Heartstopper – Stephanie Caffrey, Author

January 2024 Reads

January 31, 2024Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged Book Recommendations, Book Review, Books, Dracula, Heartsong, Heartstopper, Howl's Moving Castle, Jane Eyre, Off the Be the Wizard, Reading, The Good Part, TJ Klune, Twice ShyLeave a comment

Book Cover - The Good Part by Sophie Cousens

The Book felt a lot like “13 Going on 30” and I loved it. The story did a great job at putting us in Lucy’s emotional standing. Lucy and Sam were so cute together. I loved, loved, loved, Felix and Alice. The story was complex, but still lovely.

I absolutely love this series. I love Nick and Charlie. This addition was no different. It was very cute, very fun, and like always, a very realistic view of teens and their complex feelings. I smiled a lot at this volume. I also cried. I always cry.

I read this book as an ARC and gave a detailed review, which you can read here.

This is a classic that definitely held up. Told in letters and diary entries causing some pacing issues, but the audiobook helped with that. It was very suspenseful and I longed to keep reading. This was the perfect classic to kick off 2024.

Book Cover - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

This was such a lovely story. It was pleasant and the romance between Howl and Sophie was so subtle, it made me swoon in the end. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I’ve already put the next two books on my kindle to read.

What a beautiful story about beautifully flawed people. Maybell and Wesley were an amazing couple. I loved how fun they were together and how supportive they were of each other’s dreams and flaws. I also loved the fact the book subverted the third act break up. It was fresh, and I read the book in one sitting because I didn’t want to leave their world.

Book Cover - Off to be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

Not sure how I felt about this one. It never really grabbed me. It took me too long to read it. However, the ending got me curious to see what happens next. I liked the humor and the concept of the book, but I think ultimately the pace was a little slow, which is what turned me off.

My all time favorite book, this was the third time I’ve read this book, and I loved it as much as I did the first two. Jane Eyre is easily one of my favorite literary characters. Jane and Mr. Rochester’s love, one of the most romantic. St. John one of the most unlikeable characters in literature. I can’t wait until I read this again. And again. And again.

Book Cover - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

July 2023 Reads

July 31, 2023Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged Book Recommendations, Books, Fourth Wing, Girl Who Drank the Moon, Heartstopper, JR Ward, Killers of a Certain Age, Lone Women, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, Nick and Charlie, Reading, The Measure, Watership Down, We are Never meeting in Real LifeLeave a comment

The book was fun, but nothing to write home about. I liked the ladies, but only Billie stood out to me. There were several threads I felt were dropped (Minka and Travener), and I wish they had been a little more detailed and deeper. I liked the action and the spy stuff, and I totally can see this as a movie. I just wish there had been more.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened this book, but it wasn’t what I got. And I mean that in a good way. This book exceeded expectations. It is a horror fantasy book, so know that going in. But I don’t want to say too much more about it, because I don’t want to spoil it. I will say, I couldn’t put it down.

As of right now, this is my favorite book I’ve read this year. My life has been missing a great fantasy series (this is book one of five), and I think this is going to fill that whole. I haven’t had something to obsess over in a long time. The book is a lot of world building, but what a world. I loved everything so much. Violet. Xaden. We won’t talk about Dain. The cliffhanger at the end has me counting down the days to November.

After a slow start, the book became impossible to put down. It was a very interesting concept for a book, and it really made me think. The events of the book felt realistic. I loved all of the characters, but Amie and Ben were easily my favorite. We read this for one of my book clubs, and it lead to a lot of very interesting conversation.

This book wasn’t what I expected, and I ended up not liking it at all. I thought this was going to be a romance, and it wasn’t. I really didn’t like the narrator or the plot, and I couldn’t wait to finish reading it.

I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC, and I am reviewing it with my honest opinion.

I read this book too quickly, and now I am sad that I am out of Heartstopper material. As usual, the book was adorable, a quick read, and the events Nick and Charlie deal with are realistic.

Cute romance. I loved Sam and Ben together. I felt her dyslexia was a little overplayed (we get it, you don’t need to mention it every other page), but it didn’t detract from the story. I really enjoyed Sam and Tyler’s sibling bond. I’m hoping for a sequel featuring Em, because she deserves a happy ending.

This was a re-read for me to fill a prompt for a reading challenge, and I loved it as much as I did in high school. I love when the Hardy’s and Nancy team up, and this is one of my favorite mashups. Frank and Nancy have “a moment.” There are very few books where this happens, and I have them all! Knocked a star off for Ned showing up. No one likes Ned.

Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, and this is a retelling of it, with magic and set in Ethiopia. In other words, this book was amazing. I loved Blackwood’s take on the story. Her characters were rich, her magic system was amazing, and I loved how you could tell it was an Eyre retelling without it explicitly hitting ever beat of the original.

I’m pretty sure the fact Peter Capaldi read this to me, and he did an amazing job at it totally influenced my view of this book. I really enjoyed it, especially when I learned it was a retelling of The Aeneid. I became really invested in the survival of these bunnies, and couldn’t stop listening.

A beautiful story of magic and family. The imagery was so vivid in this book, I could picture everything. Told as if it were a proverb or fairy tale, I was completely drawn in.

Another book club pick, this book was hilarlious. I loved listening to the author read her autobiographical essays. I laughed out loud several times. Especially her essay about her cat. I will definitely be checking out more of her work.

Another book club pick, this is a series of short stories that are seemingly un connected except for the fact they are all about fishing. And they are all sad. And most of them have questionable age gaps between couples. I enjoyed a few of the stories, hence the star rating, but i wouldn’t recommend it.

June 2023 Reads

July 1, 2023Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged Book Recommendations, Book Review, Books, Cemetery Boys, Elliot Page, Emily Henry, Heartstopper, JR Ward, On Earth as it is On Television, Pageboy, Practice Makes Perfect, Reading, TJ Klune, Wife AppLeave a comment

I highly recommend reading David Copperfield first. It adds a whole new layer to this book, which is a beautiful heartwrenching story that hit all the same beats as Copperfield, but just transferred to a modern setting. I loved Demon and Angus, and rooted for Demon to get out of his situation. The characters were great, the prose was beautiful. This was not a bok to rush through, it needed to be savored.

Emily Henry is always a win. I loved the format of this book. I loved that we got to see the relationship in chornological order, simultaneously with the current time. I’m a sucker for the “there’s only one bed” trope, and this one was no different. Like all Emily Henry books, I found myself loving the side characters just as much as the mains. I wouldn’t say no to a book of short stories following up on all of Henry’s side characters post their books. This was a beautiful story and a wonderful romance. Couldn’t put it down.

Second book in the Wolven series, Forever deals with Daniel’s cancer and what Lydia is going to do when he dies. I trust JR Ward inherently to give me a happy ending, so I’m going to continue to trust her. But man, these book was pretty bleak. It made me cry, a lot. And I now ship Lydia with both Daniel and Blade, and I don’t know what to do with that. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

This book was okay, and I was a little let down since I was really looking forward to it. I didn’t really like the way it was written, the prose. And the plot felt pretty rote for the first section. There was a twist in the second part which peaked my interest. But it wasn’t enough to “wow” me. I liked how all the different POV characters stories tied in together, but there really was only one story I really wanted to read, and there really wasn’t enough of it, I think his was represented the least.

Really cute story!! I love Nick and Charlie. Everything about their story was so organic and fluffy and I could not put it down. Made me want to read the whole series.

I don’t know why it took me so long to read this one! It’s so good. the commentary on being trans, deportation, and community were all really good. The love story? Epic! The plot?? Amazing. I couldn’t stop reading. It was intriguing, suspenseful, and honestly caught me off guard. Loved it.

Charlie and Nick are completely adorable. I didn’t think they could get any cuter. But they did. Again, the story just feels so authentic.

Paris! We’re taking the story on the road and getting to the friend group better. I love all of the characters! They are all amazing and I love them all. These characters are great!

Cried so much in this one, but everything covered felt so authentic. I really appreciate the care with which the subject matter is being handled. Can’t wait for more.

Cute premise, and lovely romance. I loved everything about it. The characters were great, the chemistry was on point. I loved that there really wasn’t a third act break-up. All tears shed were happy tears or shed over things not between the couple. Now I want to read the first book in the series.

Leon and Tiffy are both great characters who combined into the sweetest romance. The book was so cute. The romance was sweet, the third act breakup was minimal. Loved everything about the book.

Read this as an ARC, you can find my review here.

Read this as an ARC, you can find my in depth review here.

I had been really looking forward to reading this book, and it didn’t disappoint. Elliot Page really made clear everything he felt pre-transition and post-transition. He talked about the dysphoria he felt, the pain he felt being in all the closets he was forced into. I’m so happy he felt comfortable enough to open up, since he’s one of the most visible transgender actors around. I was happy when he shared stories of all the people who are supportive of him, both biological and found family. It was important to me to know he had people in his life who were there for him.