ShayKay's Review of The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

 

This review is going to be really different than normal since I picked it up and read it as soon as I got it and didn't make up the template for the post at all so we don't have a before I read, halfway through, or even a synopsis this time around. I got this book through Book of the Month club which has opened my eyes to so many adult books that I would never have found or picked up on my own and honestly is usually a really great deal. This is actually my August pick so you'll see it again in my end of the month book haul. So let's jump into it.

I loved the synopsis of this book and had so much hope for it. To be completely honest the synopsis reminded me a lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones books. One I absolutely loved and the other was just okay. So I picked this book with a lot of optimism that it was going to be an amazing book! After I ordered people in the groups I'm in were raving about it too and some were also linking it to Reid's work. I really wanted to love it and expected too. But that's not what happened.

First I feel like the beginning was really good, the middle was good too, but then it took a wrong turn and just failed by the ending for me. I loved how the book started. Throughout the book we go between Cassidy's experiences starting her singing career, during her career, and the downfall of it. We even get to see behind the scenes and at the beginning of the book I lived for these moments because they were so interesting. In the other part of the book, we would alternate between the three other women's points of view. This shifts by the end and we'll talk about that in a minute. This first third of the book was an amazing build-up and definitely leading towards a 5-star read for me. This part really had some curveballs too which just added to my love for this book starting out. Without giving any spoilers we were reading an event really in the beginning that should've gone one way since this was supposed to be Cassidy's prime but then it did the complete opposite and we watch her deal with the disappointments.

So as I said the beginning of the book I really loved Cassidy's point of view more than the others but towards the middle or maybe a little bit before that, I started appreciating these points of view. Their views happen current day so we see the way after their prime and how they are barely even celebrities anymore. All three of them are living completely different lives from one another and even the one they lived with Cassidy. Most of the format of the book we would see them explaining what they thought about what we just read about with Cassidy or foreshadowing what is about to happen in Cassidy's story. I really preferred the foreshadowing. The biggest foreshadowing that I was really thrilled about was about Alex who is a love interest in the book and it made a sound like he was going to die or something catastrophic was going to happen to him really soon in the book. By that point, I was ready for some drama because Cassidy's story was really slow-burning and I loved their story together. But no that didn't happen how I was hoping. There was something that happened to him that was horrible but that doesn't happen until the end of the book! Which took forever because this book is a chunker! The things that happened with Cassidy started to not make sense to me anymore and I started getting really aggravated with her because I wanted more and was hoping for it. Towards the end of the middle of the book, it took a massive 180 that just felt like made no sense whatsoever, and I'm going to have to use spoilers to explain this part so if you want to read this book without spoilers I'll see you next time! If you don't care scroll a little further down and we'll talk some.

***** Spoilers Below *****

Okay, above I mentioned that towards the end of the book something happens with Cassidy that made no sense to me and this is when she starts having feelings for Rose and her for Cassidy. Up until this point, Rose has been horrible to her and obsessed with the fourth member that Cassidy actually replaced in the band. Up until this point, I had vibes that Rose felt that way towards that other member and I loved it but never thought these two had any chemistry. The only interactions we saw was Rose being horrible to Cassidy. Also up until this point, Cassidy was questioning her feelings towards Alex and I got it. He was her best friend that connected her to her old life pre-stardom so she didn't want to let that go even though she wasn't really feeling those feelings towards him anymore, if ever. But she never acted like she was attracted to females ever in this story. If it wasn't Alex she was talking about it was Stephen which I get he was horrible and definitely not good for her. But these were both guys. I get that it is hard to express her feelings completely in a book but would it have been so hard to show her questioning her sexuality somewhere between the beginning of the book and the end of it? I mean it was like a switch flipped and boom she was all about Rose and wanting that relationship and just made 0 sense to me. This really annoyed me but I was already getting annoyed with the book at this point. 

I hated how the today perspective warned me about how some horrible thing was going to happen to Alex, which it did don't get me wrong and it was Cassidy's fault sort of. But it took the whole book for this to happen, and I felt like the foreshadow should've been faster since it was all really one thing was talked about and then boom it would've happened. I just felt like this was all really problematic and now every time Alex showed up in the book I was expecting something was going to happen and kill him off and when it happened it was disappointing. 

When I finished with the book I decided that it was more like Daisy Jones since it was about a band, the start of it, and the demise of it. But I feel like Daisy Jones did it better and we all know that wasn't my favorite Reid book. Since I really loved the beginning of this book I ended up giving it 3-stars. I just didn't love it like I thought I was going too and it really was more of a let down than anything.

ShayKay's June Wrap Up

June was a fantastic reading month! The summer months always seem to better reading months for me than any other time of the year. I don't typically have school or anything else going on other than work so it leaves me with a lot more free time. But this summer has been sort of flipped. I have online classes but I'm still looking for a new job so I have some free time to read. Anyways this month I've read a total of (9 how many books)! That's amazing! Out of those books, there were (audiobooks), (6 comics), (ebooks), and (3 physical books). I think I read so much over the summers because I love going on the boat or just float somewhere and read while my dogs and family play in the water. It's just relaxing and I can't take my electronics so it's freeing and it leaves me with just physical books to read. 

A little more break down before we jump into a little detail of what was read, I had (how many 1-stars), (2-stars), (3-stars), (4-stars), and (5-stars).

Each of the sections is broken down first by their star ratings, and then in order of when I read them. I did the lowest ratings to the top-rated this month.

The links to all of the Goodreads pages for each of the books listed below should be on the picture, just have to click the picture of the book to be taken to the Goodreads page if you are interested in the book itself, and I'll list out the ones that have blog posts too. This month I think I blogged a lot! I think the HouseCupAThon really helped with that.  

2-Star Read

I actually had a 2-star read this month! I didn't hate this book! To be honest my review came from the fact that the synopsis gave everything away! If that didn't happen I would've at least gave it 3-stars because I did enjoy a lot of the book. I also hated how Bailey and Porter had so many chances to come clean and tell each other who they were so many times that it drove me nuts! Then there was some pretty cringy parts that I don't think needed to be in the book, it could've been like assumed instead of went through if that makes any sense. They had some intimate moments and I'm not opposed to that stuff in books but I don't think this book needed it, at least not how it was done in this book. To be completely honest I totally forgot that I even read this book until I looked back on my Goodreads to see what I read this month to make this post. Like I said in my review for the book I was really looking forward to this book and I went in with full intentions to love it but unfortunately, that isn't how it went and I'm just done talking about this thing now. 

3-Star Read

Since I just wrote the 2-Star read for June I was thinking maybe this book should've been a 2-star but then I was comparing the Safe Place and Alex, Approximately and I'm sure this book is still a 3-star read for me. I did a full book review on this one as well. Again I had so much hope for this book because it was an ARC and I love it when I get ARCs, and only apply for books that I know that I want to read. This book sounded so fun and interesting to me and as I was reading it I kept getting The Wife Between Us vibes, but it fell short of that and I definitely hated how the book ended. I just felt let down there. I go more into detail over on my post about it. 

I read/listened to You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen really late last night and I liked it. It was okay, but it wasn't The Wife Between Us level. I don't think it had that shock value that the first book did. Now I did enjoy this one more than An Anonymous Girl. I think their books are just something that I need to listen to through audiobook to enjoy, but I don't think I'll love them like I did The Wife Between Us. That book had its dull moments too don't get me wrong but they were for a reason and it picked up really fast. This book I think was good, but not something I'm going to reread. I got really annoyed with Shay and the whole time we knew something was going on with the sisters. The 'big reveal' I don't think was shocking, it really fell flat for me. I kept saying that this book was going to be the tiebreaker for me since I loved The Wife Between Us and I hated An Anonymous Girl. I decided that this one was going to tell me if I will continue with the authors or that my love for their first book is just a fluke. I think if I do continue with them it will be through audiobooks since I really seem to like them through audiobook more than reading it myself, but the new book needs to sound really good and have amazing reviews before I pick it up. 

4-Star Read

 

Saga has quickly become my favorite comic book series and I've never left one without loving it. Even though this is a 4-star read it doesn't mean I didn't love this book. I just finished what the series has out and I was incredibly lucky enough to by the last 6 volumes that I didn't already have so I could just binge read them all. There is literally 9 volumes and my lowest rating for any of them is a 4-star and even this one I still loved. I just got a little bored with it and to be honest, not all of them could be 5 stars. I did a little post about the whole series a little more in-depth a couple weeks ago. 

5-Star Read

This was the perfect book to start June off with! I had so much fun reading the Beach Read and my only regret is if I would've read it while I was at the beach because I so wanted a picture of it on the beach, but I got married instead. I did a book review for this too and it was such a fun read. It was just a light read and it was the perfect one to start June off of with. 

   

I talked a little more about this series above and also in its own post from a couple weeks ago but here are the other four that I read this month. I loved how the last one ends even though it is sad and a huge cliffhanger. I hope there are more for this series but it has been a while since any has been published for it. But I'll be hoping for something else for it! 

Oh, Bea! I definitely adored this book so much. I've made a post about my reading experience and I would check it out because my book went through hell pretty much, hint it involved a river. I Was lucky enough to finish it and I'm in love with this book! It was so fun and cute. But as you can see in my review I struggled with how to rate it even though I loved it so much! Since my other post is so long I'm just going to leave it with the fact that I loved it overall, but we had some rough moments in the end.

This is the first Riley Sager book that I've ever read and it definitely won't be my last. I really enjoyed it and had so much fun reading it! I really could not put this book down. I've ranted on and on about this book over on a review post for it. So I won't put much on here since it just came out the day before. It was such a great way to end out this readathon. I had so much fun with it. I have one more book that I'm trying to finish before the end of the month so we'll see if it makes onto this list. I can't wait to read Home Before Dark now since I already have it. 

ShayKay's Review of Final Girls by Riley Sager

Goodreads: Final Girls by Riley Sager

Synopsis from Book

Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to - a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls: Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Slack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them and, with that one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.

Now Quincy is doing well - maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost fiance, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won't even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past. 

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam has sought her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished. 

Thoughts Before Reading

I have been interested in Sager's books for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to picking one up yet. I ordered this one from Book of the Month a couple of months ago and after having a streak of romancy/contemporary books I think I'm ready to swap it up on a little. The synopsis sounds really interesting and I'm really curious about what is going on. I actually thought about waiting on this read but since reading up on the author I figured out how it could fit for my HouseCupaThon that I'm working on this month. I think I'm going to look for a readathon for next month, I definitely want to try to fit one more in this summer so we'll see if I find one that we can just jump into. Anyways I've heard a lot about Riley Sager's books since being apart of Book of the Month, and even though I really wished they had Elin Hilderbrand's book this summer I went with his newest book this month so maybe I'll jump into that one next. We'll see I have a lot of prompts for the reading challenge that I could potentially do so we'll see what happens. 

Halfway Through Thoughts

I really am enjoying Quincy so far. I think she is a really interesting character to follow and overall I think the Sager really used Quincy's whole life as part of this book. By this, I mean that sometimes we are told that a character does baking for a living, but the story doesn't draw any part of that into the story, we are just told that this is what they do. In Final Girls, we actually see why she bakes and even is introduced to her baking. I think it is so far really developing really good and I am so hooked to it! I've heard a lot of good things about Sager, but also a lot of bad things too. So I went into it really open-minded into this read. But the chapters are short and really captivating, I even really love the flashbacks because Quincy has no memory of the massacre and this was an interesting way to learn about what she went through. I have a feeling that either Sam or Jeff could potentially be the 'new' bad guy in Quincy's life. I think maybe Jeff because we don't really see him that much, at the beginning of the book he was even out of town when everything happened to Lisa, and he is a public defender that loves sticking to the fact that they are innocent until proven guilty regardless of if they are actually guilty or not. We really see that value shine in his character a lot when he first meets Sam. I kind of really want Quincy to end up with Coop because I think they just have that connection that she should have with Jeff, but she doesn't. 

I really don't know why I've been holding off to read Sager's work! I've become really obsessed with this book and should hopefully finish this tomorrow! I really need to know what is happening and what is going to go on with Quincy! Does she ever remember the attack? Who killed Lisa? I really love how this is kind of a mystery with a settle undertone of a thriller because we are watching Quincy figure out what is going on but at the same time, you know this is a thriller so I like I said I need to finish this book ASAP!

We even have some books in the wild pictures this go around! I read on the way to the lake last weekend and then some at the wake. Summertime we get really active because I love taking my dogs out to go swimming! 

On the way to the Lake

It seems like a pretty accurate bookmark for this one!

After Thoughts

OMG! I just finished this book and I cannot believe it! It really tied up really fast, but the book didn't feel rushed while I was reading it. I feel like everything really got tied up and guys I was wrong about people in this book! I'll get to that more in a little bit I want to try to stay spoiler-free first. I think this is a new favorite. I think I really need to do a reread of it now that I know how it ends just to see if there were signs that I missed because even though I was kind of right about the ending I was also so freaking wrong! So it is kind of obvious that this book had to be a 5-star read! I mean I could not put it down, I loved the writing style and the pace of it, the characters were so amazing and interesting to read about, and overall I just could not put this book down, plus I already want to do a reread of this book.

Since it is still June this book was able to be apart of my HouseCupaThon, and I used it for Tom Riddle's journal which was reading a book where the author used a pen name or their initials and Riley Sager is a pen name, he actually publishes books under another name too, and I actually fell into this bit of information. I really thought this book wouldn't count on my chart but it did and I'm so happy that it worked out this way. I'm going to add the pictures before the spoiler section so that you won't accidentally see spoilers if you don't want too. So there is a spoiler review (kind of) at the very bottom underneath the pictures. 

***** Spoilers Below *****

Looking back at my notes that I made while reading this book is so funny because I was so close! I guessed that either Jeff, Sam, or Joe's girlfriend was the person that killed Lisa. The reason I put Joe's girlfriend is that back in the beginning of the book, well more of the middle of it, Joe is explaining that he does have a girlfriend. So that really pulled in a new suspect to Lisa. But there was never a name for that girlfriend until the end of the book, which was Tina Stone who was in the asylum with him! I love how even these small details ended being a really big thing in the book. I'm not going to talk about the big bang at the end of the book even though I labeled this section as spoilers, I just think that Tina was already a huge spoiler and I don't want to go further into it as to who was the killer. 

Anyways I'm not surprised that Quincy and Jeff ended up splitting up. I don't think they really had that much chemistry together and even though he was her rock I don't think she loved him how she thought she did. I just wish she would've broken up with him versus doing what she did. I kind of think Quincy might check in with Tina from time to time now that everything ended, but I don't think they will be friends or anything like that. I do love that she remembers that night even though it was painful for her because that added so much more OMG moments for me. You really need to read it because you won't expect it, at least I didn't and this isn't my normal genre. But this was such a fun, unexpected read. At the very end of the book Quincy kind of picked up Lisa's shoes and went to be there for a new Final Girl and I really loved it. I think it kind of helped the book go full circle and I really loved it. Definitely a 5-Star read for me.

ShayKay's Review of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Goodreads: One to Watch by Kate Staman-London

Synopsis from Book

Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers - and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising number of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition: Under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a gree hot-air balloon ride. That's it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes that things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale. In this joyful, razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men - and herself - for a chance to live happily ever after.

Thoughts Before Reading

First off I'm in love with this cover! This is one of June's Book of the Month books that I got and I'm actually picking it up in June!? I am so thrilled! Anyways back to the cover, I love the blue and pink, with Bea standing in the middle of all of these cameras in pink with a ring behind her back. Based on the synopsis this cover really sums up what the book is supposed to be about and overall I love this cover! It pulls me in and makes me want to read the synopsis and see if I will like it. Bright colors are my favorite, especially pink and blue so the colors alone are really calling to me. 

Now looking into the actual synopsis of this book really pulls me in too. It sounds like it is going to be cute and fun, even though the book is a little on the chunky side I feel like I can really fly through the book. Let me just tell you I've already read some of it and I could not put it down! My husband actually had to take it from me so I could sleep since I was up when he got up for work. So I feel a little like crap today since I'm running on no sleep. I couldn't put this book down! Just from flipping through the pages, I see that there are tons of mixed media in it! I don't know if they are texts in the book or articles or what yet but I'm already so thrilled and can't wait to really jump into the book! I have a feeling I'm really going to fly through this book since it sounds like so much fun and I'm already in love with it. I'm planning on doing a float down the river this weekend too so I'll be able to just lay in the sun and read for a while this weekend. Hopefully, I'll get it done before I start my second class next week.

On a side note, I think this book could be used for the readathon for the Burrows, which is a cozy book. I'm really loving the way HouseCupAThon is set up because I love the teams and point system. It makes reading into a game and I love challenges like this. 

I love the dedication that's in this book! It's so cute!

Halfway Thoughts

I'm now a little bit past the halfway mark and I'm obsessed! I have a really hard time putting this book down! Well, let's first start with the sad part. I went on a float down the river expedition and I thought I was just gonna relax, work on a tan, and really spend most of the time reading my book. Umm, that's not exactly what happened. I had my book and I thought it would be safe in my bag. I didn't get to read any, and to add to the disaster my book got trashed! I had to let it dry out for a few days and I really wanted to go buy a new copy but where this book doesn't come out for a few more weeks I couldn't wait! My book is readable and now that it is mostly been dried out I've been plowing through it. Now that I'm reading it I don't think I'm going to get a new copy and if I do I'll buy it from the bookstore. But I love it when my books get some character like this, just not to this degree. Here's a picture of it. It doesn't even show how bad it is now that it is pretty much fully dried out. But it is a good thing that Book of the Month really makes their book sturdy!

It's really ballooned up now that it is dried

Good news I didn't have the dust jacket with me so it's still in its pristine condition. I haven't tried putting it on the book yet so maybe after I'm done reading it I'll put it on the book and take another picture at the end!

So my thoughts on the actual book so far. I really feel like I resonate with this book because the way Bea talks and feels about her body is both how I feel and how I wish to feel because when she talks about body positivity and how she has learned to love how she looks is how I want to feel, but when she starts having negative feelings and feeling self-conscious that's how I feel all the time about me. So I really get how Bea feels! Ray is a douchebag! I feel so bad for Bea and wish she could move on! I really hope that she doesn't give him another moment of her time, but I feel like she is going to at least consider it once she sees that he has been messaging her! I just want her to be happy and I don't see how this book could possibly not end with 5-stars! It has to really mess up somewhere between here and the end for that because I'm completely obsessed and I love it! 

*****Spoilerish*****

(Talking a little bit about the guys below)

Now for the guys, since she is technically their bachelorette. I'm so conflicted! I love Sam, but I get how she feels about a younger man. I want to like Asher since she does but I don't see the chemistry of him except that's what I'm told that's how she feels. Luc isn't bad but I agree I need more substance for him before I can really decide on my feelings for him. But I really think these are the front runners. I know Wyatt is super sweet and should be considered but at this point, I don't think she is really considering him and the same for Jefferson. I'm to the point where she just now started really trying to participate so I'm curious what's going to happen now. She is about to go on a date with Luc! I need to know what is happening here. Can you see why I can't put this thing down!? I'm obsessed and I need to know more stat!

So I gotta go and finish this book! 

After Thoughts

So I stayed up until about 5 in the morning to finish this book because I just could not put it down! I love how Bea kind of went full circle in this book and I really feel the same way Bea did and I just wish I get to the point where I love me for me. So the whole entire time I was reading this book I was really connecting with Bea. I thought this book was a for sure 5-star read! Well, then the ending happened. The ending wasn't terrible. It just got super predictable, like I knew Ray and Bea's story wasn't over, I just didn't know how it was going to finish. I will say that I do like how that part of the story ended and I was screaming at Bea the whole time after he popped up because I did not want her to go back to him or end up with him! I do like how he came back into the story I think it really fit the storyline. There was never a dull moment with Bea while she was on the show! She literally had every drama that happened in the Bachelor/Bachelorette thrown at her and it really kept me as reader super involved in it. But like I said the ending really made me question what  I was going to rate this book. The whole entire time I was in love with this book, I could not put it down! However, the ending fell really flat for me. I loved how she ended the show, it was perfect for her situation. At the end of the book, it does like a time jump and looked back on the popular contestants to see where they are now and I loved that too! I just honestly did not like the drama that went down in the final scene in I think Paris? I feel like it was unnecessary and even the characters explained that they didn't feel that way right after. So I was just more aggravated with it. So let's try a rating thing with this book:

Characters - 5 stars for sure! 

The Beginning of the Book/Book Set-Up - again definitely 5 stars, it's what really hooked me in

Main Squeeze - Umm I think this would be 3.5-4 stars for me, I got really aggravated with some of the drama that happened here. Some of it just wasn't necessary! I got super aggravated with Lauren because of the things she threw Bea into without any idea of what was going to happen all for the sake of ratings. 

Mixed Media - 4 stars, you all know I'm a freaking sucker when a book has things like text messages, interviews, emails, and so on that is typed in a different font and made to stand out in the book. I don't know why but I've always loved it! And boy did I get a heck of a lot of it in this book between the text messages, interviews, emails, contracts, and chat rooms. Even though I adore this and I loved it so much I got a little flustered with it. There were some scenes in the book that were done in this format as a reaction to the scene (usually the kissing ceremony) and I would've rather have been in the book seeing it from Bea's perspective. Later in the book, it kind of does half and half. This book is a chunker so I see why there was so much of it, and it really fits in with the book's story so I think 4 stars are really good here. 

Ending/Bea's Finale - I think this is the hardest part to rate! The whole point of the book is Bea sharing her body positivity and finding love! I get it and I saw a lot of it. Even though Bea had a lot of issues while being on the show I can really relate to it because your on a show that millions of people are watching, and at least a third of those people aren't nice to you. So those scenes are very relatable for me, even though I'm not on TV or anything like that but I do feel like that all the time just on a super smaller scale, and it happened a lot. These scenes even when they sometimes got a little annoying or repetitious I still give them a 5-star, BUT the finale/ending of the book I think is possibly a 3-star for me! It's hard to explain because when I say I hated the ending it doesn't really explain it. I hated what went down with Ray, but I like how it happened, I love how the show ended, but I hated how Bea got to her happily ever after. I feel like it was meaningless because, in the end, they ended up together, they should've just talked it out. I just feel like this couple is super problematic because I didn't really see the guy she saw I guess. The guy she ended up with I didn't think she had much chemistry with or even worked well together since they were always having issues. Then the actual ending of the book does a time jump and does a where are they now thing and I loved it because it touched on all of the huge players in the book. It was a good way to end. So I don't think the ending deserves a 3-star, but it isn't a 5-star. I don't even know about 4-stars here. see this is why it is so difficult to figure out my rating for this book! 

So I know all of that above is a little confusing but that is how I've been having to think when I came to rating this book. I loved it don't get me wrong, but it had its problems and those were hard for me to explain, so I thought to list it out and show where I was having issues. I honestly had no clue how I was going to write this review because I didn't know how to explain my opinions for it. So I had to do this. Sorry if it was a little frustrating or confusing.

Ultimately I ended up giving this book a 5 star. I couldn't pass up how much I loved most of this book and I really relate to Bea which is something I don't do really often. I had so much reading about her journey even though after a while it did get kind of repetitious. I struggling between a 4-star and a 5-star for this thing. The whole time I was writing this, rating it on Goodreads, and posting on Instagram about it I was struggling with that. I don't like doing half stars and it's super rare for me to do it, and this to me wasn't in need of a half star. It was either going to be 4-stars or 5-stars. Since I was so sure it was a 5-star read for so much of the book I decided that is how I was going to rate it. 

Since it is still June I was able to fit this into my HouseCupAThon, I think this is perfect for the Burrow's Challenge! So here is an updated HouseCupaThon bracket so far! I'm having a blast right now. I plan on for sure completing Tom Riddle's Journal (Final Girls by Riley Sager) and Mandrakes (You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen) since I'm currently reading and listening to them both. I think I might be able to find something for Dobby, Lockhart, Fawkes, and De-Gnome the Garden. Now can I actually read them and get them done in June, I don't know but I would love to read 4 more books plus the two I'm working on! This would be a record for me so I'm going to try to make it happen. I also need to finish my Harry Potter reread that I have been working on for far too long!

ShayKay's Review of Saga Vol. 1-9 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I've recently just finished Saga Vol. 4-9 and I wanted to do a review of them but since I didn't do 1-3 review we are just going to wrap them all up into one review! So what is Saga?

Saga is a comic that is written by Brian K. Vaughn and then illustrated by Fiona Staples. The main focal point of the whole series is Hazel. Hazel is actually the main narrator throughout the whole series and they are set up in her point of view. She's retelling the story of her family and how she came to be. Hazel is a product of her parents' love for each other regardless of their species. One key thing to mention is that this is set in space and Hazel's parents are from two different worlds, her mom is from a planet and her father is from the planet's moon. They two species have been at war with one another for centuries and Hazel's parents were actually in their respective armies. Her mom, Alana, was a soldier that was guarding her father, Marko, after he was captured. Long story short they fall in love and ended up pregnant with Hazel. Throughout the course of these 9 volumes, we see how this couple struggles with regular family problems plus the additional problems of being wanted fugitives. They go through everything and we don't just get their perspectives we also see the perspectives of the people who are trying to capture them as well as each of their governments and war. As time goes by the family grows and also loses people. The comics span over years so we really get to watch Hazel grow up. This is the bare synopsis of the whole series, and there's so much that happens in these books that I'm intentionally leaving out because I don't want to spoil how amazing these comics are!

Now I will say these are definitely not comics that you want to give to kids because there's a lot of explicit scenes and language so it is definitely an adult comic. 

There's never really a dull moment in any of these books because you have them trying to survive with a newborn baby while being on the run from both of their governments, you see people chasing them and their whole dramas, we see bits and pieces of the war, and so on. Things keep getting added on in each comic too, so you never have any moments that are just hard to get through. My lowest rating for one of these volumes was a 4-star, most of them are all 5-stars in my eyes. Even the average ratings for each comic are 4-stars and they each have thousands of reviews. I want a more in this world and I honestly don't know if we will get any more. The last one left off on a huge cliff hanger and it was released years ago. I've found an article saying that the authors wanted to take a hiatus after that cliff hanger but this has been years ago so I'm truly curious about whether or not if there will be more because there is potential to be a lot more. But at the same time the way the last one ended it could be the finale, I just think there could have been more if this was the finale such as a time jump to see how Hazel grew up. 

I was lucky to finish this series today because I was able to buy the six volumes I was missing the other day, and as soon as we got back from our little adventure I binge-read them all. I plan on keeping these on my shelves and if there is ever anymore that comes out I'll binge read them all over again. They are just fun to read and packed with so much. I really want to know more about the characters! Since this is June I was also able to count these towards my HouseCupAThon, and even put them on the Flying Car challenge. As always Instagram gets first to look at everything because it's easier for me to keep it updated in real-time and over here I don't want to publish everything right as I read it because I want to spread my content over time and have more. Which is why this post has come out basically a week after I've read them. Anyways I'm working on getting through One to Watch, which that is going to be an interesting post hopefully coming out soon, I try to keep something published every Sunday and Wednesday over here. Wednesday is sometimes skippable but we'll see. Book reviews tend to be on Sundays and random or book reviews on Wednesday. Sometimes fun things here and there when I can fit it in.

ShayKay's Review of Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Goodreads: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

    DON'T READ THE SYNOPSIS!

Synopsis from the Book

The one guy Bailey Rydell can't stand is actually the boy of her dreams - she just doesn't know it yet.

Classic movie fan Bailey "Mink" Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surging town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he's a creep in real life - or worse?), Bailey doesn't tell Alex she's moved to his hometown. Or that she's landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she's been heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth - a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is a whole lot messier than in the movies, especially when Bailey discovers those tricky fine lines dividing hate, love, and whatever it is she's starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realized, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex.... Approximately.

Thoughts Before Reading

Well first off this is one of those synopses that I hate! Like why tell me Porter and Alex are the same person already? That is something that I should've learned as I'm reading. Maybe there is some sort of twist in the book that makes it interesting as to why the book already spoiled itself.

Anyways I picked this book up because I've been seeing it a lot online through BookTube, Facebook groups, and other places. It sounds like it is going to be a light, fun read and I'm in the mood for this stuff. I devoured Beach Read and I need to read an ARC that I have but this one was just screaming at me. Plus it is a new to me author and I got it mostly because I saw it on the clearance rack. As we all know I'm always wary of new authors and paying full price for them because I have no clue if I will like them, and I've been burned in the past for doing that (ahem Evie Drake). But it sounds so cute and my bookstore had it on sale so here we are. I've been wanting to read it for at least a year now because I know I've been seeing it around a lot and it sounds so cute! So we'll see how this goes.

As for my HouseCupAThon that I'm doing this month, I think this book might fall under the 'Burrow' challenge and it is 390 pages so it'll be 100 points altogether. A great thing about this readathon is you don't have to stick within the same challenges to get points. Just reading a book will get you points, such as this one I would've gotten 50 points regardless of reading it and I love it. I haven't posted an official TBR for this readathon because I'm a mood reader and I want to have the opportunity to just pick up a book. The only stipulation that I gave myself is that it has to come off my own shelves so I have PLENTY to work with. I try to use only books I already have for readathons because they help me work through my piled up books. I'm getting ready to do an unhaul too I think.

Halfway Through Thoughts

So I'm not hating this book, but I'm definitely annoyed with it! Since the beginning of the book, I've kept wondering when Bailey would find out Porter's background, especially since the synopsis gave everything away I usually assume when that happens we will find out really soon in the book. Well, let me tell you I've been asking myself when she realizes this since Chapter 6. The chapters aren't that short and since she has been in California interacting with Porter I've been screaming at the book it's Porter! I'm shocked that I've been reading this book so fast but since my husband and dad are currently working on the floor I have some free time and have been plowing through this book. If I wasn't determined to see if there are any big revelations throughout the book or just curious about when she will figure out this book I think I would DNF it. Like I said I don't hate it, I'm just very frustrated with it. I'm now currently in chapter 15 and Bailey still does not know who Alex is in real life, has been working with Porter every day almost, AND SEARCHING THE BOARDWALK FOR ALEX BASED OFF OF HER CLUES SHE'S ACCUMULATED. It's just so frustrating. If the book was going to take so long for her to figure out who he is then the synopsis really shouldn't have just thrown all of the secrets out there.

After Thoughts

Well, I finished the book. Overall I think the book is 2-3 stars, at best. First off no one figures out who is who until chapter 24 and even then it is because Porter is at the house for family game night and her father called her Mink and he just storms out! Okay first I thought it would be so cute/funny for him to out her secret to Porter but she never expected Porter and Alex to be the same person so I could see how funny it would be for him to be like at the museum checking up on her at her new job and calls her Mink! That would've been perfect! But then his reaction is so irritating. I don't know if I got so irritated with this book because it is a YA book or what but I just could not get over my frustration of the fact that the reader goes into this book already knowing that Porter is Alex! I think the synopsis should've have said that, heck it could've not mentioned Porter at all and the book would've already been so much better! Another thing that I found interesting was the backstory of why she's called Mink. I was expecting it to have something to do with her shyness or something but the fact that it had to deal with her wanting a fur when she's a child!? It was just so annoying.

I wanted to love this book! It had some really interesting things such as the mixed writing styles, the overall story sounded really cute, and even some of the characters were really fun to read. Now thinking back to my rating I posted on GoodReads it is definitely two stars. I've gone back to update it. I just can't give it anymore because the synopsis giving everything away, the fact that it took the whole entire book for them to figure out their online relationship, and then the cringiness! The book had really awkward sex scenes! Like why even put them in this book? I get that they had that relationship but it didn't need to be so cringy and just coming out of nowhere. I also felt like the important things were being overlooked while the book focused on the side stuff, like the whole thing with her mom! How do you go all summer without talking to someone you were just living with, and on top of it your parent? It was just like the book kept adding a lot of weird stuff trying to have a lot of things in it when the book really didn't need it. I didn't even add it to my HouseCupAThon chart. I did make an aesthetic for it though. 

Hopefully, my next book is better!

HouseCupAThon June 2020

I have been wanting to do some sort of readathon/bookathon for awhile now. The only one I have ever done before is the Buzzword Readathon that BooksandLaLa does but I haven't really done any of the backup stuff for it before, such as a blog post or even Instagrammed it a lot so this time I thought we would put the real effort into it and see how it goes. I don't really count the Book of the Month Spring Reading Challenge that I just finished because again I didn't really document it on here, there wasn't much participation in it other than on Facebook but I loved it and for the last few book reviews or pictures on my Instagram showcased the charts I made for the books. Since I loved it so much it really inspired me to look for a new reading challenge. During this search, I found a blog that has a list of readathons! It was so freaking helpful because when you type readathons in on Google you get really overwhelmed with the results and, to be honest, I started following a lot of twitter accounts throughout this search without really looking into the readathons themselves. I'm not a big twitter person so when the readathons are based on Twitter I really fall behind. Anyways this amazing blog that has a freaking calendar for the readathons is called Little Book Owl, the link will take you straight to the calendar. From here it was so easy to look through all of the readathons that are going on this month and it is really organized. I really love this. I believe she is actually a YouTuber that I follow. 

There were a lot of different readathons that I really wanted to jump into this month but since this is the first one that I'm really going to put a lot of effort into I'm going to do just one for now and I've chosen to do the HouseCupAThon's June Readathon! I chose this one because one they do have an Instagram for their readathon, but they are based mostly on discord, which I have both of those and prefer using them both so that ticks off a really important box for me. They do have a twitter account too, and the Instagram is new so it is just getting off its feet while the twitter account has a lot of content on it already. I'm going to try to be more active on Twitter, but where it's my personal account and I don't even use that I just don't use it. I've thought about deleting everything on it and making one for my book or sims but I haven't made that leap yet and I don't think I will. The second thing that I saw that really gave this potential for me personally right off the bat is that it is a Harry Potter readathon! You all know I'm a Harry Potter nerd and completely obsessed with it! You aren't required to read the whole Harry Potter series within the month but they do want you to read one of them, and the buddy read is the second Harry Potter book for the month, which I do need to finish Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for my other projects anyways and can easily jump into the buddy read. But what really sold me on this was the fact that I had the opportunity to take their reading prompts and throw them into a chart. We learned recently that I'm in love with taking charts like this making them funky and fun and slapping book covers on them! So that's what I did with their prompts. Now it was a little confusing getting into the discord but I'm still a discord newbie and this is all new to me but if I can navigate it and figure out the basics than it isn't too bad. The challenge is a point-based and you work with your house to fight for the house cup. I'm in love with the concept and cannot wait to jump in. 

Since it is a house challenge I took the prompts and then made all four houses their own chart to give it a little personality for each house. Here are all of the ones that I made for the HouseCupAThon, now I am Gryffindor house, but I might look into one that has all of the house colors because I really love colorful things and Hogwarts one should be more colorful, but as for now I'm going to be using the Gryffindor one. As usual, I got the background off of Pinterest and then made the graph on a Word document, and then added some emojis and the rest of the stuff in Pic Collage. All of the prompts are the same on each picture, the only thing different is the houses aesthetics. 

For me, the point system on Instagram makes the most sense when I was trying to figure out how it goes. They are probably posted on discord and twitter too but like I've previously mentioned I just don't know or use them much yet. I'll probably still need someone to help me put points in when I'm done reading a book but that's future Shay problems. Here are the points:

• 5 Points - if you have to DNF (do not finish) a book. But in order to get the 5 points, you have to have at least 25% completed
• 10 Points - if the book you've read is less than 100 pages
• 30 Points - if the book you've read is between 101-200 pages
• 50 Points - if the book you've read is between 201-400 pages
• 50 Points - for completing a reading challenge (a tile on the pictures above)
• 70 Points - if the book you've read is between 401-500 pages
• 100 Points - if the book you've read is over 501 pages
• 100 Points - for completing the required reading (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

You can double up on reading challenges however each challenge can only be used once. So out if you complete all of the challenges you can win your house 750 points!

All of the points get added up in the discord chat and goes towards your house the one with the most points wins the house cup! I love this concept and I love this readathon so I cannot wait to jump in on it. Since the challenges are named Lockhart, Dobby, and Tom Riddle's Journal I made sure to add the requirements for each tile this time around. The requirements stayed in Time Roman while I got to have fun with the challenge name's fonts. 

Normally I like to save posting my challenges I do until the end of the year or the end of the challenge to post but this time around I think I'm going to post this now so you all can see why every book I have in the month of June will be credited towards this readathon and you'll always have one of the collages above listed out. I think on my Instagram I might only use Gryffindor since that is what house I'm in on Discord but over here I think we will show all of the houses love. I don't know I might do that on Instagram too since right now I'm getting really tired of seeing all of the same pictures on my feed because I kept reposting my BOTM challenge every time I completed a book. I also really like how I formatted my last book with a book aesthetic, book rating, and then the challenge. I think this works out perfect for me. If you don't like it let me know and we can work on other ideas for me to do.

Since we are posting this now with updates as we go I'm going to put the date at the bottom of each update so you can see what I did and when.

(June 1, 2020)

So I finished my first book for June 2020 and here is my updated reading chart! Since I made a post about Beach Read by Emily Henry I'm just going to a short little rating for it. I loved this book and it was such a great way to kick off HouseCupAThon! I love using books I already own during readathons to help clean up my shelves and this month is perfect for that because I'm getting ready to redo my shelves and do an unhaul soon. Anyways the book was something that I've had for a couple months and I don't know why I was sitting on it. I need to go through and really read all of my backstock of Book of the Month books! I don't have an official TBR for this either because I'm a mood reader and I love having the freedom to bounce around to whatever book I feel like reading and usually gave multiple books going at one time. But with Beach Read, it sucked all my attention in and I couldn't put it down. To be honest, if I wasn't remodeling my house I would've been done with this a lot faster! I hope my next book goes the same way! 

(June 3, 2020)