January 2019 | Monthly Wrap Up

Here we go, back to my roots. I really love monthly or whatever wrap ups, depending on how much I've been reading. I was going to do January and February together but I read just so many things in January that I don't want to make that big of a post, January by itself is already a lot, and one I even considered splitting up. I'm still not fully sure what came over me in January but I read 40+ books.

I mean, over half was manga, but 12 of those were omnibus' and also there were a lot of novels/novellas in there as well. I don't know how this happened at all.

Novels, novellas, ect:
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole (5/5)
Girl-King by Brittany Cavallaro (3/5)
Band Sinister by KJ Charles (4/5)
The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang (5/5)

Strangers in Town by Cedar Sigo (4/5)

From Scratch (Sea Port #1) by Katrina Jackson (5/5) 

Whiskey Words & A Shovel III by R.H. Sin (3/5)

Dog Songs + A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver (5/5)

Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown (3/5)

We Should All Be Feminist by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie (4/5)
Toil and Trouble edited by Tess Sharpe + Jessica Spotswood (4/5)

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (5/5)

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (3/5)

Viral by Lily Myers, Neil Hilborn, Javon Johnson, Rachel Rostad, Pages Matam, Dylan Garity, Guante, Michael Mlekoday (4/5)

Manga:
Fruits Basket, Collectors Editions: Volumes 1 - 12 by Natsuki Takaya (series rating: 5/5)
Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 1-18 by Bisco Hatori (series rating: 4.5/5)
Kamisama Kiss, Volume 1 by Julliette Suzuki (4/5)

Graphic novels/Comics:
The Magic of Christmas by Andrea Edwards, Motoyo Fujiwara (3/5)
Miles Morales #1 by Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garron (5/5)

And, as always, talking about what I read. First off - An Extraordinary Union was incredible and I highly recommend to everyone. I was worried it was going to be too hard to get through, considering the time it's set in, and it isn't exactly an easy read.

Band Sinister took me forever, for some reason, but I thought it was a ton of fun. There's a subplot about a like mystery/horror novel and I was living for it. The Red Threads of Fortune was so good, I'm loving this series so fucking much. It's so different and so rich, which is incredible since they're so short, and the magic system is just so interesting and so much fun.

I'm going to be shouting about From Scratch from the rooftops - it was a poly m/m/f romance and I fucking loved it. The MC was a fat black girl who baked and I loved her, like i was sad when the book was over and we wouldn't get more of her and her boys, and also her friends. The guys I also really enjoyed, longtime friends (hello both meet cute + friends to lovers in one book, triad romances are the shit). Anyway - this was fucking adorable and so good.

I also highly recommend The Wedding Date, I loved it so much - I've been, and still kind of in a romance mood. And also I enjoyed all the stories in Toil and Trouble, and obviously enjoyed both Fruits Baskey and Ouran.

I, honestly, couldn't tell you how many times I've read through Fruits Basket and I'm so excited for the new adaptation that's coming out, that'll follow the whole story. Also the new Miles comics is so good so far - I've only read one issue and I'm already attached?

Anyway - like I said, it was a crazy month for reading, I read so much. I hope you all had a good, or at least not bad, January. Let me know if you've also read any of these books or are planning to.

2019 | Same blog, same me

Hello, friends! I don't know if any of you will realize you're still following my blog until this popped up wherever. And if you decide to leave now that you've been reminded of that, I won't judge you, that's fair. I am planning to get back into blogging again, though.

I'm not sure how it's going to work or what exactly my plan is but, of course, it'll be like 90% book focused, as usual. I'll probably end up with random posts about TV, movies, or games, because I do more then read, which is shocking.

I've really been getting back into reading like I was in 2014, and one of the things that kept me reading that much was blogging regularly. I really enjoy blogging, and also vlogging (maybe more news on that soon), but I have a lot of problem organizing my time. And also sitting down to actually write a post, or film/edit.

I think about things constantly - planning posts before I fall asleep or just during things I don't need my whole brain more - but it's harder, for some reason, for me to sit down and write out my thoughts. Part of it, I know, is that I don't know why people would care about my words.

Of course, I mostly blog for myself, and I need to remind myself about this. I love doing a bunch of posts about whatever, reviews about books I want to push, and also just general wrap ups because I don't always have enough to say to do a full review.

Now - to get back to blogging.

Graphic Novel Review: Philip K. Dick: A Comic Biography

Title: Philip K Dick  (A Comic Biography)
Arthur + Illustrator: Laurent Queyssi, Mauro Marchesi
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Genre: nonfiction, biography
Page Count: 144
Publication date: January 1st, 2019


Synopsis (from goodreads):
One of the greatest writers in science fiction history, Philip K. Dick is mostly remembered for such works as Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Total Recall. His dark, fascinating work centered on alternate universes and shifting realities in worlds often governed by monopolistic corporations and authoritarian governments. His own life story seems a tussle with reality, cycling through five marriages and becoming increasingly disjointed with fits of paranoia and hallucinations fueled by abuse of drugs meant to stabilize him. His dramatic story is presented unvarnished in this biography.

Review:
Disclaimer: I received this this in exchange for an honest review from the publisher through NetGalley

This was a wild ride. I didn't know much about Philip K Dick as a person going into this and so this was fascinating. I've read only one novel by him - Ubik, which I loved - and this made me want to dive back into his work all over again.

I love the art style and the attention to detail I felt like was present. I've never taken perception altering drugs, and I'm not just saying that, but I feel like some of these spreads made me feel like I assume that feels like.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this to people who are even a little curious, but he was a very interesting man. Not a very nice or maybe even good man, but he was trying. And it was a wild ride.

There's also inclusion of snippets of some of his own letters, which was really cool to see his words in his own experience since I've never read any of those. And, to be honest, am not super interested in reading through his letters without the context I feel like was given here.

To wrap it up - I'd recommend this book, for SciFi lovers or others, especially for writers it was interesting to me.

Goodreads

January 2019 | #24in48 Readathon (26th - 27th)

This is going to serve as my announcement and, probably wrap up, post for this readathon. Ideally I'd like to update every few hours, but I have a feeling I'll be doing that on Twitter and Instagram since that'll be easier for me?

If you're confused - the 24in48 readathon is a weekend long readathon in which you try to read for 24 hours total during the 48 hours of the readathon. I've never made it but, either way, I always love taking part. And this round, like all others, I'm still going to try to get to 24. I'm going to be probably relying on audiobooks for part of the time, along with manga.

I don't think I'll hit 24, because I'll also begin to prepare for a trip I'm taking soon, but either way I love this readathon a lot. It's one of my top ones, and I always love participating!

Links for the readathon
Sign up post
Their Twitter + Instagram

The Stack:

to be figured out


My social media: Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads

Bout of Books 24 | Goals, Stack, Update Post

Another January, another bout of books. I'm going to be trying to implement a few of the goals I'm aiming to complete in 2019 - get back into graphic novels/comics, romanceopoly, and also just making reading more of a priority. I'm going to be trying to read every day in 2019 and it'll be great.

The Goals

• Read! Read! Read! But also have fun
• Finish some of the books I've been currently reading for forever
• Finish at least one comic/graphic novel
• Visit blogs and cheer on readings on twitter/instagram

The Stack

• The Red Threads of Fortune by J.Y. Yang
• Toil & Trouble edited by Tess Sharpe (friday update: almost finished! less then 100 pages left)
• A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
• The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang
• From Scratch by Katrina Jackson

Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Pages read: 11
Time Spent Reading: 13 minutes
Books:
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner (continues - 11 pages)

Notes:
Uhhh... so one of my friends may have been like "you wanna try Talisman digitally?" and it's not like I could say no. I still haven't missed a day in 2019, though, of reading something. Hopefully Tuesday will go better, but also I'm being visited by a puppy.


Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 1
Pages read: 100
Total # of pages:  111
Time Spent Reading: 38 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 51 minutes
Books:
The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang (finished - 100 pages)

Notes:
Once again, not much reading done, but I really loved Red Threads, and just been loving this series so much. It's so good, I highly recommend.


Wednesday to Sunday
Number of books I've read in these days: 9
Total # of books I've read:10
Pages read: 2,752
Total # of pages: 2,863
Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hours, 36 minutes


Notes:

I'm not listing all the books because I'm tired but I've got to tell you - starting to reread Fruits Basket is possibly one of the best things I've ever done. I reread this series whenever I feel like it, which tends to be every 2/3 years, and it's still always so good.

And then also From Scratch by Katrina Jackson was amazing, seriously I loved it so much, and then finally finished The Red Threads of Fortune by J.Y. Yang, it was also amazing.

Now tell me about your reading from the week - if you were taking part in this readathon or not.

Bout of Book 24 | Announcement + TBR plans

Another January, another Bout of Books! And, yes, I haven't really posted here in months and months, and I'm planning on putting a post up about what's been going on - mostly just life. However, bout of books is soon enough this is going up first.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.
- From the Bout of Books team

Join me and a bunch of other people in starting the reading year off with a bang! I normally have a vague TBR plan and this year is no different. I don't have specific books in mind but I'd like to finish as many books as I'm "currently-reading" as possible. I have a bad habit of starting books and then putting them aside to read something else. And I've got literally probably two dozen, if not more, books that I've started and just haven't finished yet.

And, also, hopefully I finish my first romanceopoly book this week and can start my second one next week. (One of my 2019 reading challenges, that post will be up soon as well. As long as everything goes as planned).

If you're taking part, please let me know in the comments so we can cheer each other on! And, also, let me know your reading plans.


Sign Up post
Blog
BoB twitter
BoB instagram

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.