DNF. Just not for me right now. I may try again in the future. It just wasn't holding my interest.

Grab your tissues. This is an emotional read and such a powerful collection. I highly urge everyone to go grab a copy right away!

Sales of this comic benefit the survivors and victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting as well as their families.

This anthology is made up of wonderful pieces of work such as poems, illustrations, watercolors, graphic design, comic panels, personal stories, quotes, text messages, dedications, quotes, songs; This collection has it all! Each page also had a different style and message; many were messages of love and hope, but some were more negative and really called out a number of issues.

As with any anthology, there was some work in here that I absolutely adored, and other work that I didn’t personally care for. I was truly blown away by many of the pieces! I’m not one to cry while reading, but this one really hit hard and I found myself reaching for the tissues a number of times.


Beware, the negatives:
However, I do have two main complaints about this collection.

The first is that there wasn’t enough own-voiced work. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot in here that I absolutely loved. But a large portion of the collection was from the perspective of straight individuals and how they saw the news of the attack, how they reacted, how they told their children, and et cetera. Some of these stories were powerful, yes, but some of them definitely could (and probably should) have been left out.

My second complaint is that I felt this collection was very rushed. It seems like the organizers just accepted whatever was sent in without taking the time to really evaluate the work (like spell check in one case) and think about how each piece related to the overall message. Because of this, many of the pieces were incredibly repetitive. If there had been more organization, I think this could have really opened up more doors and gotten a better variety of work in there.


My favorite line:
“The law had finally caught up to love."

DNF. What an awful main character... So negative and cynical! I read the first three chapters and had to call it. I have zero interest in women that only care about how much they weigh and what labels they are wearing.

What a fun fairy tale retelling! I'm so thankful that I was given the opportunity to read this book.

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

This book captivated me right from the very first chapter! I also announced to my boyfriend very soon after I began reading that, "I LOVE THIS ALREADY!" which is always a good sign!

On the first page of the book, the main character is dropped right into the middle of the action (literally)! From there, the pacing is quick and the book is very hard to put down.

I really enjoyed that as the story progresses, the readers slowly figure out what exactly is happening at the same time that the main character does. This is a method that can be a bit confusing depending on how it is written. But in this case, the author handled it very well! There wasn't a single time where I felt confused or thought I had missed something. There also wasn't any info dumping; the readers learned everything we needed to in a natural way.

The whole premise of this story was really interesting! I thought it was a really clever twist to typical fairy tale retellings. I especially enjoyed that the true stories of the characters of East Valley differed from the ones that Effy knew about in our modern world. I really looked forward to each new character that Effy met so I could learn how much the fairy tale and the reality of Easy Valley differed.


Beware, the negatives:
The main irk I had was with repetition. But per usual, this is really just a personal irk. I don't think many others would even pick up on what bothered me. The only other things I noticed were a few grammar mistakes and the inconsistency with the spelling of one word (blonde/blond).


My favorite passages:
The more I searched my mind, the more fog I discovered clouding my brain. It intensified my belief that this was indeed, a dream.

Surely not all the fairy tales are real. I mean, I hadn't seen a white rabbit with a giant watch yet. There were no little pigs running from a wolf. Jack was real, giants were real, but talking puppets had to be where it ended... right?

So my personal knight in shining armor wasn't so shiny after all.

For a fairy tale land that was supposed to be full of true love and endless amounts of hope, Easy Valley sure felt like a miniature version of hell.

"Where's Rapunzel?"
Jack smiled, and Hansel matched his grin with a devilish one of his own.
"She's getting her hair curled." Hansel laughed.
"Yeah," Jack agreed. She's a bit tied up at the moment."

There must be something in the water here, because no one had hair this perfect. Especially people who had been running through the forest.

Silence followed. Not even the birds bothered to chirp. Apparently, they were smarter than us, vacating the darkest corners of the forest before it was too late.

Horner shrugged, brown hair flopping to the side. "When I see a good pie, I eat it. Don't see what's wrong with that."

I hadn't wanted to stare into the mirror for long. I needed a bath. And a pint of ice cream. Two pints.


My final thoughts:
This book was very easy to read, the characters were lovely, everything flowed well, and the dialogue was so realistic. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes retellings and/or the YA genre! I gave this book four stars!

I can't remember the last time I picked up a children's book and read it on my own. Gosh, it has to have been since the last time I babysat... which was 10+ years ago!

I'm so happy that I picked this book up from my local library! Nightlights is an absolute treat to read.

Book synopsis:
Every night, tiny stars appear out of the darkness in little Sandy's bedroom. She catches them and creates wonderful creatures to play with until she falls asleep, and in the morning brings them back to life in the whimsical drawings that cover her room.

One day, Morfie, a mysterious pale girl, appears at school. And she knows all about Sandy's drawings...


My thoughts:
First of all, the artwork in this book is absolutely stunning! I spent so much time just looking at the illustrations. The colors are all so vibrant and striking.

There were a few pages that could be a little too scary for children, so I would just caution readers there. Of course, as an adult reader, I absolutely loved the spookiness!

The storyline is short, but it was paced perfectly. I really enjoyed the plot and loved the underlying message of realizing your own strength.

I absolutely loved the main character, Sandy. She was so creative, smart, and quick thinking! Though I was confused about her age. Through her artwork, she seemed very young, but the topics that she was learning about in school seemed more mature.


My final thoughts:
Overall, a very quick but awesome read! I would highly recommend this!

This was a fun read! I hadn't read any comics about Wonder Woman before, so this was a great introduction!

I really enjoyed the overall story line of this collection. Learning about Diana's childhood and how she ended up training and then leaving home later on was interesting. Then of course seeing how she became Wonder Woman and then seeing her in action was great! But unfortunately the pacing was a bit slow and some of the transitions were very abrupt. Because of this, I wasn't ever really "hooked," but I did enjoy the read.

The artwork and coloring was so lovely. Though to me, some panels seemed rushed because the level of detail wasn't consistent with the majority of the other pages...

I really appreciated the little details that were included in some panels. Just one example is the bubbles that form a crown in the water above Diana's head when she was contemplating her future.

Then we have the characters... I liked Etta, but sometimes she seemed too silly. Don't get me wrong, I really liked her character! I found myself laughing a lot, but sometimes it was just too much. I do want to note that as a best friend, she was incredible! Her loyalty to Diana was wonderful.

I felt that Steve's role could have been a bit more developed; he just seemed like a minor character rather than the impactful one I think he should have been. His character had such little impact on me while reading this that I actually had to Google his name writing this review...

Then of course there is the main character, Diana. I liked her, but I definitely didn't love her. She just seemed a bit off, overall. For example, her reactions to seeing a man for the first time and then seeing everything in the outside world were very underwhelming. I definitely expected her to be more shocked or confused than she was. Her communication also seemed to be lacking to me. She went from sharing everything with her best friend, no matter how crazy it seemed, to totally clamming up.

However, I was very excited to see Diana fighting off of the island for the first time!

Overall, I enjoyed reading this. I would definitely recommend it to readers of any age. But unfortunately for me, this just seems a bit forgettable...which I really hate to say. Perhaps if I were to read more works about Wonder Woman I would feel differently. We shall see!

What a stunning graphic novel! If you haven't heard of this one yet, I highly recommend checking it out!

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

First of all... this artwork. It is incredible! Each panel looks a bit like an oil paintings because the texture is very soft. The color palette is mainly natural colors with splashes of vibrance.

The storyline was interesting and fast paced. I really loved that the story was carried mainly through the artwork, while the splashes of dialogue here and there supported the story.

The whole book was organized so wonderfully. I loved the way that the panels were broken up on the page in varying formats, and that each border of a panel wasn't clean cut.

And boy, I am a total sucker for when the artist includes sound bubbles for noises that are incorporated into the panel!

The afterward by Carrie Vaughn was also very well written! It's a short essay about nature and man that makes readers question their own thoughts and feelings about their connection to the wild.

I LOVED everything about this quick read! The artwork was incredible, the storyline was fast paced and interesting, and I enjoyed the characters. I would have happily read many more pages!

Whether you are just getting started with Inbound Marketing, or consider yourself more seasoned, this book is a must-read!

There is an incredible amount of information in this book! It starts with the basics (like what Inbound Marketing is and how to get found by prospects) and then moves into deeper concepts (like converting customers and making better marketing decisions).

All of the content is written in an upbeat and fun tone that is easy to read. All of the information is also organized into easy to digest chunks, complete with to do lists at the end of each chapter to help you really get things done.

So go out and get a copy of this book. Then grab your highlighters or post it notes (trust me, you're gonna need them!), and a cup of tea, and get ready to dive in!

Note: this book took me so long to read because I read it very sporadically over the course of a few months. I picked it up again one day recently and started over, completing the entire read in just a few sittings.

A few weeks ago, I read The Beast of London, which was sent to me from the author in exchange for an honest review. I thought it was such a fun and action packed read! Click here to check out my review for The Beast of London.

Immediately after finishing the book, I found myself navigating to Amazon to see what the price of the next book was. $2.99 on Kindle?! Needless to say, I snagged it right away!

My thoughts:
Just like the last book, I enjoyed the writing style. L.D. Goffigan's writing style when she does action scenes is definitely my favorite! I saw a few typos and weird formatting here and there, but nothing too major. However, the repetition was a problem in this book (more on that later).

I enjoyed the storyline overall. The first chapter does a wonderful job summarizing all of the important things from book one in order to catch the reader up. I also enjoyed that things happened very quickly! In many books similar to this, I find myself annoyed by how slow the pacing is, while the characters keep repeating about how quickly they must move.

In my review of book one, I said that I was a bit nervous about the chemistry between Mina and Van Helsing. I am really happy with how they handled that relationship in this book and I look forward to seeing where things go from here.

Also in my first review, I said that I cannot wait to learn more why Mina can feel when a vampire is nearby. In this book it seemed like more people could feel the same sensation when a vampire was near. But it confused me a bit. Can everyone feel it, or just certain characters?

Beware, the negatives:
The repetition in this book happened so often that it started to drive me a little crazy. That being said, a lot of the repetition did make sense because it was mainly what Mina was thinking. She was so stressed out, and needed to pump herself up, so of course she repeated herself! Per usual, it's just my personal irk.

However, there were also passages like this where the same word is used multiple times:
"I felt a cold presence approach, and looked up to see a dark figure approach..."


Favorite passages:
...that same question had been fluttering about in my mind like a restless bird.

"Haven't either of you learned?" Seward asked, rising to his feet. "It's best not to argue with Mina when she's made up her mind."


My final thoughts:
Overall, I really enjoyed this read, just not as much as the first book. I cannot wait to jump into the third book!

A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman is an incredible novella full of both charm and horror.

If you're looking for an incredibly creepy read, I would highly recommend this! I was hooked immediately and absolutely could not stop reading. The storyline was wonderfully written, the characters were relatable, and the suspense was great!

I would recommend this book to others who really enjoyed The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.