Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each otherโs posts! Check out the January 2024 Topics if you want to join in the bookish discussion fun.
This week’s topic asks us:
Are Reading Goals Worth It?
Prompts:Did you set reading goals for 2024? Have you set reading goals in past years? Do they motivate you to read more, or do they make reading more stressful? What kinds of goals, if any, are the most motivating to you? Have you noticed a change in your reading since you started blogging? How about the goals you set?
So you know how I said that I don’t do reading challenges? Well, apparently 2024 is the year where I’m trying to shake up my reading life a little and I’ve decided to partake in a couple of them! I came across the Buzzword Reading Challenge when Kayla@BooksandLala popped up on my FYP on YouTube and it looks like it could be a fun time! You can watch her video introducing it below:
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:
Following the reading challenge’s success in 2023, the Choose Your Own Adventure: Year in Aeldia 2024 Reading Challenge is back! This reading challenge is part of the annual Magical Readathon hosted by the supremely talented G @Book Roast. I don’t know (m)any challenges but this is one I do each year without fail. If you don’t know what I’m talking about or want to learn ore about choosing your own adventure, check out the explainer video below:
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 my Sunday in bed trying to figure out what to read next! I finished a 5-star read in the early hours of Sunday morning (3am to be exact) and as I’m still reeling from how it utterly emotionally wrecked me, I’m not quite sure what to read next. Here are the books I’ll read a couple of chapters from to figure it out:
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin, Destiny’s Embrace by Beverly Jenkins, Forged by Magic by Jenna Wolfhart Read More »
We’re on to the next part of the annual End of Year Survey. If you haven’t yet, you can check out Part I hereโit’s a lengthy survey and it did make me lose my mind a little but I felt so accomplished when I finished answering all the prompts! ๐ As always, this part is more about my blogging journey in 2023 and looking ahead to 2024.
Special thanks to Oni Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sheets (Sheets #1) Publisher: Oni Press Publication Date: 28 August 2018 Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel
Panda Rating: (4 pandas)
๐SYNOPSIS
Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything sheโs worked for.
Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.
When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glattโs Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.
โ ๏ธCONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Death of parent, Child death, Bullying, Grief, Depression
If you’re like me and you pick this up solely because of the cover, and you don’t look at the synopsis, you might go into this thinking it’ll be a cute story aboutโฆ Sheets? Turns out, while there are many sheets involved, it’s not at all the light-hearted cutesy story that I thought it would be. This deals with heavy themes of death, grief, belonging, and loneliness.
As has become an annual tradition on this blog, it’s time to share Part I of the End of Year Book Survey! I always enjoy doing this survey to dive a little deeper into my reading and blogging in the year that has just passed. I’ve mentioned it once and I’m gonna mention it again: 2023 was A YEAR so I’m glad that it’s over and I can only hope that 2024 is a much kinder, more peaceful and joyful year. On that note, I’m going to get straight to it. If you’d like to check my previous years’ End of Book Surveys, I’ve linked them all below! ๐
Hello, friends. โจ Today I’m excited to kick off the blog tour for the concluding book of an exciting Chinese mythology-inspired duology: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amรฉlie Wen Zhao! Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it.
Thanks to Delacorte Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!
The epic sequel to the book Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, is a fast-paced, riveting YA fantasy inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.
Years ago, the Elantian colonizers invaded Lanโs homeland and killed her mother in their search to uncover the Last Kingdomโs greatest the location of its legendary four Demon Gods. Lanโs mother devoted her life to destroying the Demon Gods, and Lan is determined to finish her mission. Yet, there are others searching for the gods, too.
Zen knew his soul was forfeit the moment he made a deal with the Demon God known as the Black Tortoise, but heโs willing to lose himself if it means saving the Kingdomโand the girlโhe loves. But to crush the colonizers who have invaded his land he needs more power than even a single Demon God can provide. He needs an army. And he knows exactly where he can find itโin the undead army his great grandfather lead decades ago.
The Elantians may have stolen their throne, but the battle for the Last Kingdom has only begun.
โ ๏ธCONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Violence, blood, death of loved one, colonial themes. Also, see romance spoiler below for younger readers.
TL;DR: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White was a satisfying conclusion to this duology. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to think at the start because it took a direction that I wasn’t expecting. I thought there would be more action but this is a slower-paced fantasy that includes more intricate world-building and in-depth exploration of historical and thematic concepts. That said, the culminating battles and the way the threads tie together in the end are bittersweet but no less rewarding. Lan and Zen were great leading characters who were easy to root for and made me love the story of the Last Kingdom.
dinipandareads 