Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Topic: Books or Covers that Feel/Look Like Summer
It would appear that I don’t read summer type books because I found most of mine are dark!!!!
The Liars Crown by Abigail Owen
Gothikana by Runyx
The Hedge Witch by Cari Thomas
This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
What’s on your list?
AFTERLIGHT – May 2023
An Afterlight add on month and I couldn’t resist!
This box included:
Fizzy Feelings Bubble Bar – designed by @ascent_bath_and_body
I would’ve loved to have shown this alas my son took it and used it in his bath!!!!!
Great Adventure Passport Cover – designed by @creativewannabe_
FEATURED BOOK/S
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
Exclusive hardback
Exclusive cover
Digitally printed edges
Foiling on the hardcover
Digital signature
Author letter – art by @nekokonut22
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week?
I’ve had a week off work and my son has been on school holidays and it’s been a great week! We went to the seaside, we had a family meal out for my birthday and we also ate a lot of cake!!!
It’s also been a slow reading week again, I just can’t get it together but it’s always this way for me in the Spring and Summer, I’m a total seasonal reader!
🎧 Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Thornhedge by T Kingfisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
Review – Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs
Review – Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
What have you read lately?
Title: Lessons in Chemistry
Author: Bonnie Garmus
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
I’ve heard that this is a marmite book, you either hate it or love it and I was the latter – loved it!
I must admit that I did not expect what happened very early on in this book so please note the trigger warnings.
I also admit that this book pulled so many emotions from me! The treatment of Elizabeth made my blood boil, it was pure injustice! I literally had to put the book down at one point because I was so utterly mad! How did we live like this?
So….this is basically the tale of Elizabeth’s life and everything she needed to fight for.
It was dark, endearing and Six Thirty owns my heart!
I was thinking about the book ages after I’d finished it, it just kept popping back in my head! The mark of a good book!
‘Far up in the deep blue sky, Great white clouds are floating by; All the world is dressed in green; Many happy birds are seen, Roses bright and sunshine clear Show that lovely June is here.’ ~ F. G. Sanders
‘In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.’ ~ John Steinbeck
Have a great month!
Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Topic: Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book
Just want to say that these are my opinions, if you like some of these, please don’t hate me (it’s my birthday!) They just aren’t for me!
These all get on my nerves so probably won’t read……in no particular order….(and no books mentioned so not to offend!!!):
Love triangles 🤢
Billionaire romance 😫
Erotica 🥴
Horror 😨
Marketed as ‘The Next Big Thing’ 😒
Violence against children ❌️
Bad editing ❌️
Lots of filler 😕
Over flowery writing 😒
What would you have picked?
Title: Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Author: Emma Torsz
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
I don’t know where to start! I want to express my deep and utter love for this book! I’m a bit speechless which is not like me at all!
Joanna and Esther are half sisters who are connected by more than blood. Joanna looks after a collection of magical books and Esther travels the world, never staying in one place for too long, under the threat of something she doesn’t really know about.
This book had:
~ A book about magical books!
~ A magical library,
~ An utterly fab magic system,
~The dastardly villain,
~ The unassuming heroes,
~ Characters who were relatable and loveable.
What this book also had was everything I love about a book. A scoop of fantasy, a dash of thriller, a dollop of dark academia with a tiny splash of romance. All woven together to make it a tome that is worthy of all the stars!
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week?
I feel like I say this all the time but it was a run of the mill week, work, an office day, school for my son – oh and a haircut but we both have this coming week off and I can’t wait!!!
It was also another slow reading week with audio saving me! But I am reading a physical copy of Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare and it’s over 600 pages – I’m savouring every moment!
🎧 Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
None again this week but I have 3 book boxes due!!!!!
Review – Ambrosia by CN Crawford
Review – The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
Review – Unbroken Bonds by J Bree
What have you read lately?
Title: Unbroken Bonds
Series: Bonds That Tie #6
Author: J Bree
I’m so happy because I’ve finished a series!!!!!
The Bonds That Tie is a 6 book series and was recommended by the Flickerwix Glitterati Girls and I have really enjoyed it!
My reviews for the other books are here, here and here.
The gods live among us.
They’ve woken up hungry.
All of the research in the world couldn’t have prepared us for what’s to come, enemies and wars fought over millennia. Now we’re being forced to act, but this time, we have the advantage.
This time, we’re Bonded.
Are we strong enough to survive the gods and their plans? Will we ever live in the peaceful world we’ve fought so hard for, or is history doomed to repeat itself?
The conclusion for the Draven Bonded Group!
Oli, North, Nox, Gryphon, Gabe and Atlas. Now all with their woken gods ready to take on the other gods.
I love it when a plan comes together and their plans are fabulous…..’Don’t die, stay close, and try not to get in anyone’s way.’
If I’m honest, this book felt a bit long and drawn out and the ending a bit rushed but I’m so invested in this series that I had to see what happened!
Nox is still my favourite and Atlas my least favourite, funny how things work out!!!!
Here are a couple of my favourite quotes:
‘There is no use being here unless we’re together. There is no me without you.’
‘Burn it all to the ground, Oleander. Burn it, and let’s be done with it.’
CJRTB Books 