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Review: Love, Theoretically and Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

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I read these two books back to back and since even though they are not technically related to each other I am assuming they take place in the same universe. I know that Love, Theortically and the first book in Ali Hazelwood’s first STEM Romance The Love Hypothesis because Olive and Adam do make a quick cameo. Love, Theoretically follows Elise, a adjunct professor barely getting by. She is interviewing for a tenure track position at MIT but 1 problem. Jack is a physicist professor on the hiring committee and he hates her. It doesn’t help that he thinks she is dating his younger brother. Adjuct professors do not make a lot of money and to help pay the bills she is paid to fake date men. One being Jack’s brother. Not that Jack knows that. I liked this book. Elsie is a great main character that really grows throughout the book. With the help of Jack, Elise finally starts to decide who she wants to be instead of what everyone else wants her to be. I know a little bit about the academia world thanks to Kate and well it sucks. I really sucks. The haves and have nots is such a stark contrast when it comes to professors and the power that mentors have over their mentees. I definitely had a lot of rage moments.

Love on the Brain is the only book in the STEM romance books that doesn’t take place in a University. Bee is a neuroscientist who works for the NIH but gets a chance to lead a project at NASA. The problem is as it always is, her co-lead Levi hates her from their grad school days. When she gets to NASA, her equipment isn’t there. She doesn’t have access to email or even her office. Politics of course is the blame. NASA doesn’t want to share credit. This puts Bee in a bad position because NIH wants results and ready to pull her at any moment. She has to trust Levi will get NASA on board. Despite their shaky start they work well together. And fall in love and all that jazz. Of the three books so far, this is probably my least favorite. Not that I didn’t enjoy it. I did but I didn’t really connect with Levi and Bee as I have with the other couples. That being said I would probably would reread all three books again because they are the perfect escapism.

Beth Favorite’s Books of 2023!

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It’s that time of the year! Where we look back at all of the books we read this year and pick our favorites. These are my favorite books of 2023. They are in no particular order but in order that I read them.

  1. The Dangerous Damsels series by India Holton – The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, The League of Gentlewoman Witches and The Secret Service of Tea and Treason were such a fun trilogy of books I loved all the prim and proper pirates and witches and their flying houses. It has the perfect mix of romance, hijinks and adventure.
  2. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty – Keeping with the pirate theme. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is such a fun story of piracy, adventure and magic. Unlike most books where the protagonist is young and just starting out, Amina is in her 40’s and well established. She has to come out of retirement for this adventure and not only have battle the present but the past. So much fun.
  3. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – This was the book of the year. I don’t remember the last time that people were excited about the release of a book. The sequel, Iron Flame got the full Midnight release party treatment. Violet has a chronic illness that makes her a poor candidate to be a dragon rider but she’s forced to join by her mom. In a mixture of Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Violet will become a rider if only she can survive, which in this school is not a given. Did I mention there are dragons?
  4. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade – Spoiler Alert and it’s sequel All the Feels are delightful. This is such a nerd romance. It’s mixture of romance, fandoms and fan fics is irresistible. Who doesn’t dream of meeting a handsome actor and falling in love? Marcus and April are the perfect couple. It’s also so great to have a plus size romantic lead. To often we are forgotten about so it’s great to finally get the guy at the end.
  5. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – This was another TikTok find. I am a sucker for enemies to lover trope and I guess also the relationship of convenience trope. It was was such a fun read and I was invested from the beginning. I can’t wait to read more from Ali Hazelwood.

Those were mine. I want to hear what books you loved this year! Maybe they will be mine in 2024!

Review: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

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This book was a victim of its own hype. I wanted to LOVE this book. I was SO EXCITED about it. But, in the end I only liked it, which feels like a huge disappointment.

Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes have to participate in the Metagalatic Grand Prix. If they come in anyplace but dead last, they can prove humanity’s sentience and we as a species can continue existing. We will be welcomed into a wide galaxy full of interesting and wonderful happenings.

If they lose, it is game over for humanity. Maybe the next species that comes to dominate the planet will do better.

The main storyline wasn’t terrible. The side stories of all the species that have recently won or hosted the Metagalatic Grand Prix were interesting. Overall, it was somehow too much? The side stories were distracting. They were interesting and the kind of world building I’m usually into but…I just wanted to get back to the main story. I could imagine this wouldn’t be bad serialized. But, it wasn’t my favorite novel. I will say though, that I listened to this book and maybe if I had read it, I would have had a different experience focusing on it. That being said, I thought Heath Miller did a lovely job reading it. The characters were all distinct and I was never bored with his performance. So, while reading over listening may have helped, I’m not sure it would have helped all that much.

It’s Banned Book Week!!!

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September 24-30 is Banned book week.  The week that American Library Association releases their top 10 challenged books of the last year and we talk about censorship.  A topic that has been getting a lot of talk recently.  Anyway, so why do books get challenged? ALA has this helpful infograph to help us out.

WHY books challenged_0

No surprise that most of the content that people object to have to do with sex and LGBT lifestyles.  Violence and offensive language is also a big one but nothing seems to get people uptight then their poor innocent children reading about having sex or Gay people.  THE HORROR!  So who are challenging.  THe ALA has another infograph to help us out.

WHO challenges books (1)_0

And what are the most challenged books of 2016?

Top Ten for 2016

Out of 323 challenges recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

  1. This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
    Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes
  2. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
    Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint
  3. George written by Alex Gino
    Reasons: challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”
  4. I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
    Reasons: challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints
  5. Two Boys Kissing written by David Levithan
    Reasons: challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBT content
  6. Looking for Alaska written by John Green
    Reasons: challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”
  7. Big Hard Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
    Reason: challenged because it was considered sexually explicit
  8. Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread written by Chuck Palahniuk
    Reasons: challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive”
  9. Little Bill (series) written by Bill Cosby and and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood
    Reason: challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author
  10. Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell
    Reason: challenged for offensive language

 

Let’s not forget that books like Harry Potter, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and Where’s Waldo? have all been on this list before.  So go read a banned book.  Don’t let ideas go to waste.

BBW.17.IF

The Raven Cycle as a TV Show Yes Please

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SQUEE!  This is the most fantastic news!  I’m so happy that it’s being adapted for TV and not a movie because  a 2 hour movie could never hold the likes of  Gansey, Blue, Ronan, Adam and Noah.  This would be perfect for as a Netflix show or even maybe AMC.  I just hope they do it justice.

Thanks to Library-Mermaid on Tumblr for the gif.

New Year, New Challenge!

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Last year, Beth and I started the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Challenge. Our original challenge is made up of three mini challenges containing ten books each. There is an author challenge, a character challenge, and a medium challenge.

It turns out, if you can’t double count things, that this is not the easiest challenge to complete. I, at least, failed to complete it. This year, Beth and I decided to do something a little different. So, we’re going to have two challenges, one that Beth is going to lead and one that I am going to lead. They will be announced this week. We’re both very excited about it. We hope that you will be excited, too, and will join one or both of us on a reading adventure!

Only 32 Days left in 2016, How are your other reading goals going?

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img_1341With only 32 days left I’ve pretty much conceded that I will not finish my Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Challenge.  Sigh.  I will obviously have to work harder next year but I am only 3 books away from my Goodreads Challenge of reading 65 books this year.  I’ve actually read more then 65 books this year but since Goodreads only counts you are reading for the first time and not books you’ve read before.  That’s kind of a bummer but whatever.  It is what it is.  I’ve been doing the Goodreads Challenge since 2011 and every year I’ve read a little less every year.  In 2012 I read 94 books and last year only read 68. I’m a little sad that I don’t read as much as I used too. I don’t read at home as much as I have in the past.  I mostly only read on the ride too and from work.  I think that explains why my book totals have lowered in the last couple of years.  That being said, reading an average of 77 books a year for the last 5 years is pretty good.  And the whole point of the challenge is to set a goal and try to complete it and I am 3 books away from this year goal and only 32 days to finish it.  So this a long ranting post and round about way to ask how close are you to any of your reading goals or challenges?  Have you finished any of yours yet?  Give us a shout at let us know.

Another Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Challenge Update

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Beth already did a challenge update this month and with a little over a month left in 2016, I thought I should see where I stand.

 

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In June, with about half the year under our belts, I had read six books off of the challenge list. Six books. Off my own challenge list. Ugh. I am the worst.

 

So, let’s see how well I’ve done since then. To The Raven King, The life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Year of Yes, Sad Girl Poems, the Feminist Mystique, and A bunch of Captain America, I have added: Americanah, Kindred, Bitch Planet, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Whipping Girl (in progress), Call Me by My Other Name (to be reviewed), and Emperor of Sound.

So far I’ve read 13 out of 30. As I don’t like failing at things I set out for myself, I have thought about rearranging the things that I’ve read this year on the list so that I can use things that aren’t currently on the list so that I can satisfy categories I haven’t gotten yet. Like, if I moved Shonda Rhimes to “read a book by a woman of color” then I could put Caitlin Moran in at “read a book by a woman”. But, I read Shonda Rhimes book first, so it is staying where it is. The good news for me is that I have another six categories already picked out. The even better news is that I’m part way through two of those books. However, there’s still a lot of work that has to be done in 2016 and, I have to tell you, folks. I’m not feeling sanguine about meeting the challenge this year.

 

#bklynbookmatch

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One of the vendors at the Book Riot Live was the Brooklyn Library. They had librarians on had to do what librarians do best.  Suggest books.  They invited con goers to fill out sheets about books, genres and authors they are looking for and then they play book match.  In the spirit of our Diverse Lives, Diverse Stacks Reading Challenge that I’m failing about horribly, I decided to try them out. I asked for.

YA books with diverse voices, especially POC, LGBTQ or disabled folks. I’m looking for authors like Maggie Stiefvater, genres like fantasy and Historical Fiction.

Here are the books I was matched up with.

1.Girls Mans Up by M-E Girard

All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty. But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth–that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.

2. Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

Amara is never alone. Not when she’s protecting the cursed princess she unwillingly serves. Not when they’re fleeing across dunes and islands and seas to stay alive. Not when she’s punished, ordered around, or neglected.

She can’t be alone, because a boy from another world experiences all that alongside her, looking through her eyes.

Nolan longs for a life uninterrupted. Every time he blinks, he’s yanked from his Arizona town into Amara’s mind, a world away, which makes even simple things like hobbies and homework impossible. He’s spent years as a powerless observer of Amara’s life. Amara has no idea . . . until he learns to control her, and they communicate for the first time. Amara is terrified. Then, she’s furious.

All Amara and Nolan want is to be free of each other. But Nolan’s breakthrough has dangerous consequences. Now, they’ll have to work together to survive–and discover the truth about their connection

3. Pinned by Sharon Flake

Autumn and Adonis have nothing in common and everything in common. Autumn is outgoing and has lots of friends. Adonis is shy and not so eager to connect with people. But even with their differences, the two have one thing in common–they’re each dealing with a handicap. For Autumn, who has a learning disability, reading is a painful struggle that makes it hard to focus in class. But as her school’s most aggressive team wrestler, Autumn can take down any problem. Adonis is confined to a wheelchair. He has no legs. He can’t walk or dance. But he’s a strong reader who loves books. Even so, Adonis has a secret he knows someone like Autumn can heal.

In time, Autumn and Adonis are forced to see that our greatest weaknesses can turn into the assets that forever change us and those we love.

Told in alternating voices, Pinned explores issues of self-discovery, friendship, and what it means to be different

4. The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

Dolssa is a young gentlewoman with uncanny gifts, on the run from an obsessed friar determined to burn her as a heretic for the passion she refuses to tame.

Botille is a wily and charismatic peasant, a matchmaker running a tavern with her two sisters in a tiny seaside town.

The year is 1241; the place, Provensa, what we now call Provence, France—a land still reeling from the bloody crusades waged there by the Catholic Church and its northern French armies.

When the matchmaker finds the mystic near death by a riverside, Botille takes Dolssa in and discovers the girl’s extraordinary healing power. But as the vengeful Friar Lucien hunts down his heretic, the two girls find themselves putting an entire village at the mercy of murderers.

So I am going to add these to the my to-read list and for anyone else who are looking for books to complete their own reading challenge, check them out for yourselves.  Any great books you’ve read for the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Challenge?

 

Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge.

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Beth and I have done a lot of talking about the kinds of things that reading can do for a person. It really is a magical thing. It can transport you to different worlds. It can imagine new history. It can see potential futures. Studies have even shown that reading literary fiction can help you relate better to other people. So, with this in mind, we’ve put together our first reading challenge. Inspired by #weneedmorediversebooks, we’ve come up with a challenge to make us think about who we are reading and what we are reading about. Our challenge has three sub-challenges: one related to characters, one related to authors, and one related to books themselves. Each sub-challenge is only ten books long, so you can do any of the sub-challenges without changing how you read for the whole year. As a reader, you can tackle the whole challenge or one or more of the sub-challenges.

I will be maintaining a page here on this blog full of possible books to fulfill the challenge that I find in my reading travels. Of course, any suggestions will be helpfully added to the list. Part of what makes diversifying your reading difficult is that you don’t always know something is diverse going in. We are going to endeavor to make that easy by keeping a separate page of suggestions.

Since this challenge is only 30 books, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of diversity in literature and in life, but we hope that this list and the books that are read because of it will create interesting and thoughtful discussions. We hope that you will consider taking the challenge and reading along with us in 2016!