music – Book Dust Magic

One sunny title: Sunkissed by Kasie West @PRHGlobal #partner #BookReview #Sunkissed

GIFTED / Today I bring you my review for a book that I have read twice already. Once before it was released, and second time recently (read: this summer). I enjoyed it both times which is not surprise since Kasie West is one of my all time favourite authors.

Sunkissed was published on May 4th 2021 by Delacorte Press and it has 304 pages. I want to say thank you to Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Avery has always used music as an escape. But after her best friend betrays her, even her perfectly curated playlists can’t help her forget what happened. To make matters worse, her parents have dragged her and her social-media-obsessed sister to a remote family camp for two months of “fun.” Just when Avery is ready to give up on the summer altogether, she meets Brooks—mysterious, frustratingly charming Brooks—who just happens to be on staff—which means he’s off-limits.

What starts as a disaster turns into . . . something else. As the outside world falls away, Avery embarks on a journey of self-discovery. And when Brooks offers her the chance of a lifetime, she must figure out how far is she willing to go to find out what she wants and who she wants to be.

Review:

Kasie West is my go to author when it comes to ya contemporaries. For years she’s been my favourite and by now I know with her books I can’t go wrong.

Sunkissed was entertaining, fun, fluffy at times and perfect pick to spend a relaxing day with.
I read it twice and enjoyed it both times.

The book was written in first person which made it so easy to flew through. Avery was a good narrator to follow and I have to say, she has good sense of humour.
You know who has even better sense of humour? Her sister. I enjoyed conversations between them and liked their relationship even more than Avery’s and Brooks (who is the love interest).

If you like music and happen to like music making, this story could be the one for you because it features the band and all the things that go along with it: writing, rehearsals, member fights, live gigs…

I wish we got to see more of family camp Avery visited with her family, and if the author decided to include at least one or two camp visitors as well, but overall it was a good book that I would recommend to ya contemporary summer reads.

One with good anxiety representation: Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan @PRHGlobal #partner #comics #VeronaComics

Today I want to share with you my review for Verona Comics, a ya contemporary that talks about anxiety and first love, that took me by surprise.

It was published on April 21st 2020 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers. It has 352 pages.

I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / From the author of Hot Dog Girl comes a fresh and funny queer YA contemporary novel about two teens who fall in love in an indie comic book shop.

Jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist, and when she’s not working in her stepmom’s indie comic shop, she’s prepping for the biggest audition of her life.

Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can’t stop disappointing them—that is, when they’re even paying attention.

They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can’t help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible…unless they manage to keep it a secret.

Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?

Review:

When I got Netgalley widget for Verona Comics I was pleasantly surprised. I am in a reading mood for ya contemporaries lately, and this book showed up in just about right time.

Since I like to go into my books blind, I only read summary briefly, and thought this would fun ya romance.
Boy, was I wrong!

What I thought would be fluffy and cute love story turned into serious novel that talks about anxiety with suicidal thoughts in such a strong and realistic way.

Don’t get me wrong, this book still had lots of cute and heart warming scenes, especially at the beginning, but as the story progressed the serious tone was louder and louder.

I am not sure if this is own voices story, but from my perspective, as someone who suffers from anxiety even today, and had suicidal thoughts before, I can say that Ridley’s character was realistic.
I could totally understand him, so many of his thoughts and actions I found familiar, especially those what were written in italics.

Verona Comics also represents lgbtq community and POC.

Other then that, it also touches subject of family dynamics, which is very important for the story.

I enjoyed comics reference. Who would say that it is such a competitive business?
Then again, I guess all businesses are.

This novel is written in first person, following two perspectives: Ridley’s and Jubilee’s.

I enjoyed the story, but I have to admit that I didn’t feel the chemistry between two main characters, which took some enjoyment from my reading experience.
All the other parts of the story, from family relationships to friendships were well written.

This is fast paced story, and easy to read.

I think ya contemporary lovers will enjoy this one!

My favourite festive read of 2019… so far: One Christmas Star by Mandy Baggot (Book Review) #Christmas #OneChristmasStar #BookLovers #festive

GIFTED / I am so happy to talk about one book I read in October, that happened to be my favourite read of that month: One Christmas Star.
I really enjoyed spending time between pages of this festive novel and I hope my words will make you consider to give it a try too.
One Christmas Star was published on September 12th by Aria, and it has 464 pages.
I have read an eARC I received via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review, and I want to thank Aria for approving my review request.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Emily Parker is set to have the worst Christmas ever!

Her flatmate’s moved out, she’s closed her heart to love and she’s been put in charge of the school original Christmas show – with zero musical ability.

Disgraced superstar, Ray Stone is in desperate need of a quick PR turnaround. Waking up from a drunken stupor to a class of ten-year-olds snapping pics and Emily looking at him was not what he had in mind.

Ray needs Emily’s help to delete the photos, and she needs his with the show. As they learn to work together they may just open their hearts to more than a second chance…

Review:

HoHoHo readathon is coming around and I was really looking forward to read all my festive reads I got for review this year.
However, even though my original plan was to open the readathon with One Christmas Star I just couldn’t wait any longer and I had to read it.
And the best thing about my decision is that this festive novel got me out of my reading slump that lasted almost a whole month.

Ohh, if only I knew this would be the case!
I would have read it even sooner, closer to it’s releasing date.
However, better late then ever, and in my humble opinion, it is not to late to convince you to pick One Christmas Star this year when you’re in the mood for something light hearted and festive…

I love Mandy Baggot’s work for years now. Her Christmas stories are how I discovered her. Her book One Christmas in Paris still brings smile to my face when I think about it, and her novel One New York Christmas is the reason why I decided not to miss Baggot’s books any more.
Now after finishing One Christmas Star, I can say there won’t be Christmas season without at least one Mandy Baggot book in my tbr!

I just enjoyed spending my time with all the characters Mandy Baggot created. I love how realistic they were, and I didn’t click with everyone right away. For example, at first I couldn’t stand Ray, but as the story progressed and we got to know him more, I really started to connect with him.

Our main character is Emily who is a teacher. Being a teacher, she spend lots of her time with children, and I phrase the author for giving the children their own personalities and voices, instead of using them just to fill the space, as some authors tend to do.

The book is written in third person. It has 464 pages and to be honest, I was little afraid it would drag and I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but I flew through this book like it had 300 pages.
I guess we can say the writing style plays big part in that, but also the lyrics the author filled the pages with.

In case you didn’t know, Mandy Baggot is also passionate about music, and her love for that art spilled onto pages, in some way.

I also want to stress out that the book talks about serious topic – alcoholism in a very tasteful way, and in my case it wasn’t triggering, but of course, I can only speak from my own experience, can’t talk for everyone.

After finishing One Christmas Star I can confirm that Mandy Baggot is now one of my favourite authors.
Since I don’t have many, when I proclaim someone as my fav, it is a big deal to me!

I want to finish this review with compliments to cover designer. This is one of the prettiest festive covers I’ve seen this year.

I would recommend One Christmas Star to lovers of festive chick lits and Hallmark movies, but also to everyone who’d like to read something heart warming this year to wake up the Christmas Spirit.

Movie Monday presents Music Edition: Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born #MovieMonday #MovieReview #BohemianRhapsody #AStarIsBorn

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

This week I’ll talk about two movies I watched, both about music and singers, both with Oscars nominations.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is a movie about Queens and Freddie Mercury‘s life. I think that at this point everyone has already heard about this movie, because since it came out the critics were really good, and now with the Oscars nominations it is even more popular.

Nevertheless, here are my two cents about this awesome film:

I think Bohemian Rhapsody was an amazing entertainment and I would highly recommend it to music lovers, not only to Queens fans, but to everyone who enjoys songs and showbiz.

I was never a big fan of Freddie Mercury because he was popular before I was even born, and growing up I had some other idols and singers I looked up to, so I knew very little about him to begin with.

This movie gave me a glimpse into his life and personality. I liked the person the movie portrayed, and he reminded me of myself, with his love for cats. It was so funny when he bought a big house and said that every cat will have their own room. I could imagine myself acting like that too (Yes, I know I’m crazy!).

Rami Malek did an amazing job performing in this picture, and if he wins an Oscar, it will be well deserved.

I have to stress out that I liked Bohemian Rhapsody more then the movie I’ll talk about next.

A Star is Born

A Star is Born is another movie everyone talks about lately, filled with great music.

This movie takes us behind the certain and shows us the dark side of music industry.
It pictures what struggles performers do have, and how easy it is to give yourself to alcohol and drugs.

This movie shook me and even now I still think about it, especially about the end.

I don’t have to stress out how great both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga were. They both got Oscars nominations for their acting, and I would be really happy if Bradley finally won, because he is always nominated and he is such a great actor, so I think he deserves it.

When it comes to Oscars, this year out of 5 actors nominated for the main actor category, I root for 4. So I am pretty sure I will be happy in the end.

I would recommend this movie to everyone who likes music and drama.