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 other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out the January 2023 prompts!
Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:
2023 Reading & Blogging Goals
Prompts:What are your reading goals for 2023? Do you have a specific number of books, or particular genres you want to read? What are your blogging goals for 2023? What do you want to do differently with blogging than you did last year?
Hello, friends! I’m back with my first blog tour of 2023 hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours and I’m so incredibly excited that it’s for a title that I absolutely adored: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert.
Thanks to Joy Revolution 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!
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute Publisher: Joy Revolution Publication Date: 3 January 2023 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance Rep: Black, OCD, Fat
Panda Rating: (5 pandas)
📖SYNOPSIS
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors–and each other.
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes… except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption–yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)
These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.
Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed… or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
⚠️CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Anxiety, struggling with OCD, childhood abandonment, estranged parents
Note: The quotes below are taken from an advanced/unfinished copy and are subject to change in the final version.
TL;DR:Honestly, what can I say about this other than I loved it? What a fantastic way to kick off my reading in 2023 with my first 5-star read of the year! This book has reminded me why I love Talia Hibbert so much. Although she usually writes adult romance, you wouldn’t know this is her YA debut because it was so well written and was essentially classic Hibbert. From the cheekiness, the A+ banter, the wonderfully weird and quirky, flawed yet realistic characters, the heart-swoopingly sweet romance, and the casual queerness and beautiful representation. Reading her stories always feels like a warm hug and they never fail to make me laugh and smile! If you’re looking for a cheekily cute YA romance to kick off your 2023 reading, look no further than Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute. I mean, couldn’t you tell from that name alone that this was gonna be a winner?!
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:
As we’ve wrapped up another year, you know it’s time for the annual End of Year Book Survey originally created by Jamie @The Perpetual Page Turner. I first stumbled upon this survey in 2019 and have done it every year since. If you’re keen to check out my earlier wrap-ups, you can check out the links below! Just like last time, I’ll be breaking this survey into parts with Part I today and Part II following shortly after. Let’s get to it!
Hi there, friends! As the last post before the new year rolls around, I thought I’d share one of the challenges I’ll be participating in next year and that’s the ✨ 12 Book Challenge: 12 friends, 12 books, 12 months! ✨ I started seeing tons of bloggers participating this year but I was a little worried about putting myself out there and getting zero responses in return. When I saw this challenge making the rounds again this year, I thought, screw it—let’s just do it! So I did and (thankfully) people responded!
Below are the 12 books that I was recommended by 12 lovely friends over on book Twitter! I’d not heard of a few of these and a few were already on my TBR, but all of them sound interesting and I’m super excited to read them in 2023! These are listed in no particular order.
Set in an alternative Edwardian England, this is a comedy of manners, manor houses, and hedge mazes: including a magic-infused murder mystery and a delightful queer romance.
For fans of Georgette Heyer or Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton, who’d like to welcome magic into their lives. . .
Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he’s actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.
Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor – but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.
“Stolen me? As soon to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky.”
Velasin vin Aaro never planned to marry at all, let alone a girl from neighboring Tithena. When an ugly confrontation reveals his preference for men, Vel fears he’s ruined the diplomatic union before it can even begin. But while his family is ready to disown him, the Tithenai envoy has a different solution: for Vel to marry his former intended’s brother instead.
Caethari Aeduria always knew he might end up in a political marriage, but his sudden betrothal to a man from Ralia, where such relationships are forbidden, comes as a shock.
With an unknown faction willing to kill to end their new alliance, Vel and Cae have no choice but to trust each other. Survival is one thing, but love – as both will learn – is quite another.
Byzantine politics, lush sexual energy, and a queer love story that is by turns sweet and sultry. Foz Meadows’s A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is an exploration of gender, identity, and self-worth. It is a book that will live in your heart long after you finish the last minute.
To be born into a family of royal assassins pretty much guarantees that your life is going to be… rather unusual. Especially if, like Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, you also have a vicious allergy to all forms of violence and bloodshed, and an uncanny affinity for bringing the dead back to life.
To make matters worse, family debt looms – a debt that will have to be paid sooner rather than later if Lanie and her sister are to retain ownership of the ancestral seat, Stones Manor. Lanie finds herself courted and threatened by powerful parties who would love to use her worryingly intimate relationship with the goddess of death for their own nefarious ends. But the goddess has other plans…
The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.
Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.
Secrets. Everyone has one. Some are bigger than others. And when secrets are revealed, Some will heal you… And some will end you.
Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.
They both feel it. But they each have a reason to fight it. They each have a secret.
And when secrets are revealed, Some will heal you… And some will end you.
A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own.
Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.
When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.
But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.
With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.
Includes The Bone Knife, a bonus short story set in the world of Thorn.
A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love, in this heartwarming and enchanting fantasy.
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing what she does best: All Gadriel has to do is tempt miserably sinless mortal Holly Harker to do a few nice things for herself.
What should be a cakewalk of a job soon runs into several roadblocks, however, as Miss Harker politely refuses every attempt at temptation from Gadriel the woman, Gadriel the man, and Gadriel the adorable fluffy kitten. When even chocolate fails to move Gadriel’s target, the ex-guardian angel begins to suspect she’s been conned. But Gadriel still remembers her previous job… and where petty temptations fail, small miracles might yet prevail.
Olivia Atwater explores love, grief, and the very last bit of chocolate in this sweet modern fantasy, full of wit and heart. Pick up Small Miracles, and enjoy a heavenly faerie tale from the author of Half a Soul.
The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.
Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend… and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne – or his life.
A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life.
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
Morrigan Crow and her friends have survived their first year as proud scholars of the elite Wundrous Society, helped bring down the nefarious Ghastly Market, and proven themselves loyal to Unit 919. Now Morrigan faces a new, exciting challenge: to master the mysterious Wretched Arts, and control the power that threatens to consume her.
But a strange and frightening illness has taken hold of Nevermoor, turning infected Wunimals into mindless, vicious Unnimals on the hunt. As victims of the Hollowpox multiply, panic spreads. And with the city she loves in a state of fear, Morrigan quickly realizes it’s up to her to find a cure for the Hollowpox, even if it will put her – and everyone in Nevermoor – in more danger than she ever imagined.
So these are the 12 books I’ll be reading for this challenge and I’m looking forward to it. Have you read any of these books? Are you also doing the 12 Book Challenge and are you looking forward to the books you’ve been recommended?
It’s the final LTB of 2022. When it comes to posting LTBs in the latter half of the year, I’ve been spotty at best so I’ve made sure that I don’t miss out on this last one of the year!
Happy almost New Year’s Eve, friends!
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 other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out the December 2022 prompts!
Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:
2022 Reading & Blogging Reflections
Prompts:How many books did you read in 2022? Did you meet your reading goals? What were some of your favourites? What were your least favourite books you read this year? How did you feel about your blogging in 2022? What are your favourite posts you wrote in 2022? What are some of your favourite posts from the community that you read this year?
Where has December gone? Is it really already the end of 2022? What have I done with all my time? These questions plague me. 😂 Honestly, all I can remember from the first half of December is that work was incredibly busy and took over most of my brain. One great thing that happened was that I GOT THE JOB for That Interview™️ I was panicking over at the start of the month and I signed my new contract yesterday!
Other than that, I feel like it’s been a weird-ish month. My mood has been shifting as wildly as the weather (the stormy winds and rain have been wonderfully cooling though!) which has in turn affected my reading. I’m in Bali for the holidays and I’m still WFH even though the office has been pretty quiet lately, which is making me want to go on hols! Also, I also can’t believe it’s time to wrap up the year? HELP.
Hi, friends! I’m back with another cover reveal today for A LONG TIME COMING by Meghan Quinn! This is a brand new, standalone romance will be released on January 10th in all formats!
Don’t miss the fantastic cover below and get ready to fall in love with this sexy romance with a witty take on a romantic comedy classic, My Best Friend’s Wedding. Steamy, laugh-out-loud, and full of charm, these two best friends heat up the pages while proving true love might be right in front of you.
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: