#new book review is up!

[autumnrose11]

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[rochellehassan]

The Spell for Unraveling (book 3 of The Buried and the Bound trilogy) has a cover! behold!

i think this is my favorite one yet! i love the stained glass background so much <3 the artist is helen mask, who's done an amazing job on all three covers for this trilogy.

[discjude]

guess my favourite sge chapter challenge (impossible edition). yes i think aric shouldve had long hair he was in that cave for nine whole ass years leave me alone

[neverlearnedtoread]

Spinning Silver

⭐⭐⭐⭐; the staryk king and mirnatius with the word 'wife' on the board: there's only one thing more horrible than a wife.... *rips off paper* MY wife

Oh?? 👌😉😏

women are fucking amazing and wonderful and terrifying and unequivocal badasses. especially to their husbands. it's about the fantasy of a marriage you have no control over being perfectly suited to you in ways you didn't even know it could

inhuman fae creatures that actually have a separate culture and set of rules they are governed by. they're much more powerful than humans, of course, but they are bound to their laws, and if you're smart you can work with that

fairytale-esque magic system that relies heavily on (1) trickery (2) Having Audacity and (3) the rule of threes 😉. we love a soft magic system that rewards big swings and BDE!

not one, but TWO separate arranged marriages engaged in HEATED pvp AKA two people bound in hostile matrimony trying to kill each other while having 'wait, are they hot? fuck!' moments

you can be cold and practical and still be a good person. you can be strong enough to protect yourself without sacrificing others. with a good enough grasp of contracts you can force a demon to leave your kingdom AND husband unharmed in a 2-for-1 deal

No.. ❌🤢🤮

multiple POVs with no names for chapter titles so you have to figure out who it is from context clues - if you're like me and love a little puzzle to go with your reading time, you'll really enjoy it (Novik does it VERY well) but if you get confused easily or don't wanna put in the brainpower its annoying and overly complicated

if you don't like enemies-to-lovers where they actually argue and are ideologically opposed, you're not gonna enjoy the romance subplots. this is not a 'forbidden-lovers' kinda enemies-to-lovers. this is firmly in the 'my husband misses me a lot - but his aim is getting better!' zone

really quick wrap up - it gets tied up a little too fast after the final confrontation with the Big Bad. i wouldve liked at least to have irina POV at the end because her side of things just. gets left hanging

Summary: Miryem is a daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, and though her father doesn't have the hardheartedness to be a good one, she'd rather be despised for what she's owed than starve. Her knack for the trade, coupled with her sharp tongue, draws the ire of her village, and even more alarmingly, the Staryk's attentions; faerie creatures who only covet gold, they take her offhanded boast that she can turn silver into gold quite literally, and show up at her door to hold her true to her careless words - which, honestly, kind of backfires on them when she rises to the challenge and upends their realm into complete disarray, so maybe there's a lesson there for the next group of nonhumans to learn: don't bet the house against a human girl whose Had Enough Of All This Bullshit. She might win.

Concept: 💭💭💭 I don't know Rumpelstiltskin's story very well, and Ice Kingdom aesthetics aren't my favourite (you can blame it on my residual dislike of Frozen), but I DID read Uprooted before this. I wasn't as into the book blurb as I was with Uprooted, but I'm an experienced (and opinionated) enough reader to know when to trust my gut - if I find an author's writing style easy to read, and I enjoy how they handle their themes, I'm not afraid of diving into deep waters. If it's that bad, I can always DNF

Execution: 💥💥💥💥 As I've come to expect with Novik's writing, a wonderfully easy read; the storytelling voice flows smoothly and makes me want to keep on reading. No slogging through difficult to understand passages and too slow pacing for me! I instantly wanted to collect every POV character like puppies in a basket, no matter how brief their sections were. I will say the ending does forget what it wants to say and simply ends on a happy note, instead of a complete thought. It doesn't tie in the POV characters together strongly enough - I would've loved to see an epilogue scenes with the 3 main female characters supporting each other, or at least being three distinct Bad Bitches!

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤❤ Mostly because of Irina and Miryem (and Wanda)'s absolute BDE. They truly brought their stories to life and felt very dynamic, constantly driving the story forward through their actions, especially because their personalities and characteristics were so well-suited to the challenges they faced (Miryem rules-lawyering the Staryk, Irina taking to politics, Wanda keeping faith despite all the shit she's been through). Honorary shoutout to the complete hilarity of Mirnatius's POV (though ultimately it IS more indulgence than necessity, I respect Novik for it) - may he spend the rest of his life desperately drawing his wife in vain search of her bad angles!

Favourite Moment: the running gag of mirnatius losing his fucking mind trying to prove irina isn't hot. you know that post that's like 'find a blorbo to draw and your art skills will start improving so much faster'? irina is his blorbo. special mention of the scene he gets jealous realizing a random guard has a crush on his behated wife and immediately jumps to the conclusion that irina would want to fuck the guard for the sake of the kingdom. babygirl the hoops you are jumping........where is this gymnastics routine even going 😭 this man is not beating the meow meow allegations..

Favourite Character: It's really a tie between Miryem and Irina, who are both so similar yet different at the same time. Miryem's BDE was enjoyably explosive - she throws it in everyone's face, which is perfect to play off of the Staryk's otherworldly impassiveness. Irina's BDE was a lot more...steely. Quietly coming into her own as she realized how adept she was at politics, and how perfectly well-suited that made her to being tsarina - and when they finally met each other? it was so funny when were like 'hey...why dont we kill our husbands via pokemon battle??'

[garrettwrites]

I am so tired of how Quotev/Wattpad level fanfiction, written by what reads as a 15 year old getting into their first fandom, gets pushed up the book ratings in the gay romance genre (m/m). Why is Red White and Royal Blue always at the top. Why is Boyfriend Material. Why must I suffer. Where are the standards. Why is a 30/40 year old recommending me, a grown adult man, stories that feel like they were written for highschoolers who don't like to read so they pick up the trashiest, most easily digestible shit in order to have the bare minimum of fun while doing their reading interpretation project for class.

This is coming from someone who had fun reading goddamn Twilight by the way. I'm not a book snob. I can enjoy objectively bad media if it's fun. My favourite book series with LGBT main characters is All For The Game, and that's a shitshow! But at least there's passion in it! There's fun!

I am going insane!!!!!

[millylouedward]

Spotify Wrapped, but for my books <3

[freshthoughts2020]

[athomewithladylux]

Strangers in Paradise, written by psychologist and wealth advisor James Grubman, explores the challenges that families face as they navigate the world of wealth across generations. The book draws an analogy between families new to wealth and immigrants to a new country, suggesting that both groups must adapt to unfamiliar cultural norms and responsibilities in order to thrive. Through real-world stories and clear reasoning, Grubman outlines the key processes that families of wealth must undergo to successfully adjust to their new circumstances. The book offers valuable insights for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of wealth and how it affects families over time. As a mentor, I would highly recommend this book to any young woman seeking to build financial security and understand the challenges that come with wealth.

[focsle]

Hate when I judge a book by its cover cos the cover design is Cool As Hell and I end up contemplating a dnf once I get 100 pages inside.

[autumnrose11]

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[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

Ink Blood Sister Scribe

adult low fantasy

follows two sisters who grew up guarding a collection of magical and dangerous books, keeping them safe from a shadowy organisation

one is on the run across the world, staying one step ahead of the magic that killed her mother, but after deciding to stay longer at the Antarctic research base with her girlfriend quickly discovers that even there is not far enough away from the people tracking her

and the other is at home, the sole protector of the books, desperate to find out their secrets

plus a young man who’s lived his life within the Library used for his talent of writing the books

Latine & Jewish MCs, bi MCs

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Book Reviews Children's Edition: Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz; Halfway There: A Memoir; The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance; How to Explain Climate Science to a Grown-Up #GraphicNovels #Manga #NetGalley #ChildrensBooks

Time for another round-up of book reviews: this time I tackled some manga, graphic novels, and a children's book about climate science. Read about the history of the Peanuts comic book, a memoir about being mixed-race, and a YA horror story. #ARCReviews

I have been connecting to my kids more with their reading. The two youngest adore manga books and the reason I have a Barnes & Noble membership is because the county library and school library do not carry the series’ they are interested in. I’ve also been picking up some graphic novels and manga, including some ARCs. Here are some reviews of my most recent finds: Most books can be found at the…

[fitzrove]

I want to write a romance subplot (in [original project]) but I have this problem where I straight-up disagree with most people online on what is appealing in a romance story or romantic subplot (ie. a lot of common tropes are unappealing to me, I usually need it to be Full of Symbolism And Themes [but only like... wider themes, usually sexual liberation and self-discovery which are pretty common ones arent really my cup of tea ajks], I don't usually find much appeal in a mundane romance being at the center of the narrative & it has to be wlw OR i have to delusion it into being so in my head...)

Like legit the target audience for the kind of relationship I would write would just be me and like 3.5 of my gay friends rip

[tariqha]

[street-corner-felines]

Zero Day Director commentary - With actor Andre Keuck

[elletromil]

Take it from someone who can read up to 3-4 books (on top of the fics) a week and usually average at 2 books every week, when people tell you to read stuff you enjoy if you want to read more, well it's true

For the past month i've been reading only one book, the third in a trilogy that i had liked pretty ok so far. Not my usual jam, but the first two books had managed to make me care enough about how the plot would end that i wanted to read it all myself instead of just looking it up. But then the third book... Was good, like it is a very good trilogy, just, like i said, not my jam and didn't manage to engage me as much as the previous two.

Had it been the first book of the trilogy, i would have dropped it. But after about 1800 pages already read in the whole trilogy (last book alone was ~800 pages), well, you know I was invested and it was a matter of pride

But that also had as a result that for the past month i have barely read anything but that book and some days i would just not read anything (in terms of book, fanfic is a different beast) because i was just not really enjoying myself

Could i have been reading other books at the same time? For sure. At any given time i have about 5-6 books on my 'is technically currently reading' pile

But i knew if i was gonna read those books, then i would never finish the 800 pages book and i didn't want to not finish it.

Anyway all this to say that yes- finding books you enjoy is actually one of the best way to make sure you'll read more. It took me about a month to 800 pages. When the rest of tje year, i averaged about 1000/1200 pages a week. And its not because i didn't want to read. I wanted to. I even had a bunch of mangas on my desk i was planning to read, but i wouldnt even touch those because i was just turn off.

And i finally finished the book tonight and the sheer relief to know that tomorrow i can finally read a book i will thoroughly enjoy. Unbelievable.

And like, i did that to myself. Im not mad i powered through finishing the book. Mostly because i'm a big reader and i always find more books i want to read and like a month delay won't really change much on that front.

But yeah. My good peeps. The thing you choose to read do matter. And also if you're not vibing with a book, for any reason, you're never obligated to finish it. I will finish reading maybe 1 out of 3 books i pick up. And you don't have to justify why you put down a book. I've picked up books that seemed to be right up my alley open it on the first page, read one (1) word and then went 'nah' and returned it to the public library without losing sleep about it. And no that is not an exaggeration, sometime, a word is all you need.

And also, it doesn't matter what you actually like to read. 70% of what i read is queer romance because that's what i enjoy. The rest is mostly horror or sci-fi. But if all you enjoy is YA? Go for it. Or even children's books, who cares? I reread children's series from my childhood for nostalgia at least once a year and i'm always having a blast

So yeah this is just me rejoicing that i am finally done with that fucking book and also just encouraging you my good peeps to drop a book you're not enjoying if you're reading for fun