May was a busy month for me reading wise. I read a total of 40 books and most of them were graphic novels and manga. Then June was an ok month for reading. I ended up getting the flu right at the end of the month and was so sick that I didn’t even read 😦 There were some great reads in the last two months and some that were…questionable. Kindle Unlimited strikes again! I will fill you in on the few KU books that I read last month because some of them were veryyyy interesting. Now onto the books!
One of my favorite books in June was Cordyceps by Ian Duncan. This book takes place in south Florida during the outbreak of a virus that makes people turn into zombie-like creatures that only want to climb higher in order to sprout and spread the infection.
I thought that this was just going to be a run of the mill zombie book but I really enjoyed this! It had an interesting premise and the author was able to really capitalize on that premise to keep my interest throughout the book. At 363 pages that is a feat. I usually get bored after 200 pages when the book hasn’t wrapped up. But this one had interesting characters, a very interesting zombie premise, and was not afraid to kill people off. I cannot stand a zombie book where every single character makes it to the end unscathed. That’s just not realistic! Overall, if you are looking for a fun, interesting take on zombies then check this one out!
The next book that I really enjoyed was Dark Ride by Joshua Williamson. This book follows a horror-themed amusement park called Devil Land. The amusement park was founded by Arthur Dante, and his two children Samhain and Halloween (insert eye-roll from me here). The park is struggling financially because of low attendance numbers. They try everything to get the park back into shape and along the way, Sam discovers what is really happening behind the scenes with all of the disappearances at the park.
You’ll have to read this one yourself to see what the ending is because no spoilers here! This was a great horror graphic novel and one I think will be a hit come Halloween time! I cannot wait to see where this goes. I really love some of Joshua Williamson’s other works (Birthright in particular) so I can’t wait to see what he does with this series.
Next up we have a manga, Until I Love Myself by Vol. 1: The Journey of a Nonbinary Manga Artist by Poppy Pesuyama. This manga follows the author as they try to come to terms with workplace sexual harassment and their gender dysphoria. This was a really great manga but parts of it were hard to read. I don’t want to say that I enjoyed the author’s story because that seems like a weird thing to enjoy, but this was a great manga. The way that the author told their story was nicely put together and I enjoyed the artwork. I think that this is a manga that everyone should read. Even though some of the sections are a hard read, I think that this experience that people should read about in order to understand situations like this better.
This next graphic novel was so much fun! Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North was a fun time traveling magical romp that I thoroughly enjoyed. Ryan North has written one of my favorite runs of Squirrel Girl so I already knew going in that I was going to enjoy this.
Here’s the description from Goodreads: “I’m gonna tell you a story, and I’m gonna ask that you let me finish before you say anything.
Here’s the deal—on midnight of January 1st, 2000, the world ended. But it wasn’t technology that killed it: It was magic. Now, years later, the Earth has transformed. Magic works (sort of). People are happy (sort of). But this new world isn’t stable, and unless Marguerite de Pruitt and her canine pal, Daisy, do something about it, it’ll tilt into deadly chaos. Good thing they’ve been training their whole lives for this and are destined to succeed. Or so they think.”
This book was so fun! I won’t give away the twist but I did not see it coming, which is pretty rare in a book these days. If you’re a fan of sci-fi or adventure books then you would definitely like this.
Hoops by Matt Tavares is based on a true story about the Warsaw High School women’s basketball team that won their first championship in the 1975-76 season. I’ve included part of the newspaper article from when they won and you can see our main character Judi right there in the newspaper! That is so cool to me. I’m honestly not a basketball fan at all but I really like to read about it apparently. If you liked Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang than you will 100% like this book too. However, if you are a woman reading this book it will probably frustrate you. Seeing how the boys team was treated versus the girls team was very annoying. And I know that things like that are still happening all over the place which just makes it more frustrating to think about.
Turtle Bread by Kim-Joy was such a great book. It deals with social anxiety, not being sure of yourself, making friends, and sticking with something. Our main character is Yan, and she is looking for somewhere to make new friends and get over her social anxiety. She finds Baking Club, and decides to step out of her comfort zone and join. She’s intimidated by the other club members at first but as she gets to know them she realizes that everyone is grappling with something. Over time, Yan gets to know everyone and becomes comfortable at Baking Club. Together the members overcome many things in their personal lives by talking over things and being there for each other.
This was such a sweet graphic novel. I think it depicted a number of mental health issues in a fantastic way. Yan learns how to deal with mental health issues in a healthy way and I really liked that the book didn’t shy away from showing her struggle. I think that it’s important for people to realize that they’re not alone in their struggles.
The Yakuza’s Bias by Teki Yatsuda was the next book that I read and it was hilarious! It reminded me a lot of The Way of the House Husband by Kousuke Oono. Especially the way that Kanashiro talks about his bias or trading photo cards or something and it sounds like he’s talking about murder or something else really gruesome, that is hilarious to me. This was really cute and also really funny at the same time. I really enjoyed watching Kanashiro learn about all of the different K-pop groups and what a bias is and all of the things that go into being a massive fan. Watching him learn all about those things was pretty funny at times. Also if you’re a K-pop fan you will relate to when you first got into K-pop and how overwhelming it can be. But you’ll also relate to how nice that everyone in the community is and how willing they are to help people get into K-pop.
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte is about Cici, a 12 year old who has just moved from Taiwan to Seattle. All Cici wants to do is to see her grandma for her 70th birthday. But that proves to be a little difficult because flights from Taiwan to Seattle are expensive. But Cici sees a flyer for a kid’s cooking competition with a grand prize that will cover her grandmother’s plane ticket. Now all Cici has to do is win the competition!
This was an adorable graphic novel all about family, heritage, and immigration. I really loved all of the recipes and the relationship between Cici and her grandmother, A-ma. I thought that it was really neat to read about Cici going to her local library to learn all about cooking from Julia Child DVDs.
Now for three Kindle Unlimited books that I read so you don’t have to! First up we have Railed by the Easter Bunny and the very interestingly named, Sequel to the Easter Bunny by Dalia Davies. We’re these good? They were meh. The first one was very short coming in at only 62 pages and most of that was just smut with very little plot. The second one on the other hand was a whopping 258 pages and had so much plot I almost forgot that I was reading about an Easter Bunny. The second one way made up for the lack of plot in the first one. Though neither of them were that great I now have to continue the series because I’m curious about what’s going to happen.
And then we have Hoofbeats by Val Saintcrowe. Ah Hoofbeats. Where do I even start with this one. If you haven’t guessed by the cover and the name, the male main character is a centaur. This was an interesting book but honestly not that inventive or exciting if you’ve ever read any kind of monster romance book. Him being a centaur did provide some … logistical issues, but other than that it was a pretty standard “I’ve been cursed to be a monster forever” kind of romance.
That’s it for May and June! So sorry that this is late, between school and work it’s been a challenge to write lately. I hope that you’ve all had a good couple of months and I’ll see you in the next one!
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