Candy Bunny Reader

    Drop everything right now and go read this!  Navigating with You by Jeremy Whitley, Cassio Ribeiro, and Nikki Foxrobot is a graphic novel set in North Carolina! It follows two girls who become best friends and then girlfriends, Neesha and Gabby. Neesha just moved from New York after her parents divorced. She also has cerebral palsy and is an  ambulatory wheelchair user . Gabby just moved from Florida after her father got a new job. She also has PTSD. The two girls become friends through bonding over hunting down the volumes of, and rereading, their favorite childhood manga: Navigator Nozomi. It's a very slice of life-ish story of the girls having fun as regular anime-loving friends do, and dealing with their trauma by learning to get vulnerable and communicate more openly with each other.  If you couldn't already tell, this book had everything that I love: an ethnically diverse cast, sapphic romance, anime references, fandom culture, and mental health repre...

  Goth Girl: Queen of the Universe by Lindsay S. Zrull is about Jess: a girl who's been in foster care since she was 7 years old. She finds comfort in all things goth: from Edgar Allen Poe to makeup. At her new school, Jess ends up befriending a guy named Oscar, who is a huge fan of a book series called Prince of Moons. He asks Jess to join his cosplay group so they can win of bunch of cosplay competitions and go to a huge competition at a huge convention in New York City later in the year. His goal is to make their names known so he can start his own cosplay business (he kind of already has one going on in his basement, but he wants to make it legit). Jess is relunctant about it at first, but she quickly finds that she loves sewing and making costumes and all things nerdy. She also befriends Oscar's other two other nerdy friends Emily and Gerrit.      Jess also runs an Instagram account where she posts all of her goth looks and has lots of followers, but one...

  Lyla Lee 's first adult romance novel! How was it? Love in Focus is about Gemma Cho, a journalist who just broke up with her boyfriend of seven years. She vows not to not be in another relationship. That is, until her workplace starts a new project for a Valentine's Day issue titled "Modern Love in Focus", and the photographer for the project is none other than Celeste Min, Gemma's ex-girlfriend from college! Gemma and Celeste try to keep things professional at first, but very quickly they realize that they never got over each other. The two end up rekindling their relationship, but they are scared to get close to each other again. It turns out Celeste was carrying a lot of personal baggage with her, too, which is why she suddenly broke up with Gemma several years ago. But as you can imagine, everything ends up working out in the end. I just love how Lyla Lee makes her characters feel so real, and the messages are always really good! This is how romance novels s...

    Well, as you can see, I actually listened to it on audiobook.  The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a novel written in verse. It's about 15 (later 16) year old Dominican-American Xiomara, who lives in the Harlem neighborhood of NYC. She writes poems narrating her life living in the place. From dealing with her overly strict and religious zealot mother to her friends, first boyfriend, and the poetry club at her school to her bond with her twin brother, Xavier. It's very cathartic for her! I really enjoyed listening to this! I found myself being moved by a lot of the poems, especially the ones about the power of community and generational trauma. It was a nice surprise since I'm a reader who doesn't usually like or read poetry.  It's a very diverse book, too! Most of the characters are Dominican, Father Sean (a priest of Xiomara's church) is Jamaican, and Xiomara's brother Xavier is gay and in an interracial relationship.  I gave it 4.5 stars , but that...

 TW: Mentions of scandals, losing a parent, and shootings. It's been a while since I read something by Leah Johnson ! The last thing I remember reading from her was Ellie Engle Saves Herself (you can read that review here ) two years ago, and a year before that my favorite book so far from her You Should See Me in a Crown (you can read that review here ).  So how was this book? Rise to the Sun is a dual POV book about two girls: Olivia and Toni. They both find each other at a weekend-long music festival while hanging out with each of their best friends. Each girl is trying to escape from something that's weighing each of them down. Olivia with her most recent breakup (not to mention a scandal with her recent ex-boyfriend), and Toni after losing her musician father.  The two girls end up bonding during a scavenger hunt and over their favorite musicians performing at the venue. Their respective friends Peter and Imani end up falling for each other, too.  But when a...

  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...

TW: mentions of trauma from foster care, and of being hurt by law enforcement.  Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi is the prequel to Pet , which I read and reviewed earlier this year. You can read that review here .  The story is about Jam's mother (from the first book) back when she was a teenager and an art student. She lives in a boarding school called Eucalyptus which is a safe haven from the rest of Lucille--which has recently been having a political uprising. Bitter wants to make Lucille a better place for her and her new social circle (consisting of her friend Blessing, Blessings girlfriend Alex, and Bitter's new boyfriend Aloe), but she finds it hard when she has her own trauma from being in different foster homes. She would rather paint and stay in Eucalyptus than go to protests with Assata. Assata is the movement of people overthrowing the corrupt people in power, which some people Bitter knows are a part of. Bitter eventually learns that she can make her own change through he...

The last book I read for Middle Grade March! The first book of the Witchlings series by Claribel Ortega follows Seven: a girl who gets placed in the "Spare" coven of her town. Being a Spare witch is practically considered a curse since they don't have full powers and are looked down upon by everyone. But Seven tries to break out of this situation to become a full-fledged witch by requesting to do an impossible task: hunting down the Nightbeast! It's been so long since someone invoked an impossible task, and anyone who fails to complete it gets turned into a toad. Seven, her new friend Thorn, and her bully-turned-friend Valley waste no time researching the Nightbeast and finding how to capture it. But at the same time, the Nightbeast and its minions called cucos have been attacking citizens in their town and nearby towns. The attacks always seem to happen whenever the towns (or at least Seven's town) try to vote on giving more rights to Spares. Someone Seven tho...

Wow! Where I do I begin? When It All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw is a YA novel set in Canada. The MC, Aisha, loves ballet and is trying to get recognized by any prestigious ballet academy, but things weren't working out at her elite ballet academy. She decides to move in with her childhood friend Neil (after Neil himself has a huge health scare) and transfer to his public arts high school.  Unfortunately, things don't change a lot right away, but now Aisha has a new circle of support with Neil, Neil's best friend (and later Aisha's boyfriend) Ollie, a guy named Ebi, and another girl named Khadija. Aisha also learns in her new environment what does she really want to do, and try not to live up to other people's expectations (mostly her mother's).  On the surface it looks like another work-really-hard-for-your-dreams book with ballet as the center, but this story ended up being a lot deeper than that! It dealt with racism, sexism, eating disorders, alcoholism, strain...

TW: Acephobia, harassment, toxic friendship all are mentioned. You can see a full list of trigger warnings here: https://booktriggerwarnings.com/Let%27s_Talk_About_Love_by_Claire_Kann   My second Claire Kann book!  Let's Talk About Love is about the biromantic asexual college student Alice, who just broke up with her girlfriend and (now also ex) roommate Margot. She tries to forget about the breakup by moving in with her now engaged childhood friends Feenie and Ryan, bingewatch her favorite shows and write essays on them, and chow down on her favorite foods. She is also trying to find out what to major in at college. Her family wants her to go into law because that's what they all do, but Alice's interests lie somewhere else. One day at her part-time job at a local library, they get a new employee named Takumi. The second Alice sees him, she's head over heels! They start hanging out as friends a lot outside of work, but Alice is afraid to come out to Takumi as asexual...

So this is the first book I read for Middle Grade March. It is the second book of the Amari series by BB Alston . I read the first book, Amari and the Night Brothers last month. You can read the review for that here . I can't get too into detail with this second book, Amari and the Great Game , because it's a sequel. I will say though this book was way more intense than the second one! I really love the way BB Alston writes. The story had me on the edge of my seat. I love Amari and her friends. The worldbuilding is cool, too. The mystery was mind blowing. I can't wait to read book 3! Image of book was found on Google Images

  I smell a new favorite series of mine in the making... I am so glad I finally picked this up! It had me on the edge of my seat. Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston follows 13 year old Amari, whose has been struggling in school and her older brother Quinton all of a sudden went missing. One day, she finds a mysterious briefcase telling her that she has been nominated by Quinton to join The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, which Quinton himself was a part of. The Bureau invesitigates supernatural cases around the world and also tries to keep everything supernatural away from regular humans.  Amari joins the summer camp that trains new recruits, and she decides to become an agent like her brother to make it easier to find him. But then she discovers something about herself that is quite dangerous--and it leads to more surprises from there. It includes discovering the secrets and plans of the notorious Night Brothers! What else can I say except that it is such a page-turnin...

  These are all 5 star books! What great luck that I found new favorites this year. I hope you found new favorites too! 1. One Piece Volumes 17, 18, 20, and 21 by Eichiro Oda (I read these in the beginning of the year before switching over to the anime) 2. Avatar: The Rift Volume 1 by Gene Yang 3. Witch Hat Atelier 11 and 12 by Kamome Shirahama (I also reread all the volumes up to 12 this year) 4. Akane Banashi Volumes 2 and 3 by Yuki Suenaga (although I don't feel like continuing with this series) 5. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei 6. The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo 7. Avatar North and South Volumes 1-3 by Gene Yang and Michael DiMartino 8. Avatar Imbalance Volumes 1-3 by Faith Erin Hicks 9. If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia/Holden So 10. The Sprite and the Gardener by Rii Abrego 11. Toph's Metalbending Academy by Faith Erin Hicks 12. If You'll Have Me by Eunnie 13. Unfamiliar Volumes 1 and 2 by Haley Newsome 14. Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by J...

Another great book by Adiba Jaigirdar ! Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating is about two Bangladeshi-Irish girls named Hani and Ishu who start fake dating for different reasons--the popular Hani because she wants to prove to her friends that she is bisexual since she's only dated guys, and the unpopular bookworm Ishu because she wants to be Head Girl and needs to make herself better known and better liked by the rest of her classmates. It's not easy at first because they are polar opposites in personality. But after a few incidents, they find that maybe they really do need each other after all.  I really liked how the author weaves so many great things into the story! From being queer, to being Muslim, to being a person of color in a predominantly white society, to family dynamics and friendship dynamics. Everything is so well done, relatable, and heartfelt! So I gave it 5 stars . I think Adiba is becoming a favorite author of mine! I'll read anything she puts out.

  Another great book by one of my favorite authors! Did you know around the time this book was released (October 2024), an actual flood happened in Asheville, NC, which is where this book also happens to take place? It was also because of a hurricane: Hurricane Helene. Robert Beatty decided that a portion of his sales from this book will go to help victims of the floods. i bought a copy of this book to help out the cause. Thank you, Mr. Beatty! Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood is a middle grade urban fantasy novel about 13 year old Sylvia Doe, who has run away from another foster family back to Highground Home for Children, where she feels she truly belongs. This is quite a problem for her social worker and the state, since she can't permanently live in the place like an orphanage from the old days (the book takes place in modern times). But on top of that, Hurricane Jessamine has passed through the area and has flooded the area, destroying a lot of things and hurting a lot of p...

  Welcome back to another part of my Favorite Authors series! Here is another one that's a little more recent. The first book I read from Lyla Lee was I'll Be the One back in 2022. I absolutely loved it! Whenever I recommend people a book about K Pop, Korean rep, plus-sized rep, and queer rep, I recommend this one! I then read Flip the Script later in the same year. Also a masterpiece! This one is about K-Dramas and also features plenty of queer representation. Earlier this year I read the first book in her new middle grade series, Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd, and I also had a blast with it! I can't wait for the next book to come out.  I know she has a long running early chapter books series called Mindy Kim. I might read them one day. I heard they are kind of like the Junie B Jones series. As of writing this, Lyla Lee has two new books coming out! One will be an YA romance novel called The Cuffing Game, and the other is her first adult romance novel called Love in Focus. I a...

  My third Kay O'Neill book for this year! Princess Princess Ever After follows a rebellious princess named Amira who befriends another princess named Sadie and a prince named Vladric after rescuing them from a tower and the top of a tree, respectively. Being royalty is not as easy as they all thought it would be! But the biggest danger of all is a sorceress who really seems to have something against Sadie... It's a very short and quick book, but it was a lot of fun! It has the typical things you would find in any Kay O'Neill book: a magical setting, magical creatures, lessons about loving yourself, and queer representation (Amira and Sadie become a sapphic couple)!  I did give it 4.5 stars . Sadie does experience some fatphobia in the book, but luckily it is all handled well at the end.  I will gladly pick up anything else Kay O'Neill writes!

  My second book from Jen Wang ! The first book I read from her was The Prince and the Dressmaker , a long time ago. You can read that review here . Ash's Cabin follows Ash, a transgender mixed-race teenager who wants to find and restore their eccentric grandfather's old cabin, which is very isolated from the world. Ash gets a bunch of books from the library and watches a bunch of YouTube videos to learn how to survive in the wild. They also raise money through dog walking so they can buy supplies for camping and food. They are finally able to go on the trip when the rest of their family goes to Disneyland. Ash stays with their aunt and uncle and cousin first (who have their own house out in the country) before going to the cabin. When the aunt, uncle and cousin go on their own trip later, Ash lies about staying in their house so they can go find their grandfather's cabin. Camping out and restoring an old cabin isn't easy! But Ash and their dog Chase find surprises alon...

  Nicola Yoon doesn't have as many books compared to the previous authors I talked about (although she has written several short stories that appear in short story anthologies), but what she has written so far has mostly been awesome! The first book I read from her was The Sun is Also a Star , way back in 2019. I ADORED this book! Thanks to this book, I was able to get back into reading for fun again. It's still an all-time favorite. I need to watch the movie. I then read Everything, Everything and I really didn't like it! 🙁 I gave it two stars. The thing that ruined the book for me was the twist towards the end. I am not planning on watching the movie. But then I got Instructions for Dancing as a birthday gift a few years later, and I loved it too! I hope this gets turned into a movie. Recently she has a new book that came out that is her first adult fiction novel. It's called One of Our Kind . I am planning on reading it! I hope I like it too.  So why do I like Nic...

Wow! This was awesome! I found a new favorite YA sapphic comtemporary book! The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar is about Shireen, who signs up to be a part of this new reality tv show that will feature teenage bakers from all over Ireland in baking competitions. Aside from her love of baking, Shireen is also entering for the show to help save her parent's donut shop, if she wins the prize money. But then, she finds out her ex-girlfriend Christina Huang (who usually goes by Chris) is in the show, too! Things get super awkward when the host and judges (which includes Shireen's favorite celebrity chef, Indian-Irish Padma Bollywood) pair them up for the first couple of rounds. At the same time, Shireen becomes friends and starts to get close to one of the other contestants, a girl named Niamh. But then Shireen discovers things about Chris and later Niamh that'll change everything. Shireen and Chris also have to deal with a lot racist tweets on Twitter about them in t...