Candy Bunny Reader

  Aka the best books of this year, along with their respective reviews. Tell me your best books of the year! Here are mine... Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix Heartstopper Volume 4  by Alice Oseman Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman Legends and Lattes  by Travis Baldree Sleeping Around  by Morgan Vega Talli: Daughter of the Moon  by Sulhya Among the Enemy by Margaret Peterson Haddix Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix Bone Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 by Jeff Smith Milk and Honey  by Rupi Kaur Nancy Drew and the Bungalow Mystery  by Carolyn Keene Witch Hat Atelier Volumes 1 , 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10 by Kamome Shirahama Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Lilac Inn  by Carolyn Keene Garlic and the Vampire  by Bree Paulsen Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen Laziness Does Not Exist  by Devon Price Chef's Kiss  by Jarrett Melendez The Doll People set Sail by Ann M. Martin How to be Ace  by Rebecca Burgess One Pi...

OMG.  This is a new all-time favorite! Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa is about Sentaro, an ex-convict who is paying off debt he owes by working at a small dorayaki shop. One day an elderly woman named Tokue comes in and notices the "now hiring" sign, and she asks Sentaro if she could work there. Sentaro notices that her fingers are all crooked, too, and he wonders if it's a good idea to hire her. After Tokue has him her try her own sweet bean paste recipe for the dorayaki, Sentaro loves it and hires her. More and more people start to drop by the shop and business is booming. One customer who visits frequently is a teenager named Wakana, who doesn't have a good relationship with her parents but eventually becomes friends with Sentaro and Tokue. Sentaro is happy that the shop is doing well thanks to Tokue, but the owner (his boss) finds out about Tokue and her crooked fingers, and she tells Sentaro she found out that Tokue came from a sanatorium that housed people...

  It feels like this book was written just for me! Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan is a fantasy novel inspired by Chinese folklore. Xingyin is the daughter of the moon goddess, Chang'e, and she grew up in isolation with her mother and her maid Ping'er in the Pure Light Palace (the moon). Her mother is being held prisoner by the Celestial Emperor and Empress for drinking an elixer that was actually for Xingyin's father, a mortal who slayed a bunch a sunbirds. One day when Xingyin's magical powers awaken and she uses them, the Celestial royals sense her magic and come to her house wondering what is going on. Luckily they don't see Xingyin, but her mother Chang'e tells her it's not safe for her to stay in her own house and has to go out into the world.  Xingyin then finds herself in the Celestial Kingdom for the first time, and develops the goal of freeing her mother from imprisonment. She then goes on a long journey where meets both many wonderfu...

  Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price is a nonfiction informational self help book on rethinking the way we get motivated, do work, do things, and get rest.  Dr. Devon Price talks about how American culture in particular has become so obsessed with us doing work or anything at all to the point of breaking because we often times do not want to be seen as "lazy". Well, it turns out laziness is a lit in it of itself, and they use every chapter of this book to deconstruct the myth of laziness, from it's roots in religion to capitalism to racism, classism, sexism, and especially ableism. Throughout the book Dr. Price weaves several studies and anecdotes on stories of people they've interviewed to their own personal life stories on how overworking is not good for our health in the long run and what can we do to recognize our own biases, listen to our gut feelings, and take more breaks.  This book is pretty much in the similar vein as Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee (a bo...

TW: Things catching on fire mentioned  Another great Nancy Drew mystery! I gave it 5 stars . In this book, Nancy Drew is staying at the historical Lilac Inn for the wedding of her friend, Emily. When she arrives there, things start to get weird. Things vanish and move around, and some parts of the Inn's infrastructure seem to be malfunctioning. The Inn is rumored to be haunted, and Nancy is trying to figure out the logical explanation behind all of the mishaps. At the same time, someone stole Nancy's personal information and is pretending to be her, and Nancy starts getting accused of things she didn't do. So then Nancy has to figure out who her imposter is and put a stop to them.  Like the previous novels, the two seemingly separate mysteries happen to be connected at the end, and there are a ton of red herrings that will through you off course as you try to figure out the mystery with Nancy and her friends. I should mention that in the second half of the book there is a...

  T alli: Daughter of the Moon is the first book of an currently ongoing graphic novel series inspired by Japanese manga written and illustrated by French-Laotian author Sourya Sihachakr, and originally published in French. His Instagram is @_sulhya_ . This is a high fantasy story taking place in a medieval European-inspired fantasy setting where the MC, Talli, is torn away from her home and her adoptive father, Lord Borin, after an attack lead by Lord Ulric, who wants to capture Talli. Escaping with her bodyguard Alan, they are trying to get to a place called Blue Whale Port and find a woman named Dame Sybelle who can help them. Along the way, the form a bond with a merchant named Pavel and his grandson Lelo, who is a sword user. Another character named captain Nina is also on the group's heels because she knows about Talli's secret: Talli is a descendant of the moon goddess, and she has divine powers. There are still people in their world that worship and follow the goddess...

  I've seen this manga floating around the Internet for a while, but I've only picked it up now. It is so worth the read! Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama is a high fantasy series about a girl named Coco who is interested in magic. She is told she can't do magic because she was not born a witch, but she believes with the right tools and skills, she can become one. One day Coco plays around with a magical book and pen she got from a mysterious witch she met in a marketplace years ago, and she accidentally ruins her house and turns her mother into stone.  Master Qifrey, a man she met a few days earlier at her family's artisan shop, turns out to be a witch himself, and he takes Coco under his wing after seeing the damage she's done. She then starts studying magic at his atelier along with three other girls, and starts learning magic and other important life lessons along the way, and she hopes one day to return home and save her mother. If this sounds like a whim...

 Trigger warning: family death Another great graphic novel you can read in a day! Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola and Emily Carroll.  The main character is a half Russian-half American girl named Masha who lost her mother when she was younger, and was raised by her grandmother and father. But she also just recently lost her grandmother, and her father has been dating another woman who already has a daughter of her own named Dani who does not like Masha. Feeling unappreciated in her new family circumstances, Masha decides to run away from home, into the woods, and become Baba Yaga's assistant.  Masha has always been impressed by Baba Yaga's stories thanks to her grandmother. When she gets to Baba Yaga's famous house, Baba Yaga gives her three tricky tests to see if she is worthy of becoming her assistant. You'll have to find out if she passes the tests and what else happens... What else can I say! Such a great, little, magical, witchy story! 5 stars! Check t...

  So here's the thing: I have been reading the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Oseman and I have been absolutely loving them! But I realize I can't talk about the rest of the series without getting into actual spoilers, so I've decided to make this review post very unorthodox and tell you what you will find in volumes 2 and 3 as vaguely as possible. You will find: Characters deepening their relationships Characters understanding themselves better More character backstories Friendship struggles A birthday party at a bowling alley Standing up to bullies A class trip to Paris, France A lot and a lot of communication...and healing Noticed how I didn't specify any character names. That's for you to find out! Feel free to discuss volumes 2 and 3 in the comments with me if you read them already.  Also, although I didn't get into detail here, there are MASSIVE trigger warnings for these two books which include: forced outing, homophobia, biphobia, bullying, ...

  TW: Mention of a toxic relationship and a non-consensual kiss This graphic novel is more proof Alice Oseman is one of my favorite authors ever! The first novel of this webcomic-turned graphic novel series Heartstopper is about a teenage boy named Charlie who is rather unpopular at his school. Charlie is also openly gay, and in the beginning is actively trying to get out of a toxic relationship with another guy named Ben. When the new school year starts, Charlie gets a seat next to a popular guy named Nick in one of his classes. Nick is very friendly to Charlie, and they start to hang out and form a close friendship with each other. They become even better friends after Charlie stands up for himself towards Ben and Nick tells Ben to stay away from Charlie or else. Charlie finds himself slowly falling in love with Nick, but he is not sure if Nick will also like him back the same way. At the same time, Nick is questioning his own romantic orientation. This was such a sweet book! A...

Did you know I also like to read manga?  Well, to be honest, I watch more anime than read manga. The last manga series I remember reading in it's entirety was Kitchen Princess back in middle school , which was more than a decade ago. For the last decade or so of my life I've only consumed manga-original stories through their anime adaptations. Sometimes the anime adaptations don't even cover the entire manga. They're more like advertisements to get you to go buy the manga (clever marketing, huh?) Additionally, there are probably hundreds of manga out there that have no anime adaptation attached to it. Go figure.  But I've decided to start reading actual manga again, and last week I finished the very first volume of  My Love Mix -Up by Wataru Hinekure.   In American marketing terms, this a YA contemporary romance manga series about three teenage friends (two guys and a girl, in this order): Aoki, Ida, and Hashimoto. Aoki has a crush on Hashimoto, but he's too shy...

  Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson is a middle grade book that I bought back in middle school at a Scholastic Book Fair in 2012, when I was in middle school. That was 10 years ago! Only now did I decided to start reading it. And boy, was it a great idea! I'm glad I never gave the book away. Cake Pop Crush is about a girl named Alicia Ramirez whose family owns a small, old-fashioned bakery called Say it with Flour. Out of all the bakery items you can think of, Ali likes to bake cake pops, inspired heavily by her favorite celebrity baker, Renata DaLuca. Her family's bakery Say it with Flour has fallen under hard times recently, but they get even more competition when a popular coffee chain opens across the street from them, called Perk Up. Ali and her friends and family have to think up creative ways to save the business from falling under, usually involving Ali selling her cake pops. At the same time, Ali butts heads with the son of the owner/CEO of Perk Up, named Dane. But as ...

  I just read the very first Nancy Drew novel ever: The Secret of the Old Clock. I've known about Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene for a very long time, I just didn't read one until now.  Apparently there are over 500 Nancy Drew books published in the last several decades. I'm probably only going to read the original series. Luckily the books are really short and largely episodic. So you don't actually have to read them in order. I just started with the first one. I'm glad to report that I enjoyed it!  Of course, keeping it spoiler free, in this book we are introduced to 18-year old Nancy Drew solving her very first case ever. She takes on after her father, who is a lawyer, and gets a lot of his help throughout her adventure. Nancy is trying to uncover the mystery behind a supposed second will that an eccentric rich man in her community named Josiah Crowley left behind to his relatives and some friends of his. For some reason, the only known will that Crowley wrote befo...

  This past week I was also reading Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee . It is a nonfiction book written by an NPR journalist. This book is all about how we've become so obsessed with productivity as a society and what we can do to slow down and feel less stressed out. Since this is a nonfiction book, I review nonfiction very differently from fiction, unless it is a memoir. That is why I do not have a spoiler free tag, because there's really nothing to spoil. This is a general information/self-help book, and I will give mostly general ideas of what the book is about and how the author organizes the information. It is up to you if you want to read this book to get all the details. I really like the way the book is written. Celeste Headlee has a very approachable writing style that I think general audiences can read from. The first half of the book is a detailed history on how particularly American culture has become very obsessed with productivity. At the same time, the author ...

  The Girl from the Sea by Molly Ostertag is a YA Graphic Novel about a teenage girl named Morgan Kwon who lives in a house on a small island near a small town near the mainland somewhere in Canada with her divorced mother and little brother. She has a relatively normal life there and has a group of friends she describes "is something out of a 90s teen movie."  Morgan is also a closeted lesbian, as she is scared to come out to her friends and family.  In the beginning as she is texting her friends on making plans to meet up for the weekend, she trips over a rock and falls into the sea. She is rescued by a selkie named Keltie. Morgan thinks it is all just a dream, and as a joke she kisses Keltie. It turns out the whole thing was real, and Keltie temporarily becomes a human girl. She starts hanging out with Morgan and they even  start dating. Morgan at first has to keep her dates with Keltie a secret from everyone, and at the same time, Keltie has a problem of her own...

  Well I haven't updated this blog in a while, but that was because I was trying to find the best way to describe my experience with reading Loveless by Alice Oseman.  This story is about a college freshman named Georgia Warr, who despite loving things like romance novels and romance movies, she has never had a crush on anyone and has never dated anyone, let alone kissed someone. She feels as if she's missing out on life, especially when everyone her age, including her own two friends Pip (real named Felipa) and Jason, has already gone on so many dates.  With the help of her new friend and roommate Rooney, Georgia tries experimenting with whom she could possibly like. So she first tries to date a guy. She starts with her friend Jason (which fails drastically), and then she thinks she might like girls, so she and Rooney kiss, but she ends up upsetting her friend Pip, who already had a crush on Rooney.  After a conversation about aromanticism and asexuality with her c...

  I just finished reading Mandy by Julie Andrews. (Yes, that Julie Andrews. Did you know she was an author as well as an actress?) I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. This was such a sweet book! This gave off the same heartwarming, cottagecore vibes similar to Anne of Green Gables, which is one of my favorite books of all time.  Mandy is about an orphan girl named, well, Mandy, who is ten years old and has lived in an orphanage all of her life. Despite her relatively normal an non-chaotic life in the orphanage, she's had a lingering sadness in the back of her mind because she always felt that something was missing from her life.  One day while exploring the woods behind the orphanage, she comes across an old abandoned cottage. She decides to make it her own personal sanctuary. So she starts a project to tidy up the cottage and grow a garden there, but she has to keep it secret, as she has felt she finally found a place to call her own and doesn't want to share it with any...

  I just finished reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. I gave it 5/5 Stars. This has quickly become one of my new favorite books this year! This is a middle grade fantasy novel inspired largely by Chinese folklore,  The story is about a girl named Minli who's family is very poor, and she wishes to change her family's fortune. After hearing stories her father tells her about the Old Man of the Moon (and an encounter with a talking goldfish), she decides to go on a quest to meet the Old Man to ask him for help to make her family wealthy. Along the way up the mountains, Minli makes many new friends (including a talking dragon!) that help her along her journey to get to to the moon.  I love the way this book was written. It read just like a fairy tale or a myth from ancient times. Even though I read it for the first time as an adult, it felt like I was a kid again reading all sorts of fairy tales and myths. The author did a great job crafting a magical atmo...