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.
June has a bunch of great books being released and I really want to focus on the ones I am personally most excited to read. I am not sure when I will be able to read these but they are all very high on my list! All book blurbs are directly from GoodReads. I will also share the average rating so far on GoodReads as well as release dates and main genres of the books.
Books
“Island Time” By Georgia Clark
Release Date: June 14th, 2022
Main Genres: Romance, LGBTQ, Fiction
Average GoodReads Rating: 3.54
The Kellys are messy, loud, loving Australians. The Lees are sophisticated, aloof, buttoned-up Americans. They have nothing in common…except for the fact that their daughters are married. When a nearby volcano erupts during their short vacation to a remote tropical island off the coast of Queensland, the two families find themselves stranded together for six weeks.
With only two island employees making up the rest of their party, everyone is forced to question what—or who—they really want. Island Time is a sumptuous summer read that dives deep into queer romance, family secrets, ambition, parenthood, and a bird-chasing bromance. This sexy, sun-soaked paradise of white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, and lush rainforest will show you it’s never too late to change your destiny.
“The Messy Lives of Book People” By Phaedra Patrick
Release Date: May 31st, 2022 (I know, not June but still super excited and I mean what’s one day?)
Main Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book about books
Average GoodReads Rating: 3.96
Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can’t believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, megabestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship.
But when Essie dies suddenly, a devastated Liv is astonished to learn of her last wish: for Liv to complete Essie’s final novel. But to do so Liv will have to step into Essie’s shoes, and as Liv begins to write, she uncovers secrets from the past that reveal a surprising connection between the two women–one that will change Liv’s own story forever…
Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.
It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod—just me and my beloved brother—but discovering a corpse in our rental house really throws a wrench into our tanning schedule. Now a rude, crude bounty hunter has arrived on the back of his motorcycle to catch the killer and refuses to believe I can be helpful, despite countless hours of true crime podcast listening. Not to mention a fulfilling teaching career of wrangling second graders.
A brash bounty hunter and an energetic elementary schoolteacher: the murder-solving team no one asked for, but thanks to these pesky attempts on my life, we’re stuck together, come hell or high tide.
I’m just here to do a job, not babysit an amateur sleuth. Although…it is becoming less and less of a hardship to have her around. Sure, she’s stubborn, distracting and can’t stay out of harm’s way. She’s also brave and beautiful and reminds me of the home I left behind three years ago. In other words, the painful hunger and protectiveness she is waking up in me is a threat to my peace of mind. Before I sink any deeper into this dangerous attraction, I need to solve this murder and get back on the road. But will fate take her from me before I realize the road has been leading to her all along?
Seventeen-year-old Ivy’s summer break kicks off with an accident, a punishment, and a mystery: a stranger whose appearance in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, heralds a string of increasingly unsettling events. As the days pass, Ivy grapples with eerie offerings, corroded memories, and a secret she’s always known—that there’s more to her mother than meets the eye.
THE CITY, BACK THEN . . .
Dana has always been perceptive. And the summer she turns sixteen, with the help of her best friend and an ambitious older girl, her gifts bloom into a heady fling with the supernatural, set in a city of magical possibilities and secret mystics. As the trio’s aspirations darken, they find themselves speeding toward a violent breaking point.
Years after it began, Ivy and Dana’s shared story will come down to a reckoning among a daughter, a mother, and the dark forces they never should’ve messed with.
The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.
These are my top six books that I am very excited to read that will be released this month (and the last day of May). All of these books look and sound like they will be amazing reads and I really hope to get them and read them soon! There are so many other books being released this month but I really just wanted to focus on a few that really caught my eye.
QOTD: What is a new book release that you are excited for?
June is Pride Month and this year me and Noah are participating in all the festivities in our area! I am so excited to actually get to participate in the Pride festival, our town hasn’t had an actual festival in over three years, mostly because of Covid, but we finally have a chance to gather again!
With June being Pride month I have decided to dedicate my monthly reads to LGBTQ+ reads. I went to Amazon and added about 20 books to my wish list but there is no way I have the time or money to actually read them all. I ordered a few books and I have a few already on my shelf so I will list all my hopefuls down below and see how many I can actually read by the end of the month. I am moving this month and I have a lot of packing to do, along with a vacation, so I don’t expect to read too many books this month but I am very excited for what I can get too.
Hopefuls
I am currently reading “Read Between the Lines” and listening to “Written in the Stars”. So far I am really enjoying both books! “Written in the Stars” is a fake dating trope and I honestly believe besides friends to lovers that this is my favorite romance trope. “Read Between the Lines” I already know is going to be so cute because a bookstore owner falls in love with her favorite author! These two could be my favorite books of this month.
These are the three books that I just ordered and picked over like 20 other options from my Amazon Wish List. I am extremely excited for all three of these books, plus they are all different genres.
“Loveless” is written by Alice Oseman who also wrote the “Heartstopper” Series which I was obsessed with so I already know I will love this. I am also interested to see how different her novels are compared to her graphic novels.
“Ace” is a nonfiction book explaining what Asexuality is and what it is like to be Asexual. I am really interested in learning more about Asexuality because it is something I haven’t had the chance to explore and learn about and now having a book that has a 4.4 rating on Goodreads to help me learn as much as I can will be a great start! Reading all the reviews on Goodreads, I feel like this is going to be such a great experience.
“Coming Home to Her” By Emily Juniper is a poetry book. I don’t have much experience in reading poetry but I think it is about time I start reading it. I am very interested in poetry books but they are so very different from novels that I just haven’t really given them a chance. This one has a 4.1 rating on Goodreads and I think based off of the reviews that this will be a great poetry book to start with.
Like I said above I have like 20+ other books in my Amazon Wish List that I would really love to read but because I am moving this month I really don’t know if I will even be able to finish these five books but I really hope to at least read these ones. I plan on reading more LGBTQ+ reads throughout the year and I am very excited to post my reviews.
Wow! May was a pretty productive month for me reading wise which is great because I know June is going to be a very sad reading month due to my move! I Read/Listened to a total of 9 books in May which added up to about 3,000 pages! I am very excited to share with you all the books I loved and or hated this month. Make sure to check out my full review for the books, I will have links placed below the books I have a review for. So lets dive in!
Physical Books
“I Kissed Shara Wheeler” By Casey McQuiston
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Chloe has one thing on her mind: being Valedictorian. She is so close she could taste it! All that’s standing in her way is her rival Shara Wheeler. Shara is the most popular girl in school, not to mention the principals daughter, but Chloe lives and breathes beating Shara in all that they do. But when Shara kisses Chloe out of the blue and then vanishes, Chloe’s main goal is to find Shara so she can beat her to Valedictorian fair and square.
Chloe quickly realizes that she’s not the only one Shara kissed and ditched. There’s Smith, High school quarterback and Shara’s long term boyfriend. Then there’s Rory, the class bad boy and Shara’s next door neighbor. Together, they must work to solve cryptic clues left in some very creative places in order to find Shara and get some answers.
Along the way, new friendships are made, and old friendships are put to the ultimate test.
Nora’s whole life has been centered around books and her little sister Libby. They basically grew up in a book store so it was no surprise to anyone that she became an agent for authors, helping them get the best editorial and publishing deals. But unlike most book characters she’s not that happy go lucky girl who gets the dream guy. Instead, all her relationships fall apart because she is too focused on taking care of Libby and making a career for herself to really focus on her personal life.
Libby is a lot different than Nora. She has always been a romantic and she thinks her sister needs to experience that small town romance all romance book characters get to have. So her and Nora pack up for a month long trip to Sunshine Falls, the small town featured in one of Nora’s clients books. With a bucket list of book tropes to complete will Sunshine Falls finally help Nora find her true self?
Nessa has always known she had a special gift to hear the dead but when she got married and had kids her power seemed to go dormant due to the craziness of every day life. But with her husband dead and her two kids off at college she finds her life finally slowing down and one day she wakes up to the sound of a dead girl calling for her help.
Something inside of her tells her that she won’t be able to help this girl on her own and so her intuition brings her to find two other women with special gifts as well. Jo, a retired business woman who now owns a local women only gym who is filled with heat and rage. Then there is Harriet, the local “Witch” who knows the secrets of the wildlife and plants around her. Together these three women will bring justice to the girl calling to Nessa.
I have not made a full review for these books yet but now that I have read all four (Book five has not been released yet) I will be posting hopefully this week a full blog post about my thoughts and feelings to kick off pride month!
I absolutely love these books and honestly probably like these two better than the first two. Now that Charlie and Nick’s relationship is official you will see them struggle to find the best time and way to announce their relationship. You will also see them struggle with mental health and eating disorders which are already a really tough topic but were written in a great way.
Audio Books
I have not written full reviews for the Audio Books that I listened too and honestly I don’t really plan too so if you would like a synopsis for these books I recommend checking good reads. I will post my rating and Initial thoughts for these books down below.
“The Honey Don’t List” By Christina Lauren
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I love Christina Lauren and the way she portrays her characters! I really liked this book and felt like the relationship was cute but the ending was kind of a let down which is why it is only getting 4 stars and not 5 stars.
“Shipped” By Angie Hockman
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I am not really an enemies to lovers fan but this book handled the trope pretty well. I also really liked the sister relationship this book offered. Only four stars for this book just because it was enemies to lovers and the start of the relationship was rough but over all the book ended perfectly!
“In Five Years” By Rebecca Serle
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
This book started off so good! I was hooked immediately! However, it was not the book I thought it would be. It got really sad and made me cry, which was great! But the ending was just terrible and I really wish it had a different ending. Also the main character was very annoying!
Poetry
“F%#k it! why not?!” By R.S Green
⭐
Rating: 1 out of 5.
I read this book at 3 am one night when I couldn’t sleep. I am not one who typically reads poetry or really even know what good poetry is. But honestly this was not great poetry and I couldn’t relate to anything that I was reading. I highlighted maybe two passages but the rest was just not great. Maybe if I knew more about poetry I would have enjoyed it but I really don’t recommend this poetry book to anyone and I think it could be a waste of your time.
Wow, that was negative. I apologize but honestly don’t waste your time on this one.
DNF
I don’t DNF (Did Not Finish) books. I almost always either read two chapters and decide its not the right time for the book and come back later or I push through the book because I am already halfway so why not just finish it and give it a review. Well the book Down below made me realize life is too short to force yourself to finish a book you just can’t stand. This is my opinion on the book and if you loved it, great! If you hated it, great! If you want to read the book please read it cause you might enjoy it!
Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy–yes, that Wendy. She’s running a successful skincare company; her son, Jack, is happy and healthy; and the tragedy of her past is well behind her . . . until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but more dangerous than anyone could imagine.
Eden’s disappearance is a disaster for more reasons than one. She has a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly–ironic, considering her father is the boy who will never grow up–which also makes her blood incredibly valuable. It’s a secret that Holly is desperate to protect, especially from Eden’s half-brother, Jack, who knows nothing about his sister or the crucial role she plays in his life. Holly has no one to turn to–her mother is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined. Desperate, Holly enlists the help of Christopher Cooke, a notorious ex-soldier, in the hopes of rescuing Eden before it’s too late . . . or she may lose both her children.
This book was just a chore to read. I went in thinking this would be a dark, mysterious, Peter Pan retailing where he is in our world and less of Neverland. Well, yes that is the book but literally nothing happens in this book! I made it a little over halfway and I had no clue where this book was going. I had no connections to the characters and honestly didn’t care how the book ended. When I looked at this book sitting on my nightstand I was just not excited to read it. I have so many books on my TBR and it just didn’t make sense to keep reading something that did not bring me joy. So with this book I have started to DNF!
I Posted a TikTok video explaining why I DNF’d this book in more detail so if you’d like go ahead and check that out!
Favorite Quotes
“Every recipe is a spell and all cooks are witches”
From “The Change”
“Yes, you’re afraid of me because I’m better than you are. And if you give one talented woman the power she deserves, another will follow. Then another. And together they’ll show that their way is better. Then your whole fake f*cking world will come tumbling down.”
From “The Change”
“You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.”
From “Book Lovers”
“She feels like the spine of a book about to crack and spill out all the love story guts.”
From “I Kissed Shara Wheeler”
Coming Up
Ok, I have a lot of stuff coming up in the near future! We are just a few weeks from my one year blogging anniversary and I have some fun stuff planned for this so stay tuned! June is Pride Month so I will be posting my June TBR and I bet it all will be LGBTQ friendly! I also will be moving this month so blog posts might be few and far between but I will be back once life calms down.
So far this month I have finished seven books, three of which have been audio books and one was a poetry book. I haven’t done any official reviews for these yet but I think I might throw them all into one blog post later and do some mini reviews for them. It’s not that I don’t think they could all have a post dedicated to them but I just feel my audio book reviews tend to be less detailed than my physical book reviews for some reason.
“The Change” was a book I picked up from my Book of the Month subscription box this month and I was very excited to dive into it! To be honest I don’t read too many books that are over 400 pages, this is mostly just how the cards fall, I don’t have too many books on my shelf that are longer or if they are sitting on my shelf their size just feels intimidating! They take longer to read, obviously, and I tend to have a short attention span but I heard even though this book is long the story itself moves pretty fast which made it easier to dive into.
“One day, your life will grow quiet, and that’s when you’ll be able to hear them again. Like my auntie used to say, the gift arrives after the curse ends.”
Direct Quote From The Book
About The Book
Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Published Date: May 3rd, 2022
Page Count: 480 pages
Main Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Thriller
GoodReads Rating: 4.33
“Yes, you’re afraid of me because I’m better than you are. And if you give one talented woman the power she deserves, another will follow. Then another. And together they’ll show that their way is better. Then your whole fake f*cking world will come tumbling down.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Synopsis
Nessa has always known she had a special gift to hear the dead but when she got married and had kids her power seemed to go dormant due to the craziness of every day life. But with her husband dead and her two kids off at college she finds her life finally slowing down and one day she wakes up to the sound of a dead girl calling for her help.
Something inside of her tells her that she won’t be able to help this girl on her own and so her intuition brings her to find two other women with special gifts as well. Jo, a retired business woman who now owns a local women only gym who is filled with heat and rage. Then there is Harriet, the local “Witch” who knows the secrets of the wildlife and plants around her. Together these three women will bring justice to the girl calling to Nessa.
“Witch is the label society slaps on women it can’t understand or control.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
“Every recipe is a spell and all cooks are witches”
Direct Quote From The Book
Review
This book got four stars for one reason really. First I would recommend this book to all my friends as it was really well written and had a very interesting storyline. But if I liked it so much why not give it five stars? Well, yes, I did enjoy this book a lot but there were so many characters that a lot of the time I had to stop reading just to remember who that person was at the beginning of the book when they were first introduced. In fact, in the last 100 pages we still had new characters being introduced and it got exhausting at times. Now, these new characters were important to the story so I can mostly forgive this situation. Other than that I really didn’t have too many hang ups with this book.
The three main characters were all bad ass! They each had very unique gifts and overall I really enjoyed learning their back stories. I think Nessa was my favorite character just because I really felt her emotions and could tell how drained she would get having to witness the dead girls. Jo’s character was really powerful, she had my favorite back story and I really loved her relationship with her daughter. That brings us to Harriet, probably my least favorite character of the three. I didn’t care for her back story as much as the other two and I found her just kind of annoying. I felt her character was mostly there to just foreshadow events. However, her powers were extremely cool but also just felt unbelievable at times.
This book moved pretty quickly and had a lot of really great twists and turns around every corner. I liked how empowering it was for women of all ages and I think the author couldn’t have written a more powerful story. I highly recommend it to all my fellow friends and followers,
Trigger Warnings
Rape, Sexual Assault, Murder, Kidnapping and sexual Harassment
QOTD: If you could have a superpower what would it be?
World of Bai 