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...

These are all the books I gave either 3 stars or less and all the DNFs. The only 3 star book:  Juliet Takes a Breath graphic novel by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote All the DNFs:  Deep as the Sky Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yagisawa Shokugeki no Sanji by Yuro Tsukuda Beach Read by Emily Henry Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour  Always a Catch Volume 5 by Mayo Momoyo Fall in Love You False Angels Volume 4 by Coco Uzuki The Island Book 1 by Gordon Korman A Condition Called Love Volume 1 by Megumi Morino A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan Brigands and Breadknifes by Travis Baldree Sorceline Volume 1 by Sylvia Douye Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay by Dale Walls Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Ju The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier All Systems Red by Martha Wells Sheeta's Little Big World Volume 3 by Yuk...

  Copied and pasted from my Instagram page...  

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: 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...

The best reading month so far! So many 5 stars! I read a total of 12 books and DNF 3 .  Links to reviews if applicable.    5 star books   Shadows House Volume 9 by Somato The Witch Who Chases the Sun by Dawn Chen She Loves to Cook Volumes 1 and 2 by Sakaomi Yuzaki Monster High: New Scaremester Volume 1 by several authors Under Their Skin by Margaret Peterson Haddix Nightbooks (and the sequel Gravebooks) by JA White Witchlings 1 by Claribel Ortega Linus and Etta Could Use a Win by Caroline Huntoon Eden of Witches Volume 6 by Yumeji   4.5 Stars  Monster High: New Scaremester Volume 2 by several authors   DNFs  These two were bad:  A Condition Called Love Volume 1 by Megumi Morino Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay   This was just boring:  A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff   

Whoa! Where do I begin with this one? The Witch Who Chases the Sun by Dawn Chen is a high fantasy book set mostly in the country of Inabri (inspired by Great Britain) and partially in another country called Aixauh (inspired by China). The story follows two witches (well, one oracle and one alchemist) named Anne and Chely (real name Cai-Li). Chely has returned to her old lover Anne after finding out that people from the town nearby Anne's castle are starting to disappear. Chely tries to find out what the whole deal is while trying to rekindle her relationship with Anne. We find out that Inabri (where Anne is from) and Aixauh (where Chely is originally from) have had two wars back to back with each other, and both girls appear to have trauma from it all. The story also has a ton of other flashbacks to times before, during, and after the girls were with each other. Other people from their pasts also come into the picture: a close friend of theirs named Cole, a notorious pirate named ...

 A sapphic manga about foodies? Sign me up! Well, I've only read the first volume of She Loves to Cook & She Loves to Eat by Sakaoumi Yuzaki , and so far I love it! It is exactly what it sounds like. A young lady named Nomoto loves to cook food and share pics of her food online, but she always cooks in huge portions and has no one to share it with since she can't eat all of it. That is, until, she finds out one of her neighbors in her apartment complex loves to eat all sorts of foods. The other lady's name is Kasuga. Nomoto and Kasuga end up bonding through all sorts of food, and other experiences, and they seem to be falling for each other.  It's a very chill and slice of life manga, but it is so sweet, funny, and relatable! And all the food they have looks so good. It's mostly Japanese food, too.  I gave this first volume 5 stars . I will read the rest! 

A sapphic holiday romance! Make My Wish Come True is by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick . They are the same authors who wrote She Gets The Girl, which I read and reviewed back in 2023. You can read that review here . This book is set in late December, and is a dual POV book of two girls named Caroline and Arden. Caroline lives in a small town called Barnwich in Pennsylvania where they are very obsessed with Christmas. Arden is a famous A-list actress who was also Caroline's best friend when they were younger. They each had a crush on each other, but never told the other one how she felt. Since Arden is an actress, she's been living in LA (Los Angeles) the last four years and has been hyperfocused on her career. Caroline wonders how come in the last four years Arden never contacted her. Caroline is also hoping to get into a good university for journalism.  Well, Arden is hoping to land her next movie role, and in order to get in character for the role, she decides to revis...

  Everything I read in October! I sure read a lot, and had lots of new favorites.  Reviews will be linked if applicable.   5 star books: I Want to Be a Wall Volumes 1-3 by Honomi Shirano  Doughnuts under a Crescent Moon Volumes 1-4 by Shio Usui (link to Volume 1 review here ) In the Name of the Mermaid Princess Volume 5  by Yoshino Fumikawa and Miya Tashiro   The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Volume 9 by Saki Mikami Eden of Witches Volume 4 by Yumeji The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf The Firelight Apprentice by Bree Paulsen Hilda volume 1 by Luke Pearson By Your Side by Kasie West Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brogsol    4.5 star books: Transmogrify by several authors In the Name of the Mermaid Princess Volume 6  by Yoshino Fumikawa and Miya Tashiro     4 star books:  The Deep Dark by Molly Ostertag Lost Evangeline by Kate DiCamillo Sakura Saku Volume 8 by Io Sakisaka

  This book was recommended by @xoxobookishgirl over on Instagram, and is part of the 12 books 12 friends challenge. This is the last one! Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon by Shio Usui f ollows Uno Hinako, a twentysomething who tries to have a normal life by following society's expectations of looking a certain way to try to fall in love, but she is not happy. One day one of her coworkers named Asahi Sato finds her crying alone in a park, and she cheers her up by sharing doughnuts with her. The two quickly become friends, and Uno starts trying to unlearn her people-pleasing behavior, but it isn't easy. Luckily, she has fun hanging out with Sato and her younger sister, and bonding over food.  So far I loved this first volume! I gave it 5 stars . It has everything I like in storytelling: queer characters, slice of life elements, and food. I also love the messages of how "normal" looks different from person to person. I am excited to read the next three volumes (it's ...

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!

    A sapphic romance focused on dancers? Two of my favorite things ever! Leap by Simina Popescu is set in Romania. It follows a girl named Ana who goes to a prestigious dancing school. She is on the contemporary track and her current girlfriend, Carina, is on the classical (ballet) track. Recently, Ana and Carina have been struggling in their relationship. Ana isn't feeling as passionate about dance as she once was and skips class frequently, and Carina feels pressure to live up to her parents' expectations and is worried about her parents finding out she is queer.   But then when Ana meets her new roommate Sara, another contemporary dancer, they become best friends really fast. Sara also happens to be queer, and she gets a little crush on their dance teacher, Marlena. Even though she knows they'll never end up with each other (luckily they don't!). Sara can't help but still show off her dance moves in class.  The story ends up being about the girls trying to ...

  A Banh Mi for Two by Trinity Nguyen follows two girls: Lan and Vivi. Lan spends her days working at her family's banh mi stall, and also has a popular blog. It's all about food and food stalls in Sai Gon, the city where she lives. But she hasn't felt inspired to write anything in a long time. At the same time, Vivi has come to Viet Nam via study abroad with her university. Her main goal is actually to track down her mother's side of the family, whom she's never met and find out why her mother lost contact with them a long time ago. Her only clues are some old photographs of her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Vivi is also a huge fan of Lan's blog.  The two girls meet on accident in a public park. Things start out rocky at first, but when Vivi gushes to Lan about how much she loves her blog, the two become best friends. Vivi convinces Lan to enter a writing contest, and Lan agrees to help Vivi track down her mother's side of the family. The two also gush a ...

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.

  I think Rachael Lippincott is slowly becoming a new favorite author of mine! Before we start, the title of this book is quite misleading. It is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. It has P&P in the title because the main character Audrey gets transported back in time to the Regency era, which is when P&P also happens to take place. So even if you weren't a fan of P&P like me, you might still like this book! But why does Audrey get transported back in time to the Regency era? Well, things haven't been working out so well for her recently. She just broke up with her boyfriend Charlie and has just been waitlisted in her dream art college. Audrey has had no inspiration to do any art, and has gotten bored working at her family's convenience store every day. Although, one frequent visitor to the store is a mysterious man named Mr. Montgomery. One day, to pay for his newspaper, Mr. Montgomery gives Audrey a quarter. It's a magical quarter that transports he...

  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!

It's been a while since I visited the wonderful world Travis Baldree created with Legends and Lattes ! (You can read the review for that book here .) It's also been a while since I took a picture of a book with one of my dolls. That's Venus McFlytrap from G3 Monster High. Bookshops and Bonedust is the prequel to Legends and Lattes . This prequel follows Viv the Orc recovering from an injury from her last battle. She spends time in this seaside town called Murk, where she becomes friendly with a colorful cast of new friends, from a restaurant owner named Brand, to a gnome named Gallina, to a carpenter named Pitts, and even her surgeon named Highlark. She also becomes enemies with a guard named Iridia, but even she becomes more of a frenemy later on. However, Viv spends most of her time at a nearby bookshop and the bakery next door to it. She becomes super close with the rattkin that owns the bookshop, named Fern, and her pet griffet Potroast (they're pictured on the c...

  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...

  Mamo by Sas Milledge follows Joanna, or Jo for short, whose mother has fallen ill. Other mishaps are happening in her small community, too. Jo wonders if it's all because of the fae (fairies) and humans making them angry. She enlists the help of the village witch named Orla. Though somewhat stubborn and reclusive, Orla helps out Jo when they find the root cause of the problem. It turns out Orla's deceased grandmother, the previous village witch named Mamo, is causing the problem with her bones and soul scattered about. Jo helps Orla by learning some magic to stop Mamo, and she finds out some things about Orla and Mamo that changes everything she knew about them.  This book was so cool because it talked about witchcraft and fairies in a way that closely mirrors real-world beliefs. Magic isn't the glittery stuff you see on TV, and the fairies here are actually really scary.  Unfortunately, I wasn't really of fan of Jo and Orla's relationship. They spend most of the...