Candy Bunny Reader

  Another sweet, short post today. Check out the Navigation page for more of my favorite authors! Picture of author was found on her website, which you can visit here: https://darcielittlebadger.com/  

My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee is a graphic novel of a blind girl named Safia who loves storytelling. She lost her parents and is sent to live with a mysterious aunt. Aunt Whimsy used to be a famous explorer and archeologist, but went into hiding several years earlier and was presumed dead. She also may or may not be a big furry monster (well, I know the answer because I read it).  One day Aunt Whimsy finds out an old rival of hers named Cecilia "discovered" part of an ancient kingdom that Aunt Whimsy and her nanny, Cathryn, actually discovered a long time ago. Hoping to stop her rival from taking all the credit (and to stop them from encountering something dangerous at the kingdom's ruins), Aunt Whimsy, Cathryn, and Safia go on a trip. Safia decides to record a story of her travels. While on a ship, Safia runs into a girl named Hebe who is also interested in discovering new and lost things. They get along well at first, but Hebe and her two cousins seem to have ult...

So I gave this book a second chance and read it the whole way through! What did I think of it? Summer of Salt by Katrino Leno is a YA contemporary fiction novel set on a small island called By-the-Sea. The MC Georgina comes from the Fernweh family, where all the women are witches with supernatural powers, but she hasn't discovered her powers yet. Her twin sister, Mary, can fly (actually float), and their mother can make potions (actually regular drinks like teas and coffees with healing herbs in them). The family owns an inn on the island that is popular with bird enthusiasts, because everyone who visits the island come to see a redbird named Annabella lay her eggs every year. Annabella is rumored to be a Fernweh woman who turned herself into a bird for mysterious reasons.  One of these visitors is a girl named Prue and her older brother, Harrison. Georgina and Prue end up becoming close and even become girlfriends, but their joy is ruined when someone mysterious kills Annabella. E...

TW: Family member dying mentioned. The book itself has a lot more trigger warnings not discussed here. You can read the full list on this website here: https://booktriggerwarnings.com/Elatsoe_by_Darcie_Little_Badger    This was on my TBR forever, and I am glad to report that this book did not disappoint. Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger is set in a world like ours--but have been shaped by magic and legends of different groups of people. The story is about a Lipan Apache girl named Elatsoe (or Ellie as she is usually called), her ghost dog Kirby, and her best friend Jay. They get thrown into solving a murder mystery case of Ellie's cousin, Trevor. When Ellie and her parents visit her cousin in law Lenore (Trevor's widow) and baby second cousin Gregory to keep them company, they find out the town they live in is rather...odd. It seems to center heavily around an eccentric doctor named Abe Allerton, who might have had something to do with Trevor dying. The task is dangerous...

  TW: Loss of a parent How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Presico is about Adara--a plant-loving preteen girl who just lost her mother. She and her father move from California to Michigan to live with her grandma. Adara is unhappy about the sudden move and she feels distant from her father. Luckily, she does manage to make one friend--a girl her age named Winnie who loves to draw. Winnie has been having problems with her family at home, too.  One day Adara's father tries to cheer her up by buying her a new plant. She ends up buying a succulent--which was her mother's favorite plant. She names the succulent Perle. From there she discovers she can actually talk to plants, just like her mom! Adara's new plant friends help her navigate this new chapter in her life, and it isn't always easy.  Even if you've never experienced what Adara experienced, I think everyone can relate in some way to this book. Growing pains, feeling alone, etc. are all present in this book. U...

  The second literary fiction book I've read that was originally published in Japanese! The first one I read was Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa back in 2023. You can read that review here . We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida is one of those books where each chapter is its own story. They all follow the same formula: a person has a problem. They find themselves going to this mysterious psychiatric clinic where they get to keep a cat for about a week to help them with their problem. The problem is resolved, in an unusual way. The person found themselves very attached to their cat and end up keeping the cat.  It's a very heartwarming book, and it has great conversations about mental health! The book also has an overarching mystery with the clinic itself because it's so unusual. The last two chapters do answer some questions about the mysterious cat clinic, but a lot of it is still pretty open-ended and up for your interpretation. I won't get into it here b...

Trigger warning: mentioning of miscarriages     Ugh, the book was good until it got to the end... You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley is an adult contemporary romance novel with a dash of magical realism. Mia and her husband Harrison have just moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a small town called Hope Springs, thinking life would be easier for them. Instead, Mia has trouble finding a job that she can do with an art degree, and Harrison seems to be hiding something related to his job (he works as a surgeon in a small hospital) from Mia. Even worse, they have been struggling to have children as Mia has already had two miscarriages.  While all of this is going on, Mia keeps having recurring dreams of her encountering a stranger. Well, she's actually been dreaming of this mysterious guy for years. Most of the dreams usually takes place in a carnival, and most of the dreams involve something tragic. Freakier still, Mia ends up finding the guy in real life! His name i...

    Wow! My favorite Ann Liang book so far! I am Not Jessica Chen follows Jenna Chen, an average student who is envious of her seemingly perfect, valedictorian cousin, Jessica. One night, Jenna secretly wishes that she actually was Jessica. The next morning she wakes up and is in Jessica's body! For the next few days she has to pretend to be Jessica, but it isn't always easy. Jenna at first likes her new life as Jessica, but she quickly learns being Jessica is not all sunshine and rainbows. Jenna soon misses her old, simple, life, and she tries to find ways to go back to normal. Even worse, people are starting to forget that the real Jenna even existed. The only one who seems to remember and help her out is Jenna's longtime friend and crush, Aaron.  This book really had me on the edge of my seat! Ann Liang really knows how to captivate her readers. The story was so emotional, heartfelt, and had so many relatable moments ranging from not always feeling your best to the st...

  I think I have found Kate DiCamillo 's most underrated book! Ferris is about Emma Phineas, or "Ferris" as she is nicknamed because she was born at a fair near the Ferris wheel. She is about to have the most unforgettable summers of her life before fifth grade. Ranging from her Uncle Ted's mysterious art project, to her little sister Pinky wanting to be a thief, and her grandmother Charisse's conversation with a ghost. All of these seemingly random events actually do come together gracefully and unexpectedly.  This book is different from most of Kate DiCamillo's books because it's more on the contemporary, slice-of-life side, even though there is a magical realism element with the ghost only Ferris's grandmother can see and talk to. It's a great story about all kinds of love--from family love, to friendship love, to romantic love.  I gave it 5 stars ! So far I've read two Kate DiCamillo books this month that I love! I am very lucky.

  Oh my, this was disappointing... Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour is a YA magical realism and character-driven book about a girl named Mila who just aged out of the foster system. She finds a job working as a teacher in a small remote farm somewhere in California. As she gets to know everybody there she finds out that the farm is haunted by ghosts, and these ghosts force her to confront her dark past. This sounds like a really interesting premise, right? Well, unfortunately this is one of those books where the first half is really good, and the second half is where it completely falls apart. I can't get too much into detail because it would go into spoiler territory, so I'll try to keep it as vague as much as possible. Here's what I liked: The themes of trauma, grief, and healing Mila's big sister-little brother dynamic with one of the younger kids on the farm named Lee. There is some queer representation Now what I didn't like: Ok. Seriously. The farm Mila goes to l...

  Yes, another Sharon Creech book! The Unfinished Angel is different than the rest of the books I've read from Sharon Creech so far. For one, it is a lot shorter. It's more like a novella. Secondly, it is magical realism! The story is narrated by an unnamed angel who guards a small village in Switzerland. They are confused why humans (or "peoples" as they call them) are the way they are, but they want to learn. The angel usually narrates in their unique voice what daily life looks like with what they often see, usually commenting on the same few people. The only one who can see and interact with the angel is an American girl named Zola, who came to live in the village with her father, whom the angel calls Mr. Pomodoro. He is planning on building an international school in the area (not the same one Dinnie from Bloomability goes to). The biggest event that happens in the story is a couple of runaway orphans are found in a chicken shed on a farm not far from the vill...

  My third Kate DiCamillo book (the first two I read were Because of Winn-Dixie and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane waaaay back when I was elementary school. This one was also great! The Magician's Elephant is about Peter, an orphan living with an elderly soldier named Vilnia Lutz, finds out his little sister Adele is still alive after hearing it from a fortune teller. The fortune teller tells Peter that an elephant will lead him to his sister, but Peter doesn't know where to find this elephant.  Meanwhile, Adele (yes, she's alive!), is living in an orphanage, and she keeps having dreams of an elephant visiting her.   At the same time, a magician is in the city and he performs a magic trick at one of his shows that goes wrong. Instead of summoning a bouquet  of lilies, his accidentally summons an elephant. The elephant lands on a noblewoman named Madama LaVaughn, leaving her paralyzed. The magician is put in jail for destruction of property. The eleph...

Time for unpopular opinions! This tag was originally created by Nicole and Her Books over on YouTube.  As always, feel free to do this tag if you see it! 1. A popular book you have no interest in reading. Honestly I have so many answers for this one. To give you a single answer, I'm going to have to go with Sadie by Courtney Summers . I remember so many people hyping this book up when it came out a few years ago, and I'm just not interested because I am simply not a fan of murder mystery stories. I was also told the book deals with some other really heavy stuff I wouldn't be able to stomach. So yeah, no Sadie for me. 🤷 2. A classic book or author you have no interest in reading. Again, too many answers, despite being a classics lover, but this time I'll have to go with War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy . I heard it's a really long book that takes a ton of effort to read, and the story itself is kind of boring. I do want to still read Anna Karenina though! 3. An author ...