Candy Bunny Reader

  Honestly, I felt pretty burnt out last month with other things going on in my personal life. That's why I didn't read as much. But hopefully this month I'll have more energy and read more!  

  This book makes you wonder if immortality is a good idea. It was pretty hard to get ahold of this book, because it's one of the author's older books from the year 2000. I found this copy of it at a library in my area that I don't go to frequently, and they have a lot of older books.  Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix starts out in the year 2000, with a group of centenarians in a nursing home. This group signed on to a be a part of a secret (and illegal) science experiment that will age them backwards. Well, they only age backwards physically.  The story mostly follows two of the participants: Melly and Anny Beth, as they try to survive away from the public eye in the year 2085 as teenagers again. Now that the girls are closer to being babies again, they need to find someone to take care of them.  It is not easy trying to lay low when they live in a world where you practically have no privacy. There is also a tabloid reporter that seems to be trying to track th...

 TW: D3ath My second book from Colleen Oakley ! The first book I read from her was Close Enough to Touch back in 2019.  The Invisible Husband of Frick Island  is an adult romance novel that follows two characters: Piper and Anders. Piper is a woman living on the eccentric Frick Island, which is a small island community in the Chesapeake Bay. Anders is a reporter working for a small newspaper and on the side, has his own podcast where he talks about random weird stuff, but he is struggling to get any listeners.  Piper recently lost her husband Tom, in a boating accident, but she continues to live on as if Tom were still there. In fact, sometimes she talks to him as if he was still there. The rest of the Frick Island community goes along with it so they don't hurt her feelings. When Anders arrives at the island to do a report on a Cake Walk Festival held there, he finds out all sorts of things about Frick Island: how the island is a victim of climate change, a new ce...

(Pic was found on Google Images) This is my second Morgan Matson book! This first book I ever read from her was Since You've Been Gone back in 2021 or 2022, which I really liked. Did I like this book, too? Well... Take Me Home Tonight is about two best friends: Kat and Stevie. They are both passionate about theatre. Their school's theatre department will be putting on King Lear by William Shakespeare, but for some reason, their theatre director, Mr. Campbell, doesn't put the cast list up on Friday like he usually does. The girls can't understand why, but Kat finds out that down the road in New York City, he will be putting on a play that same Friday night that he wrote himself. Kat decides in order to show Mr. Campbell what a great student she is and to get the role of Cordelia in the play, she and Stevie will go watch his show.  The thing is, that Friday night, Kat gets called to babysit some kids. She decides to lie to her parents that she's going to go babysit ...

  Do you like Monster High, Ever After High, or both?  Either way, Here's a crossover book between my two of my favorite doll franchises! Was this story good? Well... The Legend of Shadow High by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale starts off with Frankie Stein and Draculaura from Monster High who hear rumors about a high school monsters historically went to called Shadow High. They find a map and try out some spells to take them to this  Shadow High, but they end up in Ever After High instead! When their sudden appearance causes chaos and gets them in trouble, they are taken under the wings of Apple White and Raven Queen, and they become friends. Well, the new friends find out that Raven's mother, the Evil Queen, wants to also get to Shadow High and take over the World of Stories. The World of Stories happens to be the world where all fictional characters (monsters and fairy tale characters mostly) live, separate from our world by the Fourth Wall (get it?). They have to stop the...

  All the books I read in June! I read a total of 5 books.  As always, I hope you had a great reading month, too. Links to my full reviews will be added if applicable.  What was your favorite book that you read in June? 1. Frieren Volume 5 by Kanehito Yamada-3 stars 2. Unfamiliar Volumes 1 and 2 by Haley Newsome-both 5 stars! 3. Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans-5 stars 4. The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting-4 stars

  My new favorite book from Sharon Creech ! Bloomability is about Dinnie, a girl who grew up moving around from state to state in the United States because her father keeps finding a new job frequently. Then one day when she's 13, her aunt and uncle come and take her to stay with them in Switzerland for a a while. That's because Dinnie's uncle became the headmaster of a new international school in the Italian-speaking part of the country, and they want to give Dinnie the opportunity to go there. Dinnie is initally unhappy about this, but as she starts meeting and befriending so many interesting other students at her new school and gets to learn more about Switzerland and the rest of the world, she grows to love the experience. I don't know what else to say about this book because it had all of the magic of a typical Sharon Creech book: a relatable protagonist, a coming of age story, learning the hard way people aren't always what they seem, and difficult topics han...

  Another book I wanted to read for a long time that I finally got around to reading! Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park is a historical fiction middle grade novel about a half-white, half-Chinese girl named Hanna who moves with her father to LaForge, South Dakota (not a real town). There she goes to school and is able to graduate. Then she and her father set up a boutique and try to find ways to get customers to come. It's not always easy. A lot of it stems from Hanna herself experiencing racism. But with the help of her new friends in her new community, she is able to achieve her goals.  Well, this was a perfect example of "I liked it but I didn't love it". I think part of it was because the book is pretty short, so everything is resolved pretty quickly. But it was still a great book! The writing is very beautiful and atmospheric, and the characters are all very well-rounded. Plus a happy ending. So I gave it 4 stars. Trigger warnings include death of a parent and so...

(Pic was found on Google Images) This is the second book I have read (well, this one for today I listened to on audiobook) from this author. I enjoyed it waaay more than the first book I read from her ( The Secret Garden , which I gave 2 stars). It is worth it to give authors another chance! A Little Princess by Frances Hodgeson Burnett is about Sara Crewe, the daughter of a wealthy businessman/officer. She has just come back from India and will attend a boarding school for girls in London. Sara is a sweet girl with a huge imagination, and everyone in the school has taken a liking to her. Especially a girl named Ermengarde and another girl named Lottie. Well, almost everyone likes Sara. Miss Minchin, who is the headmistress, a two mean girls named Jessie and Lavinia, can't stand her. One day, Sara receives news that her father made a bad investment, and he lost all of the family's money. Shortly afterward, her father dies of an illness. Miss Minchin decides to downgrade Sara ...

(Pic was found on Google Images) So I actually read this book last month. But it's not too late to talk about it! Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier is a classic historical fiction book set in the 17th century in the UK. It is about Dona St. Columb, a noblewoman who has grown disillusioned and bored with her high class life and decides to engage in escapism to one of her estates in the countryside. While there, she finds out the house has been used as a hideout for a French pirate. She meets the French pirate and his crew one day while out for a walk, and falls in love with him. He also asks her to join his crew. Dona decides to lie to everyone in her social circle back home that she is sick and is not to be visited, but the truth is that she escapes to the Frenchman's pirate crew! She goes on a little pirate adventure with him and makes herself his unofficial cabin boy. However, her little trick causes a lot of tension back home, as everyone in the community knows abo...

Have you ever been unsure if you were going to like a popular book, but you give it a try and you end up liking it? That's what happened to me with this book! She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott and Alyson Derrick is about two young women in their first year of college--Alex and Molly. Alex does not have the best life at home (parents had a nasty divorce, mother fell into alcoholism, financial struggles, etc.) and she just broke up with her girlfriend, Natalie. Molly is very shy and had friendship troubles in high school, and she wants to get out of her comfort zone in college and finally make some real friends. Alex and Molly meet at a party and Alex finds out about Molly's crush on another girl named Cora. Cora actually went to Molly's high school and is now at the same university. Alex befriends Molly and they make a deal to help Molly get Cora. Alex also makes a deal with her ex-girlfriend Natalie to show her that she is capable of opening up to people by befriend...

Just like the last book I reviewed on here, you don't know how long I've been wanting to get around to this book. Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman is a memoir about the author's true story of how she charted and followed the migration paths of monarch butterflies from Mexico to Canada and back to Mexico again. She completed the whole journey via biking! Every chapter of the book recounts every place Dykman biked through and stopped at. She found lots of monarchs, but all sorts of other wildlife too, most important of them all being milkweed, which is what monarch butterflies need to lay their eggs. She also talked about how and where she would find places to camp out in her tent for the nights she was on the road. It wasn't always easy! During her journey she would sometimes go to schools and universities to talk about her journey and scientific research and facts she knew about monarch butterflies. She also talked about all of the people she met along the way...

TW: Discussions of death Yes, another great book by Sharon Creech . She is a favorite author of mine now.  Chasing Redbird follows 13-year old Zinnia Taylor, or Zinny as she is nicknamed. She lives with her large family on a farm in Bybanks, Kentucky (not a real place in Kentucky, by the way). Living next door to them is her widower Uncle Nate. She was very close with her uncle, aunt, and cousin, as she would sometimes go over to their house to escape her noisy big house. But her aunt Jessie and her cousin Rose died a few years earlier, and Zinny feels guilty because she thought that she was responsible for their deaths (she was sick then her cousin Rose got infected and died, and aunt Jessie happen to die shortly after one day Zinny showed her a snake, which aunt Jessie was horribly afraid of). Even after everyone in her family told her it was never her fault.  Well, one day Zinny discovers that the small stone-paved trail behind her house that she sometimes walked with her...

Another classic middle grade! My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George is about a preteen boy named Sam, who got fed up with life in his small apartment with his big family in New York City, and he decides to go to the Catskill mountains and try to find the parcel of land that once belonged to his great grandfather. He finds it and ends up living off of the land for about a little over a year. Each chapter is detailed on how he lives in the wilderness, from hunting to berry picking to making clothes to keeping himself warm with fires. Sam learned everything from books he read at the library. He also becomes friends with some of the wild animals, such as a falcon he names Frightful. He even meets other humans that happen to cross his path, such as an English professor who initially got lost. Despite living almost isolated, he ends up becoming  famous in the community. Well, I'll tell you right now that I just gave it 4 stars . It was an enjoyable book, but it wasn't an...

  (Pic was found on Google Images) Yup, another book I read months ago during the HarperCollins's strike and I am just now reviewing. It's my first Daphne du Maurier book! Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is about a young woman (her name is never mentioned in the book, but the fake name I came up for her is January 😂) who, while on vacation in Monte Carlo, meets and marries a widower named Maxim de Winter. When she goes to live with him in his estate (called Manderley), she sees that everyone associated with Maxim (his family, friends, and other people working on the estate, especially the head housekeeper Mrs. Danvers) can't stop talking about and reminiscing about Maxim's first wife, named Rebecca, and how wonderful she supposedly was. The MC then feels that no matter what. she will always be in Rebecca's shadow. But then a dark turn of events happen that completely change her views on Manderley, Maxim, and especially Rebecca.  I will tell you right now I gave it 4 ...

Moonstruck by Grace Ellis is a graphic novel taking place in a world that looks like ours but everyone is a magical creature of some kind. The story follows a group of university students who live near and work at a coffee shop: Julie and Selena, who are a couple and are werewolves, and Chet, who is a centaur. They are sometimes joined by Lindi, and gorgon, and Mark, and vampire, who are part of a band. They later get a new friend named Cass who is a psychic. One day, Selena invites Julie on a date to watch a magic show, and Chet tags along, and the magicians there (a ghost and a fox guy), play a magic trick that makes Chet lose his horse legs and gain human ones. The friends all try to find a way to revert Chet back to normal, obviously with some obstacles along the way.  I guess this was a somewhat cute and magical book, but the truth was, for some reason, it didn't really strike a cord with me. It took me a while to get into the story and understand what was going on, and then ...

  This is the 3rd book of the Amber Brown series by Paula Dazinger.  In Amber Brown Goes Fourth , Amber is finally in fourth grade! Except she isn't super excited about it because it's her first school year without her best friend, Justin, who moved away in Amber Brown is not a Crayon. Amber isn't sure if anyone else at her school wants to be her new best friend. Amber's mother has also started dating a guy at her workplace named Max, and Amber is not ready to meet him. She still wants her parents to get back together.  On the first day of fourth grade a girl Amber knew last year who was friends with her rival Hannah sits next to her. Her name is Brandi. Amber tries to befriend her at first, but a brief miscommunication happens, and Amber feels bad about it and wonders if fourth grade will be a lonely year. But her opinion on Brandi changes for the better when they start hanging out in after-school care everyday before their moms come to pick them up. Amber starts to fe...

The second Amber Brown book. You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown by Paula Dazinger follows Amber Brown during the summer before fourth grade. She and her Aunt Pam go to London, England, and then Amber will visit her dad in France. Unfortunately, she catches the chicken pox while in London, so her has to rearrange her plans of sightseeing and seeing her father as she gets treatment. She also wishes her parents could get back together and remarry.  The book title gets its name from a letter Amber's friend Justin sends her when he talked about one of his new classmates who got the chicken pox and said they look like button candy. But then he reminds her jokingly she can't eat her chicken pox, even if they look like little red pieces of candy. The book's story overall is as simple as it sounds, but it was entertaining enough for me! It made me feel like going to London for vacation.  I did give it 4 stars though. Some of the things Amber says about London ...

TW: Brief mentioning of death This is book 2 of the Lady Janies series by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. My Plain Jane is a historical fantasy retelling of Jane Eyr e by Charlotte Bronte. It follows the perspective of three characters: Charlotte Bronte (yes, she's a character in this book), Jane Eyre, and a new character named Alexander Blackwood.  The story begins at Lowood School where the headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, has been murdered. No one knows who did it, but all the students and even some teachers are rather happy that Mr. Brocklehurst is no longer around tormenting them. At the same time, Charlotte, a student at the school, wants to be a writer, and is trying to write a fictional account of her friend Jane, a student who likes to paint. Jane also has the ability to see ghosts, which she at first tells no one about, and is constantly talking to the ghost of her dead friend, Helen Burns. One day after sneaking out to a pub near the school, Jane sees a ghost...

  I was able to finish the graphic novel Bloom by Kevin Panetta these past few days. Here is the summary and here are my thoughts on it. Bloom is a story about a Greek-American young man named Ari who has a band with his friends, and they want to move to the big city to live together and maybe make it big with their band. But his father wants him to take over the bakery that he and his family own. Ari did used to love baking, but over the years fell out of love with it due to his strained relationship with his family. Ari decides to find someone else in the area to hire to do all the baking and running of the shop. He ends up recruiting another young man, a Samoan guy named Hector who is around his age, to do it. While working together they become good friends and Hector even restores Ari's love of baking. However, Hector isn't the biggest fond of the rest of Ari's friends, especially one of them named Cameron because he's really toxic, but Ari doesn't realize how ...