Lila Danisa

Love this book so much! So relatable with me and my son because I have been read him books since he still a fetus inside my womb. Our reading time everyday is always a fun time. Never fail. Now he is 5 years old and can read books mostly by himself. The discussions we have about books become boarden up and amusing. I learn so much from the books I read to him and his follow-up questions. And this book perfectly portrayed that bounding through books between me and my son.

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"It’s okay when we disagree! We can tell each other why."

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The illustrations were also perfect to highlight the short passages. They were colorful and full of imagination. Again, perfect illustration to describe the magic of reading books. Though my son was kinda disappointed when there is no hijabi representation in the illustrations. He said he wanted to see me (yes, I am a hijabi) in the book he likes, especially when the book is about book and reading. One of our favorite daily activities. That's why there is a missing half-star in the rating.

Aside from that minor bump, we (my son and I) love this book so much. As I write this review, it's still in our reread shelf.

Thank you to Karolyn Wallace, Mission Point Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The story went from 0 to 100 so freaking fast! Everything happened in the span of 2 weeks max. I felt like I was running the entire time reading this book because the plots (?) were packed one after another.

I loved Adriano's parents book (Angelo and Tori) so much. To this day it still in my emotional support reread shelf. This book's blurb was giving the same vibe with their book and it was intriguing me to read. While some details were the same with Angelo's book, the storylines were fully(ish) different. Both Angelo and Adriano were having instalove with their women but Adriano leveled it up with instaobsessed too.

While both Tori and Laurie went through abusive life phase, I liked Tori more than Laurie. I am sorry but Laurie was so doormat. I hated that she couldn't stand for herself. I also felt like her character was inconsistent. One moment she was meek, another moment she was speaking whatever in her mind freely.

For me Angelo and Tori book is still way better than Adriano and Laurie book.

There were also so many names thrown out in this book. Understandable since this is the 9th book in the series. Personally it didn't bother my reading experience and I think it's safe to say that this book is truly standalone despite being book nine in long series.

I really tried to understand this poetry book. I even read some of the poems more than once. Unfortunately most of them didn't resonate with me. I could pretend that at the end of the book I understand the overall meaning of the poems within this collection but I really couldn't. However some lines in some poems kinda hit hard because how relatable those were with the real life situation, even in country so far from the US.

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If our county were any bigger than a sitcom set, they would all herd lemminglike into the rough spun monochrome of gas stations, outlet malls, & plyboard huts where you can rent VHS tapes rewound by mice & silverfish. ~61%

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I am sure it's 100% me problem why this book is not for me. I believe many people would find this book intriguing.

Nevertheless thank you to Ian Hall, EastOver Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was so cute. Goose and her big sister were so cute 😍😍

My son was not relate much with this book since he was the only child (for now) but he enjoyed this book. He could read 80 to 90% of the book by himself. He also could comprehend the words and over all story by the helps of the illustrations. The illustrations were so lively and lovely just like the characters presented.

I personally loved how this book embraced the differences between siblings. This book reminded me of how different my sister and I when we were kids (until now even) but I also remember how she loved me despite our personality differences.

Thank you to Alyssa Capucilli, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.

3,75 rounded-up to 4 stars!

Some of the poems in this book radiated the rage of unfairness in corrupt society and I loved it so much. Unfortunately resonate deeply with the currently chaotic situation in my country.

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Lesser men are getting more, while the wiser men are ignored.

This is the way of the world, said by those who rigged it.

~ 68%

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Almost all religion-related poems were dark. I understand that those poems were personal experience the poet have/had but I still found them dark and didn't know how to take in.

Overall I enjoyed this poems collection because mostly the poems were easy to read and understand. All the poems were in rhymes which help me to grasp the underlying meanings.

Thank you to Chaz Holesworth and NetGalley for the ARC.