Aug 7

Aug 7 July Wrap-Up and Alaska Pics

Happy August!

My July wrap-up is a bit late this month cause boy what a busy month it has been! I only managed to read 4 books this month and they were all manga and graphic novels so I didn’t get much reading done at all. I’m hoping to get more reading done this month but I don’t think I’ll be able to because…I got a puppy (an aussiedoodle)! He’s been taking up all my time and it’s been an adventure to house-train and crate train him while trying to make sure he doesn’t chew our house to shreds 😂 If you have any new puppy tips, I’d be happy to hear them. Please. My boyfriend—well I guess fiancé now, surprise!—and I also went to Alaska for a road trip, a surprise proposal, and I got to see a ton of animals. We saw 11 bears in one day which was wild. The roads were terrible but the views were stunning! I highly recommend driving the Top of the World Highway if you ever get a chance. I’ll include some pics at the end of this post, but for now, here’s my wrap-up!

My Library

I Think Our Son is Gay Vol. 1 by Okura

Review:

I need to buy the next volume asap. I love this manga! It’s so precious and the mom is such a sweetheart and I love her relationship with her sons. This manga is about a mom thinking her eldest son might be gay and all the thoughts she has about it while they go about their daily life. She is so supportive of him regardless of whom he loves which is really great. There are some sad parts like where the dad says he thinks two men kissing is gross, but then the mom makes sure to say something to vaguely reassure her son that she thinks it’s not gross and should be acceptable in society and that the dad should be more open-minded. I think it’s interesting to see each parent’s perspective on their son’s possible homosexuality and how the mom tries to make sure her son feels like he can tell her anything if the time comes. Each scenario in this book seems so relatable and realistic as well. I think it’s just such a heartwarming book to read about accepting your child for who they are and supporting them no matter what.

5/5⭐

Beauty and the Feast Vol. 1 by Satomi U

Review:

This manga is about a widow who loved to cook for her husband until he died and she stopped. She rediscovers her love for cooking when she starts feeding a hungry high schooler who really enjoys eating her food. This manga is so sweet and so pure and I love the whole concept. There’s also so much yummy food in this manga since cooking is a huge part of the story, so don’t even think about reading this if you’re hungry 😂 There’s also some feelings growing between the two by the end of the volume and I really hope they stay platonic because I feel like an age-gap romance wouldn’t be appropriate for this couple. I definitely want to keep reading this to find out what happens and to see more of the yummy food she cooks!

5/5⭐

Living-Room Matsunaga-san Vol. 1 by Keiko Iwashita

Review:

This was a pretty fun manga to read! I thought the concept was interesting and now I want to try living in a boarding house LOL. I liked the assortment of characters aside from Ken who seemed like quite the pervy playboy. I thought Matsunaga and Meeko’s budding relationship was cute and I can’t wait to see how it progresses, especially after the ending of the first volume. I think it’s sweet how Matsunaga is always looking out for Meeko, but hopefully his temper subsides later on in the series because I’m not a huge fan of that type of person.

4.5/5⭐

Netgalley eARCs

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega

Review:

This graphic novel was so relatable. When I saw this on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it. I grew up with frizzy hair and always hated it and wanted to have “pretty” straight hair. Thank goodness for the curly hair routine that has become more popular lately. Now, just like Marlene, I’ve been embracing my curly hair a bit more and have slowly been learning how to take care of it and which products work well with it. This book was so relatable and I saw myself in many of Marlene’s hair debacles. I’m grateful I never had to deal with her salon experience and that I had a mom who always said she liked me better with curly hair, even when that “curly hair” was just frizzy waves 😂 I really liked the bit about how ideas about our self-worth and what is attractive can be a generational issue and it can take time to unlearn all of that. That’s important to remember. I also loved how supportive Marlene’s tía was and how she taught her how to style her hair. This story shares a good message about how nobody’s hair is “bad,” even if it’s not styled and looks like a frizzy cloud. I highly recommend this for anybody who has ever felt “less than” because their hair never looked like society’s stereotypical beauty standards.

6/5⭐

Other (e)ARCs

I’m currently reading my ARC of Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach from HCC Frenzy and I’m loving it so far! I love all the references to Chinese culture and language. I’m also loving the feminist themes and also seeing how feminism looks different for each person.

Audiobooks

I’m currently listening to Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer on Audible and omg it is such a wholesome story. One of my friends recommended it to me and I was skeptical at first, but now I need more books like this in my life. It’s just so nice to read and I love all the characters. I’ve been listening to this one slowly because I don’t want it to end.

Well that’s a wrap for my reading update! As usual, if you have any book recs you’d think I’d like, let me know in the comments below. Also, if you have any comp titles for Beware of Chicken, PLEASE SHARE. Thanks 🙏

Editing Update

I’ve been slowly getting back into editing this month and I still have some space available for the second half of August. Writers, I’d love to hear how your Camp NaNoWriMo projects went 😊 Everybody had such fascinating stories and I loved all the tropes and aesthetic boards y’all included! Good job! You can also check out my Editing Services page for more info.

Alaska Pics

For our trip, we went from Calgary to Skagway to the Top of the World Highway to Chicken to the North Pole (yes, we saw Santa), and we explored the entire Alaska circle including the cities of Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, Homer and Seward, and back home via Highway 37 in BC. This trip was lots of fun and I would definitely visit again.