Kat @abookiesbooks, Author at A Bookie's Books

Add a Little Bit of Magic…

Title: White Magic

Author: Elissa Washuta

Published April 27th 2021 by Tin House Books

Genre: Essays, Non-fiction, Feminism

Pages: 432

“Throughout her life, Elissa Washuta has been surrounded by cheap facsimiles of Native spiritual tools and occult trends, “starter witch kits” of sage, rose quartz, and tarot cards packaged together in paper and plastic. Following a decade of abuse, addiction, PTSD, and heavy-duty drug treatment for a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, she felt drawn to the real spirits and powers her dispossessed and discarded ancestors knew, while she undertook necessary work to find love and meaning.

In this collection of intertwined essays, she writes about land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch. She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life—Twin Peaks, the Oregon Trail II video game, a Claymation Satan, a YouTube video of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham—to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule.” –Goodreads

My Review:

If you know me, I do not read a lot of non-fiction. But my super great reader friend had this book with her when we went out to read once. I asked her about it and instantly I was intrigued. It is about Elissa Washuta, a Cowlitz woman. The Cowlitz tribe is a tribe from my home state and the tribe of the aforementioned friend. So I ran to the Barnes and Nobles and picked it up.

First off, this book was amazing. The writing was spectacular. The design of the book was beautiful.

But I just didn’t get it.

Like the ending wasn’t a clear cut answer to any of her questions. The reader was left at the ending with the same feeling of despair and dissolution as the author was at the end of her essays.

I really liked it, but also really liked it. As a fiction reader, I am so used to stories with tied up endings. But this had ended with the authors feelings when she decided to finish the story.

It reminded me of the Bo Burnham Inside special. It was a lot of upbeat(sorta) moments in the beginning and than slowly spirals into all out despair and desolation.

We, as readers, saw the murky insides of Washuta and her feelings as she combats her feelings about life and her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

I think it was a super raw and emotional book. I should warn people that there are a lot of triggers in this book. There is talk of r*pe, abuse, racism, alcoholism, and other things. I definitely had to put it down a few times because of how heavy the topics were. It is still really eye-opening for people who do not struggle with some of these issues.

Along with the heavy topics, Washuta adds in pieces of Native culture like lore and stories about her ancestors. This illuminated some of the Native history in my own home state which is lacking in most formal education systems.

I really liked meeting Elissa Washuta through the pages. I found some of the stories she told to be relatable. It illuminated some things about my own life, past and present, that I decided I needed to change or became grateful for the change. I am pretty sure this book is the reason I reach out to my therapist again.

Please go check this book out. It is important to me to support Native culture and Native authors. I think this book deserves a lot of recognition.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.0

See what I am reading this week!

For those that dont know, WWW is a meme and this meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. And it involves answering the 3 Ws!

What am I currently reading?

The Diabolic by S. J Kincaid

*If you want to see the whole list of my current reads, my Goodreads is listed in my sidebar of this blogsite.

What did I recently finish?

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

What did I recently finish?

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

TTT: My Favorite Places to Read

“Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” -That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s theme:

Favorite Places to Read

Currently I do not go a lot of places to read. I do a lot of listening on my phone as I play video games on my computer. Or I sit on my couch. But here is my list:

My Room
Around my school’s campus
A park next to my friend’s old apartment
The trunk of my car
The infamous hill in my college town
My grandma’s old work (a library)
Any library really!
While driving home (audiobooks, do not read and drive)
My school’s Lit building
On late night coffee runs while I sit passenger

Thanks for reading my list!

Link your posts down below or let me know of any places you relate to on here.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

The Vine Witch Series: Trilogy Mini-Reviews

Title: The Vine Witch

Author: Luanne G. Smith

Series: The Vine Witch #1

Published October 1st 2019 by 47North

Genre: Fantasy, Witches, Romance

Pages: 263

“A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy of betrayal, vengeance, and self-discovery set in turn-of-the-century France.

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.” -Goodreads

My Review:

As the first book in this series, I saw it as I scrolled through Kindle. I took as chance and began reading it. I was immediately intrigued and pulled into this book series. I had never heard of it but I was looking for something different to read than my normal smutty books.

I was first intrigued by the details. It was incredibly detailed. I always could see everything that was happening around me. The smells and tastes of everything was so vivid, I felt as though I was Elena.

Meeting Elena was a magical moment. She was a cunning and relatable character to read about. I think there was little character development on her throughout the series, which was a little disappointing. I do love a good character shift but she stays pretty stagnant. She is very likeable. She always does the right thing and is always there to lend her friends a helping hand.

Elena and Jean-Paul do give this book a bit of romance that gives it a push into the romance genre. It is not a lot, however, and is kind of in the background. I almost didn’t even notice.

I would say this book was a little slow to start and the romance was a little lack luster but the ending was thrilling and made up for my dislike of the beginning.

Star Rating: 3.0

Then came the next book…

Title: The Glamourist

Author: Luanne G. Smith

Series: The Vine Witch #2

Published June 9th 2020 by 47North

Genre: Fantasy, Witches

Pages: 282

“Abandoned as a child in turn-of-the-century Paris, Yvette Lenoir has longed to uncover the secrets of her magical heritage and tap her suppressed powers. But what brave and resourceful Yvette has done to survive the streets has made her a fugitive. With a price on her head, she clings to a memento from her past—what she believes to be a grimoire inherited from the mother she never knew. To unlock the secrets of her past, Yvette trusts in one woman to help solve the arcane riddles among its charmed pages.

Elena Boureanu is the vine witch of Château Renard, noted for its renowned wines. Even as she struggles with her own bloodline—and its poisonous threat to her future—Elena can’t ignore a friend on the run. Joined by a cunning thief, the proprietor of an enchanted-curio shop, and a bewitching black cat, Elena and Yvette are determined to decode Yvette’s mysterious keepsake. But what restless magic will be unleashed? And what are Yvette and Elena willing to risk to become the witches they were destined to be?” -Goodreads

My Review:

The Glamourist was everything the first book was not. It had suspense. It had multiple POVs of our main characters of the series, Yvette, Elena, and Sidra. This book mainly focused on Yvette’s story with Elena to back up the story with side plot.

Yvette was awesome. I liked her a lot. I believe there was a bit of development in this story with her character. The whole story centers around her finding her true identity.

Smith wrote this story even better then The Vine Witch. The senses were even more stimulated. I now really want to go to Paris to try some of the food and smells they talked about in the book.

This book was definitely my favorite in the series. It was just so much action and struggle. I felt so connected with the characters.

Star Rating: 3.1

Title: The Conjurer

Author: Luanne G. Smith

Series: The Vine Witch #3

Published January 12th 2021 by 47North

Genre: Fantasy, Witches

Pages: 241

“Sidra didn’t murder her husband. Yet even a jinni can’t wish away a wrongful imprisonment. Determined to prove her innocence, she returns to her adopted home—a French village renowned for its perfume witches—with her friends Elena and Yvette by her side. Here is where Sidra’s true destiny awaits, but danger also lurks in the village’s narrow lanes.

On her trail is Jamra, another jinni, who’s after more than revenge for the murder of his brother. He also seeks vengeance for the indignities inflicted on jinn by mortals over the centuries. When he learns of an ancient relic capable of unleashing chaos on the world, and that the weapon is in the hands of his murderous sister-in-law, he vows to destroy Sidra to get it.

Relying on a sisterhood of magic, a mysteriously faithful dog, and a second-rate sorcerer, Sidra defends herself using the village’s greatest asset: its perfume. It’s as beguiling a lure as it is a formidable shield. But is it enough for Sidra to protect herself and those she loves from powers yet to be released?” -Goodreads

My Review:

I really enjoyed this book like the others. But there were some downfalls.

Like the first, Sidra did not have a lot of character development. Smith also had Sidra hide a lot of things from the reader even in the third person limited she wrote in. I feel like we could have had a little more insight with out spoiling too much in the grand scheme of things.

Also, the plot up until the end was not as flushed out as I thought it could be. At times it was confusing and just seemed like they were passing time till they were leading up to their final battle.

But, the ending, like the first book, made it all worth it. I was tearing up at the end of the last line. It was a pretty good ending.

Star Rating: 2.8

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed my mini-reviews of the series. I am pretty backed up on my reviews so I wanted to flush some out as fast as I could. I am doing a lot of reading but not a lot of writing. So this post was to make it a bit easier on myself. I would definitely go check this series out. I thought it was really good and well written.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Regretting You: A Book You Won’t Regret Reading

Title: Regretting You

Author: Colleen Hoover

Published December 10th 2019 by Montlake Romance

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, YA, New Adult

“Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.”-Goodreads

My Review:

Colleen Hoover is never going to disappoint.

I have read a few of her books before and saved a few more after this book and they are always great.

This books takes two POVs, a daughter and her mom’s, and navigates their life after the deaths of the their husband/father and sister/aunt. I am notorious for not reading synopsis of books, so I was totally thrown at the fact that two of the main side characters in the story died.

And than the juicy stuff started to reveal itself. There was so much tea being spilled in this book, I felt like I was in high school all over again.

I love the story and how it was a plot that could have actually taken place. Seeing the humanity written out in the character was exciting. Most books always write the characters making the best decisions they can. This book had the characters f*cking up all over the place.

Clara was as unlikeable as she was relatable. I loved the YA romance with her. I loved her counterpart Miller. But she was one stupid mofo. I am sorry to bash on the girl like that. but, seriously, some of her decisions were S-T-U-P-I-D (and obviously relatable af to younger girls like myself). She took out her anger on everyone else other than the person she was really angry at most of the time. She just was really unlikeable no matter how hard I tried to like her.

But there has to be some characters I hate.

Morgan and her counterpart were extremely mature…NOT. A food fight in the kitchen is their peak maturity, but hey, what else are you supposed to do when your world is falling apart. All jokes aside, I honestly loved them. They were rocky in the beginning with the whole baby and not admitting feelings, but by the end they had me swooning. Morgan sacraficed her good mother face for her daughters emotional state (no matter how bad that kind of ended up on the daughter’s side also). I loved Morgan, no matter how many times I wanted her to throttle her to tell her daughter the truth.

I cried more time than I would like to admit to this book. But it is important to cry during a book. If a book doesn’t make you tear up at least once, it probably wasn’t that good (or that sad, which honestly are the same thing).

That being said it did leave me with this warm, ooey, gooey feeling all over that made me text the guy I am talking to and tell him some weird, mushy stuff.

It was good to read a book that was so warm and fuzzy and also so gut-wrenching at the same time. If you have not yet, check it out. Colleen Hoover will never be a disappointment. I finished the book in a day or two, so it is a quick and easy read.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3.9

Fence, the Cutest Book Ever!

Title: Fence: Striking Distance

Author: Sarah Reese Brennan

Illustrator: Johanna the Mad

Creator: C.S Pacat

Series: Fence #1

Published September 29th 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary, YA, LGBTQ

“The boys of Kings Row bout with drama, rivalry, and romance in this original YA novel by The New York Times bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan—inspired by the award-nominated comic series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad.

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion who dreams of getting the proper training he could never afford. After earning a place on the elite Kings Row fencing team, Nicholas must prove himself to his rival, Seiji Katayma, and navigate the clashes, friendships, and relationships between his teammates on the road to state championships—where Nicholas might finally have the chance to spar with his golden-boy half-brother.

Coach Williams decides to take advantage of the boys’ morale after a recent victory and assigns them a course of team building exercises to further deepen their bonds. It takes a shoplifting scandal, a couple of moonlit forest strolls, several hilariously bad dates, and a whole lot of introspection for the team to realize they are stronger together than they could ever be apart.

The first installment of this enticing original YA novel series by Sarah Rees Brennan, rich with casual diversity and queer self-discovery, explores never-before-seen drama inspired by C.S. Pacat’s critically acclaimed Fence comic series and boasts original cover and interior art by Johanna The Mad.” -Goodreads

My Review:

OMG!

I found this book while perusing my libraries online audiobooks and this was the only book n the YA section that was available.

Boy am I thankful that I checked it out!

This was the cutest little audiobook I have ever listened too. It really got me into the mood of listening to audiobooks.

I think that the relationship between Aiden and Harvard is so cute! They were the main romance in the novel. I know the comic version mainly focuses on Nicolas and Seiji but I have not read it. I am trying to find out where to get it!

I absolutely loved this book. I listened to the entire thing in one day. I could not stop playing it. I began cleaning my house to it and than suddenly, I was laying in bed just listening.

The narrator did really well doing each person’s unique voice. The illustrations made it really easy to see the boys infront of me while they went along their tasks.

The one thing that I was not a huge fan of was the lack of fencing in the book. Sports romance books always seem to lack the sport they surround. The Foxhole Court was the same way.

I cannot wait for the second book to make it’s way too me. And I really want to check out the comics.

If you want an easy cute little read, I would definetly check this out!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.3

Crooked Kingdom Review

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #2

Published September 20th 2016 by Henry Holt and Company

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 546

“Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Welcome to the world of the Grisha.” –Goodreads

My Review:

AGGHHHHHHHH

I love love love this book!

It had everything I love in it:

Action
Scheming
Crazy hot psychopaths
and a cute gay romance!

Bardugo really steps up her game in this book. She gives us even more character development. She gives us better back stories. She builds the realm of Ketterdam even more beautifully than the first book.

The plot thickens on the Crows story as they try to get the money that was owed to them in the last book. I felt like this story, while lacking the adventure aspect of the first book, gave me everything the first book was missing and more.

It explained more of the love interests in the stories and developed those relationships. Wylan and Jesper are even more enthralled with each other. The little teasing just GETS ME. Nina and Matthias are shown to be united and happy together. Inej and Kaz are the slowest burn alive but that BATHROOM SCENE had me SCREAMING!

We got to see more realm building. We steered off of the Shadow and Bone Ravkan knowledge of how Grisha were treated. Bardugo delves deeper into how Grisha are treated in any other part of the world.

This book was really good. I honestly have no complaints for it. I have not had a book I read in awhile that I have not complained about. The ending was a little shocking but I definitely cant complain about the shock factor.

I think everyone should go check this out. Also, now that I finished the books, I watched the TV show and it was so good! Not super accurate to the Six of Crows books but I liked the Shadow and Bone adaptation.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.6

The Glittering Court, a Review

Title: The Glittering Court

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: The Glittering Court #1

Published April 5th 2016 by Razorbill

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 416

“Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…”-Goodreads

My Review:

I picked up this book quite a few years ago. I got the recommendation either from Sasha Alsberg’s YouTube or her Goodreads page.

Let me just say…it is not worth the read.

Plot wise, this book sucked. The synopsis makes the conflicts in this story seem a whole lot more exciting than it really is. The supposed “plot” is more like sub-plot. Most books have the overarching struggle along with many other tensions running underneath so the story doesn’t get boring.

Well this story only had sub-plot. A whole lot of mediocre sub-plots. Sure, they had the overarching love story (but even that seemed like a small issue). Everything else was just there.

Not only that, everything was so easily fixed. Conflicts, internal and outer struggles were quickly tied up by the end of a few chapters after they were introduced.

The story did not really have a point or have any build up. I saw no development in the characters or in the story.

The end was absolutely ridiculous. They had so much action packed into the last few chapters but it was like “hey omg I am about to be kidnapped. Oh look these random people, who we have only mentioned ONCE as a little world building jumped into to help with no explanation as to why they are here to help me, have come to save me!”

This book was so dumb.

Pros:

The love interests end up together

Cons:

Boring
Weird England/America parallel that I felt was unnecessary
To fast
Not well written
No knowledge of horses (see the part where she leaves a horse tied to a tree because its show comes off)
Adelaide=dull character
Arranged marriage being traded for…another arranged marriage
What was the point of this book?
Objectifying women while trying to make it seem like we were combating feminism

This book was absolutely ridiculous. I have never read a Richelle Mead book and I think it was steered me away from reading any other books she has authored.

Would not recommend this book to anyone. I am not even going to read the other books in the series to find out if it gets better. I have no faith.

Let me know what you thought in the comments. If you actually thought this book was good, please tell me why. Because honestly I can’t see why.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 1.5

I am going to regret posting this review

Title: Ice Planet Barbarians

Author: Ruby Dixon

Series: Ice Planet Barbarians #1

Published April 3rd 2015 by Ruby Dixon

Genre: Romance, Science Fiction

Pages: 188

“You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women – including me – on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…“ -Goodreads

My Review:

So if you come from BookTok (the side of TikTok about books), you already know what is going on…

If you have graciously never heard of this book before, RUN!!

Run away

This book series has taken over my FYP (For You page) on TikTok.

The fact I am even writing a review for this book is HORRIFYING.

But in all honesty I did enjoy this book.

Did I think the 11 page sex scene was necessary? NO

Did the writing sound like a twelve-year-old-fanfiction? YES

But do I still want everyone to read it? HELL YEAH

If you have not met the 7-foot-tall aliens with ribbed you-know-whats (sorry grandma and grandpa if youre reading this right now) then you are kind of missing out.

This book is disgusting and needed 300 trigger warning but it was an experience I will never regret.

I highlighted every time something was said that was just so out-of-pocket I wanted to cry laughing.

Things like “My c*ck hasn’t forgotten this” (73), or “I’ve found an alien that likes to eat p*ssy as a greeting” (49).

This book, while trying to be a serious novel about alien abduction and surviving on a new planet, turns into something that I think of as comedy. The sex scenes had me laughing at the various nouns to describe certain body parts.

There actually is a semi-interesting plot to this story. So far, there are 20+ books out for the series so I am not too concerned that this book was basically exposition into the story on Not-Hoth (the planet they live on).

The conflicts in the book are sort of easily solved. The feminism in this went out the window no matter how hard they tried to be strong independent women. The men are utterly insane. There was a reference to sex almost every page.

This book was horrible, but in a capturing and intriguing way.

Please do not read this book but trust me you will be missing out.

Seriously, I hope that you read this, but also hope that you dont.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3 (only because I am going to read the next book)