What are you reading 2021

[Gord]

I would not judge the Sleepy Princess series by my comments alone. I still think it's good, I just think I need it in smaller doses. As for the character I forgot from Kate it was Teddy-Jo. Apparently he has been in one of the older books and a novella but it was only as a small part. This was the first book where he had a more prominent role.

[Brittany]

Smaller doses makes sense.
That isnt a name I remember either.

[Jo]

Finished , my latest audiobook, which I liked, but it didn't really feel like a cohesive book if that makes sense at all? Like all the characters are off on their own adventures which is fine, happens a lot in multiple POV books, but aside from Safi and Iseult, none of the plot threads really seemed to come together. I don't know, I'm in two minds with this series really, because I like the characters but I always find the plot kind of confusing to follow!

Anyway, my next audiobook, which I started today as I only had 20 minutes of Witchshadow left is . I'm excited for this one because I really enjoyed the TV show.

[Jo]

Finished , it was okay, but the plot lacked focus and the distant narration kept you at a distance from the characters, which I didn't really love. Started my next audiobook , I literally came across this in Waterstones the other day and thought it looked really good, but I've already bought so many physical books this month, so I decided to try the audio instead.

[Gord]

This is normally the time of the week where I gush about what I read this week but not so much this week. So that book funk I was talking about last week really came into being this week. There was nothing I wanted to read so I just ended up working on challenge books which didn't really help. With out further ado lets get into it.

-3 Stars
I don't have much to say about this book. It was another Nancy Drew book. I enjoy them for what they are but they generally don't blow my socks off.

-2 Stars
I really did not like this book at all. The basic premise of things is that a man reads about giant bones that were found out in Kentucky. He gets it into his head that these bones belong to giant beasts that still roam the land out west. He leaves his farm and daughter with his sister and sets out west to find the giant beasts. My initial gut reaction to the main character was that the man was an idiot but maybe I was judging him with modern eyes. I mean it's obvious the bones were those of dinosaurs. I was willing to put aside my judgement until other characters started calling the MC an idiot. At that point it was pretty much a sealed deal. Now we get to the story itself. Right out the gate it did this thing that put me off almost immediately. The first chapter was basically McDummy saying his goodbyes to his daughter and heading off into the sunset. The next chapter takes place before he left. This time skip happens a few times and when combined with the chapter style, one chapter is the father, one chapter is the daughter, one chapter is someone random, it felt like someone just mixed up the chapter order when they published the book. Almost like someone dropped the manuscript and just threw it back together as best they could. The other big issue I had with the book is the seemly random pedophilia that just seemed to be there because. Anyone who knows me knows that I can read some pretty dark and heavy stuff. The important thing with dark and heavy subject matter is to give it context. Give it a reason for this subject matter to exist in the book. For instance it's part of a case that a detective is solving. In this book the daughter was getting assaulted by two different men and there never felt like there was a reason for it. It didn't even feel like it was there for cheap shock value. It was there for some reason. It feels like the rest of the book, it exists for reasons that I don't understand. This book was one giant nothing burger. The man never accomplished his idiotic goals, the daughter did nothing of importance except getting assaulted, no one did anything. This book was only 160 pages and I swear it felt like I was reading a 1,000 book. I do not recommend this to anyone even for finishing a challenge. Not worth it all.


This was the high point of the week for me. It's a romantic comedy series and it was the perfect popcorn book for me. The basic premise is that Jun and Tomo have been friends since childhood. Tomo was always a tomboy and was raised in her fathers dojo making her an absolute beast when it comes to anything athletic. Jun assumed that she was a boy until they reunited after middle school when he is faced with fact that she is a girl and that he has feelings for her. He buries both of these nuggets of information as he just can't accept either. Tomo of course has feelings for him as well and the story is about them coming to terms with this info. These two idiots are lovable and the ending, which I won't spoil, was perfect in my opinion.

I'm currently reading and . Sleepy Princess is giving me a bit of a chuckle which is nice. Martin the Warrior is another Redwall novel. It's better than what else I've been working on this week, outside of Tomo-chan, but it's still not landing right with me.

After that I think I'll dive into some schlock with

[Brittany]

Sorry you had a not so great week reading wise. Definitely time to read something more fun

[Elena]

It was a tough time (harvesting season) so I'm a bit late for the update :D
- is an amazing, magical book, reminded me of Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix.
- one more great read, which is full of everyday magic, plants, happiness and fresh air :) Perfect book to read outside (obviously) while it's still not too cold.
- I was happy to dive into the Shadowhunter world yet once more. The book is mostly about Simon, I was glad to learn more about him. His character is very interesting one.
- one of the best LitRPG I've read so far.
- this story was even more brutal, harsh then the first one, but indeed very interesting.
- a great sequel. One more time, the setting is one of my favourite - boarding school.
- amazing classics, one of the best romantic stories I've ever read.
- a cute romantic story with a bad-ass female character. Loved it :)
- it's been a while since I've read the first book and was happy to get back to the series. The ending was a nice one and reminded me of the ACOTAR series.

And I'm currently reading:
- I'm still reading this one and it is more hilarious and good and fun and even cute, such a happy read!
- the first several chapters are very interesting and I wonder how the two lines are going to intertwine.
- I'm still struggling with this one :(

[HeatherH]

@Elena - been thinking a rom com might be needed to break my rut.. I own 99 Percent so may jump into it soon! Sounds like you've been reading some great books!

[Brittany]

Elena awesome reading! I so need to read Dark Triumph still. I'm also so interested in that LITRPG. Glad it stays so good

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Gord I'm very interested to see your thoughts on Secret Santa! It's been on my tbr list for a while! It seems like a fun read!

Elena I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed Shadowhunter Academy! I was not the biggest fan of Simon in the first two books of TMI, but by book 6 I loved him! I was very excited that he had his own book! My favorite story was the one where Magnus Alec go to the Academy (view spoiler)[and then they adopt little Max!! That was the cutest! Everybody being excited about this baby warlock and just fussing over him... it was adorable! And of course, I just love Malec in general. Lol. (hide spoiler)]

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

I don't know what's going on with me lately, but all I've been reading is sci-fi. I haven't read this much sci-fi in YEARS! I've basically read as much as I have mystery/thrillers, which is saying something. Lol.

I really enjoyed the start of this series! I loved the concept and the world was very interesting!
I was very excited to read this one, but boy did it disappoint. I mean, look at that cover! I was expecting scares! But there were none. What there was plenty of was flowery writing. In fact, I learned what the term "purple prose" means because of this book 😆 There was so much of it that the “scary” parts with the ghosts got lost amid all the similes and metaphors and adjectives. It was... annoying.
Back to sci-fi! This one was a murder mystery set in space! The murder mystery part got a little lost in the middle while the MC went and did other things, but it was still really fun! I really enjoyed it and the fun banter between the characters.
I started last week and I'm about 50 pages in. I really love the premise and I am curious to see what will happen when Amy is woken up, but the Elder POV... I just don't care. The Elder/Eldest ruling system thing... I don't care for it. But I'm gonna stick with it for now because I am genuinely intrigued.
And then today I started which I am excited for! Can't wait for more technological mayhem! 😆
And I just bought so I will be starting that tomorrow as well.

If you guys have any sci-fi recommendations (especially if they're set in space... and especially if they have a bit of horror) let me know!

[Gord]

Liliana wrote: " I was very excited to read this one, but boy did it disappoint. I mean, look at that cover! I was expecting scares! But there were none. What there was plenty of was flowery writing. In fact, I learned what the term "purple prose" means because of this book 😆 There was so much of it that the “scary” parts with the ghosts got lost amid all the similes and metaphors and adjectives. It was... annoying."

Oh.... oh no... this does not sound good at all. I'm waiting for my copy of the library and I reserved my copy on cover alone.

[Christine]

I finished my 76th book

[Elena]

@Heather great! Let me know what you thing about the 99 Percent :)

@Brittany give it a try (actually true for both, the LitRPG series - pretty unique one and as a gamer in the past I loved it, also the Dark Triumph was maybe even better than the 1st book).

@Lili totally agree!!! This moment was one of the best and so cute! :) and yay for sci-fi! The Vacuum sounds very interesting.

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

😬 If you do end up reading it Gord, I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Lol.

Elena The Vacuum of Space was fun!

[HeatherH]

Christine wrote: "I finished my 76th book"

This is awesome! Congrats!!

[HeatherH]

@Lili - thanks for some new sci-fi recs :) I have bought so many recently but haven't read them so not sure how they'll end up being.

Signed up for a challenge game in a facebook group I am in for October so hoping that helps motivate me to get back to reading.. Started a new physical and audio - already a quarter into both so off to a good start!

[Jo]

HeatherH wrote: "@Lili - thanks for some new sci-fi recs :) I have bought so many recently but haven't read them so not sure how they'll end up being.

Signed up for a challenge game in a facebook group I am in fo..."

Let me know how you enjoy Once Upon A Broken Heart Lili, my copy is meant to be arriving today.

[Christine]

[Gord]

It seems that I have shaken my book funk and I'm back to normal reading. This week I read a ton of manga and comics so I have a bit to talk about.

-4 Stars
I started this one at the peak of my book funk and I really wasn't in the mood to read this. I basically started this because I wanted to finish this in September. It started as a solid 3 star, typical Redwall novel with all the Redwall tropes that you would expect. Adventure, different species of creatures, tons of talk about food, and the dreaded Mole speak. Out of all the quirky speech differences the author has created for various creatures it's Mole speak that I'm still just not the biggest fan of. I've kind of come to accept it as this annoying thing that is just there that I have to deal with but I do wish it was toned down a bit. I was reading through this and it was helping me shake my book funk but it was still holding the course in a solid 3 star book when we hit the third act. There was something about the third act that just felt different from any other Redwall novel I've read so far and I'll do my best to articulate that. This book is the first book in the chronological time line of this world. This is the catalyst for the character of Martin the Warrior, Redwall, the philosophy of Redwall, and by extension the characters that follow. The third act did the classic good beats evil like the other books in this series but it just felt different. In this book that victory had a price and that tragic price was what shaped everything to come. There was this real sense of tragedy and heaviness to the third act that seemed to be missing from the other books I've read in this series so far. That feeling also changed the framework for everything else we had read in the book. There was also the villain that felt different. So far the villains in this series have been cartoonishly evil to the point where you have to wonder how these characters even were able to function with their level of insanity. In this book the villain was, of course, evil for evils sake but there was certain level of intelligence behind him and what he did. This book was an interesting change of pace for this series and I'm interested to see what is next.

-3 Stars
Oh man was I stoked for this book and that may have been its ultimate downfall. Maybe I had my expectations set to high for it. This book was supposed to be this dark Christmas horror comedy and I ultimately feel that it didn't really deliver on the horror or the comedy aspect of things. It started out super strong with Nazi gold and a nice 80's feel to things. Then the story kind of slowed down as the setting is established and characters are set up. It just never felt like it picked up again. When I think dark horror comedy I envision something like John Dies at the End, Evil Dead, Krampus, and stuff like that. I wanted horrible, violent deaths that make me go "eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww" when it happens. I want comedy that makes me laugh even if I shouldn't be laughing at it. There are only three deaths in this book. One of them happens off page, one is someone choking, and then one is just underwhelming but at least there is a bit of blood. I know I'm dunking on the book hard right now and I should say that it's not a bad book. It is entertaining and I could see it being made into a movie. It just played it safe and didn't reach the levels I wanted it to.

Now for the comics and the manga

-3 Star
This was a short, single volume girls love manga with only five chapters. Basically the two girls meet by accident at the hospital one day where they discover that they have the same name, spelt the same way, and are born only one day apart. I fell that there is an interesting and sweet story here but the length of it was it's biggest shortcoming. The first chapter is the girls meeting, the second is their friendship growing, the third is girl A's problem and backstory, the fourth was girl B's problem and back story, the fifth was the resolution and epilogue. This was never going to be something the length of One Piece but I feel like the story could have been expanded a bit. Still an enjoyable read though.

-5 Stars
I'm so glad that I started reading this series. I'm loving the stories that it tells and I really love the character designs. Especially the designs of Lady Mechanika herself. For this volume Lady Mechanika investigates the disappearance of several poor orphan kids. It's that nice blend of magic and steampunk.

-4 Stars
-3 Stars
This was an interesting little series that had an ending that left it open for more in the future. The story is basically about three friends who are witches. The first book involves someone breaking into their house and stealing some of their stuff. They then set off on a road trip of the East coast to get their stuff back and catch the guy who did it. The second book picks up shortly after the first one ends with another road trip across the south to find a witch that one of the MC's has established a connection with. The first one shows the three girls as tight friends and just had an interesting story. The second one just didn't land as well for me. The relationship between the girls felt different and I guess it is explained but it still didn't feel like it matched what was established in the first book.

-4 Stars
Book five was a flashback to Aoba and Nene's final year in high school, book six was the ending of season 2 of the anime, and volume 7 was new material I haven't seen before. I'm still enjoying the chill vibe of the series and I can't wait to read more.

Currently I'm reading a Chinese web comic called Tamen de Gushi and I've also started

[Jo]

I finished , it was fun, but lacked some depth, there was a lot I wanted explaining that wasn't. Moving onto my next audiobook (I'm on fire with the audiobooks this year, not so much physical or e-books, but I'm rolling where my reading mood takes me) , I've heard so much raving about this, so I hope I'm not disappointed.

[Christine]

I finished my 77th book

[Brittany]

I'll have to read Once Upon a Broken Heart at some point. But I am waiting for now. Loved Caraval but was disappointed with the rest of the trilogy so wanting to see what level I should put my expectations.

Yay for all the sci-fi reading Lili. Its never been a fave genre of mine so I dont have much for recs but Ill think on it.

Nice on all that manga reading Gord. Now that I'm home I need to read all I have out from the library.... One of these days.

[Brittany]

I havent finished a book in days but I am close for two of them now. Should finish in the next day or so.

[HeatherH]

Brittany - that seems to be a common opinion on the Caraval series.. I was an odd one out who really enjoyed the series as a whole. So far enjoying Once Upon a Broken Heart but only a 3rd in it so far.

[Brittany]

Glad you are enjoying it so far Heather! I know Kay enjoyed it too

[Brittany]

Finished the audio of and started

Also finished which makes 100 books on the year! Starting

[HeatherH]

Congrats on 100!!

[Christine]

CONGRATULATIONS BRITTANY!

[Brittany]

Thank you! Super early in the year for me to hit the 100 book mark.

Finished was good, not as good as the rest of the world but still fun
Starting next on audio

[Christine]

I finished my 78th book

[Elena]

I found some interesting series and managed to finish some series I've been reading :)

Finished:
- so-so, I'm not going to continue reading. Pretty weak fae story. There are more interesting ones.
- indeed it is very good, solid start to the series. Also a perfect fit for the season :)
- great mid-grade steampunk dystopia, very interesting idea and all the actions are so well-written and easy to imagine. Totally underrated.
- whoah! This was intense and solid conclusion to the trilogy. Annith's story is my favourite.
- finished several tomes of this manga. So cute and adorable!

Currently reading:
- it's so fun! I just read several pages a day to level up my mood :)
- ok, if you let the not-a-good writing style slide, the story is pretty interesting so far. But because of the unnatural language I'm struggling to read it and currently read about 30%.
- this one is my personal gem. I've read about 50% now and love the story, the characters, though the language is sometimes pretty raw, in this book it doesn't bother me at all. A very underrated book.

[Gord]

Time for that weekly update and I feel it's only fair to warn you that I've had a serious hankering for comics and manga lately. In particular some yuri manga so there will be a bit of that the next bit.

-4 Stars
This book was not what I expected at all and yet I still ended up loving it. I've had this book on my TBR for a good long while now but never got around to reading it. With the synopsis of the book, the references to other material, etc I was fully expecting a rip roaring action filled adventure across the galaxy with a band of motley misfits and what I got was a slice of life story with those motley misfits. The story for this book was basically our crew traveling from point A to point B to complete a contract. Plot wise that was it for the story. No intergalactic intrigue, no dog fights in space, no shadowy conspiracies by fringe groups to overthrow the supreme leader, none of that. What we got was this seriously interesting dive into the various alien species and cultures in this world. This was some prime world building material here and I loved it. It wasn't just alien species that looked humanoid or had humanoid cultures either. There were efforts to create whole new species with their own language, genders, sexuality, appearances, etc. My only criticism towards the book came towards the end. For the most part this book just flew by for me but there were a couple of moments towards the end where instead of things picking up things felt like they dragged. Now this is the point where I would tell you how excited to read more in the series but I'm not. I took a look and the other three books in the series all appear to be stand alone books. I'm not sure I want three more books of this format. This felt like a book that laid out some amazing ground work for future adventures and that is what I want, adventures, not more groundwork.

-3 Stars
I've decided to try going out for morning walks as of late to help with some back pain I've developed. I'm committed to going out three days a week and I decided to give audiobooks another crack. I've tried listening to them in the past while at home and just found that I couldn't pay attention to the books long enough. I started with a kids mystery series as I figured it would be an easy starting point and it was a good start. It definitely makes the walks interesting, it gives me something to focus on, and the time flies by. As for the book itself it was alright. It's a kids mystery/adventure story starring the Boxcar children. As for the narration of the book it was also alright. It was a single narrator doing a few different characters and some of the voices were alright. Some of the voices though were... how shall I put this... grating at best.

Now for the manga I read this week

-3 Stars
I know I just used this word a lot in the book review above but this was alright. Like Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep from last week this was a single volume yuri manga. The story had the ground work for something interesting but due to the length of the story it just never felt like it was fully explored. The story itself was pretty typical, two girls become friends at school, start to develop feelings for each other, they explore the idea of dating another girl. This one here was pretty light on the romance in my opinion but it wasn't bad.

-4 Stars
Now this was a sweet story that was pretty much the right length for me. The story itself was super sweet, we got to explore the characters and some of the side characters, but it never felt like it overstayed it's welcome. You have a young woman move out to the country after a bad breakup to get away from everything. She moves into a place called Seagull Villa and over time starts to develop feelings for the owner. For me this story was just sweet except for one character. Now this wasn't Dolores Umbridge levels of hate but oh boy did I really not like this character. This character is kind of important to the story so I'm slapping this behind a spoiler wall. Do not read as I'm really getting into the meat of the third book.
(view spoiler)[
Our MC leaves Tokyo after her husband gets her best friend pregnant. He breaks up with the MC to support the child and blah, blah, blah. Already at this point I don't like either the husband or the best friend. In the third book that best friend shows up again and as bad as I thought she was she turned out to be worse. I would not call her a friend as it turns out she likes having the MC around because she can easily emotionally manipulate her. As soon as she gets the MC alone the emotional manipulation starts. She tries to convince her that no one likes her in this small town, that she needs to return to Tokyo with her, and so on. Since our MC is on the meek side she starts to buy into this stuff and it just infuriates me. Then when it couldn't get any worse it's revealed that this "best friend" has been like this for as long as they have both known each other. Now I'm not going to say that the "best friend" needs to die in a fire or be fed to the sharks but she should be punted to curb like old trash. That is the one thing about the ending that really bugs me. I love the sweet romantic ending between the MC and the manager but I don't like how things seem to be perfectly fine between the MC and the "best friend". She never had that redemption arc, she never atoned for the things that she did. There was a brief blurb about her being lonely and that is why she is trying to get the MC to return to Tokyo but to me that is just more manipulation. That isn't even addressing the fact that she slept with the MC's husband. She is a toxic person who needs to be cut out of the MC's life in my opinion. (hide spoiler)]

-3 Stars
While waiting for some more yuri manga from the library and taking a small break from romance I decided to check this series out. I've had it recommended to me in the past and it kind of fell into my lap so I decided to give it a whirl. This is a unique feeling series. It's, of course, about a bartender, the customers he deals with, and facts about alcohol and cocktails. Unlike the other bartender series I read earlier this year this one has a much more somber and almost darker tone to it. It's feels more mature and older which makes sense as it is a seinen series (manga for adult males). I'm working on the fourth volume currently and I still feel very compelled to keep reading.

Currently I'm listening to during my morning walks and I'm reading

[Kayleigh {K-Books}, YA Fantasy Fan]

Currently reading and it’s tough going for me. It’s held in such high regard but it’s took me 12 days to get half way 🙈

[Brittany]

Nice book reading Elena! Youll have to let us know if Beasts of the Frozen Sun stays that good throughout!


Gord yay for walks and all the manga reading. I keep forgetting to put any in my bag for work :( I have so many out that I need to read.

Kay that sucks that you are having such a hard time with it. Any reason in particular?

[Kayleigh {K-Books}, YA Fantasy Fan]

It’s very character driven. I’m very much a plot driven reader and it’s just been hard for me to get into. I’ve switched to the audiobook and I’m enjoying it more now.

[Jo]

I'm the same Kay. It's all very well having great characters but if they're not doing anything, I'm not interested!

[Brittany]

I finished and now I am all caught up on Incryptid and I have to impatiently wait for the next book in 2022. Such an excellent series though!

[Christine]

I finished my 79th book

[Brittany]

Finished that was a good book!

[EdenB15]

I’m starting heartstopper and I’ve hear amazing things so very excited

[Brittany]

Enjoy Eden, hope it lives up to your expectations

[Elena]

It's great you've enjoyed reading Six Crimson Cranes. I also wanted to start it but haven't get a copy yet. But here is my small update:
- finished the book and it is good indeed till the very end. Today I've started reading the next one.
- so cute and so Korean! If you're not afraid of Korean cliches, go for it :)
- it might be a little bit predictable but oh so good! Dragons, lost cities, steampunk... yumm!
- this one is not my favorite in the series but still a solid mystery, again boarding school + mystery is a great combination. Recently I've been into such kind of books (Get Even, Pretty Little Liars, etc.)
- started reading this comic series and the first volume is so nostalgic and good :)

Currently reading:
- I've just started this one and like it (as good as the first one for now)
- one more mystery with a strong school theme. Enjoying it.

[Jo]

I've started as my new audiobook.

[Riley]

hi all! I am a newbie here and was wondering how you all get the book images/links to share in the chat threads? I just finished up Kingdom of the Wicked (audiobook, which is kind of new foe me) and really enjoyed it! was wondering if anyone else has read it. wanted to post a link fo the book to make it easier to share but don't know how to do that :)

[Gord]

When you are creating a post there are a couple things you can click on above the post. You are looking for the "add book/author". You click on that and it will open a popup window. In that window you can search for the book you are looking to share. At the bottom are the options of adding it as a link only or as a cover.

A link will be like this
Kingdom of the Wicked

and the cover is like this


There is more you can do with it but that will get you started on sharing the links with other readers.

[Brittany]

Thanks Gord for posting that

[Brittany]

Finished and was pretty disappointed. Easy read but not a ton of substance. Definitely not the kind of creepy I was hoping for.

[Brittany]

Glad that one stayed so good Elena and that book 2 is starting off just as good

That looks like an interesting audio book Jo

[Gord]

Time for my weekly update and it's mostly manga/comics I've got to talk about this week.

-3 Stars
This is the 39th book in this series and like the rest this was alright. It was one of those novels in the series where you could tell that the series is really written by different authors. It's hard to explain but this one just had a different feel to it. This novel spent a lot of time with everyone but the MC who just kind of felt like she was there because she was contractually obligated to be. I would not be surprised if this plot started out as an idea for something else and then got repurposed into a book for this series.

-3 Stars
The third book in this series and it's what you would expect from a book of this nature. This is also the first of the books in this series with Tom in space.

-3 Stars
A short novella that was read for Halloween and it was meh. There was an interesting idea behind this novella but I don't think it was properly explored. Perhaps part of that is the usual problem with novellas which is the length. This book also had this cold, clinic feel to it. Like the book lacked any human emotion and definitely didn't make me feel any. It also leaves a lot of question either unexplored or just unanswered. Like I said it was an interesting premise that I just feel wasn't fully explored.

-3 Stars
I picked this book up for the premise of it. Two young men decide to take some time off work and rent a one bedroom apartment in Tokyo. It just so happens that these two young men are Jesus Christ and Buddha. It's a slice of life comedy manga and I think that it's a brilliant idea. The reason for the low rating though is I just don't think that it works outside of Japanese. In anime and manga you occasionally come across something that is a brilliant idea that just doesn't translate well. To properly understand the jokes in this book you need an intimate knowledge of Japanese, Japanese culture (not just anime), Christianity, and Buddhism. Even though this was translated into English there still things that were not translated. Thinks like some of the Buddhist sutras or the Kanji on their t-shirts. Each chapter had basically a translators note at the end of the chapter breaking down the joke and why it should be funny. To paraphrase the one review I saw of this book "If someone needs to explain to you why the joke is funny it's not a funny joke". That is really how I felt while reading this. It was an interesting premise and I could tell a joke was supposed to be funny but I just felt like I was lacking the crucial information to understand why it was funny. After an omnibus where I had to have someone tell me why nearly every joke was funny it just kind of took the wind out of my sails. I still say that this is not a bad book though. I just don't think that I will be continuing with this series.

-4 Stars
I had taken a break over the summer from this series to focus on a challenge. When I returned with the fifth volume I was jumping back into a story mid way and I was kind of doubting my love for the original four books. These books restored my faith and reminded me why I loved the series. This took place in the main witch city which is a giant city under the friggin ocean. The world building in this series is just *chef's kiss* and I love how the story just doesn't revolve around the MC. Yes it's her story but this is a world full of people with their own ideas, their own believes, their own motivations. As a result it creates what feels like a real world. Is this person helping the MC because they are a kind person, because they have their own secret motivations and need something from the MC, are they doing it because of some sort of secret shadowy orders from an unknown person or group. It just creates this interesting environment that just adds to the story.

-3 Stars
More books in this series and the story is still interesting enough to keep me reading.

-3 Star
This is another one of these comics that I really don't feel comfortable talking about. This is a book that explores LGBT issues for young teens. I think that the issues that are talked about here are important but I just don't think the story is good. Basically the story is about a young person named Ash who joins a GSA. Through this GSA they explore the world Ash's mother created and Ash's gender identity. My problem is that everything felt super basic. The characters felt more like stereotypes then actual characters. The story has this generic kind of fantasy feel to it with the ending being solved with the power of love and friendship. Listen, I don't think that these are bad ideas and if done well they can make for an interesting story but this just not it. It feels complicated to talk about though because everything in this book is so closely tied with the LGBT issues it touches upon. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but at the end of the day the book was just meh for me.

Currently I'm reading some Bloom into You and I plan on starting John Dies at the End shortly. I'm still working through my audiobook which I am loving and has been a great motivation to keep me walking.