thesometimesyabookshelf

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Look at what turned up in my post today 😍...

Coming to shelves near you in October 2023

#Sunny Singh #booklr #books #bookblr #book #bollywood

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Do you ever finish a book and go this is why I fell in love with reading?

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

my cartoon for yesterday’s @guardian books

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

there's only one thing worse than an awful book, and that is an awful book with ONE tantalisingly compelling element

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry - The first thing I noticed about this book was the paper quality - it was so smooth and luxurious-feeling! A treat for my fingers every time I turned the page 😂... Katie's books never fail in getting me out of a reading slump and this was no exception (granted it took me around 10 days to read it cover to cover rather thanthe time it usually takes me but hey, it's the first book I finished since March so I'll take it 😉)

The characters were exactly the kind that we've come to expect from Katie McGarry - angst-y, endearing and unexpectedly kickass (Jesse and Scarlett were no exception)

Overall, a good read but something was missing, something that would have pushed it into the "WOW!" category. Oh but there were a couple of twists in there that I definitely wasn't expecting at all. I remember thinking

+ I wonder if the Veronica from Echoes Between Us (which was written after this and which I still need to read) is V from Only A Breath Apart?

The Marriage Trap by Jennifer Probst - I remember wanting to read this as soon as I finished The Marriage Bargain (YEARS ago), I remember running to Amazon to buy but finding it too expensive and putting it on my wish list for when the price decreases and it finally did 💃 (Years later but I'm not complaining 😂) as soon as I started reading it I fell back in love with both Michael and Maggie's characters. Delicious trope-filled [contract marriage + dislike-to-lovers] goodness that just works – exactly what I needed after the heaviness of Only A Breath Apart.

#booklr #bookblr #katie mcgarry #Jennifer Probst #books #book

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Travel and tell no one. Live a true love story and tell no one. Live happily and tell no one. People ruin beautiful things.

Khalil Gibran

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

January 26, 2023

For the full timeline and tons of information on the HarperCollins strike, here’s the long post.

It has been FIFTY-SIX days since the HarperCollins Union went on strike… and Harper has at last agreed to sitting down with an independent, mutually agreed upon mediator to at least discuss the Union’s demands.

What this means:

- The pressure is working. Brian Murray and the leadership at HarperCollins have spent the last fifty-six days lying, spinning, hiring scabs, and doing everything except speaking to their union employees. That they’re even willing to talk now means the steady pushback has made things uncomfortable.

Therefore: Keep writing to [email protected]! Keep supporting the strike fund! Keep buying your books through the union’s Bookshop page! And keep sharing the union’s posts online and in your in-person communities!

- The strike IS NOT OVER. No agreement has been reached. Do not post reviews of Harper titles, accept work for any of their imprints, submit manuscripts for consideration, or in any way cross that picket line.

Additionally: The union is holding two separate rallies for folks in New York. The first, on January 31, is for industry professionals. The second, on February 2, is outside the NewsCorp HQ and is for everyone. If you’re not in the metro area and can’t attend, I’m sure folks would appreciate online support. New York is cold and gross and wet right now.

This is not the time to ease up, but rather to push HarperCollins, News Corp, and Rupert Murdoch even harder to cede to the beyond reasonable demands of their employees and to put an end to this absolute farce that they initiated.

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

A good bookstore can cure any ills.

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Series Review of...

Add them to Goodreads

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)  by Maggie Stiefvater

Finally read the book (/series) that Maggie's most known for. I read (and enjoyed up to a point) The Raven Boys before this although these were the series of books that kicked off Maggie's career (from what I'd heard and read from other bloggers before reading the book).Maybe I've outgrown this particular genre of YA but I didn't enjoy the majority of this book. It felt like there was a whole bunch of nothing, relationship-angst-the-reader's-meant-to-care-about-but-doesn't, angst and a whole lot of nothing again and rinse and repeat up until the last 94 pages when all of the action happened all at once. It was all so... Stagnant that up until Page 340 I was still leaning heavily towards a did-not-finish for this book (Yes, that far into the book) until the last 94 pages, and even then I relied heavily on skimming through pages and skipping descriptions to finally finish reading the book. I will (try) and read/give the second book a chance, if only because I have the full series (it came in a boxset, and I kept reading how this was Maggie's best work) and also to see what happened to the characters after the way the book finished.

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

I was fully expecting this book to not live up to expectations again but it was (a lot) better than the first book (when usually it's the other way around), due in large part, I think,  to supporting characters getting their own storyline and the storyline itself actually being something other than just focused on Sam and Grace's "star-crossed" love story. I still skipped the lengthy descriptions and Grace and Sam's scenes but other than that it was a huge improvement on the first book (storyline and keeping readers' hooked wise)

Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

The third book in the series (that was meant to be a trilogy but a companion novel was published so maybe it's not? I'll let you know when I've read book four).

Book three again, was better than book two but this time, storyline-wise and not character-wise. Again, Sam and Grace's relationship arc wasn't interesting to me so I skimmed their relationship-y bits and the lengthy descriptions but overall? A good book, the best out of the trilogy to be honest but what was that ending? Like WHY would you do that to your readers Maggie? 😩 I'm hoping the 4th book explains the after of it all.

Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls 3.5/Companion Novel) by Maggie Stiefvater

Oof I'm EXHAUSTED. I was looking forward to this book and I liked it but it was HEAVY, especially on the angst. Cole’s better in small doses rather than all at once 🤣...

There wasn’t enough storyline to justify the length of the page count, could have easily been 60 - 70 pages shorter than it was without losing any important scenes or taking away from the atmosphere the book had created for itself. The last couple of chapters were a struggle to read through, the pacing had gotten that slow (and the storyline that repetitive).

As with previous books though, this one was filled with description-heavy paragraphs as well - which again, I skim read through. I wish that these paragraphs would have been replaced by some more (meaningful) story instead.

Overall thoughts

I enjoyed books two and three (the majority of the meaningful storyline/arc takes place in these books), books 1 and 3.5/4? Not so much.  I think the author could have easily condensed this four-book series into a duology instead without (even) losing any of the important parts. In fact, I think making it a duology would have helped massively, especially in tightenening up the pacing (therefore helping to keep readers, like myself, interested in the storyline throught).

Even though I think I've had enough of The Wolves Of Mercy Falls series for now, I would love for Sofia to get her own happy-ever-after some day 🤣...

#maggie stiefvater #booklr #bookblr #books #book #reviews #book review #book reviews

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Look at the pretties I got in the post today  😍😍😍...

I couldn’t choose just one (and these covers were to pretty not to share individually) so here’s two photos...

You've Reached Sam  by Dustin Thao

The Mismatch by Sara Jafari 

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

The American Roommate Experiment  by Elena Armas

Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

#book mail #booklr #bookblr #Dustin Thao #you've reached sam #The Mismatch #sara jafari #Elena Armas #elle kennedy #Nisha Sharma #bookmail #click the link for each book to read what it's about #Dating Dr. Dil

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Hello, Mr Gaiman!

I have decided to write a book! And I am writing it with intent to publish it someday. But I'm nervous because I'm chronically ill and I only have so much brain power on any given day and sometimes it's hardly any at all. So I just thought I'd do as others have done and ask for some encouraging words. Do you have any encouragement for a disabled writer with chronic brain fog?

As a fog-brained writer, the most encouraging thing I can tell you is that nobody ever has to read your first drafts. Nobody has to know that the two sentences they were reading were written days apart. Write on days you have a brain, edit on days you you have a different, less creative brain. You'll be fine. Just keep going.

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

From Notting Hill to New York... Actually - You're probably thinking why did she move on to the sequel if she didn't enjoy the first one? And the answer's this, I had it on my bookshelf (I bought it before I had read the first book, I saw it in the bookshop thought I'd buy it so I could read it as soon as I finished the first book). So I thought instead of keeping it on my bookshelf (and it going the same way as the first book) and it taking up space, I might as well read it now.

The author used the word oriental again for a character and here I thought this book was going okay.

Scarlett was still as unlikeable as she was in the first book. But because the storyline was... Marginally more interesting I read on just to see what happens with the characters.

There’s a third book in the series which (thankfully I don’t have 🤣 so)  I won’t be reading.

#Ali McNamara #bookblr #booklr #books #reviews #book reviews

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

The little free libraries aren’t so little anymore! Located in Downtown Boston, this library, where anyone is welcome to take or leave a book, might be the biggest “little” library we’ve ever seen.

Share bookish love and inspire a reader. 🤓📚📖

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Me: *Reads A Lot, Has Many Books

Someone: What's Your Favourite Book

Me: *Suddenly Forgets Every Book I Have Ever Read

[thesometimesyabookshelf]

Read and Reviewed Weekly

Calling Romeo  by Alexandra Potter - Likeable characters, a storyline that keeps you interested (even when the pacing dragged during the last 150 or so pages)

Be Careful What You Wish For by Alexandra Potter - Another one I've had on my shelf for YEARS, I think I bought this the year of it's release (or possibly 1 - 2 years after), my point being it's another one I've only just got to reading 🤣

Even though I liked Calling Romeo (and that's apparently the book Alexandra's best known for) I liked Be Careful What You Wish For more. Like read-it-straight-after-breakfast-and-forego-watching tv-for-reading-it kinda like, and that kind of feeling hasn't happened for me in a while. I'm suprised it happened with this book to be honest, I really wasn't expecting much from it, I thought it would be a good book, don't get me wrong, but nothing to write home about, oh how wrong I was!

The last 80 or so (minus the epilogue) pages could've been condensed into 40 (maybe 50 pages at a stretch) instead of the 80 that they were, they (seemed like filler pages to me and) spoiled the pacing (for me) in what was otherwise a really good book and honestly? One I could (and would love to) see being adapted into a film, it reads like it would be a great fit for either Netflix or Prime.

Paradise House by Erica James - Content Warning for eating disorders (anorexia and Bulimia). Slow-moving but pace was overlook-able thanks to the likeable characters.

#Calling Romeo #alexandra potter #booklr #Paradise House #bookblr #Erica James #books #book review #reviews #book reviews