After reading, and really disliking Volume 2, I almost didn't read this one. But because I had already gotten it from the library, I gave it a shot. SO glad I did!

From a storyline point of view, I really enjoyed this volume! Though there wasn't a ton going on, I was really hooked into the story this time. I absolutely loved the scenes with the dragon. I also enjoyed all the situations that the friends got themselves into and how they really banded together.

The vibe I was getting from all of the characters seemed on par with the first volume, which was so refreshing. Though Hannah was a bit of a stuck up mess in this one...and toward the end she really went off the rails.

But then there's the artwork... it's a new artist and her art seems much more cartoonish than the other two volumes. I didn't like it at all. It just didn't have the same gritty feel of the first volume and part of the second volume. My other complaint about the artwork is the "sexy factor." The Rat Queens always had sexy attire, but this time it just seemed silly. I mean, just take a peek at Dee's dress- it doesn't fully cover her butt. She's a FIGHTER, why would that apparel make any sense?!

Overall, I would recommend this volume!

I loved everything about this volume; the humor, the artwork, the flow. It was all so wonderful!

The characters were their usual quirky selves and I loved each situation that they had to deal with.

While the artwork was slightly different, I actually really liked the change! I loved that the characters expressions and the backgrounds when they are experiencing extreme emotions were taken to an even higher level when compared to the other two volumes.

I also absolutely loved how the night sequence was illustrated! Just looking at the pages made me feel a little woozy! Which I thought was very impressive!

From an organizational standpoint, I thought that this volume did a much better job keeping the chapters (or issues) focused rather than trying to cram too much into each one. I also really appreciated that this time there were little "Two Weeks Later" boxes added when there was a sudden time jump. This was so helpful!

My only complaint was that a few of the dialogue lines repeated themselves. Which I think could have been avoided. (Yet again, just a personal irk.)

I would definitely recommend this volume, but only if you have read the other two first to help you get to know the characters.

This graphic novel is set in New York City in 1928. A young girl named Samantha White, also known as Snow, has tragically lost both of her parents and is now under the care of her rotten step-mother. When the step-mother hires someone to kill the girl, Snow runs. Before she can find safety, she is cornered by two men. Right in the nick of time, a group of young boys appear and fight off the two men. These boys tell Snow that they are "The Seven." But can these boys help protect her?

I was blown away by this graphic novel! It is so different from any other that I have read! It is a graphic novel that is driven by the artwork rather than text. In fact, there is very little dialogue included at all.

The story begins outside of a Macy's window. There is a man in a hat and coat asking a young boy who "she" is. The tearful boy only says, "White as snow..." From there, we jump back to 1918, and then the story continues until we reach that same scene outside of Macy's. I LOVE when stories do that!

The tone of the artwork was incredible. The dust jacket states that it has a "moody, dramatic feel reminiscent of film noir" and that is the perfect way to describe it! The texture used in each of the panels is so distinct; it looks like you could actually feel the textures on the page if you ran your fingers over the paper.

The rare use of color was very interesting. For the majority of the graphic novel, the artist only used shades of red and green. But he used them very sparingly. So in a panel where color was added, it really stood out! This held true right up until the last few pages.

There was one part of the story that actually made me tear up! I would highly recommend checking this graphic novel out!

If you're looking for a hysterical paranormal romance, you need to check this one out!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

Even Halos Can Be Crooked is a paranormal romance about a woman named Autumn who suddenly finds herself in Limbo. As if that wasn't upsetting enough, she also discovers that her halo is crooked. This means that she hadn't built up enough good karma during her lifetime. Luckily, she gets a chance to return to earth. She thinks it's going to be a piece of cake, but she has no idea what she is getting herself into.

When she wakes up in the hospital, she sees people with glowing eyes, halos and wings, and a stuffed giraffe is talking to her. She thinks that this is the result of her morphine drip at first, then a serious head trauma later when her drugs are taken away. But this is her new "normal." She is immediately learns that she is not safe, and the action takes off at a run from there.

I thought the storyline of this book was really interesting! I enjoyed the angels and the demon creatures and seeing how they all interacted.

The characters, whether good or bad, were all so neat. I loved them all because each and every one of them was so extreme with their personality traits. For example, Autumn was extremely boy crazy. At first I could not stop laughing at her narrative, because she reminds me of one of my friends. I mean, she uses words like "Yummilicious" and "Hubba bubba, yum" when thinking about the men! Then there was Castle, her guardian angel who took the tough-guy/love interest to the extreme.

Desmin, the Devils Spawn Minion, was hysterical; by far my favorite character in the book! He was so inappropriate, but so freaking funny! I loved that when he overate, he had trouble standing up and moving around. Example: "Desmin struggled to gain his feet, cursing his full belly and repeating whoa over and over again."

I also loved how the three main characters (Autumn, Desmin, and Castle) all interacted when they were together. For example, their banter around the breakfast table was adorable.

There were so many features of the story that I really enjoyed. Like the "modern" references to things like the Van Helsing movie with Hugh Jackman. I also loved the idea of halos turning colors depending on the angels moods. And the Catchel was so cool! I loved that the main character thought of it a Marry Poppins bag before she knew what it was.

Beware, the negatives:
It did bother me that Autumn was so hypocritical when it came to jealousy; she got irked at Castle for smiling about the sirens, but then expected him not to react when she was openly staring and drooling over any other guy she encountered.

Then the whole licking or wanting to lick people was totally weird to me. And I could only read lines that included mention of her "inner girlies" or whatever so many times before it just became too much for me. All the mentions of the cookie smell was a bit too repetitive for me as well.

I found some situations to be a bit repetitive as well. Whether that was a phrase that was repeated (like the smelling of cookies) or just a passage that needed a rewording. For example a passage that was a little too repetitive for me was: "I thought as I banged my forehead into his feathers. His feathers. Ugh. I stopped banging my head against his feathers as I close my eyes slowly and further embarrassment." The first two feather mentions worked, but the third was just a bit too much for me.

My final thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book! It was so funny, such an easy read, and the pacing flowed wonderfully. The writing was lovely, but could use a bit of a tune up editing wise. I am definitely interested to see where this series goes! I would also love to see this as a movie or tv series! I gave this three stars.



My favorite passages (potential spoilers!):

A tilt. Oh. My. God. I died and my halo is crooked.
I mean, how could this have happened to me?? I asked that aloud, didn't I? Maybe I should. Is the shock? Could I be in shock right now?

Her dress was of the finest silk. Extremely soft to the touch, it floated around her like she had her own personal fan blowing on her. Revlon, eat your heart out.

"Eat your heart out," I muttered as I took that long, slow, utterly ungraceful, shuffle forward. I was thankful the nurses had unhooked me from the IV a few hours ago. At least I didn't have that trailing behind me.

It was then that I realized I had spent the better part of the last hour or so talking to a toy giraffe like it was an everyday occurrence. I wasn't questioning my sanity. I wasn't freaking out. It was like some part of me had excepted this as my new normal.

The blows came fast and unrelenting but I fended them off like some kind of martial arts expert. It was happening so fast I was moving before I could think.

"You picked the wrong slanted halo to mess with, buddy!!" I shouted at it. Like, seriously? I'm doing movie worthy fighting here. Epic life and death battles and THAT'S what I say as I slay the gigantic ugly demon beast?

"Castle, teleport, transmit, being yourself up now, Scotty, whatever it is you do to get help."

He shut his mouth so hard smoke came out his nose.

"No. I am not jealous." I snarled at him as I threw a pillow at his head. It missed. Not because he ducked away from it but because it went like 2 feet. I stared at the pillow, offended it had failed me so.

"You can laugh now, Percideous, but did you not hear Castle call it a minion? Since when do we trust minions?"
"Hey!" Desmin flew out from behind me. I caught his tail before he could get in Aramedos' face. He grunted when he came up short and turned to demand I let him go.
"You might want to let that one go, Desmin."
"But he just insulted me!"
"He has a flaming sword. Do you really want to push it?"
"Well, when you put it that way, not so much but I'm still offended. Can't be trusted?" Desmin snorted and a little flame burst out. All three angels put their hands on their swords helps.
"Maybe Castle should finish introducing us," I suggested, hoping to ease the tension.

Calling them blue seemed inadequate though. They were like bodies of water blended together.

First of all, the dedication page is absolutely adorable!

I really enjoyed the forward by Neil Gaiman; it really helped set up the rest of the book. I also loved this passage: "People need stories. It's one of the things that make us who we are. We crave stories, because they make us more than ourselves, they give us an escape and they give us knowledge. They entertain us and they change us, as they have changed and entertained us for thousands of years."

Each of the 75 sculptures included in this book are accompanied by a very brief version of various Grimm Brothers tales. Some of them I understood/remembered, but some I did not. So I really appreciated the annotated index in the back of the book; this made quite a few of the sculptures make much more sense to me!

The sculptures themselves were interesting. As with most art, I really liked some of them while I was a bit weirded out by others. I really enjoyed the use of light and shadow as well as foreground and background in each of the photos featuring the sculptures. Everything was so perfectly put together and it really added to the tone of each story.

I would recommend this book to any Grimm fan!

On one hand, I think it's another important read because it really dives in to the messiness of mental illness, being a teenager, and how hard it can be to come to terms with things that life hands you. On the other, I really disliked the instalove factor and the main character, Vivi. When I started reading, I thought this book was adorable. But it quickly started to annoy me. So many things just seemed unnecessary or over the top and I couldn't look past those instances.

Favorite line:
"Oh, I imagine it'll hurt less eventually. I think there will always be a hole, though. But lace is one of the most beautiful fabrics, you know. All those holes and gaps, but it's still complete somehow- still lovely."

This collection is so lovely! There is such a great range of topics; from historical characters to pop-culture. I really appreciated that the author includes a short blurb about the comic strips on the bottom of each title page to give a little more context or just some of her thoughts.

I thought the artwork was wonderful and the humor included made me chuckle out loud on almost every page.

I highly recommend checking this collection out!

This was such a fun read! My only "complaint" is that it went SO fast and I wanted more!

So if you're looking for a graphic novel with a deep storyline, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you want something quick and fun, I would highly recommend this.

Summary:
This graphic novel is about a girl named Aria living in a Post Apocalyptic world with her cat, Jelly Beans. She is trying to find something that her tracker keeps picking up on briefly before the signal disappears again. One day she sees a young man and flees. She immediately regrets it, knowing that he is going to bring his people there to search for her, but she gets stuck in thinking about the fact that he was just a boy. Sure enough, they come back. But will Aria be able to fight all of them off so she can live to complete her mission?

The Main Character:
I love the main character. I really like that her name, Aria, is from a greek/latin word for “music written for a single voice usually in regards to opera.” And in addition to that, her character sings bits of opera songs throughout the comic. I also really liked her expressive reactions to various situations as well as her awesome action scenes; Both of which were wonderfully drawn.

I like that the character narrated her own story in blocks of text that differed from her main dialogue and thoughts. I also really enjoyed that in a couple of panels, her two selves talked to one another. I love when the fourth wall is broken like that!

Further on the point of narration, I loved that it was used throughout the comic to give the reader the backstory. While some of this narration had its own illustrations to accompany it, other bits of narration appeared over the main storyline of the comic when there wasn’t much else going on. I absolutely loved this method! It was much more interesting to me than it would have been if it had continued to split off to cover more backstory.

The Artwork:
I enjoyed the artwork so much. It wasn't super detailed but it also wasn't too comic-y, if you know what I mean. It really had it's own tone to it. The overall style reminds me of something, but I can’t figure out exactly what...

I will admit that at first I thought that the color palette was a bit strange. But it just took some getting used to. For example, the main characters skin tone changes depending on the panel; Sometimes she’s green or yellow tinted, other times she’s red or purple.

I can't wait to see more from Andrew MacLean!

Goodness, the writing in this book was all over the place! In one sentence we have very descriptive and poetical phrases, and then the next is blunt and simple. That coupled with the various perspectives, and the incredibly random and jumpy timelines… made this book a total miss for me.

But let me back up.

So what is this book about, exactly? Even after reading the entire thing, I cannot really give an answer to that. It really seemed like two books cut up and very badly merged into one.

I can tell you that the book mainly alternates between two narratives. One for George Washington Crosby, a clock repairman, who is hallucinating and reflecting upon his life before he passes away. And one for Howard Aaron Crosby, a traveling salesman who was prone to seizures, who is George's father. Other than simply being George’s father and adding some lighter sections to the book to contrast with the dark and depressing sections from George, I cannot see a point to including any of the sections from his perspective.

In Chapter One, it really irritated me that the POVs did not alternate consistently at all. And there's no marking for each section, just a paragraph break to indicate it is indeed a new section. Sometimes the sections are spoken from one of George's grandsons, but you don't figure that out until deep into that specific section.

There were so many random bits of the two men’s lives that were shared, as well as side stories and journal entries… I had a really hard time caring about any of it. If it had been organized in a more straightforward way, I think I would have appreciated it more. But even so, I feel like a pretty big chunk of this book could have been left out and it would have been a much more powerful read.

There were a number of sections for George that all began with lines like "one hundred and thirty-two hours before he died…”. At first I thought that these were a bit morbid, but they did help to explain the timeline. So at first I didn't like them, but then I appreciated it. I just wish that every single one of his sections began that way so I could keep track of time. It was very clear that the closer George got to death, the more scattered his thoughts were. But even so, we didn’t follow a straight path there either. We began with him very close to death as he hallucinated, and then got random chunks of time as the author chose to discuss them.

And don’t get me wrong, I do understand that we're seeing the memories from George Crosby’s life in whatever order that his brain brought them up in some sections. So while these chunks seem very unorganized, that's how it's supposed to be. But overall, I really with that the storylines had some sort of structure.

Because of the lack of any cohesive structure at all, I was incredibly frustrated with this book. So many times I found myself so focused on trying to figure out who’s perspective we were seeing and when, that I wasn't appreciating what was happening.

And there were SO many run on sentences. There are also so many instances where the author goes off on a tangent about the simplest of things, like how a field looks, or what a wildlife is around a pond. These tangents are so descriptive, but really don’t add anything to to story itself. So whether it was a run on sentence or a tangent, many of of these instances seemed to be totally pointless to me. It was like the author was writing just to take up space.

The only bits of this chapter that I enjoyed were the sections about Howard and the Hermit, and the funeral pyre boat that George made for a dead mouse.

Then we finally make it to Chapter Two. This chapter was all about George’s childhood with Howard and the rest of the family. Then Chapter Three was about Howard growing up with his father, a priest. These two sections were organized much better! However, the third chapter felt like another very long tangent. It did give a bit of insight into Howard’s life, but I don’t think it really added to the story at all.

In Chapter Four, we’re back with poor George who is very close to death. But this chapter is back to the very scattered organization of chapter one, and I was not impressed.

Ugh. I would definitely NOT recommend this book.

My only favorite passage:
Next fell the stars, tinkling about him like the ornaments of heaven shaken loose.

Readers beware, if you are looking for a rational book where everything is fully explained by the end, this is not the book for you.

That being said, I thought that this book was incredible. I was hooked from the very first page and absolutely could not put this book down! This will definitely be in my top 5 list of books published in 2017!

Fever Dream is a novel about a woman, named Amanda, who is in the hospital because she has a very serious fever. A young boy, named David, is at her bedside pressing her to remember what happened. But Amanda is struggling to stay focused as her body begins to shut down.

The story is so unique and so astonishingly captivating! Once you pick this one up, you will not want to put it down. Luckily it is a quick read; I cruised through it in just a couple of hours.

I loved that the entire book was told in dialogue. I also really enjoyed the format of the narrative that easily switched back and fourth between Amanda and David as the two spoke about what had happened and what was currently happening.

The pacing was absolutely perfect. I loved how the author created such an eerie vibe with such deep feelings of dread. The entire time I was reading, I felt a bit unsettled but I really enjoyed the feeling. A few lines of the dialogue actually gave me chills!

After finishing the book, I found myself questioning if all that I had just read had simply been a dream, or if it had all really happened. Needless to say, I will definitely thinking about this story for a long time!