Leigha's Little Library

I read and review for fun. If you have a book you want me to read, private message me the info. I accept Kindle ebooks & physical books.

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Alone

My newest painting. I got some new paints and they are Kisshou Gansai Japanese watercolor paints, which are a little different from other country versions. Interesting article if you're interested: What is Gansai? 

 

Anyways, I had to test my new watercolors out, of course, so here is what I come up with. I titled it "Alone" Painting, drawing, coloring and many other forms of expression are healthy ways to get out your feelings. I guess you could look at the title and painting and interpret how it relates to you. To me, it has a meaning that even if you are surrounded by bright colors (or good friends/people), you can personally be covered in darkness (sadness/depression) and feel all alone. The "Alone while in a crowd" feeling. Also, I just really like galaxies and silhouettes.

 

I also used black and white gouache to get the darkest color and the white of the stars.

 

 

Here are my paints, if you're curious. Pen for size reference.

 

 

 

 

Number 12 is white, so you can't see it in the photo. Number 23 is grey, so also hard to see here.

My set was missing number 70 and instead I got number 52 (which wasn't supposed to be in the set.) 70 looks like a pearlescent gold shade. I want it, but I won't be petty. Haha

Art and Books

I wanted to combine two of my hobbies, which is art and reading, of course. I attempted to draw some covers. I guess this is "fanart" of sorts. I am a fan of the covers, for sure.

 

(I haven't read this book yet, but the little girl in the book gets a doll, so I am assuming this is supposed to be a doll house, but who knows!)

 

 

(We read this in school, but I can't remember the content. I have a thing for silhouettes, so of course I woud want to try and draw this. People are hard. Easier when in silhouette, but proportion is a thing I need to work on.)

 

 

Adventure Is Out There
Adventure Is Out There
This is my 5th full painting. I promise the girl has legs; it is just so dark... I'm new at this, so maybe it is taking the easy way out doing a lot of silhouettes, but I really like how they look!
 
-A girl, 2 birds, a cat and a whole world to explore.-
My mom gave me the best compliment. She said this should be in a children's storybook. Could you see it? Or is she just being "a mom?" :)
 
[Title came from a scene in the Up movie, but my painting has nothing to do with Up.]
 
Watercolor on 140LB 9x12 paper, trimmed down to fit in my painting binder.

May I share another hobby with you?

It isn't reading, so I hope you don't mind. I've recently got into watercolor painting! It is a relaxing hobby, no matter if I'm good or not. I'm pretty clueless and basically winging it. I'd like to share my paintings with you.

 

"Trees and Stuff"

This is the first full watercolor painting I did. This is on normal sketch paper, so the paper is a bit warped. I think I tried to channel Bob Ross, but he makes it look so easy! Of course, oil painting is a lot different from watercolor. 

 

"Galaxy Sky"

This is my second watercolor painting. I tried following a tutorial by artbybee7 on Youtube, but I could not get my sky to do what she was doing, so I ended up winging it. I like how it turned out.

 

:"Sunset On Water"

 

This is my third full painting. I wasn't satisified with how it turned out, but it is growing on me. I have to remind myself that I am a beginner and not to give up! Not every project is going to turn out how we imagine and that is okay!

 

"Sometimes Dead Is Better"

 

This is my forth full painting. I also did some final touches with some Prismacolor colored pencils. I was only going to paint a house and trees at the bottom, but it turned into a church and a graveyard. I keep seeing Pet Sematary stuff and maybe that influenced me.

The Humiliations of Pipi McGee by Beth Vrabel

This is a powerful story of an 8th-grade girl, Pipi going through a lot of stuff at school and at home.

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She’s holding onto many embarrassments from her past school years and is having a hard time letting go, to the point of being in a negative mindset toward the classmates who have been laughing at her, treating her like she is a virus, and being mean to her (in her eyes at least) since kindergarten, even feeling anger and jealousy toward the ones who haven’t really done that much to her, like Sarah who seems genuinely nice.

Pipi sees Sarah as a bad guy when the book starts because she is best friends and cousins with her main bully Kara. Pipi has to open her eyes and realize that there is more to people than what she sees. She is so focused on all the mishaps that happened to her over the years that she never realized everyone around her are having them as well.

She is so caught up in her humiliations that she thinks she needs to save younger children from having any. She has to realize when she tries to help the younger kids, she is taking away who these kids are and Pipi needs to learn who she herself really is!

There is a full range of emotion being expressed in this book and I enjoyed it fully. I love how funny it can be, but it can be just as sad as it can be hilarious. Annie, who is Pipi's niece, is the funniest 4-year old I've ever read about. This is a fast paced book. It has such heart and a scene or two made me tear up.

This book has every diverse group you could think of (small exaggeration, maybe?) and it works. It doesn’t feel too forced. I’m glad we’re starting to get more diverse children books.

I want to point out that Pipi's school has a strict dress code and it might be a sore spot for some people who are going through or did go through it. It's a very sexist mindset that our schools have. It’s the whole “she was wearing *that* so she was asking for it.” The girls have so many rules, but the boys rules are “must be clean and neat.” It is even quoted in the book that the girls are a distraction to the boys.

There is also some homophobia in this book, so be aware of that going in if that is a topic that would hit close to home.

The book is real. It’s raw. The ending packs a punch. It really tugged at my heartstrings. It’s not just a children book. It is and should be important for all ages.

I really loved this book.

Screechers by Kevin J. Kennedy & Christina Bergling

*This was kindly provided by the author for an honest review. Thank you for the chance to read your story!*

 

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Imagine you were the last of your kind and how you would feel. The authors describe this feeling very well, painting a vivid picture, with beauty and sadness. There is no dialogue when we are in the “Screechers” point of view because they do not talk like we do. The descriptions of the creatures are enough. Normally, I get bored and lose focus on description heavy passages, but these are action-packed and written in such a way that I am never bored.

The writing style is great; It did have a repetitive phrase that I found took me out of the story each time I noticed it, but other than that, I’m thoroughly impressed with this little novella.

I 100% genuinely love this story. It was part gross (in a good way), part heartbreaking, but also full of heart, hope and made me smile. The story itself is fast paced and easy to sink your teeth into. I really enjoyed it and hope to read many more from the two authors involved.

 

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Phil Beachler did the cover art. It is amazing!

Primal Waters (Meg #3) by Steve Alten

Primal Waters - Steve Alten

TW: Because yes, this will have triggers, like the first two. Misogyny, implied/mentioned sex between adults and underage girls, suicide is mentioned, abortion is mentioned, slut and fat-shaming (blink and you might miss the slut-shaming, but it is there.)

 

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You can go into a vintage horror (or any genre) novel and expect some dark and nasty stuff, including how females are treated, and hey, maybe you even like those books, despite the problematic elements. Those books were a product of the time.  I'm honestly not judging your taste in books, because I read them, too. It is nice to be able to turn your brain off sometimes.

That being said, the way females are treated in this book just doesn't make sense. Because it is about killer sharks, does that mean it is marketed toward men and that is why all the girls are treated like eye candy, along with underage eye candy to boot? It is just cringy how Terry is described. (The Asian beauty with almond eyes.)

I wasn't even at the 30% point and already suicide was mentioned, two instances of underage sex mentioned (with an adult) and one instance of what seems like a forced abortion (man paying for and probably making the underage girl abort her baby), and a cheating scumbag. (And later on in the book there are slut and fat-shaming.) Oh, and of course some shark kills! Which is the real reason read these, right?

 

Why in the world would Jonas let his underage daughter be one of the "Candy Girls" without even saying a word of protest?


“I was hoping you might be able to use Dani behind the scenes, you know, assisting the film crew . . . something to keep her busy.”

“Behind the scenes?” Erik laughs. “Your daughter’s eye-candy, Professor, and we can never have too much of that. Dani, as soon as you get settled, come find me and I’ll hook you up with wardrobe. They’ll pick out some nice bikinis, maybe a few after-hour numbers. We’ll pay you to be one of our Candy Girls, my pet name for our Daredevil groupies.”

“Excellent.” Danielle’s gloating smile tweaks her father’s blood pressure.

 

Also, I can do without shaming people for having body hair. It was just a silly and unneeded line.


"God, I miss California. If I date one more woman with hairy legs, I think I’ll—"

***

 

Erik points to the bow where a cocoa-brown African-American woman in a white thong bikini is posing before a photographer and two cameramen. “Not much of an actress, but who cares, she makes—”

“I know, great eye-candy.”

So, we have an almond-eyed Asian beauty and now a cocoa-brown African American...can't we describe POC without using food? And you don't have to keep reminding us that Terry's Asian as well. We remember! (Later on, there is an olive-skinned Italian as well.)

I saw someone call these books "Shallow Entertainment" and they sure are that! I notice that he really likes to go into detail of describing how a female looks, using words like "shapely" a lot. Also, I noticed he points out skin color and eye color of the females often, but only one time did he mention the eye color of a man. I wonder why it is? So we know what eye color the females have when we fantasize about them? I mean, he writes them like "Eye Candy!"

The girls on the boat are even called "Candy Girls" by the camera crew. It is basically "Girl's Gone Wild" with stupid daredevil stunts that get people killed. How has this film crew not been sued and how are they allowed to show the deaths on tv?

I've never watched the real Girl's Gone Wild, but this book is similar to the Piranha (2010) movie, if you remember the GGW film crew, well, yeah, this book is like that, but with some hungry sharks and people who don't use their brains. Of course, the sex and nudity in this are not graphic or anything, but you get what I mean. That is because Steve does a lot of telling, and not showing.


All the people in this book that get put in danger (and end up getting killed) are getting what they deserve. I would never say that about a real-life situation, toward a real victim, but seriously, these characters have bricks for brains.


The camera, still looped around his neck, bounces against his chest—
—calling out his name.
Brian stares at temptation, his fear momentarily subsiding. 'The whale’s dying. Angel’s got to be circling below, waiting to feed again. One shot, just a quick one before you lose the light, then get to shore as fast as you can.' He stops paddling, allowing the kayak to drift as he glances back at Charlie. 'Calm and steady and the Meg won’t even know you’re here. One great shot of her next attack, just one killer shot.'

'Sorry Charlie, but that’s life in the food chain. Damn, this looks good. Okay, Angel, one more time for Daddy while we still have the light. Definitely a cover shot on National Geographic, maybe even Time . . .'

 

This is why I root for the shark!

 

A certain thing keeps happening in this book and jarring me out of the story. Steve Alten has a broken way of writing what are supposed to be suspenseful moments. Personally, I don't like this style. I don't know how to describe it, so I will show you.

Balancing atop the wall, he runs back to the arena and the safety of the bleachers as fast as he can—
—nitrogen bubbling in his bloodstream.

Fergie bounds over another swell and pulls hard on his control strut—
—as a powerful updraft catches the kite.

Losing the wind, he plummets—a seabird with clipped wings—
—as the Megalodon breeches, its head rising at him like a missile, its jaws yawning open, offering an impossible target to miss.

Devin flees—
—only to be confronted by an even bigger nightmare.

This way of writing might be fine if it only happened a couple of times, but it is littered throughout the whole book.

One last thing I want to add about Dani, which is a spoiler-ish.

Dani starts off as a teenage spoiled brat; there is no way to say it nicely. I liked how she grew and eventually stopped being such a pain, and she and her father started to see eye to eye again.

(show spoiler)


Don't get me wrong, despite my complaints, I really do like these books. As I said, it is nice to turn your brain off and enjoy some B movie type books.

 

I'm in the mood for "Creature Features" [Please Recommend!]

Can anyone recommend some "Creature Feature" books along the lines of Jaws, the Meg series, Jurassic Park, Congo, The Hatching, Skitter...etc.

 

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By creature, I mean animal, bug, alien, mythical, killer plant, you name it. Creature verses humans sort of thing. Cheesy B movie types welcome. All age ranges welcome (children to adult) Short story, novella or full length novels all welcome.

 

Feel free to promo your own book, but please include a couple other recommendations, too! I do do read and reviews, but I'm honestly nobody here (hah) and bookstagram. Lol Though my Instagram is leighas_life and I have over 100 followers, though lets be honest, half are probably spam. :/

 

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Thank you!

 

 

The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone

[Spider phobia warning]

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I liked it but was bored with all the unneeded backstory of every character, even the minor ones who are just there to be killed. It was annoying how shallow this book was. It's about killer spiders, yet everyone is talking about how good looking they are and how their sex life is.

I've never been a huge fan of books with a lot of POV changes and there were so many characters that it was hard to know who is who. Too many to really feel an attachment to, so I felt nothing when they were killed.

The spider scenes were creepy and if you have a phobia, I'm sure it would be horrifying, but I would not say this book is horror at all. The first 100 pages felt like they were dragging and I couldn't help feeling bored. After a very intense scene with a rich man in an airplane (you know the one if you read the book), the whole book got a lot better.

However, the book ended with a boring cliffhanger, which was more annoying than anything. A lot of things went unanswered in the first book, so we can only hope the next book answers them and they don't end up being plot holes.


I'm currently reading the next book, Skitter and I'm liking it a lot better!

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276264-the-hatching

Dear Angie, Your Family is Getting a Divorce

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Trigger warning! Rape culture, racist undertones, religion

 

There is a scene of guys trying to smoke the girls out of a shed. Just guys being guys, of course. You see, they had a problem and needed the girls. Horrifying in itself, but what adds to the grossness is that some girls invited the main character Angie and her friend to the party for the sole purpose of them being for the boys "to get to know."

 

I don't want to assume, but what else were those boys going to do to those girls, but assault them, even rape them? If they were willing to go so far as to smoke them out of the shed; they REALLY wanted Angie and her friend Cris. Also, another disgusting thing is that they seemed to have a fetish for "the Mexican one" and Angie was just there as an extra.

I do think the boys would have hurt Angie and Cris had they not got out of the back of the shed. The shed catches on fire and now the boys are worried about being arrested. Ugh! It's brushed off as not a serious thing. This book is written like it's meant for middle grade.

This book is also highly religious, which I find odd that a book so much about God, trusting in the Lord, praying and stuff had such disgusting rape culture scenes, let alone had them and just let it go like it never happened. If you're not a religious person, I think some of the things they say about sin and relationships (divorce...etc) might upset you, or trigger you. I don't always know where I stand in the religious front and I really felt uncomfortable reading this.

This book had the mindset that you can pray everything away. It doesn't work that way. It is lovely to have someone to believe in and if prayer comforts you, that is great.

I don't think the book handles mental health well, either.

 

As far as writing style. It was a quick easy read, but it was sometimes phrased oddly and sometimes it felt like Angie just thought random things that had nothing to do with the plot. I don't know if that is because of it being so old or something else.

 

"I want to tell you about Cristella and her family. They are part Mexican. They live and talk just like anybody's family." Well of course they do!

"I will say this about Mary Jane. She is more "up" compared to what I am. She is a girl you could see in car with a high school boy right off." What does "up" even mean? What I do understand here is that we're basically slut-shaming an 8th grader?

"Also, she was forever and a day asking me if there weren't "any other little girls in my class besides Cristella." She didn't mind Cristella the way you may think--like some people don't like Mexicans or whatever." Why did this line even need to be put in the book?

 

**This book is so obscure that I had to add the info into Goodreads, picture, summary. I've had it since I was 12. The proof is inside the cover where I wrote my name, age and phone number. What was I thinking!? I read this at least once as a kid. It is so interesting to see what books you read that nowadays nobody has a clue about. Also kind of sad.

(However since I've now reread it, maybe this one can stay hidden...)

**

Do You Follow Bookish Instagrams? (Bookstagram)

This is my Instagram. Leighas_Life <----- click here!

 

I would be happy if anyone wanted to follow me. I post mostly bookish photos and those being vintage, 90s and earlier. An eclectic mix. I don't believe in an age range for books. I will read anything. Horror, romance, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, middle grade, YA, children, "easy" books, hard books, adult books, manga, even picture books, you name it.

 

There are some more modern books, too and random non-book photos now and again. 99% books bought used for $1! I have a large collection I've been collecting since I was a kid, so even though I post every day that does not mean we go out and buy books every day! haha

 

Examples of content:

 

 

Two short stories [Review]

Billy's Zombie by

 

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13 page

 

A young boy decides to enact revenge on the people who he thinks do not like him by raising a zombie and you know the rest... (well, you know what zombies do at least.)

 

My review for this is simple: If only this had been at least novella length. I liked the story, but there just wasn't enough there to hook me. If it was better fleshed out, I would consider giving the author another chance.

 

The Legend of the Zombie by

 

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32 pages

 

I would give the artwork 4 stars. I liked the art style a lot.

I started this thinking it was a comic book. It is sort of one, but more of a mixture of picture book/comic. There is more text than would be in a simple picture book. Age range doesn't matter for me as I'll read anything, but I have no idea who they were trying to publish this for. The artwork might grab a person's attention, but the words were too boring. It is presented as a fact book about where the term zombie came from, which could have been done in a really entertaining way.

 

 

[Here is an example of the artwork.]

 

I ended up giving both stories a 2/5.

 

I used Scribd (Billy's Zombie) and Amazon FreeTime Unlimted (The Legend of the Zombie) to read these. Both have free trials avalible!

 

I'm paying $8.99 for Scribd. Not bad! You can get 2 months free here: Trial

 

FreeTime is for the kids in the family, but I will read from it, too. Heck, I'm a big kid! $4.99 or $2.99 if you have Prime.

Two FREE month trial of Scribd!

Honestly, Scribd is the best. It has audiobooks, ebooks and more for one low monthly price of $8.99, but of course if you sign up through my link, you can try it for FREE for two months. It would mean a lot if you gave it a try.

 

Scribd has everything, from bestsellers, to old and new books and just a large collection in general. Just at a glance, I can see that they do have some new releases as well. I went to one of my  "want to read" list on Goodreads and found a bunch of those books on Scribd! It's pretty amazing.

 

https://www.scribd.com/gt/4zt6yx 

 

I recently enjoyed: 

Highly creepy novella, disturbing, but also sad and heartbreaking for several reasons. A trigger warning kind of book.

suicide attempt, mentions rape, baby death, talks about abortion...etc.

(show spoiler)

 

I've also enjoyed several R L Stine books through Scribd, some Karin Slaughter, VC Andrews & much more!

 

I am looking forward to listening to:

 

Mr Rogers & LeVar Burton!? (He's the guy from Reading Rainbow...two things from my childhood coming together.)

 

 

**Signing up through my link doesn't give me $, but it does help toward my subscription fee.**

Everything Leads Back To Alice

 

 

 

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Tw: attempted suicide, mentions rape, among other highly disturbing content. Click if you want more detailed trigger spoilers

dead child/infant, maybe don't read this if you are a new parent or very sensitive to this sort of thing

(show spoiler)

 



Freaky. Fast paced, edge of your seat kind of novella. I did not see the ending coming. I knew something was wrong with the one character, but not that. This is also sad and heartbreaking in more ways than one. Not for faint of heart. There are parts that are confusing. It jumps from POV and from the past and present a lot. At the end, everything made sense.

I had the ebook version from Scribd and the format was wonky, so that might account for some of my confusion.

Guy moves in, everyone wants to date him. Murders start happening. Who dun it?
Guy moves in, everyone wants to date him. Murders start happening. Who dun it?

My current read for The R L Stine Challenge Group I'm in on Goodreads. It started as a year long Fear Street group buddy read, but we're on our second year and opened up to any book by R L Stine! We've got our books picked for the rest of the year; mostly still Fear Street (there is a lot to go through!) The group is in the Horror Aficionados group in the buddy reads section if you're interested in joining!
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The New Boy - [1994]
He stole their hearts…Does he want their lives, too?

What a hunk! When handsome, mysterious Ross Gabriel comes to Shadyside High, all the girls want to date him…even the ones who already have boyfriends! Janie, Eve and Faith go so far as to make a bet…which one of them will he go out with first?

But then the murders begin, and it starts to look like dating Ross means flirting with a gruesome and untimely death. Will Janie’s dream date with Ross turn out to be the night of her life? Or the night of her death?

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19132611-r-l-stine-challenge?page=1

Letting Books Go!

As part of uncluttering my mind, I want to unclutter my space, Marie Kondo style. Her method is called the KonMari Method. It is where you look at something and ask if it sparks joy. Joy = you keep it. No feeling/no joy = you thank it and pass it along.
 
Bookish people (mostly on Twitter) are coming at Marie Kondo because of a misquote and a joke someone made with her picture saying "Ideally, keep fewer than 30 books." She actually said, “I now keep my collection of books to about thirty volumes at any one time.” That is what she likes for herself!
 
I did the KonMarie method today with the help of my husband and took a hard look at my growing book collection. I come to a decision to cull over half my collection, if not more. Not because Marie Kondo told me to, but because I know that I am never going to read half these books. I've had them for years without touching them, some I didn't like, some I DNF'd, and some I doubt I will ever reread. My husband did the same with his books.
 
We went through 10ish boxes and ended up culling 7 boxes worth!
 
We made a new rule that the only physical books we are going to buy used are the things we are actively collecting and no more buying random books, with the exception of being 80s & 90s (and earlier) books, though I will be pickier. (Rare books, hard to find and libraries will not have them.)
 
I got rid of a bunch of books that I can easily get at the library if I decide I want to read them later on. We are already picky about the new books we buy because we can't buy full price books often. We still have a lot more books to go through! haha
 
I'm not getting rid of every unread book or everything I've read and may not read again. I'm keeping things that have true sentimental value and nostalgic stuff because I LOVE going back to my younger self and rereading nostalgic books. That sparks joy!
 
Some series I am actively collecting are: (For the curious)
 
 
The Babysitter's Club
Goosebumps
Fear Street
Other R L Stine books
Animorphs
Sweet Valley High
The Alice books (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor)
Buffy, Angel, Charmed books
Nancy Drew
The Hardy Boys
Boxcar Children
Several cheesy teen horror authors (Christopher Pike, Joan Lowery Nixon...etc)
Cheesy teen horror novels in general from the 80s/90s era
The type of books you would find in Paperbacks From Hell and Paperback Crush (so 70s,80s,90s horror and children/teenage stuff.)
 
There are more but those are the things I think are most recognized. It seems like a lot, but it is a very slow growing collection and I end up getting the books from $1 to $3 at the Half Price Book Store.
 
No matter how old I get, I still read and enjoy the above books. The nostalgic factor might be one of the reasons, but so what! Some would consider some of these books badly written nowadays, but it is like I can turn off a switch and overlook cheesy storylines, plot holes and "bad writing" Most of the books above would probably be considered "guilty pleasure" books for adults to read, but I don't use that word.
 
They are comfort reads.
(show spoiler)
 
 
Do you unhaul books easily or is it like pulling teeth? That is how it is for me, even if I didn't like the book that much. I know it is boarding on hoarding tendencies because it shouldn't be so hard to donate a book you hated, or a book you know you'll never read.