Book Review: West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

 Book Review: West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I think when I first heard about this book last year when someone suggested it for book club, it just called to me somehow. Even without knowing a whole lot about it. I just FELT something. And so, since it wasn't voted in for book club, I kept it on my radar, got a hold of my own copy, and suggested it as a readalong this year.

I only had a handful of people join me, but I think we all agreed that the book is awesome. And for me anyway, a sold five star read without a doubt. 

I loved the setting... during the terrible dust bowl and the depression. World War II is about to start. People are worried about so many things, but then this story about driving giraffes across the country to get them to the San Diego Zoo captures everyone's attention and brightens their lives.

I loved the characters... our boy Woody Nickel, who ends up as the driver of the truck these giraffes are on. The dude that is taking care of the giraffes. The girl who is following them trying to get pictures for Life Magazine. And the amazing giraffes themselves. They all blend to make such a unique found family. And as we learn their backstories, they all become even more real and more endearing.

I loved the writing... Woody has a voice that is so easy to read/love/become attached to. Our author captures him so well! I can tell she did a ton of research to make this story come to life and now I want to make this road trip myself and see all the things!

It's such a heart-warming and at times heart-breaking story. So, yes all the feels. And I loved it. So much. Please add it to your TBRs if you haven't already read it!

Book Review: Gods and Comics by Kat Cho

Book: Gods and Comics by Kat Cho

Genre: YA urban fantasy

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a story about a girl who writes a webtoon based on the myths and legends her Korean grandmother told her... about the sun god and the water god and their kids. Her story is pretty popular and her webtoon actually goes viral. Which... somehow... brings her characters to life!

So now we have a story with her normal, ordinary girl problems mixed in with the problems of these gods, all set in our normal world, so it gets a little crazy, but in a fantastic and fun way.

Our girl, Grace, is dealing with things like grief because of the loss of both her mom and grandma, and anxiety (she suffers from panic attacks) and the feeling that she needs to be perfect and take care of everything for her dad. All these issues are dealt with in a nice, positive way, which I appreciated.

The romance is a simple one, with Grace falling for the character she created and who is now come to life, Hae, the son of the Sun God. But he has lost his powers. Which makes it really hard to fight Haebak, the Water God, when he comes to take revenge all the humans. 

As always, I love to learn more about these Korean stories and enjoy any sort of version and interpretation I can as the opportunity comes. So very fun. The story as a whole is a typical YA one, with all the expected tropes and feelings. 

Thank you to NetGalley for accepting me to read this ARC. The book will be released tomorrow, April 21! Check it out if any of these things sound awesome to you!

 

West With Giraffes Readalong: Half Way Check in!

 Hey everyone! Are you reading West With Giraffes with me? Here's what I'm thinking so far:

In this, the first half of the book, we met our main characters which consist of a boy who has survived the Dust Bowl and has already had terrible terrible luck, the two giraffes which have survived a hurricane on the boat that has brought them from Africa, the guy in charge of them that our boy calls Old Man, a girl with bright red hair who is somehow mixed up in all of this craziness too! 

Bottom line summary so far: the giraffes need to get to the San Diego Zoo. They barely survived the hurricane and the Old Man has put them on a truck to haul them there. Our boy, Woody Nickel, has also just survived the hurricane and has no one and no place to go. He is fascinated with the giraffes and they seem to like him a lot too, so he follows them for awhile until he is discovered and somehow manages to get himself hired to drive the truck. 

Slowly but surely they make their way across the US on the Lee Highway, but not with out incident. Tons of crazy things get in their way obstacles, not so great people but also very nice people who help them out. And Red, the girl, is following them with her camera to write a story for Life Magazine.

I'm dying to know if that article is for real... can we look it up and see her pictures? I think Woody is for real, and the whole bit about the giraffes is real. Who knows if all the crazy things that are happening to them are for real. But I don't want to look up stuff until I've finished for fear of spoilers.

I did look up the Lee Highway to see it's route. I love the idea of travelling on the old roads, off the freeways, to learn history and see the country. This one would be so fun!

Our book goes forward in time to when Woody is old and trying so hard to write down this story before it's too late. It's great to see him looking back on all this and also knowing that he had a rich, long and full life. We get some articles thrown in about the whole adventure too, which I assume are real ones. It's a great way to tell this story.

I love the voice... Woody is a great story teller! I'm loving that part so much!

If you are reading along, let me know what you are thinking so far too! I'm so glad I'm fitting this one in!

March 2026 Reading Wrap Up!

 It was a crazy month, March! Tons of reading happened. And tons of writing MARKETING happened. (Not actual writing of course, but the marketing of the book is WELL underway!)

Here's what I read this month:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell: Thanks to the movie I suppose, I was suddenly hearing about this book everyone, so I found a used copy at the store one day and finally got to it this past month. And oh boy, the hype is real and this book is AMAZING! The writing is perfection... the powerful prose and beautiful descriptions and the story... the story is just so good. It's about the wife of Shakespeare, though Shakespeare is never actually named... he is just "the husband" or "the brother" or "the son" etc. So interesting. Not much is known about his wife, but this interpretation is awesome and I hope somewhat true. All surrounding the death of their son, Hamnet. An absolute ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me!

Man of my Dreams by Jenny Rabe: My friend and I met this author at the writing conference in February and my friend bought her book and then loaned it to me. It was alright, nothing great really. The run of the mill, formulaic romance novel. This one did have a bit of a supernatural twist, but it was a bit eye rolly. I don't know. It was okay... lol. ⭐⭐⭐

Newsletter Ninja 2 by Tammi Labrecque: The second little book in this series about how to build an audience for you author newsletter. It was a frustrating read for me because they make it sound so easy and if you JUST DO IT then people will come. Not so. Not even close. People don't want another newsletter. People don't even look at email. But still they say, it's the most important marketing thing to do as an author. So I'm doing it. I have a newsletter. You can subscribe if you want. YEP! ⭐⭐⭐

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol 8 by Beth Brower: Ah, so sad to have finished the series as we know it now. Number 9 should come later this year. And I guess I'll just start BUYING this series and collect them. Whatever. Resistance if futile. I loved this last one. So good. So many back stories revealed. So many heart warming moments. So much swoon and banter. So much everything. LOVE LOVE LOVE. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: I did my fourth re-read of this book and documented the journey with a reading vlog on my channel. I tried to be entertaining. You should go watch it maybe. See what you think. But bottom line, I love this story story, even if it's very sad and disturbing. It's so compelling. I continue to think of it as a   ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  book!

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden: This was the book club choice for the month. The first half was weird and the writing wasn't so great and I thought I might not make it through and that I would end up giving it a low rating. But then it really picked up in the second half and I read it so fast and then thought, well. Okay. That was a pretty good story after all. And now I'm giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐! Crazy!

Burn the Kingdom Down by Addie Thorley: This was my ARC read for the month ( I think I'll probably have at least one or two a month this whole year, so be warned!) I got this one from NetGalley  just because it caught my attention, and guess what, I was right. It was a really good! I great YA fantasy that was so encaging and page turning and quite unique. You can scroll back a few posts and see my full thoughts on it. But I loved and it gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!

Betting on You by Lynn Painter: I snuck this one in at the end of the month just because I could and because I've been dying to read it for so long. It was as expected a fun YA romance with a lot of great tropes... friends to lovers, fake boyfriend, close proximity, etc. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Did you keep track? I rated FOUR books with five stars this month. Crazy! How can April hold up to that??

What did you read and love this month?

Video version of this wrap up can be found here on my channel.

West With Giraffes Readalong!

 Does anyone want to read this book with me? I'm hosting a readalong this month of April! Let me know if you are joining in!