This month my genres are going to be all over the place! From Self Help to Fantasy I am going to cover it all, well kind of. There are more than five genres in the world but all five of my books I would say touch different genres and ideas from each other and so I am very excited to get started with this months picks!
My Line Up
Romance
Self Help
Poetry
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Like I said all these books are very different than one another and I think that adds to all the fun! Two of these books are part of buddy reads which I still haven’t decided if I fully enjoy or not, but I am really trying! The other three books are ones I need to tackle so I can say that I have read them, they have been on my shelf for quite sometime.
I haven’t really read a poetry book before so when my new work friend recommended me “I Would Leave Me Too” by Halsey I honestly was kind of skeptical. I am not the best at understanding poetry and I am afraid I will just make a fool of myself trying to interpret the meaning behind the words. However, you will never know unless you try!
I am trying to read through all the Harry Potter books this coming year, one each month. This is part of a buddy read so it helps me to stay motivated to get it read. Also my boyfriends family are having a Harry Potter themed Halloween party so I should probably start finding a character I resonate with. Any help with this is very much appreciated!
“The Intellect” is an Indy book published by a seventeen year old! Yes, you read that correctly! I am so excited that she asked me to represent her book and to try and spread the word about her new romance novel. I am about halfway through the book and I am in love! If you would like to check out her book I will add a link so you can get your own copy.
“You Should Talk to Someone” has been catching my eye for months! I just keep putting it off because I’m not really a non-fiction self help kind of girl but honestly after the month I have had lately I could use some guidance in life. This will most likely be apart of a buddy read as well this month, maybe the other people in this group can help me get my life together!
Last but not least is “The Rose Code”, historical fiction is also out of my comfort zone but I mean who can turn down this gorgeous cover? I have also read so many wonderful reviews on this book and now that the hype has started to slow down I think now could be the perfect time to dive into this book.
Last month was crazy but this month might be worse. I am trying to balance a new job while also taking care of a three week old kitten and honestly I am sleep deprived! I haven’t really picked up a book in over a week and that is kind of depressing, but reading four books last month was a win for me! Now my goal is to keep that up with my busy schedule! Wish me luck!
If you are interested in reading one of these books with me lets do it!
I finished this book a little over a week ago and honestly I have tried typing this review a million times but life has been super busy this past week and extremely stressful! I started a new job and though training has been going very well that doesn’t mean starting a new job and making new friends is easy. Also I found a 3 week old kitten in the dumpster at the new job and me and my boyfriend decided to take him in and adopt him! This has been challenging because I have to feed him every few hours, help him use the bathroom, teach him to play, help him regulate his own body heat and so much more! I am currently typing this while holding a squirming kitten, wish me luck!
“Whenever I want you,” he sang quietly. “All I have to do is dream.”
Direct quote from book.
About The Book
Publication Date: March 17th, 2020 2020
Author: TJ Klune
Publisher: Tor
Page Count: 396
Main Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Fantasy
GoodReads Rating: 4.49
“The things we fear the most are often the things we should fear the least. It’s irrational, but it’s what makes us human. And if we’re able to conquer those fears, then there is nothing we’re not capable of.”
Direct Quote from book.
Synopsis
Linus Baker lives a very boring and structured life always following the rules, working for the Department In Charge Of Magical Youth. His job is to make sure the magical kids living in orphanages are being taken care of or if the children need to be moved. His office space seems fairly hostel with a boss who doesn’t care about her employees, hardly any room to move between your desk, and no personal belongings are allowed! His mouse pad is a picture of an ocean saying “don’t you wish you were here?”
His structured lifestyle gets a wrench tossed in it when he is summoned to go to Marayas Island, a place Linus has never heard of. Everyone who is on the island has been filed away into a classified folder.
Who exactly is on this island? Why is their existence classified? Will Linus learn to break the rules?
This book is filled with magic, friendships and finding yourself.
Hate is loud, but I think you’ll learn it’s because it’s only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as you remember you’re not alone, you will overcome.”
Direct quote from book.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with. You may not live on the island, but you can’t tell me it’s not your home. Your bubble, Mr. Baker. It’s been popped. Why would you allow it to grow around you again?
Direct quote from book.
Review
This book was very well written and I learned to fall in love with each character individually. My personal favorite character was Sal, he had such a rough past that made him super shy but protective and I feel as if his character progressed the most throughout the entire book.
I feel as if this book started off super slow! It took till about 60% of the way through the book for me to really get into it. With such great reviews from everyone I assumed I would fall in love with the book immediately and I didn’t, but this is ok! Story building takes some time and with this book it paid off. By the 60% mark in the book I started to connect all the characters and I ended up just loving the whole story.
The reason why I am giving it four stars is due to how long it took me to get into the book. The ending of this story was really heart warming and extremely cute! I would love a second book!
I have a lot of stuff going on in my life currently and I thought I would like to share these with all of you! I figured this is my blog and yes it focuses on books but also me, so why not share what is going on currently. What am I reading? What did I just finish reading? What are some major life things happening right now? What am I currently watching? Let’s get a little more personal here.
Let’s Talk Books
Last Read
Current Read
Next Read
I just finished the first Harry Potter book for my first time ever! Can you really call me a book lover if I haven’t read this series? I know all the stuff going on with JKR is very controversial and I have read up on it and by no means do I support what is happening! I personally wanted to start this series to see why this book got so many young kids hooked on reading and what I missed out on growing up.
My Mini Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I absolutely loved this book and I do understand why so many young kids fell in love with reading after they read this book. I wish I would have gave it a chance when I was younger, as now I am 22 and just started to love reading. I missed out on so many years of falling in love with different worlds and making fictional friends.
I took the Harry Potter house quiz and I got put into the Hufflepuff house. Now I am curious, is there a book or anything I can read to learn more of the Hufflepuff side of things?
I am currently about half way through “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune. This book is the book my own book club is reading for the month of August and I have been so excited to discuss it with them! However, I am not loving the book yet. I feel like it will get better and pick up pace soon but man is it dragging. I feel as if this book is over hyped which makes it harder to get into. Fingers crossed I end up falling in love with it.
My next read is going to be “The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren. I feel like I only read super popular books. As a fairly new reader I rely heavily on other peoples reviews and this book has had many great reviews on bookstagram. I can not wait to dive into this book!
Currently Watching
To say that I am a reality TV snob would be an understatement! My boyfriend is constantly telling me I watch too much reality TV and has tried tirelessly to get me to watch just a basic TV show but honestly they just don’t keep my attention like a “good” reality show.
The main shows that I have been obsessed with lately would be; Hells Kitchen, The Bachelorette, Big Brother and Master Chef. I am a sucker for drama, food, and competition.
Hells Kitchen released two seasons back to back and that was so exciting! Season 19 was an ok season and season 20 (on tv now) isn’t much better. I support Rasmy’s decision to crown Kori the winner of season 19 I feel like she deserved it but man I hated some of those contestants with all my heart! Season 20 is the young gun season and so they are all a bunch of 21 year-olds who know basically nothing! Honestly I despise almost all of these contestants except for like two of the men. Don’t ask why I still continue to watch the show if I hate the people because I can’t give you an answer.
Bachelor Nation has been a crap show for a few seasons now. The last season I actually enjoyed was Becca’s season back in 2018, that was forever ago! Matt’s season was a joke! I thought Katie would kill it but man her season was a mess! Now we are starting Paradise and yes I am excited for it but ehh some of the people on their I could live without. Also I miss Chris Harrison, Fight me if you don’t agree.
Master Chef has always been a favorite! I love the mystery box challenge, it is so crazy to see what these home cooks can come up with! This show just makes me very hungry! This season is the season of legends so the whole show has changed a bit and honestly not for the best. I like the legends they are bringing in, most of them are really cool. I love that Joe is finally back on the show, I hated Christina. What I am hating is that there is no mystery box challenges or elimination challenges or even the ones where they leave the master chef bubble and go out into the world. Its just “Oh hey here is a legendary chef make this dish for them and one of you will go home.” I don’t know, it just feels bleh, but here I am still watching it religiously.
Big Brother has been a family favorite since I was a child but we stopped watching after season 18 because life got busy and it costed a lot to pay for subscriptions to watch things. Now that I have my own money I bought Paramount Plus and it came with Big Brother so I have been binging it for the past two months trying to catch up on what I missed out on. I am on season 22 the All Stars season and man these All Stars kind of suck haha. I love Nicole and Cody so rooting for them for sure!
Do you watch any of these shows?
Life Things
Life has been pretty chaotic this past month! I quit a toxic job, I got a new job, I read a lot, I watch a lot of TV, I am trying to make friends…gosh just a lot! Lets talk about it!
Noah’s Birthday
My boyfriend turned 22 on the 14th of this month and so of course we had to celebrate! We had a whole week of birthday celebrations! He even convinced me to start playing D&D with our friends.
I love lots of things about this man but most importantly I am so thankful for all of his support.
Mental Health
Me and Noah started taking control of our mental health by using this app called “Finch”. You basically get to take care of a baby finch (it looks like a penguin) by answering questions and taking quizzes about your day and completing goals. After you baby has enough energy you send it on an adventure and he typically comes back with something he discovered like a fruit, drink, book or hobby. He then decides if he likes or dislikes the item. When you answer his questions like the one to the right here it gives him personality traits! Over all I recommend this app!
They also just added a pet store so you can buy cute clothes for you finch to wear!
I will have a link to download the app down below.
I have a special code too! When it asks use this 4ECF3QLPWR it will give you 600 starting stones (money) for the store! If code doesn’t work send me a message.
I am currently a rep for multiple places and even an author now! A lot of this information is posted on my “About Me” page but if you are looking for more information I am happy to help you out so just feel free to send me any questions you have, the best way to contact me is through my Instagram or Facebook pages.
My Newest Position
I am happy to announce starting in September I will be an official rep for the author of “The Intellect” by Lily Kathleen.
I have not yet started this book because I want to read it as I rep. I am so excited to read this book and help out a young author!
Lily is only 17 years old and she already has some really amazing reviews on her YA romance novel!
The synopsis below is pulled directly from Lilies website which I will add a link too below.
If you are interested in buying this book use code Theintellect10 for 10% off your order!
“Fifteen-year-old Jessica Adams moves to a small town in South Dakota at the beginning of summer. Moving is normal for her, but this time seems to be a bit different. She isolates herself from the outside world as she begins to question her whole life. Her parents never give her the freedom her older siblings have, nor can she even be left at home alone without her parents constantly texting and calling her. She begins to feel alone, as she spends her whole summer cooped up in her room.
But things quickly start to turn around when she meets a mysterious guy, named Aaron Conners, on the first day of school. No one looks at him, nor talks to him. So why is he always hiding?
He has a seriously huge secret, but so does she. Her secret can lead her into much danger. The only thing is that she doesn’t actually know what her secret is.
Will she make a massive mistake in trying to figure out what her big secret is? And will it lead her and those she loves into more danger than ever before?”
My really good bookstagram friend has started to make the cutest bookmarks I have ever seen and she just released her fall line along with her new Etsy shop!
I love all the designs she has came out with this time but I think my personal favorites are the “A Thousand Suns” collection! Sunflowers are seriously the best flowers out there.
All in all fall is my favorite season and I am so excited to share this collection with you.
Down below I will post a link to her new Etsy shop and her Bookstagram page as well.
Courts Bookmarks Continued
This next picture is the last of this new collection.
Look at that last bookmark, it is see through! Gosh this collection is to die for!
I already ordered mine so what are you waiting for?!
Her other collections will be up soon so you will have a lot of cute designs to choose from. In the mean time order one or two of these to prep for fall!
The last update to my rep position is this new shirt from my girl Amy at Two Sisters Custom Creations. Amy made me a really cute purple shirt that had a book design on it which I immediately fell in love with but come on, how can you beat this shirt?
In Utah it has been raining for two days straight so I have officially claimed Summer to be over and Fall has kicked into gear! I mean we have snow on our mountains in August, so yeah Fall has started.
No Books Were Harmed In The Making Of This Photo
Amy and I have been friends since I can remember really and of course I am going to show off all the cute things she makes!
She has so many more designs on her website and you can also request any idea you have and she will get it done!
The best part? She offers shipping all around the U.S.
Her link will be listed below along with a few of her other designs!
This is everything going on in my life currently! If you stayed and read all of this well I thank you for your determination! My life is always crazy and I will always have a million things to talk about, so stay tuned!
This was one of my buddy reads that I signed up for this month. I think I was the last one to finish the book despite us not having our discussion till the end of this month. I only have two more buddy reads to finish this month with so little time left, I am getting slightly nervous!
About The Book
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Author: S.A. Cosby
Publisher: FlatIron Books
Main Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Page Count: (BOTM Edition) 319
Goodreads Rating: 4.25 Stars
“It wasn’t Isiah being gay that caused problems between the two of you. It was how you dealt with it or didn’t deal with it that caused problems.”
Direct quote from book. Page 47
Synopsis
Two ex-con fathers lost their married sons in some horrific hate crime. Despite not approving of the relationship their sons had, the fathers are out for blood to avenge their sons’ deaths because the cops have no leads! Through all the challenges these men go through they find acceptance for their sons and each other but can they get revenge on whoever did this horrendous act?
This book highlights the struggles the LGBTQ community and Black communities face with acceptance, racism, and everyday life trials.
“This is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t want to, really. But for once I’m gonna put this devil inside me to good use.”
Direct Quote from book. Page 96
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Review
I have really been into reading books about the LGBTQ community lately and I am so happy I added this to my completed pile. The books I have read have been very LGBTQ positive and this book has a lot of darker tones. You see the community from the perspectives of fathers who really disapprove of their gay sons but after their sons pass away due to a hate crime you can see their fathers start to slowly understand their sons lives and choices a bit more and become more accepting of the choices their sons had made. It was just a really beautiful story about two very tough topics that I feel like authors avoid.
The other topic that got talked about heavily in this book was racism, particularly about the black culture. Ike, the father to one of the sons, is a black man. Buddy Lee, the other father, is a white man who grew up in a very racist family and has some habits that need to be broken. Throughout the whole book Ike teaches Buddy Lee the proper way to address issues with racism and things he should or should not be letting out of his mouth. Ike really brings up tough issues in this world that we need to correct.
These topics are things we all need to take time to educate ourselves on just a little more so we can all be more accepting of each others lives. This book was very insightful but mostly emotional! S.A. Cosby really knows how to pull at your heart strings while speaking the truth!
I only had one problem with this book but after doing some quick research I realized it has nothing to do with the book and wasn’t the authors fault. The issue was that it had a lot of grammar errors! I found out that it is because I read the Book of the Month version of this book and they got the book before the final edits went through. So just a heads up, if you have the BOTM version their will be a lot of grammar errors.
Overall I loved this book! It talked about tough issues, It was very emotional and the story was beautiful! I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants a good thriller/mystery that talks about some tough topics.
“Yeah, you can’t hide that you’re black. But the fact that you think I should hide who I am proves my point. Like Dr. King said: an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Direct quote from book. Page 141
This quote is in reference to a part in the book where Ike tells a gay guy that he can hide who he is cause unless he tells anyone he is gay no one would know, but Ike is black everywhere and can’t hide who he is. But like the quote says why should anyone who is gay have to hide who they are just to make everyone else comfortable? Something to really think about!
Possible Trigger Warnings
Racism
Hate Speech
Violence
Homophobia
Murder
Grief
QOTD: What is your favorite book subscription company?
Happy National book lovers day! It only feels right to make this blog post because I am a book blogger after all. I am still fairly new to this community and I want to share even more of myself with you all. In this blog post you will learn some highs and lows that I have experienced in this life changing journey.
This same time last year I would have never thought I’d post about this national holiday! It’s crazy how how much can change in a single year! This whole experience just feels like one big dream come true. Little Bailie never had this experience planned out or even would have dreamed this opportunity up.
Let’s do some reflecting!
I have bought over 100 books in a year
I have read only about 36 of those books
My TBR has expanded exponentially
I have made so many wonderful bookish friends
My Favorite book So Far
“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston
This was a no brainer for me. I loved every aspect of this book and no matter how hard I tried to pick it apart to find something wrong with it I just kept coming up with “Well, it is just too perfect.”
I don’t think I could ever hate a book more than I hated this book…. Yikes… I feel so rude saying that out loud but it is my truth.
This was very over hyped and fell short on many levels. I recommend reading my review just to see my full opinions on the book. By all means still give this a try but it was an acquired read.
I have recently started to broaden my horizons and try reading new genres of books. The biggest stretch for me is fantasy. I have only read two fantasy books since I started this journey and I have surprisingly really enjoyed them! I just don’t think I would still pick them up on my own terms though.
Other fantasies on my TBR would be Harry Potter, The House in the Cerulean Sea and A court of thorns and roses.
Amazing Opportunities
Ever since I started my bookstagram I have really expanded my social life!
I started my book blog and then I also got three separate rep positions for small businesses. This has been an amazing journey and I love being able to share it all with my friends and family.
Good Afternoon everyone! With this review I would like to try something a bit different. In my previous book reviews I just give you a synopsis, my rating and then my review. This time I would like to do those things but also give you a bit more information on the author and the book. At the end I would love if you left some comments about whether you like my normal reviews better or this new style.
This book is a buddy read I started with some of my friends on bookstagram. We each put up options for our book and then had a randomizer choose the book we would actually be reading and this was the winner! I was very excited about this book winning because I don’t read a lot of fantasy and I want to jump into new genres.
About The Book
Publication Date: October 20th, 2020
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: HarperCollins
Page count: 352 Pages
Main Genres: Fantasy/Young Adult
GoodReads Rating: 3.83
“Never let anyone make you feel unworthy. You deserve the moon just as much as anyone else.”
Direct quote from book.
Synopsis
Possible small spoilers Ahead
The kingdom of Aloriya is kept safe by the kings magical crown. Legend says the first king of Aloriya, 100 years ago, made a deal with the Lady of the Wilds in order to protect his kingdom and was gifted the crown. While Aloriya was prospering the forests around grew dark and were filled with monsters, the forest soon become forbidden.
Jump forward 100 years. Cerys is the royal gardeners daughter and grew up along side the prince and princess of Aloriya. All it took was one mistake, the prince went into the forest, his guard following him in to protect him and Cerys mom ran in after them. The boys never returned after the woods took them. Cerys mom showed back up at the house but the curse had taken over her body.
Cerys is now 17 years old, her best friend is still the princess but she now has a fox companion. At the royal coronation the curse strikes back and takes the rest of Cerys friends and family. Cerys and Fox now have the task to defeat the curse but everything they thought they knew turned out to be a lie. Will they reverse the curse in time to save all that fell victim to it?
“Just because you are born a gardener’s daughter doesn’t make you any less worthy than someone born into royalty.”
Direct quote from book.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Review
I don’t typically read fantasy books, this is only my second one since starting my bookish journey a year ago. It’s not that I don’t like fantasy it is just the world building that I get lost in. Each new world in fantasies have their own rules and ways of life that you need to learn in order to fully understand the book. My brain is fairly simple and I like things based in our everyday world. However, it really is fun to dive into something completely different and new.
With my point of view on fantasies laid out in front of you I think we can officially talk about my review and how I really felt about this book as a whole.
I really enjoyed this book! I feel that the world building was done very nicely and you could see yourself living in Aloriya and being apart of these characters world. I also thought that the main characters, Cerys and Fox, they had such a cute and playful relationship through the entire book. I found myself marking so many cute scenes between them or even just their little fights because those little moments really created that relationship between them.
The reason why this book didn’t get the full five stars from me was because of grammar errors and repetitiveness. Just like how I marked all the cute scenes between the main characters I also marked all the grammar errors that I found and there were too many for my liking, it became really distracting and would pull me out of the world that the author so beautifully created. The repetitiveness got kind of old. A lot of the story was them walking through the wild woods which I mean is a big part of the storyline but it was like lets walk for a bit, lets fight this monster, lets argue and then do it all over again. I just wanted something that pulled me into the story for that whole middle part of the book.
I am so glad I got the chance to read this book. I probably would have never of picked this book up on my own so I am lucky my bookstagram friends push me to try new things. I would recommend this book to anyone who is like me and wouldn’t typically pick up a fantasy book. It is definitely worth the read if you can get past the grammar errors.
“The people who die never really leave. That we carry them with every breath we take, until the wind itself is gone.”
Direct quote from book.
About the Author
Ashley Poston has been in the publishing industry for about ten years! She has had here novels featured on the Indy’s Next List and even Teen Vogue. She is the author of seven books but soon to be eight! Her next book is set to come out summer of 2022, so we only have a year left to wait. In the mean time check out her other books; Geekerella, The Princess and the Fangirl, Bookish and the Beast, Heart of Iron, Soul of Stars and Battle of the Bands.
I think my favorite fun fact of Ashley is that she is a true crime fan! So relatable!
World of Bai 