academic zombie

1. I finished Hunted by Meagan Spooner, and wow, why are people sleeping on this BaTB take? Go read it right now if you're a fan of the fairy tale, seriously.

2. Guys, Oppy the Mars Rover is probably dead, and I'm so upset right now. I may or may not have cried because its last words were so sad.

Today I spent the day catching up on "This Is Us" with my mom, ordering pizza dinner, and watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. I checked out the Super Bowl Halftime show, and it was just as bad as I expected.

I've got two hours left of the audiobook "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour. I'm enjoying it so far. It's very character driven, which are my kind of books, and the main character Marin is very relatable and a cute sad bean that I just want to wrap in warm blankets and feed her hot chocolate and cookies until she's done being sad. I'll most likely finish the story tomorrow or Tuesday. I've been playing Stardew Valley while I listen to my audiobooks, and it's actually a very relaxing way to get through them so I'll probably continue with that.

And speaking of games, I picked up and played a little of Kingdom Hearts 3. It's all right so far. I've decided long ago that Kingdom Hearts lore doesn't have to make sense for me to enjoy the series. I'm taking selfies with Donald and Goofy, cooking with Remy, and getting into fights with the god of the underworld. As far as I'm concerned, it's a fun sequel. My only complaint is we're revisiting worlds that I didn't want (Pirates *hiss*) and not seeing any characters I expected to find from the last two games. (Where's Yuffie? And Leon? And emo Cloud?!)

That's it for now. I'm working from Monday to Friday this week, so that ends my mini staycation. Later today is a 10AM-6PM shift. The rest are much earlier, and I'm already dreading them.

Brandy Colbert's Little & Lion was one of my picks for Book of the Month, and I just finished it today.

The book is about a girl named Suzette and her stepbrother Lionel. Suzette was sent away to boarding school for a year while her family dealt with her brother's recent diagnosis for bipolar disorder and getting him started on the right medication. Not only does she have to contend with her brother's illness and a secret that he's keeping from their parents, she's also in the midst of figuring out her sexuality, which inevitably ends with her caught in a (sort of) love triangle between a boy and Lionel's new girlfriend.

I really enjoyed it overall. Without spoiling anything major, I was a little concerned how the book was going to handle the topics of bisexuality and exploration, mental illness, and the romantic subplots, but everything was wonderfully woven together. Colbert handled the nature of Lionel's diagnosis sensitively. Suzette's bisexuality was also an interesting asset of her identity to explore, given that she's also black and Jewish, none of which she could've been comfortably open about at boarding school; her struggle to understand herself, while also dealing with a prejudiced environment and the ramifications of remaining in the closet, was something that hit very close to home for me.

I think the only complaint I have about the book was the ending. I can't go into the exact details about it, given that it's heavy spoilers, but I finished the book feeling that Lionel and Suzette's relationship should've received more focus in the very last few chapters. Their issues wrapped up a little too neatly, which made the ending feel completely rushed when the pace throughout the story felt fine otherwise.