Review: Oddball (Sarah’s Scribbles #4)

Title: Oddball (Sarah’s Scribbles #4)
Author: Sarah Andersen
Genre: Comics, Humour
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

The newest Sarah’s Scribbles collection from New York Times bestselling author Sarah Andersen

The fourth book in the enormously popular graphic novel series, the latest collection of Sarah’s Scribbles comics explores the evils of procrastination, the trials of the creative process, the cuteness of kittens, and the beauty of not caring about your appearance as much as you did when you were younger. When it comes to humorous illustrations of the awkwardness and hilarity of millennial life, Sarah’s Scribbles is without peer.

Review:

This is a new comic collection in the Sarah’s Scribbles series. These comics comment on millennial life, and they are so hilarious. While I was reading, I constantly had to take screenshots of my favourite comics because they were so funny.

Some of the themes in these comics are introverted people, millennial lifestyle, artists, and cats. There were many comics that comment on how millennials use the internet. The first comic had an aging millennial as a senior in a nursing home who reacts to a dog with comments like the We Rate Dogs social media accounts. Anyone who has a cat or has spent time with a cat will relate to the cat comics. Some comics showed the differences between a cat’s and a dog’s reactions to human love, while another answered the question of why witches only have black cats. These were hilarious and relatable comics.

Oddball is a hilarious comic collection!

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

In Love and Pajamas by Catana Comics

Other books in the series:

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

TBR Thursday – December 9

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 Guest List by Lucy Foley.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898.png

Goodreads Synopsis:

The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body 

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

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

Review: The Thirteenth Fairy (Never After #1)

Title: The Thirteenth Fairy (Never After #1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: December 1, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nothing ever happens in Filomena Jefferson-Cho’s sleepy little suburban town of North Pasadena. The sun shines every day, the grass is always a perfect green, and while her progressive school swears there’s no such thing as bullying, she still feels bummed out. But one day, when Filomena is walking home on her own, something strange happens.

Filomena is being followed by Jack Stalker, one of the heroes in the Thirteenth Fairy, a series of books she loves about a brave girl and her ragtag group of friends who save their world from an evil enchantress. She must be dreaming, or still reading a book. But Jack is insistent–he’s real, the stories are real, and Filomena must come with him at once!

Soon, Filomena is thrust into the world of evil fairies and beautiful princesses, sorcerers and slayers, where an evil queen drives her ruthless armies to destroy what is left of the Fairy tribes. To save herself and the kingdom of Westphalia, Filomena must find the truth behind the fairytales and set the world back to rights before the cycle of sleep and destruction begins once more.

Review:

Filomena Jefferson-Cho lives an ordinary life in North Pasadena, but she loves to escape to the world of Never After in her favourite book series. When she gets the disappointing news on the release day that the thirteenth and final book in the series won’t be published, she’s so disappointed. As she walks home, she’s followed by someone who looks like Jack Stalker, the main character in the series. Jack catches up to her and tells her the world of Never After is real and she must go there with him to save it. The world is being taken over by ogres and Filomena has to help Jack and his friend Alistair. Filomena gets to enter her favourite fictional world that is closer to her reality than she can imagine.

As an avid reader since I was a kid, being able to enter my favourite fictional worlds would be a dream come true. It was so fun to read about Filomena being able to enter Never After. There are a few series I would have loved to enter as a kid, so this was such an entertaining premise.

I loved the references to fairy tales throughout the story. There were many fairy tale characters mentioned in passing, such as Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs. This was a great set up for more books in the series to explore other fairy tale stories.

The Thirteenth Fairy is a fun middle grade fairy tale story!

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Have you read The Thirteenth Fairy? What did you think of it?

Happy Pub Day – December 7

Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich

Fools in Love by Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos (editors)

Oddball by Sarah Andersen

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix

No Beauties or Monsters by Tara Goedjen

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White

The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick

The Righteous by Renée Ahdieh

The Upper World by Femi Fadugba

The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling

The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen

The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff

The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelle-Dale

What books are you most excited for this week?

Top Ten Tuesday – Freebie: My Favourite Holiday Reads

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 a Freebie, so I decided to do Favourite Holiday Reads. Here’s my list:

1. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

2. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

3. Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

4. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

5. 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

6. All I Want for Christmas by Wendy Loggia

7. Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler

8. An Alaskan Christmas by Jennifer Snow

9. A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

10. Finding Christmas b Karen Schaler

(All book covers from Goodreads)

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Review: You’ll Be the Death of Me

Title: You’ll Be the Death of Me
Author: Karen M. McManus
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 30, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up…. again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say…

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.

Review:

Ivy worked hard to be the top student and was class president for the last three years. That’s why she was shocked to lose the student council election to class clown Brian “Boney” Maloney. It upsets her so much that she decides to skip school on the day after the election results. She runs into her two former best friends: Cal and Mateo. Cal was just stood up for a date again, and Mateo is burned out from working two jobs and being lied to by his cousin. Ivy, Cal, and Mateo decide to skip school, to recreate the first time they met and skipped school years before. However, this time, they come across the body of a student who they’re all connected to. Each of them are suspects, so they spend the day investigating the death and running from everyone else.

This was another fabulous thriller from Karen M. McManus. It was fast paced and thrilling the entire time. It was so hard to put this book down. I needed to know how it ended.

I haven’t read many thrillers lately, because I’ve found them formulaic and easy to figure out. This one has so many shocking twists that kept me reading. I was truly surprised at every twist, especially the big reveals at the end. This was such a well written, suspenseful thriller.

You’ll Be the Death of Me is an amazing new thriller!

Thank you Penguin Random House for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

This Is Why We Lie by Gabriella Lepore

Have you read You’ll Be the Death of Me? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – December 6

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Genesis of Seven by Sara M. Schaller.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Blame It on the Mistletoe by Beth Garrod.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap Up – December 5

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 7 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… You’ll Be the Death of Me

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898.png

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up…. again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say…

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.

What book are you in bed with today?

Six for Sunday – Red/Green Books

This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Red/Green Books. Here’s my list:

1. The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George

2. The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody

3. The Betrayed by Kiera Cass

4. Of Princes and Promises by Sandhya Menon

5. Lies My Memory Told Me by Sacha Wunsch

6. The Merchant and the Rogue by Sarah M. Eden

(All book covers from Goodreads)

Did you make a Six for Sunday list?