Category: Monthly Reads

Posted in Monthly Reads

Slip-A Graphic Novel Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Introduction of Slip

I was recently invited on a blog tour for this book by one of the Publicity Mangers at Algonquin Young Readers. SLIP is a new graphic novel by Marika McCoola and Aatmaja Pandya. SLIP deals with the have crafted a nuanced story about the many ways art can change us forever.

SLIP brings to life both the excitement and heartbreak of being a teenager and the fleeting and beautiful feeling that one summer can hold dozens of exhilarating possibilities. The perfect read for fans of heartfelt stories about personal identity and first love like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero O’Connell and Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Kevin Ganucheau, SLIP captures both the magic and anguish of growing older and the catharsis that creating art can bring.

Summary

Jade is excited to go to an exclusive summer art intensive, but right before she is about to leave, her best friend Phoebe attempts suicide. How will Jade be able to focus on her artwork during this dream opportunity? But at the Art Farm, Jade discovers artistic possibilities she has been longing to experience her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary. Jade knows she needs to keep her focus on her art, but her worry about Phoebe and her budding crush on Mary leave her overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. She channels her stress and insecurities into making ceramic monsters, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens – they come to life. And they’re taking a stand: if Jade won’t confront her problems, her problems are going to confront her.  Including the one she is desperately trying to avoid: If Jade grows, prospers, and even falls in love this summer, is she abandoning her best friend? Can she discover who she really is without losing Phoebe in the process?

Review of Slip

Jade has problems finding her theme in her art because she won’t face her emotions. I think her main problem though is her codependency with Phoebe. It holds her back nearly the whole piece from embracing her pieces or embracing her relationship with Mary. I think this is a good piece about finding yourself beyond people you may love but who may not be good for you. I love the final pages when Jade makes the piece of Phoebe I think that’s her most interesting piece in the book. This is a great read for Pride Month as Mary really supports Jade through all her issues.

I would give it a CW as there is artistic showing of female genitalia

Check it out on Amazon

About the Author and Illustrator

About Marika McCoola:
Marika McCoola is a writer, illustrator, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of Baba Yaga’s Assistant. She has spent over a decade working to connect books with readers. She studied illustration, art history, creative writing, and ceramics at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and received her BFA in illustration in 2009.  She lives in Somerville, MA. 

About Aatmaja Pandya
Aatmaja Pandya is a cartoonist and illustrator born and raised in New York. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2014 and has been illustrating professionally ever since. Slip is her first graphic novel. She lives in New York City.

Posted in Monthly Reads

May Plans

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So April felt long and short at the same time, I did lots of really cool things during the month like going on a trip out of town. And going skating for the first time since my broken ankle. I also went to a ton of independent bookstores and got to see a traveling Broadway production. I was really pleased with how the month went, but I did let some things slide particularly my reviews and the blog which I hope to do better in May.

1) Post Every on the Blog Day

I want to get back to posting ever day. Also just being with the back in touch with the with blogging community consistently. I would really want to work on vlogging but that may have to wait until I redesign my room or posting in an unconventional place like my living room and wait until my bookcases are up to have a traditional vlogging space.

2) Do more Readathons

I have really had success with readathons this month, so I’d like to do more in May, I’m already doing RoyalReadathon, and I’m looking at Desert A Thon as well. I might also do short ones to get back up to my yearly goals.

3) Read enough books in May to get back up to my goal for the year.

According to Storygraph I’m about 10 books behind where I should be so I’m going to try to read ahead a little bit to get back on track. I think I can add about at least 5 or 10 extra books to what I’m already reading.

Posted in Challenges, Monthly Reads, new releases, Orillium Readathon, Pondathon, Readathons, Trope-ical Readathon

You Truly Assumed Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

And we’re back online faster, with more power, and better than ever. I’m now producing content off Lavender the Laptop. She has 90’s retro vibe, and I’ve got the feminist and witchy stickers coming in tomorrow. So I’ll probably get sticker happy but I’m happy to have a machine to work from again, and happy to be reviewing this wonderful book You Truly Assumed by Black author Laila Sabreen.

This is also helping me complete one of my Pondathon II challenges,. In addition it’s helping me complete one of my Trope-ical readathon prompts Finally this book is also helping with my Orillium Gear Challenge.

Summary

In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.

Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.

Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

Review of You Truly Assumed

I really liked this book for several reason; one the three points of view, two the way this book was centered around blogging and the different ways the girls celebrated their faith through their communities and the blog. For me this book brought up what is great about the blogging community, the family aspect, as well as the negatives and how to deal with them.

I think it did a good job portraying what minority bloggers have to deal with, any minority bloggers can of course correct me if I’m wrong but it seems to match up with the discourse I’ve heard from different bloggers of color about their thoughts not being heard. I think this is a must read for all white bloggers. Oh and just a personal favorite I especially I the scene where the piece of cookware is thrown on the floor after seeing the website. Just a personal favorite of mine also I’m a huge fan of the ship that happens in the book. It’s so cute. Those are my two personal opinions. Also, I couldn’t pick a favorite out of the three since I love them all. So don’t ask me to!

Amazon: You Truly Assumed

Posted in Chopped Readathon, Monthly Reads, Readathons, Wrapup

Chopped Readathon: In Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

It’s the end of the Chopped Readathon, @TheBlindScribe and I are sad that this is over but we really enjoyed our time reading with all of you. As your host we didn’t get much reading done, because again, running readathons is more work than either of us pictured. So we are both crossing the finish line with 2 books each.

I’m sure some our participants however will have wonderful posts that will show up throughout the day now as for the prizes @TheReaderPegniun won our prize for who read the most and will get a twenty euro prize.

Prizes

Meanwhile in the random drawing JenniReads won our US Chopped prize pack of signed books and a $20 however they want it from.

Finally @WordsThatStay1 and @hepatic15 have both won our random drawing twenty euro prize package, we will figure out how they want it delivered as well.

I’m also sending out ARCs to @KittyGamerGirl who is getting an ARC of Arrow to the Moon. As well as @JenniReads getting Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating.

Books We Read

Overall we as a group have read 39 different books. Though I think a couple of people were reading The Kindred.

Also we reached the over 10,000 pages mark like I knew we would, the total number of pages read is 10,682! Along with the total number of hours read at via audio book at 6.7!

You finished a lot of books and hit a lot of prompts so I can’t wait to see what your meals look like when you post your wrapups for this readathon. As sad as we are to see this finish we will be back in July, we aren’t sharing the theme yet, but I have a lot to learn about Google Forms and making announcement videos so expect next time to be bigger and better. And please share with your friends if you enjoyed the readathon, you see how relaxed we are about prompts and such, if you like that please share with someone else you think might enjoy that atmosphere as well.

Chopped Readathon

Posted in Monthly Reads, new releases, Reviews

Cleo Porter Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Reading a book about the effects of a plague during an actual plague is kind of surreal, and the author noted the dissidence when introducing the piece. Other than this Cleo Porter vs the the Body Electric was a wonderful piece about pandemics, the dangers of relying on technology and the force of the human spirit.

Summary

A woman is dying. Cleo Porter has her medicine. And no way to deliver it.

Like everyone else, twelve-year-old Cleo and her parents are sealed in an apartment without windows or doors. They never leave. They never get visitors. Their food is dropped off by drones. So they’re safe. Safe from the disease that nearly wiped humans from the earth. Safe from everything. The trade-off?

They’re alone. Thus, when they receive a package clearly meant for someone else–a package containing a substance critical for a stranger’s survival–Cleo is stuck. As a surgeon-in-training, she knows the clock is ticking. But people don’t leave their units.

Not ever. Until now. In a race to treat her patient she will go on the adventure of a lifetime and learn things she never imagined.

Review of Cleo Porter and the Body Electric

The solution to this book, is one you can easily see coming about, and that’s what makes the book hit a note of realism that is almost scary. I also love the two people living outside the cubes, Agnes teaches our protagonist a lot of things she would have never learned in the cube, and the outside world grow on her because of it. I think it’s also important to point out how hard it was to get out of the cube, and the failure of Paige’s cube, and how that could be important in the future. Like Agnes said they may be locking themselves in for trouble if something bad happens.

Amazon: Cleo Porter and the Body Electric

Posted in Chopped Readathon, Monthly Reads, new releases

Bone Spindle Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

The Bone Spindle was a great adventure novel. Billed as Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones the personal relationship and bonds between the characters make it so much more. Yes, there is romance, but this is also an ode to female friendship, not giving up, and not running away from your past.

Summary

The Bone Spindle by [Leslie Vedder]

Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn’t believe in true love.

Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.

Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.

Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi—until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.

Dark magic, Witch Hunters, and bad exes all stand in her way—not to mention a mysterious witch who might wind up stealing Shane’s heart, along with whatever else she’s after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in love with Briar Rose.

Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.

Review of the Bone Spindle

This book was an absolutely lovely read. I didn’t mind the three perspectives at all as they made sense shifting when the situation did. Everyone must have been a blast to write due to the level of snark they all possessed. Oh an Red, poor Red. I can’t wait to see her again in later books, and hope she comes around. I’m also worried about the link between Briar and the Spindle Witch. But let me not forget a to give a shoutout to the Paper Witch, who even before I knew his history was still awesome. What I’m trying to say is this is a great introduction to a series of book and I can’t wait to read more, sequels as fast as possible please!

Amazon: The Bone Spindle

Posted in Monthly Reads, Wrapup

End of the Month Wrapup

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So we are almost at the end of the month, I can’t believe we are almost done with the first month of the year. Maybe because I was in a cast this time this year that time seems to pass a little differently. Anyway I’m looking forward to February because the Chopped Romance Dinner Readathon. But I wanted to take a look back at my goals for January and see how I did.

Read 10 books in January

I’ve only read like 4 books but I’ll probably finish 6 by the end of the month. Migraines strike again, lots of sleeping and naps because I’m behind on my Botox. I went to my new neurologist yesterday so hopefully they can start giving me Botox shots soon!

Keep Posting Regularly

I’ve posted most every day this month, sometimes twice a day. So this goal I have on lock.

Work on things for my readathon

I dropped clues, my co-host and I figured out prompts, I did announcements for the Readathon coming up, and clue. I have a prize package together and finally I have TBRs up for the books I’ll be reading. I feel like I got at lot done for this goal. If you’re interested in the link to the readathon here.

Spend January planning out my readathons for the year.

I have a better handle on at least the next few months that have announced their dates. I’m sure a few more that have promised to come back this year will announce their date closer to the readathon. In which case I’ll take part in those. I’m also taking part in Pondathon II and some of their author quests and side quests all year.

Organize and clean out the categories on my blog

This one I didn’t really get around. I added a few more categories based on things I’m doing but I still need to rearrange stuff and clean stuff out.

Did you accomplish your January goals? How was you reading for this month? In a slump like me or are you miles ahead on your goal. Tell me in comments!

Posted in Monthly Reads

Reflection: November Reads

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

November was an incredibly successful month. In doing a reflection, I read 16 books last month. This is personal record for me in terms of books read per month. I’m heading in the right direction for hitting 100 books this year. I’ll highlight some of my favorite books below with a short description for each.

This was a great book about a girl in an unsafe situation trying to find her escape through makeup. Wren is a smart protagonist who slowly learns to trust and solve problems by opening herself up to other.

Amazon: Violets are Blue

Luminous by [Mara Rutherford]

This was lush fantasy about a girl with unique magic powers, it was always relaxing to sit in this fantasy world with a girl filled with light, magic tapestries and a very well written villain.

Amazon: Luminous

Vespertine by [Margaret Rogerson]

Vespertine was one of my favorite reads of the month. Artemisia would rather just spend her life in quiet reflection at her nunnery as a Grey Sister. Unfortunately when her home is attacked she must team up with a ancient spirit to solve a dangerous mystery.

Amazon: Vespertine

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by [Anne Ursu]

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is a great book about men controlling women’s right’s. Maya Lupu is sent to an academy for troubled girls after she ruins her brother’s sorcery test. But the Academy though may not be everything it seems and Maya may have to fight to stay alive and in charge of her own fate.

Amazon: Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

Dead City by [James Ponti]

So people may know James Ponti for his City Spies series but I found that while I love City Spies, I really loved his zombie series Dead City, it’s a great middle grade take of zombie hunting and changes the whole rules of the zombie genre. It has a great cast of characters both living and undead.

Amazon: Dead City

These were just a few favorites of the 16 books I read this month. I will be posting a lot of holiday content this month so expect to see more reviews coming back in January.

Posted in Challenges, Discussion, Feature, Monthly Reads, Orillium Readathon

First Day of September Reads

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’m going to update what I’m reading every day since I get a new roll on Bookaplaton every day so today on Bookaplaton I got the prompt of a book with humans so I’m reading Ghost Girl which I bought yesterday because it was just too good not to read ASAP. I’m also reading Fellowship of the Ring for Magical Readathon’s first prompt. In addition to this I’m reading Goddess in the Machine because I just started it and am enjoying it.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings by [J.R.R. Tolkien]

Amazon: Fellowship of the Rings

Ghost Girl by [Ally Malinenko]

Amazon: Ghost Girl

Goddess in the Machine by [Lora Beth Johnson]

Amazon: Goddess in the Machine

Posted in Discussion, monthly goals, Monthly Reads, Weekly Wrap-ups

Extremely Productive Month

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I thought August wasn’t going to amount to much reading wise. Instead it became an extremely productive reading month I’ve had to date since I’ve started reading seriously. Now posting on the blog fell behind which I’m going to try to remedy next month. But I read A LOT. A few were picture books but most were novels, and I may be able to fit a few in more in before the end of the month.

It’s a good thing too since I’ve got two extremely major readathons coming coming up. They both require a lot of books and a lot of time spent. Those two readathons are BookoplAthon and Orillium, one is readathon inspired by Monopoly and the other is a journey to a magical school. So the books I’ve read this month were great training for the TON of reading I’m going to do next month.

Let’s talk about the books I’ve read this month shall we 13 in all. 13! For some of you who hit double digits often this may not sound like a lot but I’ve been having trouble getting out of the low single digits so it’s a big success for me, so I’m going to try for 15-20 next month.

Below are the books I’ve read this month.

The Dragon Egg Princess by [Ellen Oh]
The Revenge of Magic by [James Riley]
Dark Waters by [Katherine Arden]
Hide and Don't Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories by [Anica Mrose Rissi]
The Last Dragon (The Revenge of Magic Book 2) by [James Riley]
Bridge of Souls (City of Ghosts #3) by [Victoria Schwab]
The Forgotten Girl by [India Hill Brown]
In My Mosque by [M. O. Yuksel, Hatem Aly]
Say It Out Loud by [Allison Varnes]

So as we can see I have a lot of reviews to do, well as some reviews from the summer that I’ve missed. I’ll try to get to all that in September. But it’s nice to look at all the reading I’ve done in a visual form. Most of this reading was done for the two readathons I was taking part in this month, which were, The Royal Readathon, and the Trope-ical Readathon. I feel particularly accomplished this year because I hit most of the prompts on the Trope-ical Readathon.