Never Enough Shelf Space: Graphic Novels

Showing posts with label Graphic Novels. Show all posts

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Cover Characteristic: Keys

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic.

Top 5 Best Book Covers: August 2015

Top 5 Best Book Covers is monthly meme created by The Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The rules are simple: on the first Saturday of every month, post your 5 favorite books covers that are being released in the current month!

#1
MECHANICA
Author: Tera Lynn Childs (Twitter)
Genre(s): YA, Steampunk, Fairytale Retold
Release Date: August 4, 2015

Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home.

But on her sixteenth birthday, Nicolette discovers a secret workshop in the cellar and begins to dare to imagine a new life for herself. Could the mysterious books and tools hidden there—and the mechanical menagerie, led by a tiny metal horse named Jules—be the key to escaping her dreary existence? With a technological exposition and royal ball on the horizon, the timing might just be perfect for Nicolette to earn her freedom at last.

Gorgeous prose and themes of social justice and family shine in this richly imagined Cinderella retelling about an indomitable inventor who finds her prince . . . but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all.

Quickie Review: Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley

SECONDS
Author: Bryan Lee O'Malley (Twitter)

Genres: Graphic Novels

Format: Hardback (Amazon)

Length: 323 pages

Release Date: July 15, 2014

Reading Challenges: 2015 Goodreads Challenge

Katie’s got it pretty good. She’s a talented young chef, she runs a successful restaurant, and she has big plans to open an even better one. Then, all at once, progress on the new location bogs down, her charming ex-boyfriend pops up, her fling with another chef goes sour, and her best waitress gets badly hurt. And just like that, Katie’s life goes from pretty good to not so much. What she needs is a second chance. Everybody deserves one, after all—but they don’t come easy. Luckily for Katie, a mysterious girl appears in the middle of the night with simple instructions for a do-it-yourself do-over:

1. Write your mistake
2. Ingest one mushroom
3. Go to sleep
4. Wake anew

And just like that, all the bad stuff never happened, and Katie is given another chance to get things right. She’s also got a dresser drawer full of magical mushrooms—and an irresistible urge to make her life not just good, but perfect. Too bad it’s against the rules. But Katie doesn’t care about the rules—and she’s about to discover the unintended consequences of the best intentions.

I really enjoyed his book. It was a great introduction to graphic novels outside of Manga. I thought the story was cute and inventive, if not completely realized. I think the plot had some holes, but surprisingly it didn't stop it from being an engaging read. Katie's strange attitude got on my nerves a bit; I liked her inner monologue a lot more than her and chuckled when it made fun of her. Overall, I thought it was a good cautionary tale on consequences and not looking for easy fixes, growing up, yada, yada, yada.