We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024.
#TopTenTuesday: Most Anticipated Books of 2024: Part I
Tag: Favourite Reads
#TopTenTuesday: My Favourite Books of 2023
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Favorite Books of 2023.
The Afternoon Tea Book Tag
Hello, friends. It’s a slothful Saturday afternoon here! I browsed my bookmarked book tags for an easy tag to do and came across the Afternoon Tea Book Tag I saved over a year ago after seeing it on Elle @ Unwrapping Words.
This tag was originally created by The Incessant Bookworm.
#TopTenTuesday: Shouting Out the Backlist!
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is: Forgotten Backlist Titles (Spread love for books that people don’t talk about much anymore!)
Mini Book Review: The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow
The Six Deaths of the Saint (Into Shadow #3)
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Pub Date: 15 November 2022
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty by New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow.
Always mindful of the debt she owes, the girl finds her worth as a weapon in the hand of the Prince. Her victories make him a king, then an emperor. The bards sing her name and her enemies fear it. But the war never ends and the cost keeps rising—how many times will she repeat her own story?
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
War and everything that comes with it (blood, brutality), death of a child (briefly recounted)
*This review was first posted to Goodreads in January 2023*
TL;DR: Stories such as this make me realise that I can love short stories and novellas just as much as full-length novels because what a masterpiece! I can see why some people won’t find it enjoyable—whether it’s the POV or writing or “slow” pace—but I found myself awed by the fact that all of this is packed into a story that’s 30 pages long. Long story short, read it or at least give it a try; I highly recommend it! Also, it can definitely be read as a standalone so you can dive right in.
Read More »
ARC Review: Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O’Clover
Special thanks to HarperTeen for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Seven Percent of Ro Devereux
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: 17 January 2023
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
A clever, charming, and poignant debut novel about a girl who must decide whether to pursue her dreams or preserve her relationships, including a budding romance with her ex-best friend, when an app she created goes viral.
Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can.
Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with 93% accuracy. The app will even match users with their soul mates. Though it was only supposed to be a class project, MASH quickly takes off and gains the attention of tech investors.
Ro’s dream is to work in Silicon Valley, and she’ll do anything to prove to her new backing company—and the world—that the app works. So it’s a huge shock when the app says her soul mate is Miller, her childhood best friend with whom she had a friendship-destroying fight three years ago. Now thrust into a fake dating scenario, Ro and Miller must address the years of pain between them if either of them will have any chance of achieving their dreams.
Fans of Emma Lord and Alex Light will love this stand-alone contemporary novel with a masterful slow-burn romance at its core.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Death of a loved one, injury caused by angry mob, parental abandonment
**note: this review was originally written when i finished the book in January 2023!**
TL;DR: I didn’t expect to find another second 5-star read in January or for it to be another YA contemporary but lo and behold! There is SO MUCH to love about this book—from the friendships and family relationships to the romance, the honest exploration of self and the character growth, the writing, the tension, and the angst, it was all SO good and the fact that it’s a debut actually stuns me. I don’t know if it’s too soon to say but I think I may have found a new favourite YA contemporary! If you enjoy coming-of-age YA contemporaries or have a young reader in your life to give a rec to, I would highly recommend this for its realistic characters, wonderful friendships/relationships, and a swoontastic romance.
Read More » Book Review: Resting Witch Face by Juliette Cross
Resting Witch Face (Stay a Spell #5)
Publisher: Juliette Cross Publishing, LLC
Pub Date: 31 October 2022
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
Twelve years ago, Jules Savoie ended her relationship with the vampire overlord of New Orleans, Ruben Dubois. For good reasons. A woman in power must often make sacrifices to protect others. She knows the truth of it down to her aching heart.
When Ruben watches his best friend Devraj get married, a stinging realization hits him hard…he’s done waiting. They say time heals all wounds. In this case, it merely sharpened the pain and made one fact crystal clear. Jules Savoie is his soulmate, and nothing would keep him from her. Not anymore.
Forced to work side by side to fight for the werewolf cause, they campaign together at covens from New Orleans to London. The reignited spark burns hotter than ever before. But when a power-hungry vampire sets his predatory sights on Jules, will their love be strong enough against black magic? Or will he lose her again? And this time, maybe…for good.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Violence, on-page sex (including orgy scenes, MCs do not participate), drugging, kidnapping, torture, assault, sexist behaviour
*This review was first posted to Goodreads in December 2022*
TL;DR: You know how I said that Always Practice Safe Hex was my favourite book in this series? Well, I lied, cos it’s just been ousted by Resting Witch Face (sorry Gareth and Livvy, you’ll always be faves though)! Ruben and Jules are E V E R Y T H I N G!!! These two were so incredibly precious and sweet and beyond deserving of their HEA—what a journey they went through to get to where they are in this book. I loved their story so much!
Read More » Book Review: Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross
Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell #4)
Pub Date: 24 May 2022
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
There’s a reason no one messes with a grim…
Livvy Savoie is a people person. Not only does she have the magical gift of persuasion, but her natural charisma charms everyone she meets. She hasn’t met a person she didn’t like. Until her annoyingly brilliant competitor walks through the door. No matter how hard she denies it, loathing isn’t the only emotion she feels for him.
Grim reaper Gareth Blackwater is rarely, if ever, moved beyond his broody, stoic state. But the witch he’s partnered with in the public relations contest is destroying his peace of mind. He’s convinced that the flesh-melting attraction he feels for her is merely her witchy magic at work.
But forced proximity proves there is more than magic sparking between them. Livvy learns this enigmatic grim’s abilities are beyond any supernatural she has ever known. And when Livvy becomes the obsessive target of a dangerous wizard, Gareth proves just how powerful he truly is. Because no one is going to hurt his Lavinia.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Sexual harrassment (on-page), sexual assault (on-page), child abuse, light BDSM
*This review was first posted to Goodreads on November 2022*
TL;DR: This series honestly keeps getting better and this group of supernaturals feels more like family with every book I read and I WANT MORE. These books definitely play into the paranormal romance ‘mate’ trope but I love the way Juliette Cross writes it. There’s so much tenderness, heart and emotional vulnerability in these characters and their romance that it makes it easy to fall in love with them and to root for their HEA. Livvy and Gareth were absolute FIRE! 🥵 Their tension and chemistry were so intense that I was sure my Kindle would malfunction! 😂 I loved every moment of their story and their playlist was absolute PERFECTION and suited them to a T!
Read More » Book Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas
Publisher: Sceptre
Pub Date (Original): 17 August 2004
Genre: Literary Fiction
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
Six interlocking lives – one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity’s will to power, and where it will lead us.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Slavery, infidelity, drug use, crude humour, racism, attempted murder, violence, blood/gore, mutilation, suicide, rape (graphic on-page, off-page)
Book Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Pub Date: 5 July 2022
Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
In this exhilarating novel two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Childhood cancer, suicide (graphic, on-page), student-teacher relationship, abuse, sexism, racism, parental death, car accident, workplace shooting
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