Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor 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:
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He’d been dead for ten days before they found him, you know.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
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 I loved but never reviewed.
Well, this is probably one of the easiest prompts for me because prior to the tail end of 2018 I never really wrote reviews for the books that I read (whether I loved or hated them) but I did (mostly) leave star ratings on Goodreads! Actually, I realise that plenty of the books that I rave about on my blog are books that I read pre-blogging/reviewing and I’m finding that a little frustrating because I know I loved these books but also my memory is horrible…But I digress!
So I’ve gone on Goodreads and taken a look at all the books I’ve rated five stars and randomly chose ten of them (in no discernible order). Although I’m not much of a re-reader except for some ‘staples’ (like Austen), I’m very tempted to read some of these again just so I can write reviews for them because they definitely deserve it!
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 been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
It’s now going on 9PM on a Sunday and I’m wondering where my day went! Once I’m done writing this post I plan to get cozy in bed with Ignite the Sun. I’m reading this for my second TBR and Beyond Tours and I’ve got my tour date coming up at the end of next week, so be on the look out for my review then! I started reading this a bit the day before and what I’ve read so far isn’t anything ‘new’ exactly but it was entertaining enough to reel me in, so I’m excited to dive back into it!
Once upon a time, there was something called the sun… In a kingdom ruled by an evil witch, the sun is just part of a legend about light-filled days of old. Luckily for everybody in the kingdom, Siria Nightingale is headed to the heart of the darkness to try and restore the light–or she will lose everything trying.
Sixteen year-old Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun. The light is dangerous, according to Queen Iyzabel, an evil witch who has shrouded the kingdom in shadow. Siria has always hated the darkness and revels in the stories of the light-filled old days that she hears from her best friend and his grandfather. Besides them, nobody else understands her fascination with the sun, especially not her strict and demanding parents. Siria’s need to please them is greater even than her fear of the dark. So she heads to the royal city–the very center of the darkness–for a chance at a place in Queen Iyzabel’s court.
But what Siria discovers at the Choosing Ball sends her on a quest toward the last vestiges of the sun with a ragtag group of rebels who could help her bring back the Light … or doom the kingdom to shadow forever.
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: underrated books/hidden gems.
The prompt this week is pretty straightforward so I don’t really have much to say to introduce the topic. While it’d be easier to share underrated books that I’ve already read, I thought it’d be interesting to do an underrated books list for five on my TBR. I took to Goodreads to help me come up with a random list. These are books that I’ve heard good things about but I haven’t seen a lot of hype for (or at least not to my knowledge). I’m quite excited to read it Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor 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:
“The gallows had been erected in the shadow of the clock tower, partly so that the spectators could witness the executions without the nuisance of sun in their eyes, and partly so that the Tribunal could keep its killings on precise schedule. Order in all things, that was the Tribunal’s motto.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
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 with colours in the title.
I thought this prompt would be super easy but it turns out I was very wrong 😅 I wrote it while staring at the books on my shelf and I couldn’t see one read title that had a colour in it, and only one book title immediately came to mind for the prompt. Even digging deeper into my Goodreads read list didn’t give me as many results as I’d hoped to find! So to make it easier for myself, I’m going to split this list into read and to be read books with colours in the title because it turns out I’ve got a lot more on my ‘to-be-read’ list (*surprise surprise*) 😂
READ
Words in Deep Blue – absolutely crushed my feels & one of my 2020 faves so far! Spinning Silver – loved Novik’s magical writing and this unique retelling Scarlet – the second book in one of my all favourite YA SFF fairytale retellings 😍 The Golden Compass – a dark and fantastical adventure full of magic and wonder that i really enjoyed! Red Queen – this first book was a total winner for me, but sadly the sequels were not!
TO-BE-READ
Jade City – definitely finishing it this year! Gods of Jade and Shadow – hoping to read it this year coz i’ve only heard amazing things! The Black Kids – just started this last night. it’s giving me a whole mix of feels… The City of Brass – shame on me that this is still on my TBR pile! i need to get on it asap! The Green Mile – the movie wrecked me but have always wanted to read the book too!
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 been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
I’ve spent a good chunk of my Sunday in bed with my eARC for Always Only You (Bergman Brothers #2) by Chloe Liese. After reading the first book in the series I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one and I’m so lucky to have received an advanced copy from Chloe. I’m really enjoying it and I’m trying to pace myself but after starting it this morning I’m already at 60%, so I’ll easily be finishing it this evening! I am loving the Bergman brothers and their heroines so much–please give me more! 😍
Ren The moment I met her, I knew Frankie Zeferino was someone worth waiting for. Deadpan delivery, secret heart of gold, and a rare one-dimpled smile that makes my knees weak, Frankie has been forbidden since the day she and I became coworkers, meaning waiting has been the name of my game—besides, hockey, that is. I’m a player on the team, she’s on staff, and as long as we work together, dating is off-limits. But patience has always been my virtue. Frankie won’t be here forever—she’s headed for bigger, better things. I just hope that when she leaves the team and I tell her how I feel, she won’t want to leave me behind, too.
Frankie I’ve had a problem at work since the day Ren Bergman joined the team: a six foot three hunk of happy with a sunshine smile. I’m a grumbly grump and his ridiculously good nature drives me nuts, but even I can’t entirely ignore that hot tamale of a ginger with icy eyes, the perfect playoff beard, and a body built for sin that he’s annoyingly modest about. Before I got wise, I would have tripped over myself to get a guy like Ren, but with my diagnosis, I’ve learned what I am to most people in my life—a problem, not a person. Now, opening my heart to anyone, no matter how sweet, is the last thing I’m prepared to do.
Always Only You is an opposites-attract, forbidden love sports romance about a nerdy, late-blooming hockey star, and his tough cookie coworker who keeps both her soft side and her autism diagnosis* to herself. Complete with a meddling secretary, tantric yoga torture, and a scorching slow burn, this standalone is the second in a series of novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.
*This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you might’ve noticed that I’ve been unexpectedly MIA for a while now. Life has been… Life? No excuses but if you want to read me waffle on about it, check out my smol life and reading update post. On that note, I’m looking forward to getting back into the groove and a perfect way to do this is to start doing my regularly weekly memes (that I’ve missed so much)! Glad to be 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 actually: enemies to lovers.
I used to be embarrassed to admit that I’m a big fat hopeless romantic but… I am indeed a big fat hopeless romantic. GIVE ME ALL THE LOVE and I will (probably) love it! I think I’ve only really taken the time to notice this year just how much romance I read and the enemies-to-lovers trope is one of my all time favourites! I mean, who doesn’t love the delicious tension that builds between two characters who, deep down, have all these feelings for each other that they don’t know what do with until one day it finally explodes? Not to mention all the hilarious, snarky banter that’s usually a staple in our protagonists’ exchanges? Just thinking about it gets me giddy with excitement and anticipation! Safe to say, I’ve read my share of enemies-to-lovers but I’ve still got plenty on my TBR! Here are five of them that I hope to read ASAP:
So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: authors I’ve read the most books by.
This week’s topic is pretty straightforward and although it should be easy I have to admit I was a little stumped to figure out who I’ve read the most books by. I have to admit that I don’t actually know the number of books that I’ve read for each author and I’m also really tired right now so I don’t have the energy to look it up (I’m so lame, I’m sorry, friends!), and so I’m ballparking it here… I’m also keeping this short since this week has already felt like the past three months combined and is it really only Tuesday? 🙃 Welp.
Jodi Picoult and Nora Roberts really take the top spots for this because I used to devour their books starting from high school and when I picked up reading again after I finished uni. I’ve also read almost all of Michael Crichton’s books after I discovered a bunch of his books in the secondhand bookstore when I moved to Cambodia and started reading again (the same time as Roberts’ books actually which were also found in abundance at the secondhand store)!
I’ve read about half of V.E. Schwab’s books including some of her earlier works (The Archived series) but I’m still planning to read her latest middle grade books eventually… If I can work up the courage to since it’s all ghost-y and stuff!
Pretty sure that when it comes to romances I’ve binged a large number of Mariana Zapata and Christina Lauren (including their much earlier and quite smutty romances back in the day)! 😂 I love these three authors so much and they’re always my go-to recs.
I realise that I’ve actually read all of Leigh Bardugo’s books, save for her latest two releases. I read her series years ago before knowing that such a huge book community existed online and that the books had such huge followings lol. Same goes for Laini Taylor! All I have to finish now is Muse of Nightmares… *cough*
Then of course there are my more ‘recent’ favourites: Jay Kristoff (& Amie Kaufman) andNeil Gaiman! I still have a lot of Gaiman to read although I’ve already read a fair few of his books. Of course I can’t wait to read more of Kristoff and Kaufman, too!
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 been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
I’m sad to say that I have spent 0% of my day actually reading. But now that it’s night and I’m about to hit the bed at a ridiculously early hour, I’m planning to spend my time finishing Unravel the Dusk. I realise it’s been a week and I’m still reading this book but this is really only because I’ve been busy moving (plus I’m still working coz I have no more leave days). So I’m hoping to finish this very soon, at least before pub day. I am enjoying it so far!
Maia Tamarin’s journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. The boy she loves is gone, and she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor’s bride-to-be to keep the peace.
But the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within. Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing . . . glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red, losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It’s only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, but she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.
YA fantasy readers will love the sizzling forbidden romance, mystery, and intrigue of UNRAVEL THE DUSK.
dinipandareads 