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Kyoshi Duology Review
For anyone who was a fan of the Avatar the Last Airbender series, you should definitely give this a read. It shares the series’ pathos, morals and humor, it fits right in with the bigger universe.
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Women’s History Month Books P2
Bad Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple
This fun book gives a brief intro to the infamous bad girls of history from biblical figures such as Delilah and Jezebel to murderers like Lizzie Borden and Elisabeth Bálfory to possible innocents such as Tituba from the Salem Witch Trials. At the end of each 2 page “chapter,” there is a small comic of the authors, a mother-daughter pair. They share their perspective of the women and whether she was really bad or if history made her ruthless because the time period was stricter to things such as girls becoming porstitues. Perfect for anyone who wants to know a little more about those who ran with the and sometimes toppled the boys by letting loose their virtues. Made for middle/lower grade.
Dead Feminists by Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring
This is a beautiful book whose illustrations/ letterpress prints are absolutely gorgeous. I cannot stress that enough. It is wonderful to the eyes. But to the actual content, it features biographies of scan of the women and how they were important and what they contributed to our society. Plus it has so many many inspirational quotes. Furthermore, it details the political importance of broadsides throughout history and how they used each limited sale of prints to donate to charity. Additionally, the pair are still creating broadsides on their Dead Feminists website and have a permenant gallery of their work at university museums.
Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu
Now this was an awesome comic of rebels around the world as the title suggests and features some more out there ones such as the Bearded Lady and Peggy Guggenheim and Sonita, an Afghan rapper (Look up her song Brides for Sale). Thier stories are done in quick but thoroughly informative chapters of the struggles each went through. Made for high schoolers with hard content like abuse, rape and sexual assault. Also I have heard rumors that this shall become a animated series so I’m all for that!
Anthology of Amazing Women by Sandra Lawrence
A book for lower and middle schoolers featuring one page per women. Despite the small space, it’s still very informative and doesn’t shy away from mentioning LGTB issues or the abuse they have suffered. It features more modern women such as Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé and Serena Williams and it also is nicely separated into sections like Women in Media, Women in Literature, Women in Politics, Women in Stem, Women in Athletics and so on and so forth. I even discovered a few I never heard of before like Aud the Deep-minded.
Because I was a girl (by various authors)
These are personal essays written by women from the 1940s-2000s from important figures such as Dolares Huerta to inspirational authors like Elizabeth Acvedo to Academy Award nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis. It’s an uplifting and inspiring to hear how these women overcame, and what they achieved. I’ll admit I almost teared up at some points. It is just so good to know that women don’t have to be dead for people to see their amazing feats, that there are still living ones that continue to do great work and are being recognized while alive and that are still fighting and empowering the next generation to go and do great and even greater things.
#anathologyofamazingwomen, #badgirls, #becauseIwasagirl, #brazen, #chandlero'leary, #deadfeminists, #feminist, #heidieystemple, #historical, #janeyolen, #jessicaspring, #macmillan, #nonfiction, #penelopebagieu, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #sandralawrence, #sasquatchbooks, #simon&schuster, #women's books, #womenshistorymonth -
Women’s History Month Books P1
In honor of Women’s History Month, here are some of my favorite nonfic books about historical and some present-day role models who broke boundaries and made (underrated) history.
(more…)#100badgirlsthroughouthistory, #abramsbooks, #annshen, #bygonebadassbroads, #chroniclebooks, #elenafavilli, #feminist, #francescacavallo, #goodnightstoriesforrebelgirls, #harpercollins, #historical, #jason porath, #mackenzi, #mackenzilee, #nonfiction, #penguinrandomhouse, #present, #rachelignotofsky, #rachelreads&reviews, #rejectedprincesses, #rolemodels, #tenspeedpress, #toughmothers, #women'shistorymonth, #womeninscience, #womenshistorymonth -
Ranking The Hathaways series
After finishing Bridgerton, I needed a new historical romance to keep me tide over and since I’ve heard Kleypas’ name several times (and her covers are beautiful) I decided to tackle the Hathaways. Another eccentric family of siblings and my final post for the month of love.
1: Love in the Afternoon. Kleypas’ final book in the series and I loved it best. It all starts out as a correspondence while Christopher is at war. Beatrix sensing he just needs someone to come home to, writes back. Alas she is writing in her shallow friend’s name. Such drama. But the most important thing was, their romance was sweet, they meshed well together. I loved how Beatrix saw the world through animalia and kept her eccentricity even in marriage and I enjoyed the vulnerability/angst Christopher had in acclimating back to civilian life due to his shell shock. Or as they called it in the Victorian era, insanity.
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Ranking the Bridgerton series
After finishing the first season of Bridgerton last year I delved right into the books which, let’s admit it, were better than the series. At least I thought The Duke and I (which the first season is based on) was much funnier and the couple had more chemistry than in the show so I’m going to assume the rest will be as well. No spoilers here so my reasonings for how good they are a bit vague.
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Rachel’s Contemporary Romance Reads of 2021
Rosie Danan’s The Roommate: Firstly, The Roommate was sweet but moreover, so so sexy, I have never learned so much about the porn industry in book. I’ll admit my previous knowledge was more on Clara’s side of thing but Josh. I could really come to see Josh’s side of things that porn is not only helpful to jump starting the foreplay but is also a celebration of sex, and intimacy. It’s human. Moreover, I also enjoyed how you paralleled and contrasted Clara and Josh’s stories of expectations and need to make their own way, in how it created conflict for their relationship but also drew them together as a commanility in the end. Furthermore, the side characters of Naomi (Josh’s ex, soon business partner and co owner) and Clara’s aunt were great characters in their own rights and was always so fun to have their perspectives. Especially with how Clara’s aunt helps guide Clara to what she wants to do in her future and how she’d do it differently from her aunt. 4 stars.
Rosie Danan’s The Intimacy Experiment: But on the subject of Naomi, she was a breath of cynical, sarcastic air in The Roommate so it was fun to have her in the forefront of The Intimacy Experiment. Especially with the bruises and scars that have made her more tough but it also made it so hard to put it down as Ethan breaks those walls and Naomi wavers over the changes in her personality and what it means for her future. Also Ethan! Ethan’s side was great too. He cares so much, but also takes on so much. And even though I didn’t understand the scientific stuff he was saying, I think his attempts at wooing were incredibly sweet. Also it was so cool to have some Jew rep in a romance. The only Jew romance rep I’ve read so far are tragic WWII which is bittersweet most of the time so I loved this contemporary one. I’m more like Naomi in being lapsed most of the time so the explorations of the community, the evolution of it and how the Torah still stands through time were also thought provoking and I just enjoyed the added layer. 5 stars.
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Additionally, I really I enjoyed the subversion of tropes readers will see in both these stories, it just made everyone so human and I loved the books so much. Finally, I just so so loved the sex positivity of these books but then again, that’s probably the point. They were fun yet informative. I almost wish Shameless, their sex positivity info website, was a real thing because as the books so eloquently put it in many ways sex should be shameless.#actyourageevebrown, #alexisdaria, #alexishall, #alotlikeadios, #austinseigmundbroka, #avonbooks, #berkley, #contemporaryromance, #emilywibberley, #getalifechloebrown, #grandcentralpublishing, #hanakhancarrieson, #happyendings, #harpercollins, #ifI'mbeinghonest, #jasmineguillory, #partyoftwo, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #romance, #rosalinepalmertakesthecake, #rosiedanan, #takeahintdanibrown, #taliahibbert, #thebrownsisterstrilogy, #theintimacyexperiment, #theroommate, #thienkimlam, #uzmajalaluddin, #whileweweredating, #youhadmeathola -
Twisted Tales: So This is Love Review
Elizabeth Lim hits out of the park again with her Twisted Tale that transforms a princess I found boring and uninteresting to a riveting heroine to root for. And Lim doesn’t even change her personality!
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Twisted Tales: Conceal, Don’t Feel
Another solid book for the Twisted Tales line but not one of Calonita’s best compared to the other two she wrote for the series.
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Twisted Tales: Mirror, Mirror Review
Since I enjoyed Calonita’s other book, I thought I’d give this one a try next and see how she spices up a princess I’ve never been interested in. Which she manages to accomplish quite well using a dual narrative between Snow White and The Evil Queen who is so named Queen Ingrid here.
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Twisted Tales: Reflection Review
Now this was an excellent Twisted Tale. Not as dark as apparently the other books are with blood sacrifices and such, but I prefer it that way. This is rather an AU, a potential place for the story to go rather than a grittier and darker take on a tale we already know.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 