Posts

Fruits Basket Another: Is the sequel worth it?

Image
So here's the thing...Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya is one of my favorite shoujo series! I first got into it through the 2019 reboot anime. Well, I only watched the first season, then I decided to get the rest of the story through the manga (this all happened before I made my book blog). I was on the fence if I should read the sequel series, Fruits Basket Another , since I thought the original story was already satsifying. Luckily, curiousity got the best of me and I picked up all 4 volumes and planned to read them all. But... I only read volume 1 and I found it to be kind of...mediocre? That's why it gets three stars . I mean, it was nice to see the Sohma clan's children all being in a better place compared to their parents, and there were some pretty sweet moments, but everything felt so surface level compared to the original series. The main character of these sequel, Sawa, was basically a more angsty, less interesting, and less likable version of Tohru.  I personally...

The Gate, The Girl, and the Dragon Review

Image
Another masterpiece by Grace Lin! The Gate, The Girl, and the Dragon is basically a modern-day fairy tale. After a failed game of zuqiu ball, the lion cub spirit Jin accidentally kicks the Sacred Sphere outside the gate of the spirit world and into the human world. He chases after it, but gets stuck in the human world! The Sacred Sphere ends up getting stolen by a mysterious Sculptor, and Jin teams up with girl named Lulu who can talk to him to get the Sphere back, or else his world will disappear. They are later joined by a worm who says he is actually a dragon.  The story was so magical, and very emotional! Just like her other middle grade books, Grace Lin loves to weave folktales into the story, and they all end up being true and being intertwined with each other. I gave it 5 stars ! Also, aren't the sprayed edges on the book super cool?   

Favorite Adult Fiction Books

  So if you've been on my blog long enough you know I mostly read middle grade and YA, but I do still like some adult fiction! Here is a list of adult fiction books I have read so far and loved. Romance  Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley  Funny Story by Emily Henry  Book Lovers by Emily Henry People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Chef's Kiss by Garrett Melendez She Loves to Cook series by Sakaoumi Yuzaki    Literary Fiction  Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida  Morisaki Bookshop duology by Satoshi Yagisawa  The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett  I Want to be a Wall trilogy by Honami Shirono    Fantasy  Legends and Lattes (and the prequel Bookshops and Bonedust) by Travis Baldree  Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern The Sta...

Cake-Flavored Book Tag

  I have no idea who originally made this tag. I just saw this over at zeezeewithbooks.wordpress.com and thought it looked fun!  Feel free to do this tag, too!  1. Chocolate Cake: A dark book you absolutely love I'm gonna go with a more recent favorite! Nightbooks and the sequel Gravebooks by JA White. It's a great middle grade horror duology!  2. Vanilla Cake: A light read.  I got two! A Sign of Affection and Yotsuba&! are two lighthearted manga series. 3.  Red Velvet: A book that gave you mixed emotions Definitely the Kyoshi duology of the Avatar: The Last Airbender novels. The story itself overall wasn't too bad--I just found the books hard to get through because I didn't like the author's writing style!  4. Cheesecake: A book you would recommend to anyone. Confessions from the Group Chat by Jodi Meadows. It's about a middle school girl who deals with a toxic group of friends but eventually finds better friends. I think we've all been though so...

I READ THE MADOKA MAGICA MANGA FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Image
    It's such a great feeling when you finally get around to reading a popular manga you've know about for a long time, and end up liking it! This is the omnibus edition (they combined all the manga volumes into one big one).  Puella Magi Madoka Magica by Magical Quartet is about teenage girl Madoka, who gets pulled into a magical girl contract by a mysterious creature named Kyubey. The contract guarantees that one wish of theirs will be granted, but they have to fight these monsters called "witches" in order to maintain balance in the universe. Madoka wishes to protect everyone she loves. Madoka's best friend Sayaka gets pulled into to a contract, too, and she wishes to see her childhood friend Kyousuke get better after an accident.  While this is all going on, a mysterious girl named Homura keeps showing up and tries to get the girls (mostly Madoka) to stop doing magical girl duties.  Well, the girls find out very quickly part of the reason why that is. The...

Juliet Takes a Breath Graphic Novel Review

Image
Um, I think I expected a little too much from this one... The graphic novel adaptation of Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera (and illustrated by Celia Moscote) is about 19-year old Juliet, who is queer, Latina, and lives in the Bronx. She gets accepted to do a writing internship with her favorite queer feminist author, Harlowe Brisbane. After coming out to her mother as a lesbian goes wrong, and her girlfriend Lanie starts to seem distant with her, Juliet hops on the first flight to Portland, Oregon to work with Harlowe. Harlowe lets Juliet room and board at her house, and she gets familiar with people in her social circle, mostly Harlowe's ex named Max and her new girlfriend Zaira (they first meet at a writer's club). Juliet also goes a lot to the library to do research and gets close with an intern there named Kira. Juliet is happy to be surrounded by a lot of like-minded people at first, but Harlowe is probably not who she seems to be... This story did a lot of things th...

Under All the Lights Review

Image
  This is the stand-alone sequel to When it All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw , which I read and reviewed earlier this year! You can read that review here .  Under All the Lights follows Aisha's (from the first book) boyfriend Ollie, who is a amateur musician. Recently his family has fallen on hard times financially, and he has been having a lot of conflicts with his dad. When a homemade music video of his goes viral after being shared by popular singer Jesse Jacobs after a musical festival, he is given an offer by Jesse's record label to tour around the country (Canada) with him! Ollie accepts the offer. His goal is to help his family, and maybe the tour will be his one way ticket to a good music school. But he has to do all of this while managing his anxiety, which isn't easy. Just like When it All Syncs Up , it's a book that deals with a lot of heavy stuff (but handled in a good way!) while also pursuing ones dreams. The book is also very diverse, too. Ollie is Algerian-Ca...