REVIEW | Punk is Undead by Paulo Baron.

I gave Punk is Undead by Paulo Baron two out of five stars. I was sent an ebook copy of the new English edition in exchange for an honest review.

Punk is Undead is a graphic novel about two men who decide to bring the rock stars from the past 

in order to make a legendary new band (and of course to make that money!).

The art in this graphic novel was amazing! It fit the ambience of the story so well, with its dark and creepy colors.

I unfortunately was not a fan of this story... It was brutal and violent, for what I felt was no reason at all. While the zombies and the music references were interesting and probably fit for a different audience, I felt like the other violent aspects just weren't necessary.

This book isn't for everyone, and I was one who it wasn't for, but it did have some plot points that would be interesting to huge music fans and zombie fans.

I hope anyone who is interested in things like that would check this graphic novel out!

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

I originally gave Me Before You by Jojo Moyes a full five out of five stars, but have since lowered my rating to around a 3.5 stars.  I will get into why (without spoilers) in this review.

Me Before You follows a 26 year old girl named Louisa (Lou for short) living a regular small town life in a town in England. When suddenly losing her job she ends up taking a caregiver position as a last resort, working for a man who was in an accident and now lives with quadriplegia. The story is all about the relationship that builds between Lou and Will, focusing on how Lou should live wholeheartedly and beyond their small town.

I'm going to go into the things I loved first.

I loved the slow burn of Lou and Will. Their sarcastic banter with each other was some of my favorite  writing I've ever read.

I loved the raw emotions Jojo Moyes brought me to when reading this story.  

I loved the plot points that are negative in Lou's life. I loved watching Lou deal with them, figure them out, get through them, and develop into a person who could handle them.

Alright. So as I already said, originally this was a 5 star book. But since reading it, I've watched a few insightful reviews and now have a better understanding not only that there are problematic plot points in this book but also a better understanding of why they are problematic. Let's get into this.

Firstly I want to say that I by no means want to pretend like I am an expert in these things. I URGE you to head over to a review that I watched at the channel JustHappenToBe. 

Ableism. The very short definition of this word from wikipedia is "the discrimination in favor of able bodied people." This story, which has a main character with quadriplegia is focused on the able bodied person.  Her character develops. Her character moves on from past trauma. And our main character, Will, with quadriplegia is used mostly as a plot device for her story rather than being a character with significant development himself.

The research.  Again, this is not something I pretend to have expertise in. However with the little that I do know about the human body and again having acquired information from the review linked above... The research that was done for this book about quadriplegia, and spinal cord injuries and everything that is involved with that aspect of the plot was done very lazily.  It was like she did do some research into facts about the lives of real people who live with the same problems as Will, but not enough to be accurate if anybody was actually interested in looking things up after having read her book.

So. This book is phenomenal if you are reading it for enjoyment and in complete ignorance of the problems that your entertainment can and do have.  For some, that's all that matters.  But for me, I want to read books that if they deal with sensitive or controversial or mostly ignored topics, I want them to be done in an aware and informational way where I can take something from fiction to bring and use in my real life.  This book did not do that. And it took me looking further into reviews and doing some research to recognize that so again I urge you to specifically check out that source I put in earlier.

That's my review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.  How do you feel about your entertainment? Do you care about the accuracy of information in books that deal with things you don't really know about?  Leave a comment and let's discuss.

Until next time,

MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | The Land's Whisper by Monica Lee Kennedy.

The Land's Whisper by Monica Lee Kennedy was read 21 of 2016! I was sent this book by the author in exchange for an honest review and I am so glad I accepted this request! I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars, and it was such an interesting story! I also filmed a review on Youtube that you can check out here.

The Land's Whisper's very tiny plot summary on the back is, "The land itself is alive. It sees. It thinks. It speaks." Just from that, I was ready.  The story follows Brenol and Darsey, a 14 year old boy and a man who feels like Brenol is more like a son to him than anything else.  Together they end up on an adventure in a new land where the land is personified and they have to save a girl together.

One of my favorite things about this story is that the relationship it focuses on is that between Brenol and Darsey, a father-son pairing and that of Brenol and an individual we meet in the story which is more of a friendship but also that of teacher-student.

There's also a VERY creepy situation that happens in this book that I was not expecting at all and oh my god I got the chills so bad when reading it!

The sequel in this series, The Parting Breath Series, is called Eyes in the Water and it was published May 12, 2016. I cannot wait to pick it up! 

Are you planning to check this book out? BECAUSE YOU SHOULD. Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, 

MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Yes Please by Amy Poehler.

Guys I am so behind the times, it's not even funny.  I am posting a review of every book I read in the year of 2016, so here we go!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler was Read 20 of 2016! I listened to this on audio, and I found myself laughing so hard I was crying while driving. Probably not the safest way to get to and from somewhere.

I realized while listening to her book, that I really didn't know a whole lot of Amy Poehler's work. She talked a lot about her time on Saturday Night Live and Parks & Recreation, both of which I've never really watched.  That being said, I didn't feel like I was missing out too much because it was a whole new perspective on these things, and her detail when story telling let me feel like I wasn't missing out on the whole of what she was trying to get across.

I adored this memoir, and everyone should read it basically. I also loved that there were moments where she would laugh during the recording, and it just felt really honest.

What's your favorite memoir? Leave it in the comments and I'll be sure to check it out!

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

GIVEAWAY | Deception Island by Brynn Kelly

Hey nerds, what's up?!

Today my April & May haul and wrap up went up, (link here) and I was so excited to announce my very first Booktube Tours book! I'm so excited to finally get to be a part of this huge collaboration with so many awesome booktubers, and it just so happens that this book caught my fancy! I can't wait to pick it up!!

If you don't know what Booktube Tours is, it's a huge collaborative event on Booktube hosted by Grace from LovingDemBooks and anybody can sign up to participate if they have a channel, and you get to be a part of tours for particular books that you sign up for.  If accepted for the tour, you're sent the book in exchange for some sort of spotlight on the books. ITS PRETTY COOL.

(check out the booktube tours info here)

Okay so this freaking book, I am so excited! Deception Island is a pirate book! Let me just say that I'm obsessed with pirate shows and pirate movies but I still to this day have yet to read a pirate book. What is wrong with me. I saw the plot summary of this and was sold.

The book is about a pirate who steals a rich heiress because... well he's a pirate what other reason is there.  But in so doing, he comes to find that he did not in fact capture the heiress but instead he has her body double. And the adventure ensures. It sounds like its going to be a very exciting adventure novel and I cannot wait to see how it is!

NOW if you want a chance to win a copy of Deception Island, all you have to do is follow the link  HERE and enter the giveaway via rafflecopter. They are giving away TEN HARD COVER copies, so make sure to check it out!

And of course, be sure to check the book out for yourself with the following links:

Goodreads
Amazon
Book Depository
Barnes and Noble
iBooks

Author links:
Website
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

I hope you guys will read this book with me! If you do decide to pick it up, tweet me and maybe we can buddy read it!

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Ask the Passengers by AS King.

Ask the Passengers by AS King was read 19 of 2016, and I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars!

I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook for this book as I drove to Yallwest a few weekends ago.  I was really in the mood for a contemporary and needed a break from all the fantasy and nonfiction I've been focusing on! This was an excellent choice!

Ask the Passengers focuses on a girl named Astrid Jones, whose family is from New York but have been living in a small town for a few years now.  Astrid's best friend is the most popular girl in school, with the perfect boyfriend, except that's not true at all.  Only Astrid knows that Christina and Justin are actually in relationships with other people... of the same gender.  Its a story full of secrets and closets, as Astrid is also dating a girl from work, and nobody knows.

I personally connected the most with the antagonist of the story, Astrid's mother, and the mother-daughter relationship between them.  Its not that I have this relationship with my mother, not at all! But I nonetheless found it a very realistic expression of a mom who thinks she is open to to nontraditional situations, but overreacts when she has to deal with them.

I did have an issue with how simply everything wrapped up, which I won't go into detail with.  But it just seemed too easy for everyone that was important in the story.

With that being said, I still would highly recommend this book, especially with its LGBTQ aspects! This is the first book I think I've ever read with a lesbian character and I felt that a lot of the situations our characters dealt with were realistic in the ways they played out.

I hope you guys pick this one up! Let me know if you enjoyed the book or why you didn't!

Until next time, 

MissSassyKassie

OWLCRATE UNBOXING | April 2016

     In April, I was so excited to be offered a chance to review Owlcrate's April box! I did post a video of my initial reactions of the unboxing, and what I thought of each item, and you can see that here.

I wanted to do a blog post so you could see a close up of each item that was in the box!

First off, this was the card that explained what each item in the box was, and what store or company they were each from.  I really loved the card itself though, and got a kick out of the poster on the right side in particular.

The first thing I grabbed out of the box was this beautiful coaster that says "I spent my life folded between the pages of books," inspired by Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.  The coaster was designed by Evie Bookish.

Next is my personal favorite item from this box, and its a little unlined notebook from Manuscript that has 1984 by George Orwell on the cover, one of my favorite dystopian books I've ever read!

Pictured here is a Mocking Jay bracelet from The Geeky Cauldron and a Mocking Jay magnet from Half Blood Prints. I love the pop of light blue on the bracelet.  There were two different styles of magnets for this box, and I still really want to know what the other one looks like! I do love this one though!!

Shailey Ann Designs created a decal (it'll be pure black when its actually stuck somewhere) based on The Maze Runner series.  This isn't my favorite book/series of all time, but I still really think the whole idea of WCKD is really cool!

Before we get to everything actually related to the book that was in the box, there was a little poster with a quote from The Star Touched Queen, and it is BEAUTIFUL! I'm going to put it up on my wall once I've moved into my new place next month.

And finally: the book! Flawed by Cecelia Ahern is a dystopian YA novel about a girl named Celestine who has the perfect life, and lived in the perfect world until she makes a mistake and is branded as Flawed.  I absolutely LOVE the cover of this book.  I love that you can see the photo on the hard cover through the dust jacket, it is gorgeous!  There was also a copied note written by Cecelia Ahern about her excitement for the publishing of her book and it was so sweet to read!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and the video. SORRY for it being so late!!

Until next time,

MissSassyKassie