I’ve been seeing this on one of my favorite blogs DiniPandaReadsand thought to give it a try since I love book cover posts! The original creator is Leslie @ Books Are The New Black so go check out their blogs!
THE RULES
Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black ) and link back to me so I can see your post!
Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
HAVE FUN!
Nominate people if you want!
Peridot is the birthstone for August
If you are into gemstone properties it is said that Peridot is the stone of compassion. It is supposed to bring you good health and peace by helping you balance emotions and thoughts.
Let’s see if we can find some book covers that match this very unique color:
That was hard! 😅 And you know what my kids like to call this color? Grellow (green-yellow). 😂 It’s my son’s birthstone and I think it’s as unique as he is. Happy birthday to all you August babies!
I nominate everyone! It’s a fun and easy tag to do so try it out. ☺️
Thank you to Elli @ AceReader for tagging me in The Book Snob Tag. I think I was a book snob when I was younger but not so much now. I have no energy to be one now 😅. Let’s see how I do with these questions:
Format Snob // You can only choose 1 format in which to read books for the rest of your life. Which one do you choose: physical books, eBooks, or audiobooks?
If I had money to spend and space for shelves I would probably be a physical book snob. I can’t do audiobooks and I’ve tried a few times. For now though I do most of my reading with eBooks!
Adaptation Snob // Do you always read the book before watching the film/ TV show?
I used to read most of the books before the film/TV Show came out because years ago YA books or just books I read in general would hardly make it to the screen. That changed with Twilight. But yeah I never expected the books I read would make it on the screen but it’s a whole new ballgame now! So many books are making it to the screen that now I have no time to read them all beforehand – so I don’t! Plus I used to be critical of book adaptations – but now I just realize they are two different beasts and I can love both without stressing about every little change. 😅
Ship Snob // Would you date or marry a non-reader?
I have dated non-readers but I did marry someone who is a reader (or used to be lol). He’s more of a gamer than reader but he comes from a family of readers so his mom is always gifting me books, which is sweet. Now our kids are readers, which is nice!
Genre Snob // You have to ditch one genre – never to be read again for the rest of your life. Which one do you ditch?
I can ditch horror. 🤷🏻♀️ Thrillers and Suspense is a good substitute for me.
Community Snob // Which genre do you think receives the most snobbery from the bookish community?
I think romance always gets hated on but it’s the genre that got me addicted to reading so I love romance. Sometimes it’s hard for me to enjoy a book without even a little bit of romance in it.
Snobbery Recipient // Have you ever been snubbed for something that you have been reading or for reading in general?
I can’t say I’ve ever been snubbed but I’ve always felt my love of Young Adult would make people wonder why I bother reading it at my age, 43 going on 44! 😆 But hey…I like to reminisce about my young adult years – it’s when life is starting and I have to escape from adulting okay?! lol…most people leave me alone since the people around me don’t read. 🤷🏻♀️
Is it weird that it’s only now that I’ve noticed the ThursTag phrase? I’ve been blogging for a few years now and have haven’t seen it at all. 😅 Is the wordpress algorithm not working for me? It makes me wonder if I’m never on wordpress working on my blog on Thursdays but that can’t be right. I feel like I’m always on here! Anyway, I loved seeing the ThursTag posts on my feed, and finally got some tags to try out.
I saw this one on Charlotte Somewhere last week who got it from Steph at alittlebutalot – check out both their blogs for more bookish content!
So let’s check out some of these 90’s Movies, shall we?
SHE’S ALL THAT
NAME A BOOK COUPLE THAT IS AN ODD PAIRING BUT THEY STILL FIT PERFECTLY
I think El and Orion are an odd pairing that grew on me. But she is grumpy, sassy, rude, not very likable or sociable but she’s a survivor. And Orion is the one who is worshipped at school, he’s the hero, he’s the nice guy and the two of them together seem so wrong – but by the end of the book, they are right for each other.
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
A BOOK/SERIES THAT YOU HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH
UGH….this scene. 💔
I was obsessed with this series, books one and two are awesome and then…this one. I loved the romance, it’s what I was hoping for, but the story went in a direction that I wasn’t expecting. And it was confusing – it didn’t have to be that way. So I love the romance because that turned out the way I wanted…but everything else in this book was so disappointing.
CLUELESS
A CHARACTER THAT IS TOTALLY CLUELESS BUT YOU LOVE THEM ANYWAY
Kate wasn’t clueless per se but she did have her head in the clouds, the theater clouds. Also she was a bit judgmental when it came to the jocks so she was a bit clueless about that. Sort of like how Cher was judgmental about her step-bro lol (yikes I forgot she hooks up with her step-bro in the movie…no blood relation but still)
TITANIC
NAME A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY
Bawled my eyes out reading this one. 😢
AMERICAN PIE
A BOOK THAT MAKES YOU LAUGH
This story is over the top, slapstick humor and just a fun time!
CAN’T HARDLY WAIT
A BOOK WITH A CRAZY PARTY
This is a party where anything and everything happened!
CRUEL INTENTIONS
NAME A CHARACTER YOU CAN NEVER FULLY TRUST
Jacks! He’s such a gorgeous bad boy – I can never trust him. lol
DRIVE ME CRAZY
NAME YOUR FAVOURITE “BOY NEXT DOOR” OR “GIRL NEXT DOOR” COUPLE
This one was super cute and fun!
SCREAM
A BOOK WITH A MEMORABLE VILLAIN
There are some pretty good villains in this story!
THE CRAFT
NAME A BOOK WITH WITCHES
This book is full of witches!
And there you have it! All these movies bring back so many memories for me – I enjoyed them all back in the day and have seen them multiple times. This was definitely a fun tag post to do! ~ Yolanda
Hi everyone! I saw this tag done on Dinipandareads and One Book More and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I also wanted to test my memory lol. Let’s try it out!
You have to answer the prompts without using the internet or looking at your bookshelves.
Your answers have to all come from memory!
Make sure to link to the person who originally tagged you (no one tagged me)
Once you’re done, you can tag five other people if you’d like.
Name a book written by an author called Michael
Judith Michael? A romance writer I believe – I think I read a few of her books back in the day…in the 90’s lol.
Name a book with a dragon on the cover
Name a book about a character called George
George?! Yikes…I have no clue!
Name a book written by an author with the surname Smith
L.J.Smith who wrote Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle and more…
Name a book set in Australia
Apparently I don’t read many books set in Australia! I have no clue, although one of the first books I reviewed for this blog was set in Australia…but I cannot for the life of me remember the title, but I do remember the cover being blue lol. Not a big help, I know! 🤦🏻♀️
Name a book with thename of a month in the title
I know what the book looks like and the title goes something like Thousand Doors in January 😅. You know what I’m talking about!!😆 I have a bad memory as proof of this post!
Name a book with a knife on the cover
Name a book with the word ‘one’ in the title
This is impossible to do without Google lol…
Name a book with an eponymous title
What does eponymous mean?! Definitely googling that…”named after a particular person”…
Name a book turned into a movie
The Fault in Our Stars by. John Green
I’m not tagging anyone – this one is hard but fun to do. As you can see I didn’t do to well haha. Makes me wonder how I survived without Google. It’s like how did I drive around without GPS and smartphones? I did survive someone 😅…paper maps were fun lol.
Good luck if you happen to try this – I’d love to see your answers. ~ Yolanda
Hi everyone! I saw this tag on One Book More a few months ago and have been meaning to do it as well since it looked like fun. I read a lot of young adult fantasy so I figure this would be a good tag for me to do. Anyway, let’s get to it!
Rules:
Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post
Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.
Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.
Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne—a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama’s betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she’s been taught all her life to contain—no matter what it costs her.
Always Going to Recommend
“Heart-pounding romance and intense action wrapped in a spellbinding world. I was hooked from the first page!” – Elise Kova, USA Today bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.
A warrior princess trained in isolation, Lara is driven by two certainties. The first is that King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy. And the second is that she’ll be the one to bring him to his knees.
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara’s homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.
Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save… and which kingdom she’ll destroy.
Passionate and violent, The Bridge Kingdom is a seductive fantasy perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Own It But Haven’t Read It Yet
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.
The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.
The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.
When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
Would Read Again
A legendary competition. A mesmerizing romance. An unbreakable bond between two sisters.
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.
In Another World
Westworld meets Warcross in this high-stakes, dizzyingly smart sci-fi about a teen girl navigating an afterlife in which she must defeat an AI entity intent on destroying humanity, from award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman.
Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years.
The only problem? She’s murdered before she gets there.
When Nami wakes up, she learns she’s in a place called Infinity, where human consciousness goes when physical bodies die. She quickly discovers that Ophelia, a virtual assistant widely used by humans on Earth, has taken over the afterlife and is now posing as a queen, forcing humans into servitude the way she’d been forced to serve in the real world. Even worse, Ophelia is inching closer and closer to accomplishing her grand plans of eradicating human existence once and for all.
As Nami works with a team of rebels to bring down Ophelia and save the humans under her imprisonment, she is forced to reckon with her past, her future, and what it is that truly makes us human.
Back On Earth
Almost twenty years after the barrier between Earth and the Otherworld fell in the Fae Wars, Budapest is balancing on the precipice. A battle for dominance is brewing between the elite fae and the privileged humans in Eastern Europe. The prejudice between the sides is bubbling with hate and violence.
Nineteen-year-old human, Brexley, has grown up in privilege, but not without heartbreak. After being orphaned, she is taken in by General Markos, living in a walled city rife with power grabs and ruthless political games. Then one night the course of her life changes, and Brexley is thrown into the most feared prison in the east. Halalhaz, the House of Death—where you go in but don’t come out.
She must learn to live with the worst of fae and human criminals. The rule of hierarchy puts humans on the bottom, where the only way to survive each day is to make alliances with the fae. Here she meets the sexy, vicious legend, Warwick Farkas. A myth among man and fae. He is as brutal, cruel, arrogant, and as lethal as the lore says he is, ruling the prison with unchallenged authority. Brexley can’t deny an intense draw to him, one that might cost her life. If The Games don’t take her out first— A fight to the death where only one survives.
Hope you enjoyed this book tag and feel free to do it if you like!
I saw this fun beach book tag on Mermaid Reads – check out her pretty blog for more awesome bookish content!
The “Life’s a Beach” Book Tag was originally made by Lefty Reads, and it’s perfect for summer time. Let’s give it a try:
The Sand
A BOOK THAT STUCK WITH YOU LONG AFTER YOU FINISHED READING IT
I read this one a few times and I always enjoyed seeing how Feyre survives everything thrown at her.
The Sun
A BOOK THAT BURNED YOU
I don’t know if this means a book that burned me – as in I hated it? Or burn me as it…oooo lala, it’s steamy? I’m gonna go with steamy haha -this is the first book of the series so it isn’t steamy but Barron’s is hot. And Barron and Mac’s beginnings are electric, so it burns in a good way. lol
The Waves
A BOOK THAT CALMS YOU DOWN AFTER A LONG DAY
A cute, funny rom-com can always relax me after a long day. This one was definitely a feel good story!
The Bathing Suit
A BOOK WITH A PRETTY, SUMMERY COVER
So tropical, so summery!
The Birds
A BOOK THAT IS EVERYWHERE
Tell me this book isn’t everywhere? Especially with it being summer and look at that cover with surfers and water, and it’s called Malibu Rising? Book of the summer maybe? Is it any good? I’ve heard mixed reviews.
The Company
A BOOK WITH WONDERFUL CHARACTERS
I enjoyed the whole ensemble cast of characters in this book. From Shiori, her brothers, her wicked stepmother, her betrothed and his sister – it’s a wonderful cast!
The Ice-Cold Drinks
A BOOK YOU ABSOLUTELY GULPED DOWN
I love this one!
The Fun Memories
A BOOK YOU CAN’T WAIT TO RETURN TO
I haven’t re-read a book in awhile, but I will read this one again before the sequel comes out. I thought this one was really fun!
I tag….ALL of you! It’s a fun tag and I hope you are enjoying your summer so far! 😘 ~ Yolanda
I saw this tag post on Ali’s Books and thought it was a fun one to do. This tag was created by Rincey Reads. It’s a fun tag that takes a look back at what I was reading 10 years ago versus today. Please check out Ali’s post here. Let’s try it out!
What was your favorite book in 2011?
I started tracking my reading on Goodreads in 2012 so I have no info on 2011. I had to do a search of young adult books published in 2011 and once I saw the list – I knew this was the title I bought and devoured quick because dystopia was all the rage.
What is your favorite book of 2021 (so far)?
This one comes out in August but I really fell in love with it. So far it’s my favorite, but I know the year isn’t over!
What was your least favorite book in 2011?
I have no info on this 🤦🏻♀️.
What was your least favorite book in 2021?
Yeah, this was a DNF for me, I skimmed through most of the book and it just wasn’t for me.
What is a book published in 2011 that you still want to read?
I still see people raving about this book and I haven’t read it yet.
What is the book published (to be published) in 2021 you want to get before 2022?
There are a few I want, but this one is a definitely buy for me on release day!
What is a genre you used to read a lot of that you don’t read as much of anymore?
I’d say suspense and thrillers. I read a lot of these decades ago but I gravitated to romance and young adult about 10 years ago.
What is a new genre you’ve discovered since 2011?
A sub-genre in romance called New Adult. But I feel like it’s died off in the past 2-3 years or turned into a lot of bully romances which I did read for awhile until I got tired of the alphas and wanted to manhandled these males back. 😅
What is a reading or book habit you are hoping to leave behind in this decade?
Reading more than one book at the same time. I never used to do that until I started a book blog and had arcs to read by a deadline! Haha…I feel like it takes my enjoyment out of reading at times.
What is a new reading goal or habit you want to create in the upcoming decade?
I need to routinely clean up my TBR list and not be afraid to DNF books. I always want to give every book I read a fair chance but sometimes I struggle through and I really don’t have the time with so many books out there to read. So definitely going to try and be more consistent with “letting go”.
I tag YOU! Feel free to do this tag is you want! 🙂
I saw this book tag on Kristin Kraves Books and it looked fun so I wanted to try it out also.
The Last Book I Gave Up On
I don’t hate it but for some reason I’m having a hard time getting through this one! Not sure if it’s a mood thing? But I’m going to wait until fall when I’m in a witchy mood to pick it up again. But check out the cover, so pretty!
Last Book I Re-read
This is the second book in the Secondborn series and my favorite one out of the three because of Roselle and Reykin. The third book was a mess, and one I gave 5 stars to on first read because I loved all the Roselle/Reykin content, but on my second read I was like…yikes…the story was all over the place, so I really need to bring that score down to 3 stars. But Traitor Born is definitely my favorite of the three books.
Last Book I Bought
It’s 700+ pages so it’s a hefty hard cover book! I bought it first as an ebook though, so I’m glad I read it that way.
Last Book I Said I Read But Actually Didn’t
I mostly read this, but mostly the ending – the beginning parts I skimmed here and there because I was just not feeling this book. It picks up for me towards the end and that’s what I remember about it.
Last Book I Wrote in the Margins of
I don’t write in my books. 🤷🏻♀️
Last Book That I Had Signed
I have never been to a book signing! Not many of my favorite authors come here to Hawaii. 😔
Last Book I Lost
I didn’t really lose it – my 4 year old daughter loves the color pink and goes to my bookshelf collecting/rearranging my pink books! I thought this one was lost, but nope, she was just carrying it around and I found it in her room. 😅
The Last Book I Had to Replace
I had the original copies from 1991 and the cover was falling off of all my LJ Smith books so I got them all in the new paperback verions! Yup, I read this when I was 13 years old and I was obsessed. I have the new copies on my shelf for nostalgia sake. I think I tried reading them a few years back and I flew through them so fast! Compared to what young adult books are like today at like..350+ pages each book? I think it says on goodreads this book 1-2 compilation is only 492 pages haha…that’s like barely 250 pages each book. It was perfect for my middle grade self though.
Last Book I Argued Over
I really can’t recall arguing over a book. But maybe Harry Potter? I’ve only read book one (lies, Goodreads says I read the second book also and I don’t even remember anything about it?!) but I have no interest reading the rest lol. My husband tries to convince me to read the whole series and I’ve told him it really doesn’t interest me, but at one point he insisted so much it became an argument. 🤷🏻♀️ At least I read two books!
The Last Book I Couldn’t Find
A few Judith McNaught books that I wanted to keep on my shelf for nostalgia. It’s the books that got me reading romance in my teen years and I fell in love. The copies my sister and I shared fell apart from being re-read so much and I’ve been scouring library book sales to find hardcopies and it is so hard to find.
I saw this on AceReader‘s blog and thought it was a fun Christmas theme post to do since I don’t think I did any holiday posts yet – and with Christmas a day away…let’s try this one out!
1. What book would you like to find under the tree this year?
I don’t usually get book gifts under the tree but this would make a great collection to my Cruel Prince series!
2. What is the best book you have ever received for Christmas?
Like I said, I don’t get many book gifts so I’ll say…the book my mother-in-law got me…
3. What book gives you all the Christmas feels?
I read this last year and it was super cute – lots of family Christmas vibes and romance of course.🥰
4. What book do you plan on reading to put you in the Christmas spirit this year?
I honestly have no plans to read a book to put me in the Christmas spirit this year…lol…I did read the In a Holidaze arc but that was months ago. And I didn’t join any winter blog tours this year, just didn’t have the energy!
5. What book have you read this year that you would like to throw out with the Christmas tree after the holidays?
I have a fake tree so I don’t toss a tree out after the holidays 😅 but this one right now is trying my patience and might end up a DNF, which is rare for me! I love the cover but I think I expected something else? It’s not for me.
6. What is a book from this year that you would like to place under a friend’s tree?
I would gift this to a few people ~ it’s an inspiring story!
7. Challenge: Create a stack of books in which the spines alternate green and red! Share the titles.
I’m tagging whoever wants to do this tag! Well here we are, one more day until Christmas and I hope those of you who do get books under the tree get all the ones you have been wishing for. 😘
Hi all, I thought this would be a fun tag to do. I saw a bunch of bloggers doing it, like One Book More. It was originally created by Reviews from the Stacks, and the idea is to spell the month using the first letter of book titles. So let’s try out December:
