Waiting on Wednesday #18: The Duke Effect by Sophie Jordan

I've only read the first two books in the series, but I love Sophie Jordan's romances. Hopefully I can get caught up soon.

Sunday Post #18: Three Fridays...

I thought it was Friday starting on Wednesday, so that's how my week went. But I did get a lot done. I finished some things and got started on others. Making great progress.

I've also been watching a Halloween movie every night, so that's been fun. I don't do straight up Horror, so it's mostly family friendly stuff and just slightly creepy things.

Review: Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst

Dragons, fire, and heists! Oh my! Fire & Heist is a fun, quick adventure starring Sky, a wyvern (or were-dragon). Her family has been recently ostracized after her mother disappeared, and something just doesn't seem right about it. So Sky takes it upon to herself to finish what her mom started, hopefully finding her, and restoring her family's status at the same time. However, it's hard to pull off the ultimate dragon heist when you can't turn into a dragon or breathe fire.

The plot of Fire & Heist is super straight forward. There's no surprise twists or out of left field challenges. Sky discovers what heist her mom was trying to pull off, attempts herself, also fails, but ultimately overcomes and sets things right. I had a lot of fun reading it, because it's just light and adventurous. Nothing too serious or heavy. The idea of gold loving dragons trapped in human bodies was pretty silly and cute (gold toilet handles!).

However, the world-building was a bit confusing and felt incomplete. Sky's family is suppose to be super rich and in the public eye. They're in tabloids, and are I guess kind of celebrities. Does this mean that humans know about wyverns? I didn't get that impression, since Sky's friend Gabriela wasn't suppose to know about her. But it's also mentioned that wyverns donate money to many causes, so perhaps they're like an open secret? I don't know. It wasn't clear how "out" they are.

The other thing that confused me was the heists, which is the main point of the story. Wyverns are suppose to steal gold to grow their hoards, but they don't steal from humans. Just from each other. How does that work? Do they all just take turns breaking into their neighbors' vault? What's the reason for them stealing from each other? Other than just loving gold. It was really weird how normal this was with no explanation.

Other than the questionable dragon lore, I enjoyed Fire & Heist. I would have liked to have known more about the wyvern's social structure, but Sky's heist was exciting and kept my interest.

Waiting on Wednesday #17: The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan

This one came out yesterday and I need it! Diverse Historical Romance? Yes, please!

Sunday Post #17: The smoke is clearing...

 

Another quiet week here in the land of wild fire. The smoke is finally clearing and temperatures are cooling down, so hopefully I can get back to walking Miss Scarlet!

For some reason this time of year makes me want to declutter. I'm itching to do another KonMari marathon!

Series Report: Gemma Doyle by Libba Bray

This series has been on my TBR since 2011, and I just now got to it. And I'm glad that I did! I actually adored the first book! It's like if Mean Girls and the Craft had a baby and then that baby was raised by Sylvia Brown. Basically, it's full of weird magic, a creepy school, and teenage girls who go from enemies to best friends.

The friendship between Gemma and the other girls was actually my favorite part. It was so surprising. I was fully expecting Gemma to stay an outcast, or have the other girls take advantage of her magical abilities. But these girls genuinely become friends and nothing can come between them. Not even death. It's by no means perfect, sunshine, and rainbows. But these girls stick together and save the magical realm together.

The series does go downhill as it goes on. The second book was still fully enjoyable, but the third book was unnecessarily long and unsatisfying. I do think this series could have been one 800+ epic book and have been fantastic. There's just a lot of filler and back-and-forth in the sequels.

However, the one real down point of the series is the period-typical racism against Romani people and Indian people. It might be historically accurate, but...still. Ew.

If you like magical girls, creepy boarding schools, and unlikely friendship, I'd recommend this one.

Waiting on Wednesday #16: Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore

I don't think I've ever read about a beauty pageant before! But I'm all over cheering for the underdog, especially when they're queer girls.

Sunday Post #16: Getting on with life...

This week was pretty quite, but I made quite a bit of progress on Secret Mission: Get My Life Together! So that was good. I also picked up my Degrassi binge and I'm nearly done! Just the final two seasons to go! Then it's time for Halloween!

Review: Odd One Out by Nic Stone

I love love triangles, so I was definitely looking forward to Odd One Out's bisexual love triangle! Jupiter and Courtney have been friends forever. Courtney wants more, but Jupiter is a lesbian. Then Rae moves to town and Jupiter is immediately smitten, but Rae starts falling for Courtney. Clearly, this is going to be a big mess.

Messy is the best way I can describe Odd One Out, and mostly not in a good way. I was certainly intrigued, but everything felt so disjointed. It's almost as if there were three totally separate stories happening here and they got throw into a blender. There's the actual love triangle, which wound up rubbing me the wrong way. Then there's Courtney and Rae's quest which was super weird, but I was oddly into it. That didn't get enough attention though. Finally, there's Jupiter's struggle with her sexuality.

I did not like how Courtney was basically just waiting for Jupiter to reciprocate his feelings. I definitely believed he had feelings for her, but it was kind of gross how he just could not get the fact that she was a lesbian through his head. Of course, this comes into question when Jupiter starts questioning her sexuality. The ending basically felt like straight boy wish fulfillment.

As for Courtney and Rae's relationship, it started out rocky, but then they bond over their childhood hero, Carnival Carl who mysteriously disappeared one day. A day that is etched in both of their memories forever, since that's the same day Courtney lost his father and Rae's mom left. They want to find out what happened to him to find some kind of closure. This could have been its own book with a fun mystery and possibly some high emotions. Instead, it felt kind of thrown in to get these two close to each other and isolate Jupiter.

The last third of the book is focused on Jupiter and her coming to terms with her feelings for Rae and Courtney, and her sexuality in general. This was interesting, but a lot of it felt forced. There is this problem with people assuming lesbians just haven't found the right guy yet, and this is brought up, but it felt like it was mentioned so that it wouldn't look like that's what's happening with Jupiter and Courtney. He didn't "turn" her. It was just very jumbled and like the author was trying really hard to make sure that the reader doesn't think this. That could have been accomplished by spending more time with Jupiter's emotions and confusion over what she was doing with her best friend.

In the end, Odd One Out just didn't work for me. The themes and premise are excellent, but it wasn't pulled together.

Waiting on Wednesday #15: Legendborn by Tracey Deonn

This one is being pitched as City of Bones meets Black Girl Magic, and I am here for it.

Sunday Post #15: I did something crazy...

Yeah, I did something a little nuts on Friday. I booked a trip to Disney World. I couldn't take it anymore. I need to go. So I'm going next month, after my birthday since my coupon didn't work for my birthday week. I had to order more masks so that I can change them during the day. But I feel so much more settled now that I have a vacation planned.

Still waiting on the next step of my life plan. But in the meantime, I've been watching Disney+, as one does. I am ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with The Greatest Showman. I think you all got your musicals about problematic white men confused, because Hamilton cannot even compare to this one.

Ashley (@NoseGraze) announced BookHype yesterday! I was one of her beta testers, so I had been playing around on it all week. I'm excited for all of the features to come! It's like Goodreads, but less noisy. Back to the books!

Series Report: Oak Fast Fated Mates by Rebel Carter

Oak Fast Fated Mates is a super quick and cute Paranormal Romance series. Each of the books is novella length, so I finished the first three books in one day, at just under 400 pages. Now I must wait patiently for the rest of them. This series is set in Oak Fast, Alaska, a small town where humans and magical folk live in harmony. The local college even offers a seminar for the humans so that they can learn about their magical neighbors. Based on the title, I'm sure you can guess that all of the books use the "fated mates" trope. This one is quite hit or miss for me, but it worked for these novellas. While magic pushes these couples together, the final binding must be consensual. These could probably be classified as Rom-Coms, but the humor is wasted on me. I've made no secret of the fact that humor in books simply doesn't work for me. But those of you who can process humor properly will likely get a chuckle out of these books. 
Barista and the Bear focuses on a witch and her bear. She's a Luna has a human and her wolf. Fairy Suited is a fairy and his ex-wolf.

Review: Blended by Sharon M. Draper

I was super excited to discover Blended, because I knew I was going to be able to relate to Isabella. We both have a Black father and white mother, so what does that make us? Isabella has never really thought about her race or what she identifies as until her parents divorce. She notices that she gets odd looks when she's with just her mom, but not with her dad. Then the subject of racial discrimination comes up at school and she wonders if the world sees her as Black or white.

Blended deals with some seriously heavy topics, which surprised me. It's not that I didn't think kids know about this stuff, but I don't know. It just surprised me. After a class discussion, a student puts a noose in Isabella's best friend's locker. A situation which scared everyone and raised a ton of questions. Then something happens to Isabella and her stepbrother toward the end of the book.

I am torn on the ending though. Something super traumatic happens which I never saw coming. But then, everyone goes home and life goes on. That's all well and good, because I do love a happy ending. However, this was huge! There needed to be some kind of after math, discussions, something! There was more time given to the incident which happened with Imani at school.

If the ending had been a bit more fleshed out, this would have easily been a 5-star read for me. It's relatable, eye opening, and relevant in today's world. I'd highly recommend it to everyone.

Review: Parts & Wreck (Parts Department, #1) by Mark Henry

Parts & Wreck is another book where I didn't remember anything that I just read after putting it down. It's a good thing I take some notes for my reviews, because this book is utterly forgettable. Wade is a self-proclaimed playboy; women just can't resist him! I can't see why though, except he's super hot or something. Anyway, he hires Luce as his new assistant, and of course she's another one of those women who can't resist him, except that she does.

There's one very annoying thing about Parts & Wreck: the jokes. I struggle with humor to begin with, but I can normally tell when something is meant to be funny. The jokes here are all sex based, mostly about prostitutes, because apparently sex work is hilarious. Also roofies.They weren't funny and seemed more there for shock value? I don't know. It just wasn't funny at all and it bothered me.

The plot of Parts & Wreck is also pretty darn slow, which is unusually for the Paranormal genre. We don't even know exactly what Wade's job is until about a quarter of the way in, and then nothing plot related happened until...well, ever, honestly. I couldn't even tell you what the plot was suppose to be outside of the budding romance between Wade and Luce. Something about demons and surgery and prostitutes, probably.

Parts & Wreck was simply not my jam. Maybe dudes with raunchy humor, who remove organs from possessed people, is your jam. But don't forget the roofie jokes. Those shouldn't appeal to anyone.

Waiting on Wednesday #14: Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

I've recently read two other books by this author and they blew my mind. I imagine that she's going to be one of the few authors whom I'll read whatever they write.

August 2020 in Review

Did August even happen? I don't remember. For real. Everything kind of runs into July...I know I spent the last few weeks working on my secret project and have entered the next phase of that. Which just means waiting on something, then I can finish up the rest of my to-do list and go live! Exciting! At least for me.

I also spent a lot of time planning vacations that I'm not going to go on, most likely. I wanted to spend the entire month of October in Hilo, Hawaii. But the mandatory quarantine was extended, which makes me believe it will get extended again, so that's a no go. Most likely. Then I figured that I would just suck it up and go to Disney World. Disney is doing a great job of enforcing physical distancing and mask wearing, but no character meet-n-greets, no fireworks, and most restaurants are still closed. I just don't know if I want to spend that kind of money for half a vacation, but the flights are crazy cheap! 

THEN I started getting my hopes up that Disneyland might open up. I'm certainly keeping my eye on that as the state discusses the opening criteria for amusement parks. If Disneyland does open by/in October, I'm going. I've already cancelled two Disney vacations this year and it has me very antsy. It's my happy place. I'm use to going every year for my birthday or at Christmastime. I need this for my sanity.