Books

Book 780 & 781: Heartstopper, Vols. 1 & 2 (Heartstopper #1 & #2)- Alice Oseman

Book cover of "Hearstopper, Vol. 2" with Amazon Affiliate link

Click here to see an updated (February 2022) review of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

I’ve pretty much been waiting since last June to read this one. I absolutely adored Heartstopper, Vol. 1 and cannot wait for the next one this summer!

This post is a two-for-one as there was no way I could go into this without reading the first one again and they’re just so adorable. Really, this should be four-for-one because I read each twice because they’re so quick. I always read them once through focusing on the text and first impressions and then a second time focusing more on the graphics. And it’s worth it!

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Books

Book 714: Heartstopper, Vol. 1 (Heartstopper #1) – Alice Oseman

Cover art for "Hearstopper: Volume 1" with Amazon Affiliate linkTo see an updated review (February 2022) click here.

I pre-ordered this at the same time I pre-ordered Sticks & Scones. I’d seen it on all the British book bloggers pages and was curious because it looked adorable and the tag line “Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love.” was just too much for my sappy heart to handle. (Obviously.)

What I didn’t realize is there are four volumes currently published and one forthcoming in 2022! And this doesn’t even include the OG appearance of protagonists Charlie and Nick from Oseman’s debut novel Solitaire, which I obviously will be reading. But, OMG it will be worth the read (and the wait)!

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Books

Book 711: Sticks & Scones (Check, Please! #2) – Ngozi Ukazu

Book cover of "Sticks & Scones" with Amazon Affiliate linkI’m so sad this is over. I waited a full year for it, and it was wonderful, but I’m still sad. I re-read each of the two books twice this time to really soak them in and make sure I looked at the artwork and appreciated the dialogue.

I’ll be frank and say that I’m not sure I enjoyed this as much as the first one. I don’t think it was anyone thing and I don’t think that should detract anyone else from reading it, but for me it didn’t have the perfection or the je ne sais quoi (that’s a nod to Jack ;-D) the first book did. There are spoilers after the jump, so don’t read ahead unless you want to know where #Hockey ended.

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Books

Book 710: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1) – Ngozi Ukazu

Book cover of "#Hockey!" with Amazon Affiliate link.After reading this last January, I knew I would revisit it. And thanks to a gift card for Christmas to Barnes and Noble, where I don’t usually shop, I ordered a copy of this and the follow up Sticks & Scones. This was all before coronavirus, and I had Sticks & Scones shipped to my office, where I hadn’t been able to get to it for almost a month after it was delivered 🙁

But when I got it, you know I had to re-read this one. And I loved it as mush as my first read. This time around I spent more time luxuriating in the artwork since I’d read the story previously and didn’t need to focus so much on who’s who and it was worth it.

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Books

Book 682: Camp Cutlery – Robin Carnilius

cover art for "Camp Cutlery" with Amazon Affiliate linkIf you’re a fan of McTucky Fried High, Carnilius’ hilariously poignant YouTube series about anthropomorphized food surviving high school, you’ll definitely appreciate this one. (If you’re not familiar with McTucky, I included the teaser for Season 1 below.) When they reached out with a review copy of the book, I recognized the name and my response was “definitely!” to reviewing this one.*

Camp Cutlery: A Hunger for Justice picks up not long after the McTucky Fried High series ends and it follows Peanut, a transgender social justice warrior, through their journey at a correctional facility. The biggest challenge by far of reading a work that is a continuation of another work is the pre-set expectations and frankly, no author, can do anything about those. This being said, this story definitely works on most levels, but for me a good portion of the charm was lost from the animated series.

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