The artwork reminds me of the Loud House. This is about a town known for its skateboard gangs or crews. A not-so-great crew of misfits are trying to level up and find a place to shred. The way this book is drawn makes the gang seem like they’re from the movie Grease or from West Side Story rather than what most modern gangs are like. There is some narrative and in all honesty this book is boring. I am DNFing  at 24%. I like the artwork and even part of the concept, cannot get past how boring it is. 

 Boys Town Press has been getting some better authors. This book was a tad long all of Boys Town books are about learning a lesson. In this book, we have two little girls who come home from school.  They were left a note of instructions and told to wait for Mom. When they skip part of the instructions, it causes a problem. They use this problem to learn a lesson. I like that this strays away from the problem, three examples, pneumatic solution. This is a story told as stories are supposed to be told. While I find the story is long for storytime, it would be perfect for a classroom setting. The illustrations are bright and colorful and will keep kids’ attention. 

 This book is a bit of a bait and switch. It starts out with twinkle a star who is not very bright and is dim. She’s ostracized and not allowed to join other groups because of how not bright she is. She goes off and finds her own way until the day an angel comes and says shine your light. Turns out she’s a guide for the newborn king. I say this is a bait and switch because without reading the descriptions and based entirely on cover, you would think this has to do something with twinkle twinkle little star not with the birth of Jesus. The story rhymes in is nice and I do like it. I don’t like feeling tricked. My favorite thing about this book is the artwork. It’s cozy and comforting and wrapped you up like a warm blanket. 

 Apparently this graphic novel is based on a movie. I have not seen the movie. The artwork in this book is lovely. However, the story is at times hard to follow. I think so much has been cut from the movie to make the book fit within a certain set of page numbers. Parts of the story are confusing, and it feels like we’re missing pieces. Overall, the book is beautiful, but it was not as satisfying read. 

 This was not the happiest book to start 2025 with. From the very beginning, we know that Greta is dead. We don’t know why but the story is being narrated by her friend Shane. This story is of a girl who had a picture-perfect life on the surface, but a troubled family underneath. The story revolves around what happens after she dies. It’s her friend Shane telling us about Greta about her friends and how all these interconnected stories take place after she’s gone. We do find out how and why Greta dies. Shane also breaks the fourth wall and starts blaming the readers. Which is an interesting tactic. I’d be hard-pressed to say I liked this book, but I didn’t hate it. If I was reading this, I might have DNFed it, but I was enjoying the audiobook. Which is odd as this is a slow book. The question of would I recommended to others maybe. Small chance but maybe. 

This is a sequel full speed to a crash landing. We follow the same characters just a little time after we left them. Ada cannot be found at a fancy gala on one of the Earth ready to pull a giant heist. Ryan’s not far behind her. While the rest of the crew is not with him, he has a new team and his goal is to get back what Ada took and prevent her from stealing anything else. The fate of the original earth is on the line. Ada is snarky. She was snarky in the first book, but she’s more snarky in book too. This is the type of snarky that is fun. She feels like she could be your best friend. Her chemistry with the Ryan character is spot on and I love that. This book is not a romance that has romantic elements. there is no spice in this book just steam, but it’s just right to let us in to the finale. Book 3 needs to get here faster.

Every generation needs a parent trap. Let it glow is a new take on the parent trap without trapping parent. We have two young girls, one whose grandmother lives at an assisted living facility and another whose grandfather is looking at living in the assisted living facility. They are both adopted. They are both 12 years old. And they meet for the first time at the assisted living facility and go you have my face. You have my birthday. We must be twins. But how. These twins, both unique yet with some similarities a a plan to revealed to both their parents that hey there was a mistake when we were born. They’re gonna reveal this at the play put on at the assisted living facility. In great parent trap fashion eventually the two do switch houses and nobody knows except for a young brother. This book was just fun. It is a holiday book which is why it’s called. Let it glow. One of our girls is trying to find her belief in Hanukkah. She was raised Jewish, but doesn’t really feel Jewish and that is what she wants to gain this holiday season. The other sister Was raised with Christmas and Christmas tree trees. So switching they get to experience the other side. There’s no other word for this besides Q. This book is cute from page one to the last. It’s being read or it’s being listened to. This is a book for the entire family.

I wanted to like this. I like the previous book in this series. In this book, we have a woman constantly worried about her weight. When she wakes up as a vampire Hunter, she ends up weighing more because it’s muscle but constantly worried about she put on all this weight in these ounces… it got exhausting. I’m sure there’s a good story in there someplace as the first book was fantastic. But that character also had to get over this hump of I like myself. I think the reason I find this one so annoying is that she was mad she was getting thinner and looking better but the scale said more. This is supposed to be about hunting vampires and falling in love with one. But the beginning was just so blahhhhh,  as if the character wants you to hate them. Therefore, this was a DNF.

Climbing the cornfield three takes us to a cult. This cult feels like an Amish society. They worship Frando and there was just weird crap that goes on. Like cannibalism and other things. There are a lot of leftover questions from this book. I know there’s going to be a book for but this book barely connects to the other too. It does connect, but it’s getting out there. It’s like when Freddie met Jason in space. They took a step too far. I didn’t mind this book and I still love the series, but I need to see what happened next and I need all the holes filled. Like where the body comes from. How does it have the psychedelic effect. Lots and lots of questions

Cursed luck is in Indy book of Kelly Armstrong’s. In it we have Kennedy who owns an antique shop. She specializes in removing curses from antique objects that she can then resell. One day Aiden comes in to make her approve that she can actually do as advertised. The two end up on a wild urban fantasy adventure that sends her back home to her sisters and the rest of her family. This is very trophy, but it’s the tropes that make it fun. I do plan on listening to the rest of the books in the series.