Emerjas

April Books

I read 22 books in April with an average score of 3.66. 1 was a graphic novel and 13 were YA. My most-read genres were fantasy, contemporary, and historical.

 

My favorite book was You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters - Kate Murphy. My least favorite book was Infinity Son - Adam Silvera.

 

I made some progress on my 2020 Reading Plans list by reading 1 more book. I'm now at 16/38.

 

 

5 Stars

You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters - Kate Murphy 

 

4.5 Stars

Kingdom of Back - Marie Lu Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 1 Vol. 2 - Miya Kazuki,quof,You Shiina  A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope - Patrice Caldwell 

 

 

4 Stars

The Glass Forest - Cynthia Swanson  What Girls Are Made Of - Elana K. Arnold  The Disasters - M. K. England  Beloved - Toni Morrison  Archie, Vol. 6 - Mark Waid,Audrey Mok  Gracefully Grayson - Ami Polonsky  The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams  

All-American Muslim Girl - Nadine Jolie Courtney  Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen  Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America - R. Eric Thomas  Spellhacker - M. K. England  

 

3.5 Stars

Hot Dog Girl - Jennifer Dugan 

 

3 Stars

One of Us Is Next - Karen  M. McManus The King of Crows - Libba Bray  

 

2.5 Stars

Imagine Me - Tahereh Mafi Brown Girl Ghosted - Aiedeo Mintie Das  

 

2 Stars

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke 

 

1.5 Stars

Infinity Son - Adam Silvera 

 

 

 

 

Books by author gender:

  • Male: 3
  • Female: 16
  • Genderqueer: 2
  • Female/Non-binary Mix: 1

 

Books by format:

  • Physical: 3
  • Audio: 19

 

 

 

 

Snakes and Ladders Tracking Post

 

1. Author is a woman - You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington - Alexis Coe  - Rolled a 5 & 5

11. Author's last name begins with the letters P, Q, R, or S - The Glass Forest - Cynthia Swanson  - Rolled a 5 & 5

21. Set in Europe - The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke - Rolled 5 & 4

30. Someone travels by train - Imagine Me - Tahereh Mafi - Rolled 5

35. Has been adapted as a movie - Hot Dog Girl - Jennifer Dugan - Rolled 1

36. Set in Central or South America - Infinity Son - Adam Silvera - Climbed ladder

55. Is more than 500 pages long - The Disasters - M. K. England - Rolled 5

60. Was published last year - One of Us Is Next - Karen M. McManus - Rolled 4

64. Cover is more than 50% yellow - Beloved - Toni Morrison - Rolled 3

67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people - You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters - Kate Murphy - Rolled 2

69. Something related to travel on the cover - Kingdom of Back - Marie Lu - Rolled 2

71. Involves the beach/ocean/lake Brown Girl Ghosted - Aiedeo Mintie Das - Rolled 6

77. Has a "food" word in the title - That Blue Sky Feeling, Vol. 1 - Atsuhisa Okura,Coma Hashii - Rolled 4

81. Ghost story - The King of Crows - Libba Bray - Rolled 2 & 2

85. Written by an author who has published more than 10 books - Gracefully Grayson - Ami Polonsky - Rolled 4

89. Published between 2000 and 2017 - The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams - Rolled 5

94. Non-fiction - All-American Muslim Girl - Nadine Jolie Courtney - Rolled 3

97. Title starts with any of the letters in SNAKE - Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 1 Vol. 2 - Miya Kazuki,quof,You Shiina - Rolled 2 & 4

100. Let BL pick it for you: post 4 choices and read the one that gets the most votes! - A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope - Patrice Caldwell

Final Snakes & Ladders Book

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope - Patrice Caldwell

This was a very good anthology and a great way to end Snakes & Ladders.

Final Snake & Ladders Book Poll

I reached the square 100 on Snake & Ladders and need help to finish the game. If you could vote in the comments for which book you think I should read, I would really appreciate it! I'll have this up until the end of Sunday.

 

I went with all YA books on this one. There's a sci-fi/fantasy anthology, a fantasy heist, and 2 contemporaries that might also be romances (They were marked as romance in some places and weren't in others, so I'm unsure).

 

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope - Patrice Caldwell 

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope - Patrice Caldwell 

 

Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen 

Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen 

 

Loveboat, Taipei - Abigail Hing Wen  

Loveboat, Taipei - Abigail Hing Wen 

 

Spellhacker - M. K. England  

Spellhacker - M. K. England 

Infinity Son

Infinity Son - Adam Silvera

I came out of this book very confused. I read the whole thing today, but I couldn't explain the world of it. It threw out so many terms - Spell Walkers, celestials, specters, various types of magical creatures and items - and I couldn't tell you how they all fit together in the world. There was some huge devastating event called the Blackout that is vaguely referenced multiple times, but I have no idea exactly what it was. I kept expecting things to get fleshed out and explained, but it never happened. Some fantasy books go too far in giving the readers information by subjecting them to info dumps, but this one went the opposite route and threw me into the deep end and then just left me there.

 

It's hard to like a thing when I have no clue what's going on. Not impossible, but hard. You just have to give me other things to love to focus on instead. Infinity Son did not do that. It did give me a character to hate though. The main characters were Emil and Brighton, brothers who could not be more different. Brighton wanted to be famous and have powers so he could join in the fighting that was happening in their city. Emil hated violence and wanted the fighting to stop. Unfortunately for Emil, he suddenly developed a power that forced him into the fight. And Brighton latched right on, seeing this as his chance to get famous. I hated Brighton. He was the kind of person who acted recklessly, endangering others with his actions, threw tantrums when he didn't get his way, didn't learn from his mistakes, and never took responsibility for his actions. He wasn't a fun character to have as a POV and I was frustrated with how many times people gave into his tantrums.

 

Emil was better, but there were just too many characters in the book for most of them to get enough focus to be fleshed out. A lot of them blurred together and I was constantly trying to remember who was who on the team. I liked the concept for Emil that he has phoenix powers and the ideas of different types of phoenixes, but it just didn't get enough focus.

 

It's a shame. I thought for sure I'd like this one.

Reading progress update: I've read 100%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

Glad that's done. Henry did get a last minute personality upgrade, but he was terrible for the majority of the book, so I don't trust it. Irene's sister and Henry's mother were barely present in the second half of the book, which is too bad since I liked them and their interactions with Irene much more than Henry and his interactions with her. But it's a book off my TBR and I get to roll now for snakes and ladders.

Reading progress update: I've read 90%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

Irene's speech to Henry about all the reasons why he sucks was beautiful. I cheered her on the entire way. We can end the book now. No need for the final 10%.

Reading progress update: I've read 50%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

Irene has just told Henry that she keeps almost thinking he's handsome, but then he goes and opens his mouth. I think Henry should take the hint and stop talking for the rest of the book. Fingers crossed.

#FridayReads

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

I'm reading this for Snakes and Ladders. The male lead sure is... something. I hope everyone else is having better luck with their books.

Reading progress update: I've read 30%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

And now Henry's forcing Irene to convince his mother to give up her lover or else he'll destroy Irene's business. Our romantic lead. Be still, my beating heart.

 

Oh, but he's embarrassed that Irene overheard his sisters and sister-in-law trashing her and her sister. Even though almost every time Henry speaks, it's him trashing someone, including Irene. I'm guessing it's because they're women. Men are allowed to trash people, not women. I have no faith in Henry.

Reading progress update: I've read 25%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

Still hate Henry. He keeps going on about the horrible age gap between his mom and her lover. His mom is in her 50s and her lover is 17 years younger than her. Irene pointed out that a member of nobility who was 54 married his 17 year old ward and everyone was fine with that. Henry's just like that's fine because the man's the older one there and didn't have any heirs so needed a much younger wife to get heirs. Gotta love the hypocrisy.

Reading progress update: I've read 15%.

The Truth About Love and Dukes - Laura Lee Guhrke

The male lead, Henry, better get a lot of character development because I hate him right now. He's an elitist, misogynistic jerk. Every word that came out of his mouth during his first conversation with the female lead, Irene, made me want to scream. He'd have to get a complete personality upgrade to have me root for Irene to be subjected to a lifetime of him. Right now I suggest slamming a door in his face whenever he shows up at her place.

March Books

I saw myself with a lot more time than usual in March since most things got cancelled, closed, or delayed. I also began working from home, so I had a lot fewer interruptions when listening to audiobooks while I worked. Add in the fact that I live alone and I've had a lot of time to fill. So my reading went up a bit.

 

I read 44 books in March with an average score of 3.76. 12 were graphic novels and 22 were YA. My most-read genres were contemporary, romance, fantasy, and mystery.

 

My favorite book was actually my very last read of the month - You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington - Alexis Coe. I never thought a biography of George Washington would be a top book of the month, but here we are. My least favorite book was Bone Crier's Moon - Kathryn Purdie. It had a great opening and a lot of potential, but devolved into a disappointing insta-love romance with characters making nonsensical decisions.

 

I made more progress on my 2020 Reading Plans list. I got through 4 books, so now I'm at 15/38.

 

 

5 Stars

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder - Holly Jackson You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington - Alexis Coe  

 

4.5 Stars

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 1 Vol. 1 - Miya Kazuki,You Shiina,quof  We Were There, Vol. 1 - Yuki Obata  All the Things We Do in the Dark - Saundra Mitchell  The Art of Breaking Things - Laura Sibson  Never Contented Things - Sarah Porter  Deathless Divide - Justina Ireland  Seven Days: Monday → Thursday / セブンデイズ - Rihito Takarai,Venio Tachibana  

 

4 Stars

We Unleash the Merciless Storm - Tehlor Kay Mejia  Zatanna and the House of Secrets - Matthew Cody,Yoshi Yoshitani  Five Dark Fates - Kendare Blake  Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know - Malcolm Gladwell  The Hand on the Wall - Maureen Johnson  Catwoman, Vol. 6: Keeper of the Castle - Genevieve Valentine,Garry Brown  Anna K - Jenny Lee  

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic - Michael McCreary  The Unexpected Everything - Morgan Matson  The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures - Noelle Stevenson  Reputation - Sara Shepard  

 

3.5 Stars

Shadow of the Batgirl - Sarah Kuhn,Nicole Goux  To Be Honest - Maggie Ann Martin  Followers - Megan Angelo  All the Stars and Teeth - Adalyn Grace  Lying in Wait - Liz Nugent  A Delicate Deception - Cat Sebastian  Let's Call It a Doomsday - Katie Henry  

The Wife: A Novel of Psychological Suspense - Alafair Burke  Startup - Doree Shafrir  Catwoman, Vol. 7: Inheritance - David Messina,Genevieve Valentine  Anonymous Noise, Vol. 1 - Ryoko Fukuyama  Kissing in America - Margo Rabb  Hello girls - Emily Henry,Brittany Cavallaro  All Eyes on Us - Kit Frick  

Dreadnought - April Daniels  The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky - Mackenzi Lee  RePlay - Saki Tsukahara  

 

3 Stars

Comics Will Break Your Heart - Faith Erin Hicks  Young Justice 1 - Brian Michael Bendis,Patrick Gleason  The Last to Die - Kelly Garrett  Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death - Ethan Van Sciver,Scott Hanna,Art Thibert,Dexter Vines,Jay Leisten,Al Barrionuevo,Cliff Richards,Jonathan Glapion,Sandu Florea,Clay Mann,Ulises Arreola,Janice Chiang,Seth Mann,Robson Rocha,Steven Segovia,Amy Chu,Julio Ferreir  Come Tumbling Down - Seanan McGuire  Dekoboko Sugar Days - Atsuko Yusen  

 

2.5 Stars

Bone Crier's Moon - Kathryn Purdie 

 

 

 

 

Books by author gender:

  • Male: 4
  • Female: 38
  • Unknown: 2
  • Male/Female Mix: 0

 

Books by format:

  • Physical: 16
  • Audio: 28

 

Bone Crier's Moon

Bone Crier's Moon - Kathryn Purdie

Bone Criers ferried the souls of the dead to the afterlife so that they didn't remain and feed upon the living. To assist in the task of ferrying the souls, they drew upon the powers of animals whose bones they wore after slaying them. But to be granted the power to ferry the dead, the Bone Crier had to kill their one true love. Ailesse had trained her whole life to take over the Bone Criers. Now she just had to summon and kill her true love.

 

The start of Bone Crier's Moon was my favorite part. Ailesse and her best friend, Sabine, are on a hunt for a shark so that Ailesse can gain the abilities of the shark. Their fight was fun and the dynamic between Ailesse and Sabine was engaging immediately. And the concept of this group of women gaining the powers of the animals they defeated in battle was a fun one.

 

Unfortunately, there's a third POV outside of Ailesse and Sabine - Bastien. He's not as interesting as them. Bastien's hellbent on revenge because a Bone Crier killed his father as he watched. Completely understandable that he'd be upset about that and would want to wipe out the Bone Criers who go around sacrificing men. His head just wasn't interesting to be in. Especially when he and Ailesse were hit with insta-love. I didn't even understand why they suddenly loved each other. They both went from literally wanting to killing one another to loving each other very quickly. They just did not click for me.

 

I also could not understand the actions of Jules at one point in the book. She just got firsthand proof that Ailesse had been telling the truth about Bone Criers ferrying the souls of the dead and had been told that if this doesn't happen, the souls will remain and feed on the living.

So she proceeded to take the bones Ailesse needed to see the dead and which gave her her powers, leaving Ailesse defenseless when she's surrounded by the dead who are attacking, even though Jules believed that if Ailesse died Bastien, someone Jules supposedly loved, died too, and the tool the Bone Criers needed to ferry the souls to the afterlife and ran away. As expected, Ailesse ended up almost dying and the dead terrorized the town and people started getting sick as the dead fed on them.

(show spoiler)

I did not understand what she expected to happen or what her plan was. It felt like the book just need the problem to not be resolved right then, so Jules had to act stupid so that the plot could be drawn out longer.

 

Everything involving the Bone Criers was far more intriguing than the romance. Unfortunately, the romance took up quite a bit of focus once it got started.

February Books

I read 28 books in February with an average score of 3.8. 4 were graphic novels and 14 were YA. My most-read genres were contemporary, romance, and fantasy.

 

Choosing my favorite book is hard this month because I had a lot of good books. I think I'll go with Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado-Pérez because I was engaged throughout the entire book. My least favorite is much easier - As I Descended - Robin Talley.

 

I made more progress on my 2020 Reading Plans list. I read 8 books off that list last month, so I'm now at 11/38 read.

 

 

5 Stars

Maybe He Just Likes You - Barbara Dee  Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado-Pérez  

 

4.5 Stars

The Huntress - Kate Quinn The Downstairs Girl - Stacey Lee  Tempest - Beverly Jenkins  The Bookish Life of Nina Hill - Abbi Waxman  

 

4 Stars

Redwood and Ponytail - K.A. Holt  Tweet Cute - Alice Emma Sauerwein Lord  Kissing Ezra Holtz (and Other Things I Did for Science) - Brianna Shrum  Yes No Maybe So - Becky Albertalli,Aisha Saeed  King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo  Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America - Coe Booth,Rita Williams-Garcia,Ibi Zoboi,Tracey Baptiste,Varian Johnson,Kekla Magoon,Jason Reynolds,Renée Watson,Lamar Giles,Tochi Onyebuchi,Justina Ireland,Dhonielle Clayton,Brandy Colbert,Nic Stone,Leah Henderson,Liara Tamani,Jay Coles  The Deep & Dark Blue - Niki Smith  

Jane Anonymous - Laurie Faria Stolarz  Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid  The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4  

 

3.5 Stars

Toil & Trouble: 16 Tales of Women & Witchcraft - Tehlor Kay Mejia,Tristina Wright,Emery Lord,Andrea Cremer,Tess Sharpe,Jessica Spotswood,Brandy Colbert,Robin Talley,Anna-Marie McLemore,Zoraida Córdova,Brenna Yovanoff,Nova Ren Suma,Shveta Thakrar,Kate Hart,Lindsay Smith  The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern  The Gravity of Us - Phil Stamper  The Way You Make Me Feel - Maurene Goo  Lucky Caller - Emma Mills  Citrus, vol. 1 - Saburouta  

 

3 Stars

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet. - Katharine McGee,Jennifer L. Armentrout,Dhonielle Clayton,Katie Cotugno,Huntley Fitzpatrick,Jocelyn Davies,Nina LaCour  Green Lantern: Legacy - Andie Tong,Minh Lê  Last Girl Lied to  - Laurie Elizabeth Flynn  SLAY - Brittney Morris  W Juliet, Vol. 1 - Emura  

 

2.5 Stars

As I Descended - Robin Talley 

 

 

 

 

Books by author gender:

  • Male: 3
  • Female: 24
  • Male/Female Mix: 1

 

Books by format:

  • Physical: 8
  • Audio: 20

 

Booklikes Active Poster

Reblogged from Abandoned by Booklikes:

I thought this would be a good way for us to comment and then share the post to see who is still here to make sure we are all following each other. I only bring this up because I see some people posting and I appear to be the only one following their reviews.

 

I have gotten some comments from bots though which is another reason why I wanted us all to take this Friday to comment and share this post so we can all find each other. 

 

Feel free to drop your name in the comments and share! 

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