Total books read in May: 4
Comics/ Graphic Novels = 0 | #LoveOzYA / #LoveNzYA = 1 | the remainder = 3
River Stone by Rachel Hennessy #LoveOZYA
River Stone is the first book in a new dystopian trilogy. It has a fresh and unique feel that drew me in right from the start and kept me hooked until the last page. It is a story of survival, of adapting, of friendship, of being human, and of being a teenager living in the shadow of expectation.
Published May 1st 2019 by MidnightSun Publishing [My Full Review] [View on Goodreads]
The Little Wave by Pip Harry #LoveOZMG
The Little is a delightful Middle Grade verse novel, and even though it deals with grief, bullying, navigating new friendships and the struggles of low-SES families, it is an immensely enjoyable read. Regardless of your age it will leave you with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.
Published May 7th 2019 by UQP Books [My Full Review] [View on Goodreads]
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
An adorable YA graphic novel about friendship, family, young love, expectations, identity, fancy fashion and following your dreams.
Published February 13th 2018 by First Second [View on Goodreads]
Concrete Queers – issue 5 (poetry), 8 (music) and 11 (home).
Concrete Queers is a zine made by queer people for queer people, edited by Katherine Back and Alison Evans.
I enjoyed reading all three of the zines, but maybe Poetry and Music slightly more – I’ve always had an affinity for both.
Find out more at the Concrete Queers Website and Alison Evan’s etsy zine store.
Conclusion: It was a bit of a slow reading month unfortunately, but I had a lot of other things going on (non-bookish). Fingers crossed I get to devour more books this month.
I made the trek from Newcastle down to Parramatta for the Sydney Writers Festival all day YA love fest. And It was well worth the effort. I got to catch up with some fellow book bloggers and bookstagrammers and attended some fantastic sessions.
I only managed to post two reviews up on the blog during May BUT….. I published a personal essay I wrote about social expectations, sexuality and realisations that come with age. Titled: Me, myself and the land of self-reflection. You check it out HERE. And I published a post titled: Promises to my sons. Part poem, part letter, written to my sons. Check it out if you dare, HERE.
Past Monthly Summaries:
Jan 19 ∣ Feb 19 ∣ Mar 19 ∣ April 19
RIOT’S REDEMPTION 
An excellent selection of books to read!
The cover of River Stone is so beautiful! I might have to give that one a better look.
The Prince and the Dressmaker looks sweet as well.
Glad you had a good month, Sarah! 💜
Thanks Star ❤ 🙂
There is a little bit of kinda insta love in River Stone, but other than that i thoroughly enjoyed it.
Loving the new blog name and design, Sarah! I really think they suit you ❤
Isn't The Prince and the Dressmaker absolutely adorable? I really loved reading that one when I picked it up. And I think there are probably things I missed because I read graphic novels so quickly. So I definitely want to pick it up again!
YAY for reading Concrete Queers! I'm so glad you liked the Music issue 😉 I really liked the Smut issue from a while back! I don't know if it's still available, though.
I'm glad you enjoyed All Day YA! I wish we had something like that here. We do have a YA day but it's nothing so awesome as the Sydney one. And we tend to get the same authors over and over, sigh.
Hope you have a lovely June ❤
Thanks Chiara, it was about time for an update ❤
I'm so glad i stumbled upon concrete queers, i'm loving catching up on the back issues – I read the smut, romance and spec fic issues in April, really enjoyed them as well. There was a personal essay by Tegan Elizabeth in the romance issue that I really connected with ❤
(and of course that fantastic Songs Through Seventeen piece in the music issue)
I’m reading The Little Wave at the moment as well Sarah and gosh how I love verse. I think it’s one of the first things we both bonded over actually. It seems to have been a bit of a slower month all round and also, you’ve had the tour to sort out and that’s been a headache as well. I hope you can pick up more books throughout June and find a new favourite read darling!
You, Me and Steven Herrick ❤ 🙂
I love how more and more verse novels are making there way into the world – more please!
Fingers crossed we can all read some fantastic stories this month and fall in love with reading again.
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