Mera: Tidebreaker

Today’s post is on Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige, illustrated by Stephen Byrne. It is 192 pages long and is published by DC Ink. The cover is light blue with Mera coming out of the water. The intended reader is someone who likes graphic novels and is interested in Mera and coming-of-age stories. There in mild foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this graphic novel. The story is told from third person close of Mera. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- From New York Times bestselling author Danielle Paige and artist Stephen Byrne comes an origin story for Mera and Aquaman that explores Mera’s first steps on land, as well as her first steps as a hero or villain, forcing her to follow her heart or her mission to kill. An astonishing story that explores duty, love, heroism, and freedom, all through the eyes of readers’ favorite undersea royalty.

Review- A fun and creative way to introduce a girl who is more than a love interest. Mera wants to be taken seriously and have the right to rule her people without marriage. But her father fears for her to try and hold out against Atlantis by herself, he does not want to lose her like how they lost her mother. Mera overhears that a suitor will be given her hand in marriage if he kills Arthur Curry. Mera decides that is way to prove to her father that she can rule alone. So we have our plot. Mera goes on land to kill Arthur but when she discovers that he knows nothing of his heritage, she begins to have doubts. Mera grow a lot over the course of the story, she starting seeing that her actions are her responsibilities and she has to own them. Arthur is good as her foil but the story is about Mera and her choices. I liked this story, the characters, and the understated art style. I would like to read more about Mera and her life under the sea.

I give this graphic novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this graphic novel from my local library. 

Daytime Shooting Star, volume 1

Today’s post is on Daytime Shooting Star, volume 1 by Mika Yamamori. It is 200 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover is light blue with the main characters on it. The intended reader is someone who likes high school manga, shojo manga, and drama. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the main character, Suzume. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Optimistic high schooler Suzume moves to Tokyo and finds her heart caught between two men!
After arriving in Tokyo to live with her uncle, Suzume collapses in a nearby park where she had once seen a shooting star during the day. A handsome stranger brings her to her new home and tells her they’ll meet again. Suzume starts her first day at her new high school sitting next to a boy who blushes furiously at her touch. And her homeroom teacher is none other than the handsome stranger!

Review- A good start to a series. The story starts with Suzume at her old school before the move, just living her life. She is aimless without any ambitions when her father gets a job overseas, her mother goes with him, and Suzume gets moved to live with her uncle in Tokyo. She has to learn how to make friends, as everyone she knew in her old town, she has known her entire life, and learn to deal with bullying from other girls. Suzume is young, inexperienced, and overly optimistic about everything. But I like her she is learning and not afraid to make mistakes, and I think that she is going to make some big ones. Of the two male leads I like her fellow student much better than the teacher, so I am pulling for him to win her heart. I look forward to seeing where Suzume goes and what happens to her on the way.

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money. 

Anger is a Gift

Today’s post is on Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro. It is 463 pages long and is published by Tor Books. The cover is blue with the main character Moss in the center. The intended reader is someone who is interesting in books about hard topics. There is foul language, mild sexuality, and lots of violence in this novel. The story is told from third person close of the main character Moss. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Six years ago, Moss Jefferies' father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media's vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks.
Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals by their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration.
When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

Review- This is a difficult book to review for many reasons. The plot is a very tough one dealing with many topics like school-to-prison pipeline, racism, growing up, homophobia, mental illness, and police state. Just about every page brought a new issue to the point of being overwhelming. Add in a large cast of characters and this book is really packed. But I feel that is failed in so many aspects. Moss is the main character, he deals with anxiety and has panic attacks when confronted with police or questions about his father. That is very fair and I connected with Moss about those issues but Moss also expects the women in his life to handle his emotions for him, not help him learn how to feel his feelings without being overwhelmed but he wants to unload all his feelings into his mother and friend and they just deal with it. At times his mother is acting afraid of her son and the friend is just used as a mental punching bag for Moss to unload on and blame for not understanding every little thing that he is feeling at any given moment. Moss never learns to handle his emotions, he blames others for his feelings, and that burns over into everything in his life. It distracts from the very heavy material and I felt the plot was just not given the full light it deserves. The world is very harsh but I disliked Moss so much by the end of the book, I was just glad to be done with this book. I had high hopes for this book because of the issues it wanted to engage with and the book really failed to do so.

I give this novel a Two out of Five stars. I was given this book as a gift.

We Are All Shipwrecks: A Memoir

Today’s Nonfiction post is on We Are All Shipwrecks: A Memoir by Kelly Grey Carlisle. It is 368 pages long and is published by Sourcebooks. The cover has a young girl and a small dog on a leash. The intended reader is someone interested in memoirs. There is foul language, sex, and talk of violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the eblurb- Sometimes family are the strangers who love you.
When Kelly was three weeks old, her mother lay her in a dresser drawer in a motel room in Hollywood and went out into the night. She never returned. Her strangled body was found the next morning on a hillside in LA. Raised by her eccentric grandfather on a boat in LA Harbor, Kelly couldn't help wondering how her life might have been different if her mother had lived. Every day at their rundown marina was an adventure, sometimes fun, sometimes dangerous, but always profoundly strange. Kelly longed for a normal life and for answers to her questions: who was her mother, exactly, and who had killed her? Her search for answers--and for a normal life--would lead her back to that night, that motel room, and the mother she never knew.
We Are All Shipwrecks is Kelly's story of redemption from tragedy, told with a tenderness toward her family that makes it as much about preserving the strings that anchor her as it is about breaking free.

Review- At times moving, at times meandering memoir about a life dealing with what is and what could have been. Carlisle starts the book with meeting a man, the detective who worked on her mother’s murder case and she ends it with him. In between we have her childhood being raised by her grandfather and step-grandmother and many kind neighbors. Carlisle is up front about what it means to her being a child of a murder victim and how that affected her life. The writing is fine, not so detailed that the reader gets lost but enough that we understand her and what she is trying to express. Not the strongest memoir I have read but if you like memoirs or survival narratives then I would give this one a look.

I give this book a Three out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my library’s Hoopla account.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom, volume 2

Today's post is on My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom, volume 2 by Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. It is 166 pages long and is published by Seven Seas. It is the second volume in the series.The cover has Katarina and two of her friends on it. The intended reader is someone who has read the first volume and comedy stories. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from the third person close of the Katarina. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- MAGIC SCHOOL’S IN SESSION
Unexpectedly reincarnated into the setting of her favorite video game, Katarina swiftly realized that she was the villain of the story–doomed to death or exile, no matter what future came to pass! Armed with that knowledge, she’s done everything she can (with maybe a few blunders along the way) to try and change her fate. Now the stakes are higher than ever, because it’s time for her to begin studying at the country’s magic Academy. What’s waiting there is the greatest threat of all…the true heroine of her new world’s story!

Review- We pick up right where the first volume with Katarina starting at the magic high school and she is working hard to not be killed by anyone! She does not realize that she has changed the story so much that none of her friends would turn on her. In this volume Katarina meets the heroine Maria Campbell. Maria is very sweet, a hard worker, and Katarina, being as open-hearted as she is, likes her too. She saves Maria from bullying and is making Maria love her too. Other than meeting Maria not much happens in this volume but it is still a good volume and I am curious about where the plot is going on that Maria is friends with Katarina and none of the capture targets are interested in Maria.

I give this manga a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought with this manga with my own money.

We Are Here Forever

Today’s post is on We Are Here Forever by Michelle Gish. It is 224 pages long and published by Quirk Books. The cover is an illustration from book with the Puramus’. The intended reader is someone who likes graphic novels, and comedy. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. The story is told from third person god perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- It’s the most adorable apocalypse ever!
The human race has vanished from the earth, replaced by innocent, playful, purple creatures called the Puramus. Colorful and cartoony, these absurd critters elicit smiles and giggle, but they really as harmless as they seem?
In the spic graphic novel, short interlocking stories follow the Pura through the centuries as they explore their new home, form a mini-monarchy, and develop a modern society. A final act pulls us across time and space in the search for clues to their mysterious origins. Along the way, humor and intrigue abound: Can King defend his village when nobody understands what war is? Will Jingle work up the nerve to read to poetry at open mic night? Does Puffpuff ever stop floating?

Review- A cute story about creatures just trying to make some kind of life. There is no real story to this comic, just vignettes about different Puramus’. They play, explore the world, make stories about the humans before, and search for meaning. Every Pura has an individual meaning and they have to discover it for themselves. It can be to go to space to go underground to see what lives there; but every Pura must learn their meaning then they can be happy.  There are questions asked in this comic that are never answered but that does not take away from the overall narrative of the book. If you are looking for a unique story to interact with then you should give this one a look.

I give this graphic novel a Four out of Five stars. I was given this book as a gift.

The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage

Today’s post on The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns. It is 232 pages long including notes and is published by Chicago Review Press. The cover is a stage with a grim reaper in the center. There is foul language, no sex, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book -  There has never been a show business book like quite like The Show Won’t Go On, the first comprehensive study of a bizarre phenomenon: performs who died onstage. The Show Won’t Go On covers almost every genre of entertainment, and is full of unearthed anecdotes, exclusive interviews, colorful characters, and ironic twists. With dozens of heart- stopping stories, it’s the perfect book to dip into on any page.

Review – We get all kinds stories in this book from accidents and heart attacks to suicide and murder. Abraham and Kearns are passionate about these stories giving the reader insight into the person's life before their deaths and then telling the stories of their tragic demise. While the stories are full of interesting details, it never gets too graphic, as the stories themselves are not too long. As the pieces are not very lengthy the narratives did not get in depth and we get lost in the details.  All the performing arts are covered in this book from theater to radio and TV. Some of the stories are tongue in cheek, the authors never mock the person themselves or what happened to them, just pointing out at the oddities around their deaths. I had fun reading this book and I would recommend it.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Midnight Secretary, volume 1

Today's post is on Midnight Secretary, volume 1 by Tomu Ohmi. It is 188 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. It is the first in the series. The cover is purple with the two main characters on it looking at the reader. The intended reader is someone who likes romance with adults characters and vampires. There is mild foul language, sexuality, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from first person close of the main character Kaya. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book - Kaya Soatzuka prides herself on being an excellent secretary and a consummate professional, so she doesn't even bat an eye when she's reassigned to the office of her company's difficult director, Kyohei Tohma. He's as prickly- and hot- as rumors paint him, but Kaya is unfazed... until she discovers that he's a vampire.

Review - It has been a while since I have a josei series so this was a nice change of pace for my manga reading. All the characters in this manga are adults, they have jobs and responsibilities, they have personal goals, and they have sex lives. Kaya is a very good secretary and has been given a promotion to be the personal secretary to one of the vice presidents of her company. He is very hard to work as he is very busy and expects a lot of his secretaries. Also Kyohei wants a cute secretary but Kaya is very careful about how she is seen as she is very sensitive as she looks much younger than her real age. I like all the characters so far, the plot is very standard but the characters are interesting enough that I had a good time reading it. I am very curious about how the romance between Kaya and Kyohei is going to happen and I am sure that there will be some great over-the-top drama coming in the next seven volumes and I look forward to it.

I give this manga a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Bloodborne: A Song of Crows volume 3

Today’s post is on Bloodborne: A Song of Crows volume 3 by Aleš Kot, illustrated by Piotr Kowalksi, Brad Simpson.  It is 34 pages long and is published by Titan Comics. The cover has Elieen in the center in her full hunting garb. The intended reader is someone who has read the first two volumes and is interested in learning about the world of Bloodborne. The story closely follows the main character Elieen. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild images of violence in this volume. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the blurb on Hoopla- The city of Yharnam: an ancient, gothic metropolis and the home to the Healing Chruch.
Recent days have seen the city fall foul to a nightmarish plague known as the Ashen Blood disease, the source of which remains a mystery.
In a world of gods and monsters, sanity is merely subjective, and fear and blood are sanctified.
Hunters now stalk the streets in search of beasts as the moon hangs ominously low in Yharnam's sky.
But as uncertainty fills the air, and the thirst for blood becomes insatiable, the hunters become the hunted.

Review- This is an almost textless volume; the only words are at the very end. Everything else is just images. Elieen fighting, losing, and seeing many things that make a great impact on her. Elieen, like everyone else in Yharnam, is dealing with many odd and extra-ordinary things and is trying to make sense what is happening to her. She is seeing her past and it is interfering with her present and that is very dangerous. She encounters one of the bosses from the game Rom and it looks like Rom saves her from death but it is not very clear if it is real or not. I hope to get some answers in the what I think will be the last volume but we shall see.

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this comic using my local library's Hoopla account. 

The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice

Today’s Nonfiction post is on The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice by Vanessa Brown. It is 360 pages long and is published by ECW Press. The cover is an old black and white photograph of a search team looking for Jackie English. The intended reader is someone who enjoys true crime. There is mild foul language, sex and sexuality, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the eblurb - Dig deep into the unsolved murder of Jackie English and join the hunt for a serial killer
Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, marking it as his hunting grounds. As young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, residents of the area held their loved ones closer and closer, terrified of the monster -- or monsters -- stalking the streets. Homicide detective Dennis Alsop began hunting the killer in the 1960s, and he didn't stop searching until his death 30 years later. For decades, detectives, actual and armchair, and the victims' families and friends continued to ask questions: Who was the Forest City Killer? Was there more than one person? Or did a depraved individual commit all of these crimes on his own?
Combing through the files Detective Alsop left behind, researcher Vanessa Brown reopens the cases, revealing previously unpublished witness statements, details of evidence, and astonishing revelations about how this serial killer got away. And through her investigation, Vanessa discovers the unthinkable: like the notorious Golden State Killer, the Forest City Killer is still alive . . . and a simple DNA test could bring him to justice.

Review – An interesting book about an uncaught killer who has a high body count. Brown has lived in London, Ontario for years without ever knowing about the murders that happened in the 60s. She was told about the dark past in the city and became obsessed with it and with the murder of Jackie English in particular. The book is the result of four years of research, interviews, and digging into everything about the murders. Brown used more than just traditional resources like police reports and in person interviews; she also used the internet sites like the Unsolved Canada website about the unsolved crimes that have happened all over the country. While I do not agree with all of Brown’s conclusions, I do think that she has done great research and is bringing these cases to the public with great insight and compassion for the both the victims and their families.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library’s Hoopla account. 

The Wolf-Boy is Mine, volume 1

Today’s post is on The Wolf-Boy is Mine, volume 1 by Yoko Nogiri. It is 160 pages long and is published by Kodansha Comics. The cover has the wolf boy Yu Ogami on it. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, high school love stories, and paranormal love stories. There is no foul language, no sex, discussing of bulling and mild violence. The story is told from third person close of the main character Komugi. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book - Komugi’s not sure what to expect when her family moves to the remote northern island of Hokkaido, and she starts at a new high school. But she certainly didn’t expect a boy to come up to her and say, “Gee…you smell good, somehow!” That boy is Yu Ogami, and Komugi finds herself strangely drawn to him. But when she sees him in an unguarded moment, she discovers he’s a werewolf! Now she has a choice to make: to keep his secret, or to ask for help and risk angering a wolf-boy?

Review – A cute start to a high school love story. Komugi has moved because she was dealing with some bad bullying from other girls so she goes to live with her father, who she has not seen in many years. At first everything is okay but she attracts the attention of the cute popular boy Yu. Cue bullying, like what she had experienced before but the popular boys stop it. The real complication is that the cute boys in school are yokai, supernatural beings, and other normal humans cannot know about their real nature. I think that this series is going to be sadder than my other more recent series but I like the art, the characters are interesting and sympathetic, the world is getting more fleshed out with each chapter; so I am on board for this cute love story and I will hope for the best.

I give this manga a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.