This book is just full of "Awwwww!!!" out loud moments. It is so wholesome and sweet! A story about being loved for who you are, quirks and all. There were two comics in particular that stuck out to me, and spoke to my heart:
1) On Halloween, a girl dressed as a vampire is lagging behind a procession of girls dressed as princesses. The princesses are laughing, the vampire looks glum. Then Elsie, the actual vampire, hollers to the little girl dressed as a vampire that she looks good, and it makes the kid smile. Just this snapshot of a person being seen, and specifically of a girl cheering on another girl instead of tearing her down... OH, the feels! <3
2) Elsie the vampire is going for a walk in the rain, arms thrown open in ecstasy: She's free, no sun to hide from. Her werewolf boyfriend, Jimmy, holds her parasol and gloves, and is just smiling, watching her be happy. Just a magical, romantic moment, because it's so subtle and simple: Feeling happy that you could make your partner happy; Loving someone as they are; Finding joy in a little, everyday activity... A moving single panel, I have butterflies!
There's no drama, every "obstacle" is a chance for a creative solution. It's so heart-warming, how much Elsie and Jimmy enjoy each other's company. That they can do quiet things like read a book, or swap puns, but no matter how small their time together is always overflowing with love. The world needs more Elsies and Jimmys.

A GORGEOUS retelling of Snow White from the stepmother/queen's perspective, if Snow White had been a vampire (or dark fae, of sorts). Seriously, CANNOT overstate how beautiful this book is! Every single page would have made a beautiful Tarot card. The style is sort of Art Nouveau, where every detail hides a meaning of some sort; and they all flow together like the memories our royal narrator is confessing.
I love that despite the inversion of who's Good and who's Evil in this story, you still see the personality of The Queen we all know shining through: She is still ruthless, covetous, and afraid. I love the world-building/extending too, adding more fair folk than just dwarves; magic abounds in many forms, making this a world where the queen's witchcraft makes sense, and isn't inherently evil.
This book is NSFW, it's got a lot of erotic content and imagery, but I don't think I would call it an erotic novel. Despite the book's sexual content, it's not trying to be sexy. The story, at its core, is about a young, inexperienced, unqualified and paranoid young woman trying to come to grips with a traumatic event, the responsibilities of leadership, and the horrifying, sobering danger that there might be a darker force out there than even she can best. It's universal, and multi-faceted, and the queen's psychology is a fun one to follow and dissect.

This book fell flat for me, which is a huge disappointment, because with a title like "Bloodlust and Bonnets" you expect a riotous, irreverent, dark comedy. Plus, the premise was vampire hunting! How do you make vampire hunting boring? I don't know, but this book did. The parody was never deep enough for the literary nerd in me. The bloodLUST was severely lacking, the violence was rarely humorous or even a feature. It would have made a fun contrast with the propriety of the romance genre, were it played up more. But 99% of this book was the characters being confused about their motivations, wondering out loud what their plot ought to be, and then bickering with each other... They don't know what story they're in, and they don't want to be here, so....what is motivating ME to stick around and read about them?

Now, give me the spinoff that's all about Napoleon the psychic French eagle! That bird's life was FULL of excitement, and purpose!

One star back for inclusion, though. It was nice to see a romance story with LGBTQA characters.

FIRST of all, "Kingdom of the Wicked" is a misnomer. This book does not take place in the Kingdom of the Wicked. It does not explain the Kingdom of the Wicked. And if some social commentary were being made about how humans are more monstrous to each other than any demon of lore, you could have argued that the Kingdom of the Wicked is Earth...but that's NOT what happened here, the demons machinated everything, The Wicked were most definitely the wickedest wicked.

Secondly, and more importantly, this book is BAD, just categorically bad, and everything bad about it is revealed in miniature by its cheaply conceived title:
- The book doesn't talk about what it NEEDS to talk about. The plot is confusing, and all over the place. The world-building is non-existent; we get vague hints that maybe there's more to the history of witches and demons than dear Nonna relayed in her bedtime stories, but those discrepancies are never made explicit. And what should be THE highlight characters - be they antagonists or redemption arcs waiting to happen - are just... hot guys in suits.
- The protagonist can't follow clues to save her life, and she actively avoids things which might help her. She only stumbles into reveals and conflicts because her amulet plays magical Marco Polo with other active magic. And just like she's forced to feel magic at play, she is forced to feel emotions, as demons augment feelings in her which might not be her truth; meaning that when she has a change of heart, it is never because of character growth, but because her proximity to a certain demon has lessened! Emilia does not earn a single story, character, or emotional beat in this book. Why even is Emilia - the CLEAR author-insert - even the protagonist, when it's her feisty sister who is cutting deals with demons and unraveling the conspiracies around her coven, demons, and the church?! Clearly, Vittoria is the smarter, sassier, more daring, more interesting viewpoint character. Instead, we are subjected to her milk-toast sister, who gives us WAY too many descriptions of how to make pesto, or why she prefers romance novels to real life!
- It's redundant. This book repeats itself, and summarizes itself A LOT, for no apparent reason. I found myself, first, skimming whole paragraphs, because I didn't need the review session. Then, avoiding reading the book, because it was boring. To finally, falling asleep every time I tried to read.
- It has nothing to say. There isn't even any art to it, no metaphors... No message... A completely vapid tale about a girl who stumbles into whacky magical things, doesn't understand them, and then marries the devil because she runs out of things to stumble into.

Do yourself a favor: SKIP!

This was a tightly written duology, and it earns its twists, horrors, and happy-endings... but it was PAINFUL to read! For 300 pages I was having anxiety, my heart broken over and over. It reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games: The female protagonist who misinterprets the situations she's in because she's not politically savvy, and whose allies are willing to make devastating sacrifice plays while keeping her ignorant (for fear of her intervention).

The book has a LOT to say about systemic racism, and especially erasing a race's identity and contributions to society through genocide/appropriation/monarchal consolidation of wealth and power/the passage of time... It's painful and TRUE and still, sadly, relevant today.

I did not have a fun time reading this book. It hurt my soul to see the characters I had come to love torn apart and made to feel helpless/hopeless, and it also hurt to have a mirror held up to my own world/country/ancestors/race. But I cannot deny that it is an impressive, brilliantly written, and important book. Much love for what was accomplished here ^_^.

None of the male leads are likeable in this book. And I usually like a dark shell on the outside, gooey marshmallow on the inside, kind of character. But these brooding boys were just abusive. I don't really care if they're pining for understanding or security or respect or WHATEVER, because they are all selfish and cruel. Toya the vampire is constantly negging Chiyuki, Satsuki the werewolf tries to sexually assault her and ignores her directly saying, "No", and Kei ties her up and HITS HER IN THE HEAD WITH A BOULDER because he's angry that he's invested time in caring about her but she doesn't return his affections.... Girls. Don't. Owe. You. JACK!

I also found the comic style to be very confusing O_o. I couldn't always tell who was talking, or what was meant to be an inner monologue versus what was being said out loud... It was a messy manga to try and read.

A sweet little speech about respecting yourself and appreciating each day, big or small.

I love Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his relentless love, ambition, and creativity. It's sweet, to start and end each day with one of these affirmations, and I can see that they helped a lot of people.

But not all the entries are poetry XD. Some are pithy motivational kitten poster fodder. Some are just...filler XD, psyching you up with vapid praise like "looking good!"

What really makes this collection a good /book/ are Jonny Sunny's illustrations. They gave me a sense of nostalgia, humor and peace, as if I were reading a book of Shel Silverstein poems. I can't imagine each of these entries as /just/ a tweet, they would have gotten a little obnoxious. But with the drawing, they're more soothing. Props to Jonny!

This is a perfect manga from start to finish. steampunk madness at its finest <3 <3 <3! The author bio at the end mentions she was inspired by Lemony Snicket and Eoin Colfer, and it shows. The series' darkness is offset with levity and cuteness. There's humor; there's heart; there's adults being selfish, abusive and terrible; and there's children being intelligent, caring and resourceful. The story earns its - literally - explosive ending XD.

And it's a cute, beautiful, smartly-drawn manga. It was easy to read, because speech bubbles would be embellished to suit the character: zigzags like lightning for a robot, frothy bubbles for a science experiment, bold boxes for an adult and simple circles for a kid... The author played with framing and space, too. Like at one point, a character is knocked into another panel by a booby-trapped toy bunny. I will be keeping an eye out for future manga from this writer, she's got skills!

Spooky, sci-fi, shenanigans! A fun read for any age reader.

"The air tasted like a soup of tranquility and dust."

Aaaand that's when I shut the book and decided this was not for me! DNF.

I am severely disappointed, I had it in my head for some reason that this was an inclusive book? But skimming ahead, it's not LGBTQA, it's not very feminist or modern, it just... doesn't have anything to say beyond the plot/surface. And Miss Elsanna - sorry, Jennesara - of Arendell - sorry, Herindal - reads like Frozen fanfiction, and leaves A LOT to be desired in the realm of representation. Book so white, D N F.