Book – Page 22 – World of Bai

July Hopefuls and My Current Reads

Now that the Fourth of July holiday is over I feel like I am ready to post my July hopefuls. Last month for June I had four hopefuls and read none of them and only finished one book. This month I am already half way through three books and have another three on my hopefuls list! Will I actually complete six books this month? To be honest probably not but one can only dream!

My Current Reads

61% done

60% done

65% done

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

I have been reading this book since the beginning of June. I really am enjoying this book however, it started off really slow for me so it took me awhile to actually get into. Now that I am over halfway done with the book it has gotten super interesting and so adorable. I am extremely invested!

“Desperate Measures” by Katee Robert

This book Is STEAMY! This book is a sexy retelling of Aladdin but instead of Jasmine falling for Aladdin she falls for Jafar and Aladdin (AKA Ali) is the actual bad guy. At first this was a strange storyline to get into because in my eyes Jafar was never really that attractive. With that said just forget what Jafar looks like in the cartoon and deep dive into this steamy book! There are some trigger warnings to be aware of; consensual – non consensual sex, violence and captivity.

“A Type of Hunger” by Pamela D. Beverly

I found this book when I was scrolling through some blog posts and I came across a comment from the author hoping to receive more reviews for her book. I immediately went to the kindle app store and bought her book. Honestly, I have been devouring this book! Her main character is a head strong male who loses his job and would rather risk every relationship he has than to tell anyone he is unemployed. You follow Nate through all his tough times and even his happy ones. I found myself really rooting for him! I can not wait to see how this pans out!

July Hopefuls

These are my three July hopefuls. I got “The Maidens” and “One Last Stop” in Junes BOTM box and I have been dying to read them! “Devils Knot” came from ONSWAB, my new favorite place to order books, and it is a true crime novel about The West Memphis Three case.

With these books I will hit a few different genres and I am so stoked about that! Thriller (My favorite genre), romance, true crime, non-fiction and LGBTQ Themes! I normally stick with just thrillers and mysteries with a few other genres scattered around occasionally so this month I am trying to get out of my comfort zone.

What books are you currently reading? What books are in your July hopeful piles? Are we reading any of the same books?

My 6 Month Freak Out!

We are officially halfway through this year and it is freaking me out! I feel like 2021 just started less than a few weeks ago, am I right? With how fast this year has gone I feel like I have seriously lost track of my reading goals which is honestly stressing me out probably more than it should.

In todays post I would like to share my 2021 reading goals, some early awards, life events and some highlights. Lets dive in!

Life Events

Seeing how this is a book blog I want to get this topic up first so we can dive right into what you are really here for.

As of July 1st me and my boyfriend have officially lived in our home for a whole year! This has been such an amazing adventure for us! We have been together for two and a half years and honestly living together has helped us grow so much closer as a couple and has also helped us become “real” adults. (This was one of our first ever pictures together)

This month is also my birthday! Here’s to surviving 22 years of life on this crazy earth! Last year Covid was in full swing so my 21st birthday wasn’t exactly how I expected it to be so I am hoping to celebrate with some of my closest friends this year! I will drop my amazon wish lists below if you would like to check them out.

Birthday wish list

Bookish wish list

I have some very exciting news that I am hoping to announce very soon as well! This will be something that I have been working so hard to finally get to, so I hope you are excited as well.

2021 Reading Goals

15/35 I am two books behind schedule according to my goodreads app.

Last year was my first time ever actually choosing to read books for fun. With that said I Started reading in late August and by the end of the year I had finished 15 books. So this year I set my reading goal just slightly above what I could have possibly read in a whole year, that number is 35 books!

35 books seems kind of like a small number to me only because I see so many people who can read half that number in a single month! I need to just stay focused on me though! Take things at my own pace and just enjoy reading.

June Wrap Up

This month I have mostly been focused on getting my blog up and running, which I did! However, at the begging of the month I said I wanted to read four books and honestly I only finished one!

Hopefuls

“The Flatshare” by: Beth O’Leary

“Where The Crawdads Sing” by: Delia Owens

“How Lucky” by: WIll Leitch

“My Husbands Wife” by: Jane Corry

What I Read

“A Deadly Influence” by: Mike Omer

This book wasn’t even on my hopefuls list and yet it was the one book that I actually finished this month. I read this on my kindle and I really enjoyed this whole book!

Check my review out here:

Book review

Early Bookish Awards

Best Book I’ve Read So Far

“The Lost Apothecary” by: Sarah Penner is the best book I have read in 2021.

I love the story Sarah is telling to her audience and the beautiful picture that she creates. Also just look at how gorgeous the cover is!

Check my review out here:

Book Review

Worst Book I’ve Read So Far

“Get a Life Chloe Brown” by: Talia Hibbert gets the title of the worst book so far in 2021.

This is probably not the book you were expecting to see here but unfortunately it’s true. I feel this book was way too over hyped and did not live up to those expectations for me.

Check out my review here:

Book Review

Best Writing

“Not That Rich” by: Belinda Lei Is receiving the award for best writing so far in 2021.

I have chosen this book for this particular award because Belinda is an amazing story teller! She is able to transport you into her world with her beautiful talent for words. I felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book.

Check my review out here:

Book Review

Most Anticipated Reads For The Rest Of 2021

These three books are currently at the top of my TBR. However, I only own “One Last Stop” by: Casey McQuinston. “The Last Graduate” by: Naomi Novik doesn’t come out for a few more months but I really can’t wait to get my hands on it! “The Guncle” by: Steven Rowley sounds like such a fun and cute read!

Overall

This year has really flown by and I am already a few books behind on my reading schedule. This month I am really hoping to read 4 books to get right on top of that reading goal I have. My TBR is growing very rapidly and I need to start reading a lot faster so I have room on my book shelf.

This year there has been so many amazing books being released, If only I could read them all. I actually have two boxes from Book Of The Month Club arriving soon along with a summer book box from One Night Stand With a book! My summer will hopefully be filled with some amazing summer reads thanks to these two Book Box companies. Down below I will post the link to these two services if you’d like to check them out! Also stay tuned for a few big announcements and a Book Mail post!

Happy reading and stay safe this holiday weekend!

Links for book boxes

Book Of The Month Club: https://www.mybotm.com/wihpnuqty7n?show_box=true

One Night Stand With a Book: https://www.onenightstandwithabook.com/shop

Credits

Lost Apothecary: Google

Get a Life Chloe Brown: My Photo

Not That Rich: My Photo

The Guncle: Google

The Last Graduate: Google

One Last Stop: Google

June Hopefuls: My Photo

A Deadly Influence: Google

Throwback Thursday (Book Review) “Get A Life Chloe Brown” By: Talia Hibbert

Welcome back to another Throwback Thursday book review. This week I want to highlight a two star read of mine. Once again this review might be controversial because everyone seems to love this book! “Get a Life Chloe Brown” is highly talked about and I have came across some really amazing reviews from other readers that made me want to pick this book up, so I ordered it on amazon and immediately dove into it.

Synopsis

Chloe Brown has Fibromyalgia which causes chronic pain, tie that together with being dumped by a fiancé and you get a girl who stays at home to protect her health and feelings. However, after a near death experience she puts together a list, not a bucket list but a “Get a Life List”. On this list are a few items such as; ride on a motorcycle, go camping and a few things to the extreme of have meaningless sex. However, one thing was not on that list and it was to fall in love.

Rating

⭐️⭐ / 5 Stars

Review

This book I felt was way over hyped as I saw so many five star reviews. This I feel is a big reason I couldn’t get into it and maybe if I picked this up with zero expectations I would have enjoyed this a bit more. However, after this book I really don’t see myself picking up the other two books in this series.

It took me a very long time to get into this read because it was very slow to start out. I also did not feel any kind of connection with Chloe other than being Plus size and having some health issues. The characters didn’t jump out at me for any particular reason and the relationship felt quite forced. It was a lot of off and on with feelings and it was rough to sit through. However sometimes you did like the relationship and it could be cute at times so I guess I am at a toss up with that.

From other peoples reviews I was expecting some major spicy scenes, don’t get me wrong, there were a few scenes that peeked my interest but not as many as I thought there would be I guess. However sometimes in books with spicy scenes use some interesting choice descriptive words that leave you feeling more awkward than interested, this book was not one of those. I felt quite comfortable with the words Talia used to describe these scenes, so I applaud that!

The main reasons this got a low rating of two stars would be;

I struggled to finish the book
I did not love the characters relationship
Chloe wasn’t very relatable in my eyes
Chloe got on my nerves more often than not

These points are highlighted in my previous post called “My Rating System” Follow this link to check that out. https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/14/my-rating-system/

Have you read this book/series? If so what were your thoughts? Maybe I have been a bit harsh on this book.

(Book Review) “A Deadly Influence” By: Mike Omer

I chose this book as a free book from Amazon First reads a few months back. Have you heard of Amazon First Reads? Are you a Prime member or a Kindle Unlimited member? Each month Amazon posts a list of early release books or editors choice books and knocks the price down for Prime members or FREE for Kindle Unlimited members. You will get to pick one book off this list and occasionally even two! follow this link to see the books for this month; https://www.amazon.com/firstreads/ref=apubna_pr_gs_10002_tx_1_br_2106

Synopsis

Abby Is a police hostage negotiator for the NYPD. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of her chaotic life. When Eden Fletcher reports her son Nathan as missing, Abby is faced with her past. Eden and Abby grew up in a cult that Abby has worked so hard to forget. While battling her past that’s barreling towards her she knows she has to stay focused because Nathan’s life is at risk! Can Abby Find Nathan in time or will her past hold her back?

Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars

Review

This book dives deep into the struggles people in cults are facing whether they are currently in that cult or have gotten themselves out of it, the tragedies they faced in the cult will always follow them and this book really shows that. I personally don’t know too much about cults but I found this book very insightful and it made me want to do some of my own research.

I feel all the characters had really interesting story lines and each of them had their own struggles and secrets that really kept me engaged in each chapter.

I really didn’t have anything bad to say about this book! The way it ended had me craving the second book so I immediately went to buy it. However, jokes on me because it sadly doesn’t come out till March 2022.

things to be aware of are some possible trigger warnings before picking up this book.

🚫 Possible Trigger Warning 🚫

Cults

Rape

Kidnapping

What are your favorite Thriller books?

Throwback Thursday (Book Review) “Anxious People” By: Fredrik Backman

It is another Throwback Thursday book review post. this week I am going to be posting what will probably be a very unpopular opinion. This is my one star review for Fredik Backman’s book “Anxious People”.

I originally gave this book a three star review however, after I redid my reviewing scale it got bumped all the way down to just a single star! Check out how I got to this point in this previous article https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/14/my-rating-system/

Synopsis

🚫 Possible Spoilers 🚫

This book is about a bank robber, a man on a bridge and a hostage situation, But mostly a group of mysterious people with many secrets.

What would you do if your kids were about to be taken away from you because you are missing just a few thousand dollars? Maybe you would beg for help, ask your ex for a little more time or maybe choose to rob a bank.

When your plan goes unexpected you run across the street and take hostages in an apartment. How will you get yourself out of this situation?

The biggest question the cops have is who is the suspect in this room full of strange and suspicious people?

Rating

⭐️/ 5 Stars

Review

This book took me about 200 pages to get into, which is more than half the book by the way. I really wanted to love this book because of how highly everyone else rates it but this really let me down. I honestly forced myself to finish this book just to say that I read it which is a lot of the reason I gave it only one star.

I felt this book was just a bunch of hypothetical questions each chapter that led you to a very small clue. I didn’t really get into the story because of that. It wasn’t a very interesting story until close to the end when you start putting two and two together. However, the ending did have a nice twist which I feel is why everyone loves this book.

This was my first Fredik Backman book and I kind of feel like it will be my last. If I were to read another one of his, which one should I read?

Photo Credit: Google

Probably My Greatest Accomplishment

On Thursday this past week I received a book in the mail. The book is a hardback copy of Belinda Lei’s “Not THAT Rich”, I already own The E-Book and the paperback copy so if that doesn’t tell you how much I loved this book maybe this review will https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/20/not-that-rich-by-belinda-lei-book-review/

I originally received a free paperback copy from the author herself in return of an honest review, this review ended up being a five star review because I truly loved it! This book is Belinda’s debut novel and with her writing you would never be able to tell that, she is extremely talented and able to paint a beautiful picture in your head as she tells her story.

The reason why I am posting about this book once again is because on the hardback front cover flap there is a blurb that I wrote! Can you believe it? Because Idk if I can. Someone pinch me please!

All because of an incredible Debut novel an amazing friendship bloomed and I couldn’t be happier! Please go follow and support my dear friend and her wonderful book!

Belinda’s Website https://notthatrich.com/

Belinda’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/blei_writes/