Bogormen

Title: A Hundred Pieces of Me
Author: Lucy Dillon
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~17.5hrs
Date read: August, 2019

Letters from the only man she's ever loved.
A keepsake of the father she never knew.
Or just a beautiful glass vase that catches the light, even on a grey day.

If you had the chance to make a fresh start, what would you keep from your old life? What would you give away?

Gina Bellamy is starting again, after a difficult few years she'd rather forget. But the belongings she's treasured for so long just don't seem to fit who she is now. So Gina makes a resolution. She'll keep just a hundred special items - the rest can go.

But that means coming to terms with her past and learning to embrace the future, whatever it might bring . . .


I mostly liked it, but some parts were much, much, MUCH too trite. I'd basically called the ending at 33%!

So in the end, I guess I'd have to say I liked the first 80% of the book. I didn't care much about the flashbacks and felt we could easily have skipped past those (or gotten the information in other ways), but really enjoyed following Gina in the present, and see how she grew and found peace with herself. I LOVED Buzz, liked reading about Gina's work, and loved how her friendship with Naomi stuck.

I did not care for the ending. It was too open and too trite.

I liked the narrator, Juanita McMahon, but was quietly amused that though she sounded like a native Brit, she didn't know how to pronounce Leominster. Guess that's not intuitive/common knowledge even to native Brits.

Title: I Wish You All the Best
Author: Mason Deaver
Genre: YA, LGBTQ
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 320
Date read: August, 2019

When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.

But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.


This book grabbed me by the heart and did NOT want to let go again, and so I finished it in just a day.

In some ways it reminded me of both "How to Be a Movie Star" by T.J. Klune and "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda " by Becky Albertalli - while at the same time being completely its own. But the characters seemed real in much the same way as in those books. I laughed out loud on several occasions... and I also found myself with tears in my eyes. I am SO glad Ben had their sister to turn to when times got rough.

It was heartbreaking to read what Ben had to go through while trying to find their place in the world, but I appreciated how they found friends (and family) along the way, and actually allowed those people to be there for them... even when they couldn't reveal all their secrets.... and at the same time, I found it extremely realistic how Ben reacted when circumstances suddenly got to be too much (trying to be vague and stay away from spoilers here).

Title: Gregor the Overlander
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Fantasy, Childrens
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~6.5hrs
Date read: July 2012, August 2019

When eleven-year-old Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, humans live uneasily beside giant spiders, bats, cockroaches, and rats) but the fragile peace is about to fall apart.

Gregor wants no part of a conflict between these creepy creatures. He just wants to find his way home. But when he discovers that a strange prophecy foretells a role for him in the Underland's uncertain future, he realizes it might be the only way to solve the biggest mystery of his life. Little does he know his quest will change him and the Underland forever.

Very sweet story about a boy on an unusual quest to find his father. It was a fun 'read', and the narrator (Paul Boehmer) did an excellent job reading it. I fell completely in love with Boots and loved seeing her interact with the various characters of the Underland. She was absolutely adorable :)

The plot itself isn't anything out of the ordinary, but it's well-written and entertaining.