Candy Bunny Reader

  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...

 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...

Where do we even begin?! Halfway There by Christine Mari is a graphic novel memoir about the author growing up struggling with her half-Japanese, half-American identity. During her college years, she studies abroad in Japan thinking she'll be able to find who she truly is, but instead deals with more identity crises. It all leads to depression, and she learns to reach out and ask for help from her grandparents and a therapist.  You really have to read this book to understand how lovely and heartfelt it is! For me it was relatable in so many parts (having parents from two different countries, not knowing where I belong, mental health struggles, getting help when needed, being a great artist, etc.). I really saw myself in this author! I gave it 5 stars . 

I actually read a book illustrated by the author of this book back in 2022, titled Mooncakes! You can read the review for that book here .  Tidesong   by Wendy Xu is about Sophie, who wants to enter a prestigious academy of magic, but first needs to refine her magic skill to pass the auditions. She gets sent to live and train with her great aunt and cousin. All they seem to do is make her do a bunch of chores, and she feels her magic still isn't good enough. One day she tries out a spell of her own and almost drowns, but is saved by a shapeshifting dragon prince named Lir. Sophie and Lir end up getting their magic powers tangled up, but when they start practicing together, Sophie finds her magic getting better! But eventually Lir has to return home or his father, the Dragon King, will be furious and probably cause a destructive storm... This was so sweet and whimsical! I loved the magic system and the mythology sprinkled throughout. I also love the way Sophie's mental health ...

  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...

Trigger Warnings: child dying, family members dying, toxic relationships, body horror The Deep Dark by Lee Ostertag  is a YA graphic novel set in southern California. It is a mixture of different genres: urban fantasy, mystery, and horror. The story follows Magdelena (or "Mags" for short) as she struggles dealing with her mental health after an incident that ended with a childhood friend dying. Mags felt that it was all her fault. She also is trying to rekindle her friendship with her other childhood friend, Nessa. Nessa also seems to be harboring some struggles of her own. The characters' struggles seem to mostly come from an unusual creature that lives in Mags's basement... I gave this book 4 stars . It was a great book, but surprisingly darker than the previous books of the author's that I have read before. All of the trigger warnings are listed above. I think the mental health rep, Latine rep, and queer rep were done really well!

By Your Side by Kasie West is a YA contemporary romance story. Our main character Autumn accidentally gets locked in the library over a long weekend. Much to her surprise, a guy from her school is there, too. His name is Dax, and he has a reputation at school for being a "bad boy". As the two try to survive in the library, Autumn gets to know Dax and finds out he's actually really nice! But now she has to deal with her feelings for Dax and her longtime best guy friend--Jeff.  On the surface, it sounds like a silly YA love triangle book, but it actually ends up being a lot deeper than that. This book deals a lot with anxiety, loneliness, and finding a sense of belonging in the world. It was so evocative of so many emotions! I gave it 5 stars . I'm so glad I found another Kasie West book that I love. 

  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...

  I didn't forget that it's Disability Pride Month! Here is my pick (although really, you should read about disabled characters all year long).  Lavender Clouds by Bex Ollerton is a collection of comic strips about the author and their experience being neurodivergent (being autistic and having ADHD) and having mental health issues. The comic strips range from funny and relatable to more emotional and heartfelt. Either way, Bex's message for you as the reader is: the sky doesn't need to be clear in order to be beautiful. You can interpret what that means.  I loved this book so much! This is the book I wish I always had growing up, as an autistic person who also has anxiety. The illustrations are really pretty, too! I gave this book 5 stars .  

How come it took me so long to get around to reading this? It is an instant new favorite! I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver is about 18-year-old nonbinary Ben, who got kicked out of their house after coming out as nonbinary to their parents. They go to live with their sister Hannah and her husband Thomas. At Ben's new school, they meet another student named Nathan. It takes Ben a while to warm up to Nathan, but when they do they become great friends. Nathan especially loves Ben's art, and loves it when Ben draws and paints pictures of him. Nathan and his other two friends Meleika and Sophie help Ben get used to their new situation while also having fun as friends should. At the same time, Ben's sister Hannah recommends that Ben should see a counselor to deal with his trauma after getting kicked out and other things, and so they start seeing an LGBT-friendly counselor named Dr. Taylor. Things aren't always easy, but things do start to get better for Ben. slowly. T...

  Yes! Another great book by one of my favorite authors, Margaret Peterson Haddix ! The Remarkables is about Marin, an 11-year old girl who just moved to Pennsylvania from Illinois. She has no new friends yet, and just had a falling out with her two friends, Ashlynn and Kenner, back in Illinois, before moving. Her parents are really busy with their new jobs and taking care of her new baby brother, Owen. So, Marin spends a lot of time on her own. One day, as she is exploring her new neighborhood, she sees a bunch of teenagers hanging out with each other near one specific house. What's unusual about these teens is they seem to disappear and reappear out of thin air, and only Marin seems to notice this strange phenomenon. That is, until she meets a boy, a neighbor, named Charlie, and he reveals he can see them, too.  Unfortunately, Charlie thinks the reason he can see them is because of a dark family secret regarding his father. He thinks the teenagers are actually his father an...

 TW: Mentioning of murder Whoa! Where do I begin? Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans is about Bianca, a nonbinary lesbian teenager who has a long list of fears. They spend a lot of their free time either secretly observing and making up stories about their neighbors, watching anime with their best friend Anderson, and birdwatching. But one day, Bianca witnesses something terrible happen to one of their neighbors: a guy they call Mr. Conspiracy. He gets murdered by a mysterious person wearing a bird mask. Bianca, Anderson, and later a girl Bianca has a crush on named Elaine all work together to solve the murder mystery.  This book got me hooked from page 1! And it might seem a bit odd, because I don't usually vibe with murder mysteries, but this author and this story made it work for me! The mystery part of it was cool. I think what I liked the most was the characters. They were all so likable and so relatable (well, the good guys, definitely not th...

Hi y'all-- You might have noticed I haven't been posting as much. The truth is, I have been struggling coming up with content ideas. If you remember (or if you're new here), I at first tried to post every single day, but that was exhausting. So I changed it to posting at least 4 times a day (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday). But I think that model isn't working for me anymore.  So what does this mean? I have decided to post only two times a week now (Wednesday and Saturday). I will still be posting every day over on my Instagram stories on my Instagram account if you want extra content.  Let's see how this goes. Hopefully only two posts a week are less stressful to come up with! Best, CandyBunnyReader

  But I can't do a full review because it's book four. I will let you know it's just as beautiful as the previous three. 5 stars from me! I love how groundbreaking the mental health representation is in this specific volume.  I can't wait for volume 5! I will also be checking out the Heartstopper Yearbook and everything else Alice Oseman has to offer us in Nick and Charlie's world. You can check it all out at her website here (also comes with trigger warnings for all of her books!).  I'm really passionate about Alice Oseman's works. Is there an author you're really passionate about too?