Hello, hello, friends! Welcome back to another post for #BESpring2020! As per usual I am a day behind but since today’s post is about bujo’s and I don’t have/use one, I thought I’d answer yesterday’s prompt made by Sam @ Fictionally Sam!
A quick recap for those who don’t know, Book Ending Spring (2020) is hosted by Sam and Clo @ Cuppa Clo, and it’s one of the quarterly events running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events” that aspires to bring the book blogging community closer together! You can find more information on the announcement page and you can sign up to join as well, if you want in on the blogging fun!
Rules
Answer the prompts
Tag some friends
Link back to the original post and be sure to mention the creator (Sam @ Fictionally Sam)
Have fun!
Now without further ado let’s get to the prompt: The Cinderella Effect! For this prompt we’re naming five books that you couldn’t wait to get your hands on but turned into a pumpkin (a dud) when you got it. So for this prompt I’m looking at the books that I was so excited for but didn’t end up loving as much as I hoped. Maybe that’s not really focusing on books that were total ‘duds’ because I still rated them okay, but they were just disappointing!
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“Raithe’s first impulse was to pray. Curse, cry, scream, pray–people did such things in their last minutes of life. But praying struck Raithe as absurd given that his problem was the angry god twenty feet away.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
I’m back with another blog tour with the @WriteReads gang and this time it’s for the epic fantasy: Kingshold. I’m so glad that this book was brought to my attention thanks to Dave and that I was lucky enough to receive a copy from the author. This is one fantasy adventure that’s not to be missed!
The King is Dead. Long Live the People! Mareth is a bard, a serial under achiever, a professional drunk, and general disappointment to his father. Despite this, Mareth has one thing going for him. He can smell opportunity. The King is dead and an election for the new Lord Protector has been called. If he plays his cards right, if he can sing a story that will put the right person in that chair, his future fame and drinking money is all but assured. But, alas, it turns out Mareth has a conscience after all.
Neenahwi is the daughter of Jyuth, the ancient wizard who founded the Kingdom of Edland and she is not happy. It’s not just that her father was the one who killed the King, or that he didn’t tell her about his plans. She’s not happy because her father is leaving, slinking off into retirement and now she has to clean up his mess.
Alana is a servant at the palace and the unfortunate soul to draw the short straw to attend to Jyuth. Alana knows that intelligence and curiosity aren’t valued in someone of her station, but sometimes she can’t help herself. And so she finds herself drawn into the Wizard’s schemes, and worst of all, coming up with her own plans.
Chance brings this unlikely band together to battle through civil unrest, assassinations, political machinations, pirates and monsters, all for a common cause that they know, deep down, has no chance of succeeding – bringing hope to the people of Kingshold.
YO, can you believe it’s already the last Wednesday of September 2019!? What is this sorcery with the time? I feel like if I close my eyes for too long I’ll open them to find it’s already NYE and the ball’s about to drop! 🙈So it’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
Since last Wednesday I managed to finish three other books alongside the one I’m still reading. I already posted my review for Fake Date (read it here!) but tl;dr, I was pretty disappointed and really wanted more from it! I still need to write reviews for The Hating Game (reread) and The Stopover (eARC). Oh hello, what are these things called eARCs you say?! Yah, it’s been a hot minute since I picked one up but I really needed to take a break from Priory and I decided to finally read this one contemporary romance. My review is going up soon but let me tell you, I am hella conflicted about how I feel because I know the relationship was toxic AF and the dynamic between screwing like wild bunnies to fighting over nothing got old pretty quick. BUT AT THE SAME TIME I also couldn’t put it down? Um, Like… What? Why? I don’t know. Is this how people felt when they finished reading the After series? Because if so, I think I get it now LMAO 😂
What are you currently reading?
GOOD NEWS FRIENDS! After whining about my struggle to get into The Priory of the Orange Tree, I’m now 80% of the way through and I’m really enjoying it! It does have me feeling a bit conflicted though. I’m attached to characters, but not necessarily all of the main ones (something bad just happened to one of the main characters and I felt… Nothing?). At the same time, even though I feel like I’ve sped through the last 40%, I also feel like it’s a little endless (I constantly wonder when, if ever, I’ll finish the book). But it’s really not because I’m not enjoying it, it’s just that it’s a tome 🙈 Shit hit the fan quickly and continuously in this story–literally just one thing after another going horribly wrong and it had my heart racing and me screaming out loud. I know that I don’t want to put this down until it’s over (but alas, life), especially now that I’ve made it to the final section of the book. I really can’t wait to see how it all wraps up!
What will you read next?
I’m still going to be keeping these three on here. Might pick up The Bookish Life of Nina Hill first though! I also missed the group discussion for Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) 😅SURPRISE! But I think I’ll still give it a re-read. I’m not sure how I’m feeling about The Light Keeper anymore, as I tried the first three chapters and it just… Wow, confused and annoyed me, and that has me feeling a little yikes about it… Let’s see how it goes!
What are you currently reading? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
So… After writing my WWW Wednesday post last week, I managed to last ONE DAY before caving and picking up Godsgrave. That means I abandoned On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, and I do feel guilty about that, but I just couldn’t resist! I NEEDED to know what happened and I’m really glad I picked it up. Kristoff managed to really screw with my feelings yet again, and now I’m holding off on picking up Darkdawn because I know I’m going to be a wreck while/after reading it. I don’t think I’m ready for it 😂 After finishing Godsgrave in the wee hours of Saturday morning, I decided I needed to take a break before moving on to the group read that I’ve been so skilled at avoiding, and I ended up finishing three books: a short graphic novel: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do… But You Could’ve Done Better (check out my review); and two contemporary romances: The Wrong Kind of Love and The Ingredients of Us(check out my review)! The Wrong Kind of Love was my first Lexi Ryan and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! The Ingredients of Us was a mixed read for me… There was a lot of angst and that played against my anxiety, so I didn’t enjoy that, but it was still good for a debut. Plus I always enjoy books with baking/cooking 😍
What are you currently reading?
I’ve FINALLY picked up The Priory of the Orange Tree. We all know by now that this book is a definite chunkster and I gave up on reading the physical copy the other day because my arms just couldn’t deal with how much of a work out I was giving them 😂 So I caved and bought the e-book and my arms thank me muchly. I’ve also been so intimidated by how big this book is, so I hope that reading it on my Kindle will make it easier to digest! I’m kind of really feeling in the mood for a contemporary romance/romcom as well, so I think I might read Fake Date (Dating #2) by Monica Murphy at some point while reading Priory. I didn’t realize it was part of a series, but I loved the sound of it when I came across it this morning (on Alyssa @ A Lovely Book Affair‘s page), so yeah, IMPULSE BUY!
What will you read next?
After finishing Priory I expect that I’ll be feeling the need for some lighter reads, so I was thinking about picking up The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, which has been very hyped on bookstagram, and I just remembered I also signed myself up for a group read for Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) 😅Woopsies! This’ll actually be a re-read for me. I didn’t like it the first time and didn’t see what everyone loved about it, but I’m wondering if I’ll feel differently this time around? Let’s see! I also need to read the ARC for The Light Keeper, which … is already out (I’m so sorry) and I just haven’t got around to it yet. Grr 😤This panda really needs to work on getting her ARC shit together!
What are you currently reading? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
Today finally saw me leaving the house after not even unlocking my front door yesterday? Yes, it was that kind of Saturday. BUT today I was really thinking about the book that I should be reading because I need to stop putting it off for my group read: The Orange of the Priory Tree by Samantha Shannon. Honestly? I think I’m really letting the INSANE thickness of the book get to me because every time I look at it, I am filled with dread at the thought of picking it up? I’ll be taking it to bed with me tonight though, after I write this post. I will. Really. I promise!
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.
What are you currently reading?
How is it already Sunday evening?! I’m really gutted the weekend is already over and I dread the thought of going back to work tomorrow. I think that might be a sign that it’s time to look for something different soon? I know a lot of my dread has to do with my mental health and how I just feel consistently drained every day, even if I don’t do much, and it’s such a struggle to get out of bed every morning… But this weekend has been pretty low-key. I literally spent Saturday inside and sprawled on my couch. I finished Godsgrave on Saturday morning (5:30am to be exact!) and ugh, this series has absolutely SLAIN me. I am equal parts terrified and excited to pick up Darkdawn. How will this series end and most importantly: will my feels be ready for even MORE slaying!? Stay tuned, folks. I decided I needed a palate cleanser before starting on Priory, so…I ended up finishing two contemporary romances 😬 Despite the extremely minimal movement, my Saturday was pretty productive?
Sunday saw me spending the whole day outside. I helped my friend set up her ‘stall’ at a pop-up art market (check out her work because she’s amazing)! After working hard hammering tacks into a board and setting up, it was a pretty chill day full of coffee, people watching, smiling at strangers (lol not creepily), watching artists paint, and listening to some fantastic chilled tunes. It’s days like today that make me glad I push myself out of my ‘comfort zone’ of staying home all day. Even though I didn’t talk to a lot of people, it was still me getting out of the house!
Reading & Blogging Recap
I think I had a decent good reading and blogging week? I managed to finish five books this week, although one was a very short graphic novel, but I think five is pretty much be average for me! Obviously my favorite read this week was Godsgrave, and I’ll be posting my review tomorrow, so stay tuned 😍I’m really hoping to get into Priory when I pick it up in bed tonight. I am already falling behind on the group read, I’m just very intimidated by this book and I’m quite worried I won’t like it. BUT I don’t want to psyche myself out of reading it before I even properly try, so I’ll just say that I hope to be pleasantly surprised! On that note, check out a recap of my posts this week, in case you missed any:
Also, I leave you with this gem of a song that I can’t get out of my head. Sabrina Claudio’s voice is luscious. I feel like I could drown in it. Her music is so chilled and a little sensual (her voice tho), but so so nice to relax to. It was definitely my vibe today. Have a fabulous and relaxed Sunday, friends!
How has your week been? Hope everyone has/had a great weekend and I hope your week ahead is WONDERFUL! Let me know how you’re doing in the comments and let’s chat, friends 🙂
It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favourites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: unfinished series (either you haven’t read all the books or the series is still incomplete)! So after talking about books I’ve been avoiding for this week’s TTT, we’re now going into unfinished series territory, eh? I feel slightly attacked at having to confront the series I’ve left hanging! 😅 For many of the same reasons I’ve been avoiding books on my shelves, I’ve left these books unfinished not because I don’t want to read them but because I’m scared I won’t be satisfied with the ending or because I don’t want this series to end or because… Well, too many books to read, too little time, right? 😬I do feel guilty about leaving these series unfinished, especially since I keep starting new ones, but I’m determined to catch up with as many of them as possible for #SequelSeptember!
Villains: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab I loved Vicious and was so excited to get my hands on Vengeful (so excited in fact that I now have two copies of the book!) but still it sits untouched. I’ve heard that it’s not as amazing as the first, although still good. I haven’t been disappointed by Schwab yet, so I really hope I enjoy it!
The Nevernight Chronicle: Godsgrave and Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff To be fair, I only started this series two weeks ago. I’m listening to Godsgrave right now and I’m speeding through it like a demon assassin! I’m hoping to read Darkdawn before September ends. Kristoff’s writing style has grown on me and I’m absolutely loving this gorey and humorous series.
Folk of the Air: The Wicked King and Queen of Nothing by Holly Black The release date for QoN is quickly creeping up (seriously, where does the time fly?!) and I’m kind of tempted to read TWK closer to its release date. I re-read The Cruel Prince just two weeks ago, so it’s still fresh in my mind, but… If TWK ends in a cliffhanger, doesn’t it make sense to wait until I’ve got the QoN in hand so I don’t have to torture myself with waiting? 🙂
Caraval: Finale by Stephanie Garber I feel like you either really love or hate Caraval and I fell in love with it. There are tons of negative reviews, but I really enjoyed getting lost in the games and the characters; and actually I liked it much better than the famed Night Circus (don’t come for me)! But I’ve heard so many mixed reviews, even from people who’ve loved the series, about Finale that I’m TORN! I don’t want to hate it because it’s the last book but also, what if I end up loving it? Do I pick it up already?! Torn, I tell you!
Throne of Glass: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas I started ToG long before I joined the book community so I really had no idea how popular Maas and her novels were. I LOVED it and it quickly became one of my favorites. When I finished Tower of Dawn I immediately pre-ordered KoA and I even counted down the days until it arrived! But then it came, I put off reading it, and the longer I put it off, the less I remembered about the series. Oops? Now I feel like I need to re-read the whole series before touching this one? Am I crazy? Maybe 🙃
Strange the Dreamer: Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor I love Strange the Dreamer. Taylor’s prose is a mildly purple but it was beautiful and swept me away! I got lost in Lazlo’s dreams and the City of Weep. As much as I loved Strange, the ending CRUSHED me. I’m pretty sure I howled into my pillow in anger. So I’m kinda scared to read Muse. What happens next? I’m dying to now but also… Call me a coward coz I might let it sit for a while more?
Arc of a Scythe: The Toll by Neal Shusterman THE TOLL IS COMING but not nearly soon enough! I’m aching to get my hands on the third book of this series. I didn’t expect to love this dystopian series as much as I did but wow, it was intense and so, so good. I love the Thunderhead and I can’t wait to find out what happens next. Will we pick up where we left off? Will years have passed by? What is going to happen!? Eeee… I hope I don’t put off reading this once it comes out. I’ll kick myself if I do 😂
The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Wise Man’s Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things and Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss Doors of Stone still has no release date. I raced through The Name of the Wind and tale as old as time, I couldn’t wait to read Wise Man’s Fear but it’s been sitting, waiting for me. I started a re-read of TNotW last week, in prep to reading TWMF but I’ve put it on hold since WHO KNOWS WHEN book three will come out. Rothfuss, how long are you gonna keep your fans waiting, mate?
The Dark Artifices: Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare I hadn’t read any of the Shadowhunter books and hardly knew anything about this world that Clare built before picking up The Dark Artifices. Honestly, the cover drew me in and continues to draw me in! I surprised myself by how much I’ve really enjoyed this series. It’s full of teenage angst but I’m still hooked on the mystery. I haven’t picked it up yet because have you seen it? It’s chunky AF. Is scared.
The Oremere Chronicles: Heart of Mist, Reign of Mist and War of Mist by Helen Scheuerer I actually can’t remember when I read the Oremere Chronicles. It must have been soon after the first book came out, so probably 2017? But I remember loving it, though this was before I started writing reviews, so with my memory as bad as it is, I actually can’t remember any of it 😅 Yet I continued to buy the two other books in the series because of the covers, but also because I want to see this series through. So, I’ll start from the top again!
And that’s it friends! There are 10 unfinished series on my list today, but there’s probably more that I can’t actually remember. Hah. Do you have any unfinished series to get to? What are your favorites? Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
This Sunday, I’ve been spending much of time wishing that I was actually in bed reading The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss. I read this book last year and it quickly escalated to the top of my favorites list. I plan to finally read Wise Man’s Fear this month as part of #SequelSeptember so I’m giving myself a refresher by re-reading the first book. With all that’s been going on this weekend with family visiting, driving up to my parent’s home town and participating in some ceremonies, I’ve had little to no concentration to spare, so it’s been hard getting into it. I’m hoping to dive into it fully over the next few days though. Already my love for Kote/Kvothe is coming back to life and I can’t wait to reacquaint myself with him and all the other characters in this story! If you like epic fantasies, I would definitely recommend it.
Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet’s hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
What are you currently reading?
Oohhhmygoodness. This weekend has been killer hectic and I’m both so relieved it’s Sunday but also dreading that tomorrow is already Monday because with how my body is feeling so damn exhausted right now, I can hardly fathom waking up early! My parents and sister visited me this weekend and we took a trip up to my parent’s hometown (which is about 3-hours through long uphill, downhill and winding roads North of Bali’s capital). We stayed in this beautiful villa with gorgeous pool/sea views and the Australian owners had about eight cats, five dogs and a parakeet. The cats roamed freely and one particular fella took a keen liking to my family, so he followed us around everywhere! Of course I brought along a few books (my latest haul!) with me to take some snaps when I could!
TWLOHA represent
While the stay was nice and relaxing, this time I was the one driving us there and back and it’s surprising how much driving can really take a toll out of you 😅 I don’t know what’s more tiring–winding sloping roads or endlessly straight roads? Either way, it’s definitely taken a toll an🖤d I’m now typing this up my mind shrouded in a tired fog. Sorry for rambling more than usual and for saying anything that might not make any sense! Haha
Reading & Blogging Recap
With family around it’s been a slow reading week. I managed to finish four books this week, all of which I’ve written reviews for except for the one I just finished reading Friday evening. My reviews for the books can be found below! I know I’ve already raved on about it endlessly this week on every platform I’m on, but I’m pretty sure I found a new favorite in Nevernight and I can’t wait to continue this series. Knowing that once I started I’d want to be disturbed as little as possible, I didn’t bother trying to start it this weekend, although the audiobook is just waiting for me to press play! Despite how busy I’ve been, I think I’ve done fairly well in keeping up with my blogging schedule! Almost missed a post or two but managed to post them right on time (at the very last minute 😅). I’m sad that I haven’t been able to engage as much as I wanted to this week but I’m hoping to catch up in the coming week! Now that my family has gone back to Jakarta, I can hop into bed early and get my reading on in peace before sleep drags me under and I CAN’T WAIT! On that note, here’s a recap of my posts from this week, in case you missed any:
It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books about dragons. As I was thinking about preparing this post, I realized that while I love a good book about dragons and with dragons in it, I can’t actually recall reading many of them? That’s crazy right? I officially cannot call myself a sucker for dragons coz I’d flatout be lying. Yikes! I’m counting on you good bookish friends to do me a favor and after you read this post, give me all the good recs for dragon books, please! 🐉
The Written (Emaneska #1) by Ben Galley I think this was the first fantasy that I read in 2019 for the The Write Reads’ Ultimate Blog Tour for Ben Galley. The Written had awesome dragons (and dragon riders!) in the story. I love dragons are given their own thriving society and individual personalities on top of being insanely large, fierce and growly. I became very quickly attached to these dragons and can’t wait to read more about them!
Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini I think I picked up Eragon in high school and immediately fell in love with the story. I remember loving the bond between Eragon and Seraphina, but I have to admit, I don’t remember much about the story or series now (coz I’m old)… But I’d definitely like to re-read it at some point!
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin This might be a little predictable but obviously I’m going to include ASOIAF on my list! I might be influenced by the show and how awesome the dragons were in it, but I liked their appearance(s) in the books too. I did stop reading after Book 4 though (it was just too much of the same for me)!
The Tea Dragon Festival (Tea Dragon #2) by Kate O’Neill Well, you asked for dragons, right? And these little tea dragons are absolutely the cutest things alive! I mean, little floofy dragons that grow different types of tea on their backs!? How can you not love them? But in the Tea Dragon Festival there is also a real dragon, that can shift between being a full sized dragon and a human-dragon creature named Aedhan who is just as cute! So much warmth 🥰
The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien Okay, so I might’ve mentioned multiple times how much I didn’t enjoy this book and how disappointed I was that it was incredibly different from the movie (which I watched first). But we’re not going to get into that now. Smaug was a pretty awesome dragon with all his billions of trinkets and jewels to keep him cool inside the mountain. I might not have enjoyed the story, but I can still appreciate the dragon!
What are your favorite books about dragons? GIVE ME ALL YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS in the comments below please!
It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books about assassins. I love a good book focused on assassins, but I realize that I’ve got more of these books on my TBR than ones I’ve actually read. I don’t know if these are the only four books that I’ve read about assassins (probably not) but they are favorites, so book five will be a bonus book that’s currently on my TBR and will hopefully no longer be on it after this month!
The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan I think this was one of the first adult fantasy novels that I ever picked up and it was so good! I didn’t expect to be so sucked into the world and to become so attached to the characters. Royce & Hadrian are as different as they come but they complement each other so well. I’m keen to read more of them in the Riyria Chronicles 🙂
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas Throne of Glass is my favorite of Maas’ two series, even though I find that a lot more people liked ACOTAR more. There was a lot of intense romance in this as well, but I loved the world building and characters more in this series than in the other. I always thought Celaena was a pretty sweet as assassin who really lived up to her kickass reputation!
Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson This was my first introduction to Sanderson and it was the series that bumped him onto my auto buy and favorite author list. This is truly an epic but it is incredible adult fantasy–his world building, characters and magic in this series are just amazing!
Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo The characters in SoC are thieves and badasses. They’re the rebels and misfit and together they undertake an insane and dangerous mission to infiltrate a fortress. The world building is amazing and the magic system is also really cool.
BONUS: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1) by Jay Kristoff I’ve been hearing a whole lot about this adult fantasy series about a ‘fledgling killer’ who attends a school of assassins by Kristoff! I don’t know why I haven’t read it yet but I’m looking forward to starting it soon. I’m excited to read my first book written by Kristoff, since I’ve only read his collabos with Kaufman (but have seriously loved both series they’ve done together)!
What are your favorite books with assassins? Do you have favorite assassins?Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!
