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amandasbrews's Reviews (458)
khōréō is the magazine that I never knew I needed, sharing the stories that I didn’t realize could touch my heart so much. I spent a good portion of my time reading this shedding tears alongside the words. There is no way to really explain what it feels like to finally start being seen, and told that it is okay for you to be 100% you, even if you get some of other people’s story wrong. Of course it is an endless and continuous journey, but khōréō has given me a piece of it, and I am in love with that feeling. Thank you.
Read my full review here. Plus read about the incredible authors!
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Read my full review here. Plus read about the incredible authors!
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest
This book was SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Read my full review here, but here is a preview:
Sweet, romantic, exciting, frustrating, beautiful, and loving
If This Gets Out is way cuter than I anticipated. I really enjoyed this book a lot! I loved the internal dialogue between the two main characters, and I loved how each of the boys had such different personalities. I found myself more than one time smiling at myself while reading because I felt like I was a teen falling in love at the same time. Well done!
If This Gets Out follows an incredibly famous boy band, Saturday, and it’s members. It mostly centers around Ruben, who is gay, but forced to be silenced by the record label, and Zach, who believes himself to be straight, but ultimately just hasn’t explored his sexuality yet. It starts out with these two best friends switching between their perspectives as they steal glances at each other. After they venture onto their international tour, tensions rise and everything changes when they share a stolen kiss.
I love how this was written. This book is co-authored by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich, which makes a lot of sense considering how many characters there are. I loved that they ended up dividing the two main characters, so each author wrote one of the main characters. It really allowed them to delve into the characters internal thoughts better and really picture what they would have been feeling. I think it really made for a more organic understanding of each character!Continue reading...
I received this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily
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Read my full review here, but here is a preview:
Sweet, romantic, exciting, frustrating, beautiful, and loving
If This Gets Out is way cuter than I anticipated. I really enjoyed this book a lot! I loved the internal dialogue between the two main characters, and I loved how each of the boys had such different personalities. I found myself more than one time smiling at myself while reading because I felt like I was a teen falling in love at the same time. Well done!
If This Gets Out follows an incredibly famous boy band, Saturday, and it’s members. It mostly centers around Ruben, who is gay, but forced to be silenced by the record label, and Zach, who believes himself to be straight, but ultimately just hasn’t explored his sexuality yet. It starts out with these two best friends switching between their perspectives as they steal glances at each other. After they venture onto their international tour, tensions rise and everything changes when they share a stolen kiss.
I love how this was written. This book is co-authored by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich, which makes a lot of sense considering how many characters there are. I loved that they ended up dividing the two main characters, so each author wrote one of the main characters. It really allowed them to delve into the characters internal thoughts better and really picture what they would have been feeling. I think it really made for a more organic understanding of each character!Continue reading...
I received this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily
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The atmosphere in this book is so impressive, I couldn't look away! Goodreads review to come, check it out early here. :)
Here's a preview:
Atmospheric, spooky, creepy, mysterious, complex, messy, tense
This book was not what I normally read, but it was incredibly surprising to me. The atmosphere that June creates here is so impressive that I couldn’t stop reading, even though I’m a huge chicken and scare so easily.
The Forest of Stolen Girls centers around the case of thirteen missing girls from Hwani’s hometown. Her father, the best investigator in the country, works on this case for years until one day he goes missing. Determined to find her father, Hwani returns to her hometown to discover that the town is holding more secrets than they let on.
The first thing that stood out to me about this book was the way that June Hur builds the atmosphere. It is absolutely stunning. I was immediately sucked into the setting and the spooky feeling, without being too scared, in a good way! It was so atmospheric that I could hardly put it down, because I felt like I was in the town with them! I absolutely loved that feeling of eerie apprehension. I could really feel like I was with the characters, being concerned right along with them. Continue Reading...
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
Here's a preview:
Atmospheric, spooky, creepy, mysterious, complex, messy, tense
This book was not what I normally read, but it was incredibly surprising to me. The atmosphere that June creates here is so impressive that I couldn’t stop reading, even though I’m a huge chicken and scare so easily.
The Forest of Stolen Girls centers around the case of thirteen missing girls from Hwani’s hometown. Her father, the best investigator in the country, works on this case for years until one day he goes missing. Determined to find her father, Hwani returns to her hometown to discover that the town is holding more secrets than they let on.
The first thing that stood out to me about this book was the way that June Hur builds the atmosphere. It is absolutely stunning. I was immediately sucked into the setting and the spooky feeling, without being too scared, in a good way! It was so atmospheric that I could hardly put it down, because I felt like I was in the town with them! I absolutely loved that feeling of eerie apprehension. I could really feel like I was with the characters, being concerned right along with them. Continue Reading...
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Mmmmm... this book is full of food from so many different cultures, my mouth was watering the whole time.
Check out my full review here!
Delicious, light, mouth watering, multi-cultural, comforting, and fun!
Arsenic and Adobo was such a cosy and comforting read. I was so happy while reading all of it! This is one of those fast and breezy books that you can read really quickly and have a great time. Those books are the absolute best sometimes! I loved the descriptions of food, and the diversity within this book. It really made me feel like we can come together over food and everything will be just a little bit better.
Arsenic and Adobo follows Lila, a girl who has come home to recover from a horrible break up, to work in her family restaurant. While home, she has to deal with meddling aunties and saving her Tita Rosie’s restaurant. Everything starts to fall off the rails when an annoyingly rude food critic drops dead immediately after eating Lila’s experimental dessert. And of course, since Lila served him, the detective seems to think that Lila is the only suspect, unless she can find the true killer and clear her name! Keep reading...
I received a free copy of this book for participation in a book tour, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
Check out my full review here!
Delicious, light, mouth watering, multi-cultural, comforting, and fun!
Arsenic and Adobo was such a cosy and comforting read. I was so happy while reading all of it! This is one of those fast and breezy books that you can read really quickly and have a great time. Those books are the absolute best sometimes! I loved the descriptions of food, and the diversity within this book. It really made me feel like we can come together over food and everything will be just a little bit better.
Arsenic and Adobo follows Lila, a girl who has come home to recover from a horrible break up, to work in her family restaurant. While home, she has to deal with meddling aunties and saving her Tita Rosie’s restaurant. Everything starts to fall off the rails when an annoyingly rude food critic drops dead immediately after eating Lila’s experimental dessert. And of course, since Lila served him, the detective seems to think that Lila is the only suspect, unless she can find the true killer and clear her name! Keep reading...
I received a free copy of this book for participation in a book tour, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily
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Gearbreakers has so many things in it to get excited about, mechas, rage against the government, a queer relationship. It is fast-paced in a delightfully creative world. Unfortunately, it fell short for me. I couldn't connect to the characters at all and I found the fascination for each other grounded in so little it confused me. I was excited to get into the world at the beginning but sadly nothing gripped me. I wouldn't say this is a bad book at all, and perhaps it just wasn't the book for me, but nothing gripped me to keep me interested. I found myself daydreaming while reading rather than focusing on the story in the book. I absolutely think this book would be good for some, just not me.
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Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Facebook
Never in my life did I ever imagine seeing people who look like me in historical fiction, let alone a story like the Titanic. Honestly this is something I didn't know I needed. Check out my full review here! :)
Here's a preview:
Fun, real, heartwarming, thought provoking, witty, and charming.
Luck of the Titanic is the Titanic story I wish we all knew. Move over Rose and Jack, make way for Val and Jamie. Never once did I ever imagine to be able to see someone who looked like me in a historical fiction about the Titanic. I didn’t even realize that people who looked like me were aboard in the first place! It was a whole new experience to see people like me exist at all before modern day. Historical fiction so often, especially about events we hear about often like the Titanic, has never felt relatable in the least to me. Until this. This book brought me that. It told me that even in historical fiction, we can see diversity. People who look like me.
Quick summary: Luck of the Titanic is a historical fiction that works to tell the story of the six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent. It follows twin siblings, Valora and Jamie Luck, two twin British-Chinese acrobats traveling aboard the Titanic’s maiden voyage, which was the same time of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Determined to make it to America, Valora brews a plan that will allow them to get into America before the ship makes it across the Atlantic.
I can absolutely say right off the bat that my favorite part was that this book kept me guessing. I read this with Saima, and we both kept guessing what would happen wrong. I say that this is my favorite part because it was very impressive that a book about a major historical event, one that is so famous we all know the story, ends up being surprising at all. I was very impressed with that alone that made my experience of the book go up a ton! Continue reading...
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
Here's a preview:
Fun, real, heartwarming, thought provoking, witty, and charming.
Luck of the Titanic is the Titanic story I wish we all knew. Move over Rose and Jack, make way for Val and Jamie. Never once did I ever imagine to be able to see someone who looked like me in a historical fiction about the Titanic. I didn’t even realize that people who looked like me were aboard in the first place! It was a whole new experience to see people like me exist at all before modern day. Historical fiction so often, especially about events we hear about often like the Titanic, has never felt relatable in the least to me. Until this. This book brought me that. It told me that even in historical fiction, we can see diversity. People who look like me.
Quick summary: Luck of the Titanic is a historical fiction that works to tell the story of the six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent. It follows twin siblings, Valora and Jamie Luck, two twin British-Chinese acrobats traveling aboard the Titanic’s maiden voyage, which was the same time of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Determined to make it to America, Valora brews a plan that will allow them to get into America before the ship makes it across the Atlantic.
I can absolutely say right off the bat that my favorite part was that this book kept me guessing. I read this with Saima, and we both kept guessing what would happen wrong. I say that this is my favorite part because it was very impressive that a book about a major historical event, one that is so famous we all know the story, ends up being surprising at all. I was very impressed with that alone that made my experience of the book go up a ton! Continue reading...
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
Finished this one! Check out my full review here!
This book was a delight to read! I thought the world was so unique with just the right amount of humor and romance that it really kept me interested. The way that Chinese culture was sprinkled in throughout was done so nicely that it mixed in with the worldbuilding perfectly. This book really packed so many things into one book I was really impressed!
The Language of the Flowers is about a young woman, Lan, who wakes up from a traumatic accident in someone else’s body, thousands of years in the future. She diagnosed with amnesia and is blindly thrown into the life of Elizabeth, who’s body she now inhabits. Haunted by the vow that she made to her love, to wait for his return, she hopes that true love can span millenia. Until her arranged marriage turns out to be a better arrangement than anticipated. Continue reading...
Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
This book was a delight to read! I thought the world was so unique with just the right amount of humor and romance that it really kept me interested. The way that Chinese culture was sprinkled in throughout was done so nicely that it mixed in with the worldbuilding perfectly. This book really packed so many things into one book I was really impressed!
The Language of the Flowers is about a young woman, Lan, who wakes up from a traumatic accident in someone else’s body, thousands of years in the future. She diagnosed with amnesia and is blindly thrown into the life of Elizabeth, who’s body she now inhabits. Haunted by the vow that she made to her love, to wait for his return, she hopes that true love can span millenia. Until her arranged marriage turns out to be a better arrangement than anticipated. Continue reading...
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