May 22, 2018 • Cee • Comics

All Vera wants to do is fit in—but that’s not easy for a Russian girl in the suburbs. Her friends live in fancy houses and their parents can afford to send them to the best summer camps. Vera’s single mother can’t afford that sort of luxury, but there’s one summer camp in her price range—Russian summer camp.

Vera is sure she’s found the one place she can fit in, but camp is far from what she imagined. And nothing could prepare her for all the “cool girl” drama, endless Russian history lessons, and outhouses straight out of nightmares!

myreview

I received this book for free from First Second (Macmillan) for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First sentence: “The Prince is holding a ball!!”

If you want to make friends, you gotta be willing to sacrifice yourself and prepare yourself. We’ve been that kid who had trouble making friends because they were different—racially, culturally, financially. We just wanted to fit in—no matter what needed to be done.

In Be Prepared, all Vera wants to do is fit in. She doesn’t want to be the weird Russian girl who can’t afford luxuries that the other girls at her school can afford. When she finds out there’s a Russian summer camp, Vera jumps on the chance to finally make friends with people who are like her. However, camp is not all that it’s cracked up to be.

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May 17, 2018 • Cee • Discussion

Currently Reading will act as my check-in, letting you guys know what I’m forever reading at the moment, and what I’m enjoying about it. I’m not gonna discuss books that are on my priority October TBR list. Instead, I’m gonna talk about the books I picked up on a whim this month.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place” he said, “where learning is a game.”

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.

Why did I want to read Truly Devious? Truly Devious has things I love reading in books: private schools, True Crime, and early twentieth century. When you give me all three, I’m immediately on this train. I thought the story was intriguing; who isn’t fascinated by unsolved crimes?

What do I like about it so far? I love how mysterious it is. Maureen Johnson does a beautiful job setting us in this book where you feel this gloom as you read. I just want to learn more about this Truly Devious character and what made Ellingham Academy dangerous.

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May 9, 2018 • Cee • Holy Mother Cover

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.)

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Cover Change: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

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May 4, 2018 • Cee • Discussion

May will be short. As in, I don’t have a lot of priority May reads. That is perfectly okay because May will be busy (birthday + Fanime), and I’m not in a reading mood (help!).

For those who do not know, Too Much TBR is a way to help me see which books I really need to read and tackle them. Is it effective? Perhaps. It helps a lot seeing a visual of the books on my TBR pile.

Let’s discuss what I read last month, and what I’m reading this month!

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May 1, 2018 • Cee • Discussion

You ever want to know what people are buying in bookstores? Well, it so happens that I work at one!

During the last week of February, 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 ten selling books of April. Let’s take a look.

FICTION

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter | The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

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April 29, 2018 • Cee • Comics

from panel to panel

I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!

From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.

In April, you get graphic novels about avenging witches, a girl fight club against patriarchy, ending of series, reuniting teams like the Runaways gang, and many more. This month, you need to put these on your TBR list.

Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!

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