Author: madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

book blogger, aspiring author, music nerd, comics fan, stargazer. ☆ she/her ☆ ISFJ ☆ bisexual ☆ spd ☆ art: @spacefacedraws
Posted in Book Tags

The Grishaverse Book Tag 🐐

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Before I get going with this tag, I thought you’d all appreciate this…I’m currently in Florida helping my grandma clean out her house, and we’ve found all sorts of weird things lying around. But yesterday I found something great that I figured my fellow bibliophiles would appreciate…

…it appears Kaz Brekker left his cane in Florida. (My friend suggested that it was Inej’s revenge for him calling her an investment SKDJFHSKJDFHSKDJFH)

We’re shipping this back home soon, so I might just have a Halloween costume for this year…😳

Now for the book tag! I found this over at Kira Jeanette’s blog, and the tag was originally created by Rebecca McPeake on YouTube. I’m a huge Grishaverse fan, so I had to give this one a go!

Let’s begin, shall we?

🦌THE GRISHAVERSE BOOK TAG🐉

KAZ BREKKER: A book you shouldn’t judge by its cover

be kind. — FREDDY CARTER IN SHADOW AND BONE EPISODE...
Amazon.com: Zero Repeat Forever (1) (The Nahx Invasions) (9781481481847): Prendergast, G. S.: Books

UHHH THIS PROMPT WAS REALLY HARD –

Anyway, even though the cover for this edition of Zero Repeat Forever doesn’t make a whole lot of sense before reading the book, but I assure you, this one’s a treasure. (Maybe just stick with book 1, though? Book 2 was…weird, to say the least…)

NINA ZENIK: A book that made you feel empowered

Words Are Life — fairytcpia: NINA ZENIK AND MATTHIAS HELVAR...
Amazon.com: Sawkill Girls: 9780062696601: Legrand, Claire: Books

Sawkill Girls was a PHENOMENAL book – not only was the paranormal aspect amazing, but I loved the themes of sisterhood and feminine empowerment throughout. Highly recommended!

INEJ GHAFA: A book with a good balance of character and plot

Just leaving in 2021 | Six of crows, The grisha trilogy, Shadow
Gearbreakers (Gearbreakers, #1) by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Gearbreakers hit the perfect notes for me – I loved the plot, I loved the characters, and those two aspects were balanced so neatly! I am a little partial to all the characters interactions, though, because the chemistry between Eris and the rest of the Gearbreakers was so sweet…🥺

ALINA STARKOV: A unique book, one that is unlike anything you’ve ever read

shadow and bone gif on Tumblr
Amazon.com: Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything (9781534448636): Gilliland, Raquel Vasquez: Books

I’ve seen a lot of genre-bending books out there, but rarely do ones like Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything come along – a seamless mix of sci-fi, contemporary and magical realism that tugged at all my heartstrings!

MAL ORETSEV: A book that always sticks with you

burns, babble & books
Amazon.com: The Darkness Outside Us eBook: Schrefer, Eliot: Kindle Store

Okay, I only finished this one on Tuesday, but MAN. THIS BOOK. The Darkness Outside Us is my most recent 5-star read as of now – it started out like any other sci-fi thriller, but it quickly took a turn for simultaneous darkness, philosophical musings, existential crises, and a little bit of hope. I could not stop thinking about it, and I still can’t. (Expect a review next week!)

THE DARKLING: A book with a dark plot/storyline

general kirigan on Tumblr
ew
I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Book by Iain Reid | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

There’s a lot of dark things about I’m Thinking of Ending Things – this one could’ve fit with the last prompt as well, since it’s stuck with me for quite a while too…(the movie’s amazing as well!)

JESPER FAHEY: A book that people always seem to leave out

Jesper Fahey Is The Best Character In "Shadow And Bone"
HEHE the giddy grin on my face when I found this gif –
Amazon.com: Heart of Iron (9780062652850): Poston, Ashley: Books

Okay, okay, I know I put this book in every single book tag I do, but HEAR ME OUT…

As I’m starting to see Ashley Poston’s books get the recognition they deserve, it feels like Heart of Iron is left out of a lot of the discussion, which is such a shame, seeing as it’s everything you could ever want in both a space opera and a retelling…

WYLAN VAN ECK: A book that wasn’t what it seemed at first

Amazon.com: Invincible Compendium Volume 1 (8601420907461): Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley: Books

I’m just gonna slap this one in here and count the show in too…without spoiling anything, Invincible starts out like most every superhero origin story, but it gets a lot darker VERY quickly, trust me…

MATTHIAS HELVAR: A book that was bad at first but turned out good

SUOMI FINLAND PERKELE — Hello! May I ask for a song prompt for Matthias...
Amazon.com: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea (9781536204315): Tokuda-Hall, Maggie: Books

This one was another hard one, so this is the closest I could find…

I wouldn’t say The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea started out badly, per se – it was just a little slow to start. But once it got going, it turned out to be one of my favorite reads of this year so far!

NIKOLAI LANTSOV: A witty book

Amazon.com: How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse: Book One of the Thorne Chronicles eBook: Eason, K.: Kindle Store

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse had no shortage of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek parody, and I loved every minute of it!

I TAG:

shadowandbonedit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgir

Today’s song:

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (8/3/21) – The Fell of Dark

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

I’m in between library hauls and books I bought for a short trip, so I found this one on my Kindle library. It had been on my TBR for a while, and I immediately checked it out when I saw that it was available! And overall? The Fell of Dark wasn’t perfect, but man, it was so much fun.

Enjoy this week’s review!

Amazon.com: The Fell of Dark (9781250155849): Roehrig, Caleb: Books

The Fell of Dark – Caleb Roehrig

August is fed up with his small town of Fulton Heights for more reasons than one. There’s the usual trapped feeling of it all, the urge to head somewhere else as soon as he graduates high school…but it’s also a hotspot for vampires.

All August wants to do is pass algebra and get into art school in a few years. But when a charming vampire arrives at his school with a cryptic omen, he’s thrown into a centuries-long conflict between vampires, vampire-hunters, and other supernatural forces that may cost him his life. August may now mean the difference between a peaceful world and one ruled by vampires – but will he learn how to stop this cataclysm in time?

spidergirls: what we do in the shadows (2014) dir.... : now i just want llamas
it’s an endless cycle: I find a vampire book, and I pepper the review with What We Do in the Shadows GIFs, and so on

TW/CW: graphic violence, gore, blood, near-death situations, murder

I kind of wish I’d read this closer to Halloween, but I feel like I always say that with any kind of paranormal book that I read in any month other than October. But here we are in August, and I still had so much fun with The Fell of Dark! Not without its flaws, but such a wild ride filled with vampires and the undead.

The Fell of Dark falls on more of the humorous/campy side of paranormal books, and that’s not a complaint from me in the slightest. There’s all sorts of things for fans of the genre to love – you’ve got vampires, witches, angels, dark magic, and so much more. Add in some classic teenage angst and awkward first love, and you’ve got this book. (And plus – anything where a resurrected/vampire Rasputin shows up already has my attention. There’s never a dull moment as soon as he shows up. I blame Hellboy for this principle.) And to make things even better, it’s unapologetically queer! August, our protagonist, is gay, and we have a pansexual love interest and several lesbian side characters! There’s some casual POC rep as well (the two aforementioned lesbian side characters are Latina and Asian, respectively), which I loved as well.

As far as the characters go, they tended to be on the over-exaggerated side, but I still loved a fair amount of them. August himself wasn’t terribly likable – he tended to be a little self-centered and constantly yelling “bUT wHAt aBouT mE?” at everybody else, but part of it’s…understandable, strangely. I should probably cut him some slack, given everything that happens to him throughout the book, but he still wasn’t the most understanding or reflective person. And Jude…Jude was the classic “brooding and seductive bad boy vampire who wears all black and smokes cigarettes constantly” character, BUT IT TOTALLY WORKED. He was probably my favorite – he was just such a fun character, and plus, for once said classic brooding vampire ISN’T STRAIGHT! DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT? A lot of the characters in The Fell of Dark seemed to poke some light fun at some vampire book cliches and characters, which I wholeheartedly enjoyed.

Most of the time, I despise love triangles with every cell of my being, and…I have mixed feelings about the one in this book. I’m glad that August didn’t end up with Jude or Gunnar, but…it’s still weird both ways? It’s awesome that we have a mlm love triangle, but…both love interests are WAY older than him (what with them both being vampires), and August just…goes with it? I get it, they both seem like they would be reasonably cute, but that’s still veeeeeeeeery weird. Weirder still, Jude and Gunnar are each other’s ex-boyfriends, which makes it…all the more complicated, so there’s that. But August doesn’t end up with either of them, which…I can live with that. So that was one of the weirder love triangles I’ve read in a book.

As for the worldbuilding/paranormal aspects, I also have mixed feelings, but I also liked most of it. Everything about Fulton Heights’ culture and procedures surrounding vampires was very well developed, as well as the politics of all the different secret societies (both of vampires and vampire hunters). However, when it came to the final battle, it felt like Roehrig bit off a little more than he could chew. All of the paranormal elements that I mentioned before came to an explosive finale, but at that point, there were a few too many elements to keep up with, and all of them seemed to resolve themselves a little too quickly. I found myself skimming that final battle a bit, but it felt like there were way too many elements all shoved into the last few chapters. It’s like when you get a Build-a-Bear and the person working there fills it with a little too much stuffing, and it looks like it’s going to break a few seams when you get it back, but it’s still nice and soft. (Okay, that was a really drawn-out metaphor, but it made a little bit of sense, right? )

All in all, a vampire novel that delivered loads of supernatural fun, but may have gone a little too far about just how much to riff off and add in. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4!

Pin by Erin Fischer on Vampires | Bat, Gif, Transformations

The Fell of Dark is a standalone, but Caleb Roehrig is also the author of several other novels, including Death Prefers Blondes, White Rabbit, and Last Seen Leaving.

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (8/2/21) – Of Silver and Shadow

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

I’ve seen this one floating around on the blogosphere quite a lot in the past few months, and even though I go in stages of getting jaded with YA fantasy, this one sound like a lot of fun! Plus, I’m told there’s LGBTQ+ rep… 😳😳😳

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (8/2/21) – OF SILVER AND SHADOW by Jennifer Gruenke

Amazon.com: Of Silver and Shadow (9781635830545): Jennifer Gruenke: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.

But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.

So why do I want to read this?

inhuman

First off, I just now noticed that the “And Shadow” part of the title ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A SHADOW ON THE BOOK COVER? Insanely cool, in my humble opinion…

[ahem] anyways, I feel like this one could go either way for me, but I have highish hopes. It looks like the synopsis has everything that I usually love in a fantasy – shady dealings, multiple POVs, and three radically different strangers being roped into a magical conspiracy. I’m sensing some Six of Crows and Smoke Thieves vibes, which were both series that I adored, so this could be good…

And apparently, there’s a sapphic romance that plays a major part in the book? SIGN ME UP!

Animated gif about gif in Fantasy and medieval by Marveline.

Today’s song:

you fool, you thought this was a book blog? Nothing but a front to spam everybody with this summer’s Blur obsession

That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: July 26 – August 1, 2021

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles, and happy first day of August! I hope this week has treated you all well.

I feel like this week has been nice and productive – I read a lot, I finished up Camp NaNoWriMo and passed my word count goal, and I’m almost done with all my summer homework! As far as the reading itself, it’s all been in the 3-4 star range, which I’m not complaining about.

I had a lot of fun blogging this week too – I loved making my Popular YA Books that I Couldn’t Get on Board With post (linked under “Posts and Such”), and I had a lot of fun reviewing and cataloguing some of my books.

Other than that, I did some hiking on Friday, drew, and watched Yellow Submarine! (OKAY BUT THE “LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS” SEQUENCE AAAAH) I’m also going to go see The Green Knight this evening, which I’m pretty excited about!

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds from Yellow Submarine | Aesthetic animation, Beatles painting, Yellow submarine
I could go on and on about this movie

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

In Deeper Waters – F.T. Lukens (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

In Deeper Waters | Book by F.T. Lukens | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

The Boy Who Steals Houses – C.G. Drews (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Boy Who Steals House by C.G. Drews – Great Escape Books

The Magic Fish – Trung Le Nguyen (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen: 9780593125298 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Sorrowland – Rivers Solomon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Sorrowland | Rivers Solomon | First Edition

The Iron Woman (The Iron Man, #2) – Ted Hughes (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes

What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She – Dennis Baron (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She (9781631496042): Baron, Dennis: Books

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Fell of Dark – Caleb Roehrig

Amazon.com: The Fell of Dark eBook: Roehrig, Caleb: Kindle Store

The Tiger at Midnight – Swati Teerdhala

Amazon.com: The Tiger at Midnight (Tiger at Midnight, 1) (9780062869210): Teerdhala, Swati: Books

The Lifeline Signal (Chameleon Moon, #2) – RoAnna Sylver

The Lifeline Signal (Chameleon Moon, #2) by RoAnna Sylver

Queen of Coin and Whispers – Helen Corcoran

Buy Queen of Coin and Whispers: A kingdom of secrets and a game of lies Book Online at Low Prices in India | Queen of Coin and Whispers: A kingdom of secrets

Forgotten Star – Colin Weldon

Amazon.com: Forgotten Star eBook: Weldon, Colin: Kindle Store

Today’s song:

man I haven’t listened to this since…6th grade or something

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Monthly Wrap-Ups

July 2021 Wrap-Up ☀️

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Second month of summer? Hotter than I would’ve liked for it to be, but summer is summer. And this July was a good one, so I’m not complaining. (Except for when it’s 80 degrees in my room, even with the fan on and all the windows open…)

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

It’s been a fairly productive July for me, I’d say! I have nearly all of my summer homework done, and I had a lot of time to blog and do the things I like to do.

I got back into Camp NaNoWriMo this month as well! After a little trouble with fixing up my word count goal, I got back on track and reached my goal a few days ago! As far as that WIP goes, I’m nearing 250 pages, and I’m just past 66,000 words! It’s already a lot shorter than my first draft, which is…most certainly a good thing, because my first draft was nearly 600 pages long, and a good portion of it was filler. Guess I’ve learned from that…

writing a letter to you on We Heart It

This is also the first July that I had any idea that it was disability pride month! I looked around my TBR for some books with disability rep to read (and I’ll continue to look – always on the hunt for good disability rep!), and I’ve found some fantastic books as a result. And as always: AMPLIFY DISABLED VOICES 24/7/365. 💗

Other than that, I’ve just been drawing, watching Loki (AAAAAAAH) and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, going to the movies for the first time in ages, doing a little hiking, and attempting to cool down my room before I go to sleep. Also, after several years and at least 3-4 people begging that I watch it, I finally started watching Gravity Falls! Good stuff so far, I’m only about a quarter of the way through season 1, but I’m liking it, for the most part.

And it’s nearly August now! Leo season…

Leo GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Also, I finally watched Yellow Submarine last night, and I LOVED IT! My eyes kinda hurt, but it was worth it for all the Beatles goodness.

Thebeatles Yellowsubmarine GIF - Thebeatles Beatles Yellowsubmarine - Discover & Share GIFs

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 25 books this month! I think July has been my best reading month of the year, but at the cost of the first two DNFs of the year being among the ranks. At least I got to write a rant review about one of them. That was fun.

I also reached 450 followers recently, so thank you all!! 💗

1 – 1.75 stars:

Amazon.com: Off Balance (Aunare Chronicles Book 2) eBook: Erin, Aileen: Kindle Store
Off Balance (Aunare Chronicles, #2)

Miss Benson’s Beetle – Rachel Joyce (DNF – ⭐️)

Off Balance (Aunare Chronicles, #2) – Aileen Erin (DNF – ⭐️)

2 – 2.75 stars:

Amazon.com: The Gilded Ones (9781984848697): Forna, Namina: Books
The Gilded Ones

A Dark and Hollow Star – Ashley Shuttleworth (⭐️⭐️.5)

Circe – Madeline Miller (⭐️⭐️.5)

The Gilded Ones (Deathless, #1) – Namina Forna (⭐️⭐️.75)

3 – 3.75 stars:

Amazon.com: The Never Tilting World (Never Tilting World, 1) (9780062821799): Chupeco, Rin: Books
The Never Tilting World

Earth Abides – George R. Stewart (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Iron Giant – Ted Hughes (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

It’s My Life – Stacie Ramey (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Iron Woman – Ted Hughes (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Fable (Fable, #1) – Adrienne Young (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Invincible: Compendium One – Robert Kirtman, Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

In Deeper Waters – F.T. Lukens (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Boy Who Steals Houses – C.G. Drews (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World, #1) – Rin Chupeco (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Gearbreakers (Gearbreakers, #1) by Zoe Hana Mikuta
Gearbreakers

Bookish and the Beast (Once Upon a Con, #3) – Ashley Poston (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Forest of Souls – Lori M. Lee (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Native Son – Richard Wright (for my school summer reading) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

When You Were Everything – Ashley Woodfolk (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Magic Fish – Trung Le Nguyen (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Sorrowland – Rivers Solomon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She – Dennis Baron (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Spellhacker – M.K. England (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Gearbreakers (Gearbreakers, #1) – Zoe Hana Mikuta (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Sick Kids in Love – Hannah Moskowitz (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Sick Kids in Love – 4.5 stars

Amazon.com: Sick Kids In Love (9781640637320): Moskowitz, Hannah: Books

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

POSTS I ENJOYED FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I’VE ENJOYED:

This is a fantastic album
pretty solid for a debut EP!
CREEP 2 CREEP 2 CREEP 2
Soccer Mommy turning into a Mii wasn’t on my 2021 bingo card but here we are
✨transcendent✨

DID I FOLLOW THROUGH ON MY JULY GOALS?

exactly how i feel... | Funny gif, Chibird, Cute gif
  • Read at least 20 books: 25!
  • Get into Camp NaNoWriMo for the sci-fi WIP: did it, and I reached my goal!
  • Don’t melt into a puddle from the heat: …uh, debatable…

GOALS FOR AUGUST:

Star Wars Birthday GIFs | Tenor
  • Read at least 20 books
  • Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!
  • Start the school year off on a good note!
  • ENJOY MY BIRTHDAY (I mean, I never don’t enjoy my birthdays, but yeah, my birthday’s in August so)

Today’s song:

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Books

Popular YA Books I Couldn’t Get on Board With

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Wednesday, bibliophiles!

I’ve been wanting to do a post like this for a little while, so here goes nothing…

We all know the feeling. We’ve picked up a book because of the seemingly endless 4 and 5 star reviews and the high praise from friends and fellow readers and book bloggers, and then it turns out to be a steaming disappointment. For me, popular YA books live up to the hype about 50% of the time for me, and the other 50% is either just…not feeling anything from it, or not liking it at all. And there’s plenty of hyped books that I’ve loved! But sometimes, a lot of these books just haven’t worked for me.

And before I start, I just wanted to say this – if you liked any of these books, this post isn’t meant to shame anybody’s reading preferences at all. If you liked them, good for you! These are just my opinions here, and as per the Latin proverb, to each, their own is beautiful. I just wasn’t a fan of these books.

Let’s begin, shall we?

My Disappointment Is Immeasurable And My Day Is Ruined | Know Your Meme

😕POPULAR YA BOOKS I COULDN’T GET ON BOARD WITH😕

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) – Victoria Aveyard

Amazon.com: Red Queen (Red Queen, 1) (9780062310644): Aveyard, Victoria: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️ (DNF)

It’s been about three years since I’ve read this one, but it was a pretty quick DNF for me. Red Queen felt like every bad YA trope melted into a single book – an unoriginal dystopian world with the “plain heroine that doesn’t realize how beautiful she is and is THE CHOSEN ONE” and gets into an insta-love romance…gah, I forget how long it took before I put it down, but this was just painful.

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) – Holly Black

Amazon.com: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, 1) (9780316310314): Black, Holly: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️

Holly Black is a hit-or-miss author for me, but The Cruel Prince definitely fell among the misses for me. The worldbuilding was great here (and I loved the little ink drawings at the beginnings of the chapters!), but all of the characters were astronomically unlikable. Everybody just seemed intent on bullying and backstabbing everybody else, and there wasn’t any balance with a character with a slightly better moral compass. And don’t get me started on Jude and Cardan being a thing…WHY? If I remember correctly, Cardan spends about 3/4 of the book relentlessly degrading Jude, and then gets down on his knees and tells her that he loves her…HUH?

IOS 14.5 – And ATT Enforcement – Is Finally Coming Next Week | AdExchanger

HOW MUCH MORE TOXIC CAN YOU GET? And somehow, Cardan’s up there with Kaz Brekker and that dude from ACOTAR (I don’t remember his name, I haven’t read the books and don’t intend to) with the brooding YA dudes that everybody fawns over? Makes me lose a little faith in humanity sometimes…

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) – Sarah J. Maas

Amazon.com: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, 1) (9781599906959): Maas, Sarah J.: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️

Here’s one that everybody recommended to me…should of listened to that guy in my class in middle school who did a book report on this one and didn’t like it

Okay. Maybe this one’s a little skewed. I read most of Throne of Glass when I was home sick with a stomachache, but even then, I think I wouldn’t have been a fan. The ✨fantasy names✨ were a pain to pronounce, Calaena came off as a very static character with very little development, if any, and everything seemed to worked out a little *too* well for her in the end. The worldbuilding was interesting, though. I guess. Probably not gonna pick this one up, but I don’t think I’ll go for ACOTAR or Crescent City either. Meh.

Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik

Amazon.com: Spinning Silver: A Novel (9780399180989): Novik, Naomi: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️

My main problem was the same one I had with The Cruel Prince – the toxicity of the main relationship. Mirnatius spends about 3/4 of the book being borderline abusive towards Miryem, and then, ✨poof!✨ Happy relationship!

Schitts Creek Excuse Me GIF - SchittsCreek ExcuseMe WeekendVibe - Discover & Share GIFs | Funny relatable memes, Schitts creek, Relatable

Yeah, no, that’s just weird. Also, wasn’t there a significant age gap between the two of them? Final nail in the coffin, really…

All the Stars and Teeth – Adalyn Grace

Buy All the Stars and Teeth: 1 (All the Stars and Teeth Duology, 1) Book Online at Low Prices in India | All the Stars and Teeth: 1 (All the Stars and

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️

This one lured me in with a gorgeous cover and the promise of mermaids, and…well, we got a mermaid, but the rest of the book didn’t make up for it.

All the Stars and Teeth felt very formulaic for me, right down to the conveniently-placed puppet show to explain the worldbuilding. We’ve got a protagonist with dangerous magic, the mysterious love interest…it just felt like every other YA fantasy in the last few years. Not much to distinguish it from the others, if anything at all.

Cinderella is Dead – Kalynn Barron

Amazon.com: Cinderella Is Dead (9781547603879): Bayron, Kalynn: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️.5

Out of all of the books here, Cinderella is Dead is probably the one that I had the highest expectations for. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a book with a sapphic, POC lead taking down the patriarchy in a world sculpted from the myth of Cinderella?

…several things, as it turned out.

I found the worldbuilding to be full of holes, none of the characters were very distinct, the villain was an irredeemable caricature, and all of the attempts commentary on abuse and misogyny and such relied way too much on telling, as opposed to showing. For me Cinderella is Dead was just a case of a great idea, but poor execution. Shame…

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A Curse so Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers, #1) – Brigid Kemmerer

Amazon.com: A Curse So Dark and Lonely (The Cursebreaker Series) (9781681195087): Kemmerer, Brigid: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️ (DNF)

This one was another DNF for me about two years ago. I still really appreciate that Kemmerer chose to have a disabled character at the forefront of a YA fantasy (Harper has cerebral palsy – not sure how accurate the rep is, though), but otherwise…meh. On top of the obvious attempt to make this Beauty and the Beast retelling as Dark And Gritty™️ as possible, the love triangle (and both love interests, if memory serves) put me off in the end.

Storm and Fury (The Harbinger, #1) – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Storm and Fury (The Harbinger Series Book 1)- Buy Online in Antigua and Barbuda at antigua.desertcart.com. ProductId : 134271270.

MY RATING: ⭐️ (DNF)

Ugh, this one was a mess…

This was my first exposure to Jennifer L. Armentrout, and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything of hers after this. Again, this falls into almost every YA trope that I hate – the Chosen One who is so very clearly Not Like Other Girls, the Sarcastic Bad Boy Love Interest (Zayne still makes me squirm)…I forget where I DNF’d this one, but I just could not take another page. Yikes.

Instant Karma – Marissa Meyer

Amazon.com: Instant Karma (9781250618818): Meyer, Marissa: Books

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️

Instant Karma was a sore disappointment…I’ve loved almost everything else of Marissa Meyer’s, but I just didn’t click with this one. I loved the premise of a magical-realism rom-com and all of the Beatles references were great, but Pru really got on my nerves, and the romance never made me feel anything.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What were your thoughts on these books? What’s a popular YA book that you didn’t like?

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Today’s song:

That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (7/27/21) – It’s My Life

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

I figured that I should scour my TBR for books for disability pride month (and to read beyond that, of course), and I found this one that I had shelved back in 2019. The cover immediately caught my eye (AAH THE COLOR SCHEME), but I still have mixed feelings about the book itself – not ragingly bad, or anything, but not amazing either.

Enjoy this week’s review!

IT'S MY LIFE | Kirkus Reviews

It’s My Life – Stacie Ramey

Jenna has lived her whole life believing that she was born with cerebral palsy, and she’s never let it stop her from doing what she wants to do. But after discovering that her parents hid the fact that her CP was caused by an injury at birth, she’s infuriated with them – and the fact that she hasn’t been able to make her own decisions regarding the surgeries she gets. With the help of her lawyer uncle, she decides to push for medical emancipation.

All the while, Jenna’s childhood crush, Julian, has moved back into town. She reconnects with him over text with an anonymous persona, but will she have the courage to reveal her true self to him?

Buzz lightyear meme hmmmm - Caption | Meme Generator
eh what the heck, I’m putting this here bc a) adequately describes said mixed feelings and b) I can’t think of any gifs to put in

TW/CW: internalized ableism, mild violence (punching), hospitalizations, ableist slurs (challenged), descriptions of injury

WARNING: this review may contain some minor spoilers, so tread lightly!

This is…complicated. I picked this book up for disability pride month, and while I can’t speak to the representation itself (as I don’t have cerebral palsy), there were good and bad parts of this book, in terms of how disability was represented and the plot itself.

Let’s start off with the good stuff. Jenna as a character was definitely a great protagonist – she’s not perfect, but she’s incredibly determined and a very independent thinker. She’s a little messy at worst, but I really didn’t mind. She had a great personality, for the most part, and her struggle with getting medical emancipation was incredibly eye-opening.

Again, I can’t speak to how accurate the CP rep was, but for the most part, it seemed well researched. The author mentions in a note at the back of the book that she worked with kids with CP, which seems to have informed part of Jenna’s story. A good portion of it seemed to work – there was clearly a lot of research put into the different kinds of mobility aids that Jenna uses and the kinds of surgeries she went through. It also deftly defied the dreaded “cure narrative” – Jenna’s attitude towards her disability was more one of reaching for freedom than seeking to “overcome” it in anyway. It’s not often that we get this kind of story from abled authors, so I appreciated that.

However, I’m still a little miffed by how they represented Jenna’s disabled identity. At a point in the book, she reaches out to someone who went through a surgery that her parents want her to have (part of why she seeks to be medically emancipated). This person responds to Jenna later in the book via email, and explains that she leads a “differently-abled” club at her school; she explains how she prefers that term, even though most of the disabled community doesn’t. (For those of you who don’t know: it’s generally accepted that the majority of the disabled community prefers not to use the term “differently abled,” as the terminology is seen as sugarcoating or patronizing them and their experiences. Some disabled people may use the term, but when referring to the community, it’s good to just stick with “disabled.”)

Now, if this had come from a disabled author, I might have passed it by; as I said, not everybody in the disabled community dislikes the term “differently abled,” but disabled is usually the more accepted term. But since this is coming from an abled author, I’m really not sure how to feel about it; it’s generally abled people that have used started using the term (which is where the discourse comes from), so putting that on disabled people in a book – especially someone who Jenna looks to for advice – doesn’t sit right with me. Additionally, Jenna never explicitly says that she’s disabled; maybe I’m reading into it too much, but it just seems a little strange, coming from an abled writer writing a disabled character. (And on the subject of the club…did everybody in said club actually agree to call it the “differently abled club?” I find that hard to believe…)

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this gif comes to mind…

Other than that, there were a lot of hospitalization scenes that felt a little too much like plot devices, and the scene with the rival hockey team (this is where the ableist slurs TW comes in) didn’t need to happen; all it did was give a bit of “I love my girlfriend!” points for Julian (he punches the guy who yells ableist slurs at Jenna), which created some conflict that I felt was completely unnecessary. It’s My Life certainly had a rom-com feel to some of it, so why not just keep it that way? CAN I GET SOME MORE DISABLED BOOKS THAT DON’T CENTER AROUND THE PROTAGONIST GETTING SLURS YELLED AT THEM, PLEASE?

My only other complaints were that some of the high school scenes weren’t super authentic, and I didn’t care a whole lot about the romance, but that’s the most minor of my issues. But overall, mixed feelings on this one – the themes of medical emancipation and Jenna’s character were great, but the disability representation, while I can’t speak to the CP accuracy, had some good intentions and research, but uncomfortable messages surrounding the identity itself. 3 stars.

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It’s My Life is a standalone, but Stacie Ramey is also the author of The Sister Pact, The Homecoming, The Secrets We Bury, and Switching Fates.

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (7/26/21) – Persephone Station

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

I’m always on the hunt for a good space opera book, and so this one immediately caught my eye. It’s drawn a couple comparisons to The Mandalorian (which wasn’t perfect, but I liked it a lot), which should be promising…

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (7/26/21) – PERSEPHONE STATION by Stina Leicht

Amazon.com: Persephone Station (9781534414587): Leicht, Stina: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.

Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner—caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drink at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who seek to employ them.

Angel—ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing—is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will affect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t try.

So why do I want to read this?

You now have the Star Wars Cantina song in your head. - GIF on Imgur
please tell me somebody else can HEAR this image

This one has lowish ratings on Goodreads as of now (about 3.49 at present), but from the reviews, there really isn’t anything that’s making me want to kick it off my TBR. Maybe it’s that gorgeous cover, maybe it’s because it’s space opera, but either way, I can’t wait to read Persephone Station!

The synopsis is absolutely giving me Mandalorian vibes; I love the potential setting of Persephone Station itself, and I’m getting the feeling that I’ll see a strange cast of characters. (Fingers crossed!) Plus, it apparently has lesbian, bisexual, and nonbinary rep throughout, which makes me even MORE excited! (There’s only one thing better than space opera…and that’s QUEER SPACE OPERA.) Plus, the cover is so pretty! Whoever did the illustrations for it did such a great job.

In short: you sold me at queer space opera and Mandalorian vibes.

Anime Gifs

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: July 19-25, 2021

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

This week…could’ve been better for me, if I’m being honest, but it picked up in the end. It was mostly just Tuesday that bogged me down. Remember that writing contest I entered back in April? I ended up checking back on it (they didn’t send an email for some reason??) and the short story I wrote didn’t end up placing. I specifically remember saying that I was expecting not to win, and yeah, I tried not to get my hopes up, but…yeah, well, I’m not very good at handling these things.

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Eh, well, all I can do is tweak that short story, keep on writing, and try again. I’m at least proud of myself for putting myself out there…

Reading-wise, I’ve mostly been reading some books that family friends lent to us (thank you!) and some stuff from the comic shop. I got a nice library haul yesterday, so it looks like next week will be promising!

Writing-wise, I’ve mostly stayed on track with Camp NaNoWriMo (I’m almost to my goal now!!), even though being depressed all Tuesday sapped my energy. I’m getting to a good place in my WIP though – I just passed about 220ish pages last night!

Other than that, I’ve been drawing a bit, getting the last of my summer homework done, learning some new songs on guitar, obsessing over my new bees in Minecraft, watching The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro likes his Tennyson, huh?), picking back up in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and volunteering at the library.

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Two Gob gifs in a row…oops

And I just got to 450 followers! Jeez, I can’t believe it…THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH 💗

feelings, love and cat - image #6773437 on Favim.com

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World, #1) – Rin Chupeco (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75, rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: The Never Tilting World (Never Tilting World, 1) (9780062821799): Chupeco, Rin: Books

Earth Abides – George R. Stewart (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Earth Abides: A Novel: Stewart, George R.: 9780345487131: Amazon.com: Books

Invincible: Compendium One – Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Invincible Compendium Volume 1 – Get Ready Comics

Circe – Madeline Miller (⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: CIRCE eBook: Miller, Madeline: Kindle Store

The Iron Giant (originally The Iron Man) – Ted Hughes (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Iron Giant - Kindle edition by Hughes, Ted, Davidson, Andrew. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

It’s My Life – Stacie Ramey (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: It's My Life (9781492694526): Ramey, Stacie: Books

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

In Deeper Waters – F.T. Lukens

Amazon.com: In Deeper Waters (9781534480506): Lukens, F.T.: Books

The Boy Who Steals Houses – C.G. Drews

Amazon.com: The Boy Who Steals Houses (9781408349922): Drews, C.G.: Books

Sorrowland – Rivers Solomon

Sorrowland | Rivers Solomon | First Edition

The Magic Fish – Trung Le Nguyen

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen: 9780593125298 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

The Iron Woman (The Iron Man, #2) – Ted Hughes

The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Tags

The Feelings Book Tag 🤗

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Friday, bibliophiles!

I thought it’d be another good day to do a tag, and I found this one recently over at Rania’s Rambling Reads. (Go give her blog a read, she’s great!) The tag was originally created by Krisha’s Cosy Corner.

Rules

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and give a link to the blog. (I wasn’t tagged, but thanks, Rania!)
  • Answer the 5 feelings given to you.
  • Write the reason in 5 to 6 lines of why does that particular book come under that feeling. (dunno if I’ll manage all that but we’ll see)
  • Nominate between 5-12 other bloggers.
  • Give your nominees 5 feelings too.
  • Notify your nominees once you’ve uploaded your post.

Let’s begin, shall we?

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😅THE FEELINGS BOOK TAG😑

A BOOK THAT YOU HAD TO STOP READING BECAUSE YOU GOT SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel (The Carls): Green, Hank: 9781524743444: Amazon.com: Books

Unpopular opinion time…

I read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing during the first couple of weeks of the pandemic, and I had to DNF at about the 30% mark because it was just PAINFUL. The writing was just fine, but all of the characters felt like walking stereotypes. What ultimately made me put it down altogether was how blatantly offensive the bisexual rep felt for me…there was this one monologue by April where it looked like Hank Green was just trying to say “hey! Look at me! I did my research!” but NO. HANK. YOU GOTTA STOP. YOU JUST PERPETUATED ALMOST EVERY BISEXUAL STEREOTYPE KNOWN TO MAN.

So there’s my rant. Hank Green, you may have helped me pass AP Bio, but I will never forgive you for that.

[ahem] excuse me while I step off my soapbox, moving on…

A BOOK THAT GAVE YOU BUTTERFLIES

Amazon.com: When the Moon Was Ours: A Novel (9781250058669): McLemore, Anna-Marie: Books

I suppose there’s multiple ways to interpret this prompt, but When the Moon was Ours just made me so fluttery inside. Anna-Marie McLemore is the true master of magical realism, and their writing never fails to make me feel like there’s hope and magic left in this world.

A BOOK WITH A SHIP THAT YOU WILL SUPPORT UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE

Amazon.com: Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle) (9781524720926): Kaufman, Amie, Kristoff, Jay: Books

Aurora Burning, because I will absolutely ship KalAuri until the day I die. MY LOVES

A BOOK YOU KNEW YOU WOULD LOVE AFTER READING THE FIRST CHAPTER

Amazon.com: How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse: Book One of the Thorne Chronicles eBook: Eason, K.: Kindle Store

Right away, How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse struck me with how witty and tongue-in-cheek the writing was. I love reading a book that pokes fun of tropes every once in a while, and this one 100% delivered!

A BOOK YOU KNEW YOU WOULD HATE BUT READ IT ANYWAYS

Amazon.com: The Lie Tree (9781419718953): Hardinge, Frances: Books

I wanted to give The Lie Tree a chance because the premise looked interesting, but I read The Lost Conspiracy a few years prior and hated it, so…yeah, it didn’t work out for me. I didn’t hate it as much as The Lost Conspiracy, but it still wasn’t my cup of tea.

MY PROMPTS:

  • A book with a character that made you angry
  • A book with the perfect setting for you to daydream about
  • A book that made you feel better after a long slump
  • A book that you couldn’t stop thinking about for weeks after reading it
  • A book that made you want to punch a wall

I TAG:

ScratchCatGamer_Meow on Scratch

Today’s song:

wanted to mix things up today so I learned this on guitar…I started messing around with it and I realized it was in the same key as “Poor Places” so I guess I’ll be learning that tomorrow –

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!