The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis | Book Review #170

The Bookish Island's Book Review:

The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis 

Are there spoilers?

Maybe.

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Title: The Spice Box Letters

Author: Eve Makis

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Pages: 320

Published: 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Adult

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Date Read: September 28, 2019

Rating: ★★★★☆

Goodreads

Katerina inherits a scented, wooden spice box after her grandmother Mariam dies. It contains letters and a diary, written in Armenian. As she pieces together her family story, Katerina learns that Mariam's childhood was shattered by the Armenian tragedy of 1915.

Mariam was exiled from her home in Turkey and separated from her beloved brother, Gabriel, her life marred by grief and the loss of her first love. Dissatisfied and restless, Katerina tries to find resolution in her own life as she completes Mariam's story – on a journey that takes her across Cyprus and then half a world away to New York.

Miracles, it seems, can happen – for those trapped by the past, and for Katerina herself.

The Rating:

My Review:

The Spice Box Letters was a book that got sent to me by the publishers YEARS ago and I never picked it up which always made me feel bad because deep down I thought I wouldn't like it but here I am totally kicking myself for not having read it earlier. Cause damn. It's so not what thought it would be. Every page was heart wrenching and sad and I totally wanted Katarina and her family to find each other and see that they weren't alone in all of what they went through cause they went through so much.

I think this is one of the first Historical Fiction that I actually really liked.

This book isn't scary or anything but the way the author wrote about these characters terrifying stories was so that my heart was racing during certain scenes. And my heart hurt for the suffering of Katrina's grandmother and her brother.
This was such a beautiful story about sacrifice, and family.

 I am happy that I finally got to it. And I just so happen to have read it on a rainy day too.

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The Bookish Island

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Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 2 by Ichigo Takano | Book Review #169

The Bookish Island's Book Review:

Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 by Ichigo Takano

Are there spoilers?

Nah~.

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Title: Orange: The Complete Collection #2

Series: Orange: The Complete Collection

Author: Ichigo Takano

Translated by: Amber Tamosaitis 

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Pages: 523

Published: 2016

Genre: Manga, Young Adult, Romance

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Date Read: around August 29, 2019

Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads

An Epic Love Story Across Time

Naho immediately feels a connection to the new boy who has transferred to her class. Kakeru is calm, kind, and seems to like Naho as well. But their relationship gets thrown for a loop when Naho receives a letter from the future. The letter explains that Kakeru will die unless Naho does exactly as the letter says. But changing fate is no easy task. When the letter starts to get things wrong, Naho worries that she will still lose Kakeru forever. Luckily, Naho has her friends to back her up. Not only do they want to see Naho and Kakeru get together, but they also have time-traveling letters of their own...

Orange: The Complete Collection 2 also includes a bonus story, Haruiro Astronaut. This five-chapter story is about a pair of twins who discover that they can't share everything in life--or at least not an alien that suddenly becomes a part of it. 

The Rating:

My Review:

I was a mess of snot and tears by the time I finished reading this manga. So much so that I got a pretty bad headache because I would not stop reading it. I also read it because Coutagonist from booktube was talking about it and I just thought it would be good to read a manga.

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The Bookish Island

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Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 by Ichigo Takano | Book Review #168

The Bookish Island's Book Review:

Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 by Ichigo Takano

Are there spoilers?

Nah~.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 

Series: Orange: The Complete Collection #1

Author: Ichigo Takano

Translated by: Amber Tamosaitis 

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Pages: 523

Published: 2016

Genre: Manga, Young Adult, Romance

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Date Read: around August 29, 2019

Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads

A Plea From the Future

On the day that Naho begins 11th grade, she receives a letter from herself ten years in the future. At first, she writes it off as a prank, but as the letter’s predictions come true one by one, Naho realizes that the letter might be the real deal. Her future self tells Naho that a new transfer student, a boy named Kakeru, will soon join her class. The letter begs Naho to watch over him, saying that only Naho can save Kakeru from a terrible future. Who is this mystery boy, and can Naho save him from his destiny? This is the heart-wrenching sci-fi romance that has over a million copies in print in Japan!

The Rating:

My Review:

I was both so emotional and blown away. This manga managed to be one of those stories that just broke me in a good way. I really liked it when Naho tried her best to make everyone around her happy. But I didn't like it when she took that on by herself so I really liked it when her friends noticed. I think I felt that because I notice that I'm the same way. I like to help out my friends but I don't think they would do the same for me which is a bummer but what can ya do?

I used to read a lot of manga before I ever read an actual novel so it took me back. I used to just pick out good ad manga or romance sappy manga and I would either end up crying or feeling like I had just come out of a theater after watching a rom-com. SO it was all good. And Orange had all of that. Which made me think that I had read this before but not till the end cause some of it was familiar but not enough to make me stop because I already read it.

After all of that mess of a review, I just have to say that if you haven't read this then you totally should close its really good.
I know I see myself re-reading it in the future.

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The Bookish Island

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Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy | Book Review #167

The Bookish Island's Book Review:

Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy

Are there spoilers?

Nope.

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Title: Him

Author: Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy

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Pages: 360

Published: 2015

Genre: Romance, Sports, New Adult, Contemporary

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Date Read: March 29, 2019

Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend... and a big one to learn about himself.

Warning: contains sexual situations, skinnydipping, shenanigans in an SUV and proof that coming out to your family on social media is a dicey proposition.

The Rating:

My Review:

There was so much going on in this book and I enjoyed every page.
It was both a fun read and a great romance.

Now I was supposed to write this review months ago so I barely remember what I was going to say about this book but I really did love it.

It was also my first M/M romance so that was interesting. Although I have read yaoi before, so it wasn't that weird. I really liked it. Reading Jaime and Ryans' story of how they went from friends to strangers, to friends and so much more. So much love for these two that I couldn't wait to read the sequel and I got my hands on it and read that too.

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The Bookish Island
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