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!

 

Book Review: Burn the Kingdom Down by Addie Thorley

 Book: Burn the Kingdom Down by Addie Thorley

Genre: YA Romantasy

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In this really awesome YA romantasy, we have two kingdoms with completely different magic and cultures. One lives in a cold mountain and those with magic can move the earth. The other lives in the warm earth and those with magic can cultivate plants. And they both need each other survive.

Our main character, Indira, comes from the gardener kingdom and her sister is forced to marry into the mountain kingdom in order to keep the pact going between the kingdoms. When she suspiciously dies, Indira is forced to take her place. 

And she is determined to use this opportunity to find out what really happened and make the mountain kingdom pay! 

But what she finds there is not at all what she expects. 

This story starts out with a great hook and just gets better and better. I was glued to the pages the whole time and the ending is just... WAH!! Lots of action and twists and turns, with a great magic system and world building. I really enjoyed it... all the way up to five stars! 

It has lots of action, as mentioned, and much political intrigue and all that good stuff, but it does include a romance too... enemies to lovers... but with low spice. It was perfect level for me. So good!

Thank you to Netgalley for the early review copy. This book will be released on April 7! Look for it!

Books I Read in January 2023

Welcome to my new format for "reviewing" books! I'm just going to do the monthly wrap up and report on my books read then, all in one post with mini reviews. Okay? Okay!

Here's what I read in January:

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle: I really loved this one about a girl with massive ADHD and a boy on the autistic spectrum. They get together in a pretty funny and then connect through their mutual love for a book called The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. And they use those quotes in their texts to each other and it's adorable. They both have lots of issues to deal with and it seems like there's no way they can figure out how to be together.  It's a really cute and fun story with not your typical characters. 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman: This one we read for book club in January. This author is quickly becoming a book club favorite and ends up on our lists quite often these days! It's a fun story narrated by a nearly 8 year old girl as she watches all the crazy things going on in her apartment building. She is also dealing with the death of her grandma... her crazy grandma who has sent in on a sort of treasure hunt after she's gone. And our girl ends up realizing that all the people in the apartment building have a connection. It's awesome just as all his books are, with amazing character development. He can capture people like no else!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is the book I read from my own stacks this month. A book that has been waiting for me since 2016... because I remember buying it at Powell's bookstore when we were on a trip that year! Anyway, I loved it and it gets to be my first 5 star read of the year! What a story that totally sucks you and keeps you on the edge the whole time! Our girl ends up posing as a sly and spying on the household of the commander of the school that trains soldiers to fight and suppress her people. She needs to get information so she can save her brother from horrendous jail and torture. Our guy is one of these highly trained soldiers and he has just graduated from this school. And he wants to escape. But if he's caught they will kill him. And of course their two desires somehow come together in all the crazy unexpected ways! AHH! It's all so intense!  I immediately got book 2 from the library and I hope to fit it in during February. 

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: This was a sort of Booktube read along, though I haven't really succeeded in connecting with anyone reading it yet! LOL! It's a great historical fantasy (is that what you call it... magic in the 1800's but not with steampunk sort of devices). Our girl has been raised in a great library with intentions of running that library someday, but an incident happens that sends her off to be questioned by the sorcerers and magic is so very much frowned upon by the librarians. Bad bad stuff. But when she meets a certain sorcerer, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is right. Because he... and the demon that gives him his magic... are pretty cool after all. And then after they become friends they have to save the world! Fun stuff, and so beautifully written. 

February Plans:

• Read The Last Anniversary for bookclub
• Read the 2nd Ember in the Ashes book!
• Read Siddhartha, or that Leo Tolstoy short story thing for a challenge
• Read a king/queen book for the British Forced Phase
• That's all I'm thinking of at this point!

December 2022 Books: Mini Review Catch Up

These are the books I read in December! Quite a few more than I normally read because I was really trying to make a push and meet that dang Goodreads goal!

And with this post I might be mostly caught up!

Atomic Habits by James Clear: I finally got to this one that pretty much the whole world has been talking about. And yes, I can see what all the fuss is about. It does lay out a plan for getting into good habits in a way that is very clear (ha clear....get it?) and relatable and that makes sense. I would love to implement something into my life, but I will probably just on about things and forget it all! I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This was our for fun Christmas book club read and it was pretty perfect for that directive. Our girl goes on vacation with her family and family friends every year, but this year is different in that it might be the last time they are able to do this. And then something happens, everything starts over, Ground Hog Day style. And she gets a couple of tries to get things right and to help fix the issues that are making everyone so sad. It was heartwarming, romantic and fun. I totally enjoyed it. Three stars on Goodreads.

Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage: This an ARC I got from the publisher and it needed to be read in September when it came out. Gah, ooops! It took me awhile thank you to all of lives distractions and my terrible time getting anything read these days! It's the second in the Lost Wonderland Diaries series, which is a delightful fun sort of retelling (not really, but in that world) of Alice in Wonderland. It's so very clever and funny and full of fun riddles and the like. I feel like kids will enjoy it even more than I did! I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Places We've Never Been by Kasie West: I got this one for Christmas and read it in a couple of sittings, because as you know, I love her stories! Another fun YA romance that takes place on a road trip through very familiar places to me. I love that. Our characters are friends, but time has elapsed and things are now on shaking ground. It's fun to see them rekindle things. "Friends, to enemies, to lovers!" I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool: Another book I'm reading from my shelves that has been waiting forever. This one takes place shortly after WWII about a 13 year old who has been sent to a boarding school and he befriends a strange and interesting kid named Early, who teaches him all sorts of things about life. Together they go on a quest and navigate growing up. It's very heart warming and sweet. It won the Printz honor award. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. 

And that brings us to the end of 2022 reading! I think I might just do a monthly wrap up mini review post this year. And see how that goes. And here's hoping I read a TON more this year than last! 

Kdrama Review: Tomorrow

Drama: Tomorrow (on Netflix)

Genre: Fantasy

Starring:  Kim Hee-sun, Rowoon, Lee Soo-hyuk and Yoon Ji-on.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This was a drama that was quite hard to watch. But at the same time it was so so good. 

The premise is our main characters are working for the afterlife, and their specific job is to save people from suicide. Some of their colleagues are traditional grim reapers that meet people as they die and escort them to wherever they go next. But our group has a device that shows them who is about die by their own hands, and they insert themselves into their lives and fix things.

It's heartbreaking. Everyone's story brings you, the watcher, literally to tears every single time. Every story is very relatable, and so real. Or they are stories from history that are crazy disturbing and awful. But every single one ends with uplifting and hopeful feelings.

Our main dude is hanging out with this group just on a temporary basis. He's in a coma, and while his body heals, he is helping this team. And he is awesome. He learns so many things and helps them in so many ways. 

While all these stories happen, we get the back stories of the main characters. And those are especially heartbreaking. Oh my word. 

Anyway, that's all to say this drama is fantastic, but highly emotional. So watch at your own risk and when you are in the mood for much crying. But also a lot of wonderful emotions. So very cathartic all around!

Our main dude is played by a kpop star, Rowoon from SF9 and wow. He is amazing. The other actors blew me away too. And many episodes have guest stars that I was familiar with (from kpop mostly) and they too were all wonderful. I can't believe how talented these people are. It's so not fair. Geez.

Here's a trailer:

And one of my favorite songs EVER was used in this drama... sung by one of my favorite dudes ever:

Book Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 Book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Genre: urban fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

We read this book for book club WAY back in June. I had heard so much about it. I just knew it was going to be so awesome!

So... was it awesome? I would say it was mostly... weird.. .and yet quite intriguing and thought provoking. 

It's about a girl who wants to die, but instead of dying, she ends up in the Midnight Library where the librarian she remembers from her childhood tells her to think about her perfect life, and she can go try that one out instead. 

So so goes back to life, but this time in her fantasy life and she finds out pretty quickly, all is not so well in this life either. 

And so she tries out another, and another and another. Until she FINALLY finds the perfect life, but is it really? 

I enjoyed it and the "moral" of the story quite a bit. It was a little preachy I suppose in parts, but mostly I didn't notice. It reminded me a lot of the movie It's a Wonderful Life. 

Kdrama Review: The Sound of Magic

 Drama: The Sound of Magic

Genre: Fantasy

Staring: Ji Changwook, Choi Sungeun, Hwang Inyoup

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This is the first drama I've watched that's an actual musical.  I mean we always get great soundtracks, and songs happen all the time, but the characters don't break out into song and dance. But they do in this one! And it's awesome to see our Changwook singing in such a thing!

It's a story about a dude who claims to be a magician and is living in an abandoned amusement park. Our girl is really struggling in life, having been basically abandoned by her parents and having to now take care of her little sister while still going to high school. She happens upon the magician and he changes how she feels about life with his magic. 

Our boy is also struggling, more with the demands of his parents. He ends up getting to know the magician too, but is much more skeptical. He is worried about the involvement our girl has with the magician and wonders what's really going on.

And what IS really going on indeed? That begins to be the question as the story goes on. Something is up. 

Even though the story has many beautiful magical moments, there is also some disturbing bits too. An interesting juxtaposition. 

Some people I know were bothered by the singing (which I find funny because pretty sure everyone knew it's a musical going in) but I thought it was great fun and everyone was really awesome. There's really not a ton of songs either. And of course Ji Changwook is FANTASTIC as he is in everything he does. So so good!

I ended up enjoying it a lot. It's a really short drama (only six episodes I think) and worth watching!

Here's the trailer. 

And an example of one of the musical numbers. 

Book Review: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

Book: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the second in this series wherein we continue the story from book one The Black Witch. Our girl Elloren is still at school and still hanging out with the "misfits." But now she is determined to save them. Because her people who rule the land currently, have decided to start rounding up certain races and banning them, or killing them, or otherwise persecuting them. 

So, in other words, she is going against everything she's been taught and totally turning on her people. While at the same time her people think she is next in line to be the Black Witch, or ruler of them all. 

She has a made alliances with several of her friends, and found others who are against what's going on, and together they make up the Resistance. Their first task is to save some of the people... the Fae and the Selkies for starters. Meanwhile, her aunt is determined to have her "wandfasted" (engaged with no going back) to a dude who is NOT part of the Resistance. But if she does agree to marry him, than maybe she can get him to turn and be of help because he is high up in a power position. But that's a big maybe.

Oh my word. There's so much. I can't even summarize properly!

Anyway, it's all very crazy and detailed and there are a ton of characters as is expected in a high fantasy of this sort. And so many types of people and the prejudices everyone has against each other is rampant. I don't know how Elloren is going to fix any of it! But it's a great ride trying to hang on with her while she tries. I'm going to have to finish this series with the next book, aren't I? 

Book Review: Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani

Book: Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

This book was chosen for one of our book club reads this past summer, but I knew nothing about it at all except the authors are/were local. When I got it my hands I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was set in Japan and based on Japanese folklore. Cool!

And it was cool, mostly. But sometimes a bit hard to follow. I felt like the authors assumed that readers would have a base in Japanese culture to help them understand things, but if you are coming into it totally cold, you are going to be lost for sure.

It's about a girl whose family runs a shrine in Kyoto. A lot of the creatures that help them are mythological people, some good, some not so good. And most people can't see them, but of course, our girl can. 

So one day, some of the bad creatures attack the shrine and are after a relic that they need to take over the world. And Kira (our girl) needs to figure out how to stop this from happening. She, together with her friend (who is... a nine-tailed fox in the making! Ah, do you see a theme in the stuff I keep consuming here!) have to find seven death gods to help them. 

It gets pretty detailed and complicated, all the magic and craziness that happens. It's beautifully written and very lush and poetic and awesome. Just... as I said.. sometimes hard to follow and understand everything. But despite all that, I enjoyed it. It was quite the ride!

Book Review: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

 Book: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

Genre: YA fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

Another fun one in the set of books these authors are doing that are basically retellings of famous Jane stories. This one is Jane Eyre's. And I loved that Charlotte Bronte and her brother are also characters in this story. Charlotte and Jane are friends at the boarding school and then Jane goes away to be governess. And there's a society that hunts ghosts and it appears that Jane is a great seer of ghosts (Helen Burns, a ghost, is her best friend and follows her everywhere) so the society is determined to get her to work for them. 

But in the meantime she has fallen in love with Rochester of course!

Anyway... the story is familiar and yet so many fun twists and turns to make it completely different. I really enjoy the creativity of all that. Sometimes the silliness of other things grates on me a bit, but not enough to not get a kick out of it all just have fun with it. 

Soon I'm sure you'll see me reading the story of the next Jane! (I think Calamity Jane is out now?)

 

Book Review: The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

Book: The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

In a world were lots of people have magic, our heroine girl does not. And she is a descendant of one of the most magical witches of all, so is very strange that she didn't inherit powers, just the looks of her grandma. 

This is a fascinating world, not only because of the magic, but because there are so many different kinds of people and creatures. Our girl has been raised in the Gardnerian society who has cause to hate a bunch of these other people because of what has happened in their history. But when she leaves her sheltered life and goes to school amongst all these people, she starts to find out that they all have something to contribute to society and that maybe the history she knows of her people isn't quite right. 

Because of her heritage, she has many hidden and unknown enemies and is constantly worrying about who might be trying to kill her. But she ends up creating a great group of diverse friends and they bond together to fight off the evil. 

It's a beautifully written fantasy with a fabulous world that's been created to show us how great diversity is. I really quite enjoyed it and plan to continue the series. 

Kdrama Review: My Roommate is a Gumiho

 Drama: My Roommate is a Gumiho

Genre: Fantasy

Starring: Jang Ki Yong, Hyeri, Kang Han Na

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Once again, this one sounded dumb on first appearance but then everyone started hyping it up and I was all, okay. So there must be something cool about it! And then the more I heard, the more I knew I had to watch it. I can't even tell you how many times this has happened. SO MANY!

It's a delightful show where our guy is gumiho... or a nine-tailed fox from Korean folklore. He sucks the energy from people to stay alive and to progress toward the day when he can maybe become human. He's almost there when he meets our girl. 

It so happens that gumihos have this bead thing inside them that is a very important part of their souls. And when these two characters literally bump into each other... out pops his bead, and she swallows it. This is not a good. It creates some distressful things for her, and for him... well.. he just needs it back. 

He tells her he doesn't know how to get it back, but of course he does. He just wants her around a big longer, so he tells her he needs time to figure it out. In the meantime, maybe she should move in with him so he can protect her during this distressful time.

AH.. it sounds so silly in the summary of it.. .but it's so dang cute!! He's so... so.... completely... serious and sober and she is so fun and happy go lucky... and he is stricken with that! And soon, she also becomes taken with him. It's an absolutely lovely romance.

So adorable. The both of them!

Well, of course, all sorts of things get in the way of them figuring this all out and how he needs to become human and all. But of course, they must figure out a way!

Sigh. It's seriously the best. 

Here's a great look at what it's like:

And a song:

Kdrama Review: Doom at Your Service

Drama: Doom at Your Service

Genre: Romantic comedy/fantasy

Starring: Seo In Guk, Park Bo Young, Kang Tae Oh, Lee Soo Hyuk, Dawon

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

So when I saw that my favorite Seo In Guk would be in a new drama, I was all in. Of course! And then Tae Oh is in it too? And Dawon from SF9? And then Lee Soo Hyuk who I thought was new to me but I'd actually seen him before..??? And to top it all off, my favorite girl actor too? Of COURSE I'm going to watch it!

Interesting premise this one is. Our girl is diagnosed within the very first minutes of the drama with a terminal brain tumor. And she goes on to have an even crappier day from there! And at the end of this crappy day, she is angry and upset as is expected and she yells into the void... "I wish doom upon this WHOLE WORLD!"

Well, little did she know that Doom himself heard the call. And before she knows it, he is knocking at her door and when she opens it, he says with that perfect classic Seo In Guk smile... "Hi. Doom.. at your service."

Yep...that's how it starts!

Turns out they end up in a sort of weird contract (I'm actually bit blurry on what and why this contract) And now she is all, what the heck have I done? And he is all, sorry girl, you can't get out it now. And things just get worse for her really. And she has to make a very very hard decision.

Adorable Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young

Man the banter between these two is so perfect. And our boy Doom is so so swagger-y and like he is NOT going to be fazed or touched by anything. But of course he is and he ends up being WAY more human than not. 

And there's a girl who seems to be directing everything. The symbolism in this drama is off the charts and it might make one crazy trying to figure it all out,  but I just didn't worry about trying and enjoyed the story.

You should watch this drama if only to hear this guy's voice.
Lee Soo Hyuk

I love his smile.
Kang Tae Oh

There's also a second side story with the friends our our leads that made it seem like two different dramas going on here. Like not sure what any of that had to do with anything, but it made so our swoony second lead boys could have a love story too. And they were good and I enjoyed it even tough I didn't quite get it. And it was a bit frustrating.

And Dawon? Boy... he can act! WAH.. he's so good as our female lead's little brother. He is absolutely adorable. I just have no words. So good.

And all the heart eyes for Dawon!

Anyway, it was very touch and go and how this one might end. I was very nervous. But I will give you this much of a spoiler for those who also might worry... don't be nervous. JUST WATCH IT!!

Here's a really quick trailer:

And of course this one has amazing music. Here's an example:

Kdrama Review: Love Alarm Seasons 1 and 2

Drama: Love Alarm Seasons 1 and 2 (on Netflix)

Genre: Romantic comedy/fantasy

Starring: Song Kang, Kim So Hyun, Jung Ga Ram

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

There are 8 episodes in the first season and 6 in the second, which if watched together basically makes a normal kdrama season, so don't let that confuse you! They are all complete now so just watch them all together. I guess it's possible there will be more still to come though. Netflix wants to westernize the familiar kdrama formula of one and done seasons. Whatever.

This one has a great premise in that someone makes an app that dings if someone within a 10 meter range loves you... or... if YOU love someone and come within their range, you will ding their love alarm.

So, what if you can't keep your love for people a secret anymore? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Does this take away something vital we need regarding confessing our love and/or saying "I love you" to people? 

Also, what if some people don't WANT your love and are bothered to be loved by you? What if you are loved by two different boys and those boys are best childhood friends? THEN WHAT?

Oh my word, but this little app causes ALL KINDS of craziness and it really truly does make you think. 

Song Kang

This one stars a dude named Song Kang who I hadn't heard of before this drama, but now I'm seeing him everywhere. He is stunning, but dang I did NOT like his character in this drama and was of course rooting for the second lead dude. Sigh. Second lead syndrome is THE WORST! Anyway, I was hoping to find something Song Kang has done where he plays a nice boy, but I'm hearing that he seems to cater to the bad boy dudes... so I don't know... I might have to wait a bit longer!

The female lead is played be a very popular star too. She is in so many things! She is great in this one too!

Kim So Hyun

As I said the premise for this story is pretty awesome, but it leads to quite a depressing drama. I felt sad most of the time during this one. And frustrated. But is was definitely an engaging and interesting one!

Here's a trailer for season 1:

And for season 2:

Book Review: To Best the Boys by Mary Weber

Book: To Best the Boys by Mary Weber

Genre: YA Fantasy-ish

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

It took me a minute to get into this one, but once I was fully focused I really enjoyed it. 

It's set in a sort of fantasy kingdom type world where all the boys get to compete every year in a contest where the winner gets a scholarship to college. In the first half we meet the characters and get a feel for this world... and the fact that there's a disease killing people and our heroine and her father are trying to find a cure, especially since her mom is dying from it. 

We also learn that there are two classes of people, the Uppers and the Lowers. But both can compete in this contest. 

Our girl realizes at one point the letter inviting people to compete is vague in saying that it actually has to be boys. So she gets the idea that she can join in. 

It's a sort of Hunger Games style thing where the whole town comes out in a festival type atmosphere to watch and wait to see who wins. 

Anyway, this contest doesn't start until about half way into the book, but once it starts, it's quite hard to put down! It reminded me of an escape room type game where they have to figure out how to get out, and then get out again, and again... until they finally get to the end... the reward. Our girl goes in with a bunch of her friends and some of them end up being true friends and some not. 

Man I did a terrible job of explaining that! But hopefully it intrigues your interest! I found it quite fun with many surprising twists and turns. I don't think this is the beginning of a series, but I still find myself wondering what's next for our girl (and guy!) 

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

 Book: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What a lovely fantasy story! It's a very loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin in which we have our girl who is so smart and takes over her dad's money lending business... in so doing she ends up making a ton of money... thus... she turns silver into gold. 

Well, so when the Staryk king (the mystical people who rule the winter) gets wind of this, he comes to her and demands he turn his silver into gold. If she doesn't he will kill her, he if does, he will marry her. What a choice she has, yes? Because let's just say he's not a very a nice dude.

Meanwhile, we get the stories of several others characters, with the assumption that all the stories will converge at some point, and of course they do.

One of them is the peasant girl who ends up working for our girl who is turning silver into gold. And how she and her brothers have to deal with abuse in their house and how they try to escape it. And how that ends up getting them right in the middle of the craziness that's about to go down. 

And the other one is the girl who ends up being forced to marry the tsar. Turns out that tsar is possessed. And she needs to figure out a way not be killed by the demon.

And it all goes down when the girls try to destroy the various monsters ruling them, and how that showdown is basically a fight between fire and ice.. .and wow. It's crazy!

But then... are they really happy to be the ones destroying these guys in their lives? Hmmm....

I really loved the rich detail and beautifully story telling. I really needed romance though... I really thought I was going to get romance! AHHH!!! So other than that, everything else was fabulous! 

Book Review: Kits and Cubbyholes by Loralee Evans

 Book: Kits and Cubbyholes by Loralee Evans

Genre: MG fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★

This one is along the vein of Magic Treehouse, where our kids have the ability to time travel. In this particular story, a kid from the 1700's comes to the present day and the kids are all like... "Hey, don't you remember the time we visited YOU?" 

But alas, he doesn't! Which means somehow perhaps something happens to the memory of the kids in the past? 

Anyway, so this book is the present day kids trying to figure out how to get this kids back to his time. In process they all end up witnessing an event they've heard about.

The fun thing about this book is the premise that when they kids go back in time, they end up in the stories of their very own ancestors. Which would be pretty cook, yeah? But also quite disconcerting! 

The part that made me a little crazy was that they just kept referring to their previous adventures, and I kinda wish we were experiencing an adventure... but it just felt like they were trying to get the one kid back and not a whole lot was happening. Until that event at the end, which was just a little bit of this book.

Anyway. Cute story. 

Kdrama Review: Tale of the Nine-Tailed

 Drama: Tale of the Nine-Tailed

 Genre: Fantasy/Horror

Starring: Kim Dong Wook, Jo Bo Ah, Kim Bum

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ 

Everyone was talking about this one so of course I had join in the buzz. I caught up pretty quickly and it was fun to watch the crazy finale about the same time everyone else was!

This is based on the Korean legend of nine tailed foxes (though I always though they were women, but what do I know?) And our lead guy is one of these foxes, with lots of power and magic and he's ruled the forest in the past and now he is wandering the human world trying to find his first love.

Yes, he was in love with a girl way back when but she died, and he is convinced she will be reborn again and he is determined to find her.  

And so then this girl enters into his life that he thinks might be her, but he is not at first convinced. But of course she is... and then she starts to remember her past life and that's when she is all... WHAT THE HECK!! 

Meanwhile, she ends up getting contaminated by a monster (another legend I'm assuming) called Imugi, who wants revenge on our fox dude. And he is going to use the girl to get it. 

WAH, things get complicated! It's a crazy detailed plot with magic, and horror elements. Lots of comedy and romance too. So much. It has it all.

The brothers, fighting for their lives during the zombie scene!

The side characters are awesome. Our dude has a brother who is half nine-tailed fox and he is quite the intense dude! At first we don't really know if he loves or hates his brother, but in the end, this relationship drives the show and is even better than the main romance. I cried a lot when he comes to these two. And the dude that played him was absolutely fantastic... and even though our main guy is played by a very famous actor, I think lots of people actually watched it to see this actor play the brother. (He's from the very famous beloved and not so beloved drama Boys Over Flowers.) 

Anyway, I would go so far as to say he stole the show. Wow. Crazy good!

Kim Bum as the brother that we all fell for!

And then, there's the dude who played the Imugi guy... what a beautiful villain he was! He also blew me away with his acting and I need to look up what else he's done. So good.... the villain you hate and love at the same time. But dang, he is a ruthless villain! And all with a smirky smarmy swoony smile. LOL.

Lee Tae Ri as the beautiful and very scary villain.

So yeah, I pretty much loved this one. What was there not to love? It has everything!

Here's the trailer:

And wow I loved so much music from this one... how to pick one to share! How about Shownu's ballad? It gives me chills.

Book Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

 Book: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★

This is quite the fun retelling of Goose Girl. The story opens when our girl is getting betrothed to the prince in the neighboring kingdom, who she of course doesn't know, but she is actually quite happy to go away because her own people in her kingdom treat her like crap, especially her brother who has abused her all these years. So she is actually kind of excited to be leaving.

She has a companion girl going with her, this girl wants to take revenge on our girl, and that opportunity comes when a sorcerous wants to use the situation to get back at the king and the prince. So, as you might remember from the fairy tale, she switches their bodies, and the companion is now the one going to get married and our girl ends up becoming the goose girl and the stable girl for the castle.

She actually loves this life and makes all sorts of friends, but she needs to warn the prince of this magic lady who wants to kill him. But how to do that? Hmmm....

Anyway, and so it goes and there's lots of crazy things that happen and great characters and mystery and... yeah...  it's pretty good all in all. It bogged for a me in parts, but I really quite enjoyed it. 

Book Review: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

 Book: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Genre: Magic realism

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

As with all magic realism books, sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around what's going on, because it can all be very confusing. This book is no exception to this, but the thing is.. I didn't care! Because everything is just so beautiful and poetic and romantic and... just... cool. Pretty sure I'm not going to be able to find words to describe this one!

We have our guy Zachary, who is a book nerd type minding his own business at college, when one day he finds a book in the library. The first weird thing happens when he tries to check it out and they have no record of the book, so that's weird. But they let him take it and then the second weird thing happens when he's reading and he realizes he is in the book. It talks about a time when he was a kid and he saw a door painted on the side of a wall, and he didn't take hold of the knob and open it. 

And then the story ends with the words "not yet." 

And that "not yet" haunts him and he becomes obsessed trying to figure out where this book came from and why he is in the story. If he needs to find and open that door. This leads him to attend a literary costume party where he meets a girl dressed up like Max from Where the Wild Things Are... and he meets a dude who tells him a story in the dark... and afterwards he is entrusted to the task of trying to reclaim yet another book for this dude... and then he finds himself totally mixed up in a fantastical magical world that all takes place deep deep in the Earth.

Which is where the Starless Sea can be found of course.

And it's down there in this world that he discovers all sorts of interesting and crazy stories, and stories within stories, and layers upon layers. It's really quite a beautiful word, full of books, and cats, and food, and art and very romantic beautiful people. 

I'm still not sure if there was supposed to be a point to this book. If all these things were a symbolism for something. If so, it went over my head, but like I said...it didn't matter. I totally enjoyed this journey.

I will add that the structure of the book is fun. There are five or six parts, each one features a different book that Zachary happens upon, so we get that book's story, told in between Zachary's story. And in the end we see how they all come together. Very fun.

I think if you are a fan of her previous book, The Night Circus, you really must read this one too.