A life of books . . .
So I have talked about gut punches when reading books before, but Silvera took it to a different level with this one—and this was his freakin’ debut novel!
I’ve known about Silvera for some time and even read his co-authored What If It’s Us? with Becky Albertalli, but this is the first time I’ve sought out his work. I came across it on a list of must-reads and so grabbed it when I saw it was available at my library.
Continue reading “Book 901: More Happy Than Not – Adam Silvera”
Two in a row that I really wanted to like more than I did. After devouring Red, White & Royal Blue last year and reading various other royal MM Romance novels here and there of course I was going to seek this one out when I heard about it.
The story wasn’t bad, it was well written and would adapt to a movie easily, but where I really struggled was the characters and their voices. I’m not surprised to see it on a list with books like Jay’s Gay Agenda and Yes, Daddy, others which I felt were written more to be adapted for screens than as books themselves. (And full disclosure this did not stop me from adding The Sky Blues to my hold list at the library which is on the same list :-D)
Continue reading “Book 839: Playing the Palace – Paul Rudnick”
I was on hold at the library for months to get this one! I vaguely remember it being released, but didn’t realize it’s connection to UNC Chapel Hill (my undergrad) until I saw the cover and Deonn in one of the alumni newsletters and then of course immediately had to read it, but was stifled by the long hold times :’-(
I wasn’t only drawn to it because of the UNC connection, but also because of the modern retelling of Arthurian legends. I knew this was going to be a fascinating take on them with a Black protagonist, southern history, secret societies, and the first public university in the country, how couldn’t it be!
Continue reading “Book 835: Legendborn (Legendborn Cycle #1) – Tracy Deonn”
This book was 100% written to be adapted into a movie or tv show. It even had locations and some stage direction already included. Maybe it’s from June’s background, I’m not sure, but as I was reading it definitely felt like a teen RomCom from the early 2000s.
I grabbed this from the library after seeing it on someone’s Insta (sorry don’t remember who, but might’ve actually been June doing a takeover somewhere) and thinking what a great name for a book without knowing anything other than the name and basic premise.
I honestly had zero expectations going into this book. During the pandemic my employer provided us free access to the 10% Happier app which I took advantage of and have used sporadically (really need to get better at that). I enjoyed both Harris and Joseph Goldstein’s insights on mediation in the various getting started sessions and was curios if there was more out there.
I vaguely knew Harris had written a book, but it was never an OMG I have to read this type book, but when it randomly came across my screen one day I requested it from the library and saved it for a vacation read.