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Review: Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

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Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Dungeons and Drama
Kristy Boyce
Delacorte Press
Published January 9, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Dungeons and Drama

When it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to play games. A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks!

Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she’s grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop.

Riley can’t waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan’s Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role-playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she would’ve thought…

My Review

Okay, I stayed up way too late reading this book, so if this review sounds a bit wacky, can we agree to blame Kristy Boyce for writing such a great book? Ha. Honestly, though, I had such a great time reading this book.

At the very beginning, I wasn’t sold. Riley has just gotten in trouble for taking her mom’s car without permission (and without having a driver’s license) and driving hours away to see a touring company perform a musical. Her parents are shocked, and she’s in big trouble, but Riley doesn’t seem to get why it’s that big a problem. I worried that she was going to be a shallow character that would be hard for me to connect with.

Instead, as I turned pages from one chapter to the next, I couldn’t help connecting with Riley. I laughed along with her as she jumped into the Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I loved her passion for bringing back her high school musical program. Even in her fake relationship with Nathan, Riley couldn’t help thinking about how her behavior would affect Nathan and his goal to get the other girl’s attention.

If you’re a fan of the fake dating trope, I definitely think you’d enjoy this book. It’s got plenty of silliness, loads of theater moments, and so many sweet, swoony exchanges as Riley’s feelings for Nathan start to change.

As a D&D girl myself, I love seeing the game on the page, and I loved the way that players with different approaches to the game made an appearance in the book. Seriously, this book was such a fun read. Fans of Serena Kaylor or Eric Smith will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Riley’s best friend is Japanese American. One of the boys in her D&D group is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None..

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of DUNGEONS AND DRAMA in exchange for my honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2024

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Bookish Goals for 2024

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is a really great one– bookish goals for 2024!

Last year I posted this extensive list of goals, some ambitious and some that were pretty reasonable considering my blogging life. At the end of December, I posted an update on my success in meeting those goals.

With all that in mind, I decided to take a slightly different approach to my goal-setting this year. Here are eight bookish goals I’ve set for myself in 2024.

Bookish Goals for 2024

1. Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

Last year, for the first time, I participated in the Beat the Backlist 2023 Reading Challenge, hosted by Austine Decker, and it REALLY helped me tackle backlist titles. While my goal last year was to read 10-12 backlist fiction books and 3-5 nonfiction titles, I ended up reading more than 30 books from my backlist reading list. So I definitely want to do that again!

2. Book Riot’s Read Hard(er) 2024 Reading Challenge

Read Hard(er) is another challenge that I tracked last year and really enjoyed. I like that it helped me make more inclusive reading choices and think about the topics in the books I was reading. I’m excited about doing this challenge again this year, and some of the prompts for the Read Harder 2024 Challenge look awesome.

3. Read 200 Books

Last year, I set a goal of reading 150 titles, and I figured I would read well over that. I read a mix of mainly young adult, middle grade, and graphic novels, so often, I can read a whole book in a single sitting (if I’m engaged). This year, I’m upping the anty a teeny bit to set a goal of 200.

4. Read 3-5 more classics, especially ones by women or BIPOC.

Last year, I set out to read a few classics, and I actually really enjoyed that. Among the books I read for the first time were LITTLE WOMEN and ANIMAL FARM. This year, I definitely want to finish THE FIRE NEXT TIME by James Baldwin, and I’d love to read I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou.

5. Streamline My Accepted Reviews Process

I need a better process for predicting the books I will want to read in the upcoming publishing season. I can comfortably review about 13 new release books per month, but I feel like my choosing process is chaotic and overwhelming.

Do you use a particular app or website to track books being published in the next season or year? If you’ve got tips you want to share, I’m all ears!

6. Use a Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

I started using a reading tracker spreadsheet last year and liked it a lot. This year, I’m editing it a bit more and making it suit my needs a little better. I’m hoping to use some of the tabs I ignored last year and maybe find ways to use them to help me be better organized without making a lot of extra work recording data.

7. Donate More Books Through Sentences Book Donations

I want to get better at unhauling books I’m finished with. I wrote a post about this a few months ago, right after posting an interview with the founder of a group called Sentences that helps facilitate book donations to prisons, detention centers, and similar facilities.

8. Refill my creative energy more consistently.

I’ll admit I’m not totally sure what this process looks like for me, but I know it’s important. Reading burnout really scares me. Every time I’ve faced it, I’ve been completely blindsided, and I panic because, in those moments, I can’t imagine ever enjoying reading again.

Afterward, I can’t believe I thought something so silly, but then the next time I burn out, I panic again, so there ya go. Brains are weird.

I’m hoping that a combination of some breaks from reading to practice guitar or ukulele or play a video game or something might help me rest my reading muscles and feel more energized when I pick up the next book.

9. Keep up the Community Posts!

List posts can be time-consuming, but they’re one of the most fun ways to talk about books on a blog, I think. This year, I would like to try again to do about one Top Ten Tuesday post and at least one Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post per month.

If you do regular community posts like these, let me know where you heard about them and what they are! I’d love to see what other community posts/memes are out there.

10. Manage the book hoard.

I’m long overdue for a book reorganization. Times have changed. My reading preferences have changed. My kids are older. I would like to go back through my collection of books and decide what it truly makes sense to keep at this season of my life and what it’s time to pass along to new readers.

What are your bookish goals for 2024?

If you’re a goal-oriented person, let me know if we have any similar bookish goals for this year. If goals are too anxiety-inducing, let me know what bookish event (book release, conference, author event, book you really want to read, etc.) you’re most looking forward to this year.

Review: Courtesy of Cupid by Nashae Jones

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Courtesy of Cupid
Nashae Jones
Aladdin
Published January 2, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Courtesy of Cupid

In this middle grade rom-com sprinkled with a dash of magic, a girl uses her newfound ability to make people fall in love to sabotage her rival.

Erin Johnson’s thirteenth birthday unfolds like any other day, from her mom’s quirky and embarrassing choice of outfit to racing her nemesis, Trevor Jin, to the best seat in class—front row, center. But her gifts this year include something very out of the magical powers.

Erin discovers her mysterious father is actually the love god Cupid, and she’s inherited his knack for romance. It’s not the most useful ability for an overachiever with lofty academic and extracurricular goals…or is it? Erin desperately wants to be elected president of the Multicultural Leadership Club, and as usual, Trevor is her fiercest competition. He’s never backed down from a challenge before, but if Erin makes him fall in love with her, maybe he’d drop out of the race and let her win.

With her magical pedigree, wrapping Trevor around her finger is a snap, and having him around all the time is a small price to pay for victory. But without their cutthroat rivalry bringing out the worst in each other, Erin realizes Trevor may not be as bad as she thought, and suddenly, her first foray into love gets a lot more complicated…

My Review

I feel like this book is what would happen if you took the first Percy Jackson book and made it a romantic comedy. (Okay, there’s no special camp or anything, but hopefully, the idea still makes sense.)

The characters in the book are great in terms of being very different from one another and easy to keep track of because of that. I didn’t get anyone mixed up, even though there are a lot of named side characters, and I’m prone to mixups. I also really liked the relationship between Trevor and Erin. The rivalry made sense from Erin’s perspective, but knowing what was happening on Trevor’s side made sense, too.

Because this is a middle grade romance, the love parts of it stay in the land of very sweet. Characters hug or hold hands. There’s lots of blushing and hearts going pitter-patter, which just felt adorable.

The wrapup might have happened just a tad too simply, but on the whole, I felt like the book was very true to its rom-com flavor and definitely ended with lots of grins and good feelings. I enjoyed this one a lot, and I’m looking forward to the next book by this author.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Erin is Black. Trevor is Korean American. Bruno and Ben, twins who are Erin’s close friends, are Latine. Ben and Bruno have two moms. Two minor characters, both men, commit to a romantic relationship.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Obvious attraction between characters culminates in holding hands or hugging, or, in one instance, a marriage proposal.

Spiritual Content
Erin learns her dad is a god, specifically Cupid. No commentary on the existence of other gods or how Cupid’s existence fits into any larger pantheon.

Violent Content
Ben makes mean comments to his brother and does some manipulative things to try to hurt him or Erin. Erin tries to use her Cupid power to control others and faces consequences for it.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays. Check out other blogs posting about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

2023 End-of-Year Reading Goals Check-In

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2023 End-of-Year Reading Goals Check-In

I had some super ambitious goals last year, and while I didn’t meet every single one, I did manage to keep track of them throughout the year. I’m giving myself a hefty sum of bonus points for being on top of things. Ha!

In keeping with my organizational streak, I wanted to post this recap of where I ended up by the end of the year. Here is my 2023 end-of-year reading goals check-in.

Goal: Read 150 Books

Books Read: 235

I knew when I set this goal that it was very likely I’d read well over it. At the time, I was reading a little more than three books per week, plus maybe an audiobook or two each month. At my peak, I was reading 5-6 books per week, but that was really not a sustainable pace for me. Keep in mind that I read a lot of middle-grade books and graphic novels. So these aren’t always 400 pages of dense text. This stat looks a lot more impressive than it actually is. Haha!

Goal: Read 3-5 Classics

Classics Read: 5

At my last check-in, I’d read four books I’m calling classics, and since then, I read Anne Frank’s Diary of a Girl and the graphic adaptation.

One of the classics at the top of my list to read was The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. I’ve read half of it, but still need to finish it.

Goal: Read 3-5 Backlist Nonfiction Titles

Backlist nonfiction titles read: 10

Thank you, reading tracker spreadsheet, for proving to me that I read a lot more backlist nonfiction than I thought! A few highlights: CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson, DISFIGURED by Amanda Leduc, MEG, JO, BETH, AND AMY by Amy Boyd Rioux, and HUNT, GATHER, PARENT by Michaeleen Doucleff.

Goal: Read 10-12 Backlist Titles

Backlist Titles Read: 66

Initially, when I made this goal, I envisioned myself picking books off my shelf that have been on my reading list for a super long time and counting those books toward a goal. What ended up working really well for me was to take on a challenge (or two) to help inspire my backlist reading choices.

So, I participated in the 2023 Beat the Backlist Challenge and the 2023 Book Riot Read Hard(er) Challenge, which helped me read 66 books that came out before 2023. Pretty much knocked that one out of the park. (Special thanks to audiobooks and graphic novels.)

Reading Challenges

Read Harder: 19 of 24

Beat the Backlist: 36 of 52

I mentioned already that I belatedly joined a couple of reading challenges. Though I didn’t fully complete either one, I am happy with my progress. I ended up reading a lot more backlist titles than my original backlist reading plans, so I’m calling it a goal met.

Both challenges proved to be great experiences for me this time. I will definitely try them again in 2024.

Book List Post Goals: 12-16 Top Ten Tuesday Posts

Top Ten Tuesday Lists Posted: 8

My original goal was to participate in three to four Top Ten Tuesday posts per quarter. I posted eight Top Ten lists, four shy of my goal but better than the year before. I think I posted only two in 2022.

I’ll reroll this one for 2024 and see if I can hit my goal this time around.

Book List Post Goals: Seasonal Lists

Another list goal I set for myself was to post seasonal lists of the most-anticipated and best books I read for middle-grade and young adult fiction. I also wanted to post more holiday lists.

One thing I stumbled onto that I LOVE is the idea of doing a seasonal backlist reading update. I love this because it means I can talk about the backlist titles that I read every three months rather than waiting to ever speak about them until I can squeeze them into my calendar.

I didn’t manage to hit every single list I wanted to, but I am proud of the ones I did post this year.

Retail and Goodreads Reviews

I’m not even going to try to check this one out. I already know this was a miserable failure for me this year. I work best when I have a system, and I simply don’t have that for this part of the process. If you have a good system for sharing retail and Goodreads reviews, please let me know in the comments!

This is another goal that I’ll put back on my list for 2024.

Work on My Own Projects

Ugh. I didn’t really make any measurable progress here, either. Frankly, I agreed to review too many books to begin with. Then I also tried to review all the unsolicited books I received from publishers since I usually don’t get many. I think they’re onto me, though, because I got a lot more than I expected this year.

Additionally, I started a new job in September, and it took up a lot more time than I anticipated. I love the work, and I’m learning a lot, though, so I really can’t complain. It’s basically writing plus spreadsheets. I mean… that is one hundred percent my wheelhouse!

PLUS I was basically sick from September to early November and again right at Christmas. That threw me off a bit, too.

But yeah… all that combined meant that I tabled my projects. Here I am a year later, wondering what on earth to do about that. To be continued, I guess.

Did you meet your 2023 Reading Goals?

Now that you’ve seen the very mixed results of my 2023 end-of-year reading goals check-in, maybe you feel brave enough to tell me about your reading goals? Leave me a comment about the reading achievement you’re most proud of from last year or something you’ve set as a reading goal this year.

Review: Money Out Loud by Berna Anat

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Money Out Loud: All the Financial Stuff No One Taught Us
Berna Anat
Quill Tree Books
Published April 25, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Money Out Loud

So no one taught you about money, either? Let’s figure this me$$ out together. 

In this illustrated, deeply unserious guide to money, Berna Anat—aka the Financial Hype Woman—freaks out her immigrant parents by doing the unthinkable: Talking about money. Loudly. 

Because we’re done staying silent, anxious, and ashamed about our money. It’s time to join the party and finally learn about all the financial stuff that always felt too confusing. Stuff like: 

  • How to actually budget, save, and invest (but also make it fun) 
  • How our traumas shape our most toxic money habits, and how to create new patterns
  • How to build wealth in a system designed to keep us broke 
  • How to use money to fund our biggest dreams—and change the world

No more keeping our money on mute. It’s time to grab the mic.

My Review

I’m hardly starting out in the workforce today, but I love that a book like this exists because I remember what it was like starting out and trying to figure out all these mysterious financial things. It seemed like everyone else already knew them or that it was bad manners to talk about them, so I felt kind of adrift.

Throughout the book, the author maintains a high energy, cheering her readers on at every turn. She makes things really easy to understand. There were nuances and differences in types of accounts that I hadn’t realized until reading this book, so I’d say it’s pretty comprehensive for a beginning guide.

I also like that she breaks things down and gives readers the opportunity to process ideas about money and finances. She asks probing questions about our earliest memories of money, promises we may have made ourselves, and invites us to look at how those views impact our ideas now.

On the whole, I loved this book. I’m not someone who enjoys spending a lot of time going over my finances line by line, but I loved the ways she suggested making this more fun and helping to develop consistent habits. There’s so much great information in this book. I recommend it to anyone looking for more information about the basics of managing money, saving, reducing debt, and preparing for the future. It’s good stuff!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Berna Anat is a first-generation Filipino American. She acknowledges the ways in which the financial system disadvantages poor, marginalized BIPOC communities.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently. More often words with special characters are used as stand-ins for swear words.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The author mentions that she has a strong personal spiritual practice.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of MONEY OUT LOUD in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston

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Diary of a Confused Feminist
Kate Weston
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published January 2, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Diary of a Confused Feminist

Kat wants to do GOOD FEMINISM, although she’s not always sure what that means. She also wants to be a writer, get together with Hot Josh (is this a feminist ambition?), win at her coursework and not make a TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT of herself at all times.

But the path to true feminism is filled with mortifying incidents, and when everything at school starts to get a bit too much, Kat knows she’s lost her way, and the only way forward is to ask for help . . .

Join Kat, AKA the Confused Feminist, as she navigates EVERYTHING from menstrual cups and mental health to Instagram likes and #TimesUp in her HILARIOUS, OUTRAGEOUS, and VERY EMBARRASSING diary.

My Review

I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at a book since FINDING AUDREY by Sophie Kinsella. Seriously, this absolutely cracked me up. Kat is full of frank questions and sometimes irreverent observations. Her exploration of what feminism means and how to be a feminist felt so genuine and organic. She asks a lot of reasonable questions about her body, her period, and sex in pretty straightforward, often funny, ways.

The book is written in diary entries, as the title suggests, and I loved that, too, because it made this a pretty quick read. The scenes are generally pretty short and there’s a fair amount of white space on the pages.

I also enjoyed Kat’s relationships with her parents and brother. It’s always funny reading parents in YA novels as an actual parent. I think I may more attention to those characters than I would have as a teen, and I definitely appreciate it when they read like fully developed characters and believable parents. In this book, they’re not perfect parents by any means, but it’s clear that despite Kat wanting her privacy and rolling her eyes plenty, she loves her family members and has good relationships with them.

Not only did I laugh an absolute ton reading this book, but I cried quite a bit, too. Kat wrestles with some hard things, and one scene in particular broke my heart for her. I think the combination of the humor and the heart make this an incredible story (and a debut! Amazing!) and one that a lot of readers are going to connect with.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Two characters describe difficult experiences with anxiety. One character is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently. Also uses some crude language for body parts.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two boys. A girl accidentally walks in on a couple having sex in a bathroom and describes their disorganized state of undress.

Spiritual Content
A couple of jokes about how God must be a man because women endure so many biological trials.

Violent Content
A girl at school bullies Kat and says some very harsh things to her. It’s pretty cruel and upsetting.

Drug Content
Kat and her friends attend two parties where teens drink. At the second one, Kat mentions there being a cloud of marijuana smoke.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.