Top Ten Tuesday | 2/16/21

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:

Purple, Yellow, and/or Green Book Covers (in honor of Mardis Gras, which is today!)

Happy Mardi Gras! These colors are so fabulous together. 💜💛💚 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 2/9/21

This week’s Valentine freebie topic is:

Greatest Love of All ~ My Fave Couples

💘 Jude & Cardan from The Folk of the Air series by. Holly Black

💘 Lara & Aren from The Bridge Kingdom series by. Danielle L. Jensen

💘 Stella & Michael from The Kiss Quotient by. Helen Hoang

💘 Feyre & Rhys from ACOTAR series by. Sarah J. Maas

💘 Juliette & Warner from the Shatter Me series by. Tahereh Mafi

💘 Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by. Jane Austen

💘 Lara Jean & Peter K from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series by. Jenny Han

💘 Kazi & Jase from The Dance of Thieves series by. Mary E. Pearson

💘 Mac & Barron from Darkfever series by. Karen Marie Moning

💘 Roselle & Reykin from the Secondborn series by. Amy A. Bartol

Top Ten Tuesday | 2/2/21

This week’s topic is:

Books Written Before I Was Born

To Kill a Mockingbird by. Harper Lee published in 1960 – this was required school reading for me
Lord of the Flies by. William Golding published in 1954 – another school requirement
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by. C.S. Lewis published in 1950 – funny story, in high school (and I went to a high school that people called ghetto 🙄 because of the gang fights but it really wasn’t so bad as the news made our school out to be)…anyway it was predominantly filipino and samoan kids and my senior year we had a white teacher from Colorado. She said we’d basically get nowhere speaking our pidgin English (Hawaii slang) and she decided to take 20 minutes at the end of class to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to us! Most of the kids in class slept through it or wrote notes to one another (I wrote notes), but I did listen to the story as well since I love books. Anyway ~ that’s my memory about that book.
Jane Eyre by. Charlotte Bronte published in 1847 – love this book
Pride and Prejudice by. Jane Austen published in 1813 – I watched the show series first before reading the book
Romeo and Juliet by. William Shakespeare published in 1595 – required school reading
Little Women by. Louisa May Alcott published in 1868 – I don’t remember reading it, but I definitely remember watching the movie a lot
Dracula by. Bram Stoker published in 1897 – never read it, but watched the Dracula movie with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder back in the day because…Keanu🤷🏻‍♀️
Interview with the Vampire by. Anne Rice published in 1976 – I watched the movie but never read this book. I did read her Lives of the Mayfair Witches series and I loved The Mummy!
The Shining by. Stephen King published in1977 – I saw the movie and read the book. I was in a Stephen King phase back in high school which was in the 90’s. Then I read a book of his that freaked me out and gave me nightmares so I stopped reading his books. 😅

Have you read any of these books?

📚 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 1/5/21

This week’s topic is:

Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021

January 2021 Releases:

We Free the Stars – 1/19/21

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February 2021 Releases:

A Court of Silver Flames – 2/16/21

Reaper of Souls – 2/18/21

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March 2021 Releases:

Red Tigress – 3/2/21

A Queen of Gilded Horns – 3/16/21

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April 2021 Releases:

Blessed Monsters – 4/6/21

What’s Not to Love – 4/20/21

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May 2021 Releases:

Soulmate Equation – 5/18/21

Blade of Secrets – 5/4/21

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June 2021 Releases:

The Cruelest Mercy – 6/15/21

Out of all these titles I think my MOST anticipated reads are A Court of Silver Flames and The Cruelest Mercy. Leave your TTT link in the comments so I can check out your list!

💚 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 12/22/20

This week’s topic is:

Books I Hope Santa Brings

I only get book gifts from my mother-in-law usually! So I usually do my own book gifting to myself haha. I can’t think of 10 since I just bought a few on my kindle app, but here are 5 that I’d like to get next:

The only one I’ve read in this list is These Violent Delights and it was as an arc so I’d love to have the physical copy on my shelf. I’m in love with the cover.

What book gifts do you want this Christmas?

🎁 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 12/15/20

This week’s topic is:

Books On My Winter 2020-2021 TBR

I have a bunch of NetGalley arcs to get through this Winter so you can see I’m not reading many new releases unless I have time to fit them in. I’m trying to get through books on my shelf that have been sitting there neglected haha, so I need to read them before buying any more new books.

What’s on your Winter TBR?

💕 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 12/1/20

This week’s topic is:

Books I Want to Read Again

(This could mean books you plan on re-reading OR books you wish you could read again for the first time.)

Legendborn ~ I’ve been re-reading this slowly since I bought the book! Hopefully, I’ll have time to really dig in, after the holidays.
A Court of Thorns and Roses ~ I’ve reread this series so much but with Nesta’s story coming out in February, I may have to reread it again.
The Inheritance Games ~ I’ll read it again before the sequel comes out.

4. Twilight ~ the book that got me into reading young adult novels when I was adult status. I don’t think I’ll read it again, but I do wish I could relive my first time reading it and I was like…”vampires don’t sparkle!” 😂 I was used to Anne Rice kind of vampires or Dracula okay? Burn in the sun!

5. Bring Me Their Hearts ~ will reread this when I buy myself my own copies.

6. Secondborn ~ I reread this SO many times, but to go back to that first time would be awesome.

7. The Vampire Diaries series ~ I was OBSESSED with this series in the early 1990’s. I reread my copies so much the covers fell off. Oh to read it for the first time again.

8. The Secret Circle series ~ Yes, I was obsessed with all LJ Smith books. This was another series I read over and over until the covers tore off.

9. Vampire Academy series ~ sooo addicting! I loved this world of dhamphirs.

10. Tithe ~ my first Holly Black book and what started my love for faeries! Oh the memories.

So I feel like having a blog and reading as many books to review has made me reread book WAY less…😞. I seriously have no more time to reread my favorite books and that’s makes me a little sad. On the bright side, I get to read about all these new worlds in these new books I come across.

What did you have for your TTT? Drop me a link in the comments!

😘 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 11/24/20

This week’s freebie topic is:

Thanksgiving/I’m Thankful for…

My Health ~ after such a wild year, losing my husband’s aunt to covid, hearing of other friends losing their parents to covid, my family and friends getting exposed…I am thankful I’ve stayed healthy to take care of my kids. 🙏🏼
My Family ~ being locked down together makes you appreciate the little things AND learn how to give each other space so you don’t go totally insane together. Also
Books ~ for helping my mind travel when I couldn’t! 📚
My Friends ~ who FaceTimed me and texted me as we got through all the anxiety of this year together!
Coffee ~ for helping me get through my son’s remote schooling. ☕️

Also I am…

Thank you to all who has supported my blog the past year and a half. I appreciate you. 😘 Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Top Ten Tuesday | 11/10/20

This week’s freebie topic is:

Book Titles that Would Make Great Song Titles

I’m sure I Wanna Be Where You Are and You Should See Me in a Crown are already song titles (definitely You Should See Me…).

I know there is a song called To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before (my dad used to listen to it A LOT when I was a child haha), so why not To All The Boys!

What do you think? I think these would make some pretty good songs!

🌟 ~ Yolanda

Top Ten Tuesday | 11/3/20

This week’s topic is:

Non-Bookish Hobbies

(Let’s get to know each other! What do you do that does not involve books or reading?)

Crafting with Resin

It’s a hobby I just picked up in 2020 and I started selling some of my items on Etsy again. My shop is called FancifulWish is you want to check it out. I also do some hand stamping metal still (which was why I opened my shop in the first place…8 years ago now?). My shop took a hiatus when my daughter was born 3 years ago and I thought I was done with it, but I guess the creative juices in me won’t quit.

2. Plants

I have to thank quarantine for this hobby. I’ve been living in this house for about 7 years now and I did try to grow things before and all my plants died! Haha…but for some reason, during lockdown 2020, my green thumb emerged? Maybe because I really put time and effort this time and had fun doing it? I don’t know…but I’ve already propagated so many succulents – I’m proud of myself! 😀 I did tell my family if they need gifts for Xmas, please, take my extra plants and give them a good home.

3. Gaming

I’m not a big gamer, but I did pick up Animal Crossing this year. I occasional help my son out on his Nintendo games and we did finally finish Luigi’s Mansion 3 during lockdown. Yay! Haha…

4. Cooking

Another thing I started to do more during lockdown and trust me, I used to semi-enjoy cooking. I’m TIRED of my cooking sigh but I did manage to cook more filipino foods and get better at it. I’m not good haha, but at least now I can say I’m getting better at it. I have more fun baking because desserts are my weakness!

5. Netflix and Chill

I haven’t had time to sit down and watch anything since you got it, 2020 and being in lockdown! Ha! So definitely had more time to binge shows. I guess before lockdown I was taking my son to school, running around doing errands, taking them to their ballet and soccer. I had so much to do, I didn’t have time to watch anything.