Archives for July 2022

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! • HC vs PB: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan

July 28, 2022 Leave a Comment

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.)

**US HC vs. UK HC vs. US PB: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan**

Reviews

REVIEW • No Maids or Fainting Flowers, Just Monsters (Siren Queen by Nghi Vo)

July 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo • May 10, 2022 • Tordotcom

It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.”

Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli’s world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

First sentence: “Wolfe Studios released a tarot deck’s worth of stories about me over the years.”

Maid or monster, which would you rather be known for?

For Luli Wei—a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill desperate to be a star in Hollywood that’s full of monsters—she’ll do anything to make it, even if that means bargaining with monsters and sacrificing a bit of herself to become one.

Comics

FROM PANEL TO PANEL • Committed to Academic Excellence (One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks)

July 16, 2022 Leave a Comment

One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks • July 14, 2020 • First Second

Was boarding school supposed to be this hard?

When studious thirteen-year-old Juniper wins a scholarship to the prestigious Ellsmere Academy, she expects to find a scholastic utopia. But living at Ellsmere is far from ideal: She is labeled a “special project,” Ellsmere’s queen bee is out to destroy her, and it’s rumored that a mythical beast roams the forest next to the school..

myreview

How do you survive a boarding school full of rich kids when you’re the new kid on scholarship? For Juniper, it’s with a lot of perseverance and Cassie by her side.

Discussion

TOO MUCH TBR • July 2022

July 7, 2022 Comment : 1

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 get down to it.

Discussion

BOOKS IN HAND • What Books Customers Are Buying in June 2022

July 3, 2022 Leave a Comment

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 June 2022!

FICTION