L-L-L-Little Reviews #75: April 2025

Here are the books I read this past month that were not part of scheduled reviews!

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyan Pham (Illustrations)

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang, LeUyen Pham
Published by First Second on January 9, 2024
Genres: Graphic Novel, YA Paranormal, YA romance
Pages: 350
Source: the library
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble
My Rating:

Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, forgiveness, and lion dancing.

Valentina Tran was named after Valentine's Day, which used to be her favorite holiday. But when Val learns the truth behind what happened with her parents and why she's being raised by a single father, she realizes true love is a lie. This is reinforced when she meets the spirit of Saint Valentine, who tells her she and her family are cursed to always be unlucky in love. Val is ready to give into her fate, until one Lunar New Year festival, where a mysterious lion dancer hands her a paper heart, and ZING. Val becomes determined to change her destiny, prove Saint Valentine wrong, and give her heart to the right person.

Meanwhile, lion dancing is the only thing that has given Jae peace after his dad passed away. It's also what keeps him connected to his father's side of the family. Both Jae and his cousin Leslie notice Val at the Lunar New Year festival, and for some inexplicable reason, Jae hands Val a paper heart. But it's Leslie, with his K-Pop good looks, who starts to date Val. Jae still feels this connection with Val and feels it's somehow tied to how he feels about losing his father.

Both Val and Jae struggle with the spirits who haunt them as they are inextricably brought together in a love story that is satisfying, sweet, and moving.

My Review:

I don’t read many graphic novels. I just prefer words on the page and not so many pictures. However one of the library committees I’m on had a book club event that I needed to pick one for. We had just received this in the school where I work, and it was one I’d wished I’d had when I did my Lunar New Year display, so it just seemed like the perfect one to pick up for the committee read. And I’m glad I did. It was so good! I totally felt for Valentina in so many ways. Her family issues were definitely ones that caused me to tear up at times. Her love interest and being strung along also had me emotional. The whole St. Valentine aspect of the story was great too. Using the different forms the saint took based on cultures or religions was so creative and made the story so interesting! I loved the lion dancing as well, with fun family characters, and even some unexpected family members that weren’t expected to show up. Overall this was a great read, and I am glad I read it to recommend to students in the future!

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Published by Audible Studios on March 25, 2025
Genres: Adult Science Fiction
Length: 10:05
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble, Buy on Audible
My Rating:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain comes an entirely serious take on a distinctly unserious subject: what would really happen if suddenly the moon were replaced by a giant wheel of cheese.
It's a whole new moooooon.
One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters -- schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians -- as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.

My Review:

So, this is the type of book that got me reading John Scalzi. And I’m a bit disappointed that he says it is the third and final in a series/non-series that is this type. Sure, I’ve enjoyed a couple others of his that aren’t this same type, although the Red Shirts one was similar in my opinion. But there was also one of his that I had been looking to read since before any of these came out and when I started reading it I did not enjoy it and DNFed it. As you do with Scalzi’s books, you have to let go of any realism or expectations of what his story will be. Every chapter in the story is pretty much someone different, with a few of the same people getting more than one chapter. Which makes sense since obviously NASA types should have a lot to do in a story about the moon. The ending was so great though. And of course I recommend listening to the Afterword for sure!

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Narrator: Nikki Massoud
Published by Echo Point Books & Media on January 1, 1995
Genres: Adult Science Fiction
Length: 06:10
Source: the library
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble, Buy on Audible
My Rating:

Deep underground, 39 women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the 40th prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Jacqueline Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

This audio edition of I Who Have Never Known Men is expertly read by Nikki Massoud, a listener favorite. Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

My Review:

So, I got this audiobook because a teacher at school came in just swearing up and down about how good it was and asking if I’d read it. I hadn’t heard of it till her, but I told her I’d give it a try. I soon found out that I guess TikTok had been talking about it as well? I was on a HUGE waitlist for the library audio through Libby at first. Then it suddenly became available and I saw the library had ordered like 50 more copies. It was an interesting enough listen. And while I understand all the things the afterward said about why it was unique and why it did some of the things it did, some of those things are things I personally don’t like or enjoy when I read. Like I hate not knowing anything about the why of what is happening. In science fiction especially, the former science teacher in me just needs to know why!!! Strangely enough that did bug me a little in the last audiobook I listened to as well, my review up above this one, lol. But that one had an ending that at least kind of leaned into that whole issue. It’s a pretty quick listen, just a little over 6 hours I think. So you might give it a try!

Tangled Up In You (Meant to Be #4) by Christina Lauren

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
Series: Meant to Be #4
Narrator: Patti Murin, Eunice Wong, Andrew Gibson
Published by Audible Studios on June 25, 2024
Genres: NA Contemporary Romance, Retelling
Length: 09:56
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Audible
My Rating:

Listening Length: 9 hours and 56 minutes
A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled.
She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.
Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.
Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few months short from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.
But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.

My Review:

I adored this Tangled/Rapunzel retelling soo much! The characters were wonderful. Wren was so lovable even as Fitz tried not to. And Fitz, the bad boy that you wanted so much to know the whole story and root for him all along. The road trip was so much fun, and I loved the places they visited, especially when they stopped in my town of Kansas City! Even though it was in 3rd person which is not my favorite, I still loved this story so much I gave it a full 5 stars. This series has been so good, with all the different authors.