Transitive Verve

I only read seven YA books that were released this year. ONLY SEVEN! Y'all, that is shameful ! The only explanation I can sheepishly offer is that I had a lot of major life changes this year that left me with little time and brain space. (I did read other YA that I LOVED that was older, like Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone  trilogy, but that doesn't count for this list. I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to catch up on books that I have to read, and I will never read them all.) Okay, so, I decided to take my seven and then pick my top 5 out of them. What got left off? Surprisingly, the Sarah J. Maas books. I know! They're usually at the top of my yearly lists, but the other books I read were SO stellar, to say nothing of the amazing books that I still did not get to read and will be at the top of my list for 2019 (Tomi Adeyemi, Hank Green, and Justina Ireland, for example). I also read some fantastic adult romance and even a couple non-fiction ...

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: (as provided by the publisher) The Law of Henna and Bodhi:  When love breaks, fall inward, fall together, and fall hard. Then let time pick up the pieces. Everything feels temporary when you’ve experienced tragedy—until Henna Lane meets Bodhi at a music festival. Young and spontaneous, they have a lust for seizing the moment, falling hard and fast. When Bodhi is forced to leave without a goodbye, Henna thinks she’ll never get over him. But then she meets Mr. Malone, her sexy, new guidance counselor. They are reckless. They are forbidden. When their secret is discovered, Henna has to choose between finishing school—banned from see...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: Big and tall, with womanly curves that belie her 15 years, Xiomara Batista is hard to miss. And yet, Xio feels largely unseen: to the kids at her school, she is a "ho" or "fast" because of the shape of her body; to her uber-religious mother, she is sin waiting to happen; to her father, she is invisible. But deep inside, where nobody else sees, Xio is a poet. She is full of feelings, and they have nowhere else to go, except her notebook. Her life changes when her English teacher invites her to join the Poetry Club, where students perform their work, and also, she starts developing feelings for a boy in her class, knowing that anything having to do with boys is absolutely forbidden by her mother. Xio's journey through faith and doubt, first love, and the bonds of family is told in poetry.

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  SO many of us want to be more organized and more productive. We all have goals we want to accomplish, but we also need to take care of ourselves mentally and emotionally. We want to do more, but we want to stress less. Bullet journalling has become wildly popular in the last few years, because it offers both of those things: it's a system for planning and organization, but it's also a way to journal and reflect. Bullet journals can range from extremely simple and minimalist, to ornately decorated and complex, and the beauty of the system is that it's completely customizable for your life. You can pretty much learn everything you need to about bullet journalling from the internet these days, so Ryder Carroll, creator of the system , offers a little something extra in this book, along with instructions on the basics, so that no matter where you are in your bullet journal journey, there's something you can get out of...

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary: This is book 7 of the Throne of Glass series. Therefore, it will contain spoilers for all the previous books. If you would like to check out all my previous TOG reviews, here they are: Assassin's Blade  (Book 0/prequels) Throne of Glass Crown of Midnight Heir of Fire Queen of Shadows Empire of Storms Tower of Dawn  (parallel to EoS) When we last left Aelin and Co. in Empire of Storms , things were really bad. Like, REALLY bad. As in, "Aelin has been captured by Maeve and locked in an iron box and now no one knows where she is, and Lysandra has to pretend to BE her to keep the resistance going, because everyone knows they're probably going to die fighting the evil demon king, Erawan" bad. And Tower of Dawn  had Chaol, Yrene, and Nesryn racing back to the Northern continent with reinforcements and the news that Maeve is really a Valg QUEEN in disguise. And Manon and Dorian are off on THEIR own, trying ...

Thoughts at a glance:  **** (I really liked it) Summary:  Zuri Benitez is watching the world change around her. Having grown up her whole life in Bushwick (in Brooklyn), Zuri is seeing her neighborhood slowly being gentrified; her older sister Janae, who is back after her first year of college, is also different; and Zuri herself is getting ready to finish high school as well. That summer, though, when the Darcy family moves in across the street into the most expensive house on the block, they experience the biggest change of all as Janae takes a sudden interest in friendly elder son Ainsley, and Zuri finds herself constantly in the presence of snobby, judgmental Darius... ... and if you're at all familiar with the story of Pride and Prejudice , you can probably guess how this will go...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for also providing the press kit with the graphics and blurb. Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it)

I am blasting this message on every platform I have--if you have Netflix and some spare time, please watch this wonderful, cute adaptation of Jenny Han's novel, To All the Boys I've Loved Before . This is the sort of movie I wish I'd had when I was in high school and questioning my identity as an Asian-American teen. Every movie I could think of back then that had Asian people were about Asian-Asian people and/or martial arts or whatever, and I never saw just a regular American teenager who looked like me as the main character in a movie. (Sure, there were sidekicks and minor characters. That's how it always is.) While I haven't read the book myself, I can't speak to how well it worked as an adaptation, but on its own, it was cute, funny, and fun. I do know that the protagonist, Lara Jean, and her family were made to be half-Korean, half-white (John Corbett plays their father), whereas I think the book had them as full Asian? And while I DO have thoughts ...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it!) Summary : After the sudden death of her father, Annie Daschle, her mother, and her two sisters find themselves having to move in with estranged family in New York. Annie, who is 18 and who has spent her life in a small Texas town being extra  sheltered due to a congenital heart defect, is ready to make the most of their new life and is armed with her dad's old camera and a list of ways she wants to live out loud . Starting with, getting a job for the first time ever. And then she literally runs into one of the managers at bookshop/bar, Wasted Words. Greg Brandon, who never really notices any women, finds himself inexplicably drawn to Annie's sunshine and passion-filled approach to life. However, Annie's heart has always had a mind of its o...

It's been a while since my last review. I had a lot of personal things going on these last couple of months (which is a story for my personal blog, and not this one), so I haven't felt motivated to get lost in fictional drama when I've had a lot of real drama to deal with :/ I WILL be getting back into the swing of things and making up for lost time, but for now, I'm going to share a review that I posted back in January on Goodreads, but for some reason didn't put on my blog. The reason why I'm bothering to repost it here is because I had already reviewed another book from this series on my blog (it's a romance series, which means that each book is a standalone, but they feature commonalities/are related), and I'm about to start the most recent one, so I want all the reviews to show up here as well :) While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  This is a large, photo-filled, coffee-table book about the musical Hamilton , which (in case you have no exposure to pop culture whatsoever [in which case, how'd you find my obscure little blog???]) is a hip hop musical about Alexander Hamilton. Thoughts:  While I do actually own a physical copy of this book (which is awesome, by the way), I chose to listen to this as an audiobook. The book itself consists mainly of the full libretto of the musical (with annotations from LMM himself about the various lyrics and musical lines, etc.), with short "behind the scenes" chapters interspersed throughout, lining up chronologically with the songs at times, and discussing the history of the musical itself from all different angles: the writing, the development, the choreography, everything. The audiobook gives you all the chapters first, with an introduction from co-writer Jeremy McCarter (as in, he wrote the chapter p...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) This is officially designated book 3.1 of the ACOTAR series, meaning that it's not a full novel, but it is a follow-up to the third book. It's kind of a sequel--an epilogue, really--that sets up the spinoff novels that will come out in the future. This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series. For those reviews, please see below: Book 1: A Court of Thorns and Roses Book 2: A Court of Mist and Fury Book 3: A Court of Wings and Ruin Summary: Hybern has been defeated, and for now, Prythian is trying to put itself back together and maintain the peace that they fought so hard for. For Feyre, now back with her beloved Rhys and their Night Court, it means settling into her duties as the High Lady. This includes not just the typical responsibilities to their people and their kingdom, but also sorting out the aftermath of everything they just went through (losing her father, nearly losing Rhys), helping ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: Penny Lee doesn't really feel like she belongs anywhere or with anyone (especially not her oblivious, dresses-too-young mother), and when she heads off to college, the last thing she expects to find is a friend in the form of hot coffee-shop Sam. Sam, who is amazing at baking and trying to put himself through film school, has a bunch of troubles of his own, and when he basically lands himself in the hospital, Penny happens to be there to help him. They swap phone numbers, promising to be each others' emergency contacts. Thus begins a story of two people reaching out to each other, who previously didn't have anyone to reach out to before. As they each navigate their individual lives, Penny and Sam find that they need each other for far more than just emergencies.

Like many people, I am big on self-exploration and reflection and "finding myself." I love taking quizzes. I love memes about my Myers-Briggs. (I'm an INFJ, by the way.) It's fun and can be quite illuminating. Enter Potterverse. It has been said that seeing someone reading a book you love is like a book recommending a person, but the Potterverse fandom is 1) large, and 2) has a wide variety of personality types built into it already. Getting sorted into a Hogwarts house is such a big thing that even non-Potter fans have heard of it, and there are countless internet articles sorting anything and anyone (including Myers-Briggs types) into the four houses. There are also countless sorting quizzes all over the internet, and not a single one is perfect, but the one I recognize as canon is the one at Pottermore.com , because it's the official JK Rowling-written-and-approved Potterverse website. You can take the Hogwarts sorting quiz, as well as quizzes to find your ...

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) This book is the second part of duology, and this review will contain spoilers for the first book, Transcend.  You can read my review of it  here .

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: (as provided by the publisher) “In another life, she was my forever.” An unexpected tragedy leaves Professor Nathaniel Hunt a widower alone with a newborn baby. He hires a nanny. She’s young, but well-qualified, with a simple life, a crazy name obsession, and a boyfriend she met at the grocery store. Over time, he discovers she knows things about him—things that happened before she was born—like a hidden scar on his head, his favorite pizza, and how he cheated on a high school Spanish test. She speaks familiar words and shares haunting memories that take him back to over two decades earlier when he lost his best friend in a tragic ac...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  This is book 3 of the trilogy The Illuminae Files . This review will contain spoilers for the first two books. Here are my reviews for Illuminae and Gemina . With the jump station Heimdall destroyed and nowhere else to go, Kady, Ezra, Hanna, Nik, and all the remaining survivors decide to head back to Kerenza IV on the Mao to see if there is anything or anyone left. And there is. Kady's cousin Asha, having survived the initial BeiTech attack, is now doing her best to survive BT's occupation of what remains of colony. With their jump platform damaged in the original standoff, the BT troops who weren't killed have now taken over. Asha is doing her best to stay under the radar as she helps the underground insurgent movement try to find ways to send out help signals and sabotage BeiTech. Unfortunately for her, as it turns out, one of the newly assigned ground soldiers happens to be her ex, Rhys. And conflicting ...

Not spoilery, but if you want to be TOTALLY surprised, then maybe read this after you watch it. I haven't read A Wrinkle in Time  in a VERY long while (save for the first handful of chapters, which I read a few weeks ago in preparation for the movie, but then I got sidetracked and didn't continue), but this book will always have a place in my heart because I remember being assigned to read the first chapter in sixth grade English over a weekend, and I ended up reading the ENTIRE thing that Friday night. It was the first school book I had ever read that didn't feel like a school book, and I loved it so much. So when I originally heard there was going to be a movie, I flipped. And THEN when I heard that Meg would be biracial, I freaked the F out. The book was first published in 1962, and while there was a lot that was forward-thinking about the book, I loved that the filmmakers decided to push the story forward even more. I know that not all the critics' reviews o...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: Blue Sargent, daughter of a psychic, has been told all her life that whoever her true love is, he will die. Thus, she has decided that it would probably be in her best interest to avoid boys in any capacity, and most especially, the rich, douchey ones who attend the nearby prep school, Aglionby. But on this particular St. Mark's Eve, watching for the spirits of the soon-to-be-deceased, Blue sees the spirit of one particular Aglionby boy named Gansey. Blue, who has no psychic power herself, has never been able to see any of the spirits before, and the fact that she saw his carries significance, and not just because he's going to die within the next year. Blue suddenly finds herself caught up with (the real, alive) Gansey, and he and his friends' desperate search for proof of ley lines and a long-lost Welsh king of legend. But as their search awakens magical forces beyond their control, old secrets and dangers al...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for also providing the press kit with the graphics and blurb. Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it)

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary : (as provided by the publisher ) Flint Hopkins finds the perfect tenant to rent the space above his Minneapolis-based law office. All the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted on Ellen’s application. Her references are good. And she’s easy on the eyes. Until … Flint discovers Ellen Rodgers, Board-Certified Music Therapist, plays music. Bongos, guitars, singing—not Beethoven administered through noise-cancelling headphones. The cut-throat attorney serves up an eviction notice to the bubbly, constantly humming redhead who's too sexy for her own good. But luck is on Ellen’s side when Flint’s autistic son, Harrison, takes an instant liking to h...

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: 50 years ago, Earth received a transmission from space, from a group of beings who called themselves the Undying. In their heavily coded message, they not only gave warnings about their civilization destroying itself, but they also gave enticing clues for how to find what they left behind on their home planet Gaia. Now, Earth is dying, and everyone believes that the secret to saving Earth is somewhere on Gaia, after an initial exploration discovered tech that is helping to offset the effects of climate change that have been wreaking havoc on the environment. And with the coordinates of Gaia revealed, EVERYONE is trying to make their way--legally or illegally--to this new planet to try and find what they can. Enter Mia, a scrappy street scavenger who smuggles herself over to Gaia because she desperately needs to find some spoils that she could sell for money. Enter also Jules, an archaeology genius with a burning need for ju...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I loved it) Summary: This is book 3 of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, so this will contain spoilers for the first two books. Here are my reviews for book 1 and book 2 . For the final act of this story, the major battle ends up being not between the seraphim and the chimaera, but all of them against the Dominion, the brutal force captained by the newly crowned emperor, Jael. And Jael's major plans involve showing up in the human world and returning to Eretz with weapons of mass destruction. Finally united in a tenuous alliance, Akiva and Karou must find a way to convince the remaining seraphim and chimaera to set aside their differences long enough to stop this even greater threat to their existence, as well as anyone else who stands in their way.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary: This is book 2 of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone  trilogy, so this will contain spoilers for the first book. To read my review of book 1, please go here . Karou has finally discovered who she is, but at great cost--the lives of her friends and family. As the surviving chimaera are being viciously hunted down by the seraphim, Karou finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to ally with the vengeance-fueled chimaera leader who had her executed in her previous life. Meanwhile, Akiva strives to find a way to continue to rebel against the seraphim leaders' orders, to try to atone in some way for the pain he has caused Karou. But stirring up a rebellion is a dangerous thing, and what seemed like a simple plan ends up turning into something bigger and far more dangerous to more than just seraphim and chimaera.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  To her art school classmates, and everyone else in Prague, Karou is a mystery. Does her hair really  grow out of her head blue? Where does she get the inspiration for the fantastical monsters and stories that fill her famous sketchbooks? And where does she keep disappearing to for her mysterious "errands"? Karou is even a mystery to herself--she's not sure where she came from or how her life came to be what it is, but yes, her monsters aren't just real; they're her family. Her hair grows blue because wish magic is true. And the errands she runs are for Brimstone, who is famous in the chimaera underworld for trafficking teeth that he uses for... some magical purpose that Karou doesn't understand. And now, black handprints are showing up on every magical portal door that leads to Brimstone's shop, and seraphim are rumored to be the ones behind it. Karou finds herself caught in the midst of an an...

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  Lily Abbott couldn't care less about chemistry class, and tends to spend that time brainstorming lyrics to songs that she'll never finish. But one day after she scribbles some lyrics to an obscure song she loves on her desk, she is surprised to find a response from a fellow student who sits in her same desk. Lily and the mystery guy end up becoming chem class pen pals, sharing not just band recommendations but also deeply personal thoughts. Through him, Lily finds inspiration for a song for an upcoming contest and also possibly... love? But she has no idea who he is. In the meantime, her best friend's ex (and overall popular jerk), Cade, keeps showing up in her life, unexpectedly and unwelcome. Lily can't stand the sight of him and verbally spars with him every chance she gets, but the more she gets to know him, the more there seems to be below the surface. At any rate, she's got a song she needs to write, a...