#AmReading YA

Five Star Friday: March 2021

Five Star Friday is my version of the monthly wrap-up. On the first Friday of each month, I will share my five-star reads from the previous month. Fingers crossed, I have lots of books to tell you about.

Where did March go? My reading lagged a little due to vacation and training (audiobooks took a hard dip), but I still managed to finish 33 books, and 6 earned the full 5-stars from me. 

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Top Ten Tuesday: Outside YA

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

Outside YA!

Today, we are supposed to highlight books we don't usually feature. WLABB was started as a YA blog, and I try to stay true to the founding bloggers vision by featuring mostly YA books. But, I do read outside of YA, and I have encountered some real gems, which I want to scream about. Without further ado, here are some brilliant middle grades books I have read, in the recent past, which deserve some of my love.

Top Ten Tuesday: Not in My Zone

NOTE: NO, IT'S NOT TUESDAY, but I had a blog tour, and you all know I love TTT. So here it is!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

Not in My Zone!

Most of the time, I am that woman on the right. People will be screaming about all these book,s which just aren't my jam. I mean, if you take a look at my "read" shelf, you will notice that it is cluttered with contemporaries. They may be young adult, middle grades, new adult, or middle grades, but they all tend to be contemporaries, specifically, light and fluffy contemporaries usually featuring romance. Every now and again, I branch out, reading something outside of those parameters, and quite a few of those books have been hits for me. Below are some of those book, outside of my zone, which I recently read and earned between 4.5 - 5 stars. I mean, look at all the covers together. They are so much darker than my norm, right? But, still loved them!

Top Ten Tuesday: Not for Review

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

Not for Review!

This week I am talking about non-review books, or rather, books I read, and loved, but were not provided by a publisher. Rather, these are books I either bought or borrowed. I read every book on this list at some point this year and each earned between 4.5 - 5 stars from me. All were big winners for me.

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Humble Beginnings

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

My first reviews!

I started pleasure reading again back in 2013. I was mostly reading my daughter's books, and only leaving ratings on Goodreads. Then, the kid gave me a talking to about leaving my thoughts, and I started doing so. I mean, these thoughts were like a sentence. I found one early review that was just two words. I have come a long way since then. I joined WLABB at my daughter's request back in 2017, but I feel like I started reviewing my books a little more seriously after my first BEA/BookCon back in 2015. Because, I was not consistent until I joined the blog, I decided to share my first ten reviews from WLABB.

Can't-Wait Wednesday: We Are The Perfect Girl & Planet Earth Is Blue

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I can't wait for

#Top10of2018: Best of the Best - My Favorites

BEST OF THE BEST - MY FAVORITES

#Top10of2018: Captivating Characters

CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

In a Nutshell Reviews: Middle Grades Edition

In a Nutshell Reviews are my version of mini-reviews, because sometimes, you just want the highlights.

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Sundays with Sam - The Sunday Post

Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten New-to-Me Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is...

Top Ten New-to-Me Authors!

I read books from many new authors this year. Some were authors I had been wanting to check out, others were accidental finds. Here are some of the new-to-me authors I loved, who were not debut authors or already listed on my Best Books of 2017 which contained almost all new-to-me authors. I also want to add, that these are authors I want to read more from, because I loved their books so much.

Katrina Leno
Book Read: Everything All at Once
Publisher: Harper Collins

I loved this book so much! From the lovely family focus to the story within the story, I adored it all. This one packed quite an emotional punch, and I have already bought both her backlist books, as I am determined to read all her work.

Review: Optimists Die First - Susin Nielsen

Optimists Die First 
Susan Nielsen
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
Reading Challenges:  #ContRom2017, Alphabet Soup Challenge

I knew nothing about this book when Kiersten brought it to me, but the cover was ok and I liked the title, so I said I would read it. I am really glad I made that decision, because this book was wonderful!

A photo posted by Sam Kozbial (@kozbisa) on Jan 21, 2017 at 2:27am PST

Petula's family had experienced a HUGE tragedy, and this turned Tula into a pessimists with a million phobias. Her irrational fear of just about everything had been her coping mechanism until Jacob came into her life. He was this bright ray of sunshine, who appeared severely optimistic and tended to bring out the best in those around him.

I learned some lessons that day:

1. Life is not fair.
2. Tragedy can strike when you least expect it.
3. Always expect the worst. That way, you might stand a chance of protecting yourself and the ones you love.

The blurb on the back of the book pretty much summed this book up for me

One pessimist. One optimist. One love story. Award-winning author Susin Nielsen's irresistible novel is both heartrending and laugh-out-loud funny. 

One minute, I would be laughing because Petula was hilarious, but then I would be crying because it was so tragic, it was all so tragic. The pain was so raw and real. Nielsen did such a fantastic job depicting this broken, grieving family. Petula would often compare the before family to the now family, and it just broke my heart into pieces.

We moved into Arcadia. Just the three of us and our invisible zeppelin of grief.

The heart of this story was Petula and her band of teen misfits. As part of her penance for some heinous acts, Petula had to attend an art therapy group. This group was filled with some interesting and colorful characters. It was not surprising that Nielsen did a great job portraying the flawed teens knowing her background as a writer for Degrassi Junior High. This group was so delightful and authentic, and I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them.

"Jacob resuscitated you," said Koula.

The love story was quite sweet. It unfolded slowly, and I smiled a lot. As the connection between Tula and Jacob grew,  Petula began to heal, and she began to resemble her former self.

Other things to love:

1. Catadaptions!
2. Crafting (I wish I had such skills)
3. Petula and her mother are readers, and there is a lot of fun bookish stuff in this book
4. The principal (he really did put the "pal" in principal)
5. Where the Wild Things Are (*tears*)

Maybe catadaptions looks like this

Overall: A beautiful story of love and healing, of overcoming great losses and being able to be open to new beginnings. 

**I would like to thank Wendy Lamb Books for the advanced copy of this book

Do you have any phobias?

Let us know in the comments!

Stuffed Animal Saturday: Optimists Die First

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

This Saturday, Swanky Bubbles and I are reading Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen.

Blurb from Goodreads: 

Sixteen-year-old Petula de Wilde is anything but wild. A former crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula shut herself off from the world after a family tragedy. She sees danger in all the ordinary things, like crossing the street, a bug bite, or a germy handshake. She knows: life is out to get you.

The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class with a small group of fellow misfits. Then a new boy, Jacob, appears at school and in her therapy group. He seems so normal and confident, though he has a prosthetic arm; and soon he teams up with Petula on a hilarious project, gradually inspiring her to let go of some of her fears. But as the two grow closer, a hidden truth behind why he’s in the group could derail them, unless Petula takes a huge risk. 

So far:

I will not lie. I had no idea what this book was about before I started it. Kiersten brought it home, and the cover was compelling enough, so I thought I would give it a try. I am about half way through, and I must say, this book is wonderful.

Part of the blurb on the back cover, pretty much summed it up for me

One pessimist. One optimist. One love story. Award-winning author Susin Nielsen's irresistible novel is both heartrending and laugh-out-loud funny. 

There are these parts, where tears creep into my eyes, and then there are these other parts, where I just have to laugh. At this point, I am so invested in Petula's life. I want her family to heal. I want her to heal. I am just rooting for all to be well in her world again.

Swanky Bubbles is also really enjoying this book. He especially loved the part where Petula and Jacob make a short of Wuthering Heights starring cats.

Keep an eye out for my review in February.

Are you and your 
stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

Let us know in your own 
Stuffed Animal Saturday!