book blog

The End of the Year Book Tag

Published on November 7, 2019November 6, 2019 by Jessica3 Comments

Hello everyone! I am back from my week-long hiatus after Blogtober. I thought that now that we’re in November, meaning there are only two months of the year left, that I would do this fun tag! It was created a few years ago by Ariel Bissett on Youtube, so be sure to watch her video as well.

Before I get to the tag, though, I just wanted to ask if you all could fill out this quick survey for the end of the year. It’s a list of questions about my blog and what you would want to see in the future. It should only take a couple of minutes to complete, and it would help me out a ton! Thanks!

Okay, let’s get to the questions!

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

The Secret History. I have not yet finished this one. I’ve been reading a chapter or two every month for the past 5 months now. I am determined to finish it (hopefully this month) before the year is over. I will not go into 2020 with this book still unread.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

The Starless Sea (I will be recommending this book for the rest of my life). It is such a cozy, feel-good book full of magical descriptions and complex characters. And it’s out as of a couple days ago! I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

The only release I’m waiting for is Queen of Nothing by Holly Black but only because I want to finish the Folk of the Air trilogy. I gave the first and second book both 3 stars I believe. There was nothing special about them to me, but maybe I’ll finally see all of the hype about Jude and Cardan in this one.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo- I don’t know if this one will happen yet. I might save it for 2020 so that I don’t rush through it.
A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti- This one is going to be on my December TBR, so hopefully I will actually get to it!
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord- This one is on this month’s TBR, and I definitely think I will finish it fairly soon. I have high expectations for this one, though, so I’m a little nervous.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

I honestly don’t think anything can beat out my favorite book of the year (The Starless Sea if you didn’t know). I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but it’s pretty unlikely for anything I read to top that one!

Have you already started making reading plans for 2020?

Sort of. I decided that my reading goal was going to be 52 books again, just as it was this year. Even though I surpassed this goal fairly quickly, I liked that I didn’t feel pressured to read too much. That’s about as far as my reading plans have gone, though.

What does your reading look like for the rest of the year? How many books have you read? Let me know in the comments!

October 2019 Wrap-Up / Blogtober Day 31

Published on October 31, 2019October 30, 2019 by Jessica4 Comments

Happy Halloween! It’s the last day of Blogtober. I can not believe it. I am incredibly proud of myself for putting up one blog post every single day of the month. This was an incredibly rewarding experience that challenged me in more ways than one. But, with all that being said, I’m very glad it’s over. And I can’t say that I am planning on doing this ever again (but who knows, maybe I’ll be back here again next year).

As it is the end of the month, it is time for a wrap-up! I read a total of 11 books this month! This is a big improvement after September’s 2 books.

I already wrote a post talking about the first half of reads for the month, so you can check out that post to hear more of my thoughts on those.

Here are the rest:

Furyborn by Claire Legrand:

This book surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but I did! I’m actually really looking forward to reading the next book now! The writing felt natural, the pacing was good, and the story was interesting. The one thing I will say is I got a bit confused at times. There were many characters, lots of places to remember, etc. The details got a little fuzzy. However, I really enjoyed the style as a whole, and once I got the two POVs separated, it was fine! I thought the worldbuilding was done really well. I felt like I was right there with the characters; I could picture all of the scenes in my head.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Disconnect Vol. 2 by Michelle Halket:

This book was incredible! I don’t read a lot of short story collections, but now I want to put more of an effort into doing so. The premise of this one was that one poet would write a poem, and then another would write a short story inspired by it, and so on.

I really enjoyed this one, especially because it had short stories written by poets whose work I’ve read before! If you have any recommendations for short story collections, please send them my way!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert:

I actually wrote a whole blog post reviewing this book! I thought it was so well written, and it was very enjoyable. It has a hate to love trope, plus amazing rep, and fun, relatable characters! It is the perfect recipe for a book honestly.

Rating: 5/5 stars

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin:

I’m technically still reading this one, but I only have about 50 pages left. I’m definitely going to finish it by the end of the day, and so far, it’s at about 3.5 stars. It was really slow to begin with, and it took me a long time to actually get into the story.

At the point that I’m at now, I feel like it’ll either get bumped up or bumped down, depending on the ending! I’ll update this after I finish it to let you know what the final rating is!

How did your reading look like for the month? Did you read any new favorites?

How To Get More Reading Done Before the Year Ends! / Blogtober Day 30

Published on October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 by Jessica6 Comments

We are nearing the start of the 11th month of the year, meaning we have just about 61 days left to read before 2020. Luckily, I have surpassed my Goodreads reading challenge this year. I wasn’t always so successful, though, and I know how hard it can be to get that last stretch of reading in.

As a busy college student, I’m always trying to find time in my schedule to fit in reading. I thought I would compile a small list of tips that help me read more and maybe they’ll help if you need to finish your reading goals for the year!

🖊Audiobooks are lifesavers

First up, before anyone feels the need to comment: audiobooks count as reading.

I used to never listen to audiobooks. I never really knew where to get them, and I found myself zoning out while it was playing. That all changed my junior year of high school. I started driving to school, which was a long time of me not doing anything. I decided to try out Audible, and I got two free credits. Soon, audiobooks became a necessity for me.

I can still vividly remember listening to The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Hearing the emotion from the voice actors made the story so much more powerful for me. I fell in love.

Now, I usually read one physical book, one e-book, and one audiobook. That way, I can basically be reading at all times. Audiobooks are great because you can listen to a book while cooking, cleaning, driving, etc. which is something you obviously can’t do with a physical book. You can also increase the speed (I usually listen at 2-2.5x’s) which makes the read feel shorter, too (even though 2-2.5 is typically the normal speed I would read the book if I were reading physically).

🖊Put it into your schedule

I started dedicating 15-30 minutes of reading at night. I made it part of my reading routine. I shower, put on my PJs, watch a bit of Netflix or Youtube while drinking a glass of water, and then I read until I’m tired.

This has helped increase the amount I read a lot. Now that it’s a habit of mine to read at night, I don’t get tempted to keep watching Netflix instead. I enjoy this time I have to just read. It’s super relaxing.

You don’t have to dedicate a specific time to read, though. Not everyone has a consistent schedule every day, so that might not work for you. You can tell yourself that you will read for 10 minutes every day instead. It doesn’t matter what time it is. Or you can make it part of your morning routine rather than night!

🖊Never leave without a book

As I mentioned before, I read one physical book, one audiobook, and one e-book at once. This is just my preferred method, but obviously, that’s not necessary. It helps a lot to always have a book on my phone, though. When I’m in class and have some free time, I can pull out my phone to read. On my way to class, I listen to an audiobook. On a bus or long car ride, I bring a book with me.

When it’s accessible, you’ll always find some time to squeeze in a few pages. If you don’t bring a book with you everywhere you go, you might find yourself having free time that you just spend on social media or doing something else that’s not very productive.

🖊If you’re not enjoying it, DNF it

Reading a really painfully slow book that you’re just not into isn’t going to help. It might actually end up putting you in a reading slump because you won’t be motivated to finish. When you normally read one book a week, this one might take you months to finish. It’s not worth it sometimes.

Don’t be afraid to just DNF the book. DNF’ing doesn’t mean that you’ll never pick up the book again and that it’s automatically a bad book. It just means that it’s not working for you right now. Put it down. Pick up something different that will keep you excited about a story.

Those are all of my tips today! They may seem a bit obvious, but a reminder is always helpful. What other ways do you get yourself to read more? Leave a comment letting me know!

Post Ideas for Book Bloggers / Blogtober Day 29

Published on October 29, 2019 by JessicaLeave a comment

It can be hard to come up with new blog posts. Especially after you’ve been doing it for a while. You feel like you’re running out of ideas, and sometimes you just can’t think of any. So, today I thought I would share some ideas for general topics you can write about! Feel free to share any others in the comments, too! You can refer back to this whenever you feel like you’re having writer’s block :)

The Basics:

TBRs: These can be monthly, seasonal, read-a-thon specific, etc. They are a classic blog post topic that can be done frequently!
Wrap-Ups: Similar to the previous one, these can be done monthly, seasonally, every 5 books you read, etc. They are always going to be different because you are talking about different books (duh, that’s how it works).
Reviews: Obviously, as book bloggers, we read! So, there are always new books we can review. I have actually grown to love writing reviews. There’s something so fun about trying to capture the essence of a book in a new way every time.
Recommendations: There are so many different recommendation posts to do, which is true for all of the post ideas I’ve mentioned so far.

These are all great because they can be redone in many different ways over and over again.

Fun:

Tags: There are hundreds and hundreds of tags floating around the web. You can just search “book tag” on google and find tons of them to choose from! They are a great way to engage with the community, too. You can tag others and read their responses! It gets a lot of people involved.
Weekly “Memes”: Top Ten Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday, etc. are all great blog posts that give you at least one new post every week!
Q&A: This is a great way for people to get to know you. You can talk about other hobbies/interests you have, answer questions specifically about books, or a mix of everything!
Giveaway: Host a giveaway! This is a really fun way to get more people to check out your site (if you promote via Instagram/Twitter/etc.). This is obviously only something you should do if you have the means to. You can give away a book you already own (maybe even annotate it), or you can buy someone a new release, or even give away a voucher for a specific bookstore!

Unique Content:

Discussion Posts: You can write a discussion post on pretty much anything- which is why this is such a unique post. Everyone will have different takes on certain topics, so reading them is always fun.
Blogging Advice: This is another one that’s going to be different for each person. We all have different experiences when it comes to blogging, so we have different tips to share! You can also make these specific and do different variations. You can write a post on formatting and using code in your blog posts, another on how to go self-hosted, a general tips post, and more!
Interviews: You can interview authors, other bloggers, bookstagrammers, Youtubers, etc. You can do so many of these and ask different questions for each person! I personally love reading interviews- it’s a great way to learn more about people in this community!
Reading Tips: This is a fun one because you can do a lot with it, too. For example, you can do a “how to read more as a college student” or “how to annotate” and so many other variations!

What are some of your favorite blog posts to write? Mine have to be recommendations or discussion posts! But I love them all in different ways :)

Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Review / Blogtober Day 28

Published on October 28, 2019October 27, 2019 by Jessica3 Comments

Hello and welcome to another review post (aka I actually read an ARC on time?).

Today I’m going to be reviewing Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, which was kindly granted to me by the publisher through Edelweiss.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamourous family’s mansion. The next items?
Enjoy a drunken night out.
Ride a motorcycle.
Go camping.
Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
And… do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.

But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

My Review:

This was the cutest book ever. It instantly sold me with the hate to love trope, but the story has so much more depth to it than that. It’s a love story about two people who’ve been hurt before. They are learning how to let someone back in again.

The main character, Chloe Brown, suffers from a chronic illness- fibromyalgia. This is something I have never read about in a book, so I think the representation was extremely important (though I can’t personally speak to how accurate it is). She also comes from a rich family, and she’s super snotty, and I love it.

Because of her chronic illness, she’s shut herself off from life. After a recent near-death experience, she decides she wants to “get a life,” so she makes a list of things to do to help her achieve that.

The love interest, Redford Morgan, is an artist who recently dealt with a really bad breakup- it was toxic and abusive. He also happens to be the superintendent of the building Chloe’s living in. Uh oh.

There was honestly just so much to love about this story and it made me so happy. The characters were phenomenal, and the writing style worked really well. I’m not a fan of dual POVs that are written in the third person, but with this story, it just worked perfectly. I didn’t even realize it was in the third person until about a quarter of the way in.

I will say, though, some of their conversations seemed a bit exaggerated and a little unrealistic at times. BUT, the majority of it was really adorable and the two characters seemed to click really well. Their chemistry truly bounced off the walls in this one- there was just so much of it.

I also liked how they both had their flaws and were each at fault at times when they were going through a conflict. The characters have both gone through a lot in their lives. They were hurt and broken, but they were able to piece themselves back together. They also did so on their own- they weren’t relying on each other to fix them. Instead, they leaned on each other for support. That is what is missing from a lot of romances that have similar themes; the relationships become toxic because the characters rely too much on each other. In this one, both characters are strong on their own.

“She’d take care of this, to give him space to take care of himself.” What a wholesome line from a healthy, incredible relationship. I’m in love.

I just think this was so well done and crafted with so much care. I definitely want to pick up even more of Talia Hibbert’s books in the future, and I look forward to more from her.

Rating:

I’m so happy that I got to read this book, and I hope you all check it out, too. Have you read any of Talia Hibbert’s books before? Which others should I pick up?

Book Bucket List Tag / Blogtober Day 27

Published on October 27, 2019October 25, 2019 by Jessica3 Comments

Hello! I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of tag posts recently, but don’t worry, this is my final tag post for Blogtober. I found this one on Kristin’s blog, so be sure to check her post out as well! Let’s get into the tag.

What books or series that intimidate you (because of length, density, subject) would feel like an accomplishment to finish?

The Diviners has me TERRIFIED. But, I’m going to try to read it for a read-a-thon that my friend Liv will be hosting starting in December!

What author would you like to co-author a book with?

I would love to co-author a book with Jenn Bennett. I think that she’s someone who knows how to craft a story really well, but it would be easy to combine my own writing style with hers. It would be really cool.

If you could interview any author for your blog, who would it be? What’s one question you would ask?

Definitely Erin Morgenstern and I would ask her what her writing process looks like. I just feel like she must have such a complex process because her books are all so intricate. How does she come up with them?

As a writer, what genre is out of your comfort zone that you’d like to conquer someday and write within?

I would love to write an urban fantasy novel. I tend to stick to contemporary- mysteries, romance, etc. BUT, I think an urban fantasy would be so much fun to write, and one day I hope to attempt it if the right story comes to mind.

What specific edition of a book would you like to own someday? It could be rare, a first edition, an anniversary edition, signed, or one with a cover special to you, etc.

I would love a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. This is my favorite book of all time and it’s so near and dear to me. It’s my dream to own a signed copy, but I don’t want to spend $200+ on one, oops.

Are there any books or bookish items that you’d like to collect?

I’m not much of an items collector, but I would like to collect different editions of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea (once it’s out). They all look so beautiful.

Name one bookish place you’d like to visit. (Not somewhere you’d like to visit because of a book and not a fictional place within a book. A library, bookstore, etc.)

I would love to go to Powell’s bookstore in Oregon. It’s considered to be the largest bookstore (in the world, I think) in terms of shelf space. THAT IS SO COOL!! One day I hope to make my way there.

Name one bookish event you’d like to attend. (A festival, a signing, a book fair, etc.)

I would absolutely love to go to YALLWEST. If one day I get the chance to go to California, I would try to plan the trip around the time of this book festival so I could attend!

Your WIP is getting published and designing the cover is solely up to you. What does it look like?

I am loving the whole illustrated covers trend that’s happening right now. Here are some beautiful covers that I would draw inspiration from:

What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish within the bookish world? As a writer, reader, blogger, whatever you want.

Finish an actual novel. I’ve written tons of short stories. And I’ve started multiple novels, but I never actually finished one. I get discouraged or stuck and just abandon the book completely, but I would love to actually finish one in the near future. Even if it’s not one that I would actually want to publish.

That is it for today! This was a really fun tag. Again, I tag anyone who wants to do it. If you do answer these questions, be sure to link your post in the comments so I can read your answers :)

Things I Look For In Books – Tropes I Love / Blogtober Day 26

Published on October 26, 2019October 26, 2019 by Jessica11 Comments

I never used to think about what kinds of things I liked in books. I would only think in terms of genres- I like dark contemporaries, urban fantasies, romance novels, etc. But recently, I started making a list of things that I’m usually drawn to in books (or reasons that I tend to rate a book 5 stars).

Some of these are tropes, some are just other random elements- but you’ll get it! This is also a bit similar to Kayla’s (@Booksandlala) video, so check that out, too.

🖊Morally grey characters

A character who makes questionable choices but also has a good reason for it and is sometimes an ass but has gone through it in the past? Give it to me. I love characters that you’re not sure if you’re supposed to hate or love. Or a character that you know you should hate but you actually feel bad for. One example of this is The Cruel Prince. I personally am not the biggest fan of this book, but I can totally see the appeal to Cardan. I mean, the title says it all- he’s cruel. But then we see parts of his life behind closed doors, and there’s a little bit of tragedy there.

🖊Boarding schools

This is my all-time favorite setting. For a book. For a movie. Whatever it is, I love it. There’s just something so eerie about boarding schools. I just recently talked about this in a post where I gave book recommendations based on tv shows. Sanctuary Bay is such a good book, and it’s the one I mentioned. Another example is Truly Devious, which I also loved (and still need to read the rest of the series). There’s also Wilder Girls, which I LOVEd. And, of course, Harry Potter, which is probably one of the most well-loved series in the book community- and outside of it, too, for that matter.

🖊Flowery writing

The Starless Sea. The Night Circus. That’s it. That’s all I have to say for this one.

Ok, JK.

I love beautiful, poetic prose. Words that are so beautifully written they give you goosebumps. Maybe this is just the poet in me, but it’s almost vital to an all-time favorite book for me.

🖊Unreliable narrators

This is such a good plot twist. Probably one of my favorites. I feel like this reveals too much in a story, so I won’t list any specific books. But there’s something so cool about a book convincing you that the main character is in the right and then BAM! You find out they are actually a pathological liar. Or they kept something super important from the reader. I would love to write a book with an unreliable narrator one day, but I feel like this is something so hard to do.

🖊Plot Twists

This is similar to the unreliable narrator (which is a type of plot twist, oftentimes), but I just love really good plot twists. When endings can actually surprise you, but also make so much sense for the story, it’s one of the best feelings. It’s just so satisfying, even if the book ends on a cliffhanger.

One example is Every Last Word. I really didn’t see the plot twist the first time I read it, and it still haunts me to this day. Looking for Alaska? That plot twist broke me. There are so many more that I also want to read (and many that I added just because I heard they had good plot twists).

What do you think? Do you like any of the same tropes as me or do you have totally different ones? As I was writing this, I also realized I have so many other ones, so I might have to do a part 2 for this in the future.

Until tomorrow!

Book Blogging Tips / Blogtober Day 25

Published on October 25, 2019October 25, 2019 by Jessica14 Comments

I’ve been blogging for four years now. It’s crazy how fast time flies. I am still not an expert when it comes to blogging, but I’ve learned a few things over the years. I have a blog post giving some advice from a few years ago, and I still stand by those points. However, I think this updated post is necessary, and I have some new tips to share!

Here they are:

🖊 Be consistent, but give yourself breaks.

Consistency really is key. I have seen it in my own stats. When I post once a week, or twice a week, my readers know what to expect. More people are also able to find you the more frequently you post.

However, everyone needs a break. I’ve taken many blogging breaks during my time on here, and trust me, they were much needed. You’ll be much happier in the long run, and you’ll be able to prevent burn out.

Prioritize your mental health!!

🖊 Find your voice.

Finding your voice is probably the hardest tip to achieve that I can give, but I think it’s important. The easiest way to do this is by thinking about the way you communicate in real life. Do you like to crack jokes? Are you sarcastic? Are you a super happy, ball of energy? Show that in your writing! Use bold or capital letters, add some humor, put in your dialect, etc.

Some of the best examples of distinct voices are May, Marie, Cait, and Shealea.

Read through a couple of their posts. You’ll be able to tell the difference between their writing styles because each one is super unique!

🖊 Don’t compare yourself to others.

I know I just told you to go look at a few other bloggers, but at the same time, don’t compare yourself to them. You are your own person, and you will do things in your own way. It is important to keep that in mind, especially if you are a beginner blogger. Don’t look at the way some people have a developed style and you might not yet. Don’t think about how many readers someone else is gaining that you’re not.

It’s totally ok to look up to certain bloggers, but remember, they got where they are now through a lot of hard work and dedication. It doesn’t happen overnight. To get where you want to be, you just have to be patient and continue to do the thing you love.

🖊 Stats aren’t everything

It can be easy to feel discouraged because you’re putting in a lot of work for each blog post, but then no one is reading them. It’s ok. Keep putting out this content, and eventually, an audience will come to you. It takes a lot of time, especially in the beginning. Try not to focus on the stats because that will only tear you apart and won’t make you happy. Focus on the writing and the reading, the rest will follow.

🖊 Don’t feel pressured to post specific content or read specific books

When I first started blogging, I was not reading all of the books that everyone else was. I didn’t buy a lot of books in general. I would go to my library and pick up a random book, read the synopsis, and decide if I wanted to borrow it or not. I did not reach for Goodreads to read the reviews first.

Eventually we all fall to the hype- maybe not all the time, but you may sometimes find yourself browsing a bookstore and picking up books that you’ve heard about online. You might not even glance at books you’ve never heard of. And if you only read “popular” books, that is totally fine! Most of my reads can be considered hyped books.

BUT, don’t read those because you feel like you need to. Read them because you want to. If you’re a romance reader, read and write about romance books. If you like fantasy, don’t force yourself to read the next hyped contemporary if you don’t want to.

The same goes for your content. You don’t have to post TBRs, wrap-ups, tags, etc. If you want to, do it. But if you have a really cool, creative post idea that you’re afraid to share because it’s uncommon, you should just go for it!

No two blogs are going to look the same, and that is ok. In fact, it’s what makes this community so great. We all enjoy different books, we all have different styles and tastes.

I hope this post was helpful in some way! Please leave a comment with any other book blogging (or blogging in general) tips you have.

Do you like this type of post? Would you want to see more like it?

If You Like This TV Show, You’ll Like This Book / Blogtober Day 24

Published on October 24, 2019October 23, 2019 by Jessica4 Comments

Hello! I’ve had this blog post idea for a long time because it was a popular Booktube trend. I think it’s so fun to watch, so I’m putting it in blog form!

A lot of these pairings were chosen not because the plot lines are similar, or the entire story is the same. I chose them because they either have a similar vibe or both involve the same kind of trope/element, so keep that in mind!

Gilmore Girls – Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Ok, hear me out on this one. The atmosphere of both the book and the tv show just seem like a perfect fit for me. When I think of Gilmore Girls, I think of cozy, fall, and school. Rory reminds me a lot of Truly Devious’ main character, Stevie. Ellingham Academy is a school for only the brightest students, much like Chilton is a school for the elite in Gilmore Girls. Obviously, there is no murder mystery involved in Gilmore Girls, but I do think Truly Devious is a cozy book to read in the fall time, and in between chapters, you can watch some reruns of Gilmore Girls!

Bonus- If you love Gilmore Girls, I HIGHLY recommend reading Lauren Graham’s (who plays Lorelai) memoir Talking As Fast As I Can. The audiobook is narrated by her, and it made me feel like I was back in Stars Hollow. She tells a lot of stories about the show, too. Very enjoyable.

Scandal – The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

I always try to stay informed on the latest news and political drama. I absolutely LOVE the show Scandal. It can be a bit too dramatic at times, but it was entertaining and interesting. The Unexpected Everything is about a girl whose dad is a governor (or mayor? something like that), so we’re not exactly at the same playing field here (Scandal is about the President of the US). But, both still involve a SCANDAL–haha, get it?–so I think they’re comparable. There is also romance in both, and plenty of drama.

I feel like The Unexpected Everything is the PG-13 version of scandal.

Switched at Birth- With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

I feel like Daphne from Switched at Birth has a similar personality (and interests) to Emoni in With the Fire on High. Both are super fierce, intelligent, and love to cook! Daphne was raised by a Puerto Rican mother, but her biological parents are white. Emoni is afro-latinx, so they also have that in common. I just loved both of these characters so much, and I can totally see them being friends because of how close they are in personality.

House of Anubis- Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns

I love stories about creepy boarding schools. That’s what you get in both of these. I know, I’m really bringing it back with House of Anubis, but I feel like there aren’t that many shows about creepy boarding schools. Luckily, there are plenty of books to fill that void in my life! If you like that creepy school-vibe, both of these will give that to you!

Sanctuary Bay is also super underrated, and I think more people should pick it up! I got it off of BookOutlet on a whim one time, but I was so surprised by it. I need to do a re-read.

How To Get Away With Murder – And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This one might seem like a bit of a stretch, but both involve murder (and getting away with it). If you are into murder mysteries, you will love And Then There Were None. I honestly wasn’t able to guess the murderer, so it was definitely a great plot twist for me! How to Get Away With Murder is exactly as the title suggests- it’s about a group of law students who try to get away with murder!

If you’ve seen any of these tv shows and read the books, let me know what you thought of my pairings! I know they are not super straightforward, but I personally can see the connections between them! They make sense in my mind at least.

Thanks for reading. Bye!

Totally Didn’t Book Tag / Blogtober Day 23

Published on October 23, 2019October 23, 2019 by Jessica4 Comments

Kerri tagged me to do this super fun tag a few months ago, but I never found the time to do it. I finally sat down and thought about my answers to this tag, and I’m going to share it with you now!

Totally didn’t need to have a sequel/sequels.

I actually don’t really have an answer for this one. I don’t really read many series. There are some series I think suffered from middle book syndrome (*cough* Grisha trilogy), but I wouldn’t say the rest of the series was unnecessary.

Totally didn’t need to have more than one point of view.

Finale by Stephanie Garber. I loved that the first book followed one sister, and the second book followed the other sister, but the third should not have followed both. It was really confusing, and I don’t think it did the story justice.

Totally didn’t need to change cover art through the middle of a series.

The Diviners. I love the original cover so much, but I’m not really a fan of the rest of the series’ covers. I haven’t read the books, so I can’t talk about whether the change reflects the book better, but I do know that I wish they continued with the look of the first book.

Totally didn’t need a love triangle.

The love triangle trope is so overdone that you can name pretty much any book and that would work. One example that really comes to mind is The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. I hate the falling in love with two brothers thing. Not really a fan of that.

Totally didn’t need this book to be included in this series.

Like I mentioned in the first question, I think the second book in the Grisha trilogy (Siege and Storm) was not necessary. I feel like nothing really happened for most of it except for a love square. It could have either been shortened by like 100 pages, or should have been removed completely. It honestly barely added anything to the story in my opinion.

Totally didn’t need a cliffhanger.

I actually can’t think of an answer for this one. I can’t think of a book that had a cliffhanger but didn’t have another book in the series. Or, if it did end with a cliffhanger, it was meant to and it worked well for the story (Wilder Girls, for example). I usually don’t mind cliffhangers. I do remember there was a book I read for school with a cliffhanger that made me so angry, but I can’t remember what book it was or what it was even about.

Totally didn’t need to have just one point of view.

I think Eliza and Her Monsters could have had another point of view in their- one for Wallace. I felt like they were both such interesting characters so it would have been interesting to see his side of the story.

Totally didn’t need that much hype.

Fix Her Up. I just don’t get why so many people liked this book. I’ve ranted about it enough, though, so I won’t torture you more here.

Totally didn’t need a relative book reference. (Eg, For example: Hunger Games fan would love Divergent.)

I’m going to steal Kerri’s answer for this one and say anything that gets compared to Harry Potter- usually it’s nothing like Harry Potter (and many times it’s actually better than HP). I don’t ever really decide to pick up a book just because it’s said to be similar to another book, so I feel like I can’t say much for this one.

Totally didn’t deserve my time.

The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers. This book was just so poorly written, it seemed as though no one had even edited it before it was published. I was not a fan of it at all, but it was a really short book, which is the only thing that got me through it.

Also, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is another one. I’ve heard so many people rave about this book, but I thought it was a waste of my time. The author did not provide anything new to me, it was boring, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

That is it for this tag! I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe even agree with some of my replies! I tag all of you to do it if you want :)