April Recap

I did not end up posting as much this month as I usually do, but I have still been reading! It turns out that some of the books I read this month I simply didn’t feel the need to review. Which is odd for me, BUT I’ll explain in some of my mini reviews below. I did hit a tiny reading slump before Easter (I’d just finished the Captive Prince trilogy and my brain was not ready to move on), but then I got into the Lunar Chronicles and I got out of that slump VERY fast.

Unlike last month, which gave me a real mix of good and bad reads, this month I enjoyed a mix of good and great! Nothing was hard to get through, and some were so great I died a little inside at times, which is truly the most I can ask for out of a book.

Book Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #2) / ★★★★★

One sentence summary: Scarlet Benoit teams up with a shy street fighter, Wolf, to rescue her kidnapped grandmother, while Linh Cinder teams up with a convict, Captain Carswell Thorne, to escape the Eastern Commonwealth after she’s imprisoned.

“I suspect you would shoot me all over again if you thought it would help your grandmother.”

She blinked up at him, almost surprised to discover how close they were standing. “I would,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be sorry about it afterward.”

Book Review: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (Strange the Dreamer #1) / ★★★★☆

One sentence summary: Young librarian Lazlo Strange’s dream has always been to go to the lost city of Weep, where a young goddess overlooks the city, infecting its inhabitants with nightmares.

“I’ve never had a guest before, and I’m not sure how to do it.”

“A guest,” Sarai said faintly. That word. When she went into dreams, she went as a trespasser, a marauder. She had never been invited before. She had never been welcome. The feeling that came over her was all new – and extravagantly nice. “And I’ve never been a guest before,” she confessed. “So I know no more about it than you do.”

“That’s a relief,” said Lazlo. “We can make it up between us, however we like.” 

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #1) / ★★★★☆

One sentence summary: Cinder is a cyborg mechanic in New Beijing, where a plague outbreak threatens the life of her stepsister and the royal emperor, and a colony on the moon threatens war against Earth.

She was a cyborg, and she would never go to a ball.

Book Review: Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold / ★★★☆☆

One sentence summary: Vic runs away from home, taking his father’s urn with him, and meets a group of kids who help him unravel the mystery of where to scatter his ashes.

We are all part of the same story, each of us different chapters. We may not have the power to choose setting or plot, but we can choose what kind of character we want to be.

March Recap

March felt like a long month, but it was a productive month for me. I’ve decided to try to get a little more creative by taking pictures of my books again for my reviews, and spruce up my posts and whatnot. It’s fun! I like changing things up and making improvements, but I am always careful to make sure this blog never crosses the line from “fun reprieve from real life” to “obligation I’m dragging my feet to accomplish.” I’ve abandoned past blogs and social media because of that, but I refuse to with this one, mainly because I love talking about books and I love the community I’ve been getting to know here!

March was a bit of a mix of good and not so good reads, but the good were pretty great, so I don’t have a whole lot to complain about. I will only say this- historical fiction, why’d you do me so wrong this month??

What I read in March

Book Review: Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby / ★★★★★

One sentence summary: Finn O’Sullivan lives in the strange town of Bone Gap, Illinois and is a witness to the kidnapping of the beautiful Polish girl, Roza, but nobody quite believes him.

He was tired of everyone believing they knew everything there was to know about him, as if a person never grew, a person never changed, a person was born a weird and dreamy little kid with too-red lips and stayed that way forever just to keep things simple for everyone else. 

Book Review: Kasper Mützenmacher’s Cursed Hat by Keith Fentonmiller

Kasper Mützenmacher’s Cursed Hat by Keith Fentonmiller / ★☆☆☆☆

One sentence summary: Hat maker Kasper Mützenmacher owns a magical hat linked to Greek gods, there is a man who steals faces, and Nazi Germany is rising.

Everything came at a cost, Kasper supposed, including love. 

Book Review: Front Lines by Michael Grant

Front Lines by Michael Grant (Front Lines #1) / ★★☆☆☆

One sentence summary: The stories of three different girls are told when the United States allows girls to enlist and become drafted into World War II alongside men.

“Congratulations. You are all now member of the US Army.” 

Riot turns slowly to meet Jenou’s unusually serious face. 

“Just like that,” Jenou says. “We’re soldiers now.” 

Books I Loved as a Kid

I own a few bookshelves, mostly stacked with books from my teen years up until now (I’m 25), and I have a shelf at the very bottom of one of them where I keep some of the “chapter books” I had read as a kid. Normally I don’t touch these books, or even pay much attention to them, but out of curiosity I started flipping through some of them…and was immediately overtaken by some intense nostalgia from kid’s lit of the late 90’s/early 2000’s.

I thought I’d share some of the ones  that meant a lot to me as a child – most of them about goofy, brown haired girls like myself just trying to survive the struggle of elementary school. Important stuff!

Also, I’m working purely off my memories of these, so if I’m grossly wrong about any of them- sorry! It’s what 8 year old Steph remembers and took away from them.

Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

I found these books hilarious as a kid. I loved how messy, crazy, and goofy Junie B. was, and as a 6/7 year old I think I saw a lot of my own childish goofiness in her- that, and I think I wanted to be her. I was a very shy and quiet kid in school, and Junie…was not. I admired her, wanted to stand out like her, but a part of me was also glad I didn’t get in half the trouble she did, despite my admiration. Junie’s antics were super entertaining and I will always look back on these books with so much love.