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Showing posts with the label favorite authors

Authors where I don't like their most popular book(s), but I like less-popular book(s) of theirs

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I know, it's a very long title, but it's exactly what it sounds like. I will also give explanations for the ones I didn't like.  I just couldn't get into the Lunar Chronicles. I really didn't like Love and Gelato! Didn't care to read the next two books, even thought they follow different main characters.   I DNF'd Ao Haru at volume 3 (mostly didn't like Kou).   I don't actually completely despise Nana--I do have respect for the series's message overall (how people can easily be manipulated into toxic relationships and how hard it can be to get out of and it's not the victim's fault), but I personally still did not enjoy it. I prefer more uplifting romance series.   The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was just boring. I also found the MC to be kind of creepy.  The Indian characters in The Secret Garden are portrayed pretty offensively. The book also has that terrible ableist trope of the "disability that wasn't actually there" for o...

Favorite Authors Part 15: Lee Ostertag

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Posting what I have over on my Instagram, @candybunnyreader. Check out the previous parts of my favorite authors series in the Navigation Page!  

Favorite Authors Part 14!

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  Reposted from my Instagram @candybunnyreader Check out the previous parts of my favorites authors on the Navigation page!   

Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood

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  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...

Favorite Authors Part 11: K O'Neill

  Today we will talk about another recent favorite author of mine! This post won't be a long one. The first books I read from K O'Neill was their Tea Dragon Society series, which I read last year. I loved them so much! Especially the third book. Here's my review for the first book. This year I picked up Aquicorn Cove, The Moth Keeper, and Princess Princess Ever After. They were all great! Especially the Mothkeeper. That one is my favorite from them so far. You can read the reviews for each book here (just click the title): Aquicorn Cove The Moth Keeper Princess Princess Ever After I love K O'Neill's books because they are all very whimsical, enchanting, and heartwarming. They also have great queer and disability representation!

Princess Princess Ever After Review

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  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!

The Moth Keeper Review

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Kay O'Neill is officially a favorite author of mine! Eventually you will see them in my favorite authors series. The Moth Keeper takes place in a world where there is a day village and a night village. The night village has a sacred plant that keeps the village afloat. Our protagonist Anya lives in the night village, and she becomes the keeper of the moths that was gifted by the Night Spirit that help the Night Flower bloom. The moths help pollinate the flower. Being the Moth Keeper is a big responsibility and while she is glad that she is helping so many people, she feels overwhelmed and sometimes lonely. But when things go wrong, Anya's community has her back in more ways than she realized.  I think this book is truly my favorite book from Kay O'Neill so far! It was so magical and so sweet. The characters were awesome and the artwork is gorgeous as usual. There's also queer rep and albinism rep, too! It was a 5 star book for me. 

Favorite Authors Part 7: Judy Blume

A much shorter post today. She's probably the most popular middle grade and YA author of all time! When I was a kid, I read three of Judy Blume's books: Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Are You There God? It's me. Margaret , and It's Not the End of the World . I love all three of them!  I tried reading Iggie's House a while ago, but I didn't like it very much. I actually DNF'd it. But now I have almost all of her books on my TBR! I especially want to read the rest of the Fudge series.  Did you know she's written a couple of books for adults, too? I am thinking about checking them out.  I found out there is a nonfiction book that came out recently by Rachelle Bergenstein that details Judy Blume and her impact on children's literature. It's called The Genius of Judy . There's also a documentary movie that came out last year about her impact on young adult literature called J udy Blume Forever (not to be confused with her book of the same name). 

Favorite Authors Part 4: Kate DiCamillo

  Welcome back! Today we will talk about bestselling author Kate DiCamillo! The first book I read from her was The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane , way back when I was in third grade. This book was sooo beautiful, it instantly became an all time favorite, and it's still my favorite DiCamillo book. The second book I read from her when I was in fourth grade was the popular Because of Winn-Dixie . I actually watched the movie years earlier and enjoyed it, and I liked the book, too.  But I didn't pick up another DiCamillo book until I became an adult. The book I picked up was The Magician's Elephant, which I reviewed back in 2023 (link here ). I loved it, too! I plan on watching the movie sometime. I then read The Puppets of Spelhorst , which was also fun (link to review here ). A sequel for it came out recently, and I have it on my TBR. Unfortunately, I DNF The Tiger Rising . It was too sad for me. Now the rest of her books are on my TBR. I did actually watch the movie fo...

Favorite Authors Part 2: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Now, my history with Haddix's books is rather interesting, because when I tried reading her books when I was actually a kid, I didn't like them very much!  In middle school I tried reading Found , which is the first of her Missing series, and I found it hard to get through. The time travel stuff was also kind of confusing, and the whole book was just a set up for the rest of the series where the main characters go through time to restore history. I also tried reading Among the Hidden , the first of the Shadow Children. At the time I found it boring, but that would eventually change in the future.  The first book I read from Haddix as an adult would become an all-time favorite, and that is Just Ella ! It's a feminist retelling of Cinderella. The second book I read from her was Running Out of Time . I also loved it. I am not planning on reading the sequel, though. I thought the first book was satisfying enough But then I did read the sequel to Just Ella , which was Palace of...

Double Identity Review

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  Another book by one of my favorite authors ever! I bought this copy at a used bookstore in my area. This is a reminder to support independent bookstores, especially if they sell second-hand!  Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about almost-thirteen-year-old Bethany whose overprotective parents have started acting strangely, and they just sent her to live with an aunt she never knew she had, named Myrlie. Bethany's parents also won't answer her phone calls, either, for some reason. Everyone in her aunt Myrlie's small town also react strangely every time they see Bethany, too. Her aunt Myrlie and her cousin Jocelyn, treat her very kindly, but Bethany feels like they're hiding something from her. Something involving someone named Elizabeth... Yup, another mind-boggling mystery story! This one really had me on the edge of my seat.  But I am giving it 4.5 stars . I had to take off half of a star because I didn't really like the way they handled the bad guy...

Favorite Books of All Time Part 1

I was asked by a friend what my favorite books of all time are, and I have a lot! I decided to start a new series on here of all the books I've read in my lifetime that I love. So this includes childhood favorites and new favorites. I hope you like some of the same books as I do! Some of these books you might recognize from my underrated books series. Links to Goodreads summaries are provided, too. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley Anne of Green Gables (and the first two sequels) by LM Montgomery The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Doll People series by Ann M. Martin Stargirl and it's sequel Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Kitchen Princess manga series by Natsumi Ando Charlottes Web by EB White Amelia's Notebook series by Marissa Moss

Ellen Tebbits Review

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  Before I get into it, can I just say this is the second book from Beverly Cleary I read as an adult? The first was was Muggie Maggie , which I reviewed back in 2022. I did read a lot of Beverly Cleary's books as a kid, though! I read all of the Ramona books (those are my favorites from her, Ramona is so hilarious and relatable. She's basically Junie B. Jones before Junie B. was a thing), the trilogy about Ralph the Mouse , and the first Henry Huggins book. I also read Socks and some of Otis Spofford but I can barely remember those two. I need to reread them sometime. I also need to read the rest of the Henry Huggins books. And the rest of her standalones and maybe her memoirs.  Anyway. Ellen Tebbits is about Ellen, who has a rather embarrassing secret. When she meets a new girl named Austine in her ballet class, it turns out she has the same secret! So they become best friends. The rest of the chapters are about Ellen and Austine getting into all sorts of mishaps whi...

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

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  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...

My Top 10 Personal Favorite Books of the Year

These are not all 5 star books, as you can see. These are books (and two series that's still ongoing) that I read this year that now just have a special place in my heart 😍. Tell me your favorite books of the year! Sleeping Around by Morgan Vega The Witch Hat Atelier manga series by Kamome Shirahama Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan One Piece manga series by Eichiro Oda Jane of Lantern Hill by LM Montgomery The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw Nevermoor Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

SO WHAT WAS MY MOST FAVE READ OF 2022?

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Wait! You're probably thinking. Why are you talking about your favorite read in 2022 when we are halfway past 2023? Well, @bookdragon_24 over on Instagram tagged me in a post of her favorite book she read in 2022 a while ago, and I wanted to add onto the conversation. Thanks Ellie! This was a hard decision because I liked and loved a lot of books last year, but for the sake of this post I will have to go with Where the Mountain meet the Moon by Grace Lin . It was the very first book I reviewed on my blog! You can check out said review here . Here's a pic of it again:

54321 Challenge (book tag)

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  I originally saw this tag over @linnareads on Instagram way back in November, and I'm finally doing it!  And feel free to do this tag if you see it.  The books above are 2 others I plan on reading next month! 5 books I loved recently: Bone: Out of Boneville by Jeff Smith Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCool Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker Flip the Script by Lyla Lee A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger 4 auto-buy authors Alice Oseman Nicola Yoon Margaret Peterson Haddix Lyla Lee 3 Genres I love Romance Fantasy Historical Fiction 2 places I like to read at My room A coffee shop 1 book I promise to read soon Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Who are some of your favorite authors?