Archives for May 2016

MONTHLY RECAP • Birthday Girl (May 2016)

May 31, 2016 Comments : 9

may

MAY, MAY, MAYYYYYYYYYY. MY FAVORITE MONTH OF THE YEAR.

I’m only gonna talk about the good things because May is fabulous. I don’t want to dampen my birth month with anger.

WHAT’S UP?

My birthday is one of the best ones in recent memory!

IT WAS GLORIOUS.

I don’t tend to celebrate my birthday on the day of my birth (because it usually coincides with graduation day or my friends are too preoccupied with work), but this year, BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY. I made plans with my friends to have dinner and mini-golf, and THE BESTTTT EVER.

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • Much Ado About Nothing with Geek Cuteness! (The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson)

May 30, 2016 Comments : 4

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You

Trixie Watson has two very important goals for senior year: to finally save enough to buy the set of Doctor Who figurines at the local comic books store, and to place third in her class and knock Ben West–and his horrendous new mustache that he spent all summer growing–down to number four.

Trixie will do anything to get her name ranked over Ben’s, including give up sleep and comic books–well, maybe not comic books–but definitely sleep. After all, the war of Watson v. West is as vicious as the Doctor v. Daleks and Browncoats v. Alliance combined, and it goes all the way back to the infamous monkey bars incident in the first grade. Over a decade later, it’s time to declare a champion once and for all.

The war is Trixie’s for the winning, until her best friend starts dating Ben’s best friend and the two are unceremoniously dumped together and told to play nice. Finding common ground is odious and tooth-pullingly-painful, but Trixie and Ben’s cautious truce slowly transforms into a fandom-based tentative friendship. When Trixie’s best friend gets expelled for cheating and Trixie cries foul play, however, they have to choose who to believe and which side they’re on–and they might not pick the same side.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from St. Martin’s Griffin for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “Ben West spent summer vacation growning a handlebar mustache. “

Who wants a modernized retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing? ME. (And you, hopefully.)

THIS BOOK IS SO FRICKIN’ CUTE!

Set in a private school for the extremely gifted called Messina Academy, Trixie Watson and Ben West have been at war—academically and personally—since they were kids, taking any chance they get the best of the other and trade insults. But once their best friends get together, they try to make nice and cool their rivalry, and when they do, they find themselves having things in common: the geek fandoms they’re into. Can Trixie and Ben really be friends despite their issues and the cheating scandal?

What you get in The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You are cute geekery fun, a pair of characters who share a very fierce rivalry, clever insults and banter, fabulous friendships, a cheating scandal that threatens to break friendships, and so much more goodness you’ll find delightful!

Comics

FROM PANEL TO PANEL | May 2016 Graphic Novel Releases I’m Excited About!

May 29, 2016 Comment : 1

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.

Mayday, mayday, mayday! I am here to talk about the comics that were published on this glorious month of May! You will see Spider-Gwen, a monster summer camp, Twilight Zone-like world, Howard the Duck, and much more!

Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!

*SPIDER-GWEN • VOL. 1 – GREATER POWER*

Gwen Stacy is back in the webs and has an all-new, all-different mystery to solve: the reappearance of the Lizard! The Spider-Woman of Earth-65 was convinced that the Lizard died in her arms along with Peter Parker. But a new reptilian rampage leaves her with doubts not only about Peter’s life, but his death as well. Troubles begin to mount as the Osborns of Gwen’s world make their debut, and she finds herself on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most wanted list! Perhaps some wise words from a mentor figure could help – how about Jessica Drew, the Spider-Woman of Earth-616? What lessons about power and responsibility will Jess have to share, and what use will they be when Gwen battles the Goblins?

Written by Jason LaTour (Southern Bastards) and art by Robbi Rodriguez, this graphic novel collects issues#1-6. — Marvel Comics

Publication date: May 11, 2016 by Marvel Comics

Buy: LCBS · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo · Comixology

Why I’m excited: In this world, it’s Gwen Stacy who was bitten by the radioactive spider, not Peter Parker!

In my Comic Firsts post about the first issue, I said I wasn’t sure if I would read this series because I’m tired of Spider-stories. Although I’m still hesitant about this I still would definitely want to check out this volume because I liked the art, colors, and the various different Marvel characters that pop into Gwen’s life (like Jessica Drew!).

Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! | Changes in The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone

May 28, 2016 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.)

**COVER CHANGE: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin**

Reviews

REVIEW • Built on Assholery and Drinking (Monsters: A Love Story by Liz Kay)

May 26, 2016 Leave a Comment

Monsters A Love Story

Stacey Lane feels like a monster. Tommy DeMarco might be one.

Since her husband died eight months ago, Stacey’s been a certified mess—a poet who can’t write anymore, a good mother who feels like she’s failing her kids. She’s been trying to redefine herself, to find new boundaries.

Tommy has no respect for boundaries. A surprisingly well-read A-list Hollywood star, Tommy’s fallen in love with Stacey’s novel-in-verse, a feminist reimagining of Frankenstein, no less. His passion for the book, and eventually its author, will set their lives on a collision course. They’ll make a movie, make each other crazy, and make love—but only in secret.

As Stacey travels between her humdrum life in the suburbs of Omaha and the glamorous but fleeting escape Tommy offers, what begins as a distracting affair starts to pick up weight. It’s a weight that unbalances Stacey’s already unsteady life, but offers new depth to Tommy’s. About desire, love, grief, parenthood, sexual politics, and gender, Monsters: A Love Story is a witty portrait of a relationship gone off the rails, and two people who are made for each other—even if they’re not so sure they see it that way.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Putnam Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “The phone rings.”

You say Frankenstein, and my ears will perk up.

But don’t be fooled, Frankenstein plays little part in Monsters: A Love Story; the classic, a feminist reimagining in verse, just happens to bring the two main characters—Stacey Lane, a suburban mom/poet, and Tommy DeMarco, a Hollywood movie star—together to bring Stacey’s book to life, and they develop a very dysfunctional relationship built on assholery and drinking.

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • Like The Manson Girls (American Girls by Alison Umminger)

May 24, 2016 Comments : 5

American Girls

She was looking for a place to land.

Anna is a fifteen-year-old girl slouching toward adulthood, and she’s had it with her life at home. So Anna “borrows” her stepmom’s credit card and runs away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister takes her in. But LA isn’t quite the glamorous escape Anna had imagined.

As Anna spends her days on TV and movie sets, she engrosses herself in a project researching the murderous Manson girls―and although the violence in her own life isn’t the kind that leaves physical scars, she begins to notice the parallels between herself and the lost girls of LA, and of America, past and present.

In Anna’s singular voice, we glimpse not only a picture of life on the B-list in LA, but also a clear-eyed reflection on being young, vulnerable, lost, and female in America―in short, on the B-list of life. Alison Umminger writes about girls, sex, violence, and which people society deems worthy of caring about, which ones it doesn’t, in a way not often seen in YA fiction.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Flatiron Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “My first Manson girl was Leslie van Houten, the homecoming princess with the movie-star smile.”

When a young teenage girl becomes fed up with her family in Atlanta, what does she do? For Anna, she “borrows” her stepmom’s credit card and runs away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister lives. However, being in the City of Angels is not exactly the out she had hoped for.

American Girls takes you on a ride that explores people who are struggling; the unglamorous life of LA and Hollywood; the darkness that is in everybody; and the fascinating Manson girls. This is not a happy portrayal of teenage girls; it’s a dark coming-of-age story of a girl deep in American culture.