Artsy with Mya

 A audiobook that is a harsh listen. As the author and narrator goes through the book talking about himself and about black people as a whole - the listener begins to hear and try to understand about the types of feelings that the narrator and many black people go through; starting in childhood and continuing on into adulthood. I honestly don't really know how to describe this audiobook or what to say about it, but it made me think, it made me realize some things and there isn't much I can say besides I absolutely recommend this book especially as an audiobook. The way that the narrator talks through/reads the book really impresses upon the listener just how much of this is his daily life from when he was a child.  Again, I can't think of much else to say other than read it - listen to it.  I received this audiobook from NetGalley and MacMillian Audio to review and this is my review.  Five out of five stars

A fun interesting project book that is focused on a subset of embroidery work. The idea of working embroidery on organza is intriguing, but as the author states it is a bit more of a difficult task than traditional embroidery because organza does not have the tread count of other features that other embroidery fabrics do.  However, it is definitely an interesting genre of embroidery and one that I probably would not have thought of attempting without this book. I am interested in trying out the patterns in the book as they can be done on both organza or other embroidery fabrics.  Another part of the book that the author did exceptionally well is the overview of the stitches used in the patterns and showed how to do them step by step and what they should look like when done.  I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interesting in a different kind of crafting or who might want to expand their horizons in the field of embroidery. This book was published on July 1st...

 I go back and forth about the genre of true crime and my feelings on it all the time, but this book is a collection of stories about female killers and it is absolutely gripping. I could not put it down. As a collections of stories, the author did not go fully in-depth for each chapter, but there was a bibliography at the end of the chapter where the reader could find more resources about whichever women they would like to read more about.  Another aspect of the book that I liked was that the author put warnings at the start of chapters that involved particularly disturbing acts beyond just the 'regular' true crime warnings.  If you like history, true crime, learning about the women in history or just want a fun book to read - I definitely recommend this book for everyone.  I received this book free from NetGalley and ABRAMS to review and this is my unbiased review.  Five out of five stars. 

 Cross-stitch is something that my maternal grandmother taught me back when I was much younger and I have never forgotten it. There have been periods where I would do cross-stitch all the time and periods where the materials were simply waiting for me to pick them up again. I have used cross-stitch to create beautiful hand-made gifts for my friends and that would not have been possible without my grandmother.  This book reminds me of the ones that my grandmother used to teach me about cross-stitch and the patterns are  simple, fun and can be finished in a variety of different ways. The author themselves mentioned that the colors in the patterns can be swapped and changed depending on personal preference. Another thing that I liked about the book is that the author goes through a few different ways that each project can be finished and displayed and the book actually goes through each option and talks though how to do it. The book also talks about the different ways that e...

 I would suggest this book if someone I knew was interested in trying paint marbling, but as a book to read for fun it would probably be best to pick a different one.  Again this book was interesting, but as someone who has not tried paint marbling and has no plans to try it - it was simply a pleasant diversion.  I received this book from Netgally and the Walter Foster Publishing group to review and this is my honest review.  Four out of five stars  Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster

This was an interesting book. I found the title and description to be a bit misleading compared to the content of the book. When I first read the description, I thought that the book was a fun little nonfiction romp with stories and anecdotes of Tinder and the funnies and the failures of using Tinder. However, this book was a bit more of a strictly one person non-fiction then I was expecting.  Dr. Donnelly was very blunt when it came to the more sexual and adult situations that she discussed in her book which is a good policy overall, but I found the writing and discussion of these situations to be a bit awkward at least to me.  Another issues that I noticed while reading the book is the way that women were discussed and talked about in regards to other women and especially men was not particularly feminist or relatable to myself. I image that other people would read this book and feel differently about it, but personally I would not recommend this book to anyone I know nor wo...

Poetry books are my kryptonite when it comes to reading. There are several different ways that a poetry book can go and this book was both personal and global at the same time. The subjects of the poems range from more personal topics like self-image, social media image and also more global topics like womanhood, feminism, white privilege and global warming. However, the poems still feel personal and relatable when it comes to those subjects.  This book is what you could call a quick and easy read, but it is also thought-provoking. I definitely recommend this book.  I was gifted this book by Netgalley and GenZ Publishing to review and this is my personal and non-biased review.  5 out of 5 stars