Does anybody feel like they have a specific reading taste for Spring? Because I do. In theory I tend to gravitate towards those “hard-hitting” contemporaries that have the potential to make me cry more than my allergies, the occasional fun fantasy novels and chaotic mysterys.
Today I come to you with seven books that fit those criteria that I highly recommend for this time of year!
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan – Please don’t be scared by how big and chunky this book is. I promise you, if you love it even half as much as I did it will fly by! This book takes those classic middle-grade fantasy tropes but totally flips everything you know about this type of book on its head. It follows a core trio over multiple years as they face various magic mayhem. If I had to describe this book in one word it would be “fun”. Go read it!
What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard – Trigger Warning for various things with this book, as it follows a girl going through recovery for an eating disorder. This is the type of book I mean when I say “hard-hitting contemporary”. I think if this is something you’re comfortable reading you can get a lot out of this one.
I told myself not to go overboard when it came to picking out books for my TBR this month since I failed so spectacularly when it came to keeping on track with last months. Yeah. There are still 8 books on this TBR.
Right now I’m impassioned and so motivated to read all these books, I’ve even started one or two of them, but those feelings could easily disappear in as little as a couple of days. My attention span leaves something to be desired.
You can tell I’m motivated and invigorated to read because, as I’m planning out these books, it’s early January. I’m just wanting to read everything all at once which, of course, is impossible to do, so planning my TBRs ahead of time is helping me fulfill this need.
Despite Valentine’s being only 1 day out of 28, in my brain February is the month of reading as many romance books as possible and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!! There are 10 books on this TBR and 2 less days to read them than normal (something I always forget about) so we’ll see how this goes.
My main focus this month is going to be sapphic YA romances, specifically the ones released in 2022 that I was dying to read, but just never got around to:
Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales – There are three reasons I want to read this book 1) it’s a Sophie Gonzeles book and she hasn’t let me down yet, 2) it’s a reality-dating show were two girls fall in love with each other instead of their shared exboyfriend, and 3) the Taylor Swift title reference.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston – I’ve been curious about McQuistons YA debut since before this was even out and yet I’ve still not read it. That’s gonna change this month. Despite the plot giving me Paper Town vibes, a book I hated, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I’m going to love this one.
She Get’s the Girl by Rachel Lippincott and Alyson Derrick – This cover is so beautiful that whenever I think about this book, the only thing my mind thinks of is the cover and not the plot. I actually can’t remember what the plot is in the slightest, I just know it’s F/F, written by a married couple, and I’ve been desperate to read it for months.
While those are my top 3 books I hope to read, they’re not the only sapphic romances on this TBR as I also really want to read …
For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding – It’s happened a few times now but I never cease to get excited and giddy when a publisher reaches out and offers me a copy of a book, as was the case here. This book is set in Hollywood which I’m always on board for, especially since it follows a scriptwriter (I’m doing a whole class on scriptwriting this semester!) and a movie star!
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlan – AGHH I’m so happy to have this book and I will force myself to read this, even if it involves staying up all night. I only know as much about this book as the cover is telling me – cheerleader and a jock – but if this disappoints me I do think I’ll cry.
I’m writing this in advance because I am starting my year being organised so this is probably old news by now but GUYS!!! I went to The 1975 concert in Newcastle last night and Lewis Capaldi came out, tricked us into thinking he was Harry Styles, and sang Love Story by Taylor Swift. What the actualy fuck!!
I went to this concert because my friend really wanted to go and I’m always down for a concert, even if I don’t know many of their songs. Screaming “Don’t fuck it, you muppet”, watching Matt Healy be … well, Matt Healy, and getting to be there for Lewis Capaldi guest starring was well worth it though.
This wasn’t the only thing that made my January so good though. I’ve also managed to read — books spanning out of my comfort genres, new releases, 2022 books I wanted to read, and getting off to a good start with my 12-for-12 reading challenge!
It’s that time of year again ladies and gentlemen where I hold myself accountable for my own actions, or should I say purchases. Today I’m gonna be looking back at all the books I hauled in 2022 and seeing if I actually got around to reading them!
With just one day of 2022 we have officially made it to the end of the year!! As I’ve felt the need to say since 2020: well done everybody. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Looking back at 2022, I have to say that I’ve had one of the best years of my life: finishing my first year of uni, Conan Grey concert, my best uni friend staying with me in Spain for 10 days, studying abroad in the United States and all the amazing things I got to do there.
It was also a really great reading year for me as I managed to read 116 books! That is crazy to me considering how busy I’ve been. I did start the year tracking my reading on Storygraph so I’d have so many stats come this end of the year but … I forgot all about that because I’m terrible.
As always though, today I’m going to be taking a look back at my reading year 🙂
Finals. Are. Over!!!!!!!! This morning I submitted my final paper and am officially free from all universtiy induced stress until February. Two months of living la vida loca.
Because I’m riding this high, it only makes sense to continue on the celebration by talking about the best books I’ve read over the last three months. I’ve read 27 books between September and November. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read recently but here are my best of the best
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
I had been saving this book specifically for Halloween after receiving an ARC last year but not getting to it in time. Not only was I thrilled that I followed through for once and actually picked this up for the spooky season, I was even happier that I loved this book.
I had a plan for this month. I was going to spend the month finally reading the books that I’ve been putting off all year before I switched into Christmas mode and only read festive reads in December. As you may be able to tell by the title of todays post … that didn’t quite go to plan.
Literally, the only books from that original TBR were my current reads that I’d already started. I am a disgrace to myself and we’re just going to role on into talking about what I did manage to read because I’m so ashamed.
Wolfsong by TJ Klune – It took me over a month to read this book. That was entirely my fault and I apologise to this book for taking so long. I actually managed to read the bulk of this book on the bus to New York and it made the 4+ hours pass very quickly.
As soon the action (and the traumatising moments) got going, and I actually had time to sit back and just read, I fell in love with this story. One of my goals this year was to read a TJ Klune book. This isn’t quite the one I had in mind but I failed so badly on my goals this year that I’m taking it as a win. I will definitely be continuing on with this series next year. This is the re-realeased UK version. Does anyone know if I have to wait for the UK release of the sequel, or can I just read what’s already published?? Please let me know!
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu – While this would have been ideal to read back in October I am not mad about reading it a couple weeks too late because this was so cosy and sweet! This is a graphic novel with romance between a witch and a werewolf, it’s got sapphic grandma’s, magic and a little bit of mystery. The art style is just really cute aswell. I think this is definitely going to become an annual read for me from now on!
Can somebody please tell me why I decided to fly home from America a week early meaning I need to get all my finals in before I leave to avoid stress and added complications? Jesus, the things I do just to see my dogs and have a homemade meal again.
I also need somebody to tell me to stop starting my assignements in the middle of the night. It’s 2am and I just finished writing one of my entire Final Projects :p
Really, I should sleep right now, but my brain and eyeballs are on fire so I’m gonna keeo rolling while the motivation is coming which is why I’m gonna talk about my favourite book covers of 2022!!
This is becoming a tradition on my blog. I love books and I love pretty things so it only makes sense to combine the two. Today I come to you with a list of 10 book covers I’m in love with, but you should check out my 2020 and 2021 favourites too!
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
Imagine my surprise when I was scouring Goodreads for 2022 releases, just to re-fresh my brain, and I come across this book that I could have sworn was released last year. I’ve triple checked and nope, it is in fact a new release. Can’t believe I’ve missed this but I will happily gush about it here!]
Might just be me but this kind of reminds me of a stained glass window of an abandoned church or something. But yeah this book cover is great and I’ve heard the insides are just as good. Pretty sure this is a horror so it definitely matches that vibe.
I am absolutely heartbroken, however, because I’ve looked and this is not the cover for the UK version of this book. Why would they do this to me!
Do I have a lot of school work to do right now? Yes. Am I going to procrastinate by doing a Taylor Swift book tag? You bet ya!
I come to you today with the Midnight Book Tagby Star is All Booked Up. I’ve been seeing this floating around ever since the release of the album all those weeks ago (it could even be months ago, time is a social construct). As always, I’m late to the trend but I’ve really been wanting to do this tag, so here I am.
Of course I have to talk about my thoughts and feelings on this album before we dive in: I love it. To me it feels like the love child of Lover and Reputation which I really enjoy. The whole vibes of it are stellar. My absolute favourite songs are Lavender Haze and Midnight Rain. These make my ears very happy!
Also before we dive in I should plug the fact that I’m on a quest to do every Taylor Swift album tag. I was actually planning on doing Reputation next but the new album of course took precedence. I have done tags for Folklore, Evermore, and Lover though so you should check those out.
Lavender Haze // A book you will always love and defend
There are two very easy answers here for me but I feel like I’ve been talking abot these two series a whole lot in tags recently so I’m going to mention them super quickly and then move on to a new question with hopefully, more unique answers.
All For the Game by Nora Sakovic – these books have a long list of problems but my suggestion is to just sit back, enjoy and then look to the fandom for fix-it materia. The second is anything by Jennifer Lynn Barnes because an argument can be made that her books can get very dramatic, but to that I say so what?
Maroon // A spicy book
I have been reading a fair few spicy books over the last two years. Probably my favourite that I’ve read, at least this year, has got to be The Edens series by Devney Perry. I like this series because it’s so much more than just a spicy book. It’s got solid tropes (grumpy/sunshine, single parent) and also seperate interweaving plotpoints like an entire murder mystery. I’m really excited to continue on with this series in 2023.
AceReader 