#July 2021 tbr part one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ninja-muse · 7 days

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So I like Kate Quinn. I love the way she writes unsung women in history—not just that she writes them, but that she takes the time to flesh out their historical context. Women (people) don't just wake up and suddenly find out that they're a spy or a code breaker or an opera singer, after all. They're shaped by their time and their culture and their upbringing, and they have to navigate their present, at its best and its worst. Quinn makes sure that's true for her novels.

I also love that Quinn has a way of pulling you gently along so that suddenly you look up and you've finished the entire book. Her prose is strong, her plots are great, and her characters are compelling, but they never feel fast. There's time taken to build things up and build them up, to give small details and day-to-day lives. It's immersive without being grim. And yet, like I said, I get addicted. The longest I think I've taken to read one of her books is three days. Usually it's two.

Which is why you should listen when I say this is one of her best.* The vibrancy of the characters is a notch up. The topics she's tackling are wider ranging and so the research feels deeper. Her ability to look at the 1950s, see how complicated they were, and encapsulate that in the boarding house setting was marvelous. The structure was a step up too. And the way she spun the characters off each other and developed their friendships? She's always been good at that but again….

The basic plot, for those who haven't had this on their TBR for six months, which is probably most of you: it's 1950 in Washington, D.C., and a new woman has moved into a depressing boardinghouse in a seedy neighbourhood. Over the next few years, she brings the residents together through a secret dinner club, and then somebody is killed. (They all have secrets; it could be anyone, and anyone might have done it.)

The other boarders shine light on facets of the era: the British army wife, the Hungarian refugee, the pro-McCarthy Texan, the athlete, the plus-sized secretary who grew up in a Hooverville, the cop's daughter who's turned her back on her family, the imaginative teen son of the landlady and his kid sister, the young widow. (Not to mention the side characters who all drift in and out of the women's lives.) They shouldn't have anything in common and they shouldn't like each other, and yet there is so much found family in this. So much wholesome comfort and people helping each other fix problems. So much arguing and so much unity.

(It surprises me not at all that this book was Quinn's reaction to the fear and anger that was 2020–2021.)

And I've waxed on enough. Quinn's hit a home run, to use one of Bea's sports metaphors, not only in terms of setting and character and plot, but also in general everything else. It balances the darker parts of the 1950s with their hopefulness for the future and the found family of the house. It talks about a lot of stuff that gets glossed over in the standard pop culture '50s, and while it doesn't dig as deep into some (marginalization) issues as it could, I understand why Quinn left the depth of those tales to people with lived experience.

If I say more, I'll be truly spoiling the experience of reading this, so please, if you're going to read a Kate Quinn book this summer, make it this one.

Out July 9.

*Of her 20th century novels; I haven't read her Romans and Borgias.

#book reviews #book recommendations #book covers #adult booklr #booklr #historical fiction #upcoming releases #2024 releases #the briar club #kate quinn #my photos #read in 2024

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nedlittle · 1 year

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hello - don’t feel like you have to answer this - i really admire how much you read and the variety of books you review. i am trying to read more in 2023, but i have a hard time finding things i like and an even harder time finishing books that don’t grab me by the 70ish page mark. do you mind sharing bit of insight on how you find what you like and, more to the point, how you get yourself to finish a book that you know is going to be a 2 star review maximum well before you’re done?

anon i am SO sorry for letting this rot in my inbox for over a month, i genuinely have not had the time to give you the answer you deserve. this is going to be long, so i'm going to divide it into two main parts

part i: how to find things you like.

the easiest advice i can give is just to think about books you like and what you enjoy about them. my favourite genre is historical fiction, but i like a very specific type of historical fiction that i have difficulty explaining bc it's vibes-based. largely queer historical fiction that interrogates its setting rather than using it as a backdrop for modern characters in period clothing; i'm not huge on historical family sagas, but i do love when the style is a little fucky. i like reading classics, mainly mid-late 19th century and mid-20th century ones as historical artifacts, i like comparing and contrasting similar texts like i'm writing a book report, and i like purple prose. i like some fantasy and sci-fi but not a lot because i'm a big dumb-dumb with complex worldbuilding and think that some genres, like urban fantasy are just a little silly, this is my subjective taste. think about what you don't like and why you don't like it with the same amount of thought. that's step 1.

so, you've figured out what you do and do not like. now, to find more of the same. if your author is alive and has a web presence, check out what they recommend on social media, check out books they've blurbed. you may not have the same taste as the authors you like and god knows i've read at least 3 books because alison epstein recommended them and i really liked her debut novel only to find that her taste and mine don't always align. do the same with your friends, even if they may not have the same taste. ask them what a five-star read is to them. ask the little tumblr people in your phone. it's okay to have caveats. whenever i ask for book recs on here, i clarify that i am not interested in reading a little life and i probably never will be.

if you look for book recs everywhere, like i do, you will find them. try something your favourite podcast host recommends! read lists of new releases in a genre of your choice!

anon i don't know what your local library sitch is. mine has a great website for finding similar books. the example i'm using here is my fave read of 2021, the flight portfolio by julie orringer

if you click on the covers it will tell you why these titles are recommended, mostly for shared subject matter and setting, occasionally for stylistic or thematic similarities. none of these books appeal to me, but if i scroll down a little more...

fucking bingo. so, because i am me, i am going to select "lgbtqia" and "historical fiction", maybe "stylistically complex" if i want to narrow it down

it gave me 12 books total that are available at my local library. of the first four, i have read three (adored one, points if you guess which one), and the remaining book is on my tbr.

the storygraph is also fantastic for recommendations, though like all recommendations, they're hit-or-miss. if you have an account, which i recommend, and i also recommend you add me if you do @/kitnotmarlowe because that way you can keep up with the saga of me unintentionally reading books where lesbians have threesomes and a ghost is involved somehow. but if you have an account, you get recommendations right on your homepage that you can filter by length, genre, mood etc

sorry this is 5 px i had to zoom out to get all the available options. you can also sort your reading preferences including fave genres (up to 5), the kind of books you like reading (open-ended and comma separated), characteristics you appreciate most (up to 3), genres you aren't currently interested in (as many as you want, i currently have 26), things that turn you off books the most (up to 3), and books that you're never in the mood for (as many as you want, the only one i have marked is 'relaxing'). you can ask for specific recommendations without changing your preferences if you want something specific NOW and you have the option of browsing similar books for any of the books in their database

now that that's out of the way, onto...

part ii: how do you finish books that aren't good

here's the secret: you don't have to. life is too short to commit to finishing something you aren't interested in or upset by or simply not vibing with. as a kid i used to be really bad with this and finished every single book i read even if it scared the absolute shit out of me (wuthering high by cara lockwood) or accidentally exposed me to baby's first sex scene (have been trying to remember what book this is for YEARS). if something isn't gripping you by the 70 page mark, put it down. unless you're reading it for school or being paid to review it. sometimes you just don't vibe with a book! maybe you'll pick it up later, maybe you won't and that's fine. i tried reading a historical romance last year but got so distressed by the politics and stupid understanding of suffrage that i quit before i was halfway.

"how you get yourself to finish a book that you know is going to be a 2 star review maximum well before you’re done"

if you look at my worst books of 2022, you'll see that over half of them are dogshit historical mysteries that i finished solely to try and solve the mystery, even if they were written with all the poise and skill of a fast food receipt or utterly nonsensical or colonial in a way i didn't expect to find in the 21st century. i am a hater at heart. i have an entire tag devoted to books i've finished out of spite. sometimes you finish a book you think is dogshit so that you can Tell The World (or at least your friends) that it is dogshit and get all your feelings out and once you have achieved catharsis you can read something new. sometimes you think a book is dogshit and nobody else really agrees and you feel like you're in the twilight zone so you write out your thoughts and release them unto the internet.

i'm of the opinion that a bad book can be as instructive as a great one. you can take apart a bad book and figure out what works (for you personally and for the book from a craft standpoint). this is a pro-litcrit blog even if it's just you writing a 2000 word review of a book approximately 5 people have read JUST so you can send it to a friend and have them empathize with your suffering. taking literature apart is fun! sometimes you have to power through an awful book before you can read a great one

sorry that this is so long but i hope it was a bit helpful. my inbox is always open to requests for recommendations no matter how niche. go forth and read widely!

#anonymous #answered #long post #lit #i wanted to include a section about finding smaller publishers you like and combing through their wares but this is long enough #if you want that separate post on publishers...hmu

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thecasualbookreviewer · 1 year

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I posted 564 times in 2022

That's 564 more posts than 2021!

257 posts created (46%)

307 posts reblogged (54%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dracereads

@therefugeofbooks

@thecasualbookreviewer

@yourneighborhoodbibliophile

@paperbackpropensity

I tagged 507 of my posts in 2022

Only 10% of my posts had no tags

#booklr - 191 posts

#favorite quotes - 140 posts

#book quotes - 118 posts

#adam silvera - 64 posts

#replies - 53 posts

#book talk - 44 posts

#book review - 38 posts

#alexis hall - 35 posts

#book photography - 31 posts

#book quote - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#and if you excuse me im gonna take the rest of the month to re read rwarb and boyfriend material to cheer me up after all this sad books

My Top Posts in 2022:

Currently reading:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

40 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Another case of a book that I couldn't put down once I picked it up.

It's fun, it's witty, it's touching and it has one of my favorite tropes, the Fake Dating to Lovers, both characters are deeply flawded and they complement each other very well; the story is so well written and has such fun dinamics between their main and side characters and touching moments that will stay with you for a long time.

As soon as I was done reading it I wanted to read it all over again, and when I found out there was sequel coming out in August I couldn't be happier!

If you're a fan of romantic comedy and queer books, this is a must read.

43 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

💖❤️ HAPPY 🧡💛💚 PRIDE 💙💜

I tried my best to make a rainbow out of my queer books 😅

Red, White and Royal Blue 💖💖💖💖💖

What if it’s us 🧡🧡🧡🧡

Here’s to us 💛💛💛💛💛

The Song of Achilles 💚💚💚💚💚

Boyfriend Material 💙💙💙💙💙

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World 💙💙💙💙💙

If this Gets Out 💜TBR💜

I’ll take any recs you might have of LGTBQ+ books!

43 notes - Posted June 1, 2022

Sunny reading tag!

(I took some questions from @lyralit ‘s sunny reading asks and made it a tag)

🥞 favourite book? and why

Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

it was the first book by this author that I bought, and it immediately made me fall in love with his style and storytelling, it's been on my top ever since.

🌾 tropes that make you go "asfgrthgj"

Enemies to lovers, fake dating is just *chef kiss*

🌻 comfort book

The Vampire Diaries, Awakening by LJ Smith.

Not much because of the contents of the book, but it brings me back to a nostalgic part of my life that I miss sometimes.

🌙 death in a book you would take back

Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries, The Return by LJ Smith.

I cried, hard, and after all the growth he had gone through

💡 book you wish you could read again for the first time

Red, White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuinston

I wanna experience all that joy for the first time all over again, I had such a great time reading this book.

Tagging: (If they wanna do it of course) @yourneighborhoodbibliophile @profiterole-reads @therefugeofbooks @livinginsideabookshelf @dracereads @shallwehaveteanow

48 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

It was odd. As a girl, Sophie would have shriveled with embarrassment at the way she was behaving. As an old woman, she did not mind what she did or said. She found that a great relief.

Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

2,237 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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gorgxoxus · 1 year

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I posted 2,378 times in 2022

57 posts created (2%)

2,321 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@rinezha

@satellitesunset

@justasmallbloginabigklainefandom

@blog-carmex

@backslashdelta

I tagged 1,469 of my posts in 2022

Only 38% of my posts had no tags

#heartstopper - 136 posts

#fanart - 96 posts

#klaine - 61 posts

#taylor swift - 58 posts

#kurt hummel - 52 posts

#kurtbastian - 37 posts

#a little life - 34 posts

#glee - 33 posts

#blaine anderson - 33 posts

#heartstopper spoilers - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 141 characters

#i’m going to listen to smooth criminal gcv (it’s the only way i can ever listen to a mj song again now that i know some of mj’s backstory 😬)

My Top Posts in 2022:

Mid year book freak out tag:

Best book you’ve read so far in 2022?

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I made both my mother and sister read this book, that’s how much I loved it. I love a morally grey bisexual disaster and I adore TJR’s writing! It was one of the first dual POV books I’ve read where the voices were very distinct, which is telling of great writing.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022:

Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman. The Paris Trip is still my favourite part of Heartstopper and I’m looking forward to the day that mess of a trip will be displayed on screen!

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to:

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong. It’s a poetry collection and it’s gay and I want to get my hands on a copy soon. It’s also my only 2022 release on my tbr 😭.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’m 🤏🏻 close to preordering a copy. Also the reviews that have been coming through of people who’ve already read the book are giving high praise so that’s getting me more excited.

Biggest disappointment:

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman. But also I knew the premise (boy bands and fans) wasn’t something I really enjoy so it wasn’t a surprise I didn’t love this book. Also I read this right after A Little Life so Alice Oseman had no chance sorry.

Biggest surprise:

The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I put off reading this book for years after buying it on a whim in Canada and it was genuinely great! Also I started it in 2021 and couldn’t get into it but once I pushed past chapter 2 and the adventure begun it was very interesting. It also went in a different direction to what I expected which was a nice surprise. Also I hadn’t heard a lot about the book, but in the end I gave it 4.5 stars.

Favourite new author (debut or new to you):

Brit Bennet - I LOVED The Vanishing Half and I want to read more of her books! So far this year I’ve mostly read from authors I’ve read before this year.

Newest fictional crush:

See the full post

11 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

I’m experiencing so much joy rereading this fic and I’ve forgotten that reading can make me so happy.

11 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

I will be in the US so soon!!!!!!!!

11 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

I have officially finished Uni 😅🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

12 notes - Posted June 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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amandaklwrites · 3 years

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July 2021 TBR (Part Two)

Don't know why, but this new BETA system isn't allowing me to post as many photos as I used to. So here's Part Two of the post:

Here we go again! I don't know why, but June has gone by so slow for me. But hey, next week is July already! We're almost halfway through 2021, which is crazy, isn't it?? So, I thought since I'm on here posting reviews, that I would post my (very hopeful) July TBR. I hope to get to all these books, but we'll see what happens. So, here we go, in no particular order, as per usual.

11. The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

12. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee

13. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

14. Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

15. If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

16. Red Wolf by Rachel Vincent

17. Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi

18. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

19. Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

So there you go! My hefty hopes of a TBR for July! I hope you have a good month, stay healthy and safe, and happy reading!

#July 2021 tbr #July 2021 tbr part one #the wolf and the woodsman #outrun the moon #the lost apothecary #six crimson cranes #if we were villains #red wolf #kojiki #the essex serpent #half sick of shadows #so so so many books #lets get to it

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bibliophilecats · 2 years

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#tbrbusterchallenge2021

Time to take a look at this year’s tbr buster challenge. Here’s the list of my tbr at the beginnging of 2021, crossed out are the books I read this past year:

Leigh Bardugo - King of Scars

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Heritage of Hastur

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Sharra’s Exile

Marion Zimmer Bradley - A flame in Hali

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Zandru’s Forge

Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Fall of Neskaya

S. A. Chakraborty - The Empire of Gold

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

Michale Ende - Der Spiegel im Spiegel

Jasper Fforde - The Constant Rabbit

Sara Holland - Evermore

Erich Kästner - Der Herr aus Glas

Jodi Meadows - As She Ascends

Jodi Meadows - When She Reigns

John Milton - Paradise lost & Paradise regained

Maggie Stiefvater - Call Down the Hawk

Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn

Julie Kagawa - The Soul of The Sword

Alice Oseman - Loveless

Torben Kuhlmann - Einstein

Mark Dunn - ella minnow pea

Hm, looking at it this way I does not seem to be very successful. But! Of the seven books I read, five were 4 stars or above and only one I did not keep. Of the rest, well, I will move the Marion Zimmer Bradley books off the tbr next year. I noticed that I did not want to read them at any point in the last year - but since the Darkover series is such a big part of my youth and early 20s, I do want to keep them. Maybe some day I will pick them up again. Regarding The Empire of Gold there was a catch all along: I never listed The Kingdom of Copper since I only had physical books on that tbr. But I also needed to read the ebook of Kingdom of Copper before I could start on the last book in the series. This I managed and therefore I am not too sad.

And in the end, what would I even do with myself if I did not have books for next year’s tbrbusterchallenge?

Thank you @bookbandit for this great and relaxed challenge!

#tbrbusterchallenge #tbrbusterchallenge2021 #reading challenge 2021

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beautifulpaxielreads · 3 years

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August Wrap-Up

Books Completed (ratings out of five stars)

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (begun in July, ★★★★)

Crown of coral and pearl (Crown of coral and pearl #1) by Mara Rutherford (started in July, ★★★)

All our hidden gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue (started in July, ★★★1/2)

Song of the crocodile by Nardi Simpson* (started in July, ★★★★)

Perfect on paper by Sophie Gonzales* (★★★★1/2)

Dark of the west (Glass Alliance #1) by Joanna Hathaway (reread, ★★★★1/2)

Storm from the east (Glass Alliance #2) by Joanna Hathaway (★★★1/2)

Books currently in progress

The winner’s curse (Winner’s Trilogy #1) by Marie Rutkoski (reread)

The wrath and the dawn (The wrath and the dawn #1) by Renée Ahdieh (reread)

En pointe by Chloe Bayliss*

Hood by Jenny Elder Moke

*Australian author/s

Reflections on August and Goals for September

I’m beginning to sound like a broken record in saying this, but August was, again, an excellent month for me reading-wise. I read seven books this month! Seven! I’m breaking my record here. And the good news is that I enjoyed nearly all of them in some capacity.

In this recap, I list the books I have read in the order I finished them. I must say, it seems like it’s been ages since I read the first three books on my list. (Hamnet, Crown of coral and pearl, All our hidden gifts). Did I read all those this month? (Don’t answer that, it’s rhetorical.)

As I said earlier, I enjoyed nearly all the books I read this month, but I did have a couple of favourites I wanted to mention. Perfect on paper was a lovely blend of comedy, romance and drama. I also think I enjoyed reading Dark of the west even more the second time around.

Have you ever finished reading a book within, say, five days, and then think I read that too quickly, and now I don’t know how to process it. That was me with the sequel to Dark of the west, Storm from the east. I think it was partly because this book was much heavier and darker than the first.

I still prefer physical books to e-books, and I don’t think I’m going to change my opinion on that any time soon.

I also read over 1000 pages this month, thanks in part to @books-and-cookies’ 1K Pages challenge. So if you’re reading this, Mary, I’m looking forward to the next one whenever you’re ready to do it. It was challenging but fun too.

In September, I plan to keep making my way through my physical TBR, plus any book acquisitions and e-book library loans I get along the way. My offline world is about to get busier, so I may not read as much. But I’m already ahead in my goal of reading 65 books in 2021, so I’m not too worried about it.

That’s it for now. As always, stay safe and well, and I’ll see you in October for my September wrap-up.

Until then, happy reading!

#beautifulpaxiel reads #monthly wrap ups #august

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chrisbrecheenwritingaboutwriting · 3 years

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[This blog is about to go on vacation until July 6th. There will be one post next week to make up for yesterday, and there might be a surprise or two along the way. Plus, I'll be doing a little bit of work each day behind the scenes, so you may notice some edits happening to some of my "ever growing lists," and Patrons will likely get some updates. Social media posting will also be sporadic and light, and mostly but for already-mentioned exceptions, I'll be posting reruns and enjoy my vacation.]

The results of our book recommendations are in, and it was a REALLY good list of really amazing books. I even got a few for my own TBR pile. Thank you to SO many people for participating and making this our best book recommendation post yet. Results will go onto our massive compilation post in the next few days.

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bookeverlasting · 3 years

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“Everything about this read is pure perfection, but most importantly that family isn't always blood....found family can sometimes be even better!” ~Tracey, Goodreads Enter to win one of three paperbacks on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/FRH_GRGiveaway 💕 ABOUT FINDING RONAN’S HEART 💕 “The boys.” “The Callaghan Triplets.” “Three of a kind.” All his life, Ronan Callaghan has been part of a group. Always looking out for his brothers. Never seen as an individual or judged on his own merits. When his brothers veer onto their own path, he finds himself alone. Restless. Then he meets her. Beth. A waitress who sees him just for himself. None of the trappings of his wealth or family. A woman who only wants to know him—Ronan. She captures his heart, but how will she feel when she discovers the truth he’s holding back? Can he show her the man he really is? That he would rather be hers than anything else? Preorder Now on Amazon: http://mybook.to/FindingRonansHeart FREE to read on Kindle Unlimited Preorder Audio - Release Date July 17, 2021: ADD to your Goodreads TBR: http://bit.ly/findingronansheart Coming this summer - Books 3 and 4 of the Vested Interest: ABC Corp Loved By Liam http://mybook.to/LovedByLiam Age of Ava http://mybook.to/AgeOfAva #ABCcorp #NextGenerationofBAM #RonanandBeth #comingsoon #newrelease #series #preorder #romance #MelanieMoreland #bookish #bookshelf #oppositesattract #friendstolovers #foundfamily https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbGmrlDJr9/?utm_medium=tumblr

#abccorp #nextgenerationofbam #ronanandbeth #comingsoon #newrelease #series #preorder #romance #melaniemoreland #bookish #bookshelf #oppositesattract #friendstolovers #foundfamily

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rebeccaheyman · 4 years

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reading + listening 10.05.20

We Can Only Save Ourselves (Alison Wisdom), eBook, ARC (pub date February 2021). The comp titles cited in the market copy are totally on-point (Little Fires Everwhere/The Girls/The Virgin Suicides), but I’d also say readers who loved ASK AGAIN, YES and/or BIG LITTLE LIES should have this title on their radar. My four-star review on NetGalley:

Alison Wisdom's tension-filled, haunting debut, WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES, exposes the dark underbelly of sunny, safe suburbia. When Alice, a native daughter of wholesome Anywhere, USA, decides to follow a mysterious stranger to a decidedly less-wholesome bungalow filled with lost girls, she leaps feet-first into a version of the wider world that puts her very identity at risk.

WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES is narrated in first person plural, a la The Virgin Suicides or Then We Came To The End. The neighborhood's mothers keep one foot on their front lawns, even as they follow Alice beyond the confines of the old familiar places; the results are as enigmatic as they are specific -- propulsive, even as the distance between "us" and "her" grows. Like all parents, the narrative chorus has eyes everywhere -- "a superpower we gained as we transformed from women into mothers."

The novel drew me along with stunning prose, deftly drawn characters, and a looming sense of impending dread that made it impossible to look away. For all the qualities that sustain it, WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES reserves one of its finest features for last: it ends perfectly, and in the perfect place. It's so rare to find a novel that says everything that needs saying, but also leaves unsaid a single extraneous word, but this one does it -- and beautifully.

[I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

A Deadly Education (Naomi Novik), aBook (narr. Anisha Dadia). It’s not a stretch to say I am o b s e s s e d with UPROOTED -- so I’ve had this newest title from Naomi Novik on my radar for some time. Friends, it does not disappoint. NINTH HOUSE meets The Winternight Trilogy meets THE HUNGER GAMES in a vividly realized, voice-driven story that will have you pining, probably not for the first time, for the chance to abandon life as you know it and go to wizard school.

Our heroine, Galadriel, is destined to be a Dark Queen and prophesied to reap destruction within the magical community, but she’s fighting her baser instincts to walk a path more aligned with her mother’s more inclusive, love-and-light mentality. This struggle makes life at the Scholomance even harder for El than it usually is -- and it’s usually deadly.

I don’t like to get mired in plot specific in these reviews, but suffice it to say A DEADLY EDUCATION boasts all the thoughtful, detail-rich world-building you’ll find in Novik’s other works, along with a powerful, snarky, savvy heroine; a well-drawn secondary cast; compelling conflict in both episodic mini-arcs and myth-building arcs that will carry through the remainder of the trilogy; and a school that is literally trying to kill its students. It was a fantastic romp from start to finish and I’m already looking forward to a relisten/reread when book 2 comes out.

Anisha Dadia, who I’ve not had the pleasure of listening to previously, knocked this out of the park. Her tone and style remind me a lot of Priya Ayyar, which is high praise in my book.

Angel in the Devil’s Arms (Palace of Rogues, book 2) (Julie Anne Long), eBook. I discovered the first book in this series when Libro.fm featured it in their September Kiss Club recommendations, and the second installment does not disappoint! Julie Anne Long’s style is in line with Tessa Dare or Courtney Milan, in the sense that she gives equal weight and detail to the external, non-romantic elements of the plot as she does to internal/emotional/romance-driven elements. ANGEL takes us back to the Grand Palace on the Thames, where the mysterious return of Lord Bolt sends Angelique’s world into a tizzy. The prodigal viscount is back in London for revenge, but his plans go sideways once love is in the mix. Crossing my fingers that the third book-in-series, due in May 2021, shows up on NetGalley sooner over later.

One to Watch (Kate Stayman-London), eBook. I’ve been trying to up my intake of body-positive fiction lately (and if you are too, please add IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE, NONI BLAKE and ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN to your TBR immediately), so ONE TO WATCH was naturally on my radar. The premise here is that a Bachelorette-style reality TV program casts a plus-size fashion blogger, Bea Schumacher, in the starring role. Stayman-London moves far beyond this premise, though, by integrating public and private media responses to the program itself within the text; blog posts, blog comments, tweets, text threads, Slack chats -- the intertextual input is strong throughout, but the meta-commentary never feels forced or frivolous. I’ve been pushing my authors to utilize intertext more thoughtfully in the past couple years, so I was especially glad to see it done beautifully here.

There’s so much to love about ONE TO WATCH: the portrayal of dynamic female friendships; fat rep, yes, but also authentic-feeling racial, asexual/aromantic, and nonbinary rep; deep exploration of the mental and emotional impact of cultural fatphobia; thoughtful exploration of what it means to find love after the emotional trauma of failed romance; and so much more. I confess that I’ve never been able to stomach Bachelor/Bachelorette-style shows, which I find hopelessly awkward and dull, so I was a tad skeptical about this book -- but ONE TO WATCH moves far beyond its core premise, and is 1000% more interesting than the shows it uses as a reference point. I’m already looking forward to Stayman-London’s next book [insert cheeky “she’s one to watch” pun].

The Perils of Pleasure: Pennyroyal Green book 1 (Julie Anne Long), aBook (narr. Justine Eyre). I wanted to dive into Julie Anne Long’s backlist after enjoying the Palace of Rogues titles so much. Her 11-part Pennyroyal Green series seemed like the right place to start. Once again, Long provides a juicy, twisty non-romance plot to bolster the slow-burn romance between our leads -- who meet when Madeline orchestrates an eleventh-hour rescue from the gallows for the falsely-accused Colin. This was satisfying enough, but things got rushed in Act III, and ultimately the resolution of the external plot relied overmuch on one character monologuing at length to reveal all. I’ll keep listening eventually, though I don’t feel compelled to inhale the series all in one go; skeptics like myself will recall that Kleypas’s Ravenels series starts with a middling book 1, but delivers some seriously satisfying plot (and romance) as the series progresses. I’ve got other titles queued up for listening next week, but I’ll circle back to Pennyroyal Green in the near future.

#one to watch #we can only save ourselves #netgally #angel in the devil's arms #a deadly education #the perils of pleasure #romance #book reviews #amreading #now read this

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daniellethamasa · 4 years

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Hey all, Dani here.

We’re halfway to the weekend. Woohoo! I guess that means that it’s time for my mid-week wrap up of everything I’ve done and read and watched, as well as a sneak peek at what I’m hoping to get into next.

I guess I’ll start off with talking about video games…or rather not really talking about them, because I haven’t played much. I think I did like 10-15 minutes of Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on my Switch, but I’ve been pretty busy so playing video games has been pushed on the backburner. I do think that I’ll take my Switch with me this weekend, just in case I want to do a little bit of gaming while we’re at the cabin.

Okay, next let’s talk about watches. We finished our re-watch of “Legend of Korra,” and man, that is still such a good show. It is different from “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” yes, but they are both still excellent shows that still hold up all these years later. And then Damian and I finally picked Season 4 of “The Legends of Tomorrow” up again. We had watched like 3 episodes and then set it aside for no real reason, but jumping back into the Legends adventures reminds us of why we enjoy their amazingly ridiculous shenanigans. This is a show that isn’t afraid to make fun of itself, and that’s great. Oh, we also watched “Sonic the Hedgehog” again. That’s like the third time this year or something; I don’t know; we really like the movie, okay? Let’s be honest, we’re probably going to watch “Onward” again at some point very soon. Damian actually bought himself Barley’s shirt and vest from Hot Topic so he can do a Barley cosplay. It’s pretty great.

Now we’re to the book portion of things.

So…I went on a little bit of an e-book buying binge this afternoon. There were a couple of books I wanted by black authors, just in case I wanted to read them this weekend. But then I started browsing and I found a free book to pick up. And then I decided to download the first book in a quintet by R.A. Salvatore set in the Forgotten Realms and following a cleric. Finally I decided to pick up all of the released books in the Soulwood series by Faith Hunter, because I only own the first book, and I’m on the blog tour for the upcoming fifth book’s release at the end of July…so I need to read them so I’m ready for book five.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that A Song Below Water and All American Boys were purchased as part of #BlackoutBestsellerList and #Blackpublishingpower initiative. They encouraged purchasing any two books by Black writers between Sunday June 14-Saturday June 20. With the addition of these two books I think I am now up to 10 books purchased this week. I sincerely hope it helps. I would love to see the bestseller lists filled with all of these amazing authors’ books.

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Now, before you get excited about how much I’ve read in the past week, let me point out that 6 of the 9 books are single issue comics that come in at like 24 pages each, so they don’t take much effort to read. I have not gotten to read as much as I would have liked in the past week, but I’m going to make up for that this weekend, so it’ll be fine. Overall though, I guess I still did have a pretty good reading week, which I’m happy with. I did end up increasing my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal, since I’m at like 140 books read, which definitely surpasses my original goal of 125.

Basically I wanted to re-read the first 5 issues of the second series of the Vox Machina Origins comics so I could read the recently released sixth issue. It was well worth the re-read, because the first issue came out in August 2019. Then I flew through a couple of contemporary stories by black authors, both of which I’ll be reviewing soon, and can definitely say that I enjoyed. I actually almost picked up the next book in Jasmine Guillory’s series when I was at Barnes & Noble over the weekend because I want to read more, but I talked myself out of it because I already had a pretty big stack of books. Now I’m kind of regretting that decision. So…do I see if my library has it available? Do I buy the e-book for book two even though I have the paperback of book one? Or do I wait and get the paperback next time I go book shopping?

All right, now there’s the books I’m currently reading. I’ve had my copy of We Set the Dark On Fire for a few months now and was just waiting to be in the right mood to read it. Well, it’s Pride month, and this book is apparently focused on rebellion, which seems pretty appropriate and accurate right now. Hopefully it ends up being as great as its cover.

I’ll be honest: I picked up The Gilded Ones because I thought it still had an early July release, and I wanted to get it read and reviewed before release day…well that’s definitely going to be true. The pub date has been pushed back to Feb 2021. I’ll probably have my review up next month.

I’m at work as I’m writing this, so I don’t exactly remember all of the books I’ve packed up for the cabin getaway this weekend, but I’m pretty sure these books are all in it. Then there’s the fact that I’m thinking about taking some manga volumes with me so I can read some more of those as well. I’m thinking maybe Fairy Tail, maybe Edens Zero, maybe Akame Ga Kill or possibly That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime. We have so many options for me to choose from.

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Anyway, most of the books I have packed are continuing with my reading for GLBT Book Month and my reading of books by black authors. But there’s some other books I’ve also had on my TBR for a little while and I’d like to read them too. And then there’s so very many e-books that I’ll have access to as well, since I’m taking my new NOOK Tablet with me to the cabin as well. There are so many books to read, and not nearly as much time as I would like to read them all and then gush about a vast majority of them.

Oh well.

That’s all for today. Let me know what books you’re excited to read soon in the comments below. I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

Weekly Wrap-Up (69) Hey all, Dani here. We're halfway to the weekend. Woohoo! I guess that means that it's time for my mid-week wrap up of everything I've done and read and watched, as well as a sneak peek at what I'm hoping to get into next.

#Anime #ARC #Blog Tour #Book Releases #Books!#Diverse Reads #GLBT Book Month #Manga #Movies #Reading #Reading Challenge #Video Game

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