Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid is inspirational and makes business concepts/terms super simple to understand. I learned a lot about the beverage bottling process. Can you say copacker?

From reading this, it's obvious Mikaila's parent set her up for success early on from healthy eating habits and business-savvy. This book may very well spark the entrepreneurial spirit in you, or, at least, tell you the backstory behind a sweet lemonade.

I didn’t enjoy this and almost dnf’ed it, but it’s not necessarily because the main character was disturbing or how matter-of-factly the tone was when talking about graphic violence or other pure weirdness (girls being tied by their wrists and characters bleeding out are mentioned often).

The main character Sequoyah was obsessed with death (especially with other people dying) and Rosemary, an older girl at the foster home. I think this was the first time I’ve seen a male character obsess over a woman in a non-sexual way (well, to an extent, he fantasizes about sexually-assaulting his foster sister though it doesn't arouse him; yes, this story is a lot.). At times, he mentioned that he wanted to be her. I couldn’t tell if Rosemary was going to be the manic-pixie-girl or something entirely different, but honestly, I never cared for her or any of the characters. I liked George most of everyone.

I’ve read narratives similar to Sequoyah before and enjoyed them, so I just didn’t mesh well with this story. The recurring theme of death slightly interested me, and I wanted to see where it led but I felt like I was forcing myself to finish this. I’m sure if I were assigned this book in English class, we would dissect it, mention the symbolism and analyze the characters closely, but, on its own, I just didn’t get or like it. This story is just dark and murky.

with all the exact death dates of certain characters, I legit thought Sequoyah was going to grow up to be a serial killer.

1.5

This has a particular, quirky type of humor, but I liked it for the most part. It’s a bit gross at times tho. Keep in mind, I’ve never watched the show.

2.5

Lovely. This story was very high school in all aspects, friendships change, emotions and hormones make everything feel a 100 times bigger, and new realizations comes like, for example, parents are actual people who don’t have all the answers. The split timelines were mildly annoying because I wanted so badly to have the full picture. Also, I have said this before, but I adore Woodfolk’s ability to make us care about characters in a few lines.

I felt for Cleo and Layla. Cleo’s so honest with her feelings (to an extent) that, sometimes, I wanted her to stop putting her heart out there to be stomped on. I guess I felt second-hand embarrassment that Cleo could be so vulnerable and hopeful no matter what. The progression of their fight/distance was full of frustration and sadness and pettiness. It’s utterly draining, so gold star for realism.

I almost read this in one sitting (I had to run errands in between chapters), the writing is so easy to read.

I vaguely remember reading this series as a kid, but I saw the first four books at the library so I thought I’d (re)read it. This is serviceable though cliché and the characters are a bit flat. The artwork has a nostalgic quality and looks almost chibi-ish with a Newgrounds feel. I’m trying not to be overly critical from my adult perspective.

Okay, characters are still flat, and, now, I know what the art style reminds me of (Neopets meets chibi meets Newgrounds animations/Shuriken School!), but there’s a little heart here.

2.5^