Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

Tuesday 24 July 2018

Mini-Review! - The Girls by Emma Cline



(Warning: this post discusses and refers to serious topics such as rape and child abuse. Please be careful my nerdlets.)





The Girls title image with girl standing in a field with flowers overlaid







Title: The Girls

'The Girls' book cover


Author: Emma Cline

Genre:

Adult Fiction*, Historical Fiction*, Crime*, LGBTQ+ (M/F, F/F)*✢ 

*(ish - it's a really difficult book to define tbh!)

✢ The LGBTQ+ and F/F rep isn't great (neither is a lot of the M/F tbh,) see main review.



Amazon: USA



Wednesday 27 June 2018

Review Time! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - BLACK, Vol 1






BLACK Volume 1 title image with black and white striped background










Title: BLACK, Vol 1

Author: Kwanza Osajyefo

Contributors/Art:

Jamal Igle, Khary Randolph, Tim Smith III, Steven Walker, Robin Riggs, Sarah Stern, Dave Sharpe, Sarah Litt, Patricia Daguisan, Derwen Roberson

Genre: Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi (Superhero)

Series: BLACK #1-6

Amazon: UK - USA





Tuesday 8 May 2018

Month in Review(s) - April 2018






April... ha, so, what's May lookin' like? 😅







Girl in red coat holding black umbrella with the word 'April' written in the corner







April happened. I lived through it *starts singing I'm still standing by Elton John and doing an incredibly embarrassing dance.*

My grandmother is still in hospital - she went in at the beginning of March - but she's definitely improving. We're basically waiting for a social care package in place so that she can go home, because there's no way my 88-year-old grandfather can take care of her.

And on the last day of April my laptop - which had been hanging on on a wing and a prayer, granted - gave up the ghost.







On the plus side, I reached over 3k Twitter followers in April! I love you guys, really! XD




Tuesday 3 April 2018

Month in Review(s) - March 2018

March. Ah, March.



Daffodils




March, for yours truly, was one of those months with too much trouble, and too little time to deal with it.

There was some good, incredible, awesome stuff - like a Fall Out Boy concert last week (completely awesome!) and hitting 200k page-views on Dora Reads (I LOVE YOU MY NERDLETS!!!) - but there was also a lot of stress, worry, Anxiety, etc.

There's a lot of personal stuff going on atm, including my grandmother being in hospital since the beginning of the month - and thanks so much for your support my dearest nerdlets! You rock, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!




Wednesday 7 March 2018

Month in Review(s) - February 2018

You remember, in January, when I said I was getting the hang of the whole life-balance deal-y?






February calendar in pink with the 14th circled, and love hearts in the corner reading 'love you' and 'kiss me'





Yeah... well, regular service has resumed. My life is back to Milo-Murphy's-Law-levels of randomness.

If you haven't seen Milo Murphy's Law, this is what I'm talking about:

(Warning: flashing images)











...I relate so hard it scares me.





Typical example: I had a scratch on my hand. Not unusual?


It was from the cat. Still not that odd?

It was because the cat was squirming, trying to stop me, from stopping him, from climbing into my big brother's sling (which he was wearing at the time,) which he has because he broke his arm roller-skating.

This is my life.




Wednesday 21 February 2018

Mini-Review! - An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

An Untamed State title image with bird flying outside bird cage in a vintage style with purple and brown tones; 'Book Review @ dorareads.co.uk' is written in the bottom-right corner




heart flourish decoration









Title: An Untamed State


Author: Roxane Gay



Amazon: UK - USA















Verdict:


This book is an open wound.

It is raw. It is powerful. And, somehow, it finds a way to be beautiful.





Tuesday 6 February 2018

Month in Review(s) - January 2018

January felt like a month which put a rocket to my secret* blogging powers.





woman reading, sitting on a big '2018'






I don't know why, but I actually really liked the posts I wrote this month! And I'm (finally) beginning to get a handle on the whole 'juggling work, life, blogging, and miscellaneous other stuff' thing.

That said, I've probably just jinxed myself for the year ahead. My life tends to resemble an episode of Milo Murphy's Law sometimes 😅


Wednesday 31 January 2018

Review Time! - Goodnight, Boy by Nikki Sheehan

Goodnight boy title image with book stack and purple border






heart flourish






Title: Goodnight, Boy

Author: Nikki Sheehan

Genre: Kids (Middle Grade/MG,) Young Adult*, Contemporary**

*YA crossover appeal

**ish


Amazon: UK - USA















Sunday 14 January 2018

Nerd Church - Yes, We Damn Well Need Fair Reviews

To my non-blogging readers (hi! don't leave! I neeeed you!!! 😉 Lol) and also my blogging readers who haven't seen the ripples on bookish Twitter lately, let me explain something:

There seems to be an attitude, at the moment, for authors to defame, abuse, harass, and denounce, book bloggers for giving them 'bad' reviews.





star made up of books






Now, I'm not going to go into the semantics and the 'he said, she said' of the thing. But I am going to make some comments regarding fair and critical reviews.

Because this isn't something that's new. It happens.

Unfortunately, it seems to be happening with increasing frequency, but that's another matter.

Those of us involved in the Diversity Movement are probably the least surprised. Diverse reviewers tend to be the first in the metaphorical firing-lines.




Friday 5 January 2018

Month in Review(s) - December 2017

Decemmmmberrrr!!!!!!!!! Wooo!!! XD (Yes, it's January - but let's face it, I never wrap-up on time.)



December 2017 calendar image





OK, so December for me was actually super-super-hectic, but it came with Christmas at the end, so I really can't be mad at it! Lol.

(I love Christmas. Sooooo much!!!! 😁 )



Thursday 28 December 2017

Review Time! - Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Juliet Takes a Breath on rainbow pride stonewall background title image


heart flourish image










Title: Juliet Takes a Breath

Author: Gabby Rivera

Genre: New Adult/NA,* Contemporary**, LGBTQ+ (and polyamory; with F/F)

*crossover appeal with older Young Adult/YA
**ish

Amazon: UK - USA













Friday 22 December 2017

Wednesday 6 December 2017

Month in Review(s) - November 2017

November was one of those super-busy months where I barely had time to think!


As such, guys, I apologise if I've been a little more AWOL than usual.

I haven't had much chance to be social and all that - so, hi! I am still here! XD





November 2017 calendar image





Wednesday 29 November 2017

Wednesday 15 November 2017