Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends šWe’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is 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 areTHE 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 donāt give anything else about the book away just yet ā you need to hook the reader first
Finallyā¦ reveal the book!
First lines:
Candlelight reflected off the silver anchor etched onto my sisterās necklace. It was an ugly piece of jewelry and something Eulalie would never have picked out for herself. She loved simple strands of gold, extravagant collars of diamonds. Notā¦that.
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the lastāthe plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plungeāand there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because whoāor whatāare they really dancing with?
When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her familyābefore it claims her next.
Have you read House of Salt and Sorrows or is it on your TBR? Leave me a comment and let’s chat š
It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
šI FINALLY FINISHED PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE LAST WEEK! š
Excuse the all caps because I was SO excited that I managed to finish that hunk of a tome before the end of September. I was so certain that I’d be reading it straight through to October. I still haven’t written my review for it because I’m still not really sure how I feel about it. I enjoyed reading it and when I had it in my hands I would be speeding(ish) through the pages; but when I put it down I didn’t feel compelled to pick it back up again. I knew that I couldn’t have set it down to just read any other book too as I’d probably never come back to it šBut I still enjoyed it. I think? Anyway, my review will hopefully be coming soon! I binged The Perfect Moment(review coming soon) and Two Weeks Notice (my review for Two Weeks Notice). on Friday night/Saturday morning (yes, both in one night lol) because my soul was craving something super light and fluffy after Priory, and I had no regrets staying up all night reading!
What are you currently reading?
I was feeling restless not knowing what I wanted to read after binging on two contemporary romances after finishing Priory last week, but I ended up choosing The Bookish Life of Nina Hill on a whim the other day and I’ve been speeding through it! The style is not at all what I expected and I wasn’t sure how I felt about Nina at the start, but the style and characters have grown on me. There’s a lot of quirkiness going on in this book and I’m actually really here for it! I’ve laughed aloud countless times since I started and it’s giving me some lightness that I need right now.
What will you read next?
Okay y’all, I have TONS of books outside of my ‘possibility pile’ that I need to get to this October before even turning to look at the ones I want to read! These definitely fall in the ‘must read’ category because they’re eARCs. I’m gonna give priority to several eARCs that are well overdue (I’m sorry pls don’t judge me) and ones whose pub dates are very quickly approaching! I’m actually pretty annoyed at myself for thinking the Shadow Frost pub date was later this month when it was actually yesterday! š¤¦š»āāļøEpic fail, Dini! I’ve had this e-ARC for a while so I’m annoyed at my ability to push things off until they’re overdue. Someone tell me, why isn’t this a skill we actually need in life?! Lol
What are you currently reading? How’s your week going? Leave me a comment and let’s chat š
Sooo… You know how last week I started with a “Want-to-Read” list of 1,010 books? Well, this week, my list sits at 1,022 books? šIt’s freaking sorcery I tell ya! I mean, the ‘Want-to-Read’ button is like a siren to me, I just can’t resist it, and the next thing I know I’m clicking away through lists wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS. Last week I started off with a review of 5 books and managed to remove 3. Now I’m stepping up my game and reviewing 10 books–let’s see how I do!
Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Storythat attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books weāve saved on there. Here’s how it works:
Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if youāre feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
Read the synopsesĀ of the books
Decide: keep itĀ or should it go
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I’m 90% sure that I’ve read this book before in middle or high school? If my memory serves me right, the book had recipes in it and it was awesome? I think this would still be a story that I enjoy so I think I’d like to reread it.
Verdict: Keep
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I just… I enjoyed the movie well enough but I’ve tried to read the book a few times but I just couldn’t get into it? I know it’s a classic that I’d like to maybe read eventually, but for now I think I’m going to have to say…
Verdict: Bye-Bye-Bye
Beloved by Toni Morrison. This is a classic that terrifies me a little bit but I’m more determined than ever to read it now!
Verdict: Keep
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I’ve never read this book but its opening lines are a classic. I would read this for the opening lines alone, but I’ve always been very curious about it and I’m kind of sad we didn’t read this at school? Lol
Verdict: Keep
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I’ve been meaning to read this forever and I was even supposed to join a buddy read for this earlier this year, but I was in an epic reading slump so I bailed. But I really want to read this!
Verdict: Keep
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. This has one of my favorite quotes that I even want to have tattooed on me somewhere, but I still haven’t read it. I MUST!
Verdict: Keep
The Pianist by WÅadysÅaw Szpilman. I love historical fictions, I loved this movie, and I think I still want to read this. Adrien Brody made me bawl like a freaking baby in this movie.
Verdict: Keep
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. I’ve only read one Allende book and I loved it, but then I found out that it was completely different to what she normally writes! I think for now I’m going to kick this off my list because the blurb doesn’t pull me in anymore.
Verdict: Bye-bye-bye
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I mean… This is a classic, right? I feel like this isn’t something I’m going to read anytime soon, even though I’ve got the book on my shelf, but I’ll keep it on my list.
Alright, so this round was a lot harder than the first because most of these I’m interested in reading, but I don’t know when I’ll get to them. Still, it counts that I wanna read them, right? š This week I removed 3/10 books.
Have you read any of these books? Do you find it easy to cull your TBR list?Leave me a comment and let’s chat!
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 the last Sunday of September! I’m gonna say it again because my brain is still like WHAT, but I can’t believe we’re already walking into the tenth month of the year. 2019 is flying! I’ve been out and about today and have been thinking about what book I want to move forward with now. I (finally) finished Priory on Thursday and I was determined to read some romance this weekend, and thanks to staying up reading ’til the early hours of Saturday, I finished not one but TWO books! It just felt so good to read something that I knew would end soon? Haha
I also started House of Salt and Sorrows because mum has been staying with me but now that she’s gone until tomorrow, I don’t know if I want to keep reading it because I’M CHICKEN AF š I’m sure y’all have heard by now how much I can’t handle the ghosty stuff, right? I’m really hesitating, which means I don’t know what I want to read now? I think I might pick up another ARC since I have two that need reading before the end of October, and I don’t want to add anymore to my backlist ARC list, so the following two books might be my main contenders:
Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. Sheās only a few months past the heart transplant thatājust in timeāsaved her life. Now, finally, she can be a normal twenty-eight-year-old. She can climb a mountain. Dance. Wait in line all day for tickets to Wimbledon.
But first, she has to put one foot in front of the other. So far, things are as bloody complicated as ever. Her relationship with her mother is at a breaking point and she wants to find her father. Then there’s Lennox, whom Ailsa loved and lost. Will she ever find love again? Her new heart is a bold heart. She just needs to learn to listen to it. From the hospital to her childhood home, on social media and IRL, Ailsa will embark on a journey about what it means to be, and feel, alive. How do we learn to be brave, to accept defeat, to dare to dream?
Former Little League champion Kimitake āClydeā Koba finds strength in the belief that he is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe as he struggles to escape the ghost of his brother and his alcoholic father.
Born on Yom Kippur, teen prodigy Raphael Dweck has been told his whole life that he has a special purpose in Godās plan. The only problem is, he canāt shake off his doubts, his urges, or the trail of trouble and ruin that follow in his wake.
A decade later, Raphael and āMarilynā find each other wandering the plastic-bright streets of Hollywood and set out to make a documentary about the transmigration of souls. But when the roleplaying goes too far, they find themselves past the point of no return in their quest to prove who and what they are to their families, God, the world, and themselves.
Which do you think I should read next? What are you currently reading?
Much the same as last week, I pretty much did nothing this weekend. As I mentioned above, mum flew over from Jakarta and has been staying with me. It was her birthday on Wednesday and us kids got her an iPad Mini that she’s been wanting for ages so that she could download an app to watch her Korean dramas on š Since she unwrapped it, the iPad has been GLUED to her hands and she’s been staying up pretty late despite having early mornings, and getting headaches from staring at the screen for too long. She’s so cute?
Today saw me moving a little bit more, i.e. I left my house! I met my cousin for brunch at one of my favorite spots! I decided to try a different meal today and unfortunately, that was a hella regrettable decision š Sometimes it pays to not stray from what you already know is good! Also, for the first time in a very long time, I’m not exactly dreading that Monday is around the corner. It’s a good feeling and I’m hoping that the anxiety that has taken up residence inside me lately continues to loosen its grip. Little by little, day by day. Progress!
Reading & Blogging Recap
This weekend alone I managed to finish THREE books, so I’m pretty chuffed. To be fair, I was already 65% through one and it was an easy Middle Grade read too, while the other two were fast and easy contemporaries to satisfy my need for something fluffy after finishing Priory! I’m legit SO PROUD OF MYSELF for finishing this book before September ended. It was seriously a journey. I was 80% convinced that I might’ve DNF’d this book (okay, I don’t DNF but I would’ve put it on indefinite hold) when I started it, but I’m glad I kept on. I need to write my review before every thought I had about the book disappears from my head but I’m still not sure how to review it?! I’m hoping that my discussion with my buddy readers will help me figure it out! š
I’m still working on catching up on my blog hopping and responding to comments! I’ve been doing okay with keeping up with the comments in the last week, but the day(s) after catching up always see me scrambling to catch up AGAIN! *So I’m Sorry if I only respond to your comments 3-4 days after you write them!* Other than that it’s been a pretty decent blogging week; I’ve been blogging fairly consistently lately and thanks to WordPress who’ve been sending me reminders whenever I post, I know that I’m now on a 41-day streak! šš½ It helps that I’ve also added one more weekly post to my schedule. This actually makes me feel so productive š On that note, you can find a list of all the posts I made this week, in case you missed it:
It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books with maps. I’m a real sucker for a good map at the start of a story! If there’s a map at the front I’ll constantly flip to it as I’m reading to better situate myself; plus, I love making a trail to see where our characters have been and where they’re going next. The one thing I hate about reading SFF on my Kindle is that I can’t see the maps in as large of a scale as I want to. The zoom feature stresses me out š Which is why I buy the physical book if I end up liking the story because the map is one of my favorite parts of reading SFF! I love when the maps include different details for different areas–I think the more detail in these maps the better because I just want to absorb ALL THE DETAILS. Here are five maps that I absolutely love:
Godsgrave – The Nevernight Chronicle I mean, I couldn’t NOT include this map. I want to blow it up and hang it on my wall somewhere. Lucky for me, I think my Darkdawn Illumicrate box does come with a map (it’s not huge, but it’s bigger than the book)! The details in this map are exquisite and I kept staring at it trying to soak in EVERYTHING!
Erilea – Throne of Glass Series I think this was one of the first fantasy series I read and even though I’m putting off reading the final book because I don’t want it to end, I love the vast world that Maas created.
The Four Corners of Civilization – The Kingkiller Chronicle I honestly wish that this map was more detailed. I love this story and I loved flipping back and forth to the map while reading the story, but I think it would’ve been so much better if it had more detail!
Grishaverse – The Shadow and Bone Trilogy I honestly love the details in this map. It’s not as overloaded as let’s say the Itreya map, but it’s still got awesome illustrations that depict the unique areas of the Grishaverse. I definitely flipped through to the front of the book several times while reading this series to trace the characters’ steps!
Ketterdam – Six of Crows Duology This is the type of map that makes me want to shove it right in my face so I can make out every single curving street and minute detail that was put into creating a map of a city! I loved the description of the city of Ketterdam and this map definitely helped me to picture it better š
Do you like maps in books?Any of these a favorite for you too? Let me know which maps are your favorites in the comments below!
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 favourites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite words! Okay, this is such an interesting prompt! Is it odd that this isn’t really something that I’ve really given that much thought about this? Maybe these aren’t my favourite words of all time but definitely some fo them! I had such fun with this prompt, and making some graphics for each word (although I realize that the text is probs a little small now. Oops)!
I mean, do we really need a definition for FLOOF!?
What are some of your favourite words? Do you love any of these?! Please come tell me in the comments below and let’s chat!
Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends šWe’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is 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 areTHE 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 donāt give anything else about the book away just yet ā you need to hook the reader first
Finallyā¦ reveal the book!
First lines:
It turns out the Leteo procedure isnāt bullshit.
The first time I saw a poster on the subway promoting the institute that could make you forget things, I thought it was a marketing campaign for some new science fiction movie. And when I saw the headline āHere Today, Gone Tomorrow!ā on the cover of a newspaper, I mistook it as something boring, like the cure for some new fluāI didnāt think they were talking about memories.
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
In the months after his father’s suicide, it’s been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness but with the support of his girlfriend Genevieve, he’s slowly remembering what that might feel like. When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron starts hanging out with a new guy, Thomas. Aaron’s friends notices, and they’re not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can’t deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself.
Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is…
Have you read More Happy Than Not or is it on your TBR? Leave me a comment and let’s chat š
YO, can you believe it’s already the last Wednesday of September 2019!? What is this sorcery with the time? I feel like if I close my eyes for too long I’ll open them to find it’s already NYE and the ball’s about to drop! šSo it’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
Since last Wednesday I managed to finish three other books alongside the one I’m still reading. I already posted my review for Fake Date (read it here!) but tl;dr, I was pretty disappointed and really wanted more from it! I still need to write reviews for The Hating Game (reread) and The Stopover (eARC). Oh hello, what are these things called eARCs you say?! Yah, it’s been a hot minute since I picked one up but I really needed to take a break from Priory and I decided to finally read this one contemporary romance. My review is going up soon but let me tell you, I am hella conflicted about how I feel because I know the relationship was toxic AF and the dynamic between screwing like wild bunnies to fighting over nothing got old pretty quick. BUT AT THE SAME TIME I also couldn’t put it down? Um, Like… What? Why? I don’t know. Is this how people felt when they finished reading the After series? Because if so, I think I get it now LMAO š
What are you currently reading?
GOOD NEWS FRIENDS! After whining about my struggle to get into The Priory of the Orange Tree, I’m now 80% of the way through and I’m really enjoying it! It does have me feeling a bit conflicted though. I’m attached to characters, but not necessarily all of the main ones (something bad just happened to one of the main characters and I felt… Nothing?). At the same time, even though I feel like I’ve sped through the last 40%, I also feel like it’s a little endless (I constantly wonder when, if ever, I’ll finish the book). But it’s really not because I’m not enjoying it, it’s just that it’s a tome š Shit hit the fan quickly and continuously in this story–literally just one thing after another going horribly wrong and it had my heart racing and me screaming out loud. I know that I don’t want to put this down until it’s over (but alas, life), especially now that I’ve made it to the final section of the book. I really can’t wait to see how it all wraps up!
What will you read next?
I’m still going to be keeping these three on here. Might pick up The Bookish Life of Nina Hill first though! I also missed the group discussion for Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) š SURPRISE! But I think I’ll still give it a re-read. I’m not sure how I’m feeling about The Light Keeper anymore, as I tried the first three chapters and it just… Wow, confused and annoyed me, and that has me feeling a little yikes about it… Let’s see how it goes!
What are you currently reading? Leave me a comment and let’s chat š
I’M FINALLY DOING IT. After seeing this post countless times weekly, I’ve decided today that I’m going to take the plunge and *finally* start culling some books off my Goodreads TBR! At the moment of writing this my “Want-to-Read” list sits at 1,010 books. I’m almost certain that 80% of these books were added to my list this year when I fully immersed myself in the book community. I was indiscriminately hitting that “want-to-read” button with every blurb I liked the sound of, regardless of whether it was in or out of my comfort zone! But the time has come for me to take a good hard look at this list because am I really going to read 1,010 books?! I’d obviously love that but I also know that I’ll never stop adding books to my tbr (because duh) so… It’s time to start cutting down! I kind of want to kick this off with a bang but maybe I’ll ease into it and start with five books. Is this an excuse to avoid saying bye to books? Absolutely not! š¤
Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Storythat attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books weāve saved on there. Here’s how it works:
Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if youāre feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
I loved this movie and it has haunted me for years! It’s always one of the first things I associate Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly with. This combo is probably one of the reasons why I want to read this book (not even sure if I read the blurb when I added it). That said, I’m not really sure if I want to read it anymore. It sounds interesting, but I’m not scrambling to get it.
Don’t shoot but I’ve never actually watched this movie yet and that’s because I wanted to read the book first. I had a sample on my Kindle a peek at and wow, what do you call it when something is written how it’s spoken? I have nothing against it, but I know I’ll be spending 90% of the time not only trying to work out what’s being said but I’ll also be trying to get the accent JUST RIGHT in my head and it’ll drive me insane! I think this might be better on the big screen?
This is a classic I’ve been meaning to read for a while. I got a copy as a gift from a family friend who knew I loved reading about 9 years ago now? Oopsies! I think this book just intimidates me because I’m worried that I either won’t get it or I’ll be bored by it. Which would be worse? Lol I also didn’t realise that it was a series until just now! I hope this doesn’t end on a cliffhanger?!
I remember when this came out as a movie and I was so excited to watch it but I told myself I’d read the book first. All these years later, I still haven’t done either. After reading this blurb again, I’m just shaking my head. I just don’t do cheating and I don’t want to normalise or excuse it. So… Yeah. š¤·š»āāļø
I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while now but my brain can’t seem to recall at all. I am almost certain that I read this book when I was in MS or HS but I really can’t remember if I did or not. When I read the blurb some distant bells did go off but I don’t know if that’s me being convinced that I have read it or if it’s because I actually recognise the premise? I want to (re)read it though!
Verdict: Keep!
Well, that wasn’t as painful as I expected! I thought I’d struggle to take books off my list because I have issues with letting go, but I’m proud of how decisive I was! It also feels kinda freeing! LOL
Have you read any of these books? Do you find it easy to cull your TBR list?Leave me a comment and let’s chat!
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 SUNDAY. THIS SUCKS. Okay, I’m trying not to get too upset that it’s Sunday. I’ve been procrastinating MANY THINGS outside of reading in the last week and it’s all catching up to me now! DO NOT FREAK OUT is my mantra at the moment and well, it’s not really working. But I digress… This Sunday I spent half the day in bed with The Priory of the Orange Tree and I’m making slow but steady progress. I’ve finally got the characters and storylines straight and I’m highly anticipating when it all comes together because I feel that shit hitting the fan is imminent! I think my problem so far has been that while I’m enjoying it, when I put it down to do other things I don’t feel the urgent need to pick it up again. This is a group read over on Twitter though and I’m so thankful for people like Sammie and Leelynn for keeping me extremely motivated! I’m about 40% of the way through… So maybe there’s hope that I can finish this before the end of September?!
I pretty much did ZILCH this weekend? Like, nothing. The best thing about it has been lazing in bed. I didn’t sleep in but I also didn’t get out of bed until close to lunchtime on all weekend. Yes, I’m really a panda at heart (sleeping, eating and rolling around is my jam) š I spent Saturday trying to get motivated to take bookstagram pictures. I’ve been feeling very uninspired lately and it’s not coz I don’t enjoy being part of the booksta community anymore, it’s just completely due to my mental health which hasn’t been in the best state lately. I honestly don’t even know how I spent my day yesterday coz even though I read (I also finished a reread of The Hating Game), I didn’t make that much progress with Priory? Anyway, I did make it out of the house today! Although I made grand plans at 2AM about how to spend my Sunday, I ended up lazing in bed again! I went out to get coffee and to do a bit of grocerysnack shopping though!
I have a presentation that I’ve been avoiding all week last week, and until now I’ve done the bare minimum for it, and I have to present it to my boss tomorrow. WHY AM I SO GOOD AT AVOIDING IMPORTANT SHIT?! š It’s an afternoon meeting so I still have time to work on it in the morning (this is me avoiding again!) but I really thought I’d get some work done today. Instead, I’ve been catching up on blogs, doing a bit of reading and thinking about doing more reading. Le super sigh. š¤¦š»āāļø
Reading & Blogging Recap
Being stuck on Priory means that I’ve only managed to finish two books this week: Fake Date and The Hating Game. You can find my review for Fake Date in the list below, but I still need to review The Hating Game! It was a re-read and I completely loved it all over again. It needs to be known that: I LOVE JOSH 4 EVA. Like, he’s my number one and I’m obsessed with him. He’s… I need a Josh. In my life. All that banter! All that tension! *swoon*
Other than that it’s been a pretty decent blogging week. I’ve finally caught up on the majority of comments and posts of blogs I’m subscribed to! My inbox is once again super clean and I definitely feel accomplished (if not for the fact that I did all this while avoiding the one thing that I shouldn’t be avoiding today! We can’t all be perfect though, amiright?! š I’m now off to make some dinner and to continue reading Priory and on that note, check out a recap of my posts this week, in case you missed any:
I’m also leaving you with this song that was stuck in my head for the majority of the day. I haven’t listened to Death Cab for Cutie in ages but … You really can’t go wrong with this classic!
How has your week been? Hope everyone has/had a great weekend! Let me know how you’re doing in the comments and let’s chat, friends š
dinipandareads 