A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

The biggest pull this book had on me was its title – how controversial is it to say you’re glad your mom died? And then I saw who wrote it and became even more intrigued. I knew of Jennette McCurdy through iCarly, a show my sister and I watched on Nickelodeon when we were younger. I always liked Jennette’s character, Sam – she was rambunctious, loved food, and was often a great source of comic relief. On the outside, it would seem that Jennette had it all. Who wouldn’t love to be famous and be a co-star on a popular show? It wasn’t until I read her memoir that I learned she actually hated acting, and it was her mom’s dream, not hers.

Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.
Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.
Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.
But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

I’m probably the last person who should be starting another series considering I’m already in the middle of many others BUT… how could I not read this? I’m always on the look out for diverse books because my shelf has been dominated by white authors for a long time, soo I’ve been doing my best to read and champion BIPOC voices when I can.

A few weeks ago Ri and I did a bookish six degrees of separation post (which you can read here). We had a ton of fun and wanted to do it again, so here is our part 2! Thanks to our friend C (find her blog here) for suggesting our starting point for today – Velocity Weapon!

Lana Baker is Aldgate’s finest scribe, with a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result.
As Lana transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament, the debates grow tenser and more desperate. Due to long-standing tradition, a hung vote will cause Parliament to flood and a return to endless war. Lana must rely on an unlikely pair of comrades—Bugbite, the curmudgeonly fairy, and Eloquentia, the bewitching human deputy—to save humanity (and maybe even woo one or two lucky ladies), come hell or high water.

Thank you to TorDotComPub for sending me an ARC of High Times in the Low Parliament for review! This does not affect my review, all opinions are my own.

If you know me and my reading tastes, you know that I will read any and all books that involve necromancy or bone magic. Fall is slowly creeping up on us – very slowly, in my case (desert life…). And obviously necromancy and bone magic are both pretty spooky! So I decided to compile a short list of books that involve one or the other! I bet you can guess one or two of the ones I’m going to include haha. Read on to see if you guessed correctly!