June Wrap-Up

Hey Interwebs!

Another month is over and June was not a great reading month for me. First of all...I did not read any of the three books I wanted to read for sure. I only read 5 books for the month of June and only two of the 5 books were on the June TBR at all. I tried reading the serious fiction I had on my for sure TBR but in the end I was just not feeling anything I had to concentrate or think too hard about. We'll start with the 5 books I did read and go from there. 

1. Beach Read by Emily Henry. This is the first book I finished in June and I loved it. This is about a girl named January Andrews who is a best selling romance author whose father has just died. With her father's death she finds out secrets about him and his relationship with her mother which shakes her belief in love and happy endings. Along with these revelations about her father and her own relationship ending she suffers from writer's block. So with her own money running out and a book deadline looming she goes to a beach house to try and get everything back on track. Then she realizes that Augustus Everett is living next door to her. Augustus is an acclaimed literary fiction author and happened to be January's biggest rival back in college. He also happens to be suffering from writer's block as well. So they make a deal to switch genres so he'll write a chick lit happy ending book and she'll write a super serious literary fiction. During their research trips together it becomes a hate to love romance, which is one of my favorite tropes and I adored both January and Gus and this was just one of the best books I've read this year. I gave this a solid 5/5 stars on Goodreads. 

2. And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander. This is the first book in a historical mystery series. I received the latest book in this series, In the Shadow of Vesuvius, which is the 14th book in the series last month in a mystery box from my local bookstore. I got this book as an eBook from my library and I enjoyed it. It takes place in Victorian era London and follows the main character Lady Emily Ashton who is still in mourning for her husband who died shortly after their marriage. As she gets to know her late husband through his friends and his journals, she finds out about his love for antiquities, especially Greek ones and then realizes that several of the antiquities that her late husband had donated to the British Museum are forgeries and she has the real ones in her country home. This book was highly enjoyable mystery fluff. I've already read the second book as well and I intend on continuing with the series. This is a solid 3.5/5. 

3. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton. This is a young adult contemporary romance that follows a girl named Kit Sweetly who works at one of those Medieval dinner and a show restaurants that is owned by her uncle. She's a wench and her brother is a knight but Kit dreams about upsetting the patriarchal standards of the company and riding in the tournament as a knight. Then her brother can't perform so she takes his place as a knight in the night's tournament and she ends up an internet celebrity dubbed the "girl knight". She bands together with her friends to change things for everyone at the company. It was cute fluffy fluff and I really enjoyed it. I gave it a nice 4/5 stars. 

4. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. This is a classic murder mystery novel. It's about the famed detective Hercule Poirot who is travelling across Europe aboard the famed Orient Express when one of the first class passengers is murdered and no one seems to have a motive for the crime. In the end it turns out everyone has a motive and nothing is as it seems. The ending is different than the ending in the recent movie (which I find sort of annoying) but I definitely like the book ending better. I listened to this as an audio book from the library which was read by Dan Stevens, the actor who was in  Downton Abbey and the live action Beauty and the Beast remake. It was soooo good and I highly recommend the audio version. I gave it a 4.5/5 stars. 

5. A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander. This is the second book in the Lady Emily series. I borrowed this one from the library as well and I enjoyed it a little more than the first book. This book catches up with Lady Emily Ashton in her first London season out of mourning. Three's a man who is claiming to be the heir to the French throne and someone is stealing items that belonged to Marie Antoinette. Then shortly after Emily convinces a man to report the theft of a pink diamond that belonged to the doomed French queen is poisoned, Lady Emily finds herself in the middle of a murder case and with the help of her late husband's best friend Colin, she must discover who killed this man and why as well as who the thief is, who is Emily's secret admirer and who this man really is and whether or not he really is the missing heir to the throne. It was entertaining mystery fluff and I enjoyed it a lot. I gave this a 3.75/5 stars. 

So there's the five books I read. They were all really entertaining and light fluff that didn't require much in the way of thought or concentration which is just what I needed for June and might carry on into July. 

With that being said I bought a lot of books in June. I bought 24 books and most were actually not on-sale Kindle books so I don't even have an excuse. 

1. A Burning by Megha Majumdar.  
   
   
   
2. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. 
   
   
   
3. The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen, book one in The Merciful Crow series. 
   
   
   
4. The Lost Girl in Paris by Diney Costeloe. 
   
   
   
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley. 
   
   
   
6. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. 
   
   
   
7. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. 
   
   
   
8. The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson. 
   
   
   
9. All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban. 
   
   
   
10. The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. 
    
    
    
11. The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee; book 1.5 in the Montague Siblings series. 
    
    
    
12. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta. 
    
    
    
13. Stonewall by Martin Duberman. 
    
    
    
14. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. 
    
    
    
15. Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. 
    
    
    
16. Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. 
    
    
    
17. These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling; book 1 in the These Witches Don't Burn series. 
    
    
    
18. Becoming by Michelle Obama. 
    
    
    
19. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner. 
    
    
    
20. All For One by Melissa de la Cruz; book 3 in the Alex & Eliza trilogy. 
    
    
    
21. Anne Frank's Family by Mirjam Pressler. 
    
22. Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink 
    
    
    
23. The Bridal Strain: Emily and Colin's Wedding by Tasha Alexander; Book 3.5 of the Lady Emily series. 
    
    
    
24. Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander; Book 4 of the Lady Emily series. 
    
    
    

So that's the month of June in the bag. Coming soon will be my July TBR and plans as well as my mid-year wrap up since June is the halfway point for the year. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

50 Rapid Fire Book Questions Tag

Hello Interwebs!

Here's another book tag I saw in a couple places on YouTube that I thought would be fun so here we are. 50 questions about books that I have to answer as quick as possible...or as fast as I can type.

1. Hardback or paperback. Paperback
2. Dust jacket on or off? Off
3. Second hand or new copies? Second hand when I can, new if its a new release because I have no patience and self-control.
4. Audiobooks or nah? Yes? Sometimes.
5. Do you cover buy? Sometimes
6. What's a good book with a bad cover? Unpopular opinion: the Simon Snow series by Rainbow Rowell
7. What's a bad book with a good cover? The Woman in the Window by A.J. Flynn; The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
8. First book you ever read? Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss 
9. Last book you finished? Beach Read by Emily Henry
10. Last series you finished? The Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black (maybe the Dread Nation series by Justina Ireland but I don't know if there's going to be another book).
11. Last book you bought? The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne
12. What's your favorite genre? Historical Fiction
13. What's your favorite book in that genre? Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
14. What genre do you never reach for? Nonfiction (excluding biography)
15. Do you read poetry? Sometimes
16. Popular science? Only biographies
17. Middle grade? Sometimes
18. Do you have book box subscriptions? Book of the Month
19. What's your favorite bookish item? My collection of bookish candles from previous subscription books or my tote bag from Book of the Month
20. What's your current bookmark? A free bookmark from Book of the Month 
21. What's the strangest object you've used as a bookmark? A candy bar wrapper or a pretzel stick
22. Book jackets or nah? Yes? Unless I'm currently reading the book or the naked hardcover is super pretty
23. Who's your fictional boyfriend? Rowan from Arc of a Scythe or Levi from Fangirl
24. Favorite book couple? Levi and Cath from Fangirl; Cardan and Jude from Folk of the Air; Simon and Blue from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
25. Favorite book villain? The Darkling from the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
26. Favorite book adventure? The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
27. Series, trilogies, or standalones? Trilogies or Standalones; I never finish series
28. Mixed media books or paragraphs? Paragraphs
29. What's your favorite book adaptation? Lord of the Rings or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
30. Film adaptations or TV adaptations? TV adaptations
31. What book needs an adaptation? All of them; but only if they're done well
32. Favorite book world? The faerie world in Folk of the Air
33. Favorite writing style? I really like Elizabeth Acevedo's prose
34. What's a book that you love that people don't know about? Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
35. What's a popular book that you hated? Twilight
36. Favorite childhood reads? Matilda by Roald Dahl
37. What's a book that changed your life? The Diary of Anne Frank; Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
38. What book did you hate at school? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
39. Do you buy to collect? Only my favorite books (especially Persuasion by Jane Austen)
40. Do you donate books? Ones I don't want
41. What's your favorite reading snack? Apple slices and peanut butter or Jammy Dodgers
42. What's your favorite reading position? Curled up on the couch or in bed
43. Natural light or lamp light? Natural light but I live in Oregon and work night shift so usually lamp light
44. Outside or inside? Outside
45. Breaking the cover or keeping it smooth? Keeping it smooth
46. Do you read in other languages? No
47. What book series do you want to finish this year? Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman
48. What book release are you most excited about right now? The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee; Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston
49. Do you have a favorite book influencer? Bookables and Chelsea Palmer on YouTube
50. Do you have a channel, blog, or social media feed? This is my blog; I might start an Instagram eventually

So there's the Rapid Fire Book Questions Tag. Hope you enjoyed it!

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Hello Interwebs!

So going around on YouTube and Instagram and everywhere is the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag so here's my answers to it! I also made it a rule that for the book based ones (best book and best sequel specifically) I can only use a book once. 

1. Best book you've read so far in 2020: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020: Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to There's a ton since I haven't read most of the new releases that I've picked up so far but top of the list is definitely House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year Also a hard decision since there's a couple sequels coming out the rest of the year that I'm pretty excited about but I think the one I'm most excited about is The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee. This is the third book in her Montague Siblings series and I love this series so much so I'm very excited about this one that is supposed to come  out on December 1st. 

5. Biggest disappointment This is not my most disliked book of 2020 or the worst book I've read but it's the book I had the highest hopes for before reading it and it let me down so hard. It definitely was Year One by Nora Roberts, the first book in her dystopian series Chronicles of the One. I've read the author's other books and enjoyed them immensely but this one was just bad from beginning to end. 

6. Biggest surprise: Definitely The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. For me thrillers can be very hit and miss and most of the time I'll enjoy a thriller but I've never had one be a 5 star read for me but this book definitely was. I enjoyed it and all the twists and nothing seemed to be particularly forced in it. Definitely a surprise with how much I loved it. 

7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you): Neal Shusterman for sure. I finally got around to reading his Arc of a Scythe series and I've read two of the three books so far and I love these books and his writing so I will definitely be reading more in the future. 

8. Newest fictional crush: Rowan from the Arc of a Scythe series. I like that he's a fairly ordinary person, even below average and then due to the extraordinary circumstances he's placed in becomes a hero (vigilante hero but hero) and I love that about him. 

9. Newest favorite character: Probably Nina Hill from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman. She's so much like me and I love characters I can relate to so strongly. Also after my reread of the first book and my reading of the second book I'd have to say Katherine Deveraux from the Deathless Divide series by Justina Ireland. I love that she's a badass zombie killing machine but still manages to keep her proper ladylike manners which are important to her. You can't go wrong with kicking ass in a dress!

10. Book that made you cry: I don't really cry during books but I think that the book that emotionally got to me the most was probably Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland. There's a couple character deaths and death scenes in the book that really got to me, especially based on how other characters deal with them. 

11. Book that made you happy: Beach Read by Emily Henry, this is a fun cute lighthearted bookish RomCom and it makes me very happy 

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received): Either The Library of Legends by Janie Chang or Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore. These are both beautiful books with beautiful color schemes. 

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year: So many books but the major ones I want to read before the end of the year are: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas;

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, I've been meaning to read this since I read Daisy Jones and the Six last summer but I've never gotten around to reading it. 

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo: the first book in her Nikolai Duology which is a book by one of my favorite authors about my favorite character and I'm not sure why I haven't read this yet. 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. Again, I have no excuse for why I haven't read this yet and its sequel comes out in July. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. Again, I own this book, it's a new release, I loved The Hunger Games series (books and movies) and here it is unread. 

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. I read the second book in the Lady Janies "series" and I'm excited about the third book that just came out and I own TWO copies of this (paperback and kindle) and I still haven't gotten around to it. No excuse

Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson; knitting shop RomCom I am all about this book. 

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner; a historical fiction about a Jane Austen book club. I love everything about this. 

So there it is, my Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag. Hopefully I'll get around to some of these before the end of the year but who knows what'll happen between now and then. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Elizabeth Acevedo Double Review

Hello Interwebs!

So here's my last catch-up review. This is a double review for the two books by Elizabeth Acevedo I finished at the end of May. The first one I finished was With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo and it was definitely a 5 star read. As always spoilers 

With the Fire on High is about a high school senior named Emoni who lives with her abuela and her daughter. Emoni had a daughter as a freshman in high school and is trying to finish high school while raising her daughter and supporting her abuela. When the school she attends begins a Spanish cooking course she lets herself dream big dreams again. Emoni is a strong passionate young woman who pushes aside her insecurities and pain over her mother's death and her father's life in Puerto Rico in order to raise her daughter and support her abuela to the best of her abilities. She balances her responsibilities at home with her passion for cooking, the rigors of her cooking class, and fundraising for her class's trip to Spain. Along with all these other things she has a boy, Malachi following her around despite her distinct lack of time. In the end things come together and not only does Emoni get into Drexel's culinary program but she manages to rustle up the money to go to Spain with her class. In the end she makes some adult decisions and decides to attend culinary school part time while working in a restaurant owned by an acquaintance of her cooking teacher. She finds the balance to raising her daughter, with a new co-parenting relationship with her ex, the beginnings of her relationship with Malachi, and school while staying true to her dreams. 

I loved this book. It reminded me why exactly I fell in love with Acevedo's writing when I first received a copy of her first book The Poet X in a book box a couple years ago. Unlike her other two books I've read thsi one is written in a traditional novel format rather than verse. Even though this book wasn't written in verse, her style is very lyrical and fluid. I also liked the recipes that were interspersed throughout the book, they felt very authentic and were written in the way that someone would actually cook: nto with temperatures, times and precise measurements but in pinches, dabs, and textures. I love her books adn will definitely continue reading them as she releases them. 

The other Elizabeth Acevedo book that I read in May was her newest release Clap When You Land. This was also a 5 star read for me. 

This book is told in dual perspectives, narrated by Camino Rios in the Dominican Republic and Yahaira Rios in New York City. The two girls know nothing of each other and each other's lives until their father is killed in a plane crash and they learn of the existence of each other and the fact that their father had secrets, two families: one in the Dominican Republic with Camino and one in New York City with Yahaira and her mother. Camino lives with her aunt, her mother having died of a fever when she was young and only sees her father during his annual summer visits to the Dominican Republic. Despite the poverty of her neighborhood and even of her life with her aunt, her father has been paying for a private education and she dreams of going to Columbia University and becoming a proper doctor to follow in the footsteps of her healer Aunt. Yahaira lives a life of privilege with both parents in New York City, happy with her girlfriend and playing with her makeup tutorials to distract herself from the fact that she's learned her father was married to another woman, Camino's mother. After their father dies, the two girls find out about each other and make plans to meet. Yahaira secretly buys a plane ticket to the Dominican Republic to accompany her father's body to the island for his burial. Her mother follows her and when everything comes to a head, Yahaira's mother gets a visa for Camino and takes her home to New York City with them to finish school and get into Columbia. 

Clap When You Land has a lot about secrets and lies and forgiveness and family. It questions what family is and how do you forgive someone for their secrets and lies after their death. Like her first book, this book was written in verse and the two girls serve as mirrors of each other, the only thing they have in common being their shared father and their struggles to come to terms with his death. It was a beautiful book and I enjoyed it immensely. I can't wait for another book by her to come out. This book also got a 5/5 star rating and left me itching for more from Acevedo. 

So that's the last of my back log of book reviews. There were highs and lows in the month of May as far as reading went but it went out on a real high note with these two books. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle & Emma

All Adults Here Review

Hello Interwebs!

So here's another belated book review for you. This is for All Adults Here by Emma Straub. This was May's Read With Jenna selection and I actually liked this. It was a little slow to get into but I really enjoyed it in the end. It was a little lighter and fluffier than a lot of the Read With Jenna book picks which was exactly what I needed with the current state of world affairs and with the disappointment of Year One. I gave this a 4/5 on GoodReads, maybe more like a 3.5. It was a nice solid book but one I probably won't be rereading despite the fact that I own the Kindle version of this. As always there may be some spoilers in the rest of the review. 

 So All Adults Here is an adult contemporary family drama/comedy. It revolves around the Strick family headed by widowed matriarch Astrid Strick. Astrid has three children: two sons and a daughter and three grandchildren. It starts when Astrid witnesses a woman get hit by a bus in the middle of town and she suddenly realizes that she hasn't been the woman she wants to be and she hasn't been the mother to her children she wants to be. Astrid's thirteen year old granddaughter (her youngest son's daughter) is sent to live with her from New York City after a scandal drove her from her school in the city. Astrid's oldest son seems unhappy with his own family and judges himself on a scale that no one else seems to understand. Astrid's daughter is pregnant via sperm donor, making the same mistakes she's been making since high school. The weekend after Astrid's granddaughter comes (also the weekend after she witnesses the accident) Astrid invites her girlfriend over for the family brunch and comes out of the closet as a bisexual woman. Throughout the story you find that the pregnant daughter is having an affair with her now-married high school boyfriend, an affair that's been going on since college. The oldest son, who had been caught kissing another boy as a teen by the dead woman, and is unhappy with his life reveals that his conflict with his mother wasn't about the incident with the boy but rather when he overheard his parents talking about his law school prospects one summer while he was in college and derailed his previous plans because of their harsh words. The granddaughter was sent to live with her grandmother for telling trusted adults about her friend who was dating and meeting a much older man (in his 20s). She becomes friends with the son of a friend of her Aunt's who turns out to be transgender and who she supports as he publicly becomes the girl she always was privately. The book explores family relationships and small town relationships (the granddaughter's high school homeroom teacher is her Aunt's best friend and her rival at school is the daughter of her aunt's affair partner). The book had a happy ending with Astrid marrying her girlfriend, the daughter having her baby, and the son coming to terms with his life and his relationships with his parents. 

It was a nice book and I really enjoyed the small town setting and the characters. As someone from a small town myself I really related to the relationships they had to other people in the town. I think the book was mostly about being true to yourself and being brave enough to embrace yourself and share yourself with others. It was a nice little story with a good ending and I gave it a 4/5 rating. It was refreshing after the disappointment of the previous book. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Year One Review

Hello Interwebs!

So here's a review for the book Year One which is the first book in Nora Roberts's dystopian/romance series: The Chronicles of the One. I had fairly high hopes for this book since I do actually really like the futuristic detective series she writes as J.D. Robb and I have enjoyed the romance novels of hers I've written, plus I am all over dystopian fiction...but this book is a mess. Like a real big mess. I gave it a 2/5 stars on GoodReads. As always there could be spoilers in this review. 

So this book takes place at the beginning of a plague that is wiping out humanity at unprecedented rates and with unprecedented speeds. You go from showing mild symptoms to dead within days. Mostly you follow a woman named Lana and her partner, Max, who are self-proclaimed witches. Society collapses fast and as society collapses a faction of survivors is shown to have magical powers...in a fantastic beasts/magical beings sort of way. There's a paramedic who can tell if people are going to live or die by looking at them, and an intern at a  news station who is a faerie. As the plague wipes people out and magic takes over, Lana and Max both get stronger as well. As you go through the book, these peoples stories converge and separate over and over again.. The plague was good, the dystopia was good, and the magic was OK....then it hit the religious symbology very, very hard. Like Chronicles of Narnia hard. Lana ends up pregnant and practitioners of "black magic" are after her and her baby while some white supremacist-esque survivors who don't have magic just want to kill all magic users. Then Max sacrifices herself in an attack by these black magic/supremacists on their community and pregnant Lana flees to keep her baby safe from people who will do it harm. She senses that the baby will be the one to save them all and bring balance to the world. As her due date approaches she's found by a man while she's stealing food from his farm and he takes her in to have her baby. They begin a relationship despite her being like 8.5 months pregnant and having lost the "love of her life" six months or less before. In a super dramatic climax she has the baby at the farmhouse, I think during a storm or something but I could be wrong, and the guy who lives on the farm delivers the baby and there's a very trite explanation of how her baby has two fathers and he loves them both already and he'll keep them safe so baby can save the world. And that's where the book ends. 

It got very Jesusy at the end with the savior of the world born of a magical entity (Lana's partner Max, the white witch) and to be raised by another normal man. Really all that was missing from that allegory was the baby being born in the barn instead of the  house. Even setting the overbearing allegory aside, this book was a mess. I mean plague-based dystopian plus Walking Dead end of the world re-establishment of society plus Christian allegory plus fantasy creatures...I don't know what this book was supposed to be but it was a disjointed mess at the end. I borrowed the eBook copy of this from the library and I have the second book in paperback that was loaned to me by my mom's friend but I don't think I care enough to continue the series. In reality I found the main character, Lana, insufferable and I kind of wanted someone to punch her in the face on multiple occasions. Alas that did not happen and she survived the book, alive and ready to mother the savior of the world. 

So in short, I disliked the book. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either and I probably won't read any other books in the series. Life's too short to read crappy books. So I gave ti a 2/5 stars and now that I've done the review I won't be revisiting it again. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle & Emma