This Book is Gay

I read this solely for the purpose of research. This book focused on the many LGBT topics including sexual orientation, gender identity, how to come out of the closet, stereotypes, homophobia, where to find others, relationships, dating, sex, marriage, having kids, and tips of encouragement. I really enjoyed this book. I learned some new things and I would recommend it to all LGBT questioning their identity or looking for answers. This book was written by a gay guy so I found the perspective humorous but serious about what LGBT people go through.

The Land of Stories Book #1 The Wishing Spell

This book was about the adventure that Alex and her twin brother Conner had the land of fairy tales where everything they have ever dreamed about is real. They slip into the pages of their grandmothers fairy tale book by accident. They meet a frog who tells them that the only way to escape back to their world is to go the hunt for the Wishing Spell items. The Wishing Spell poem is glass that housed a lonely soul up till midnights final toll. (Cinderella). A Saber from the deepest sea, meant for a grooms mortality (Keeping this one a secret). A bark of a basket held in fright while running from a bark with bite (Red Riding Hood). A stony crown that's made to share, found deep within a savage lair (Keeping a secret too). A needle that pierced the lovely skin of a princess with beauty found within (Sleeping Beauty). A wavy lock of golden hair that once was freedom's only hope. (Rapunzel). Glittering jewels whose value increased after preserving the false deceased (Snow White). Teardrops of a maiden fairy feeling neither magical nor merry. The ventured thorough the different kingdoms meeting the famous people the Grimm brothers wrote about. Each of the princesses castles they snuck into, each with their own different personalities, offering advise, escaping from wolves, and getting into lots of trouble. The heard the story of the real evil queen (the one from snow white) and discovered their dad was from the Land of Stories. How they get back home I am going to leave a surprise though. I don't want to ruin the story.
      I have always enjoyed anything fairy tale and magic related. This book was a combination of Narnia and Once Upon a Time. The author even had some modern things mixed in with it. I really enjoyed this and want to continue with the rest of the series. I also discovered a new author.

Map of the Land of Stories

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children

This is the first book in the Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children series. Jake's grandfather tells him that something is after him. He checks it out to find that his grandpa is dead. He is given a book with a letter in it that leads him to an island in Wales. He needs to find out what it all means. After convincing his parents to go there he flies there with his dad. He discovers a house for peculiar children. They all have special powers, he learns about them and plays with them every day. The original house was destroyed by WWII but Miss Peregrine created a time loop that keeps them from aging. He learns the truth about his grandpa and even falls in love. He later finds out that these creatures are killing the peculiar children because it is there sole purpose. He is supposed to be their protector. He gets in a battle with 2. The peculiar's help him. But they have to chase after them because they kidnap Miss Peregrine. All the time loops around the world are failing and they start a journey to find them and help the children that are left.

The Awakening of Sunshine Girl

This is the sequel to the first book in the series The Haunting of Sunshine Girl. To recap; Sunshine and her mom move from Austin, Texas to Washington state because her mom is a hospital nurse who gets transferred. The house that they move into is haunted by a spirit and shortly after they move in her mom gets possessed by a demon. Nolan is her. He is perfect boyfriend material but she can’t touch him without feeling gross. They discover that Sunshine is a rare supernatural creature known as a Luiseach. They are supposed to protect mortals from evil ghosts, help spirits move on, and get rid of spirits who won't move on or can't.

       After she turned 16 is when all the Luiseach powers started. She had to pass a test to get her powers. She killed the demon that possessed her mom. Sunshine finally tells her mom about her gift. She finds out that her dad is her mentor. He takes her to Mexico to a Luiseach training facility that used to be run by her mom and dad. Her real mom blamed her birth for the decline of her people and wanted to kill her. Her dad saved her by dropping her off at the hospital, so he never abandoned her by choice. She meets another Luiseach boy Lucio. Lucio and her dad help her hone her skills. She is very special. She helps multiple spirits move on their own, can feel what the spirits feel, how they died, what were their interests, even if they had kids, and even has psychic abilities. Her mom and dad also experimented on her as a baby in the womb to make her more powerful. Her real mom captures Nolan and she goes and rescues him. She found out that the reason she gets gross around Nolan is because of some spell that her dad put on her so she couldn’t fall in love. But she falls in love with Nolan anyway. He feels the same way. They say I love you and finally get their special kiss.      

      This book was just as good as the first one!!! The ending just has me reeling towards the next book but I have to wait until next year. 

The Pregnancy Project

This is the memoir of Gabby Rodriquez a teen who faked a pregnancy as a social experiment for her senior project. This was not usually something I would be interested in but I took a chance thinking it would be interesting and it was a book that I couldn't put down. I also learned a lot about teen pregnancy too.
  Gabby is latino which is a ethnic group that has one of the highest rates of becoming teen moms and dropping out of school. Gaby's mom dropped out in 8th grade because she became pregnant. The cycle was repeated in her other siblings which is where she initially got her idea from in the first place. She had to keep her fake belly a secret and get it approved by the school to do the project so that results wouldn't be jeopardized. Only a select few of teachers, friends, and family knew about it. She wanted to know how the stereotypes of being a teen mom affected everyone involved. Her boyfriend was in on the secret too. Even her boyfriend received some negative stereotypes. He was harassed almost on a daily basis about how he ruined his life and the bad decisions he made. She took parenting classes, visited clinics to find out what a mother goes through, and even watched 16 and pregnant for research.
    After months of pretending she finally revealed to her high school that it was all and experiment. She received a very rapid, negative and positive response. A lot of people were glad, some were hurt, felt lied too, but she also received some very negative response as well. In her presentation she brought up a lot of statistics and presented the negative comments people said about her. She created a lot of media attention.  She was on the Today Show, published a book, and even has her own Lifetime movie. She graduated from high school in the top 5% of her class and is successful today.

As Bill Sees It

I really liked this book because it really gave me insight to Bill W. the creator of A.A. It was a tip/meditation book basically to alcoholics on how to stay sober and lead successful, healthy lives. It was also filled with many antidotes of his life. It gave me insight to the mind of the alcoholic as well. It was a great read!