You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by: Akwaeke Emezi

Genre: Romance, Contemporary 

Published: May 24, 2022 by: Atria Books 

Pages: 288 

Rating: 4/5 stars 

CW: death of a spouse, PTSD 

It's been five years since visual artist Feyi Adekola's spouse was killed in a car accident, and Feyi is coping as best as she can. She feels ready to try and see if she can get a second chance at love, and after she has a flirty encounter with a man named Nasir, she thinks that maybe loving again is possible. Nasir invites Feyi to a luxury island where is his father Alim works as a celebrity chef. While there, Feyi's art career flourishes with opportunity, and she is immediately charmed by Nasir's family. However, things get complicated when Feyi begins to grow closer to Alim as they bond over shared grief, and Feyi begins to question the relationship she has formed with Nasir. 

When I heard that Akwaeke Emezi was writing a romance, I was intrigued. Emezi is known for their powerful, soulful writing, though often these tales come with unimaginable sorrow and trauma. This book seemed a little bit lighter while still dealing with some tough themes, and I thought the island setting would make it perfect for summer. I was definitely not disappointed, as the book definitely has Emezi's distinctive, poetic prose. However, I think most people will find the romance in this book a bit dividing, as I certainly did. 

I think it was really unique of Emezi to have her main character be a widow. I don't read a ton of romance books where the main character is a widow trying to find love again, but I think this detail introduces a whole different layer to the character and makes the stakes surrounding the romance all the more complex. I appreciated seeing how Feyi grapples with wanting to learn to live again, while also not wanting to forget her past love behind. Her and Alim bond as they have both lost past loves, and I think seeing people share grief with one another can be an incredibly healing process. 

This book has a lot of wonderous food imagery, as well as takes place in a luxurious island setting. Emezi wastes no time in filling the page with delicious food and a glorious setting that really helped to make this book an easy to get through read. Since the island is in the Caribbean, I got introduced to a bunch of different foods and flavours that I was not familiar with, and I think setting this book on an island when the book was released right before summer was a smart move. This book definitely set the vibe of  a summer romance really well, and the food imagery was a nice added touch. 

The book begins by introducing Feyi as a woman whose soulmate is her best friend Joy. I definitely don't want to count out Joy, as she was a very welcome addition to the book. Joy has helped Feyi through thick and thin, and their friendship was so supportive and healthy. I think showing platonic soulmates within a romance book is such a unique but important feature, as oftentimes romances can kind of push the friend characters to the side. However, Joy is a ride or die friend to Feyi, and honestly they may have been the most important relationship to the book. 

This book functioning as a romance can be very polarizing to some people. I have seen folks criticize the romance as unhealthy, or people characterize Feyi as being a shitty person because of the feelings that she develops. I really don't want to give much away as I think this is a book that you just have to read and form your own opinions on, but by reading the synopsis and other reviews, it's no secret that the romance in this book is complicated. Thus, my opinions on the romance are complicated. Do I think the romance was unhealthy? No. Do I think Feyi is a bad person? No. Nobody is perfect, and Feyi is learning and growing as she continues to deal with her PTSD after her spouses' death. However, I don't know if I could completely root for the romance in this book. I think if I were involved in the situation myself I would have a really, really hard time rooting for the romance. Like I said, you just have to read it to know what I'm talking about, but at the end of the day, I couldn't give this book five stars because I just wasn't sure if I was wholly supportive of the romantic relationship. I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but it's...complicated. 

Overall, I would recommend this book because I need to know other people's opinions on it. I think it is definitely worth reading for its setting and food imagery, and I think even reading the romance side of it will leave people thinking, which is a good thing! 

Have you read You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

2022 Year in Review

2023 is here, and will take some getting used to. I'm still writing 2022 when I have to date something. But, I thought it would be fun to recap the bookish, blogish, and life things that happened for me in 2022. Some things were awesome, some things were tough, but overall, I can say that it was a good year. 

Bookish Stuff: 

I went over to my Goodreads stats to recap the reading I did in 2022. Overall I read 142 books, which beat my goal of 100. 41,328 pages were read, with my shortest book being a Captain America comic book at 23 pages, and the longest being The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald at 848 pages. My average book length was 291, which seems fair. I tend to go for books under 300 pages, I am not the biggest fan of longer books. 

The most shelved book I read was The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, which was shelved by over 1.6 million readers. This makes sense, as I know the book went viral on tik tok. My least shelved book was Original Sins by Matt Rowland Hill, which was a queer memoir only shelved by 33 people. I encourage folks to pick up lesser known queer authors! 

Overall, my average rating for books was 3.6/5 which I suppose is alright, though I would like to get closer to an average of 4 stars for 2023. I want to read more books that I know I'll like, and I don't want to force myself to read books I know I'll hate just to give into the hype. 

My favourite book of the year will be incredibly hard to pinpoint. But I think if I absolutely had to choose, I would select The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. Now this would have been a reread in 2022; I first read the book in 2020 and then again in 2021. But, this was the year that I wrote my major research paper for my masters degree, and I wrote the paper on The Marrow Thieves. A lot of hard work and stress went into this paper, but I was overall so happy with the results. It seems only fitting to select this book because it has resonated with me for years, so much so that in 2022 I decided to dedicate a study to it. I suppose this book will always mean a lot to me as it helped me earn a degree, and I'll be forever grateful for its impact. 

Blogish Stuff: 

I stayed fairly consistent with blogging this year, with a few breaks sprinkled in here and there to account for vacations, mental health, and school. I posted 43 posts which I am proud of, with a good mix of discussions and reviews. I think this year I would like to get more on top of reviewing, as I feel like I am very behind on books I'd like to get reviewed and this blog is at its core, a reviewing blog. But, I also want to blog hop more. I am loyal to a few blogs that I absolutely adore, but I find myself not really searching out new blogs as much. While I know a lot of folks don't blog as often anymore, I would like to dedicate some time to finding some new blogs to follow this year. If you have any blog recommendations, please do share them! 

Life Stuff: 

As mentioned before, in 2022 I graduated with a masters degree in English. I made a lot of new friends within my program, which really helped strengthen my mental health this year. I found it really difficult to make friends in undergrad, but forging new relationships was something I was really proud of doing in 2022. 

As expected, 2022 had peaks and valleys in terms of mental and even physical health. For example, I got COVID for the first time in 2022! But, I stayed on top of my medication, continued to go to therapy, and continue to celebrate the good moments. This year I want to try to seek out things that may be uncomfortable, but that I know will help expose me to my fears. I don't want to let my panic hold me back from fun opportunities, and hopefully I can find the fun in things that initially seem uncomfortable. 

In 2023, I hope to begin a PhD. This sounds so scary to say at the beginning of the year, but I want to continue studying Indigenous Literatures and move on to a new chapter in my life. I hope that I can continue finding new opportunities to strengthen my learning, and meet new people along the way. 

So, that was my 2022! I think I accomplished a lot, though I also understand that no year is perfect. How was your year? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Indians on Vacation by: Thomas King

Genre: Fiction 

Published: August 25, 2020 

Pages: 288 

Rating: 4/5 stars 

CW: discussions of inter-generational trauma and violence towards Indigenous Peoples, some medical-related imagery 

Bird and Mimi are a middle-aged Indigenous couple who have decided to take a trip to Europe in search of Mimi's long-lost uncle. They spend most of their time in the historical city of Prague, but Bird's continuous health problems and the couple's general annoyance towards each other does threaten to get in the way of a good time. As Bird and Mimi make their way throughout the city and others within the continent, they try to reconcile their personal feelings of each other, and their political values with what was supposed to be a vacation to remember. 

This was the first Thomas King book I've read, but he is well-known as an iconic Indigenous author and a writer whose use of humour in his books is unmatched. I actually read this book over the summertime, and I usually like to read vacation books during the warmer months. Most vacation books I read tend to be from non-Indigenous authors, so the thought of reading a book that doubles as Indigenous Literature and a vacation read interested me. I was definitely not disappointed by King's transformation of the setting and his quick-witted dialogue. 

A big plus for me was that the majority of this book takes place in Prague. I've been fortunate to go to Prague before and I fell in love with the city. Its medieval architecture really captivated me. But, I have never read a book set in Prague so I was very curious to see King's representation of the city. King definitely captured the accuracy of Prague, with Bird and Mimi visiting well-known landmarks and adding their own funny opinions towards what they're seeing. The book almost reads like a tour map of Prague, as Bird and Mimi make their way through the city, documenting what they see and how they personally view the landmarks. 

I've mentioned before that this book is a bit funny and witty, and I definitely felt for poor Bird and Mimi during some of their more less fortunate moments. King really plays up the fact that Bird and Mimi at their current ages experience a bit more aches and pains, and Bird especially is dealing with travelling while having some diabetes related problems. But, Bird chooses to tackle this pain with humour and sarcasm towards his current situation, which I think most people in his situation would do. Similarly, the couple do tend to bicker like an old married couple, which reminded me of my own parents and grandparents and I think most people who've been married for some time could relate to this. Overall, I fell in love with these two characters and would love to follow them through more of their adventures. 

While this book tends to mostly not take itself too seriously, King does also choose to include some discussions related to inter-generational trauma, colonialism, and especially, an Indigenous person's opinions towards Europe. Bird and Mimi enjoy travelling, but they also understand the complicated and quite frankly violent relationship between Europe and Indigenous Peoples. King definitely does not hold back in terms of discussing how travelling can also become political, and I like how despite this being a mostly humorous book, King makes a conscious decision to still educate readers on issues facing Indigenous Peoples. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a five star read for me, simply because I just don't think it gripped me as much as some other books have, but I really didn't have any major issues with it. I think it's a great vacation read for those wanting something a bit different, and also a bit educational too. 

Have you read Indians on Vacation? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: December

Happy New Year everyone! My year in review will be out in a few weeks, but for now, let's recap December: 

What I Read: 

Under the Whispering Door by: T.J. Klune: 4/5 stars 

A Minor Chorus by: Billy-Ray Belcourt: 4/5 stars 

Moon of the Crusted Snow by: Waubgeshig Rice: 4/5 stars 

mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling edited by: Neal McLeod: 4/5 stars 

Favourite book: This month, every book had the same rating! So, how did I choose a favourite? I went with Moon of the Crusted Snow, because that book could have easily been a five star read if not for the ending. A review will be soon to come. It was a great apocalyptic book by an Indigenous author, but ugh, I just wish the ending had some finishing touches. 

What I Blogged: 

I posted a list of Books I Have My Eye On To Buy in the New Year. This was a fun list to write as it includes some picks that have been on my wishlist for a while, and some new releases I am excited about. 

Favourite Posts of the Month: 

Sofia reads Other People's Favourite Books 

Roberta Returns to Blogging 

I noticed that my blogging reading list has become a little thin since people are taking hiatuses, and some have left the blogging world. So, this is an appeal. If you have a bookish blog recommendation, please send them my way! 

Life Stuff: 

Christmas was good, albeit the weather was kinda stressful. We got slammed with a snowstorm on December 23rd, and we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it back home to spend time with family at all. Luckily the roads cleared just enough for us to make it home by Christmas Eve, and we had a lovely time. 

I was really happy seeing my family open up the presents I gave them, and overall everyone (including myself) were very grateful for the gifts received. Now I am preparing for the New Year, in which I return to being a teaching assistant for my university. I'm excited for the new position, which will be a welcome distraction from working on PhD applications. New Year, New Changes! That's for certain. 

So, that was my December! How was yours? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Books I Have My Eye On To Buy in the New Year!

Every Christmas I usually get a few Chapters gift cards that I use to do a book buying spree. (By spree I mean two or three books, which is a lot for me since I don't typically buy books). Anyways, my criteria for books I buy depends on the cover is nice or if the author is one I like to support. Sometimes, I will prioritize new, hyped releases as well. I thought it might be fun to list some books I've been thinking of buying during my annual shop, to see if other folks deem these books worthy of purchasing. 

1. Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by: R.F. Kuang 

I've seen this book hyped on pretty much every social media platform. I know of Kuang through her Poppy War series, which to be honest, I haven't read only because I am very picky with fantasies. However, I do think this book with its commentary on racism and colonization sounds super interesting, and so many people have been raving about it. I'm not opposed to picking it up, but a book of this length is definitely outside of my comfort zone. 

Goodreads Link

2. The Sunbearer Trials by: Aiden Thomas 

This is a book I am fairly confident I'll love. It's the first book in a Hunger Games-inspired series by well-loved author Aiden Thomas, an author who is an auto-buy writer for me. I am definitely leaning towards picking this book up in the near future. 

Goodreads Link 

3. Icebreaker by: Hannah Grace 

This is a hockey/figure skating romance that comes out in February. I am a big fan of sports romances, especially hockey, but only when the relationships are not toxic or problematic. This book sounds so sweet and the fact that the MC is a figure skater makes it even more fun! I love figure skating as a sport too so this book seems like a perfect match. 

Goodreads Link 

4. Porcupines and China Dolls by: Robert Arthur Alexie 

I read a lot of Indigenous literature thanks to my degree, but I have yet to get to this book that I know has received very positive reviews. It involves two Indigenous men coming to terms with adulthood while also dealing with the traumatic aftermath of being in the residential school system. I haven't been able to find this book at the library and I am always up for supporting an Indigenous author. 

Goodreads Link 

5. The Midnight Library by: Matt Haig 

Another fantasy book that will be a gamble if I buy, but that I am still intrigued by. I read The Comfort Book by Matt Haig about a month ago and thought it was such a sweet, wholesome read. I know Haig is very open about mental illness and something about that makes me want to support him. I have heard positive reviews about this book and the cover looks lovely, but I'm just iffy if it will be for me. 

Goodreads Link 

6. I'm Glad My Mom Died by: Jennette McCurdy 

The title of this book is jarring, but I think you really need to read it to understand why it is. I know little about McCurdy's life but she was an integral part of my childhood, and I am a big fan of memoirs. I'm very interested in this book and think it would definitely be a quick read. 

Goodreads Link 

This is a very small list of some books on my radar to buy once 2023 rolls around, but I am definitely open to more suggestions! Have you read any of these books, and are they worth the physical copies? Are there any other books worth buying? Let me know! 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by: Jesmeen Kaur Deo

Genre: Young adult fiction, contemporary 

Published: June 7, 2022 by Viking Books 

Pages: 368 

Rating: 3/5 stars 

CW: bullying 

TJ Powar has it all: a cute boyfriend, good grades, and a spot on her school's award-winning debate team. However, her life changes when her cousin becomes the subject of a cyber bullying rampage targeting her body hair. TJ decides that she needs to make a point. So, she ditches her razors and cancels her waxing appointments and works to show her school that girls can have body hair and still be beautiful. As TJ begins her campaign, her confidence flourishes even when people she thought were her friends turn away. But, she also learns along the way not to push against those who truly do find her beautiful no matter what she looks like. 

As a girl with naturally a lot of dark body hair, I was intrigued by this book. I wax and shave regularly, but I do always admire people who relay the message that body hair is normal, especially for women. I loved the cover of this book, because I think its really powerful to show a girl with visible facial hair on a mainstream book cover. Not to mention that the book is also Own Voices for Sikh/South Asian representation. While I did have some issues with the presentation of some themes, I do think that this is a solid story. 

What sparks TJ to take a stand for body hair is when her cousin who doesn't shave is bullied on social media for the way that she looks. While the hate doesn't really bother TJ's cousin, who more brushes it off, TJ finds the need to defend her family and the whole situation encourages her to take a look at all of the effort she puts into making sure that she is hairless for her boyfriend and her friends. I really liked how TJ is inspired to stand by her cousin and how this was a major driving point for the action, because I could really see where TJ's loyalties lied and how she was willing to compromise friends and romantic relationships for her cousin. At its core, the strongest relationships in this book were the family ties and this was great to see. 

I also loved the debating element to the book. TJ is on the debate team and even takes it upon herself to inspire debate topics surrounding body hair. I could definitely see how Kaur Deo characterized TJ as a debate team member, as she is strong-willed, confident, and incredibly intelligent. She takes on the body hair as an experiment at first, to see how people would react. But it slowly turns into a movement and she works with her talent of debating to show others the problems with beauty standards for women. 

In the book, Kaur Deo takes great care to also show how body hair influences the wider South Asian community. Despite TJ being Sikh, which is a religion that often encourages not shaving and embracing body hair; the women in her family, including her mother, are very concerned when TJ stops shaving and they try to get her to schedule waxing appointments and take up hair removal again. I think Kaur Deo did a great job at showing how Euro-centric beauty standards influence even the older generations of marginalized groups, to the point where older women often are more concerned about beauty standards than younger women. It seemed that TJ's family really were negatively influenced by unhealthy ideas of beauty that they projected such things onto her, which was sad to see, but also a real reality for a lot of South Asian families. TJ eventually does show them that embracing her body hair is what makes her feel the most confident, and this transformation in her family was great to see. 

The main issue that I had with this book that made it just an okay read for me, was that I wished the book took a greater look at how completely quitting hair removal cold-turkey is incredibly hard for a lot of people. TJ was able to just drop her razors like that, and quickly realized she didn't want to turn back. However, struggling with insecurities about body hair isn't always this simple. For example, I mentioned before that I still remove my body hair, and I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I feel comfortable going out in public with unshaved legs or a dark upper lip. I think the book could've taken a greater care at looking at the systemic issues at play here, such as the equation with body hair being seen as unhygienic, and how body hair is portrayed in the media and commercials. Similarly, I wished that TJ was able to talk to girls who still remove their body hair, to see why they still chose to do it and how standards affected them. I just think I couldn't entirely relate to TJ's journey being so easy, and I wanted there to be a greater focus on the difficulties of this switch. 

Overall, I think this is an important read that can help a lot of girls see the beauty in body hair. While I think I needed some more representation on the difficult reality of moving towards a more natural self, I do think that this book is definitely important. 

Have you read TJ Powar Has Something to Prove? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: November

I'm back from vacation, I'm ready for Christmas, and 2023 is just around the corner! Here's what I got up to in November: 

What I Read: 

The Comfort Book by: Matt Haig: 5/5 stars 

Adult Onset by: Ann-Marie MacDonald: 3/5 stars 

When The Reckoning Comes by: LaTanya McQueen: 5/5 stars 

The Weight of Blood by: Tiffany D. Jackson: 4/5 stars 

The Love Hypothesis by: Ali Hazelwood: 4/5 stars 

Five Little Indians by: Michelle Good: 3/5 stars 

Favourite book: The Comfort Book by: Matt Haig was exactly what I needed this month. This book lives up to its title. It's a comforting book about how to handle stressors and practice good mental health. It was also my first Matt Haig book and didn't disappoint. I know Haig suffers from anxiety and panic attacks and I think he just gets it right when it comes to how to practice healthy coping mechanisms. 

What I Blogged: 

I took a teensie break from blogging while I was away, but still managed to post a mixture of discussions and reviews. My favourite post of the month was my review on Scarborough by: Catherine Hernandez. I've been wanting to review this fabulous book for a while, and getting to talk a little bit more about a neighbourhood close to my family was quite enjoyable. I found this review very easy to write. 

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month: 

Cee asks: Why Do You Hate Me? 

Marie shares 8 Unforgettable Books I've Read in 8 Years of Blogging 

Greg features Post-Apocalyptic Covers 

Life Stuff: 

November was busy, semi-stressful, and full of fun. Near the beginning of the month my sister moved to Ottawa, which has been an adjustment as I get used to just being alone with my parents for the first time ever. But, we reunited near the end of the month to go to Italy for a week with my dad. The Italy trip was very fun, but very not so fun on my anxiety. This was my first time travelling since having panic disorder and really bad OCD, and my intrusive thoughts and panic ramped up from the time we landed until about halfway through the trip. But, I was able to find the fun in a lot of moments throughout the week, and I am proud of myself for not completing freaking out and sending myself home. I will definitely have to work on what went wrong in therapy, so hopefully trips in the future can go a bit more smoothly. 

In December, I hope to ward off the plethora of illnesses that have been going around (hello flu season!) and hopefully have a fun Christmas. I have a few parties to go to and gatherings that I'm excited for, so it will surely be an eventful month as well. 

That was my November. How was yours? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess