#time to reread the Gemma Doyle trilogy????

[peachdues]

just read a satyr!levi x nymph!reader fic which has reignited my Greek mythology bullshit

[mordred]

Having a little breakdown over some books I read when I was 12....you know....life

[capinejghafa]

BOOKS

tagged by @saritasoyyo thank you!

Rules: in a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

ok, so i’ve read a lot crap... and sometimes i question my taste in books. so, don't think of this as recommendations. what so ever. Also, I don't tend to read solo books, and 9 out 10 times I accidentally pick up a series.

ASOIAF by grrm. I have a tattoo of the House Martell sigil enough said.

Six of Crows by leigh Bardugo. I first listened to this on audible and I know shocking... but if you've never experienced the audio version, it's such a good listen to. But also it's good on it's own too! I read/listened to this after reading a miserable series and it helped me out my depression. So say what you want about audiobooks lol

Wallflower verse by Lisa Kleypas. Did the series age well? No. But did this insp my love of historical romance? Yes. Also, I have read all of this series... there's a lot. I'm unashamed.

Scarlet Scars Series by J.M. Darhower. Tbh this is a spinoff of a pretty awful series and none of this should work for me... but there's something about reading this when you're in a depression or self-destructive mood that put things in an interesting pov.

Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. I read this when I was 14 going on 15. And oof reading it now it tough but I did love it as a kid and have three complete editions of this specific series.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. This list doesn't have to be good lol I have the longest history with this series and it's just part of me... whether or not I like it.

Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones. Such a promising start that left me hate reading by book 8. but did i finish the series? yes.

Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray. I debated on adding this because I don’t know if it stuck with me for the right reasons, but i think about it sometimes and I even did a reread a few months ago.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. I read this as an adult™ and the entire time I was like Meg definitely didn’t know how to write a character with depression respectfully and it shows. But I think for what it’s worth, as I’m not the targeted audience, it’s a fast and somewhat charming read. And the reason why I can never watch PD2 again lol

Beautiful Creatures Series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This is another one that i was not the targeted demo, but it stayed with me in a way that some of the books I was reading around this time didn’t *coughs in romance novels*. I love the potential of the world and what it could have been. And I think about that potential a lot.

did you all need an explanation? no. but i was in a mood to talk about my weird book choices lol i did not follow the rules *looks away*

tagging (no pressure): @totchipanda @linearao3 @whatanybodygets @genuineformality and anyone who wants to talk about books

[evies20dollars]

Doing my annual Gemma Doyle Trilogy reread and i have to say, Hester Asa Moore aka Sarah Rees-Toome is my problematic fav-- i would pay money to read an entire prequel book about her and Mary at Spence, especially because this is the first time I picked up on the queer subtext between her and Mary and yeah they were in love, you cannot convince me otherwise

[honeyedheartss]

im gonna send many but 8, 17, and 43 i think??

8. a book you finished in one sitting

I'm a fast reader so.... almost every book I've ever read. but if you're going more for a book that locked me in and I didn't notice time passing

The Black Stallion series. I AM a horse girl and you will have to accept that. I read the whole series in like 3 days when I was 11.

also the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. just.... phenomenal. incredible. I reread them all the time and they lock me in the same every time

17. a book with a yellow cover!

Juliet Takes A Breath-Gabby Rivera. I just finished this and it was rlly well done imo! Fat Puerto Rican Lesbian coming of age story!

To Be Or Not To Be - Ryan North. a choose your own adventure based on Hamlet. it's incredible

[nedlittle]

could a depressed person do this

(@/kitnotmarlowe on storygraph)

[id: a screenshot of the reading challenge page on the storygraph showing a completed reading challenge of 100 books (28,064) pages with some celebratory streamer emojis /end id]

[chocolate-andotherdrugs]

I am rereading the Gemma Doyle trilogy for the first time in like 12 years and honestly it’s brilliant and needs to be made into a tv series yesterday. Also I’m 25 but can I play Gemma? Libba Bray let’s make it happen.

[aplaceofdreams]

For good stories, it seems, never lose their magic.

… is what Gemma says after her father told his family the tiger story for the gazillionth time in a momentary state of magic induced domestic bliss. Shoutout to Libba Bray for the meta of it all. Because it is also the reason why I am rereading the Gemma Doyle trilogy for the gazillionth (=tenth) time right now. No other piece of media, actually no other thing or person or story, has had such an embarrassingly enormous influence on me. These books have shaped my personality, my interests, and even my career path. Yes it is extremely ridiculous. God I love them so much. Usually, I read the books according to the seasons they’re set in. Usually, I am too embarrassed by my interests to proclaim them in any public fashion. But the 10th anniversary calls for something special. I’ve decided to read the books consecutively in one chunk without larger breaks - something I’d always wanted to do but my anal fixation to stick to the season correspondence had kept me from. And to heal and transform my Pippaesque escapist, compulsively daydreaming, reality loathing and neglecting tendencies, I’ll try to marry my beloved fictional world and all the self indulgent musings that come with it to the real world via this reread diary. Probably no one will read this and I’ll just have brought the fictional world into a limbic void. We’ll see what shall be born from it. So here’s to the books that have broken my heart and mended it and broken and mended it countless of times. Here’s to the books through whose filter I see the world. Here’s to books that took the yearning in my heart and made it a home.

[amandaklwrites]

Top Ten Favorite Book Series

And here’s another Top Ten in my series! This one is about book series that I have read in the past, or have been reading over time. Of course, these can change over time, but I know all of these will be very important to me. So, here they are, in no particular order! 

1. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

I loved this series since I first discovered them. I know not a lot of people like them, or at least aspects of them, and I do understand some problems with them. But I had found the first two books when I had moved in with my boyfriend at the time, and I fell absolutely in love with them. The last book came out when during my last year in college and I didn’t complete any homework for like a week. I love these books because of the important themes she had written, and there were a few scenes that made me cry, especially in the last book. I loved the friendships and complicated characters she created.

2. Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

Again, I found this series around the time I had discovered Throne of Glass. But they were all out already, and I actually met Leigh at a book event for the last book. I loved this series more so for the darkness of its tone, and the Darkling is my favorite fictional villain, hands down. But I remember being so amazed while reading this trilogy because I had discovered I could write dark, dark stuff if I wanted, and it fed that part of me.

3. Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray

I read this trilogy in high school, and I remember loving it so much. So I recently did a reread and I loved it just as much. I liked the tone, the characters, the settings and the magic. It has always been that stuck out to me, and I’m so glad I had found it when I did.

4. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

This series had changed my life, honest to god. Surprising to most, I hadn’t been a big reader growing up. I read some stuff (most Narnia, Spiderwick, Alice in Wonderland, etc), and I could never find the kinds of books I had always wanted to read. I was a sophomore in high school when I was looking through my local small bookstore, and I saw the cover of a young man in Victorian attire (my favorite time period forever!), and I remember reading the back and I was instantly intrigued. And I fell in love with it. Not only did it spark my reading as a teenager, helping me find the genres and stories I liked, but it had been with me through important times. When I had been through an awful depression that led to an attempted suicide my junior year, I was reading this series. I remember reading the second book that year in my yearbook class, and I read through class, which annoyed one of my guy friends that I sat with. When I finished the last book in the hidden classroom behind a class I was a tutor for, I cried. I sobbed as I read the epilogue, and I remember just staring at the wall for the rest of that time. This series broke and remade me, and I think it has huge influence on me personally.

5. Sands of Arawiya duology by Hafsah Faizal

I just read this series a couple of months ago, and my god, did I love it. I loved the world, the characters, the deep, meaningful friendships. This one surprised me in so many ways, and I didn’t want to stop reading it. I loved it so, so much and it’s important to my heart.

6. Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

I see mix reviews on this series, especially the later books. But I personally loved them. I loved the adventure and magic system and my god did I love the twists. Maven Calore is probably one of the most interesting characters I have ever read. I loved how complicated and destructive it was, and the war tactics and plots were great.

7. An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir

My god, Sabaa knows how to make really, really complicated situations for characters. Talk about torturing your own characters. And I think that was what I learned from these books, as a writer myself. She made strong, powerful characters and threw them through hell, to see where they came out. But I loved the way they wrapped up, the arcs of the characters, the beauty of their closeness. It’s just a beautiful series.

8. Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas

This is just a fun series. It combines some of my favorite things—women detectives, Victorian England, mysteries, and Sherlock Holmes. But I love that Sherlock Holmes is actually a woman. They’re great books that put twists on the original books and I adore so much about them.

9. Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco

What a great series! I loved these more with each book. I love Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell, as lovers and as partners, so much. But they are both intriguing in their own ways. And I adored how Kerri used different historical/pop culture aspects in her books—Jack the Ripper, Dracula, Houdini, and the Devil in the White City. They are great mysteries with loveable characters and I love it so much.

10. Well Met series by Jen DeLuca

Now, I love this series for just dumb (but personal) reasons. First of all, I haven’t found many romance books that I like. I find most of them too silly and cheesy. But I didn’t have that case with these. I found them hilarious and fun and heartwarming. But second of all, they’re set a Renaissance Faire! We have a Renaissance Faire that comes every year about thirty-forty minutes away from where I live, and I have been going every year (you know, except for last year and probably this year) for thirteen or fourteen years. It’s important to me, and it marks time for me. So, that’s why I love these.

Runner Up: Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters

This is a wonderful series. It spoke to my love of mysteries, but also Egyptology (I almost went to school for archaeology/Egyptology!). I love that Elizabeth Peters was an archaeologist, that gives a real-life feel to these as well. Plus, like you know me, Victorian period! I think Amelia Peabody is one of the greatest female leads, and I think the romance/love between her and Emerson. It totally reminds me of Evie and Rick in The Mummy, so if you love those movies, check out these books. I haven’t finished the series yet, but I think I’ve gotten halfway through, and I love them so much.

I love all these books, way too much probably. They all have a special place in my heart and yeah... I love them. I’ve said that so much haven’t I? 

[thediverismylove]

fave books of 2020

tagged by @snoopysfriendwoodstock to share my fave books of 2020; i read a lot of books this year and have decided to make this v comprehensive but obviously if u wanna do this feel free to do as many or few faves as u want! tagging nobody bc im lazy but if we’re mutuals consider urself tagged <3

adult fiction

on beauty by zadie smith

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh

dare me by megan abbott (reread)

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong (reread)

future home of the living god by louise erdrich

get a life, chloe brown by talia hibbert 

my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell

beach read by emily henry 

take a hint, dani brown by talia hibbert

such a fun age by kiley reid

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia

pizza girl by jean kyoung frazier

luster by raven leilani

exciting times by naoise dolan

jane doe by victoria helen stone

take me apart by sara sligar

the vanishing half by brit bennett

the price of salt by patricia highsmith

another brooklyn by jacqueline woodson

young adult fiction

lovely war by julie berry

the king of crows by libba bray

red hood by elana k. arnold

foul is fair by hannah capin

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake

the midnight lie by marie rutkoski

the gemma doyle trilogy by libba bray (reread)

burn our bodies down by rory power

blood countess by lana popović

nonfiction

we were feminists once by andi zeisler

little weirds by jenny slate

black dog of fate by peter balakian

long live the tribe of fatherless girls by t kira madden

what we don’t talk about when we talk about fat by aubrey gordon

will my cat eat my eyeballs?: big questions from tiny mortals about death by caitlin doughty

[chasingfictions]

uhhhh are you gonna make me finally do that gemma doyle trilogy reread I've been meaning to do for years??? jw if I should clear my calendar

AAAA YES I AM oh my god

like ok i read it 10 years ago and it just immediately infiltrated every single part of my consciousness the way things only can when you're 13 (same year i watched buffy for the first time — coincidence???? i think not).

but it's just so!!!! with the longing and the gay and the atmosphere and the finding yourself and the found family and the complexities and viciousness of girlhood and the gay and the victorian social customs and the magic and the worldbuilding and the metaphor and also the Gay???????

[daphneblakess]

8, 16 and 24! c:

Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones? I don’t set very concrete goals beyond trying to read at least one book a month, which quarantine admittedly gave me a lot more time to do.

What is the most over-hyped book you read this year? I mean, I probably missed the “hype” by about a decade, but I finally got around to reading the Gemma Doyle trilogy and it was... certainly some mid-2000s YA. I’m a big fan of Libba Bray’s other books, but I doubt I’ll be doing a GD reread.

Did you DNF anything? Why? I actually very rarely DNF unless I feel like literally nothing has happened for at least 25% of the book. The one I probably came closest to doing so during was Wicked Fox, but for the opposite reason - the pacing felt like two books slammed into one, and I remember getting past the halfway point and being confused as hell when I realized that wasn’t the climax and we had another 200 pages to go.

[lily-mj-fae]

Also, I’d started a reread of the gemma doyle trilogy recently. I read over a thousand pages in under 24 hours when i’ve barely been able to read a couple hundred in a few days.

But i halted like....a little over a hundred i think into The Sweet Far Thing and i think it’s just because i cannot face that ending again xD Like my heart broke the last time and even though I’ve read the Diviners and know everything is okay now, it still hurts xD

[char-writes]

Tag Game: 11/11/11

If I’m not mistaken, I was tagged back by @hyba for this game. Thank you very much!

1. Write down the name of the book that is currently nearest to you. Written on the Body by Jeanette Witherson! I had to read it for one of my classes here and I loved the writing style. I’ve been rereading it in hopes that I can try my own take on the writing style in one of my current writing projects.

2. What’s the last song you listened to? Oh man, you’re here to expose me, haha. Okay, so, the last song I listened to was “You Should See Me In A Crown” by Billie Eilish. I didn’t want to fall into that hole but, yesterday, one of my friends was playing the song in her car and it sounded cool so I had to check it out. And I actually think a few of her songs might actually end up on some character/wip playlists!

 3. What’s the last video you watched on Youtube? The video for billie eilish’s you should see me in a crown song haha

4. Biggest pet peeve? I’ve recently figured out that it’s noise. But only when I’m working on something. Like, if someone is tapping on their desk during a test or if I’m writing but can hear someone whispering on the other side of the room, it’s going to bother me to no end. I think it’s because I get easily distracted.

5. When was the last time you finished writing a story? Yikes. Uh... February 28, apparently. I write fanfic so that’s the day I posted the last chapter to one of my fics, haha.

6. Other than being a writer, what would you like to be? A journalist!!! I write for a local newspaper and it is so much better than I could have ever expected it to be. It gives me the chance to write, talk to cool people, do cool things, learn new stuff, AND the news desk is full of great people. I’d love to be able to continue that.

7. Have you ever published a story, poem, or book? Um, I have two self-published books on Amazon but I did that right after high school so they’re not good and I’m not really proud of them. One of them was really pretentious and the other is a poetry book that is typical nineteen year old angst and extravagance.

8. What characterizes writing style? Internal monologue, I think. I love a good introspective paragraph or two. I also really like metaphors and the more obscure they are, the better.

9. Have you ever considered writing children’s books - or, generally, books for any other age group? It’s crossed my mind a bit but I don’t think it’s ever been a serious thought. Maybe after I get these out there, I’ll look into other stuff!

10. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? (if not applicable: What job would you hate to have?) Oh my god. I used to work at McDonald’s and you don’t want to know how bad that was. Like, I was at the height of my anxiety at the time and the managers were awful and pretty mean. And it was during high school, too, so, yeah, anxiety. I would feel physically sick before each shift because I knew I’d have to talk to so many people throughout the day. And there was never any real training. I was just kinda tossed into the deep end and was too scared to ever ask for help. It was a vicious cycle of anxiety. Anxiety kept me from asking for help and then I messed up; messing up led to anxiety attacks as soon as I got home. Like, tight chest, can’t breathe, might cry kind of anxiety attacks. It was awful.

11. Has a book or a story ever made you cry? If so, which one(s)? SO MANY but the first to come to mind is this series by Libba Bray, the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. It’s a fantastic series and one of my absolute favorites and the last book broke me. I was on vacation with my family reading it in the car and I was just torn apart. I won’t get into spoilers but, basically, there are deaths and my absolute favorite character was a victim. I was destroyed. And it was also middle school (or maybe even grade school) so you know I had the little kid confusion of but how could the author get away with that????

And now I plan character deaths for my books so we could probably all blame Libba Bray for that when the time comes.

BONUS QUESTION: Books that have made you laugh out loud or grin the whole time? Aww, I don’t think I read many books that are that light-hearted! I’m more in the camp of wanting angst and dark emotions! OH! And there’s also this book called The Name of This Book is Secret by, get this, Pseudonymous Bosch. It has this Lemony Snicket vibe to it but it’s not quite so perilous in the story. I don’t remember if it made me laugh out loud or anything but the voice was definitely really fun. It’s part of a series and I really loved it back in middle school.

It’s late here and I don’t have much time to figure out a list of questions. Do the ones I did, it’s a great list! 

Tagging a few people from my activity/recent followers. Feel free to ignore!

@minusfractions @scribbling-salmon @athiefswarwriteblr @drown-in-lava-choke-on-rubies @dreamstormdragon @greenwood-writes and anyone else!

[kbrown78]

Monthly Wrap Up: September

Looking back, September wasn't a great month. Granted I did read 9 books and 3 of those books were over 500 pages, but most of these books I didn't enjoy. There were a couple highlights and two of the books that I did read were non fiction, both I thought were fairly good. I will also say real quick that I tried to start the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I gave up on it because it was the exact same story I had to endure in the second book and I wasn't going to deal with 800 pages of that.

The Defiant Heir by Melisa Caruso: This is the second book in the Swords an Fire trilogy, and I thought it was even better than the first, and I gave the first one 5 stars. First it does build off of what was established in the previous book, with the worlds and the characters. The main conflict is Amalia trying to prevent an internal war while also trying to solve what happened to the missing Falcons. This series is exactly what I want to read, with an amazing intellectual character who knows how to use her smarts to achieve her goals and is someone who tries to do right thing. The relationships are all astounding, female friendships in particular, and I like that Amalia's mother is an active presence who cares about her daughter but lets her do her own thing. The romance is great too, despite the fact that there is a love triangle. The villain is despicably evil, but he's not mustache twirling and while he did have a sad past, that fact isn't even remotely treated as an excuse for his horrible actions. The plot keeps me invested and keeps adding new twists that add to the story. The world is fantastic, with each location feeling well developed and distinct from each other. Seriously the only complaint I have about this series is that it isn't longer. The Defiant Heir received 5 out 5 stars.

Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore: This book was such a disappointment. When I first read the Graceling trilogy, I hated the other two books, and I think that clouded my judgement and made me rate Bitterblue much higher. I do ultimately think Bitterblue is the best book in the series, but after rereading it I realize that it's not nearly as good as I originally thought it was. It's going to be hard to do this review without giving away spoilers, but I'll try. A brief synopsis is that Queen Bitterblue is working to help her kingdom recover and there are those that are trying to stop her. So Bitterblue makes an effort to be a good ruler and do the right thing in difficult situations. She's also book smart, which I usually like that type of character, but she did some really stupid things and was also quite bratty at times. There are two potential love interests, and I didn't really like either of them. One was just brooding, which I never like in a love interest, the other one was a bit boring. The weakest aspect of this book is definitely the plot. There's a sub plot about rebellion in the other kingdoms, but it was pretty irrelevant to the overall plot, and I just wasn't interested in any of the characters involved. This is the part where it's impossible to talk about the book with out spoilers, but I will say this. The struggle's that the kingdom is facing were well written and did a good job of exploring various themes of ruling and recovery. However, the big plot twist at the end that helps resolve their issues is so unrealistic that it causes the entire story to just collapse. The best aspects of this book were some of the themes explored and the art work because there are some beautiful interior designs. I would still say this book is the best out of the three, but looking back it isn't nearly as good as I remember it (although I do in part blame the reading slump I was in after finishing Defiant Heir, but only partly). Bitterblue received 2 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar promt “book with your favorite color in the title”.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence: I went into this book with high expectations, and while it did live up to a few, it also disappointed me. The basic summary is this girl gets taken in by a convent of assassin nuns, where she spends her years training. Sounds like a pretty cool synopsis, but every time I hope a book is going to be similar to Harry Potter, with the schooling, it never lives up to that expectation. First I liked the protagonist, Nona. It was nice to have a female character who was a badass fighter, but she wasn't cold. She cares deeply about her friends and friendship and protecting those she cares about are important to her. That's not a type of character I see often. With that established, I do think some of the friendships were well done, like Hessa's, Arabella's and Clera's, because of how much they differ but at the same time feeling like it wasn't forced. Some of the nuns were interesting, but they didn't quite feel fully fleshed out, and one nun I hated because of how mean she was and I'm sick of seeing that kind of adult in fiction. The world building was so weird, and I honestly didn't like it because it felt very underdeveloped and made little sense. The story is Nona's story, but there times when I felt like it didn't focus on her and those were usually my least favorite parts because I was just invested in Nona, not in anything that was happening in the outside world or with any other character. Because of that there were some parts I honestly just skimmed through. I mentioned the Harry Potter thing, and what I meant by that is Nona has classes that she needs to take, and while they are mentioned, I didn't get much of sense of her learning. It was more like she suddenly had these skills, which I blame on both the lack of detail on what she did learn, and the poor pacing of this story, with those parts just being rushed through at a rate I couldn't even discern. So while I liked parts of the story, I definitely didn't love it was much as I thought I would and I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with rest of the series. Red Sister received 3 out 5 stars from me.  

The Silk Roads: A New  History of World by Peter Frankopan: I was originally going to be reading this book over the entire year, but I decided to just finish it up as some as possible. I didn't tag this book and I won't be doing a full review of it because it is historical nonfiction. Now the premise of the book intrigued me, exploring world history through the Silk Road, and I also though the cover was pretty. The first half of the book really intrigued because I like learning about ancient history, and it was very detailed and I was fascinated by what I was learning. My impression, however, had been that this book would primarily focus on ancient times, but this was not the case. I could have done with history that was all pre-1700s, but the last third of the book focused on history from the 1800s to modern times, and while I tried to pay attention because there was a lot that was relevant to today's world, I just couldn't focus as much as I had in the previous sections. That's not to say it wasn't as well written or well researched as the previous parts, I just wasn't interested anymore. So this book received 3.5 out 5 stars,  but that's only because it's a case of “it's not you, it's me,” and I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves history.  

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero: This was the other nonfiction I read this month, and this was just a real quick self help book. I do think overall it did a good job at identifying ways to improve but I do admit I started skimming through the extra text just to get to the bullet points. So helpful but maybe not presented in the most efficient way. You Are A Badass received 3 out 5 stars.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins: Oh man, I was looking forward to this book, but it epicly failed. I read a sample of it and was really intrigued. It felt very mysterious, I didn't know exactly what was going on and I got the distinct impression that these characters weren't entirely human. Then I read the rest of the book and I didn't connect with any of the characters, I found the writing style to be increasing irritating, the story made no sense to me because I didn't understand what was happening and I didn't understand the sense of urgency, and I got increasingly sexist vibes from the story. All I can make sense of is that “Father” was gone missing from the Library and there's a lot of death and resurrection. I can't do a full review of this story because I DNFed it 50% through, I just couldn't take it anymore. I initially chose this one as my pick for the PopSugar promt “book set in a library”  and needless to say this book received 1 out 5 stars because I couldn't even force myself to finish it.  

Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce: I hoped that I would enjoy this one. I've been looking forward to reading it for awhile. But lately I've really been struggling with YA, and even for a YA book I found this one to be bad. First, there's no plot. Literaly two major events happen in the book and that's it everything else was filler. What I remember of almost all my favorite reads as a child (with the exception being East) is that they got into the action and the plot fast, so I can definitely say that even as child I wouldn't have liked this book. I thought all the characters were pretty flat. I wasn't expecting to get everyone's perspective, I thought there would just be Sandry's perspective, since the book is literally called “Sandy's Book,” and I don't think adding in the extra perspectives helped the story in any way. I also got the impression that the children were acting overly immature but also the audience was expected to be immature. There was one scene where three of the character don't know what the word “kid” means, and it really irritated me. I won't be doing a full review for this one too, because I did tag it, but I didn't take any notes because of how overly simple this story was. I have the next 3 books and maybe they'll get better, but I'm in no rush. Sandry's Book received 1.5 out 5 stars.  

The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi: So I mentioned in the previous entry that I have been struggling with YA, particularly YA fantasy. This book, thank goodness, is a very pleasant exception to that. I really liked reading this book the first time through, and second read through, while there were a few things I disliked, I actually enjoyed the story even more. It's always pitched as Hades/ Persphone with Indian folklore, and both parts are so well done. I loved the romance, I loved the story, I loved the characters (most of them). The writing style is gorgeous, it's so flowery and atmospheric. I could see the vivid colors, I could taste the jewel fruit. I love Chokshi's books, and I cannot wait to get to her short stories that are set in the same world. Star Touched Queen received 5 out 5 stars.  

Sabriel by Garth Nix: And so we return to the YA slump. I shouldn't be too hard on this book though. There were some very interesting aspects of it, and the first half of the book was good. Sabriel was competent character who was trained to deal with death, and Mogget was this eerie figure that I kind of liked but was also kid of afraid of. I loved the focus on death, and how death is it's own world. The magic system was really cool to, with different marks and the bells. I thought the pacing of the first half was decent too, fast but not rushed. Things took a turn, however, when the love interest was introduced. It was so obvious this guy was the love interest, and the relationship felt so forced and there was insta-love, which I hate. After Touchstone was introduced, the pacing was so much more rushed, there was a lot of telling instead of showing, and there was also quite a bit Deus Ex Machina. Things really fell apart in the second half, and it turns out this was because the first book was going to be treated more as a prequel instead of a first book. Sabriel received 3 out 5 stars.

[fall-in-love-with-a-demisexual]

What’s something you absolutely can’t live without???

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray a is young adult, fantasy, Victorian era fiction trilogy with a very strong group of lead female characters, one is lesbian, one is bisexual and the main character is SOO demipansexual.I would say one thing I just can't live without is the third book, The Sweet Far Thing. I've had it for around10yrs, it goes wherever I go for extrnded periods of time, and I have reread it so many freaking times. It has been timeless for me and whenever I have needed to go somewhere else, I would flip it open and get lost in the fantasy world of the Order and Rakshana. I highly recommend checking them out!Thanks for asking💜💜💜