If you like that, you might like this …

Hello and howdy 🤠

I come to you today with a recommendation post I’ve wanted to do for ages but just forget that I’ve started until I find it buried in my drafts and by that point, I’ve lost the drift of what I was trying to say.

I love watching “If you like that, you might like this” videos on Youtube so I’m excited to be able to do my own :))

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If you like “Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco”, you might like “Belladonna by Adalyn Grace”

I read Belladonna by Adalyn Grace recently and immediately got Kingdom of the Wicked vibes. Both stories are set in a historical time period and follow a girl with powers they don’t really know how to use who, while trying to solve a murder, become involved with a powerful and broody man. In Kingdom of the Wicked that’s the Wrath, the demon prince, and in Belladonna it’s Death. Like literally Death.

In my notes I said that I liked Belladonna more but that might just be recency bias on my part. Either way both of these books were a fun time, I really liked the historical setting and the mysteries both kept me intrigued.

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My favourite books of the year so far!

Hi and hello :))

I’m having a really good reading year so far! Not only have I already completed my Goodreads Reading Goal of 40 books but I’ve actually really enjoyed most of the books that I’ve read. Quality is just as important as quantity.

🕯️🕯️Manifesting that the year will continue just as good as it’s start 🕯️🕯️.

Since we’re halfway through the year now though I thought I’d take today to look back at what I’ve read and pick out my absolute favourites!

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

I’m pretty sure I’ve now read all of Elizabeth Acevedo’s published books now and I have to say that The Poet X might just be my favourite of the lot. I started this book and was immediately engrossed. It made me feel so many emotions on Xiomara’s behalf: love, anger, frustration, sadness.

Like some of her other works, this is written in verse and having just finished studying a bunch of poetry at Uni at the time, and also having read more verse over the years since picking up my first Acevedo book, I really connected more with the writing.

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F/F Recommendations 🌈💕

Hello.

Today I come to you with a list of really great books that feature prominent F/F characters and romances. I’m sure you’ve probably heard about all of these books already but I’m gonna talk about them anyways because I love them your honour!

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A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee – Dark Academia lesbians who are investigating their schools history of witchcraft and murder. Make sure you have a cup of tea when you read this one.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenksins Reid – Evelyn and Celia are the definition of soulmates.

Afterlove by Tanya Byrne – That awkward moment when your girlfriend dies and turns into a Grim Reaper. In all honesty though this book made me cry.

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💓Modern Day Meet Cute’s💓

It’s my last post of February and you bet I’m squeezing one last romance related blog post out of this month!

Saying that though, I have had this post planned for months now I’ve just never gotten around to actually writing it. Today I come to you with some books that have what I’m calling “a modern day meet cute“.

By “modern day meet cute” I mean that the two characters meet online in some way and their relationship develops online. That kind of thing. I’ve be wracking my brains for more books like this but in the months I’ve been wanting to write this post, I’ve only come up with 4 which seems crazy, I feel like there should be loads more.

There’s every chance I’m just completely forgetting a few. Let’s have a look at the one’s I’ve got, and you can tell me in the comments which one’s I’ve left out!

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Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali

apparently I don’t have the book cover in my gallery and I’m too lazy to go find it.

Was this the first YA book to do what I’m pegging as “the modern day meet-cute”? I think so. In this book we of course have Simon, who is closeted to everyone besides his online friend Blue, who he talks to through e-mails.

If you haven’t read these 2020 releases yet, you should.

Hi 🙂

I am currently home from Uni from Christmas and I’m loving it, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just noticing there’s a few things I can get away with at Uni but not here unless I want to feel judged. These things include:

1. Sleeping until lunch time even though I have nothing to do.
2. Making chicken nuggets in the middle of the night cause I’m anxious.

Really it’s the second one that’s being the most annoying right now. I want a snack but if my parents get up to find me faffing with chicken nuggets at this time of the night they’ll judge. My snack options are also limited cause I’m avoiding the fridge – there’s a turkey in there right now and it creeps me out to look at it. So I’ve got Pringles and complaints instead.

I figured while I eat pringles I’d talk a little bit about some 2020 releases. You may be thinking “why the hell are we re-visting 2020?” and to that I say “fair”.

Basically I want to recommend some new releases but trying to keep up with anticipated releases throughout the year is HARD. Sure I’ve read some, but not loads. So I’ve made the executive decision to give myself an extra year to read an recommend new releases. I also think this is a great way of maybe reminding people of books they were once excited about but maybe forgot about in the shuffle.

With that being said, here are some 2020 releases you should read, if you haven’t already:

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I’m anxious so have some Enemies to Lovers Recommendations 😎

Hey and howdy, welcome to my blog.

I’m feeling very anxious right now and I can’t shake it. Logically I know why I’m feeling like this and I’m trying to reason with myself and yet the antsy-ness is still there as is the pit in my stomach lol.

In a bid to make myself better I’ve had a nice long shower, eaten some mini chocolate donuts, opened my window (why I think this will make me feel better idk but it’s open) and now I’ve decided to talk about some books.

Say what you will but I love reading about classic or “over-done” tropes, they’re classics for a reason!! I did a whole post a while back where I shared my thoughts on Popular YA Tropes but today I’m stepping it a notch and recommending to you some of my favourite Enemies to Lovers stories :))

I love a good Enemies to Lovers trope. I think I might enjoy them more in contemporary novels because they tend to be rivals whether through school or sport while typically in fantasy it’s like “oh yeah I killed your entire family but I love you”. That might be a bit of an overexaggerating but I know what I’m trying to say. Anyways, here are some I loved!

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Books as dark as the bags under my eyes // Recommendations

Howdy 🤠 I’m tired and it’s entirely my own fault but I still want to complain about it.

The other night I stayed up till 5am to watch the wrestling. Last night I finished work at 1am, stayed for an extra drink with everyone till 1:30am and then went out to eat ice-cream on a bench with my friend and his dog until 3am (and then was texting till 4am). This paired with the 40*C weather going on right now has turned me into a walking, barely talking zombie with bags under my eyes that make me look like Stiles Stilinski from Season 3 of Teen Wolf.

me rn (but replace the demons with my dogs)

I have taken inspiration from the bags under my eyes though so today I’m going to be talking about some books that are a bit more gruesome, gory, broody and “dark” then your average read 😊.

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💕Romance Recommendations™ but it’s just me rambling incoherently💕

Sup Buttercups 😊

It’s Saturday! No I’m not writing this from the future, I’m writing this nearly a week ago because I’m trying out this thing called “time management” and getting work done ahead of time 👏👏

I had a busy day at work today. The guy I work with was off ill so I basically ran the bar all by myself today for the first time and we were very busy. I enjoyed it though. I like the majority of our customers, there’s a pack of sweets that have been behind the bar for over a month that I’m making my way through and I stole some of the football-watchers picknick. Also the tips were good which is always a plus.

But still. I’m tired. And so I thought, with Valentines day having come and gone by this point, how about I just talk about some romance books for a while. Queue the incoherent rambling:

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I have two words for you and those two words are: Mutual Pining. This is a trope I didn’t realise I loved so much until I read More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn. Yes I have talked about this book far too much since reading it last year and yes, I’m sure you’re tired of me talking about it non-stop, but no I’m not even sorry because this book deserves all the love.

If you like music and if you like romance then you should read this, (even if you don’t like either of these two things you should still read it because I want more books from this author).

In this we follow Vada, an aspiring music journalist, and Luke, the son of a punk-rock star who doesn’t understand why his son prefers to be behind the scenes writing and composing compared to front and centre on stage. These two have had crushes from afar on each other for a while, both thinking the other doesn’t know they exist, and then they’re paired up for a school project and thinks get interesting.

This was one of those romances that filled my heart and has me so excited to talk about it because I loved it that much. Their chemistry and the YEARNING 😭 I need to go re-read this asap. ALSO: TEEN WOLF REFERENCES!!!!

*I basically reviewed the book right here right now but if you’re interested here’s my slightly more detailed review :)*

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Books Under the Tree Book Tag! 🎄

Howdy-doodle-doo and happy Christmas Eve Eve to all who celebrate!

This is the part where I say: “omg I can’t believe it’s Christmas in two days” and I’m very much in that mindset of “how!?!?!?” but if I focus too much on that fact I might freak out so instead we’re doing the Books Under the Christmas Tree Tag!

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1. What book would you like to find under the tree this year?

I talked a lot about 2020 releases I’d love to find under the tree in yesterdays post so backlist book wise, I’d love The Female of the Species by Mindy McGuiness.

I’ve wanted a copy of this book since it’s initial release in 2016 but whenever it comes around to actually buying books this one always slips my minds. Not anymore though!

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The perfect books for a rainy day🌨

Hi, hey, hello and happy Friday!!

Today I come to you with some recommendations of books that I think will be perfect to read on a rainy day.

This post is inspired by the thunderstorm from the other night that made me sad when I started thinking about my cat stuck out in a storm when he was abandoned as a kitten. The little demon has been living with us for 7 years so I don’t know why I chose then to get sad about. It was a weird night.

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