Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
- What did you read last?
- What are you currently reading?
- What will you read next?
Since last Wednesday I’ve managed to read: 8 books. I also DNF’d two other books but I’m not including them here. Friends, I’m so proud for not putting myself through reading books I’m not enjoying or have no interest in. 2020 year has been a shady ass year, but at least I’ve learned to DNF 😉 Heh…
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia ★★★★☆
I first heard about this book through Sammie and I get why she raves about it. It was so refreshing to read about African Gods and Black-American folklore, but it also deals with grief in a way that’s relatable for both young and old. Tristan and the whole cast had such strong and unique voices but it was Gum Baby that 100% won me over! I absolutely loved her! It’s super action packed and entertaining, and I can’t wait to read more about Tristan and the Gods in the future! Review to come.
The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg ★★★★☆
I went in with zero expectations and ended up speeding through this dystopian thriller that’s West World meets Disney. The mixed media format and compelling mystery made this a fast read, plus I loved our MC: Ana. I was hanging on to the edge of my seat until the end, and while I had hoped for a stronger conclusion, it was still super satisfying! Review to come.
Lies & Lullabies (Hush Note #1) by Sarina Bowen ★★★½
I’m not one for the hidden pregnancy and rockstar hero tropes in romance so I’m surprised I enjoyed this one! The romance was sweet if a bit angsty at times but I liked Kira & Jonas (and the little cutie, Vivi). I loved Adam, Kira’s brother, and Ethan and I’m hoping they get their own story coz I would defo read it 😍 Although I didn’t like Quinn in this book, I’m curious about her story and will be continuing the series! Review to come.
The Darkest Drae Series: 1+2 by Rae Wagner & Kelly St. Clare ★★★☆☆
I have mixed feelings about this series. The writing wasn’t bad and the world building was interesting, but the heroine drove me mental. Her clueless bumbling started off amusing because it seemed intentional. She knew she wasn’t the brightest bulb but as the story went on and there was (imo) zero growth, I ended up laughing at myself for being unable to put the book down despite being super irritated 80% of the time. It’s like one of those books that’s so bad it’s good? You know what I’m talking about! I lost interest by the time I started book 3 (DNF) and I won’t be picking it back up again. Maybe review to come.
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo ★★★★★
There’s a reason this has been one of the most hyped books over the last year and it deserves all the praise it gets. I loved every second of this book and devoured it in less than a day! It was *chefs kiss* perfection! Acevedo’s writing is so evocative and… just beautiful! It also made me crazy hungry so have snacks at the ready if you’re planning to read this in the middle of the night! Review to come.
Xiveri Mates Series: 1 + 2 by Elizabeth Stephens ★★★★☆
So… This is an alien romance series that I saw on Julie’s post and I was…intrigued. Did I ever consider I’d be reading alien romance one day? NOPE! But I can’t lie–I’m not mad at this series and I’m having a lot of fun reading it! 😅 It’s got strong kick-ass black heroines and dare I say it, sexy empowering alien heroes? Yes, it’s true. It’s obviously steamy AF (the full steamy scale+beyond) but the world building is amazing and there’s a pretty good plot! Three books are available so far (they’re on KU if anyone’s interested 😉) and I can’t wait to keep reading these! Series review to come.
Last night I started three books: Fahrenheit 451, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and A Royal Christmas Quandry. I’m reading the last one for a blog tour next week and I’m enjoying it so far! I couldn’t decide what to read for #BannedBooksWeek and started the first two books last night but I think I’m going to stick with Angelou. I know this is going to be a really tough and emotional read (which isn’t what I wanted right now!) but the writing is so compelling and I want to read more. And yes, I got the movie cover for Fahrenheit — I couldn’t resist Michael B. Jordan 😍😂
Blog tour reads. Blog tour reads. Blog tour reads.
I have quite a few coming up, especially in October and I can’t believe it’s already almost the last week of September?! 2020 is speeding by 🙈
How is your reading week going and what are you currently reading? Hope the rest of your week goes well!
dinipandareads 
I misread the first like and thought it said ‘so last Wednesday I read 8 books’ and I was like DINI that is incredible & then realised what it said 😂. Still 8 books in a week… very impressive, I barely get through that in a month. I really enjoyed the Kindgom when I read it & have a few of these on my TBR. Great post ☺️
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Hahaha 8 in a day would be INSANE like I don’t even know how 😂😂😂 Thanks Becky! Glad to hear you enjoyed The Kingdom as well! Feel like it’s an underrated one since I haven’t seen it mentioned on blogs ever! Hope you had a good week of reading 😍
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Hahaha yea! I would have been very impressed 😂. Totally agree about the Kingdom, I think it’s a really unique read and it gets no where near enough praise!
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Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the Xiveri Mates series! I love that author!
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Haha I’m so glad you posted about that series! Never thought I’d be into alien romance but here we are 😂 I need book four now pls!
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I’ve learned to DNF this year too! I don’t want to suffer through books any longer!
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Right? I’m so good both of us learning how to put things down. It’s still slow going for me coz I tend to feel guilty more often than not but it’s better than not DNFing at all! Yay for us 😍
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8 books in a week and they weren’t kid lit? I’m impressed! Lol. Goodreads will give you a similar number for me for the last week but they were mostly kid lit titles I blasted through on NetGalley. I only reported 2 books on my WWW post.
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I speed through romance really quickly and well, I read a lot of that last week. The others were also pretty quick and easy fun reads. I don’t sleep a lot 😂
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I keep thinking I have at least another week of September 😫
I’m hoping to read The Kingdom by the end of this year, so your review makes me hopeful! Both the UK and US covers are stunning.
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Ooh, I didn’t know the covers were different for US/UK! I’m gonna go check it out now. I didn’t realize my edition which I bought from a book box has inside jacket art and I love it 😍 I hope you enjoy it!!!
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Wow I can’t believe you managed to read eight books in a week! I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump so I’m super jealous
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It doesn’t happen all the time but when I read romance it usually tends to be easy to speed through 😂 slumps are the worst… but I hope you manage to get out of it soon!
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I totally get that! Romance is such a fun genre it’s so easy to read lots and lots of it super quickly!
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8 books sounds like a great week!
I am still not at the point where I can DNF, but at least I can now say – I will not finish a series, even if I have other books from it.
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It has taken me aaages to get to this point and even still I feel quite guilty for it, so it’s still a WIP! 😂 But it does feel great being able to say that I’m not gonna put myself through a book I’m not enjoying! I give them a fair go though…
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Life’s too short for bad books!
Now I just should start acting like it 😅. But I completely understand how difficult it is.
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Aaaa this reminds me I still need to read With the Fire on High! Great post as always Dini, here’s to a great October!
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Thanks Tina! I can’t believe I put off reading WTFOH for so long—especially after I finished it. It’s such a gem 😍 I hope you get to read it soon and that you love it! ❤️
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8 books in a week is awesome!!! Still finding DNFing books hard but at the same time it’s so satisfying, just need to learn to do it a bit more 😂
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Definitely with you there, Mani! It’s still hard to do and I still don’t do it a lot but one or two is still better than none 😂 it feels so great when I do it coz then I don’t send myself into slumpy moods after forcing myself to read something I’m not into!
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Holy moly, 8! That’s amazing! I keep wanting to check out The Kingdom and then forgetting about it. I should get a copy in my queue so it’s staring me in the face LOL.
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LOL do it!!! It’s such a fast read with the mixed media format. I didn’t have many expectations going in so I’m glad I ended up really enjoying it! Hope you do too 😉
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I gave Lies & Lullabies 4 stars. I felt the same about Quinn, but loved her book. I gave it 4.5 stars. I just finished Nixon’s book and it’s my favorite of the three. 5 stars.
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Omggg I’m so glad to hear it! Quinn’s book just came out though right? And I’m guessing I’ll have to wait a while for Nixon’s, but I’m defo curious about him and why summers are so bad for him!! Can’t wait to read them 😍
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Nixon’s comes out this week. 🙂
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Omg OK. I’m bumping this series up now then 😅
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Yay! They’re all out now.
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8 books?!?!? What a fabulous week!! So glad you could DNF. I need to get better about that!
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It was definitely one of the better reading weeks 😉 This is the first year I’ve been able to DNF without having the guilt cripple me and lemme tell ya, it’s such a good feeling 😂 still a WIP though but even one is better than none!
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I have been trying to listen to audiobooks to get out of my slump. I’ve just DNF’d two memoirs. LOL!! I like DNF’ing books now! hahaha. We will see how long that lasts. Probably just my mood. 😛
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LOL my moods have been so CBF this year that it definitely makes DNFing easier 😂 I think it’s good for us though, I mean, there’s limited time. Why should we force ourselves to read a book that we aren’t enjoying? There’s also a higher probability that pushing myself to read something I’m not liking this year will put me into a reading slump so… No, thanks! 😂 Hope your slumpy mood goes away soon though!
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8 books in a week is amazing, Dini! The Darkest Drae series’ covers are absolutely stunning, I was so tempted to add it to my TBR just for the covers but after reading your thoughts about it I changed my mind! 😂
I gave Lies & Lullabies 4 stars, I didn’t exactly disliked Quinn even though she messed up and I’m super excited to read her book and Nixon’s as soon as I find some space on my monthly TBRs. 🙂
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Haha I do love the Drae covers too, but yeah… I wasn’t a fan of the heroine. BUT I mean, the books are on Kindle Unlimited if you have that so if you wanna give it a try I’d go for it! I know a lot of others enjoyed it 😂
I just found what Quinn did really like… Woah, seriously? Why would you do that?! I think that because we also don’t really get to know about her in the book that I was just left with this negative impression. But I am curious about her story and I heard Nixon’s is coming out this week so I think I’ll be bumping this series up the TBR 😉 Hope you enjoy it too, Andie!
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Yeah, what Quinn did was shitty. But I kind of liked that she owned it, admitted it when Jonas found out and apologized. I read her book and it’s great!!! Loved it! Still haven’t read Nixon’s book yet. 🙂
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