#TBR Thursday

[snekdood]

so uh

for 1. most people are gonna take advantage of black friday and wont see your specific niche tumblr post, I hate to say it

2. the us isnt running out of money for war any time soon, so...

3. this is just antisemitism???????? all we need is some (((echoes))) around the us and israel and then I'd have no reason to suspect otherwise from op...............

[generouspeachheart]

[mercerislandbooks]

Thoughts On Summer Reading

As someone who's on social media—specifically the book part of Instagram—a fair amount, I hear a lot about how different people read. Some read the next book they plan to read, have five more books lined up after that, and for the most part they'll get them read in that order. Others read whatever strikes their fancy whenever it strikes their fancy. I am a mood reader at heart, but one who wedges in that library book that she's had checked out for months which she DID really want to read at the time so now she better stop in the middle of her other six current reads to rush through it in time to return it tomorrow... which is exactly what I'm going to resume doing once I finish this blog post. So maybe I'm a mood reader with "obligatory books" hanging over her head. 

Part of being a mood reader is the fluctuation of what I want to read each season. For the fall, witchy books like The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Spells for Forgetting, Wild Is the Witch, and The League of Gentlewomen Witches. In the winter it was mostly science fiction by Becky Chambers. But the most talked about season in the reading community has to be summer. Summer reads, beach reads, vacation reads. Light books that you fall into and out of like a summer fling. This fits the traditional idea of summer reads that we all know and love, but the genres included in summer reading lists have expanded over the past few years. We at Island Books put together a shelf full of summer books for every reader, surrounded by sticky notes with suns and right next to our Staff Picks shelf.

Last summer, all I read was romance. Intense feelings crammed into a book I could read in a day. The happy ending, the guarantee of peace and satisfaction. I picked up several fantasy books and put them down again immediately—any effort to learn about a made-up world felt like too much. This summer, rather than a specific genre, I've been catching up on my backlog. I finished the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time and found it delightful. I listened to The City of Brass and all of its sequels while traveling. I read the first two books of The Borrowers, finished the Seafire trilogy, and sped through books two and three of The Thursday Murder Club. I finally pulled out my two-year-old copy of Red, White & Royal Blue and devoured it in twenty-four hours (just in time for the release of the movie on August 11).  Although it's a completely different path than I took last summer, it's been so fun to discover these books for the first time and then discuss them with everyone who already loves them. I look forward to seeing where my mood reading takes me next summer.

Things that make a good summer read (one list does not fit all):

Not too heavy (physically); needs to be light enough to bring on vacation

Not too heavy (content-wise); needs to be light enough to read on a beach

Characters that draw you in

A plot that grips you

Romance

Intense action

...And the list goes on and on.

Bonus points for reading a book that's set on a beach...on a beach. The perfect summer read is so varied from person to person that the most important criteria is to pick up a book that interests you. I look forward to hearing about what you loved as we talk books over the counter.

—Becca

[words-to-accomplish-something]

why aren't there more mysteries that take place in nursing homes & retirement communities. i want to watch a group of deranged retirees-cum-amateur-detectives combine their powers of:

decades of life experience

boredom-fueled busybody shamelessness

access to the most gossipy next-door-neighbors in existence

"I am too old to be arrested and/or give a shit" attitude

and solve crimes. this should be an enormous subgenre.

[fourinterests]

Books: TBR Thursday - Magical Items [Wyrd & Wonder 2023 Day 25]

This week, Thursday is all about magical items and I am stuck. There are beautiful stories I have read with magical items that cover a wide breadth of things – from compasses to weapons there are so many things! And it’s hardly restricted to books. TV Shows, Movies, TTRPGs, and most forms of media I consume have some magical items in them. In fact, just yesterday, I was catching up on Critical…

[vaaaaaiolet]

It's the RPD's annual Secret Santa, and Leon's at his wit's end finding the perfect gift for his work crush. No competition, of course, except for the part where you make him promise not to bring something lame. Leon's got a week. He can do this. Right?

gn / m, fluff, romance, humor, leon is a SWEETHEART, you guys work at the RPD but you're leon's senior and also love reading??, no outbreak, inspired by the teapot episode of The Office lol, tw: claustrophobia

word count: 1.5k // read on ao3

a/n: vivi try not to mention christmas challenge go!!! @k1ssaphobe this one's for you <3 literally the ugliest effing banner i've ever made i'm SO SORRY but this completely destroyed my writer's block. i had so much fun <3

It’s all been downhill since Leon plucked your name out of a glass jar last week. Shit. Multiply that times three, rain down a couple red and green sprinkles for holiday spirit, and you have a great representation of how prepared Leon feels about being assigned the most crippling crush he’s had since high school for the RPD’s annual Secret Santa: you. 

Shit, indeed.

His hands shake like tremolo as he rereads your name printed on his little slip of paper, and Leon decides right then and there that the best way to go about this is to not go about it at all. Plain and simple. 

“Aren’t you excited?” you gush after your turn to draw from the jar. Poor you, you’d taken his jittery hands as enthusiasm. 

Leon grins tightly. “For sure, yeah, I um… I love Christmas. Really excited. You get who you wanted?” 

“Hey, no cheating. Not even with me, rookie.” You scrunch your face, clutching your paper to your chest. “Secret Santa’s secret. But it’s no secret that you’ve got to give it your all, so no lousy gifts allowed, got it?”

Well, there’s that plan gone. It’s back to police academy basics: Keep It Simple, Stupid. 

There’s nothing to overthink about making a good impression as the newest RPD recruit, Leon gaslights himself while haunting the Target holiday aisle on Monday night. You routinely save him from Irons’ infamous wrath, so it’s only natural that Leon spends all of Tuesday in a stupor at his desk, definitely not thinking of how he could never pay you back the favor with a silly Secret Santa gift. 

Wednesday rolls by and his coffee from yesterday sits in the break room, cold and overstirred next to today’s breakfast crumbs. How many times has Leon watched you sip tea at your desk? Five, six? 

Your eyes sparkle over the rim of your cup when he asks you about your weekend. Really, he doesn’t get the hate for small talk. There’s nothing small about the smile that bunches up your cheeks when he cracks a stupid joke about the weather, and more often than not, Leon finds himself waterboarding his notes app with the names of all the novels you drop mid-conversation so he can binge their Sparknotes over the weekend. So it goes, according to Kurt Vonnegut.

Ugh, he should have paid more attention in English. What the hell is an allegory anyway? Leon spends all of Thursday browsing your Goodreads profile and wracking his head over the hefty price tags attached to your TBR list. His wallet makes for a terrible wingman. 

But really, finding the perfect gift is no sweat at all. Leon is absolutely nonplussed (according to his 50th vocabulary-related Google search) when he steps into the RPD elevator on Friday morning with a clumsily wrapped, candy cane-striped bundle in his arms. 

“Hold it plea- Leon!”  

Liar, liar, pants on fire – he’s totally shitting his pants when you barely make it inside before the doors snap shut. 

“Thanks,” you gasp. 

Leon nods stiffly, his cheeks growing warm, and jams the second-floor button with his knuckle.

As the elevator starts its maddeningly slow climb, you hum, rocking back and forth in your snow boots. You’re cradling a package of your own, something four-cornered and fairly small. Leon, however, feels like he’s holding a bomb, the object of his affections standing less than three feet from his radius of destruction. How are you so carefree right now? You’ve probably got this gifting thing in the bag and he most definitely doesn’t. 

Leon can see everything unfold the moment he enters the office. You’ve had your gift planned months beforehand, his gift is going to be horrifically lame when you open it, everyone’s going to clap politely but you’re going to hate him forev-

And then the elevator plunges into pitch black.

“Oh my god!” 

Who screamed louder, Leon doesn’t want to find out.

The elevator shudders to a complete stop. Leon’s mental spiral of doom helpfully supplies him with an image of you two dangling in midair, suspended on wires. Maybe this is the universe saving him from delivering the worst Secret Santa gift of his life.

Leon blinks in the darkness, waiting for your unflappable voice to cut through the silence and figure a way out, headstrong as always, except you don’t, and Leon strains his ears to hear what’s surely not what he thinks it is, a whisper that sounds an awful lot like: “Leon, I don’t want to die.”

“What?”

“We’re gonna die,” you whimper. “I don’t wanna die.”

Your voice floats up from a lot lower than he remembers your head being, so he crouches down to find you with your arms hugged to your chest. You’re huddled against the wall, breathing all shallow. The package in your arms lies forgotten somewhere in the abyss.

“Hey, hey, nobody’s dying.” Leon reaches out to find your hand. “What’s the matter?”

“I have, cl-clau-”

“Claustrophobia?” He remembers that one well. Wishes he didn’t. 

You nod fitfully.

“The dark doesn’t help either, huh?” he whispers, craning his head to look at the busted bulb on the ceiling. “Damn.”

Your palm grows colder and clammier in his hand by the minute, and the shakiness in your breathing is starting to worry him. Your head pops above your knees when you hear rustling in the shadows, and then the telltale Christmastime cacophony of wrapping paper being torn to shreds. 

“What are you…?”

“Being resourceful,” Leon grits, tearing his Secret Santa gift open. He fumbles with its contents for a second, slipping something into a plastic compartment. “It’s not the best, but…”

The elevator blooms with soft, golden light.

“...it’ll do.”

“What’s this?” you murmur in awe, cupping your hands around the tiny book light Leon holds. 

“My Secret Santa gift,” he chuckles sheepishly. “I kind of, um, blanked. I’m also really bad at giving gifts, so there’s also this,” he says, pulling out a mug from the heap of trashed wrapping paper.

When I Think About Books, I Touch My Shelf, it announces with impunity. 

Leon blushes when you giggle at the inscription. Things always look better online than in person, rookie mistake. But at least you’re breathing better now. 

“This is amazing,” you laugh, cradling the cup like there’s warmth inside. 

“Not so amazing now that I’ve opened all the packaging.”

“Your Secret Santa won’t mind at all, trust me, not with a gift like this- ‘touch my shelf’, you’re unbelievable! Tell me where you got it.”

He shakes his head. 

“Leon Scott Kennedy, if you don’t stop gatekeeping this incredible mug and this super useful book light, by the way, I’m going to tell Irons you spilled coffee all over his desk. I can be very convincing, y’know.” You cross your arms decidedly, waiting. 

“There’s no need for all that!” he protests. 

“That was a promise, Leon, not a threat.”

“C’mon, be reasonable here.”

“You’re still not telling me.” 

“It’s for you, silly.” Leon tilts his head, face heating up faster than the book light bulb, “You’re my Secret Santa.” 

He must be hallucinating the pink in your cheeks.

“Oh,” you breathe. 

“Yes, oh,” Leon teases, scooching to sit next to you. “I couldn’t think of anything,” he confesses, “so I just went with the basics. I know you read and I know you really miss your old tea mug, the one that broke, right? You’re my gifting competition and I got nervy from how sure you were about your person’s gift. So, um, I played safe.” Leon finishes lamely and squeezes his eyes shut, hoping the light doesn’t also illuminate the shame radiating from his body. 

And then he feels the press of an unbelievably soft kiss on his cheek.  

“It’s much better than what I’ve got,” he hears. 

His eyes fly open. Words don’t form right in his throat when you reach out for the package you dropped when the lights went out. Wrapping paper falls apart neatly in your hands (what don’t you do perfectly?) and you unveil a mini waffle iron, proportioned perfectly for somebody always running late without breakfast. Somebody like Leon.

“You keep missing breakfast and Irons is on my ass about saving you food all the time, so I guess took the practical route too,” you shuffle your feet, bashful all of a sudden. “And um, my gift’s kind of useless if we never make it out. Sorry.”

He fingers the tag in wonder. 

Merry Christmas, Leon! There’s a timer so you don’t burn them :) xoxo, your Secret Santa!

You’re so goddamn sweet. You’re perfect and thoughtful and it’s all your fault that Leon didn’t have the faintest clue what to give you. Think, Leon, think. He knows he’s not this stupid. What do you give to somebody who has everything? 

A kiss. One that’s all smiles and just as sweet as the way you kiss him back, because screw Secret Santa.

It’s hard to keep secrets when you’re Leon’s favorite one.

psst, find more of my work here!

comments and reblogs are very much appreciated <3 take care and i love you!

[studykac]

6•6•24 Thursday 6th June, 2024

It's been a while since I posted, but I'm feeling motivated these days! I finally had a week day off, so I decided to get as much studying in as possible~♡

공부할 때 오디오 북을 세 개 들었어요! 그 책들은 너무 재미있었는데, 나 정말 로맨스 책을 읽고 싶어요 ㅋㅋㅋ '브리저튼' 드라마 때문에 로맨스에 빠졌어요.

문법 공부는 어렵지만 많이 배우고 있어요. 주말에도 열심히 공부할 거예요 - 아직 숙제를 끝내지 못했어요 ����

Today's to-do list

Clean apartment

Laundry

Practice Korean grammar (time conjugations focus)

Read library audiobook tbr (three books in one day)

Revise vocab for my word test on Monday

Cook dinner

Try out new heatless hair curlers

Write 5k words

We'll see if I can update again this weekend, and if I'm on a productivity streak 🫡 I'd like to restart my 100dop journey again, but I'll probably do that starting in July!!

📚 Perfume by Patrick Süskind, 101 Essays That Will Change Yiur Life by Brianna Woest, We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

🎧 Disarm by The Civil Wars

[notetaeker]

February 22, 2024 - Thursday

I finished 2 of my borrowed ebooks so as a treat I went to the actual library and checked out 3 books that I randomly picked up from the shelves (by judging books by their covers✨). I got a poem collection, a YA fantasy, and a random book for genre study! That's my reading plan for this year: half ebooks that I meticulously researched and put on my TBR, and half random books I picked up from the library!

[thefallennightmare]

Will you be making a masterlist for you thirsty Thursdays like you did for head cannon? If not, no worries! I was just curious because I haven't been on tumblr much this week (i'm trying to catch up on my physical tbr) and I know I missed a lot on here. I'm tagged in your posts but I dont see all of them for some for whatever reason 🙃

My tags lately have been so irritating and not working for some people!

I’ve been debating making a master list for the Thirsty Thursday Thoughts. Would people like it if I do? Easier to find them all in one place?

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💙💜💖 Bi Books Coming Out January 2024

Happy Thursday, my badass bookish bats!

💖💜💙 Do you know what we could always use a little more of? Bi books! Here are a few coming out in January that would make fabulous additions to your never-ending TBR! (I swear I DUG to find more, so if I'm missing nay, PLEASE mention them in the comments.) Happy reading!

💙 Honeybloods by I.S. Belle @isbelleauthor 💜 The Summer Queen by Rochelle Hassan @rochellehassanbooks 💖 All Things Beautiful by Alaina Erdell @alaina.erdell.author 💙 The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake @olivieblake 💜 A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft @allisonhsaft 💖 A Reckless Oath by Kaylie Smith @kaylsmoon 💙 Voyage of the Damned by Frances White @franceswhiteauthor 💜 Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors by Gail D. Villanueva @gaildvillanueva 💖 The Timeless Legion by J.C. Rycroft @jcrycroft

[emsuemsu]

Tag game

Thank you for the tag @mycupofrum 💕💕 it's always a beautiful day to talk about oneself and also as the curious girlie I am to read about other people!!!

Fave colour: black baby

Last song: according to my spotify history my last played song was on Thursday and it was Stars Are Blind by Paris Hilton. That is the only song I listened to that day. It is a banger

Last film: we went to see First Omen a few weeks ago with my friend, absolutely shooketh from it, it was only us and a couple in the last row and they shushed us at one point. Never in my life have I felt more like a teenager in my LIFE. It was mortifying. I’m so embarrassed. We weren’t that loud though, just scared of the movie??? It was a good movie, enjoyed it, next Tuesday we’re going to see Immaculate, this spring is giving antichrist apparently

Currently reading: I have a few fics I’m in the middle of reading (one of them is A Violet Kind of Spin by @cassiaratheslytherpuff which I’m DYING to get back to!!!! jfc it’s so good!!!!! I feel so bad for taking such a long break from it but not a day goes by that I don’t think about it 🥹) and one book (Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski) but my reading vibes have been off for a good few months now!! I’ve read some shorter fics and listened to some podfics but reading in general feels super hard right now. I can’t wait for my summer vacation, maybe I’ll have some peace of mind and will be able to slam some words down. My tbr list is diabolical.

Currently watching: I’m going to be boring and say that I’m still on my Grey’s Anatomy grind. I’m on season 9 episode 10, 10 seasons to go. I’ve been watching s20 as it’s airing right now but it’s just not… it. This show should be taken off life support already 💔

Currently craving: a cigarette, uv index of 7, the beach and a crispy coke zero 😩

Coffee or tea: coffee, I never drink tea

Three ships: Drarry, first and foremost 🙂‍↕️ drarry has caused my brain to rot for almost two decades now and god knows when it’ll stop. I’ve been on and off the fandom, mostly off, but drarry is just a part of my goddamn DNA at this point it’s ridiculous. Next idk man. I have to say it’s a duel between prongsfoot and jegulus, your honor I love them both. Jegulus is a new acquaintance and like I don’t even know if it makes any sense at all (like where did this ship came from???) but jfc I am sat, I am folded I am silenced. But prongsfoot is the love of my life out of these two, I know for a fact that one of the first fics I ever read at the ripe age of 10 or 11-ish was Sirius/James and ever since that they’ve been in my heart, in my soul and in my mind non-stop. Prongsfoot is such a niche ship and I can’t believe it’s not more popular!!! Like they’re soulmates honestly. Funny enough I haven’t read that much of prongsfoot fics, always up for recs 👀👀 I know that was three ships already but I have to mention Kingsley/Charlie and it’s all because of @squintclover and their recent little microfics that just SLAP so hard I’m bruised black. I’m beyond obsessed.

First ship: I mean it was drarry. The one and only.

Currently working on: getting my goddamn ass off the couch and start to clean and do laundry 🥹 I have a few school deadlines as well but that does not spark joy so whatever

Thank you for coming to my ted talk once again!!! I’m tagging @valoale @cassiaratheslytherpuff @lemonlimelea @soliblomst @kk1smet @lucifergraced no pressure spill the tea if feeling like it!! 😌

[heartknives]

mid-year book freakout

not tagged by anybody i just want to talk about books :)

number of books you’ve read so far: 60! my yearly goal was 64 because if i'm reading a book a week i'm happy... but i don't have other hobbies <3

best book you’ve read so far in 2024: everyone read martyr! by kaveh akbar right now not joking.

best sequel you’ve read so far in 2024: i think i've only read one sequel all year and it wasn't very good lol... i don't read series very often.

new release you haven’t read yet but want to: i have butter by asako yuzuki out from the library right now and have been looking forward to it for a while! ummmm a lot of others. i be on that new fiction books page for my library every week :')

most anticipated release for the second half of the year: private rites by julia armfield, which is out now but doesn't publish until like december in the us fsr?! :(

biggest surprise: um i guess horror movie by paul tremblay, though i was a sucker for his last two releases also so perhaps should not have been a surprise. i had fairly low expectations but it kind of knocked my socks off. go off white boy..

favorite new author (debut or new to you): kaveh akbar, jenny zhang, hanif abdurraqib, ya gyaasi, c pam zhang, maya binyam, emily skaja.. to name a few!

newest fictional crush: cyrus shams from martyr! please call me on thursday when i am free so we can hang out (platonic)

books that made you cry: i don't really cry at books or media much, but beautyland by marie-helene bertino which i just finished did give me that satisfying, heavy-chest, had to take a few deep breaths after finishing feeling.

most beautiful books you’ve bought so far this year (or received): diavola by jennifer thorne and whoever you are, honey by olivia gatwood are probably my favorite covers i've gotten this year.. both through aardvark book club teehee

books that made you happy: extremely ironic pick that is one of the thematically darkest books i've read this year but that was my exact favorite flavor of uncanny & offputting in the writing/execution/subject and therefore made me very happy to read: hangman by maya binyam

actually happy/heartwarming pick that was an absolute delight on audio: how not to drown in a glass of water by angie cruz

what books do you need to read by the end of the year?: more of my physical TBR, but i'm too much of a mood reader to hold myself to any particular list. whatever catches my fancy before the end of the year!

[spaceorphan18]

Which book should I read next?

Inspired by @ckerouac - I picked out one book from each of my eight bookshelves** - one that I haven't read and that's been on my TBR list for a while. I'm letting you guys decide which one to read! Let me know what you think! And I'll read the one you pick next....

**- one of the bookshelves is dedicated to Young Reader books, and sitting on top of it are a couple of books that my bother loaned me, so I've included that instead of an actual YR title.

Info about the books under the cut

From the Fiction/Classics bookshelf: Less by Andrew Sean Greer

You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can’t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world. How do you arrange to skip town? You accept them all.

From the Graphic Novels bookshelf: Sandman by Neil Gaiman (Vol. 1)

In PRELUDES & NOCTURNES, an occultist attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his 70 year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On his arduous journey, Morpheus encounters Lucifer, John Constantine, and an all-powerful madman.

From the Sci-fi/Fantasy bookshelf: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

From the Mystery bookshelf: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

From the Non-Fiction bookshelf: The Great Green Room by Amy Gary

The extraordinary life of the woman behind the beloved children’s classics Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny comes alive in this fascinating biography of Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret’s books have sold millions of copies all over the world, but few people know that she was at the center of a children’s book publishing revolution. Her whimsy and imagination fueled a steady stream of stories, book ideas, songs, and poems and she was renowned for her prolific writing and business savvy, as well as her stunning beauty and endless thirst for adventure.

From the Agatha Christie bookshelf: The Science of Murder by Carla Valentine

Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one―or, more commonly, several―dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put the pieces together to solve the mystery invite the reader to analyze the evidence and race to find the answer before the detective does. Nearly every step of the way, Christie outlines the nuts and bolts of early 20th-century crime detection, relying on physical evidence to tell the real story behind the facades humans erect to escape detection.

From the Young Adult bookshelf: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

From (on top of the) Young Readers bookshelf: What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it. Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

[bookishfeylin]

Black Fantasy TBR Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Since the last segment of my tbr was more focused on standalone novels and duologies, this list will be more focused on trilogies and longer series. Aside from the first 8 series mentioned here being a mix of adult fantasy and epic fantasy (I know the Acacia trilogy, especially, is an epic fantasy that's been frequently compared to Game of Thrones in reviews), there's no real order to these books either. And ofc, please look up age ratings and trigger warnings :) For simplicities sake I only put the first book of each series on this list.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Acacia: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham

Scarlet Odyssey by C.T. Rwizi

Half a Lion by Palle E.K. Oswald

Unleashed: The Saga of Ruination by Ramon Terrell

Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope

Stars and Garters by Thursday Owusu

The Battle for the Sky by Dalila Caryn

Daughters of Nri by Reni K. Amayo

Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

The Chameleon with a Sword by B.L. Logan

Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton

Chaos & Flame by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland

We Are the Origin by C.M. Lockhart

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow**

The Royal Heretic by Sarah Macklin

Dragon Connection: The Stone Crown Book 1 by Ava Richardson*

The Soul Cages by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Truth Seer by Kay L. Moody

Dragon Link: Ragond's Portal War Book 1 by Ava Richardson*

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

The Raven and the Dove by Kaitlyn Davis

Dragon's Mage: Ragond's Witch Hunter Book 1 by Ava Richardson*

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Nobody's Goddess by Amy McNulty

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

*Dragon Connection, Dragon Link, and Dragon's Mage are the first books of three separate trilogies by Ava Richardson. To avoid confusion I spelled out the whole name of each trilogy.

**In The Ten Thousand Doors of January, January is technically mixed, and I believe she identifies as such.

[angie-words]

Just seen that David Tennant has been cast in a movie adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club. This might actually get me to finally sit down and read the book after letting it sit on my TBR list

Deadline article - source

[ineffablehubbys]

The fact that the Thursday murder club is sat on my bookshelf waiting to be read rn…….. it’s being moved up the TBR :)