Pocket Book Reviews {April 2017}

Who else is so happy that it's warm because now they can read outside?! I love grabbing a book and reading outside a Starbucks with a delicious iced peach green tea! It's such a great way to relax on the weekends. Where's your favorite place to read in the spring and summer?

Heartless

♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Marissa Meyer; Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. She wants to open her own bakery, but her mother wants her to be queen. But at a royal ball Cath meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Now this is a dark, intense version of Wonderland! I really enjoyed following Cath's story from naive baker to the cold-hearted queen we all know from Alice in Wonderland. She starts off as a nice girl with big dreams of opening a bakery, but of course things never go according to plan, and slowly her kindness begins to shed, especially towards the end.

Her secret romance with Jest was so sweet and despite guessing how it would end I rooted for them nonetheless. Jest is an interesting character; he was charming and fun and had a lot of tricks up his sleeve...literally!

This version of Wonderland was intriguing: certainly not as whimsical, but still full of wonder. I liked how Cath's dreams manifest trees and flowers, how like from the original tale some foods and drinks could change your size and you had to be wary, that animals and plants could talk, and that Time was a real person.

The reason I took a point away and didn't give it a full 5 stars was because I didn't feel as connected to Cath as I would've liked. I found her interesting and I was rooting for her, but I found many of the other characters more three-dimensional than her. And I think I'm also a little sad at how Hatter was portrayed in this. He's not the fun and silly person we all love; he's a much crueler version.

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The Fill-In Boyfriend
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Kasie West; When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend—two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

You wouldn't think a YA romance could be deep, but this one is at times. Most of the time it's fun and charming and undeniably cute, but it also delves into self-doubt, lying to yourself and others, and pretending everything is okay when it isn't. Gia is the every girl. She's a good student, a good daughter, a good friend, and a good girlfriend. What I liked about this book in particular is that it shows that just being good to the people you're closest to isn't enough sometimes. Gia never really lets her friends and family get close to her and it harms her relationships. And it's the guy that fills in for her boyfriend and his sister that make Gia open up.

More so than Gia, I loved fill-in boy's sister Bec. She wears all black all the time, she's true to herself, she's tough on the outside but a teddy bear on the inside, and she's snarky. She was my favorite character hands down. At times the drama and the dialogue in this book were dumb, and yet I still really enjoyed this book.

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Dumplin'
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Julie Murphy; Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked until Will takes a job at Harpy’s and meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant. 

OMG! I don't think I can love a book any more than I love this one! Talk about a perfect contemporary read; it's full of sass, friendships, first love, hurt, harsh words, family, and lots of love!

Willowdean is my new favorite character! She's everything I wish I'd been in high school: she's sassy and confident, she stands up for people, she encourages her friends, and yet she's also a realistic and flawed person because she's bad at communicating, she's stubborn, and at times she's judgy. She really comes alive when reading this story.

This book is the perfect amount of awesome and entertaining story with a little bit of a morale-booster thrown in! Willowdean's words of encouragement to herself (and the person reading) are a delight and made me smile. Like how to wear a bathing suit: Have a body. Put a bathing suit on it.

And the part with the cross-dressing Dolly Parton's was amazing! I need more Willowdean, all of these characters, more pageant fun, and more of this little Texas town!

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Anne of Green Gables
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by L.M. Montgomery; The spunky Anne Shirley, begins her adventures at Green Gables, a farm outside Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. When the freckled girl realizes that the elderly Cuthberts wanted to adopt a boy instead, she begins to try to win them and, consequently, the reader, over.

Why didn't I read this book sooner?! Anne of Greem Gables and Anne herself are a delight! She's firstly, stubborn, talkative, imaginative, compassionate, intelligent, and just downright amazing. I love how creative she is and renames beautiful things in nature to suit her, like the Lake of Shining Waters. Despite the misfortunes of her past, she rises above them and is a strong-willed and kind person who's always willing to help others, even though sometimes it doesn't turn out how she was expecting. All of the characters are so real and go through real problems that anyone could relate to.

You can now call me an Anne of a Green Gables fan! And I'm definitely going to continue reading the books!

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What If?: Serious Scientific Answers To Absurd Hypothetical Questions
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Randall Munroe; Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his popular site XKCD. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. He liked these questions so much that he started up What If in order to answer them.

I'm not that big of a science nerd, but I do like knowing lots of useless, random information, so I found this book fantastic! Plus, the hypothetical situations were intriguing and made me really want to know how or if it could be done and what the consequences would be.

All of answers are scientific and yet easy to understand for the layperson and also pretty funny. I found myself cracking up a lot while listening to this. I think it helps that Wil Wheaton read this; his voice just lends itself to weird science humor.

I would totally recommend this!

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What did you read this month?

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Pocket Book Reviews {March 2017}

Every time I make a dent in my reading jar list of unread books, I end up getting more books! At least the few books I got were ebooks and don't take up any physical space, but I still had to add them to my jar. One day that jar will be near empty and I'll read books as fast I get them. Never mind, that's never ever going to happen!

I'm currently at 23 books read out of my 85 book goal. How's your reading goal going so far?

Waking Gods (Sleeping Giants #2)*
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Sylvain Neuvel; humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars.

Can I give this book 10 stars please?! It starts off ten years after the first book and begins a bit slow, but once a new giant robot alien lands in the middle of London things start to pick up really fast. Sleeping Giants introduced us to our robot Themis and this group of clever and crazy cast of characters, like Rose and Kara and Vincent and "our friend." In Waking Gods, we really get to care about these people and fear for them and want them to survive what could be the end of the world.

Thirteen bigger, stronger, more advanced alien robots land all around the world and the ensuing chaos had me turning the pages as fast as I could read the words. I had to know what was going to happen next! I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that shit gets real.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book, and the first one, is that it's a thought-provoking sci-fi. It's sci-fi with a brain and a heart. Eugene is a mysterious man, but his conversations with "our friend" and Rose made me think about life as a human being, our shortcomings and strengths, possible life outside our little planet, that other species would have different cultures and ideas and methods and beliefs. It's like anthropology on a whole other level. It's fascinating and terrifying and amazing. Reading this book made me think about things I never considered before, which is cool in and of itself, but it helps that this book is entertaining as hell too!

*I received a copy from NetGalley.

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We Should All Be Feminists
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. 

"Anger has a long history of bringing out positive change. But I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better."

This book is wonderful! It's so tiny that it took me less then 45 minutes to read it, so there's no excuse for anyone NOT to read it! It's enlightening and moving and hopeful. This book states so plainly that women should be inherently treated equally to men and yet it's our culture that makes this not so. But people form culture, so it's up to us, our anger, our intelligence, to make these changes. It's up to us to stand up to cultural norms and reform them into a culture of equality.

Read this book now!

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Maybe In Another Life
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid; At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and lives in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

I seem to be in the minority of thinking this book was good but nothing amazing. I liked Hannah and following both tracks of her story. She's a girl who at first has no idea what she wants to do or where she belongs and only once she meets up with her best friend Gabby in LA does she feel at home again, which I liked. I loved their friendship so much! It was real! They had weird inside jokes and teased each other and were always there for each other during hard times.

My main issue with this book is that both timelines in Hannah's life ended up being almost identical. At first they were so different, but I wanted them to keep getting more different, but *SPOILER ALERT* the only difference is the men she ended up with and the baby. Even Gabby ended up with the same man. And she ended up being a nurse in both timelines. I wanted the end results to be glaringly different and they weren't at all.

Still, it was an interesting and enjoyable read.

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Ronit & Jamil
♥♥ (2 hearts)

Written by Pamela L. Laskin; This novel in verse delivers a fresh and captivating retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that transports the star-crossed lovers to the modern-day Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Ronit, an Israeli girl, lives on one side of the barrier fence. Jamil, a Palestinian boy, lives on the other side. Only miles apart but separated by generations of conflict—much more than just the concrete blockade between them.

It makes me so sad to give this book a bad review because I had such high hopes for it. A modern Romeo and Juliet set around the Israeli-Palestine border and told in verse sounds amazing and yet it fell short. Very short.

While at times the verse was pretty (I especially liked the two chapters from the fathers' perspectives), most of the time it was just confusing and repetitive. I think this book would've been so much better if it was told in narration. Then we would've gotten a better feel for the setting and the characters and the food. Because in verse, it was all told not shown. I couldn't see or taste or smell anything, which is a shame because the story mentions delicious food and walking in markets.

The other major problem are the characters: Ronit and Jamil sound exactly the same. Maybe that's intentional to show that Jews and Arabs aren't so different, but they had no personality differences. They talk about the same things in almost the exact same way. Narration instead of verse could've helped with this too. 

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I've Got Your Number
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Sophie Kinsella; Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring but her phone is stolen. She spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Except that the phone’s owner, Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

I'd say the first 75% of this book is 4 stars and the last 25% is 3 stars, so overall it's really a 3.5 stars. I really, really enjoyed the first half immensely. Poppy is an absolute delight of a character. She's so likable and kind and I want to be friends with her. The story idea is so cute and makes for great comedy and I had a fun time following Poppy's misadventures while she tries to locate her ring and keeps getting involved in Sam's business. I like Sam too, though I wanted to like him more, I wanted the character to open up more by the end, but he was still a bit of a closed shell.

However, it's the last 25%-ish of the book that got on my nerves. [Read my spoilery review here.] Despite the annoyance at the end, I still enjoyed this and will continue to read her books because they're so charming!

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The Bicycle Spy
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Yona Zeldis McDonough; Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, but ever since Germany's occupation of France began the race has been canceled. Now there are soldiers everywhere. Then Marcel learns two big secrets, and he realizes there are worse things about the war than a canceled race. 

A simple but not less any emotional tale of a boy who lives in German-occupied France during World War II. Marcel discovers that his parents are part of the resistance and are using loaves of bread to send messages, and he gets involved when he finds out a friend of his needs their help. It's a simplistic story since it's for kids, but the fear of what people experienced back then remains in the story and adds depth and emotion. A wonderful story!

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Have you read any of these books?

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Pocket Book Reviews {February 2016} + Before I Fall Giveaway

My reading game was on point this month! I read eight books and they were all very different and all very amazing (except for two, but they can't all be winners).

I'm writing this before Saturday because I have a lot going on this weekend, but the exciting thing happening on Saturday is that I'm going to an advanced screening of Before I Fall! The film, which comes out March 3rd, is based on the book by Lauren Oliver and stars Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, and Jennifer Beals.

The book and movie have an interesting concept: after a deadly accident, a teenage girl wakes up every day on the same day a la Groundhog Dog in order to correct mistakes and prevent the accident. I haven't read the book yet, but I've heard great things about it, and I always like reading the book a movie is based on to see how different they are. Enter the giveaway below!

Wires & Nerve
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Marissa Meyer and Douglas Holgate; In her first graphic novel, bestselling author Marissa Meyer extends the world of the Lunar Chronicles with a brand-new, action-packed story about Iko, the android with a heart of (mechanized) gold. When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers' leader. 

YASSSSSS! So happy to be delving back into The Lunar Chronicles world!This graphic novel is a delight and has all the elements that I loved from the novels: ass-kicking moments, intrigue, humor, emotion, and great moments between the main characters. Despite the art only being in blue, black, and white, it's emotive and lovely and I was never once confused about what was going on. The art really comes alive as you read it!

I love that Iko is at the forefront of this story! It's told from her perspective and we get so much insight about what it's like to be her -- a unique android that can think and feel for itself. Despite her close friends, she still feels lonely and doesn't always fit in and is constantly told that she's a glitch. She funnels these emotions into being a bad ass girl who hunts down monsters wreaking havoc on Earth.

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Can You Keep A Secret?
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Sophie Kinsella; Meet Emma Corrigan, a woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her.

This is a really enjoyable book! It's funny enough that I actually laughed out loud a few times, has a lot of entertaining coincidences throughout, and the characters are believable, if a bit annoying at times. It's easy to root for Emma because she's nice and awkward at times, she overthinks things, she's passive-aggressive, and she talks too much when she's nervous, which is how she gets into this whole situation in the first place.

The reason I brought this book down to 3 stars is because it felt like there was too much back and forth of this guy is a jerk, this guy isn't a jerk, this guy is a jerk. By the end, I wasn't sure whether to like him or not, and to be honest I don't. Jack is allowed to be a private person and have trust issues, but mostly he was just annoying. But I am glad Emma got her happy ending and that Jack finally learned to trust someone.

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The Hating Game
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Sally Thorne; Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down.

Words cannot describe how much I freaking love this book! Asjfudbajfirhrkx is a more accurate way to describe it. This book is downright hilarious, super steamy, and just so much fun to read. The sexual tension between Lucy and Joshua is--wow, is it hot in here?

Lucy is the funniest person -- the way she describes things and looks at the world made me laugh so much. She's charming and weird and a short girl just like I am, which made me really happy. Josh is a real heartthrob -- moody, intense, shy, and will do anything for Lucy. The way they bicker like an old married couple had me cracking up on every page.

I loved every word and I already want to read it again. If you haven't yet, go read it immediately.

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Everland
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Wendy Spinale; London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived the destruction and the outbreak of a deadly virus are children, among them sixteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her younger siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their days avoiding the deadly Marauders led by the cutthroat Captain Hook. Until one day when they grab Joanna. Gwen will stop at nothing to get her sister back, but as she sets out, she crosses paths with a daredevil named Pete. 

This was my first Peter Pan retelling and it is such a fascinating and dark take on the story.

So here are the things I liked: it's a dark, post-apocalyptic retelling with a side of steampunk, the virus aspect made things really interesting and I wasn't expecting it, and the plot takes you on an exciting ride.

Things I thought could use improvement: the characters feel like of bland, the dialogue is super melodramatic and cliche, and the pacing was fine but I feel like the story took place in too short of a time (only a day after meeting the Lost Boys and Gwen says she feels like a part of the family. Like, really?).

I did enjoy reading Everland, but those things hindered me from really, really liking it. But I'll probably read the next book in the series to see what happens next with the Lost Boys and crew.

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Lady Cop Makes Trouble (Kopp Sisters #2)
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Amy Stewart; Constance Kopp is one of the nation’s first deputy sheriffs. She's proven that she can’t be deterred, evaded, or outrun. But when the wiles of a German-speaking con man threaten her position and her hopes for this new life, and endanger the honorable Sheriff Heath, Constance may not be able to make things right. 

Constance Kopp is a bad ass! In the second installment, we get to see Constance as a deputy police officer and it's glorious. She goes after criminals without hesitation and is not afraid to get physical (as in pinning them to the ground to be handcuffed).

But as it's 1915, Constance deals with her fair share of sexism and I wanted to scream for her that women can do anything a man can do, but Constance doesn't let it faze her. Instead, she SHOWS that a woman can do anything a man can do (and sometimes do it better) by finding clues and hunting down criminals. If only all cops were like Constance! I really enjoyed this book and was happy to delve back into Constance's world. 

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The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes Mystery #2)
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Brittany Cavallaro; Charlotte isn’t the only Holmes with secrets, and the mood at her family’s Sussex estate is palpably tense. Then Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring—and the game is afoot once again.

The pace is a lot slower and the mystery kind of all over the place with this one, so I didn't enjoy it as much as the first, but what saved it for me were the relationships between the characters. The intense friendship between Charlotte and Jamie only got more intense in this book and I ship them so hard. They are two very complicated people, but I'm rooting for their romance all the same. Charlotte needs Jamie in her life, probably even more so than Sherlock needed John.

I'm so glad we finally got introduced to Milo and August. Milo feels very much like Mycroft in that he's involved in foreign affairs and is only concerned about himself. As for August, I'm glad he wasn't your typical Moriarty. I liked him right off the bat and I like the small friendship that developed between him and Jamie.

So the plot: to be honest, I wasn't as invested as I wanted to be. Leander is a cool uncle and I wanted Charlotte, Jamie, and crew to find him (and for them to figure out who poisoned her mom), but it didn't have the same rush and adrenaline as I hoped it would. Where was the excitement? Things picked up towards the end and I got into it, but the mystery mostly confused me. Guess I'm not as smart as Charlotte lol! Even at the end when things were being revealed I was still confused, but the VERY END was a total whoa! And in a good way!

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Denton Little's Deathdate
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Lance Rubin; Denton Little’s Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day on which they will die. For Denton, that’s in just two days—the day of his senior prom. Denton’s life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

That was, without a doubt, the funniest book I've ever read! I can't remember laughing so much while reading a book! I actually laughed so hard I cried a few times. Denton Little is a hilarious character and he's such a teenage boy that it makes this whole book even funnier. He's smart and kind, but also just wants to have sex before his deathdate. I loved his awesome friendship with weird, loyal Paolo, who has some of the best jokes. It's really the characters that make this book shine because this story could be morbid, but because of Denton, Paolo, Millie, Veronica, Taryn, and Phil it's delightful.

The idea that everyone knows the day they die is interesting and Rubin did a great job of exploring what this would be like. It's a mix of being a relief and scary and strange, and still doesn't make dying any easier.

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Ms. Marvel, Vol. 6
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by G. Willow Wilson; As war intensifies, tragedy strikes too close to home - and Ms. Marvel must choose between her heroes and her family. When friends become foes, Ms. Marvel struggles to put her life and Jersey City back together. Kamala will be forced to grow up fast and find her true place in the world. But will she be an international sensation...or a menace? 

This was absolutely fantastic! I think this was my favorite volume so far! This one was a real emotional punch to the gut and it also really makes you think. The whole predictive justice is an interesting idea -- and something that seems like a good idea at first -- until it's in action and until people are being called criminals before they commit crimes. And the whole thing with Bruno is heartbreaking!

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Pocket Book Reviews {January 2017}

Started the year off strong by reading seven books from a variety of genres, so, you know, already killin' it in 2017! Let's hope I can keep the momentum going for the rest of the year. Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you read this month.

P.S. -- See outfits based on four of these books here!

The Thousandth Floor
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Katharine McGee; It's one hundred years in the future and the Tower takes up most of New York City. It's a thousand-story building stretching toward the sky. The future is about innovation, but people never change and five teens living in the Tower all want something and all have something to lose. 

Wow! I'm stunned by this book and how much I enjoyed it! This book has been called "Gossip Girl in the future," so I wasn't sure I'd like it since I wasn't a big fan of Gossip Girl, but it definitely has that feel. It's essentially about rich and poor teens whose dramas and problems start to overlap all while living in a huge tower in the future.

And it's as impressive as the Tower and the technology they use every day. It's an exciting, drama-filled novel with twists and romances and betrayals and I honestly couldn't get enough.

The five main characters -- Avery, Leda, Eris, Rylin, and Watt -- are believable teenagers who don't always deal with their problems in the correct way, get overly emotional, think their problems are the end of the world, and each have a fascinating story. And they actually have parents, who look out for them or are sometimes also part of the problem. It's not one of those books where the parents are nowhere to be seen.

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The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase #2)
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Rick Riordan; Thor's hammer is missing. Again. But it isn't just lost. It's fallen into enemy hands and if Magnus and his friends don't retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. 

I really enjoyed this since it started off strong and finished strong, but I lost interest in the middle. For a while there, I just didn't care about what was happening. But once we got to the wedding part, the story picked up and I had to know how Magnus, Sam, and Alex were going to fix things.

I think it's really cool that Riordan introduced a gender-fluid character. At times it's awkward for Magnus to not know whether to call Alex him or her and some characters are rude to Alex by saying he's not fully male or not fully female, and it's very reminiscent of what transgender people face. I think it's great that this character has been introduced into this world (and ours!), so that kids can see what it's like for Alex and what he/she has to deal with.

Because of the ending, I'm am so pumped for the next book! More Loki! And a favorite character being introduced into this series!

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Love Is Love
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Edited by Marc Andreyko; The comic industry comes together to honor those killed in the Orlando Pulse shooting. This comic contains moving and heartfelt material mourning the victims, supporting the survivors, and celebrating the LGBTQ community. 

If you're looking for a collection of comics to restore your faith in humanity this is it! It's heart-wrenching, heartbreaking, but mostly heartwarming. While reading this I found myself experiencing a range of emotions: there were comics that made me laugh, made me smile, made my heart hurt, made me happy, and made me tear up. This collection gave me hope that more people will stand together than stand apart. Absolutely beautiful!

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Girl Waits With Gun (#1)
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Amy Stewart; A novel based on the forgotten true story of a one of the nation's first female deputy sheriffs. Constance Kopp and her sisters get into a buggy accident with a powerful silk factory owner and a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats, but Constance will not back down.

Girl Waits With Gun feels less like I'm reading a book and more like a conversation. It feels like Constance Kopp is telling me about a year in her life. And I highly enjoyed it!

Everything about this book feels so real and true to life: the bickering between the Kopp sisters, the way the men treated Constance and the other women as less than (it is 1914), the instinctual fear the Kopp sisters had for Henry Kaufman and his men, the slow pace of the judicial system, and the boredom the sisters face because they're neither married nor working.

The best part of this book are the sisters: Constance is the oldest and a firecracker. She's taller than most men, she's smart as a whip, has a strong moral compass, and has no problem standing up for others. The flashbacks throughout the book were fascinating and informative about how Constance became the tough but moral woman she is. I enjoyed all of the sisters for different reasons since they're all so believable, but especially loved Constance and her determination to get justice for her family from Henry Kaufman after he torments them with threats. 

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The Castoffs, Vol. 1: Mage Against the Machine
 ♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by M.K. Reed, Brian Smith, and Molly Ostertag; When three apprentice mages are sent to help a neighboring guild, they reignite a decade-old war with a robot army that has destroyed the world. 

A really interesting start to a new comic series! It has a Lumberjanes feel to it because it's about three young woman who go on a mission to save people while dealing with crazy and scary creatures. The added bonus in The Castoffs is that all three girls -- Charris, Ursa, and Trinh -- have different powers and the powers themselves fit nicely with their personalities; it's like an extension of themselves.

Not going to lie, the beginning part really confuses me since they were entirely different characters and I don't see how they fit in with the three girls yet. I also felt that the end got resolved too quickly and too easily, but it did end on a fun cliffhanger. I would definitely continue reading the series.

*Received from NetGalley.

Add to Goodreads (pub date: April 12th)

Who Could That Be At This Hour? (All The Wrong Questions #1)
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Lemony Snicket; A young Lemony Snicket begins his apprenticeship for a secret organization shrouded in secrecy. Now he has written an account of his childhood and the mystery he begins to solve in this new series. 

After reading A Series of Unfortunate Events and watching the new show on Netflix, I wasn't ready to be done with Lemony Snicket's world, so I picked this up and it was a great idea on my part. It feels very much like Snicket's more famous works on the Baudelaire children since it has his famous wit and snarkiness and realist attitude. Here Snicket is a young boy of 12 on his first adventure after his unusual education, which he only alludes to. What starts off as a straightforward mystery turns into something much more complicated and I highly enjoyed it, as well as the intriguing characters who are always more than they seem. Perfect for people who love A Series of Unfortunate Events!

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Frostblood 
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Elly Blake; Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow the king, she agrees to help in order to have her revenge. 

Well, that was a fun ride! If you're looking for a hate-to-love romance set in a fascinating fantastical and almost-Medieval world then this is for you.

I'm not going to lie, Fireblood has a ton of issues and is SO cliche in many ways (evil king, young warrior with closed off emotions, stubborn heroine, death of a parent, spy in the castle), and yet I really enjoyed it. Ruby's fierceness and fiery personality and her ability to care for others really saved this book for me. It's through her eyes that we experience this world and because of that this world became a real place. Her kindness for others is something I related to strongly and it made me root for her. I also liked that she wasn't one of those heroines were her talents come easily; she struggled and she worked hard to hone her powers.

Despite this book's issues, I really did enjoy it! The world of fire and frost is absolutely enchanting and believable and just so cool! The folk tales, the powers, the darkness, the warring nations, and the royalty. I enjoyed all of those aspects so much and I look forward to seeing more of that in the next book!

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Have you read any of these books?

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Pocket Book Reviews {December 2016}

I hit a bit of a reading slump this month. I'm currently at 93 books, which surpassed my goal of 80 books for the year, but I only read three books in December. I was really hoping to read more to make up for not reading much in November. I'm currently in the middle of three books (The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour, The Hammer of Thor, and The Blazing Star) and really want to finish them before January for a fresh start, but I don't see that happening. Oops. 

I got The Blazing Star from NetGalley, but it might DNF it. It's just not holding my interest at all. I hate to stop reading a book less than halfway through, but I have absolutely zero desire to keep going. Have you ever DNF'd a book? 

Scythe
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 stars)

Written by Neal Shusterman; A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

This is one of the best books I've ever read! Ever! It has all of the things I look for in a book: fascinating premise, interesting and complicated characters you root for (and some you love to hate), and moments that make you think. This book has all of that. 

I picked up this book because the idea that humans can only die by being gleaned fascinated me, but I kept reading because this book is thought-provoking, chilling, and surprising in many ways. It always threw me for a loop and in a good way. The plot and pacing in this book is incredible and I never knew what was going to happen next. 

Citra and Rowan are both unique, flawed, and complicated characters and I enjoyed reading from both of their points of view and seeing how they changed over the course of the book. Rowan especially is a fascinating character. 

This book made me think about nature, life, death, murder, suicide, mortality, immortality, religion, and being a bystander to crime. So many times while reading this book, I would read a sentence or paragraph that rings so true and is so well put.

One in particular is this: "My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There's no version of god that can help us if we ever lose that." 

This book is beautiful and insightful and just plain incredible and everyone should read it.

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Gotham Academy, Vol. 3: Yearbook
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 stars)

Written by Brenden Fletcher, Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs, and Rafael Albuquerque; The students of Gotham's most prestigious prep school are back and they've just survived one heck of a year within the walls of Gotham Academy. Now it's time for everyone to look back and experience some of the lost adventures from the school year that was. 

What a fantastic volume! This is my favorite so far! I loved that while Maps and Olive follow Robin in the present, there are several short stories interspersed throughout about the past and stories that Maps has heard. It made this volume such a delight to read and each story was drawn by a different artist, which I think is unique and fun to read. Gotham Academy is mostly about the friendship between Olive and Maps, but I think it really shined here. Great collection!

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The Princess Saves Herself In This One
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 stars)

Written by Amanda Lovelace; A poetry collection divided into four different parts: the princess, the damsel, the queen, & you. the princess, the damsel, & the queen piece together the life of the author in three stages, while you serves as a note to the reader & all of humankind. Explores life & all of its love, loss, grief, healing, empowerment, & inspirations.

This book of poetry is INCREDIBLE! I'm in awe of Amanda Lovelace's ability to string simple words together and make them into something emotional and powerful and beautiful. I honestly don't know how to describe how much I love this collection of poetry. I wasn't sure what to expect reading this, but these poems about Lovelace's life and thoughts and dreams and fears and hopes are so emotionally charged and will ring true for everyone who reads them. I've always found poetry too hard to decipher, too hard to dig through the words to get to the truth of them, but that's not so with this book. The truth is right there at the surface and yet each poem is stunning and makes you think. 

This is a book that I know I will re-read over and over. And you should too. 

Love this poem:

"once upon 

a time,

the princess

rose from the ashes

her dragon lovers

made of her

&

crowned

herself

the 

mother-fucking

queen of

herself."

What did you read this month?

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