Tied To You: Volume 1: A Review

Tied To You: Volume 1 by WHAT and Chelliace

My Rating: 4 stars!

Cover Rating: 9/10 it’s super beautiful and it fits the manga perfectly. It’s very romantic.

Publisher: Ize Press

Publish Date: May 21st, 2024

Number of Pages: 336

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Yen Press

Synopsis: Wooseo Shin was never one to believe in fate…until a ring of red thread appears around his finger, that is! This ring marks a person’s meeting of their soulmate, and with it, neither can fall asleep if the other is absent. This development is not a welcome one for Wooseo, who decides to keep it from his close friend and crush Jiseok Kang at all costs. Because as fate would have it, the person with Wooseo’s matching set is Jigeon Kang—Jiseok’s older brother! When Jigeon proposes that they start sharing a bed, if only to combat their joint insomnia, Wooseo reluctantly accepts…but as the two spend more and more time together, feelings start to get messy. Will Wooseo be able to survive his new life tangled up in between these two brothers?!

Opening Page:

Musings:

This fantasy romance manga was cute, but also sad at times. What if the person you were destined to be with was in love with your own brother? Yet, since you have always known them you have wanted that person. Later discovering that they are the other end to your red string of fate and they also know that too, but still they pine for your brother who only sees them as a best friend. The quiet love and pining was aching to read about.

After reading, it also gave a lot to thinks about. What would it be like if we all knew from the moment we were 18 who our red string of fate soulmate was? Would life be easier? Would it become more complicated? How would it feel to know that your destined person was in love with someone else?

The idea should be so sweet, but in this manga it becomes something bitter at times. Sometimes it becomes dark even. There was a short mention of people killing their partners after being rejected by them due the red string of fate. One you know who your partner is if you sleep without them your nights are restless and sleepless. It sounds as much of a burden as it could be potentially something amazingly beautiful.

I definitely recommend this manga and I look forward to seeing what comes in the future of this story.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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The Backwards Hand: A Review

The Backwards Hand by Matt Lee

My Rating: 5 stars!

Cover Rating: 10/10 I think this is the perfect cover for this book. It’s the grotesque hands in that old feeling monster flick way. It matches this book well.

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Publish Date: May 15th, 2024

Number of Pages: 272

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Northwestern University Press

Synopsis:

Fear. Disgust. Pity. The cripple evokes our basest human emotions—as does the monster.

Told in lyric fragments, The Backwards Hand traces Matt Lee’s experience living in the United States for more than thirty years with a rare congenital defect. Weaving in historical research and pop culture references, Lee dissects how the disabled body has been conflated with impurity, worthlessness, and evil. His voice swirls amid those of artists, criminals, activists, and philosophers. With a particular focus on horror films, Lee juxtaposes portrayals of fictitious monsters with the real-life atrocities of the Nazi regime and the American eugenics movement. Through examining his struggles with physical and mental health, Lee confronts his own beliefs about monstrosity and searches for atonement as he awaits the birth of his son.

The Backwards Hand interrogates what it means to be a cripple in a predominantly ableist society, deconstructing how perceptions of disability are—and are not—reflected in art and media.

Opening Sentence: The year is 1990.

Musings:

This was one of the most eye-opening books I have read in a long time. Every time I took some extra time to sit down and read a little more of it it revealed to me something I didn’t know or hadn’t thought about. I was aware of the more heinous history of Nazi Germany’s eugenics. I was not aware of Frida Kahlo being disabled or the passage in the Bible that discussed anyone who is disabled not being able to take communion. Leviticus 21: 16-23. It’s something that brought great discussion and disbelief between me and my mom and my sister. They didn’t believe it was real until I pulled out the Bible that’s been sitting on our shelves reading the passage and watching the pure look of shock and denial cross both their face. The hilarity that ensued at the end of it at the mention of crushed testicles. My sister asking, “What are they going to do? Pull down your pants check if your testicles are crushed or not?” It was a very enlightening and funny moment for all of us.

Just that one piece of information had me thinking about how it mentions any broken bone or any affliction where your vision isn’t perfect and you can’t take communion. While modern Christianity doesn’t take that verse to heart it is very telling of why a lot of people who actually read the Bible and take every word as law can become horrible people.

Another big theme in this memoir is what truly makes a monster? As well as the connection to monstrosities being disfigured often in film to portray someone as evil. Even tiptoeing into the idea that maybe the treatment of those who are disfigured causes the trauma that makes them want to hurt others. Ultimately though, the message is that it is our actions that make monsters of us. Not the afflictions for our bodies.

I was truly fascinated to learn more about the history of disability and the stories of people making their choices in their lives to become monsters or not. The ideas of eugenics and the true horror that those who are able bodied can decide to rob the disabled from their lives just because they think that the disabled are a waste of space and resources. How even some who have been disabled share in the idea like Hellen Keller advocating for babies born with disabilities to be euthanized.

Sometimes reality is truly more monstrous than fiction.

I highly recommend “The Backwards Hand” it’s truly enlightening and a fascinating read.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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The Beast Player 1: A Review

The Beast Player 1 by Nahoko Uehashi & Itoe Takemoto (artist)

My Rating: 5 stars!

Cover Rating: 8/10 The cover is really pretty and the coloring is so soft and it feels like a painting.

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Publish Date: May 14th, 2024

Number of Pages: 190

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Purchase: Kodansha

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Elin loves her brave and beautiful mother, a gifted beast doctor charged with the care of the Toda—the fearsome giant serpents that the kingdom’s warriors ride into battle. Their modest but happy life together is shattered when a mysterious illness fells the entire stable of the prized serpents overnight, and Elin’s mother is saddled with the blame. Before she knows it, Elin finds herself cast out from all she has ever known, alone in a faraway land, with only her mother’s words and the kindness of strangers to guide her. A sumptuous manga adaptation of the hit fantasy novel series, The Beast Player, by Nahoko Uehashi.

Opening Page:

Musings:

I love the unique world to be found in this manga. It has its own unique peoples and ways and it feels like your scratching the surface of something so much larger and you’ll only ever get to explore that smaller part of it.

Of course a huge part of what I love about this manga is the artwork. I find the pieces that have watercolor to be stunning. It really fits this world with dangerous yet useful creatures that make up a central part in the ways of the world in this story.

There is a prophecy of calamity relating to our little heroine Elin and a feeling that her innocence won’t remain to be as it is as she gets older due to what happens in the beginning of this manga. This is a story I wish that I was able to read so many more volumes of because I know there’s so much potential for depth. I feel that the story may become darker as it goes, but it also could potentially show that fate may not be totally as set in stone as it seems to be.

I really enjoyed this read and I look forward to so much more!

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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The Poisons We Drink: A Review

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

My Rating: 5 stars

Cover Rating: 10/10 this is such a powerful cover. It fits the strength that Venus has as the love Witcher. It’s stunning.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publish Date: April 30th, 2024

Number of Pages: 480

Received: NetGalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

Opening Sentence: “An internal gift exists within all breathing things to recognize where one stands in the food chain.”

Musings:

The Poisons We Drink is an intense novel where pain is one with magic. Magic itself takes on many different paths, but as a Witcher you are only sworn to one of those paths and if you should break it there are physically painful consequences.

Reading this book it brought me to think about the idea of what it takes to make a change in the world. While the events and actions Venus takes may at times feel extreme, the history of protests, and the actions people take to make real change in their communities is a painful and extreme endeavor. Often times people are not noticed when being passive and in this novel Venus and her loved ones go to drastic measures to ensure the safety and future of their community.

Sometimes, in order to create the change you wish to see in the world you must become a monster in someone else’s eyes. Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t easy and sometimes it isn’t nice, but some things do just need to be done. In a better world things would just be right, but in this world and in the world of this novel immoral acts must be done to fight for the rights people deserve.

As the love Witcher when Venus brews love potions it is an act that causes her great physical pain everytime she performs one especially depending on how powerful that potion needs to be. It causes her broken bones, the loss of teeth, internal bleeding, and more. She then has to take a healing potion and feel the pain of being remade and she does this everytime she brews love potions. Majority of the time none of her love potions are for romantic reasons. Their for a love of an idea, familial love, repairing a friendship, or to love something else more to give up an addiction. The breath of what can be done under just her wheelhouse is incredible. The details of the different paths witchers can take fascinated me.

A huge amount of sacrifice for the sake of something greater is a huge theme of this book and I find it beautiful. Venus actively pushes people away because she knows she makes some of the most difficult decisions in life and she hurts the people she loves taking those actions. Yet those who truly love and understand her stick around. I especially loved the friends to lovers situationship she gets with Presley. They’re a non-binary cutie who also makes some hard choices themselves.

There lives so much depth in this novel. The magic systems and the political system is so well thought out. It’s an incredible read. I 100% recommend this book!

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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Sketchy 01: A Review

Sketchy 01 by Makihirochi

My Rating: 4 stars

Cover Rating: 7/10 it’s a really nice cover and it has a softness to it that I really like. I wish it was a bit more related to the manga itself, but it’s still pretty.

Publisher: Kodansha

Publish Date: April 9th, 2024

Number of Pages: 210

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

As her twenties slip by, Ako feels like she’s falling behind. But a group of skateboarding girls will bring a newfound passion into her life in this reflective, relatable josei manga from the creator of Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live?

Ako finds herself coasting along, watching her twenties pass her by. Work at the video rental store, see her boyfriend, repeat… Her days are becoming an indistinguishable, listless blur. Until she encounters a skateboarder practicing a trick–and she’s a girl! For some reason, Ako feels a pull toward the sport. Slowly, all the dreams and ambitions she gave up on and the futures she imagined for herself come flooding back, and Ako resolves to change herself now, before it’s too late. But is it ever really too late to discover something new?

From the creator of the digital fan favorite Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? comes a portrait of young adulthood that will attract fans of Inio Asano, Akiko Higashimura, and Taiyo Matsumoto.

Opening Page:

Musings:

This story is a love letter to women in skateboarding. It talks about many different women in different stages in their lives getting introduced to these amazing skateboarding women who inspire them to try and learn a new skill. I love that the women in this book are all adults. Often times new hobbies are shown as only being able to be tried out by children or teens, but here this is about adults with jobs, boyfriends, and regular adult struggles finding something that can be a fun new outlet for them.

One of my favorite parts of this manga is the showcase of real life women who skateboard:

It’s really beautifully done and while I personally am not someone that feels comfortable skateboarding I hope that anyone reading this who is interested does try out the sport for themselves. To me anyone at any point in their lives should be able to go for what they are inspired to do in whatever way they are inspired to do it. I loved that this manga showcased women with different styles some who skateboard in flowing skirts and others in just a t-shirt and jeans. It’s really awesome that it showcases so much variety of different women sharing a passion for the same sport.

I recommend this sporty inspiring manga and I hope that everyone knows in their hearts they can go for whatever they dream of.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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Bless 1: A Review

Bless 1 by Yukino Sonoyama

My Rating: 5 stars

Cover Rating: 10/10 it’s really beautifully done. I love the composition and the coloring. It fits the story inside well.

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Publish Date: April 2nd, 2024

Number of Pages: 160

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Purchase: Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

They said Aia was destined to be a model, and Jun was bullied for her freckles. Together, they will take back the power to define themselves in an inspirational fashion manga that asks cutting questions about what it really means to be beautiful—and what it takes to overcome an arbitrary system that seems to respect talent over hard work.

At a young age, Aia Utagawa was scouted as a model, but his real ambition is to become a makeup artist. But, even as the end of high school approaches, it’s a dream he hides inside, afraid of stepping outside his prescribed role as a pretty face. Then, one day, he meets Jun, a quiet classmate who hunches because she’s ashamed of her face, covered in freckles. He convinces her to enter a school runway fashion contest together—with him doing her makeup. They make an incredible team, with Jun discovering a confidence she never knew she could show and Aia finally learning that, while it may be tough to open yourself up to failing at the one thing you care about, the difficulties can be worth facing.

Opening Page:

Musings:

This dive into the world of makeup and models is so cool. Aia has a deep passion for makeup and when he makes friends with Jun and decides to go into a modeling competition with her where he can show off his skills things click.

Aia is passionate and his deepest desire is to share his artistic perspective with the world. He sees the freckles that Jun has been teased about and decides to highlight them. Showing her that she should embrace and be confident in the woman that she already is.

I love that they both bring out the best in each other. Jun shows Aia that he has the strength to take the leap and that he doesn’t have to be perfect as long as he’s doing his best. Aia shows Jun that she should be confident in the woman she is and shows her how he sees her and he never changes her just accents the best parts of herself.

This manga series is going to be so good and I am really happy with the first volume and I can’t wait to see how this goes in future installments. I highly recommend this manga.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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You Must Be This Tall To Propose 1: A Review

You Must Be This Tall To Propose 1 by Fumi Mifuyu

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Cover Rating: 8/10 I think the cover is super cute and well done. It fits the story well.

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Publish Date: April 9th, 2024

Number of Pages: 131

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: https://kodansha.us/product/you-must-be-this-tall-to-propose-1/

Synopsis: Chitose Oki has a huge crush on his nextdoor neighbor Tomo, but there’s one small problem—his height. Back as kids, when his dream girl said she wouldn’t marry him until he grew up, poor Chitose took that quite literally. These days, it’s not just height—one embarrassing misunderstanding after another keeps them from seeing eye to eye. The truth is, they’re both head over heels for each other, but it’s a tall order to confess your feelings to the one you love.

Opening Page:

Musings:

This manga is exactly what the premise suggests it is. It’s a cute little will they won’t they romance with the idea that Chitose feels he has to grow taller then his crush in order to marry her one day. It’s two people who clearly really like each other and the fun lively scenarios they get up to.

Tomo remembers their pact long ago and it’s revealed early that she meant he had to be taller then she was when they made the pact. So technically, he already is tall enough to go for her. However, Chitose doesn’t know this and employs a whole plethora of tactics to try and become taller and obsesses over any growth he achieves.

It’s a short and sweet and I enjoyed my time with it for what it was.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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Beneath the Sugar Sky: A Review

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire

My Rating: 5 stars!

Cover Rating: 7/10 This cover is one of the more fitting covers for one of these books. It has the pink soda ocean water and the feel of cotton candy clouds. It feels like part of the book.

Publisher: Tor

Publish Date: January 9th, 2018

Number of Pages: 174

Received: tor book club way back

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series, returns to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children in a standalone contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the “real” world.

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests…

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

Opening Sentence: “CHILDREN HAVE ALWAYS tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes.”

Musings:

This was my favorite yet in the Wayward Children series. What makes each installment so good is the worlds that are entered into and the nonsensical yet perfectly sensible quests that the characters embark on. When I realized this one was going to follow Sumi’s daughter Rini on a quest to save her already dead mother I was hooked.

I loved every nonsensical second of this tale. Especially the contrast in experiences from Nacy’s world and Rini’s world. The structure and stillness of the land of the dead. The sweet cake world of soda oceans and candy and baked lined streets and villages of the land of confection. These books truly make you feel like your exploring the worlds you dreamt of going to in your childhood and their a lot more scary then you imagined them being.

I feel like anyone who has ever thought about if they belong in the world they currently live in or if there is somewhere out there in the world that would feel more like home would love these books. It’s a love letter to Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, and all fairytales you wish you could’ve escaped into. These stories are what would really happen.

Expect to find yourself in a sense of wonder as a journey unfolds with a mermaid, a tailor, a candy corn girl, a bone flutist, and a skeleton embark together to save an old friend.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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A Return From A Much Shorter Break

I will be back to daily blogging for the month of May. The end of this month I was dealing with my hours at work being cut and some legal things I needed to take care of. On top of that I had some family things too I had to take care of.

I got really emotionally exhausted and I was unhappy that everything popping up was reducing the quality of the content on my blog and I was releasing a lot of super short blogs just to continue my streak. I was really proud to get to 70 days, but I know that blogging for me is something I take seriously and I put so much of myself into it that if it’s not content I am proud of I don’t want to post it.

I am still going through a lot in my life right now. However, I think I am in a better headspace to keep going and to do my best. I will be dedicating myself to my blog and finding ways to make extra income. I’ve had so many projects I’d wanted to do that I never got started on and that changes now. I know if I dedicate myself to something and work on it everyday I will be able to accomplish whatever goal I have. I need to be consistent even with my life being so chaotic.

I want to tell stories. I want to wake up in the morning with a smile on my face knowing that I am able to do a job I chose for myself that makes me fulfilled and happy. I want to have finical security for the first time in my whole life. To know that I have something I’ve built that is going to carry me and my family my whole life and beyond it.

So I will be doing my best and hopefully in time I can announce projects and have some really cool things for all of you to see and be able to enjoy for yourselves. In the meantime the best way to support me is to bookmark https://sistersoftwilightcandleco.com/shop and purchase a candle. We have a zen line available right now with scents like Peace, Sandlewood Rose, and Stress Relief.

I am so appreciative of everyone who has been supporting my blog over the years. I have hopes to put out a greater depth of content and I hope you all will come along with me on my journey.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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Court of Claws: A Review

Court of Claws by Briar Boleyn (blood of the Fae Book 2)

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Cover Rating: 6/10 it’s a nice cover and it’s pretty, but I think that it doesn’t stand out as much with a lot of other really gorgeous fantasy covers.

Publisher: Starwater press

Publish Date: June30th, 2023

Number of Pages: 409

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Bound to a man she hates more than she ever thought possible…

Everything Morgan Pendragon knows and loves is gone as she wakes in the dangerous court of the Siabra. The man she was falling in love with is dead, and in his place is a man she barely knows. Surrounded by liars and knives in the dark, all Morgan wants to do is run the other way but Kairos Draven is determined to keep her by his side.

As Morgan and Draven’s lives become even more irrevocably entwined, little do they know the sins of the past are coming for them both…

For the Prince of Claws will drown kingdoms in blood for her sake.

Opening Sentence: “The air was filled with screaming and wailing.”

Musings:

Books like this one are a guilty pleasure of mine. There’s action, romance, court politics, and a plethora of fantastic creatures. In this book Morgan and Draven experience this endless push and pull. Draven is more true to his desires and Morgan questions everything. I rejoiced every moment Morgan gave in to her desire for Draven and those scenes my heart soared at finally getting what I wanted to see from the first book.

Morgan becomes all the more powerful in this book and in other ways so does Draven. I know the romance is supposed to be a slow burn, but damn it kept killing me everytime Morgan questioned Dravens actions. At the end of book 1 he bonded himself to Morgan to save her life. She would’ve died otherwise. Over and over he does everything he can to save and protect her and everytime she lets herself trust him for a while, but then questions everything again.

The best parts of book two were the moments she and him were working together. The pair training together and growing stronger as a unit. As well as Morgan training the exomor and going through secret passage ways with the young shielder she befriends.

In her heart of hearts I know Morgan would protect Draven with her life. She has done so. I am just frustrated that she doesn’t realize that her attraction came long before the magical bond did and Draven’s decision to bond them together wasn’t to rob her of her choices. Draven clearly loves to allow her to make her own choices and wouldn’t do anything against her will except to save her life and try and make things better for both of them.

They need to kiss and makeup in book 3 or I will scream.

Anyway, I truly enjoyed reading book 2 and I loved all the action, magic, and intense challenges that Morgan and Draven face. It’s a really fun read.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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