Archives for August 2021

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! • HC vs PB: Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

August 30, 2021 Comments : 2

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe), and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

**HC vs. PB: Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali**

Reviews

REVIEW • The Housekeeper Sees All (All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue)

August 25, 2021 Comment : 1

Maeve’s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card—and then disappears.

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily’s gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.

myreview

I received this book for free from Walker Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First sentence: “The story of how I ended up with the Chokey Card Tarot Consultancy can be told in four detentions, three notes sent home, two bad report cards, and one Tuesday afternoon that ended with me locked in a cupboard. “

Be careful of the power that tarot cards can bring.

For Irish teenager Maeve Chambers, she doesn’t know that. All that she knows is that she was cleaning out the Chokey—a long cupboard akin to a closet in the basement of her school—as punishment and left with tarot cards in her hands. Thus begins her foray into the tarot card business, where Maeve gains the attention from her peers. It’s all great until she does a reading for her ex-best friend Lily, and the next day, said ex-best friend disappears. Did Maeve have a hand at Lily’s disappearance or is there more at foot? Something more sinister and supernatural?

Discussion

BOOKS IN HAND • Bestselling Mangas in July 2021

August 23, 2021 Leave a Comment

BOOKS IN HAND—a blog feature where I show the top-selling books at my bookstore!

In the past 12 months, my bookstore has been selling an insaneeeee amount of manga, and what do I do with that knowledge? See which ones customers are asking for!

And that’s what this post is—seeing the top selling mangas of July 2021! (There was no post for June because I forgot to look up the information.)

MANGA

Chainsaw Man Vol. 1 | I Want To Eat Your Pancreas | Hunter x Hunter Vol. 1 |
Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 11 | Horimiya Vol. 1

Discussion

BOOKS IN HAND • What Customers Bought in July 2021

August 8, 2021 Leave a Comment

We’re selling a lot of the same books now, and I can’t wait to see new titles. During the last week of February 2018, I pondered about what type of post to make for “Books in Hand.” At first, I planned to discuss all the books customers came in asking for or buying, but that’s a bit too much because everybody came in asking for different books, and I didn’t remember all of them. My boss showed me a way to check our store’s best selling books, and I found out what we sold a lot of! And that’s what this post is—seeing the top selling books of July 2021!

FICTION