If you were here earlier in the day, you might have seen (or even commented on) a completely different post. Well, I have that moved to go live tomorrow now because I completely forgot it’s Show Us Your Books day with Jana and Steph! I can’t miss!! I’m here today to share some mini reviews of books I’ve read in the past month – so enjoy!
Show Us Your Books: April 2019
First off, I have to direct you to my review of the Seven of Spades series. I kind of binge read all the books in about two months (the last one came out in March). I highly recommend these! Suspense, mystery, romance, serial killers. You know, all the good stuff.
Saga Volumes 1-9 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
-copies from the library
I finally finished all nine volumes of Saga – no, it’s not over, but those are the only volumes that have been released so far. I’d read the first five, I believe, in the past, but I re-read those and then continued on this year so I could be all caught up without forgetting anything that happened. If you’ve read these, then you know that volume 9 leaves with quite a big cliffhanger and OMG, Brian and Fiona! How dare you go on hiatus! LOL Hopefully we’ll get more soon though. These comics are so good – definitely for adults only though, and you might need to watch where you read them too.
The Case of the Sexy Shakespearean by Tara Lain
-copy from elibrary
First off, isn’t that such a cool cover? Anyway, I really enjoyed this one. It’s a fun mystery, and you don’t have to love Shakespeare to enjoy it, so no worries there! Dr. Llewellyn Lewis and Blaise Arthur team up together, and fall for each other, throughout the course of the novel. There’s lots of lies and secrecy throughout though; not everyone is who they seem. Also, Llewellyn has a stutter and I kind of love that because it’s not something you see much of in books, or any other sort of entertainment.
Dead to Me by Mary McCoy
-copy from the library
This was actually my last YA for Adults book club pick and I really enjoyed. I didn’t love all the characters, but you’re not really supposed to. Plus, Alice is pretty awesome and she’s the main character. This is another mystery; it takes place during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s very much a Film Noir in book form, if that’s your kind of thing (it’s definitely mine!) I definitely did not see all of the twists and reveals coming, so it’s a fun one to read.
Now it’s LGBT+ Graphic Novel Time (all of these were library books)
Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau
Oh my goodness, this book is adorable. Ari’s family runs a bakery – but all he wants to do is move to the city and play music. That is until they hire Hector for the summer and the two slowly form a friendship that definitely leads to deeper feelings. I love how different Ari and Hector are, but how they also get along really well. The artwork in this one is just beautiful. There are different moments throughout the book where the pages were just a flow of moments, so you can kind of get a play-by-play of the scene without words. It’s really cool and not something I’ve seen in other graphic novels, I don’t believe.
Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
Alice Oseman is an author I’ve been wanting to read for awhile now, and this is the first book I’ve gotten to (her others are not graphic novels, by the way). Heartstopper is such a cute story! Charlie is gay, but he doesn’t have anyone that truly appreciates him. Becoming friends with Nick, he soon thinks he’s crushing on a “straight” guy except Nick’s not necessarily feeling so straight the more time he spends with Charlie. This is Volume 1 so most of the book is just the two of them getting to know one another and being friends, as well as Nick’s confusion over his own sexuality, but I thought it was really well done, and I loved that it wasn’t just a straight jump into a romance. I can’t wait for volume 2!!
Kiss Number 8 by Colleen A.F. Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw
Graphic novels usually read really quick for me, but Kiss Number 8 was a bit longer, and I really loved that. It felt like I was getting a whole, complete story that focused on various aspects of Amanda’s life. Yes, it’s about her figuring out her sexuality, but it’s also about finding real friends, making mistakes, figuring out your family doesn’t always tell the truth, and so much more. I thought Amanda’s parents were great – they are not perfect, but in the end, they love their daughter. This is definitely a book I wouldn’t mind a sequel to, just to see how Amanda’s doing in the future, though you get a sneak peek of that on the final page. A cute read – and the artwork is amazing!
Show Us Your Books: Graphic Novels and a Series to Binge Read #ontheblog #bookbloggers Share on XFinally—
Hopefully you found something on this list that piqued your interest. Have you read any of these already? Adding any to your wish list? I read more books in the past month, but I figured I’d share the main ones or this post will get too long, especially since my mini reviews can start getting long if I keep going!
I LOVE saga! I have to check out some of these other ones.
Ooh, Dead to Me sounds really good and I love the cover!
Love all these graphic novels you are reading! My girls recently got on a huge graphic novel and manga kick and I love looking up new ones for them to try.
The serial killer series sounds interesting! My kids like graphic novels but I’ve never read one myself.
I’m not a graphic novel reader but I always swoon over the covers.
I *am* a series binger. I love doing that.
I have only read one book by Alice Oseman (Radio Silence) but I loved it and really need to read more from her!
Rainbow Rowell also just raved about Heart Stopper- love seeing another positive review! I’ve only read a few graphic novels because my library doesn’t carry very many, but hoping to get my hands on that one and Bloom!
I havent read any of these. Dead to me sounds interesting.
i honestly wanted to cry when i finished saga and realised they were on hiatus – i had no idea i’d love the series as much as i did but now i NEED the next one. so so sad. i want to unread the last one, it hurt my heart so much!
I’m still trying to read Ann Handley’s “Everybody Writes.” It’s awesome, but I have a hard time carving out the time! Kiss No. 8 sounds like the most likely book I’d pick up from this list. Love the storyline, and I haven’t read a graphic novel in ages!
I only read the first Saga but I do want to continue.
I should probably try a few GN’s since my brain has zero attentions pan right now lol
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Quite a variety of reads here this month! I really want to check out Dead To Me. Sometimes I like a YA read and the fact that it has a film noir type style is really drawing me to it!
Dead to Me sounds excellent. The cover looks really familiar but I’m pretty sure that I actually haven’t read the story. 😀 Sometimes I forget which books I have read and have not read! I am going to check out your review of the Seven of Spade series. Never heard of it but you had me at serial killer.
Dead to Me sounds like a fun read!
There are so many fantastic-sounding graphic novels on this list! I’ve been meaning to read Saga for a very long time, but maybe I should wait now that I know there’s a cliffhanger and a hiatus. 🙂
I wish I could get into graphic novels but I just can’t. Like audiobooks. I’m glad they exist so people can consume books in all different ways but I can’t do it.
Although I haven’t read the same books, at least you had a great reading month! That always makes me happy!
I just kind of got into it TODAY at Barnes & Noble with a lady over graphic novels. It was actually kid ones and I heard this lady make a flippant comment about how they were junk books and that just rubs me wrong. It’s not a genre I read, but I know a LOT of kids who exclusively read them. So I said if it gets a kid to read instead of play a video game or do drugs? Bravo. She rolled her eyes so I had to tell her not every genre is a good fit for every person, that doesn’t mean it’s not a worthy genre. And then Lucy said, “YEAH” and I felt like someone should have started clapping but sadly, that did not happen.
I haven’t heard of any these books! I’m not a big graphic novel fan but my son really enjoys them.
I really need to try a graphic novel–it’s sad that I’ve never read one before! I’ve heard really good things about Saga, but wow, there are so many of them!
I am intrigued by the Seven of Spades series – I do enjoy all those things especially serial killers. I think that I will be adding them to my list. 😀
That’s quite a few pretties! Yay for so many reads 🙂
Wow I found quite a few that definitely interested me! Thanks for sharing. You always keep me well stocked with my reading list 🙂
I used to be more into serial killers, especially all things having to do with Jack the Ripper. But I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, so probably not much here for me.
I’ve really been getting into some graphic novels lately! A few of these look neat. I think I’ll add them to my ever-growing list!
Oh these all sound so interesting and different! Bloom in particular is one I’d like to read and also Kiss No 8. I can’t remember the last time I read a graphic novel!
I really gotta read Saga! I’ve heard so many good things about it!
You’ve got a great mix of books here, and reminds me of how I used to read true crime, and about serial killers quite a bit back in the day. Hugs and hope your weekend is amazing! RO
Bloom sounds wonderful!! I need to check that one out!
Gah, I adore Saga!! Such an amazing series! I have heard good things about Bloom and Heartstopper, I definitely want to get to those sooN!
These all look like such great reads, but I think it’s Kiss No 8 that has me most interested.
Sounds like you’ve had a lot of great reads. Bloom sounds super cute and caught my attention right away.
So many graphic novels! I have only read Saga 1 so far, but loved it. I think I have at least through #7 on my shelf. I am excited to read them!!! 🙂 XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
OMG IS RIGHT. It was honestly kind of cruel to leave us with that ending before a hiatus D-: Those LGBT+ GNs sound so cute! A flow of moments, idk what that means exactly, but I’m intrigued!