Comics Roundup #70: MG & YA Comics

Recently, I read a mish-mash of graphic novels geared toward middle-grade and young-adult readers. Since I’m not in the mood to do a separate post for each, I’ll try to share my thoughts for all of them in this post.

These comics range from fantastical to contemporary and were all pretty good reads.

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Zeus: King of the Gods by George O’Connor (illus.)

GENRE

MG Fantasy

SERIES

Olympians, volume 1

PUBBED

2010

QUICK SUMMARY

Zeus: King of the Gods kicks off the first volume in O’Connor’s fantasy middle-grade comic-book retelling of the Greek myths. In this one, we begin learning about the progeny of the powerful earth goddess, Gaea, and the sky god Ouranos and the kids they created, including the Olympians. The story takes us from the beginning of everything to when Zeus and his kin defeat Kronos. (Goodreads)

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“How to Fail at Flirting” by Denise Williams

In recent years whenever the winter holidays begin to roll around, I find myself turning to romance, watching those cheesy Christmas romances on the Hallmark channel and reading a bunch of romance novels (which for me usually means just two). That was the case in 2022. And because I’d been battling reading slumps throughout the year, I was more than happy to be reading, interested in, and completing the two romance books I picked up, How to Fail at Flirting being one of them.

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GENRE

Contemporary Romance

SERIES

n/a

PUBBED

2020

Goodreads summary

When her flailing department lands on the university’s chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check… almost.

“Beard Science” by Penny Reid

Finally, a book I completed fairly recently. This time back in August.

I consider myself a fan of Penny Reid’s books, the Winston Brothers series to be exact. I’ve since read two novels from the series, this one being the third. The Winston Brothers series are contemporary romance novels about the love lives of the Winston family in Tennessee. The family consists of many brothers (I forgot how many) and one sister. Their mother passed by the time the story starts, and their father is in prison, I believe. He was mixed up in the local biker gang, the Iron Wraiths, which so far has made an appearance in the three books I’ve read, affecting the family members in some negative way.

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GENRE

Contemporary; Romance

SERIES

Winston Brothers, book 3

PUBBED

2016

MY THOUGHTS

This third book focuses on Cletus, the third eldest Winston brother (and no, the series does not follow the siblings in order from eldest to youngest) and my favorite Winston so far. Basically, Cletus was going about life as usual — plotting the downfall of someone who did him wrong or plotting the potential downfall of someone who would probably do him wrong — when he got caught doing something illegal by the Banana Cake Queen, Jennifer.

Comics Roundup #67: A Love of Books and Food

Although I don’t want to jinx myself, I’m celebrating a little because it seems that my blogging slump is lifting. Here I am again with another batch of reviews! This time, I have two mangas and a graphic novel that are all light, humorous, sometimes silly reads.

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Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San, Vol. 2 by Honda (illus.), transl. from the Japanese by Amanda Haley

Genre

Contemporary; Humor

Series

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San

Pubbed

2016

From Goodreads

Whether it’s foreigners asking for “JAPANESE EROTIC MANGA,” navigating the tricky government definition of “morally harmful material,” or helping a customer who’s awfully “criminally organized,” there’s rarely a dull moment for Honda-san. The true stories of a Japanese bookstore employee can be stranger than fiction! (Goodreads)

My thoughts

I’ve decided to continue with the second volume of this humorous manga series. The series seems to be semi-autobiographical and is about the experiences of an employee at a Japanese bookstore. The bookstore’s name isn’t mentioned, and all the employees are drawn wearing a mask. The protagonist (the author, Honda) wears a skull-face mask. In addition to focusing on Honda’s experiences working in the bookstore and interacting with a variety of customers and professionals in the Japanese book publishing industry, this volume also touches a bit more on Honda’s job as a manga artist.

Comics Roundup #63: “Park Bench”

When I started reading this, I was pretty sure I’d read it before or had seen parts of it on the internet. My memory felt foggy, but I had such a strong feeling that a friend had sent a link to the full thing on the internet years ago and I’d seen most of it.

Whether or not I did, I’m glad that I now own a copy of the book and enjoyed my time with it when I read it for the Magical Readathon.

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Park Bench by Christophe Chabouté (illus.), transl. from the French by Jonathan Cape

Genre

Contemporary

Series

n/a

Pubbed

2012

From Goodreads

With his masterful illustration style, bestselling French creator-storyteller Chabouté (Alone, Moby-Dick) explores community through a common, often ignored object: the park bench.

Two Illustrated Books on Fantasy, Assumptions, and Imagination

I read two picture books a while ago: one about the imagination and another about a fantastic adventure. The first, Milo Imagines the World, is about a boy using his imagination to understand the world and how diverse and complicated it can be. It’s not easy, he realizes, to assume what a person’s life is like just by looking at them. The second book, Grand Isle, is about a pair of siblings who venture on a grand adventure at the beach. I enjoyed both.

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Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña, illus. by Christian Robinson

Genre

Contemporary

Series

n/a

Pubbed

2021

From Goodreads

Milo is on a long subway ride with his older sister. To pass the time, he studies the faces around him and makes pictures of their lives. There’s the whiskered man with the crossword puzzle; Milo imagines him playing solitaire in a cluttered apartment full of pets. There’s the wedding-dressed woman with a little dog peeking out of her handbag; Milo imagines her in a grand cathedral ceremony. And then there’s the boy in the suit with the bright white sneakers; Milo imagines him arriving home to a castle with a drawbridge and a butler. But when the boy in the suit gets off on the same stop as Milo — walking the same path, going to the exact same place — Milo realizes that you can’t really know anyone just by looking at them. (Goodreads)

“The Bookshop of Second Chances” by Jackie Fraser

Oh man, I feel so bad about this because I read the book back in July and am just now doing my reflection on it. I didn’t intend to wait this long to post my reflection, but the summer months were hard for me. Now I’m surprised that I managed to post anything at all back then. But, anyway, better late than never, especially since I liked this story.

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Genre

Contemporary; Romance

Series

n/a

Pubbed

2020

From Goodreads

A woman desperate to turn a new page heads to the Scottish coast and finds herself locked in a battle of wills with an infuriatingly handsome bookseller in this utterly heartwarming debut, perfect for readers of Evvie Drake Starts Over.

Thea Mottram is having a bad month. Her husband of nearly twenty years has just left her for one of her friends, and she is let go from her office job–on Valentine’s Day, of all days. Bewildered and completely lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But when she learns that a distant great uncle in Scotland has passed away, leaving her his home and a hefty antique book collection, she decides to leave Sussex for a few weeks. Escaping to a small coastal town where no one knows her seems to be exactly what she needs.

“Black Buck” by Mateo Askaripour

I guess I’ve been in a blogging slump lately because I’ve been doing everything possible to avoid typing up book reviews, and I’m not exactly enthused to do other posts either. I don’t know why this is, but if it wasn’t for Wyrd & Wonder (and an ARC I need to review), I probably wouldn’t be doing much on my blog. As such, I’m WAY behind on reviews. Here’s the beginning of my attempt to catch up.

I read Black Buck in mid-March — that’s how long I’ve been procrastinating on writing up this reflection on it. It’s one of the most surprising books I’ve read this year. I read it for a bookclub I’m part of with two friends. However, my friends were more eager than I to read it. Actually, I was very against reading this book. I didn’t know much about it other than that it’s about some guy working on Wall Street and that fact alone made me immediately dislike it and assume I would hate it and probably not even finish the book. I didn’t want to put myself through that torture. But I was so wrong.

Genre

Contemporary; Humor – satire

Series

n/a

Pubbed

January 2021

Comics Roundup #50: “In”

I received an e-ARC of this graphic novel through NetGalley. I’d never heard of the author/artist before doing so, but the description of the story interested me. As such, I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, and after the first couple pages, I thought I’d be bored and dislike the book. But, surprisingly, I liked it.

In by Will McPhail (illus.)

Genre

Contemporary

Series

n/a

Pub

May 18, 2021

Goodreads summary

A poignant and witty graphic novel by a leading New Yorker cartoonist, following a millennial’s journey from performing his life to truly connecting with people.

“Truth or Beard” by Penny Reid

I introduced myself to Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series last year by reading the second book in the series. It left me wanting more, so I picked the first book soon after completing Grin & Beard It, and devoured it.

Genre

Romance

Series

Winston Brothers, book 1

Pubbed

2015

Goodreads summary

Beards, brothers, and bikers! Oh my!

Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face, but where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why Jessica James, recent college graduate and perpetual level-headed good girl, has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life.