brittmariasbooks's Reviews (1.45k)

 Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for providing me with the eARC!

It took me a while to get into but I really enjoyed Book Lovers. It's a really nice romance. I'd definitely recommend it for a nice summerly read. 

 Pho reminds me of my first year of uni when my friends and me frequently a Vietnamese restaurant in Amsterdam. So when I came across A Pho Love Story I really wanted to read it.

A Pho Love Story is Romeo and Juliet meets Tweet Cute. Linh Mai and Bao Nguyen are both children of Vietnamese immigrants in California. Their families own competing restaurants across the street. The story includes Vietnamese culture, family history and life as restaurant kids.

I loved Bao and Linh. As I read, I felt like they were well-developed characters with their own ambitions. I liked to see them working together. And I liked their parents' story. 

 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Spotlight Audio, Live Oak Media for providing me with the audiobook of Ohana Means Family, a picture book by Ilima Loomis and illustrated by Kenard Pak.

The book taught me about taro, a staple of the Hawaiian diet and how it is farmed and prepared. I think the audiobook will be most enjoyed while reading along with the picture book so the reader can also enjoy the illustrations as well as the music the audiobook includes. All three narrators are Hawaiian, including the author.

If you want to learn more about Hawai'i and its culture, I recommend picking up Ohana Means Family. 

Dante Basco reflects on his career in From Rufio to Zuko. In this short autobiography, he reflects on his childhood, his break-out role of Rufio as well as on Prince Zuko. And also some poems, because Basco is also a poet.

I am most familiar with Basco as the voice of Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender (hence why I had to have the Fire Nation edition), but I learnt a lot about him in this book. About his struggles as an Asian actor and how he happened to get these roles that pass the test of time. If anything, this book made me excited to watch Dante Basco's other works I'm not familiar with.

I would recommend From Rufio to Zuko to anyone who loves Basco's work and/or wants to learn more about Hollywood from an Asian, and more specifically a Filipino-American, perspective. 

Yolk is a beautiful story about two sisters finding each other again in hard times. It is a bit of slice of life novel where you follow the sisters going about their days. The pacing is slow but since I read the book while listening to the audiobook I read quite quickly through it.

I loved seeing June and Jayne growing closer. I kinda wish we got to know the outcome of June's surgery but this way we get to make up our own ending.

 Moordgids voor lieve meisjes is een goede YA-thriller. Het zit goed in elkaar. De personages vond ik geloofwaardig en ik leefde erg met Pippa mee.

Hebban en uitgeverij Volt, bedankt dat jullie Moordgids voor lieve meisjes in de Hebban Adventkalender van 2021 hadden. Ik ga zeker deel twee en drie oppakken!

 Thank you to NetGalley and Rebel Girls for providing me with an ARC of Rebel Girls: Powerful Pairs

I enjoy the Rebel Girls stories. Powerful Pairs felt fitting to read with Mother's Day coming up this Sunday. I enjoyed the artwork and learning about these mothers and daughters. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC of Little Polar Bear and the Brave Little Hare.

It is a cute story about polar bear Lars and hare Hugo who help each other when they got in trouble. The ARC drew my attention because of the Dutch author. I was not familiar with him but being Dutch myself it is always nice to see a Dutch story being translated into another language.

I'd recommend this picture book if you are looking for a book about friendship and altruism. 

 

 I think I'm outgrowing these books. That's okay. I enjoyed Game Changer enough. I found it interesting that it was set during 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. I think it's the first book I've read that takes place in this period and I thought that was interesting.

 

So good!