Review: A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

On July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Linh and Bao like each other. A lot. The only problem? Their families own rival pho restaurants and hate each other’s guts, so they have to keep their relationship a secret.
But they can only steal kisses in dark alleys and the art room at school for so long. Can their love transcend an age-old feud and heal the rift between these two families? Or have these high school sweethearts bitten off more than they can chew?

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Ahhh, I loved this book. Give me a romance with food and South East Asian culture, and I will read it. And I will probably love it. I listened to this on audiobook, which I really liked and also helped with the pronunciation of everything! I really adored the audiobook of this, which made me feel very involved in the story and I couldn’t help thinking about these characters when I wasn’t reading.

These two characters were so cute to read about and I loved that the romance was so slow burn. The way these two fall for each other just felt so authentic and real, which I think is why I loved them both so much. The side characters were also so lovely, and I like how individual they were but still played a part in Linh and Bao’s relationship.

But in anything you love, isn’t there always some bit of sadness, some essence of suffering? That, to me, is what makes art worth it.

Linh and Bao start to realise there might be more to their families rivalry as their relationship goes on, and although I won’t say more, I will say I really liked having the mystery element to this one that definitely drew me into the story! The pho restaurants also gave way to some very interesting and deep discussions, including some about racism. These felt so gut punching and were super hard to read about but so important to include.

The writing was so compelling and easy to get into. I didn’t want this book to end, it went by too quickly. This book focuses a lot on family, family drama and conflicts. This felt really authentic and I thought all of the relationships developed naturally throughout the book.

Suffer through it—mine the emotions you keep inside yourself, face whatever’s emotionally burdensome, take control of it—then emerge reborn in the end.

Overall, there was just so much I loved about this book. It was so cute but had some real depth and discussions. Highly recommend for contemporary lovers out there!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Weathering With You Vol. 1 by Makoto Shinkai and Wataru Kubota

On July 6, 2021July 2, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Waterstones

During the summer of his first year in high school, a young man named Hodaka runs away from home to the bustling city of Tokyo. Alone and exhausted, he decides to kill time in a fast food place, where he meets a young woman named Hina who happens to work there. Little does he know that Hina possesses powers that not only affect the weather, but the whole world…

There are a few people in this world that I will read anything they ever produce. Alice Oseman being one of them. Makoto Shinkai being another. I love Your Name, it is one of my favourite films in the world and I also love the light novel and manga. Weathering With You quickly became another favourite, and I read the light novel soon after the movie release. Me and Mark spotted this manga recently and knew we both wanted to pick it up, as we both loved the film so much. This is the first of 3 volumes (completed as far as I am aware) in the Weathering manga, and I read this in around half an hour. Naturally, the art style is well suited to manga due to the film being anime. I also love how some pages are completely given over to one drawing, giving big scenes the space, size and therefore impact they deserve.

Weathering with You - Kodansha — Copyright Vertical Comics 2020

I love the characters in Weathering so much, and just thinking about their friendship makes me emotional. This first volume heavily focuses on them meeting and developing their friendship, which already feels authentic and heartwarming. I also really enjoyed the slightly different insight reading the manga gives to Hodaka’s thought processes and feelings. His story feels almost slightly more raw due to this narrative, and even though only a few pieces of dialogue were changed, I felt the change.

I’m really excited to pick up the rest of this manga and it has definitely made me want to rewatch the film!

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

On July 5, 2021July 2, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe has neither the look nor the voice of divinity, and is scorned and rejected by her kin. Increasingly isolated, she turns to mortals for companionship, leading her to discover a power forbidden to the gods: witchcraft.
When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, wrathful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia. There she learns to harness her occult craft, drawing strength from nature. But she will not always be alone; many are destined to pass through Circe’s place of exile, entwining their fates with hers. The messenger god, Hermes. The craftsman, Daedalus. A ship bearing a golden fleece. And wily Odysseus, on his epic voyage home.
There is danger for a solitary woman in this world, and Circe’s independence draws the wrath of men and gods alike. To protect what she holds dear, Circe must decide whether she belongs with the deities she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

I really wanted to like this book. It has so much hype and I know so many people love Madeline Miller’s writing. But sadly, this really didn’t hit the spot for me. I did read this very quickly over two days because I wanted to finish this before the end of June, and I’m not sure how much this changed my opinion of the book. It is definitely more of a slow burner, and I may have enjoyed it slightly more if I had paced myself over a longer period of time.

However, I do think this was more about the book itself. The writing was incredibly slow paced and really quite dense in my opinion. I found it a strange mixture of scenes I really enjoyed and could vividly picture and scenes I absolutely zoned out on and took nothing in. I just couldn’t quite grasp the writing style.

But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth.

I loved the character of Circe and her strength and independence definitely shines through. I didn’t appreciate the romances too much, and felt almost as if this book was just a long string of them. However, I did like the introduction of other Gods and their own stories. I definitely feel I would have enjoyed this book more if I had a better understanding of Greek mythology, as I had little to no knowledge prior to reading. I would love to go back to this one with more of an understanding of the myths themselves.

I would also like to point out there are some graphic scenes in this book, in many different ways. The one that sticks most vividly in my mind is a birthing scene, which I unfortunately stumbled across while eating dinner. I would definitely recommend looking up trigger warnings for this one and watch out for anything you may have a phobia of!

Such a constellation was he to me.

Overall, I am so sad to say this was such a mixed one for me and I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I would love to give it another go in the future, however, and will also be reading The Song of Achilles at some point!

★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

On July 4, 2021July 2, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Waterstones

It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over.
Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball . are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world.

I’ve heard mixed things about this but I honestly really enjoyed it. I read most of it in a day and if I didn’t have so much going on, would have probably finished it in the same day rather than two days. I loved the characters, I found it easy to read, fast paced and couldn’t put it down!

We follow Sophia, a Queer Black girl in a world dominated by men. Taking inspiration from Cinderella’s story, who died 200 years prior to this book, their world is very focused on marrying a man and settling down. Women are oppressed and being Queer is not seen as an option. But Sophia is ready to fight back.

I don’t want to be saved by some knight in shining armour.

I loved the way this book twisted the fairytale of Cinderella and gave it a whole new meaning, while also creating a whole world and patriarchy inspired by the tale itself. The retelling of Cinderella is quite dark and creepy, but I enjoyed the twisted side of it. This book as a whole was very powerful and some of the scenes in particular I loved and could picture very vividly. I really felt for the women in this world and I loved the main character of Sophia.

Sophia was not afraid to stand up for what she believed in and I really admired that about her. Seeing a strong, female, badass, Black main character is so amazing to see in YA and I love her as a role model for younger readers. My only criticism is this book did lack a little character development and didn’t make full use of the side characters, which was a shame as I found some of their dynamics really interesting.

I’d like to be the one in the armour, and I’d like to be the one doing the saving.

However, it is worth remembering this book is fairly short and almost doesn’t have the space to deep dive into characters or setting. I actually enjoyed how punchy it was and flew through it. I would highly recommend this one for an accessible fantasy read with kick-ass Black women taking down the patriarchy!

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Various Authors

On July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Waterstones

The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks and vampires. There the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. Through two centuries, however, there has been a frequent visitor to the Shadow Market from the City of Bones, the very heart of the Shadowhunters. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray.
Follow Brother Zachariah and see, against the backdrop of the Shadow Market’s dark dealings and festive celebrations, Anna Lightwood’s first romance, Matthew Fairchild’s great sin and Tessa Gray plunged into a world war. Valentine Morgenstern buys a soul at the Market and a young Jace Wayland’s soul finds safe harbor. In the Market is hidden a lost heir and a beloved ghost, and no one can save you once you have traded away your heart. Not even Brother Zachariah…

I have to say, this was an absolute joy to read. I loved being back in this world a lot more than I expected. It’s been a couple of years since I read all of the Shadowhunter books for the first time over the course of 3 months. I haven’t really dived back into the world since, so I was a little unsure how I would find this one after so long. But it took me no time at all to get myself back into this world, and I instantly remembered all of the characters and felt quite nostalgic.

This book mainly follows Brother Zachariah, or Jem Carstairs from The Infernal Devices series. TID is my favourite Shadowhunter series so I was thrilled to find out this one focused mainly on the characters from that series. I read this book on audio and I was absolutely thrilled with the audiobook, it was narrated by an entire cast and it honestly really showed. The atmosphere was wonderful and really drew me in.

This is a collection of short stories following different characters all around the Shadowhunter world. Even though this book tends to follow Jem, sometimes he just appeared as a side character as the stories focused on lots of different characters and their stories. This felt super diverse and had some LGBT stories which was brilliant. Some of these stories made me really emotional as they included some of my favourite characters. This one also spans decades throughout the Shadowhunter stories we already know, without making it confusing or taking the reader out of the stories.

Reading this has honestly made me miss the Shadowhunter universe a lot and I can’t wait to be back in this world soon when I read The Red Scrolls of Magic and The Last Hours.

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

ARC Review: XOXO by Axie Oh

On July 1, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

Jenny didn’t get to be an award-winning, classically trained cellist without choosing practice over fun. That is, until the night she meets Jaewoo. Mysterious, handsome, and just a little bit tormented, Jaewoo is exactly the kind of distraction Jenny would normally avoid. And yet, she finds herself pulled into spending an unforgettable evening wandering Los Angeles with him on the night before his flight home to South Korea.
With Jaewoo an ocean away, there’s no use in dreaming of what could have been. But when Jenny and her mother move to Seoul to take care of her ailing grandmother, who does she meet at the elite arts academy she’s just been accepted to? Jaewoo.
Finding the dreamy stranger who swept you off your feet in your homeroom is one thing, but Jaewoo isn’t just any student. Turns out, Jaewoo is a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world. And like most K-pop idols, Jaewoo is strictly forbidden from dating anyone.
When a relationship means not only jeopardizing her place at her dream music school but also endangering everything Jaewoo’s worked for, Jenny has to decide once and for all just how much she’s willing to risk for love.

Thank you to Harper 360 for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought I would enjoy this book, but I didn’t expect to love it quite as much as I did. I loved the characters, the setting, everything. I completely fell in love with this book and it really surprised me. This one followed Jenny and Jaewoo, who have a chance meeting at the start of this book. After months of no contact, Jenny ends up attending the same music school in South Korea, where she finds out the boy she met was actually a K-pop idol.

I love South Asian inspired books, but I didn’t realise just how much until reading this one. I adored the setting, I found the writing really vivid and I could picture the city really well and all of the surroundings. I was so happy that this one was set in South Korea and it had such a lovely atmosphere that felt really authentic and taught me a lot about Korean food and culture.

The characters were a joy, and their relationships and friendships felt natural. The side characters were also lovely and the friendship group Jenny ended up in was so cute. I really liked her friendship with her roommate and how it progressed throughout the book too! The relationship between Jenny and Jaewoo was defnitely my favourite aspect of this book, and I ended up rooting for them so much I had tears in my eyes for the last 20ish pages of the book.

This book also offered an honest and open discussion of idol life in Korea and mental health, which felt like a really important part of this book and I was so glad to see it included. Although this book was very cute and fluffy, I appreciate how it didn’t shy away from important topics.

Overall, this was such a cute romcom with lovely characters and I couldn’t put it down. It was just what I needed and I would highly recommend it!

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: SLAY by Brittney Morris

On June 29, 2021June 25, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.
No one knows Kiera is the game developer – not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.
With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she’s created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

I had a feeling I would like this book as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. But it still managed to blow me away and surpass any expectations I had. We follow 17 year old Kiera Johnson, who is secretly the creator of a game for Black people, celebrating Black culture. She hides this fact from everyone, even her closest friends and family. But when something happens in real life that changes things forever, she finds her two worlds becoming closer and closer together.

I loved Kiera as a strong, Black, female protagonist. She had so much creativity, love and courage. I hope young girls read this story and look up to her, and see themselves in her and her sister, Steph. The relationship with her sister (and the rest of her family) was such a joy to read about and also felt authentic and relatable. Her friendships and relationships took just the right amount of focus in the story and propelled the plot without feeling planned or forced.

All I ever wanted to do was escape into this magical world where for once I don’t have to act a certain way because I’m Black,

The plot was one of the best parts of this book – it was very plot focused and fast paced, and my jaw literally dropped at some of the reveals. I thought I had everything figured out and BAM, I was hit with something so shocking and I could not put this book down. I buddy read this book with Alex, mostly in person, and I loved the experience of reading it together as we could not stop ourselves from gasping, getting emotional and becoming very, very angry at points in this book.

I have never known a YA book manage to balance intense, fast paced plot, imaginative world and nuanced and difficult discussions. There are so many important discussions about race, pride and love but none felt forced or inauthentic. Brittney Morris manages to strike an impressive balance between so many opposing aspects, alongside making me feel so emotional and connected towards the characters.

and where I don’t have to answer certain questions because I’m the Black authority in the room, and where if I do something that’s not stereotypically Black, I’m different.

Overall, this was astonishingly creative, vivid, beautifully written and had such important discussions about social issues and specifically, race. I am still blown away by this book – a new favourite for sure.

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

On June 28, 2021June 25, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

This book is based on the real story of Yusef Salaam, who was one of the five people wrongly accused of assault and rape in the Central Park jogger case in 1989. He is also the co-author of this book alongside Ibi Zoboi. You can read more about his case and the Innocence Project here.

This book is definitely a must read. It is told in verse, and is a very emotional, honest and poignant story. Amal made for a sympathetic protagonist who reflects the story of Salaam well. Following similar themes of discrimination, racial profiling and injustice that the real life version followed, I found this one very hard hitting.

When you find yourself in dark places, there’s always a light somewhere in that darkness,

This story is told through verse, and the writing is absolutely beautiful but still conveys the story well. My only complaint is I felt some of the parts of this book were almost out of reach – a little too abstract to properly convey the story of this boy. I craved something slightly more tangible to hold onto in the writing. I felt a little disconnected to the main character in a time where I really wanted to be connected to him.

However, I did really like the portrayal of Amal’s family and fellow inmates. His story made me so hopeful for him but so angry at the cruel injustice of the world and sometimes, the law. I just wanted more from his story, and more of a connection to the people in it.

and even if that light is inside of you, you can illuminate your own darkness by shedding that light on the world.

This book and story are so important and need to be shed light on. Even though Salaam has been free for 18 years now, we cannot ever forgive the system for what the exonerated five went through. I’m so glad this book is out there to tell me their story and sadly, the story of many others like them. It is an emotional, hopeful journey told through verse and illustrations.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: The Starlight Watchmaker (#2) by Lauren James

On June 27, 2021June 23, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

Hugo is spending the holidays on his friend Dorian’s home planet, Hydrox. Although thrilled at the invitation, Hugo is still astonished that Duke Dorian could possibly want to be friends with an android watchmaker like him. But when the pair land on Hydrox along with their friend Ada, they soon discover that there are much bigger problems afoot. A race of butterflies from a neighbouring star system have evacuated their now-uninhabitable planet, and Hydrox is struggling to find space for the growing number of refugees. Meanwhile, deep in the seas beneath Dorian’s home, a strange creature is on a path of destruction … Can the unlikely trio step in before the crisis gets out of control?
Dive into a strange new world in this truly imaginative companion to The Starlight Watchmaker.

This is such an adorable and imaginative companion to The Starlight Watchmaker. I’m so glad I reread the first one in order to completely connect to this crazy world and lovely characters again, and it definitely helped me fully appreciate this next step on their journey.

Every time I read these books I am blown away by how creative Lauren James is. I can’t even begin to comprehend where the ideas for this amazing world come from, with different planets and species all living and working together. But despite the strange world and planets, I still managed to picture this in all of it’s vivid glory. This reads young, but is also so accessible to all readers and a great introduction to the scifi genre with a focus on the characters. I also particularly enjoyed how climate change is woven throughout this book and brought to the attention of the reader early on.

The characters are so adorable and I loved reading about their relationships with one another. They are so accepting of each other’s quirks and personalities, and this felt like a very important ideal to portray for young readers. They are so well-developed and I really feel for them throughout these stories, which is an impressive feat considering how short these books are.

If you’re looking for an imaginative scifi with a diverse cast of characters and a lovely moral behind their stories, honestly go and pick this Dyslexia friendly (published by Barrington Stoke) series up!

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

On June 25, 2021June 22, 2021 By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

Goodreads | Waterstones

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.
Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.
As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.
The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

I feel so torn about this one and my feelings towards it are all over the place. On one hand I loved the sisterly bond, family focus and creepy atmosphere. On the other, it just fell really flat. I did expect this one to be different than it ended up being, as it had much more of a fantasy horror focus with a bit of thriller, rather than the other way around. And because of that, I just wasn’t drawn into the story as much as I wanted to be at all. I found the first half of this book quite slow, then it picked up in the middle and lost my interest again at the end.

My favourite part of this book was the lyrical, beautiful writing. It had such creepy, dark undertones but also portrayed the world so well and was heavy on description. It had the perfect feel for the kind of twisted fairytale style this seemed to be going for, and left it a sprawling tale.

Some people go missing because they want to; some go missing because they’re taken.

I did enjoy the sister and family focus, and it made for an interesting backstory. I also didn’t find the plot predictable, and I liked seeing where the story would go. However, it just failed to really grab me. Towards the end of the story, I started wondering if we would really get all of the answers I was craving. And we kind of just…didn’t? Although I didn’t feel completely unsatisfied by the ending, I also didn’t get everything I was looking for.

The characters were so strange, but I definitely felt Iris was the perfect sister to tell this story. I liked the relationship with her mother and how it was explored, and the same goes for the other Hollow sisters and side characters. I just felt a little underwhelmed by scenes that should have been more emotional for me, and I felt there was a lack of connection between me and some of the characters.

And then there are the others—those who go missing because they fall through a gap somewhere and can’t claw their way back.

Although this was a page turner in places and had a great atmosphere, I just didn’t feel as absorbed or thrilled as I wanted to be. I personally feel like this one left a lot to be desired, but I can also see why some people are loving it at the moment! Be warned that this is very gruesome in places and make sure to look up trigger warnings before reading.

★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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The Books are Everywhere

Tag: book review

Review: A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

Review: Weathering With You Vol. 1 by Makoto Shinkai and Wataru Kubota

Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

Review: Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Review: Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Various Authors

ARC Review: XOXO by Axie Oh

Review: SLAY by Brittney Morris

Review: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Review: The Starlight Watchmaker (#2) by Lauren James

Review: House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland