Showing posts with label sapphicathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sapphicathon. Show all posts

2 Feb 2018

#ARCReview: QUEENS OF GEEK by Jen Wilde

02 February 0 Comments

QUEENS OF GEEK

Author: Jen Wilde
Series: N/A
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: March 14, 2017
Rating: 3/5 stars

 Summary:
Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

 Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

 Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

 Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.
Purchase:
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book and decided to review it. This in no way impacts my opinions.

This was a good novel but I did have some issues with it. I thought it was really interesting for it to take place over the course of a weekend at a Con, but every character was too perfect. I wish there had been a bit more conflict or problems in general or that someone dealt with something a little poorly? It just felt as though this was a utopic world where no one could do anything wrong and that's not true.
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31 Jan 2018

#Review: THE STORY OF LIZZY AND DARCY by Grace Watson

31 January 1 Comments

THE STORY OF LIZZY AND DARCY

Author: Grace Watson
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Publisher: Published by the Author
Publication Date: June 1, 2017
Rating: 1.5/5 stars

 Summary:
When Lizzy Bennet first meets Darcy Williams, there is an instant dislike between them. As much as they try to avoid it their paths keep crossing, and they each start to see a different side to the other. Their tentative friendship is soon tested, but will they realise how they really feel?

 The Story of Lizzy and Darcy is a modern day, same-sex adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Purchase:
Wow this was a trainwreck. And that is putting it nicely. I must admit that I am not a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice, but I am a fan of f/f retellings of classic stories so I picked this up. But yikes.
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29 Jan 2018

#ARCReview: THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS by Emily Skrutskie

29 January 0 Comments

THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS

Author: Emily Skrutskie
Series: The Abyss Surrounds Us #2
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: April 18, 2017
Rating: DNF @ 26%

 Summary:
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart. 

 But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect?

 Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?
Purchase:
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion on the novel.

Yikes. I generally don't write DNF reviews on here but this is one that I think y'all should see. Because I really liked THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US so this should have been a book I also really liked. But it was not. Where THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US had good worldbuilding, monsters, and charm, THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS felt like a whole other world and one that was devoid of joy.
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19 Jan 2018

#Review: EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU by Nina LaCour

19 January 0 Comments

EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU

Author: Nina LaCour
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Chapters
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 15, 2014
Rating: 3/5 stars

 Summary:
A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.
Purchase:
So it's not that this was a bad book - and it wasn't necessarily an excellent book - it just fell somewhere in the middle. It felt as though it was 100 pages too long and the "mystery" is solved too soon for my liking. All that being said, I did enjoy the romance and I definitely enjoy LaCour's writing style. 
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17 Jan 2018

#Review: THE VIOLET HILL SERIES by Chelsea M. Cameron

17 January 0 Comments

SECOND KISS

Author: Chelsea M. Cameron
Series: Violet Hill #1
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Publisher: Published by the Author
Publication Date: December 13, 2016
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

 Summary:
Daisy Grace Webber's life hasn't exactly turned out how she thought. She didn't think she'd drop out of college and come back to the small town she grew up in. To be fair, she didn't think her love of baking would turn into a job at the Violet Hill Cafe either, but it did.

 Something else she didn't expect was for Molly Madison to walk back into her life, eight years after she moved away. They'd been best friends forever, or so she'd thought. But Molly is back in town and she's looking... really good, actually. And that reminds Daisy of that one time at a sleepover when they'd kissed during a game of Spin the Bottle. That one kiss has been on her mind since then, but it's irrelevant. Molly isn't into girls.

 But as Daisy and Molly spend more time together, feelings start to grow, and Daisy is wondering just how "straight" Molly really is...
Purchase:
This was a good start to this series (which by the title of this post, you can see I have finished). I feel as though we were dropped into a world that wasn't quite explained enough because it was lacking some serious worldbuilding and I would have appreciated a bit more. I think sometimes contemporary authors forget how important it is to really set the scene for us. However, I think a lot of the issues I had with this book (and the rest of the series) boils down to it being a novella and not a full length novel. 
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12 Jan 2018

#Review: GHOST GIRL IN THE CORNER by Daniel José Older

12 January 0 Comments

GHOST GIRL IN THE CORNER

Author: Daniel José Older
Series: Shadowshaper #1.5
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Publication Date: November 29, 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

 Summary:
H E L P

 Trying to shake off the strange malaise that separates her from even her girlfriend Izzy, Tee decides to take over the Bed-Stuy Searchlight for the summer. But then she finds an alluring violet dress in the newspaper office, and a cute ghost girl no one else can see. Who is she? What does she want? And why is she revealing herself to Tee? 

 H E R

 Izzy can tell Tee's drifting away from her -- she misses Izzy's shows and skips shadowshaper practice to spend time alone at the newspaper -- and she won't stand for it. Yet when a girl goes missing in Bed-Stuy, Izzy needs Tee to get the word out and help investigate. Can they break through their distance and reconnect before someone else dies? 

 Set between the New York Times-bestselling Shadowshaper and its upcoming sequel Shadowhouse Fall, this beautiful novella of mystery, love and loss will draw you deep into Daniel José Older's magical Brooklyn.
Purchase:
So I probably should have read the first book in this series prior to reading this novella because I felt like I was thrown into something I should have had more knowledge of and didn't. I think I was also expecting more ghosts or paranormal activity but didn't really get that either.
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10 Jan 2018

#Review: THE SEAFARER'S KISS by Julia Ember

10 January 1 Comments

THE SEAFARER'S KISS

Author: Julia Ember
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Publisher: Duet Books
Publication Date: May 4, 2017
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

 Summary:
Having long-wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.

 Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from Loki. But such deals are never as one expects, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.
Purchase:
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book but I am reviewing the finished copy of the book. This does not impact my opinion in any way.

 See a Guest Post from Julia about Plus Sized Heroines, my review of UNICORN TRACKS, and an interview with Julia prior to #Sapphicathon!

 This was super cute and probably the best way for me to start getting back into reading this year and kick off #Sapphicathon! I love Julia's writing style and her characters because they are relateable even when they are mythical creatures. I would have liked this to be longer - especially the second half - but I thought it was a good book and one I would recommend if you are looking for a f/f retelling of The Little Mermaid!
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28 Nov 2017

#SapphicAThon TBR + #Interview with JULIA EMBER, author of THE SEAFARER'S KISS!

28 November 0 Comments
Hey guys! I am so glad to be back in the blogging world and I will have a bit of free time at the end of December so I am going to participate in #SapphicAThon! It is a readathon where the feature is f/f relationships being the centre of the book. It runs from December 14th to December 28th so you can ask for some of these books for Christmas and have time to read them after! You can learn more by reading the original post which has recommendations for each of the challenge categories.

My plan is to try and fill up the whole card using a different book for each category, but we shall see how much progress I make. Below are the challenge categories and what I plan to read for each of them with buy links!

Also, as a special treat, there is an interview with Julia Ember who is the author of THE SEAFARER'S KISS, one of the books I'm reading for the readathon! Learn more about her books, writing process, and more in the interview below!


Bisexual MC

QUEENS OF GEEK

Author: Jen Wilde
Series: N/A
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: March 14, 2017

 Summary:
Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

 Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

 Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.

Purchase:

SFF F/F

THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS

Author: Emily Skrutskie
Series: The Abyss Surrounds Us #2
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: April 18, 2017

 Summary:
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart. 

 But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect?
Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?

Purchase:
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