Christine Marie's Blog

  I SSUE 03 - - - - - - JUNE 2026 Welcome to my first ever no-spoiler review on my blog! I'm still pretty new to official reviewing, so this format is a work in progress. Today, I'm going to go over my rating of Percy Jackson #1: The Lightning Thief.  My rating: 4.25/5 stars Middle Grade, 384 pages Tropes: -urban fantasy -Greek mythology -a quest -found family -chosen one To Start off: Was I a huge KOTLC and Maze Runner and Hunger Games AND Warrior Cats fandom kid at 12 years old? Yes. Did I also see all the edits of PJO and all the fanarts on Pinterest? Yes. Did I ever read these at that prime preteen time of my life? No. Therefore I am taking it up on me this summer to read the entire first series of the Percy Jackson world. So expect more reviews! Also, don't kill me, but I did watch season one of the TV show before I read this, so the plot twists were not a surprise and I was sort of expecting everything that happened, which is why I rated it 4.25. What worked for me: ...

ISSUE 02 - - - - - - - MAY 2026 "Top 15," you think. "That's strange. Isn't it usually top 10?"  OKAY, OKAY, you don't need to call me out on that. I'm indecisive, and I have too many favorite books. No matter how much I tried to condense the list, I just physically could not leave out these extra five.  I admit, the title of this post is a little misleading, because by books, I mostly mean book series. Sure, there might be a couple standalones in here---but if you're a reader, you know how daunting it is to pick just one singular book of a series and call it your favorite. At least for me, it feels like I'm not including the entirety of the world and the characters and such.  Also: all of the books on this list are CLEAN! There might be a couple minor swears throughout some of the YA series, but there is no spice whatsoever in any of these books. Last but not least: count how many ones YOU love. If you get 9/15, we are officially twins. Onto...

ISSUE 01 - - - - - - - - - - MAY 2026 My Book is Released! After a long summer of outlining, in September of 2024, I wrote the first chapter of Break of Day. I never would've guessed it would lead me down the path of publishing. Well. to be fair, I had a hankering---I did text my online friend, " maybe this book is IT!" While drafting, I started drawing the cover just for fun, just to visualize the world and pure vibes of the story. I spent long perfecting it, and had the time of my life choosing the fonts and colors for the title. (Seriously. I've always found choosing fonts fun. Even for this blog. Don't ask why.) I finished the draft, went through a couple rounds of editing, spent many tears over the technical aspects, and ordered a print proof for draft two of my book. I was absolutely ecstatic at the words I've scribbled by hand being in actual book form. Seriously! I totally recommend it, even if you aren't planning on publishing---making a basic cov...