2016 Hub Challenge Check-In #7

I’ve read a total of 23 titles for the 2016 Hub Challenge. To finish, I only have to read 2 more. Some years, I read more than 25, but I might just stop at 25 this year because I have this giant pile of TBR books at home: arcs and library books.

This week saw me finish two graphic novels and a regular novel.

The first graphic novel was Super Mutant Magic Academy by  Jillian Tamako.

Summary:SuperMutant Magic Academy, paints a teenaged world filled with just as much ennui and uncertainty, but also with a sharp dose of humor and irreverence. Tamaki deftly plays superhero and high-school Hollywood tropes against what adolescence is really like: The SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep school for mutants and witches, but their paranormal abilities take a backseat to everyday teen concerns.
Science experiments go awry, bake sales are upstaged, and the new kid at school is a cat who will determine the course of human destiny.  Whether the magic is mundane or miraculous, Tamaki’s jokes are precise and devastating.

The second GN was Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia.

Summary: The children of U.S. small-town Alexandria are just trying to live like normal teens until their parents’ promised return from a mysterious, four-year religious pilgrimage, and Ben Schiller is no exception. She’s just trying to take care of her sister, keep faith that her parents will come back, and get through her teen years as painlessly as possible. But her relationship with her best friend is changing, her younger sister is hiding a dark secret, and a terrible tragedy is coming for them all. Filled with teenage loves and fights and parties, Sacred Heart is a wonderful coming-of-age graphic novel set against the threat of a big reckoning that everyone fears is coming but has no proof.

I didn’t love either of these. I’m not a huge reader of graphic novels and these two just weren;t my thing.

On the other hand, I loved Dumplin’  by Julie Murphy.

Summary:Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

Bath day!

Bassets don’t like water and will do just about anything to avoid it.

Bath day in a basset home can be tricky. I had to chase Lucy around the house and carry her into the bathroom where I quickly closed the door to trap her inside.

She didn’t fight the warm water I scooped over her or the shampoo I scrubbed into her fur. It was while we were giving the shampoo time to sit that she got antsy and tried to jump out of the tub. I sang “Twinkle twinkle” a few times while holding her head and looking deeply into her eyes. Doggy hypnotism.  She regained her calm for the rinse phase, but, as soon as I’d finished drying her with the towel, she lept out of the tub and did the post bath dash familiar to all dog owners. She chased her tail a bit too. She might be close to 10, but she still has some puppy mannerisms.

I don’t have the heart to tell her she is going to have her nails trimmed and ears cleaned later.