Amazing Origami Boxes by Tomoko Fuse

Amazing Origami Boxes by Tomoko Fuse

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Dover Publications through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love making origami, and little origami boxes are one of my soft spots since I used to make them all the time back when I was in high school. They always have a special place in my heart because a friend and I used to write letters and turn them into origami before delivering them to each other. It's been a while since I sat down and made origami when I saw this book and took it as a sign that it was time to revisit.

Tomoko's book is very informative and has a variety of origami boxes from simple to complex. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous. The instructions are clear and include a combination of graphs and written instructions as well as a instruction key before the very first origami box. It's great that the crafting level involved is listed for each box so that one can work their way up or choose a complex design if they are already at a higher skill level. The instructions are easy to follow, and any questions that one may have can be answered by looking at the written instructions that go hand in hand with the graphs. One really can't go wrong with this book.

Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom by Terry Blas, Molly Muldoon, Matthew Seely

Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom by Terry Blas, Molly Muldoon, Matthew Seely

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Oni Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Four teenagers are dropped off at Camp Bloom, a weight-loss camp, and are hesitant for different reasons. One kid is torn up about being separated from technology while another is irritated that her family is sending her there to lose weight. It's just another boring summer when Jesse, one of the teenagers, sneaks off to eat candy and play games on her phone. She's followed by one of her peers because she dropped something and they both witness the murder of everyone's favorite counselor. Thanks to some blurry pictures taken on Jesse's phone, they learn that the killer is a member of the staff. With no adults to trust, they enlist two of their peers and begin to look for clues together.

This is such a fun murder mystery set at a weight loss camp. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the synopsis and saw that the setting was a weight loss camp, but it was handled really well. The counselors seem supportive. One of the staff members is running a side business selling junk food. The campers are encourage to share their thoughts and such as well as join activities. It was realistic to see a character who wasn't overweight but was there because they viewed themselves as such and see the others reactions. I loved seeing the four main characters bond and become friends as they worked to solve the mystery.

It's such a heartwarming graphic novel that I wish it was around when I was a teenager. It's good to have stories like this around, especially for kids who can relate to the characters and need to see positive messages like this. It's fun, positive, and shows a variety of characters and how there's always something beyond the surface. I also love the art style, and I enjoyed seeing the concept art and how the panels were brought to life at the end. I look forward to check more work out like this in the future.

Beast by Brie Spangler

Beast by Brie Spangler

My Rating: ★★★

Dylan is a lonely, tall, strong, and extremely hairy teenager, which makes him a moving target wherever he goes. Just when he thinks he's stop growing, he grows yet again and wishes he wasn't always the tallest person he's ever known. After his school bans hats and his best friend sets him up with a bad haircut, he finds himself sitting on the roof and decides to jump, thinking he'll only get a bad sprain, and wakes up with a cast on his leg. Forced to attend group therapy, he meets Jamie, and she takes his breath away. She's pretty, funny, artsy, and isn't afraid say what's on her mind. The best part? She treats Dylan like a regular person rather than the beast people view him as.

This is a loose Beauty and the Beast retelling that takes place in a modern high school setting. There's no magic or curses, but Dylan does think he's cursed whenever he's throwing himself  a pity party. Told in the first person perspective, we follow Dylan as he struggles with his peers who view him as a big beast rather than a person. He's extremely shallow himself for majority of the book, so it was interesting to see him grow as a person even though he kept devolving into a selfish guy who was blind to how his actions affected others. However, I found it difficult to get behind him for a good portion of the book because of how angry and cruel he was many times. He's always yelling, "Me! Me! Me!"

Jamie is such a great character and I wish that there were at least some chapters from her perspective. We only see what Dylan sees, and there's so much more to her character than being a seemingly carefree teen. It's not her responsibility to hold Dylan's hand and guide him through his hardships while he lashes out at her. However, she is the Belle to his Beast, so this was something that I was expecting. She's also the only one who consistently calls Dylan out on his crap, which forces him to realize that part of his problems are coming from within.

Many of the characters are presented with realistic flaws. For example, Dylan's best friend is shady and manipulative as well as superficial and viscous. However, no matter how many good and bad points these characters have, they're demonstrated in layers, making them more realistic. It's a wonderful read even though you may want to jump in the story and share some of your wisdom with these characters at times.

Natural Dyeing with Plants: Glorious Colors from Roots, Leaves & Flowers by Franziska Ebner, Romana Hasenöhrl

Natural Dyeing with Plants: Glorious Colors from Roots, Leaves & Flowers by Franziska Ebner, Romana Hasenöhrl

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Schiffer Publishing Ltd. through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been dyeing yarn for a few years now and love dyeing with household items such as Kool-aid, tea, and coffee. This book caught my eye because I've been interested in dyeing yarn with flowers, so of course I was excited to read it and learn something new. There are several recipes for dying with a variety of plants along with preparation and dyeing instructions. In addition to this, the history behind each plant is provided as well as beautiful pictures of the different plants and various results that one can get dyeing fibers. I also enjoyed learning more ways to prepare fibers for dyeing as well as more ways to dye, such as cold dyeing.

The opening of the book is all about the history of dyeing and the popular plants that were used to dye and obtain various colors. I loved that this was included because history is another one of my soft spots, so this part of the book certainly peaked my interest. There is also instructions and pictures on ecoprinting, dyeing Easter eggs, and felting.

I'm full of inspiration after reading this book and I will start collecting plants and such so that I can start natural dyeing yarn. It's certainly a beautiful book that's full of information for the hobbyist as well as professional dyers who want to get into natural dyeing, so it's a wonderful book to have in one's collection. I love that it also encourages its readers to get in touch with other natural dyers as well as making people look at gardens in a new way.

Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw

Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw

My Rating: ★★★★

Zelda is a werebear who lives with her best friend and vampire, Zora, and works at fashion magazine that's not as fabulous as she thought it would be. After lusting after her werewolf neighbor and high school crush for too long, she finally lands a date with him. The only problem? Her fae boss is making her work as a bodyguard for her seemingly charming nephew because Zelda's the only werebear she can latch onto on such short notice.

This short book had me cracking up starting with the opening chapter. I even had a dream that I was a newly christened werebear running with a weretiger and a pack of werewolves after reading a few chapters before going to sleep. It's not the bodice ripper that many of us romance lovers look forward to reading, but I can promise you that this novel will knock your socks straight off. It's a humorous romance novel that I hope becomes a full fledged series because I'd love to see more of Khaw's take on paranormal entities. I love comedy and romance, so it's always fun when it meets and becomes a hilarious book like this.

I love that Zelda is a plus-size woman and that it takes a solid stab at representing the hardships that comes with that. She's judged for her size and there are moments that people openly gawk at her for it. Plus, there's a tense moment where seating isn't created with plus sized society in mind, which can cause embarrassment as well as more public judgement. It's a short, light, and fun story, so it doesn't go in depth on this topic. However, there's enough there that people who have no personal experience with this gets the idea. Zelda is also a bisexual woman of color. Again, the story doesn't go in depth on her experiences as a woman of color or as a bisexual woman, but it's definitely touched upon.

There's a small amount of world building, which includes key information about the supernatural communities that we see throughout the story. We learn information on how being a werebear works in a modern society as well as information on werewolves, vampires, and fae and how they each interact with each other and how they are each kept out of public knowledge. I would love to see a series come out of this, but if it doesn't, I will still be happy because I love the story and how funny it was as well as how it also worked to be relatable.

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

My Rating: ★★★★

In the early 1800s, people living with clockwork parts are shunned by society and forced to scrounge to make a living unless they live in a clockwork friendly area. Shadow Boys, a cross between a mechanic and a medic, are the only ones who treat and care for these people. They too are shunned and do their work in hiding because society views them as just as bad as the people they help. Alasdair is a Shadow Boy who works with his father and has been hiding a huge secret: he brought his brother back from the dead. Alasdair is barely keeping his life together when someone anonymously publishes Frankenstein, which eerily resembles him and his brother while painting them both in a dark light, breaking all hell loose.

I love that this retelling brings the story to life by working Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in as character who is inspired to write Frankenstein because of a major event that takes place in the book. Mary's a side character who is central to the plot because she was once a close friend of Alasdair and his brother, Oliver. It's such a neat touch that truly makes the story seem like we're taking a peek into "true" events that inspired Mary's famous novel. The trio's friendship as well as her part in helping Alasdair bringing the late Oliver back to life is truly a genius idea that sucked me further into the story. I love little touches like this. It's like Mary has an expanded cameo in the retelling of her own novel.

The novel follows Alasdair, who is struggling to live with himself after a terrible accident resulting in his brother and best friend's death. On top of things, he decided to bring him back from the dead using his knowledge as a Shadow Boy and the research of his idle, a big name Shadow Boy and scientist. The entire story is told through Alasdair's perspective, but he and most of the characters we see often are well developed. We learn a lot about Oliver's former life and how he's changed in personality as well as physical appearance since he was reanimated. One of my favorite characters in the novel is Clemence, who is a young woman that Alasdair meets during his travels. She's smart, on her toes, says what she thinks, and develops a meaningful friendship with Alasdair. I would've loved to have seen more of her throughout the story, but I'm happy with where Lee went with her character.

All in all, this is an excellent story that brings steampunk, science fiction, historical fiction and a sprinkle of non-fiction characters together to tell a compelling story. It draws from the original material and incorporates it in a way that makes the two work like two stories that were meant to be told together. I highly recommend it.

Rush (The Game #1) by Eve Silver

Rush by Eve Silver

My Rating: ★★

Mika's barely holding on and trying her best to be normal when she almost dies and gets pulled into an alien fighting dimension known as The Game. Scared and confused, she's fighting aliens every so often before she's thrown back into her regular life like nothing happened. The Game quickly throws a wrench in the middle of her friendships and all she wants is answers from the frustratingly illusive Jackson, the leader of her squad who has his lips zipped.

This book irritated me until the very end. It's not that it's a bad book because it does have good things going for it. It has an interesting plot and the protagonist is a person of color, but the execution left me hanging. I was just as confused as Mika was for the first three chapters. I felt like I was Mika and I just got thrown into this random unknown world. If that's what Silver was going for, she hit the nail straight on the head. However, it took about half the book to get the story really going. Essential world building occurred in major information drops too late in the story. The illusive Jackson, who has a lot of the answers, would probably manage to screw up telling someone where the coffee was because he's that evasive when someone manages to pin him down. We also spend a lot of time dealing with teenage drama, which should've come after the essential world building and not before. I think this series has a lot of potential. It just needs a good polishing to get it to where it needs to be.

Now let's talk about the characters we spend the most time reading about. Mika is the most developed character in the book, and the poor girl is just as confused as I was for the first couple chapters. On top of dealing with her mother's death and her father's withdrawal and drinking habit, she's got a crappy best friend. Queue Carly, the alleged best friend. She's jealous, petty, and quick to find something to use as an excuse to turn on Mika. I hope Mika makes a run for it because we've all had a friend like Carly at one point in our lives. What made us stay friends with that person so long? Beats me, but Mika will be facing that same question soon enough. Mika and Carly's mutual friends are not seen enough to comment on, but it appears that they're closer friends with Carly because they leave Mika out in the cold. Poor Luka. I honestly thought he and Jackson were the same person for the first couple chapters. I had subconsciously decided that this single character's name was Luka Jackson.

All in all, like I said earlier in my review, it's not that it's a bad book. It's the execution that left me hanging. There's good elements that could've really shined and I think that it does have a good premise.