Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!
This week’s topic is: (freebie topic)
10 Book Quotes from Book Lovers by. Emily Henry
I just read this book and honestly I highlighted a few sentences in them because they were really good or hit me in some way. Here are my favorites!
“That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Birth is a kind of death,” she says, rubbing her tummy. “Death of the self. Death of sleep. Death of your ability not to pee yourself a little when you laugh.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“I’ve always considered myself an introvert, but the truth is I’m used to having people on all sides of me. You adapt to living life with a constant audience. It becomes comforting.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Maybe this is why people take trips, for that feeling of your real life liquefying around you, like nothing you do will tug on any other strand of your carefully built world.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“It’s a feeling not unlike reading a really good book: all-consuming, worry-obliterating.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“The last-page ache. The deep breath in after you’ve set the book aside.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Somehow, it never occurred to me that this was an option: that two people, in the same hug, could both be allowed to fall apart. That maybe it’s neither of our jobs to keep a steel spine.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Maybe it’s possible to belong in a hundred different ways to a hundred different people and places.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
“Maybe love shouldn’t be built on a foundation of compromises, but maybe it can’t exist without them either. Not the kind that forces two people into shapes they don’t fit in, but the kind that loosens their grips, always leaves room to grow. Compromises that say, there will be a you-shaped space in my heart, and if your shape changes, I will adapt. No matter where we go, our love will stretch out to hold us, and that makes me feel like . . . like everything will be okay.” – Emily Henry, Book Lovers
Seriously…this book gave me so many feels, some triggers – I didn’t expect it to be emotional but I found myself relating so much! Have you read it yet?
I managed to finish a few books this week! More than last week at least. So my week was pretty mild. Now this Friday I’ll be on a plane to Las Vegas and seeing Silk Sonic in concert on Saturday night. My bestie and I plan to do a little gambling, get a massage, eat, dance, sleep and then hop back on a plane to Hawaii on Sunday. 😅 I’m so excited! This is my first trip in 10 years and my first weekend away from my kids ever. After Las Vegas, I come home for 2 days- unwind as best I can, do laundry, clean the house, do last minute shopping and then hop on a plane to Philadelphia. I hope my body can handle all these flights and time changes. And I pray I stay healthy! 🙏🏼
Hope you had a good week and have a nice new week!
Senior Year (Netflix) – it was a bit cringey but I got a few laughs out of it
Bling Empire (Netflix) – oh the DRAMA of the rich lol
Games I Played:
My Singing Monsters (app)
Just Dance – cardio
Music I Listened To:
Silk Sonic – getting in the mood for the concert!💃🏻
How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for 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?
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!
“Pa was taking too long to cut the boys’ throats.”
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Can you guess what book it is?
Did you guess it? Have you read this one? I finally got this one on Kindle Unlimited and started reading it!
Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
And Sam picks up the phone.
In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.
Content Warning: Grief, Death of Loved One
First off, I love this book cover, it’s so pretty and perfectly reflects the story. Julie and Sam had future plans but the future changes when Sam dies in a car accident.
Julie is grieving and grieving has many stages – we see Julie go through lot of them in this story about love, death and letting go. As a character Julie comes off as unlikable but what do we really know about her outside of grieving Sam? I’ve experienced grief but not in high school, when you are young and think life is so long. Some people see Julie as selfish for not attending any of Sam’s memorials or even the funeral, others know to give her space and maybe a break. Everyone grieves differently. I did find it kind of wild that she was trying to get rid of some of Sam’s things a week after he died. Like…I know we all grieve differently but wow, I couldn’t part with my late husband’s things after just a week, even if it was hard to look at it.
I thought talking with Sam through the phone was interesting. It definitely helped her get through some of the beginning stages of losing Sam but other than that, I didn’t see the point except when we hear Sam’s explanation. That part almost made the tears come – almost! I thought it would be super emotional for me but surprisingly, it wasn’t as heartbreaking as I thought it would be. I think it’s because there really wasn’t any conflict between Sam and Julie until the night of the accident, which sucks bad, but everyone can see how it was an accident and that they were crazy about one another. Strangely, I felt it was more meaningful when Sam got to talk to Mika and his brother, because they were having a hard time with his death.
As for Julie moving on – I didn’t feel like she really did have a life outside of Sam. Her connection to her friends wasn’t a strong one, the one she did seem close to, Mika (Sam’s cousin) – was someone she pushed away the moment Sam dies. I thought that sucked for Mika who clearly needed a friend and someone who knew Sam like she did. But the great thing about her is that she does try her best to move on with the help of Sam and her friends.
Why you should read it:
takes a look at grieving and the different ways people grieve
Sam and Julie’s sweet love story
see how Julie learns to move on
Why you might not want to read it:
didn’t really connect to the characters
at some points Julie comes off as unlikable but she’s grieving, she’s in high school on the verge of graduating and lost her first love in a tragic accident but she does come off as immature as times
My Thoughts:
For me this book was okay – I was expecting to be bawling my eyes out but I didn’t. In a way I’m relieved I didn’t cry my eyes out but I wanted to feel more than I did. This is a story that takes a look at grieving and moving on. Julie does move on, with a little help from Sam.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Quote from the Book:
Letting go isn’t about forgetting. It’s balancing moving forward with life, and looking back from time to time, remembering the people in it.”
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!
This week’s topic is: (freebie topic)
Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read
I think I got this one 3 years ago and it’s still on my shelf unread.
This might have been on my shelf for 4 years now haha.
I think this has been on my kindle app for 3 years.
On my kindle app for about 1 month now, I think.
Had this for about 3 years now
Two years on my shelf!
On my kindle app for about 2 years.
Have had this one on my shelf for a year I think? Will be reading it soon!
My mother in law got me this book 2-3 years ago. I really need to pick it up.
I got this one on my kindle app about 2-3 months ago. Hoping I can get to it soon.
I don’t know what it is about buying hardcover books. I love that they are on my shelf but it’s hard to pick it up and read lol. Ebooks are easiest for me because I tend to read before or past bedtime. What’s on your TTT?
What would you do if the world’s biggest K-pop star asked you to prom? Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon, this hilarious and heartfelt novel brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school.
Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing – she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center, the one place that’s always made her feel like she belonged.
So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever. Because the one person who always accepted Elena as she is? Her childhood best friend, Robbie Choi. And the one thing she maybe, possibly, secretly wants more than anything? For the two of them to keep the promise they made each other as kids: to go to prom together. But that was seven years ago, and with this new K-pop persona, pink hair, and stylish clothes, Robbie is nothing like the sweet, goofy boy she remembers. The boy she shared all her secrets with. The boy she used to love.
Besides, prom with a guy who comes with hordes of screaming fans, online haters, and relentless paparazzi is the last thing Elena wants – even if she can’t stop thinking about Robbie’s smile…right?
Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession…or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Frankly, Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness—and leave him there.
Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen.
But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group wonders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn’t a gimmick after all. There’s a chance to right the wrongs—of Duke’s past and their own—but only if Leo and Lily can confront their history and work together. Alone under the stars in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyonlands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they’ll risk their lives and hearts on the adventure of a lifetime.
Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.
The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.
When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?
A high-stakes fantasy rom-com about twin princesses separated at birth—one raised as the crown princess, and the other taken as an infant and raised to kidnap her sister, steal the crown, and avenge the parents’ murders.
Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble…
Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.
Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?
Jo never heard of the label “practice girl”…until she was called one. And those two devastating words would irreversibly change the way she saw everyone–including herself. An emotional and empowering novel about reputation and double standards, perfect for fans of Katie Cotugno and Sarah Dessen.
Jo Beckett is looking for love. She’s fallen for a few boys, but for some reason, they’ve never fallen for her. One night, at a party she didn’t even want to go to, she finds out the truth. Those boys, who are on the wrestling team she manages, consider her just a “practice girl”—the popular term for girl who’s good enough to hook up with but not to date.
With this crushing revelation, Jo feels so many things–heartsick, ashamed, betrayed, and angry. But she refuses to let that label define her. In piecing her life back together, Jo is forced to unpack more uncomfortable truths about all her relationships–from her best friend to the boy she likes–that help her understand her real worth.
From the author of the acclaimed This Raging Light, Practice Girl is a heart-wrenching, relatable, and ultimately triumphant story about a girl who rejects her label and decides for herself who she is to the world.
Are you getting any new books this week? Happy Reading! ~ Yolanda
Categories: Fantasy, Politcal Intrigue, Young Adult, Romance, LGBT+, Spinoff of Series, Series
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Bloomsbury YA for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
When ancient magic tests a newfound love, a dark fate beckons . . .
Magic has been banished in the land of Syhl Shallow for as long as best friends Jax and Callyn can remember. They once loved the stories of the powerful magesmiths and mythical scravers who could conjure fire or control ice, but now they’ve learned that magic only leads to danger: magic is what killed Callyn’s parents, leaving her alone to raise her younger sister. Magic never helped Jax, whose leg was crushed in an accident that his father has been punishing him for ever since. Magic won’t save either of them when the tax collector comes calling, threatening to take their homes if they can’t pay what they owe.
Meanwhile, Jax and Callyn are astonished to learn magic has returned to Syhl Shallow — in the form of a magesmith who’s now married to their queen. Now, the people of Syhl Shallow are expected to allow dangerous magic in their midst, and no one is happy about it.
When a stranger rides into town offering Jax and Callyn silver in exchange for holding secret messages for an anti-magic faction, the choice is obvious — even if it means they may be aiding in a plot to destroy their new king. It’s a risk they’re both willing to take. That is, until another visitor arrives: handsome Lord Tycho, the King’s Courier, the man who’s been tasked with discovering who’s conspiring against the throne.
Suddenly, Jax and Callyn find themselves embroiled in a world of shifting alliances, dangerous flirtations, and ancient magic . . . where even the deepest loyalties will be tested.
Content Warning: Violence, Kidnapping, Abuse, Mention of Rape
I requested this book because it was written by Brigid Kemmerer but I didn’t realize it was a spinoff of The Cursebreakers series until I started reading it. I felt myself rebelling against this book because I didn’t love the ending of that first series. It was okay, I just didn’t think I’d return to that world again – yet here I was with Grey, Lia Mara and of course Tycho (who I vaguely remember).
This new series is set in Shyl Shallow and is told by three perspectives: Tycho, Jax – a blacksmith in Shyl Shallow, and Callyn, a baker and Jax’s best friend. It took me awhile to get into this book because I didn’t know what we were doing back here…is there a story to tell? Well – it seems like there is no happy ever after still and there is a growing faction of people who are opposed to King Grey and magic. The plan is to eliminate him and save the queen (but she doesn’t need saving). But things don’t go as planned.
I did like that this was Tycho’s story. He’s traveling between Grey’s court and Rhen’s Emberfall a lot and those two always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I just never liked how the previous series ended, I guess. But I did my best to concentrate on Tycho’s side of things. I love that he meets Jax – they have an attraction that gets kind of steamy. I felt bad for Jax because his dad abuses him and he is just trying his best to survive it. As for Callyn -I liked meeting her but then she lands in the morally grey area, especially when Lord Alek comes around and I’m not sure what will happen to her in the sequel. In this story no one is perfect.
Grey and Rhen are back for a little bit but like I said I don’t have happy feelings for either of them. The beginning of this story took awhile to get into but I did find myself caring about Tycho and Jax by the middle of it all. As for Cal and Alek? Ugh – all I feel are red flag alerts. I think it’s supposed to be an enemies to lovers romance building but I think I hate Alek…so, can he redeem himself in my eyes? I don’t know! In relation to the story…do we need to be back in this world? It just feels like an unending cycle and no one will come out totally happy, with magic or not. I am intrigued about the scravers though! But enough for me to want to read book two? I’m still not sure. I did enjoy the second half of this book though so we shall see.
Why you should read it:
you loved The Cursebreakers series, want to revisit old characters and the same world (you should read The Cursebreakers series if you haven’t)
M/M romance
political intrigue and some good action at the end
Why you might not want to read it:
wasn’t happy with the previous series
relationships are constantly tested in this series
My Thoughts:
I went into this book kind of wary of returning to Shyl Shallow and Emberfall and yes I struggled to get into the story in the beginning because I wondered – was there really a story to tell about this world again? But I found myself invested midway to the end of the book. I liked Tycho and Jax’s romance and am sort of intrigued by Callyn and Lord Alek – but also warning bells are going off on those two also. I wasn’t as interested in being around Grey and Rhen again, I have bittersweet or maybe just bitter feelings about how that relationship turned out. I think Nakiis’s story would be enough to pull me back into the next book. For fans of The Cursebreaker series, you will love this spinoff because all the old characters are there, and it’s a familiar world. For the not so big fans of the series, you may want to skip this one…unless you are as curious as I was, then you should read it.
I still haven’t read much but I am working on a few arcs. My son has 9 days of school left (not counting the weekends) but wow…I can’t believe the school year is coming to an end. He ends early and starts early – first week of August! This time around his sister is joining him and then I’ll have to figure out what to do with my time while they are in school. 🤔 Maybe revive my Etsy shop? We shall see!
Hope you had a good week and have a nice new week!
How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books – she’s read them all – and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away – with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again – in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow – what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
Content Warning: Grief, Family Pressure, Death of Family Member
Nora and Charlie both work in the book publishing industry. She’s an agent and he’s an editor – their first meeting doesn’t go very well but when they run into each other in a small town, they get to spend time together. These two work so well together! I love their dialogue and banter, there was a delicious slow burn building and I like that they got to see each other around their own families. Because family means a LOT to them. I like that Charlie gets to know the Nora that no one else knows about – not even her sister, because she really needed someone in her corner.
So the romance between Nora and Charlie is a given because yes, this is clearly a romance story but on the other hand Nora feeling the pressures of taking care of her sister and dealing with all the trauma and grief she’s held onto since their mom passed away really is half the book. Nora is ridden with guilt, and hasn’t let go of the responsibility of taking care of her sister, Libby, even though her sister is a mom of 2, soon to be 3 kids. Nora is a pressure cooker ready to explode. I related to her in the grief though. I loved all her thoughts about her fears, her love for her sister and mother, her love of books and her thoughts about not being the type of woman who wants to have children, or wants to settle down in a small quiet town. I love that Nora is supposedly the one in a book without a happy ending. Thing is Nora knows herself so much that she doesn’t want the kind of happy ending that you normally see in books. Married with children. But I felt for Nora having all the fears and vulnerabilities that she has been carrying since her mom passed.
For me this was an uneven reading experience. I was in the groove, vibing with Nora and Charlie because they are falling for one another. Their banter is wonderful, the attraction is there and then the mood would dissipate because Nora would get into her head about her rules and goals and into the role of saving her sister – who didn’t actually need saving. It’s definitely more women’s fiction than a full-on romance novel. The person Nora loves the most in this book is her sister, and that was the relationship she was working on saving. Charlie was just an added bonus to her life. Speaking of Libby – why was it such a mystery where she was half of the day and why couldn’t Nora just ask her? Nora gave her lots of space and wouldn’t ever confront Libby but that was so frustrating especially because they are super close…or was. I also felt like we didn’t know much about Libby except through Nora’s eyes and she got some things wrong about her sister. Lots of miscommunication there.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the book making process. Between Charlie, who’s an editor and Nora who is an agent – we get a little bit of an inside glimpse of how they interact with authors and I loved seeing all this behind the scenes action! Also – the book tropes just had me smiling. I love that Nora and Libby love books and tropes – because we all have our own favorites right?
Why you should read it:
Two bookish people falling for one another in a delicious slow burn, with great dialogue and banter
it’s emotional – Nora and Charlie have separate issues but it both deals with family
Nora and Libby’s sisterly love and bond
an homage to book lovers and the tropes we’ve come to love or dislike
Why you might not want to read it:
like I mentioned above, it gets emotional. Nora is trapped inside some mental anxieties that she has to push through, but it gets heavy. So if you want something light-hearted? This is not it.
My Thoughts:
I was expecting a light-hearted romance novel between two bookish people but ended up getting a somewhat heavy story about two bookish people falling in love and dealing with family issues. But I loved it! I felt for Nora. I loved her relationship with Libby and watching her fall in love with Charlie was beautiful. Nora thoughts are funny especially when she starts thinking in tropes! As a book lover myself, this one felt like an homage to book lovers. I look forward to reading more books from this author.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 