5 May Releases to be Excited About.

Hey There Internet! My name is Kelsey, and here are five books coming out in May, 2017 that you should be excited about.

1. Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris.

via Amazon

David Sedaris is a well renowned humorist, and these are the diaries he's been keeping for 25 years. I'm a huge fan of David Sedaris so I am super excited to read the inner workings of his mind.

Theft by Finding is available May 30th from Little Brown and Company.

2. Release by Patrick Ness.

via Goodreads

Goodreads Description: "Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything."

Release will by available May 4th from Walker Books

3. Noteworthy by Riley Redgate.

via Goodreads

Goodreads Description: "It's the start of Jordan Sun's junior year at the Kensignton-Blaine Boarding School for the Performing Arts. Unfortunately, she's an alto, which no one is falling over to express themselves in appreciation. The the school gets a mass email: A spot has opened up in the Sharpshooters, Kensington's elite acappela octet. Worshipped, revered, all male. Desperate to prove herself, Jordan auditions in her most convincing drag, and it turns out that Jordan Sun, Tenor 1, is exactly what the Sharps are looking for." 

I've read one of Redgate's previous books, The Seven Ways we Lie, and liked it, so I'm excited to read her newest book. 

Noteworthy will be available May 2nd by Amulet Books.

4. Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King.

via Amazon

Do I even have to tell you what this book is about? It's a Stephen King! It's going to be creepy and it's going to be amazing. Enough said.

Gwendy's Button Box will be available May 30th by Cemetery Dance Publications.

5. Son of Ares by Pierce Brown. 

via Goodreads

Goodreads Description: "In the future, when mankind has spread across the stars, the hierarchy of man is dictated by the color of one's caste. The golds rule all, but what will happen when one falls for a lowly Red?" 

Son of Ares will be available May 10th by Dynamite Entertainment.

The Cellar

via Goodreads

The Cellar
Natasha Preston
5 Stars!

DISCLAIMER: THIS BOOK CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGERY OF KIDNAPPING AND SEXUAL/PHYSICAL ABUSE THAT MAY UPSET SOME. IF THAT'S YOU, READ CAREFULLY.

Summer has a perfect life. Lots of friends, a loving boyfriend, and prospects for her future. Then she goes to a party and gets kidnapped on the way there. She is taken to a cellar where she is renamed 'Lily' and forced to live with three other captive girls as a man's 'family'.

This book is really interesting because not only does it tell summer's perspective but it tells the story from the kidnapper's point of view as well. Not a lot of books do that, and it's interesting to see the way her perceives the crimes he is committing. That being said, the book is a little cheesy at times; when summer is on her way to the party where she is later taken, she insists to her boyfriend that she will be fine walking alone in the dark. Irony right?

My biggest problem with The Cellar is really just how stressed out it made me. This book got a rise out of me to the point where I would have to put it down for a minute to fix my breathing. I couldn't even get started on the sequel, because reading the first page just led me to a whole new wave of anxious thoughts. I suppose that proves it's a good story if it can bring such an emotional reaction, but at the same time there is a lot of physical and sexual abuse in this book, so i wouldn't recommend it for people who are sensitive to that kind of content.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and gave it five stars. The characters are what make this book truly magical, they are all so complex and all have interesting back stories. The book is not that insightful, besides I suppose just to appreciate life because any day you could be scooped into a van by a total creep! Great.

Thanks for reading another one of my reviews, I will be back soon with a review of The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fannie Flagg
4 stars


Evelyn is a middle aged woman who wished she had done more with her life. Every Sunday she vists her mother-in-law at the nursing home, and befriends a little old woman named Ninny Threadgoode, who tells her stories of growing up in Whistle Stop, Alabama, and the cafe her aunt owned.

This book reminds me a lot of The Help or The Secret Life of Bees in that it is about female friendship and spirtual growth. The ending was very sweet, and while I adored all of the characters, there were so many that it was hard to keep up with all of them at times.

I gave this book 4 stars, with it's best qualities being the writing and the characters (Idgie was my favorite), and its weakness being the pace, but I gave the pace a 7/10, so i'm not really sure if that even counts as a weakness. This book is really good, and I reccommend it if you love historical fiction or if you enjoyed The Help.

Blood Brothers- Colleen Nelson

Goodreads

Blood Brothers

Colleen Nelson

2 Stars

DISCLAIMER: I recieved this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All the opinions in this review are mine and mine alone. Special thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn publishing. 

15 year old's Jakub and Lincoln are best friends, and sneak out at night to spray paint graffiti around their city. When Jakub gets accepted to an elite public school, it feels as if him and Lincoln will grow apart. Lincoln's brother comes back from prison, and lures him into his gang, the Red Bloodz. 

This book was alright. It didn't stand out to me, and I found the characters to be very annoying. However the story was very realistic, and displayed the unfortunate situations that children in lower income areas find themselves. The writing was also very simple, but that is what i have come to expect from most young adult literature. Overall, I give the book two out of five stars, with the ease of reading being it's greatest strength, and the insightfulness being it's weakest strength.

Blood Brothers is released on April 25th, and is available whererver books are sold. 

5 Amazing Books Released in April, 2017.

Happy April! No, this post is not an April Fool's joke, (I dispise the holdiay anyways). These 5 awesome books are all coming this month!



1. The Upside of Unrequited.

Pop! Goes the Reader.

Becky Albertalli
April 11th

Why I chose it: Albertalli is the author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which is one of my favorite LGBT books.

Goodreads Description: Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

Right? 

2. The Road to Jonestown.

Simon and Schuster

Jeff Guinn

April 11th

Why I chose it: I have personally read an advance reader's copy of this book from NetGalley, and overall the book is good. I have always really been interested in true crime and killers, and the story of Jonestown and the People's Temple is mindblowing. While I was reading it I had to remind myself that these events actually happened, because they are that crazy. If you're into cults and weird stuff like this, definatley give this a read!

3. The Whole Thing Together

Goodreads

Ann Brashares

April 25th

Why I chose it: This book is by the same author who wrote the Series of the Traveling Pants, which was one of my favorite books as a middle schooler.

Goodreads Description: Summer for Sasha and Ray means the sprawling old house on Long Island. Since they were children, they’ve shared almost everything—reading the same books, running down the same sandy footpaths to the beach, eating peaches from the same market, laughing around the same sun-soaked dining table. Even sleeping in the same bed, on the very same worn cotton sheets. But they’ve never met.

Sasha’s dad was once married to Ray’s mom, and together they had three daughters: Emma, the perfectionist; Mattie, the beauty; and Quinn, the favorite. But the marriage crumbled and the bitterness lingered. Now there are two new families—and neither one will give up the beach house that holds the memories, happy and sad, of summers past.

4. Alex and Eliza.

Goodreads

Melissa De La Cruz

April 11th

Why I chose it: I love the musical hamilton, and while the musical protrays their love story as heartwrenching, I really am interesting in learning more about it.

Goodreads Description:1777. Albany, New York. 

As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival that of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball. 

Still, she can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history. 

5. Given to the Sea.

Goodreads

Mindy Mcginnis

April 11th.

Why I chose it: The description on Goodreads made it sound amazing and I just thought it would be a good read.

Goodreads Description: Khosa is Given to the Sea, a girl born to be fed to the water, her flesh preventing a wave like the one that destroyed the Kingdom of Stille in days of old. But before she’s allowed to dance – an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs that will carry her to the shore in a frenzy – she must produce an heir. Yet the thought of human touch sends shudders down her spine that not even the sound of the tide can match.

Vincent is third in line to inherit his throne, royalty in a kingdom where the old linger and the young inherit only boredom. When Khosa arrives without an heir he knows his father will ensure she fulfills her duty, at whatever cost. Torn between protecting the throne he will someday fill, and the girl whose fate is tied to its very existence, Vincent’s loyalty is at odds with his heart.