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: recommended reads.
For today’s prompt on recommended reads, I’m going to look at five books on my TBR that have been recommended to me and I’m going to use the term “recommended” pretty loosely here because I consider the books that I see on blogs as recommendations, so there’s definitely no shortage of that! 😂 I don’t think I’ll be focusing on any particular theme either so it’s just going to be the first ones that come to mind…
Welcome back to another Friday Favourites, dear friends! Last year this weekly meme was hosted by the wonderful Kibby @ Something of the Book! However, this year Kibby has passed the torch on to Lorraine @ Geeky Galaxy. This week’s topic is: favourite authors.
Well, this list could go on forever, couldn’t it? Did I mention that I’m quite terrible at picking favourites? I’ve actually done a few posts mentioning some of my favourite authors (like this one and this one) so I thought I’d take a bit of a different spin for this week’s author topic by focusing on authors that have a potential to be favourites. I say potential because I’ve only read one book by these authors but they absolutely wowed me and I could see them becoming a favourite if I end up enjoying their other books just as much. I hope that explanation made sense! 😂 Here we go…
Ugh, just look at this gorgeous cover! I mean, isn’t that reason enough to love this?! Kidding… Sort of. The content was just as enjoyable as the cover and I sped through this heart-wrenching story. The characters were so real and relatable and I loved these two cinnamon rolls so much 💞 I just wanted to hug them forever. I’m so excited to read Choi’s second book released last year!
I love historical fiction and am partial to reading books set during the Holocaust or WWII. I’d never read YA historical fiction before but I was really taken with Sepetys‘ evocative writing. I learned a lot about the atrocities that occurred in other nations during this period and it was eye-opening. I have a good feeling I’ll really enjoy her other books too!
Yes, this book is making another appearance on my lists this week because I absolutely loved it and like I said in my review, I highly recommend it! Sorry not sorry 😉 I adored this book and I’m looking forward to trying Clayborn’s other books because of how she managed to so captivate me and my feels!
I don’t know what I expected when I went into this but it wasn’t what I got–and I mean that in the best way too! This was such a great sci-fi thriller that really kept me on the edge of my seat and on my toes the whole time. James managed to reel me in with how she set the atmosphere and always had me second guessing myself while reading! Definitely keen to try her other work.
This book quickly captivated me with the magic, world building and books, but the characters had me speeding through the pages to find out what happens next. I adored this book so much and I’m really looking forward to trying Rogerson’s other work. I hope I love it just as much as I did this 😍
Who are authors you want to read more of and who have the potential to become a new favourite? Would any of these authors make your list?
Welcome back to another Friday Favourites, dear friends! Last year this weekly meme was hosted by the wonderful Kibby @ Something of the Book! However, this year Kibby has passed the torch on to Lorraine @ Geeky Galaxy. This week’s topic is: favourite romances.
Well it certainly is the week for romance, isn’t it? I’m actually having a hard time choosing my favourite romances because if you haven’t noticed, I’m a sucker for the stuff and go through my fair share every year (of romance books, not actual romances lol). So how am I meant to pick out my favourites and keep it to a Top 5 list?! It’s a tough one… But after some thought here are five romances that I will always recommend:
Pride and Prejudice will forever and always be my favourite and I cannot recommend it enough. After reading it I’d also recommend immediately watching one of the two adaptations, both of which are amazing but I’m partial to the 2005 version because Matthew Macfadyen (don’t @ me)!
Give me any book set in Alaska and I’m guaranteed to fall in love with it. Hah, kidding. Maybe. Don’t ask me why but I have a low-key thing for Alaska so that was already a bonus for The Simple Wild. However, throw in some great characters, real growth and a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking storyline and well, I’m sold. I became so invested in Calla and Jonah’s relationship. Jonah had me swooning big time!
I love the diversity that Hoang brings to romance–not only in having Asian MCs but also in writing about characters on the spectrum. It’s refreshing to read romances with characters who look like you and who come from cultural backgrounds similar to yours. The Bride Test has a mix of unique characters, an interesting plot and a good dose of steam, too.
I loved Josh and Lucy, but Josh was the shining star for me in The Hating Game. I loved his character so much. It might not be for readers who don’t like angst because well, this one was seriously full of it, but oh it was so, so much fun!
If you want a romcom with wonderfully fun characters who’re sure to give you a good laugh, then look no further than Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating! I love CLo and would recommend them to anyone but Josh and Hazel have a special place in my heart. I have a huge girl crush on Hazel — she’s such a fun-loving character and so full of life! Their chemistry is perfection and I love their love 😍
That’s it for my favourite romances!What are some of your favourites that you think I should read ASAP? I’m always on the lookout for recs!
This year I also joined the #ARMEDWITHABINGO reading challenge hosted by Kriti and Ariel @ Armed with a Book. I thought this sounded cool as it’s a personalised book bingo challenge with regular check-ins, book giveaways, guest posts and more! The challenge has 24 prompts that require individual books for each square (except for the book over 500 pages long, which counts for two!) and it runs throughout the year.
The sign up is open until 15 March, so if this sounds like a fun challenge to you, head on over to their page and let’s BINGO! 😃
So what’s in the bingo? My personalised card below has all the prompts:
I know my announcement is coming in pretty late into January *cough* so I’ve actually managed to already cross of four of the squares so I’m just a tiny bit closer to bingo 🤣
I still haven’t figured out the books I’m reading for all of the prompts but I do have some ideas. Part of me wants to just “wing it” and see if what I read throughout the year will fit any of the prompts, but that attitude is what caused me to bomb hard last year? So I’ve already started identifying options for some of the prompts 😅 Consider this my mostly “loose” possibility pile. Since I’m trying to cut down on spending most of these are books I already have on my shelves–though I’ma be nice to myself and allow for some of this years’ releases because I mean… I’m only human riiiiiiight? 😬
I’ll be sharing progress updates for this along with all the other challenges I’m doing this year in a monthly reading challenges recap post, so be on the look out to see if I’ve managed to cross any other boxes by the end of this month!
Are you joining this reading challenge too? What do you think of my choices? Do you have any suggestions for any of these spaces that you think I must read?
Welcome back to my second week joining the Thursday Discussion posts! Thursday Discussion is a biweekly meme hosted by Ally Writes Things where you write a post based on the prompt for that week. The post can be as long or as short as you want, and you can talk about as much or as little as you want. This week’s topic is books you need to read before the end of 2019 and coincidentally, I’ve just posted on bookstagram about that topic today!
Hosted by Ally Writes Things, Thursday Discussion is a biweekly meme where you write a post based on the prompt for that week. The post can be as long or as short as you want, and you can talk about as much or as little as you want.
Over the last month I’ve seen some Thursday Discussion posts on some of my favorite blogs and I’ve been interested in taking part but one thing or another always took me away from posting (most likely my laziness). I finally decided to join today — although with a different topic than what’s post! Oops, yes, hi! It’s just that this week’s topic is childhood favorites and I have two posts about that already, which you can read here and here. So instead I decided to do my post on a previous discussion topic about books that make me laugh out loud!
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman. There was a lot of awkweirdness in this book that had me laughing out loud because not only was it awkweird but it was also incredibly relatable. I laughed quite a lot every time Nina and Tom interacted with each other!
SagaSeries by Brian K. Vaughan. This series!!! It’s no secret that this might be my favorite graphic novel ever! I just love everything about it. Some of the characters in this book, especially Lying Cat 😻, really had me cracking up!
What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. As much as there were cringey moments in this book that made me feel my age, the characters and their awkwardness really had me laughing out loud. As a side character, Dylan never failed to make me laugh. Arthur was a lottle OTT sometimes but his bumbling innocence really had me laughing too (not in a mean way)!
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: summer reads. What I read very much depends on my mood so I don’t necessarily read different books according to the season. That said, summer is pretty much synonymous with the beach and pool time so when I think summer reads I always think of the types of books that I like to take with me when I’m lying under the sun. My favorite genres to read beach/pool side are: romcoms, thrillers, and occasionally YA fantasy/sci-fi.
These aren’t necessarily my *favorite* summer reads, but they’re ones that I’ve enjoyed reading from each genre! I’m going to try and name books that I’ve never mentioned on my blog before (Thank goodness for Goodreads and Kindle lol)
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: books outside of my usual genre. When I think of books outside my usual genre I tend to think of books outside my “comfort zone”. I’m usually open to all genres, barring horror coz I’m a scaredy, so it’s always hard for me to choose things outside of my “usual”. That said, the first ones that come to mind are: Non-Fiction and books with Magical Realism (yes, I’m counting this as a genre).
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and The Birth of the FBI by David Grann. Every year my goal is to read more non-fiction. I find a lot of non-fiction doesn’t hold my attention and I find my mind wandering about 80% of the time. But then there are times where I come across a non-fiction such as Killers of the Flower Moon and I devour it in one night. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s written like a story, it’s compelling and horrifyingly fascinating. So much history has been lost, it’s a shame that it’s only through stories such as these that we learn more about it. 1,000% recommend!
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Surprise, surprise, this book is getting another mention on my blog! I know I mention it regularly, but it’s one of my all time favorites for a reason. Surprising then (maybe?) that it appears on this list! Magical realism and I often don’t see eye-to-eye and I feel like classic Spanish authors utilize it abundantly. Unpopular opinion time: I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I wanted to cry out of sheer confusion and boredom 😭 So when my friend suggested I read Shadow of the Wind, one of her all-time favorites, I was really hesitant. You can bet I was surprised by how much I loved this book and sped through the pages. It’s so captivating and Zafon has a magical way with words that transports you to wherever you are in a story.
I’m Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: An Introvert’s Year of Living Dangerously by Jessica Pan. This is a non-fiction and ARC that I finished very recently. I finished it late and it already came out at the end of May(!!), but I’m so glad that I picked this up. Following Jessica Pan’s journey as an introvert doing all the extroverted things in one year was not only HILARIOUS but also very comforting. She did all the crazy things that I have nightmares about (talking to strangers in public, public speaking, stand-up comedy, unplanned travels alone, and guess what? She survived all of it! I loved the way she wrote this so openly and honestly, and I’m pretty sure I laughed through 90% of the book. This was 1000% relatable especially at this similar stage of life. Is it weird/creepy to say that she’s the introvert that I wish I could be? Coz she is.
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. As mentioned above, magical realism tends to confuse me 🙃 and while I wasn’t expecting to encounter it in this novel (though really, I should’ve) I really enjoyed what it brought to the book! This story was touching, so beautifully told, and I feel like elements of magical realism is such a big part of Asian culture and storytelling. It simply just worked!
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I guess this is a bit of a bonus because it’s neither NF or magical realism, it’s sci-fi! I included Dark Matter because up until now it’s still one of the only (adult) sci-fi novels I’ve read. Even if I included the YA sci-fi books I’ve read, I don’t think the number extends beyond the singles. I’m working on remedying that but (obviously) my TBR is a million unmanageable books long. So it’ll happen, just maybe not anytime too soon?
What are your favorite books outside of your usual genre? Any of these? Leave me a comment below and let’s chat in the comments!
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: Books about Rebellion/Freedom. I almost didn’t write this post because I (somehow) missed this week’s prompt and only realized when I got a notification for Kibby’s post. Oops! So now it’s late, I’ve had a hellishly late night working up until 30 minutes ago (it’s now 11PM), so I’m gonna keep this short and sweet. I’m also going to not list the Lunar Chronicles for this post because I think that (and Illuminae) are my two most mentioned series for when I answer all these prompts 😂
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins. I decided to read these books with some friends before the second movie came out and it was wow. The world, the game, the rebellion. It was definitely crazy times but I loved every minute of it!
Divergent (Divergent #1)by Veronica Roth. After bingeing on the Hunger Games a few years ago, I had a hankering to keep on reading dystopian YA books, so I picked up Divergent and I honestly loved it? I didn’t enjoy all the books in this series the same, but they weren’t the worst books I’ve ever read (don’t @ me).
An Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir. So much rebellion. So much chaos and fighting for freedom. So much suffering and loss. But also SO MUCH FUN?! Does that make me sound awful? I’m sorry but this series is amazing! I can’t wait for the final book in this quartet to come out in 2020.
The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renée Ahdieh. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, which I haven’t actually read (it’s on my hugemongous TBR). The fantasy and adventure is built around a romance, but it’s also about rebellion and fighting for freedom from an absolute snake of a man.
The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson. This series was the first Sanderson I read and it solidified him in my list of favorite authors. This is truly epic fantasy full of strong, rebellious characters.
What are your favorite books about rebellion/freedom? I’d love to hear recommendations if you have them to give. Let’s chat in the comments!
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: Books set in Space. So I feel like this one should be relatively easy, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I actually haven’t read that many books set in space? I have quite a few books set in space that are sitting on my physical / kindle shelves, but I really do acquire books faster than I can read them (#bookwormproblems)! One day though, I will get to them. For now, here are my favorite books set in space (and yes, I’m counting that last one!):
The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Hands down one of the best sci-fi series that I’ve ever read. The humor, the romance, the creepiness, the battle for survival, AIDAN. I mean, it’s got everything and it’s set in space. It’s pretty stellar (pun intended)!
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Do I even need to mention how much I love Saga? I probably don’t, but I will anyway. Saga is probably my all time favorite graphic novel–granted I don’t have the widest repertoire–but it’s true. The ending of the last volume KILLED ME, and I can’t wait for Vaughan and Staples to bring it back to life already (pretty please?)!
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I think this series is honestly one of the best re-tellings I’ve ever read. It’s so unique and jam packed full of action. I loved how Meyer brought together all the stories, how strong the female characters are in their own ways, and of course, it’s set in space (the majority of it anyway)!
Ender’s Gameby Scott Orson Card. I think this was the first sci-fi book I read as an adult and I have to admit it was after watching the movie. While the movie was interesting, I enjoyed the depth we got in the book a lot more! It’s an oldie but a goodie that I (surprisingly?) don’t see getting a lot of attention in the book world.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Does this book count? I guess I’m making it count! I mean, the little prince’s home is a planet, he also travels from planet to planet, so technically it’s set in space, right? That has to count for something! It’s one of those childhood books that still have the ability to touch my heart when I read it as an adult. This is one of the books I’m hoping gets passed down the line for generations!
What are your favorite books set in space? I’d love to hear some recommendations if you have them to give. Let’s chat in the comments!
dinipandareads 