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.
Emily Henry is probably my second favorite author after Casey McQuiston and it just so happened that they each released their third books on the exact same day, May 3rd. Like most books I read, I don’t really read the back of the books, I typically go in blind only knowing the main genres and of course I did that with this book. I knew this would be a romance book just like her other two books before this, I also heard it was the enemies to lovers trope about thirty minutes before I started. In the past I haven’t loved that trope so I was interested to see how I would rate this one.
“You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.”
Direct Quote From The Book
About The Book
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley
Published Date: May 3rd, 2022
Page Count: 384 Pages
Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
GoodReads Rating: 4.55
“That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Synopsis
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?
“Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.”
Direct Quote From The Book
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
“She wonders whether what comes next could ever live up to the expectations. She doesn’t know. You never can. She turns the page anyway.”
Direct Quote From the Book
Review
I mentioned above that I heard this would be an enemies to lovers type book and to be honest I was a little worried to actually start it for that reason. However, I felt like the characters had some slight animosity towards each other and just a small misunderstanding of each others feelings. Over all I really loved Nora and Charlies relationship. They had really cute banter and I felt like they were the most perfect couple! Their relationship didn’t feel forced which is something I find happens in a lot of romance books but Emily Henry really just nailed this couple and wrote them in a way that you could literally feel their connection while reading.
I gave this five stars but to be honest I was on the edge of giving it four stars and the reason why is because I didn’t love the disconnect between Nora and Libby. Their relationship honestly felt exhausting. I couldn’t really love Libby’s character because every time she came into the scene it felt like she was finding an excuse to leave. Their background story is heart breaking which really helped build their characters but I guess I wished they had more scenes together even though this is a romance book and should be mostly focused on the love interest but this was so much more than just a romance read. Their was a lot of family aspects in this book so I just felt like I needed more of the sisters and Libby’s husband and kids.
The ending of this book, OMG! I cried so hard at the end of this book and I felt like all loose ends came together by the last chapter. I think I need a second book because I need to know how their lives all turn out!
Over all This was a really great book that any book lover will enjoy! If you are on the edge to read this just pick it up and read it! I know you won’t be disappointed!
“The last-page ache. The deep breath in after you’ve set the book aside.”
Direct Quote From The Book
QOTD: Do you wish you could have a small town romance?
Casey McQuiston is my all time favorite author! They wrote “Red, White and Royal Blue” Which I read pretty early on in my reading journey and probably the first romance read I had ever picked up and immediately I was hooked on their writing! When “One Last Stop” came out last year I knew I had to buy it and of course I fell in love all over again with their writing and their characters. “One Last Stop” Is still one of my all time favorite books to this day. I pre ordered “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” Back in early February and I have been not so patiently waiting to get my hands on my copy! Well I got it on Monday and read the book in about two and a half days! Lets see how this book held up.
“Shame is a way of life here. It’s stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under the desks. Spoken in morning devotionals. She knows now that there’s a bit of it in her. It was an easy choice not to go back in the closet when she got here, but if she’d grown up here, she might never have come out at all. She might be a completely different person.”
Direct quote from the book
About The Book
Author: Case McQuiston
Publisher: ST. Martin’s Press
Published date: May 3rd, 2022
Page Count: 320 pages
Main Genres: Romance, LGBT, Young Adult
GoodReads Rating: 4.24
“While she does like boys, she generally finds the traits of a compelling villain—arrogance, malice, an angsty backstory—tedious in a man. Like, what do hot guys with long dark hair even have to be that upset about? Get a clarifying shampoo and suck it up, Kylo Ren. So your rich parents sent you to magic camp and you didn’t make any friends. Big deal.”
Direct quote from the book
Synopsis
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.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
“She feels like the spine of a book about to crack and spill out all the love story guts.”
Direct quote from the book
Review
Possibility for light spoilers nothing you couldn’t guess by the back of the book though. Read Cautiously.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Hmm What’s with all the Taco Bell?” Well let me tell you, this book is full of a lot of Taco Bell! It only felt right to ask my local Taco Bell for as many sauce packets as I could get and I believe they gave me like 70 packets! I am not someone who eats at Taco Bell and I don’t think that before today I have ever even had one of their tacos but now I can say I have, all because of this book!
Ok, but really, lets get on to the stuff I know you all came here for. The book review!
Like I said at the beginning of this blog post, I have read all of Casey McQuiston’s books at this point and I waited with much anticipation for this one to be released however, this one is my lowest ranked book of theirs. I really loved their writing as usual but for me it really came down to the characters. So the reason this book is getting four stars rather than five is because by page 200 I was still not in love with Chloe and Shara. I was however invested in all the sub characters and their story lines. I could really use a book about Rory and Smith or even Georgia and how their lives are after high school. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I just had a hard time really falling in love with Chloe and Shara both as individuals and them as a couple. I am not really an enemies to lovers trope person so that might be why.
What I really loved was the mystery behind every clue Shara left behind. It was a really fun and unique story line. Also every book Casey McQuiston writes is extremely LGBTQ friendly and this book especially felt like a great book for teens who felt like they were unable to come out in high school now or even 30 years after graduating. This book will be one that touches many people for the rest of their lives.
Even though the main characters weren’t for me, this was still a really cute read that I would highly recommend to everyone!
QOTD: What is your favorite fast food Mexican chain?
I read this book as a buddy read with one of my friends on Instagram “TheInstaBookWorm“. This was to help me get out of a three week reading slump and we both decided a fun light hearted romance read would do the trick. We also really loved “Weather Girl” by the same author so we felt this would be the perfect book! Lets get into it!
“So often, I’m trapped between the pain of remembering and the fear of forgetting.”
Direct quote from book
About The Book
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Publisher: Berkley
Date Published: January 26th 2021
Page Count: 336
Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
GoodReads Rating: 3.78
“But maybe that’s what we all are—halfway-broken people searching for things that will smooth our jagged edges.”
Direct quote from book
Synopsis
Shay was raised to be a radio host, her dad said she always had a face for radio. After college she got a job as a producer at the local radio station in hopes to one day get to host her own show. However, she was always afraid her voice wasn’t something people would want to listen too.
After ten years a new hotshot journalist winds up finding himself on the air telling a political story only after a few months of being in the station. Animosity grows between the two over time. But when the station is at risk of going under they fight to keep their jobs by offering to host a hit new show called “The Ex Talk”. They are suddenly forced to work hand in hand as co hosts who supposedly used to date and now are somehow qualified to give out relationship advice. Can they keep the peace and make their listeners believe they had previously dated or will all the charades come crumbling apart?
“Sometimes I feel like I’m playing at being an adult, like I’m constantly looking around, waiting for a real adult to tell me what to do if my garbage disposal starts making a weird sound or if I should be putting more money in my Roth IRA. I am just…I feel like a complete mess.”
Direct quote from book
Rating
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
“The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.”
Direct quote from book
Review
Alright, Listen up. I really wanted to love this book. I though the idea of a podcast where ex lovers talk about their relationship sounded so amazing! I was ready to dive in and devour this book in one sitting. But honestly it started off slow and ended slow.
I am slowly realizing that enemy to lovers is just not my trope. I find it very exhausting. How do you go from hating each other one second and having sex the next and then having all these wonderful butterfly feelings just to hate him again the next page. It is just a rollercoaster I wanted off of!
So you might be wondering, “If you hated it so much why not just DNF the book?” Look, I thought about it but I always say read it till the halfway mark and then you can make that decision. I still wasn’t happy with the book halfway through but I was halfway through, I might as well finish it. It is kind of a silly thing to do but hey now I can add it towards my reading goal.
Something that I liked and could relate to was all the talk about grief and how it can really stick with you when someone passes. I feel like it is something you never recover from fully. The book really talked about grief in a way that was relatable and heartfelt which I appreciated.
I am still looking for a book that can get me out of my reading slump so please send them my way! I really need a good recommendation!
“Every time I imagined adulthood, it looked different from this reality.”
Direct quote from book
QOTD: Do you like the enemy to lover trope? What is your most hated trope?
I have decided for the month of February and maybe the months to follow I would like to host a buddy read! This month is based on romance reads due to the Valentine’s day Holiday. I was originally only going to pick one book for this because hosting two chats can be intimidating. However, I decided to host two this month because I have been dying to read both of these books!
The Books
“The Unhoneymooners” By Christina Lauren
Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.
4.01 Average rating on GoodReads
“Weather Girl” By Rachel Lynn Solomon
Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer.
In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.
Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies?
3.97 Average rating on GoodReads
Reading Schedules
If you are wanting to join in on one or even both of these buddy reads please head over to my Instagram and comment on my buddy read post! I will then get you added to the chats for that particular book.
The group chats will be held on a designated night that we all vote upon in the group chat. We will then be able to discuss the book and talk about reading schedules. As I get the updated information I will update this blog post.
I am so excited to be hosting these buddy reads and I hope you are all excited to join!
World of Bai 