To celebrate the release of the UK cover of the What If It’s Us sequel, I thought I’d share one of the crosstitches I’ve made. (I’m ridiculously excited for that sequel). Adam Silvera is fast becoming one of my favourite authors – I started out reading What If It’s Us, and then They Both Die At The End. I’ve had More Happy Than Not on my shelf for a while, but I’m waiting until I’m more happy than not to try try one. The reviews of ‘gut wrenching’ and ‘devastating’ don’t bode well!
If you’ve missed my other posts, I got into cross-stitching in lockdown and I’ve been recreating some of my favourite book characters and quotes. I can’t draw for the life of me, so I guess this is sort of my way of doing fanart?
Now, I’ve done a full post on why They Both Die At The End is my comfort book (and probably shouldn’t be…) that you can find here. There are so many quotes that I could have chosen, but this one always stuck out to me. I feel like it’s more applicable to me everyday life than any ones about inescapable death – but seriously, this book is so beautiful I could have chosen anything. I also wanted to get in Mateo’s piano and books, and the water from Rufus’ past. Even if it doesn’t look much like water…
What do you think? Are they any hobbies that you’ve picked up during Lockdown? Have you read any Adam Silvera books? Let me know in the comments!
This is not posted on a Wednesday. Your eyes decieve you.
As always, this great tag was originally created by The Broke and the Bookishbut is now hosted over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Yesterday Today’s prompt is for books with nature on the cover… of which there is a worrying amount of Young Adult books. Of which there is a worrying amount of recurring tropes… that I’m going to talk about here! There’s a link there somewhere.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Young Adult books. I love that there’s a genre where people progress past awkwardly holding hands, but can still go go on fairytale adventures without exploring the meaning of life. Is something bothering you? There’ll be a dozen Young Adult books on the subject and I just love it. But there are definitely some recurring tropes going on here, of which I’ve listed my top ten. Can you think of any more? So some of these Young Adult things boil your blood? Let me know in the comments!
10. Parents? What are those!
Whether it’s an obscure boating accident, or cancer, or my personal favourite as victims of the mythical beast the hero has to defeat at the end. Either way, the parents are rarely around. Or if they are, they never seem to care what their child is up to?
9. Unimaginable trauma…that’s never dealt with
I WANT TO GET SO MANY OF THESE POOR CHILDREN INTO THERAPY.
*
8. Inconsistent sizing
The first book will be 200 pages… and the last will be 750. Plus, if it’s any good Young Adult book then there will be at least 9 books in this world… or it will be a duology. There’s no in between.
7. ✨ Connections ✨
Everyone’s related to everyone else? The best friend will be related to the High Chancellor, or the hero will secretly be the long lost child of royalty (been there, seen that so many times).I guess it saves time trying to find the Head of Police when she’s your brother’s boyfriend’s mum, but it feels pretty unrealistic.
6. Protagonist who can’t understand why people think they’re pretty
But I’m so ugly! Honey, you’re probably a New York model who is complaining about her arm fat. Come on, body positivity!
*
5. That one POV that’s SO unnescessary
Why do I need to hear the perspective of the protagonist’s least favourite teacher? (No, this is not necessarily a Snape-bashing). But Young Adult books, especially the ones from multiple perspectives, always manage to throw in the POVs you don’t care about during the best plot points.
4. Token/Stereotyped Diversity
It can get really complicated where token diversity ends and inclusive, well-written diversity begins. But the charatcer is incredibly stereotyped, then I don’t belive it can be progressive.
3. “I let out a breath I didn’t know that I was holding”
Needs no explanation. I don’t see this a lot, but whenever I do it just obliterates the quality of the book.
2. Quirky Characteristics
Why are there so many resemblances between Y/N and the heroines of YA books? Sometimes, I just want to shake some of these authors and yell, ‘Being clumsy or tidy can’t be someone’s entire personality trait!
And Number One Goes To…
1. EVERYTHING IS A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!
Do you have a lot of plot holes? Here’s an easy fix: blame it on the evil group who will be revealed in the last book to have created the plot of this entire series as a psychological experiment. Boom.
Authors: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson
Published: 2014
It’s not easy being Magnus Bane. As a warlock, he’s often called upon to fix the problems of others, his life has been long and his loves have been many. And Magnus has a way of making sure he’s in the right place at the right – or perhaps the wrong – time. The French Revolution, Prohibition, the first great battle between Valentine and the New York Institute… Magnus was there, and usually in the middle of it. Magnus will never be able to tell all of his tales. No one would believe him. But these eleven stories shed a little light on his often inscrutable character. They are the stories he probably wishes had never got out. Image and synopsis from Goodreads
I had told myself that I would never read another book in the ‘weird incest series’ universe, as my friends know it as from me. (They’ve never read the books. I’ve never clarified.). It’s not that The Mortal Instruments are inherently bad, I just think that I got off on the wrong foot with them and could never shake that feeling. However, The Bane Chronicles took all the best parts of Cassandra Clare’s writing – the pacing, the humour, the characters – and focused on them instead of… incest.
This was such a cinematic book. It’s a novella of short stories that follow Magnus on his various adventures, but there’s more than enough content to create a well-developed, good-length book. Even if his personality seemed to consist mainly of glitter and sarcasm, Magnus was one of my favourite characters reading The Mortal Instruments and I enjoyed learning more about him past a quirky fashion sense. (Although there was plenty of that too). Covering the AIDS epidemic, Prohibition, Victorian London – the historical context was just *chef’s kiss*. Also, I really enjoyed how Magnus discussed his immortality; how he coped with outliving most of the human race.
“A great sadness welled up in Magnus at the sight of him. It was human to age and die, and Jem stood outside that humanity now, outside the light that burned so brightly and so briefly. It was cold outside that light and fire. No one had greater cause to know that cold than Magnus did.”
– THE BANE CHRONICLES
Leading on from immortality, there was a few dodgy age gaps. I guess if you’re immortal, the age gaps will always pretty big, but in one instance Magnus was really sexualising this girl and then described her as ‘barely a child’ pages later. It might have just been description that seemed weird because it’s all through Magnus’ eyes but I was a bit confused. I was glad it was cleared up later on that the warlocks didn’t date anyone under 18…. although I think Alec was 17 when they first went out? Immortal x mortal relationships always sit a bit weirdly with me; you have to make sure that it’s a comfortable power dynamic if you’re pushing this as a healthy relationship. *Cough* Stephanie Meyers *Cough*.
Despite a few flicks through Shadowhuntersfandom.com – which is a real thing! – I could just about piece together the timeline to smile at a reference; so I can imagine that avid readers adored the name dropping. This isn’t a good introduction to the ‘weird incest series’ universe because there are too many specifics. Honestly, I would sometimes forget that The Bane Chronicles were set in the shadowhunters world and just wanted to enjoy this stupidly funny man and his interesting taste in fashion.
Magnus was sure that the llama stampede he witnessed was a coincidence. The llamas could not be judging him.
– RELATABLE, MAGNUS
Peeve: ‘When Magnus walked down the road lots of ladies looked at him. And gentlemen. Because Magnus is bisexual and this author is inclusive, so don’t forget it!’ This happened way too much. Just put ‘everyone looked at him’. Or find a less clunky way of phrasing it – it’s not going to take away from his sexuality if you don’t punch the reader in the face with this aggresive inclusivity. Also, I wish the stories were in a better order, like chronological, because the book ended on a pretty sad one. There was a lot fewer Malec stories than I’d expected, so it looks like I’ll have to read The Eldest Curses to make up for it! But they had such cool names: The Last Stand Of The New York Institute; The Fall Of The Hotel Dumort. Like I said, pretty cinematic!
Once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. The Bane Chronicles took all my favourite parts of the Cassandra Clare’s engaging writing and I adored the addition of all the historical context. (Raphael and Ragnor are my new favourite friendship.) It’s funny and well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is the most gorgeous tag I’ve ever been nominated for and I’m so excited to share it with you all.
A few weeks ago, I was nominated by the creator of this tag over at The Fictional Journal. You can find Ashmita’s gorgeous post here, but I’ve included a lot of how she described the tag because it’s such a beautiful idea! I never thought I’d stick out blogging as long as I have, and it’s become something that I genuinely look forward to. Connecting with other bloggers is one of my favourite parts, so celebrating you all is something I always want to do more of. I don’t think my sentiments could be expressed any better than how Ashmita put it:
“Before being a blogger, I never knew about such talented people who make such thoughtful content out there. I realized that it’s near impossible to try to fathom the sheer number of such people out there, and I accept it. But this makes me sad because that would mean giving up on beauty of this world, the beauty which lies in her creative people. So, I thought of coming up with this award – “The Aesthete Blogger Award.”
Now, why aesthete? “Aesthete” means a person who is appreciative of, or sensitive to, art and beauty. You might be one if you’ve ever been moved by a work of art or beauty. I think that every creative person out there is an “aesthete” because if you create things, then I believe you must have been moved by someone else’s creations at least once, if not more.
This award is to honor every creative person, irrespective of their number of followers and views. Because, as long as you create, that is all that matters. This award is for those bloggers who put an insane amount of thought in each of their posts and for those who spread creativity like wildfire!“
– Pretty cool, right?
The Rules:
Use the official logo/graphic of the award and display it on your blog.
Tell me a something about this world that you admire.
What is your favourite form of creativity?
Nominate some lovely people and notify them by commenting on their posts; spread some love!
Ask your nominees 4 questions.
Share something you created. (can be anything!)
And lastly, just so you know: I LOVE YOUR CREATIONS!
Ashmita’s Questions:
These are the most bizzare and wonderful questions I’ve ever anwered.
What colour is your soul? This isn’t something I’ve thought a lot about, but I might go for a purple? There’s probably some meaning behind which colour you’d pick for your soul… but I just like the colour purple.
Think about your happiest memory. Then tell me the book/song that you are reminded of? Spotify seems to have some hidden agenda, in that it’s constantly playing Heroes by David Bowie. I’m talking multiple times a day, whenever I’ve finished the song I originally put on, it will play. It’s certainly warmed on me.
Finish the sentence: once upon a time, there lived a turtle on… The moon! Because why not?
Do you have an aesthetic?/What is your favourite aesthetic? I’d like to say that I got for the grunge/skater look, but it’s more that I just like wearing flannel and whatever I’ve found on my floor. Also, I’m definitely not good enough at eyeliner to properly complete these aesthetics, but I try!
My Questions
If your life was a movie, what song play in the montage you’re in at the moment?
Where’s one place you really want to visit?
Three books you want to read before you die?
What’s one thing you really want to try?
I Nominate…
If you’ve made it this far, consider yourself nominated! If you want to give it a go, let me know in the comments and I’ll link up your site 🙂 There are so many other amazing bloggers that I could have nominated, but my hands would have fallen off if I had included anyone else. You all inspire me.
I don’t talk about my love for galaxies far far away as much as I probably could, so I thought I’d grace you with something I’ve made!
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I got into cross-stitch over lockdown and have kept it up ever since. I’ve been really enjoying the total range of things you can make – you can find my other cross-stitches of fanfics, book covers, characters and favourite quotes here. Like I said, a range!
Are there any crafts or hobbies you’ve been enjoying recently? What is your favourite Star Wars film? Or have you read the books? (I haven’t and I’m so interested in what people think.). Let me know in the comments!
Shadow and Bone comes out TODAY! It’s been this far-off date for so long that it feels strange I can now see it in my continue watching pile on Netflix. Or watch again because I will make some waffles and finish it in a day. When I first heard Shadow and Bone would be a TV show, I wasn’t that bothered. I wasn’t sure what implications it would have for the series – I still hate the new Six Of Crows covers. Why would you ruin that beauty?! But it’s safe to say that the anticipation (and massive stretch of time since then) has really got me excited.
This is going to be a shorter post, but I just wanted to make some quick predictions and maybe interact with some of you about the show. Let me know any of your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to see what other people think!
I apolagise to everyone who has no clue what I’m on about… you’ll find out soon enough!
I Predict…
This show will either be horrendous or my new favourite program. There will be no inbetween. However, the trailers look brilliant so I’m hoping it will be the first one.
There are going to be loads of new Grishaverse fans who haven’t read the books.
The producers will mess up at least one thing, and there will be internet uproar. I’m calling Kaz and Inej kissing (THAT’S LIKE ONE OF THE BIGGEST THINGS IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP). But hopefully it won’t be too un-canon because I think Leigh Bardugo is one of the writers.
Things I’m Excited For…
Kaz smashing heads in with and his cane in real, HD cinema. No more needs to be said. Who are you most excited to see?
THE FAN EDITS. I’ve seen all the madness created by Hunger Games fans and Percy Jackson fans (and Marauders fans with 5 seconds of film and various random fan edits) soI’m so ready for my Tik Tok to be flooded with fan edits to pop songs.
I’m more excited for whatever Crows screen time we get over the Darkling and Alina any day. Can you tell?
Finally, one thing I can’t believe: BEN BARNES IS THE DARKLING? I’m sorry, what? I hadn’t really processed that it was him – the entire 2012 Marauders fandom is probably buzzing for all the new content of ‘Sirius’ in floppy shirts. Also, he is 39. I swear Alina is supposed to be like 16; the actress is 25, which isn’t too bad, but still. Why can’t we cast teenagers as actual teenagers?
This one of my favourite weekly tags, so many people do it that it’s really fun – and it’s always nice to rant about how excited I am for my next read. WWW Wednesday is hosted over at Taking On A World Of Words, go and check out their site! If you’ve had a go at this tag, feel free to link your post in the comments. And here’s what I’ve been up to this week!
What I Finished Recently
I’ve been lucky these past few weeks. I read two books I’d been waiting forever for and wow, were they worth it. You can find my review for Rule Of Wolveshere (still feels amazing to be able to say that) and Yes No Maybe Sohere. I can’t believe that Shadow and Bone is coming out on Friday – it’s been this far-off date for so long it’s strange it’s now a weekday. Honestly, I have too many thoughts to fit on here (and I don’t want it to get mixed up with WWW Wednesday stuff) so I’m going to do a discussion and predictions tomorrow or Friday, so keep an eye out for that! I’d love to see what other people think.
What I’m Currently Reading
I have fallen in love with this book. It’s absolutely gorgeous, from the idea to the characters. If I could, everything I say about The Falling In Love Montage book would be in italics. It’s a rom-com about lesbians in Ireland and a cynic and her girlfriend who teaches her to believe in romcoms. What more could you want!!
I’m not going to be posting a full review because I just wanted to enjoy reading without making notes on every other page. Or spending hours trying to get my love for this book into words (it would have taken hours). Also, if I went into problems, I’d end up down a rabbit hole of picking apart flaws. There are a few problems, and I know some people would find the main character irritating, but you know what? We’re not going to think about that. It’s a rom-com about lesbians in Ireland – what more could you want?
What I Want To Read Next
I may have forgotten everything that happened in The Mortal Instruments, but I didn’t forget my bestie Magnus and I want to see the chaos he’s created since then. For all the flaws I had with the original series, I’m pretty excited to try this. There are illustrations!! Do you know why is it written by three authors? If you can clear that up in the comments I’d be very greatful haha.
What are you reading? Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Ramadan to everyone celebrating! I’d been meaning to read Yes No Maybe So for weeks, so it seemed good timing to read a book set during Ramadan… during Ramadan. Literally the only things I knew going in was when it was set; that it was well received and co written by Becky Albertalli. Which is enough for me!
Name: Yes No Maybe So
Authors: Aisha Saeed and Becky Albertalli
Published: 2020
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state candidate – as long as he’s behind the scenes. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is cancelled, her parents are separating and now her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing – with some awkward guy she hardly knows …
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer – and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural crush of the century is another thing entirely. Blurb and image from Goodreads
I’m English. And I think that’s a factor I should have considered more before I read a YA book about teens canvassing for an American election. Which is certainly a unique premise for a rom-com. As you’d expect, there’s quite a bit on the American electoral system (and Target) that I don’t really understand. The politics both interested me and bored me because I don’t fully know how American politics works. It was quite funny how anti-Trump the book was (I loved it) but if you prefer your books to be more neutral then that’s a factor to consider.
“But I’m not talking about the world righting itself. I’m talking about us righting the world.” – Yes No Maybe So
It was nice that the boy was the klutz for once, but Jamie was the male embodiment of Bella Swan. Unconfident and shy, I could see a very obvious character development for someone who wanted to become president – and had to give a big speech at the end of the book. But the story dragged out for so long that the development wasn’t that concise. Three hundred pages in, the canvassing felt repetitive and I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to fill that many pages. However, the end quarter (it’s pretty long for a contemporary!) went off-piste and wasn’t as predictable, which I enjoyed.
Also, I found it strange that the font and chapter formatting was exactly the same as Becky Albertalli’s other co written book, What if It’s Us. You can find my review here. That collab is one of my favourite books of all time, so I was playing the dangerous game of comparing the Yes No Maybe So to it. One of the reasons my rating dropped was because Yes No Maybe So just wasn’t as good as I thought it would be – it’s also aimed at a younger audience than What if It’s Us.
“It’s ridiculous. Women are problematic if they show too much skin and problematic if they don’t show enough?” – My favourite quote
I loved the activism in Yes No Maybe So. Despite the fact I was rooting for the side characters more than Maya and Jamie, it had a strong, political message and here was decent queer representation that I thought was well handled. I’ve seen some reviews criticising Maya’s character – it’s not my place to comment, but they said said that she fell under the trope of Muslim women having to step away from their faith to date white men.
To sum up, Yes No Maybe So is an easy read with a strong message. Despite its considerable size, I barely noticed how fast I was getting through it and it’s a pretty funny book. The cover is adorable too! It felt so obvious what would happen that some of the canvassing could have been cut, but I liked that the ending wasn’t what I expected. Yes No Maybe So tackled more serious issues than I’d first expected in a really well- thought out way and I’m encouraged to try some of Aisha Saeed’s other books – if you have any recommendations, let me know in the comments!
Hanne Brum and Nina Zenik are my new OTP and they deserve all the waffles in the world.
Name: Rule Of Wolves
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Published: 2021
The Demon King. As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm—and even the monster within—to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible.
The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost.
The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.
King. General. Spy.Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall. Blurb and image from Goodreads
This review contains mild spoilers
I can’t believe I can finally review this book. Hell, I can’t believe I’ve finally read this book. Rule Of Wolves was one of those memorising the publish date and counting down the days books and believe me when I say it did not disappoint.
If you’re confused, Rule Of Wolves is the sequel to King Of Scars; the third series in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse and what I fully thought would be the last. This review will make sense on its own but you can find some context with my review of King Of Scars here. At the end of KOS, it was revealed that the antagonist from the original Grisha series had returned and was one of the (many) problems Nikolai had to face in this book. But I still think there should be a new villain. Cameos aside, I enjoy the fact that the Grisha series are relatively standalone and I’d have thought that Leigh Bardugo has enough imagination to create another villain. The revival of the Darkling sort of invalidates all other deaths – is it really goodbye if there’s a chance they could just be resurrected by a saint?
His return felt like the biggest red flags that this was a finale to the Grishaverse. Rehashing old plots like going to the Ice Court; the return of the Darkling; characters from other series coming back for slightly unnecessary side plots – if not a closing, it felt like the end of an era. Which made me unspeakably sad. But!! Imagine: it’s one in the morning and I’m promising myself that I’ll finish the book tomorrow (it’s happened to the best of us) but my brain is telling me… only twenty more pages… you’re nearly finished… you may as well. I wish I could swear on here because it was one f-bomb worthy last line. And I’m happy again.
“The world might crumble, but Nikolai Lantsov would be holding up the ceiling with one hand and plucking a speck of dirt from his lapel with the other while it all went to ruin.”
– RULE OF WOLVES
Originally, I had liked Mayu’s perspective. Like in other Grishaverse books, Rule of Wolves was narrated through various characters and there hasn’t had a Shu pov before so I was interested by this insight. But in other Grishaverse books I’d been equally interested in all perspectives. By the end of Rule Of Wolves, I was literally pressing the pages together to see if I could spot who the next POV will be from! It wasn’t that they were boring, but that the distribution of perspectives was so uneven. Nikolai almost became a side character in a series named after him. Although my theory is that Mayu will become a main character in another book… because frankly, I’m not sure what other storylines could be developed. On the other hand, I enjoyed an opportunity to get a perspective from the Darkling (even if there were too many of them) and I was appreciative of his redemption arc. If that’s the right word. I can’t believe I actually sympathised with the Darkling.
Only Leigh Bardugo could make me cry over plant metaphors. As always, her writing was just perfect and she EXCELLS at dialogue – if you enjoy character banter then this is the book for you. Also, I really like how the world is on the brink of industrial revolution because most fantasy worlds are well before or past that. Rule Of Wolves explored the relationship between religion and science; public sway and the divine. The sheer power in some of the quotes…
“Let the hounds give chase. I do not fear death, because I command it.”
– OOF
Lastly, I like that this was a book about war but it wasn’t a war book. The fighting was in depth and had all the emotion of any Leigh Bardugo scene but was in no way all that the book is about. There’s magic! Love! Character development! An abundance of politics I’m not going to pretend to fully understand. I spent about 400 pages cursing Bardugo for not getting all the couples together quick enough, but it was undeniably worth it.
I can’t believe that the way things turned out with Hanne and Nina hasn’t been done before (look at me being all non-spoilery) but it’s amazing. Like, the amount of memes and fanart that I’m hoping for. I loved the two of them so much – I was traumatised for like a page until I figured out what had happened and then I was grinning. It’s very hard to discuss without giving it away, but if you also are ridiculously happy for Hanne Brum, let me know in the comments!
To sum up, this is a beautiful fantasy book. I’m a strong believer that you can have things you’d change about a book and still love to to pieces. From the characters to all the plot twists, this was a book worthy of being a finale to the Grishaverse but I’m thrilled that it’s not. I was hooked from the first page and whilst I won’t say that the months of waiting weren’t annoying, they were worth it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Have you read Rule Of Wolves yet? Were you also bawling your eyes out at Zoya’s garden? Or do you want to read it and have any predictions? Let me know in the comments!
This was so fun!! A big thanks to Georgia over at the lovely Lost In Neverland – you can find her answers to the tag here (she has a great taste). I’ve had a look at various takes on this tag but I can’t find any that credit an original creator or any rules, so I guess the usual just apply. Nominate whoever you want and make sure you mention who nominated you – if you’d like to have a go, let me know in the comments and I’ll add your site to the list.
The Prompts
3 Characters I Love. It takes me a while to love (and then subsequently become obsessed with) a character, but my most longstanding favourites are Baz Pitch from Carry On, Kaz Brekker from Six Of Crows and Remus Lupin from Harry Potter.
3 Book Goals For the Year. I want to: only buy more books when I don’t have too many left on my physical tbr pile; read 80 books and read more queer and indie literature.
I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to complete the first one, but I had gotten into a really irritating cycle where I was overwhelmed with books… but at the same time had so many more I wanted to read!! My other goal is to reach 500 followers by the end of 2021 – if you could help me achieve that by liking, following or sharing I’d be very grateful.
3 Current Favourite Covers. I think the more I love a book the prettier the cover becomes because I can look at them and get ✨serotonin✨. But based purely on aesthetic, I love:
Click on the images to find my reviews!
3 Weirdest Things I’ve Used For Bookmarks. I love this prompt! Honestly, it’s hard to narrow it down to three but I’m a big believer in if it can fit in the book, use it. I’m talking tissues, bus tickets, hair brushes, even shoes. But if I think I’ll like the book and want to save the spine then I’ll use a proper bookmark!
3 Read Once and Loved Authors. These are authors I’ve read one book by and really want to read more. Some of them don’t have other books out, or I just need to find their others, but you can click on the image to find my reviews!
3 Titles I’ve Watched but Not Read I can’t think of a lot! I try and read the book before watching an adaptation, but there’s a few tv series that I watched before knowing they were based on comics. I really want to try the Umbrella Academy and I Am Not Okay WithThis graphic novels to see how much changed.
3 Series I have Binged. In quite literally the last few months:
3 Favourite Authors. Ahhh I feel like I’m always going on about the same books and the same authors… but they’re my favourite for a reason. These are authors I will gladly ditch whatever I’m currently reading for, and will be endlessly recommending their books to my friends:
Becky Albertalli
Leigh Bardugo
Holly Black
Click on the books to find my reviews!
3 Unpopular Bookish Opinions. I don’t know how necessarily unpopular this is, but I’m a firm believer that you need to separate the art from the artist. Whatever an author’s wrongdoings are, you shouldn’t not read a series because the author is problematic and it doesn’t feed into the book. If the book and the author are problematic then it’s a bit different but I think it’s a shame that some people refuse to read brilliant series because of the authors’ mistakes.
Also, an author not naming a characters’ sexuality isn’t an example of biphobia or panphobia?? I’ve seen some criticisms of Carry On saying that Rainbow Rowell needs to give Simon a label but I don’t agree.
Lastly, hardback books always feel nicer to read than paperback books. They’re more expensive but worth it. What do you think? Let me know in the commments!
