Genre: Retellings

Bite-Sized Reviews of Bloody Fool for Love, Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Bravely, Aru Shah and the End of Time: the Graphic Novel, & Ultimate Book of the Future

Today, I’m reviewing two YA historical fantasies, a MG fantasy, a MG fantasy graphic novel, and a MG historical verse novel! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Bloody Fool for Love is a historical fantasy prequel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer that focuses on Spike, the vampire we all know and love! Spike has always been my favorite character from the Buffy franchise, so I’m pretty much automatically […]

Posted August 9, 2022 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang: A Dual Review with Danielle Hammelef

(No actual dueling—or even arm-twisting—was involved. Don’t worry, this is a dual review, not a duel review. Sorry if you’re disappointed.) It’s been so long since I’ve done a dual review. I was excited to be able to buddy read this newest book with Danielle Hammelef, the latest winner of my Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up “Make Me Read It” giveaway. Danielle chose to make me read Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang. I read the […]

Posted March 9, 2022 in Dual Reviews, Reviews / 5 Comments

Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee: Review & Giveaway

Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD Tiger Honor is a mythological sci-fi adventure that explores the bounds of loyalty and the complications of competing interests. The main character Sebin has to decide if their oaths to their family outweigh their dedication to the Space Force. They want to do what’s right, but the real trick is figuring out what the right thing even is. This is a follow-up to Dragon Pearl, and while you don’t necessarily need […]

Posted January 20, 2022 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 4 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: The Seventh Raven, Chlorine Sky, Me (Moth), and Ice! Poems About Polar Life

As my regular readers know, I’m a round-one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Poetry category. Because of that, I’ve been reading tons of verse lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed […]

Posted November 11, 2021 in Cybils, Reviews / 13 Comments

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching by Kwame Mbalia: Review & Giveaway

Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD Tristan Strong Keeps Punching is the thrilling finale fans of this series have been waiting for! This book brings the mythical characters of Alke into our world and explores the ways in which history is intertwined with these legends’ stories. Children, both Alkean and human, are disappearing and Tristan can’t help but notice how the world goes on and ignores the lost souls. He is determined to save them, but […]

Posted October 23, 2021 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 5 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Last Fallen Star, Phoebe and Her Unicorn in the Magic Storm, Long Distance, and Heart of Iron

Today, I have a MG fantasy, a MG sci fi graphic novel, an audiobook of a MG fantasy graphic novel, and a YA sci fi novel! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This is one of my favorite Rick Riordan Presents books, which is saying a lot because I absolutely love this imprint! The book explores Korean folklore and features an adopted main character who struggles to reconcile […]

Posted July 14, 2021 in Reviews / 12 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of These Violent Delights, Sunkissed, Cemetery Boys, and The Startup Squad Series

Today, I have a YA fantasy, a YA contempory, a YA urban fantasy, and a MG contemp series! I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! I was hoping to sneak this review in during May for AAPI month, but let’s face it, we need to lift up Asian and other diverse authors every month. So, a few days into June is still a good time to celebrate this book! […]

Posted June 3, 2021 in Reviews / 15 Comments

Aru Shah and the City of Gold: Review & Giveaway

Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD Another exciting installment in the Pandava Series! In this book, Aru and her friends are joined by Kara, who Aru discovers is the Sleeper’s other daughter. Family and friendship loyalties are stretched to their limits in this book, as the gang struggles to know who they can count on. Not only do they have to decide if Kara deserves their trust (after all, she was basically raised by the Sleeper), but they’re also dealing with […]

Posted April 21, 2021 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 4 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Legendborn, Ana on the Edge, Furia, The Mystwick School of Musicraft, and Amal Unbound

Today I’ve got some bite-sized reviews of some of my recent reads: A YA fantasy, a YA contemp, a MG fantasy, and a MG contemp. I hope these bite-sized reviews are enough to feed your fiction addiction! This YA paranormal reimagining of King Arthur’s court is utterly addictive! The book goes deep into the world of secret societies when sixteen-year-old Bree goes to her late mother’s private school and discovers that demons are running amok—along with […]

Posted March 4, 2021 in Reviews / 13 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Dragon Assassin, The Girl Who Speaks Bear, Mulan: Before the Sword, Bones in the Wall, and The Barren Grounds

The Cybils Awards winners have been announced, and you should definitely check them out! Congrats especially to Rival Magic, which won in the MG spec fic category, which is the category I judged for round one. Even though the awards have been doled out, I still want to feature some very quick reviews of the nominees I read since there were so many good ones. It will take me quite some time to get to […]

Posted February 18, 2021 in Cybils, Reviews / 3 Comments