The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink

 

The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Esther Gold’s favorite holiday is Halloween. She lives for it and spends a lot of her free time planning and perfecting the perfect Halloween costume every year. When Esther’s parents tell her that she’s too old to go trick-or-treating, she is devastated. Of course, Esther wouldn’t be Esther without Halloween, so she plans to go trick-or-treating one last time. Armed with her secret costume and her best friend who hates the holiday, they sneak out together only to discover that the entire neighborhood has been put into a supernatural sleep.

I picked up this book because it sounded right up my alley since Halloween is my favorite holiday. We follow Esther Gold as she prepares to sneakily go trick-or-treating one last time. Unfortunately for her, things don’t go as planned because her neighborhood is under a sleeping spell. The only people awake are Esther, her best friend, her longtime school bully, and her dentist neighbor. Together, they try to take on the Queen of Halloween and rescue the neighborhood from sleeping their way through the rest of their lives.

One of the things that I liked about this book is that the characters are surprisingly complex. Esther is worried about growing up and holding onto trick-or-treating as the last piece of being a kid as enters her teenage years. Her best friend, Agustín, is battling with some abandonment issues as his mom spends long hours working with very little time to spend with him. Sasha, Esther’s bully, gets bullied herself and has been taking it out on Esther for years. Mr. Gabler is a former thief turned dentist trying to do good.

I thought the supernatural aspect of it was interesting as well. We’ve got the Queen of Halloween using a rare orange moon to pause time and turn an innocent neighborhood into Halloween forever. There are her cronies driving around town and the kids she collects and their fate with her. Plus, there’s the black cats that are the Queen of Halloween’s sworn enemies. I wish there was more information on the supernatural aspects of the story, but I’m not surprised that this isn’t something that’s further explored since it’s a book written for middle schoolers.

All in all, I enjoyed this story and I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot if this is something that was published when I was in middle school myself.

Cute Chibi Animals: Learn How to Draw 75 Cuddly Creatures by Phoebe Im

Cute Chibi Animals: Learn How to Draw 75 Cuddly Creatures by Phoebe Im

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Rock Point through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a following Phoebe on Instagram for a while now, so I decided to check out her book and see what she had to say about drawing chibi animals. The opening is a small introduction to Pheobe and what chibi artwork is before diving in. I really liked her tips and tricks section. I like to draw and got into drawing digitally last year. While I’m not the best at drawing, I think it’s fun and relaxing. Her tips and tricks section did give me a great tip about inking lines. Using lines of varying thickness when drawing really does make a difference. It’s help bring my digital drawings more to life now that they’re not aesthetically flat thanks to my line work.

While the section on coloring is very small, I do think her advice on coloring in your work is simple but great for anyone new to drawing. It’s not complex and those extremely new to drawing and using this book to get them started may not find it that helpful, there’s enough information to make people less afraid about just diving in and coloring their drawings in.

Majority of the book is a step-by-step guide on how to draw many adorable chibi animals. They are separated by the type of animal, such as birds, sea life, and so on, so it’s easy to navigate when not using the table of contents to find a particular animal. I think it’s a great book to give people new to drawing, or anyone looking to enhance their skills a bit, some information on how to sketch out and create guides for shapes when drawing.

Moonstruck, Vol. 2: Some Enchanted Evening by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle

Moonstruck, Vol. 2: Some Enchanted Evening by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle

My Rating: ★★★

When Julie and her friends are invited to a party, the think it’ll be a great place to relax and have fun. Unfortunately for them, it turns out the party involves a fairy circle full of fraternity bros who end up trapping one of them. It’s up to Julie, Selena, and Chet to break their friend out and disengage from the fae politics they’ve been sucked into.

I thought the first volume was such a cute story that I was really excited to finally pick up this volume. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. While I love that we got to see a relationship exit the honeymoon phase and hit a rough patch, I don’t think we’ve see Julie and Selena’s relationship progress enough to really buy that they could overcome this bump in the road. I know it’s a graphic novel, but I think we also needed to see more of a conversation about why Julie hadn’t shared her manuscript with her girlfriend. It came off as throwing a sad little band-aid because they allegedly bonded while lost in the fairy circle toward the end.

The more I read this, the more I wished we were following Chet and a few other characters because Julie and Selena’s part of the story just was not pulling me in. I also wish that we saw more of the fairy world before the issue was over because it seemed like we got sucked in and spit out for the fun of it. Plus, I was not a fan of the advice column pages at all. Just when I was getting into the story, it was taking completely out by these pages and they really didn’t add anything to the story.

That said, I do think that the other characters were wonderful. I was having a great time every time anyone but Julie and Selena were at the forefront of the story. While I think the fairies were extremely glossed over, I do think they were interesting and hope things make a little more sense on that front if we see them again.

As always, the artwork as absolutely stunning. Hopefully, my issues with this volume will dissolve when I start volume three.

The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 3 (The Witch and the Beast #3) by Kousuke Satake

The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 3 by Kousuke Satake
My Rating: ★★★★★

Guideau and Ashaf are at it again when they’re assigned a new case involving a witch and a series of murders. This time around, they’re up against more than a witch this time around because the Paladin Corps has been called in to apprehend the murderous witch. When Guideau and Ashaf find the witch, they discover she’s a young woman named Helga who isn’t very skilled on top of being innocent of the crimes she’s been accused of. To top things off, she’s got a demon sword on her, and whoever has framed her has their eyes set on it.

This is the most interesting volume yet! It’s a bit different than the previous volumes, but it’s extremely interesting. This time around, we’re following a combination of Guideau and Ashaf on their latest assignment as well as well as their latest target, Helga. We go back and forth between both sides throughout the volume, which I loved. I’m very interested in seeing how Helga’s storyline continues in the fourth volume as well as what happens with this talking demon sword.

One thing I was extremely excited about is the amount of backstory dropped throughout the story. It wasn’t overwhelming at all given the amount of info we were given, and we found out quite a bit about witches and where their power comes from. We also found out that mages can make a pact with elementals, giving them the ability to be as powerful as a witch. I’m super interested in seeing how this information plays out in future volumes as well as what other new information we’ll learn.

I don’t know when the fourth volume will be translated and released in English, but I will be reading it as soon as it comes out. I see that there’s several volumes that have already been published, so I’m excited to read them as soon as they’re available.

Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez

Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Independent Publishers Group – LOVE x LOVE through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Noel has been in love with her best friend, Elena, since they first met. However, she’s never been able to get the nerve to confess her romantic feels, so she’s content with just being friends… or so she thought. When Elena gets a boyfriend, Noel becomes extremely jealous. It gets even worse when Elena’s online friend, June, moves to town. Convinced that everyone is stealing the precious time that she has with Elena, Noel lashes out, risking their entire friendship. Then one night, she takes off and confesses everything to a random stranger who finds her. Unfortunately for Noel, it turns out that stranger is actually June.

When I first started this book, I didn’t like Noel because she was super angry, jealous, and possessive. Personally, it set off red flags for me as someone who had been friends with someone who was jealous and possessive when I was a teenager. Thankfully, things did not go south for Noel because she’s a character willing to listen and grow. When she meets what she thought was a random stranger she’d likely never see again and confesses her feelings and what’s been going on, she listens to the advice she receives. I was happy to see her grow as a character and make an effort to look at how her anger, possessiveness, and jealousy affects others as she works to better herself.

As far as the other characters go, we really only get to know two other characters: Elena and June. I was surprised that we didn’t get to know Elena more than we did, but I thought she was a great and friendly character who really cares about the people around her. June swooped in and was a sweet, funny, and the voice of reason. She helps Noel grow as a person while growing herself in the process.

One of the things that I like about this story is that Noel and June are in the same boat. They’re both in love with Elena while knowing nothing will likely ever come of it, but they react in two very different ways. Noel reacts badly while June is positive about the whole thing. She’s just happy to see her friend be happy even if it’s not with her. It was neat to watch Noel and June help each other and have their own romance unexpectedly blossom in the process.

All in all, I think that this is a cute story. It gets a little heavy at times, but it’s mostly a light and fluffy story with a slow burning romance. It also has beautiful artwork from start to end. I’m looking forward to reading more from Ana C. Sánchez in the future.

The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 2 (The Witch and the Beast #2) by Kousuke Satake

 The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 2 by Kousuke Satake

My Rating: ★★★★★

After getting to the bottom of a case involving a seemingly murderous witch, Ashaf and Guideau are sent to investigate a new case involving feral undead folks. When it turns out that there has been a streak of feral undead turning up, they pass the case onto someone who specializes in necromancy, Phanora. Unfortunately for Phanora and her assistant, it appears that there is someone illegally reviving the dead before casting them off.

I was so absorbed by the first volume of this series that I knew I had to read more. Thankfully, it turned out that there’s a few volumes that have already been translated and released in English. While the first volume is an introduction into the world as well as Ashaf and Guideau’s ultimate goal, this volume allows us to learn a little about other members of the Order of Magical Resonance. We meet Phanora and her assistant, Johan, and watch them explore a taboo practice in this world: necromancy.

I was very interested in Phanora as well as the information on how necromancy works in this series. There was quite a bit of lore involved and it was extremely interesting as well as presented in a way that I haven’t seen before. I was also sad for some of the characters involved as we learned more about the drawbacks of becoming undead, but those are spoilers that I won’t share so that I don’t ruin the reveal for anyone reading this who decides to check out this series.

Of course, we didn’t follow Phanora the entire time as Ashaf and Guideau are the protagonists! The volume starts and ends with them in very different ways. We learn a little more about Ashaf and Guideau as people as well as how they operate. It was also neat to get another glimpse at what they get up to when they are not investigating a new case. Plus, I was fascinated by how they solved the case that left off in a cliffhanger in volume one.

I already have the third volume, so expect to see me reviewing that very soon.

Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

 

Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

My Rating: ★★★★★

Beetle is a goblin-witch being homeschooled by her grandma. She spends much of her free time with her best friend, Blob Ghost, and having fun all over the mall. When not at the mall, she’s with her grandma wishing that she could ditch homeschooling and spend more time with her bestie who is cursed to haunt the mall and the property it resides on. When Beetle’s former best friend, Kat, returns to town, Beetle gets nervous. What if Kat doesn’t remember her? She’s spent years at a prestigious school learning magic and now she’s got a snazzy apprenticeship to devote her time to. To make things worse, Kat’s mentor is determined to tear down the mall no matter who resides in it when it goes down.

This book is absolutely wonderful. I’m delighted with how fleshed out the characters and world are given it is a graphic novel, and a stand alone one at that. I came out of this book feeling like I know the characters and world very well. There’s a variety of characters and settings in addition to backstory that we slowly learn as the story unfolds. Plus, the artwork is detailed, colorful, and stunning.

The characters are so wonderful and relatable. Beetle has her old and new best friend, and she’s got a major crush on one. Of course, she’s concerned about not coming off as weird toward Kat. That weirdness is actual just the big crush she is harboring. We’ve all been there, especially when we were younger. What if we come off is strange but it’s really just our crush showing?! The tragedy! Especially when you’re not sure if they feel the same. Phew. Talk about having a flashback to my own pre-teen years.

Throw in a bit of magic and a crisis on a magical level and you’ve got three friends putting their heads together and bickering along the way. And boy, is there some bickering. I love when friends fight in books because it’s very realistic to butt heads instead of everything being all sunshine and rainbows.

All in all, this is a great read and I highly recommend it. I’m going to keep an eye out for more books from Aliza Layne in the future.

My review was originally found at Beachbum Bookworm where I was a guest book reviewer in 2020.

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

 

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

My Rating: ★★★★

Growing up working at his parent’s bakery, Ari can’t wait to take off and start his life in the big city with his friends and bandmates. He just needs to find someone to replace him so that he can convince his dad to let him quit and fulfill his dreams. That’s when Hector becomes a new employee at the bakery. The more time they spent together, the less Ari knows what he really wants to do.

This is such a sweet and heartwarming graphic novel following Ari as he figures out what he wants to do in life. When the story starts, he just wants to make his band happen when he and his friends move to the city. As the story progresses, it’s clear that he’s not really sure what he wants to do. I think this is very realistic because I know me and most of my friends didn’t really know what we wanted to do when high school ended either. For Ari, he’s expected to continue to work at his family’s struggling bakery since his parents can’t afford to send him off to study music in college like he wants. Unfortunately for Ari, he’s not interested in baking and keeping his parent’s bakery dream alive through him.

Everything slowly changes after he hires Hector, who is in town and away from studying to become a professional baker. The more time they spend together, the closer they get, and the more Ari slowly realizes he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. What he does know is that he’s developing feelings for his new friend and coworker, Hector, and misses him when he leaves town for a short period of time. The more they work together, the closer Ari is to figuring one thing out: he wants to be with Hector and sort everything else out after.

While I think this is a cute story, I didn’t like that there’s a few time jumps. I wish we got to see how the story would have progressed during these time jumps because it seemed like the characters were frozen in time. I also think that one of Ari’s friends isn’t a true friend, and I would’ve liked to have seen him come to that conclusion figure out whether or not he wants to keep him in his life.

That said, the artwork is nice and I loved seeing all the baking panels. I was surprised to find that there is a recipe at the end, which is a nice touch given the book surrounds a bakery. There is also some concept art at the end, which I always love. All in all, I think it’s a great read.

My review was originally found at Beachbum Bookworm where I was a guest book reviewer in 2020.

The Phantom Twin by Lisa Brown

 
The Phantom Twin by Lisa Brown

My Rating: ★★★

Isabel and Jane were identical twins that were born connected at the torso. Sold to the traveling freak show carnival owner by their parents, their new guardian forced them to become the “Siamese Twins” at his carnival. Everything changes when a surgeon trying to make a name for himself convinces Isabel and Jane to undergo surgery to separate them. The surgery goes wrong and Jane dies, leaving Isabel alone for the first time in her life. However, she quickly discovers that she’s not entirely alone because the late Jane’s ghost comes and goes as she pleases.

This graphic novel tells the sad tale of Isabel and Jane through Isabel’s perspective in the present as well as a series of flashbacks. Both Jane and Isabel are rather naive when it comes to trusting people, which sadly leads to Jane’s demise with the surgery. It also leads Isobel in some hot water later even though it is not entirely her fault. I think that their naivety is very accurate given their age, especially the part where they ignore the advice of older people.

The overall story is pretty sad and sheds a light on the harsh reality of how prejudicial people can be. Lisa Brown did an excellent job bringing the freak show carnival to life with a variety of characters that were there for different reasons. I like that Brown worked to show who these characters really were as people and had some of them talk about what brought them there.

While the story itself is sad, it does have a happy ending for some of the characters. It is a young adult novel that isn’t meant to bring its readers down and leave them there. While Jane couldn’t have a happy ending due to her passing, Isabel is able to discover how to live on her own and find happiness.

I also like that Brown provides some information on why she wrote the book, her initial fascination with freak shows throughout history, and provides a short list of nonfiction books that she recommends reading. I could tell the story had been well researched beforehand, so I was happy to see her touch on that in her author’s note as well as give a list of some of the books she used as sources in her research.

My review was originally found at Beachbum Bookworm where I was a guest book reviewer in 2020.

Kawaii Kitties: Learn How to Draw 75 Cats in All Their Glory by Olive Yong

 

Kawaii Kitties: Learn How to Draw 75 Cats in All Their Glory by Olive Yong

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Rock Point through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been following Olive on Instagram for a while now, so was very excited to read this book! The opening introduces you to Olive and how her art social media platforms, Bichi Mao, were born. Then there’s a quick explanation on kawaii and what it entails, what mediums she prefers to draw in, and how one can use this book.

From there, we dive straight into learning simple drawing techniques! The techniques are broken up into chapters starting with how to draw cats in the same style, facial expressions, and in different positions. There’s also chapters dedicated to clothing, different cat breeds, and so on. At the end, there’s a few coloring pages for people with a physical copy of the book to practice coloring in the cats.

While I do think this is a fun and cute book, I think that people looking to learn how to draw might be disappointed when it comes to coloring the cats. The section on coloring is a single page and not informative, so I can see kids and anyone new to drawing getting frustrated. Otherwise, I think it is a cute book with simple and easy drawing techniques that won’t overwhelm people new to drawing. Plus, it’s great way for fans to support the artist.