Review: Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

 The companion to Smile by Raina Telgemeier and it is all about her relationship with her little sister Amara. This series is the author's graphic novel memoirs about her childhood. The first book is Smile and I did a review on it. I really loved it. I picked these up from my local library for my 12 year and she only reads graphic novels, and she has been talking about this series non stop since she read them.

This installment is about Raina and her siblings going on a roadtrip to Colorado for a family reunion and she is in the car with her mom, little sister Amara and her little brother Will. She has flashbacks to when she asked for a little sister as a playmate and Amara having severe attitude issues. There is issues with snakes and that brought back memories for me when I was in high school and my bio had the same type of snake in the classroom.

Raina and her sister do not get along and Raina is the typical teenager and she is constantly listening to her music and wanting to connect with her distant cousins. She wants to be accepted by them when in fact her little sister wants to be acknowledged by Raina. 

There is also mention of the parents possibly separating or divorce. I have the third and final installment in this series and it is called Guts, so I am pretty sure that it's going to be about a gnarly stomach flu/

Review: Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

 

A book that I have had on my shelf for years and thanks again to the Buzzword reading challenge and June's word for being a perfect fit. The buzzword for the month is name or title and I immediately put this on my TBR. I am so glad I did because I absolutely loved it. It is obviously a retelling of Alice in Wonderland focusing on The Queen of Hearts. Alice is not mentioned at all in this but majority of the other characters. 

We follow the future Queen of Hearts Dinah as she is months away from her coronation. She is living in fear of her father because of his temper and she can't wait for the day that she becomes Queen and gets married so her father is no longer the King of Hearts. During a royal banquet the king shows his infidelities' and announces that he has another daughter by a common woman and she is now Duchess. The Princess is angry and hates her new sister and she defies her father and calls Vittoire a bastard. 

The Princess Dinah is very protective of her little brother Charles who is a mad hatter. he produces many hats and sells them to the kingdom. He is kept locked away by the King and if he wasn't mad, he would be the rightful heir to the throne. Dinah one day stumbles upon secret tunnels and she then to is questioned whether she is a little mad as well.

I loved the story. I wasn't bored and each chapter had the right amount of anticipation and angst. It wasn't repetitive and it didn't go off topic. It was one POV and all the characters were fleshed out and they each had their own personalities. I could feel the King's rage through the pages. I could feel the fear of Dinah while in the Black Towers. The Black Towers were my favorite setting by far in the whole book because they were a world of their own. 

COZY 24 HOUR READATHON

 

Review: The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

 

First book picked up for this months Buzzword reading challenge prompt. The buzzword is name or title. I have had this on my TBR for a while. I loved Sex and the City in my late teens and early 20's when my kids were newborns. I would watch the series on repeat. Thank you to the E channel for having 4 episodes on every day. 

I did watch the first season of The Carrie Diaries and never got around to watching the second season because I was a few years out of high school at this point and was not interested in being subjected to watching teen drama, angst and misery and cat fights. 

I picked this up because I knew that if I didn't, I never would and I would eventually unhaul it. Basically, if you have watched the first season, then you are not missing out on this book, so needless to say it was a good enough adaptation. 

We follow a teen Carrie Bradshaw and her high school friends trying to get through senior year. There is a new kid in town that becomes the talk of the halls. The name Sebastian Kydd is on every ones lips and Carrie is getting tired of it. She eventually forms a relationship with Sebastian and becomes enemies with the most popular girl and her best friend. 

There is a lot of slut shaming and there is a gay character who is a part of Carrie's friend group. She is the typical teenager who has dreams but when a guy enters the picture, all senses and dreams take a back seat. I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5. The first half was pretty boring and repetitive, but I ended up flying through the second half because it was more antsy and dramatic. 

Review: Spells Trouble by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

 

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a galley of this book. This book is now on sale. I am highly against the genre that this is for. I strongly suggest that kids DO NOT READ THIS!!! There is a very sexual erotic scene that involves two characters and it is not PG13. It is very XXX.

This is the first book that I have ever read from P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast. They have also co-written the House of Night series which I don't think you need to have read before this one. I was not confused by anything and I pretty much got the gist of the magic by the information given. I ended up giving this book a 3 out of 5. I enjoyed the historical fiction with the Salem witch trials and the origin of the Goode Family.

We follow two twin sister named Mercy and Hunter. They are celebrating their 16th birthday and they are the present day witches from a long line of Goode witches. The original witch was Sarah Goode and she was jailed and sentenced to execution for being a witch. She escapes and follows ley lines to a rural town in Indiana and makes it a safe space. She also plants 5 foreign trees to guard gates to foreign underworlds. The gates form a pentagram. On the day of the girls 16th birthday, they are committing to their chosen goddess and god. Then while they are setting their intentions, something happens and their mother sacrifices herself to save her daughters.

The rest of the story is them trying to save the trees and figure out what kind of monster came out of one of the trees. I enjoyed the origin story, the inclusion of mythology and the witch and spells. I hated all of the characters except the cat Xena. She was the best and really made me keep swiping through the pages. 

JUNE TBR

 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My 10 Recent Youtube Videos

 

This weeks TTT prompt is a freebie and I am going to be sharing my 10 most recent Booktube videos. If you don't know what Booktube is, it is where people make book videos and put them on Youtube. I have been making Youtube videos since 2017. I hope you enjoy the videos and consider subscribing to my channel and sharing. Don't forget to click the follow button so you don't miss future posts. 

1. First Week of Summer/ Reading Vlog

2. Huge Spring Book Haul

3. Book Series I Want To Finish This Year

4. Are These Books Actually Good??

 

5. April Reading Wrap Up

6. May Book Release I Need to Buy Right Now

7. May 2021 TBR

8. I Hate These Books

9. All Time Favorite Books

10. Winter 2021 Book Haul