The Zodiac Challenge Tag

**A few weeks ago, I was tagged by Hannah at But First, Fiction in the Zodiac Challenge (thank you! 💕).**

I learned that she’s long overdue for a re-watch of The Emperor’s New Groove and The Princess and the Frog ~~(which, let’s be honest, we all are)~~. Also, she taught me that there’s a word for sidekick?!

𝓓𝓮𝓾𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓽 is a thing, everyone.

It’s hard for me to get behind zodiacs especially when, as a Virgo, I’m painted as perfectionist—something that’s only true about me in a limited number of cases. ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴀɴ ᴀsᴛʀᴏʟᴏɢʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴢᴏᴅɪᴀᴄ sᴋᴇᴘᴛɪᴄ, I am a Disney fanatic and will gladly take this opportunity to share Disneyish facts about me ᵀᴴᴬᵀ ᵞᴼᵁ ᴾᴿᴼᴮᴬᴮᴸᵞ ᴰᴼᴺ’ᵀ ᴿᴱᴬᴸᴸᵞ ᶜᴬᴿᴱ ᶠᴼᴿ. So, let’s get started!

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Book Review: Sourdough by Robin Sloan // wtf did I just read

Title: Sourdough

Author: Robin Sloan

Published: September 5, 2017

Pages: 259

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: Lois Clary, a software engineer at a San Francisco robotics company, codes all day and collapses at night. When her favourite sandwich shop closes up, the owners leave her with the starter for their mouthwatering sourdough bread.
Lois becomes the unlikely hero tasked to care for it, bake with it and keep this needy colony of microorganisms alive. Soon she is baking loaves daily and taking them to the farmer’s market, where an exclusive close-knit club runs the show.
When Lois discovers another, more secret market, aiming to fuse food and technology, a whole other world opens up. But who are these people, exactly?

How do I even begin to write a review for this book?

The most basic and superficial description of this novel is that it is a book about baking bread. Your initial reaction to this statement might be to dismiss this book, and I get it—who wants to read a story about bread? Nonetheless, Sourdough won the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, a point that prevented me from disregarding the novel and ultimately made me decide to give it a shot.

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A Short Discussion on On the Come Up by Angie Thomas and Drug Addiction

**Angie Thomas’ new book On the Come Up tackled numerous issues scarcely addressed in young adult (YA) fiction.**

Drug abuse and recovery was one controversial problem the book touched upon. In my recent post, Why I Don’t Always Review A Book, I expressed that I tend to shy away from discussing books that cover topics that I feel like aren’t my place to input my views or that I’m not completely informed about. Addiction seemed like one of those topics I would usually steer away from. However, drug abuse—specifically rehabilitation—was the subject matter of my undergraduate research and is something that I feel very passionate about.

So, what exactly is the point of this post?

I wanted to relate my knowledge to the drug abuse element of On the Come Up to offer you all a different perspective on addiction and its treatment.

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Mini Book Reviews: 3 Female-Authored, YA Contemporaries

In celebration of March being Women’s History Month, I aimed to exclusively read female-authored books for the thirty-one days.

With the exception of one book, I made good on my goal and ended up having my best reading month this year. It’s really not much of a feat considering how busy I was in January and February and the complete disregard of my TBR pile that ensued. But, I’ll accept anything remotely close to win—it keeps me motivated 😅.

If you read my Women’s History Month Read-a-thon, you’ll know that the majority of the novels I read last month were young adult (YA) contemporaries. It wasn’t on purpose. ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʙʏ ᴏᴘʀᴀʜ. I think it just played out that way because I’m a giant mood reader, so I peruse the blogosphere when picking out my next reads. That results in me repeatedly reading YA since I mostly follow YA-oriented book blogs.

Don’t get me wrong though, there’s nothing wrong with YA. In fact, I made this conclusion after my read-a-thon:

There are so many brilliant women contributing their powerful thoughts for a more competent, diverse, and tolerant society—and there’s no place where it’s more apparent than YA bookshelves.