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!
I posted my review for Casey McQuiston’s second book “One Last Stop” earlier this week. It only felt right to post a throwback book review from when I read Casey’s first book “Red, White and Royal Blue”. I read this book At the beginning of November 2020 and fell in love instantly! Let’s dive into this review!
Synopsis
Alex Claremont-Diaz is a young College boy who dreams of being the next big politician. With his mom being the first female president in the White House, what could possibly hold him back? Maybe a prince who he hates, maybe the lack of knowledge he has for his own sexuality, or maybe his mother’s competition for the 2020 election.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Review
I was seeing this book all over bookstagram with some amazing reviews! Seeing these reviews made me immediately download the book on my kindle and I devoured it!
This political love story pulled your emotions every which way and had you rooting for the best possible outcome. Putting this book down is extremely difficult because it’s just that perfect!
If you are looking for a romance novel, LGBTQ Novel, or even something a little political based on our nation’s tough times. This book has something for you!
I didn’t run into any issue with this book much like “One Last Stop”. Casey just has this way of creating amazing characters and writing a story that pulls you in within the first chapters! I can not wait for her next book to come out, I will for sure be one of the firsts to grab the book off of the shelf.
QOTD: Have you read both of Casey’s books, even just one? I want to hear your thoughts!
We are four days into August so I think we are past due for our monthly hopeful list. So far for the two months I have posted hopeful lists I haven’t Followed along with them too well. I think that I am just too much of a mood reader to actually plan things and stick to it. As per tradition I will still be posting a hopefuls and I really feel positive about this list!
Hopefuls List
I have chosen these four books all for pretty specific reasons. I am in quite a few buddy reads this month to help me want to finish more books this month.
“The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune
This book has been on my TBR since I started bookstagram a little less than a year ago.
I started my own buddy read on Facebook and this book was this months choice for that buddy read. We have a pretty small group of people but I think it is going to be a really good book for our group.
There is still time to join the buddy read! Click the link below and come join us!
This book is also part of a buddy read I am in this month with Court.Betweenthecovers feel free to click on the link to join this buddy read as well! The more the merrier!
Honestly, I have been looking forward to this book for about a month now and I have heard so many amazing reviews about this book. I have heard it has a ton of violence in it so just beware of possible trigger warnings.
“Been There, Married That” by Gigi Levangie
I received this book in my June premium book box from One Night Stand With a Book. I absolutely loved this box that I got and honestly the title alone pulled me in!
This will be my main romance read for this month. I am trying to pick a bunch of different genres to try and expand my horizons just a bit.
Have you heard of this book before? It only has a 2.81 star rating on goodreads but also very few ratings so I am willing to give it a chance!
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
First of all this book is very short! I feel like I can knock this book out in a day or two and can help me reach my reading goal for the year.
Next this is considered a classic and I really haven’t read any classics in my life other than in school when I was forced. Let’s be honest I didn’t read those books I just used sparknotes.
Lets get this book under my belt and finally say I have read and finished a classic!
This month I have quite a few different genres selected and I think that is what makes me the most excited about this months picks. I also have two buddy reads this month to help me get back on track with my reading goal and to help make closer friendships with other book lovers! This month has a lot of positive things going for me and I can’t wait to see how I do!
QOTD: Are you involved in any buddy reads? Drop them down below and explain what book your group is reading!
At the beginning of this month I made a pretty big TBR hopeful list for myself that I really wanted to tackle. Did I complete my hopefuls or did I fall short? Lets find out!
The Honest Truth
These three books were my main hopefuls for this month! I got “The Maidens” and “One Last Stop” in my June Book of the Month box and was dying to read them! “Devil’s Knot” came in a true crime premium book box from One Night Stand With a Book and I have been dying to read it since!
I am going to be honest with you, I only read one of these hopefuls and that was “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston. I know I will get around to the other two books hopefully soon! I have read so many great reviews about “The Maidens” that I need to hop on that train soon!
What Did I Really Read
Did you really think I only finished one book this last month? I am a slow reader but come on, I’m not that slow!
I read a total of four books this month, one of which was a graphic novel. Have you read any of these books? Would you count a graphic novel towards your reading goals?
Five Star Ratings
“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston
I gave this book a five star rating because it truly deserved it!
The characters in this LGBTQ book were written so well and I could really find someway to relate to each and everyone of them. From true crime to psychics you can find some reason to love these characters.
This was my first ever graphic novel, I stumbled across this gem at an art festival in Utah! Turns out Chris is also from Utah and created this gorgeous piece of work!
The cat Julius is my absolute favorite! He is so cute and hilarious! I haven’t wrote an official review yet but you should give it a look!
Four Star Reads
“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens
I gave this a four star read because it didn’t fully live up to the hype but was still really good! It started off a little slow but the ending was so good!
This is a very talked about book and honestly I would be so surprised if you haven’t read this one yet, but if you haven’t here is your sign!
Last month went a lot better than I originally expected. I have lately only been reading two or three books each month so to get four books finished I am pretty happy with that! I am hoping I can keep this momentum up for August and read at least four books!
QOTD: How many books did you finish this month? Did you read all the books on you list or did you mood read?
One of the most talked about LGBTQ books I have seen lately is Casey McQuiston’s second book “One Last Stop”. After reading her first book, “Red, White and Royal Blue”, and absolutely loving it, I knew I had to pick this one up and see if all the hype lived up to the expectations.
“I don’t know how to have something that I do, every day, like as an adult who does a thing. It’s nuts that we all start out having these vague ideas of what we like to do, hobbies, interests, and then one day everybody has their thing, you know?”
Direct quote from book. Page 159
Summary
August moves to New York for school but mostly to escape her mothers obsession with finding Augusts missing uncle. With luck she finds a cheap apartment for rent with the most unlikely roommates, a decent job at a pancake diner and a perfect subway route on the Q train. But she could never have imagined this combination of things could change her life.
A coffee stain threatens embarrassment when she stumbles onto the Q train and a very attractive girl is standing there starring back at her. After a delightful conversation a friendship, but mostly a big crush, blooms.
As August goes about her daily routines the Q train takes her to each destination and Subway Girl happens to always be on the train with her. Life continues, love blossoms and trials occur. Will love concur all? Will Augusts mom ever figure out what happened to her brother? Read this book and fall in love as every mystery gets opened up.
“But to kiss and be kissed. To be wanted. That’s a different thing from love. And maybe, maybe if she tried, they could have something. Not everything, but something.”
Direct quote from book. Page 210
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Review
I absolutely loved this book! It had everything that I could have ever asked for in a good romance read. Steamy scenes, check! Loveable characters, check! Great writing, check! I fell in love with this book from the first chapter, no joke. I really love Casey’s writing, she has this way of pulling you into the story and making relatable characters.
There was a sentence at the beginning of the book, Page 49 to be exact, that states “All I listen to are podcasts about murder.” When I read that one single sentence I knew that August and I were pretty similar. I really do listen to true crime podcast all day every day! I feel that it is very important for authors to create relatable characters so their audience gets pulled into their books and feel some kind of emotional ties to the characters they are reading about.
I honestly didn’t find anything about this book that bugged me. It felt like an original idea, I didn.t find any spelling or grammar mistakes or at least any that caught my attention, I had no issues with any of the characters and I devoured this entire book! I Highly recommend for everyone to stop what they are doing and grab this book!
I will be completely honest, I haven’t read too many LGBTQ books and I really regret it. Especially after I read this book I know I will be searching for my next LGBTQ read! If you have any suggestions please send them my way!
If You Liked This Then You Will Love This
Written by the same author, of course you would love her second book. However, I feel like “One Last Stop” was even better than “Red, White and Royal Blue” which amazes me because I loved RWRB so very much! If you haven’t read either of them then pick them both up!
QOTD: What is your favorite LGBTQ book that you have read? What is one on you TBR?
World of Bai 