Book Challenge: Are you a mood reader?

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend! We had no plans and hung out at home. It was glorious! Do you ever feel like time just needs to slow down?.

I spent this weekend catching up on reading (and house stuff–boring). On top of my September reading, I’m also buddy reading a few books.

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I’m reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli with my girl Belinda @bookstorm. We are loving it so far and the audiobook is fantastic!

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I started Roar by Cora Carmack with my buddy reading besties Sadie @devourer.of.books, Adelide @thebookishhistorian, Ruthie @paperbackparamour, and Sam @_sklevy. We just started it, but already, everyone is loving it!

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Not pictured, but I’ll also be reading Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor with the fabulous Renee @bookishblissandbeauty, Goose Girl by Shannon Hale @squeetus with my BG bestie Jenn @a_tad_bit_bookish, and Dark Tower Book 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King with my good friend Vicky @zoetzure. These are all highly anticipated fantasy reads that I’m so excited for and thrilled to be reading along with friends.

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For #watermelanerdsseptember, Are you a mood reader? I usually have a set list of books to read each month, but it’s fluid, depending on new releases and if a title at the library catches my attention (which is almost all the time), or if I see books on #grimdragon which is pretty much the equivalent to what all the cool kids are doing right now so whatever books they read means I have to rectify my situation STAT and read them too. (But seriously, check out that tag to add to your already precarious TBR stack and find awesome humans to follow). Anyway, I usually do read most of the books I set out to read at the beginning of the month along with some unexpected selections. Are you a mood reader? Or do you like picking out books before hand?

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Succulent sticky notes and double tipped highlighters from Target; Succulent themed washi tape and scrapbook paper from Michael’s.

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Book Challenge: Sentimental Value

Do you ever feel like the shortened weeks with a holiday feel longer than ones without a holiday? Maybe it’s just harder getting back into a routine after having a holiday. I can’t wait until Friday!.

For #grimdragon Sentimental Favorites! Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is my all time favorite. It’s a fantastic story but if I’m honest, it has great sentimental value. I discovered Pride and Prejudice my first year teaching when BBC was showing the mini-series. It was the perfect escape from the rigors of teaching for the first time and after I watched the series, I read the book which I loved too. During that time, my father passed away and rereading/rewatching and eventually writing fanfic helped me get through the rest of that year! And later inspired me to write my own novel.

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For #watermelanerdsseptember What are you currently worrying about? I don’t know if this counts as a worry. Maybe just being anxious? My sons and my daughter are starting their first ballet lesson tonight while my husband and I attend back to school night. We’ll be there at the start but we’ll have to leave right away. My SILs will be there to take over and bring them home. I’m mostly worried that they think it’s going to be like how we have “dance parties” at home which pretty much means a free for all whenever Dance, Dance, Dance by Justin Timberlake comes on and when they learn it’s not what they thought, there will be tears of fury and promises to never go again. Fingers crossed that it goes well!

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Book Challenge: Naked Book

Friends, going back to school is no joke! My kids are in and getting back into the school grind is hard when your body and mind are still on summer break time. 😳 Anyone else struggling? Or are you happy to be back in school?.

For #writerswhobookstagramsept, Fight Procrastination Day: a book you’ve been putting off? For me, it’s actually an author. I haven’t read any Stephen King books.🙈 I’m hoping to remedy that soon this month.

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For #watermelanerdsseptember, What book release are you most excited for? (Read a Book Day) There’s so many new books coming out this month! It’s hard to choose! I’ll mention ones that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken @alexbracken, and Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh @axieoh. I’m also looking forward to reading Dark Tower Book 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King with @zoetzure.

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For #grimdragon, Get naked! Ditch the dust jackets! I found this lovely book today on the used book shelf at my library for $1. It is a Stephen King book! When I checked under the dust cover, I found this beauty and it happened to fit the prompt. Some of you Stephen King fans will already know what book this is. I’ve heard it described as a love story but in Stephen King style. I was intrigued by the summary and if you swipe to the next panel you can see the Goodreads summary and title.

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What’s a book or author you’ve been putting off? What new books are you excited for this fall?

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August Wrap-Up/September TBR

Happy Friday! Sugar Honey Iced Tea, friends! It’s September! What is this new devilry? I swear it feels like the summer just started. Now iCal is telling me I only have four months left to read all the books and I can’t stop talking without using exclamation points!.

This is a hybrid post of my August wrap-up and September TBR. Pictured is my bullet journal with my reading tracker layout for August and also featured are some of the books I’ll be reading for September.

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For my last wrap-up, instead of a rating system, I did categories and they worked out really well, so I’ll try them again.

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Epic adventures that owned me at every page:

-Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

-The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley (Book 2 of the Unhewn Throne)

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Elemental fantasies are my jam and these did not disappoint:

-Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser

-The Waking Land by Callie Bates

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Heard these were good and that I’d like them and turns out I LOVE THEM:

-Stalking Jack the Ripper by Keri Maniscalo

-Etiquette and Espionage: Book the First in the Finishing School series by Gail Carrier

-Curtsies and Conspiracies: Book the Second in the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger

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Diverse reads done well—funny and poignant:

-Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

-You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

-The Hammer of Thor: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2

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Fun summer read:

-The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak

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The jury is still out on this series:

Empire of Night (Age of Legends #2) by Kelley Armstrong (I’m reading book 3 for September.)

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What was your favorite read(s) in August? What are you looking forward to read in September? What are your plans for the weekend?

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Book Birthday: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Happy Belated Book Birthday to Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo @lbardugo! I’m so excited for this book. I’m adding it to my September TBR..

The fall season will be upon us soon and aside from cooler weather, what other fall new releases are you excited for? There’s so many I want to read! Warcross, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, and Rails and Retribution are high on my list!

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I was channeling my inner Wonder Woman this week. First week back to school for my kids went well for the older ones, but my kindergartener is having a harder time. Needless to say, I’m ready for the weekend!

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Book Challenge: Too Many Damn Characters

When you recommend books, do ever worry that other people will hate it? I do but here I am pushing books on you because I might actually recommend something you like! Case in point this series: The First Law books. I knew he would like these books. He loved the Wheel of Time, Mistborn, and is a white-gold wielder (points to you if you know what series that is from!) Long story short, i finally got him to start The Blade Itself and he seems to be enjoying it (he’s 200 pages in). Go me!.

For #grimdragon challenge, too many damn characters! What this prompt really should be is too many damn MAGNIFICENT characters! I finished The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie right before summer and I’m still thinking about these books!

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Like most epic fantasies, there are a lot of characters to keep track of but as the story progresses, you get invested in what happens to them and make offerings to the book gods that they don’t die. But, you have to be realistic about these things. No one is safe from Mr. Abercrombie’s pen because he does not hold back and you just have to pray that he doesn’t kill them too much.

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What’s a book that you recommended that others liked? What’s a book that you enjoyed that had too many magnificent damn characters?

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I hope you all had a great Monday! Kids are back to school Wednesday and will be welcomed back with 90 degree weather. With no A/C. 😳

Book Challenge: Coming of Age/Diverse Read

For the #grimdragon challenge #diversereads and Coming of Age prompts, I picked You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner @heywhitneywrites. It is such a perfect book for these prompts!.

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner was the March BOTM for @mirrorbookbox. I was so sad to have missed this box–it looked amazing and this book sounded perfect. Thank the book gods for libraries bc even though I missed this fabulous box, I was still able to read this book.

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The main character Julia is hearing impaired and is a graffiti artist. She does a piece on the cafeteria wall that gets her expelled from her school for hearing impaired students and her parents enroll her into a mainstream school.

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What I found so intriguing about this story was how well the author captured Julia’s frustration and anger. The story is told in first person point-of-view so the reader experiences first hand Julia’s thoughts and reactions. Julia is intelligent and creative but so many assumptions are made about her bc of her impairment. It was eye opening to say the least to read how she was treated at her mainstream school and everywhere else.

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I also enjoyed how graffiti art was such a big part of Julia’s character and the story. Someone else adds to Julia’s pieces which infuriate her but she also admits to herself that the unwelcome additions complement her work too. I was surprised to learn who did it but liked how this part of the story turned out because it plays into the themes of friendship and trust that Julia struggles with through out the story.

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This book represents diversity so well too! Julia is Indian and has two moms. Such positive reps for both and done in a way that is seamless–it’s not the focus of the story. These are just parts of their identity.

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For a complete summary, swipe through to see the Goodreads synopsis.

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How was your weekend? We were home bound all weekend. The temperature here has been in the 90s which pretty much means staying inside with the A/C on. 😆

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