#corrine duyvis

[asexualbookbird]

Have You Read My TBR?

Now with even MORE choices! To be honest, I don't know where this book came from or anything about it. I think a friend gave it to me? So I'm very interested in what people have to say!

[ya-world-challenge]

Why is it that I can't ever remember the title of this book I'm reading. It's like... A Long Way Gone... no... Too Far from Gone... no.... Why it is just gone from my brain?

(It's On the Edge of Gone. And a really good book. I just can't keep the title in my head, lol.)

[read-alert]

Another crosspost from my Instagram! Happy Autism Acceptance Month! Full titles under the cut

Their Troublesome Crush by Xan West

The Outside by Ada Hoffman

On the Edge of Gone by Corrine Duyvis

This Other World by AC Buchanan

The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

Junker Seven by Olive J Kelley

Tell Me How it Ends by Quinton Li

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

[silverskyy]

Hello friends! Are you looking for a teenage coming of age story involving:

Mysterious government organizations

Magical destinies

An ace lesbian protagonist

And her alternate universe selves!

~Drama~

Plot twists that feel earned instead of contrived

Weird and disconcerting portal descriptions

More attention paid to Pennsylvania than during the 2020 presidential election

Also a dragon???

Then may I please suggest The Art of Saving the World by Corrine Duyvis, a truly exciting and gripping book that came out just this September. I've grown away from most of the YA, coming of age book scene, but the fantastic premise had me giving this one a chance and it's so good. Warning that it's fairly long and more talking/introspection than the premise suggests (tho I'd argue that's what comes from hanging out with a bunch of yourselfs), but it gave me time to really love the characters and when there was action it was Intense. If any of this sounds intriguing then I totally recommend!!

[battlingbooks]

book battles: the art of saving the world

the art of saving the world by corrine duyvis

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review! this has not affected my review in any way, all opinions are mine.

2.5/5 

hazel spent her entire life confined to a 1.5 mile radius to keep a dimensional rift under control, until her 16th birthday, when the rift moves, more hazels appear, and everything hazel thought she knew changes drastically.

[click to read more, there are no spoilers in this review!]

we're starting with the things i liked because that's easiest. i did end up liking the conflict with the powers that be. i wasn't sure how deep that line would go, so i appreciated where it went and the characters' reactions to it. without going into any spoilers, i thought that aspect was really interesting and THAT was a part of the story i really liked and wished it hadn't taken so long to get to. (the resolution i'll talk about later) i liked how the hazels were so different but similar, but maybe that's because i'm in a child psych class and interspersed reading this and reading about how we develop from our environment as well as genetics. i liked the hazel dynamics! i thought they were a fun group and got attached to them very quickly. i thought how the magic weapon came about was interesting. and, hey! dragons are fun! the sexuality rep was pretty good, and there were some funny lines and moments!

but also.. there were so many frustrating moments where it was just...an exposition dump. both the reader and hazels have information hidden from them for so many pages and then it's just all revealed because ??? we're given a reason, but i personally didn't find it satisfying, and it made hazel prime passive for a huge chunk of a story where she was meant to be becoming MORE active after a life of passivity. i'm ALL for passive characters, but the way hazel's active- or passiveness was handled became frustrating. i think it just fell a little too much into the telling over showing for me. it also made the pacing feel really uneven. the first 2/3rds were really rough in that regard for me, while the ending really picked up the pace and i found to be the most enjoyable part.

also i think this was an attempt to subvert the "chosen one" trope, but it fell flat to me. while i truly did enjoy a lot of the anxiety scenes around the concept — the clapping scene in particular i found i really liked — it didn't really feel like ALL that new of a take on the chosen one. maybe that could've gone further? i'm not sure.

this is a tiny thing, but it really bothered me that four never got a name. i can't say colors are all THAT much better, but they at least were identifying factors (before red changed out of her dress). even alpha got a different name. but four was just...four. and four NEVER got a distinct personality in my mind. i can think of one (1) difference between her and prime, and that really bothers me. there was so much exploration of how the hazels were different and a few identity crises, so it felt like four n e e d e d to be more distinct by the end and she just! wasn't! like what did she add to the story other than being fourth? i literally couldn't tell you. i get that there's l i t e r a l l y a conversation about this about 2/3rds through the book but it doesn't matter because it still deeply bothered me

the resolution to the climax made me mad and the ending just left me...sad and empty feeling. i wasn't expecting things to end perfectly, or tragically. they honestly ended very realistically but it just didn't....hit right? it felt not impactful enough and just a touch too real for there to be anything satisfying about it. i got the point but...i don't know. it was sad, but not cathartic. if hazel prime had changed more i'm not sure if that would've been a better ending. i don't know if there IS a better ending. i'm just left feeling like...yes this is how anxiety works. this is realistic. and i struggle with it every day. maybe that's why it's upsetting, because it's just too similar to me. there isn't enough of a change, it's just some small steps. maybe i'll feel different about the ending tomorrow but right now, right out of this book, i feel upset and conflicted

i think, in the end, the struggle this book has is that it both wants to be plot driven and character driven. and it can be both — there are plenty of stories that have adventurous plots entertwined with deep character exploration — but i think this book missed the mark for the majority of it. it came together toward the end, but that means you have to get through the clunkier beginnings to hit the smoother parts. for at least the first half, to explore hazel, or the hazels as a collective, the action would stop dead. i think there was a way that this exploration could happen alongside the action of saving the world without the sometimes jarring switches between action and character, but unfortunately, we didn't get it

while reading this book, i spoke to friends about it, as it's kind of in my nature to liveblog things i read and watch. and at some point around halfway through, one of my good friends said "ngl i cant tell if you hate the book" and that might be a good stance to stand by.

it was interesting. it was fun to talk about. i don't know if i actually liked it, and so i've had to look at it more from a craft point of view, which i don't actually do for most books. most of my ratings are based on my emotional reaction and mine to this one was just sort of... eh. so a 2.5/5

(also random fun fact, i know they're all blonde but rainbow, but i literally couldn't stop imagining red as dahlia hawthorne from ace attorney because they paired dress with the word red. i know her dress is red. i know she changes out of it early on. i tried so hard to unsee it. i failed miserably)

goodreads page for the art of saving the world

author's website

[adapted-batteries]

I just finished reading On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis. For a while I put off reading this book because I didn’t know how intense of a read it was going to be, how real Denise’s perspective was going to feel. I won’t lie, at times I had to put the book down and take a break because I started feeling overloaded when Denise did. That being said, it was clearly well-written enough to let me instantly connect to the character and her experiences.

This book has good representation of an autistic character, at least it was very similar to how I experience the world. It also showed how those functioning labels mean nothing. Sometimes Denise fits as "high-functioning," that almost normal, and sometimes she's "clearly autistic" in sensory overload or going non-verbal.  The author does well showing the fact that we don't like being talked to like children, regardless of our actual age, and that we're quite capable of taking care of ourselves.

The setting is pretty interesting too, a post-apocalyptic setting that, while immediately dire, has the hope of recovery in some way. It's a nice change from the grungy "we gotta survive" feeling some books tend to have. It’s definitely still grungy, but there’s not that clear lack of hope. Survival skills aren’t what’s important, helping others, finding community is.

Other things I liked about this book include the fact that Iris trans and bi, and a background character towards the end of the story is also trans. There was mention of a polyamorous couple that Iris knew as well, and I want to say a gay couple in the background somewhere...or maybe I just inserted that because representation was already there. Also, the main character, Denise, is mixed race (Surinamese/Dutch), and some other secondary characters were of other races too.

In summary, this book is a good read if you’re neurotypical and want to get a glimpse into how some autistic people see the world. It’s also a good read if you like post-apocalyptic survival. It’s also good if you’re autistic and you want a book that has representation in it.

[bookishnerdreviews]

On The Edge Of Gone Book Review

Author: Corinne Duyvis

Rating: 4.75/5

For the dudes who don’t follow my main blog (@bookish-nerd-girl) you probably won‘t know that I have Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Since I’ve been diagnosed I‘ve made it my mission to read as many books - especially YA - with autistic rep and do what I can to advertise the ones that I really connected to. After a rec from the awesome book-tuber emmmabooks, I picked up On The Edge Of Gone and it was incredible.

On The Edge Of Gone is an own-voice novel about a girl called Denise who is living in a time where a comet is about to leave the Earth uninhabitable. To survive, she and her mother discover a generation ship: a space ship which can save them from Earth. However, Denise has autism and also has her mind set on finding her sister, meaning she doesn’t know if they‘ll be able to stay on the ship. It leads to a thrilling sci-fi/dystopia story that I couldn’t put down.

Denise’s autism is so accurately written I couldn’t help but see myself in her. The subject wasn’t dealt with too delicately (otherwise it wouldn’t be life-like), and the author doesn’t sugar-coat anything which I greatly appreciate. All the little details that neuro-typical people don’t always understand are never dulled down. The relationships with her friends, family and even strangers are very real too.

And although this book does focus on Denise, the world and plot were very well thought through and full of depth. The writing was descriptive and compelling and the characters were fascinating. The way each of them are dealing with the situation really make you think, not only about how you would react, but about how others would react too. There’s so much diversity in this book too: obviously Denise has autism, her and her family are poc and there’s a main character who is trans.

The only very small issue is that I wish there was a little more information about Denise’s dad - but I‘m only nit-picking!

[smolwritingfriend]

On The Edge Of Gone

I finished reading it. I am so happy and so in love with the book. I have seen so few books with autistic characters. This makes the first one that isn't based off real events. The second one I've ever gotten. I want to thank the author so much for giving me someone I can relate to so much. I was glued to the book and am so so grateful for all of it. I am actually near tears after finishing it which is very unlike me. Thank you. 20/10 would recommend (I'm posting this at two in the morning after finishing the book but everyone needs to see this so I'm gonna reblog this a couple times as well so people can see it and see to read this beautiful work of art)

[starrlikesbooks]

Do you have any recs for books that are along the same lines as Merlin or Prince/King x Bodyguard/Wizard adventuring? Bonus if LGBTQ+ and they smooch. <3 I love your blog!

Oddly all the books that come to mind in terms of "queer bodyguard romance" are sapphic!

Otherbound by Corrine Duyvis

Starless by Jacqueline Carey

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn

Some non-queer bodyguard romances you may like are Blade of Secrets, The Bodyguard, and maybe even The Merciful Crow.

[bisexual-books]

Dustin’ off the ole blog (or why I don’t feel bad for Becky Albertali)

Hey guys.  Wow.  Its been like two years since anybody posted here and three since I wrote anything of substance?  In my defense I adopted a teen so life got super duper busy around that time, but now that I’ve (mostly) sorted out the day to day parenting stuff, I’m back.  At least for today.  Because whooo boy do I have A LOT thoughts and feelings about the situation with Becky Albertali.  

So let’s jump right in : I don’t feel bad for Becky Albertali .  Not at all.  I think she is wrong and am not moved by her medium post.  I think Gabby Dunn is on the right track to criticize her and I would like do so as well because I think she is wrong.  

What Albertali (and her twitter fans) seem to willfully ignore in her medium piece is that readers don’t side-eye straight authors without good reason.  We do it because over and over and over again, straight authors do a shit job of writing about queer issues, creating realistic queer characters, and discussing queer issues.  How does an author earn the ability to avoid that side-eye? How do they avoid questions, comments, and concerns about their ability to do those things in their writing?  By being an open and proud member of the queer community ie coming out.  Coming out is important and difficult work in a fundamentally heterosexist society, and hence is rewarded as such by our community.   If you don’t do that work, why exactly should I or any other queer person give you that cachet?  

Fundamentally I see Becky Albertali wanting the socio-emotional bennies of queer author status, without doing the work of coming out.  And I’m just not finding much sympathy for that. She is not owed the benefit of the doubt by readers, particularly queer readers.  She has to earn it.  Yes, it probably was difficult for her to be questioned about her orientation while questioning, but those questions are reasonable and legitimate.  

Queer readers don’t just sit around like a dragon hording legitimacy and saying ‘mwhahaha’ to poor little straight authors.  We do this as a self-protection mechanism with good reason. We’ve experienced characters that are just a grab bag of stereotypes.  We’ve been gutted when straight authors we trusted as allies say horribly offensive things.  We’ve read arguments about queer people that bear no resemblance to our real lives and we’ve literally cried ourselves to sleep over disappointing, nasty, rude, offensive, and heartbreaking books (at least I have).  

If Becky Albertali and her defenders want to make life easier on queer authors, then instead of blaming queer readers for asking those questions, they need to interrogate why those questions need to be asked and how to reduce that need.

Instead I see Albertali in her medium piece blaming queer readers for needing to protect themselves, for needing to side-eye, for needing the explicit power of #ownvoices and support of out authors.  I don’t see her piece putting rightful, blame on straight people and straight culture that created these situations in the first place.  Blaming queer readers for daring to question her is a pernicious type of victim blaming, and I have no time or patience for that.  We erect these walls to protect our own hearts and souls, not because we’re big meanies.  If you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the wall, then help dismantle the need for it.  Don’t blame us for its existence. 

I’ve seen some people on twitter say this is somehow gatekeeping or cutting people off from exploring/discovering their queerness in art.  And I think that argument is off base.  No one was preventing Alberteli from making her art.  She could have written in a notebook or on Smashwords for all the days of her life.  People can make a dozen deviantart accounts or twitter accounts or AO3 accounts or tumblr accounts or discord servers and post their queer art creations all over the internet while they work out their queer feelings.  It is easy and free and no one is stopping anyone else from doing so. 

However I think when you cross the line from creating your queer art to profiting off your queer art, something fundamentally changes.  The stakes go up.  Queer readers need to know so they can decide who to trust with their hard earned cash.  We live in capitalism, man.  If you think that sucks, help dismantle that too. 

Albertali looked back in her piece, so I also want to cast back to early 2015, when Albertali first published Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda.  Bi YA author Corrine Duyvis woudn’t coin the term/hastag #ownvoices until September of that year.  And it was A LOT easier to get a YA book with LGBTQ characters published if you were straight.  How do I know that?  Because it was like pulling teeth to find queer authors writing queer characters outside of small queer presses.  I was hardcore book blogging at that time.  The mainstream publishing industry side-eyed YA/kidlit queer authors, especially those who were less polished due to poverty/educational attainment/systemic racism/disability, to favor straight white authors with post-graduate degrees along with a handful of token queer authors that were already a part of the publishing industry.  This was slowly changing but it hadn’t changed that much.  It was still easier to get a queer YA published as a straight person.

And Albertali knowingly entered into and profited off that system.   

She literally has cash in the bank off the publication of the book Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, the subsequent film that became Love Simon, the subsequent book reprints and merchandise under the name Love Simon and the subsequent Love Victor show on Hulu.  They sold Love Simon shirts at Hot Topic for $20 for crying out loud.  She was able to obtain that money, prominence, and influence because she presented herself as a straight woman.

There is no comparable story in queer authorland because queer authors are simply not given the opportunity to turn their queer novels into multimedia cash cow franchises.  The closest thing I can think of is Armistand Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City‘ and that took 20 years to be made into a tv miniseries with subsequent books.  That was 27 years ago and to my knowledge, no one sold shirts.  So for most of my/ Albertali’s lifetime, there has been no viable path to create a queer media empire as a queer author.  None. 

Until Albertali did it while pretending to be a straight girl.  

She says that she legitimately did not know she was queer when Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda was published or when Leah on the Offbeat was written.  It does suck that she had to figure that out while living such a public life and I feel bad that it was hard.  But honestly it sucks for everyone to figure that out.  It sucks to figure that out as an isolated teen or a professional adult.  Its just an emotionally grueling process.  Wanna make it better for future people?  Again work to disable heterosexism and heterocentrism in wider society.  Blaming queer people for that heterosexism and heterocentrism, and chiding them for not giving you unearned benefits of the doubt doesn’t do anything to disable those systems.  No one forced you to sign a movie deal or do a ton of interviews, you did that all on your own.  Ignorance of the consequences of your own actions doesn’t exempt you from having to deal with them.  

Only very very recently has the publishing landscape shifted so #ownvoices is a selling point instead of a liability.  Only very very recently (and I would argue very minimally) has the publishing industry valued #ownvoices authors enough to nurture and polish their skills with open submissions and contests for people who don’t have grad degree levels of writing skills.  And Albertali is upset at being excluded from this?  When she literally has the educational privileges of a doctorate and significantly more money than the average queer author has made in my lifetime?  

The closet sucks but no one forced Albertali to stay in it and queer people didn’t create it.  She chose to publish and license her work to reap the benefits, and as such also reaps the consequences.  Apparently one such consequence was that it was personally difficult for her to understand her sexuality and her mental health was poor.  Well.... until we can disassemble heteropatriarchy that is the world we live in.  Get your queer house in order before you go pro and open yourself up to real reactions from queer readers.  But if like Albertali, you don’t do that while choosing more and more publicity and raking in wheelbarrows full of cash, well, don’t expect much sympathy from me.  

- Sarah 

[ya-world-challenge]

2023 Wrap-up

I fulfilled 31 countries for the World Challenge this year, bringing my total up to 57 out of 208.

I also read about 14 other books that were repeats of countries, additional books in series, and ones I just randomly picked up, so something like 44 in total.

I also finished up all the backlog of countries I had rolled with the randomizer, so in the new year I will get to roll some new ones - yay, exciting.

So here are my top favorites from the year!

Top 5 reads in 2023

The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya

A really beautiful novel of a prodigy pianist coming of age in Soviet Azerbaijan. Musical prose and just breathtaking story.

2. The Exiles of Crocodile Island by Henye Meyer

This was an unexpectedly really good book that I was lucky to find for the tiny islands of São Tomé & Príncipe. Following a group of Jewish children forced to a Portuguese settlement. Really insightful characterization and lovely writing.

3. The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk

Such a unique folklore-esque story by an Estonian author. A clash of modernity with ancient ways, and what gets forgotten.

4. The Key by Sara Elfgren & Mats Strandberg

Book 3 and finale of the Engelsfors series set in Sweden really brought the series to an amazing climax and gave us great character development. Also I think, the longest book I read this year.

5. The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

Super fun queer pirate adventure! This was just so refreshing and comforting at the same time.

Honorable mentions:

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue; Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi; I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera; On the Edge of Gone by Corrine Duyvis; When a Bulbul Sings by Hawaa Ayoub

See my book review tag for all my reviews!

Full list of countries read this year

Here's all the countries I fulfilled this year and the books I read for them.

🇦🇺 Australia - Ghost Bird, Lisa Fuller

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan - The Orphan Sky, Ella Leya

🇨🇺 Cuba - A Tall Dark Trouble - Vanessa Montalban

🇩🇰 Denmark - The Shamer's Daughter, Lene Kaaberbøl

🇪🇪 Estonia - The Man Who Spoke Snakish, Andrus Kivirähk

🇫🇯 Fiji - The Wild Ones, Nafiza Azad

🇮🇷 Iran - Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi

🇮🇶 Iraq - Yazidi!, Aurélien Ducoudray & Mini Ludvin

🇮🇪 Ireland - All Our Hidden Gifts, Caroline O'Donoghue

🇱🇹 Lithuania - Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepatys

🇱🇺 Luxembourg - The Elf of Luxembourg, Tom Weston

🇲🇹 Malta - The Maltese Dreamer, Catherine Veritas

🇲🇽 Mexico - Secret of the Moon Conch, David Bowles; Guadalupe García McCall

🇳🇵 Nepal - What Elephants Know - Eric Dinerstein

🇳🇱 Netherlands - On the Edge of Gone, Corrine Duyvis

🇵🇸 Palestine - Travellers Along the Way, Aminah Mae Safi

🇵🇹 Portugal - Mariana, Katherine Vaz

🇵🇷 Puerto Rico - The Wicked Bargain, Gabe Cole Novoa

🇷🇴 Romania - And I Darken, Kiersten White

🇱🇨 St. Lucia - 'Til I Find You Greta Bondieumaitre

🇸🇲 San Marino - The Gladiator, Harry Turtledove

🇸🇹 São Tomé & Príncipe - The Exiles of Crocodile Island, Henye Meyer

🇸🇳 Senegal - No Heaven for Good Boys, Keisha Bush

🇸🇬 Singapore - Sofia and the Utopia Machine, Judith Huang

🇸🇰 Slovakia - Impossible Escape, Steve Sheinkin

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka - I Am Kavi, Thushanthi Ponweera

🇸🇪 Sweden - The Circle, Sara Elfgren & Mats Strandberg

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago - When the Vibe is Right, Sarah Dass

🇹🇳 Tunisia - Other Names, Other Places, Ola Mustapha

🇻🇪 Venezuela - The Sun and the Void, Gabriel Romero Lacruz

🇾🇪 Yemen - When a Bulbul Sings, Hawaa Ayoub

And here's the moods that Storygraph says I read which turned out to be pretty varied.

------------------

Overall not bad progress, and I look forward to continuing to read in 2024!

Have you read any of the books I picked or have them on your TBR? Feel free to comment!

[read-alert]

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! 📚📖🏳️‍🌈

Again, I'm not 100% certain these all feature characters who identify specifically as lesbians, especially given that I haven't read them yet, but they are all sapphic. Full titles under the cut!

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C Higgins

Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier

Alice isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

How to Succeed in Witchcraft and Aislinn Brophy

D'Vaugh & Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C Higgins

Stud Like Her by Fiona Zedde

Second Night Stand by Karelia & Fay Stetz-Waters

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

The Art of Saving the World by Corrine Duyvis

The Final Strife by Saara el-Arifi

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

The Divines by Ellie Eaton

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

The Dyke & the Dybuk by Ellen Galford

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

Boyish² Butch x Butch Yuri Anthology by Akizora Sawayaka, Hanakage Alt, Nekobungi Sumiro, et al

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alisom Bechdel

A Masc for Purim by Roz Alexander

Chlorine by Jade Song

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist by SL Huang

The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera

[diversereadingchallenge]

Prompt 26 Rec List

Here are some recs for prompt 26 of the Diverse Reading Challenge 2020. 

26. A book with a physically disabled or chronically ill protagonist

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski

A novel, it is a retelling of Hamlet. Set in America, it follows a young boy who is mute, as he grows up on his parents dog kennel. When tragedy strikes, he must solve the mystery of his father’s death. 

If you like books about dogs, or like Shakespeare retellings, this is the book for you.  

The Nothing Within - Andy Giesler

A post-apocalyptic novel, it follows a young girl who is blind and questions everything she is told. When her village turns on her, she must flee and goes on a quest to uncover the secrets her society is hiding. 

If you like post-apocalyptic stories, or want to read a fun adventure story, this is the book for you. 

Otherbound - Corrine Duyvis

A YA fantasy novel, it focuses on a teenage boy with epilepsy, and whenever he closes his eyes, he is transported into the mind, of a mute teenage girl living in a another world. In order to keep themselves alive, they must work together and uncover the truth about their connection. 

If you like interesting fantasy novels, or if you want to read a book that is a non-stop thrill ride, this is the book for you. 

Johnny Tremain - Esther Hoskins Forbes

A middle grade novel, it takes place in the American Revolution, and follows a teenage boy, a silversmith’s apprentice, who after an accident loses the use of his hand. He finds a new trade as a messenger, and becomes involved in pivotal events in the Revolution. 

If you like historical fiction, or want to read a classic middle grade book, this is the book for you. 

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved - Kate Bowler

A memoir, it recounts the author’s experience with stage IV colon cancer. She talks about her former belief in the prosperity gospel, the idea that everything happens for a reason, and how that changes through her illness. 

If you like memoirs, or want to read a book that will make you both laugh and cry, this is the book for you. 

If you would like to join the Diverse Reading Challenge 2020, please follow the tumblr! Spread the word! Submit recs of diverse books you love!

[nausikaaa]

Top 10 Books Of 2020

Thanks for tagging me @lotus-of-light! I’ve been wanting to do this, and i have a whole shelf of TBR books, so this might motivate me to read them!

There Is A Light by @basic-banshee i have the PDF of this and will buy the book when it comes out in paper. I’m one chapter in and so far i love it! it’s very scottish and pretty gay, what’s not to love?

Girls Of Paper And Fire by Natasha Ngan this has been on by TBR list for a while. i want to read more wlw stories and this was on a list of good ones.

The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon i got this for christmas and tried to make a start on it, but got as far as the maps in the front and felt a bit overwhelmed. it’s SO. LONG. i’ll get to it eventually, but it’s going to take some time. anyway, there’s dragons and kingdoms and lesbians i think, and it looks like lots of high fantasy stuff, which is always fun.

Loveless by Alice Oseman more wlw, this hasn’t been released yet but i’ll be buying it as soon as it is. it looks good from what i’ve seen.

Nick And Charlie by Alice Oseman once again this hasn’t been released yet, but i already know i’ll love it because i already love the author and the characters.

Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo i’ve heard good things about this online and the description sounds fun, so i want to give it a read.

Otherbound by Corrine Duyvis i got this for christmas and am a little way into it, and it’s really good, but i haven’t worked up the motivation to keep reading yet. it’s fantasy and apparently there’s lgbt characters, though i’m not far enough into it to tell who.

Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli once again i’m a little ways into this, and know i will love it, but just need to put in the time and effort. i ADORED Simon vs The Homosapien’s Agenda so there’s really no reason for me to be putting this off.

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone another book i got for christmas and started reading but then forgot about. i seem to have this problem a lot. i actually fell asleep reading this on christmas, so i don’t remember exactly that it’s about, but i think there’s time travelling gays who are enemies which, i assume, will turn to lovers.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman a friend suggested this to me a year ago and it’s still just sitting on my shelf, untouched. i have no clue whatsoever what it’s about aside from the fact that Odin is in it, but i liked Good Omens so hopefully i’ll like this too...

I tag @justasfacelessasever (who had better have Gentleman’s Guide on this list, i lent you that damn book in JANUARY LAST YEAR) and also @flintandfuss and @paintedmoths- i’m not sure if you read much, but you’re both in my notifications a lot, so here you go.

[nicolawritesnovels]

So I didn’t really mean to, but I started reading On The Edge of Gone the other day. 

I’m not normally really into those kind of books, because I dunno, end of the world has never really been my thing. But I like it so far. It’s interesting.