures. Being someone who enjoys the art of writing myself, I especially enjoyed her lectures on the craft of writing. They especially spoke to me when she discussed how she was always composing stories, even while doing every day things.

I’m really happy I was able to explore these stories from her, especially since they were ones I had never read. Anyone who enjoys her work will enjoy this one and be happy to add it to their library.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour | Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers | Review

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

HONEY GIRL (Park Row Books; February 23, 2021; $17.99) by Morgan Rogers is a stunning #ownvoices debut, a charming, lyrical, and introspective romantic coming-of-age story about Grace Porter – millennial, Black woman, astronomy Ph.D. – who wakes up after a wild night in Vegas married to a woman she doesn’t know.

Strait-laced and structured all her life, Porter now faces life without a plan for the first time ever. Between her disappointed military father, the competitive job market, and a consuming sense of aimlessness, finding and falling in love with her wife across the country seems to be the only right answer. But Porter’s problems are just as big in Brooklyn as they are anywhere else, and she realizes she’s going to have to face adulthood whether she’s ready or not.

I would say that this is a great book for anyone on the precipice of their adult life and at a crossroads. It explores a lot of topics, ranging from depression to more coming of age aspects. It illustrates the feeling of being overwhelmed and unsure of where you want to go, which is often the case after finishing something as all consuming as a college degree (or in this case PhD). I really enjoyed how fleshed out Grace was, she was a wonderfully complex and real character. Some of the other characters weren’t as well established as her and for me some of the relationships weren’t completely believable in some aspects but these were very small nit-picking things. I really enjoyed this novel, and really appreciate that it was an #ownvoices debut novel, I definitely look forward to more from Morgan Rogers in the future.

Morgan Rogers is a queer black millennial. She writes books for queer girls that are looking for their place in the world. She lives in Maryland and has a Shih Tzu named Nico and a cat named Grace that she would love to write into a story one day. HONEY GIRL is her debut novel.

Social Links | Author Website | Twitter: @garnetmorgue | Instagram: @garnetmorgue | Goodreads

Happy reading!

March TBR | Reading Plans

February 27, 2021February 27, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

How is it already the end of February?! I know it’s the shortest month, but it went by SUPER fast. Still, I find that when I get towards the end of the month I’m really excited to draw my cards to figure out my stack of six books that I put on my TBR. As a refresher I did take inspiration for this from others, but made the rules my own. If I don’t complete the books I don’t punish myself, I’m simply using this as a fun way to try and tackle my (mostly) physical TBR. Any books not finished do get carried over and I can pick them up in following months if I am in the mood to.

With that, here’s how March’s cards came out:

2 of Spades – Kindle + YA
9 of Clubs – Anthologies
5 of Diamonds – YA
10 of Hearts – Historical
9 of Spades – YA + Color
7 of Clubs – Contemporary

For the first challenge I browsed my Kindle for something that was calling to me and decided to finally finish A Tyranny of Petticoats, which has been on my currently reading shelf longer than I would like to admit. The anthology I grabbed from my stack is Color Between the Lines which I’m super excited for.

Next I decided to go with Pet for my YA pick since it’s something I picked up recently and want to pick up sooner rather than later. Historical is a hard category with me and I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to switch out the Historical prompts for something else in the future – I just don’t have enough books to choose from for this prompt. My pick is definitely stretching it, The Saturday Night Ghost Club – but I decided it counted since it’s set in the 80s.

For YA + Color I turned to the random color generator and came up with a very unique mustard yellow/gold color. For this one I had some difficulties, but my boyfriend agreed that the balloons on 10 Blind Dates were close enough to count.

Again, the last choice was a stretch – when I pick Contemporary I don’t necessarily need contemporary to be the main focus, I just consider it something set in the contemporary setting, so because I wanted something a bit spooky in my TBR I went with The Haunted since people do have it shelved as contemporary on Goodreads (hey! my game, my rules haha).

So those are my plans for March (besides review books and mood reading) and I’m excited. Hopefully I’ll make my way through them!

Happy reading!

Review | Waiting on a Bright Moon by JY Yang

February 26, 2021February 26, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Xin is an ansible, using her song magic to connect the originworld of the Imperial Authority and its far-flung colonies— a role that is forced upon magically-gifted women “of a certain closeness”. When a dead body comes through her portal at a time of growing rebellion, Xin is drawn deep into a station-wide conspiracy along with Ouyang Suqing, one of the station’s mysterious, high-ranking starmages.

I really enjoyed the glimpse of the world that Waiting on a Bright Moon introduced us to, but I did find myself wishing there was backstory and more depth to some of the characters. As a snippet into another world this was a good taste and introduced integral characters to the main plot point. The writing style was really lyrical and immersive, which was beautiful to read. I just wanted more from this one and could see a whole novel built on some of these characters or their back stories.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour | The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

MacKenzie Dienes’s life isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as she could ever hope to get. Her marriage to Rhys, her best friend’s brother, is more friendship than true love. But passion is highly overrated, right? And she loves her job as the winemaker at Bel Apres, her in-laws’ vineyard. So what if it’s a family business and, even after decades of marriage and incredible professional success, she’s still barred from the family business meetings? It’s all enough…until one last night spent together leads to an incredibly honest—and painful—conversation. Rhys suggests that they divorce. They haven’t had a marriage in a long time and, while he wants her to keep her job at Bel Apres, he doesn’t think they should be married any longer. Shocked, MacKenzie reels at the prospect of losing the only family she’s ever really known…even though she knows deep in her heart that Rhys is right.

But when MacKenzie discovers she’s pregnant, walking away to begin a new life isn’t so easy. She never could have anticipated the changes it would bring to the relationships she cherishes most: her relationship with Barbara, her mother-in-law and partner at Bel Apres, Stephanie, her sister-in-law and best friend, and Bel Apres, the company she’s worked so hard to put on the map.

MacKenzie has always dreamed of creating a vineyard of her own, a chance to leave a legacy for her unborn child. So when the opportunity arises, she jumps at it and builds the Vineyard at Painted Moon. But following her dreams will come at a high price—one that MacKenzie isn’t so sure she’s willing to pay…

The more I read of Susan Mallery’s writing the more I enjoy it, I’m definitely thinking I’m going to need to pick up more of her books when I’m looking for chick lit. This book really covers the transitive nature of life and truly coming into your own when you discover that what you have may not really be what you need. Even though it was hard at times I really enjoyed Mackenzie’s journey as she found herself after the loss of her marriage and presumed place. It was interesting to see how relationships and actions towards her changed once her marriage ended, but also heartbreaking in some ways. This book will make you feel a wide range of emotions as you follow along with her story.

#1 NYT bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming, humorous novels about the relationships that define our lives―family, friendship, romance. She’s known for putting nuanced characters in emotional situations that surprise readers to laughter. Beloved by millions, her books have been translated into 28 languages. Susan lives in Washington with her husband, two cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur. Visit her at SusanMallery.com.

Happy reading!

Review | The Secret Loves of Geeks

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Cartoonists and professional geeks tell their intimate, heartbreaking, and inspiring stories about love, sex and dating in this comics and prose anthology, a follow-up to 2016 best-seller The Secret Loves of Geek Girls.

Featuring work by Margaret Atwood (Hag-Seed), Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy), Dana Simpson (Phoebe and Her Unicorn), Cecil Castellucci (Soupy Leaves Home), Gabby Rivera (America), Valentine De Landro (Bitch Planet), Amy Chu (Poison Ivy), Sfe R. Monster (Beyond: A queer comics anthology), Michael Walsh (Secret Avengers), and many more.

After reading previous books in this group, namely The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, I was excited to pick this one up. I did really enjoy the inclusivity and diversity included in this book and found many of the stories enlightening and interesting, while others were full of humor or deep thoughts. I did enjoy the other collections a little more, just because they did see more cohesive to me, but that’s not to say this one doesn’t belong with them. It includes stories and comics that are going to speak differently to different people and is an important inclusion in the ‘series’ (for lack of a better word). I do love collections like this because you get exposed to different writing styles, voices and in this case, art styles while also opening up conversations and sharing experiences.

Happy reading!

Review | Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

February 21, 2021February 21, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Allie Brosh returns with a new collection of comedic, autobiographical, and illustrated essays.

Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art.

I’ve followed some of Brosh’s work for years and was excited to see that she came out with her second book. The way she tackles hard topics with her usual sense of reasoning and also humor. It’s exactly the brand of humor I like and is totally relateable. With this book there are definite trigger warnings for grief, depression, anxiety and death of a loved one. She rehashes what she went through during some traumatic events in her life, which happened in some of the years she was absent. She also recounts tales from her childhood and other parts of her adult life. It’s not always cheerful but is always brutally honest.

Solutions and Other Problems definitely tackles not only the traumatic experiences she went through but also the awkwardness that comes with being a human in general and not knowing how to cope or continue with everything, but knowing you have to find a way to.

Happy reading!

Review | Star-Crossed!! Vol 1 by Junko

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021 DeAnne1 Comment

From the creator of the hit manga and anime Kiss Him, Not Me! comes another off-the-wall, geeky shojo comedy! A series of mixups leads to God misplacing the souls of a girl and the handsome idol singer she adores–in each other’s bodies! And they can switch back and forth by…kissing?!

DIVINE INTERVENTION

Has a concert ever changed your life? Azusa adores Chika-kun, the cutest and most popular star in the idol group Prince 4 U, and she’s thrilled to get front-row seats to his latest show. She would do anything for him. So when a stage light falls, Azusa leaps onstage and…fails to save Chika’s life. The two are off to heaven, where God gives them a second chance—except a mixup resurrects Azusa in Chika’s body, and vice versa! What on Earth could be in store for this odd couple of pampered celeb and drooling fangirl?!

I won’t lie, as soon as I saw this contained the switched bodies trope, I wanted to check it out. When it was a fan and their idol, that was sure to add some hilarity. I have seen stories similar to this in the past, but this still had a lot of hilarious moments and mishaps. I feel it was a good introduction to the characters and snippets of their personalities, but I think it was just a surface layer in some ways. I hope that future volumes will expand more on their pasts and what has shaped their personalities, as well as a possible love story between them. I did find this first volume enjoyable and would be interested in checking out future volumes.

Happy reading!

Review | Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 DeAnne1 Comment

Nostalgic fans of the Miyazaki film and newcomers alike–soar into the modern classic about a young witch and her clever cat that started it all!

Half-witch Kiki never runsfrom a challenge. So when her thirteenth birthday arrives, she’s eager to follow a witch’s tradition: choose a new town to call home for one year.

Brimming with confidence, Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily bring happiness to the townspeople. But gaining the trust of the locals is trickier than she expected. With her faithful, wise-cracking black cat, Jiji, by her side, Kiki forges new friendships and builds her inner strength, ultimately realizing that magic can be found in even the most ordinary places.

Blending fantasy with the charm of everyday life, this enchanting new translation will inspire both new readers and dedicated fans.

Since the movie is one of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies, I definitely wanted a copy of the source material so I could read it and I was not disappointed. There are definitely some differences between the book and movie, with the book being more a slice of life coming of age story. Some of the subplots that we see in the movie are not part of the book because the book really centers on finding your place and being content. I loved Kiki’s escapades and the relationships she built. Overall it was a really adorable story.

Happy reading!