Farewell

I think it's safe to say, I've lost interest in keeping this journal up. I'm not sure why, it just is what it is. I am going to still be doing random reviews of all sorts of things over on Dreamwidth though. I made a new account after the Tumblr debacle was announced earlier this month. So if you still want to know what I'm reading and my thoughts you can follow me there. I'll also be chatting about tv, movies, and various other nerdy pursuits: https://fantasylover12001.dreamwidth.org/

I'm also still on Goodreads if anyone just wants to follow me that way.

Book Review: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

TITLE: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
Book 9 in the Flavia de Luce series
AUTHOR: Alan Bradley
CATEGORY:often shelved as adult, I say it's middle-grade
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018 (in the US)
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Mystery
PREMISE: While dealing with the death of her father, Flavia stumbles upon another mystery...
MY REVIEW: I am a latecomer to the Flavia de Luce series. I read the first book around...two years ago, I believe. The series has been out for quite some time now. With the ninth book, it is coming to an end. I'm sorry to see it go, but I think it's just as well. I could tell the author was running out of ideas of what to do with the series. Some of the previous books wandered in plot a lot. The same happened with this book. But we do ultimately get a good conclusion for Flavia and everyone else in her life. For the record, I wouldn't be opposed to a series about adult Flavia de Luce. Just saying.
It's always a bit bittersweet when a series comes to an end. On one hand...you get to know the characters are going to be okay in the end. On the other hand: no more books. Flavia, I'm going to miss you and your delight in stumbling upon dead bodies.
WHO SHOULD READ: those who've read books 1-8, cozy mystery fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five series coming to an end
RATING FOR SERIES: Four out of Five

Book Review: Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

TITLE: Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have the Answers to When You Work in the White House.
AUTHOR: Alyssa Mastromonaco
PUBLISHED: March 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Memoirs, Politics
PREMISE: Obama's former Deputy Chief of Staff writes about her time in the White House and what it's like to work in politics.
MY REVIEW: I'm honestly not sure how to rate this one. There's nothing really wrong with it. The writing is engaging, it explains things really well, there are some good stories in here. It's just...I feel like the book didn't know what it wanted to be.
Part of it was a memoir, another part of it was life advice. It just kept switching and it was jarring when it would switch. That aspect of the book, I could have done without. But for the most part, I did enjoy it. It just was all over the place sometimes and needed a bit more focus. There were some excellent stories in here about Obama though. Those were fun.
This is one of those niche kind of books, you either are going to be interested in it or you aren't. I was, so I liked it.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in politics
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five funny stories about Obama

Book Review: Heroine Complex

TITLE: Heroine Complex
Book 1 in the Heroine Complex series
AUTHOR: Sarah Kuhn
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Romance, Superheros
PREMISE: An assistant to a superhero struggles with new found super powers...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to read this forever. I don't know why it took so long for me to get to it. It just did. I enjoyed this one a lot. I will warn, there's actually a lot of sex scenes in this. Way more then I was expecting, actually. I don't mind sex scenes, but I know that can be an issue with some readers.
This was actually more romance focused then the summary let on. If you're a romance reader, you actually should probably like this. It follows a lot of the romance genre beats. There's some good character stuff in it as well. I love that it wasn't afraid to make all its characters flawed.
If you want a really serious urban fantasy...this probably won't be for you. It's more character/romance focused then it is on world-building. But the character stuff is great and is what is going to keep me reading the series. The next book goes into another character and her romance and I actually am really looking forward to that. I found the character really interesting.
WHO SHOULD READ: superhero fans, romance fans, Marvel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five kick-ass women with powers

Book Review: The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You

TITLE: The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You
AUTHOR: Lily Anderson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance
PREMISE: When their friends start dating, two people who can't stand each other agree to try and get along for their friend's sake....
MY REVIEW: After reading and enjoying Undead Girl Gang, I decided to just go ahead and read the author's other books. This one is different from Undead Girl Gang. It's a contemporary book with romance in it. Luckily for the author, I've been in a romance mood, thanks to Crazy Rich Asians and the To All the Boys I've Loved Before movie.
This is one of those classic enemies to lovers kind of plots. It's honestly, just fun. It's also very nerdy. All the characters are geeks, so there are references to all sorts of things. The dialogue is great, there's a bit of a funny twist at the end and I liked all the friends.
If you want ground-breaking, this book isn't it. But if you want just a cute and fluffy contemporary romance, with lots of geek references, it absolutely delivers. There's a companion book out there and I've already read that too, so a review will be coming soon.
WHO SHOULD READ: geeks, contemporary romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five cute romances

Book Review: Crazy Rich Asians

TITLE: Crazy Rich Asians
Book 1 in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy
AUTHOR: Kevin Kwan
PUBLISHED: 2013
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Romance, Contemporary
PREMISE: A woman finds out the man she is dating is in fact a member of one of the richest families in Singapore....
MY REVIEW: Unless you've been living under a rock or something, chances are high you've at least heard about Crazy Rich Asians. The movie has been big this summer. I saw it, and honestly, I get the hype. Seriously, the movie is gold, go see it if you adore rom coms or any kind of family drama stuff.
I read the book right before seeing the movie it was honestly just as delightful. I will warn, the writing...is not the best. It kind of jumps from POV to POV and is awkward in some places. But the characterization, the self-aware humor, and entertaining family drama all make up for it. There's also some pretty interesting commentary on things like classism, racism, and various other topics. I also actually liked the footnotes. They provided some interesting information that I wasn't aware of. So not only are you getting an entertaining read, you actually get some interesting tidbits about Singapore and its culture.
So count me in on the Crazy Rich Asians hype train. I can't wait to read the rest of the books and see the sequel, whenever we get it. Also: if you have not seen the To All the Boys I've Loved Before movie yet....do so. It's wonderful.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rom com fans, Jenny Han fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five wacky families

Book Review: Most Wanted

TITLE: Most Wanted
Part of the Star Wars canon books
AUTHOR: Rae Carson
PUBLISHED: May 25th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Media tie-in
PREMISE: Set before the Solo movie, this book goes into how Han and Qi'ra became partners...
MY REVIEW: I saw the Solo movie a few months ago in theaters. It was perfectly decent movie. Completely unnecessary, as are most prequels, but it was a decent film.
This book is pretty on par with most of the new Star Wars books: not necessary to read, but a good time if you're pining for more Star Wars in between the films/TV shows. They also give some nice supplemental info. I actually kind of feel like this gave us some better background on Han, then the movie did. It also gave Qi'ra some much better development, as well.
If you read Star Wars books on regular basis, you know what to expect from this one: lots of action and adventure. It's very fast-paced (I finished it in like, two sittings). If you liked the Solo movie, but maybe wanted some more info on the characters, this is a good one to pick to pick up. There's also one out there about young Lando, so I'll probably look into that one as well.
WHO SHOULD READ: Star Wars fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five space races

Book Review: Undead Girl Gang

TITLE: Undead Girl Gang
AUTHOR: Lily Anderson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: May 8th, 2018
GENRE: Urban Fantasy. Mystery
PREMISE: A girl raises her best friend back from the dead to find out how she died, but...she winds up bringing back two other girls as well.
MY REVIEW: I normally am not interested in zombies. I don't know why, but they just honestly bore me. There's usually not really much you can do with them. But this one interested me, because there was a mystery and female friendship attached to to it.
For the most part, it's a fun ride. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief while reading it. The main character is a bit prickly, but I personally enjoyed her. But I find all the characters the YA crowd deem "unlikable", are characters whom I wind up liking a lot. Go figure. If you were picking this up because you heard rumblings about there being "great" LGBT rep...there really isn't. The rep is just two adult female side characters who barely get any screen time and it's just mentioned that they're in a relationship. I found them interesting, and would honestly love a book about them. But I'm not sure why it was advertised as great rep as honestly...the characters don't really do anything.
That disappointing bit aside, this was a decent read. I particularly liked where the mystery went. After this, I went and picked up Lily Anderson's debut book, and wound up loving that one as well. The review is coming soon. I think I have a new author to enjoy now.
WHO SHOULD READ: Buffy fans, those looking for books with witches/zombies
MY RATING: Four out of Five female friendships

Classic Book Review: A Separate Peace

TITLE: A Separate Peace
AUTHOR: John Knowles
PUBLISHED: 1959
CATEGORY: Young Adult (sort of)
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PREMISE: A man remembers his time in school during WWII.
MY THOUGHTS: Sigh. This is yet another book in what I'm beginning to think is a sub-genre: Old (usually white and straight) guy thinks back on one memorable thing from his childhood. I've stumbled across so many literature books that do this and...honestly dudes? I'm sorry, but your childhood is not as interesting as you think it is. This one had all the problems that books that do this idea have: mainly...it's dull.
I get what the author was doing with it. War is hell, it effects us all, even those not in the war, etc. etc. Probably also some metaphors for losing your innocence as well. This is not a difficult novel to grasp or even to read. Which is probably why it winds up on reading lists for schools all the time. But personally, I suspect this is better read as an adult. I have no doubt that teenage me would have hated this. Adult me....didn't enjoy it, but appreciates what the author was trying to do.
I just, for the life of me, couldn't get into this one. Yet another classic that is just not for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: literature fans, those that don't mind slow-paced books

My Big Fat Recommendation List: J Authors

Here are all the authors whose books I recommend whose last name starts with the letter J:

Childrens/Middle-Grade

Diane Wynne Jones
Chrestomanci series
Enchanted Glass

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Young Adult Fiction

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Michele Jaffe
Bad Kitty duology
Rosebush
Ghost Flower
Minders

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay (there is a second book, but it's honestly kind of bad. Just read the first)
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Summer Prince
Love is the Drug

Maureen Johnson
13 Little Blue Envelopes
Devilish
Suite Scarlett duology
Shades of London series
Truly Devious series

Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
Need Series by Carrie Jones

Diane Wynne Jones
Howl's Moving Castle series
The Game
Dark Lord of Derkholm

Adult Fiction

Contemporary/Historical Fiction
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Science-Fiction/Fantasy

N. K. Jemisin
Inheritance Trilogy
Broken Earth Trilogy

Queen of the Tearling Trilogy by Erika Johansen

Non-Fiction

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
The Empathy Exams: Essays by Leslie Jamison
Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
Here We Are: Feminism For the Real World by various authors, edited by Kelly Jenson
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diane Wynne Jones

Book Review: Not If I Save You First

TITLE: Not If I Save You First
AUTHOR: Ally Carter
PUBLISHED: March 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary/Romance
PREMISE: A girl needs to save the President's son from getting kidnapped. Too bad she hates the boy's guts.
MY REVIEW: I am pretty much always up for an Ally Carter book. Her books are just fun. This short standalone is no exception. It's a nice breezy pace, with lots of action, just enough detail, and a satisfying story.
It just...wasn't as good as I've seen her do. It's not bad! Again, I enjoyed it. If you're looking for a quick, cute, read, it's a good pick. If you want something with a little more substance though....I'd look elsewhere. This also isn't as good as some of her previous work. I kind of get the sense that it was just written to meet a contract requirement. But at least it was fun. It also apparently takes place in the same world as Gallagher Girls/Heist Society as there's a bit of a reference to one of the spy schools.
So, not the best book ever. But if you just want a quick read with a fun main character, this is a good one to pick up.
WHO SHOULD READ: Ally Carter fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five bedazzled hammers

Book Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time

TITLE: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Book 1 in the Pandava Quartet series
AUTHOR: Rhoshani Chokshi
PUBLISHED: March 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: Middle-grade
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl goes on a quest after she accidentally causes time to freeze after lighting a lamp....
MY REVIEW: I have been meaning to read this for awhile now. I adore Rick Riordan's books, and this new imprint he has going on with his publisher is frankly awesome. I want to read every book that he has previewed so far. Sadly, some of them don't come out until 2020 ;pouts;
If they are anything like this though, we're in for some good stuff, guys. This is very Percy Jackson like, so I understand why Riordan picked it for his imprint. But it does its own thing. I confess...I don't really know anything about the poem that this book is drawing inspiration from. So I can't tell you how well Chokshi is using the mythology or anything like that. I can tell you, she spins an entertaining story, with delightful protagonists.
This is a great start to a new series. The ending is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, Rhoshani Chokshi fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five sassy birds

Book Review: Freshwater

TITLE: Freshwater
AUTHOR: Akwaeke Emezi
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 13th, 2018
GENRE: Er....Magical Realism...I guess?
PREMISE: A young woman grows up with different selves living inside of her...
MY REVIEW: You ever read a book, think to yourself "Like...I'm sensing this is a really good book...but I'm not getting it at all?" Well, that is me and Freshwater. I feel like I maybe needed more information on some sort of myths or something in order to enjoy this. Because I mostly just read this book, feeling confused as hell through out the whole thing.
I'm honestly not sure if this is the fault of the book or just me not giving it the attention it needed or something. The writing is fine, I get what is going on. I just don't understand the why of what's going on. I feel like there's some sort of piece of the puzzle that I'm missing and that kept me from getting fully invested in the book.
I will say, the writing is lovely. There are some gorgeous lines here and there in it. The story however is just weird and doesn't seem to go anywhere. But according to literature people, it did go somewhere. So...I guess I just missed something.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um....not sure, really, literature fans maybe?
MY RATING: Three out of five I just don't get you books

My Big Fat Recommendation List: H and I Authors

Here are all the books by authors whose name starts with the letters H, and I, whose books I have read and recommend. I am putting I here, because there aren't many writers I've read whose name starts with I. So it's kind of silly for me to make a whole page for them when there'll be like...two authors there.

H Authors

Childrens

Princess Academy books by Shannon Hale

Marguerite Henry
Misty of Chincoteague series
King of the Wind
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Born to Trot
Justin Morgan Had a Horse

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Bunnicula series by James Howe

YA

Gone With the Respiration Duology by Lia Habel
The Girl is Murder Duology by Kathryn Miller Haines

Shannon Hale
Books of Bayern series
Book of a Thousand Days
Dangerous

The Conspiracy of Us Trilogy by Maggie Hall
Deadly Cool series by Gemma Halliday
Rebel of the Sands series  by Alwyn Hamilton
To All the Boys I've Loved Before Trilogy by Jenny Han

Cynthia Hand
Unearthly Trilogy
The Afterlife of Holly Chase
The Lady Janies series co-written with Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

Kim Harrington
Clarity Duology
The Dead and Buried

Seraphina series by Rachel Hartman

Rachel Hawkins
Hex Hall series
Rebel Belle Trilogy

The Girl From Everywhere Duology by Heidi Heilig
The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
Splintered series by A. G. Howard

Shaun David Hutchinson
We Are the Ants
At the Edge of the Universe
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

Adult Fiction

Contemporary/Literary/Historical Fiction

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Fantasy

Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
The Hollows series  by Kim Harrison
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Sci-Fi

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

Mystery

Charlaine Harris
Aurora Teagarden series
Lily Bard series

Romance

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer

Plays

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Poetry

The Collected Poems by Langston Hughes

Non-Fiction

Around the Way Girl by Taraji P. Henson
The Geek Feminist Revolution  by Kameron Hurley

I Authors

YA
Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland

Adult Fiction

Contemporary/Literature/Historical Fiction
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Plays
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Book Review: Heart of Iron

TITLE: Heart of Iron
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Ashley Poston
PUBLISHED: February 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science-Fiction
PREMISE: A sci-fi retelling of Anastasia.
MY REVIEW: So I got this book in my OwlCrate box awhile back. I wasn't really anticipating it or anything, but after enjoying Geekerella, I figured I would at least be reading it. For those wondering about the Anastasia factor...it is definitely there. If you're reading this for the hopes of some Russian inspired sci-fi or something though...you'll probably disappointed. It just takes the bare bones of the movie Anastasia and sets it in space and takes liberties.
Luckily, I liked the liberties. World building wise...this isn't really hard sci-fi or anything. If you're someone who likes the science part of sci-fi, I guarantee the science in here will probably bug you. But story wise and character wise, it was pretty good. It's fast paced and entertaining. I don't mind the relationships that much either. There's a cute side M/M relationship as well as the main one. There's also quite a bit of diversity. I wish the book had advertised those facts more. I bet people looking for those things would like to know the book has it.
Story wise...it goes pretty predictably. But there are some pretty good twists here and there. Particularly at the end. The characters are all enjoyable and it's very readable and entertaining. I'll probably be picking up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Anastasia fans, sci-fi fans, fans of things like These Broken Stars
MY RATING: Four out of Five lost princesses

Book Review: The Case for Jamie

TITLE: The Case for Jamie
Book 3 in the Charlotte Holmes series
AUTHOR: Brittany Cavallaro
PUBLISHED: March 6th, 2018
GENRE: Classic book referencing, Mystery
PREMISE: Charlotte and Jamie get thrown together for another case...
MY REVIEW: This series continues to be really enjoyable. I love what the author does with the characters of Charlotte and Jamie. Mystery wise...it's about average. But character development wise...it's top notch. I honestly wish this author had been put in charge of the BBC Sherlock show. I bet we would have gotten much better development for everyone. ;is still bitter about how that series turned out;
I can't really go into much without spoiling a lot of the book. But this deals with the fallout of the last book and I love how it dealt with it. It didn't try to demonize anyone or make the reader pick sides or put any character on a pedestal. That was so refreshing, because that can often happen when there's a conflict in book series.
So my feelings on this series are mostly the same. It's an enjoyable riff on Sherlock Holmes. It does gender-flipping well and does something new with the Sherlock Holmes stories. I can't wait to read the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, Sherlock Holmes fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five excellent character developments

(Modern) Classic Book Review: The Neverending Story

TITLE: The Neverending Story
AUTHOR: Michael Ende
PUBLISHED: 1979
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A boy finds a book that magically transports him to a magical land.
MY THOUGHTS: I have seen the Neverending Story movies a long time ago. I believe back in middle-school, actually. I enjoyed them well enough. That's kind of my reaction to the book: I enjoyed it well enough. It's not really life-changing or anything, though.
Probably if I had read this as a tween, it'd be a different story. If you have a tween into fantasy, give them this book. They will probably at least get a kick out of it. Me, I just can't give it more then a shrug. Part of it is that it's predictable. Nothing happens that isn't really unexpected. It follows typical fantasy quest rules. It's wish-fulfillment for boys, basically. It is also frankly...a little dated. Female characters don't really do anything, the one PoC character is a horrible stereotype. He...kind of does stuff, but is quickly pushed aside, once Bastian goes into the book. Which...I get it, it's a wish-fulfillment book. So naturally, everyone is going to be focused on making Bastian the best hero he can be. It was still kind of annoying though.
So...I get why it became a thing. It's a decent story and does the trick. There's some meta stuff in the beginning about reading that I really liked. For the age group it's aimed at, I recommend it. For older folks though...I suspect it might bore you. Especially if you're like me and have seen the movies, so you already know what happens.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tweens/Middle-school/early high school readers, fantasy fans

Book Review: An American Marriage

TITLE: An American Marriage
AUTHOR: Tayari Jones
PUBLISHED: February 2018
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A detailed look at a marriage and its ups and downs as the husband gets convicted of a crime he didn't commit and goes to prison.
MY REVIEW: I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On one hand: the writing is great. There are a lot of topics brought up in this book that make you sit and think about things and I loved that aspect of it. The characters are well developed as well.
On the other hand....it was really slow. And I really did not like the ending. I felt like there was all this big amazing build up that...just fizzled out at the end and I was just left there going "that's it? Really?". Which...is unfortunately a thing that often happens with me in literature books.
So I'm torn on how to rate this. It was really good and I liked it. For the first two thirds of the book I thought I might have a five star read on my hand. But then the ending happened. But I don't want to rate a book low just because of the ending. The ending is just one factor of a book. I like to look at all the factors. For most of it...this book was really good. So...yeah, I'm not sure what to rate this one, really.
WHO SHOULD READ: Oprah's Book Club fans, those who like gut-punching kind of books
MY RATING: Three and a half to four out of five troubled marriages

Book Review: Anger is a Gift

TITLE: Anger is a Gift
AUTHOR: Mark Oshiro
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
PUBLISHED: May 22nd, 2018
PREMISE: Moss' life gets turned upside down when his school starts getting metal detectors and a heavy police presence...
MY REVIEW: Some of you may know Mark Oshiro from Mark Reads or Mark Watches or his general Mark Does Stuff website. I've been a fan of his for awhile now. I used to actually comment on his readalongs/watchalongs but stopped and now mostly just lurk. So I was pretty excited to hear that he had written a book.
I am pleased to say: it is great. There are a lot of comparisons being made to The Hate U Give and that is definitely apt. This takes a lot of the issues brought up in that book (as well as the book Dear Martin) and builds on it in a wonderful way.
This book does not play. To quote Mark himself: shit gets real. Very fast. There's a bit in the middle and end that is especially gut-punching. Basically, this book is just damn good. Read it. Especially if you need something to tide you over until THUG movie or Angie Thomas' new book in February.
WHO SHOULD READ: THUG fans, Dear Martin fans, Adam Silvera fans
MY RATING: Five out of Five tear stained tissues

Book Review Catch Up Part 3: The Second Half of July 2018

Last of the review catch up posts, I promise. Here are all the things I read in the second half of July.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding Book 1 by Alexandra Bracken
Category: Middle-Grade
Published: September 2017
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Enjoyable read, as usual, from Alexandra Bracken. Turns out this is going to be made into a movie, so I read it just in time.
Rating: Four out of Five snarky demons

Another Country by James Baldwin
Category: Adult
Published: 1962
Genre: Contemporary
Read mostly because it was on the Great American Read list. I'm kind of slowly going through the ones I haven't read. Not all of them, because there are some I'm just not interested in, at all (Atlas Shrugged, for instance). But most of them I will be reading....at some point.

Robots VS Fairies anthology by various authors
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Published: January 9th, 2018
Fun short story anthology that had stories featuring either robots or fairies.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five short stories that I wanted to be whole books

Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang
Category: Non-Fiction
Genre: Social Commentary/Feminism
Published: February 6th, 2018
A deep look into the sexism of the tech industry. How bad it is, how we got there, why it persists, and how we can change the culture. The book is good and interesting...it's just draining, hearing about all these incidents and seeing all the indifference from some of the people in the industry.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five informative, but sad books

Kat Holloway Book 1: Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 2nd, 2018
Okay historical mystery. Didn't really impress me, but didn't really fail me either. It's good for if you just want some Downton Abbey-esque feelings with a dash of mystery.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five nosy maids getting shit done

Veronica Speedwell Book 3: A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 16th, 2018
This series continues to be delightful. If you like slow burn romances, heroines who don't give a fuck about society's expectations, and snark, seriously pick this series up.
Rating: Four out of Five awesome snarky heroines

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Category: Play
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 1953
I started to read this one, and it turns out I actually already have read it...way back in school. I just apparently forgot that. Oh well. If nothing else, it was a good refresher.

Comics read:
Captain America original 1940s series on Marvel Unlimited
Heavy Vinyl vol. 1