Candy Bunny Reader

Summer is almost ending and school might have started, but you are never to late to read a cute summer romance with Deaf representation! Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is about 17 year old Lilah, who has hearing loss (or as she will call it towards the end of the novel, "Deaf gain") and knows some sign language. She struggles a lot with lack of accommodations from her peers in the hearing world. The only place she's really felt like herself (although still feeling out of place sometimes) was at Camp Gray Wolf. It's a summer camp for kids and counselors with all sorts of disabilities.  Coincidentally, Lilah is trying to find a summer job, and she gets to be a junior camp counselor for Camp Gray Wolf. Being a camp counselor isn't easy, especially with the looming threat that their camp might get shut down due to lack of funding (they do start a fundraiser for it halfway through the book). But the highlight of her summer is Isaac--another counselor. As he tries to h...

  I do this every year! Approxiamately halfway through the year I just answer these question about the books I've read so far.  You can check out past year's answers here in my site's Navigation Page, if you're interested.  And you can do this tag too! Here's one of the books I mentioned here. I haven't read it yet but I will sometime before the end of this year: 1. Best book of the year so far? I am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang 2. Best sequel(s) you read so far? So many of them! Here are a few: The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity volumes 2-6 by Saki Mikami Yotsuba&! volumes 9-15 by Kiyohiko Azuma A Sign of Affection volumes 7-10 by Suu Morishita Witch Hat Atelier volume 13 and Witch Hat Kitchen volumes 4 and 5 by Kamome Shirahama Call the Name of the Night volumes 4 and 5 by Tama Mistuboshi  A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 3. New releases you haven't read yet but want to. Sil...

  Every year I read and recommend so many books with queer representation in them! Here are some more books that I love and I hope you love, too: 1. Unfamiliar duology by Haley Newsome 2. Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Winans 3. The Witch Boy Trilogy by Molly Ostertag 4. Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour 5. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz 6. Monk and Robot duology by Becky Chambers  7. Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar 8. The Moth Keeper by Kay O'Neill 9. The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught 10. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callendar 11. Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar 12. Aquicorn Cove by Kay O'Neill 13. The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett 14. Witch Hat Atelier series by Kamome Shirahama 15.  Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott 16. I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver 17. Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O'Neill 18. Stars in their Eyes by Jessica Walton 19. Speak U...

  It was a mostly positive reading month! Found many new favorites. I read a total of 17 books and DNF 1 (one).  I hope your April went well, too! Links to my reviews provided if applicable.  The 5 star books:  1. Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao 2. French Girl in New York by Anna Adams 3. Neighborhood Story Volume 4 by Ai Yazawa 4. A Banh Mi for Two by Trinity Nguyen 5. If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann 6. A Sign of Affection Volume 10 by Suu Morishita 7. The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Volume 6 by Saka Mikami   8. No Talking by Andrew Clements 9. Witch Hat Kitchen Volume 5 by Kamome Shirahama  10. Passing for Human by Liana Finck 11. Kilala Princess Vol 2 by Rika Tanaka   The 4.5 star books: 1. Funny Story by Emily Henry 2. Alice in Kyoto Forest Vol 1 by Mai Mochizuki and Haruki Niwa 3. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers    4. Amari and the Despicable Wonders by BB Alston The 4 star books: 1. Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech...

  (I made this in Canva and the pic of the book was found on Google Images) This is the third installment of the Mary series by Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton, and Jodi Meadows! My Salty Mary is a historical fantasy story where The Little Mermaid doesn't actually turn into sea foam after the man she loves weds another woman. She, now living as a human named Mary Read, instead decides to disguise herself as a man and join a pirate crew. She eventually works her way up from cabinboy to captain, and joins a contest to be the next Pirate King (One Piece reference maybe😂???) after the most notorious pirate Blackbeard dies. Mary deals with many other things along the way, such as being torn between her new life as a human and a former mermaid (especially when her father, the Sea King, wants her to come back home), dealing with a new found love with Tobias (who is her navigator and one of Blackbeard's sons). At the same time, Mary's cousin Jack (his mother is the Sea Witch, who is ...

TW: Parent dying, toxic relationships   (Pic was found on Google Images) Another huge disappointment... Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch is about Lina, who just lost her single mother. Her mother's final wish was for Lina to visit the country she went to college, which was Italy. Apparently Lina's birth father is in Italy, too, and Lina can't believe she's finally meeting him. His name is Howard and he lives and works in a cemetery, much to Lina's surprise. Howard's coworker Sonia gives Lina her mother's journal when she lived and studied in Italy. Lina decides to read through it, as her mother didn't talk much about Italy and her father. One thing that stands out to her is her mother wrote down on one of the pages "I made a terrible mistake". Line tries to figure out what mistake her mother made living in Italy that made her go back to the US. While this is all happening, Lina then meets and starts hanging out with a guy her age who lives...

  All of the books I read in September!  I read a total of 17 books . Most were short books or graphic novels. It was mostly a good reading month. Except for that one book I gave 2 stars.  Links to Goodreads descriptions will be provided. Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix -4.5 stars To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han -2 stars Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson -4 stars Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour -4 stars A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard -4 stars The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz -5 stars A Psalm for the Wild Built, and it's sequel, A Prayer for the Crown Shy , both by Becky Chambers , A Psalm got 4.5 stars, A Prayer got 5 stars.  Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar -5 stars Yotsuba&! Volumes 1-3 by Kiyohiko Azuma -all 5 stars! Seance Tea Party by Remina Yee -4.5 stars Huda F Are You by Huda Fahmy -5 stars Gigi Shin is not a Nerd by Lyla Lee -5 stars Homebody by Theo Parish -5 stars Mamo b...

  OMG this book was so cute! Now I am craving grilled cheese sandwiches😋. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz is about Lady Camembert, who like women and obviously doesn't want to marry any men. But she is left orphaned and her father's last wish was that she moved somewhere new in the country of Fondue with her lady-in-waiting Feta and pretend to be a man. So she starts living as Count Camembert. But she has to keep a low profile as much as possible, while still expecting to get married.  Cam (that's her nickname) quickly gets bored being at home all day, so she decides to attend a ball hosted by the princess of the kingdom, named Princess Brie. She quickly catches the attention of Brie and they become friends. They finds themselves falling in love with each other, but Cam is worried about her secret of pretending to be a boy getting out. Luckily, Brie's other friends, Ricotta and Gorgonzola (or Zola for short) help out with the situation. They ...

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...

(Pic was found on Google Images) This is my second Morgan Matson book! This first book I ever read from her was Since You've Been Gone back in 2021 or 2022, which I really liked. Did I like this book, too? Well... Take Me Home Tonight is about two best friends: Kat and Stevie. They are both passionate about theatre. Their school's theatre department will be putting on King Lear by William Shakespeare, but for some reason, their theatre director, Mr. Campbell, doesn't put the cast list up on Friday like he usually does. The girls can't understand why, but Kat finds out that down the road in New York City, he will be putting on a play that same Friday night that he wrote himself. Kat decides in order to show Mr. Campbell what a great student she is and to get the role of Cordelia in the play, she and Stevie will go watch his show.  The thing is, that Friday night, Kat gets called to babysit some kids. She decides to lie to her parents that she's going to go babysit ...

  Yeah, I know I'm late to the party with this one. And I unfortunately didn't like it!  To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han is about Lara Jean, who has developed crushes on 5 boys over the years, one of them being her childhood friend Peter and another being her next door neighbor, Josh. She has written letters to the boys she has had crushes on, but never mailed them--until one day then somehow get mailed and Lara Jean gets caught up in a crazy love triangle between Peter and Josh.  I've seen so much praise for this book (and the series overall) for years and I finally got around to reading it, but this was just not for me! The main issue I had were the characters. They were all so unlikable! Except for Lara Jean's sisters Margot and Kitty. They were cool. The romance between Lara Jean and Peter was also so badly done, in my opinion. Most of the time they felt like coworkers who barely tolerated each other. I know they were fake dating for most of the book, b...

It's Deaf Awareness Month, so why not share the book perfect for this occasion that I just read and got as a present from a family friend?! A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard is about Steffi, a girl in her last year of high school who has selective mutism. She is hearing, but she also can communicate through sign language (specifically BSL, since the story is set in Britain). She gets assigned to help out a new student in her school named Rhys, who is deaf. Slowly, they become friends and they become a couple. Through Rhys, Steffi is able to meet more people who support her and her disability and alternate communication styles after struggling with them for so long.  Such a cute romance book! And great disability representation, too. I though this book would be perfect to share this month since it's Deaf Awareness Month.  But I did give it 4 stars . There is some mild ableism sprinkled throughout the book (although it is handled well at the end). One character is mention...

  Here are my answers for this year's Midyear Freakout Tag! I do these every end of July.  Let me know what you think! 1. Best book of the year so far? If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia So 2. Best sequel(s) you read so far? Serafina and the Twisted Staff, and Serafina and the Splintered Heart, both by Robert Beatty 3. New releases you haven't read yet but want to. Funny Story by Emily Henry 4. Most anticipated releases for the 2nd half of the year. Silverborn, The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend  Sylvia Doe and the 100 Year Flood by Robert Beatty My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 5. Biggest disappointments of the year. Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman 6. Biggest Surprise of the Year Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans 7. Favorite new author. Robert Beatty! 8. Some new favorite character(s). I got several: Ermengarde in A L...

So this is just a snapshot of the books I plan on reading and series I want to finish/catch up on in 2024. As always, the list is subject to change. This is just what I am currently in the mood for and can see myself reading/finishing/catching up with at least in the first half of 2024. Tell me your reading plans for 2024! Witch Hat Atelier Volume 11 by Kamome Shirahama Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townscend Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty Cosmoknights Volume 2 by Hannah Templar A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf The Story Girl by LM Montgomery Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White   North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill Unbowed by Wangari Mathai Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Holes by Louis Sachar Piranesi by Susana Clark Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes If You still Recognize Me by Cynthia So Ellie Engle Saves Herself...

The PERFECT romance book! Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee is about Dylan, a teenage boy who works at his Aunt Jade's Singaporean Chinese takeout shop. His family has been struggling financially, and they are worried they won't be able to keep the shop open. Dylan finds out about a mooncake making contest run by a celebrity chef named Lawrence Lim. The winner will get their restaurant showcased on Lim's TV show. Dylan decides to enter the contest, thinking if the shop makes some publicity, they might get more customers.  Then, one day Dylan accidentally gets the order wrong of a rich customer named Adrian, and Adrian makes a big deal out of it. Adrien's equally rich friend Theo, who was there when the incident happened, makes up for it by visiting and eating at the takeout shop. Eventually Theo and Dylan become friends, and Theo decides to make a donation to Dylan's aunt Jade to keep the shop afloat for much longer. Dylan's family is very happy about it. Th...

Have you ever been unsure if you were going to like a popular book, but you give it a try and you end up liking it? That's what happened to me with this book! She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott and Alyson Derrick is about two young women in their first year of college--Alex and Molly. Alex does not have the best life at home (parents had a nasty divorce, mother fell into alcoholism, financial struggles, etc.) and she just broke up with her girlfriend, Natalie. Molly is very shy and had friendship troubles in high school, and she wants to get out of her comfort zone in college and finally make some real friends. Alex and Molly meet at a party and Alex finds out about Molly's crush on another girl named Cora. Cora actually went to Molly's high school and is now at the same university. Alex befriends Molly and they make a deal to help Molly get Cora. Alex also makes a deal with her ex-girlfriend Natalie to show her that she is capable of opening up to people by befriend...

Now, I can't guarantee I will finish all of the series or get around to all of these books this year, but I will do whatever I can. I'm human too. I got a life outside of reading as well. I am also a huge mood reader. With that out of the way, here are the books and series I need to finish/start from this point on! Series:  Witch Hat Atelier -this manga series is still ongoing. When the next few volumes come out in English, I will read them. Talli: Daughter of the Moon -this manga-inspired graphic novel series is still ongoing. When the next few volumes come out in English, I'll read them.  The Mary series -written by the same women who wrote the Jane series. The first book is My Contrary Mary.  Spy x Family - this series is still going on but as of the making of this post I have only read volume 1. I need to read the rest of the volumes that are already out in English. Moomins series - I read the first three original books. As of the making of this post I have 6 left. Co...

Uh oh, more unpopular opinions ahead. These are all the books I have DNF'd so far this year. For one reason or another. Either I found a book so boring and I just couldn't get into it, or maybe the story got so bad for me that I had to stop reading.  I also decided to add a list of series I won't be continuing. With those I did read the first book or the first few books, but for whatever reason(s) I lost interest in finishing out the series.  Since I DNF most of these books/series, there won't be any links to read about them, since I obviously never gave them a review.  Books I DNF: Anne of Windy Poplars by LM Montgomery You're Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner Take me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson Monday is Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson Nancy Drew and the Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene Lunch Money by Andrew Clements American Panda by Gloria Chao The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford Spinning by Tillie Walden Strawberry Girl by Lois Lensk...

Since it's (approximately?) halfway through the year, I thought I would share with you my favorite books of the year so far. These are all 5 star books. I also put links to their respective review pages if you want to check those out/revisit them. Just click on the title of the book. (Well, most of these have reviews...those that don't are usually sequels in series that I obviously can't talk about because that will go into spoiler territory!) 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 an...

  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...