December Wrap-Up

Happy New Year Bookworms!

Thank goodness 2020 is over, that was one hell of a year! I know it was considered a total disaster but honestly this was one of the best years of my life in terms of personal growth. I did so many things I didn’t think I would ever do and I’m so proud of where I am now. Kudos to everybody for surviving this year whether you were thriving or just taking it day-by-day. My thoughts go out to everybody who struggled this year with Covid or job issues or financial issues or mental health etc. I hope 2021 is a kinder year to everyone 💕 Onto the reading section of this post. I was super busy this month with work and the holidays so I didn’t read as much as I had hoped but that’s ok, I’ll just catch up in January LOL. I listened to a lot of audiobooks though, but most were short so that helped. I almost met my Goodreads goal of 150 books with 141. I think my reading goal for next year will be 150 again but I will try to read more books from my personal bookshelves. Now onto my wrap-up.

My Library

I can’t believe it but I did not read a single book from my personal library this month. I joined the #flattenthenetgalley challenge on Instagram so most of my books were from Netgalley or other eARCs I had received.

Netgalley eARCS

The Seventh Handmaiden by Judith Pransky

Review:

This was such an interesting story I loved it! I really like how Pransky included a little explanation for how she incorporated the historical fact and fiction into her story and why she chose to alter some of the history a little. The storyline was really entertaining and the plot twist at the end I did not see coming! Although, thinking back on the plot there were many points that alluded to what happened at the end of the book. I also think that the time jumps were well done and helped the story move along at a good pace. The writing style was also very simplistic since this is intended to be a middle-grade book. Overall this was a great story 😊

4/5🌟

Whisper Me a Love Song Volume 1 by Eku Takeshima

Review:

Ok so first of all… AHHHHHH MY HEART. Ugh the smoulder and the senpai just ugh MY HEART DIED. Add in Himari and my heart just freaking EXPLODED. This manga is SO CUTE! Himari is very much just WHAM in your face but she is so CUTE and bubbly and that part with the head pat I literally melted into a puddle. I NEED VOLUME 2 RIGHT NOW. This is basically like a ‘bruh’ girl paired with a ‘uwu’ girl times a million and I am so totally here for it.

6/5🌟

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan Volume 1 and 2 by Gaku Kuze

Review:

This was a pretty funny and relatable manga about adulthood. I really enjoyed the whole sarcastic tone used throughout the story. I definitely liked Volume 2 more because we get more insight on the characters. Some of the parts were a bit boring or slow, but for the most part this manga was really entertaining. One thing I liked was how Kuze included a glossary at the end to explain the cultural nuances and words. I also thought the play on names for the characters was really clever!

3.75/5🌟

The Gingerbread House by Laura Gia West

Review:

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC! I thought this was such a cute little Christmassy book for kids and I loved the idea of the story. This just makes me want to decorate a super awesome gingerbread house in the hope that a gingerbread person will stay for Christmas! The illustrations were super cute and the whole book was just so magical. It was so much fun to read! I also didn’t have any kids to read this book to so I ended up reading this aloud to my bf as a bedtime story LOL.

5/5🌟

A Sister by Bastien Vivès

Review:

So this book was a bit hard to review… On one hand the artwork was really well done and I thought it helped convey the emotions of the story well, but the relationship between Antoine and Helene made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I get that this is the story of the sexual awakening of a young teen (also the French are supposedly more open about these things lol), but the relationship portrayed with him being 13 and Helene being 16 and her giving him alcohol and doing all those sexual things to him was a bit predatory(?) to me. If you remove those bits then the caring side of their relationship works a lot better especially in relation to the title “A Sister”. I initially thought this would be a cute story but it turned out to be a lot heavier but still interestingly done. It wasn’t my type of graphic novel story but I’m sure it would be interesting to study in an English class. I’d be interested to know what other people thought of this book if they’ve read it.

3/5🌟

Other eARCS

The Red Door by Heather Kindt

Review:

I loved this book a whole lot more than the first book! The storyline was great and highly entertaining and I enjoyed the adventures in this world more than “The Green Door”. I thought the part about Athena’s pheromones was pretty cool and unique. Also Megan’s relationship with Carter got a little bit better so they make a great little trio (I totally ship them all). However, I am still hardcore shipping Brek and Meg so we’ll see if that gets to happen in “The White Door” or not. Fingers crossed! Overall a great book and I think it was definitely an improvement compared to the first book.

4/5🌟

The White Door by Heather Kindt

Review:

Ok so this series just keeps getting better and better! Thank you Heather for the eARC, I literally read this in a day. This series honestly just gets better and better with each book! This is definitely my favourite one by far. The character development is so well done and the plot omg the plot 😱 The love, the betrayal, the action, the double-crossing. I can't even. Y'all need to read this series because it's so great! I need the next book NOW 😍

5/5🌟

The Part About the Dragon was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson

Review:

Thank you Parliament House Press for the eARC! This book was HILARIOUS. This is filled with pretty much my fav types of humour and I loved it. The beginning was a little bit hard to get into because there’s just a lot of information that gets introduced to you, but it was definitely necessary for the rest of the plot. I love the writing style of this book and there were so many jokes in here that were so clever and subtle that it took me a second to understand. This book reminds me a lot of “Kill the Farm Boy” by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne. I think my favourite part of Gibson’s book was definitely the part with the bog. I literally burst out laughing and could not stop reading. Borg was hands-down my fav character as well. Overall this was just such an entertaining book and if you like endless dry humour and adventure then you need to check this out!

4.5/5🌟

Audiobooks (Audible and Netgalley)

Wishes and Wellingtons by Julie Berry

Review:

I got this audiobook from Audible for free and it was pretty entertaining. I loved Jayne Entwistle as the narrator; I listened to “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place” which was also narrated by her and it was such a pleasure to listen to. As for the story of “Wishes and Wellingtons”, I was a bit conflicted. Overall I enjoyed the story but there were parts where I just thought Maeve’s actions were just totally foolish and obtuse. She definitely goes through some character growth by the end which was great and was the saving grace of the story. There were some parts of the story that frustrated me because of how unjust things were, especially with Tom and Lord Treasleton (not sure how to spell his name because I listened to the audiobook lol). Alice was probably my favourite character in the whole book.

4/5🌟

The Prince and the Troll (Faraway #1) by Rainbow Rowell

Review:

I listened to this on Audible. This was a pretty cute story and I loved all the Starbucks drinks included. I thought the relationship between the troll and "Prince" was sweet. The part about the Road was really interesting as well. This would be a great short story to read and dissect for an English class.

3/5🌟

The Princess Game (Faraway #3) by Soman Chainani

Review:

I listened to this on Audible and I loved the voice acting. I liked how each character was voiced by a different person. This story was so fascinating and I loved trying to figure out who the Princess killer was. I kind of figured it out around halfway through the story but it was still a fun reveal at the end. This story was a great explanation of toxic masculinity especially in schools.

5/5🌟

The Cleaners (Faraway #4) by Ken Liu

Review:

I listened to this on Audible but I probably should have read it. This book was so confusing and I could barely follow what was happening. I liked the premise of the story but there were so many elements to "cleaning" and memories and I was just lost for majority of the story.

2.5/5🌟

The Wickeds (Faraway #5) by Gayle Forman

Review:

I listened to this on Audible. I loved this twist on the tales of the Snow White's stepmother, Rapunzel's "mother", and Cinderella's stepmother. This was such a 'female bonding' book and I loved every minute of it. It was so interesting to see how these supposedly villainous women were actually just human and good and suffering from the patriarchy.

5/5🌟

Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Review:

Thank you Netgalley for the audiobook! I loved it! This was an amazing story about a Korean girl who is graduating from high school soon in a predominantly white town. She is trying to apply to college while dealing with racism, bullying, and strict parents. Her story at times is very heart breaking and emotional because of the bullying and racism she has to experience. This book was originally published in 1992 (I think) and it’s sad to think that the racism that existed around 30 years ago is still present today. I think this was a very well-written book and I highly recommend it to everyone!

5/5🌟

That’s my wrap-up for December! I hope you found some books to add to your New Year TBR 😊 This month I will be participating in Read With Sam’s Spark Joy Readathon and I’m super stoked for it! I will also be participating in a readathon for reading the books from your personal library hosted by The Librarian Files. Here’s to a year of lots of great books and hopefully we all can take some books off our TBRs 😂

Happy reading and happy 2021 🎉