Review: The Right Way to be Crippled and Naked: The Fiction of Disability: An Anthology

The Right Way to be Crippled and Naked: The Fiction of Disability: An Anthology by Annabelle Hayse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm going to be totally honest and say this: Reviewing anthologies are hard because it's not one story by one author, it's multiple stories by multiple authors and I feel that will just DRAG. ON. FOREVER. thus boring you, the reader of this review and myself, the writer.

This anthology though? Amazing. Why? Because you don't see many stories from writers that are disabled, be it mentally, physically or emotionally. Disabled writers have a tendency to fall through the cracks, much like disabled people in general.

Some of the stories even feature disabled characters in which their disabilities are made clear and others where there disabilities are more invisible, or not even mentioned at all. There even was a story featuring characters that struggled with addiction and it made me so sad.

These stories are hard hitting, and they will give you a glimpse of what people like me struggle with day in and out in a world that isn't none too kind to us.

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First Look: We Are Okay

Preorders are trickling in. I got jipped a bookmark this package, perhaps they know I have four already? Haha. #bookstagram #bookblogger

A post shared by Kitty Rhapsodos (@kitrhap) on Feb 24, 2017 at 9:06am PST

 You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…
Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart. [via GoodReads]

It's the smallest hardcover book I own! [to date, at least.] seems like a pretty short and quick read. I'll take what I can get after reading the burning trash heap that was Our Own Private Universe. Of course, there's one book ahead of it currently as I WAS going to start reading it today if it had arrived in the mail yesterday but alas, it did not.

Review: Our Own Private Universe

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

If this book had a face, I wouldn't hesitate to punch it.

It has a few pros, like a POC character and not only that, a queer POC character. Another pro is the active seeking out of safe queer sex with the final pro is how sweet Aki's Dad handled Aki coming out to him as bisexual.

Other than that? There's a boatload of petty drama such as the characters constantly lying to each other and Aki even dumps her best friend because of her budding romantic relationship with Christa. WHO THE HELL EVEN DOES THAT? Your friendships can very well coexist along side your romantic relationships.

If they're not lying to each other, they're off screwing each other, or at least thinking about it. They even go as far to break into their host family's guest house in order to screw just because the power was terrible there and there wasn't much of a risk of being caught. There's quite a few non-explicit sex scenes, but they're worth mentioning if you're not looking for sex in your romance reads.

All in all I wanted to throw this book across the room on several occasions and I'm honestly so glad I persevered and as such it is DONE AND OUT OF MY LIFE.

I'M FINALLY FREE. THANK GOG. I never felt so strongly negative about a goddamn book.

A post shared by Kitty Rhapsodos (@kitrhap) on Feb 23, 2017 at 9:18am PST

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Can't Wait Wednesday #1 - Queens of Geek

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.

CAN'T WAIT WEDNESDAY #1 - QUEENS OF GEEK

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Jason Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

----------------

Queens of Geek is hitting so many buttons with me, and you know why?

1. Young Adult [I will seriously read YA lit until my dying breath and you cannot stop me.]

2. LGBT+ [Queer lit is another thing I will read FOREVER. We need more representation.]

3. NERD CONVENTION-GOING [i'm not sure if cosplay is involved, but I'm sure I'll find out as it's another thing I love.]

4. NERDY ROMANCE

I'm a nerd that's in love, I'm a nerd that met my significant other almost five years ago at a convention. 

Taylor seems a lot like me, I don't like change at all. it makes me super anxious and I prefer a stable routine and not drawing attention to myself.

Says the person who dresses up in costume once a year and gets their picture taken....I know right?! How contradictory of me!

Anyshoe, Queens of Geek is set to release on April 1st, and I have it sitting in my Book Depository cart at the ready.

Weird Book Habits

1.  50-100 pages a day is my reading limit, unless the book is OMG, I CAN'T PUT THIS DOWN.
2. Hardcover / Hardbacks or go home. Hardcover books can take more of a beating over a paperback. The only time I will go papeeback is if that's the sole format a book comes in.
3. I can't do audiobooks by themselves, I have to have the source material in front of me to follow along

Inspired by NancyLostInLife

10 IMPORTANT BOOKWORM QUESTIONS I MUST ASK MYSELF

1. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 READS OF 2017 SO FAR?

Well, considering I only completed 6 books so far in 2017, I can't honestly answer this one yet.

2. TOP FIVE FAVOURITE BOOK FRIENDSHIPS


3. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES OF 2017?

SO MANY.


4. HOW MANY BOOKS ARE ON YOUR TBR PILE?


For 2017, I have a goal of 27 books. I'm six books deep. My Goodreads To-Read Shelf gets scarier by the day as it is currently at 125 books. On the other hand though, at least I can't say I don't have anything to read!


5. WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ON BOOK MERCHANDISE?

I really love bookish themed mugs, mostly because I can never have enough of them since I drink tea like a goddamn fish.


6. WHO IS THE LATEST AMAZING AUTHOR YOU HAVE DISCOVERED?


 7. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A BOOK BLOGGER?

I started this year! :D

 8. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT READING?

I don't have to leave my house to go on an adventure. #AgoraphobicProblems

also, it shuts off all the noise in my head if just for a little while.

9. WHAT ARE YOU READING SOON?


10. DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN 5 BOOK TITLES.

shamelessly thieved from The Paper Fury, Inc.

Book Courtship Tag

PHASE 1: INITIAL ATTRACTION | A BOOK YOU BOUGHT BECAUSE OF THE COVER


I mean, just look at that cover? It’s the Indonesian edition and honestly it’s just so gorgeous. I love that shade of blue, and the pink colors just really stood out. It’s a shame I didn’t really enjoy the story though.
PHASE 2: FIRST IMPRESSIONS | A BOOK YOU BOUGHT BECAUSE OF THE SUMMARY

18667945

#Girlboss by Sophia Amaruso. One of my goal this year is to read more non-fiction, and the summary of this book sounds perfect for me. It looks like a great, empowering book for women, but the story fits everyone who’s in need of motivation!

PHASE 3: SWEET TALK | A BOOK WITH GREAT WRITING



The Book Thief is one of those books that you read and haunted you. It’s just so beautiful, it’s bitter, it makes you cry, laugh and smiles, it’s easy to relate and sympathizes with Liesel and other characters. And Death is an extemely good narrator, the way he narrates feel other worldly, he feels like another entity watching the humans (which he is). It’s one of those books that I easily recommended to people.
PHASE 4: FIRST DATE | A FIRST BOOK OF THE SERIES WHICH MADE YOU WANT TO PICK UP THE REST


This one is a real winner. The writing, the world building, the atmosphere, the characters… It tells the story of Shahrzad who seeks for revenge after a boy-king killed one girl every dawn, and one of those girls are her bestfriend. This book really makes me can’t wait to read the novellas and the sequel. I enjoyed the novellas (especially The Mirror and The Maze) but a bit dissapointed with The Rose and The Dagger though.
PHASE 5: LATE NIGHT PHONE CALLS | A BOOK THAT KEPT YOU UP ALL NIGHT


Goddess is the only book I stayed up all night to finish it. I just want to read a few chapters, but ended up reading the whole book and can’t keep my eyes open at school the next day. After reading this book, it’s safe to say that I have policies of no reading before go to bed.

PHASE 6: ALWAYS ON MY MIND | A BOOK YOU CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT

Um.. I don’t know… Possibly all my e-arcs I need to read from Netgalley? I need to get to them soon😅

PHASE 7: GETTING PHYSICAL | A BOOK WHICH FEELS NICE

Percy Jackson series feels 100000% nice. It feels familiar. The humour, the action, the characters, the mythology. It’s family. It’s home. I love it so so so much<3

PHASE 8: MEETING THE PARENTS | A BOOK YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Percy Jackson I guess? As much as I love HP, my family and friends won’t want to read it because “why read when you can watch” thing. Percy Jackson only have 2 movies, and the books itself aren’t as huge and intimidating as HP, so yeah, no excuse. Read this book folks.

PHASE 9: THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE | A BOOK YOU WILL RE-READ A LOT


I don’t really do re-reads.. And if I did, I never managed to finish that book. But I’ve been wanting to re-read The Night Circus for a while though, and it’s been raining a lot which is the perfect mood to read it. Hopefully I could read it soon!
PHASE 10: SHARING THE LOVE! | WHOM DO YOU TAG?

Erika @ Books and Stars and Cloe @ Mornings and Epilogues!

Shamelessly thieved from The Literary Huntress,

11 Question Tag

1. Favourite childhood book?

Are You My Mother?

2. Bookish world you’d want to live in?

Middle-Earth, hands down. No contest. Unless someday I meet a book world that blows Middle-Earth out of the water.

3. If you could hang out with one fictional character for one day, who would it be?

Since you didn't say fictional character from a book, i'm going to pick my current love, Christopher Hartley from Until Dawn.

heart eyes, motherfucker.

4. Top 3 books you’re looking forward to reading?

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

5. A book you regret reading?

The Forsaken by R.J. Craddock and The Welcome To Nightvale novel. Not liking the WTNV novel was really disappointing for me though because I REALLY LOVE the podcast and loved reading the episode transcript books.

6. If you could make one thing (magic, object, etc. but not person) from a book appear in reality, what would it be?

Tonks' powers in general, The Invisibility Cloak or Time-Turner from Harry Potter

7. What’s your OTP?

I have a ridiculously long list. Since it's not specifically Bookish OTP, I've decided to spare you from a endless blog post. I did however, mention some in the Valentine's Day Book Tag.

8. Top 3 authors?

I'm still working this out. I don't really play favorites with authors.

9. Favourite book adaptation?

The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings movies. I'm not even sorry. I loved them.

10. Bookish guilty pleasure?

I have no “guilty” pleasures. All reading is good reading.

11. Do you consider yourself a fast reader?

Not really? I usually aim for 50-100 pages a day, but sometimes it can be less than 50. 100 is the maximum pages I will read a day, unless the book is something I absolutely cannot put down and that I must KEEP READING OR ELSE.

Shamelessly thieved from The Paper Fury, Inc.

Valentine's Day Book Tag

Standalone Book You Love 

I'm about to be completely honest right now and say I had to Google what the heckity heck a "standalone book" was and holy heck i actually read a lot of these.

One in particular that I read was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and I read it solely because Aidan Turner was playing Lombard in a mini-series TV adaptation last year. I LOVED IT.

Dystopian Books You Love

Only books based in Dystopian that I've read to my knowledge thus far was The Hunger Games series, and yes, I loved it! Although, I think everyone and their poodle has read The Hunger Games by now.

A Book You Love That No One Else Does

I bet at least one person out there in the vast world of the Earth loves the same books that I do so homie isn't even going to play that.

Favourite Fictional Couple

From books? Goodness gracious, I've only since got back into reading books again so my list is going to be rather short as I pull some couples off the top of my head....

Norah / Luke [Under Rose-Tainted Skies]
Roiben / Kaye [Faerie Tales series]

Who Would Be Your Fictional Boyfriend/Girlfriend

So far? most of my fictional boyfriends/girlfriends have came from movies and video games. perhaps this'll be the year I find my book beau?

What Book Do You Read On Valentine’s Day

I started Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley. It's a romance read so I suppose it fits? :) It's also pretty slow going right now plot-wise, but i'm excited that there is a queer person of color character in it.

Shamelessly thieved from Paper Fury, Inc. 

Review: Under Rose-Tainted Skies

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As someone who also suffers from severe agoraphobia, anxiety and depression, i went into this book with excitement. I also loved how Louise handled Norah's relationship with Luke and that it didn't go the way of GIRL FALLS IN LOVE, POOF MENTAL ILLNESS CURED! It went the way it is expected to go, your significant other becomes mindful of your limitations and works with them. I've seen previous reviews touch on how quickly Norah and Luke's relationship progressed and how "unrealistic" it was. While I CAN agree with this, i feel that if it was made in more realistic terms, the book would drag on for many more pages, thus boring the shit out the reader.

Overall, Under Rose-Tainted Skies I feel accurately outlines the struggles one may face with agoraphobia along with several other mental illnesses. It's a lot more than "not being able to leave your house" and Louise does a great job of that.



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Two new beauties for the TBR pile. Gonna be super critical of Under Rose-Tainted Skies, as a person with agoraphobia. Let's hope it does people like me justice. #books #bookstagram

A post shared by Kitty Rhapsodos (@kitrhap) on Feb 6, 2017 at 9:58am PST

Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas, #1)

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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