amandasbrews's Reviews (454)

Read my full review HERE :)

Here is a summary:

No Gods, No Monsters is an incredibly inclusive story about othering, oppression, police violence, connection and how we stay safe and fight back. Though it is heavy at times, and there are many characters to follow, it is absolutely a wonderful work of art.

*I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily*

The Guncle is a fun, warm, delightful read. It will make you laugh, and it will fill your heart. It is definitely a wonderfully light book with lots of soul, acceptance and growth. It is a sweet and human story of one family’s love and overcoming of obstacles.

Read full review here: https://bookishbrews.com/2021/02/09/the-guncle-by-steven-rowley/

*I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily*

This book really messed with my emotions I didn't see anything coming

5 beautifully Thai, bachelorette style, dragon riding stars!

Read my full review HERE. :)



Here is a preview:

Spark to Shadow was everything I wanted in a book. It is everything I want in all of my YA and New Adult fantasy books. I am incredibly impressed! I went into this book thinking, “thank goodness I can read an Asian inspired ownvoices ARC” and as I read, there was just more and more that I enjoyed about this book. This book is definitely not short of any fun with a Bachelorette style competition, magic, badass friends, dragons, and a classic love triangle. Not to mention bonus excitement that added so much joy for me as a reader, such as a Thai main character (when do you ever see that?!), sex worker positive society and a matriarchy with fair gender rolls (in Miang).

Spark to Shadow follows a young woman named Fang. She is about to step up to be the head of her clan, but first, she must choose a consort and fulfill a peace contract to bind her country, Miang, with the nearby nation of Anda. Of course, when traveling to another country with different customs, there is bound to be things you don’t expect. Like stumbling upon a male witch who is inexplicably tied to you with a red string. Continue reading...

*I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily*

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Ugh this was so cute and stressful. rtc - hopefully

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I just won a copy of book 2 from the author, SO review will have to wait - but this was definitely fun!

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Read full review HERE. :)

Ash was a fun retelling that added some elements to the classic story of Cinderella that I just adored. However there were definitely moments in the book that I was either bored or confused, and just overall not sold on this particular retelling.

Holy-
You need to read this book
It's the anti-capitalist story that Ready Player One wishes it was.
Read my full review HERE. ❤ Check below for a preview!



Action packed, anti-capitalist, compelling, well written, easy to follow, emotional, and tense.

Oh man, where do I begin? I really loved this book. When I opened it, I thought “man this is kind of long, I didn’t realize!” And then literally this book doesn’t slow down at any point. It is packed with amazing content. This is going to be a hard review, because it’s packed with so many different amazing things that I don’t know how well I can narrow it down! This book is easy to follow and fast paced, but delightfully anti-capitalist in a way that Ready Player One wishes it was. But not in any of the ways you anticipate it to be.

Firebreak follows Mal, who lives with her 7 roommates in an old hotel room, living by the rules of the mega corporation, Stellaxis, amidst a corporate war stalemate. Mal and her best friend Jessa are mildly successful at streaming the wildly popular war VR game modeled after the real corporate war — the war that the corporations have monetized. Everything changes for Mal and Jessa when they get contacted by a mysterious sponsor who tells them that the super human celebrities, that everyone knows Stellaxis grew in a lab, are not lab experiments at all. They’re real war orphans, just like Mal and Jessa. Keep reading...

*I received a free copy of this book from the author and am leaving this review voluntarily*

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This book was so cute it gave me butterflies, and the Viet rep made me feel so seen. Thank you Loan Le!
Check out the review here so you can see my aesthetic board for this book. ✨

Sweet, star-crossed, delicious, & squee worthy!

What an incredible book! A Pho Love Story was way better than I thought it was going to be (not that I thought it would be bad!). It was just so good. Right from the beginning I was drawn in, and the entire time I was just yelling back and forth with Sarah about how cute it was! A Vietnamese young adult romance?! Count me IN.

A Pho Love Story follows

Spoiler

Linh and Bảo, two second generation Vietnamese American teens, whose parents own competing pho restaurants. Though they both attend the same school, they have hardly ever spoken, because of the depth of the feud between their parents. Until one day, Linh is overwhelmed at the restaurant and Bảo secretly helps out, starting a Romeo and Juliet inspired romance story.

A Pho Love Story was the first time that I have ever read this much Vietnamese representation in a book! Not only written by a Vietnamese author, but also has a full Vietnamese cast. The whole thing was unapologetically Vietnamese. To say that meant a lot to me is an understatement. This book was written for me. The food, the language, the customs, it was all there. Loan Le had this amazing way of writing words in Vietnamese, and helping us understand what they were saying without having to directly translate the entire thing. It allowed the text to flow so much better, while retaining the language. It was absolutely stunning.

to be continued... Read the rest on the blog!

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