Hello, hello friends! I’m so excited to be back for another blog tour with @TheWriteReads today for a highly anticipated YA contemporary: Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli. Be sure to check out all the other bloggers participating in this tour: here! 😍
Special thanks to Penguin and @The_WriteReads tours team for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Goodreads: Kate in Waiting Publisher: Penguin Published: 22 April 2021 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Panda Rating: (4 pandas)
From bestselling YA rom-com queen Becky Albertalli (author of Love, Simon) comes a new novel about daring to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight in love, life and theatre. [PRINCIPAL CAST LIST] Kate Garfield Anderson Walker
Best friends, and contrary to popular belief, not co-dependent. Examples:
Carpooling to and from theatre rehearsals? Environmentally sound and efficient. Consulting each other on every single life decision? Basic good judgment. Pining for the same guys from afar? Shared crushes are more fun anyway.
But when Kate and Andy’s latest long-distance crush shows up at their school, everything goes off-script.
Enter Stage Left: Matt Olsson
He is talented and sweet, and Kate likes him. She really likes him. The only problem? So does Anderson.
Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved. This one might even bring the curtains down on Kate and Anderson’s friendship…
Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!
Happy Thursday, friends! We’re so close to the weekend (although my weekend has personally already started since I work part time) and yet I’m still doing things at the last minute! I wasn’t sure what tag that I wanted to do today (not that I have a shortage in my back log) but I saw Alexis @ The Reading Addict post the Spring Cleaning Book Tag and it looked like fun so I decided to give it a go today! Yay! 😆
1. Getting started: A book series you’ve been wanting to read
Ooh, there are *so* many but I’ll go with the Blood and Ash books. This series is literally everywhere and it seems to be so well loved that I’m honestly surprised I never even heard about it before the second book came out last year (and now I can’t stop seeing it everywhere)! 😂 I’ve never read a book by Armentrout before so I’m definitely curious to see if it’ll work for me!
Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!
Alright, it’s time for part two and three of the End of Year Book Survey! This part of the survey looks more at blogging and future planning but you can check outpart one for my 2020 Stats & ‘Best in Books’!
New favourite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2020?
Oh, I discovered so many amazing book blogs this year. I really wish that I could mention every single person that I follow because everyone deserves such a huge shoutout for constantly posting great and inspiring content, but also for being such supportive people! You keep me motivated and excited to keep engaging and I appreciate all of you so much! 😍 Some of my faves who’re a few of the most supportive bloggers I’ve met in the community and who’ve also heavily contributed to my increasingly gigantor TBR with their recs are: Becky, Leah, Julie, Lisa, and Stephen!
I never watched Booktube until this year but I did start watching a few although in the end the one that I keep coming back to is Noelle Gallagher. First of all, I could listen to Noelle speaking all day because her voice is so incredibly soothing, plus I love how much passion comes through when she speaks about books. I love her discussions, her reviews, and pretty much everything she posts 🤣
FavoUrite post you wrote in 2020?
This is surprisingly difficult to answer because I actually have a few posts that I really enjoyed writing and am happy I wrote, thanks to the Let’s Talk Bookish discussion prompts I joined. One of the posts that I had tons of fun writing was the one for “What Makes You DNF A Book?” because 2020 was the year that I finally took the steps to DNF books that weren’t giving me joy without feeling crushing guilt for doing so.
FavoUrite bookish related photo you took in 2020?
2020 was the year that I disappeared off bookstagram because I feel like I pretty much burned out with all of that at the end of 2019. The pressure of trying to get a decent enough shot for the gram was just too much and I lost my enjoyment for it and rarely took photos in the end. There were a few pictures I took that I did like though! If you wanna be bookstagram friends you can add me: @dinipandareads
Best bookish event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?
Sadly, I participated in none this year… I didn’t have the time with work but also, the time differences being on the other side of the world made it even more difficult to try and attend events without having to either stay up ridiculously late or wake up ridiculously early 😂
Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2020?
I think one of the best moments was achieving one of that goals that I set out for at the start of 2020, which was to get 500 followers on my blog. When it happened, I honestly had no words for how amazing it felt to wake up and see that I reached that number because I never actually believed it was possible, or at least that it’d take me a few years to achieve. I know that everyone says the numbers don’t matter and it’s about the enjoyment you get from doing this and I totally agree, it’s definitely that. But knowing that there are people out there who like what I post enough to subscribe and keep coming back really fills my heart with such warmth. Thank you so much, friends! ❤️
Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
What wasn’t challenging about this year though, right? Lol 😂 In all seriousness though, I think the most challenging thing was finding balance with my blogging/reading and my work life. Work was particularly trying this year and as I was already struggling to keep my motivation high, one of my biggest struggles was not succumbing to my desire to say “screw it” and just hole up in “cave reading mode” all year long 🙃 It’s a very privileged stance, I know. Sometimes blogging does feel like second job (although personally a lot more fulfilling for me than my actual job) and I’m quite proud that I did both without compromising on quality.
Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Umm… I don’t really know the answer for this question? I think my posts get pretty okay views and engagements overall. After I took a short hiatus earlier this year my stats did drop and from that point on they stayed lower than they were at the start of the year, but I wasn’t particularly disappointed about the lack of engagement on any one post! 🤷🏻♀️
Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
Thanks to Becky’s post with a list of bookish stores we could shop at to treat ourselves, I did discover a few bookish Etsy shops that I would one day like to purchase from because their merch is awesome and you can never really have too many bookish things! 😉 Some of my favourite shops were: Bookishly, Miss Bohemia and Bookworm Candles & Crafts!
Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
This feels like a personal attack 😭 Kidding… Sort of! I was quite ambitious at the start of 2020 and set myself quite a few reading challenges/goals that I mostly failed at achieving. The one goal that I did achieve and tend to always reach was my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Last year I set out to read 100 books and ended up reading 160. I was so very close to completing the POPSGUAR Reading Challenge but when I ended up DNFing one of the books in December I just decided it wasn’t worth rushing through reads just to complete it. That’s okay. 2021 is another year to try 😂
One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2020 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2021?
Easily: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I got my copy towards the end of the year but I’ve heard so many amazing things about it, it was on so many favourites lists, I also really love Schwab’s books, so I’m really looking forward to reading this one 😊
Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2021 (non-debut)?
There are so many amazing sounding/looking books that I really can’t wait to get my hands on in 2021 but I’m super excited for TJ Klune’s next book: Under the Whispering Door 😍
Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2021?
Um, I seriously cannot wait for The Heart Principle! I needed Quan’s story last year already so this is definitely one of my most anticipated releases 😃
One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2021?
I think what I’d really like to try doing this year is spend more time engaging with other book bloggers on the blogosphere and book twitter but especially on bookstagram. I won’t be working full-time this year so I hope it’ll give me the time to focus on getting my bookstagram lively again, but also to have more meaningful interactions with others on here 😊
A 2021 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable)
The book that immediately jumped to mind was Amari and the Night Brothers (I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again… Lol). This was a fantastic middle grade fantasy that is chock full of everything I love about MG books. I cannot wait until the world gets to experience its magic this month 😍
And that’s a wrap on 2020, folks!
I still can’t believe that 2020 is over and that we’re kicking off with another new year already. Truthfully, I’m quite pleased with what I’ve accomplished in 2020 especially when it came to blogging. I’m glad that I didn’t let any hurdles stop me from pushing forward! I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2021 will bring in terms of reading and blogging. I’m hopeful and excited that it will be another amazing year for the books!
How was your year of reading and blogging? What was your best blogging or book-related moment in 2020? Is there anything that you’re really looking forward to in 2021?
We’re back with another Top 5 Saturday! Just in case you don’t know Top 5 Saturday is a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and it’s where we list the top five books (they can be books on your TBR, favourite books, books you loved/hated) based on the week’s topic. You can see the upcoming schedule at the end of my post 🙂 This week’s topic is: books about plants/flowers (can be on the cover, in title or plot)!
I’ve only ever read one book that’s about plants specifically and it was a horror novel that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable being around any vine-y plants for quite some time! Thanks to The Ruins for that nightmare!
I think having flowers and leaves on covers has been a big trend in recent years as I’ve seen my fair share of them. I’m admittedly a sucker for these kinds of covers though! They’re eye-catching, bold and colourful but also sometimes just really appealing in their simplicity. That said, I don’t think any of these are actually about plants/flowers, so this is going to be an appreciation post for books on my TBR with plants/flowers on the cover!
Hello, hello, friends! Welcome back to another post for #BESpring2020! As per usual I am a day behind but since today’s post is about bujo’s and I don’t have/use one, I thought I’d answer yesterday’s prompt made by Sam @ Fictionally Sam!
A quick recap for those who don’t know, Book Ending Spring (2020) is hosted by Sam and Clo @ Cuppa Clo, and it’s one of the quarterly events running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events” that aspires to bring the book blogging community closer together! You can find more information on the announcement page and you can sign up to join as well, if you want in on the blogging fun!
Rules
Answer the prompts
Tag some friends
Link back to the original post and be sure to mention the creator (Sam @ Fictionally Sam)
Have fun!
Now without further ado let’s get to the prompt: The Cinderella Effect! For this prompt we’re naming five books that you couldn’t wait to get your hands on but turned into a pumpkin (a dud) when you got it. So for this prompt I’m looking at the books that I was so excited for but didn’t end up loving as much as I hoped. Maybe that’s not really focusing on books that were total ‘duds’ because I still rated them okay, but they were just disappointing!
It’s the first Goodreads Monday of 2020, friends! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas. I’d be seriously impressed if you haven’t heard of this book by now! The hype leading up to its release was massive and since it came out about two weeks ago, I’ve still been seeing tons of people talk about it every day. This adult romantasy has a 4.54 star average with 9.4k+ ratings and 2.5k+ reviews.
It’s the first Goodreads Monday of 2020, friends! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
It’s the first Goodreads Monday of 2020, friends! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s book is All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. This book was released in 2016 but I saw a lot of hype for it on bookstagram last year. This contemporary fiction has a 4.07 star average with 79.7k+ ratings and 11.5k+ reviews.
dinipandareads 