First Lines Friday | 6-2-23

Hello Lovely Readers!

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!

“The stars are absolutely in your favor.”
A smile twisted Arjun Mehta’s lips, his cosmic black eyes twinkling at middle-aged woman sitting with her legs crossed in front of him.

The book is….

“In this charming YA debut, a girl who’s determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship—not knowing that he has been in love with her for years.

Is it possible to change your fate?

Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.

Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for.

As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own.” (Goodreads)

DO YOU WANT TO READ IT AFTER THESE FIRST LINES?

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WWW Wednesday | 5-31-23

Hello, My Lovely Bookworms!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

It consists of answering these three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My audiobook is Running Mate by Leah Brunner. It was a spur of the moment pick from the library! It’s been good so far and it has the marriage of convenience trope.

Other books I am reading are The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang and Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria. The first I am about 70% done and would like to finish it today. The other has been started yet but will be today!

• The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom #4) by Danielle L. Jensen (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Role Playing by Cathy Yardley (arc) ⭐⭐⭐
• Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The next audiobook hasn’t been picked yet!

I will be reading As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh and You, with a View by Jessica Joyce (arc).

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT READ? ARE YOU LOVING IT? HAVE YOU READ OR WANT TO READ ANY THAT I HAVE LISTED? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

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Top Ten Tuesday | Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book

Hello Bookworms!

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.

Today’s prompt is Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book. There are definitely things I decide not to read or just turn me off once in a book. This should be fun to compile!

1.) Open Endings – This is pretty self explanatory. I just want to know how everything worked out and where their lives took them in a year or two! Give me all of the details!

2.) Friends-to-Lovers – I do still try these every now and again, but most of the time they end up being a dud. I will say that if I see it advertised as this trope I do tend to steer clear and pick up something else ha.

3.) Reverse Harems – I am pretty simple and just want one romantic partner.

4.) Dark Romances / Bully Romances – I just don’t find myself interested in these and feel like I would get angry while reading because I don’t think I would like the characters.

5.) Horror – It’s a genre I don’t like haha. I know some books I have read have this as a sub-category but the horror part is usually quite minimal.

7.) Problematic Content / Authors – Another self explanatory one!

8.) Writing Style – Sometimes I just end up DNFing base on this factor alone. It can be very hard to get into a book because of it.

9.) Cheating (to an extent!) – I’m fine with the MC getting cheated on as a plotline but when the MC is in a relationship and finds themself as the cheater is a no-go. I’ve also DNFed a book where the husband said “Hey, let’s give each other free passes to do whatever with another person.” It was to strengthen their relationship and I passed. It’s just not something I like.

10.) Too Many Nods to Social Media, Actual Companies, Etc – It reminds me of all of the closeup in movies for brands lol. I think it can become too much at times.

Do we have any in common? Would some of these turn you off from reading a book?

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Weekly Wrap-Up | 5-28-23

Hello Lovely Bookworms!

This week has been pretty chill. I did some errands on Monday and from then on haven’t really done much. We did go to the lake a couple of times this week to walk around it which was nice. The weather has been beautiful! Yesterday we had a catfish lunch for an early Memorial Day get together with family. It was nice to see some of my husband’s family that we haven’t seen in a bit.

This week and the following will be hectic as we try to get everything ready for our trip to MN. I need to start making a list so I don’t forget anything haha.

I hope you all have been having a great weekend. ❤️

• Goodreads Monday | The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le
• Book Review | Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai
• Top Ten Tuesday | Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book
• WWW Wednesday | 5-24-23
• Book Review | The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
• Book Review | Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou
• First Lines Friday | 5-26-23

• Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton (arc) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Bodyguard by Katherine Center ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Drowning Faith (The Poppy War #2.5) by R.F. Kuang ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Long Lost by Jacqueline West (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Since WWW Wednesday)

• The Endless War (The Bridge Kingdom #4) by Danielle L. Jensen (🎧)
• Role Playing by Cathy Yardley (arc)
• The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang

HOW WAS YOUR WEEK? DID YOU DO ANYTHING FUN OVER THE WEEKEND? READ ANYTHING GOOD THIS WEEK? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

Find me on Instagram / Goodreads / Twitter

First Lines Friday | 5-26-23

Hello Lovely Readers!

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!

“Three shriveled lemons and a plastic bag of pita bread that’s more dry than moldy sit next to one another.
“That’s all this supermarket has to offer.”

The book is….

“Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.

Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.” (Goodreads)

DO YOU WANT TO READ IT AFTER THESE FIRST LINES?

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WWW Wednesday | 5-24-23

Hello, My Lovely Bookworms!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

It consists of answering these three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My audiobook is Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I remember watching this movie when it first came out and it was just so sad. I am sure I will feel sad by the end of this ha.

Other books I am reading are Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton (arc) and The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang which is a buddy read!

• Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn & Shonda Rhimes (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor ⭐⭐⭐
• Naruto Vol. 31 by Masashi Kishimoto ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Naruto Vol. 32 by Masashi Kishimoto ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Next of Kin by Hannah Bonam-Young (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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• 

• 

• 

The next audiobook hasn’t been picked yet!

I will be reading Roleplaying by Cathy Yardley (arc) or The Judas Blossom by Stephen Aryan (arc).

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT READ? ARE YOU LOVING IT? HAVE YOU READ OR WANT TO READ ANY THAT I HAVE LISTED? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

Find me on Instagram / Goodreads / Twitter

Top Ten Tuesday | Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book

Hello Bookworms!

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.

Today’s prompt is Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book! This should be a easy one to do because I can already think of quite a lot on the top of my head!

1.) Enemies-to-Lovers: This is my all time favorite trope and I love it so much!

2.) Banter (and lots of it!): I love when this is combined with the first because it just adds to the tension between them.

3.) Gorgeous Cover: I am a sucker for a good cover and it is usually the first thing that catches my attention.

4.) Auto-Buy Author: Here are just a few that I would instantly buy Danielle L. Jensen, Katherine Arden, Joanna Ruth Meyer

5.) Small Town Setting: There is something about a small town and maybe it is because I live in one! Usually a small town creates a great community.

6.) Fantasy: It’s a genre that anything I see in that broad genre I will try haha.

7.) Animal Companions: Whether they are their own character that talks or a small companion that follows them around as the comedic relief just give it all to me!

8.) Hidden Identity: Lost royal or someone pretended to be someone else it’s all so intriguing!

Do we have any in common? Would some of these make you want to read a book?

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Goodreads Monday | The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

Hello Readers!

Goodreads Monday was hosted and created by Lauren’s Page Turners and has now been taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off.

Title: The Last Bloodcarver
Author: Vanessa Le
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: March 26th, 2024
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

“The tantalizing romance of These Violent Delights meets the mechanical wonders of Cinder in The Last Bloodcarver, the first in a two-book debut – with a riveting medical magic system and lush Vietnam-inspired fantasy world.

Nhika is a bloodcarver. A cold-hearted, ruthless beingwho can alter human biology with just a touch. In the industrial city of Theumas, she is seen not as a healer, but a monster that kills for pleasure.

When Nhika is caught using her bloodcarving abilities during a sham medical appointment, she’s captured by underground thugs and sold to an aristocratic family to heal the last witness of their father’s murder.

But as Nhika delves deeper into their investigation amidst the glitz of Theumas’ wealthiest district, she begins to notice parallels between this job and her own dark past. And when she meets an alluring yet entitled physician’s aide, Ven Kochin, she’s forced to question the true intent behind this murder. In a society that outcasts her, Kochin seems drawn to her…though he takes every chance he gets to push her out of his opulent world.

When Nhika discovers that Kochin is not who he claims to be, and that there is an evil dwelling in Theumas that runs much deeper than the murder of one man, she must decide where her heart, and her allegiance, truly lie. And – if she’s willing to become the dreaded bloodcarver Theumas fears to save herself and the ones she’s vowed to protect.” (Goodreads)

DOES THIS ONE SOUND LIKE SOMETHING YOU WOULD READ?

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Weekly Wrap-Up | 5-20-23

Hello Lovely Bookworms!

last week I wasn’t able to write one of these up since we woke up early to drive an hour and a half so my husband could run in a 5k. We stayed in town with his dad and step-mom for the weekend too. It was a nice little break.

Since then this week has moved by quickly. I’ve got some reading done and finally got a 5 star read in which was a reread for me!

It’s less than 3 weeks that we head to Minnesota for my youngest brother’s wedding. It will be an 11 hour drive and I am kind of dreading it although I know it will be fine. We will be gone for a week and a half but I haven’t seen them in a few years so I am excited. The weeks are going to fly by!

I hope you all have been having a great weekend. ❤️

• Book Review | Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
• Goodreads Monday | After the Forest by Kell Woods
• Top Ten Tuesday | Things Getting in the Way of Reading
• Book Review | The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell
• WWW Wednesday | 5-17-23
• Book Review | Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Birthstone Book Covers | May 2023
• Book Review | Ever Since by Alena Bruzas
• First Lines Friday | 5-19-23

• XOXO by Axie Oh (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Final Offer by Lauren Asher ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Since WWW Wednesday)

• Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton (arc)
• Queen Charlote by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes (🎧)
• Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor
• The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang

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HOW WAS YOUR WEEK? DID YOU DO ANYTHING FUN OVER THE WEEKEND? READ ANYTHING GOOD THIS WEEK? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

Find me on Instagram / Goodreads / Twitter

First Lines Friday | 5-19-23

Hello Lovely Readers!

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!

“My mark has a death wish. Which, I suppose, is convenient for me.”

The book is….

“In this dark and seductive YA fantasy debut, a siren must choose between protecting her family and following her heart in a prejudiced kingdom where her existence is illegal.

Saoirse Sorkova survives on lies. As a soldier-in-training at the most prestigious barracks in the kingdom, she lies about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries, Saoirse lies about her true identity. And to her family, Saoirse tells the biggest lie of all: that she can control her siren powers and doesn’t struggle constantly against an impulse to kill.

As the top trainee in her class, Saoirse would be headed for a bright future if it weren’t for the need to keep her secrets out of the spotlight. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens her sister, Saoirse takes a dangerous job that will help her investigate: she becomes personal bodyguard to the crown prince.

Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom’s brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him-especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city. There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer.

Featuring an all Black and Brown cast, a forbidden romance, and a compulsively dark plot full of twists, this thrilling YA fantasy is perfect for fans of A Song Below Water and To Kill a Kingdom.” (Goodreads)

DO YOU WANT TO READ IT AFTER THESE FIRST LINES?

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