Kindle Book Haul (July 2020)

Over the past few months, I have downloaded several books to pass the time that I’ve been spending at home. Here’s what I downloaded (any book with a book review on my blog will be linked to the book’s title):

• How to Draw Manga: Basics and Beyond by Manga University

Over quarantine, I started watching a lot of drawing videos because I recently got an iPad and downloaded Procreate, a digit art app. While I was having fun exploring the app and corresponding tag on Instagram, I was struggling to draw pieces that I liked.

As a result, I searched for drawing books on Amazon and this fit the style that I wanted to learn to draw more successfully. This book definitely helped me with proportions as well as learning how to draw some specific aspects of this style. While I can’t say that I reference this book every time I draw, it was beneficial for me to download. However, I do think I would have preferred a print version, as it is difficult to navigate on my Kindle and difficult to switch back and forth while I’m drawing on my iPad.

• Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Front Desk has received many positive reviews and I’ve been interested in reading it for awhile. I’ve been looking forward to picking up middle grade again, so I decided to download it. As I expected, I really enjoyed this middle grade novel and look forward to reading the next installment in the series.

Front Desk follows Mia Tang, an immigrant to the United States from China, who moves with her parents to California where they manage a hotel under a mean owner. Through her experiences as the hotel, Mia learns to stand up for herself and others when she sees discrimination. She also refuses to give up on her dream, which is to become a writer.

• Beach Read by Emily Henry

I heard nothing but positive review about Beach Read, which was marketed as a summer romance about two rival writers who challenge each other to write in the other’s preferred genre. I definitely suffered from expectations vs. reality for this read because it is very different in tone than the synopsis and marketing suggests, as it much darker and serious than expected. As a result, this book was only an average read for me.

• Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

I picked up Starry Eyes because the main characters go camping and I wanted something summery, but not beachy to read. This is one of Jenn Bennett’s earlier books and I much prefer her later books, so there were some elements in this book that fell flat for me. However, I was looking for a very atmospheric read, which this book delivered.

Starry Eyes follows ex-best friends Zorie and Lennon who get roped into a camping trip with some frenemies. When abandoned on the trip by the others, Zorie and Lennon decide to hike their way to a stargazing event through the California wilderness.

• Live by Sadie Robertson

This is an advice style book by Sadie Robertson. In these types of books, she usually discusses situations that she’s faced in her life and how her Christian faith has played a role in those situations. I do have the other advice style books she has written, so I decided to pick this one up as well.

• The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

I’ve seen the cover of this book as well as a few positive reviews of this book, although I do not know much about it. From reading the synopsis, there are some elements that I will probably like, such as a rag tag crew of characters. However, it also gives me Kate DeCamillo feelings, which is a style that I’m not really a fan of, so I don’t know what my expectations are regarding this book. That being said, I usually really like books that I least expect, which makes me excited to read this one.

This book follows Coyote, who tries to secretly get her father to drive them back to where she used to live, which is also where her mom and sisters died in an accident, before their neighborhood is demolished.

What books have you hauled recently?

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