December 2018 – Page 3 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: The Poet X

Title: The Poet X
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Genre: Young Adult, Poetry
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 6, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Review:

I really enjoyed this story! It is written in free verse so it doesn’t rhyme but it is separated into stanzas. Most of the poems or sections are less than a page long, so it was pretty quick to read though. This easy format makes it accessible for reluctant readers. Xiomara is conflicted in this story. She has to decipher between what she learns in school, what she learns at church, and how her body feels. It’s hard when teenagers get so many conflicting opinions and advice, but sometimes you just have to do what’s right for you. For Xiomara, that’s writing poetry. This is a great story for anyone who feels like they are having trouble fitting in. Sometimes, you just need to find your voice.

Stacking the Shelves – December 22

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

I received had a NetGalley wish granted from BOOM! Studios:

Thank you BOOM! Studios for granting my wish!

What books did you get this week?

Review: My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life

Title: My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life
Author: Rachel Cohn
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: December 18, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

“I’m here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!”

In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World’s future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS-the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity.

Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahari, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington D.C. to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn’t exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troupe of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it’s air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who’s frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode.

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.

Review:

This was a great story. When I first started reading it and I saw that Elle was in foster care, I thought it was going to be a stereotypical story of a girl who has to survive foster care. However, she had a “Princess Diaries” style discovery when her biological father sent for her to come to Tokyo.

The rest of the story was reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians. Elle went to an elite international school in Tokyo, and she lived in a hotel with a gorgeous view of the city and 24/7 room service. I had never had a desire to go to Tokyo, but after reading this book, it looks like so much fun!

I was a little disappointed at the ending. It felt rushed and sudden. There were some important issues that were mentioned, such as teen pregnancy and alcoholism, but they weren’t explored very much. I would love to see what happens to Elle after the ending of the story.

First Lines Friday – December 21

This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.

Here are my first lines:

“We were all villains in the beginning. For hundreds of years, prodigies were feared by the rest of the world. We became hunted. Tormented. Feared and oppressed. We were believed to be witches and demons, freaks and abominations. We were stoned and hanged and set afire while crowds gathered to watch with cruel eyes, proud to be ridding the world of one more pariah.”

Do you recognize these first lines?

…

And the book is… Renegades (Renegades #1) by Marissa Meyer.

Goodreads synopsis:

Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies — humans with extraordinary abilities — who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone… except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice — and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

Have you read Renegades? What did you think of it?

Review: The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5)

Title: The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5)
Author: Lemony Snicket
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 8, 2000
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Dear Reader,

If you are looking for a story about cheerful youngsters spending a jolly time at boarding school, look elsewhere. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent and resourceful children, and you might expect that they would do very well at school. Don’t. For the Baudelaires, school turns out to be another miserable episode in their unlucky lives.

Truth be told, within the chapters that make up this dreadful story, the children will face snapping crabs, strict punishments, dripping fungus, comprehensive exams, violin recitals, S.O.R.E., and the metric system.

It is my solemn duty to stay up all night researching and writing the history of these three hapless youngsters, but you may be more comfortable getting a good night’s sleep. In that case, you should probably choose some other book.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

Review:

This story is a little different, because the Beaudelaire children go to school. However, it is not a typical school experience. They are ostracized from the rest of the school by having to live in the “orphan shack.” Since Sunny is a baby, she can’t go to school, so instead the vice principal (their guardian) makes her work as his secretary!

Of course, the story wouldn’t be complete without Count Olaf coming after the siblings. He gets past the security system the principal set up, and poses as the coach for the school.

The Beaudelaires make some friends named the Quagmires. They are a brother and sister, who were triplets but their other brother died in a fire just like the Beaudelaire’s parents. There are many similarities between the Beaudelaires and Quagmires. I can’t wait to see what happens in their friendship.

Have you read The Austere Academy? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – December 20

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.

My pick this week is The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself.

Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn’t beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money—as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman—to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend.

None of that worked (and she’s still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy.

Tiffany can’t avoid being funny—it’s just who she is, whether she’s plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person’s mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others.

By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is—humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she’s ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: Jughead Vol. 3

Title: Jughead Vol. 3
Author: Ryan North, Derek Charm, Ian Flynn, Mark Waid
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Archie Comics
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 25, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s magic, music, mayhem and ZOMBIES (of yeah, and hamburgers — plenty of hamburgers!) in this third volume of the Eisner-nominated Jughead series, collecting issues #12-16.

Review:

This is another funny volume in the Jughead series.

The volume is split into two storylines by two different authors. I love Ryan North’s writing style because he puts little notes at the bottom of the page which comment on the comics. They’re so funny. In the second story, written by Mark Waid and Ian Flynn, they also comment on the bottom of a couple of pages to copy Ryan’s style.

I didn’t really like the first part of the story as much as the rest of it, because it was centered around Reggie. All of the gang had a video game competition, which ended in Reggie winning the title of king. However, the results of that story led to the problems in the rest of the comics, which were all about Jughead.

I enjoyed the comics and I can’t wait for the next one to come out.

Have you read Jughead Vol. 3? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – December 19

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Riverdale: The Day Before by Micol Ostow. The release date is December 26, 2018.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Based on the massively successful CW show, Riverdale, this prequel novel explores what the gang was doing before Season One.

Why did Jughead and Archie have a falling out? What did Veronica’s life look like in the Big Apple? And how long has Betty really been in love with Archie?

Told from multiple POVs, your favorite characters tell their story their way.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: We’ll Always Have Christmas

Title: We’ll Always Have Christmas
Author: Jenny Hale
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 29, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

An enchanting story about the magic of Christmas, the importance of family, and the joy of falling in love during the most romantic season of the year…

Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family’s cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing…

The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas.

Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.

As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson – the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington…

In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?

Review:

This is a great holiday romance. This story was predictable and comforting. I could tell what would happen to the main character, Noelle, since it was a holiday romance. Once Noelle met Alex, I suspected there would be some romance between them. However, Alex was a stubborn man, so it wasn’t a smooth ride. Some of the parts were slow because there was a lot of time spent baking treats in the bakery. I would have liked to see more action with the characters so the story moved forward, but that is just my personal preference. This is a cute story, perfect for reading during the holidays.

Top Ten Tuesday – Winter 2018 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Winter 2018 TBR. Here’s my list: