A great little book about true cute/normal stuff that happens in relationships. Many of the comics had me laughing out loud at how much I saw me and my husband or me and my kid in them.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher via Net Galley.

Not a boring coming of age story. Bug has grown up with mom and uncle in a house that has ghosts. Bug's uncle dies at a young age. Soon after, Bug is being haunted by a ghost. Bug's best friend Moira does not like ghosts, and Bug also does not want to worry Mom, so Bug tries to figure out who the ghost is, and what the ghost wants. This all happens the summer before middle school. While navigating the haunting and greif, Bug is also faced with the changing landscape of their friendship with Moira. Moira, increasingly more interested in dresses, boys, hair and makeup, wants to help Bug with this changing their image before school starts. However, these changes leave Bug with dread and a knotted stomach. Not a spoiler-- Bug figures out they are actually a transgender

I love the mixture of all of these elements. Kyle Lukoff did a great job of melding them all together without making the story feel messy, disjointed or overwhelming.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

I have never read a book written in verse before. I'm not sure i'm a huge fan of this style, but it lends it self well to the story. My hesitation on this writing style is that I feel like I could fly through it fast, and I needed to remind myself to slow down. Many of the passages are conversations, many are thoughts. and some are a growing song. I found some of the conversations the hardest to follow. Often parentheses were used to attach to names, but often I found it distracting. I couldn't follow. I don;t know if that is my inexperience with the style, or how the author wrote it. That said-- I really really like this.

This story is haunting and sad, yet it is not depressing. While both Moth and Sani have lived through horrible situations, and both are hurting and greiving in their own ways, they come together and they are good for each other. As they journey from Virginia to New Mexico, you can see how they are helping support and love each other, encouraging each to heal and giving the other the space to be themselves while providing them a person to trust in.

I was not prepared for the ending of this story. I broke. It was completely unexpected, at least to me. But that's all I'll say because I don't want to spoil it.

Phenomenal. I was truly entertained by this. I did this one on audiobook, and I know that it would not have been as good in the print versions. It is a great combination of Elton's storytelling and Taron Egerton's narration, he added so much life to the reading.

The first half of the book is as fantastical trip as you can imagine the drug induced music world of the 70's (and 80's) to be. How he didn't die is beyond me, and him, as he states in the book. He unapologetically and unabashedly tells you how f'd up he was and the shit he did. Including his drug use, his temper, and how he used people. I realize that I didn't know as much of his music as I thought I did, and based on his telling, he was not as popular as his personna leads you to believe. The tone does change in the section of the book after he goes to rehab. Part of this is due to him being sober, so the crazy shit tapers off. But it still had the temper and his anxiety, and whether he admits it or not, the continued use of people in his life for his own needs.

I can say this book did not make me like him more, or have sympathy for him. A bit of the opposite, I feel like he has been put on this pedestal, but he it's not all deserved. Yes he has done good work, but some of it seems purely transactional. Some anectodes made me cringe with a feeling of he will give up his values/morals for some money, but then tell you that he turned around and gave it all to charity. Like playing for Rush Limbaugh's wedding!

Elton: 2.5 stars
The story and narration: 5 stars

I think this is the best one yet. I have really loved Kay O'Neill's work since I first saw it. The cute dragons paired with the soft Blended colors. But the storyline in this third installation of the Tea Dragon series is what seals it for me.
The story covers grief in several different aspects but also the joy that can come after finding your new way.

Yes, we find out who Lady Whistledown is ans we have the union of Penelope and Colin, but this story was a little boring. Not enough conflict. About halfway through I thought we were done with the book. Then I remembered this was a romance novel and we hadn't seen anything steamy yet.
I do love Penelope though.

I did not feel a strong tie to the main characters, and therefore was not invested in the story. Maybe because this was on audio??? I like Julie Whelan as a narrator, but they way she portrayed Alex's voice didn't do it for me, so that might have played a bit into it. This might have gotten a better rating had I read it. I also thought it would be more about encounters with other people Poppy meet on vacation.

All that being said.. there are good themes in here: being scared of the future, because of your past, being afraid of ruining what is, for what could be.

The combination of the stories and the the illustrations put this over the top.
The type of scary stories that middle grades will love. These would have scared me to death as a kid. Heck they creep me out now--what was that noise I just heard??