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bookaddict24-7 · 2 years

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REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2022!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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91. Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I received a copy from the publisher. This did not affect my review in any way. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get when I started this book. Fantasy and I have a complicated relationship because I'm picky about which fantasies I pick up and about the themes fantasy books sometimes explore. I was pleasantly surprised by BLOOD SCION and I'm glad I gave it a shot. One of my favourite things about this book was the exploration of the Orishas because it is such a huge part of my culture. I have grown up hearing about the different deities and what they signify and the what realms of life they rule. This topic is also why I am always drawn to books like this one because Orishas are so rarely talked about and if they are, you have to cross your fingers that they're represented correctly. Falaye does a wonderful job of that and I'm so excited that this book is out there for other readers to learn more about the Orishas. Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the main character's journey. She wasn't one of those characters who was magically good at everything when faced with difficulties. She had to realistically work for her success (even if it wasn't as frequent as she would have liked). She was a powerfully flawed character seeking answers in a dangerous world. I really enjoyed reading things from her perspective. The plot in this one was intriguing and I can't wait for book two. That cliffhanger was both powerful and frustrating because now I have to wait for the sequel. The only reason why I'm taking a bit off the rating is the length. At times the story felt a little long, but that could also be me and my lack of an attention span when it comes to Fantasy. I'd recommend this book for fans of CHILDREN OF BLOOD & BONE and RAYBEARER. If you love adventure, different cultures, and a badass black girl beating the odds, then you'll probably enjoy this one!

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92. A School Frozen in Time Vol. 4 by Naoshi Arakawa & Mizuki Tsujimura--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay, I'm giving this final volume all of the stars because it caught me completely by surprise! I hadn't guessed the twists at all and I love that. I love that I was wrong because it means the story successfully hid its reveals from me and honestly, that's not easy to do. I still am not the biggest fan of the artwork, but this story was so sad at the end. I loved how everything was connected somehow. It was honestly amazing and broke me just a little. If you want a shorter, spooky, and at times heartbreaking manga, then I highly recommend this one!

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93. Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have been wanting to read this book for FOREVER. Especially because that synopsis immediately drew me in. I also love books where the MC has to complete a checklist of items on their bucket list before a deadline hits. This was cute and fun, but keep in mind that there isn't any spice at all. There's a romance, but I found that the heart of this book was about more than the connection the MC felt with the love interest. I definitely believe that this book is more about grief and the different ways we process it--especially when we're forced to face our sadness when we think we're not ready. I think the checklist was the perfect parallel to the MC's grief process because it showed us how unpredictable life can be and how sometimes you have to force yourself to step outside of your comfort zone to capture moments you might not get otherwise. I found the MC's relationship with her nieces endearing at times and sort of unfair during other times. I talked about this with a friend a couple of days ago and she brought up the fact that sometimes parents (and adult figures) in books end up sacrificing themselves more than normal in books like this one. Yes, children are important but said adult is also human. I feel like the process of writing down fictional characters in situations like this one blurs that line between realism and martyrdom. I find that the MC grieving is seen as something she just needs to accept and move on from so that she can help her nieces in their grieving journey. Why shouldn't she shy away from hearing the sound of her lost one's voice when it causes her pain? How dare she be confronted by those who love her simply because she is struggling to overcome her grief? And here's the thing I'm also thinking of as I write this: Why does the MC have to become an island onto herself with her emotions just because her nieces are also grieving? Grief is messy and complicated and everyone does it differently, but if there is one thing I disliked about this book it is how the MC's emotions and grieving process wasn't really respected. Anyway, that's the main reason why this isn't a five star read for me. But beyond that, I really enjoyed this book and found it charming in a way I never expected. This would be a great summer read if you're okay with it having that dose of grief thrown in there.

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94. Room to Dream by Kelly Yang--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another great read by this author! I love this series and watching the MC grow into an incredible and empathic young adult. We explore a little more of the MC's heritage in this one and even get to meet her family in China. I can't help but think about how exciting those chapters must be for readers who either relate to the MC or who are curious about other cultures. I always love her heartfelt conversations and the lessons she learns along the way (even as we see where her mistakes and actions may potentially take her before she sees them coming). I think this book also brings up the important conversation of consent. Knowing that the author has written a YA book about this very topic, I'm not surprised to see her introduce this concept to our MC. It shows that no matter the age, consent is something that must always exist. Every time I read a scene with her friend where he acted a certain way towards the MC after her rejection, and how even his parents treated her when certain things happen because of the lack of consent between them (like victim blaming.) I kept saying to myself, "That kid needs a lesson in consent." I think it's important for young readers to read about this topic in such a relatable way. Do they too have someone that likes them but won't accept their "no"? Do they have kids bullying them as a result of a rejection? I'm always amazed by this author and how her writing can just hit the reader so perfectly. I can't wait to read the next book! I highly recommend this series and not just for the middle graders in your life. I think a lot of adults can benefit from reading this series and learning from the MC's empathy and life lessons that she encounters along the way.

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95. Of Women & Salt by Gabriela Garcia--⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a Cuban, I was intrigued by this book when it first came out and delayed reading it because I didn't know how it was going to go because the synopsis didn't immediately grab me. Like many have mentioned in their reviews, this is a collection of short stories with no clear timeline--which made it a little jarring at times, especially when jumping from one intense moment to another. I know the author makes a comment at the end of the audiobook about how this book was first created because of all these different stories that came to her and honestly, I can see that. I think if the stories had been written in a linear timeline, it would have given the reader a wholly different experience. And this wouldn't be the first novel to do this format. Check out FRYING PLANTAIN by Zalika Reid-Benta for a great story that follows a black woman and her coming of age, all told in a collection of linear short stories. As a Cuban, my favourite story was when the MC went to Cuba. But even then, there were instances where I could tell that this was written by a Miami Cuban--there's a difference between Cubans who stayed and Cubans who left during the revolution and you can sort of tell (I've seen this in books like NEXT YEAR IN HAVANA). For the record: The special period was as awful as it sounds. My parents raised me in it for the first seven years of my life (I was born in '89) before we left for Canada. So the one line in this book that mentioned mop steaks and the MC comments: If that even happened. That was kind of a shitty thing to write and I normally don't swear, but I didn't like that at all. Other than that, I enjoyed that particular story--especially the explanation of what a Jinetera is. I did appreciate, also, that the author has been visiting Cuba since she was a kid (like me), and you can also tell. Although, I wonder how different our experiences were because I was a Havana kid. Anyway, this was okay. Not my favourite and there were a lot of unanswered questions. The time jumps made this messier than it needed to be, but the historical first chapter and the Cuba visit chapter really made this book worth reading for me.

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96. Pilar Ramirez & the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall--⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I first stumbled across this at work, I was so excited because there was so much Spanish weaved into the prose. Plus, I haven't read a story featuring Dominican folklore so this was a really great find. For the most part, this was a fun and quickly paced story. Pilar and I had a few things in common--specifically the frustration that comes with having to correct people about the pronunciation of our name, and even submitting to a new name (new pronunciation in my case) because it can be exhausting to correct someone, especially at such a young age. I also really enjoyed learning about the mythology and history of the Dominican Republic. I had heard a bit about it when I visited a couple of times a few years ago, but it's always interesting to see how an author can present the admittedly dark history to a younger audience. While the adventure was solid, I'll admit that the Spanish started to feel a little overwhelming. There were times where I heard "Entiendes" so many times (a lot of sentences ended with this word, which means "Understand", even when it wasn't Pilar speaking) that it started to feel like I was reading a book about Dora the Explorer. I did find joy in hearing her say come-mierda and nalga (I'm a child LOL) because, especially with the former word, the author found a way around censoring for kids. Overall, this was fun and I would recommend it to the younger readers that come into our store. Especially those who want adventure and a dose of mythology from a different culture!

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Have you read any of these? Would you recommend them?

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Happy reading!

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a-few-of-my-favorite-mangas · 1 year

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Sayonara Football

Story by Naoshi Arakawa

Manga Volume 1

Sports, Middle School Setting, Coming of Age

Story ★★★☆☆ || ★★★☆☆ Art

Summary

14-year-old Nozomi Onda has only one thing on her mind: playing beautiful football. There's just one problem: no matter how much she longs to participate in official matches, she'd have physically superior boys as opponents. But when a boy from her past confronts her on the street, she decides she can't wait any longer.

Review

Nozomi is a great footballer who has always been the best player on the field, no one plays harder, or practices longer. Now that everyone is growing up, she finds that the boys she used to dominate are getting better, stronger, and taller... Nozomi is finding it a hard truth to swallow, and after an old friend challenges her she is determined to prove that she is still the best before time runs out and she is no longer able to compete against the boys physically.

Nozomi is bold, stubborn, and passionate. It is a hard reality that she is facing and she is fighting it every step of the way. Her coach, her teammates, her bestfriend are all there trying to help her, but she really doesn’t want to listen, her pride is on the line and she hates to lose or admit defeat.

I really love sports manga, but all the best ones feature boys or boy teams, so when I saw this one I was really hoping for a good series featuring girls, then I found out this was only 2 issues, lol. It is a quick read and mostly about a girl who can’t compete with the boys anymore as they are all growing up and the physical differences make it harder for the girl (who remains a shorty) to keep up. I guess It was realistic (I remember when all of a sudden my little brother was taller and bigger than me, it was disconcerting and a little sad), and while I appreciate it, I did want more...

Then I found out that the story continues in a new series called Farewell, My Dear Cramer that follows Nozomi and her best friend Sawa join a girl’s football team where the girls are just like her - good, competitive, and hate to lose! I am enjoying the series so far (about 6 volumes in) and all the new characters, more on that later.

Not sure If you need to read this short 2-parter as a lead in to the regular series though. Other than learning more about Nozomi and her friends you don’t really need it to enjoy the new story. This story also gave some focus on her brother and guy friends too, which so far are barely seen in the new series, and since I know they exist, I kinda miss having some off-field moments with them, and keep expecting them to hang out a little. Everything in the new series (so far) is centered around the girls team, the girls and their rivals. I don’t mind, but it does feel weird to have them around but no longer a part of the story in any meaningful way, as they were in this story. Read if you want more, but okay to skip if you just want to read about a group of sporty footballer girls.

#Sayonara Football #japanese manga #sports #Middle School Setting #Coming of Age

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blog-oscar-iglesias-casado-23675 · 3 months

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Anime/Manga “Your lie in April”

Anime Título original: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (四月は君の嘘) Título en inglés: Your Lie in April Autor/es: Naoshi Arakawa Director: Kyōhei Ishiguro Guionista: Jun Maeda Estudio de animación: A-1 Pictures Emisión: 10 de octubre de 2014 – 27 de marzo de 2015 Episodios: 22 Géneros: Drama, romance, slice of life, tragedia Manga Título original: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (四月は君の嘘) Autor/es: Naoshi…

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#Drama #Romance

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hatsumishinogu · 1 year

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Atwight Game Vol.1

#atwight game #naoshi arakawa #manga

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kousei2217 · 11 months

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🅙🅞🅤🅡🅝🅐🅛 🅦🅡🅘🅣🅘🅝🅖

"𝙰 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚃𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛"

by: 𝙽𝙸𝙲𝙷𝙾𝙻𝙰𝚂 𝚂𝙿𝙰𝚁𝙺𝚂

A Walk to Remember is a novel written by an American writer Nicholas Sparks, it was released in October 1999. The novel was written in first-person, and the narrator is the seventeen-year-old boy. The story is all about Landon Carter and Jamie who fall in love with each other.

At First, this activity which we must need to read seems so boring to me. I say that it is boring because in the first place, I don’t like reading books. In addition, I feel sleepy while reading books and seeing my classmates fell asleep. While reading the novel A walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, I encountered some words that I don't know their meaning. The Unfamiliar words activity by Ma'am Tricia which is listing down your unfamiliar words to your notebook and then searching its meaning was really a help for me and of course for my classmates. This activity helps us to increase our knowledge and widen our vocabulary by reading a book, searching for those unfamiliar words and after some days I found it interesting because of reading while we are sleepy.

In conclusion of everything I listed so far, I realized that these activity by our subject teacher Ma'am Tricia was really a great help especially we were a student who just began to learn everything we must learn. I learned that reading help us to develop our imagination and to increase our overall knowledge.

"𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙻𝚒𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕"

𝖇𝖞: 𝕹𝖆𝖔𝖘𝖍𝖎 𝕬𝖗𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖜𝖆

Naoshi Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist, known for his work Your Lie in April.

𝖸𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖫𝗂𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝖠𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗅(𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗀𝖺𝗍𝗌𝗎 𝗐𝖺 𝖪𝗂𝗆𝗂 𝗇𝗈 𝖴𝗌𝗈) 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝖩𝖺𝗉𝖺𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖾 𝗋𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗂𝖼 𝖽𝗋𝖺𝗆𝖺 𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖺 𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇 𝖻𝗒 𝖭𝖺𝗈𝗌𝗁𝗂 𝖠𝗋𝖺𝗄𝖺𝗐𝖺, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝖺𝖽𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗈 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝖾𝗅𝖾𝗏𝗂𝗌𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌, 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾-𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗆𝗈𝗏𝗂𝖾, 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝗎𝗅𝗍𝗂𝗉𝗅𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗀𝖾 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖽𝗎𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌.

🅒🅗🅐🅡🅐🅒🅣🅔🅡🅢

Arima Kousei - is a former child prodigy in playing piano, dubbed the "Human Metronome" for his mechanical accuracy, a product of his mother Saki's strict method of teaching.

Kaori Miyazono - she convinces Kōsei to play the piano again, first as her accompanist and later in a piano competition

Tsubaki Sawabe - is Kousei's childhood friend and next-door neighbor, who treats him like a little brother.

Ryouta Watari - is a student attending Sumiya Junior High School who is the captain of the football team.

Hiroko Seto - Kousei Arima’s piano mentor/guardian and a close friend of Saki Arima. Hiroko is also a renowned pianist in Japan who was also seen taking care of Saki before her death.

Summary:

Piano prodigy Arima Kousei dominated the competition and all child musicians knew his name. But after his mother, who was also his instructor, passed away, he had a mental breakdown while performing at a recital that resulted in him no longer being able to hear the sound of his piano even though his hearing was perfectly fine. Even two years later, Kousei hasn't touched the piano and views the world in monotone, and without any flair or color. He was content at living out his life with his good friends Tsubaki and Watari until, one day, a girl changed everything. Miyazono Kaori is a pretty, free spirited violinist whose playing style reflects her personality. Kaori helps Kousei return to the music world and show that it should be free and mold breaking unlike the structured and rigid style Kousei was used to.

Moral lesson:

The moral lesson that I had when I read and watched Your Lie in April, is to live your life to the fullest, dont let every hindrance in your life to drag you down, and especially, confess before it's too late because nobody knows if the one you love is also inloved with you. In this story, I learned that lie is more hurtful than the truth.

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