#the lost souls of benzaiten

[richincolor]

We have three books on our list this week! Which ones are you going to pick up?

Asking for a Friend by Kara H.L. Chen Quill Tree Books

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao. Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things: 1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love. 2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition. When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten by Kelly Murashige Soho Teen

A fantastical and heartfelt debut, quirky and transportive, that follows a young outcast on a journey of transformation . . . into a robot vacuum cleaner. "I wish to become one of those round vacuum cleaner robots." That's what Machi writes while praying at the altar of Japanese goddess Benzaiten. She writes it because ever since her two best friends Angel and Sunny decided they want nothing to do with her, Machi hasn't been able to speak. After months and months of online school and seeing different therapists, Machi still hasn't uttered a word, and she can no longer see the point of being human. But she doesn't expect Benzaiten to actually hear her prayer, much less offer a to show Machi all the beauty of humanity, ultimately restoring her voice. Benzaiten is enamored with the human world—possibly a little too enamored—and, as she's the goddess of love, humanity is enamored right back. Being second-best to another friend isn't helping Machi move past her trauma, and with each adventure they share, Machi is reminded of everything she's lost. It isn't until Machi starts interacting with the souls of the dead—a phenomena of spending so much time around a goddess—that she starts to understand pain can serve a purpose. And when she really stops to take a look around her, she realizes the potential for happiness, and for closure, has been there all along.

The Reckoning of Roku by Randy Ribay Amulet Books

From National Book Award finalist Randy Ribay comes a gripping new chapter—starring Avatar Roku—in the New York Times bestselling Chronicles of the Avatar series, set in the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. A young Avatar Roku has only just commenced his training at the Southern Air Temple when his erstwhile friend, Prince Sozin, requests his aid in preventing the Earth Kingdom from claiming a remote Fire Nation island. Despite his inexperience, Avatar Roku slips away with the help of an irritating young Airbender named Gyatso. As the reluctant companions delve deeper into their wayward mission, they begin to realize that even greater threats lie ahead. Plagued by self-doubt but eager to prove himself, Roku fights for his life and the lives of others while ensuring that the hidden secret of the island doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. This searing fifth installment in the Chronicles of the Avatar series explores the beginning of Roku’s journey from privileged Fire Nation noble to the powerful but indecisive Avatar whose hesitancy may ultimately pave the way for the Hundred Year War.

[quillandqueer]

✨Interesting New Releases | 23rd July

The Dissonance: [Horror | Queer | Magic | IT Chapter 2 vibes] In high school, the three were students of the eccentric Professor Marsh, trained in a secret system of magic known as the Dissonance, then, twenty years ago, something happened that shattered their coven, scattering them across the country, stuck in mundane lives, alone. But now, terrifying signs and portents (not to mention a pointed Facebook invite) have summoned them back to Clegg, Texas.

I Will Never Leave You: [YA | Sapphic | Abusive Relationship | Paranormal] follows a teen girl being haunted by the ghost of her toxic ex-girlfriend, who gives her a chilling ultimatum—help her possess another girl or go down for her murder.

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten: [YA | Mental Health] follows a young outcast on a journey of transformation... into a robot vacuum cleaner

So Witches We Became: [YA | Horror] like a YA feminist spin on Stephen King’s The Mist, So Witches We Became is a diverse, queer horror about female friendship and the emotional aftermath of surviving assault

Time and Time Again: [YA | Queer | IBS rep | Fat rep | Time Loop] Phoebe Mendel's day is never ending—literally. On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same. That is, until the most mundane car crash ever sends Phoebe's childhood crush Jess crashing into the time loop.

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

I'm sure just about zero people will look at this, but I wanted to share a code for the audio version of my book. The narrator, Mirai, does such an amazing job. If you want to learn more, you can do so here.

More DE and AA posting soon, but for now, I leave you with a small compilation of book-related DE quotes (featuring best girl Annette):

And finally:

The DE equivalent of "You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?"

[tsutsuganashiya]

Tsutsuganashiya: a one-shot by Adachitoka

So... I'm not actually a translator. I'm rather horrible at Japanese. But when I saw Adachitoka put out a one-shot, seen here on comiciwate, I just had to try.

This isn't very clean, and I KNOW I messed up, but here's my best attempt. It's a lovely story.

Want to support Comic Iwate? Browse the site here.

Want to support Adachitoka? Please support Noragami however you can, whether it's online, through print, through the anime, or even just by continuing to spread the word about Noragami.

Want to support me and my (failed?) attempt to translate? Please check out The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, my Shinto-inspired YA novel.

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (July 23rd, 2024)

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Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

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New Releases:

Asking For A Friend by Kara H.L. Chen

Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses by Katrina Emmel

So Witches We Become by Jill Baguchinsky

I Will Never Leave You by Kara A. Kennedy

Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

Time & Time Again by Chatham Greenfield

The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky by Josh Galarza

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten by Kelly Murashige

Stefi & the Spanish Prince by Donna Freitas

New Sequels:

The Reckoning of Roku (Chronicles of the Avatar #5) by Randy Ribay

A Thousand Broken Pieces (A Thousand Boy Kisses #2) by Tillie Cole

___

Happy reading!

[smidgen-of-hotboy]

I promised to deliver my thoughts about my monster hunter juno au and well, here you are @one-joe-spoopy (@esquemeencanta i got a feeling you'll wanna see this too so here ya go)

To recap from my last post: Juno is a monster hunter. Rita is his right hand lady. Ben is alive. Vespa is human. Rita is human. Juno and Ben are human. Buddy is an elf. Jet is a werewolf. Peter is a changeling.

I also mentioned last post about how changelings work but to recap: changelings are the abandoned children of fae. They are exchanged for a human child and live out their lives until they return to the fae realm or rip of their human parents face.

!This is your obligatory gore and violence warning!

there are different realms, most notably: Waking (where all the living are), Fae (elves, changelings, nymph and dryad, and ofc fae), Slumbering (the place where dead and lost souls wander). There may be others but so far Monster Hunters haven't found a way to cross over to them. Not yet.

Nureyev was found as an abandoned child in the streets of Brahma. Mag (human) took interest and took him in. He trained him to be a thief. Eventually, Peter turned on him and ripped his face off. His instincts had kicked in and he was starving. He had always been hungry, nothing could satisfy him until he held Mag's face in his hands. New Kinshasa monster hunters chased him out of New Kinshasa and hunted him throughout Brahma. He met Slip while on the run

Slip is a monster sympathizer. He sides with Petya and believes in a free world where no more blood is spilled. He turns a blind eye to Petya's bloodlust and has helped him in the past secure meals. Together they've traversed across Brahma to Saraswati and there Peter was cornered by monster hunters. He was captued, drugged, and released for a hunt. He ran back to Slip and in his confusion hurt him, causing Slip to fall unconsious. He was found and recaptured but not executed. They took Slip from him despite his efforts to fight back. For a time Peter wasn't sure if Slip would survive... Slip has since recovered but is wanted by monster hunter associations in Saraswati, Brahma, and New Kinshasa for his betrayal to humanity.

Peter works for monster hunters to evade monster hunters to keep Slip safe. His "Keepers" are a monster hunting duo that are rumored to keep monsters in cages. No one knows about Peter because anyone who did is dead. Either bc Peter ripped their face off or bc the Keepers eliminated them personally. Peter is their most prized possession. The Keepers are the monster hunters that found and recaptured Peter in the first place. They are the ones that took Slip away to be taken care of.

So Peter takes out other monsters bc he's told to. He also takes out Monster Hunters, eliminating his Keeper's rivals. Blood covers the path he's walked. He is very tired of living like this chained to them, but they're withholding Slip. So long as Peter works for them, they ensure Slip is safe. And so long as Slip is safe, that's all that matters to him.

Juno, meanwhile, was a punk turned cop. He worked alongside Puck Falco for the hcpd. A case led to an arrest of a 76 year old monster hunter who babbled things about the apocalypse and how they're all doomed if they let monsters run rampant. While in their custody the monster hunter is killed by a monster and sharpshooter Juno shoots the monster down. He's awarded and recognized and approached by Hyperion Monster Hunter Association, the HMHA. He's told its more high risk high reward than cop work. He wasn't going to accept the offer until they name dropped Benzaiten. "His life will be hell if you don't take this offer Steel. Monsters got their own hunters out there. And if we can find him just by a quick check on you, they'll find him too. It's all about exchange. Eye for an eye. Blood for blood."

Juno becomes a monster hunter to protect Benten. He resigns from the hcpd leaving Puck without a partner, and Rita follows after him. He tells her it won't be safe and he tries to urge her to go back to Puck to the hcpd but she insists that "ain't no one seen the potential in her like he has. And ain't no one taken Rita as seriously as him. And ain't no way she letting him do this dangerous stuff alone, he needs someone for back up and she's just the right Rita for the job."

Juno begins monster hunting. Benzaiten is endlessly worried for Juno but Rita always covers and soothes those fears "he's okay. I'm his back up and so far we've done great together"

Juno as a cop used regular bullets. Juno as Monster Hunter uses special silver bullets bc silver is known to burn and kill most monsters. He's armed with a pistol always but also owns a shotgun and sniper he breaks out for special jobs. He doesn't love his job, but it does indeed pay better than being a cop. He's content with his life and rather reckless.

Rita does not know of the horrors Juno faces in the field. If she did she'd be clutching her pearls and asking him what happened next. She knows its dangerous work but she doesn't have the blood on her hands. The HMHA raised a brow at Juno for bringing her on board, but they didn't question it any further when that was Juno's only condition he wanted to be met

Monster Hunting culture works so that hunters can take up job offers that are posted through their affiliated association, alternatively they can be hired by a third party. Going on "Hunts" is a group effort and usually involves senior hunters from an association capturing a monster, caging it, riling it up (prodding it with weapons, taunting it, starving it, etc) and releasing it to be chased after for sport. Greenhorn hunters frequently get injured or die during their first Hunt. All hunters participating have the opportunity to capture the monster or kill it. Either way they're celebrated. If a greenhorn hunter is the one to successfully kill or capture the monster, they are honored with a feast and recognized by either graduating from the Academy (this is what happened to Sasha), completion of their apprenticeship, or offered a position as part of the association (this is what happened to Juno. He was first approached to join, participated in Hyperion's Hunt, and was the one to kill the Hunt's monster (a gnarled dryad that was more forest than nymph))

Miasma is an eldritch abomination. A non newtonian fluid that solidifies liquid tentacles into sharp points that pierce Juno's skin and poke out his eye. The only way to stop her was to blow her up and contain her in a jar. Juno lost his eye and couldn't walk for months but Ben took care of him and Rita helped out. As soon as he could though he was back on his feet taking on job posting

Ramses O'Flaherty approaches him with an offer of a new eye and job. Juno accepts both (the eye is an organic eye enchanted by monster's magic. Juno is indifferent to having it, but other Hunters look down on him for it. They call him a crooked hunter, a dirty one at that behind his back) the requires Juno to act as a bodyguard. O'Flaherty is running for mayor and worried about being assassinated by monsters for his policies (he believes in a free Hyperion, rid of all the monsters, rid of even its Monster Hunters. Juno questions why hire him then and O'Flaherty asks why work for him if he wants to take away Juno's job. They're at odds sure, but Juno wants to be paid and O'Flaherty wants the peace of mind). Each task Juno is assigned by O'Flaherty, someone dies. Their eyes are scratched out, the tongues clipped, faces torn clean off. Juno thinks it's the Piranha and shoots them dead. Juno uncovers the truth and finds out it was O'Flaherty. O'Flaherty is a monster. He hired Juno to protect him from monster attacks, to keep his hands clean. Jack Takano is the first changeling Juno comes face to face with and never knew it until it was too late. He died starving but Juno buries a silver bullet in him for good measure. There's no reward or pleasure in it. He gets rid of the enchanted eye (gouges it out himself and nearly dies a second time losing an eye) and looks for different work. OldTown falls. A new hunting association moves in, NewTown Monster Hunter Association (NTMHA) and they're backed by Dark Matters. HMHA is not.

Shortly after theres a job posting for an upcoming art gala security. Some of the art on display and for purchase is art by humans. Other pieces are ancient "artifacts" belonging to monsters (humans don't know what they're actually for) Ben insists that he not take the job offer considering how his last venture as bodyguard turned out but alas. Juno doesn't know what's actually good for him or when to quit. He takes the job.

Juno arrives at the gala hours early to monitor set up. There's going to be a lot of elite socialite in attendance. There's a lot of hunters also on security like Juno. The gala starts and Juno is watching the front door. Benzaiten Steel enters the gala in a beautifully tailored suit hanging off the arm of a hot date. Junos stomach drops out from underneath him but ofc tonight should be safe. There's so many hunters in attendance. They'll be safe...

And there is so so so much more but yea know this is already a lot so I'll tuck the rest away for later ^-^

[literaticat]

Hi, this is the person who put you in the acknowledgments. I almost screamed when I saw the other ask—but thank you for being curious~

The book is THE LOST SOULS OF BENZAITEN. :) It’s a YA book coming out with Soho Teen in July 2024. Sorry, I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m pressuring anyone to take a look at it. I just wanted to thank you for all your answers.

IT'S ABOUT A GIRL WHO WISHES TO BECOME A ROBOT VACUUM CLEANER

!!!!!! YAH I'LL READ THAT !!!!!! Congrats, Kelly!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

July 2024 Young Adult Book Releases

✨ July 2 ✨ 💜 Fun Fact: I Love You - Gina Lynn Larsen 💜 Not About a Boy - Myah Hollis 💜 Break to You - Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden, and Neal Shusterman 💜 On the Bright Side - Anna Sortino 💜 Meet Me in the Middle - Alex Light 💜 Rise - Freya Finch 💜 We Don't Have Time for This - Brianna Craft 💜 Joined at the Joints - Marissa Eller 💜 Reckless - Lauren Roberts 💜 The Heart of the World - Amie Kaufman 💜 A Darker Mischief - Derek Milman 💜 Ready or Not - Andi Porretta 💜 The Ones Who Came Back Hungry - Amelinda Berube

✨ July 9 ✨ ❤ Beneath These Cursed Stars - Lexi Ryan ❤ The Mirror World - Femi Fadugba ❤ Hearts Overboard - Becky Bean ❤ Heir, Apparently - Kara McDowell ❤ The Darkness Within Us - Tricia Levenseller ❤ A Magic Fierce and Bright - Hemant Nayak ❤ It's Only a Game - Kelsea Yu

✨ July 16 ✨ 💙 The White Guy Dies First - (ed) Terry J. Benton-Walker 💙 The Second Song - Adrienne Tooley 💙 Trespass Against Us - Leon Kemp 💙 Grief in the Fourth Dimension - Jennifer Yu 💙 The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown - Andrew Yang 💙 Dashed - Amanda Quain 💙 Riot Act - Sarah Lariviere 💙 Portrait of a Shadow - Meriam Metoui

✨ July 23 ✨ ❤ Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield ❤ The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza ❤ Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses - Katrina Emmel ❤ The Lost Souls of Benzaiten - Kelly Murashige ❤ Asking for a Friend - Kara H.L. Chen ❤ Exes and Foes - Amanda Woody ❤ Stefi and the Spanish Prince - Donna Freitas ❤ I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy ❤ So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky

✨ July 30 ✨ 💜 The Loudest Silence - Sydney Langford 💜 The Blonde Dies First - Joelle Wellington 💜 Castle of the Cursed - Romina Garber 💜 The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes 💜 The Mirror of Beasts - Alexandra Bracken 💜 Such Charming Liars - Karen M. McManus 💜 Our Wicked Histories - Amy Goldsmith 💜 Eighteen Roses - Shannon C.F. Rogers 💜 Finding Famous - Candice Jalili

[profiterole-reads]

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten has selective mutism.

@thedisabilitybookarchive

Happy book birthday to this week’s new releases! 📚

[captain-aurinko]

Sarah and Juno Steel Similarities

Juno is afraid of turning into his mother. This is emphasized again and again, even hinted at in Murderous Mask with the discussion of Juno’s name.

But the thing is, Juno’s not entirely wrong. Even though we like him as a hero, Juno is objectively very, very much his mothers child. Let’s look at some examples, shall we?

1. He hates himself. More than that, he doesn’t forgive himself for anything. This works in two senses because while Sarah hated Juno and blamed him for everything, she also hated and blamed herself as well. She confirms this during her speech at the end of Monsters Reflection part 3.

2. He lashes out at the people around him when he gets to a dark place. Look at how often he yelled at Rita, said horrible things to Mick and Sasha, even yelled at Peter during the first season. At one point, he even broke Rita’s tv because he didn’t want her watching streams while he was in a bad mood. We literally watch Sarah Steel do the exact same thing to Juno and Ben. Jumping off that...

3. Bribing people to apologize. He gets better about it later on, but during his Soul of the People flashback, he apologized for breaking the tv by getting Rita her favorite snacks, and while he is quickly forgiven, it doesn’t change the fact that Sarah was doing almost the exact same thing with the Turbos

4. “You don’t think someone could be scared of not living up to what they love most... so scared that they throw it all away?” Benzaiten nails it in one. Juno walking out on Peter, Sarah making her kids hate her, it’s all connected. Juno and Sarah both have a penchant for blowing up spectacularly and we know it.

5. Refusal to change. Look, I love Juno’s healing arc more than words can say, but Juno admits in Long Way Home that this is his first real attempt since his HCPD days to actually get better. Sarah and him both apologized a lot, but after Sarah lost her job and whatever happened with Juno at the HCPD, they both hit a rut and just sort of- stayed there for years. Juno, until he got better. And Sarah, until she went to prison and never recovered.

6. Heroes. They both have a focus on heroes. Juno wants to be one (although he thinks he’ll always fall flat) while Sarah creates characters and people that she could never be. They believe in the idea of heroes more than themselves.

7. Paranoia. Sarah’s paranoia was more visible than her depression, the exact opposite of Juno, but Juno has his moments of paranoia too. He’s slow to trust anyone, and even then he keeps his distance. We write this off as part of being a detective and being on the job, but Juno doesn’t really have any close friends outside of Mick and Rita, and Rita is the only person he really relies on. Peter and Ramses gained his trust relatively quickly but that was only because Peter went to insane lengths to prove his dedication to Juno and Ramses was a master manipulator. Even then, it took Juno being given the literal power of mind reading for him to trust peter, and Ramses was subconsciously familiar. Juno expresses repeatedly in Train From Nowhere and Murderous Mask that not only does he not trust Peter, but he doesn’t trust anyone.

8. They both have addictive tendencies. Sarah Steel was a workaholic and then later and alcoholic. Juno was a workaholic and a drug addict, and arguably an alcoholic. As far as I can tell though, he’s now only a workaholic since he kicked the drugs years ago and his drinking is almost always shown as a direct response to going through something traumatic. Point is, they both exhibit an unhealthy predisposition towards addiction.

Tell me if I’ve missed anything.

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

robot vacuum, robot vacuum, robot vacuum

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

YA Book Releases July 2024

🦇 Good afternoon, my bookish bats. I hope you have a good book, hot cuppa, and sweet snack within reach! No TBR is complete without a few young adult novels, and plenty were released in June! Here are a few YA releases to consider adding to your shelves.

❤️ Which of these are on your TBR? List below!

✨ July 2 ✨ 💜 Fun Fact: I Love You - Gina Lynn Larsen 💜 Not About a Boy - Myah Hollis 💜 Break to You - Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden, and Neal Shusterman 💜 On the Bright Side - Anna Sortino 💜 Meet Me in the Middle - Alex Light 💜 Rise - Freya Finch 💜 We Don't Have Time for This - Brianna Craft 💜 Joined at the Joints - Marissa Eller 💜 Reckless - Lauren Roberts 💜 The Heart of the World - Amie Kaufman 💜 A Darker Mischief - Derek Milman 💜 Ready or Not - Andi Porretta 💜 The Ones Who Came Back Hungry - Amelinda Berube

✨ July 9 ✨ ❤ Beneath These Cursed Stars - Lexi Ryan ❤ The Mirror World - Femi Fadugba ❤ Hearts Overboard - Becky Bean ❤ Heir, Apparently - Kara McDowell ❤ The Darkness Within Us - Tricia Levenseller ❤ A Magic Fierce and Bright - Hemant Nayak ❤ It's Only a Game - Kelsea Yu

✨ July 16 ✨ 💙 The White Guy Dies First - (ed) Terry J. Benton-Walker 💙 The Second Song - Adrienne Tooley 💙 Trespass Against Us - Leon Kemp 💙 Grief in the Fourth Dimension - Jennifer Yu 💙 The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown - Andrew Yang 💙 Dashed - Amanda Quain 💙 Riot Act - Sarah Lariviere 💙 Portrait of a Shadow - Meriam Metoui

✨ July 23 ✨ ❤ Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield ❤ The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza ❤ Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses - Katrina Emmel ❤ The Lost Souls of Benzaiten - Kelly Murashige ❤ Asking for a Friend - Kara H.L. Chen ❤ Exes and Foes - Amanda Woody ❤ Stefi and the Spanish Prince - Donna Freitas ❤ I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy ❤ So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky

✨ July 30 ✨ 💜 The Loudest Silence - Sydney Langford 💜 The Blonde Dies First - Joelle Wellington 💜 Castle of the Cursed - Romina Garber 💜 The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes 💜 The Mirror of Beasts - Alexandra Bracken 💜 Such Charming Liars - Karen M. McManus 💜 Our Wicked Histories - Amy Goldsmith 💜 Eighteen Roses - Shannon C.F. Rogers 💜 Finding Famous - Candice Jalili

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

Welcome to My Pinned Post

Hey. Hi. Hello. If you're interested in seeing posts about certain subjects, please check out the tags below.

Disco Elysium

Hades

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten*

Ace Attorney

BoJack Horseman

Professor Layton

Hollow Knight

Fruits Basket

Ouran High School Host Club

Doodles. They are not good.

My obsessions include games, books, shows, robot vacuum cleaners, and Lt. Kim Kitsuragi.

*My YA (young adult, target audiences 13-18) book about a seventeen-year-old who makes a wish to a Japanese goddess to become a robot vacuum cleaner and ends up invoking the deity herself. Because that's not a weird description at all.

The book's Penguin Random House page can be seen here. There's absolutely no pressure to check it out, but to be honest, I really love the team I've gotten to work with, and the cover blows me away every time.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

✨ Young Adult Book Releases July 23 ✨ ❤ Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield ❤ The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza ❤ Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses - Katrina Emmel ❤ The Lost Souls of Benzaiten - Kelly Murashige ❤ Asking for a Friend - Kara H.L. Chen ❤ Exes and Foes - Amanda Woody ❤ Stefi and the Spanish Prince - Donna Freitas ❤ I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy ❤ So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

I went to the dentist today, then the library I grew up with (to deliver an advanced reader’s copy of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten). The dental team gave me a lei, and the librarian and her associates gave me lemon squares, a sweet card, and library swag.

There are good people in the world. Supportive people. Kind people. It’s hard to remember that sometimes. I feel so grateful to know they’re out here—in dental offices, in libraries, and here.

So anyway, books are amazing. Take care of your teeth. And keep holding on. 📚

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

I’m not promoting this in any big way. I just want to:

1. praise this beautiful cover by Yuta Onoda and the Soho team;

2. show off my Professor Layton and Fruits Basket stuff; and

3. talk about Benzaiten. I owe a lot to her. 💕