Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
Special thanks to Oni Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sheets (Sheets #1)
Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date: 28 August 2018
Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel
Panda Rating:
(4 pandas)
Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.
Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.
When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.
Death of parent, Child death, Bullying, Grief, Depression
If you’re like me and you pick this up solely because of the cover, and you don’t look at the synopsis, you might go into this thinking it’ll be a cute story about… Sheets? Turns out, while there are many sheets involved, it’s not at all the light-hearted cutesy story that I thought it would be. This deals with heavy themes of death, grief, belonging, and loneliness.
Read More » Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:
First lines:
“The outward door’s locks tumbled for the first time in a year. I stood from my perch on the tower’s window seat and schooled my features into an expression of contentment, even as my heart thudded against my ribs. There could only be one reason the guards were unlocking that door instead of the inner one the maidservants used. The emperor had called for me.
It’s about bloody time.”
Pride and Protest
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: 15 November 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Retelling
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
Liza B–The Only DJ That Gives a Jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at their corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.
At first, Dorsey writes Liza Bennett off as an over-caffeinated woke weekend warrior. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he’s always felt a bit out of place, and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza’s protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionist is the most real woman he’s ever met.
Family death (recounted), racism, microaggressions, classism, incarceration (briefly recounted), explicit sexual content
TL;DR: I’ve been looking forward to reading this ever since I first heard about it and I’m glad that I finally read it. While there were elements I wanted more of I found myself enjoying this a lot! I especially loved the chemistry between Dorsey and Liza and I ate their romance up. The angst, tension, the way the atmosphere in the room changed when they came into contact, their peak horniness—honestly, it was a fun sexual vibe! 🥵 The Bennett family was a mess in their usual way but I appreciated the inclusion of modern issues such as gentrification and the way the story was conveyed through alternating POVs and mixed media. Overall, this was a witty, funny, and entertaining P&P retelling and I can’t wait to read more by this author!
Read More » Friends, it’s the last Wednesday of 2023! Can you believe?!
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!
I’ll be spending my Sunday night in bed reading Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. I’ve been in a non-fantasy mood but I need to read it because I have the ARC of the second book to read by the first week of January! 😂 It took a couple of chapters for me to get into the story cos of my mood but I’m eager to get back to it now!
The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1)
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: 3 September 2020
Genre: Murder Mystery
Panda Rating:
(4 pandas)
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
Murder, multiple suicides (recounted), drug dealing (recounted, not in detail), dementia
TL;DR: Well, for a murder mystery, this was delightfully charming and cosy! I didn’t think it’d be so much fun following around four septuagenarians in a classy retirement village who are more than a little obsessed with murders but here we are. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron were wonderful characters and I loved learning more about each of them as the story progressed. There’s a host of side characters who were just as realistic and relatable, especially Chris and Donna, and colour me surprised by the reveals at the end cos I didn’t guess any of it right! 😂 Osman wove the many mysteries and storylines together so well and I can’t wait to continue with this series in the future.
Read More » Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:
First lines:
“A read light blipped on the top left of the control board. Liza B. had a caller. “Hello and good evening. You are live with Liza B., the only DJ who gives a jam. Tell me what’s on your mind…””
I forgot that this tag existed but I’m glad I was reminded of it because otherwise, I would’ve missed out on doing an annual favourite. It’s time for the Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag, friends! Have I been Naughty or Nice this year? I’m tempted to say naughty but I think I’ve actually been pretty good in 2023, lol. Let’s see if I’m right! 😂
This tag was originally created by Jenniely.
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