A

I like Neil Gaiman but his work seems to be a hit or a miss with me. If I was reading this as a short story I probably would have given it 2 stars but the illustrations have such a magical vibe it really adds to the story and poetry of this piece. ~Ashley

I've read this in my English appreciation class and it was one of my favorites. To fully appreciate this graphic novel form I would highly suggest reading the short story. I really enjoy the illustration in this, it's mostly wordless but it gives it such a disturbing feeling as people go about daily lives or a mother checking in on her children's empty rooms...preparing for the lottery to happen that day. This is all about traditions, something that is considered to be sacred to many people. One of the discussions with the citizens is the box that was used previously and what it means to the lottery. Kinda of silly that a traditional box is more important that even considering giving up the tradition itself that does so much damage and tears families apart all because they want a good harvest. Not even thinking about how well people are doing with out it. Remember to always ask questions and be prepared to break old traditions. The Lottery is frighting and genius and has stuck with me ever since reading it. ~Ashley

This story is disturbing because many times it can reflect what's happening in life. In my class that most disturbing part (to me) was when Shirley Jackson received a letter asking where they could watch the lottery because they thought it was a really event. That can be read here http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-t... along with basically a break down of how amazing this piece is!

Ah, the art in here was really amazing! The colors and the illustrations really made this comic great, the writing seemed to be hit or miss (mostly hit!) but it was well drawn all the way through! Sometimes the story would get fuzzy (like mysterio dream/death(?) sequence) and sometimes Deadpool overshadow Spiderman. The majority of the comic was pretty much just a super fun read all the way through. There are several times when I found myself laughing! [ The whole Thor blind date trick and Spiderman ends up having a ton of fun stripping, I love that so much! And I burst out in laughter when Mysterio just gets hit by a car, I never saw that coming. Deadpool's top 5 list! (hide spoiler)] Plus there is a Miles cameo! ~Ashley

This was an ok read, I listened to the audio book on my way to St.Louis. The narrator has a very nice voice but the book itself was rather boring. There was a couple of interesting things like Alice herself I thought was very cool concept where her homeland celebrates the magic of color and she is colorless. Also I thought Oliver's magical talent of persuasion was very cool (also a little heart breaking!) and they were both pretty likable characters in general I felt. I liked the idea of Furthermore being chaos magic and Ferenwood using their magic to make a dependable society.
I feel like they missed an opportunity to make a cool villain or evil organization/cult for an antagonist because in Furthermore they eat flesh of creatures and people in order to get magic (which is super rad. I love that!) but I feel if they had an main antagonist plus the uncertainty of a chaos world would really make a more interesting journey.

This was pretty good, There was enough cool ideas to keep me interested. The ending is begging for a sequel which I probably would pick up! ~Ashley

This tale was very magical and nicely layered with characters to make a intertwining story that is interesting and compelling. You have a town who sacrifices babies to the witch. Then there is Xan, the witch in the woods, who has no idea why the town would abandon these babies and takes them to families to care for them. Luna, a baby Xan rescued, ate some moonlight and she becomes magical and is to be taken care of by Xan. The relationships with the characters feel like a really nice family and have a good dynamic. I feel like a younger reader may get a bit bored, I'd recommend to later elementary and up. ~Ashley

Babies, babies, babies they talk about babies a ton in this book to the point where I got tired of it. Those with tokophobia will probably find it annoying but not frightening.

Let me start this by saying, if you like audio books this one is fantastic! The books chapters switch perspective between Dimple and Rishi and they have two really great narrators for them both!

This book is about Dimple, who is ambitious with her work and would like to break away more from family traditions, finds out her parents sending her to a summer program that could advance her career! Yay! Oops, it's actually to meet a potential future husband... Rishi is really a sweet and talented artist, who tends to like a path laid out for him and likes his family's traditional style. They meet and must work together in the summer program competition against the other students.

This rom-com book I really enjoyed, I thought the characters were believable and it was some fluffy goodness I just kinda needed in my life. ~Ashley

I started out liking this book, but the more I read the less and less I liked it. I can't quite place my finger on it, I think the most of it was I couldn't connect with Mark. His personal stories didn't click with me. I was listening to the audio book, he doesn't site his sources in the narration...but I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt and say sources for his claims and news stories are in the back of the book. If you've read the book, let me know if he cites his sources?

The audiobook of this is an absolute treasure! The narration is really well done and the voice for Skulduggery is 100% a perfect fit for this character!
You have a witty, charming, and dangerous skeleton and Stephanie who is along for the journey. Stephanie is brand new to the magic world and you really get a nice introduction to the world and rules through her. They have a great dynamic you have a detective who, in his dead state, diminishes his jokes because...he's dead! BUT you have Stephanie to pick up on them and it's a great to see them interact. This book is a blast! Treat yourself and get the audio book! I highly recommend this series! ~Ashley

This sorta reminded me of Storm Front by Jim Butcher....except this series is enjoyable! (yes, i'm dragging Jim Butcher a bit)

Juliet who is from the Bronx goes to do an internship with a hippy who happens to be the author of her favorite book! This book seemed to me almost a YA type of casual read but with some great introduction and representation for lgbt+ and feminism. I would highly recommend this book to people who may be new or need more experience with these subjects.
What I like about Juliet is she is willing to try new things and is curious. Juliet is my favorite character in the book and it's because I feel like the other characters seem lacking. I really want to know more about the librarian! I get it's Juliet's personal growth journey and she's a good character to have it with. I'm kinda hit or miss with epilogues but this one was fantastic, I really loved it! ~Ashley

So most of these are fun side stories. My favorites are actually probably the last two because they get to be a little more serious. The art is really great and the Spiderman Deadpool duo is really fun to read and have a good back and forth going. ~Ashley

Very nicely detailed book about the Grand Canyon that goes through the layers, history of each one, and even animals. I learned quite a bit reading this and I would highly recommend to everyone doing a project or even those who plan to visit. Great information and great illustrations. ~Ashley

This book didn't start off as strong as I hoped, it was darkly illustrated and I was jumping in confused because I took such a big break from the previous book. It did pick up and the art did brighten up and became very pleasing to look at. The story in this one hooks me and then kinda throws me, all in all still a great read. ~Ashley

I honestly just read this because I saw it was written by Kate Beaton. It definitely had her sense of humor in the story. I feel like this book would be a good way to explain to young kids that abies need a lot of care and basically need all their needs meet by adults similar to king. ~Ashley

I LOVE story books without pictures and amazing detailed illustrations that you could examine each page of a while, or re-read it a few times to look at these pleasing illustrations.

I only vaguely remember the past stories so I guess I'm going to have to check them out again! ~Ashley

I love the characters, the world building is so great and casual, absolutely one of my favorite comic series going on right now. It has a great Romeo/Juliet space opera feeling and art by Fiona Staples who i'm always impressed with her artwork. I highly recommend this series! ~Ashley

[ If you have tokophobia, like myself, you're probably upset with the ending. I hate when they use pregnancy as a plot device or as a consequence. Seriously, you can not tell me that there is no form of birth control that they can't use?! (hide spoiler)]

This has an amazing representation in this entire novel, an instantly likeable daydreaming hero, and just meh writing. Seriously, this would be easily 5 stars if the writing was put together a tad bit better.

I'm interested in reading the next one. This debut of Faith is a decent read and I'd like to continue to see this great character around. ~Ashley

This is a book I will probably forget, I felt it was really slow paced and touched on a lot of issues. (for warnings uncover spoilers. [ sexual assault, self-harm, and abuse. (There is a gay friend that gets beat at home), If you have tokophabia they mention pregnancy a LOT (hide spoiler)] Although, I thought Julia was a good character and found some more depth and meaning to her, her family, and Mexico. You go through this journey and the mystery of her sister's double life together. I really thought she developed slowly and nicely, fit the pace of the book. I also really enjoyed the culture, and I really feel like I learned a lot.

After reading The Kite Runner, the translations of words and phrases were pretty streamline and I knew what things were when they were talking about them. In this book, (I did audiobook) there was about 1/4 of words and phrases translated, so that would take me out of the story.

If you are looking for a coming of age story, this would probably a good rec. This wasn't for me, I didn't like the pacing and the fact that they brought up pregnancy a ton! It's a very real concern, especially for young teens. Being tokophobic it just kinda reminded me, of how scared I am of that issue being an adult. It was too constant for me.

I had this on an audiobook, which was narrated very well.

~Ashley

I was surprised to pick up this book and found that it was written in verse. I've seen this book around for a while and haven't read any reviews yet but my goodness was this book very good! In verse books always felt clunky to me (I've read a couple of middle grade ones when I was younger and there was a few popular In verse books back in the day that I never much liked.) This one on the other hand felt like a memory. I can not even explain the feeling fully, this was true poetry. Growing up with Jacqueline was an experience that I highly recommend this book. ~Ashley

A human child and a wolf pup have their own separate lives, get lost and find each other. I like the parallels of the characters, illustrations, emotion, and how this story is show through all of these elements. This book is absolutely lovely and I highly recommend it!

~Ashley

I listen to this on audio book and was pleased to see it was narrated by Trevor Noah! He performed it exceptionally well and I'm really glad to have gotten the audio book. I highly recommend you listen to this book! For the book itself I was entirely captivated, I drove around my block again to just listen to it for a little bit more. I knew that Trevor was from South Africa but I didn't know anything about South African history or culture. I've learned so much more about South Africa and this book is just full of life lessons and wisdom of Trevor growing up. I wish I could phrase exactly how I feel about this book, I think it's an important read and I think it is also an uplifting read. ~Ashley

The art in the book is just lovely! There is so much time and care put into the whole thing and it really shines through! The story however at this point is a bit slow but very cute with a little action thrown in. I'm hoping that this first book is just a set up for what is to come and I will defiantly pick up the next book! ~Ashley

Worth the read? meh. This is aimed toward women and does address some social expectations while talking about money. It's really does encourage women to not slip into a money coma (love this term, btw) and take charge of their finances. I think some points it was encouraging...although, I would look towards other books for further financial advise. ~Ashley

white fang (**)call of the wild ()

Have you ever met a person who longs to live in a “simple and quaint” era or Victorian age or some other time where many people we mistreated, racism and sexism was rampant, and it was filled with filth and disease? I'm not a fan of them and this books author isn't either as she has the real facts of what living in this era would have actually been like for women. She's also a little snarky about it to these people which kinda fills me with delight. I've learned a few things from this books because not a lot of people cover this era and when they do they often romanticize it, pretty good read that I enjoyed. ~Ashley

When a fox needs answers to his questions he joins the antlered ship that is looking for a crew. Will he find the answers while he goes on an adventure?

This book is really nicely illustrated and I really really love the design of the antlered ship! [There is even a part where they fight pirates by lowering the ships antlers! (hide spoiler)] This book has some nice creativity and lots of work put into it visually. I wish it was a little longer and maybe had some more story. ~Ashley