The Anticipated Releases Book Tag!

I was tagged by Rebecca to do the Anticipated Releases Book Tag. So thank you!

To be honest: sometimes, I don’t pay too much attention to new releases unless it’s a book I’m very, very excited for, such as the next installment in a favorite series. More often than not, I forget when books come out until I see them available on Amazon or at the bookstore and library. I try to focus on the books that are currently released and in my possession or I have access to before I think about the ones not out yet. Somehow, though, I came up with enough answers for this tag.

 

Your most anticipated release of the year

Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco, the final novel in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I am deliberately putting off reading Escaping from Houdini so I can marathon finish the series.

 

A book you’re not anticipating

This might hurt some of you, but Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell. Wayward Son is the sequel to Carry On. While I’ve enjoyed most of Rainbow Rowell’s books, sadly, I did not love Carry On like so many other people have. Chances are, I won’t read Wayward Son.

 

Most underhyped anticipated release

Lovely War by Julie Berry, which I already own since Barnes and Noble had an amazing sale recently. I have read two of Julie Berry’s novels and I immensely enjoyed both of them. Even if I had not read any of the author’s previous works, I would have been drawn to it anyway. It is a fantasy historical fiction novel told through the eyes of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, as she tells the story of doomed lovers to Ares and Hephaestus in a Manhattan hotel room.

 

A book you’ve been waiting on forever

Though it is technically not a new release at this point—it came out summer of last year—a book I waited for what felt like forever for was Lethal White by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling. It is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series and the one that got pushed aside in favor of the disaster that was the Crimes of Grindelwald. As far as I am concerned, JK Rowling needs to retire her Boy Wizard and focus on her adorable, grumpy London private investigator.

 

A book you’re anticipating that’s out of your comfort zone

That would be Starsight, the sequel to Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I picked up Skyward last year because I’ve been wanting to get into Brandon Sanderson’s books for years and I wanted to read more Sci-fi. It’s not something I often reach for, compared to other genres.

 

Your top 3 “Can’t Wait” Books of the Year

Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Technically, all three of these books are out by now, but they were all ones I was anticipating when I first heard of their publication. Contradicting my previous statement that I don’t pay too much attention to new releases unless it is by authors I’ve read previously, that is partially true.

Teeth in the Mist is Dawn Kurtagich’s third novel, and I read, and enjoyed, the other two. I bought Margaret Rogerson’s debut novel An Enchantment of Ravens when it came out, though I haven’t read it yet. But if a synopsis has any mention of libraries, magic, and sorcerers, like Sorcery of Thorns does, I am all for it. And I’m trash for Beauty and the Beast, so you bet your bottom dollar A Curse so Dark and Lonely, which came out way back in January, is on the list.

 

Top 5 most anticipated backlist books on your TBR

 

 

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

I came to a slightly uncomfortable revelation about myself this year: I want all the books yet I continuously deny myself what I actually want to read. All of these books should have been read by now, among so many others. Yet I keep putting them unfairly on the backburner. No idea why. I guess I am a masochist.

 

What is a backlist book you keep putting off “for the right moment?”

(TAG! You’re it!)

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TBR Alphabet Tag

I don’t know what it is about book tags, but I see a whole bunch I want to do, I write up a draft almost immediately in a notebook, and then it takes me ages to type it up, edit, and post it on the blogsphere. I don’t get it.

Oh well. I saw this tag on Kristin’s blog a little while ago. Here it is now: the TBR Alphabet Tag.

 

A

An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason by Virginia Boecker

 

B

Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake

 

C

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

 

D

(The) Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

 

E

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

 

F

Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

 

G

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

 

H

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

 

I

Isle of Blood and Stone by Makiia Lucier

 

J

None

 

K

Kindred by Octavia Butler

 

L

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

 

M

My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd

 

N

Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger

 

O

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

 

P

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

 

Q: (The) Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

 

R

Ruined by Amy Tintera

 

S: Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer

 

T

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

 

U

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

 

V

(The) Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory

 

 

W

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crawley

 

X

None

 

Y

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

 

Z

None

 

I tag:

Shanah

Grey

Rebecca

Crystal

Sophie

Game of Thrones Book Tag

Confession time: I am not a Game of Thrones fan.

Yet I probably know as much about it as the true fan-people. If you are on social media, you can’t get away from the Game of Thrones memes and GIFs. In real life, my dad loves the show (until the finale) and so do the majority of my friends. I’ve gotten stuck in the middle of heated discussions over that week’s episode or conspiracy theories. I even watched a few episodes occasionally. But, for the life of me, the show could not hold my interest.

Well, except for the memes.

With badass women, court politics, dragons, and morally gray characters backstabbing one another, I should have liked Game of Thrones more than I did. Ultimately, I boiled it down to having a beef with the show. While I was at college, my dad put a TV in my bedroom so he could watch the show in peace because my mom hated it. Every time I came home, I was banished from my own room on Sunday nights. The reviews claiming the show portrayed graphic violence against women and mentions of incest didn’t help much. Needless to say, from then on, Game of Thrones was tainted for me.

Except my blog needs content and I need to write or I will explode. Shanah provided an outlet when she posted the Game of Thrones book tag on her blog recently. She didn’t tag me, so I tagged myself.

Before we go further, I should also mention that I only know maybe five of the families listed in this tag. So, I have no idea what their family mottos mean.

To the tag!

 

House Lannister (Hear Me Roar): Name a book that you originally loved but, upon a reread, you realized it wasn’t so great after all.

I think most people can attest to this, but Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I reread the book about two years ago randomly during a long reading slump, then ended up putting it down after a hundred or so pages. Unlike most people, it was not so much the borderline toxic, obsessive relationship. Back in the day, I was Team Jacob, so Edward Cullen was already a dickhead. It was the cringey, boring writing style that made me give up. I couldn’t do it. But I didn’t change my high star rating on Goodreads. I loved it as a teenager and, as flawed as it might have been, a lot of good came out of the Twilight saga.

 

House Stark (Winter is Coming): Name your most anticipated read for the year.

Easily Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco, the final book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I am deliberately putting off reading Escaping from Houdini solely for the purpose of preventing a book hangover or having to wait too long for the next book. Another close contestant is Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich. Except I don’t want to read it too soon, since it seems she takes a while to write books and she’s from England, making the wait longer than others.

 

House Targaryen (Fire and Blood): Name a book that you felt completely slayed with fantastic characters, plot, pacing, etc.

A completely unexpected book that slayed me earlier this year was A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin. I went into it expecting a fun historical romance with spies. Instead, I got a group of strong, independent girls with their own talents and intelligence, swoon-worthy guys, and a fast-paced plot. It was a library book I read, though you can bet I will be buying my own copy, as well as the rest of the books currently out in the series.

 

House Baratheon (Ours is the Fury): Name a book that ended with a cliffhanger that genuinely pissed you off.

I won’t say I was pissed off, but I was not entirely satisfied with the ending of The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, the final book in his Heroes of Olympus series.

 

House Martial (Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken): Name a book or series that’s been on your TBR since the dawn of time.

The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy by Stephanie Perkins, and the Selection series by Kiera Cass. The first two I currently have checked out from my local library, while the Selection series I plan to read, also from the library, later this summer. I’ve had these books on my Goodreads TBR for years, ever since I discovered BookTube and I was brought into a platform that introduced me to a plethora books I might not have found otherwise.

 

House Boulton (Our Blades Are Sharp): Name the most graphic or disturbing book you’ve ever read.

Horns by Joe Hill, which follows a young man, Ignatius, who was accused of raping and murdering his long-time girlfriend. A year after her death, Iggy gets drunk, pees on a statue of the Virgin Mary, and wakes up the next morning with horns protruding from his head. The magic of the horns compels people to reveal their deepest, darkest, most disturbing, most lustful, and sometimes grossest desires to Iggy. Thus, he intends to use them to track down his girlfriend’s real killer. And, in case you are unaware, Joe Hill is the pen name for Stephan King’s son. So, yes, like father, like son in terms of all that is graphic and messed up.

 

House Tyrell (Growing Strong): Name a book or series that gets better and better with every reread.

Admittedly, I don’t reread books or completed series often enough. The ones I have reread have been only once or twice, and my feelings didn’t change. However, a book I reread last year, but in a different format, was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was published in a graphic novel format last year.

Emily Carroll’s artwork added something more to Speak instead of taking something from it. She used a black-and-white art style that resembled the bleakness throughout the story. Yet the way she drew the characters, particularly Melinda, empathizes how young they all are going through and doing things like this. I don’t know if that makes any sense.

 

Are there any other fake Game of Thrones fans besides me?

 

 

I tag:

Crystal

Rebecca

Kristin

Grey

Nope Book Tag (featuring random Game of Thrones and cat GIFs!)

I thought once school was out for the summer, my creativity would flow again and I would be able to write more for my blog. Only I think my brain is still in recovery.

Also, I’m still backed up on some blog posts. I saw this book tag, the Nope Book Tag, on Crystal’s blog a while ago. Thankfully, this is the last one I needed to finish.

Side note: I love Crystal’s blog and I hope you all check her out!

On to the tag!

 

NOPE ending: a book that made you go NOPE either in denial, rage, or simply because the ending was terrible.

The ending of The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton, a recent read. The ending was not terrible, but it was rushed and I went into the novel thinking that it was the last book in a duology. Although, there were too many loose ends and, after a search on Goodreads, there is at least one more book. I suppose I am in denial—I only wanted two books. Not that I don’t enjoy the series. Dhonielle Clayton is a good writer, but the world she created in The Belles already feels like its running dry of story ideas.

 

NOPE protagonist: a main character you dislike and drives you crazy.

Aelin from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas as well as Feyre from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I liked Aelin way better when she was Celeana and, honestly, I don’t think she’s fit to be a queen. She’s too wild and a hothead. Regarding Feyre, she was too much of a wishy-washy special snowflake for my taste. Part of the reason I haven’t gotten to the final novels in the respective series is because of them.

 

NOPE popular pairing: a “ship” you don’t support.

Cassian and Nesta from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. I really like him but can’t stand her. He could do so much better.

 

NOPE protagonist action/decision: a character decision that made you shake your head.

Most of the character decisions in Vengeful by V.E. Schwab, mainly the ones done by Marcella and Victor.

 

NOPE genre: a genre you will never read.

Dark erotica, like an abduction turned romance. I fully understand Stockholm Syndrome is a real thing. I just don’t want to see it in any sexual capacity.

 

NOPE book format: a book format you hate and avoid buying until it comes out in a different edition.

I prefer hardbacks and paperbacks over e-books and audiobooks. E-books you can’t smell and you have to stop reading to charge the battery. Audiobooks can be expensive and there’s the risk of a sucky narrator. But I don’t necessarily hate either of them, since it’s so easy for me to avoid them altogether.

 

NOPE trope: a trope that makes you go nope.

One trope I’ve seen a lot, particularly in young adult novels, is authors butchering one love interest that was perfectly fine in the previous novel(s) for the sake of making a new love interest look more appealing, or simply introducing a new love interest for the sake of drama in an otherwise stable relationship. This trope is usually the most annoying to me because I’m always loyal to the ships I sail.

 

NOPE recommendation: a book recommendation that is constantly hyped and pushed at you that you simply refuse to read.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Normally, I love high fantasy, but for whatever reason, I could not get into the media adaptions for neither of these works. With all the books I want to read, I’ll probably never get to these anyway. I won’t force myself to, either.

 

NOPE cliché/pet peeve: a cliché or writing pet peeve that always makes you roll your eyes.

That love cures all in any compacity. That’s all I’m going to say.

 

NOPE love interest: the love interest that’s not worthy of being one/a character you don’t think should have been a viable love interest.

Seung, a character from Where I Live by Brenda Rufener, a book I read earlier this year. He was the best friend of the main character, who had a crush on him and could only talk about how hot he was. He had no personality to speak of. I simply couldn’t see what there was for her to like about him so much.

 

NOPE book: a book that shouldn’t have existed.

I know I gave it a decent rating on Goodreads, but Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes. It is the sequel to You, which should have been awesome. Instead, we get a bloodthirsty yet totally boring stalker, an annoying new love interest I think I hated more than I was supposed to hate said stalker, and a plot that involved more sex than stalking. At the time I read Hidden Bodies, I had loved You so much and was so excited for the sequel, I couldn’t bring myself to give it a bad rating. Since then, I’ve seen other reviews that validated the negative feelings I have towards Hidden Bodies. I even unhauled it as a result.

 

NOPE villain: a scary villain/antagonist you would hate to cross and would make you run in the opposite direction.

Gaea from The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. Since she’s the actual earth, running away from her would be very, very difficult.

 

NOPE death: a character death that still haunts you.

One of the four perspectives in Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys and the one character I did not want to die.

 

NOPE author: an author you have had a bad experience reading and have decided to quit.

Eliza Wass, who wrote The Cresswell Plot and The Life and Death Parade. The Cresswell Plot was a novel I remember being really excited about, then was relieved I checked it out from the library when I read it. A novel about extreme religious ideals in families that was not written well, I forgave it because it was her debut novel. Then, I read The Life and Death Parade last year, a book about a girl tracking down an elusive group she hopes can bring back her dead boyfriend, and was again deeply disappointed by the failed potential. Safe to say, I don’t think I’ll read any more of Eliza Wass’s books.

 

I don’t know who else has done this tag, but consider yourself tagged if you want to!

 

Who is an author you’ve had a bad experience with?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Should Have Read That Book Tag

Like any bookworm, I have a large to be read pile that keeps growing. Not that I mind—I accept it at this point. Still, there are books sitting on my shelves unread, for longer than they probably should be. All for different reasons that I will try not to get into over and over again. You all just want to see the books, right?

I saw this book tag on Crystal’s blog.

 

A book that a friend is always telling you to read.

I don’t have a lot of friends who are readers. But one who is a reader has frequently recommended the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. I have wanted to read this series for years anyway.

 

A book that’s been on your TBR forever, yet you still haven’t picked it up.

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge, which is a fantastical retelling of Little Red Riding. I loved her debut novel, Cruel Beauty, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast blended with Greek mythology. I want to get back into Rosamund Hodge’s books.

 

A book in a series you started, but haven’t gotten around to finishing yet.

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. It’s the second in a series of companion novels about famous characters named Jane from history, in which the familiar stories are turned on their heads with a humorous fantasy twist. My Plain Jane is a retelling of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

 

A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read.

For one year of summer reading in high school, I was supposed to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Only I read enough of it to fill out the worksheet. Now I’m an older and wiser reader, fully embracing my hopeless romantic side, I want to reread Wuthering Heights from start to finish.

 

A popular book it seems everyone but you has read.

The Hate U Give is a book I swear everyone and their mother has read and loved.

 

A book that inspired a film/TV adaption that you love, but just haven’t read yet.

I had no idea the Hellboy movies were based off comic books until I actually looked it up. I love the 2004 film directed by Guillermo del Toro with Ron Perlman as Hellboy and Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, as well as the sequel, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. To this day, I have not read the comic books nor do I really have any desire to do so.

 

A book you see all over Instagram but haven’t picked up.

I see a lot of books on Instagram that I have not gotten to yet. I swear it changes almost daily. Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo…The Cruel Prince by Holly Black….The list goes on.

 

I tag:

Rebecca

Grey

Kristin

Sophie

 

What books have been sitting on your TBR for too long?

Behind the Blogger Book Tag

It’s catch up time now!

With school, I didn’t have a lot of energy for creativity and I wasn’t reading enough to do individual book reviews. I found the Behind the Blogger Tag on Rebecca’s blog a while back. Now, I’m finally getting around to posting it.

Trying not to babble too much. On to the tag!

 

Why did you start blogging and why have you kept blogging?

I started my blog in the fall of 2016. I had just graduated from college and found myself unemployed. Between filling out job applications and sometimes getting an interview and always getting rejected, I was slowly going insane. Worse still, I had story ADD—I could not settle on what novel project I wanted to focus on. I needed something to keep me grounded.

My friends had encouraged me to start a book blog. I don’t have a lot of readers in my life and social media offered a platform to find like-minded people. Most importantly, it would keep up my writing habit. After more deliberation, I wrote my first blog post on WordPress.

Three years later, I am still blogging. Besides meeting a ton of nice people in the comments, blogging has been overall therapeutic. It was a distraction when my mom was sick. It has continued to help me relieve stress in between homework and school projects. Though this past semester was relatively easy, one before was really stressful. Writing helped a lot.

 

What is your favorite type of blog post to write?

Though I haven’t done any this year, monthly TBRs and wrap-ups. I’m a goal-oriented person. I like picking books I want to read in a month and then see how I did at the end. But in 2019, I wanted to try something different in order to work around my school schedule. That, and I wanted to see if I liked having the general reading wrap-ups, usually posted once I get around to it, over a monthly commitment.

 

What are your top 3 favorite blog posts?

The first I thought of was the Recommending Books I Didn’t Love but You Might. I’m not a fan of bashing a book, even if I genuinely hated it. No one reads the same novel and I would feel guilty if I deterred someone from finding something they might enjoy just because it was simply not my cup of tea. The books on this recommendations post were ones I rated between 2 and 3 stars. Only they were not without their qualities I think other people would appreciate.

The second favorite blog post is the most recent: Top 5 Tuesday Slytherin House recommendations. I consider myself as far away from Slytherin as one can get. Yet, of all the House recommendations in Shanah’s Harry Potter themed February, the Slytherin post was the most fun.

The last of my favorites is a tie between the Random Books on my TBR post and the Hidden Gems Recommendations. The former was meant to remind me that there are books quickly gathering dust at home that deserve my attention. The latter I wrote while still on a high after reading four great books in a row. It was a blog series idea I had, since I tend to read a lot of books that fly under the radar. I still might do another one in the future.

 

What are some of your favorite things to do to relax?

The main thing I do to relax is read. Writing for my blog helps me unwind sometimes, too. Although, lately, watching BookTube videos and Netflix shows has been my preferred choice of relaxing.

Another thing I like to do to relax or to stay focused is make lists. Lately, it’s TBR lists of books I own and books I will buy/read eventually. Sometimes, my mind drifted off during class (I woke up at 4:15 in the morning, guys). To stay awake, I made a list or two in my notebook. Once I do that, I’m able to get back to task at hand.

 

What are 3 of your favorite things?

I made a point of picking things that are not related to books or writing, i.e. Happy Hello Art magnetic bookmarks or libraries….

One of my favorite things is Christmas. While everyone is stressed out trying to shop for everyone, I like shopping. I like going to stores, picking out new ornaments to put on the tree and cute wrapping paper at Target. Fortunately for me, my dad and my brother are easy to shop for. I love Christmas music and movies. I like the cozy feeling. Lastly, I love the wrapping up of one year and the anticipation of another.

A second favorite thing is my dog Ziva! She is a nine-year-old female shorkie, a half-shih tzu and half Yorkshire terrier mix. We got her in July of 2010. She was named for Ziva David, my family’s favorite character on NCIS. It’s a rather odd name for a dog, but her quirky, high-energy, and feisty personality make it a perfect fit. She refuses to sleep on her dog bed in the kitchen anymore. Whenever we tried to make her stay, she knocked down the gate and proceeded to sleep in the living room on her favorite chair. We’ve given up at this point. Ziva also likes naps, peanuts, eggs, and running around outside.

My third favorite thing is Beauty and the Beast. The live-action film, the animated film, retellings, and any merchandise. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but my bedspread is the glass window design from the original Disney animation movie. I was 25 when I got that for Christmas, but I asked for it and I don’t care. Sadly, I don’t have as much merchandise as I would like. I practically drool while browsing Hot Topic Beauty and the Beast stuff online.

 

What are your proudest blogging moments?

Honestly, just starting a blog in the first place. I had to learn to “put myself out there,” so to speak. I had to learn how to build my platform and gain followers without being a troll. I took to Instagram and other apps to advertise whenever I posted. I became more involved in the blogging world, like participating in Top 5 Tuesday and commenting on other people’s works. When I started this blog, I had no intention of making it big. I only wanted to write and talk about books. I still only want to write and talk about books.

 

What are your hobbies outside of blogging?

Besides, reading and blogging, I don’t have a lot of hobbies. I like to go for walks, but I hate walking around aimlessly so I must have a destination in mind whenever I do. I watch a lot of BookTube videos. I watch movies on Netflix and sometimes TV shows; most recently, it was Castlevania (Alucard my babe <3).

With Criminal Minds ending next season, I’ll have to find another TV show to watch. I want to say “hanging out with my friends,” is another hobby. However, after college, the majority of my friends moved out of state or our lives are so busy adulting we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to make plans. Fortunately, we text daily.

A hobby I want to get back into is coloring books. I got some coloring bookmarks from my latest trip to my local library. I forgot how therapeutic the activity can be.

 

Describe your personality in 3 words

Hard working: I put all I have into my school work and any job I have. I want my degree and I want money so I can move out of my dad’s house, into my own space.

Smart: Though I didn’t always feel like a smart person growing up, or even sometimes now, I know I am. I have to keep reminding myself that I possess my own type of intelligence that does not make me better or worse than anyone else.

A slightly extroverted introvert: Part of what drew me to the archives field of library science was that the job would not require too much interaction with the “public.” Then, I started my archives internship. While I had my own space to arrange the materials to best help me organize, not having frequent opportunities to interact with people was more uncomfortable than I anticipated.

When I met with my advisor to pick my classes for next semester, she asked if I ever considered reference or outreach in archives. She brought attention to what I had been wondering for weeks: that I might be a more sociable introvert than I always believed. It’s given me a lot to think about in terms of my career.

 

What are your top 3 pet peeves?

1. People who call and don’t introduce themselves. I got this all the time when I answered phones at my various jobs. I even don’t like it when it’s people I know who call me on my cellphone.
2. Sexism on both sides, i.e. women can’t sleep around with whoever they want or a man can’t cry.
3. I hate all of it.

 

What’s something your followers don’t know about you?

I repeated the first grade. I was never formally diagnosed with a learning disability, but I struggled in school as a child. For kindergarden and the first time I went to first grade, I attended Catholic school. My parents initially planned to enroll me in public school, but my mom changed her mind and somehow convinced my dad to send me to a private Catholic school.

Kindergarden was fine—my teacher so happened to be my grandmother’s godchild—only the first grade teacher was a horrible woman. I was a bubbly, quirky kid. I did not fit in with the norm. Worse still, even as they made parents pay through the nose for a supposedly top-notch education for their children, they did not have any resources to help me. My parents pulled me out of that school when they could, except it was too late. I was put into a box of expectations no one would let me out of it until I was well into my 20s.

Now, I have a Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college where I graduated Magna Cum Laude, and I’m now getting an advanced degree from a well-respected university.

F—k the haters.

 

I tag:

Shanah

Crystal

Grey

Kristin

Out of My Comfort Zone Book Tag

I was tagged by the marvelous Grey to do the Out of My Comfort Zone Book Tag. First, thank you to them for the tag! I completely forgot this tag existed, created last year on BookTube. The semester is currently at that weird point where things are winding down yet I feel like I’m missing something so the stress is piled on high.

It also doesn’t help that one of my professors gently suggested my papers are not quite up to par with the graduate level and recommended I visit the writing center. With a play and a Bachelor of Arts in English under my belt, that is the closest to a kick in the crotch I’ve ever gotten. But I still got a good grade on the paper, so I don’t know why it was bugging me so much. So what’s my solution? Book tags!

On to the Out of My Comfort Zone Book tag!

 

A book that is an exception when it comes to genres or elements in books that you don’t typically like.

Despite that the majority of what I read is fantasy, I do enjoy contemporary novels. Although, I tend to lean towards the ones with more serious topics. Rarely did I reach for ones focused only on a romance. Then, I heard about This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter. It promised to be a romantic contemporary about a teenaged girl learning to live again after receiving a heart transplant.

After not hearing such great things about the author, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it. But the transplant and the magical realism elements (she starts having dreams about the death of the boy whose heart she received) ultimately drew me in. Surprisingly, what kept me reading was the romance. The relationship was adorable and healthy, with lots of communication. Sadly, something you don’t see a lot in young adult novels.

 

A book you enjoyed from a genre you previously held some stigma about.

I am not a fan of nonfiction. I find it dry. I might have enjoyed one or two memoirs I read for school, but I definitely would not reread them. This semester, I took a literacy services class. To prepare for our visit to a prison library, my professor wanted the class to read True Notebooks by Mark Salzman. The novel covered the early years the author volunteered as a creative writing teacher at a youth correctional facility. I liked it more than I expected. He covers a lot of different issues inside the prison system and how society has treated these prisoners even before they were locked up. There was a lot of gray area in between the black and white, too. True Notebooks made me consider looking into more nonfiction.

 

A book you didn’t know was actually our of your comfort zone until you started reading it.

I didn’t realize Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was out of my comfort zone. Science fiction is a genre I could never quite figure out if I liked, or if I only liked some books instead of others. Normally, I enjoy books written in different formats, like how Illuminae is. However, I realized with science fiction, the only way I might be able to get anything out of it if it’s written in prose. Otherwise, the scientific jargon will go right over my head. Unfortunately, because of this, I won’t be continuing with the Illuminae Files series. I didn’t enjoy Illuminae as much as everyone else seems to.

 

Pick a friend or BookTuber that motivates you to pick up books you might not normally be interested in. What is one book out of your norm that they convinced you to give a try?

As I mentioned previously, science fiction is a hit or miss for me. Brandon Sanderson is an author I have been interested in reading for a couple of years, yet I had no idea where to begin with his books. His most recent release, Skyward, was the Booksplosion group’s last read of 2018. The way Kat, Jesse, and Christine talked about it, how it was fast-paced and about pilots battling aliens, somehow drew me in. They weren’t wrong either. I enjoyed it way more than I expected.

 

A book that is out of your comfort zone that you would like to read.

Over my winter break, I checked out The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare from the library and, naturally, didn’t get around to reading it. The novel is an adult historical romance about a seamstress, who marries a tragically scarred duke after his fiancée leaves him at the altar. In exchange for a comfortable life, the seamstress agrees to marry the duke and produce an heir for him. But things don’t exactly go as planned.

I always look at those cheesy mass market paperback romances with amusement. After reading Meg Cabot’s Ransom My Heart, I had no interest in further reading of the historical romance genre. But I have heard many good things about Tessa Dare as an author. And, since my own love life is significantly lacking at the moment, I’ve noticed I am slowly becoming more and more drawn to romance books. Not that the books help much.

 

A book or genre so out of what you normally read you’ll probably never give it another chance.

Easy: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I read this before starting my blog, while I was still in college. I got it out of my school’s library, to read and review for the library’s Facebook page. Jeffrey Eugenides is an award-winning author, yet Middlesex made me extremely uncomfortable. I barely even remember what it was about otherwise. I’m not entirely sure I finished it, either. All I know is I have absolutely no desire to give it another chance.

 

I tag:

Shanah

Crystal

Sophie

Rebecca

Book Blogger Confessions Tag

Spring break is over and I’m trying really hard not to stress about the assignments I have due next week.

 

 

I told myself taking a break from school work the past two days was good for my mental well-being, allowing my brain batteries time to recharge. Besides reading, writing is the most therapeutic form of release. I didn’t realize how badly I needed it until now.

Thankfully, I saw this book tag on Rebecca’s blog. It looked easy and fun. Plus, it got me to talk about something I don’t bring up often: books I didn’t like.

On to the tag!

 

Which book, most recently, did you not finish?

Fade Into You by Nikki Darling

I found Fade Into You while browsing the new arrivals in the young adult section of my library. From the synopsis on the back cover, it sounded like a memoir of the author’s high school years in the mid-1990s as she struggled with drug addiction and adolescence. Nineteen pages in, I was like….

            I think the author was trying to write the book through the eyes of a teenager that was high all the time. But still…one minute, the narrator was having a spat with her mother, the next she was talking about dead hamsters. I couldn’t take it.

 

Which book is your guilty pleasure?

The Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong

These books are urban fantasy, the keeper of a lot of problematic tropes, i.e. borderline abusive relationships. I say I love this series and it holds a special place in my heart as inspiration for my writing. That is still true. Even at sixteen, I knew there were some problems that could not be overlooked. It didn’t change my love for the books, though. Only now, remembering how much I actually hated Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers’s relationship, I’m starting to have second thoughts.

Clay changed Elena into a werewolf without her consent. He was extremely possessive, to a point where he almost killed a teenaged boy (who happened to be the son of a childhood friend) for having a crush on Elena. Elena herself could be nasty and petty. And she could be abusive towards Clay as well. It was overall an extremely toxic relationship.

I think that’s why I haven’t gotten around to rereading The Women of the Otherworld series and considering unhauling them. Elena and Clay’s relationship is not the only problem within this series, either. If it was just that, I would have done it already. Yet, if it came down to it, I don’t know if I could go through with getting rid of the series. Like I said, a guilty pleasure.

 

Which book do you love to hate?

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

I didn’t like these books when I read them in high school and I still don’t. Even now, when I think about them, I’m filled with annoyance. I hated Mia. I didn’t like Michael. I despised Lily. Overall, when I’m in a bad mood, I take my anger out on this series (which is funny because I don’t own the books anymore).

 

Which book would you throw into the sea?

Woman of God by James Patterson

The fact that I enjoyed so many of Patterson’s other books only makes me madder. While I love the idea of a female pope, the whole book was executed poorly. No plot, no character development, and more than a little insta-love. Reading Woman of God was not a pleasant experience. So much so, I don’t know if or when I will pick up another of Patterson’s books.

 

Which book have you read the most?

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

I probably reread The Summoning, the first book in The Darkest Powers trilogy, at least three or four times. I reread it each time I got the next book in the series. And I’m pretty sure I read the series straight through once I had all the books. I loved the series, but I was also an unemployed fifteen-year-old that had to rely on her birthday and Christmas for gift cards as well as not having access to a well-stocked library. So, I did a lot of rereading back then.

 

Which book would you hate to receive as a gift?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

I wanted so, so much to love this book. I tried to, even though I had to sincerely push myself to read it. The writing made me cringe and the romance felt forced. If I got this as a gift, I honestly don’t know what I would do with it. I’d likely smile, say thank you, and take it. Then put it somewhere on my shelves I wouldn’t have to see it too much. Depending on whoever it was that gave it to me, I might keep it forever or wait a while and then get rid of it.

 

Which book could you not live without?

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace…or just books in general.

For the sake of the tag, I picked The Princess Saves Herself in This One, which is true. It was my favorite book of last year and now one of my all-time favorite books. I read it at a time where I was caught between grief and a hard place, wanting to get my life started again but fully aware my family still needed me. Then, I read The Princess Saves Herself in This One. I was rejuvenated.

But, if I’m being honest, all the books I have read got me through a lot over the years, as much as people have.

 

Which book made you angriest?

Whitefern by V.C. Andrews

I nearly screamed from excitement when I saw we were getting a sequel to V.C. Andrews’s one stand-alone novel, My Sweet Audrina. I almost bought it, but it was $20. Thank God I didn’t.

This “sequel”, or rather the ghostwriter, completely butchered what happened in the original novel. Instead of a spunky, curious heroine determined to find answers, Audrina became a passive participant, waiting for things to happen to her. Another character did a total 180 that made no sense. I could deal with mediocre writing, but if you are going to write a sequel to a book like My Sweet Audrina, you better get all your ducks in a row first.

 

Which book made you cry the most?

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

I am not a book crier. I might get teary-eyed, but never a full on sob fest. A List of Cages is the exception. I distinctly remember tears streaming down my face as I got into the graphic depictions of child abuse. I wanted so badly to protect the boy but I couldn’t. It hurt my heart more knowing there were real kids out there living through this on a daily basis.

 

Which book cover do you hate the most?

The entire Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

I don’t make a big deal about book covers. To me, it’s whatever. Even with the Vampire Academy series, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I hate them. More that they are so cheesy they don’t do anything for me.

 

What is a book you enjoyed but you hated the cover?

I tag:

Shanah

Joe

Grey

Crystal

Kristin

Sophie

Erica Mae

and everyone else!

 

 

 

Books I Want to Read Tag

I’m currently on spring break. It’s been nice, only I wouldn’t exactly call it “spring,” since we just had a big snowstorm nor would I call it a “break,” since I’ve been up to my next in homework assignments.

Other than that, I am proud to announce, the book buying ban is still going strong (it helps not having any money to spend). I’ve been using the library like crazy. I know there are books at home that I can/should read, but the library has been so helpful maintaining my book buying urges. Which brings me to the situation of my TBR.

Like many of you, I have a massive TBR, at home and on Goodreads. There is no chance of it getting smaller. But I like big to be read piles, so I’m fine with it. And I like to talk about the books I want to read. It decreases the likelihood I’ll forget about them. So, when I saw this tag on Kristin Kraves Books blog, I knew this is exactly what I needed for a homework break.

The Books I Want to Read Tag was created by Jamishelves. Thank you!

On to the tag!

 

A book that you feel like you need to read because everyone talks about it.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seann McGuire

To be fair, if you can sell a book to me, chances are, I will want to read it. When Every Heart a Doorway first came out and everyone was reading and loving it, I was neutral. Novellas aren’t my thing. It wasn’t until Beneath the Sugar Sky came out that I really felt compelled to pick up Every Heart a Doorway, as well as the companion novels. I plan on checking the series out from the library in the next month or so.

 

A book that’s really long.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

I think I have said this before, but I’m not as madly in love with the Throne of Glass series as I used to be. Only I’m too invested into certain characters to not finish it. The series finale, Kingdom of Ash, is well over 900 pages, so it will probably take me a while. Still, Sarah’s books are easy enough reads that, if I focused, it wouldn’t take me too long.

 

A book you’ve owned/had on your TBR for too long.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Sadly, I could name three books for this question. I attempted to read Wicked almost two years ago now, got about 50 pages in, and then set it aside. Not because I wasn’t enjoying it; I was in the throes of a reading slump brought on by the feeling of “I have no idea what to do with my life and there’s all this other stuff going on I can’t deal with.” But Gregory Maguire’s writing spoke to the English nerd in me. I definitely plan to pick this book up again.

As for The Magician’s Lie and The Shock of the Fall, there isn’t any explanation as to why I haven’t read these books yet. I have owned both of these books since my sophomore or junior year of college. And I still want to read them. The Magician’s Lie follows the Amazing Arden, a magician who is arrested for murder and the novel takes place over the course of a single night, as the detective interrogating her tries to unravel her secrets. The Shock of the Fall is a contemporary novel about a mentally ill young man struggling with his personal demons and the hidden truths behind the tragic death of his older brother years before.

Needless to say, I should have read these books a long time ago.

 

A book that is “required” reading.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is the only Jane Austen book I have not read. I have enjoyed every single one of her books, so there is a strong possibility I will also like Northanger Abbey. That will be remedied this year. As for Wuthering Heights, it was a summer reading book in high school that I know for a fact I did not finish. I read just far enough where I could gather quotes for the worksheet they wanted us to fill out. I don’t think I liked it back then. Only now that I have had more Bronte exposure, I want to read it cover to cover this time.

 

A book that intimidates you.

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

I checked this book out from the library months ago and stopped reading. I knew I wasn’t going to finish it, even if I renewed it. I just wasn’t feeling it at the time, or I thought I wasn’t.

I am 50/50 on The Queens of Innis Lear. The writing was dense, but also lyrical and the atmosphere the author created was beautiful. In the 50 pages I read, I hated the three female leads, but felt drawn to their male love interests. The synopsis still intrigues me, even as the mythology intimidates me. I really don’t know at this point.

 

A book that you think might be slow.

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

While I do enjoy them overall, because of their page length and the on-again, off-again pacing, sometimes Cassandra Clare’s books feel slow to me. While I am excited to complete The Dark Artifices trilogy with Lord of Shadows and Queen of Air and Darkness, it will likely take me a couple of weeks. Apprehensive is the word I’d use to describe my feelings.

 

A book you need to be in the right mood for.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

The Beautiful and Damned and This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I don’t consider myself a “mood” reader. I make TBR lists and, for the most part, stick to them. Only there are some books that I do need a particular mood for when I read them. I learned that a few months ago when I attempted to read Leaves of Grass. I love Walt Whitman’s poetry, yet this one was a struggle bus to ride for some reason. I ended up putting it down.

Besides Leaves of Grass, the other ones I own are Villette, the Fitzgerald novels, and the Dickens books. Villette by Charlotte Bronte is a big book, which at the moment, is likely the only reason I haven’t given it much thought. Bigger classics are sometimes a chore, no matter how much you may or may not love the author. I loved The Great Gatsby when I read it in high school, though Tender is the Night was a disappointment. That only makes me apprehensive about the remaining two I own. The same goes for the Charles Dickens books. I grew up loving A Christmas Carol and I distinctly remember reading Oliver Twist as a child, but his book Hard Times, which I read for a college literature course, fell flat.

As for the rest of them, the thick, dense, complex books Anna Karenina, Moby Dick, and Gone with the Wind, those are on my unofficial “book bucket list.” I want to read them, mostly to say I did, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t.

 

A book you’re unsure if you will like.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Of all the unread books I own, For Whom the Bell Tolls is at the very, very bottom of the pile. I read two other books by Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, and was not crazy about either of them. I know he covers the more serious, less happy times of an era the modern world glamourizes, which I appreciate. However, his writing style in these books are like nails on a chalkboard to me and I don’t like how he portrays his female characters. After those rather unpleasant reading experiences, I don’t know when (or if) I will read For Whom the Bell Tolls. But I would never get rid of these books—they were passed down to me by my parents.

 

What are books on your TBR you’re not sure if you will like?

 

I tag:

Shanah

Grey

Crystal

Sophie

Rebecca

And anyone else who wants to do the tag!

The Book Addiction Tag

Why is it called “book addiction?” What is the difference between that and being a reader?

When I first saw this tag on My World of Books, the title struck me as something to do with book buying. Yet, the questions pertain most to reading. I call myself a “book addict” in the sense I buy too many books at once or I check more from the library than I can read. My dad is not a reader, but he likes the look of filled bookshelves in a room. Does that count?

Let’s see how much of a “book addict” I am.

 

What is the longest amount of time you can comfortably go without picking up a book?

Roughly a week, if I have a lot going on. Such as, during the semester, I could only read in the mornings on the weekend. If I was awake enough, I would spend the hour and a half bus ride to work doing school reading. On the days I worked, I would get out at 2:15, then sit in the library until 6pm doing homework. By the time I got home, I was too zonked to do much of anything but eat dinner and watch YouTube. I wanted to read, only I didn’t have the energy for it.

 

How many books do you carry on your person (or kindle) at any time?

I can fit no more than one non-school book in my backpack. And, in general outings like shopping, I don’t bring a book with me.

 

Do you keep every book you buy/receive or are you happy to pass them on to make space for more?

Every few years, I make an effort to unhaul books to make room for new ones. Sometimes, I’m actually relieved to get rid of some, especially if I really did not like them. I will also occasionally donate books I bought if I never read them and lost interest. I have given away books I received, since my parents mostly bought books for me until I had my own income. There are books on my shelves that I didn’t love, but a close friend gave them to me or someone signed it, so I am more likely to keep them or at least donate them at a later time.

 

How long would you spend a standard visit in a bookstore?

At the most, maybe a half hour…or until I have so many books in my arms I can’t carry anymore.

 

How much time per day do you actually spend reading?

On a good one, I can read maybe three to five hours, if I manage to work it in around my schoolwork or if I am behind on blogs. On a very good day, maybe six to eight hours of reading, if I have nothing else to prioritize over it and no other plans.

 

Where does the task “picking up a book” appear on your daily to do list?

Reading is not actively on my daily to do lists. It is my reward to completing all my responsibilities for the day. Or my distraction, depending on how much I want to avoid said responsibilities.

 

How many books do you reckon you own in total (including e-books)?

I do not own any e-books, even though I probably should for the sake of space. Not that I would ever admit that to my dad. In terms of physical books, I own approximately somewhere between 590-600 books (and counting).

 

Approximately how often do you bring up books in conversation?

At school, conversations about books come up in my classes at least once. We talk about books we’ve read or the ones we recommend or what we want to read. That’s a given—library school is Bookworm Central. Outside of school, not much bookish conversation happens. At work, sometimes I’ll talk about books with my co-workers. My dad is not a big reader and neither is my brother, though he’s slowly getting back into it. Occasionally, my friends will ask for book recommendations. That’s about it.

 

What’s the biggest book (page count) you have finished reading?

The biggest book I’ve read—this year, at least—was in fact a reread of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Examples of other big books I have read are City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

 

Is there a book you had to get your hands on against all odds (i.e. searching bookshops, online digging, etc.)?

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith and A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir were two books I had to get as soon as I could. The latter I bought off of Amazon as a pre-order, but the former I got from my favorite indie bookstore.

 

A book you struggled to finish but refused to DNF?

That would be Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Not because I disliked it. I was enjoying myself while reading it, with all the 19^th teen soap opera like drama going on. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the semester. Reading a classic novel was probably not the best idea at the time.

 

What are 3 of your main book goals for 2019?

1. “Unofficially” read 30 books
2. Prioritize and marathon series
3. Unhaul books

 

Have you ever had the privilege of converting someone into a reader (maybe via inspiration or incessant nagging)?

I have recommended books to my friends that they read and enjoyed. I’ve had people tell me on Instagram that they got good recommendations from my feed. At my library job in undergrad, I wrote book reviews on fiction novels in the collection that people later checked out. But, to my knowledge, I have not turned anyone into a reader.

 

Describe what books mean to you in five words.

1. Escape

2. Tranquility

3. Joy

4. Comfort

5. Imagination

I tag:

Shanah

Crystal

Grey

Sophie

Taylor

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!