Pillow Talk by Stephanie Cooke. Illustrated by Mel Valentina Vargas

You know those sexy male gaze trope of women having pillow fights in their lingerie. Well that fantasy gets upended by the Pillow Fight Championship. It’s a real thing where girls get dressed up as wreastlers to pillow fight their rivals into submission. It’s a surprising niche sport and I saw a video. Those pillows do not look like they’re softening the blows at all.

Grace aka Cinderhella has a lot of self-esteem issues but when she fights in that ring, she feels fierce and strong. Unfortunately, with the viral fame of her first bout brings trolls that threaten to oust her from the ring.

It was a cute book that reminded me a bit of Whip It with the pillow fight girls representating mentors and older sister characters to Grace, proving the sport sisterhood is the strongest bond. There’s even one who seems like a Queen B whom Grace earns a grudging respect. Just like in that movie.

The only weird part is where they have a whole discussion about the importance of voting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s importance, but it felt like an awkward insert. Like the story screeched to a halt to talk about voting for three page before resuming the plot.

Susie’s Senior Dogs by Erin Stanton

Would you believe it took me at least 7 years to read this? Maybe even a decade? It was a Christmas present from a friend but as the first page talked about the death of a dog, I could not handle it. I can handle people dying, but a dog, no matter how peacefully he crosses the rainbow bridge brings me to tears.

Nonetheless, I finally braved the feels this book gave me as the author and her various client tell their adoption stories and the wonderful companion they have as they give senior dogs a new forever home. There’s a lot of bias against senior dogs, the medical care, the cuteness factor, the shorter time together. But it doesn’t matter how short the time is when you enjoy it.

These adopters don’t hold back the difficulties about fostering/adopting a senior dog but the love outweighs the cos. Senior dogs have been already been trained, have so much love to give, and even those with medical bills and traumas because these dogs touch your heart. Each contributer has a distict tale (or dare I say, tail) that will tug on the heart strings with lots of adorable photos. And in my case, make me want to adopt which is probably the point.

You can find more about Susie’s Senior Dogs on Facebook and their website: https://www.facebook.com/susiesseniordogs

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren

The latest novel in the Meant to Be series takes on Tangled with a rom-com road trip. Ren is on her own for the first time as she heads to Corona College with her parents’ copious amount of rule reminders (Ah, technology now you’ll never be able to get away). She loves them but when a biology class lecture has her questioning her heritage she blackmails the most popular guy on campus to go on a road trip to find answers.

This was a fun translation of the movie with plenty of Easter Eggs for Tangled fans to enjoy (the pub scene being a particular delight) and Lauren does an excellent job transplanting the character’s personalities to modern day adaptations. Ren is naturally sunny, and a bit naive thanks to her sheltered homeschooled upbringing on the homestead, but she gives her best banter against Fitz’s suggestive innuendo. Plus that time alone gave her plenty of time to read so she knows tropes, and she knows how to manipulate with blackmail, proving to Fitz that he doesn’t have her pegged, no matter how street smart he is.

As usual, there is little sex even though I feel like Disney could push the envelope in this series at least. This one probably has the most sexual tension and I am here for it. I’m not a big fan of the couple but this book made me see it. It was simply charming. Ren’s struggle with finding for answers is equally shared with Fitz’s heavier secret weighing down his potential future (no spoilers but love the adaptation). I also enjoy how Lauren decides to forgoe the outright villlanous parents like Murphy did in If the Shoe Fits. It keeps it from becoming an outright retelling and simply makes sense as Ren’s parents aren’t an overbearing presence like in the movie, there would be no time to get into the gaslighting aspect.

However, since these are college students compared to the other novels where the protagonists are in their late 20s, it fits more in the YA vein than the adult. And the ending feels a bit abrupt as much as I enjoyed the road trip, Lauren could have used that time to have more conversation that would have contributed to the end of the book instead of shoving it all in the last chapters. It may mean cutting a few cute scenes but it would ease the pace.

Nonetheless, I’m super excited for the next one coming 2025-Worth Fighting For. The Mulan and Shang story we need!

(Gutsy Women by Hillary Rodham and Chelsea Clinton, Hollywood Sister series by Mary Wilcox, Twitches series by H.B. Gilmour and Randi Reisfield, The Cuckoo Sister by Vivian Alcock, 9 Animal Tales by Edgar Thorton Burgess, Almost American Girl by Robin Ha, New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip by Jerry Craft, Go with the Flow and Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams and Karen Scheeman, The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance, Oh My Gods by Stephanie Cooke, Invisi-Emmie, Positively Izzy, Just Jaimie, Becoming Brianna and Remarkably Ruby by Terri Libenson, The Circle of Magic quartet by Tamora Pierce, Growing Pains by Kathryn Ormsbree, Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom by Terry Blas and Molly Muldoon, The Try-Out by Christina Soontornvat, Movie Shoes and Circus Shoes by Noelle Streitfield, Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, N.E.R.D.S. series by Michael Buckley, The Alley by Eleanor Estes, Heroes for My Daughter by Brad Meltzer)

Thea Stilton Mouseford Academy #1-8

Thea Stilton: Treasure Seekers #1-3

Archie #222, 223

Archie’s “Laugh-Out” Joke Book #119, 178, 189,221

Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #57

Archie’s Mad House #48, 55

Pep #217, 355

Betty and Veronica Spectacular #138 Christmas Spectacular #204

Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica #216, 272, 314

Archie’s Pals n Gals #125, 126

Betty and Veronica #144

Betty and Me #100

Life with Archie #86, 199

Everything’s Archie #51, 79, 119

Archie at Riverdale High #43, 56

Reggie and Me #92

Jughead #155, 162, 178, 179, 184, 191, 200, 212, 222, 228