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My First John Green Book Goes… Fine?
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green My rating: 3.5/5 The first few pages reminded me of a short story I wrote in second grade, “The Bossy Bell.” This made me think that I wouldn’t relate to the main characters much. I was wrong in some ways. Daisy, while being an insane Star Wars fan (Chewie & Rey? Really?), I relate to how she feels about friendships in general. As well as fanfiction. I also quite liked Davis. I would also not like someone who made fun of Ironman. With these characters, it feels like I should like this book a bit more. I just wasn’t a big fan…
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New Vampire Books For Us To Be Obsessed With!
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent My rating: 5/5 “So many mistakes in the end,” he choked out. “Never you.” I am obsessed with this story, and I CANNOT wait for the next one as I cannot wait to see where it is going. The world-building and plot (after the first few chapters) were perfect, and the characters were complex, likeable, and very well-written. This book screams this line; “The world was not easy or straightforward. Goodness was never pure or simple.” Raihn was such a complicated love interest who holds onto secrets so well but has those amazing moments that get you excited to keep…
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Disappointing Books #1 of 2023
This Blood that Binds Us by S.L. Cokeley My rating: 2/5 I will admit I did buy this because of TikTok and the beautiful cover. It helps that I usually love anything to do with vampires. Unfortunately, this book read like the type of YA Wattpad books that I get bored of. (I do like some Wattpad books, just not this type). The pace and world-building honestly didn’t make sense. What was their goal? To be on the run or lead a normal life because they didn’t seem urgent enough about any of it. This was found family that did not make sense. The brothers seemed too close to allow…
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Taylor Jenkins Reid – A Genius? *Spoilers for Daisy Jones & The Six*
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid My rating: 4/5 “Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.” I think the best thing about this book is the phenomenal way Taylor Jenkins Reid writes insufferable characters, yet you still want to find out what happens to every single one of them. This story is written in such an interesting way that you either love it or hate it. I loved it and found it very easy to follow, and I loved the world-building elements that it created. However, I did not like the part with the author. It took too much away from the…
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Great NEW Fantasy Series
A Curse of Blood & Stone by K.A. Tucker My rating: 4/5 “I can’t live in this world if it’s not with you by my side.” This book was a great suggestion from Kobo, of all places. It had a great found family element and a phenomenal 2nd chance love. The spice level was only at a 2, so many different groups of people would enjoy this. ACOBAS was easy to read and pretty enjoyable all the way through. I personally loved the world-building pace, but I thought the narrative pace was a bit slow. The stand out for this book is the introduction of many secondary characters that I…
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Moon & Back Gallery
In May 2022, I visited the Moon & Back Gallary in Richmond with some friends from grad school. I had been wanting to visit for years, but crossing two bridges is hard to convince my friends to do… especially just to “take pictures.” But luckily, it is easier to convince those not originally from Vancouver to do some fun Vancouver things. There were more rooms than I expected! On the website, it shows ten or so, and there were tiny photo areas around as well as the big room. It wasn’t that busy, so there wasn’t much waiting involved (thank you reservations), and the place was very clean. You get…
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Audiobook Distribution: Where Should You Self-Publish Your Audiobook?
During a class (Publishing Technology Project) in my Masters of Publishing at SFU, I focused my time on audiobook production. Doing this project sparked my interest in audiobook distribution and how someone who self-publishes can include their self-published books in audiobook publishing. My main questions are: Where can you self-publish your audiobooks? How self-published can they be? Should you self-publish your audiobooks? To answer the last question, it really depends. You have to answer a few questions of your own first, specifically, do you have the money and do you have the time. Creating an audiobook is extremely time-consuming, and if you are doing everything yourself, you may save on money,…
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How Disney+ Killed the Disney Vault
The Disney Vault has existed since before VHS (Video Home System), and yes, even though Disney+ killed the Disney Vault marketing strategy, the vault itself is still very much a real place. Disney ending the vault marketing strategy gave Disney+ a massive boost in the “streaming wars” as a reporter from The Verge describes it. By killing the vault program and pulling all of their content from other streaming services, Disney has given Disney+ access to their long backlist titles, even those not included in the rerelease cycles. As Chris Anderson explains in the Wired article, Long Tail “misses” make money too, and since we have moved on from marketing…
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Why Publishers Should Switch To The Cloud If They Haven’t Already
What is The Cloud? The Cloud is software that runs on the internet rather than locally on your computer, and a provider usually hosts it. Examples of this are Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox (Cha 2015), but The Cloud also includes social media and streaming services like Netflix. In publishing, these software systems are usually “referred to as SaaS: software as a service” (Shatzkin 2012). SaaS is possible because of virtualization (the act of creating something virtual), such as in this case, digital-only computers that acts without their own hardware (Cloudflare). Since systems on “The Cloud” run online, all you need is a login and internet, meaning…
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“Diversity” in Traditional Canadian Publishing
The Mandates Have Changed Why Haven’t We? “Diversity is a standard that has to be lived up to in practice, not an empty buzzword” (Shraya 2019). There is no arguing that diversity is needed in books, whether it is already there or not. BookNet Canada shares that in a 2021 survey, “41% of respondents said that they feel that at least one dimension of their identity is not represented by the dominant group at least some of the time” (BookNet Canada 2021). An upsetting infographic created by David Huyck and Sarah Park Dahlen and shared in the Huffpost article; Kids Books Still Have A Lack-Of-Diversity Problem, Powerful Image Shows. In this graphic, we…