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Goodbye August- I had a lot of fun making content for my new instagram account this month! Hoping to read something moody/gothic for September!

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On the subject about parents needing to control their child's reading and invade their privacy in order to "protect" them from "inappropriate material:

Until I was in....college? At least? The vast, vast majority of the books I read were either a) assigned by my school or b) (the vast majority of my reading) provided to me by my mother.

My mom is a librarian. She filled our rooms with books, picked especially for us. She pointed out books on the shelves in our home library (separate from our bedroom shelves) that she thought we would like. She bought us books for birthdays, Christmas, and just stacks of recommendations. She once paid me $10 to read one of the Cirque Du Freak books because she said I needed "to be exposed to bad literature."

She respected my privacy in room, didn't go through my belongings. She explicitly pointed out to us that she wouldn't know if we took a particular book of the shelf, as long as we returned it, if we didn't want her to know we were reading it. She purposely brought us books that she didn't care for herself, because she thought we might find them valuable or enjoyable.

And if we wanted to read something she thought might upset or disturb us, she would explain why. She wouldn't stop us from reading it - just ask us to check in with her, to talk through it.

And so when I read something that upset or disturbed me, I would go to her. She would listen and talk through it with me.

If she said she didn't think I would like something, or that a book might disturb me, or that she thought I should wait until I was older, I listened to her.

She didn't need restrictions or control to protect me. Because she proved I could trust her.

Controlling kids is never about "protecting" them. It's just about control.

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Romance but make it cozy 💘 I’d love for you to check out my instagram if you can!!

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A little reminder after coming across a very important paragraph in Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

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> read library book

> it's good

Thank you library

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8.9.25 | Recent posts from my instagram. I’ve read so many good books recently- Captive to the Shadow Prince by Mallory Dunlin (ARC) and Subtle Blood by KJ Charles being my recent favorites. I signed up for too many ARCs so I’m kind of overwhelmed though 😅

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July Wrap-Up 💘 Photos from my instagram (@slowburnstacks)

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I started this book as someone who didn't care for contemporary OR small town romance. Having just finished it, I am totally SOLD on Elsie Silver and these romance subgenres. The characters started out seeming cruel and unlikeable. This quickly changed as the characters gained realistic depth and I began to understand the circumstances at play. I experienced an enjoyable array of emotions, including sorrow, giddiness, and that tingly-tense feeling you get reading well-written smut.

I want to highlight the research Silver clearly did on substance use and the grief process. I can tell this story was written with love and professionalism. 5 stars!

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7.20.25 | I’ve been super sick, but at least I have my books 😪

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📖 Review of One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book! It was on my TBR forever and I picked it up last time I was at the bookstore.

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7.16.25 | Decided to redo my desk space (I moved bedrooms so it wasn't as last pictured on here). Now that I'm ~book blogging~ I wanted to have a fun space to do all my nerdy things.

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I got the most lovely birthday gift today in the mail from my best friend and dear cousin! Thank you thenxtchapter (not sponsored)💘

I started “One Dark Window” yesterday and couldn’t put it down! It’s been a long while since I journeyed into fantasy romance with “A Court of Thorns and Roses”, and while I have found many books I’ve enjoyed more, this one gives me the early-reading-days ~n o s t a l g i a~ for some reason 😂. Review to come!

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Current Reads 📖

- Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

- We Need Your Art by Amie McNee

- One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (starting today)

I picked up “Hollow Kingdom” at the library thinking it would be funny and interesting. It is funny, but it also has surprising emotional depth and is quite sad at times. It has beautiful commentary on the mechanisms of nature and humanity.

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Finished “The Fake Mate” by Lana Ferguson (audiobook). I think this is one of those books that got popular on social media because of the 🌶️ 🔥, which was admittedly delightful (and the narrators did a great performance). Other than that, the plot was middling- not really good or bad. I give it 4 stars.

Left: “We Need Your Art” by Amie McNee (which I requested for the library to order and they did!!)

Middle: My favorite way to find romance books- romance.io (website)

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I’m really happy with the notion page I made to record my reading commentaries, reviews, and TBR. It’s too much work to put all the books I’ve read in the database (or even the ones just from this year) so I’m starting with when I got my library card :,)

The top is a banner made to look like a shelf, with my current top favorites of the year!

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I love you so much and I’m so so so proud of you. The beautify of humans is how multifaceted we are how we constantly are changing flow and reinventing. Your spirit has lit up my dash and I don’t ever want you to lose that please. Grieve and feel how you want to feel but the world awaits you still. Sending you hugs, comfort and strength.

Thank you for such a sweet message, this made my night 🩷 I wish you were off anon!

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If you do not mind me asking was your illnesses genetic or what was the reason? I’m so relieved you were able to get a diagnosis and clarity

I don’t mind, and thank you!

Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (connective tissue disorder) is genetic, and it predisposes me to the POTS and fibro.

I was predisposed to getting lupus because of genetics, but they don’t 100% know where lupus comes from (it’s suspected to come about by genetic predisposition and/or viral infection). Lupus also increases my risk of fibro and POTS, so I kind of got double-whammied that way 😅