Goodbye May

May...sigh.

June...sigh (x2).

Here I am again checking in with my 2019 resolutions:

(1) Keep learning

(2) Write [almost] every day

(3) Don't stop reading

(4) Complete something (e.g. a manuscript)

(5) Get [a little] professional 

This month was...pretty good. I didn't read 100 books, but my book count was still darn good. I didn't write 1000 great pages, but I did write a bunch of pretty good ones.

(1) Again, no real "evidence" of this to share. 

(2) Near the end of the month I started to get better at this, working on #4. 

(3) I read...some in May. I think I read about 4 books in total. Which isn't a lot but...(see point 4)

(4) My manuscript has ~153 pages done (and counting). That's about 40 more than last month, all done in the last two weeks or so, too. Which didn't feel like a lot at first, but wow 40 pages. Not to brag (imma brag), but I'm awesome. And my doc is starting to look more like a book. I've figured out a new method and new techniques, and it's working. Yay, writing. And, I'm sorry, but I'm going to say it, I'm just really proud of myself.

(5) Posts in May: 14 (that includes this one).

I'm going to (try) to do this at the end of every month, or close to it (that is, if I remember, and my life isn't too too crazy at that time).

What are your big June reads?

Anything I should check out?

As we say at the daycare I work at during circle time:

"Goodbye, May!"

"Hello, June!"

It sounds silly, but just imagine 6-10 two year olds repeating that after you. It could make almost anyone smile.

#newyearsresolutions #keeplearning #writeeveryday #dontstopreading #completesomething #getprofessional #goodbyemay #hellojune #bookstagram #books #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Heartstopper: Volume One

I first stumbled upon this book on Rainbow Rowell's Twitter page...yes, you read that right. And yes, of course I checked it out. And yes, I bought it and fell in love and can't wait for the second volume (in July, mark your calendars).

"Heartstopper" by Alice Oseman is a graphic novel. It will take you less than two hours to read, less than an hour if you really have the dedication (me).

Charlie: year 10, openly gay, no longer bullied for it, has a sorta boyfriend
Nick: year 11, rugby team player, secretly soft, totally popular

Nick and Charlie have heard of each other, having gone to the same school for years, but they've never really met. Until they're book into the same form group (homeroom). They quickly become friends. Charlie quickly finds himself falling in love. Nick quickly finds...confusion.

READ. IT.

Remember, it has pictures. ;)

#hearstopper #aliceoseman #lgbtbooks #graphicnovel #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Red, White, And Royal Blue

Seriously, this book.

One, I had to push off reading the second half of this book, because of how much these two boys loved each other and the impending sense of doom I felt. I needed several hours, by myself, so I could sob uncontrollably without being judge.

I had the several hours by myself, I sobbed only slightly, and I was not judged. 

I fucking loved this book. It was amazing. The love these characters shared...it was so well written and so inspiring. It made me want to read more, to watch a great rom com, to just write. 

And the representation in this novel. So many YA romances lately are seriously, SERIOUSLY, upping their rep game and "Red, White, And Royal Blue" was stepping. it. up. Race, Class, Sexuality, Gender, et. It was...perfect.

And the almost utopian world (I mean not completely but a female president of a blended, multi-race family) was what I/we needed right now, on the upcoming new presidential election. #votefemale

Let's get you that description now, okay? Okay.

["First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him. 

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?"]

#redwhiteandroyalblue #caseymcquiston #lgbtbooks #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

TBR Piles (yes, piles)

So, I'm getting to the end of my list of already-read/just-read books to blog about. Now it's time to get creative while I work on my TBR List.

The next few pictures (yes, pictures) are of my TBR Piles (yes, piles).

#DarkShores by #DanielleLJensen (an #uppercaseboxbook)
#TheyBothDieAtTheEnd by #AdamSilvera
#MoreHappyThanNot by #AdamSilvera
#WanderLost by #JenMalone
#AruShahAndTheSongofDeath by #RoshaniChokshi
#BlueLilyLilyBlue by #MaggieStiefvater
#PrettyinPuxsutawney by #LaurieBoyleCrompton
#WickedSaints by #EmilyADuncan (another #uppercaseboxbook)
#AQuestionOfHolmes by #BrittanyCavallaro

#TheHazelWood by #MelissaAlbert
#TashHeartsTolstoy by #KEOrmsbee
#TheWayYouMakeMeFeel by #MaureneGoo
#DeathPrefersBlondes by #CalebRoehrig
#WickerKing by #KAncrum

#RedWhiteAndRoyalBlue by #CaseyMcQuinston
#WeContainMultitudes by #SarahHenstra
#IWishYouAllOfTheBest by #MasonDeaver
#HeartofBetrayal by #MaryEPearson
#TheBeautyOfDarkness by #MaryEPearson
#KingOfScars by #LeighBardugo

NOT PICTURED:
#PrincessInPractice #StormRunner #Dragon Pearl #TrialsOfApollo (2 and 3) #MeBeforeYou #Sweep #BookThief #HollowCity #LibraryofSouls #TalesOfThePeculiar #AMapofDays #AnimalYou'llSurelyBecome #OffThePage #WhenDimpleMetRijhi #SimpleLittleBitch #BestIveEverHad #LeahOffTheBeat #SpinningSilver #DearEvenHansen #KillTheQueen #HoldingUpTheUniverse #IllGiveYouTheSun #CrownofFeathers #CircleOfShadows #TheRavenKing


I'll show you what's on my list, if you show me what's on yours.... ;)


#TBR #TBRlist #LGBTbooks #childernsbooks #classicbooks #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Fever King

Okay so I have a lot (a lot) of conflicting opinions on this book: "Fever King" by Victoria Lee.

+LGBT
+boys-who-love-boys romance
+characters/characterization (including their flaws)
+world-building (including the race/socioeconomic allegory)
+representation (race, religion, sexuality)

-dystopian
-predictability of plot/plot-twists
-the ending
-the ending

So yes, I sped read the end of this yesterday...when I finished it. I was sooooo pisssssed offfff. So much. So much so that I almost immediately put it into my Donate pile. I told myself I was tired and that I needed to sleep it off. Slept it off. Still pissed (just maybe less, maybe).

I love plot twists. I love unpredictability. But unfortunately a lot of the plot twists were predictable (that Dara could ___; that Lehrer was ___; that Noam would ___; that Sacha was ___); all of it I saw coming (then again, that could be the writer in me, I don't know).

But the end where ___ did the thing to ___, and when ___ and ___ didn't do that other thing?? God, I was...I still can't.

And apparently its a series. Maybe the next one will make things better. Make me feel better. But listen, if it doesn't....
Also, apparently, a few other people (GoodReads Reviewers are also equally as pissed/disappointed at the end).

Here's a quick summary for you still willing to give it a chance (I mean do it, the writing was good and the pros outweighed the cons when I did that just now):

["In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear."]
Trigger Warnings: genocide, murder/death, rape, suicide, forms of abuse, etc

#feverking #feverwakeseries #victorialee #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #LGBTbooks #ilovebooks

New Book Pile!

All of these beauties came today! I’ve been waiting sooo long for them and get here. 

And they’re here.

I had to speed read my current book (and my very strong emotions on that will be posted later) to get to this pile (and the other larger pile that got here yesterday). 

Now the question is: which do I go for first?? 

#redwhiteandroyalblue #caseymcquiston #wecontainmultitudes #sarahhenstra #iwishyouallthebest #masondeaver #bookstagram #bookphotography #books #ilovebooks

Shadow&Bone / Siege&Storm / Rising&Ruin

Okay, so it only took me like five months, but I finally did it.
I finally read it (them).

And to be honest, I each book in less than two days (three at the tippity-toppity most). I broke my pages read in an hour record. I fell in love with another aspect of a world I'm already in love with (let me year you citizens of Ketterdam!).

The novels followed Alina Starkov, a teenage orphan how has nothing, has known nothing all of her life. She took up a position as a mapmaker in the First Army to save herself from years of boredom in a town with barely a name. They traveled into a dark, shadowing part of the country, a part that no one has ever entered without losing someone in the process. They crossed The Fold, and Alina emerged as a new person: A Soldier, A Summoner, A Saint.

Have you read the Grisha Verse novels yet?
If so, which is your favorite?
Who is your favorite character?

For me: Nikolai stole the whole. damned. show.
Here's to "King of Scars"......

#shadowandbone #siegeandstorm #risingandruin #kingofscars #sixofcrows #crookedkingdom #leighbardugo #grishaverse #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

A Monster Calls

Okay, so I cry a lot while reading books...a lot. A lot of books. A lot of tears.

And yet, this book ... I cried ... a lot.

Patrick Ness's "A Monster Calls":

["Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don't quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there's a visitor at his window. It's ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. 

Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves an extraordinary and heartbreaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive."]

#amonstercalls #patrickness #childrensbooks #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

The Storyteller

"The Storyteller" was the last Jodi Piccoult book that I've read (and I've read about half of them over the years).

Jodi's books are all amazing and deep and raw and thought-provoking and oh, so, controversial.

Every book I read of hers I think, "this one is my favorite." But I really do think this one was my favorite.

["Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?"]
#thestoryteller #thetenthcircle #thepact #betweenthelines #nineteenminutes #mysisterskeeper #jodipicoult #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

My Sister's Keeper

Seriously, have you read this book? No.
Have you seen the movie? Yes.

Then you haven't experienced what Jodi Picoult truly, really meant to say with this text.

She picked out the ending before she started even writing Chapter One. She picked out the perfectly aggravating and perfectly amazing ending to the most emotional book I've read in a while. And then the movie people messed it up (like the do, but this was worse).

#mysisterskeeper #jodipicoult #bookstagram #bookphotography #books #ilovebooks

Sexing The Cherry

"Sexing The Cherry" by Jeannette Winterson...this book was even stranger. Like, really quirky, really, really. But I remember loving it, a really lot.

What I also remember: fairy tales, self-discovery, pineapples

What I couldn't remember:
["In a fantastic world that is and is not seventeenth-century England, a baby is found floating in the Thames. The child, Jordan, is rescued by Dog Woman and grows up to travel the world like Gulliver, though he finds that the world’s most curious oddities come from his own mind. Winterson leads the reader from discussions on the nature of time to Jordan’s fascination with journeys concealed within other journeys, all with a dizzying speed that shoots the reader from epiphany to shimmering epiphany."]

#sexingthecherry #jeanettewinterson #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Mitch Album's "The Five People You Meet In Heaven"... I read this way back in the beginning of high school. It was quirky, but deep and beautiful and thought-provoking.

["Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?""]

#thefivepeopleyoumeetinheaven #mitchalbum #books #bookphotography #bookstagram #ilovebooks

The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders"....how to describe such a cultural phenomena...

Hmmm...okay, here goes nothing....

(Grease + West Side Story - Music) x Socioeconomic inequalities = The Outsiders

It's amazing. Read it.

Did I mention that Hinton wrote this when she was seventeen? In high school? And she got like a C on it because her teacher thought it was unrealistic and childish?

#theoutisders #sehinton #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Wonders Of The Invisible World

Christopher Barzak is a wonderful person. I should know. I had the privilege of being his student during a 10-day writing retreat. He helped me so much more than those 10-long-ass-days.

I read "Wonders Of The Invisible World" before the retreat started. I loved it. I was intimidated by him. This books...is wonderful. Read it.

This book even fits into my very narrow genre niche: young adult, LGBT romance + magical realism.

["Seventeen-year-old Aidan Lockwood lives in the sleepy farming community of Temperance, Ohio—known for its cattle ranches and not much else. That is until Jarrod, a friend he hasn't seen in five years, moves back to town and opens Aidan's eyes in startling ways: to Aidan's ability to see the spirit world; to the red-bearded specter of Death; to a family curse that has claimed the lives of the Lockwood men one by one…and to the new feelings he has developed for Jarrod."]

#wondersoftheinvisibleworld #christopherbarzak #books #LGBTbooks #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks