In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Jen Wang is an amazing graphic novel about gaming and how it crosses over into the real world. Filled with elements of family dynamics and teenage struggles, poverty and company politics, and even bullying, I thought that each topic was handled really well.

If you enjoy content about video games, I highly recommend this one!

I have to admit, I didn't like the intro at all. I understand the point it was trying to make, but it honestly almost made me put the book down because of how dry it was. Thankfully it wasn't too long. After finishing the graphic novel, I decided that I wish I hadn't read the intro at all, which may be a first for me! The things that the intro touched upon were just so much more powerful in the comic, the intro seemed unnecessary to me.

I loved the style of this graphic novel! The artwork is very cute and the color palette is lovely. There were many panels that I paused to think, "Wow, this one is stunning!" The expressions of all the characters were also done really well!

I loved that we dove right into the game when Anda does, literally starting where a normal MMO would; with character creation!

One of my favorite elements of this graphic novel was that it moves seamlessly from in-game to really life.

I really loved this quick read and I would most definitely recommend it to fans of video-game related content!

Murder in Little Shendon by A.H. Richardson is an old fashioned murder mystery where everyone in town is a suspect.

While a very slow-burn, this book drew me right in! While a bit repetitive, I still couldn't wait for the reveal to learn what had happened!

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 story begins with a bang, but then it slows way down. Though not in a negative way, the story was just definitely a slow-burn.

I really enjoyed the storyline and the mystery! I also liked meeting each of the characters of the village and slowly getting more of the "big picture." It was a lot of fun trying to piece together the puzzle using the small bits of information that we were given.

Now that I have completed the book, I may have to schedule a re-read to see if I pick up on any clues that I had missed the first time around!


Beware, the negatives:
Unfortunately, because of the way that the story is organized, I found it to be quite repetitive. For example, we read about the conversations that each of the three men had with various people, and then we hear a summary of those conversations when they all meet up later on, and then once again with other characters from time to time. Though I can see that this is a great way to highlight what elements of the conversations were important, it was just a bit irritating to me. There were also a number of phrases that kept popping up a bit too frequently for my taste.


My favorite passages:
Anyone can look; everybody looks, but seeing is quite another thing.

"All of life is difficult," she said slowly, and dropped her eyes down to her tea cup once more.

The murders had thrown a dreadful threatening web over the entire village, and everyone, it seemed, was caught up in its dark threads.


My final thoughts:
Overall, I really enjoyed this read! I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of old-fashioned murder mysteries!

Eagle of The Empire by Martin Ferguson was such a fun read! I was totally captivated the entire time I was reading and I really struggled to put it down. This is one of those books that made me sad toward the end simply because I didn't want it to end!

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

My thoughts:
I loved everything about this book and seriously cannot recommend it highly enough! To prevent spoilers, I will keep this brief.

I thought that the writing was so wonderful. It was easy to read and everything flowed very well! There were a handful of chapters that were from another characters perspective, which I'm usually not a big fan of. However, in this case, I loved it! Each chapter from other perspectives than the main character really helped add to the overall story and plot!

I really enjoyed all of the characters. All of their dialogue was so realistic. Many characters were well developed, while some stayed a bit mysterious... in a great way, of course! I can't wait to see who comes back in book two!

I also really enjoyed the historical fiction elements. This is another area that is iffy for me, as I find a lot of historical fiction to be very dry. In this case, it was added to the main story in such a way that kept it super interesting and dramatic! I really enjoyed it!

The pacing was just perfect. The book started with a bang, then slowed just a bit in order to set us up for the rest of the story. Like I said above, I couldn't put this book down!


My favorite passages:
I sigh with relief when I hear the sniffing of an animal, but then I’m gripped by new fear, remembering Gillian’s warning of the monster of the loch. A story that sounds childish in the cold light of day, but not now, not in the dark where you’re all alone.

Above me, bats hang from the ceiling. Some are flying across the cave, swooping down before rising and returning to their perches.
The hidden cave, the bats, I can’t help myself.
‘I. Am. Batman.’ I say loudly in a deep, menacing voice that echoes throughout the cavern. My dramatics disturb a few more of the bats.

My final thoughts:
I loved every second of this book. I cannot wait to get my hands on book two! I would highly recommend this to anyone, especially readers that are fans of Indiana Jones!

Tie Died by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones is a story about a teenage girl that enjoys sleuthing. When she comes across the body of a girl in a park, she is determined to figure out what happened.

While this book was a miss for me, the overall storyline did spook me a bit! I would definitely recommend this book to pre-teens that enjoy mysteries!

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

Sapient is an action-packed medical thriller about a mother who takes a major risk, her son, and two lab animals.

There is just something so intriguing to me about medical thrillers! I had so much fun reading this book! Right from page one I was drawn in and couldn't wait to see what happened next. Of course, with this genre, it's very easy to give too much away, so I will keep this brief.

First of all, the writing was great! I thought that it was very well written, it flowed wonderfully, and the pacing was perfect. I loved that the chapters changed perspective as necessary in order to give the full story.

While the ethics here were a bit questionable, I found myself really pulling for things to work out. Of course it helped that I really loved each of the characters, even the rough ones! The characters will definitely stick in my mind for a long time.

I loved how the book ended. But I have to say, while perfect, it also makes me want a second book!


My favorite passages:
In this book, there were MANY passages that I wrote down, but they were filled with spoilers! So to avoid that, I will just leave this one:

The rat tapped on the screen, and the mechanical voice said, "You have big teeth. Go get food. What good are you? SSIF."
Robbie clarified for him. "So Stupid It's Funny. He was looking up text message abbreviations earlier." Bear whined, unclear as to what any of this meant.
Einstein continued to tap. "I meant you, stupid FIF." He chattered to himself in what passed for rat laughter.
Bear let out a low growl and waited for Robbie to translate. "'Freak I'm Funny'. At least I hope he meant freak."


My final thoughts:
I already cannot wait to read this book again! It is such a fun and action-packed story! This is another that would make an awesome movie.

I would highly recommend this to readers that enjoy light medical thrillers with a dose of realistic fantasy.

Environmentally Friendly by Elias Zanbaka is a quick and action-packed short story about a man chasing his inner demons.

I would recommend this one to readers that enjoy fast-reads that totally suck you in, even though you aren't totally sure what is going on until the very end.

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

My thoughts:
Phew, this one certainly starts with a bang! Like I said above, I wasn't sure what in the world was actually going on throughout most of the story, but that didn't take away from it at all! I found the storyline and plot interesting. I also enjoyed the characters, for as much as we were able to get to know the in the short time of course.

My only complaint is that I struggled a bit with names because they weren't consistent. Most of the time, the narration focused on last names, sometimes it was full names, others it was a more generic term. However, the section that threw me the most was when the last name that had been continuously referenced suddenly swapped over to a first name that we had only seen once. Right then, I wasn't sure if a new character had entered the scene or not, and had to flip back a few pages to figure it out.

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill is an awesome short story collection that has a little something for everyone! The stories range from sweet and heartfelt, to horrifying and unsettling. To top it all off, many of the stories have paranormal elements woven into them.

I tend to struggle a bit when it comes to short story collections. With this collection, I decided to pick up the book and read a story or two, then put it down for a bit rather than trying to sit and plow through story after story after story...

So it took me a long while to finish this book, but I definitely think I am going to use this method for future short story collections!

As a whole, I really enjoyed this book! I just love Joe Hill's writing style, and it was really interesting to see him take on various themes throughout the collection.

Of course, as with any other short story collection, there were many stories that I loved, while some were a bit of a miss for me. Out of the sixteen stories in this collection, this is my rating breakdown:
5 Stars- 6
4 Stars- 4
3 Stars- 4
2 Stars- 2
1 Star- 0

Best New Horror (5/5)- A short story about a very unsettling short story. So clever! The short story inside this one truly unnerved me. So of course I was antsy to see where the main storyline of this one would go.

20th Century Ghost (5/5)- A ghost story about an old movie theater with a beautiful twist.

Pop Art (5/5)- A lovely story about friendship.

You Will Hear the Locust Sing (3/5)- A bizarre and dark story about a boy that turned into an insect.

Abraham’s Boys (4/5)- An awesome short about a father with a secret job that doesn’t allow his two boys to stay out after dark.

Better Than Home (4/5)- a heartwarming story about family dynamics.

The Black Phone (5/5)- A very suspenseful story about a boy that gets kidnapped. I LOVED this one. From start to finish, I was totally hooked. One of my issues with short stories is that I am either uninterested, or I want them to be longer. This one was perfect.

In The Rundown (4/5)- A story about a man that stumbles across a crime scene on his way home from work. The situation gets more intense as the story progresses.

The Cape (4/5)- A story about a man that can float. I was hoping he would make things right with his lady, but I did not see that ending coming! Phew!

Last Breath (5/5)- This story was so creepy! There was also a sci-fi element. I loved it! I wish the family had spent more time in the museum so we could have read more examples of other last breaths! And the ending was perfect!

Dead-Wood (3/5)- This was a super short one, just a little over a page long. But interesting! Definitely got me thinking about ghosts that aren’t just humans.

The Widow’s Breakfast (3/5)- Phew, that was a dark one. Very sad, but I still enjoyed it!

Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead (2/5)- This was a fun story about a zombie movie! Unfortunately I didn’t much like the characters and the storyline was a bit bring to me.

My Father’s Mask (2/5)- This one was a bit too odd for me. Masks creep me out. I kept feeling like something more was about to happen, bit it didn’t.

Voluntary Committal (3/5)- I didn’t really care for the characters in this one, but the box forts were super interesting to me! And the sic-fi element was wonderful!

The fact that Joe Hill hid a story in the acknowledgements was awesome! I’ve never seen that done before.

Scheherazade’s Typewriter (5/5)- So fun! I love the idea of a spirit returning to write!

My favorite passages:

The corridor itself seemed crooked somehow. The floor felt tilted underfoot, so much so that once Carroll had to touch the wall to steady himself. Floorboards were missing. A chandelier hung with crystal pendants floated above the stairwell, furred with lint and cobwebs. In some distant, echoing room of Carroll’s mind, a hunchback played the opening bars of The Addams Family on a glockenspiel.

What I really like is breakfast cereal. I’d have Kix three times a day if it was up to me.

Minutes did not pass, collecting into hours. There was no point in thinking about time in the old way. There was only one moment and then another moment, in a string of moments that went on in a quiet, deadly procession.

Anything could happen out there where the world touches the sky.

And maybe I have to admit that I’m writing this, not to show it to anyone, but because I can’t help myself, and a blank page is the only safe audience for the story I can imagine.


My final thoughts:
Overall, I thought this was a great short story collection! I can definitely see myself picking the book up every now and again just to re-read certain stories.

If you're looking for a short story collection that ranges in theme, but keeps a spooky underlying tone, you gotta check this one out!

If you're a dog lover, you have to check out Oliver the Schnoodle. This book is filled with photos of Oliver in all kinds of outfits. I gotta say, it's pretty cute!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author. This did not affect my rating in any way.

My thoughts:
I wasn't sure that I was going to give this book a read, but when I saw the first image of Oliver wearing a Captian America helmet, I was convinced!

The photos are so cute. I really enjoyed each page because I was excited to see what outfit would be next! I also enjoyed that each page also held illustrations and other graphic design elements to help really make the scene.

Of course with any picture book like this, I personally preferred some photos over others. Some I loved, others my graphic design eye picked up on a few things I would tweak. But overall, the whole thing was so fun!

I can definitely see this being a hit with dog lovers and children alike!

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill was a book that I just knew I was going to adore. After all... it is about two of my favorite things, tea and dragons!

This book is absolutely adorable! I loved everything about it; the artwork style, the color palette, the storyline, the characters and their relationships, the pacing... I also really enjoyed the information at the back of the book, where we are taught more about each of the tea dragons and the history of the society. I thought this was such a nice touch!

Bravo to Katie O'Neill! I'm definitely going to have to check out more of her work.

I highly recommend picking up this book and giving it a read while enjoying a cup of your favorite tea!

Artemis by Andy Weir was absolutely everything I was hoping it would be; it was humorous, action-packed, and a super fun read! I can't wait to see what Andy Weir writes next!

My thoughts:
Oh my gosh, Jazz Bashara was a hoot! I can see why her character may be a little much for some readers tastes, but I loved her! She was so sarcastic and had absolutely no filter. I really enjoyed all the situations that she got herself into, whether they were good or bad. I especially enjoyed her banter with Martin Svoboda, who was my favorite character in the book.

That being said, I thought all of the characters were so wonderful! The main team were all very interesting to me, and all very different! Then the bad characters were also wonderful in their own evil ways. Overall, I felt that each of the characters were developed just the right amount for their roles.

The writing was awesome. I thought that the plot was wonderfully paced and everything flowed really well. As I was reading, I couldn't wait to see what happened next!

And for the fans of The Martian, I'm sure you all got a chuckle out of what this line made you think of: "Only an idiot relies on duct tape to maintain a pressure seal..."


Beware, the negative:
My only complaint is that a few things were repeated, but thankfully it wasn't enough to affect my rating.

For example, the reader is told twice in a short span that the buggy was designed to fit someone in a EVA suit so they had room.

There was also a case of repetition in another situation, but I thought it was handled perfectly; remind the reader about the technicality aspect, but add some humor to those that didn't need the reminder:
"Between the two hulls, there's a bunch of crushed rock (you knew that)."


My favorite passages:
The city shined in the sunlight like a bunch of metallic boobs. What? I'm not a poet. They look like boobs.

Difficult times, my friend, but there is a path. There must be. We will find it.

I channeled my inner "dumbass in a horror movie" and walked back to the door. I opened it a crack and peeked through.

"Mr. Bashara?" Svoboda popped his head between us. "Hi, we haven't met. I'm Martin Svoboda. I'm a friend of Jazz's."
Dad shook his hand. "One of those 'friends with benefits'?"
"Ugh." I rolled my eyes. "I don't do that, Dad. This may shock you, but I haven't had sex with anyone in this while room."
"Well, it's a small room."
"Burn!" Svoboda said.

Only an idiot relies on duct tape to maintain a pressure seal...


My final thoughts:
I would definitely recommend this book to fans of action-packed space stories with a very sarcastic main character! I'm so antsy to see the movie; I think this will make a great one!