Book Review: Picture Perfect Cowboy

Title(s): Picture Perfect Cowboy
Author: TIffany Reisz
Genre: romance/erotica
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 266
Publication Date: November 5th, 2018

Plot (from goodreads):
Jason "Still" Waters' life looks perfect from the outside—money, fame, and the words "World Champion Bull-Rider" after his name. But Jason has a secret, one he never planned on telling anybody...until he meets Simone. She's the kinky girl of his dreams...and his conservative family's worst nightmare.

"Picture Perfect Cowboy" is a standalone erotic romance from Tiffany Reisz, set in her bestselling Original Sinners series. An abridged version was previously published in "Exposed: A Romance Anthology" as the novella "The Watermark."

Review:
Disclaimer: I received this from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Also, I love all of Reisz' previous books. 

(trigger/content warnings: BDSM, Dom/sub relationship, 'ownership,' everything that could come with that I guess? Along with Jason's past childhood abuse from his father)

If you're starting with this one, I guess you technically could, but you would definitely not get as much out of it. It made me stupidly happy to see Simone getting a HFN and to see how she turns to Nora when she doesn't know what to do.

And how this all feels very realistic. They just met, sure, and they're heavily in lust and like each other a lot - but neither of them think they can change their lives because of this , supposedly, small thing. And they're trying to be logical about it.

I love Simone, I'm not sure when I got so attached to her and I didn't realize until I was reading this book, but it was a ton of fun to get to see from her POV. And to get to see Sora (+ Nora) from her POV, as well. And Jason was fun - I've missed the horses and such, it was nice to be back, and this was a much lower stress environment. And he's just such a genuinely good guy, he wants to do the best he can and never wants to hurt anyone.

If you want to just jump into this, I'd say go for it, but also - the whole Original Sinners series is fucking incredible. The characters are some of my favorite, you can't convince me they're not real.

Book Review: Fresh Ink (anthology

Title: Fresh Ink
Editor: Lamar Giles
Authors: Malinda Lo, Melissa de la Cruz, Daniel Jose Older, Gene Luen Yang, Nicola Yoon, Sara Farizan, Eric Gansworth, Walter Dean Meyers, Thien Pham, Jason Reynolds, Sharon G. Flake, Schuyler Bailar, Aminah Mae Safi
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 208
Publication Date: August 14th, 2018

Plot (from goodreads):
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, thirteen of the most recognizable, diverse authors come together in this remarkable YA anthology featuring ten short stories, a graphic short story, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers never before in-print.

Careful--you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written--whose next chapters are up to you.

Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.

Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play. This collection will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.

Review:

(disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review).

Overall, this was a solid collection. There were some I loved more then others, but none of them was I 'meh' on, which is pretty rare for an anthology with more then a handful of authors. The idea behind this anthology and the stories inside are so important. 

And the stories are good as hell. There's a few that I wish we could see full stories of, but I also like the idea of people getting to imagine the next part, create their own end for the story. All the authors I'd read from before were, of course, amazing and I was glad to return to their work. (For example: love Malinda Lo's everything. DJ Older's + Jason Reynolds's writing. And the others I've read. 

And was blown away by some of the people I hadn't read yet - We'll talk about my favorite story last, and I don't want to just talk about a few but also don't want to get too in depth. These are, obviously, short stories so I feel like mentioning anything gives almost too much away. I just want to say that these writers are all incredible and this anthology blew me away. Especially, honestly, considering how short it was, I was left wanting more but definitely not in a bad way.

Especially from the last story in the collection by Nicola Yoon - about a black kid whose a superhero. I was a little confused at first but as soon as I learned what was going on, my heart joke broke. And, to be honest, this is the one that I was about a whole series about. It hit my hard and is so important and was incredible. 

January 2018 | Monthly Wrap Up

The first month of 2018 has come and gone and, let me tell you, it felt like a long one to me. it's hard to be like "I think this will be a good year" with what's going on in the world politically, but in 2017 I saw friends more then I ever have before and I'm hoping to continue to see them regularly in 2018. Probably not as often, because money is a thing, but I'm still hopeful.

Anyway, on to what I read! I didn't read a lot ofr the first two weeks or so of the year, just because I was so drained from New Years with friends. I love that time, and wouldn't change our new tradtion for the world, but I need time to recover afterwards. I did end up reading quite a bit in January, though, I'm not sure what happened but I read a lot.

Books:

• Ripped Pages by M. Hollis (2.5 stars)
• The Doctor's Discretion by E.E. Ottoman(4 stars)
• Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest (3 stars)
• Think of England by K.J. Charles (3 stars)
• The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (Society of Gentleman #0.5) by K.J. Charles (3.5 stars)
• A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentleman #1) BY K.J. Charles (4 stars)
• The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (5 stars)
• Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (5 stars)
• The Duchess Deal (Girl Meets Duke #1) by Tessa Dare (4 stars)
• A Seditious Affair (SoG #2) by K.J. Charles (4 stars)
• Kings and Butterflies by Lina Langley (3.5 stars)
• A Gentleman's Position (SoG #3) by J.K. Charles (4 stars)
• A Private Miscellany (SoG #3.5) by K.J. Charles (3.5 stars)
• Trade Me (Cyclone #1) by Courtney Milan (4.5 stars)
• Let's Talk About Love by Clair Kann (5 stars)
• Talk Sweetly to Me by Courtney Milan (3 stars)
• Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann (3 stars)

Comics/Graphic Novels:

• Giant Days, Volume 6 by John Allison (4 stars)
• Misfit City, Volume 1 by (4 stars)

It was a really good reading month, as I mentioned. I read a lot of romance because, apparently, that's what I was in the mood for? Which is weird for a lot of personal reasons, and I'm still working on fully figuring it out myself but there's a discussion post on the way. Mostly, though, I think it's just I know what's going to happen, and I know it's going to end happy. I do, however, like my romance with more then just the romance - it's the main plot, of course, but not the only plot.

Besides that, I read a lot of really good stuff this month! It was my first time diving into K.J. Charles, Courtney Milan, and Tessa Dare. I enjoyed books by all three and will definitely be reading more by all of them - as already shown by my K.J. Charles spree, whoops, and the two Milan books I read.

I'm also continuing my Mistborn reread at a much slower pace, having just reread Shadows of Self this month, which I'd started last month. I'm looking forward to continuing with it, just also impatient and I know Bands is going to hurt as much the second time around as the first.

I, also, read Let's Talk About Love this month, which came out this month and I, actually, sat down and read it the day it came out, literally the same day. Black ace MC was enough to make me go yes, but there's also the friendships. Her relationship with her best friends, who are dating each other, just gave me a lot of feelings and I loved how much they loved each other? Like they all just love each other a lot and phew, feelings.

So that's what I read in January, good start to the new year reading wise, at the very least. Let me know if you've read any of these books and how your reading is going.

Happy reading!

October, November, December | Monthly Wrap Up

The last three months I didn't end up doing a wrap up, it's been a busy few months. NaNo, of course, happened and then the holidays are always crazy, are they not? Either way, I didn't want to not wrap up the last few months of the year, and I didn't read a ridiculous amount so decided to just throw them all together into one post.

Books:

• The Wrath and the Dawn (#1) by Renee Ahdieh (4/5)
• Mischief by Tiffany Reisz (5/5)
• The Rose and the Dagger (#2) by Renee Ahdieh (4/5)
• Don't Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith (5/5)
• Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Carey (4/5)
• Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee (4.5/5)
• Smoke & Mirrors by Michael Faudet (3/5)
• Depression and Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim (4/5)
• Still Can't Do My Daughters Hair by William Evans (4/5)
• Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• Oathrbinger by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• The Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (4/5)
• Milk and Honey by Rupi Karu (4/5)
• The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• The Christmas Truce by Tiffany Reisz (5/5)

It was a weird few months of reading - one of my best friends and I accidentally started out Mistborn reread. Neither of us had reread since the first time we read, and we remembered so very little, but it's such an amazing series. 

Mistborn rereads and poetry was apparently the theme of the last few months of 2017. Oathbringer, also by Sanderson, also came out in November and that was a giant, incredible, and insane book.

The Long Way Down was incredible and heartwrenching. I will definitely be reading more things by Reynolds' in the future (already bought a copy of Miles Morales). Not Your Villain was amazing and I highly recommend this series. Besides that I'm not really sure what else to comment on, it was a weird few months for reading for me, that's for sure.

Sorry for the late as hell wrap up, but better late then never right?

Happy Reading!

Snow Day Reading List | Winter Bibliothon Day 1

It's officially day one of the winter biannual biblithon and I am actually typing this on day one, the timing of this readathon might of gotten away from me just a little bit? I don't know how, but I just wasn't expecting it to get here so soon, and don't even get me started on how unprepared I am for the 24in48 next weekend.

Today, though, the challenge is to write about your snow day reading list. I feel like there's a few different ways this could be interoperated in a few different ways. My way is going to be what I'd recommend someone spend a snow day, or two, reading. 

First off: KJ Charles. I haven't read all of their work yet, and some of it is problematic, but it's also just snuggle down and read some slightly ridiculous historical romances, as it should be. 

And, as always, I feel like a classic of a winter day is Harry Potter. I think if you follow me anywhere online, you know my love of HP, so I'm not going to continue more. (If you don't: I regularly go to HP conventions and have two tattoos, I'm holding myself back for your benefit).

However, another really good idea for a snow day reading list, I feel like, would be long as hell books. So you can just sit down, with one book, and try to knock it out, or at least a large chunk of it. The first one that comes to mind for this one, for me, is IT by Stephen King, a favorite of mine, and while a good chunk of it takes place in summer, there's one scene in particular that takes place in the winter that'll stick with you. 

Let me know what your's would be, link me if you also posted, and I hope your readathon has started off on a good note. Happy reading!

Winter Biannual Bibliothon 2017 | TBR + Plan

I'll be taking part in this readathon - starting today, when this post goes up, and going through the 26th. This readathon is a lot of fun, but can also be a lot, all kinds of challenges. Reading, blog, instagram, video. I'll be taking part in a few of the each but the video, though I don't know what the instagram ones are yet and haven't started any of the blog posts yet, so take that with a grain of salt. I do really like this readathon, though. It is involved but it can be a lot of fun.

I've got plans to read a lot this week, and I have no idea how possible it is. I've been having a really bad flare up with my chronic pain the last few days so I've just been tired. Theoretically, though, I could start reading in the morning and then just read, we'll see how it goes.

I'm not going to try and be hitting all of the reading challenges, just a few, and same for the blog posts. As for the books I'm planning to read, though, i've got a general plan? But it's a large general plan. Physical, books I've started reading reading but haven't finished yet, ebooks, at least one audiobook.

I've got options, is what I'm saying, and that's kind of how I like going into readathons? And right after this readathon is the 24in48 readathon (a post will be up about that this week).

Options (just titles, if you don't the book just let me know and I'll tell you, split into ebooks, graphic novels, and digital)

• whiskey words & a shovel
• Canto Bight
• Beneath the Sugar Sky
• Bands of Mourning
• A Taxonomy of Love
• Ramona Blue
• This Savage Song
• The Year of Magical Thinking

• Jem and the Holograms, Volume 1
• Misfit City, Volume 1
• Lumberjanes, Volume 7
• Spinning (Graphic Memoir)
• everyone's an alien when you're an alien too
• Princeless: Save Yourself

• Cobalt Squadron (currently listening to)
• A Seditious Affair (currently reading)
• The Falconer

And, honestly, that's a small part of my options? I also have just hundreds of books around me so who knows what I'll read actually read for the readathon?

#DiversityBingo2017 | Final Wrap Up

I'm not completely done with this challenge yet but I'm planning to finish it by the end of the year - and, if I can't, I'll be carrying into 2018 (technically not what the challenge is but I don't care, I still want to read the books I put for the prompts).

I did want to talk a bit about this challenge, though. The main reason I enjoyed it so much was that it really pushed me to do more and more research about diverse books. I was doing research about diverse books anyway and trying to figure out what I wanted to read, but this definitely upped the time I spent doing that - and also my TBR, whoo boy.

I don't think I'll do a specific thing in 2018 for diversity, just because it was kind of stressful? I'm a mood reader and so I'm bad at this kind of read a book with this, even though I can find a book in whatever genre and read that, but it's still just too much pressure for me.

I'm probably going to keep in mind a list of 10 or so diverse reads (mostly things I didn't get to this year, but own) and make sure to reach for those first before anything else, give those a try before anything else.

That is all for a post that'll be coming at the end of the month, though, about my 2018 reading goals. First I'm going to just list the ones I've completed and then the ones I haven't and my TBR for them.

(Notes: MC means main character, any other abbreviations I use that confuse you just ask!)

• Romance with a trans MC - Coffee Boy by Austin Chant
• NB MC (own voices) - Defying Convention by Cecil Wilde
• practicing jewish MC - Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman
• MC w/ underrepped body type - So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon
• Neuro diverse MC - Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
• bi MC - Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
• MC with anaphylactic allergy - My Year of Epic Rock by Andrea Pyros
• pansexual MC - The Melody of You and Me by M. Hollis
• black MC - Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
• PoC on cover - Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
• d/Deaf or HoH mc - El Deafo by Cece Bell
• immigrant/refugee MC - Inside Out and Back Again by Thahha Lai
• MC on ace spectrum - Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Katherine Ormsbee
• Non western setting - Want by Cindy Pon
• diverse nonfiction - Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager
• hijabi MC - The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi
• West Asian setting - The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
• book by author of color - Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
• #ownvoices - Another Brooklyn by Jaqueline Woodson
• biracial MC - Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
• mc of color in SFF - The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
• LGBTQIA+ MC of color - Adaptation by Malinda Lo
• free space! - even this page is white by Vivek Shraya

TBR - options for the categories I haven't finished yet (no authors names here because for some I'm putting more then one - any questions as to what the book is/who the author is, just let me know! And, if there's problems with any of my picks - future, or even past, just pleast let me know so I'm aware)

• SFF with a MC with a disability - options: Otherbound, Chameleon Moon, Ascension
• Indian MC - When Dimple Met Rishi 
• displaced MC - Ramona Blue 
• retelling with LGBTQIA+ MC - Ripped Pages
• MC with invisible disability - Ascension (same as above), Dead Girls Society, Under Rose Tainted Skies
• Latinx MC - Labyrinth Lost 
• mc with chronic pain - Far From You, Ascension (still same, this book has a lot going on)
• Arab MC - Saints and Misfits
• MC with wheelchair - Push Girl 
• Visually impaired MC - A Quiet Kind of Thunder, Not If I See You First
• book set in Centeral America - The Book of Unknown Americans
• Contemporary arranged marriage - Written in the Stars
• Indigenous MC - If I Ever Get Out Of Here

I, honestly, am ashamed at some of the ones that I didn't end up hitting. However, I'm also sure that I've just forgotten books that fit in these categories - currently we're not even done with January and I've already read a book with a character with chronic pain do I don't know what's up. Which I've just realized, as typing this, could count for that challenge. 

Either way, I'm doubt I'm going to update again past this, but I wanted to talk about this challenge again because it was important to me. And I spent a lot of time researching books to read, and just ended up adding, and outright buying, so many books that it brought to my attention. And I'm so excited to finish up some of the challenges and read more of the others.

And, of course, I'm always focusing on reading more diversely in 2018. I also feel like this challenge has made me automatically look for those, under the general layer of publishers pushing the white, mostly male books in our faces. They're getting a little better about it, too.

Now I'm rambling, I might make a whole discussion about reading more widely/diversely. If you took part in that challenge, let me know, especially if you did a wrap up so I can see what books you picked up. 

Happy Reading!

Bout of Books 21 | TBR, Goals, + Update Post

And another Bout of Books! Sadly, I wasn't able to take part in the last one in August because it was part of the week I was taking an international trip. And this week was going to be a bit of a thing because I was suppose to be getting a cat the weekend before it started.

Sadly, that has fallen through and now we've got to start over with the cat finding. This isn't about cats, though, about the books.

The Goals

• Read! As much as possibly but don't want to push myself too hard. Last January readathon I got eyestrain. My reaching goal is to try and finish a bunch of things I've been currently reading, finish my Mistborn era 2 reread, and get to some comics.
• visit blogs! videos! comment!
• Twitter chats
• BoB expert! Signed up for this again, even though I don't feel like I helped much last time, but going to try and make sure to be more active more
• vlog? maybe, we'll see how I feel

The Stack

• Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (currently-reading)
• Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (currently-reading)
• This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
• Ripped Pages by M. Hollis

Updates

Monday
Didn't end up reading anything, it's been a weird beginning to the year for me.


Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 3
Pages read: 335
Time Spent Reading: 3 hours, 11 minutes
Books:
Ripped Pages by M. Hollis (started and finished - 60 pages)
The Doctor's Discretion by EE Ottoman (started and finished - 195 pages)
Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest (started and finished - 80 pages)

Notes:
So it was a good reading day for me, but I'm pretty sure this will be an every other day kind of deal for me, maybe even more then that considering. Still, this readathon is helping me try and get back into reading regularly, which is what I needed. I'm going to try and read more days out of the year then I don't, I think? Just something I've been thinking of, not an official goal, and I have no idea how I'd track that?

Let me know how your bout of books is going!

Wednesday
Didn't end up reading for some reason???

Thursday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 75
Total # of pages: 410 
Books:
Think of England by K.J. Charles (started - 75 pages)

Friday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 4
Pages read: 164
Total # of pages: 574 
Books:
Think of England by K.J Charles (finished - 164 pages)

Notes:
I enjoyed this book, but I also kind of had problems with how often there were cruel words thrown around about the love interest. I understand it's historically accurate, and it made it a little better then the MC started to defend him, but I honestly don't think it was needed to be that much? Then again, I can see how it really painted those characters in a horrible light.

However, there were moments when the MC thought things - just in relationship to the LI's queerness and fashion sense - that I felt like were very unnecessary.

Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 3
Total # of books I've read: 7
Pages read: 388
Total # of pages: 962
Books:
Giant Days, Volume 6 by John Allison ( started and finished - 112 pages)
The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (Society of Gentleman #0.5) by K.J. Charles (started and finished - 32 pages)
A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentleman #1)  by K.J. Charles (started and finished - 244 pages)

Notes:
Apparently I have found myself on a queer historical romance kick - on that note, if you have any besides gay/bi dude reccs, please leave them down below. I've had people recommend me K.J. Charles and, on one hand, I can see why but the books are definitely not without their problems.

Giant Dayssssss. I don't know why I love this comic series so much but I do. It's just so much fun, and just three girls at university being friends. It's so great I cry.

Sunday
Number of books I've read today:
Total # of books I've read:
Pages read:
Total # of pages:
Total Time Spent Reading:
Books:


Notes:

Bout of Books 21 | Announcement/TBR

Bout of Books is a week long readathon that is very low key and incredible to take part in. It's very low pressure, not even any reading challenges to try and fulfill, but there is a lot of people just reading and having fun.

There are twitter chats happening, as well (which I'll hopefully be able to take part in both!) They're on Monday 9pm EST, and Saturday 11am EST. They're always a ton of fun and very motivating to go through, always makes me want to read!

On the twitter note I'm also a Bout of Books expert this time around again, so if you have any questions feel free to ask me here or on twitter (@caseycassidy).

As for what I'll be reading - kind of no idea, as per usual. I've got a lot of things I'm in the middle of that I meant to finish before the year ended up it ended up being a very, very busy December. And, also, there's time between now and the readathon starting and I don't know what I'll get done in between then and now. I do know that I'll be trying to finish a book every day - graphic novel counting for that since it's my arbitrary goal.

I was going to try and list what I'm currently working on and other possibilites but, honestly, I have no idea what I'm going to have time to read between now and the start of the readathon. Or what I'll be in the mood for by the time it starts. I'm getting a kitten the Saturday before the readathon starts and, as I'm typing this, friends are still visiting from NYE so I've got no idea what to expect.

Anyway - if you're planning on taking part, let me know! And say hi on twitter if you see me, I try not to post too much but I do linger in the hashtag a lot.

BoutofBooks website
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