My November TBR went from finishing up my October reads to sci-fi reads courtesy of my local library. One such book I picked up while being ditched on a boba date was Emperess of a Thousand skies by Rhoda Belleza. The title alone already had me intrigued.
Continue reading “Empress of a Thousand Skies was disappointing”
Ninth House was released this October, and it is Leigh Bardugo’s first adult novel. Ninth House tells the story of Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a high school drop out from California, who is enrolled at Yale University to join a secret campus organization named Lethe. Lethe is part of nine magical houses, and their main jobs are to regulate the activities of the other houses to make sure they are falling the rules. Lethe is small and consists of a core group of people: Dante, Virgil, Centurion, and Occulus. Centurion goes by the name Turner, an African American Police officer of New Haven, who has been paid by Lethe to cover up any magical crimes despite Turner’s involvement in Lethe, he is a good guy and a good cop. Occulus is also known as Dawes, a grad student who spends the majority of her time working on her dissertation at the Lethe house, but Dawes’ main job is to assist Dante and Virgil. Alex is Dante, and Darlington is Virgil. Darlington’s job is to show Alex the ropes of all Lethe house duties, one ritual involves scaring off ghosts or greys while another house cuts some random person open to read the future at least that’s how I interrupted it I’m still confused about the intricacies of that ritual.
Alex’s first semester at Yale is overwhelming, as she has to complete her assignments as an English major as well as her nighttime duties at Lethe. Darlington’s disappearence complicates everything, and Alex is left to carry out the duties of Lethe house on her own. Alex starts to sense that things are amiss when Tara Hutchins, a New Haven girl, is murdered outside one of the magical houses. Everyone insists that Tara’s boyfriend is the culprit, but Alex thinks there is something off about Tara’s death. Alex enlists the help of Dawes and Turner to help her follow the trail of clues that suggest the other houses might have had some involvement in Tara’s death.
When I first cracked this book open in mid-November I was intrigued, but my attention was not fully captivated. I felt like I was in a slump, and when I’m in a reading slump I distract myself with either watching Tv or reading fanfiction. In this case, I did both.
I rewatched most of Bunheads and read some Star Wars fanfiction in case anyone was wondering.
However, when I realized I had three days to compete Ninth House, and I was only 100s pages deep, I knew I had to start reading and fast if I wanted to complete it this month.
When Alex became entangled in the murder of Tara Hutchins, so did I become entangled in this book. I begin to wonder what exactly happened to Darlington and maybe if Alex had killed him herself. However, after reading Alex’s longing to see Darlington again, I was even more confused. Where the two lovers? Should I be rooting for their ill-fated romance?
“I will serve you ’til the end of days.”
Darlington to Alex Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
As I continued to read Ninth House most of my questions were slowly piecing together answers. Although the world is elaborate and all the houses and what they do, are at times, confusing I found it helpful to just get consumed in the story until you forgot about all your questions.
Despite the complexities of Ninth House this book is sure to reel you in with all the cool charaters. Aside from Darlington, Lethe house’s golden boy, and Alex’s mentor into the dark world of magic, and Dawes a reserved grad student who is always saving Alex’s ass, there is also North, a ghost who lurks around New Haven and is believed to have murdered his Fiancée.
As Alex gets deeper into the investigation of Tara’s death so does North’s character development and soon North goes from becoming a suspected murderer to a real softie who scares off other ghosts from following Alex.
Ninth House is also abundant with California and English writer’s references. If you are currently studying English in college, a lot of the poetry and stories referenced will be familiar to you. The whole Dante and Virgil dynamic should be a big hint on both the themes of the novel and that other prominent English writers may be referenced. If you grew up in Southern California, the landmarks mentioned will be easy to picture.
What surprised me about Ninth House was that Alex, the main character is brown. Alex’s grandmother often sung lullabies to her in Spanish, but the dialect in which these lullabies were spoken was one that I had never heard of or knew existed. The Spanish used in this novel is called Ladino, a Judaeo-Spanish, that was spoken by Jews who lived in Spain before Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand decided to kick out the Jewish population. This little piece of information was super cool for me to learn, and it’s also insanely cool that this language becomes one of the biggest tools that Alex uses to defend herself from the greys.
“Quien se prestado se vestio, en medio de la calle se quito.”
Ninth Hose by Leigh Bardugo
Overall, Ninth House is a book that may have a slow start, but it will quickly suck you into the plot once things become interesting. Although Ninth House is the first book of the series there is no big cliff hanger in the end. However all the plot twists in this book are sure to keep you guessing. I loved this read, and I will considering adding it and the next installment onto my shelf forever.
Now for the real question.
Do I ship Alex and Darlington? Maybe so. Is this a bad idea considering what happened to one of my otps in Crooked Kingdom.
Probably.
But I’m going to casually ship them anyways.
And now a brief rant on Alex and Darlington
Sure Alex is a bit suspious, considering what she did to her “friends” back in LA, and Darlignton is the nerdy gentleman of Ninth House. The pair really have no business being together romantically. However, they’re a great team and if Darlington had been present for Tara’s investigation Alex probably wouldn’t have put herself in as much danger as she’d liked.
Plus Darlington has a cat and an attachment to his grandfather’s big mansion and if that doesn’t scream love interest then we clearly have different definitions.
I give Ninth House a five-star review, and if you have any bookish friends who love gothic-fantasies or books with a morally gray character, definitely pick up Ninth House. However, be aware that Ninth House deals with serious topics such as sexual assault, rape of a minor, drug use, suicide, self-harm, drowning, and lots of blood and gore.
Until next time continue living in libros,
Gaby
Witches and vampires dating? Read it. Witches and demons dating also read that. But witches and werewolves, nope never.
When I saw the cover to Mooncakes, I immediately knew I needed to read it this fall.
Mooncakes is a graphic novel written by Suzanne Walker and illustrated by Wendy Xu and came out this October. Nova Hoang is a witch who works at her grandmothers’ magic bookstore assisting customers with that day to day spell work. Nova also helps in solve supernatural happenings in her small town so when she hears about a giant white wolf in the woods Nova decides to investigate. However, when Nova comes face to face with the wolf, she realizes the wolf is none other than her old crush Tam Lang.
“My mother met Einstein, you know. Horribly limited man.”
Mooncakes by Suzanne walker
Tam confesses to Nova that while coming back into town, they spotted a horse demon in the woods. Nova agrees to help Tam, but they soon discover that Tam is the only one who can stop the demon by using their werewolf magic. While all this is going on, Nova and Tam decide to pick up where they left off and start dating.
I loved so many things about this book, but here are just a few of them. Nova is hard of hearing, and her blue hearing aids are visible in every panel she appears in. I loved that Nova’s disability remained visible throughout this novel. I returned to previous panels to search for them, and they were always there. My ignorance made me appreciate the visibility of Nova’s disability throughout this book, and it also made me pay closer attention to the artwork and not get swept up in the story.
” A white wolf?”
“Hugh! Like Jon Snow’s. Mrs. Crawford said it came right at her.”
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
I loved that Mooncakes included LGBTQ+ characters. Tam Lang, the love interest, uses they/them pronouns and is a super cool white werewolf. Additionally, I was surprised to learn that Nova has two nanas. All the descriptions of this book I had previously read stated that Nova works at her grandmother’s bookshop, which is technically true, but Nova having two grandmothers is an extra special detail that you do not discover until you read Mooncakes.
Lastly, I want to emphasize that readers pay attention to the background artwork during scenes because there are lots of cute Easter eggs. In particular, popular YA novels are visible behind Nova in the bookshop. This is super cool, considering Wendy Xu is a curator of YA and children’s books.
I do not have many negative points about this novel, but for the sake of this review, I decided to neat pick some details of this story. One thing I could never figure out was Nova’s age. This story takes place during the fall season, and considering that Nova never goes to school, I assumed she was 18 or older. Nova also mentions becoming best friends with Tatyana in high school, and the use of past tense suggests that both of them are older than high school age. Lastly, what happened to Terry? Will we ever know the answer to that mystery?
Mooncakes is up there with Don’t Date Rosa Santos as one of my favorite books this year. Mooncakes is the first graphic novel I have ever read, and I loved the way that the artwork flows with the story. I think I may need to add more graphic novels and even manga to my tbr list based on the artwork alone.
Until my next review continue living in libros,
Gaby
Remember when I made my October reading list a thick stack of Spooky literature? I had Cute Spooky books such as Babysitters Coven and Mooncakes, to Nostalgic Spooky with Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel, to Mystery Spooks with Wicked Fox and Ninth House.
I knew my October TBR was ambitious, but after completing my Latinx heritage month reading binge, I felt extra powerful.
Wicked Fox is the last book I read in October, and it wasn’t all I hoped it would be. This story is particularly unique as it features a Gumiho. A Gumiho is a fox with nine tails that can turn into a beautiful woman to lure their prey. Gumihos are believed to seduce men in order to feed off their energy. Sound familiar? A Gumiho is the Korean name for this legend, but other names include Kitsune and Huli jing. Although the legends vary from culture to culture, Wicked Fox is the story of Miyoung, a Korean teen living in Seoul, South Korea.
The story begins by introducing both Miyoung, a Gumiho teen, and Jihoon, a human teen, in alternating POVs. Miyoung is out on a full moon hunting a man to sustain herself while Jihoon is out walking his dog the two collide paths when Jihoon confronts a goblin. Miyoung saves Jihoon but in the process reveals her nine tails to him. Soon after this incident, Miyoung becomes the new girl at Jihoon’s school, and she ignores all of Jihoon’s attempts to befriend her. Overtime, Jihoon wears Miyoung down, and the two become friends and start dating.
Jihoon glanced up and met Miyoung’s eyes with his, giving her a wide grin. He had a kimchi stuck in his teeth. And she hated that it made his goofy smile even more endearing.
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
However, the bubble shatters two hundred pages in when a Shaman ritual goes wrong, and through a sequence of tragic events, Jihoon ends up with Miyong’s fox bead, leaving Miyoung to slowly starve. Miyoung feels like she has no other choice but to leave Jihoon as her mother attempts to find a way for Miyoung to live without her bead.
The story concludes with Miyoung and Jihoon fixing their mistakes and living happily ever after, or so I thought until I flipped the page to the Epilogue, which leaves the novel off on a cliff hanger!
I found myself struggling to get through the first part of this book because I found it to be a little slow. Miyoung, during the first half of this book, does not interact with any other kids at her school, in fact, she tries her hardest to push them away, and it works on all of them except Jihoon and his friends. I got tired of Miyoung constantly pushing Jihoon away because sometimes she was nice to Jihoon while other times she was mean.
However, once everything goes wrong with the Shaman ritual, I found myself engrossed in the book once again until Miyoung decides to leave. The story becomes a bit boring as the two teens have a few more chapters of angst and longing for each other. At this point, I thought to myself what else could happen to these two? Haven’t they suffered enough?
Apparently not! The final chapters of this story provide another wild plot twist, and I was here for it. I wanted this story to end strong, and it did with the last scene. The epilogue reveals that not everything is as it seems, and there is definitely a sequel coming. This frustrated me because I just wanted this story to have a definite conclusion, and the epilogue ruined it. I wish I could say reading the next book will give me the answers I seek, but I am not invested enough in this story to find out what happens next.
I would recommend this book if you love lots of teen angst and stories not set in the U.S.
If you are intrigued by the legend of the Gumiho and don’t mind reading subtitles, I recommend the Kdrama, “My girlfriend is Gumiho.” This Korean drama features a Gumiho, who saves the life of Dae-Woong by giving him her fox bead. Mi-ho decides to stick around, and Dae-Woong makes sure she is happy by frequently treating her to Korean Barbeque. The drama is super cute and the theme song is catchy.
Have a spooky Halloween and continue living in libros,
Gaby
Babysitter’s coven was one of my most anticipated reads this Halloween season. The cover is gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing, I mean, who wouldn’t want to DIY their jean jacket after seeing this cover?
Esme is the voice of The Babysitter’s coven, and she is an anti-social 17-year-old, who runs a babysitting club with her friend Janice. Esme’s club does not have any members besides her and Janice, so the two besties mostly hangout during their meetings and split up babysitting jobs. Esme’s life is normal until she somehow makes a ball move with her mind during gym class.
The plot thickens when new girl, Cassandra Heaven, becomes adamant about joining the babysitter’s club. Esme assumes Cassandra may need some extra cash, so she allows her to join. However, Cassandra’s first babysitting job reveals she has no experience in childcare and she is forced to reveal her true intentions for joining the club.
Before Cassandra’s mother passed, she left her daughter a note stating that she must find the babysitters. Cassandra assumed the babysitters could help her explain why she can start fires with her mind, but when Esme acts oblivious. Cassandra forces Esme to come to terms with her own powers. The two super teens quickly become friends as they try to figure out the meaning behind the note.
Both girls are sitters, special people with superpowers that have been destined to protect the world from evil. So, when children start to report seeing monsters coming into their rooms, the sitters must save the kids and defeat the demons all before the parents can get home.
Esme is witty, funny, and a fashionista! I love it when characters have a vast knowledge of pop culture. Additionally, her dog, Pig, is awesome and deserves all the belly rubs. Can Pig become an honorary Salem Saberhagen? Anyways, Esme is a fashion icon, she buys most of her clothes from the thrift store and is very creative with her outfits. Every morning before school, she texts Janice her outfit inspiration for the day, which can range from pop culture references to random moods.
Cassandra is cool, but there are times in the novel in which she allows the power to get to her head and uses her new abilities to benefit her life. As a result Esme has a little power trip as well.
I understand why Cassandra chose to use her power selfishly as she has lived a hard life. However, Cassandra’s actions are never addressed in this novel, which leads me to believe that it will become a plot point in a future sequel.
The supporting characters in this novel are all very interesting. As mentioned previously, Janice is Esme’s best friend and a fashionista, but she disappears towards the middle of the novel. Instead, Cassandra takes over as Esme’s main friend. I know that Cassandra is essential to the plot, but I wished that Janice did not have to disappear because I wanted to learn more about Janice. Another major supporting character is Brian, the football coach, who is essentially the sitter’s watcher, if you speak Buffy. I found Brian to be boring, but that’s probably because I’m not a fan of football and this man was obsessed with the sport. I wanted to know more about his previous job as a sitter’s mentor.
Dion is the last supporting character I wanted to discuss because he is Esme’s love interest. Dionysus, or Dion as he nicknamed in this story, is Cassandra’s older brother and her legal guardian. According to Esme, Dion is super handsome, Greek god handsome (HA!), so of course, Esme goes heart eyes for him. However, the two lacked some chemistry, so I wonder if Esme will have another love interest in the future, I have a theory it might be Cassandra, but if that’s the case, where does that leave Dion’s character?
The Babysitter’s Coven does not end in a cliff hanger, but it does end in a way that makes it clear that this book is just the beginning of a series, nevertheless, the ending is satisfying.
I want more answers about the sitters, and I want to know what happens next with Esme, Cassandra, and friends.
If you were wondering about picking up this book for spooky season, do it!
Until next time continue living in libros,
Gaby
Today I am taking a break from reviewing books to bring my lovely readers on a Spooktacular trip. This year I decided to start off October with a trip to Freeform’s Halloween House.
I’m starting October with a not very spooky read, Permanent Record, as I’m currently waiting for my spooky reads to come in at the library. Permanent Record is Mary H.K. Choi’s second novel and as a big fan of Emergency Contact, I was very excited about this book.
Pablo Neruda Rind is a college dropout, confused at life, 20-year-old bodega cashier in Brooklyn, and in credit card debt. Pablo spends most of his nights as a cashier making up stories about his regular customers as entertainment when one day, a very eccentrically dressed woman walks into the store and hands Pablo her credit card. This is when Pablo realizes that this woman is Leanna Smart, an ex-Disney star, turned pop singer. Pablo is captivated by her personality and never expects to see her again after their one-night ice cream sharing snack session. However, a few weeks later, Leanna pops up back into the store, and this time Pablo asks her out. The two begin a very secret romance that is limited to texting, face time, and short phone calls. However, when Pablo is not with Leanna, he’s busy dodging his debt collectors and swerving his mother’s “what do you want in life talks.” The more that Pablo entangles himself with Leanna’s life, the more he neglects his own. But, once Pablo starts to notice just how different Leanna’s life is, he starts to find it harder to ignore what is really going on with him.
I don’t care what any of the assholes I live with tell you. I don’t work at a bodega. It’s a health food store.
Mary H.K. Choi Permanent Record
This book is told through Pablo’s point a view, as a half Korean, half Pakistani twenty-year-old New Yorker. There is a lot of diversity in this book. Almost all the characters are people of color, Pablo’s roommates, his boss, coworkers, school staff, Leanna herself is half Mexican, and one of the handfuls of characters that can speak another language. I loved this aspect of the book because there are many novels set in New York that do not make people of color visible, which I feel is ignorant considering New York’s history of immigration.
Pablo’s parents are both college-educated, his father was born in New Jersey and studied engineering while his mother migrated to the U.S at age nine and studied medicine, so this makes Pablo feel a bit inadequate but not enough to push himself into reapplying to college. College was one of the main topics of this book. Pablo either had friends who graduated or dropped out, Leanna herself wished she could attend college too. Pablo does not know what he wants to study or what he wants to do with his own life, but his goal for most of the book is to get back into NYU as if attending would give him direction in his life. I have very often heard people give the advice, “don’t worry you’ll figure it out” in college, which could be the case for some people but not everyone. I think Pablo was right in holding off on college until he figured himself out. One thing I noticed that is the same from Emergency contact is Choi writing style which includes the character oversharing every small detail and runaway thought. I enjoyed that kind of extra-ness but I don’t think it’s for everyone.
“Pablo Neruda’s my first name.”
“The poet?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“Jesus. That’s emo.”
Mary h.k. Choi permanent record
Choi makes it clear that Leanna is very busy, either touring, taking business meetings, or at meet and greets, but sometimes she only gives Pablo half her attention. This later drives a wedge in their relationship. For instance, Leanna lies to Pablo while he’s in Korea and promises to show him Seoul. However, Pablo later learns his girlfriend was in a business meeting in China. When Leanna finally gets back in Korea, she apologizes to Pablo and gives him her apology but continues to text on her phone that was really when I was done with her. She hardly gets to see her boyfriend, and when she’s finally with him, she decides not to give him her full attention. This was when I started to realize that Leanna wants a boyfriend that can conform to her schedule, or else it would never work out. That’s asking a lot for anyone.
Additionally, when Leanna and Pablo are caught by the paparazzi, Leanna refuses to explain to Pablo what “it’s taken care of” means as if it’s a dirty secret. An explanation would have taken two seconds, Leanna later accuses Pablo of wanting to benefit from her fame. Like really, girl? I’m pretty sure it was made clear that he does not want that, or your money when he turned down that expensive coat, she tried to buy him.
Lastly, I feel like I never got to know Leanna at all. Who was her father? Does she still speak to her mother? What was it like to be emancipated at 15 at then be managed by another teenager? Why Pablo? Pablo acted like he knew a lot about her but maybe he only thought he did.
One thing that I wanted to be addressed was why Leanna chose to use the name Leanna Smart instead of her real name, Carolina Suarez. I think this point would have added to the other Hollywood/ media racism that was brought up by Tice’s tv role. And maybe it could have added a little more insight into Leanna’s character.
The following sentence is going to spoil the ending, so just skip this whole paragraph if you have to. I only like to read books with a happy ending, because I need some fluff and happiness in my life, and I like to see the characters happy. But this book does not give us that, and I was really glad it did not. Leanna and Pablo were not a good fit at this moment in their lives, and although they would have made a great couple, I think they were better apart.
My rating for this book
Until next time continue living in libros,
Gaby
As Latinx heritage month comes to a close I thought I would share my thoughts on the books I have read for this month.
I have been following Yesika Salgado since the release of Corazón. I loved Yesika’s personality and the small snippets of poems she shared on her Instagram, convinced me that I needed to add this book to my list. A few years pass, I find copies of Corazón at my college bookstore and contemplate buying a copy. I decide not to. Yesika releases Tesoro in 2018 and Hermosa this year.
Finally, I decide to purchase Corazón after catching a sale in September. And I wish I had read it while I was in college and yearning for Latinx voices in literature.
Corazón contains a collection of love poems ranging from ex-lovers, family, loss, El Salvador, and Yesika’s life in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake. But most importantly, Corazón explores Yesika’s life as a fat, brown, Salvadorean, poet. Yesika provides a very unique and much-needed voice to poetry.
The majority of Corazón’s poems deal with ex-lovers ranging from fuck boys to happy and hard moments in relationships. However, Corazón did not speak to me on the romantic level.
I have never had to heal from a breakup, nor have I spent nights missing an ex, however, the nostalgic elements of Corazón, touched my heart. These moments include drinking café con conchas, watching parents carefully slice thorns off of nopales, and even picking Mangos at a grandparent’s house. These are all moments I have of my childhood. Although Yesika’s memories are of Salvador, and mine is of Mexico, I think this resemblance in our lives is pretty cool.
One of the reasons I loved Corazón, was that Yesika has a way of capturing moments that make you feel like you lived through them too.
By dividing Corazón into different sections, poems follow Yesika’s path to heal herself. In this sense Corazón is very similar to Rupi Kaur’s, “Milk and Honey” and for fans of that collection I would recommend Corazón.
Until next time continue living in libros,
Gaby
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