A

Aaah, this was so good! It's a one shot graphic novel that you can finish in one sitting and it's a really charming read. It's about a 20's something Penny who has some trouble with adulting and is trying to get things cheap or free and kinda forces this boy to go on dates with her in exchange to use the community center showers. It has some basic slice of life elements mixed in with some fantasy. I like the characters extremes like a kid (10ish in age maybe) being a super serious business man and Penny having terrible luck. I really liked all the characters, I really liked the story and felt it was neatly wrapped up, and the art is AMAZING and really sets the tone through out the story. Really fun book and I do recommend! ~Ashley

The boy reminds me so much of my own boyfriend it's crazy. He looks like him, is kind like him, and is a Dungeon Master like him! Crazy!

- rec by shay

The Illustrations in this book are wonderful! Wow, the scenery of nature and showing if through a hike was a great choice to show off the illustrator's abilities and style of the people I found charming. The story I felt wasn't quite fleshed out and rather meh. Which is a shame because I feel like there could have been some good set up with feminism vs. misandry, race, class, transgender and identity. They had some nice set ups, all the characters in place, and there was no pay off. I'm not sure what this story is trying to say? A lot of the context seems to be very subtle, which just makes everything muddled to me. I just ended up more confused and then it suddenly ended.

I am still LOVING this series. Ms.Marvel is growing in popularity and is getting prestige by joining the Avengers but is loosing her priority in what's happening in her life. She literally didn't notice her best friend was dating, skipping classes, and was even considering skipping her brother's wedding. Basically this issue was her finding balance in her life and putting Kamala Khan before Ms.Marvel. I still can not stress how important I find these books are...The art always impresses me, I learn so much about a different culture and traditions (especially the wedding bits in this volume),the diversity is so important, and I relate very much to her being young figuring things out for herself and of course she's such a fangirl. ~Ashley

I tried with this promising book, but it turned out to be too much of a YA mess

I've been reading a lot about personal finance recently and I really like this book. It covers all of the basics and this guide is really easy to understand and give you practical and good advise. I would highly recommend to people who are new to learning about personal finance, I'm probably going to pick this book up again to reread some sections (like investing and taxes). ~Ashley

This graphic novel is still decent, sometimes I'm into it and sometimes I'm not, the art work of the main story is great and in this volume you learn the identity of the new Thor. It's interesting seeing the previous Thor accepting that he no longer is worthy the wield the hammer but struggles not knowing the identity of the new Thor.

There are a few stories included in this volume that are not part of the main volume, One is when Thor needs to prove herself to Thor's old comrades and that story is really great! The other stories I thought were just kind meh. ~Ashley

This graphic volume of Jem is truly outrageous! It's actually pretty good, the designs and glam rock vibe are great. I think this is a good debut but I think the series could have some more potential that could be unlocked with the Glam band plus some synergy tech. I kinda wish that there was more of a drastic change when the band performs, either with costumes or just color and panel design. ~Ashley

If you like graphic novels about music or rock bands you might enjoy Black Canary, Vol. 1: Kicking and Screaming

This is just so cool! In the World War women picked up jobs and other things (such as sports) to support their country while the men where at war. This also includes being the superheros! This book is filled with strong female heroes with awesome time period costumes.
It is so interesting seeing Wonder Woman's origin story with all the other heroes in the same time period, I don't think that has happened before and I think it is really cool.

The art style is all really good. I think they have a few people working on it because I noticed it changed once and a while. I actually prefer one style more than the other, I wish it was consistent, but it is still quality work. I think the story could use a little work but this could just be the set up to something fantastic! Looking forward to the next issue! ~Ashley

I'm still really liking this series and I really loved how much attention Sparky the dragon got in this particular volume. [ Although I kinda like the vampire princess and villain I feel like it was rushed. (hide spoiler)] I'm very excited to see the brother and Wolf kid join forces to find his mother and I wonder if this will be part of the story or another spin off? Things are starting to get interesting! ~Ashley

This is probably STILL my all time favorite batgirl! This book has a brainy capable female protagonist and also have a ton of diversity AND current issues throughout the volume. Babbs Tarr, the illustrator, is a blessing! The art for this graphic novel is what made me fall in love at first glance It deserves 5 stars for the art alone! I love the writing it brings out great characterization of Barbara and some major love for Frankie in this volume! [ I must admit I'm not keeping up with the new 52 very closely so there are some major questions that I'm going to have to look into. All bat family related. Her Father has dawned the cowl of Batman and for some reason Dick is pretending to be dead! Big surprises for me! (hide spoiler)]

Great Batgirl that I strongly recommend! What an awesome hero! Batgirl of Burnside and Ms.Marvel are my top comics recently. ~Ashley

This was an interesting read about relationships and discovery of self. The writing was beautiful and kept me reading but I couldn't find myself caring about any character. I read this as part of our banned book week here at our library where we celebrate banned books.
~Ashley

I really enjoy Princeless, Vol. 1: Save Yourselfand was really excited to see a spin off with Raven! This was a pretty nice start to her story and I had a really good time reading it. I really started laughing at the male pirate interviews and complaints. I also really liked the all female guild of gamers! The art in this is also really nice. If you liked Princeless you will really like this spin off! ~Ashley

This is worth just picking up and looking at this artwork! It's got some amazing and elegant details that have a lot of effort put into every page and is a masterpiece. This art style is truly perfect for the magical and dark world set around it and really sets up a nice tone. The world build is really interesting with a matriarchy of witches, an interesting history of the world, and a strong female leading character who is learning more about herself and getting leverage with a demon that lives within. Pretty great story that kept me hooked enough. ~Ashley

Merged review:

This is worth just picking up and looking at this artwork! It's got some amazing and elegant details that have a lot of effort put into every page and is a masterpiece. This art style is truly perfect for the magical and dark world set around it and really sets up a nice tone. The world build is really interesting with a matriarchy of witches, an interesting history of the world, and a strong female leading character who is learning more about herself and getting leverage with a demon that lives within. Pretty great story that kept me hooked enough. ~Ashley

If you are serious about your career or are serious about getting ahead in your career this is the book you should read. This book had some amazing advise. Caroline does a great job setting up her credentials and how she researched to write this book. This book has a ton on content like, discovery/defensive mode, decision making, being productive and mindful. It's helpful for the work place and at home. This is a book I'll check out again to take notes of, or I might just go ahead and buy it!

I had this on audio book, it's slow enough to take notes if you needed too. If you're listening to it in the car sometimes I would drift off and have to rewind a bit and re-focus.

I highly recommend this book! ~Ashley

This first volume has me hooked. Lesbian viking banished from her homeland plans to free a cursed Valkyrie and take down gods. Count me in 100%. This introduction really is interesting world, concept, and the art gives me shivers. I love the sketchy, charming, yet smooth look of this style. Everything is well done and I can't wait to read more of this.

I highly recommend! ~Ashley

For as short as these stories are I am always impressed by the Hilda series! The art and colors are nice and stories are paced quickly filled with neat ideas. I'm hoping for some more character development between Hilda and her mother. This gave me a little bit of a taste in this book but I wish there was more communication between both characters, someday! Holy Cow, I saw the Netflix promo in the back that says it will be an animated series for 2018! That's really exciting and this is a great candidate to be animated! ~Ashley

The art style in this is beautiful (i'm pretty sure it's water color) I like how especially the difference between the style of reality and his imagination has more color that adds to his life. I was once a daydreaming kid and got it basically worked out of my through school life, I can connect with him well and i'm glad he got to animate cartoons and contribute to the things I watched and dreamed about as a kid. This is a touching story and I enjoyed it so tremendously! ~Ashley

Generation after generation and seeing things change for the better is what I see when I read this book. I nearly cried every time a child was sold and did cry when the child finally could stay with their family. In tears it moved me. Slavery was a significant and devastating event that happened in our history, family history is difficult to track because of these events...as you know families were separated [And other horrible events that have happened to breed and sell slaves. (hide spoiler)] and records can be hard to find. Inspiring to see that sewing and quilts were past down this gives me a better understanding of how important these traditions and heirlooms are that are passed down from families. Heirlooms that can also tell the fight for freedom is especially important. What an important story which I hope is taught in classes, The book is also beautifully illustrated. I recommend this book highly! ~Ashley

If you like this book I just finished Brown Girl Dreaming was very good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Db_iAV_gY
I watched an ASL story time video

Edit: I plan to keep my original review -I may re-read it at some point. I feel like the person I see on the news and the person I read in this book are 2 different people. (granted that was like 2016) I don't want to rate this low on purpose - so, I'll just clear my review until I get around to another look at this.

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2/5 J.D. writes about growing up a hillbilly, a life with dysfunctional family and declining social and economic area. He goes to talk about his early life and views of his culture and how he managed to grow up successfully away from this life. Interesting to read about his perspective. I recommend the audio book because it was read by the author. ~Ashley

full of goodness! Not crazy about the layout but it literally is called a catalog so did I expect?
Excellent and goes on my death shelf

Hey, guess what? It's just some really fun and well illustrated stories with these favorite characters! Hooray! I was so nervous it would be a continuation, although with a title like Gravity Falls: LOST LEGENDS hits me over the head that it would just be a series of stories.

If you are a fan of Gravity Falls, YES read this book. If you don't know about Gravity Falls, give the series a watch! ~Ashley

This book is a thrilling discovery! The pictures alone are gorgeous and I spent my time looking at them. This book would be the ideal coffee table book for visitors to look at and just be astounded by these beautiful bones.

I started reading the book but quickly gave up because I think the print is too small. There are big quotes so I skimmed through the book and read about what I found interesting. There also is an added map at the end which shows all the locations shown in the book.

Ah! Again what an awesome volume! The 2 Comic books that I am looking out big time for is Batgirl and Ms.Marvel.

This volume again has incredible art by Babs Tarr and the story in this volume is particularly interesting because it exposes some of Batgirl's biggest weaknesses and shows how she can over come by putting more trust in her team and by pushing through the situation and overcoming it herself.

I hate to see all of these reviews that Batgirl is no longer intelligent. Honestly, it shows her intelligence and hard work in every volume. If you can't see that maybe you're too mad that she's taking selfies now. In this volume she is in charge of a clean energy company, come on! She is a great detective, has a good judge of character, and now runs a company that could be the next Wayne Enterprises. Barbara can easily become the successor to Batman. ~Ashley

A gang of newsies needs to solve the mystery of..Some thing that I'm not quite clear on yet! It's a great set up and has hooked me but I'm hoping for some more clarification in vol. 2. This graphic novel is beautiful and has quetzalcoatlus in it! That's bonus points because I'm into a game called Ark Survival Evolved right now so I'm super into dinosaurs at the moment. ~Ashley