Happy Saturday, friends! I was wondering what to post today because as usual I’m preparing things at the last minute and when I decided to do an ‘easy’ tag, I remembered that I still haven’t done The Folklore Book Tag. Folklore is top-tier TS for me and one of my all-time favourite albums. I wasn’t tagged to do this but I saw it on Elli’s blog *ages* ago and since I’ve seen mentions of TS on the bird app’s feed quite a bit today I thought why not?
So I’m turning up the track and diving straight into this!
This tag and the awesome graphics you see are originally created by Ilsa @ Whisper of Ink.
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“It is said that the stars shine brighter on the princesses’ birthday, but the princesses themselves think that is balderdash. The stars look the same as they always do, and this year, on the night before the three of them leave their home and one another for the first time in their lives, everything—the stars included—seems far darker.”
April was the quietest month so far this year. It almost felt like the calm before the storm because things are picking back up again and I’m starting to get a little nervous but we got this, right?! I indulged in a good bit of retail therapy in April and got myself new headphones, new glasses (boo, poorer eyesight but yay for snap-on sunnies), and books—lots and lots of books. Other than that, my days continued to be a monotonous cycle of work, eat, sleep(ish) and repeat. With my sister gone to Japan for uni and my parents continuously travelling, this big house has been pretty quiet with just me and the doggos! Looking forward to when my parents get back in the first week of May so the house will be livelier, at least for a little bit.
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:
This week’s topic isThe First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf (close your eyes and touch/grab/point to 10 random titles and tell us what they are! And tell us what you thought if you’ve read them!)
Special thanks to Jaqueline Snowe for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
First Meet Foul Publication Date: 2 May 2022 Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance
Panda Rating: (4.5 pandas)
📖SYNOPSIS
Lorelei Romano thought junior year would be spent living with her best friend, having the best season of her life on the girls’ soccer team and enjoying time with her boyfriend. Instead, she was suddenly single and stuck living with her brother in the football house across the hall from the grumpiest football player on campus. The tight end might be easy on the eyes with his tree-trunk thighs and gorgeous thick hair, but the guy hates her on sight.
Luca Monroe doesn’t have time for feelings in his plan to get to the NFL to financially take care of his grandma. He had a rough life and can’t afford to veer off track—no matter how much his teammate’s sister tempts him. She’s a weakness he refuses to indulge, so keeping his distance is the only solution. He’d never betray his quarterback like that, and plus, every second of his day is focused on football.
But when Lorelei ends up in a fight for an internship with the guy who broke her heart, she teams up with Luca to wow her professor. The project brings the two together, and with that, their chemistry implodes. They agree to a friends-with-benefits arrangement. The rules are simple: no feelings and no one ever finds out.
Despite their own rules, feelings get involved. Lorelei refuses to be kept secret, and Luca always puts the football team first. However, when she walks away, Luca’s on defense. He either risks it all for the girl who’s become his everything or miss a chance of scoring real love.
⚠️CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Childhood abandonment, cheating (recounted), on-page sex, MCs almost get into a car accident
TL;DR:Just as I knew I would, I adored First Meet Foul to bits! The forbidden romance, mutual pining, sexual tension, friendships, family dynamics, THE SASSY GRANDMA, and the relatability of the characters combined to make a fun and entertaining sports romance! 😍 I’d highly recommend this if you love: the (anxious) grumpy x (confident) sunshine dynamic, a slow-burn forbidden romance (the MMC is the teammate/housemate of the FMC’s twin) between two athletes (soccer/football), all the pining, *intense* when-will-they tension, and simping. Lots of great simping, lol.
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time curled up reading in bed with or which book you wish you had time to read today!
I spent my Sunday reading The Ashes & the Star Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent. This is the second book of the Nightborn Duet and I’m looking forward to seeing how this ends. It’s a chonky bub but I’m close to 50% now and I plan to finish it by tomorrow (maybe, lol). I hope it’s a satisfying ending!
Happy Saturday, friends! After an emotionally draining day, I was looking for an easy tag to do and after browsing through my saved tags, I decided to go for this one. Who here hasn’t ever said, “I’ll Get Around to It Later”? I know that I say that quite a lot (pretty much almost every time I buy a book, lol)! I stumbled across this one on Emma’s blog a very long time ago and I’m excited to dive in.
I think I’ve said I’ll read this for several years now. It’s one that I’m highly interested in and have heard amazing things about as well, so I’m looking forward to reading it but the chonkiness is intimidating AF!
I can definitely choose more than one… 😂 But I went with this because it’s not too old, not too new. I’ve also heard great things about it and actually hope to read it this year!
3. A book that you got recently that you haven’t read
This can definitely be… many books from my TBR! I went for this because… It’s been a hot moment since I’ve had it on my shelf and I was so excited to get my hands on a copy too. Welp!
5. A book a friend recommended that you haven’t read
This can literally be everything on my TBR? I’m going for this cos I actually have this on my TBR cart next to my bed to indicate that I want to pick it up ASAP. I hope it finally happens because this has been one of my most anticipated reads for a long time!
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“As far as Brian Donnelly was concerned, a vindictive woman had invented the tie to choke the life out of man so that he would then be so weak she could just grab the tail end of it and lead him wherever she wanted him to go. Wearing one made him feel stifled and edgy, and just a little awkward.”
The Dead Romantics Publisher: HQ Pub Date: 28 June 2022 Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Romance
Panda Rating: (5 pandas)
📖SYNOPSIS
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
⚠️CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Death of a parent, grief, toxic relationship, cheating (briefly recounted), bullying (recounted), murder (recounted)
TL;DR: Everything about this resonated and it was wonderful. I think I’ve discovered another new favourite this year! I’m an emotional reader as it is but I love when a book can reel me in and get me so deeply in my feelings. I don’t know if it’s the things that have been going on with me personally over the last year (plus+), but the discussions of loss, grief and healing, finding hope, and rediscovering love, just hit me so hard and I found myself constantly crying, laughing, and swooning as I read. I also loved the honest and heartfelt romance—it was swoony and heartwarming and I enjoyed reading about Florence and Ben together! Long story short, I’m so glad I read this and I highly recommend it.
dinipandareads 