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howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)
This is a very difficult book to rate, so I won't.
On one hand, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The photography is gorgeous, the art is precious, and the general layout is so visually appealing and interesting. The graphics design team knocked this one out of the park, if you ask me. Plus, I had no idea anyone could come up with so many Pusheen-themed recipes, but there are a lot in here! There are even templates in the back of the book that you can copy and use for decorating your foods.
On the other hand, this cookbook will probably only appeal to THE most extreme Pusheen fans, or maybe people who want to throw a Pusheen-themed birthday party, shower, etc. A lot of the recipes are intricate and/or require use of many different shaped molds and baking tools, many of which the average person probably won't have on hand. Because of that, I can't say this is a cookbook I'd really recommend to the average consumer. That said, if you really love Pusheen and baking, I'm sure this would be the perfect combo for you!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
On one hand, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The photography is gorgeous, the art is precious, and the general layout is so visually appealing and interesting. The graphics design team knocked this one out of the park, if you ask me. Plus, I had no idea anyone could come up with so many Pusheen-themed recipes, but there are a lot in here! There are even templates in the back of the book that you can copy and use for decorating your foods.
On the other hand, this cookbook will probably only appeal to THE most extreme Pusheen fans, or maybe people who want to throw a Pusheen-themed birthday party, shower, etc. A lot of the recipes are intricate and/or require use of many different shaped molds and baking tools, many of which the average person probably won't have on hand. Because of that, I can't say this is a cookbook I'd really recommend to the average consumer. That said, if you really love Pusheen and baking, I'm sure this would be the perfect combo for you!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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I loved both the Babysitters Club books and the Little Sister books as a kid, and I definitely remember Karen's Witch being a favorite of mine. I didn't remember how the story went until I started reading this adaptation, and it all immediately came back! This was such an adorable adaptation. I tried checking out the Raina Telgemeiger BSC adaptations a while back and didn't care much for them, but this was honestly precious and I will happily check out more of the Little Sisters graphic novels. The art was so cute, the color palette was gorgeous, and it perfectly conveyed the story in a short and sweet way without leaving any unnecessary details or boring bits in. Karen is such a cute, funny kid and I loved the "twist" about Mrs. Porter — er, sorry, Morbidda Destiny.
Thank you so much to the Amazon Vine reviewer program for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you so much to the Amazon Vine reviewer program for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I love this series so much it hurts, and every volume that includes a lot of McGraw time is always A+ imo. <3
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This was probably one of my favorite installments in this series yet, even though there was one aspect of the mystery that made me want to shake some sense into Sookie for how long it took her to figure out.
Coming from someone who genuinely enjoyed this manga, it's probably fair to say you should know what you're going into before picking it up. How Do We Relationship? isn't your typical new adult romance; in fact, the author's note at the end even explains how Tamifull intentionally wanted to write something very different from the norm by depicting two women who get into a relationship before falling for one another.
Instead of having a lot of sweet, caring moments or angsty revelations, this first volume relies heavily on showcasing how people can work through disagreements or conflicts in relationships, with a lot of those conflicts revolving around the dynamic of two people who have very different views on sex. Saeko is active and very, er, physically motivated (heh), while Miwa is new to this entire aspect of life and wants to move slowly.
While the words aren't used on page, it's evident that Miwa has a lot of inner conflict surrounding trying to decide if she's asexual or not, and in the end, it appears that she may be demisexual (I'm very curious to see if we'll see this label used in future volumes). While there are definitely some acephobic comments made, they're more or less challenged, and Saeko is forced to recognize that sometimes compromises need to be made when people don't feel the same way about their sexuality in a relationship. I personally thought it was all very true to life, which might honestly make it tough for some readers to enjoy, but I liked that Tamifull didn't really pull punches.
Aside from aaaaall of that, the artwork is super cute, the characters are fun, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'll definitely be continuing the series!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Instead of having a lot of sweet, caring moments or angsty revelations, this first volume relies heavily on showcasing how people can work through disagreements or conflicts in relationships, with a lot of those conflicts revolving around the dynamic of two people who have very different views on sex. Saeko is active and very, er, physically motivated (heh), while Miwa is new to this entire aspect of life and wants to move slowly.
While the words aren't used on page, it's evident that Miwa has a lot of inner conflict surrounding trying to decide if she's asexual or not, and in the end, it appears that she may be demisexual (I'm very curious to see if we'll see this label used in future volumes). While there are definitely some acephobic comments made, they're more or less challenged, and Saeko is forced to recognize that sometimes compromises need to be made when people don't feel the same way about their sexuality in a relationship. I personally thought it was all very true to life, which might honestly make it tough for some readers to enjoy, but I liked that Tamifull didn't really pull punches.
Aside from aaaaall of that, the artwork is super cute, the characters are fun, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'll definitely be continuing the series!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
reread update, may 2020:
100% still one of the most precious, endearing things I've ever read in my whole life. Bitty is so sweet, Jack is so soft and perf, and Shitty is going beside McGraw from Giant Days in the weirdly specific category of manly-but-soft mustachioed college boys I adore. ♥♥♥ So happy I reread this before continuing the series.
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original review, november 2018:
OH MY WORD, it's so cute I'm gonna die. This is one of the most precious, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, charming damn things I've ever read in my life. I need a million more volumes, please. I cried happy tears at the end and I don't even care. And Bitty is such a precious little bean and Shitty is so hilarious and quietly deep and Holster & Ransom are the perfect bromance duo ever and JACK. Sweet, precious little Quebecian (IT'S A WORD OKAY) Jack and his quiet brooding and dark, sad former tragedy and... sigh. I loved this a lot, okay.
100% still one of the most precious, endearing things I've ever read in my whole life. Bitty is so sweet, Jack is so soft and perf, and Shitty is going beside McGraw from Giant Days in the weirdly specific category of manly-but-soft mustachioed college boys I adore. ♥♥♥ So happy I reread this before continuing the series.
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original review, november 2018:
OH MY WORD, it's so cute I'm gonna die. This is one of the most precious, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, charming damn things I've ever read in my life. I need a million more volumes, please. I cried happy tears at the end and I don't even care. And Bitty is such a precious little bean and Shitty is so hilarious and quietly deep and Holster & Ransom are the perfect bromance duo ever and JACK. Sweet, precious little Quebecian (IT'S A WORD OKAY) Jack and his quiet brooding and dark, sad former tragedy and... sigh. I loved this a lot, okay.
I love these babies so much. I have no words. RTC
That everything he knew was gone, but that this was here, in its place, this one bright thing.
The Summer Palace takes place after the end of the trilogy, and offers a little glimmer into what happened at the end of Kings Rising, as well as what would come to pass in the months after.
For now it was the simple pleasure of Laurent beside him, their hands linked, with only sunlight and fresh air about them.
I was so eager when I saw that this was a short story specifically about Laurent and Damen, and I could not have been happier with this story... unless it had been 300 pages instead of 30. Or 3,000 pages. That would've been okay, too. I'm so helplessly in love with this ship and I can't imagine ever tiring of these two.
Having made the decision to let Damen in, Laurent had not gone back on it. When the walls went up, it was with Damen inside them.
With how slow of a burn their romance was, and how difficult and broken Laurent could be, I was so relieved to find the tangible level of tenderness and love between the two of them. Fair warning: this story is honestly just a gradual escalation through precious, steamy, and - at times - angsty flirting and smut, but if you shipped these two even half as hard as I do, you need this story in your life. ❤
His smile widened. Laurent said, "What?"
"You were watching the road," said Damen.
"I thought that was how every girl saw other girls - this mix between beauty and awe and curiosity, a thin layer of lust just underneath. Took until I was fourteen to realize that no, the way I thought about other girls was a little different."
Let me begin by saying that I am a total sucker for diverse reads, but especially those involving queer women. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community who did not come to accept myself until far later in life than ideal, these coming-out stories resonate hard with me.
This book perfectly straddles the line between "tough topics" and "fluffy summer read". We get a taste of each, depending on who Grace is currently surrounded by, but it never leans overwhelmingly in either direction. Given that Eva's mother has recently passed, there is even a sense of underlying heaviness in many of the "fluffy" scenes.
All in all, I would call this a coming-of-age story more than anything: Grace must juggle coming to terms with her own sexuality, accepting her first relationship with another girl, and learning how to navigate the treacherous waters of her relationship with a neglectful and scatterbrained mother who ranges anywhere from merely problematic to downright abusive.
PLOT ➳➳
Grace's life has never been "normal", not since her dad died in Afghanistan during her toddler years. Her mother has never fully recovered from her grief, and so she drags Grace all over the small Cape town they live in, flitting from one place to the next (and one man to the next) as effortlessly as a butterfly. Few things are consistent in Grace's life: her best friend Luca, purple nail polish, and the inability to love anyone - including herself - with as much effort as she must expend just to keep her mother safe.
In comes Eva, family friend of Luca's mother; a beautiful, biracial dancer whose mother has just passed away, who eats peanut butter fresh from the jar, who lets people see her cry, and most of all, seems to seek something a little bit heavier than friendship with Grace. Can Grace look past the disaster of her home life long enough to allow anyone else in, or is she doomed to repeat the mistakes surrounding her?
GRACE ➳➳
Grace is a delightful narrator. She feels authentically teenaged, sassy and frustrated and moody, but she also has a weight to her soul that ages her tremendously and fits perfectly with the idea of any child forced to grow up too fast. She struggles constantly between wanting to demand that her mother be a mother, or wanting to protect her at all costs. I think anyone who grew up with problematic family members could relate really well to Grace's conflicts in this aspect.
EVA ➳➳
Eva is my favorite character in this book, by far. She is the perfect quintessential "quirky teen" who OWNS her race and her sexuality with pride. She offers a role of someone who has seen adversity and overcome it with a well of self-assuredness that I envy, even now. The moments discussing her recently deceased mother made my heart ache for her, but for the most part, she's a pretty constant source of entertainment.
SEXUALITY ➳➳
The biggest reason why I fell so quickly in love with the story and the characters is the bi rep. My god, there were times that Grace was explaining her feelings and I swear, I was teleported back to my own teenaged brain, full of confusion and self-doubt and questions, and all I could think was, I wish I'd had this book ten years ago. Grace isn't quite 100% certain of herself, but she's accepted her sexuality enough to not be ashamed, and it was such a refreshing view point.
The quote I chose for the beginning of this review literally forced me to close the book and just breathe for a few minutes, because it rang so solidly true with me. I found myself thinking, on multiple occasions, that I wondered if Ashley Herring Blake herself is a queer woman, because she gets it (spoiler alert: I later found out she's a proud bi woman!). I just don't have enough good things to say about how authentic this representation felt, and I cannot wait for more of her writing, because queer gals NEED material like this.
I would recommend this all day, every day, to anyone who enjoys a good YA contemporary. If you're a queer woman looking for a character to see yourself in, read this. If you're straight as a ruler and don't understand bisexuality in the slightest, read this. If you're just a human being looking for a good way to spend an afternoon, read this.
Thank you so much to the folks at HMH Books for Young Readers for this gorgeous ARC! All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Let me begin by saying that I am a total sucker for diverse reads, but especially those involving queer women. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community who did not come to accept myself until far later in life than ideal, these coming-out stories resonate hard with me.
This book perfectly straddles the line between "tough topics" and "fluffy summer read". We get a taste of each, depending on who Grace is currently surrounded by, but it never leans overwhelmingly in either direction. Given that Eva's mother has recently passed, there is even a sense of underlying heaviness in many of the "fluffy" scenes.
All in all, I would call this a coming-of-age story more than anything: Grace must juggle coming to terms with her own sexuality, accepting her first relationship with another girl, and learning how to navigate the treacherous waters of her relationship with a neglectful and scatterbrained mother who ranges anywhere from merely problematic to downright abusive.
PLOT ➳➳
Grace's life has never been "normal", not since her dad died in Afghanistan during her toddler years. Her mother has never fully recovered from her grief, and so she drags Grace all over the small Cape town they live in, flitting from one place to the next (and one man to the next) as effortlessly as a butterfly. Few things are consistent in Grace's life: her best friend Luca, purple nail polish, and the inability to love anyone - including herself - with as much effort as she must expend just to keep her mother safe.
In comes Eva, family friend of Luca's mother; a beautiful, biracial dancer whose mother has just passed away, who eats peanut butter fresh from the jar, who lets people see her cry, and most of all, seems to seek something a little bit heavier than friendship with Grace. Can Grace look past the disaster of her home life long enough to allow anyone else in, or is she doomed to repeat the mistakes surrounding her?
GRACE ➳➳
Grace is a delightful narrator. She feels authentically teenaged, sassy and frustrated and moody, but she also has a weight to her soul that ages her tremendously and fits perfectly with the idea of any child forced to grow up too fast. She struggles constantly between wanting to demand that her mother be a mother, or wanting to protect her at all costs. I think anyone who grew up with problematic family members could relate really well to Grace's conflicts in this aspect.
EVA ➳➳
Eva is my favorite character in this book, by far. She is the perfect quintessential "quirky teen" who OWNS her race and her sexuality with pride. She offers a role of someone who has seen adversity and overcome it with a well of self-assuredness that I envy, even now. The moments discussing her recently deceased mother made my heart ache for her, but for the most part, she's a pretty constant source of entertainment.
SEXUALITY ➳➳
The biggest reason why I fell so quickly in love with the story and the characters is the bi rep. My god, there were times that Grace was explaining her feelings and I swear, I was teleported back to my own teenaged brain, full of confusion and self-doubt and questions, and all I could think was, I wish I'd had this book ten years ago. Grace isn't quite 100% certain of herself, but she's accepted her sexuality enough to not be ashamed, and it was such a refreshing view point.
The quote I chose for the beginning of this review literally forced me to close the book and just breathe for a few minutes, because it rang so solidly true with me. I found myself thinking, on multiple occasions, that I wondered if Ashley Herring Blake herself is a queer woman, because she gets it (spoiler alert: I later found out she's a proud bi woman!). I just don't have enough good things to say about how authentic this representation felt, and I cannot wait for more of her writing, because queer gals NEED material like this.
I would recommend this all day, every day, to anyone who enjoys a good YA contemporary. If you're a queer woman looking for a character to see yourself in, read this. If you're straight as a ruler and don't understand bisexuality in the slightest, read this. If you're just a human being looking for a good way to spend an afternoon, read this.
Thank you so much to the folks at HMH Books for Young Readers for this gorgeous ARC! All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
This is literally one of the best graphic novels I've ever read in my life. I can't even begin to express how much I cherished these precious characters, the sweet dragon babies, and the incredible range of representation. We have normalized QPOC rep all over the place (I mean, I'm not sure if anyone here is cishet and I'm so here for it), disability rep that is so beautifully done it made me cry, and I just loved the entire story endlessly. I know I'll be recommending this to anyone and everyone for a long, long time.