Tag: Review

Book Review, Books!, Manga, Signal Boost

Manga Review: My Hero Academia Vol 7

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

Welcome back to another Manga Monday review post. I’m making a pretty decent dent in my manga review backlog…at least until I sit down and spend a few hours reading them, because I think it takes me about a half-hour to read one volume. You see my dilemma with these, right? I read them so easily and quickly that it creates a massive list of reviews to be written.

Anyway, once again I’m back to gush about students studying to be superheroes, with the next installment of the wonderful series My Hero Academia.

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Summary

 

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world’s greatest hero, but greatness won’t come easy.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Midoriya has learned a few tricks from Gran Torino, but some things just have to be experienced to be understood. Even though he’s not ready, when the League of Villains attacks in the town of Hosu, Midoriya rushes to help Ida, who is engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Hero Killer Stain. Stain has some very particular ideas about heroes and their place in society—and he means to purge every hero he can find!

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

I love Gran Torino! Is that enough of a review for you guys? Just kidding. I have plenty more to say about the internships. It is really cool for UA to have this internship program set up for the students, because I think it is a great way for everyone to learn more about using their Quirks to help people and also some of what the heroes do when they aren’t out saving the day.

What was interesting about this internship story arc to me was the different ways of approaching the choice of places to do the internship. For example, seeing Ochaco accept an internship not to learn more about her Quirk, but instead to learn more about the physical aspects of being a hero. So, in her internship, we see her learning basic hand-to-hand combat and self-defense techniques. I think that is a great way to become a more well-rounded hero, to use this training time to learn more in an area where you are weaker.

Then you have Midoriya, who is interning with Gran Torino–a man who had trained All Might, meaning he should be able to help Midoriya learn more about using One for All. What is so cool about this bit of training is that so far we’ve pretty much seen our darling main character pretty much trying to imitate his idol. But this is where I think we start to see the seeds being planted for his own style in the future. Obviously he’s going to try and hold on to being just like All Might for a while longer, but I think learning to use his legs more will actually make for a really cool hero’s journey.

And obviously Iida’s choice in internship is a personal one. He just wants to work in the area where his brother was severely injured, and it sucks that he is not being the smart and responsible class leader we know him to be. But, I think this starts him down an interesting story path as well, one that I know will impact his decisions later in the series.

Sometimes these reviews are a bit difficult for me to write, since I’ve read and watched everything that is out so far, which makes some of these volumes feel like they took place such a long time ago. But, overall, I still think this series is fantastic, and I am excited to pick up the newest volume, which recently came out, so I need to get myself to the bookstore sometime soon.

Where to Buy

You can pick up this and any other volume of this series from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

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Book Releases, Book Review, Books!, Recommendations, Signal Boost

Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

It is review time once again, and today I can actually admit that I’m glad I didn’t get an advance copy of this book, because it would have made the wait for the sequel that much more difficult. This was such a good read and I finished it in a day because I needed to know what was going on and what would happen next.

Let’s just jump into the review.

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Summary

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

The way that this story is weaved together just keeps you intrigued. It jumps back and forth from Rielle’s story to Eliana’s, and both narratives slowly start to weave together as you learn more details and begin to figure out the connections between the characters. Okay, to be fair, yes, I did figure out the connection between the two ladies quite a bit before it was actually revealed, but that did not make it any less enjoyable.

The characters were rather interesting, and both main ladies have their issues and struggles, despite living in completely different circumstances. And both Rielle and Eliana are strong and powerful in different ways, though they both have the same hint of rage issues. But I loved how complex they were because they felt so incredibly real. Their romances and friendships and alliances were all so engaging for me. I did not want to stop reading.

I enjoyed the world-building, especially considering that Legrand had to envision the same word a thousand years apart. It was fascinating to see what changes happened to the politics, the magic, the economy, and the people. This attention to the details is also what made the magic system and the trials so compelling.

Basically, I loved this book and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy in the next couple of years.

Where to Buy

You can pick up this fantastic novel from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

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Review: The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

Woohoo, it is time for another book review. Not only that, but today’s book is full of wonderfully diverse characters. I read Wilde’s debut novel, Queens of Geek, last year and I loved how awesome and geeky it was. In fact, the book made my top ten reads list for the first half of 2017. I can say that I am pleased that many of those characters make guest appearances in this novel, so you get to check back in and see how their lives are doing now, which is awesome.

Okay, let’s just get started before I start reviewing the book here in the intro section.

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Summary

A teen rockstar has to navigate family, love, coming out, and life in the spotlight after being labeled the latest celebrity trainwreck in Jen Wilde’s quirky and utterly relatable novel. 

As a rock star drummer in the hit band The Brightsiders, Emmy King’s life should be perfect. But there’s nothing the paparazzi love more than watching a celebrity crash and burn. When a night of partying lands Emmy in hospital and her girlfriend in jail, she’s branded the latest tabloid train wreck. 

Luckily, Emmy has her friends and bandmates, including the super-swoonworthy Alfie, to help her pick up the pieces of her life. She knows hooking up with a band member is exactly the kind of trouble she should be avoiding, and yet Emmy and Alfie Just. Keep. Kissing.

Will the inevitable fallout turn her into a clickbait scandal (again)? Or will she find the strength to stand on her own?

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

So I’m going to start this off by saying that much like Wilde’s debut novel, this is a great book for those trying to read more diversely, or those who want a good read during Pride month. Emmy is bisexual, and Alfie is genderqueer, and there is also a character discovering that they are bisexual, as well as a character who uses they/their pronouns.

There is a lot of drama and conflict in this book, not just a fun romance. Emmy has relationship drama and problems with her parents, not to mention all the paparazzi and the issues that creates.

I flew through this book. Honestly, like most of the books I read over Memorial Day weekend, I read this in two sittings–I took a break to sleep, I think. Honestly that weekend is sort of a blur to me now. I did a lot of reading and a lot of walking. But I enjoyed all of it, and I’m glad that I had this book to read with the stack of fantasy books I took with me. This was a nice contemporary read and I hope to read more like it in the future.

Anyway, the characters in this book are not perfect. They make mistakes and bad decisions, but they also learn and grow, and by the end I feel like Emmy actually is in a better place in her life.

Honestly if Jen Wilde wants to keep having characters from her books have cameos or guest appearances in future books, then I am perfectly fine with that. It would by nice to catch up with The Brightsiders and their friends again in the future.

Where to Buy

You can pick up a copy of this lovely book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

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Review: Ship It by Britta Lundin

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

I love being a fangirl. I love going to comic conventions. And I love reading books that feature nerdy characters. So I was pretty excited when I heard about this book, because it seemed destined to become a favorite, like some other geek-centric reads I’ve enjoyed in the past couple years. Perhaps considering all that, I put too much pressure on this book to be amazing. It was good, but not my favorite.

Let’s just jump into the review.

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Summary

Claire is a sixteen-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. Forest is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it’s a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire’s assertion that his character is gay. Claire is devastated. After all, every last word of her super-popular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest’s character and his male frenemy. She can’t believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk. Forest is mostly confused that anyone would think his character is gay. Because he’s not. Definitely not.

Unfortunately for Demon Heart, when the video of the disastrous Q&A goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. In order to help bolster their image within the LGBTQ+ community-as well as with their fans-they hire Claire to join the cast for the rest of their publicity tour. What ensues is a series of colourful Comic-Con clashes between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question his assumptions about sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell. But how far will Claire go to make her ship canon? To what lengths will Forest go to stop her and protect his career? And will Claire ever get the guts to make a move on Tess, the very cute, extremely cool fanartist she keeps running into?

My Thoughts

Rating: 3.5 stars

First off, let me start by saying that I loved the difference between fans, like Claire and Tess are both huge fangirls of “Demon Heart,” but their philosophies about being fans are different. To me, this is great and realistic representation. I honestly have a friend who is that sort of intense fangirl that Claire is, which might explain why I had such issues with her as a character. She felt very real to me.

I think I’m more of a Tess type of fangirl. I love my shows/movies/etc and I am very passionate about them, but I’m not going to go to the lengths that Claire does trying to get my OTP to go canon.

That was my main problem with this book. Claire took things way too far, and honestly, to me this book shows the dark side of fandom. Yes, we all have our pairings for characters, canon or otherwise, and yes we all have ideas for plot points we would love to see become reality in our favorite shows or books. And there are some amazing fanfictions out there (as well as some just okay ones–but there is nothing wrong with that).

I should probably also mention that both Tess and Claire fall on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum, though Claire hasn’t figured out her identifier really. At the beginning of the story Claire thinks of herself as straight, and she hates it when people assume that she is something else because of the way she dresses or acts or whatever. But then she gets super upset when one of the lead actors as well as the producers of “Demon Heart” don’t accept her theory that the two main characters are gay. She then goes on to write up all sorts of posts online and to try and push her belief/pairing on them, trying to get them to see that they should make this perceived gay context canon in the show.

And I guess that is realistic too, because so very many of us are hypocritical. Claire doesn’t like others assuming that she isn’t straight, but then turns around and tries to convince a group of others that two characters are gay.

This was an interesting book, and the concept certainly drew me in. It really does show how much social media can influence and affect a creative endeavor like making a television show. It also does a lot for exploring labels and perception (how we are perceived and how we perceive others). So I enjoyed it for that. I just feel like Claire became too much of an unlikeable protagonist for me to become a true fangirl of this book.

Where to Buy

You can pick up a copy of Ship It from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

Book Releases, Book Review, Books!, NetGalley, Signal Boost

Review: Final Draft by Riley Redgate

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

Okay, so first off, Happy Pride Month! Also, Happy GLBT Book Month. I try to read diversely through the year, but there are some months where I try to highlight those reads a bit more than other months. This is one of those months.

Also, it has been a little while since I last posted an ARC review on here. So, I should of course give a big thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book. As always, I need to state that receiving a digital galley did not influence my rating or review at all.

Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, let’s jump into the review, shall we?

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Summary

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he’s suddenly replaced—by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.
 
At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is pushing herself far from her comfort zone, discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

As a reader and a writer, the concept of this book definitely intrigued me. Plus, I read Noteworthy by Redgate last year and enjoyed it, so I was excited to read another of her novels.

I related to Laila pretty easily in the beginning. She had a group of friends, the typical relationship with her parents and her sister, and she had a teacher/mentor who greatly supported her and her writing endeavors.

Then comes the incident that leads to her teacher no longer being able to teach, and he is replaced by an award winning novelist who–honestly–doesn’t have any clue how to really teach. This is where I started to dislike the book, but not through any fault of the author. I didn’t like the spiral that Laila falls into as she tries to impress her new mentor. She pushes away her friends and gets so wrapped up in trying to perfect her writing that she starts to lose herself.

Now, for where this books fits in to GLBT Book Month. It is not really a main focus or in the spotlight, but Laila does for a time pursue a relationship with one of her best friends, who just happens to be a female. And actually, I liked that it was just something that happened more in the background to the writing obsession. It normalizes the relationship, which is excellent, because there is nothing odd about any romantic relationship options.

So, pretty much, my lowering of the rating for this book is because Laila’s unhealthy spiral into overly obsessed writing and editing. I thought it was well written and executed, but it also made it a little more difficult for me to enjoy reading the book. I had to set this one aside a few times before I was finally able to finish it.

Where to Buy

You can pre-order this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore. It will be released very soon, on June 12th.

Book Releases, Book Review, Books!, Manga, Signal Boost

May Wrap Up and June TBR

daniellethamasa

 

Hey all, Dani here.

Just one more month until I’m releasing my top ten reads of 2018 (so far) post. Wow, we are seriously almost halfway through the year. It has been a pretty darn good year so far, both in terms of books read and released and in the goings on of life.

If I’m being truthful, for at least half of the month I thought that I would not have a very good reading month, because I wasn’t completing a lot of books. But I started to hit my stride there at the end and I think it really helped. I may not have done as well as I did in May 2017 (31 books in 31 days), but I still did really good.

So let’s jump into the wrap up portion of this post.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol 2 by Kame Yamazaki (5 stars)

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol 3 by Kame Yamazaki (5 stars)

Ship It! by Britta Lundin (3.5 stars) — review coming June 8th

Final Draft by Riley Redgate (4 stars) — review coming June 5th

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol 4 by Kame Yamazaki (5 stars)

One-Punch Man, Vol 4 by ONE (5 stars)

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (4 stars)

Blue Exorcist, Vol 1 by Kazue Kato (5 stars)

Blue Exorcist, Vol 2 by Kazue Kato (5 stars)

The Fandom by Anna Day (4 stars)

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde (5 stars) — review coming June 12

Furyborn by Claire Legrand (5 stars) — review coming June 15

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (5 stars) — review coming June 19

And now it is time for the book haul and OwlCrate unboxing portion of this post. Considering I started with a book haul at the very beginning of the month, I ended up getting quite a few books this time around, but you know what, it is okay, because I also did a pretty decent unhaul this month as well.

As for the Owlcrate this month, it came with two books, so that is pretty darn exciting. I have already read Sky in the Deep and I absolutely loved it. The wall hanging and the print of Inej are both fantastic, and I’m really looking forward to relaxing in the tub with the bath bomb. And I think I know what book will be in June’s box, so I’m excited to get it as well.

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Finally, it is time to announce my TBR for the month. Now, just as a heads up, June is GLBT Book Month. I have participated in it for the last couple of years, so I’m still going to try and do my best with it this year. I’ll be trying to read some books with characters across the LGBTQIAP+ community, and also posting up reviews for them (which is why my reviews for a few books weren’t posted this month). So, if you have any LGBTQIAP+ books to recommend, let me know in the comments. I have a recommendations post here as well, in case you are looking for some book recs.

And I do believe that is all for this post. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed my blog and/or left comments on posts. I try to like or respond back to all of my comments at the very least. I wish I had the time to go and keep up with all of your blogs in return. I know last year I spent pretty much 1-2 hours each day (Monday thru Friday) reading and commenting on other blogs. Last year I worked in a position that gave me that extra time, but my position this year just leaves me feeling physically drained by the end of the day, so I haven’t been able to focus as much on being super active in the book blogging community. I’m just waiting until I can get one of my backup jobs to become a permanent one…or you know, to find a job in a library. That would definitely work as well.

All right, well I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

Book Review, Books!, Manga, Signal Boost

Manga Review: One Punch Man Vol 3

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

Oh man, I’m already reviewing the third volume of this manga series, and I’ve only read a total of four volumes out of the 13 currently released in the US. I might need to read a few more of these soon.

Not that I mind that. I very much enjoy reading about Saitama. And with pretty much every manga I’ve read, they don’t take that much time to get through. Then again, I do also have some volumes of The Ancient Magus’ Bride to review as well, so I may have those up soon and then go back to this series. We’ll see. I still have a lot of Manga Monday reviews to write up.

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Summary

A manga series that packs quite the punch!

Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem—he just can’t seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on! For three years, Saitama has defeated countless monsters, but no one knows about him… That’s because he isn’t in the Hero Association’s registry! Together with Genos, Saitama decides to take the Hero Association’s test! But can they pass?!

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

So this volume is one of the ones I read at the very end of 2017–December 29th, according to Goodreads. Wow, I can’t believe I took an almost five month break from this series. There was no reason to, because I am still very much enjoying the story. It probably comes down to the fact that I got distracted with new novel releases.

Anyway, we continue with Saitama as he tries to mentor Genos to become more like him…and let’s be honest, most of the time Saitama has no idea what he is doing or how to actually teach or mentor someone to follow in his footsteps.

But in this volume we get to continue on with seeing Saitama as someone who is pretty much perpetually bored, but then panic when he discovers that the reason nobody knows about him or talks about him, despite the number of monsters he has defeated, is because he is not in the registry, which means that he is not officially a hero.

This leads Saitama and Genos to go and take the test to become official heroes, which also comes with a paycheck, so that’s always nice too.

Honestly, I wondered how Saitama managed to do all of his hero work for the past three years when it seemed like he didn’t have a job to earn an income.

What I loved about this was the actual testing process. Because looking at Saitama, nobody expects him to really amount to much, and to have him show just how strong he is–to where he is breaking pretty much all of the physical test records was entertaining.

And then he has to take the written test.

It just amuses me. I love how humorous this series is. And I know that it was started as a web-comic to parody those all-powerful characters from some manga/anime, but I think that One-Punch Man excels at bringing together some intriguing characters, a nice amount of action, and of course the humor balanced so well with the bored mentality of Saitama.

I am so glad that I got into this series. It is a good read when you need/want to finish a volume quickly, and you want some laughs and some entertainment. I look forward to actually catching up with the series…hopefully sometime soon.

Where to Buy

You can pick up a copy of volume three from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

Book Releases, Book Review, Books!, Manga, Signal Boost

What I’m Reading (15)

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

I am trying to prep up some of my posts for this upcoming weekend. See, in the US, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and normally I don’t actually do much (aside from maybe grill up burgers or something like that). But this year, my fiance wants to take me to his grandmother’s home for the weekend because the village she lives in holds a moonshine festival and he wants to show me around. The good thing (or not so good depending on how you look at it) is that this village is in a very hilly and forested area of Ohio and there is pretty much no cell phone signal at all. Which means no calling, no texting, no internet.

So I’ll pretty much be going phone free from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon. This means that I might not be able to respond to comments and such until I get back home, but my fiance has told me that his grandma does have a computer…and a landline phone. Perhaps I’ll pop on once or twice over the weekend just to check in.

But it also means that hopefully I’ll be able to get in some pretty good reading time.

And honestly, that’s what I’m here to talk about today…reading. I’m really enjoying these weekly reading update posts because it has helped me keep up on a blogging schedule, and for the most part has kept me focused on reading more so I can actually have an update. Add this series of posts to my reoccuring Manga Monday reviews, and I’m almost feeling like a good book blogger again. If I try to keep myself to a minimum of three posts each week, I only truly need to come up with one extra review or book tag or whatever each week. Though I still want to catch up on reviews as well, so bonus posts are definitely possible.

Anyway, let’s talk books. In the past week I have finished The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. I’m going to try and have a review up soon-ish, but I don’t know exactly when it will be up. I am adding it to my list of reviews-to-write. I also managed to read Blue Exorcist, Volumes 1 & 2, and my reviews for this manga as well as for The Ancient Magus’ Bride will probably be up after I have caught up with all of my reviews for My Hero Academia and One Punch Man.

My current reads include Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Galbadon. Still…but I’m making more progress. I do hope to finish this book over the weekend. I am also trying to read through the first volume of Overlord, though this is the original light novel, not the manga. This was one of the books my fiance picked for my May TBR, and I do enjoy the anime, so I’m hoping that the novel will be awesome as well.

Finally, what I plan on taking with me this weekend to read is Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody, Furyborn by Claire Legrand, and The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde. I have been wanting to read Ace of Shades since I finished Foody’s first book and heard she was working on another one. And the story just sounds so interesting. Speaking of interesting books, I only heard about Furyborn a few months ago while watching a subscription box unboxing, but I have been super excited to read it ever since. First off, look at that cover. And then take in the story synopsis; it sounds so darn good. Finally there is the newest release by Jen Wilde. I adored Queens of Geek when I read it last year, so of course I’m excited to read it. Also, it is probably good to have a contemporary read in my weekend TBR as well, right?

Yes, I realize that none of the books I’m taking with me this weekend are on the May TBR my fiance gave me. Look, guys, I am sometimes awful at following TBRs. I have gotten through like half of the TBR…I think anyway. Besides, I mean, goodness, I actually somehow forgot that the third book in The Trials of Apollo came out in May, and now I need to reread the first two books so I can jump in it, because I think I need a bit of a refresher on what Apollo/Lester (lol) has been up to.

Oh, and I’ll be back tomorrow with my Most Anticipated Releases of Summer 2018 post. Because apparently it is actually almost summertime already. That is crazy.

Book Review, Books!, Manga, Signal Boost

Manga Review: My Hero Academia Vol 5

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

Welcome back to another Monday of talking about manga. I have really enjoyed getting into manga over the past year…or getting back into it. Because many years ago, I did read quite a few volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist, which was a series I very much enjoyed (and plan to definitely reread). And one of my favorite new manga series has to be the one I am talking about today, because I truly do like reading about superheroes and I also do seem to have fun reading about kids/teens with magic/superpowers/etc who are in a school to learn how to use those skills.

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Summary

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

The final stages of the U.A. High sports festival promise to be explosive as Uraraka takes on Bakugo in a head to head match! Bakugo never gives anyone a break, and the crowd holds its breath as the battle begins. The finals will push the students of Class 1-A to their limits and beyond!

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

This is the volume that wraps up the U.A. High sports festival, and though that story arc concluded it just left me wanting more of the series. In this final stage of the sports festival we get to see a bit more into the personalities and backstories of some of the characters, and learn more about their motivations.

As always we get to see Bakugo’s explosive personality, which while I personally don’t like him very much because I think he’s a jerk, I totally understand why his character is this way, so he is not really a bad character. Honestly, his character arc may end up being one of my favorites by the end of the series; it really depends on what happens as he continues to develop.

Todoroki continues to be a character I enjoy, and it is awesome that he is on the cover of this volume. There is a lot more he has to learn about using his quirks, and again, he is one who I think will have a pretty darn interesting character arc.

The action continues to be awesome and entertaining in this series, and I like how there is a pretty good balance of the action and also character and quirk development and growth. Also, I feel like this is one of those school set series where we do get to follow them to a number of lessons and training sessions, which is really nice.

And with the sports festival finished, we’ll get to move on to the students having internships with licensed heroes, where you know they will likely learn a lot…and probably get into a little trouble along the way.

Where to Buy

You can pick up a copy of this fifth volume (or any of the other released volumes) from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.

Book Releases, Book Review, Books!, Reading Challenge, Recommendations, Signal Boost

GLBT Book Month is coming!

daniellethamasa

Hey all, Dani here.

What I love about the online book community, about so many of you amazing readers/reviewers/bloggers/vloggers, is that we have seen this increase in the past couple of years of a desire to read more diversely and to expand our reading habits. We try books outside of our preferred genres and we try books with characters we might not have otherwise picked up on our own. We read more books about different cultures or races and certainly we have seen more books coming out with main characters who are POCs or who have a different gender or sexual identity. And that is great. I love that we can expand our world by taking in the stories of people who are different from us (or the same as us).

It is fantastic, and so once again, I plan on for the most part, focusing my reviews in June to GLBT book month, and highlighting reads that have characters and/or authors who fall on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum. GLBT Book Month started in the early 1990s as National Lesbian and Gay Book Month. Starting in 2015, the American Library Association branded it as GLBT Book Month, though honestly that name doesn’t quite do the month justice as it excludes many in the community.

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The main point is that it is a celebration of the authors and writings that reflect the lives and experiences of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. I expand that out to aesexual, pansexual, intersex, queer, those who are questioning their identity, and more.

Right now I have two books that I have read in May where I am setting up the reviews to be released in June, as they feature characters who are questioning their sexuality and I think they will be great stories to highlight for GLBT Book Month. And I have a few other books already planned for my June TBR that should also be in the spotlight a bit more.

If you are looking for books that fall on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum, you can always look up the Rainbow Book List, or the Over the Rainbow Books. There are a lot of great suggestions and recommendations there. I made a recommendations post of my own last year, so you can check that out as well if you’re interested.

Now, to make sure we are all on the same page with my June blog posts, I will still be doing my Manga Mondays review posts, and my What I’m Reading posts on Wednesdays. You’ll just find that at least one day a week–probably Fridays–I’ll be posting reviews for GLBT Book Month reads. I know the reviews for Ship It and Final Draft will be coming on Tuesday June 5th and Friday June 8th.

Other books I’m hoping to get to in the month of June include:

Of course, I will also take any recommendations from all of you wonderful book friends for books that also fit in this amazing and diverse category of reads.

And I do believe that is all I have to say for today. Have you read any great LGBTQIAP+ books this year? Are you planning on reading some in June? Let me know in the comments. Have a fantastic weekend everyone, and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.