Monday, January 30, 2017

Let's Play Diversity Bingo!

It's Diversity Bingo time! I've heard about this recently, and it's such a cool idea! This chart is comprised of challenges for books featuring diverse characters. The goal is to complete the bingo board in the year of 2017. I just finished #DiverseAThon 2017 yesterday, so I think it's about time to continue my goal of reading about more perspectives! I know lots of booktubers and bloggers are trying this challenge, so I thought I'd join the group!

To download this image, I'd recommend searching it on Google. My plan is to cross it off through the year, and post about my experience here. So far this year, due to DiverseAThon, I've already read stories featuring diverse characters. So, let's see...which squares can I cross off?

Book By Author of Color: Americanah by




















Thursday, January 26, 2017

Review: Every Heart a Doorway

Every Heart a Doorway Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Every Heart a Doorway" has a very intriguing premise. I love the concept explored in the story: What happens after you come back from another world? It's hard to acclimate and it's confusing. I feel like that's also what happens after you read a world changing book (kind of like a mourning period). The children in the story have found doors to other worlds that they can travel to. They could have visited a "nonsense" world, a "logic" world, an underworld, a world composed of spiders, or skeletons, etc. This concept is so different from anything I've ever read. The way I think of it is what should have happened to the Pevensies after "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe". How do children go back to life in our world after being gone for six weeks, or six years? This book was originally described to me as "Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but better"! The representation in this book was fantastic! The main character is asexual (the first time I've seen it represented in a book or otherwise), another is transgender. There so many different races and ethnicities are represented. I really admired the way the author approached sexuality. However a character identified, the story was not built around it. For example, the main character was asexual, but it was quickly explained, and it simply added to the complexity of that character, rather than being used as a plot point in the narrative. The book was short (around 190 pages), the pacing was well done, and the world building was extraordinary. I loved the narration, and the voice it had in the story. I have never been more pleased that I picked up a recommended novel, and I strongly recommend that everyone read this book!

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Review: How to Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Teenage Confusion

How to Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Teenage Confusion How to Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Teenage Confusion by David Burton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. It follows the author as he experiences his adolescence, and deals with the struggles of questioning his sexuality as well as confronting his mental illness. This book gave me a great insight into his experience, and it showed how difficult adolescence is. It confronts issues regarding discovering sexuality, growing apart from friends, self mutilation, and relationships/breakups. Despite how different the author's teenage experience was from my own, I found it completely relatable. Every teenager has a difficult time discovering who they are whilst trying to maintain appearances. To read about David's thoughts during this difficult period in his life, it reminded me that you never really know what is going on in someone's head. Despite how everyone portrays themselves to the world, we really all are incredibly clueless. In adolescence, who we are, who we want to be, what we want to do...it all seems inconceivable. This book was a great reminder also, that no matter how difficult life may seem, it will get better. It is never too late to achieve happiness, and it may seem difficult, but we will all find our way. I think this book is suitable for any young adult/adult to read, and I would strongly recommend it.

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Friday, January 13, 2017

Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

A Thousand Pieces of You A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOH! I started this after midnight, and I read it all the way through and finished it before 4 am! This is the first time that I can remember reading a book in one sitting (though I read The Cursed Child in one sitting, but it's a play, so it doesn't really count).

A Thousand Pieces of You is the story of a girl named Marguerite whose Father, a scientist who created Firebird, a device that enables the wearer to travel between dimensions, is killed. It seems that his research assistant, Paul, killed him and ran off. So, Marguerite and Theo (another research assistant), travel in between dimensions with prototypes of Firebird, in an attempt to bring her Father's killer to justice.

This book is fantastic! The ways the other dimensions are imagined, I loved it! The idea of Firebird is that when you put it on and travel to another dimension, you are thrusted into your body in the other universe. I love the way the main characters in these books were different in other dimensions. My favorite dimension was where Marguerite was a princess in Russia, and I loved how Paul's other dimension self was similar, yet different.

I was disappointed that I could spot plot twists so far ahead, but I was still invested in the story and I was still entertained, and I love the way the story unfolded. I've seen other people's reviews, in which they discuss that it was more of a romance than a Sci-Fi book, and I concur with that. However, I don't think it affected how much I loved this book, since I'm not a Sci-Fi reader normally. I think this book is more about the characters and their development, and that's just the way I like it. Also, the cover is a complete masterpiece.

I feel like I almost never give a book 5 stars, but it was inevitable for this book. The fact that I couldn't put it down, and got much less sleep due to my investment in the story is definitely a part of that. I loved how the universe was constructed, and it strongly reminded me of The Flash on the CW, where Barry travels to different earths. Barry meets himself, and discovers how different the other version of him is, due to his life experiences changing. It also reminded me of The Next Together by Laruen James, but it was done even better! So, to finish this review out, if you like adventure, fate driven romance, and sci-fi, I think you'll like this book!


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