Book – Page 6 – World of Bai

My Top 5 Five Star Predictions

I have been in a pretty big social media slump. I have had little to no desire to post especially bookish content. I just really wanted to read for me and not for the likes. This is all in the hopes that I could pull myself out of not only a posting slump but what ended up being a huge reading slump!

My hopes is that if I start posting general bookish content other than just reviews that this will get me excited about reading again. My first go at this is a topic that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I still have not given a five star read out for 2024 and that surely is not helping my slump. So maybe if I pick things from this list I will have a better chance of getting that first five star!

Top 5 Five Star Predictions

For The Last Half Of 2024

“Funny Story”

By Emily Henry

This book has been high on my new and upcoming list. In fact I was 99% positive I preordered this. Jokes on me it never came on release day… Anyways, I will be getting my hand on this book soon!

Emily Henry has yet to do me wrong!

“Finlay Donovan Is Killing It”

By Elle Cosimano

This book has been highly recommended to me by my closet friend Syd! I have it just sitting on my shelf begging to be read! I am truly dying to read this one but I am scared all at the same time… I really don’t want this one to disappoint!

“Monstrilio”

By Gerardo Samano Cordova

This book instantly caught y eye as it was listed on so many peoples end of the year favorites list for 2023. I bought it then placed it by my bed where it has stayed for approximately two months… Look I promise I have plans to read it, okay, but this book intimidates me!

“Emily Wildes Map Of The Otherlands”

By Heather Fawcett

This is the second book in this series and I absolutely adored the first! For this one I am just scared it won’t live up to all my hype I have put around it base don the first. I just really don’t want to be let down so I have been putting this one off. However this is my most anticipated 2024 release so I need to get to it ASAP!

“Bookshops & Bonedust”

By Travis Baldree

This is also a second book in a series that I adored the first. So again I am just scared this won’t live up to the first book. This is also a prequel which I think this scares me the most. I really loved the dynamic we had in the first so I don’t know that I will love what is happening in this one. However, My boyfriend read this and did enjoy it and said I just need to dive in. So hopefully soon!

Making this list got me super excited to read them so I can make a new list and kinda just keep this rolling! I am also hoping that I can do some reading sprints and just knock these out. Here’s to hoping I can get out of this crazy slump!

Book Review: “Dungeons and Drama” By Kristy Boyce

This book was Mostly just a cover buy, I normally don’t love the look of covers that have people on them even if it is a cartoon drawing but the bright pink and over all esthetic of this cover really pulls you in. My boyfriend also really loves DND and I really love musicals so this just felt like the perfect book for me to pick up.

“I decided having something fake with you was better than having nothing at all. I would have faked it forever rather than give you up.”
Kristy Boyce, Dungeons and Drama

About The Book

Author: Kristy Boyce

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Published Date: January 9th, 2024

Page Count: 304 Pages

Main Genres: Romance, YA, Contemporary

GoodReads Rating: 4.23

Format: Physical Book

Synopsis

Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she’s grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop.

Riley can’t waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan’s Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she would’ve thought…

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

Review

As a reminder mild spoilers may be ahead.

Despite this being a cover buy, I did actually read this for a potential buddy read in February and I was shocked at how quickly I actually flew through this one.

I will be the first to admit that the first 50-75 pages of this book were beyond boring and I was close to DNF’ing the book before I hit that mark. Once I did hit 50 ish to 75 ish pages I read it in one sitting! So it does pick up pace I promise.

I don’t know what it is but the main girl characters in books lately have all just been a tad bit annoying to me. I am not sure if this is a me problem or if authors just like writing annoying female leads. Riley is quite head strong and she will do anything she can to make the musical happen for her school which is great but honestly I cared more about the dungeons and dragons story line more than the musical aspect of this book. I love that she picked a bard as her DND character as it does fit her really well, and again this is a me problem, but I really hated that she was actually singing broadway songs during the campaign. Again, I know this is who she is and there is honestly nothing wrong with it but I personally could never and in my mind the songs had nothing to do with the game or the situation she was needing them for so in my mind it was just cringey and showboaty.

Kind of along the same lines as above, Riley literally is the whole reason this school musical happens which is great, girl bossing. But it just felt so unrealistic, the teacher literally said you will have to do this on your own, like excuse me? I have never been in theater so I am truly not an expert on the topic and I did come from a school that was number one in state drama comps so my school was seriously into their theater shows and theres no way that the student body could have pulled this off, maybe it is different in a smaller school but again It all feels too perfect in my eyes.

Now, let’s talk about the romance. I love a good fake dating trope and I really loved Nate! I knew as soon as Nate walked into the scene I would have no issues with him. Sure he is pining for another girl but you can quickly tell he has more interest in Riley than anyone else but he is just too awkward to come out and say that. I do think our characters had chemistry with each other and I am pleased with the way the book ended things. I felt like our third act conflict was a tad annoying but I also think that about most conflicts in romance books.

I know this maybe sounds like a negative review but honestly I am just being nit-picky. After all I devoured this book in one sitting because I was truly invested in this fake dating even if everyone knew they were fake dating but Sophia. I love a good jealousy plot after all.

If you have this book on your radar I do suggest giving it a chance. It’s a super light and quick read that you can knock off your list, so why not?

QOTD: How do you feel about YA books?

Book Review: “Flawless” By Elsie Silver

At this point in the year I have read 17 books and it is only the beginning of March! I truly hope this streak continues, but with that said I am quite behind on reviews as I haven’t posted any since January. Will I catch up on all of them? Probably not but now I have some back up reviews to fall onto if needed.

I honestly had no desire to pick this book/series up. Sure I have heard quite a few good things about it but I haven’t really been feeling romance books as of late. However, I met a new friend and she wanted to read something together and this was one that we could agree on and to say I devoured it would be an understatement.

“You were out there this whole time, and now I know you exist, and I can never go back. Wouldn’t want to if I could.”
Elsie Silver, Flawless

About The Book

Author: Elsie Silver

Publisher: Bloom Books

Published Date: June 24th, 2022

Page Count: 400

Main Genres: Sports Romance, contemporary

GoodReads Rating: 4.01

Format: Physical Book

“I’m tired of doing what I should and ignoring what I want. And what I want is you. Inside me. All around me. I want you with me. And I want to be the only one.”
Elsie Silver, Flawless

Synopsis

The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.

But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.

I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.

A mouth I can’t stop thinking about.

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.

She says this means nothing.

I say this means everything.

She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart.

I say I’m going to steal it anyway.

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

3.75

Review

As me and my friend were wandering Barns and Noble we realized quickly that we seem to have different tastes in books which there is nothing wrong with. But she leans more towards fantasy and far away from thrillers. Where I am a thriller girly and have only recently tried dipping my toe into fantasy. The safest option for us to buddy read was a romance. While debating what book to pick we had at least 5 people come up to us and recommend this series. So this is for all five of you who said we wouldn’t regret picking this up. (P.S.) While I write this my friend hasn’t even started the book… OOPS…

Do I regret reading this book? No, absolutely not. Did I adore it just as much as everyone else? Well… That’s also a no, but based on the Average GoodReads rating I fell just below the average person in enjoyment, that is not too bad in my opinion.

When I first read the back of the book and found out this was about a Bull Rider I wasn’t all that interested. Look I am from a small country town but the rodeo was not a scene I particularly enjoyed. But for this being about Bull Riding we really didn’t read too much about that particular aspect, Sure we read a few quick paragraphs about his rides but once the comps were over it dove more into small town country life so it really wasn’t in my face as much as I thought it would be which pleasantly surprised me.

I read this book in practically one sitting meaning I read 75% in one day which is extremely quick for me! This is a super fluffy quick read that doesn’t take much, if any, brain power. I would rate the spice at like a 2/5, so there wasn’t too much spice compared to other books I have read but my oh my the pining was so good! The first spicey scene wasn’t till at least half way so we really got to get to know the characters and see them fall for each other which really helped this books rating on my side of things.

I do think these characters made a good couple. I really like that we start of with an uptight main character and get to watch her slowly let go of the “reins” Haha see what I did there? The character development was probably one of my favorite parts of this book.

The biggest issue I had with this book is that we had quite a few side characters but didn’t get a lot of information on them and this is of course because they get their own books later down the line and Elsie can’t spoil anything for their stories. In a way this made me excited to pick up the other books but also left me with burning questions that made it hard to to care about their characters and the roles they play in the main characters lives. I just felt a lack of connection to some of these side characters that hindered this book in its own way. I have heard the series only gets better as you go and I can now understand why.

Do I recommend this book? Sure, if you are interested then go for it but if you are on the edge then I would say you can skip it.

Will I continue this series? Well the second is already in my amazon shopping cart so yeah I will probably continue but only because I am into hockey romances at the moment and “Powerless” is just that!

“If this were my last moment alive, how would I want it to be?”
Elsie Silver, Flawless

QOTD: What Romance Series are you obsessed with?

Book Review: “Ruthless Vows” By Rebecca Ross

Divine Rivals was up for the running for my top books of 2023 so I was beyond excited to start the second and final book in this series. We read Divine Rivals as my book club pick for November so we decided to read Ruthless Vows as Buddy read and me and my friends had a blast discussing this.

This is a second and final book in a duology so there may be spoilers ahead, proceed with caution if you haven’t read Divine Rivals.

“Their souls weren’t mirrors but complements, constellations that burned side by side.”
Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

About The Book

Author: Rebecca Ross

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Published Date: December 26th, 2023

Page Count: 432 Pages

Main Genres: Fantasy, Romance

GoodReads Rating: 4.31

Format: Physical Book

“For anyone who sought a different realm through a wardrobe door, Who wrote a letter and is still waiting for a reply, Or who dreams of stories and bleeds words.”
Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

Synopsis

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

Synopsis From Goodreads

Rating

Review

Before you start reading this review I highly recommend reading my Divine Rivals Review. I also want to point out that their will be spoilers in this review so read at your own risk.

This book picked off only two weeks after the ending events of Divine Rivals so we really don’t miss anything and just jump right on in. I really appreciated this as I was worried we would have a time jump and would be going back and fourth on timelines but this was really straight forward and we quickly got into the action.

I really think this book could have been broken into two books. We receive so much information and have so many big things happen in the first half that at that half way point I was just mentally exhausted to the point where I took a few days off of reading to hype myself back up. I am not saying this as a bad thing though. Yes we had a ton of info thrown at us but it was all much needed information, I really don’t think Rebecca could have taken anything out to lighten it up a bit and I don’t know that I would want that in the first place. I just think we could have had two books because of the total amount of events and information and stretched this series out a bit longer because I need more of these characters! Another plus for it being so action packed was that it really did make reading this book fly by! It was truly unput downable (If you don’t count my mental exhaustion break lol).

I absolutely love that we got to see them write more letters back and fourth to each other. I was a bit worried this wouldn’t happen but looking back that feels like a silly thing to worry about seeing how the letters are such a huge factor into their relationship. Speaking of their relationship I have some thoughts… I want, no actually, I need more! By the end of the first book we had just barely fell in love with them before they tragically got ripped apart and in this one we did see their relationship grow but the epilogue left me wanting to know about their lives after. I really want to see them through to the end.

Can we talk about the way I literally was screaming when he found her in that wardrobe! The moment he remembered her and then had to immediately send her away and then watch her get shot at! My Heart! I was just rooting for them the whole time and truly did not want to see anything go wrong for these two, and man oh man did they find themselves in some incredibly sticky situations! This book kept me on my toes!

I will always recommend this series to people, especially those who are newer to fantasy just like me.

“Write me a story where there is no ending, Kitt. Write to me and fill my empty spaces.”
Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

QOTD: What was the first Fantasy Series you ever read all the way through?

2023 Book Superlatives

2023 was not the best reading year for me but I also didn’t do to terrible either. I read a lot of graphic novels and manga though and I really did enjoy most everything I read so overall I am pretty happy with my year. I think reading 55 books is my max goal for at least this year if not even for 2025 but I guess we shall see!

Fun Stats

My Goal: 57/55 Books Read

Moods

Lighthearted, Funny and Adventurous I guess are the three words that can describe my reading year for 2023. I think this is because I read a bit of cozy Fantasy and also a lot of Easy Manga and Graphic Novels which were all pretty lighthearted.

Main Genres

This list makes me think I have diverse reading tastes but that couldn’t be farther from the case. I did read a lot more fantasy than I would typically read, however I am still surprised that it tied with Manga! Thriller and Horror are also a lot lower than I expected, I plan on reading a lot more thrillers and horrors in 2024 for sure.

Format

I am really happy with my format ratios. I would like to read more audio and digital books but overall this looks better than previous years. 2024 is going to be my digital era, I am calling it now!

Most Read Authors

Tatsuya Endo is the author for the Spy Family Manga Series and I read 9 of those! For sure am not surprised by this list.

Page Number

This feels pretty typical to me as I try to stay away from books that have more than 500 pages. Maybe this should be a goal of mine in 2024.

Pace

Not surprised by this at all seeing how I mostly read short books this year that I flew through! I hardly read any books that were really drug out, thank heavens.

Fiction/Nonfiction

This is one of my biggest goals for 2024, I really want to start reading more nonfiction reads, whether this is memoirs, self-help or even just general nonfiction. I feel hungry for knowledge this year.

Ratings

This Average Rating blows my mind, 4.31 is really high! But again I read so many short and cozy books that it was hard to not give everything 5 stars. I honestly am trying to get tighter with my ratings so I don’t expect this many 5 stars in one year for awhile.

Book of the Year

This is probably the biggest surprise of 2023 for me. Before I read this book I couldn’t have ever guessed I was going to read it let alone LOVE it! I’m not a huge fantasy reader so I was scared to pick this one up along with the huge amount of hype surrounding it, I just had no desire to read it. But then came along @bees.book.buzz and she somehow convinced me to read this one before Iron Flame was released and I can’t thank her enough for introducing me to this world!

Make sure to read my Review for both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame

Top 5

These are my top 5 Books in no particular order and not including my Book of the Year

Top 5 Graphic Novels/Manga

Awards

Favorite Book Club Read

“Divine Rivals” By Rebecca Ross

This was a hard one to pick a winner for because my book club genuinely read quite a few fantastic books this year but this is the one that I had the most fun reading and doing the live show for.

Make sure to check out my book club @bais.reading.corner we have some amazing books planned for the new year!

Full Review

Best Dressed (Prettiest Cover)

“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” By Gabrielle Zevin

This cover is honestly so gorgeous! I have the Book of the Month copy which is exactly what you see here but I am so jealous of the people who have the paperback, as from what I have seen, the cover is holographic! Just Gorgeous!

Full Review

Least Favorite Book

“Penpal” By Dathan Auerbach

Oh man, I had some really high hopes for this book and it truly fell flat. I normally don’t rate books I haven’t finished but I made it like 80% of the way through before I decided I had had enough so I am going to rate this one star. If you liked this book I envy you cause I tried so hard!

Favorite Blog Post

“Iron Flame” By Rebecca Yarros

I devoured this book and really got sucked into the hype and all of the what if’s for the future of this series. This review took me literally 8 hours to write but I had so much fun and to this date is my best review view wise.

Full Review

A Book That Surprised Me

“Babel” By R.F. Kuang

I rated this book 4 stars and honestly I didn’t have that high of hopes for it as this is not a genre I would typically go for along with the fact that it was so long and felt “Educational” . Overall very happy with this book! The audio was amazing for it as well.

Full Review

Most Likely To Make You Swoon

“A Cat Cafe Christmas” By Codi Gary

This was the last romance I read this year and it was seriously so cute! The romance was a little bit of a slow burn but while you wait for them to click you get to fall in love with all the cute kitties! This is the perfect setting for a swoon worthy Book.

Full Review and Donation Links

An Overhyped Book

“The Writing Retreat” By Julia Bartz

Before I picked up this book I was hearing so many great reviews from booktubers I truly love and typically have similar taste’s too so I was so excited to pick this one up. Guys…This book was a major flop and not worth your time! The twists weren’t even that good TBH. I suppose it wasn’t even worth a review because I never wrote one haha.

Spiciest Book

“Icebreaker” By Hannah Grace

I went into this book pretty much blind, I knew there was spice but I really thought I would get more time out on the ice but I got mostly bed scenes. I still liked this book but honestly I could have used more plot and less sex lol but to each their own.

Full Review

A Book That I Wish I Read In 2023

“In The Lives Of Puppets” By TJ Klune

This book has been on my radar since it was announced. I have no clue why I haven’t picked this one up yet as it has been on my shelf since it came out. However, I have heard it isn’t his best work which I guess makes me push it off cause he is one of my favorite authors to date.

Overall I am very happy with my 2023 reading. I met all the goals I had set up for myself so that makes me even more excited for 2024. I can’t wait to see how well this next year goes. Thank you for all the support I have gotten this past year and all of the friendships I have made. Here’s to another fantastic year!

Book Review: “A Cat Cafe Christmas” By Codi Gary

This was the last Book I read in 2023 and it was such a perfect romance to end the year on. I am lucky to have friends who know my reading tastes so well that they can provider spot on recommendations, thanks @bees.book.buzz for convincing me to pick this one up during the holidays.

Donation Links

This book talked about how difficult it can be for some of these animal non-profits to make money, In light of that I am going to link the cat cafe’s websites I have recently been too along with their donation tabs if you feel so inclined to donate to one of these amazing places.

Tinkers Cat Cafe (SLC Utah)

Neko Cat Cafe (Seattle WA)

This was Kewpert Mayonnaise, he stole my heart! I was so sad I couldn’t adopt him!

About The Book

Author: Codi Gary

Publisher: Forever Books

Published Date: October 4th, 2022

Page Count: 375 Pages

Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 3.75

Format: Physical Book

Synopsis

Veterinarian and animal lover Kara Ingalls needs a Christmas miracle. Opening the Meow and Furrever Cat Café to find loving homes for adorable, adoptable cats was a dream come true—but with more cats than customers, it’s quickly turning into a nightmare. If Kara can’t figure out some way to get the café out of the red, it won’t last past the holidays.

Marketing guru Ben Reese may be annoyingly smart and frustratingly bossy, but when he hatches a plan to put the café in the “green” by Christmas, Kara realizes that she’d be a fool to turn down his help. And so what if he turns out to be an excellent problem solver and nerdy-hot—he can’t even handle fostering one little kitten. She needs to keep their relationship professional and focus on saving the cafe.

But if Ben and Kara can set aside their differences—and find homes for all the cats by Christmas—they might discover that, by risking their hearts, they’ll have their own purr-fect holiday . . . together.

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

Review

I really haven’t been reading a lot of romance books this year, they just haven’t really been doing it for me like they used too. So I didn’t think this would really interest me all that much especially a holiday romance as I don’t have a great track record with them. But this book was seriously so cute that I couldn’t put it down! I mean how could you go wrong with a book about a cat cafe?! I am a huge sucker for cat cafe’s, in fact me and Noah go to the local one a few times a year and even stopped by one while we were vacationing in Seattle!

This book talked a lot about mental health and the every day struggles people go through especially when having anxiety and panic attacks. I truly loved this representation! The way all the characters handled certain situations just made my heart melt.

The one thing that I truly loved about this book was how little spice was in it. I know this might seem weird to some people but I really just loved reading about the characters emotional connections and watching them grow closer together without physical intimacy being shoved down your throat. In my opinion this was a very cozy romance read and that was exactly what I went in expecting.

Something fun I loved about this book was that each chapter started with one of the adoptable cats names and their cute little bio. Because this was a Christmas read a bunch of the cats names were Christmas themed but they were at least very unique and that made the book just that much better. I highly recommend everyone to read this one!

QOTD: Have you ever been to a cat cafe?