I have a new found love for reading and photography. I am here to share all my book reviews and other bookish things. Hopefully we can be friends along the way!
I have seen TBR Jars all over TikTok lately and I decided that I need one because I have so many books on my Physical TBR that I need to read! I have also decided to try and go on a book buying ban for the month of July to not only save money but to get through some of my books I already have on my shelf.
How It Works
TBR Jars are all pretty much the same, you put the names of all your books on your TBR onto a piece of paper, cut them up and drop them into a jar. Every time you need a new book to read you pull a random title out of the jar. Pretty simple but this is also my nightmare! I am a major mood reader so I am making some new rules just for me to follow.
Each Pull I get a second chance to pull a different book and I read the one I would rather read more than the other at that time.
I must read at least 50 pages of the book before I can decide whether I would like to DNF the book or just put it back in the jar for another day.
I need to read at least five books before I can buy another book to add to my shelf.
The start of my Jar
Choosing Stickers
Final Product
Overall
I am very excited to see what my first book is from my jar. I am also very interested in seeing if I can actually stick with this and save some money for the month of July and maybe even longer! Because of this I don’t have a hopefuls list for July but I do know I have two buddy reads so you should be seeing reviews for “Truly Devious” and “Daisy Jones and the Six”.
June has been a crazy month full of packing and putting final touches on our home so we could move. We are officially moved into my childhood home and now all that is left is finding room for all of our stuff. Now that we are moved I am hoping to have more time to read next month but if I am honest this move has exhausted me and I am not sure how much brain capacity I have for reading right now.
As always I will post the link to my reviews for you to read those. I don’t post full reviews for audio books so my thoughts will be next to those books here. I mostly listened to audio books this month while we packed so this could be fun.
Physical Books
“Read Between The Lines” By Rachel Lacey
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Rosie’s whole life has been centered around books. She grew up in her moms bookstore surrounded by all the stories she loves. When her mom passes away Rosie takes over the shop which has so many wonderful memories of her childhood and special moments with her mom. All that Rosie is missing is her own romance story, But she thinks she has found that too when she strikes up a conversation with her favorite author Brie on Twitter.
Everything feels like the stars have aligned until the day Rosie gets a letter telling her that the Bookstores lease will not be renewed and that she has till December to find a new home for her beloved store. Rosie pushes love to the back burner in hopes to save her store but why can’t she have it all?
Georgia is about to head off to University never having the chance to have a relationship let alone her first kiss. She felt like she was falling behind in the romance category but she believed that was all about to change when University started. This was her time to find the love of her life.
Arriving at University she finds out that she has a roommate who seems to have relationships all figured out. This gave Georgia hope, thinking she could learn a thing or two about relationships and sex. However, this just caused her more confusion than anything. Why is romance so easy for everyone but her?
Throughout the course of University Georgia has a chance to find her true self but this will turn out not to be an easy task. Will Georgia be able to find love?
I have seen a lot of amazing reviews for this book and I heard it was basically The Bachelor. Because of these things I was super excited to listen to this book. The beginning was super cute and I was hooked but the longer it went on the more I just felt meh about the whole thing. Charlie and Ben both really annoyed me and I never really cared about their relationship. The big romantic gesture happened two hours before the book ended and so once that happened I was just done. The ending really fell flat overall.
“Written In The Stars” By Alexandria Ballefleur
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
This book was Highly recommended to me by many Bookstagrammers and I was super excited to read this one. I think I was pretty distracted while I was listening to this book because I can’t remember much that happened, I did listen to it 30 days ago but still. I know I loved the first part of the book, The middle and all the animosity between the characters really made me feel meh and the ending just felt rushed. I have never liked enemies to lovers so this rating doesn’t surprise me but I do think I would have enjoyed it more if I actually read the book.
“Meet Cute Club” By Jack Harbon
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
This was a super cute story that I think every book lover dreams about. I really enjoyed this book and the characters relationship. However I did not like the narrator and so I probably would have given this 5 stars if the narrator was better, he just took me out of the story more than I would have liked.
Favorite Quotes
“Give your friendships the magic you would give a romance. Because they’re just as important. Actually, for us, they’re way more important.”
From Loveless
“She’s happy with who she is. Maybe it’s not the heteronormative dream that she grew up wishing for, but… knowing who you are and loving yourself is so much better than that, I think.”
From Loveless
“Never trust your fears. They don’t know your strength.”
From Read Between The Lines
“Life would be a lot better if we all spent a little more time staring at the stars.”
From Written In The Stars
June Thoughts
I read a lot of the books I thought I would read this month which I am super happy about! I am also in the middle of reading “Ace” but this is one I am taking my time with to mark and annotate so I can really gather my thoughts.
We have officially moved so I think life will be less busy here soon so I really hope to read and post more in the near future!
“The Priory Of The Orange Tree” By Samantha Shannon
I have been wanting to read this for a long time and I know have the urge to read a fantasy book. I think this will be a great book for my birthday month! It is an 800 paged book so this might be a big reach to say I will finish it next but I do hope I stick with it.
June has been seriously flying by! We are just over halfway through June and I have now finished two physical books and two audio books! That’s really not terrible but I don’t see myself finishing any more books for this month if I am going to be completely honest with you. As I have stated in a few of my latest posts we are moving and we are down to exactly one week till the moving truck arrives, eekk, so much stress!
“I’ve learnt some Things. Like the way friendship can be just as intense, beautiful and endless as romance. Like the way there’s love everywhere around me – there’s love for my friends, there’s love for my paintings, there’s love for myself.”
Direct Quote From The Book
About The Book
Author: Alice Oseman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published Date: July 9th, 2020
Page Count: 433 Pages
Main Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, LGBTQ
GoodReads Rating: 4.31
“She’s happy with who she is. Maybe it’s not the heteronormative dream that she grew up wishing for, but… knowing who you are and loving yourself is so much better than that, I think.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Synopsis
Georgia is about to head off to University never having the chance to have a relationship let alone her first kiss. She felt like she was falling behind in the romance category but she believed that was all about to change when University started. This was her time to find the love of her life.
Arriving at University she finds out that she has a roommate who seems to have relationships all figured out. This gave Georgia hope, thinking she could learn a thing or two about relationships and sex. However, this just caused her more confusion than anything. Why is romance so easy for everyone but her?
Throughout the course of University Georgia has a chance to find her true self but this will turn out not to be an easy task. Will Georgia be able to find love?
“You know why people pair up into couples? Because being a human is fucking terrifying. But it’s a hell of a lot easier if you’re not doing it by yourself.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
“People are really out there just … thinking about having sex all the time and they can’t even help it?’ I spluttered. ‘People have dreams about it because they want it that much? How the – I’m losing it. I thought all the movies were exaggerating, but you’re all really out there just craving genitals and embarrassment. This has to be some kind of huge joke.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Review
When I first ordered this book I had just finished reading the “Heartstopper” Books and honestly I assumed this would be a graphic novel as well. To my surprise I opened the book up and it was a full novel! It is really hard to compare Alice’s writing in the novel and in the graphic novel. They both have such a different impact. In the graphic novels you can see the emotion but in this book you really felt the emotion, which I really enjoyed! I am very happy this was a 400 paged book, I felt like the topic of Aero Ace really needed a full story and explanation because it isn’t something many people know about or can really understand.
I have a lot to say about this book but I do feel like I am still trying to fully process everything that I read. Asexuality is a very broad spectrum with many sub sexualities and I am very thankful of the way this book was written. Alice really explained Aero Ace in a way that you can understand their feelings and emotions even if you aren’t feeling the same way. I just can’t tell you enough how well this book was written. I think that anyone who thinks they might fit into the Aero Ace sexuality or even those who want to learn a bit more about it, this is a great book to start with.
I will always be recommending this book and I know I will be rereading this one. I am also dying to order the rest of Alice Oseman’s books, She has quickly became an auto buy author for me.
“The aromantic and asexual spectrums weren’t just straight lines. They were radar charts with at least a dozen different axes.”
Today marks exactly one year since my first blog post was released! I read somewhere when I was starting that most bloggers don’t make it past the three month mark (Don’t Quote me because now I can’t find where I heard this). But reaching the three moth mark was my only goal starting this blog and now here I am, a whole year later, still making blog posts!
I am excited to share my journey with you today and I encourage you to check out some of my links that I share. I will post my Bookstagram and any related blog posts for you if you are interested in seeing more of what I do!
My story starts when I was young, I used to HATE reading when I was younger. It just never made sense to me why people would choose to sit down and read words off of something that felt endless, instead of playing sports, videogames or really anything else in the world. I remember being forced to read books in junior high and high school such as; Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird and Jane Eyre. I truly believe this led me down a deeper hole of hatred. I just feel when you are forced to do something it can ruin your perspective on those things.
Jump to July 2020, mid pandemic, I had just moved into a new home with my boyfriend who worked long nights. Being cooped up in a new home all alone was really starting to get to me and so I was searching for new hobbies to keep me occupied. While scrolling through Facebook I stumbled across an ad for Book of the Month Club (Not Sponsored) and it peaked my interest! Paying a monthly fee of $15.99 for a book credit and $9.99 for each add on sounded like a steal and let me tell you, it was! I dedicate getting back into reading to BOTM. Cheap, affordable, good quality books that helped me step out of my comfort zone and start an obsession. Now I have an endless TBR pile that will continue to grow and a bookstagram that keeps me on track!
Now
I have been on Bookstagram for about a year and a half now and I have made so many amazing bookish friends, created this blog, became an ambassador for a few companies and even had the chance to interview a few authors! This has been a crazy experience but I wouldn’t change a thing!
I have so many ideas for the future of this blog including more posts, Bookish Merch and author spotlights. All of these things will hopefully be coming soon starting with more posts each week in July! As for the author spotlights I would like to start reading one Indie book each month and really spotlight that book and author and maybe even try and get interviews with the authors each month. I am not sure when this will start but I would love some Indie book recommendations so I can start putting this together.
Fun Facts
As of today I have 95 total followers on my Blog
In the 6 months my blog was running in 2021 I had over 2,000 Views and 488 total likes
I would like to thank all of my followers here on the blog and also on Bookstagram for supporting me in this amazing journey. Every like and share or even just a click on a link makes me so happy! I love seeing how much this blog has grown over the past year and I can’t wait to see what happens in the coming years as well. Please don’t be a stranger, my DM’s are always open and I love talking about books and pretty much everything else, so lets be friends! Here’s too many more years of blogging!
QOTD: What are some of your hobbies other than reading?
For the month of June I am reading all LGBTQ+ books. I read LGBTQ+ all throughout the year but I thought for Pride I would really focus on these topics and books I have been dying to read or have been on my shelf for awhile. This book was one my boyfriend gave me for Christmas and I thought the synopsis sounded so cute and so I finally dove in!
“I’d date Ms. Maybe to find out if she could be Ms. Right, but not if I already know she’s wrong for me.”
Direct Quote From The Book
About The Book
Author: Rachel Lacey
Publisher: Montlake
Published Date: December 1st, 2021
Page Count: 331 Pages
Main Genres: Romance, LGBTQ+, Contemporary
GoodReads Rating: 3.79
“So, more often than not, she curled up with a book and read about fictional characters falling in love instead of putting herself out there.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Synopsis
Rosie’s whole life has been centered around books. She grew up in her moms bookstore surrounded by all the stories she loves. When her mom passes away Rosie takes over the shop which has so many wonderful memories of her childhood and special moments with her mom. All that Rosie is missing is her own romance story, But she thinks she has found that too when she strikes up a conversation with her favorite author Brie on Twitter.
Everything feels like the stars have aligned until the day Rosie gets a letter telling her that the Bookstores lease will not be renewed and that she has till December to find a new home for her beloved store. Rosie pushes love to the back burner in hopes to save her store but why can’t she have it all?
“And right now, you’re having too much fun flirting with her on Twitter,” Lia teased. “It’s chatting, not flirting,”
Direct Quote From The Book
Rating
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Review
Possible Spoilers Ahead
I honestly had very high hopes for this book because any book about a book store just sounds so cute! Like this book could have been a booklovers dream but it failed to keep me entertained.
Rosie and Jane (AKA Brie) were not compatible at all! Mostly because Janes family business are the ones who are tearing down the bookstore. This causes so much animosity between the two characters that I just didn’t want to root for them to be together. I get the bookstore is special to Rosie but seriously grow up and realize that Jane had no choice in the matter. Also there was one scene where Rosie invites Jane to coffee they have a great five sentence conversation and Rosie who literally invited Jane out stood up and said “Sorry I can’t do this” and left… Like WTF?
Also, don’t even get me started on the pacing of this book. There were things that needed a lot more detail and things that could have used less detail. There were scenes, especially the sex scenes, that were like two sentences and they were already at completion, no that’s not how this works. Then right after the sex scenes there wasn’t much connection between them like we were already moving onto the next day.
Their relationship just felt forced and they really had no time together that was written well enough to make you care about their relationship. All you know about their relationship is that Rosie was always in love with Brie’s writing but hates Jane because of her job. You can’t hate and love someone, one side will always win. And again, all their conversations come back to Janes family business destroying the building, like we get it, can we get some other dialog?
I would have loved this book if Rosie was in love with Brie and they started an online relationship but secretly Brie is Jane, a book lover who comes into the bookstore once or twice a week and they each have secret crushes in real life and in the online world. That would have been amazing! But the whole plot line of destroying the bookstore just built too much animosity that made their relationship unbelievable.
Overall, Rosie’s character was annoying and Janes character had no back bone and both characters combined fell flat. I would love more about Lia and her back story, she was by far the best character who actually did most of the work at the bookstore and to try and save the store. Like Rosie this is your family business and you hardly can even show up to work because you are too busy Hating and loving Jane at the same time to even try and save your store. I just don’t think this is a book you need to read and you should probably skip over this one as a whole.
World of Bai 