#TopTenTuesday: Let’s Make It A Movie/Show! 🎬

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is Movies/TV Shows That Would Have Made Amazing Books (Submitted by Sabrina @ Notes From a Paper Plane Nomad).

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The Magical Readathon: Orilium Spring Equinox 2024

Get excited—it’s almost time to return to the Orilium Academy for ✨The Magical Readathon: Orilium Spring Equinox 2024!✨

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, our lovely host G @Book Roast created this Beginners Guide to the Magical Readathon, just in case you’re interested in starting your own journey to Orilium!

As someone who’s generally terrible at completing reading challenges, this is one challenge I join without hesitation every year because not only is it very fun but it’s also very relaxed and low-key, which means less pressure and as a notorious mood reader, this makes it easy for me to keep up!

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [226]

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 reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!

I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday night in bed (hopefully) finishing The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot. This is a pretty sad book and since I’ve (for some reason) been feeling a little more emo than usual lately, it has worked its way deep into my feelings and made me weepy a couple of times. 😂 I’m loving it though!

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#FirstLinesFriday: 22 March 2024

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for 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:

Fingers of mist curled around Bastien’s father as he walked away from his only child. The boy lifted up on his knees in their stalled handcart. “Where are you going, Papa?”
His father didn’t answer. The light of the full moon shone on Lucien’s chestnut hair, and the mist swallowed him from sight.”

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Monthly Wrap-Up: February 2024

It’s mid-March and I thought I would be a lot more proactive even while I was off on holiday but that definitely didn’t happen so I’m just now getting around to posting my February wrap-up…

There wasn’t a whole lot that happened in February and the biggest thing I had to look forward to, which was a big deal, was my holiday to Japan at the end of the month. It was great! I ate lots of amazing food although, towards the end of my trip, I did get a bit of an upset stomach and left the country feeling rather poorly (I blame all the poor food we binged at Disney, lol).

Other than that, I spent a whole lot of money on Studio Ghibli, Disney and Nintendo (Zelda and ACNH) stuff and although my bank account is looking fairly pathetic right now, I don’t regret it and would probably do it all again, haha. 😂 Friends, I got so many cute things! I was in heaven and it was impossible to resist, though to be fair, I didn’t try very hard! And I mean, this is why I work my tail off, right? Because I like expensive things, I have a hard time telling myself no, and I love to treat my loved ones to all the good things, too. Overall, I wish my trip could’ve lasted longer but I will be back within the next year so I’m saving up good for that!

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [225]

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 reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!

I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday night finishing Fiona and the Enigmatic Earl. I’ve been seeing Grace Callaway given so much love from the beginning of this year and I can see why. I’m obsessed with the series that I’m currently reading. It’s sexy, smart, funny and I *love* it! 😍

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Book Review: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

Indigo
Publisher: NYLA
Pub Date: 1 November 1996
Genre: Historical Romance

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

As a child Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark skinned beauty is a dedicated member of Michigan’s Underground railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love. When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn’t hesitate even after she is told about the price on his head. The man in question is the great conductor known as the “Black Daniel” a vital member of the North’s Underground railroad network, but Hester finds him so rude and arrogant, she begins to question her vow to hide him.

When the injured and beaten Galen Vachon, aka, the Black Daniel awakens in Hester’s cellar, he is unprepared for the feisty young conductor providing his care. As a member of one of the wealthiest free Black families in New Orleans, Galen has turned his back on the lavish living he is accustomed to in order to provide freedom to those enslaved in the south. However, as he heals he cannot turn his back on Hester Wyatt. Her innocence fills him like a breath of fresh air and he is determined to make her his, but traitors have to be found, slave catchers have to be routed and Hester’s refusal to trust her own heart have to be overcome before she and Galen can find the freedom only love can bring.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Slavery, racism, racist slurs, gun violence, kidnapping

Before I get into my review I just want to say: can we get the clinch cover back for this romance, please!? It’s stunning and I want and need it in my life, please and thank you. 🥹

TL;DR: I’ve found another new favourite Jenkins romance! Even set against the tension-filled backdrop of a time of slavery, fugitive slaves and the dangers of being a conductor in the Underground Railroad, Jenkins manages to write a heartfelt and sensual romance full of yearning and I loved it. I was pulled in from their caustic first meeting to the tender blooming of their feelings to their intense chemistry and hot-as-hell sexual tension. I loved Hester and Galen so much!

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