April Wrap-Up

Happy May!

Hopefully it looks like spring wherever you are. I’ll be living vicariously through you because Calgary’s weather has been wonky lately. In other news, I FINALLY LAUNCHED MY FICTION EDITING BUSINESS! If you want more information about the types of edits I do, what books I like to edit, and my rates, check out my editing services page and my “About the Editor” page 😊 I currently have a promotion happening where you can get 10% off all editing services until May 31! Apply today and don’t miss out on this great deal!

On to my wrap-up for the month. I managed to read 9 books and listen to 4 audiobooks. I had a lot of really great reads, but one book that surprised me the most was Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir. I did not expect this book to be as dark as it was, but it was a pleasant surprise 😂 My most disappointing read was Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson. I was so excited for this because I loved the previous books, but this one was just so boring and long. If you’ve read this, I’d love to know what you thought of it in the comments below.

My Library

Borders by Thomas King

Review:

@princessreadsalot recommended this to me since it mentions Calgary. I thought that was awesome since books rarely reference my hometown. This was such a great graphic novel and I thought the way the story was told was really interesting. The story weaves between scenes of the boy and his mom at the border, and the events leading up to Laetitia leaving them to go to Salt Lake City. I was a bit confused by this at first, but once I understood what was happening then it was easier to follow. I liked how this was told from the POV of a child because the things he notices are different than what’s actually happening in the story. The parts where they are taken in by border security, he just remembers the food and how people treated him kindly whereas his mom basically had to go through an interrogation etc. You get to see his innocent outlook on the situation. Overall, I think my favorite part of the book was the quote at the beginning, “For the Blackfoot, who understand that the border is a figment of someone else’s imagination.” I think this could make an good book for kids to read in school.

4/5⭐

Netgalley eARCs

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

Review:

This was such a beautiful story! I loved the concept of the dragonadors and the different gremios/guilds. This story also has an interesting magic system that’s unique compared to what we usually see in YA. The worldbuilding and all the Spanish elements were really fun to read about and I felt immersed in the world. The scenes describing the flamenco and Zarela’s dancing were beautiful to read and made me want to experience that in real life because the atmosphere seemed so lively. Regarding the characters, I thought Zarela was very headstrong and passionate about saving her family’s arena. I loved her relationship with Lola and I thought Lola was an absolute sweetheart. Her side-story romance with Guillermo was so cute. I also liked Zarela and Arturo’s enemies-to-lovers relationship. Their relationship was pretty complicated until the very end because of Arturo’s secret, but once that was dealt with, it was pretty much smooth sailing. They had some fun banter bits too. The villain in this book though, omg. Their motive and goals were quite disturbing and I’m glad with how their story ended. I didn’t really expect that ending but I was satisfied with it. The drama of the ending kind of reminded me of a telenovela show lol. Overall, this was a great story and I highly recommend it if you like some intrigue, enemies-to-lovers romance, dragons, and strong female characters.

4/5⭐

Mame Coordinate Vol. 1 by Sachi Miyabe

Review:

I thought this was a pretty cute manga, but there were some parts that could be seen as problematic. The main part was when Mame’s manager started restricting Mame’s eating so she would stay slim even though she never seems to gain weight even after eating all her fav greasy foods. I thought the rest of the story was pretty good though. Mame was such an adorable character, and if you can look past her disinterest in becoming a model, then this is a pretty fun story about breaking into the modeling world. I loved the parts with Kisaragi’s family and thought it was so cute how they took Mame into their home and shop. They were so supportive of her career even though Mame felt lukewarm toward it 😅 I’m excited to see what happens next, although it’ll probably be pretty unrealistic if Mame ends up beating the super popular model in the audition.

4/5⭐

Getting Closer to You Vol. 1 by Ruri Kamino

Review:

Oh gosh damn this manga was spicy 🔥 Natsume is an absolute hottie, and omg the muscles in this manga are to die for. I literally died when I read the sleeping scene. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you read this manga 😉 I love how everyone on the team knows what’s up. I thought it was so sweet how dedicated Hibi was to building the muscles of the basketball team, and her journey of realizing those muscles are attached to emotional humans. I love the dynamic she has with the team and that’s one of my fav things to read about, kind of like a reverse harem but in a platonic way. I also thought the part where they write their names was so freaking cute. It may seem a little possessive for some readers, but if you’re into that kind of thing, then it was so great 😍 I really just need more of this manga ASAP. Definitely one of my new favs!

5/5⭐

Nighttime for Just Us Two Vol. 1 by Maki Miyoshi

Review:

My goodness, this was one helluva weird manga lol. It’s about an alien who possesses a guy’s body and can only come out when the guy is sleeping. The plot is pretty interesting and very quirky for sure. I thought the trope of how nobody can remember Miya-chan’s name was pretty funny. She’s pretty quirky as well and literally has a habit of going for walks in the dead of night to find a spot to sit and watch dog videos…😅 Chiyo-chan was an absolute cutie! He seems like an excited puppy and is always so peppy and adorable. Koga-kun’s character was a bit hard to understand just because he sometimes acts all cute like Chiyo-chan to mess with Miya-chan. He lowkey seems like an a-hole who loves to torment Miya-chan, but I’m sure he’ll have a heart eventually in future volumes 😅 I don’t feel too strongly about any character at this point in time, but I’m curious to see how Miya-chan handles her relationship with both boys in upcoming volumes.

3/5⭐

Idiots: Marriage, Motherhood, Milk Mistakes by Laura Clery

Review:

Content Warning: Sex, sexual assault, violence, suicide, drug addiction, neurodivergence, and swearing

I don’t usually read autobiographies, but this one had such an interesting synopsis and I couldn’t resist. I’m so glad I picked this up because it was an amazing story. I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading it. I loved the conversational writing style of the story and it really feels like Clery is just talking to you like a friend. I love her advice about relationships and how they aren’t perfect, but they choose to be with each other and are individual people who support each other. I love how accepting she is as a parent and how she has unconditional love and support for her family. I also love how honest she is about how life isn’t perfect, but if you work hard and believe in yourself then you can manage to accomplish something good. I was so into the book that when it ended I was like “wait, what…no, I need more.” 😱 Since this book is very conversational, some parts felt a bit like rambling, but overall, this is one of my fav autobiographies that I’ve ever read.

5/5⭐

The Forest of Time: Children of the Stone by Tristan Roulot

Review:

Wow this book was so fast paced. I literally finished this in 20 minutes 😅 It was still a pretty interesting graphic novel though, and I definitely want to check out the next volume! I thought the concept of the plot was unique, and I like how time works in their little bubble. The part where the crystal breaks gave me so many questions about Marie and the mystery lady. I’m very curious what would happen next and need to read more to get all the answers. The worldbuilding was fascinating and left me wanting more. I loved the artwork and would recommend reading the physical copy of this book because the eBook black-and-white version does not do the art justice. Overall, it’s a fun and quick read!

3.5/5⭐

Modern Asian Baking at Home by Kat Lieu

Review:

I love this recipe book! I tried making the egg tart recipe, and aside from all the rolling of the dough, it was pretty easy! I think I lost feeling in some of my fingers, but the tarts taste yummy 😂 The ingredients listed can mostly all be found in your pantry, and you can easily find the rest at your nearest Asian grocery store, or even Amazon! Ingredients are also listed by weight and by amount, so you can be super precise if you want to be. The steps for each recipe are also pretty straightforward and there are notes added to help you out. I like how there’s recipes inspired by recipes by other people on Kat’s “Subtle Asian Baking” Facebook page. The bread section looks amazing and I just want to eat everything and skip the baking part haha 😅 I would recommend this cookbook because it’s filled with so many yummy treats that seem pretty straightforward to make. I can’t wait to try making more!

4.5/5⭐

Other (e)ARCs

From Harper Collins Canada (HCC Frenzy)

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

Review:

I had some mixed feelings about this book. There were a few plot holes in the beginning that confused me, and some parts didn’t seem very believable. I didn’t get how Joan could be so naïve about her monster heritage when her grandmother was almost blatantly telling her about it while she was growing up. The Oliver family power also seemed a bit confusing because you would think that all monsters would be able to tell who’s also a monster. I really enjoyed the middle of the book and I thought Aaron and Joan’s budding relationship was sweet. I totally shipped them, but after that ending I feel like that ship may have sailed 😂 I thought Tom was a scary thug-like character at first, but then he has a backstory that is just so tragic. I really liked the scene at the palace and thought traveling through time was really neat. I thought the ending was ok though, and everything just seemed so convenient. Especially the part with Joan’s power. I’m curious if we’ll see more of it in the next book. We’ll see if I end up checking it out or not 😅

3.5/5⭐

Audiobooks

Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

Review:

I don’t know if it was just me, but I strongly disliked this book 😅 I’m so sad because I absolutely LOVED the first two books in this series and this book was really disappointing. It took me forever to get through this audiobook because I was so bored by the content and I just couldn’t get into the story. It felt like a filler novel, like nothing really happened. M-bot was my favorite part of the entire story and was basically the only reason I kept listening to the audiobook. The mention of The Lion King and David Bowie really threw me off for a second because I wouldn’t have thought it would be part of that worldbuilding. I had forgotten the characters ancestors were originally from Earth, so that’s my fault lol. I was so glad when the audiobook ended so I could finally move on, because I don’t like leaving audiobooks unfinished 😂 Overall, this book felt so looooong and I just lost interest. I hope the next book in the series is better. There is some important information that Spensa discovers near the end of the book though, so don’t skip it!

2.5/5⭐

Seatmate by Cara Bastone

Review:

After being in an audiobook slump, I was so excited to see Cara had a new audiobook available! I absolutely love everything by her and I knew this would not disappoint. Gwen and Sam are such a cute couple and I was shipping them just as hard as Shirley (I think that's her name 😅) was. I love the pep talk Gwen's idol gives her near the end of the book and thought it was so relatable. This book just gives you all the feels! Sam was such a sweetheart and I almost cried at the bike scene where he asks for the autograph because he's just so kind. I highly recommend every book in this series! There's also a point where they discuss how the term "blind date" is ableist and I thought that was great! Overall, just an amazing story 😍

5/5⭐

Sleeping Beauty: An Audible Original by Marty Ross

Review:

This was an interesting retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I like how it had a tiiiny bit of a feminist take on the story and I also liked the twist at the beginning with how Aurora came to be a princess. The narration was pretty well done, and I loved the music from the orchestra. Some dialogue was a bit hard to understand though, because there were lots of sound effects going on, but overall they did a good job. I thought it was so cool that Phoebe Dynevor narrated Princess Aurora as well.

3.5/5⭐

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir

Review:

What the heck was this story. The synopsis does a great job of hiding what happens in the story, because my goodness I was not expecting anything that happened at all. The gore. The morbidity. Just a huge WTF….And I LOVED it. I was obsessed with Floralinda’s story and I loved all the twists and turns this story took. It was so cool to read about how Floralinda tackled the monsters in the tower. I also loved her relationship with Cobweb. They had great character growth and the ending was so sweet between them, granted their relationship formed in a low-key Stockholm syndrome way lol. This book was messed up, but also had some interesting discussions about gender that I wasn’t expecting either. I also did not expect the twist at the ending with the witch’s proposal, and I thought it was a fitting end. This book was just a wild ride and I couldn’t stop listening to it. I wasn’t a huge fan of Gideon the Ninth, but my gosh this book just redeemed Muir in my eyes haha. I love this story, it’s a work of morbid art.

5/5⭐

Well Met by Jen Deluca

Review:

LOVED THIS BOOK! This was so freaking romantic and the renaissance setting just made it so much better. I loved all the characters and how everyone from Willow Creek were so welcoming toward Emily. I love how strong the friendships were, and I thought April and Emily’s sisterly bond evolved nicely. Simon and Emily though omg 😍 I loved their banter at the faire! I totally shipped them and thought the end was the sweetest thing ever. I was listening to that part while I was driving to work and I was tearing up because it was so emotional. Talk about grand gestures 😅 I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the audiobooks in this series!

5/5⭐

That’s a wrap! How was your month? Any books that really stuck out to you? Let me know in the comments 😊