#TopTenTuesday: Books with (Super) Long Titles

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Super Long Book Titles!

I realised five minutes ago that I’ve been working on the prompt for next week (welp 🙃) but I’m glad that this week’s prompt is quite easy and fun so I’m going to keep this short and simple! I think there are a lot of long book titles these days (especially in YA fantasy with many combination of the “A _____ of _____ and _____” or “_____ of _____ and _____” titles) but I tried not to include any of those in my list today 😉 Although I know a lot of readers are sick of the similar titles, I’m not particularly fussed by them. But I do think these longer titles are more interesting! These books are a mix of ones that I’ve already read and ones that I still need to read.

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Top 5 Saturday: Feminist Themes

Welcome back to 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 actually: feminist themes!

Saturday has come and gone and I’ve only just realised that I never finished my post 🙃 So, I’m going to keep it short and simple today. I think the topic speaks for itself! But really who doesn’t love a good empowering read about women rising up against the patriarchy or simply advocating for women everywhere by speaking up about experiences that we all face? All of these are on my TBR and I’m looking forward to reading them all, but especially Roxane Gay’s book and of course, Michelle Obama’s book 😍

(book covers are linked to the Goodreads pages!)

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#WWWWednesday: 07 October

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last Wednesday I’ve managed to read 7 books. Still going with lots of romance but also quite a bit of historical fiction, too!

Taken to Sasor (Xiveri Mates #3) by Elizabeth Stephens ★★½
This story was set apart from the world we’re introduced to in the first two books in the series and I’m sad to say that it’s my least favourite one. While I loved the heroine and the awesome side characters, I didn’t really care for the hero. The high point of this series continues to be the diversity and amazing world building–the intro to alien cultures, social norms, mythology/folklore is all so well done! I’ll be writing mini-reviews for the whole series once it’s finished.

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#TopTenTuesday: Books with Fall Colours/Vibes

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Book Covers with Fall Colours/Vibes (or spring if you live in the southern hemisphere)

Although I live in the tropics, I have lived in places where there were multiple seasons and unsurprisingly, autumn was my favourite! 🍂 I’ve always preferred cold weather to warm weather because I love bundling up under my doona and fluffy throws, and covering myself in oversized cardis/jumpers. At least when it’s cold you can wear multiple layers — when it’s hot you can’t exactly go around in the nude 😂 BUT I DIGRESS!!! 🤣

When I think of autumn I think red, yellow, orange, and black, falling leaves, spooky reads thanks to Halloween, but also cosy romances too! So today’s is going to be a mix of all those, and I realised I do have more spooky reads on my TBR than I expected. Look at me branching out of my comfort zone! 🎃

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#WWWWednesday: 30 September

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. 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.

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#TopTenTuesday: Favourite 2020 Quotes

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Favourite Book Quotes (these could be quotes from books you love, or bookish quotes in general)

I wasn’t really feeling this week’s prompt because I’m so bad at keeping track of my favourite quotes and don’t usually stock them up anywhere (although I’ve been wanting to upload a collection of faves somewhere for years now, I just haven’t got around to doing it *cough*). I remember previously doing some favourite quotes posts, which you can check out here and here.

I was almost going to skip and then I decided that I would share my favourite quotes from some of the books I’ve read and loved in 2020! Maybe they’ll ring a bell for for you, if you’ve already read the book, or maybe they’ll entice you to pick the book up if it’s been sitting on your TBR. Or maybe the quote will pique your interest and you’ll add the book to your already teetering mountain of a TBR (you’re welcome)! So without further ado, here we go…

“Where we come from leaves its fingerprints all over us, and if you know how to read the signs of a place, you know a little bit more who someone is.”

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

“There should be a disconnect button you can push when someone leaves: you’ve fucked me over; therefore I no longer love you. I’m not asking for the button to be connected to an ejector seat that removes them from the universe, just one small button that removes them from your heart.”

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

“She hit him in the best way, like a rainstorm after five years of drought, healing the parched earth with a gentle touch; and in the worst way, like an unexpected earthquake, leaving dust and debris in her wake. She was, in equal parts, a gift and a natural disaster. Her name was Juniper Jones.”

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen

“I want you to know there are no right answers. I want you to know that we’re all on loan to one another, and whatever we get, we should be grateful for, because at any minute we can lose another person. We should try to remember every experience.”

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

“The point is . . . sometimes fighting isn’t about leaving, it’s about staying. It takes practice to get it right, and it’s painful, but if you want to stay with people, you do it.”

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

“A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with.”

“Hate is loud, but I think you’ll learn it’s because it’s only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as you remember you’re not alone, you will overcome.”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

“I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.”

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

“Even though you finally enact a Civil Rights Act not even thirty years ago, it doesn’t erase centuries of unequal access, unequal schooling, unequal living conditions, unequal policing. You can’t tell people to pull up on bootstraps when half of them never had any boots to begin with, never even had the chance to get them. Or when you let people burn whole, thriving black communities to the ground and conveniently forget about it. Because maybe the problem isn’t with ‘bad’ people; maybe the problem is with the whole system.”

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

“You can change the law but you can’t change people and how they treat each other.”

“Perhaps his life might have veered elsewhere if the US government had opened the country to colored advancement like they opened the army. But it was one thing to allow someone to kill for you and another to let him live next door.”

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

“Like Wendy, John, and Michael Darling on the night Peter Pan taught them how to fly – I think one happy thought.
In my pocket, I have a knife.

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg
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The Sunshine Blogger Award IV

A few months ago I was nominated by Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog for the Sunshine Blogger Award! If you haven’t already, I’d recommend checking out her blog because she writes some great reviews and has some really fun posts and recommendations lists that always have me saying “Yaas!” every time I read them! Thanks for nominating me, Becky 💜 Sorry its taken me an age to get to this… I’m terrible! 😅

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#WWWWednesday: 23 September

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Wow, so you know how I’ve been reading like crazy for the past two weeks? I finally met my match and I think I’m in a bit of a smol slump or something like that! And I’m pretty sure it’s all thanks to the one book I managed to finish (although I did DNF a book before finishing this). But back to the book I read: it was EPIC and it’s one of my top reads this year and perhaps one of my favourite fantasies ever? You might’ve seen me gushing on Twitter but if you didn’t, the book I read was The Poppy War (★★★★★ – obvi). Believe the hype, friends, because it is so freaking real! I wasn’t ready for how amazing this book would be. I also wrote the longest ass review I have ever written and I will be posting it at some point, but just know, this book was fantabulous. Although I do warn that there’s about a million CW/TW to consider before picking it up. Kuang does not shy away from the horrors and violence of war and at times it was sickeningly a lot.

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Tour the World in 30 Books Tour: Wicked As You Wish

Tour the World in 30 Books is a blog tour hosted by Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den in support of her local public library’s Diverse Book Drive. The CCPL—a small, rural library in an area with a high poverty rate and a very homogeneous population, where people rarely have the means to travel or experience new perspectives. However, the library doesn’t believe that should stop people from learning more about the world around them, so they’re running a Diverse Book Drive through the month of September in an attempt to bring the rest of the world to the county instead. With a focus on MG and YA books, the CCPL aims to expose especially its young patrons to new and diverse perspectives and cultures.

I’ve been so excited to take part in this awesome tour! It’s such a wonderful way to visit other countries and learn about other cultures without having to leave the comfort of your home. I’m so happy to support a wonderful friend and librarian in promoting diverse reads in her small-town library. Be sure to check out the other wonderful posts and bloggers on tour—trust, you don’t want to miss out on seeing their awesome content! 😉

Today I’ll be talking about the book Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco. You can also check out my og review for the book! I was a little unsure about how I wanted to do this post and to be honest, I’m still not 100% sure about it but I’m rolling with it and seeing where it takes me. I thought I’d share five reasons why you should read WAYW, but I’m also going to share a short reflection about reading this book, and I’ll be sharing a recipe for a Filipino dish that is one of my all-time favourite foods. What better (and more delicious) way is there to connect to a culture than through food? I hope you enjoy it!

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#TopTenTuesday: The Current Possibility Pile

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Books On My Fall 2020 TBR (or spring if you live in the southern hemisphere)

I’m calling it The Current Possibility Pile because I live in the tropics and get neither autumn or spring. My seasons consist of hot/humid and hot/humid/rainy, right now it’s the latter, but the sun continues to shine bright every day! I’m also a mood reader so set TBRs are not a thing for me. Lately my moods have been all over the place and the reality is that the possibilities in this pile are more than likely to change the minute I pick one or several of these books up 😂 That’s just really how it be for me!

On that note, I do have a lot of blog tour reads that I need to get through in the coming months (so I guess that really is a TBR lol) but I’ve decided I’m going to focus this list on all the books I want to read outside of the tours I’m joining and outside of the ARCs I have to read!

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