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12 Days Of Christmas Book Tag [ft. me being oddly festive!!!]

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You know who’s feeling festive this year?!

Not me 🤗

HA! I’m kidding. Although my soul curls inwards at the mention of christmas, as a general rule, I’m feeling slightly festive this year because I’ve already made fruit mince pies and that is peak christmas mood for me. I am also over here, poking pitifully at my poor blog and thinking up fresh plans for for it for 2020. Which I will share with you soon! But for now I’m going to be both CHRISTMASSY and BLOGGERY and do the…

book blog tag!

It was created by Lizzie Loves Books on Booktube! (Back in 2014😱ancient artwork. This is what happens when I go googling about for blog tags and Google yells at me to GET 🗣 FESTIVE 🗣Fine! I am! Sheesh. I even have a festive Christmassy border below someone award me.)

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE.

The partridge stood alone in the pear tree. What is your favourite stand alone?

I’ll choose standalones I’ve discovered this year! Sooo firstly: SICK KIDS IN LOVE was beyond incredible and left me slightly teary for the loving and heartfelt disabilty rep (#ownvoices narratives MATTER SO MUCH). Also Sasha and Isabel? Are the softest. Then CAN YOU SEE ME is an MG contemporary about an autistic girl and it was so so good, accurate, aching, and important. It was the kind of book I want everyone to read and raise way more understanding of what autism really is. 😭 💛

 

ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: TWO TURTLE DOVES.

Love is in the air! Who is your one true pairing?

I feel such PRESSURE when it’s like “one true pairing”…can I not have at least 10 ships, please and thank you.🥺So I’m just going to quietly cheat here and pick two of my favourite 2019 couples. And try not to fall out of your chair with shock but — yes I’ll say Jude and Cardan. These two are hot frikkin messes, and they’re both poisonous for each other and manipulative…until they’re not. 😭 💛They have such a good character arc, and I really think the series explored what it is to be vulnerable after you’ve grown up abused. Then I’ll say Alex and Henry — because omg these two. This is an adult RomCom, aka not my usual genre, but here we have the president’s son and the prince of England who hate each other…except maybe they don’t. Honestly this book is fantastically witty, it’s really heartfelt and wrenching at times, and it’s incredibly written.

 

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: THREE FRENCH HENS.

In the spirit of threes, what is the best trilogy you have read?

This year I finished up The Cruel Prince trilogy (AM OBSESSED; perfect ending was perfect) and also the Caraval trilogy!! Usually I procrastinate finales so hard — what if they don’t live up to expectations? what if my faves die? what dO I DO WITH MYSELF AFTER??? Etc. Etc. The panic never ends. But these two were ones I devoured straight away.😍Expectations = met. Stressful AND satisfying. That’s what I ask. 

 

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: FOUR CALLING BIRDS.

Since series usually consist of four or more books, what is your favourite series?

[slams The Raven Cycle on the table and yells] THIS IS A SURPRISE. And this, I cheat for, because I obviously didn’t discover them in 2019, but I did REread them this year! I basically reread The Raven Cycle every year in order to keep my heart beating, my lungs working, the stars in my eyes shining. 👌🏻And of course this year we were also blessed with Call Down the Hawk, aka an incredible, whimsical, peculiar and clever start of the spin-off Ronan trilogy.

 

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: FIVE GOLDEN RINGS.

One ring to rule them all! Who is your Favourite Villain/Antagonist?

This year, hmm…look I actually struggle to really loathe villains. I prefer the ones you secretly love, because a lot of the “ultimate badie bad guys” just feel bland and uninteresting to me. I like villains with motives so vicious but cruelly crystal clear that you’re horrified at them, but also understand them a little. Anyway. Never mind me. I’m nice. 🤗So for villains I actually LIKE…guess I’ll be cliche and pick King of Scars. 😌And also Ninth House. So basically, Bardugo wins this category.

 

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: SIX GEESE A LAYING.

Creation is a beautiful thing. What is your favourite world/world-building?

I’m trying not to nominate the same books over and over😂or I’ll say The Cruel Prince again, soooo: SPIN THE DAWN!! It’s a gorgeous Chinese-inspired fantasy world with a girl disguised as a tailor who must make dresses out of the sun, moon, and stars. So you can imagine the whole world is whimsical and incredible.

And The Hazel Wood was SO GOOD. It actually came out last year, so of course I procrastinated reading it for no good reason. But it’s the perfect blend of bizarre and darkly whimsical fairytales + our world. Bring meeeee more portal fantasy. I LOVE.

 

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: SEVEN SWANS A SWIMMING.

Who needs seven swans when all it takes is one good animal sidekick? Who’s your favourite animal sidekick?

Oh if you haven’t tried The Tea Dragon Society then — YOU JUST NEED TO. They’re the most gorgeous graphic novels ever. The artwork is pure and wholesome and divine. 😍I will genuinely gush all day. Do not test me. Plus they’re so diverse! And the sequel, which came out in October (The Tea Dragon Festival) has a nonbinary main character!! They have little dragons. TEA DRAGONS. You make tea with their leaves from their antlers!!

 

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: EIGHT MAIDS A MILKING.

Milk is so 18th century. Which book or series takes beverages/food to a whole new level?

Well The Beautiful is here to bring back vampires and they aren’t drinking milk. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More like a little bloody sip fROM YOUR THROAT. But in less gothic news…I so so adored With Fire on High!! It’s a contemporary focused on FOOD! Emoni wants to be a chef, and ends up working so hard to go on a cooking trip to Spain with her class. She’s also raising her 2yo daughter  😭💛She’s such a good mum and a good cook and just…!! An incredible character you can’t help but love. (I still don’t understand the significance of the title, unless it’s referring to a pot being left on the stove????)

 

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: NINE LADIES DANCING.

Dancing is just one skill of a Lady! Who is your favourite kickass female lead?

This is half cheating because I’m still reading Gideon The Ninth but gah, I freaking LOVE Gideon. She’s badass with a sword, she’s snarky, but also has the biggest bleeding heart. And the world is full of skeletons and necromancers and conspiracies, and Gideon is just there. With a snipey comeback, and a sword, and aviator glasses because she’s cool. Aaaand I want to say Kiera from Slay, because she kicks ass virtually with her video game AND also metaphorically with standing up for what she believes in, fighting back racism, protecting black kids, and being indomitable even when it’s really really hard.  😭

 

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: TEN LORDS A LEAPING.

How about your favourite leading lad?

Okay but I’ve only mentioned Ronan once so I can mention him twice. This is the rule. 👀Twice is okay and then my obsessions need to sit down and let some other books have a look in. BUT RONAN FREAKING LYNCH — gah, he’s incredibly powerful, also a petty little brother, also if you threaten something in his scope of vision…he will buckle down into attack dog mode. Also for a kid who shaves his head and acts like he’s made of oil and sharp edges — he is so SOFT sometimes. Aaaand I’ll say Simon and Baz from Wayward Son. Not sure how either of these idiot disasters are still alive but I love them. Just wish they’d TALK to each other omg. Communicate your feelings, boys!! I think the whole book was a good look at the trauma of child soldiers.

 

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: ELEVEN PIPES PIPING.

What is your favourite book or bookish thing with musical influence? (It can be about music, reference music a lot etc.)

I was nearly blanking on musical-books I’ve read this year…But then DUH!! On the Come Up!! This one is about music and rapping and Bri, who’s tired of stereotypes and wants to be bold and loud and achieve her dreams. Angie Thomas always delivers incredible books. This one was A+ in every way.  Also You Asked For Perfect has a violinist overachieving boy who works himself sick with school stress!!! Relatable!!!

 

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING.

Drum roll please…what is your favourite read of this year?

Impossible ಠ_ಠ This question lives to TORMENT. I’ll give you a round up of TWELVE of my top reads because I can’t possibly choose one!! And this makes the question make sense.

   

helloooo! tell me if you’re in a festive spirit this year? and what’s the best standalone AND series you read (or finished) this year?

 

Did I Love The New 2019 Books From My Old Favourite Authors?!

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When I see an old favourite author has a new book coming out…let me just say, my heart LEAPS.

And when I say “old favourite author”, I just mean an author who isn’t new to me this year. And oh, I love debuters and discovering new authors, but I can be so so loyal to the authors who publish year after year and win my heart every time. The veterans. The icons. Big names authors, midlist consistent authors. I just love recognising a name and feeling my heart blossoming into excited satisfaction because here, oh here, is a book coming that I’m most definitely going to love.

I can be very very loyal too and just want to support my faves as well as be super excited for new content from them! (Hush, no Hufflepuff accusations will be taken at this time.)

So let me tell you about 10 new books that came out in 2019 from authors I’d read before!!

did I love them?? What did I think of their new works?? 👀 did my fragile little heart handle the excitement??? all extremely good questions. 😌

1. Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater | I mean I HOPE YOU KNEW this would be coming first because my soul belongs to the peculiar whimsy and incredible cleverness that are all the Stiefvater novels. And this is the start of the Ronan series I’ve been dying for since she hinted she was writing (was it back in 2017?!) Like my heart is still exploding with how intricate and brilliant this was. And RONAN, arguably one of my favourite characters of all time, IS BACK. 😭I will sob on u and have no regrets.

2. Sick Kids In Love by Hannah Mokowitz | I read my first book from her back in 2017 (Teeth!) and then read Salt in 2018 and then just about happy cried at her newest contemporary, which is an #ownvoices book about chronic illnesses. It was both painful and empowering, and beautiful and encouraging. It’s just wildly surreal to sit here and read a book where disabilities are written with love. Again, shall cry on you. Can you just get an umbrella??? That will work for us all. Basically  I put this on my “best of the year” shelf so fast.

3. The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black | The most obvious thing in the world is how obsessed I am with this series but HELLOOOOOO we got both sequels this year and I can still feel my heart BEATING LOUDLY with the exact incredibleness of QoN!! It was just stressful and superb and magical and vicious and satisfying. I cannot articulate!!! Cardan’s character arc and Jude’s empowerment…this is the content I crave. I also read TWK twice this year😂Unapologetic trash for this series. I think my first Holly Black book was back in 2014 with White Cat (this series is SO FREAKING GOOD) and then The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, The Darkest Part of the Forest, and Tithe. Basically if you haven’t read her backlist yet…gooooo.

4. The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare | Another author my life is pledged to with no regrets. 😌I will forever love everything Shadowhunters. And Queen of Air and Darkness was so so stressful, so it was nice to get Red Scrolls?! Which was a bit of a Shadowhuntery romp, but with Magnus (THE BEST) and Alec (LOVE HIM) starring and so so many cameos from old faves. I also liked Ghosts of the Shadow Market but confess I got massively lost with so many of the names of Will/Tess & Co’s kids. I need to reread TID apparently. 😂The last story with Jem making Kit feel at home broke me though.

5. There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon | Okay so Dimple & Rishi came out in 2017 and I loooved it, and this is set in the same universe! It’s about Rishi’s younger brother. And it’s just this epic, loveable, affable romcom with so much #ownvoices Indian rep and cultural love…I just forgot how much I adore Menon’s writing! I’m kind of dying for her fairy tale retelling series starting next year ahhhh!!!

6. We Are Lost And Found by Helene Dunbar | omg one of my top ever contemporary authors!!! I can’t even say !!!! How much I adore her books. And this latest one was just 😫💛💛incredible. You know when a book speaks to your whole soul?! THIS IS IT. I remember reading Boomerang on a total whim in 2018 and — BOOM — there launched the discovery of an author I am dying for every book release. I also loved These Gentle Wounds by her in 2018 (it’s an older release!).

7. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo | I mean YOU KNOW I had to put a Bardugo book here!!! I freaking adore her, not just for her books (incredible as they are!) but also for being a disabled author totally ruling out there at the moment. TV shows. Critically acclaimed book releases. Exploding into adult fic and absolutely nailing it. Gahhh. And of course I loved King of Scars this year too!! But Ninth House was the viciously delicious paranormal dark academia that I’ve been craving so, I have to keep telling you about my love for it!! I just do!!! And I read my very first Bardugo book (Shadow & Bone) back in 2014!!! I WAS A BABY!!!

8. Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer | Not that I should neglect A Curse So Dark and Lonely which is maybe Kemmerer’s most famous book of all time and also out this year…buuuut this was my FAVE. I love her contemporaries and how they hit on such important issues while never being preachy. And this one was part love story, part tragedy, part broken people finding ways to be whole again. I caught FEELINGS.

9. The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh | LOOK VAMPIRES ARE BACK. Between Baz in Wayward Son and the crew here I am just 👌🏻enjoying this immensely. Although there wasn’t a ton of vampire action happening in the Beautiful but I know it’s comign in the sequel become o m g that ending. That TWIST. THAT CLIFFHANGER. Anyway this is pure gothic angst and I very much enjoyed myself. I also hadn’t read an Ahdieh book since The Wrath and the Dawn in 2015…I feel bad because I have a lot to catch up on from her!

10. Romanov by Nadine Brandes | Aka the Anastasia retelling I have been WAITING FOR. It also left me in an absolute mess of feels…because you know the Anastasia history okay. But this had twists, aka: magic. I really love how Brandes is doing historical retellings but with magic. I read Fawkes last year and am still heart-eyes over it! And then here is Romanov and just yesssss. Pretty sure I just need to take a moment of strong appreciation here for all things magical and Russian and powerful gentle girls and powerful disabled boys. 😍

| what do you think? |

hiiiii come tell me what old-favourite-authors put out 2019 releases that you ADORED?! did you read any on my list? any favourite authors you’re hoping publish something in 2020!? 👀

 

 

YA Epic Fantasy Tropes I Love Vs Ones That Make Me Quietly Die Inside

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You can’t step anywhere in the YA community without tripping over a fantasy book.

They are everywhere. They are vast and strong. They have fandoms with many many eyes. Like when I think of the Big Name YA Authors™ my mind goes straight to ones like Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Leigh Bardugo, Maggie Stiefvater…and what do they write? Ohhhh ✨fantasy✨

And I’m totally not ignoring the power YA contemporaries here (I mean THUG, Love Simon, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before!!), but I do think the books most likely to be super hyped in YA circles tend to be fantasy.

I am not sad about this.

Look, fantasy has been my lifeblood since I was very small and listening to my mum read Narnia over and over again. (Until she QUIT on me and I had to buy the audiobooks to appease my need for magic). I can’t help but believe slightly in supernatural things 👀 and then directly crave and wish that there were more in the world. Do coincidences exist, or is that MAGIC. I ask you.

But after a life time (LIFE time, I say, I am very very old now, nearly 901) of reading fantasy books, I have developed a lot of pickity opinions and preferences.

So I thought I’d list very specific fantasy tropes that I love vs dislike!

None of these are “good vs bad” tropes, just ones that light up my eyes with glossy delight vs ones that make me DIE QUIETLY on the inside. And yep, we skipped past “dislike” and went straight to DEATH. There is only drama here, please don’t expect differently. 😌

Other Posts You Might Like

💬 Oddly Specific Tropes I Adore
💬 What Are The Best Romance Tropes?
💬Are Tropes Always Bad?

→ Long tedious roadtrips

I write this, hilariously, as I just finished reading a fantasy roadtrip that I adored. LOL, way to undermine myself. But that’s an exception. Forget that. Generally I am very very very old and very very very tired of fantasy roadtrips. Get to the quest already. There is nearly nothing to be gained by two people on horseback for miles. Even if they bicker (a win) or talk about potatoes (another win), it’s just a trope that I am weary of before it even starts.

→ No World Building

I actually feel like (although not always obviously!) YA fantasy is so scared of info-dumping that they do the opposite and…give you no information at all.

“Look at this world, isn’t it NICE!! No, we are closed to questions at this time, move along now!!”

Dude, I want to know things. Immerse me in the world. Drown me in it. I get too frustrated reading books where my top question is WHY IS THIS HAPPENING. Nobody knows.

→ Everyone is related To someone Important

“Here is an orphan!!!” the author says proudly, holding up their precious character like Simba towards the sun.
Me: “uh huh, yep. So she’s royalty.”

The Chosen One trope is fine, shh, it is. It’s just when we blink and every character seems related and estranged from someone important. I recently read a fantasy where the love interest turned out to be a bastard prince, the main character was child of THE most powerful person in the series, and all the secondary characters had epic relative connections too. And I’m like !!!! HOW. My imagination will accept flying cars, yes! But not everyone being related to a king, no!

→ Marriages (arranged, forced, pursued etc etc)

There are too many marriage tropes in YA right now and I’m crying. I’ve always hated weddings. I remember being like 8 years old at a wedding and rolling my eyes.

The reason I read YA is because I want to read about kids being epic. Kids. Epic. Neither of those words should be attached to marriage!!! Go kiss a tree first!!! You’re too young!!!

Plus marriage-centric YA books are almost always focused on the girl. If a YA fantasy is about a boy, it is much rarer for marriage to be a plot point. No, the boys get an adventure straight up. I smell s e x i s m in this crisp morning air.

→ That one POV nobody likes

Okay I’m being salty!! 😂But do you find this in books with multiple narrators?! There’s always that ONE person who you feel like could be tossed into the sea and the book would be just fine without their perspective? Because I always have one. I just feel like there is delicious and glorious strength in limited perspectives. Not EVERYONE has to narrate. Pls now.

 

* EDIT: I need to come back and clarify (after receiving some derisive comments about YA) that I am, in no way, saying that “all YA books do this”. They don’t. Ever. I love YA and this post isn’t snarking at it! I’m just saying which tropes work for me vs which don’t. Not every roadtrip book is tedious. Not every YA fantasy book doesn’t have world building. This is not a post of generalisations.

 

→ When it’s dark dark properly daaaaark

Oh leave me with the villain origin stories and the morally grey heroes who aren’t quite heroes if you turn your head a little to the left and squint. These are my life bloods and my hearts. Why? Because of the complexities. The world so rarely fits into black-and-white boxes of “good vs evil”. I like it when you can almost understand the villain’s perspective, their methods are just problematic. I just want books that take on darkness realistically.

It doesn’t have to be graphic! But I want the realism? I don’t want books that cagily say a character was tortured in the dungeons, but it’s okay, the next day he’s fine!!! Realism doesn’t have to be describing the torture: but show the repercussions, mental and physical too.

→ Humour!!

Nothing wins me over faster than laughing properly hard at an epic witty comeback or a perfect one-liner. OH. I live for these. I also love it when the comedic is the main character?! Sassy best friends are great, but c’mon, let the ridiculous one also narrate sometimes. I want the sassy princesses. I do not care if it is cliche. I want them all.

→ When it’s not 500 pages long

Look. Just…just think of me as someone with very small arms whose wrists break off if forced to hold a 500pg hardcover. They scare me. People are out there this Halloween season being spooked by clowns with bloody chainsaws (not that big of a deal, c’mon), and I’m over here backing away from a 500pg novel while crying and throwing salt. (LOL joke’s on you, I don’t throw salt. But I’d eat extra salty potato chips to help myself out.)

I just think you can have an epic fantasy adventure, do some decent world building, befriend a dragon and kill a prince (don’t tell me it’s the other way around; I refuse it) all in 400pgs. I was also reading a fantasy lately where they spent half of it in a tower. A single tower. I started eating the brick walls too.

→ When the magic is properly fantastic

I’m a bit over elemental magic (although it can be fine!!!). What I crave are magic systems that make me stop and go, “OH.” The ones that just fully capture my imagination so I can’t stop thinking about them.

Like The Brilliant Death where the magicians could turn themselves and objects into other things. Or A Curse So Dark And Lonely where they were cursed to live through the same 3 months, again and again. King of Scars where a boy turns into a mindless monster as a part-time occupation between being king. Or The Last Namsara where telling stories out loud in the desert could summon a dragon because they are addicted to stories. (I MEAN SAME.)

I’m deliciously inspired just typing this.

→ Clever twisty plots

If it gets too complicated, I might get lost, so this is a hit-or-miss request from me. But, OH, things like Six of Crows and Caraval — where the plot is a game within a game, all Slytherin intentions, beautiful and vicious. I crave those. This is what I want instead of girls getting out of arranged marriages and long roadtrips. Give me TRICKS and GLAMOUR.

The Slytherin is here and wants cunning wiles. 😌🙌🏻

| what do you think? |

tell me the things you look for in fantasy, vs the things that turn you off? do we share any of the same?!

 

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (The Illustrated Edition Is STUNNING) + Should More Books Be Illustrated?

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I am all heart-eyes today over the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire!

I’ve never owned one of these editions so I just about died when Bloomsbury sent me a copy. Also the delivery lady handed me the package and I was NOT ready for the weight and nearly fell over. Oh my weak little arms. I scurried inside to pore over the pages and I have to say…it’s just stunning. I haven’t seen the movies, so the illustrations are all fresh for me and craft a version of Harry Potter that’s both vivid and unique, and entrancing to get lost in.

It really changes your perspective to have a book illustrated. I’ve decided (just now, as I am typing this, yes yes) I really want every book of ever to be released as an illustrated edition. Okay hear me out though!!

Why Illustrated Books Are Particularly Incredible

  • It helps people with muddy visual imaginations…aka me. Which I feel like laughing at myself for confessing. (“Aren’t you aN AUTHOR, C.G.?!?” Uh yes. About that…) I very rarely make visuals up out of nothing. Most people in my imagination are just faceless blobs. And I can barely describe any character in any book ever. So I personally like a nudging helping hand with an illustrated guide to work off!
  • Also descriptions often slide past me without sinking in. 👀”He’s wearing khakis,” they say and I’m just like: I believe that’s like a sneeze. “Raise the portcullis!” they shout, while I assume that could be a pot plant. The visual + matched with the word description = me absorbing a lot more of the story.
  • It’s just GORGEOUS. Hello, have you met me?! I’m intensely in love with bookstagram. The aesthetic and beautiful parts of a book are just what I want to photograph.
  • Artists collaborating is an incredible thing. Look, I write, but I can’t draw. I would up and die of sheer happiness if someone illustrated my books. Having an artist lend their perspective and imagination to your words is a Power Collab. (This should also go both ways! It would be amazing to see artists do a series of incredible paintings and have an author write a book from it!)
  • Some of us just like collecting things.😌Hello. It is I. I confess to having several editions of my favourite books. It just feel so so good to support authors and collect things you love, and fill your life with art and creation and happiness.
  • We ALL deserve picture books. For some reason, people think that the older you get, the less pictures you need. Inaccurate and HURTFUL opinion, I say. I appreciate illustrations way more as I get older. Like you have no idea how seeing a picture of a pie on twitter will make me go make a pie myself. That’s inspiration. That’s life changing. Bless.

Bloomsbury really epically did an interview with Jim Kay (questions asked by Helen Boyle) and I’m sharing a few answers here below!!

I found them so interesting (I live for behind-the-scenes details honestly), so I hope you do too!! And if you’re keen to get your own copy of the Illustrate edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it’s in stores now. 😌🙌🏻

My Goodreads Review | Bloomsbury | My Review of Beedle The Bard Illustrated Edition

What’s your process for approaching each book’s illustrations?

JIM KAY: To start with I read through the whole book once, without making any notes. And then I read it again and make notes. And then I read it again. My notes include lists of characters, so I know whom I might have to cast and draw, and then any descriptions of the characters. I also make notes of those specific scenes that you know you have to show – the arrival of the Beauxbaton carriage was one of these in Goblet of Fire.

The nice thing about this fourth book was that it had three distinct blocks in the three trials of the Triwizard Tournament – so you obviously have to illustrate those. And then I feel that you need moments of peacefulness that allow the reader to take a break – a counter to the action scenes. The image of the Durmstrang boat with Hogwarts from the lake is an example of that.

After that what I’m really looking for in the text are things that are just mentioned in passing. In the first book it was Hermione and the blue flame, which was just half a line in the text. I’m looking for those lines that make me think ‘ooh I can expand that’, areas that give me space to see and create something different. In this book, Ron’s bedroom was one, as was the broom cupboard where Rita interviews Harry.

You work in many different types of medium, what did you use for this book?

JIM KAY: Yes I suppose I’m yet to find one style that feels like it works for everything! With the chapter head and border illustrations, I was looking at people like Eric Ravilius and Edward Bawden, and I decided to make them look like woodcuts. However they are actually done in felt-tip pen and then digitally reversed.

I also used this felt-tip trick on the endpapers as well. I’m always scanning in textures to use and the colour pieces were done with household test paint pots – mainly from B&Q and Farrow & Ball this time. I also use watercolour and pencil, and acrylic paint and there are some oil paintings and some charcoal sketches. And then of course, some images that I’ve had to digitally rescue -like the underwater scene of the mermen!

If there was one thing you’d like readers to take away from these illustrated editions, what would that be?

JIM KAY: Have a go – when people say ‘Oh I can’t draw’, I feel they’re missing the point. I mean I can’t play guitar, but still I have a go at it everyday.

I think it’s not about drawing it’s about looking and particularly in current social media times.  Sometimes I notice that people in their daily life are starting to dress in a way that works in an instagram-friendly way, and it all becomes very homogenized. And yet when you draw you’re looking for stuff that’s unusual about something or someone. It’s those details that make an interesting image not a homogenized sense of perfection. When you draw there are no such things as levels of beauty it’s more about the details to get hold of. Someone who is considered aesthetically beautiful can be far less interesting to draw, as there are less unique things to latch onto.

Ultimately it’s not about drawing it’s about looking. I wish people drew more because it not only gives you time to stop and think, but also to stop and look.

| what do you think? |

what book do you think would be stunning if it was illustrated?!? and have you read/collected this edition of Harry Potter? do you like the illustrated editions?

 

What Happened in September? (Ft. Does Anyone Even KNOW + New House, Ninth House, My House!)

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Literally every time I write the “what happened in…” as part of my wrap up post title, I am forced to admit to the fact that I don’t even know.

Retaining memories is such a quaint idea. 😌 How does one even possibly do it. I am so so in need of a memory card refit (do they sell these on Etsy for humans??). Unfortunately, I very unhelpfully didn’t write many notes in my journal as things went down.

Half of the reason for that IS because I was lost in drafting a new book that went so well before it burned to the ground. So like [waves hand vaguely] I was a bit mentally absent for September.

Other Things I’ve Been Up To:

  • I did, in fact, move house again. Which is exhausting and demoralising to do so often (0/10 do not recommend). This time my family just left a rental and moved across the road, but this should be IT for a while. Fitting myself into a super tiny room was crushingly depressing. But my books are here :’) and I have a nice view of a plant out my window.
  • Also this house backs onto a golf course and I SWEAR the kangaroos out here are. freaking. mammoth. One is this size of a small planet and hopefully it eats some of the golfers because they’re already annoying me.
  • Last month I promised to be a better blogger. I have not been.🙃Please talk to me about my life choices.
  • But I ate ice cream so this has made me a better person.
  • Basically I just wrote all month. I do not multitask well, so that was about it.
  • If my dog wants a treat, he offers to hi five me.
  • I went to a LifeLine Bookfest! It was small but I managed to find Talon, Wildlife by Fiona Wood, and a Joe Abercrombie book which I have not read but it’s pretty.
  • I also got sent a copy of Ninth House (thanks Hachette AUS!) and I’m frEAKING OUT WITH EXCITEMENT!!! Currently reading and it is dark and deliciously good.

I also compared my instagram feed from 2018 to 2019!

I’ve been using a filter and being a bit warmer! Which I’m really enjoying! I also hit 59,000 followers which is super surreal! I just wish my engagement would…happen. At all. Really.

In other news follow me on Instagram because I post there ALL the time and do a lot of shorter-blogging-style-content in my Stories!

I started off a new WIP! This time it’s a contemporary YA, just like I should be writing.🤗Good job @ me, following the rules. It’s not contracted but I am hopeful for it. 👀 (You can see my Pinterest inspiration board here.) It started off so so gloriously and I was getting 3-4,000 word days consistently. Then due to my horrible habit of pantsing at the moment instead of plotting — it crashed and burned. Hah hhah. Yeah I’m sobbing.

ANYWAY. Draft #6 is happening for October! I will not be defeated.

I also massively hope to finish it this month, because ONE MORE MONTH TILL NANOWRIMO. I have three books to work on that I can choose between so there’s that agony to look forward to. (I might do a post on it and make you choose for me.)

Also tomorrow is The Boy Who Steals Houses 6-month birthday.

My son, grown up so fast. 😭 I still haven’t seen it in a bookstore which is making me sad. But like LOOK. I’m so proud it exists and so happy it is so loved!!! It has a 95% love rate on Goodreads which, quite frankly, surreal. And it still has my whole heart as a warm and tangled mess. 😍

I’ll be doing a giveaway on instagram tomorrow too!

I am back to struggling to find time to read + write. Why do these things argue about coexisting in my life. Seriously. But 5 ahead is good!! I need to pull ahead a bit more so I can spend November focusing on NaNo.

(all covers link to goodreads)

BOOKS BOUGHT…

From library

 

FOR REVIEW…

 

Vote and help meeeee!

What Should I Read Next?

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Had some EPIC rereads this month which makes me happy.

We Are Lost And Found | Absolutely one of my FAVOURITES of the year!! Emotional and vulnerable😭💛It’s set on the cusp of the AIDs crisis and is full of queer kids and coming-of-age feels and it was just completely beautifully written.

The Dream Thieves | oh yet another reread. (My FOURTH.) But Call Down the Hawk is COMING so I am just being trash for my favourite series in the world, no regrets. Possibly my favourite book in the series and my heart swells with love for Ronan’s arc.

Carry On | Because WAYWARD SON is also comingggggg and I’m so freaking excited. So I reread this one, and good thing because I remembered, um, so little. Also just outright feeling things for these oblivious gays. It ended up a full 5-stars this time and my heart is so full.

Shadow Frost | Oh this one was a fantastic fantasy romp!! Full of demon hunting princesses, and elemental magic and ILLUSIONS. And also snark. The snark was 10/10 and they loved cake so you know I’m here for it.

The Surprising Power of A Good Dumpling | An absolute new favourite too!! omg my heart breaks and is mended again with this. Such good depression rep with Rory too, and I just fell in love with Anna’s quiet strength. Also the foodie scenes.😍

There’s Something About Sweetie | Aw I love Menon books and I hadn’t read one for a while, so it was nice to be back in Dimple & Rishi’s world!! This one is about Rishi’s younger brother and it’s an agreed arranged dating. Also fat rep + #ownvoices Indian narrators. And it was CUTE AND FLUFFY.

10 Blind Dates | Ok apparently I read a lot of romcoms this month? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ngl they are cute and I’m having a soft time after all the fantasy. This had the bessst big extended family shenanigans + blind dating (obviously lol) and it was just wholesome and like a warm christmassy hug.

Ziggy, Stardust & Me | This was so harrow. Like, it was good?? But I wasn’t prepared for it to be about conversion therapy and the intense ptsd and trauma it creates, so it shook me a lot. But it had a lot of beautiful thoughts about acceptance and it’s still so recommended.

Jade War | Ok so I was pretty much obsessed with Jade City (book 1) and had high hopes for this…👀And it was intense and complex, and the ending was phenomenal. But overall it felt tedious and skipped everything I liked about the first book. (Plus I ended up hating some fave characters sooo.)

 

…and a few others I read

| WHAT DO YOU THINK |

is anyone else getting hyped and prepped for NaNo!? can you balance reading vs writing (tell me your secrets!) and what was your favourite read of September???

 

10 Books I’m Heartily Avoiding (Because I Am A Coward!!!! Oh!!!!)

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It’s time for another post where I softly self roast myself and my inability to face my TBR pile.

Look, I’d defend myself but at this point maybe I should just accept that I’m going to avoid books for no good reason at all. I mean, fine, I have reasons. But they’re terrible ones. For instance:

→ “This book is making me feel things and I am not rEADY to feel things.”
→ “This book is 600pgs long and my fortitude is not 600pgs long.”
→ “I want to love it but what if I don’t so maybe I should just not read it and never find out.”
→ “I bought it myself, so somehow that means I’ll never read it because I am beholden to read theses 54 library books and ARCs first.”
→ “But I don’t feeeeeeeeeeeeeel like it.”
→ “No REASON. JUST CHAOS.”

I honestly am going to admit #1 is my top reason for avoiding books. Feeling things is hard. I do not chill out. When I get obsessed with a book, it’s so all-consuming that I have to remind myself to take a breath, so I have to be in the mood for intense feelings. 😂Ugh who made feelings. Take it baaaaaack.

So let’s point out 10 lovely books who don’t deserve to be ignored 🤗 and yet here we are.

linking up with Top Ten Tuesday

And I do thoroughly WANT to read these books and I will!! Eventually.

Other Posts You Might Like

➢ 15 Books I Should Have Read in 2017
➢ 10 Long Books I’m Terrified Of Reading
➢ TBR Of Shame: Books I Should Have Read

(I’m sensing this is a common occurrence with me…)

1. Ruin Of Kings

This beast is HUGE. It has, at least, as many pages as a small forest and I need to start wrist exercises to be able to support its weight, physically and emotionally. I’ve also heard mixed things? It’s an adult epic fantasy, but either you loooove it or hate it. I hope I love because it’s got dragons. And a villain origin story (i think?). It also might be gay (possibly?) and I desperately want to love it!!! But in case I don’t: I’m procrastinating!!!!!

2. Godsgrave

Another adult epic fantasy that is seven years long! I think we can sense a theme here with me + epic fantasy = mild paralysing terror. I also really liked Nevernight and it left me quite wrecked. I read it twice, even. So I’ve been gathering my fortitude to read the sequel (and also Darkdawn which is finally out). Pls someone just yell at me to read this already. UGH wHY am I like this.

3. City of Brass

Don’t laugh but…another adult epic fantasy. We are sensing a theme. I just need to know why they are so long. What if (hear me out) they came with the option of being bought as 3 books, instead of one. Bite sized, like eating a macaroons instead of a whole pavolova. I just think the whole publishing industry should change to cater for my stress levels. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

4. Wicked Saints

Finally some YA. 👀 My procrastination here comes from reviews being wildly 5-stars or 2-stars. Which, ok, I’m up for controversy! But I’ve also heard it’s really not dark enough for how dark it’s pitched to be. Excuse my stone-cold heart, but if a book says it’s dark…make it dark. No dallying about.

5. Carve the Mark

We all remember this bonfire controversy, right? Ahhh, oh of the most vicious twitter outcries I’ve seen. And, look, apart from watching some booktubers (including POC readers) talking about how a lot of the allegations against it were…um…false? I don’t know much about it!!! People being hurt by bad rep is always valid. But twitter mobs just have lost my respect 100% because they so often are fuelled on twisted narratives. I want to read CtM, but also sci-fi doesn’t rock my world, so. (I also got hate mail for owning it. 😬 That put me off reading back in 2017.)

6. Chainbreaker

This is the sequel to Timekeeper which I LOVED. But somehow I just…never got around to the sequel? I also heard it’s super tough on the feels 😂 So you can bet my wimpy bones are hiding behind the curtains. (This is, legit, ridiculous. ALL my favourite books are heart-smashing. I know I’ll love it. GO READ IT @ ME.)

7. Villain

I was infatuated with the Gone series when I was in my mid-teens. Like the drama, the fierce bonds, the anGST, the murderrrrrr. My faves died continually. :’) It was great. However, later I became aware of the author behaving rather badly online and having questionable rep. This is the spin-off series for Gone. And Monster had problems.😫Including problematic trans rep. So I want to read this because I KNOW it has Sam returning and I love love love Sam. But also…??? Kind of wish I’d just left it as a fond childhood memory.

8. Sometime After Midnight

I’m legit procrastinating a romcom for….? Reasons [pats pockets looking for them] I seem to have misplaced them somewhere. I feel like it just constantly gets left at the end of the TBR pile. I want to read it though!!! It looks so cute. Gay Cinderella retelling!

9. Night Circus

At least four people are guaranteed to yell at me to read this NOW. And I will, heh. I preordered her new book too (does it sound like Strange the Dreamer a bit to anyone else? I need it.😍 Btw I know it’s not a sequel.) Anyhow; I’ve only just got a copy of this so no more excuses. Although I did procrastinate because I heard it was confusing to start?

10. The Weight of the Stars

I put this here to 100% SHAME ME. I love love love the author’s debut (The Wicker King) and this is set in the same world so afjkdlsad why haven’t I rEAD IT. I think, because I love TWK so much, I just want this to totally met my heart in the same way. I want to feel all the things. 😌I want it to be 5-stars; a new favourite. So naturally I’ll totally procrastinate it.

(But this is a call out. I am going to read it this month. Maybe. Probably. For sure definitely most likely.)

 

| what about you? |

pls tell me what books on your TBR that you’re avoiding 👀we can gently self-roast ourselves. and which of these do i need to hurry up and read NOW?

 

Book This Or That Tag || Part 2! More Stressful Decisions!

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Who here loooooves making decisions?!

Do I see HANDS? No…no hands? Well never mind, I’m going to torture you anyway 🤗 And you love me for it, don’t even argue.

A while ago, I made up a Bookish This Or That tag and it was a lot of fun and I made the options stressfully hard AND…all the poll links are broken now. Fantastic. Why? We don’t know. I suspect goblin interference. But today I’m back with a pART 2 🙌🏻 Which I was also posting in my Instagram Stories because I spend way too much time on there and less here and it’s a bit of a worry (pls help me). But anyway. Let’s go!

 

* Note: some of these are supposed to be lesser of the two evils etc. So have fun. 😏

 

Read multiple books at once OR one book at a time?

CHOOSE!

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Would you choose…

Getting 1 brand new book per month OR 10 second-hand books but they’re damaged/stained?

CHOOSE!

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Hero-to-villain trope OR villain-to-hero?

CHOOSE!

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paperback or hardcover books?

CHOOSE!

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only reading super hyped books everyone is reading OR only read books no one else knows about

CHOOSE!

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enemies to lovers OR friends to lovers?

CHOOSE!

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trilogy that never gets the final book OR long series but each book’s plot is very similar

CHOOSE!

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every book you read is 200pgs OR 600pgs

CHOOSE!

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having a friend hate your favourite book OR rereading an old favourite and now you hate it

CHOOSE!

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1 character tells the story OR 3 characters tell the story

CHOOSE!

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books set in summer OR winter

CHOOSE!

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Would you choose…

being in a book slump and not feeling like reading OR wanting to read but having no time at all

CHOOSE!

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I’m torn on a lot of these myself 🤔

Like I truly don’t know whether I’d just have 1 book a month or 10 damaged books because my instagram says NO to ugly books, but erm…I definitely cannot exist on one book alone. Just a sec. Let me go give myself a crisis.

And oddly enough, I’m also torn about the unfinished trilogy vs repetitious series. Because I hate not having finales, but at the same time I…procrastinate them so often? I have so many half finished series that I do love, but I just haven’t worked up the courage to finish anyway. And long series = more time with your fave characters even if the plots are the same. Although you can fall out of love with a series if it grows stale.

WOW. I am leaving the polls to you lot now.

| tell me what you think? |

which was the hardest to answer for you? tell me some of your choices ahhh!! i’m curious to see what everyone votes for!

 

[Book Tour] Top 5 Moments in the Monster Of Selkirk by C.E. Clayton (+ INTL Giveaway!)

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It’s time to talk to you about monsters and feral elves and…The Monster Of Selkirk.

So basically: excellent news 🤗

Today I’m on the book tour for The Monsters of Selkirk (book 1), The Duality of Nature by C.E. Clatyon. I’m teaming up with MTMC Tours for this aaaand if you stop by my instagram there is an INTL giveaway happening. Because you don’t have enough books and you need more. I can see it in your eyes.

So I’m doing something a little different instead of a traditional review. Getting my creative hat ON.

I’ll be telling you my top 5 favourite moments from the book!

And of course pls admire my pretty photos of this stunning cover.😌

Monsters do not hide under the bed on the Island of Selkirk. Monsters haunt the forests in the form of feral elves with knife sharp teeth, vicious talons, and sickly, glowing yellow eyes. For centuries the people of Selkirk have fought these monsters, enacting a Clearing every four years to push the elves back from their borders. Then, after one such Clearing, a babe is found abandoned in the wreckage.
Tallis only desires a path of her choosing, to live without attention or interference. Along with her friends, she dreams of leaving Kincardine and going where no one knows them, to live unhindered by the prejudice that comes of being poor, an outsider, an orphan. All Tallis needs is enough coin, and she’ll be free. But the monsters have other plans.
Hissing her name like a battle mantra, the elves pour into Kincardine, devouring and burning everything in their path. Fleeing her home in secret, Tallis and her friends must discover why the creatures are so intent on finding her, and stop them from framing her as the real monster of Selkirk.

Amazon | Book Depository| Goodreads

C.E. Clayton was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area, where she attended the University of Southern California for both her Bachelors and Masters, and then worked in the advertising industry for several years on accounts ranging from fast food, to cars, and video games (her personal favorite). After going the traditional career route and becoming restless, she went back to her first love—writing—and hasn’t stopped. She is now the author of “The Monster of Selkirk” series and her horror short stories have appeared in anthologies across the country. When she’s not writing you can find her treating her fur-babies like humans, constantly drinking tea, and trying to convince her husband to go to more concerts. And reading. She does read quite a bit. More about C.E. Clayton, including her blog, book reviews, and poetry, can be found on her website.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook

1. When Tallis starts feeling a connection to the trees…

Look I love trees and deep, mysterious woods and people with undeniable connections to the flora. There’s a lot of intrigue about what is up with Tallis — which you do have to keep reading the whole series to get more answers! 👀But it’s like how you can trust someone who likes dogs. You can TRUST the tree lovers.

2. Tallis’ love of BOOKS

Here for girls who are badass with swords, a little odd and don’t fit in, and also love books. I can’t think of a better combination, to be honest. Tallis finds refuge in the monastery full of books (where she first meets Tomas because he keeps the library secretly unlocked for her) and she devours all the wonders of the world told in inky pages.

3. Tomas being a dorky shy genius and Tallis defending him

Look if you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably picekd up the fact that I LOVE the Soft Bois™. Like forget all other things, I am here for the ones who are gentle and lost in their heads and, quite frequently, need the love of their life (who has a badass sword) to stick up for them because they’re too shy to do it. Tomas is pretty much an outcast in their squad at first because he’s new and Tallis plucks him to come along at the last minute. He’s not a fighter, so Donovan is suspicious. He’s not confident, so Rosslyn is dismissive. And he’s a nerdy science genius, so TALLIS IS SMITTEN.

4. The fractious squad arguments 😏

I adore books with squads and here we have: Tallis, her older cousin Donovan, her best friend Rosslyn, and the awkward monastery novice Tomas. They are NOT the seamless squad that gets along instantly. 😂Donovan gets overprotective. Tallis is being haunted by feral elves and is kind of a headstrong mess. Rosslyn is very carefree and not a natural teamworker. And Tomas is scared he doesn’t fit in at all. They’re all on a roadtrip to find answers about WHO Tallis is, and what is her connection to the elves and the trees. And I just love their arc! Character development all round.

There are fights and snark. But they also have each other’s backs.

5. Every time Tallis basically has a sword

Because, not gonna lie, there is nothing more perfect in this world than a girl with a sword. And Tallis trains properly too! I appreciate when fantasy has characters who aren’t effortlessly perfect at things.

Don’t forgeeeeeet to stop by my instagram to enter the giveaway!! and I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into the world of Selkirk!

 

| what did you think? |

have you been reading much epic fantasy lately? who is your favourite sword-wielding heroine? and has this series piqued your interest? tell me aaaaall

 

What Happened In August? (Ft. Me, Reading So So Many Books! Finishing A WIP! Chocolate All Round!)

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August was a month of consuming whole mouthfuls of books and (finally) finishing writing a novel.

I read 23 books! This is like my most industrious reading month since…forever?! I am having a very angsty time with my reading at the moment, which could probably fill a whole post on its own. But in summary: focusing is hard, the TBR never goes down, I often feel uncomfortable reviewing 😫, I just wanna reread the Raven Cycle for the billionth time but my TBR says “N O”.

But then came August. I finished writing a Secret WIP. Then I decided to refill the creative will and hopefully whittle down my TBR so it stopped threatening to fall on me. I did whittle it down but it also did fall on me and this is just rude.

Other Things I’ve Been Up To:

  • Look it’s not August anymore, but right now I’m eating a chocolate cherry ripe bite as I write this post and it is GOOD and I thought you should know.
  • I’ve been reading fairy tales! Gleaning inspiration for writing more retellings. 👀
  • I reached 58,000 on instagram. Which is like a LOT. And I’m pleasantly confused and pleased.
  • the amazing Alison Walsh did a recipe for The Boy Who Steals Houses! You can now bake Moxie’s chocolate caramel waffles.😍
  • Look, I’m being a terrible blogger and I feel so so bad…but I’m doing my best still!!!! I’m sorry for neglecting commenting back, but I wiiiiill. Soon!
  • And despite that I still won places in the 2019 Blogger Awards?!? I’m sobbing. Thank you so so much for voting for me, everyone.😭💛And to May for organising!
  • I watched Stranger Things Season 3 and omg. It was amazing. Standout things were (1) Max x Eleven’s friendship, (2) generally how creepy the monster was, (3) Steve taking care of his kids, but particularly Dustin, (4) ROBIN, whom I love, and (5) those feels of having your friends grow up before you’re reading. Aw. Reminiscing down memory lane of my childhood, thx Stranger Things. :’)
  • I also watched Gifted because I wanted to see Captain America raising his daughter. He did well.
  • developed a new love for dark academia novels and NEED TO WRITE ONE.
  • have been baking chocolate strawberry tarts and I also think that’s important information to relay.
  • the kangaroos are really really…huge here in mid-QLD. The photo below is just in my neighbour’s yard. Or potentially that IS my neighbour, a shapeshifter. Because tbh, he looks annoyed at me spying at him over the hedge. He chonky. Could take u down. Also as tall as me.

I won’t ramble too long, but writing has been really really hard for me. Like the kind of hard that leaves me anxious and knotted, a disorientated mess — because if I’m not writing, I feel utterly lost. I can’t go into details, but behind-the-scenes of publishing has not been easy. I’m grateful for what I have achieved…But also so much has just gone wrong and I’ve lost confidence.

But I fiiiinally finished a manuscript (I’ve been struggling with it since January; when I used to write a book in 3 days)…I am just PROUD of myself. 😭And crying, ok fine. Just a little. (And just a massive shout out to @cosyreads for getting me through😭💛and @crrhillin for all the love!!)

And look, I have no idea if it’ll ever go anywhere. It was an indulgent thing to write, perhaps a thing that will not sell. But it was me and I finished it and I’m just…relieved I can still write stories that make my heart beat faster.

Next? I hope September will be for working on a new YA contemporary. I’ll be sneaky and show you my aesthetic board on Pinterest. 😍 

Despite reading 23 books this month, AGH I probably 23 as well. Which is not helping. 😑😂I really do love books but I swear half the time they appear out of nowhere. And often when I do finish reading one — where do I PUT IT. I have no shelf space. I suffer.

But I’m AHEAD ON MY GOODREADS CHALLENGE!! Last month I was still 2 behind!! Now: bEHOLD.

 

(all covers link to goodreads)

BOOKS BOUGHT…

From library

FOR REVIEW…

Vote and help meeeee!

What Should I Read Next?

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I had some simply exquisite reads this month and I’m beyond ecstatic about it. 😍

If We Were Villains | Definitely gets the #1 spot because it is, coincidentally, my TOP read of the month. Also on the best-of-the-year shelf!! It’s adult dark academia…all drama theatre uni kids and murders, Shakespeare on the stage and off, disasters gays and soft boys and violence. The ending gutted me…until it didn’t. And all I can say is that I read a library copy and immediately ordered my own because I’m that obsessed.

The Secret History | Ok this is like “the” famous dark academia of them all, and people always said If We Were Villains is a newer version of this. Also [cough] better version. Look, I’m glad I read it! I’m really infatuated with the storyline, the aesthetics, the character dynamics. I’m still thinking about it. I’m just annoyed Richard was so passive a narrator and about 100pgs could’ve been trimmed. But lolol I READ A 600pg NOVEL WOW.

The Raven Boys | Is this my 5th reread? Why yes it is. Am I absolutely still obsessed? Also quite clearly yes. These books make me ache for my best friends that don’t exist and long to go back to a town I’ve never been to. The characters are my heart.

Sword & Pen | The finale I’d been waiting for soooo long AHHHH. It did not disappoint. omg all the stars. I was freaking stressed and in love and STRESSED. Jess needed a hug, my poor son. The whole story was tight and clever…I’m on the blog tour tomorrow so watch out for a huge giveaway coming!

Wilder Girls | SO highly anticipated and I really loved the aesthetic. The feral and wild wilderness, the infectious changes turning the girls inside out. The f/f romance! The curious mysteries. It did feel half done though, like it needed more world-building or a sequel.

Beasts Of the Frozen Sun | Truly loved this one! It’s like a Scottish-inspired fantasy and quite dark and brutal. It has boys being forced into weapons and monsters; and girls with powers and swords. Fab combination.

The Thousandth Floor | um, I may have had an eARC of this.😐Yeah. Back in 2016. Anyway, I read it NOW. And it was really trashy but intriguing. But like…burying the gays like that? I’m out.

Frozen Charlotte | Ok CREEPY AS HECK. This is a UKYA and like it had all the average things of a horror (creepy dolls, odd house, weird family, ghostly foggy cliffs) but it was just super disturbing and well done.

Heartstopper Vol 2 | EEEEEEEEE I LOVED IT.💛💖✨😍It’s just SO CUTE and I loved how the boys’ relationship developed. Also Nick getting better friends and understanding himself and his bisexuality was just perfect.

With Fire On High | YES. I will always be here for foodie-fic, just leave me with it and I’ll fall in love thx. This is a Latino/Black teen girl, also a mother of a 2yo, who is just trying to finish highschool and she wants to be a chef. It’s so full of heart and I adored the story. Also the food. Yes yes.

All the Bad Apples | Ok truly harrowing. I didn’t actually expect this to be a hard-hitting one? I really loved The Accident Season back in like,…oh woah, maybe 2015? And that was just whimiscal and lovely. This is more a #MeToo book about smashing the silence that cloaks the oppression and brutalisation of women in history (particularly in Ireland) and it is a VERY needed book. F/f romance too.

Kingdom of Souls | badass Western-African inspired epic fantasy! #Ownvoices! I loved all the elements (the magicless girl and the demons being freed and the sassy gods and complex female villains) but I did get a bit lost oops.

The Hazel Wood | tbh I am mad at myself for not reading this sooner! It had subtle The Raven Cycle vibes too, but this was all fractured fairy tales and mysterious pasts. Portal fantasy! And just, gah, sharp girls and soft boys and dark plot twists. Yessss. Sequel? Pls find me.

Ghosts of the Shadow Market | always love a good solid Shadowhunter book! This is a short story collection, but you don’t want to miss it! My favourite stories were Malec’s one, especially them adopting Rafe 😫😍And also Jem/Tessa making sure Kit knew hew as loved and wanted by them. MY HEART.

OTHER BOOKS READ

| WHAT DO YOU THINK |

tell me your best reads of August? and are you ahead or behind on your Goodreads challenge? any fun writing plans for September?! 🤗

 

10 Things I Don’t Want To Read About! (Ft. Me, Being Fussy!)

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Hello today is the day when I get to complain amicably.

This is like gentle and lowkey complaining 😘 and partially is presented to you because I am having a mellow moody day after my TBR legitimately fell on me and broke a cute box I happened to like. I obviously glared sternly at my TBR (not at ME, of course, for staking it too high) and now am having my revenge by talking about topics I don’t gravitate towards reading.

As you do.

Although there can be exceptions! A good book can change my mind about (almost; lol but not quite) anything. And none of these are supposed to be problematic! This is just you and I lining up for pie and I very firmly do not want blueberry pie for no reason except that I don’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So let’s have at it, shall we? 🤗

1. animals being hurt

This is one I’m ALMOST never negotiable on. Because I acknowledge sometimes it happens for a reason and life is like that. But arhgisghos mostly it’s used as a “tear-jerker plot device” where you want to shock the audience into being horrified. I was reading this book I felt meh about and then…it just suddenly outright MURDERED a dog for no no no reason. 😒Not having it, matey. 

I think I am also Soft™ for dogs because I have one and he hates me but I will protec 1000% and die for him. 😭💛Animals are precious and pure and better than all of humanity combined tbh.

2. crazy fandom plots

This is actually a super popular plot line in books and there is nothing wrong with it…I just don’t like it. Because (1) I can’t actually understand being so obsessed with a fandom that you doing creepy and horrible because of it, and (2) it just makes fangirls overall seem rabid. And ok, yes sure, rabid fans exist!?? They terrify me?!? But I like books about quiet and soft fans lolol. (Aka heaven bless Alice Oseman books and her soft fandoms.)

3. creepy forbidden romances

Some forbidden romances are really awesome, don’t get me wrong. But some are…just not my cup of tea. 😂I don’t even like tea. I would rather have a hot chocolate and avoid romances like (1) huge age gaps…we’re talking 5+ years, and (2) romances between teachers and students in school settings.

No thank uuuuuuu.

4. main character dying

Sound the ALARM because I have gotten FRAGILE over here!! My Hufflepuff side wars with my Slytherin half for wanting lovely endings. 😫Like, let them be tragic, sure! My favourite type of ending is where ONE thing goes right and FIVE things go wrong. (Have you read either of my books? lolol I am fond of this.) But I still want just enough to go right that I don’t feel like a gutted salmon. 

I hate having main characters die…having couples that worked so hard to get together the whole book, just break up…etc. etc.

5. cults

I think cults make me overly annoyed because I do not like being told what to do or what to think. The second someone tries, I frown and stalk off to find other angles. Trust? We don’t know her. So I’m just not drawn to these types of books…even though they can be fascinating. But at the end I’m always like, “??? why would you even do that ???”

The only cult I’m here for is the bookworm one where we are all buying books and stacking them in tall piles and forgetting to read them.

6. everyone getting married

“Uh, but c.g. you just said you like lovely endings…”

Ok but marriage is [sigh] annoying to me. Every time I turn around there seems to be another YA book (particularly fantasy) with an arranged marriage the girl has to fight out of, or an evil husband to kill, or she’s threatening to be wed to save a kingdom etc.. And I’m like ??? I came here to YA specifically to avoid books about marriage. I’m 25, I’m too young for this. Marriage is for people who are, at least, sixty-four.

7. passive main characters

It’s odd, but I’ve read two books this year that are highly acclaimed or hyped and BOTH had extraordinarily…passive protagonists. They didn’t push their plot along and they had the personalities of rather limp mops. Everything interesting happened to someone else in the book. I just sat there, waving a vague hand, saying, “Could we not be in tHE OTHER PERSON’S hEAD THEN??”

I want to see doing and action. Fling me into the hot heart of the story. If you leave me on the sidelines like this again, I will throw damp bread and yell.

8. and then suddenly…magical plot twist in an otherwise non-magical book

I spy your convenience plot twist, sir, and I slowly rest my palm on the table top and say, “No.” If magic is going to pop in at the end and save everyone, it needs to be at the beginning too!!

9. when there isn’t enough hugging

I admit this is an odd one since I hate being touched and my mother today patted my arm and I leapt half a mile into the air. But. In books? I demand hugs for the characters. Especially after traumatic events. I was just reading Sword & Pen and can you sit here with me, in wrathful rage, the Jess was HURT and n o  o n e hugged him???😭 Every time a book fails to give the character a proper hug, I take revenge by hugging my dog.

My dog also hates being hugged and escapes me asap and casts me dirty looks. But I try to make a difference in this broken world.

10. When “being mean” is confused with “being strong”

I do enjoy badass women in books who give Take Exactly No Shenanigans and will slay. Yes be still my beating heart, you badass queen. Cold girls, unlikeable girls, fierce girls, angry girls, mistrustful girls = LOVE THEM.

But. I keep reading books where the girls aren’t being assertive or powerful — they’re just being mean. Cruel even. I always assess my judgements of female characters by asking if I’d be okay with it if it was a male character. (Case in point: I don’t see how people can hate Jude but love Cardan in The Cruel Prince, since they are both the same!!!! One has to be very perceptive of internalised misogyny. I do too!) But if it’s just, as a person, they’re MEAN…then I’m out.

I’m over plotlines where characters learn to be nice too. Dude, if you need 340pgs to become a decent human then sphfsoghsoru. I would rather eat a small rock.

| what do you think? |

any bookish topics or settings or premises on your “off” list?? do you share any of mine? or do you…love some of mine?! no judgement!!