Mini Reviews

 

This was absolutely adorable and heartbreaking. Both Wendell and Marjorie's stories will break your heart, but their story about finding friendship and no longer being invisible is so wonderfully told. Middle school sucks, but Marjorie is doing the best she can to survive and keep her family afloat of the loss of her mother, and Wendell's need to more than just a ghost. The artwork work so well with the story with its saturated colors. I spent just as much taking in all the little details as I did reading the story. This is perfect Fall read for anyone, especially those who prefer their ghosts friendly and their stories heartwarming! 4 Stars!

Zatanna is one of my favorite DC characters and I was thrilled she was getting her own story in the adorable DC for Kids series that's been going on. This is the second one I've read and it's super cute. The mystery was fun, Pocus was adorable in the animal sidekick kind of way, and the spells are backward! This was a fun and quick read this afternoon. The artwork was brilliant and added so much to the story itself. The characters, and side stories, are relatable to readers of all ages. And, this is a great introduction to a DC character that I swear doesn't get enough love. I'd love to see this turn into a series about Zatanna and the house, but it's also a great standalone. 4 Stars! 

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about what we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Maybe a killer only looks like a killer in the moment just before, during, or after.

Maybe a liar, a good one, never shows it.

Kayla is still holding on to Lainie’s secrets.

After all, Lainie is Kayla’s best friend. And despite Lainie’s painful obsession with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, and the ways he has tried to come between them, friends don’t spill each other’s secrets. They don’t betray each other’s trust.

The murder at the end of the summer doesn’t change all that.

Besides—Kayla knows that the truth is not the whole story.

Why I'm Waiting: This book has some serious I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes, and I'm here for it.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

The year is 1952. The threat of invasion from the Soviet Union has people in a panic. The government has issued a call to civilians to act as radar--and Teddy, John, Caroline, Eleanor, Bunny, Frank, and Oscar eagerly answer. As members of their high school's "Operation Skywatch" club, they, along with others across the country, look to the sky in an effort to protect the country from attack.

But they're not prepared for the strange green light they see when on duty, which looks like nothing they've been trained to look out for. So when the mysterious object lands in the forest, Teddy, John, Caroline, and Bunny go in to investigate. Then, they disappear.

In this thrill of a novel inspired by real events, one group of teens will come face to face with the UFO phenomenon and the vastness of the unknown as they try to save one another, and possibly, the world. A powerful exploration of what if.

HAPPY READING!!

Bout of Books 29

Another Bout of Books is just two weeks away! This might be my strangest Bout I've ever had. I might be on jury duty, I might not. It all really depends on what's going on with the courthouse. Of course, it may not matter because I'll still be reading while I'm at home. All this boils down to is I'm not making any goals for this Bout. I'm going to watch less TV this week and try to unplug more. 

BOUT TBR:

For more information on Bout of Books, check out their website here! I find this readathon super low stress and a great way to keep with my Goodreads Challenge!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here!

Introducing Pentecost and Parker, two unconventional female detectives who couldn’t care less about playing by the rules, in their cases and in their lives.

It's 1942 and Willowjean "Will" Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York's best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn't expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian's multiple sclerosis means she can't keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will will receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian's very particular art of investigation.

Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home--her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed. But that's easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins--the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca's relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer's next target.

HAPPY READING!!

The Perfect Father - Review

 

Author: John Glatt

Genre: True Crime

Format: Hardback

Pages: 304

I'm going to do my best to review this, but this was a hard book for me to read. Despite being a small book with only three sections, I split it up even more. So hopefully what follows my mixed bag of feelings and opinions about The Perfect Father.

What I appreciate about John Glatt's writing style is how easy this book was to read. It didn't read like a court manuscript, but it also wasn't a dry announcement of facts. Glatt wove the information he got from all of his sources into a narrative, that perhaps because of the terrible nature of this crime, that was hard to put down. I also appreciated how Glatt was able to remove his own opinions from the narrative. The story he told was the story we think happened as pieced together by interviews, evidence, and the few times Chris Watts has spoken. 

The Perfect Father is very a one-sided story. It's very much about Chris Watts and how he could have done something like this. There are a great number of times that Shan'ann Watts isn't framed in a good light, and there are whole chapters where it feels like a lot of victim shaming. We will never know what happened that day, but no one deserves what happened to Shan'ann and her daughters. I also understand why it's such a one-sided book. Only two years have passed and I can only imagine how had that has been for Shan'ann's family. 

So with the information that Glatt could get from open records and interviews, this story paints a horrific picture. But, one that police and prosecutors also seem to agree is the chain of events. The other this book does well makes you ask questions about the case.  Colorado already has a past of not handling high profile cases well, and once again I had questions about the investigation. Questions about Thrive. Just questions, which is what I like about a True Crime book. I want to be left with questions, to fall down a Google research hole. I don't want the author to tell me here's the story, I really like that Glatt left it open enough to leave me with questions.

What I wasn't fond of was the have that Shan'ann's name isn't spelled correctly through the entire book. In fact, the only time it is spelled correctly is when quotes were pulled directly from Newspapers or Letters. It is such a little thing, but once I learned it was incorrect I couldn't look away.

The other issue is the book's time skips to the point I was forced to go back and re-read to make sure I didn't miss anything. The chapters are short, covering major events that Glatt feels lead up to this horrific crime, which is what makes the book a quick read, there isn't anything to drag it along. However, in those chapters, Glatt will say later that day and start a narrative. Then a new chapter will start about that evening with any indication of the jump, and the next chapter will go back to talking about that afternoon and the story that was previously being told. So there would be this moment when reading where I had to stop because the timeline didn't add up.

All-in-all this was a book. I honestly can't tell you I'm glad I read it because it's a terrible tragedy and my heart goes to both the families. But, at the same time, it left me with questions about what happened that night and was a semi-compelling read. I'll definitely be passing this copy along to my friends.

Buy, Borrow, or Skip: If your a True Crime fan and like me didn't know much about the Watts case, I say borrow this from your local library. I just don't see myself going back to re-read this one.

HAPPY READING!! 

Hench - Review

Author: Natalie Zina Walschots

Genre: Adult/ Superhero

Format: Paperback/ Early Edition

Pages: 416

First a huge thanks to William Morrow for an early copy of Hench! 

This is one of those books that I had heard nothing about until I saw on promoted AD on my of my social media's, and then immediately fell in love with the idea of it. I grew in a house was the Keaton Batman was King, and I've seen almost all the Avenger movies with my Dad and Brother. So I was a hundred percent on board for a book told from the bench point of view.

Hench is the debut novel of Natalie Zina Walschots, so I had no clue what I was in for when I cracked this bad boy open. Apparently what I was in for was a world of feelings and a love for Anna. This is book is much more than just about the bench point of view. It's about going through trauma and how that trauma shapes and changes you. It's about the people you always thought would be by your side leaving, about betrayal and love. And, in some ways a found family.

Simply it's a book about life, but with superheroes and villains thrown into the mix to make it all a little more complicated and painful.

The absolute aces thing about this book is the representation in this book. It was there and normalized which I loved. Anna's team wasn't whitewashed and it wasn't a cast full of straight people. People got to be people without someone trying to put a neon sign above it. They were there being them whether hero or villain and it was lovely to see.

But, hands down the thing that makes this book so easy to read is Walschots writing style. Hench is told through Anna our main characters as she goes through her life as a Hench for better or for worse, and it's mostly for the worst. At so many points in this book Anna could have given up and no one would have blamed her, but through the pain and trauma she got up again and did was right by herself and her friends. She isn't out to save the world, just balance the scale for everything the Superheroes are doing wrong. For all the people they are hurting. For all the life years they have taken. And, it's written in such a wonderful way that I couldn't put it down.

I am a pretty slow reader for a lot of reasons, but I read Hench in little less than a day!

Another great thing about Hench is how relatable the side characters are. Odds are anyone who reads this knows someone like Jav or June or Greg. Which makes you feel for these people on a human level. Because Hench, or not, they are human. It was easy to get attached to characters and then hurt when they weren't there anymore.

It's also a wonderful nerd book with fun Easter Eggs moments throughout. I got so excited to see a Farscape reference I nearly choked on what I was snacking one! It's full of wonderful superhero tropes that are tried and true and then exposed for what they are. Plus, it was nice to see the human element played up in Hench. We get so caught up in the super part we forget that some of them are human, or have very human people in their lives.

The world of Hench wasn't made too complicated and I think that works in favor for the book. It's the same world you can see when you walk out of your door. The same you see in any of the comics about superheroes. You know it, and Walschots uses that in her favor so he can dive deeper into the story itself.

A story that grabs a hold of you doesn't let go. What I like about the pacing of Hench is that it's not linear. It jumps through the major moments in Anna's life, but in a way that you can follow without having to pause, or go back. Hench is only eight chapters, but each chapter is a pivotal moment that leads up to the end of the book itself. I had no problem keeping track of the timeline as we jumped, and it kept the story from going stale and slow a bit. It also makes it very hard to put down because chapter sort ends in a way that you want to know what's about to happen.

Ugh, and that ending. I know Hench is set to be a stand-alone, and it totally works as one! Everything that needed to be tied was, and while it was open-ended, ending. I didn't feel like I was denied anything. However! If there was a second book, I'd buy it because I adored Anna and this world, and would willing to dive back into it!

Also, the sub-plot that was thrown in there was brilliant! It was the perfect sort of juicy backstory to kind make you forget how bad things were, and it was so well done!

There is such a human element to this book that I feel it makes it work. It's not about the Superheroes and Villians going at each other in an epic battle. It's about the people around those battles, the fodder that no one really thinks about. Hench wasn't a book I knew I needed until it was my hands, but I'm in love with it. And, a little with Vesper, but that is neither here nor there.

It's so much more than a Superhero book and so wonderfully done that I can't wait to see what Natalie Zina Walschots writes next. Because she has become one of my new favorite authors of 2020!

Buy, Borrow, or Skip: I saw buy! This is a book I could see myself reading again because I feel like there were small moments of genius that I missed. I was so focused on the main story that there was something that I missed.

Hench comes out on September 22, 2020!  

HAPPY READING!! 

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about what we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

Why I'm Waiting: You had me at secret society, everything else is just a bonus!

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

This was alright. I liked it and I'm interested to see where the series was going to go, but I was a little down in places. The concept is amazing and one I don't think I've seen before. Who wouldn't want to live in low gravity? As for the story, it was your standard good versus evil. It left me with questions about the science of what happened over the last twenty years. I did really like Willa our main character, she's a badass. The artwork in this stunning and so well done, it was my favorite part of this whole story. I'll definitely be picking up the next volume. 3 Stars!

I wanted to like this, I really did because I adore the movie. Sadly I really didn't enjoy this all that much. It has a promising start, and just sort of falls apart after that. It the story gets long and drawn out the Losers keep finding themselves in the same situation over and over. Plus, I wasn't overly fond of the artwork. It's lot of hard angles and shadowing so you never really get an idea what the characters really look like. In fact, I Rogue and Clay confused several times. Also, I didn't really care about the cast of characters like I did for the characters in the movie. In the movie the are three-dimensional characters you feel for, here they are kind of flat. I finished this one to see if maybe the ending would give me a reason to pick up volume two, but not really. I wasn't even shocked at the reveal of who Max was. 2 Stars.

HAPPY READING!!

Dewey's Wrap Up

My TBR for this readathon was pretty ambitious, but I managed to put a pretty good-sized dent into it. I also got really lucky because only of the books I finished was a letdown. The other two were super cute. I also got halfway through my fourth book before time was called. By the time this posts, I'll have definitely have finished it without a doubt. This readathon fell at the perfect time, I needed a good excuse to unplug for a few days. Now I'm only eight books away from my Goodreads Goal! 

Reverse Stats:

Books Read: 3.5

Pages Read: 678

Hours Read: 19

I hope everyone else had a great 24-hours with Dewey's! Until October!

    HAPPY READING!! 

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here!

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

HAPPY READING!!