I'm thrilled to discuss my reading challenge for the beginning of the year! I was thinking of ways to go through my 2025 Reading List and came up with reading books based on the color of the cover. It's an easy way to read randomly through my list and makes for a pretty challenge to share. The first color chosen from a random wheel picker was yellow! Starting off bright and sunny <3
If you really look at this cover you discover it's not that yellow... But it has some yellow and I wasn't going to discount my first book of the year.
Rougarou Magic focuses on Feliciana who moved from Louisiana to Boston about a year ago. Her first year was met with bullying because of her Cajun accent. She was basically called less than by a rich girl who saw someone different and didn't like that difference. Isn't that always the case? Feliciana's bullying is so bad that she switches schools and is determined to stay under the radar. Her mom is going to college and works late. Her new stepdad, who she blames for the move, tries his best to bond with her but she wants nothing to do with him. She feels all alone. Her grandmother who still lives in Louisiana feels that. She talks to her over the phone often and she gets the sense that Louisiana is no longer proud to be Cajun. So sneaky grandma sends over a Rougarou which is a legendary creature from Cajun culture. Feliciana doesn't feel so alone anymore. She does have to try to hide him from her mom and stepdad for fear that they will call animal control which leads to hijinks and the possibility of new friends.
Rougarou Magic is an endearing story of friendship, standing up for yourself, and the importance of keeping close to your roots. Knowing that Feliciana was bullied before and seeing her interactions with her bully made me feel so protective over her. She loves art and uses that as a way to express herself. As a kid who loved art, I felt like I understood her especially since I have always been very shy. I loved the new friendships she made and her growth of character. She blames her stepdad for the move but learns a lot about why they really left Louisiana. I think it's such an interesting story to tell because there aren't many books that talk about the Cajun culture. I recently read and loved Brick Dust and Bones which had a rougarou in the story so that's why I picked this book up. Books like these make me want to learn more about the Cajun culture and Louisiana history in general. This book was a great start for the new year.
This was not on my 2025 Reading List but it was on my 2024 list. I had to swap out a book I planned to read. It wasn't what I expected and I couldn't get into it. So no matter what I got one book off that list. The book was Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann if you were wondering. I'm so glad that my DNF book brought me to Chloe and the Kaisho Boys. It was a book that I heard high praise from Bookish Realm (now discussing books at Realm of Kit Lit Comics) who reads a lot of children and YA books. It was such a wonderful read!
Chloe is getting ready to go away to college. She got off the waitlist for her dream school. This is the last summer before school and moving away from her home in the Philippines. She's been living with her dad who she's very close to but he has trouble expressing his feelings. He clearly wants her to stay and pursue a business degree so that she can eventually take over the family business. With the help of a nosy auntie who is organizing her big 18th birthday bash, they set her up with different boys to entice her to stay. There are a lot of mishaps but there is one boy, her best friend's brother, who she gets closer to. Will she stay for him? What will her best friend think when she finds out she likes her brother? Is her art worthy enough to leave everyone she knows? Lots of questions and such a fun journey where Chloe realizes she's worth taking a risk for.
Loved this one! The romance was so cute. The best friend was amazing. Then there's a lot of conflict happening especially with her best friend's boyfriend. You learn a bit about Filipino culture and the prejudice that occurs if you don't have Chinese descent. The father-daughter relationship was realistic and very sweet. I loved everything about this. And Chloe is an artist! She grapples with whether her art is good enough to pursue. I think with her father's response to her leaving she doubts herself. She just wants to make her family proud and I understood that as a daughter of an immigrant. I feel like it's rare for me nowadays to love YA but when I do it's an amazing experience.
My favorite book out of the bunch! So much so that I have a reading project planned after this based on Pixie Hollow.
I never liked Tinker Bell in the original Peter Pan story but when I watched her original movies I fell in love with her world and her spunk. She wasn't just a jealous fairy. She was a strong character who spoke her mind and had such an interesting power. I know there are some that don't think the tinker power is cool but I think it's so amazing. She is able to exercise her creativity and create something new. I was so excited to read a book from her perspective and I was not disappointed! I can't get this story out of my head.
A strange new fairy crash lands on Pixie Hollow. No one knows who she is and by the mysterious machine she was using to get there she must be from somewhere else. Tinker Bell makes it her mission to find the item the strange fairy needs help looking for. She discovers faeries living under Big Ben in London. A ragtag group of scavengers tries to take her pixie dust but then she makes a deal with them. Pixie dust in exchange for information. Tinker Bell finds herself in a new world where a caste system of fairies without power are treated poorly and a corrupt ruler who wants to keep them down. Such an interesting world and new characters! I loved being in this world. This was fast-paced and so much fun. There's a fair amount of twists that'll hook you onto this series. The cliffhanger at the end was perfect! I can't wait to read the next book. I want even more of a deep dive into each character, especially Quin who I already care about so much. They were wronged in such a terrible way. All the flutterpunks were but Quin's being the leader they have so much riding on being strong and keeping their found family together. A wonderful start to an exciting new fairy adventure!
I am so lucky that I enjoyed all of these books! That's 3 books (including the DNF) off my reading list for the year.
The purple books are next on the list. I read four books for that challenge. Three of them are middle grade and one adult book. My review on all four will be out next week!
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