Review: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1 by Gege Akutami

4/5 Stars 192 pages
Published December 3rd 2019 by VIZ Media LLC

Not something I usually read, this book really caught my eye not only because of the cover, but because of the really impactful description. I mean, how could you say no to a book about a boy turning into a demon curse while also fighting them along the way? I had to check it out! It’s like I didn’t even have a choice. What I didn’t know however, was just how gory a black and white book could be, and really just how strange something like this could be for me to read. That being said, I really did enjoy reading it.

Following a junior high aged boy named Yuji Itadori, it closely depicts his life as he not only joins a new kind of club at his school, but also as he loses his grandfather and basically those two things turn his life upside down. After rescuing his new friends from a curse they accidentally unleashed due to their own lax nature surrounding a demonic object, he learns that the demon is basically hunting them down for said object to eat it and become stronger, so he decides to eat it himself. What he doesn’t know, is that it’s really a one in a million chance that he’ll live through it. But guess what? He does. And now he lives with a demon inside his body, that can take over when he gives it the chance and change his physical appearance and give him crazy powers.

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This book was really strange for me, and now even in a bad way. It had be laughing at just how absurd it was and I think that’s really funny. How often does that happen to you? It makes me want to read more books like this, because usually I’m not too keen to jump at things like this. I’m more of a superhero comic kind of girl. But I’ll definitely give more chances out when I see them. If you’re looking for something gory and kind of funny and interesting to read, I definitely recommend checking this out. The art is very simple but impactful, especially for the demonic parts, and like I said at the beginning, it’s really gory at times. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can here!

Thanks for reading! I love stepping outside of my comfort zone with books, do you? Hope you’re having a great day!

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Review: Complex (Silent Beautiful Universe #1) by A.D. Enderly

4/5 Stars 700 pages
Published November 17th 2020 by Luminary Media

Not usually into books of this length, Complex really blew me away because it was able to completely hold my attention for it’s entirety of 700 pages. Five separate books in one, though not described as that, this was a rollercoaster from start to finish of an epic tale in which a dystopia was ruled by businesses. Which, if you ask me, is actually a very real option for the future, especially in places where they have more power than they should. I don’t know why this hasn’t been written about more often, because I really just find it fascinating, and I can’t get enough. But you know me, I’m obsessed with all things tech, scifi, and dystopia. What more could I ask for? This book is perfect for me.

Described as a story of two sisters Val and Kat, who are left alone after the death of their father in their dystopian world of Legacy, the area just outside of the Arc, a dystopia run by businesses. Though it seems like everything is better and safer, there are just different kinds of threats hiding behind the green grass and order. But this story is so much more than just that. The characters range from very poor, to very wealthy, all having completely different personalities and lives. And each person has their own piece to bring to the perfectly put together puzzle. After Kat is kidnapped in the middle of the night, Val blames herself for not being able to fight off the offenders, but can’t sit around feeling sorry for herself forever. She does what she has to do to get information about her missing sister, including selling her body online for a scummy man who claims he has what she needs. But what she digs herself into is far beyond anyone could have ever guessed would happen.

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There’s Trevor, a romantic interest for Val and a very helpful character in the story with his hacking skills and clever way of thinking, Riku, a high up man in the military who just wants to right the wrongs in the world, and hopefully save his friend and her child. There’s Ian, an insanely smart hacker who we don’t get to know very thoroughly but he really ends up helping out in the end, Ray, an assassin with a drug addiction who doesn’t really care about anyone other than the people he’s working for, and Manalo, a sweet old grandfather who just wants to have a purpose for his life again, after the loss of his wife. And there’s a few other characters we get to see the world through, but really all of these characters breath life into this epic and long winded novel. Without their lifelike personalities, I would have lost interest a long time ago, because even though I’m extremely interested in the world that they live in, you need good characters to keep everything moving along at a steady pace. And boy, did it.

I think this book is an amazing mix of dystopian scifi, futuristic tech with the computers inside every single person, and a very intriguing story of what could go wrong when businesses end up taking over for the government. When emergencies happen, like a virus that spreads too quickly and mutates too fast to keep up with, and especially when the computers get too strong for us to handle. When they realize that they want more than just to help, that they want to do. And I loved every moment of it. The end of the book also hints to a series, which I’m very excited to deep dive into once it’s released. With that ending, who wouldn’t be? I’m very glad I got a chance to check it out, and I think that the beautiful cover it has would be welcomed into anyone’s intensive book collection. Honestly, I’d even like a poster of it if that was a thing. It’s just so aesthetically pleasing, and says so much about the book without having to actually say anything. Overall, if you’re a fan of tech, scifi, dystopia’s, and stories of survival no matter what, than I definitely recommend checking this book out.

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If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author on Twitter, you can here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying warm. And reading long amazing books.

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Book Birthday Review: Fire and Cinder (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum #6) by Christina Bauer

Who could have guessed another Fairy Tales of the Magicorum book would be out so soon after the last? Not me! But I’m excited for it nonetheless. I couldn’t wait to see what our heroes would get up to this time, and wasted no time starting it, especially after the events of the last book. If you know me, you know I fully enjoy this series. It’s perfect for anyone looking for a quick read to break up the other books on your schedule, and doesn’t usually disappoint.

4/5 Stars 265 pages Published February 23rd 2021 by Monster House Books

Following Elle, Agatha, Alec and Jacoby in this book, we find Elle in her house eating pizza to cope with the loss of her boyfriend, Alec, who’s been transported into a magical gemstone prison by an evil fae. She feels like she can’t control her magic enough to go and save him, but knows she needs to do something, and in the meantime, she needs to take care of herself too. But after that, she accidentally sends herself back in time to see her mom and her in her childhood home. This sets off a chain of events that also sets the pace for the rest of the book.

Agatha, on the other hand, just wants to go back to her normal life but without her mother and sister, before she found out all the things she didn’t know about herself and her ties to the fae world, like the fact that she’s the last of a missing species and the only one who can save their world. She doesn’t mind the new obsession that Jacoby has developed with her, though, she even has started to like having him around. But she would never tell him that, of course.

The boys however are kind of backup characters for this book. I feel like the spotlight is mostly on the girls, occasionally showing what the boys are thinking to help the story move along. I really enjoyed reading this, and the ending! Wow. That’s all I have to say about that, this is a no spoiler review blog after all. But let me tell you, when the action starts, it really all goes down at once. Will he girls be able to save the fae world and the people that they care about? You’ll have to read to find out!

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This was a very easy and relaxing read for me, and I really enjoy getting thrown back into this series whenever there’s a new book out. The writing is funny and quirky, lots of silly little jokes tossed in there to liven it up, but when it comes down to it, there really are some important and serious things that happen in this book and those don’t take away from that. I think this was a very nice addition to the series, an I’m hoping for more Bryar Rose appearances in the future, maybe even another book from her point of view. And did I even say anything about how beautiful this cover is? Because I think it’s my favourite for the series so far! Like always I love the characters because of how silly and realistic they are despite their magic abilities and the obvious differences between our worlds, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

If you’d like a copy, you can grab one here!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! If you haven’t checked out my spot on the blog tour for this book, there’s an excerpt and all the book information you could possibly need here!

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Cool Sex: An Essential Young Adult Guide to Loving, Mindful Sex by Diana Richardson & Wendy Doeleman Review

A very informative book, Cool Sex brings a new kind of intimacy to your relationship, full of spirituality and emotions and most importantly relaxation. Whether you’re addicted to sex or sometimes it turns painful, or even just looking for new things to experiment with, this book is full of ideas to not only get yourself to relax, but also your partner to relax, whoever they might be, without actually getting down to it.

3/5 Stars 128 pages
Published December 1st 2020 by O-Books

Not a book I would usually read, I picked this up next because it was sent to me, and I thought, why not? Might be interesting. And it was interesting. Though I don’t think I would personally be interested in some of the things talked about in this book, I think the main point of it was to relax, whether it be in your daily life, or when you’re getting intimate with yourself or your partner. It offers many different relaxation techniques from breathing exercises, to just relaxing in bed with your partner. And that was unexpected for me, coming from a book with a title like this one.

Not only did it talk about relaxation tips, but it taught you everything you need to know about your and your partner’s bodies, from intimate areas to just regular parts of your body. Consider this a spiritual sex ed class that your school never really taught you about. A very interesting read. If you’re looking for something a little out of your normal reading boundaries to read and have an interest in non-fiction and how to better your life, I think maybe you’d enjoy reading this.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re having a great day.

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The Other Couple by Cathryn Grant Review

3/5 Stars Edition
Published December 6th 2020

A book full of twists and turns, The Other Couple is a book that’s so mysterious it’s almost creepy. Now I’m into thriller’s and everything, but this book was really slow burn. For most of the plot, the characters really made sense in the world around them, but occasionally acted a lot differently than I expected, very irrationally. Not saying that people don’t act irrationally from time to time, but this was almost too irrational. Not my new favourite, this was a book I still enjoyed reading, and recommend to anyone looking for an interesting thriller to really help them step out of their comfort zone.

It starts off with Skye and Joe staking out their next potential victims. Con artists, they’re amazing at getting people to give them their money, or anything else they desire. That being said, Skye is clearly the brains of the two, and Joe being the threatening brawn. When they find their next endeavor, they’re not exactly what they seem to be, and in fact, marriage councillor Brad and his wife Maggie have some secrets of their own that may just interfere with their plan.

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After their vacation takes a turn for the worst, first with Skye and Joe joining their household for the duration of their vacation, and then with Joe falling off of their boat and drowning in Lake Tahoe, the three are confused at what to do next. That’s when Maggie’s past from before the vacation suddenly effects her present life very deeply. But it doesn’t end there. Overall, this book was exciting, but it’s just not my new favourite, and that’s okay. I didn’t really like how some of the characters acted under immense pressure, and although that’s not a big deal, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth at times.

Overall, if you’re looking for something new and exciting to pull you out of your reading funk, or you’re really into books with no supernatural aspects, all thriller between the pages, and lots of marital problems, than this may be something you want to check out. Just be warned, there are some scenes of spousal abuse that may be triggering for some readers, including physical and emotional abuse.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

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Entertaining and Celebrating: An Elegant Feast for Every Season by Kristal Damron Review

2/5 Stars 58 pages
Published May 31st 2019 by Reward Your Appetite Catering

I might have came into this book with the wrong idea. Full of lovely pictures and ideas for your future dinner parties, that’s all this book is. There’s no recipes at all. So if that’s what you’re looking for, than this is something you might want to check out.

With beautiful pictures and interesting food combinations, this book has some pretty out there dinner party ideas. Though, being someone who doesn’t eat meat or dairy very often, this isn’t something that would be for me specifically. And I’m not sure people are having dinner parties at this point in time. That being said, I do think it would be really fun to try some of these combinations out, and work around some of the ideas to my dietary restrictions.

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An interesting idea, I’ve never quite seen a book like this. But I have to say that it’s not really what I was expecting, or wanting in general. I’m not against something like this, I just thought it was going to be something different. That being said, if you’re into a book of ideas and maybe want some inspiration for dinner parties depending on the seasons, than definitely check this book out for yourself.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can here.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Book Birthday Review: The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda Leduc

When I say this book is unlike anything I’ve ever read, I really mean it. A crazy mix of scifi apocalypse and green fantasy, this story combines the two pretty seamlessly. And that’s something I can’t say I’ve read before. A meteor shower that takes out the human world as we know it, centaurs that live on a magical safeguarded mountain, and the most effortless mass murdering of characters I’ve ever read, this book was strangely very stressful and also very calming at the same time to read. Can you say you’ve read anything like that before?

5/5 Stars 320 pages
Published February 16th 2021 by Random House Canada

Right in the middle of this crazy world is Heather, a girl who’s known struggles all her life. Born a little different, her dad was always there for her, telling her fantastic stories of the mountain and it’s creatures. After losing him in a freak accident that caused him to fall off of that mountain, everyone thought she was crazy for saying that there were centaurs living up there. She never ended up leaving her home town, becoming an artist and making money that way. There’s also Tasha, a doctor, Annie, her wife and nurse, Elyse, a sick girl fighting her way through this apocalyptic nightmare, and B, Heather’s husband whom she has twin girls with right at the beginning of the novel just briefly before the meteors take everything out. And weaved in between the chapters are intricate fairy tales, depicting life and death, and everything in between. This book is truly beautiful and a piece of art, in my opinion.

A wild ride from start to finish, this book was everything I could have asked for and more. I say this a lot, but from the description alone I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was sucked in from the moment I started, and I think it’s another one of those books that will be stuck in my head for a long time after I’ve put it down. It had so many twists and turns and stressful moments, like just trying to survive in a world that’s trying to choke you out and starve every human it can find to death, families fighting, food is running out, and everything these characters have known has crumbled. On top of that, Heather has twin baby girls in this new horrifying world, a husband she barely knows and frankly only married so that her children would have a father, and she’s being haunted by not only the people in her town but the life she once knew with her father, and the creatures she knows exist on the mountain but must stay a secret.

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I really found like although the world was so different from our own, everything was so easy to imagine, and I really enjoyed getting to know the fairy tales that Heather was taught as a child for myself. The characters were so lifelike despite these massive differences, and really faced the challenges that they were forced to deal with like anyone would really, even though they had their own demons to deal with while that was happening. A world where plants are very obviously trying to take over, poisonous and scary ones, but I think it really shows that humans are able to persevere through almost anything, though there was a very low percentage left at the end. It was still something.

Really what I’m trying to say is that this book is absolutely one of my new favourites. I would love to grab a copy for myself on my bookshelf so that I can re-read it any time I want, because I think it’s just so timeless, that sometime in the near future I will want to re-read it. And if you know me, you know that I’m not usually like that with books. I recommend it to anyone looking for a story of hardship with a fantastic twist on it, who like scifi and apocalypse and mythical creatures, mixed with fairy tales. I would say it’s definitely not something for kids despite that, and there are some “mature” scenes with depictions of sexual coercion that could possibly be triggering for some people. But that being said, they’re very brief and easy to skip over if you are someone who is triggered by things like that.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates Link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and reading awesome books like this.

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Clean Mama’s Guide to a Peaceful Home: Effortless Systems and Joyful Rituals for a Calm, Cozy Home by Becky Rapinchuk Review

If you’re looking for a book to jumpstart your house cleaning, organization and just get the chaos of your house under control, than this is what you might want to check out. Straight to the point with tons of tips and cute little stories of the author’s every day life with their family, I think this book was very helpful.

3/5 Stars 240 pages
Published December 29th 2020 by HarperOne

I really like that the tips in this book are easy to follow. It’s not overwhelming, and it’s really interesting to read about how the author managed to make some pretty drastic but still easy changes around their home. It makes it feel really realistic that I can change the chaos of my own house, even though it might not be as simple as it seems in the book. It gives me hope, at least. You know?

Something that this book does that is unlike other books I’ve read of the same topics, is creating lists. Lists for the things you like doing, the things you don’t like doing, what you need to do, and what you might need a little more help to do. I think that’s very helpful, just seeing everything you need done and changed on paper so that you can check it off when you’re on your way.

Anyways, if you need a little help around your house figuring out your routines and chores and what days to do things and stuff to make it less overwhelming, than definitely check out this book. I think it does exactly what it was supposed to do.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author on Twitter, you can here!

Thanks for reading! Happy Cleaning! Hope you have a great day.

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Weaponized by Zac Thompson Review

5/5 Stars 356 pages
Published October 31st 2017 by Inkshares

This book was outside of my comfort zone for books. Not that I don’t like a horror story every once in a while, but this was just something else. Let me tell you, the description doesn’t even give you a peek into how disgustingly shocking this book is, but not that it’s disgusting in a bad way, because I did end up finishing the book and really getting tangled up in the story. Just a warning though, it is disgusting and horrific and all the other things we love about the horror genre.

The main characters are two young adults, Trip, a boy who just wants to find a boyfriend and live the life he sees everyone else have, and Ree, a girl who was shipped from the mainland and has no problem finding anything she needs in a partner. The world they live in however, is much different than our own. After literal giants came from the sky, an infection took over the world and so did something called the Sex Wars. After that, people who contracted an insane sexually transmitted disease either died, or became a horrific amalgamation of a human body and an alien weapon.

Completely unlike anything I’ve ever read or watched, I was sucked in from the very moment I picked up this book. I had no idea that it would end the way that it did, and honestly I didn’t even expect the middle of the book if we’re going to be real here. Every turn the story took was a new and grotesque surprise. And I loved it. Appalling books like these are the reason that I want to read more horror, and I those horror books to be just as shocking and repugnant as these. Because that’s what horror is really about, isn’t it?

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Overall, I really enjoyed the story of Trip and Ree living with the changes in their lives, and their bodies, and the world around them. They did what they thought was right no matter what anyone else said. I loved the descriptions of the world that they lived in too, from the weapons made of bones that fired teeth, the dried human organ armor, and the living human tissue that grew over the cityscape. I couldn’t get enough of it, and even when I was disgusted and laughing to my friends about how awful the things I was reading were, I couldn’t put it down. And that’s exactly what I want in a book like this. Something that is really hard to do, this book was descriptive enough that it played out like a comic in my brain. I couldn’t ask for more.

If you’re interested in grabbing a copy for yourself, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the Author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and reading some great books like these.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Worth It: Overcome Your Fears and Embrace the Life You Were Made For by Brit Barron Review

Do you need a little pick me up? Maybe you’re feeling unmotivated to continue your life. I know I get like that sometimes. Do you want to read stories about being who you know you’re supposed to be no matter what’s pushing you down? Than this may be something you want to check out.

4/5 Stars 200 pages
Published July 21st 2020 by Broadleaf Books

As a young secretly gay woman, Brit really felt out of place at her work and in her home, the church. She denied who she really was for a long time because of it, but when she met Sami, another woman working at her church, she knew her life had to change. After their friendship began to blossom into something more, they were absolutely terrified to tell the people that they know and love about themselves because of how their reactions might be. That kept them apart for a long time. Until one day, it didn’t. They left their old lives and stepped willingly into their new ones, together, and found that the people that stuck by them were the ones that mattered the most. And I think that’s what this book is really about. Doing the hard things, even if it hurts, because it’ll be worth it in the end.

Though I can’t relate to her situation in any way, I think I can relate to pushing through the things that suck. As someone with crippling anxiety, sometimes I still need to go get groceries on the bus even though it feels impossible. Because it’s what I need to do. Do I feel better doing it? Sometimes, but not always. But I always feel better when I’m home and I have food in my house.

The stories in this book were really uplifting and informative for Brit’s life. There was no doubt in my mind that these things really happened, and that they really changed her, for better or worse. Regardless, she is the person that she is today, with her wife, and her friends, and her family, because she pushed through what she had previously avoided. And that’s the moral of the story.

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If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day. And if you’re not, well, you got this. It’s a new day tomorrow.

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