Susan’s Book Blog

  Unexpecting by Jen Bailey YA, LGBTQ    Romance Wednesday Books Scheduled release: 8/22/23 🍂  5 stars out of 5  🍂 “ Sometimes doing the necessary thing, even when you’d rather do anything else, is the right thing to do. ” You know those books that just get better and better as you go along? This is one of those books. The premise was enough to hook me, the plot hit the ground running on page one, the characters completely had me wrapped around their fingers, and the emotional stakes just increased with every page turn. By the 70-80% mark, I was in tears. I really loved this one.  Ben is the sweetest kid. He’s 16 and an excellent student, super smart, responsible, a hard worker, but now he’s struggling to make sense of his life now that he’s found out he got his friend pregnant. He’s also gay. So there’s a bit of angst and drama but Ben ends up learning a lot of important lessons with the help of his amazing support system of family and friends....

Heat Wave by TJ Klune Released July 19, 2022 TorTeen 🔥 5 stars out of 5 🔥  Heat Wave is the third and final book in the series and I don’t think I have a single complaint about it. It was perfect. It was exciting, dramatic, tense, sweet, tender, romantic, riveting, and completely hilarious.  It was so good to see Nick and Seth again. Nick is every bit as funny and adorable and in love with Seth as he’s always been. I loved seeing more of Nick & Seth’s relationship in this. They’ve definitely grown a bit as people and their relationship has as well. They are so sweet and deserve all the best things in the world. Two cinnamon rolls who have been by each other’s side for so long that, even though they’re teenagers, you still have a good feeling about them being together for the long haul.  The plot was excellent. I liked where it went and how it developed. There was confusion and intrigue and mystery and I loved every minute of trying to guess what was going on. I thou...

  See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon Publishing May 17, 2022 3.5 stars out of 5 From the author of Today Tonight Tomorrow comes a magical romance in the vein of Groundhog Day about a girl forced to relive her disastrous first day of college—only to discover that her nemesis is stuck in the time loop with her. ⌛⌛⌛ This could be called Barrett Bloom and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It’s her first day at college and… everything has gone wrong. Not just wrong. Epically, disastrously bad. The day culminates in her nearly burning a frat house down. But luckily (or not) when she wakes up the next day, it’s not the next day. It’s the same day as before. She gets a do over. But Barrett needs a redo for more than just her first day of college. She’s kind of running from her past, which adds an extra element of interest to the story and some emotional weight. Barrett is smart and witty but her brusk demeanor eventually got on my nerves a bit. She tends to be somewhat h...

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum Published: April 12, 2022 5 stars out of 5 ☙ ☙ ☙ Pranking mastermind Doe and her motley band of Weston girls are determined to win the century-long war against Winfield Academy before the clock ticks down on their senior year. But when their headmistress announces that The Weston School will merge with its rival the following year, their longtime feud spirals into chaos. This May End Badly is a story about friendship, falling in love, and crossing pretty much every line presented to you—and how to atone when you do. ☙ ☙ ☙  I thought this was an excellent book. It was so much more than a fake dating trope and a high school prankster. The characters were great. The plot was fantastic, the premise unique. Great writing. The opening scene was hilarious. It definitely set a certain tone for the rest of the book. The feminist Girl Power vibe I got from the brief Weston school history lesson early in the book was especially satisfying when it circled ...

Just a reminder that this beauty is published TODAY!! Buy it, borrow it, request it at your local library.  (Read my review  HERE! ) So This is Ever After by F.T. Lukens ❦  ❦  ❦ Carry On meets Arthurian legend in this funny, subversive young adult fantasy about what happens after the chosen one wins the kingdom and has to get married to keep it…and to stay alive. Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next. As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a ...

Now that the book is one day away from being released, it’s time to unveil my pop-ified versions of four of its characters. Let me know what you think! Below are the mock-ups I made depicting how I wanted them to look and the excerpts from the book that I based them on. I think they actually turned out quite similar to my plans. I'm very happy with them. I think Arek could be improved upon a bit but honestly I found a very good deal on one particular pop that I was considering using for his body so I couldn't pass it up. It had his brown boots and his big sword, after all. ;) Occasionally I get questions about how I made them or which pops I used so here are the mock-ups again with each individual Funko Pop that I used to construct each character. (I'll be posting a step-by-step photo tutorial on how I make them soon, for those interested.)     So what do you think? Yay? Nay? For me, these are especially fun to do because you can create your own vision of the characters. Th...