Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

By: Julia Quinn

Illustrated By: Violet Charles

Blurb:

A madcap romantic adventure, Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron has appeared in several Julia Quinn novels and enthralled some of her most beloved characters. Now, this delicious tale of love and peril is available for everyone to enjoy in this wonderfully unconventional graphic novel.

Born into a happy family that is tragically ravaged by smallpox, Miss Priscilla Butterworth uses her wits to survive a series of outlandish trials. Cruelly separated from her beloved mother and grandmother, the young girl is sent to live with a callous aunt who forces her to work for her keep. Eventually, the clever and tenderhearted Miss Butterworth makes her escape… a daring journey into the unknown that unexpectedly leads her to the “mad” baron and a lifetime of love.

Review:

I kind of wish I hadn’t read the Author’s note at the end of the story. I thought Miss Butterworth was okay, but after reading the note I feel bad for not liking it more. I’ll probably not rate it on Goodreads just because I don’t believe I can give an honest rating without feeling bad.

Miss Butterworth was an interesting idea, but graphic novels are a different beast than regular novels and I wasn’t a fan of how it was written. The artwork was fine, just not my cup of tea. I’m picky on that front, though.

It was cute and if you’re a fan of Julia Quinn and the Bridgerton books go ahead and pick it up, but if not I wouldn’t bother.

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Heartstopper: Volume 4

Heartstopper: Volume 4

By: Alice Oseman

Blurb:

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fourth volume of HEARTSTOPPER, for fans of The Art of Being Normal, Holly Bourne and Love, Simon.

Charlie didn’t think Nick could ever like him back, but now they’re officially boyfriends. Charlie’s beginning to feel ready to say those three little words: I love you.

Nick’s been feeling the same, but he’s got a lot on his mind – not least coming out to his dad, and the fact that Charlie might have an eating disorder.

As summer turns to autumn and a new school year begins, Charlie and Nick are about to learn a lot about what love means.

Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie’s lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

This is the fourth volume of Heartstopper, which has now been optioned for television by See-Saw Films.

Review:

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I freaking love the Heartstopper series so much!! I am super late to the party and didn’t know about it till the TV show on Netflix, but I watched it. Loved the show. Then read the books and somehow each one is better than the last. Volume 4 is just so freaking good.

I’m thirty-six years old and it talks about things that I still need to learn. Like that I need to not just rely on my SO and talk to family and friends even when it’s just soooo difficult to do that. That I need to take care of my own mental health and that I can’t be responsible for someone else’s mental health.

Yes, there are deep things in these graphic novels, but the heart is the adorable romance between Nick and Charlie. I love them.

5/5

Back on My Bullshit: Library Haul

Sooooo I put over 20 books on hold a few weeks back. About 15 or so came in all at once and I’m down to 4. Which meant that I needed to request more. The ones still sitting there have huge waitlists. I had 5 to pick up today with 1 more in transit. It’s both overwhelming and…yeah it’s overwhelming lol

Still, I love the library and this is forcing me to keep my phone down. Here are a couple pics of my beautiful library books.

Teach Me

Teach Me (There’s Something About Marysburg #1)

By: Olivia Dade

Blurb:

Their lesson plans didn’t include love. But that’s about to change…

When Martin Krause arrives at Rose Owens’s high school, she’s determined to remain chilly with her new colleague. Unfriendly? Maybe. Understandable? Yes, since a loathsome administrator gave Rose’s beloved world history classes to Martin, knowing it would hurt her.

But keeping her distance from a man as warm and kind as Martin will prove challenging, even for a stubborn, guarded ice queen. Especially when she begins to see him for what he truly is: a man who’s never been taught his own value. Martin could use a good teacher–and luckily, Rose is the best.

Rose has her own lessons–about trust, about vulnerability, about her past–to learn. And over the course of a single school year, the two of them will find out just how hot it can get when an ice queen melts.

Review:

So one of my favorite books last year was Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. When I saw that the library had Teach Me I immediately checked it out.

Teach Me is about two divorced teachers in their 40s. Not my usual romantic cup of tea, but I’m nearing that age so it’s nice to see that romance is still in my cards.

Rose is an ice queen, but Martin never hates her for it. He recognizes almost immediately why she is the way she is and is attracted to her ice queen side as well as the side that clearly loves her students. Martin has his own issues that Rose is quick to realize and she’s immediately on his side as well. These are two people who have lived life and know when it’s okay to “jump to conclusions”. They don’t judge each other and they listen completely when the other talks. It’s sweet and oddly comforting.

The side characters were few, but served their purposes well. I’m not sure who the next book in the series would be about since there was very little setup in that way. There wasn’t as much humor in Teach Me as there was in Spoiler Alert, but it was still there. Spoiler Alert was just hilarious for me and few books are going to hit that note.

I liked Teach Me. Olivia Dade is almost firmly in a must buy position for me when it comes to her new books. If the library doesn’t have the next books in this series I might have to buy them. Darn.

4/5

Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1)

By: Leigh Bardugo

Blurb:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Review:

It’s been a while since I’ve read a YA fantasy series. Shadow and Bone seems to be an incredibly popular series, there’s a Netflix TV show and everything, and it has been on my to read list for a while. After reading Wonder Woman: Warbringer and loving it, I bumped it to the top of my list. So here we are.

I, surprisingly, enjoyed it. I was honestly not expecting much, especially in the way of romance since it’s a YA, but I was pleasantly surprised. I realize that sounds condescending or pretentious or something and that’s not my intention. I really just was not expecting to like this book as much as I did.

Spoiler, but when the Darkling kissed Alina I almost stopped reading. I was so afraid that was the route Bardugo was going, and it made my skin crawl. I am not an age gap fan, not even in fantasies, especially when one side is super young. I don’t believe they stated a specific age for Alina, but she was probably late teens very early twenties, so one hundred and twenty-five is definitely too old.

Alina isn’t too mopey, and she also doesn’t succeed too easily. Mal, well, you don’t know too much about him except how much Alina loves him. You don’t know much about the Darkling either. I was glad that Alina didn’t spend too much time at court dealing with all the politics there, I am not in the mood for courtly politics. No thank you.

Even though Shadow and Bone is the first of a trilogy the ending wasn’t a massive cliffhanger that leaves you on edge. There is obviously more to the story, but for now, people are safe and in love. So, it was a sweet ending.

I’ve gone ahead and requested the next two books from the library. I’ve also been told to read the Six of Crows series. Once I’m done with those, I’ll probably try the Netflix series too. I have another fantasy book checked out from the library that’s the first in a series and I’ve moved it down my read list to avoid having clashing worlds. Hopefully, my library requests come in fast.

4/5