Throwback Post: All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

When I started my blog, three years ago, I was obsessed with All the Stars and Teeth, and one of the first things I did was write a book review about it. For some reason, however, I never actually ended up posting that review, and it has been sitting at the very bottom of my drafts folder for three years. Due to the recent event of my blogoversary, I came back to this post, and decided to publish it, just so that readers could get an idea of how I wrote when I first started this blog, and to get a little laugh. So, nothing within this post has been changed – no words, no pictures, nothing. You get my old rating system, and my old cringey writing. This was even before I had developed any of my graphics, so it’s a very word-heavy post without many breaks. Enjoy!

I loved the idea of doing instagram-esque book pictures when I first started blogging, and this was one of the best ones I did (read that how you will).

“I am meant to wear this crown.”

Amora Montara is princess of the island kingdom Visidia. To become the next High Animancer, ruler of her people, she must pass a test to prove that she has conquered the dangerous soul magic that lives inside her. She’s trained for the test since she was a child; she knows she’s ready.

“No one in my family has ever failed their performance and I’ve dedicated too much of my life to be the first.”

When her magic goes awry, Amora is forced to flee her home island where execution could be a possibility – her magic is too unpredictable to be left alone and untamed. She strikes a deal with the pirate Bastian: if he helps her prove she can rule, she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what she’s gotten into as Bastian reveals secrets that could throw all of Visidia into strife if they knew. There is a destructive new magic wielded by a power hungry islander and if she can’t stop him, her family’s rule may be coming to an end.

“I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.”

When I picked this book up, I was afraid it would be just another story about a princess. Don’t get me wrong, stories about princesses who can defend themselves are great but there’s just so many of them. However this book also enticed me. There was a great magic system, pirates, mermaids and a girl–princess aside–who could wield a dangerous power. Plus, Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone which I had just read, raved about this book, so I decided to give it a try.

Very soon after picking it up, it became less about how Tomi Adeyemi had recommended this book and more about how THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. Let me first talk about the characters.

Amora, the princess, is our main character. Some things I liked about her were that she was willing to do anything for her kingdom, and I mean anything. Sailing all the way across her kingdom to confront a man threatening the crown? Yep, she did that. And here’s the best thing. Amora is naive, but that is in no way her fault. She had been deprived of even seeing her kingdom, forced to stay on her home island with only stories of the other islands in Visidia. Meanwhile, her father was hiding that the kingdom was actually falling apart–rebellion was brewing. When Amora eventually learned of this, she didn’t give up. She didn’t decide her country was already dead or demand answers from her father. Instead, she figured that she could save the kingdom herself.

Next we have Bastian, the pirate. Bastian is witty, fast-thinking and full of secrets. He’s also from the mysterious island of Zudoh, banished from Visidia when Amora was only seven years old. Even more, he somehow lost his magic a long time ago–something that Amora didn’t think was possible. Still, despite the fact that he’s rather suspicious, if you look at the facts, Bastian will quickly worm his way into your heart. Plus, he’s Amora’s only possible way to save the kingdom, given that he’s offered a boat, so he must be good for something. Especially since the boat can be sailed without a crew…but only if Bastian is on it.

Ferrick, the stowaway. Ferrick is a bit of an oddball. Really, he shouldn’t be in the story if not for his unwavering loyalty. He has a massive crush on Amora and even goes so far as to following her onto Bastian’s boat and challenging him to a duel just to keep Amora safe. Too bad she’s not the sort of princess who needs to be kept safe….

Last, we have Vataea, a mermaid. Vataea doesn’t come into the book until later on which is too bad because she is amazing like no amazingness has ever been seen. She’s a man-murdering, sea-parting half fish. What’s not to love? Plus you can practically imagine her smirking in every page you read so get ready for some absolutely ferocious ladies.

This review is getting long and I haven’t even described plot or setting! If you’re still reading (I’m hoping I haven’t bored you away!) then I promise I’ll make this short…it’s hard not to rave about this book, though.

This book takes place in the island kingdom of Visidia. This is such a unique setting, because it’s a kingdom, as most fantasy books are in, but it’s an island kingdom. Basically, a looooot of water which gives you, you guessed it, a sailing adventure. Plus, each island has its own type of magic which makes it really interesting. If you live on Kerost you can use time magic, on Valuka you practice with an element, and if you happen to be royalty and live on the island of Arida, you would be gifted–and cursed–with the dangerous soul magic, powers that center around hurting and killing others.

The plot: Well the first thing I should say is that it’s fantasy adventure, which is my favorite. But seriously, this plot is great. The inciting incident is when Amora fails the challenge that she has to succeed in to become the High Animancer, which is the ruler of Visidia. Afraid she’s going to be executed, she jumps at the chance Bastian gives her to flee the island as long as she’ll help him regain his lost magic. What commences is an adventure across the land, stopping at several islands as Amora strives to save her people, and letting us see the whole country. The entire book is packed with action, from running from the royal soldiers sent to track Amora down to holding an entire room hostage to save one person–or should I say mermaid.

Characters: 4.5 stars. Setting: 5 stars. Plot: 4.5 stars. All in all: 5 stars.

What did you think of my review? Was it interesting? Boring? Too long? Do you want to read All the Stars and Teeth, or is it on your tbr? Tell me what you think in the comments and be sure to toss a like in there if you enjoyed this post!

Present day Phoenix is back! Thanks so much for reading this review – I know it’s not as polished as most of my current posts (and I would not consider my current posts very polished) but I thought it would be something fun to post.

Before you leave, I just wanted to mention one more thing!! A week ago I published a post celebrating my blogoversary, and put a call out for questions so that I can do a Q and A. I haven’t received many questions yet, so please comment anything you want to know, either on this post, or the one announcing the Q and A, and I’ll get that post out as soon as I feel like I have enough questions!

Book Review: Carrie Soto is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

You know that feeling where you don’t want a book to end, but you also can’t help reading faster and faster in order to figure out what happens next? That was Carrie Soto is Back for me. Let’s get into this book and why I loved it so very much.

Carrie Soto is Back | Taylor Jenkins Reid

Adult contemporary

Published August 30, 2022

371 pages | Ebook

goodreads

Carrie Soto is the best tennis player in the world. And she’s earned it. After years of training, competing, and sacrifice, Carrie rocketed to the top of the world rankings, earning a reputation for being willing to do anything just to win, disliked by just as many people as those who love her. When she finally retires, she holds the record for most Slam titles held. But six years after she finally set the tennis racket down, Carrie watches as phenomenal athlete Nicki Chan ties that record.

Refusing to let this happen, Carrie makes the shocking decision to step out from retirement and back onto the court, determined to make the record her own once again. Coached by her father, Carrie enters into one more year of tennis tournaments – four more chances to win another title. As she progresses through the year, she makes new friends, and just might discover a little more about the sport she loves – and herself.

Summary is my own. Parts of the summary may be borrowed from Goodreads.

Taylor Jenkins Reid knows how to tell a story.

This was obvious to me, of course, when I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or Daisy Jones and the Six, or Malibu Rising. And yet, of all of this phenomenal author’s stories, I’m convinced that Carrie Soto is Back is the best one yet.

Characters are TJR’s strong suit. My absolute favorite thing about this novel was the depth and growth of Carrie. When we meet our protagonist, her killer drive to win and unfriendly comments towards opponents make her immediately unlikable to all those around her in the novel. I first want to comment on Jenkins Reid’s ability to make Soto a terrible person and yet still likable to the reader. From the very beginning, I was rooting for Carrie to win, regardless of the way she acted around others – at one point, I found myself thinking, wow, if I ever met her in real life, or had to play a sport against her, I would hate her, and yet I couldn’t help but cheer her on.

And then – the development. As Carrie progresses through the novel, she starts to realize that she has been playing tennis for all the wrong reasons. This novel is truly a love letter to a sport, a masterpiece depicting all the reasons that sports should be fun and enjoyable. Carrie’s shift from playing only to win, to playing because it is the sport she loves, is fantastic. It happens so slowly that you don’t even notice it, but it’s obvious that the Carrie at the end is very different from the Carrie from the beginning. As someone who loves sports myself, it felt so amazing to read this entire book about loving your sport, and playing for yourself, not for others. It felt like TJR took all the reasons I love playing softball, and inserted them into a book about tennis.

The other characters in this book shone too. Carrie’s relationship with her father is absolutely amazing – he’s tough on her, as her coach, but they both love each other so much, and he’s just pushing for her to get better. He’s been her coach since she was just beginning to learn tennis, so they have this really awesome connection where they’re both just trying to help her improve, and they’re able to talk about anything related to the game, and get each other completely.

Bowe, another tennis player who’s trying to play his final professional tennis season, is also fantastic. He and Carrie started off kind of rocky, because Carrie refused to get close to anyone at the beginning, and they also had a history that Carrie didn’t want to touch, but they slowly became closer and had this awesome relationship where they supported each other’s careers and were constantly looking out for each other and helping each other improve. Bowe’s appearance in the book began Carrie’s opening up to other people, and beginning to support other people and look out for them, not just herself.

And lastly, Nicki is just such an awesome person. She becomes a real character pretty late in the book, but she also plays a big part in Carrie’s growth. It was really nice to see her as an actual character, since through most of the book Carrie was just complaining about her all the time, and we were mostly rooting against her. And yet, Soto manages to make ALL the characters likable (or at least all the characters who she wants to make likable).

But let’s also talk about the story. This novel exemplified the high stakes and action that I always love about sports books, and Jenkins Reid wrote it all beautifully. Throughout the novel, Carrie takes place in four Grand Slam events, in an effort to win another slam, and the chance to read four different high stakes matches was really exciting. Each of the matches was different, and you never knew the outcome until it happened – TJR definitely kept me on my toes. This was definitely one of the more sports-centric books that I have read – not only does it cover games and practices, but there is also a lot of talk about strategy and the actual game of tennis. I, personally, know nothing about tennis, but I don’t think that that took away from my enjoyment of the book – I got to learn a little, and all the awesome action filled parts were still there.

Overall, Carrie Soto is Back covered all the things I love most about sports books, along with having amazingly written characters and killer character development. For anyone out there who loves books about sports, I would recommend this to you in a heartbeat, but even if you don’t know a thing about any physical activity, the action and characters in this novel will keep you hooked just the same.

Have you read Carrie Soto is Back, or any of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other books? Do you like sports books, too? Let me know what you thought about this review!

Loveless: A Review and Discussion on ‘The One Aroace Experience’

Hey everyone! So, one of my favorite books came out in the United States finally, a few weeks ago, and so in honor of this I wanted to formally write a review of this book on my blog, but not only that, I want to do a little discussion on this book as well. Let’s get into it!

Loveless | Alice Oseman

Published March 1, 2022

432 Pages | Hardcover

goodreads

Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.

As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.

But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?

Summary from goodreads

Loveless is a book that means a whole lot to me, and rereading it just made me love it all over again. I got the questioning, the self-doubt, the awesome friendships all over again, and it just reminded me how much I love this book. This is a story of messy teens (first year university students, actually), questioning, and friendship. A whole lot of friendship.

I wanted to zoom in on that word ‘messy’ because I think that is truly the best way to describe these characters, and especially Georgia. There are fights in this book. Georgia does some really awful things, and sometimes her friends do awful things. There are times when you might be worried about the turnout of something, or even frustrated with how Georgia handles things. That’s okay.

Georgia is one of the most relatable characters to me that I have read. I definitely am not a fan of all the same things as she is (I’ve basically never read a fanfic in my life?) but the way she feels about her sexuality and about her friends is just so similar to me. I also want to call out the fact that Loveless highlights self doubt and the feelings that might come with being aroace, at least for some people (obviously, there are so many different aroace experiences). After Georgia first realizes that she may be aroace, and first starts to think about it, she’s just upset and down on herself. We are raised in a world where romance is so highly praised, it’s just everywhere and so often the ‘final goal’ in life. And that can be really hard as an aroace person. Knowing that you’re never going to experience this ‘magical experience’ that everyone else has. Knowing that your friends are going to fall in love and put you second for the rest of your life because everyone just says that romance. Is. Better. To see a character in a book who thinks the same way, and to see a book that actually talks about that? Amazing. I think that often, it can be hard for authors to write books where characters of marginalized identities are down on themselves because of their marginalized identity, since there’s that pressure to show happy people of that identity. Authors don’t want to write a book where a main character just hates their identity because it’s like it reflects that any people of that identity are not happy, when obviously we know that’s not true since everyone has different experiences. But it’s still important to show these things, like being down due to your identity, so that people in the real world who might be experiencing the same things know that they’re not alone in feeling that and often the book can help you get through or at least accept that feeling more.

I also wanted to discuss something I’ve seen pop up in a lot of reviews: the ‘one aroace experience’ idea. First of all, just as a disclaimer, everyone is entitled to their own opinion obviously. By writing this, I am not trying to insult or undermine what anyone who believes this is saying, but simply offering my own opinion on the topic.
Many reviews make the argument that Loveless gives a singular aroace experience and makes it seem like everyone who is aroace follows this experience. And yes, it is true that Loveless does give a single (of many different) aroace experience, due to the fact that it follows one person going through her own experience, and probably also largely reflects what the author themself went through. However, I do not believe that this book should have the responsibility of showing so many different aroace experiences. It’s one person, it’s one experience. There are so many books out there about gay teens, and so many of them have so many different experiences, but almost all only represent one singular of the many experiences. And I really think the difference between those books and Loveless is that there are so few aroace books out there that people just believe this book should embody all aroace experiences, and for those who don’t know much about the aroace community, they may believe that it DOES embody all aroace experiences. But we cannot expect to relate to every single character of our same identity that we read, and I am sorry if Loveless was not a book that you could relate to as much as you might have hoped you could have, but I still do not believe that it is a problem that it shows a singular aroace experience. It can definitely be disappointing to find a character of such a little-talked about identity and not feel like you can connect to them – for me, Agatha in Ophelia After All is a great example of this – but yeah, aroace people do have quite a few different experiences, and unfortunately a singular book cannot cover all these experiences.

I have no idea if any of what I just said made any sense, and I wrote like half of it directly after I’d finished the book, right before I was about to go to bed, but this was something that I’d been thinking about for a while and I really wanted to address it in my post.

Have you read Loveless? What were your thoughts on it? Do you agree with what I said?

December Monthly Wrap Up

Can we first just appreciate that I actually posted this wrap up on time, like on the last day of the month, not a week into the next month? Thank you.
Believe it or not, 2021 is over. Like, we’re actually headed into 2022. And I know I’ve already said this about 5,000 times this year, but how has this year gone by so fast???
Let’s look at my December books.

• A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos. I finally dipped into the books I got last Christmas that I didn’t end up reading. And honestly…I did not enjoy this one. It just felt like a whole lot of nothing was happening, and while the worldbuilding is good (this book’s worldbuilding is very hyped) it wasn’t something that I was enraptured with or anything. ⭐⭐
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I forgot how nice rereading books is! And especially this one. It was awesome to be able to see the crows again, head through the heist with them, and catch so many things woven in the story that I didn’t get the first time! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. Another reread, this one in preparation to read the second book. The first time I picked this one up, I found it kind of slow, and the writing style was a little more dense than I was used to, but this time I was able to appreciate it so much more! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Continuing with the rereads, I guess! I got a little sick one weekend this month, so after I got home from school that Friday I just picked it up and flew through the first half, then finished it before I got out of bed the next day. Just as good as I remembered! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Just Ash by Sol Santana. This was such an interesting read because it’s the first book I’ve read with an intersex character, not to mention main character with multiple intersex side characters as well! At times, I got a little bored but overall it was a really interesting book and I learned a lot. ⭐⭐⭐
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owens. The first of the books I got for Christmas! I loved Owens’s other books, the Merciful Crow series (which I think is extremely underrated) so I couldn’t wait to try this one and I’m delighted to say that it was just as great as the Merciful Crow! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong. I…don’t know what to say. I loved this book, I loved the story just as much as the first. However, it did feel like a few parts were a little rushed or sudden. Still, overall, awesome! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. I only vaguely know the story that this novel is based off of, but I really enjoyed this retelling, I thought it was unique and I liked the twist at the end! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake. I really enjoyed this one! It was kind of a short, easy read but it still definitely dealt with a lot of important stuff. I thought that writing the book from Mara’s perspective was a really interesting take, and overall, this was a great book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• April @Booked Till Midnight and Rachel @A Bookworm’s Paradise compared These Violent Delights to the hype-o-meter and I’m so glad to hear that they thought it was just as good as I did!
• Karla @Another Bookworm wrote a very important post about holding authors accountable and I totally agree!
• The Quite Pond introduced The Pondathon II and they clearly put so much work into it, and it sounds AMAZING!
• Maria @The Character Study wrote a post to introduce the Young Avengers team and the reading order, and I might just have to try these comics out!
• Riddhi @Whispering Stories wrote a post about the kinds of followers there are and it’s 100% true
• May @Forever and Everly discussed how her reading has evolved in 2021, with those lovely graphs that I so want to be able to have!

I posted three times this month which is much better than usual (mostly thanks to winter break). I also posted one of my favorite posts of the year, the 2021 book tag!

the 2021 book tag!

My 5 favorite books of the year

4 bookish resolutions for the new year

December Goals:

• Work on your english project (because I feel like this is something I’ll forget)✅
• Post at least 3 blog posts? (including wrap up)✅
• Stop reading just to finish books (read what you want to read!!!)✅
• Hang out with your friends✅
• Enjoy your time not in school✅
• Study more❌

I’m pretty sure I worked on my english project TOO much and totally annoyed all my group members by bugging them to do things as well, so I don’t know how to feel about that. But I did manage to post at least three blog posts, and that’s NOT including the wrap up! As for reading to finish books – I did do this once or twice, at one point with a book that I did NOT enjoy, but other than that I still think I did pretty well. School has helped a LOT with hanging out with friends, so that’s nice, and with break and everything, I’ve been able to enjoy more time not in school. Studying, as always, is not my strong suit but at least I’ve been doing pretty well in school?

January Goals:

• Read at least 5 books
• Drink water
• Keep up with your book google form thing

• The first thing that happened, way at the beginning of December, was the baseball lockout. I know you all have gotten kind of tired of me talking about baseball, but this is IMPORTANT. Basically, there is literally nothing happening in baseball right now, like trades and signings aren’t allowed, I mean essentially there are no baseball players at all.
• ANOTHER disappointing thing that happened this month was that Netflix officially CANCELED Julie and the Phantoms. For those of you who’ve been following my blog since approximately last March or earlier, you’ll know of my obsession with the show Julie and the Phantoms, but now there will not be ANY more seasons!!! However there’s a petition to bring it back, so if any of you love JATP or, I mean just wanna help out some JATP-lovers, please sign here!
• This month, we had our school concerts, so I had my orchestra concert this month! Honestly, we all thought we were terrible, and I messed up badly enough to mess my stand partner up for a good two lines at one point, but it was still fun and it didn’t sound awful on the broadcast.
• There was Christmas, of course! I got 12 books on Christmas, which is a pretty good haul if I do say so myself! I’m going to try to get a Christmas book haul post out eventually. (don’t ask me when eventually is, if I publish a Christmas book haul in the middle of March then so be it)
• I also hit 300 followers on my blog this month, so that’s a cool one!

That’s all for the last wrap up of 2021! I can’t wait to talk to you all in 2022 and let’s see what adventures we all get into next year!

What books did you read this month? How’d you like the posts that I published? Did anything interesting happen with you in December?

April Wrap Up (part 2)

Let’s play a guessing game! Who wants to guess how many books I read this month that I did not mark as read/review on goodreads? No, seriously, I want you to guess. Let me know in the comments! (hint: it’s a lot). Anyways, here we are in May already, this year is zipping by! We’re already 1/3 of the year??? How??? Anyways, let’s see what I’ve been reading this month.

~What I Read~

Long story short, I read an adequate amount of books at the beginning of the month and then I went on vacation and read 2 contemporary books in 3 days and then on that vacation, I picked up a fantasy and…I’m still reading it…so basically I think I need to read more realistic fiction/contemporary so please if you have any recs, let me know in the comments!
Also, I’m going to apologize in advance for the weird image formatting that you might see (image sizes being off) because I don’t know, my image sizing is being weird so I’m going by eye what looks good!

• A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat. I really enjoyed this book! It had a super interesting world, where light was extremely important and the governor controlled all of it, and it had an awesome plot, too! I feel like the pacing was off a little bit near the end but overall it was super good! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker. This was a reread, because I’m trying to write a short story that is horror (it’s not going well for anyone who wants to know) and it was good as well! Maybe it’s because I’m not the target audience but it wasn’t that scary, but I still really enjoyed it! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas. I loved Thomas’s debut, Cemetery Boys, and had high hopes for this one, too. But, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I enjoyed CB. It was definitely still an interesting book, but I think that my own expectations got the better of me, here. ⭐⭐⭐

• The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. This book, at the beginning, was sort of boring. I mean, all she was doing was running around battling. But I did enjoy the worldbuilding and the story near the end, plus the friendships. I haaaaated the romance though. I’m truly conflicted on this one so I’m giving it 3.5 stars which I rarely do ⭐⭐⭐.5
• Parachutes by Kelly Yang. This book was super eye opening, with an excellent plot that centered around sexual harrassment and raising awareness about that. There were a few minor things I didn’t like but they didn’t affect the plot overall so it was still a very good book! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher. This book was a nice and easy read! That’s the problem. It’s a book about grief, her best friend dies and she goes off and falls in love. Not saying that you can’t fall in love it’s just really weird to me how light this book was despite the topic. ⭐⭐⭐

• The Wide Starlight by Nicole Lesperance. This book was interesting, it kept me reading but there were a few things that I didn’t like. It was also confusing at times, as it seemed to be a mix of fairytale and real life and that’s not exactly my favorite genre. Plus, there did appear to be a few times where things were way to easy (ex at the end with the ring). ⭐⭐⭐.5
• Sweet And Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley. This was an interesting book and it had a cool concept but overall it was a very meh book. ⭐⭐⭐
• Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston. This was a super awesome middle grade book, it was written well, there was magic, there was so many things including important parts about how Amari is treated differently just because of the color of her skin and where she lives. ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

• Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett. I loved this book, it really taught me a lot about HIV and shows really how much stigma there is around it that shouldn’t be there. The characters were amazing, the storytelling was amazing, the plot was amazing…it was all amazing! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert. I found this book off of May’s personalized recommendations and I was going on a vacation so I was like, ‘I’ll get it for vacation.’ And I read it and it was REALLY GOOD. Once again, I must know: how do authors write books that are just about…people’s normal lives…and yet they’re still very interesting? ⭐⭐⭐⭐

~The Monthly Book Awards~

Alright everyone, I am sorry to say that I am, for now, discontinuing my Monthly Book Awards. I think they were a fun idea at first but more and more they’re getting less fun to write and more something that I’m not looking forwards to doing in my wrap ups. I’m super sorry and if anyone wants to know my favorite character/plot/worldbuilding/book/etc., please ask in the comments! I’m totally fine with answering there, it’s just….something about the formatting…or writing the entire thing in a post…or something that was really being a pain for me. I love all the support I’ve gotten in the past about the monthly book awards and I’m very sad to see them go, they’re just not enjoyable for me to write anymore and I’m hoping that getting rid of them will fix at least part of the blogging burnout I’ve been going through. I’ve been looking through the comments that you all have written and I’m really sorry to have to get rid of these since I know a lot of people really like them! To check out past monthly book awards, go look at some of my other wrap ups, including my most recent one, my March Wrap up.

TBRs

For the record, I read exactly 0 of the books that I said I would read in April for my April TBR so I’m just not going to do one this month (I entirely forgot I even owned books I hadn’t read yet…oops…)

~Monthly Bingo~

The Monthly Bingo is created by A Colorful Bibliophile so please head over there and give her some love because it’s an amazing idea! You can find April’s bingo board here.
Here’s this month’s board! (I didn’t get bingo 😭)

And that’s it for this month’s wrap up! I hope that you enjoyed reading and thank you so much for stopping by! Take a guess at how many books you think I’ve read but not marked on goodreads (and I’m not even going to say no peeking because if you really go into that much effort to get the answer correct, you deserve it honestly). Also, SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME REALISTIC FICTION RECS BECAUSE I NEED THEM. Seriously, even if you have already recommended the book to me, write it in the comments because I it helps keep me more organized to have a bunch of recs in one place (by ‘organized’ I mean I’ll just look in the comments for book recs but not actually put those recs anywhere else ie on goodreads).
As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a marvelous May!

Enola Holmes Book Tag

Hey, everyone! I’m doing yet another tag this week because first of all I have a whole lot that I need to do and second of all I completely forgot about posting anything until today and I’m going on vacation today (I dont’ even know if this tag will actually get out because I may not have time.)
Anyways, let’s get into this!
This tag is based off of the movie (book?) Enola Holmes and I read the book and watched bits and pieces of the movie a while ago so I thought I’d try it out! (let’s not mention that I literally remember 4 of the characters mentioned here because my brain is great with names irl but terrible with names in books)
I was tagged for this by the wonderful Madeline @The Bookish Mutant and please go and check out her amazing blog!

~Rules~

1. List the rules and the prompts of the tag in your post
2. Thank the person who tagged you and pingback to their post
3. Give credits to the creator of the tag, Bellerose Reads, and pingback to her post.
4. Tag at least 5 people to do the tag.

Enola Holmes: An independent and smart female protagonist

I’ll go with a choice that I don’t usually stick in book tags here–Emanuela from Beyond the Ruby Veil. The book itself was a little bit meh (bow down to my descriptive skills) but I would definitely describe our main character as ‘independent and smart’. She’s also a morally grey character so if you like that kind of stuff, maybe you should try this book!

Sherlock Holmes: Your favorite mystery/thriller book

Uh wow I don’t read much mystery or thriller. I think I’ll go with The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe–it was the most recent thriller I’ve read and it was also very good!

Eudoria Holmes: A character that defies the rules of their society

I don’t know if this is rules so much as stereotypes and judgement but throughout I’ll Be The One, Skye constantly has to face doubters and haters who don’t think she can/should be in a KPop competition given that she’s fat. She never backs down from the competition and shows everyone that no matter what you look like, you can get to your dreams.

Mycroft Holmes: The most annoying character you know

Uh wow that’s really tough. I mean, there’s a lot of annoying characters out there but how do I choose THE MOST annoying? My first thought went to characters who are homophobic/transphobic, etc. who are the antagonists of books (Simon vs, Felix Ever After) but those characters aren’t what I’d describe ‘annoying’, they’re awful. So I really don’t know what I’d go for, here.

Lord Tewksbury: A character you want to protect at all costs

There’s so many, but I’m going with what my brain immediately thought of: Jesper and Wylan (I know, I know, it’s two, I’m sorry…). I dunno, they are both just such beans and I must make sure they don’t get hurt. Though, if I had to choose one, I’d choose Wylan.

Inspector Lestrade: A loyal side character

My brain sometimes just thinks of a random book I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise, but I’ll go with Miles from Lore for this one. Miles is just a complete mortal with no connection to any of the greek god stuff going on in Lore but when Lore finds a dying goddess outside her house, he helps her with that. Lore and the others, too, constantly tell him to get out of there because it’s dangerous for him and he doesn’t need to be there but he stays and also proves himself useful many times.

Miss Harrison: A book that aged like milk

At first I was very confused as to what ‘like milk’ meant because clearly I don’t know that milk spoils okay then. Anyways. A book that aged badly…I can’t think of anything that aged too badly but recently I read the fourth book in the Magic Misfits series and it just wasn’t as enjoyable as I remember the first three being, probably because I’m just not as young anymore.

Linthorn: A character you hated from the very beginning

I guess I’ll say Minya from Strange the Dreamer, here. I get that Minya had a really traumatizing past and she was just trying to protect everyone, but she went around with it in a very bad way and she was just all out cruel.

Edith: Your favorite book with black rep.

It was really tough to choose, here, but I think I’ll go with Felix Ever After. It was just a really enjoyable book, possibly my favorite realistic fiction ever. It kept me totally engaged the whole time and I devoured it in one sitting to finish it.

Alright, there’s the end of the tag! I’m not gonna tag anyone because I don’t know who has/hasn’t watched/read the movie/book but if you have watched or read it, please try out this tag! It was super fun to do!

That’s all for this post! I really hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed doing it! Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner of the internet and have an amazing rest of your day! Sorry if this tag came off as a little bit rushed (because it was, indeed, rather rushed, but I still loved doing it). As always, stay safe and keep on reading!

Author interview and Book Giveaway of ‘A Bite of Revenge’ by Setayesh Kazempoor

Hey everyone! Today I’m back with yet another giveaway and this one is paired with an author interview!
Today, the book that I will be hosting a book giveaway for is ‘A Bit of Revenge,’ a short story published just this January, as well as an author interview with Setayesh Kazempoor.
But first, a little bit about the novella:

Demona’s life has gone off the rails. Having taken off from college with a bag of candy she stole from her enemy as last revenge, she’s suddenly able to let anyone do her bidding for two hours after she eats a piece of candy. Robbing banks has no longer become a want but a need. She craves money…and because of her newfound powers, avoiding the authorities is easy for her.
But when new agents are assigned to her case and will do anything to catch her….how long can she keep hidden? And what will the agents stop at to catch her?

I’ve conducted an interview with author Setayesh Kazempoor about writing, self publishing and her two published books! It was a super fun interview to do and all of Setayesh’s answers are super fascinating so I hope that you enjoy it!

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be an author?
A: I actually had no plan on becoming an author until I wrote The Deception along with my friends. It was at that point that I realized I wanted to keep writing. Before this, I had usually written for myself, or written for different activities that I had done. I’m glad now that I found the inspiration to keep writing, and hope to release more stories when I’m able to. 

Q: Before writing ‘A Bite of Revenge’, you previously collaborated with two of your friends to write your debut novel, ‘The Deception.’ How was writing this story alone different? What were some things that you liked better about writing together and writing alone?
A: Well, to start, I would like to say that everyone is different, and that can be a bit advantage in working collaboratively. One thing you’re able to realize is that people have so many different tastes in writing styles, and it helps to have a group of people there to give their opinion. It’s also a lot easier if you get writer’s block, and writing sessions can be quite enjoyable together! However, there were also advantages in working alone. I would say it was the flexibility to stay with your own original idea. When working with other people, you have to be more flexible in changing your original ideas, since it’s a group project, but the freedom in working alone is also very nice at times. 

Q: What made you choose to write a short story as your second published book instead of a full length novel like your first?
A: In reality, I had no idea how to even start writing a short story. I was taking a creative writing course, and it was there that I started writing the story. I presented the summary of the story for an assignment, and I wrote a (very) rough draft of the story then. I personally liked the idea, and decided to pursue writing the short story and publishing it.

Q: What inspired you to write this book? Where did you get the idea and what helped you keep going when you were stuck?
A: Again, I got the idea from the course I was taking. The idea behind the prompt given was to write a story about greed, and it turned into a different version of  A Bite of Revenge. I actually had no trouble getting through the first couple drafts of the story, but it was the editing that really got me (it gets me every time). 

Q: What did you learn while writing ‘A Bite of Revenge’? How did you grow as an author while writing it?
A: I truly do admire people who write a lot of short stories. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to structure the story, and I wanted a lot more plot twists while writing, but couldn’t add any because it was a short story. I love writing longer pieces, but I decided that this project was something I wanted to work on. I definitely learned a lot more about the structure of short stories, how to add plots that work in them, and things of that sort (which I did not know before). This experience was truly unique for me, and gave me an idea of a whole new writing style that I had not usually written in for anything other than personal projects. 

Q: You have self published both ‘The Deception’ and ‘A Bite of Revenge’. What is the process of self publishing like and what advice would you offer to those who wish to self publish in the future?
A: So to start off with the process of self-publishing, I would say that one of the most important things is figuring out your budget. When self-publishing, there are a lot of things you have to do yourself, such as hiring editors, designers, and formatters. Other than that, I would really suggest getting lots of suggestions on the story, from friends, family, writing groups, etc. This will provide a lot of insight into the story, and how well it’s doing with audiences. Other than that, you really just have to focus on getting a well thought out story. If you’re going to self-publish, look into the platforms that are available to you, and try to go with the one that you believe would work best for you. Uploading your manuscript and setting it for sale is an easy task, and usually sites do have step-by-step instructions. However, before you rush off and self-publish, keep in mind the words I said before. You have to do most everything yourself in self-publishing. If you really know that you’re not up for it, it may be best to query that manuscript to agents if you want it published. I personally have never been through that process, so I have no idea what it’s like, but I do hope to someday, as I would love to be a hybrid author. You can do the same if you feel comfortable, but be sure to look into both options, as there are a lot of differences you may want to know about. 

Q: What is some advice you have for aspiring authors?
A: You can do it. You really can. I know a lot of authors say this, but don’t ever be scared to start writing that book you’ve been dreaming about for so long. A lot of people can dream up a book, but a majority of that population also loses their motivation to continue when things get hard. If that has been you, remember, you can always pick up your old stories and start again. Find out what made you lose interest. That story that has been waiting inside of you may be something that one reader has been dreaming of reading. Don’t ever be afraid to share your creativity. 

Q: What was the best part of writing A Bite of Revenge? A part that you’re super excited for readers to read about?
A: My favorite part was probably writing the robbing scenes. It just fun to write in general, and it’s always enjoyable for me to write action scenes.

Now, more about the book giveaway!

• The giveaway is already up and running and will continue doing so until Monday, March 29, 2021. You will not be able to enter after this date.
• You must fill out all fields (name, email) to be considered
• You do not have to fill out your real name, however you must use your actual email given that that is how you will be reached in the case that you win.
• The book is available in .mobi, .epub and .pdf files
• When you enter the giveaway, please consider following my blog! I will not demand this but if you follow, you can find blog posts, book interviews, future book giveaways and more!

Click here to enter the giveaway!

Questions? Please ask me below! Don’t worry, I don’t bite! What do you think of this author interview? Does A Bite of Revenge sound interesting to you? Are you going to enter the giveaway! Please, let me know in the comments below!
As always, thanks for stopping by! Stay safe and keep reading!

‘Lorac’ Book Giveaway

Yeah, this is a post that I really should have put out a while ago. So many apologies to the author for taking so long to put out this post but I am finally hosting my second book giveaway! I’m so happy to be gifting one free e-copy of the book ‘Lorac’ by Neus Figueras. Let’s learn a little about this book.

I’d also like to acknowledge that yes, I have seen and am very grateful for the feedback of everyone who voted on my polls in my January Wrap up. I also realize that book giveaways were not among the highest voted for which posts people want to see more of. However, this is a post that really should have been up a long time ago and I hope that you still enjoy it! Also: free book! What’s not to love?

Lorac is a sea nomad, living on a small boat with his family for the most part of each year. But a series of events strikes in which he loses his family–for good–and gets stranded on an island. It becomes clear that the only way out of thise is to seek refuge–underwater. With a new friend named Zoe, Lorac is able to explore the depths of the ocean and create a new home for himself under the ocean. For years, Lorac lives in peace with many new friends. But a new problem arises–climate change. Lorac must leave the safety of his home for the first time to fight for the creatures he has come to love.
Lorac is a book of hope and one person’s determination to save his world.

Lorac is an amazing book for people of any age. It tells the story of a determined boy’s goal to save the oceans and stop climate change. It’s something that everyone should read because while no one could actually live underwater among marine creatures full-time, climate change is real and it is a threat. Not only is this an important book but it’s fun to read and Lorac is a delightful character!

You can also find the blog post on the book on my old blog here as well as the goodreads page here. To learn more about the book, the author and the author’s mission to save the seas, find her website here.

Now, more about the giveaway:

The copy of ‘Lorac’ is only available in .mobi, .epub and .pdf files. .mobi files work well on a kindle and you can of course read a pdf on a computer.

• The giveaway is already up and running and will continue doing so until Friday, February 19
• You must fill out all fields (name, email) to be considered
• You do not have to fill out your real name, however you must use your actual email given that that is how you will be reached in the case that you win.
• When you enter the giveaway, please consider following my blog! I will not demand this but if you follow, you can find blog posts, book interviews, future book giveaways and more!

Want to enter the giveaway? Click on the link below!

Enter the Giveaway!

Questions? Please ask in the comments! Don’t let your uncertainty scare you away, I promise I don’t bite!

Will you enter the book giveaway? Does ‘Lorac’ sound like an interesting book? What are your thoughts? I always love to start bookish conversations in the comments!
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read the blog post; it means the world. Stay safe and keep on reading!

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

So…you guys know how I did on my last review (hint: not well, since it was a month since I read the book).
…
Okay fine it’s been exactly a month (as of the day this post is published) since I read Cemetery Boys, as well.
Yeah, I really need to write my reviews sooner.
But I HOPE that I can still write this review pretty well because I LOVED reading this book.

Cemetery Boys | Aiden Thomas

Published September 1st | Swoon Reads

352 pages | Hardcover

Content warnings: Misgendering, dead naming, blood magic, self harm (for ritualistic purposes)

Rep: Trans gay Latinx MC, gay LI

When Yadriel’s traditional Latinx family puts off the ceremony that would cement him as a brujo – indefinitely – due to the fact that he’s trans, Yadriel becomes determined to prove to them that he is a true brujo. With the help of his cousin Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, before deciding to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

And Yadriel does summon a ghost – but not the ghost he was looking for. Instead, he’s found the ghost of Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy and Julian most certainly does not want to go into death quietly. The cause of his death is uncertain and Julian needs to know what happened. Yadriel agrees to help him with the mystery as long as Julian will let Yadriel release him without a complaint afterwards. But the longer that Yadriel spends around Julian, the more uncertain he is that he really wants him to go.

All summaries are my own unless otherwise stated. Parts of the summary may be borrowed from goodreads

Let me tell you a little story.
I first heard about Cemetery Boys in…April? May? Anyways, I was just starting to get into the book community. And WOW it sounded SO GOOD. But it didn’t come out until September, which was quite disappointing to me (I was new, what can I say, I wasn’t used to waiting long times for releases!).
Then, September rolled around and it got released and I was SUPER excited. But September was this sort of awkward time because I wanted to own it and so I could ask for it for Christmas but Christmas was sooooooo far away. And I really wanted to read it right. then.
I decided to wait for Christmas. And in all this time, I was reading reviews, hearing people rave about this book, and that just built up all the hype in my mind. It was practically my favorite book before I’d even read it! I was recommending it to people, I even voted for it on the goodreads choice awards! I loved it before I even had my hands on it.
Aaaaaaaaaand…..

It totally lived up to the hype!

Yadriel was a great protagonist. Honestly, I think that he acted a lot like how an actual teen would act. He’s just a kid trying to make his family see who he really is. I’ve seen a review or two complaining that he can be a little whiny at times but honestly I feel like that’s pretty justified given his family situation.

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Julian is pitched in the summary as ‘the school’s resident bad boy’. And I honestly think this is interesting and sort of gives insight as to how society labels us. The only bad things that Julian really did was skip school. He hung out places like under bridges with his group of friends because none of them had very good homes to go back to and just those two things were enough to make basically everyone have opinions about him. These kids at school didn’t even know him but were telling stories about how his brother took over the family drug trade and was selling it out of his mechanic shop. Don’t listen to everything you hear, kids. _{(tries to pretend she’s like 20 years older than everyone reading this even though she’s not)}.
But really, Julian is a super sweet person. He’s so loyal to his friends and worries about them so much even when he’s literally dead.

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And last but certainly not least, there’s Maritza. I loved Maritza because she’s so close to Yadriel. I really enjoy reading strong family relationships and though Yadriel’s relationship with the rest of his family is not so great, Maritza’s always by his side, always supporting him.

Honestly, when I picked this up, I was expecting more plot than this. I mean really from the summary I wasn’t sure what kind of book to expect, aside from ghosts (spirit! Ghost is a derogatory term). But whatever it was, it was not this. I maybe expected some adventure, it’s talking about ‘agreeing to help Julian’ (goodreads summary) so for some reason that always makes me think of two people setting out on a quest to do blah and blah and blah
But, no matter what the plot actually was like, I enjoyed this a lot! It was a lot more…relaxed than I thought? I’m not entirely sure what that means since, like, there was a time limit and death and blood etc. but yep, that’s what I’m thinking about this right now. The mind of Phoenix works in mysterious ways, my friends.

And of course, we cannot discuss this book without discussing the awesome way that Aiden Thomas wove trans and LGBTQIAP+ issues into the plot. The way that these things were commented on in the book never slowed the plot down and yet it was still such an important part of the book. This was really awesome to see because I just don’t see many books that manage to do this so successfully.

Queer Folk are like wolves. We travel in packs

Quote from Julian. I just had to add this in here.

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 | Plot: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 | Romance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Find some other awesome Cemetery Boys book reviews at Never Not Reading and The Bookish Mutant! Also, The Quiet Pond did an interview with the author, Aiden Thomas!

Have you read Cemetery Boys? What do you think of this post? I’d love to hear your opinion on my opinion–just as long as it’s respectful!
As always, thank you so much for checking out this post–it means the world. Stay safe and keep on reading!

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to my first book review of 2021! I actually read “I Wish You All the Best” in December of 2020 but here we are in 2021

I Wish You All the Best | Mason Deaver

Published May 14, 2019 | Push

329 pages | ebook

Content Warnings: Accidental misgendering, purposeful misgendering, transphobia, being kicked out of the house, panic attacks, alcohol use.

It only takes three words for Ben DeBacker to be kicked out of their house–I am non-binary. Pushed out on the street with nothing but the clothes on their back, they’re forced to move in with their older sister Hannah, who they haven’t seen in ten years, and her husband who they’ve never met. Struggling with anxiety and the worries of starting a new school, they decide to only come out to Hannah, her husband Thomas and their therapist.
But when Ben starts school, they meet Nathan Allen, a funny student determined to help Ben adjust to their new life. Things begin to look up as they become more friendly with Nathan and his friends. Suddenly, it seems like they may be able to start over in their last half of senior year after all.

Please note: All summaries are written by me, Phoenix @Books With Wings unless otherwise stated.

This book…well, I really enjoyed this book. It was a very sad but very sweet story and it was just nice to read. It was probably the first book I read in under 24 hours in a very long time.
Honestly I’m sort of regretting writing this review now, January 9 (yeah you can see how on top of blogging I am) when I read this book in mid December. I have a short term book memory! But alright, let’s go.

“I Wish You All The Best” follows Ben DeBacker, a high school senior who’s life was upturned when their parents kicked them out of the house and they’re forced to move in with their sister and her husband. Ben has never met their sister’s husband and hasn’t seen their sister in ten years. First of all, I can’t imagine how difficult and painful that would be. Ben didn’t even expect their parents to kick them out…they knew it could be a possibility but it just seemed very extreme to them. And the fact that it really did happen…wow.

UPDATE: okay I’m not entirely sure what the point of this entire above section was since it seems like I just paraphrased my summary of the book…which I paraphrased (partly) from goodreads. But hey I guess I’ll leave it so you can see ALL my thoughts and the things going through my head haha.

I think that my favorite character was proooobably Nathan. He just…well I liked that he took Ben under his wing. I feel like in books, the funny kid is sorta the popular one who doesn’t really interact with the misfit main character (yeah, that’s gotta be a trope) but Nathan is totally cool with showing Ben around the school on their first day and then sticking with them! I loved to see their friendship grow and also, well, Nathan was just super sweet.

I thought that Miriam was also an awesome character and I think that to have them in the story added a really interesting feature. Miriam lives in California, all the way across the country from Ben, and Ben found out about them through the videos they filmed. Throughout the book, though they’re not exactly present for it, Miriam is a huge role model for Ben and they’re actually friends online. I feel like this is a pretty important part of the book with the online aspect…that online is where Ben figures out who they are and really gets their first friend who understands them and can help them. Parents are very suspicious of all things online it feels like (at least for me) but sometimes it can really help to have online friends (not saying you should go around having video chats and meeting up irl with everyone you meet online, just saying that you can really find some close friends online who are super awesome).

Now onto the plot.
So, I’ve seen some people out there saying that there’s not really a plot to this book.
I can see…a plot? At least some of it. I mean basically the plot of the book is Ben readjusting after their life was completely turned upside down and trying to get through senior year. I can see how that’s not much of a plot…definitely nothing like any fantasy adventure books or anything…but I still liked it. I really enjoyed reading a non binary protagonist because that’s not something that you see very often. I feel like I’m amazed that authors are actually able to write entire books about people just…living (see this is why I always fail to write realistic fiction) but I find that most authors who write realistic fiction are good at making it interesting (they DID get published after all and while I know not all published things are perfect, mooooost of them are good? In my opinion?)

Well. I feel like this…wasn’t the most perfect review and really I should write my reviews sooner to the time that I actually, you know, read the books, but…here we go I’m super sorry how short this post is and hopefully I can get you a longer and more…detailed post next week, and a much better book review the week after that.
Thank you all so much for reading, it means the world! As always, stay safe and keep on reading!