✧ This short review is spoiler-free! ✧
Title: Heartstopper, Volume Three
Series: Heartstopper, #3
Author: Alice Oseman
Published: Feb. 6, 2020
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Category: young adult
Genre: contemporary, LGBTQIA+
Pages: 384
My Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads page
✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧
Title: Heartstopper, Volume Two
Series: Heartstopper, #2
Author & illustrator: Alice Oseman
Published: July 19, 2019
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Category: YA
Genre: contemporary, LGBTQ+
Pages: 320
My Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads page
✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧
Title: Heartstopper, Volume One
Series: Heartstopper, #1
Author: Alice Oseman
Published: February 7, 2019
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Category: YA
Genre: contemporary, LGBTQ+
Pages: 288
My Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads page
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Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
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Title: Teen Titans: Beast Boy
Series: Teen Titans, #2
Author: Kami Garcia
Illustrator: Gabriel Picolo
Published: Sep. 1, 2020
Publisher: DC Ink
Category: young adult
Genre: fantasy, superhero
Pages: 208
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Goodreads page
This short review is free from spoilers.
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Garfield Logan has spent his entire life being overlooked. Even in a small town like Eden, Georgia, the 17-year-old with green streaks in his hair can’t find a way to stand out–and the clock is ticking. Senior year is almost over. If Gar doesn’t find a way to impress the Chosen Ones–the social elite at Bull Creek High School–he will never know what it’s like to matter. Gar’s best friends, Stella and Tank, don’t understand why he cares what other people think. They miss their funny, pizza-loving, video game-obsessed best friend.
Then Gar accepts a wild dare out of the blue. It impresses the Chosen Ones and his social status soars. But other things are changing, too. Gar grows six inches overnight. His voice drops and, suddenly, he’s stronger and faster. He’s finally getting everything he wanted, but his newfound popularity comes at a price. Gar has to work harder to impress his new friends. The dares keep getting bigger and the stakes keep getting higher.
When Gar realizes the extent of his physical changes, he has to dig deep and face the truth about himself–and the people who truly matter–before his life spirals out of control.
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
Continue readingMy Top Books of 2020
Happy New Year (and thank goodness 2020 is over)! We have a tradition on this blog to showcase the top 10 books that I read every year. However, this year I wanted to do something different. Since it was 2020, I wanted to list my top 20 books instead of my top 10. It just has a better ring to it. However, I haven’t read that many novels this year, so I decided to split it into my top 10 books and my top 10 graphic novels. I read a lot of comics (although I don’t review them that much), so it’s only fair that I include them on the list.
In no particular order, I present to you my top books of 2020.
Continue readingA digital copy was provided by the publisher through Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.
Title: The Search Omnibus
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics, #2
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Illustrator: Gurihiru
Release date: October 27, 2020
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Category: YA
Genre: fantasy, graphic novel
Pages: 224
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads page
This review is spoiler-free!
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Immediately following the Avatar’s adventures chronicled in The Promise, this remarkable omnibus that collects parts 1-3 of The Search, from Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko!
For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question–what happened to Fire Lord Zuko’s mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar–and the most unlikely ally of all–to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
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I was given a digital ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Fangs
Series: standalone
Author & Illustrator: Sarah Anderson
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Genre: humor, relationships, comics
Pages: 112
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads page
This short review is spoiler free!
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A new gothic romance story from the creator of the enormously popular Sarah’s Scribbles comics.
Vamp is three hundred years old but in all that time, she has never met her match. This all changes one night in a bar when she meets a charming werewolf. FANGS chronicles the humor, sweetness, and awkwardness of meeting someone perfectly suited to you but also vastly different.
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
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Title: Mooncakes
Series: standalone
Author: Suzanne Walker
Illustrator: Wendy Xu
Publisher: Oni Press
Genre: YA fantasy, graphic novel
Pages: 256
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 stars)
Goodreads page
This short review is spoiler-free!
A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft.
Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.
One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.
Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
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Title: Verona Comics
Series: n/a
Author: Jennifer Dugan
Release date: April 21, 2020
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance, LGBTQ+
Pages: 352
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads page
This review is spoiler-free.
Jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist, and when she’s not working in her stepmom’s indie comic shop, she’s prepping for the biggest audition of her life.
Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can’t stop disappointing them—that is, when they’re even paying attention.
They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can’t help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible…unless they manage to keep it a secret.
Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?
[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]
Title: Check, Please!: #Hockey, Vol. 1
Series: Check, Please!
Author: Ngozi Ukazu
Published: September 18, 2018
Genre: graphic novel, YA, LGBT, sports, comics
Pages: 288
My Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
Goodreads page
Helloooo, Internet Land. Bitty here!
Y’all… I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack—our very attractive but moody captain.
A collection of the first half of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life
(This synopsis is from Goodreads.)
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