YAY! We’re officially half-way through the year. And my yay was definitely not sarcastic. No indeed. Nothing has really changed. I continue to be stressed and semi-functioning but I did read a bunch this month so I am pretty happy. I’ve also officially read 161 books this year and I am hoping that means I’ll hit the 300 mark this year. WHO KNOWS. WISH ME LUCK, FRIENDS.
It was a pretty good month for backlist TBR smashing and I am happy I got so many sequels read! I have a bunch more checked out so hopefully, I’ll get more books read and ticked off that SEQUELS-TO-READ tbr. My favorite sequels were the remaining books in the Gallagher Girl series. Omg those booksssss. They changed my life.
I didn’t hit my backlist tbr as much this month but I definitely read a bunch of books I’ve had my eye on for ages so I am pretty happy. I actually DNFed The Near Witch but I am still counting it because I read up till 50% before I decided to give up.
Dangerous Calling and Sacrifice are both part of a series and I think both these series are underrated and in need of more attention. WHERE IS THE HYPE. StarCrossed is also part of a series where we never saw the last book come out because there wasn’t enough hype and if that isn’t the saddest thing you’ve heard, I don’t know what is. Ballad For a Mad Girl is OZYA which is probably why it doesn’t have more hype across the ocean BUT IT DESERVES IT.
HELLO AGAIN. I missed doing the May round up which sucks but this time I am back and back on time for a round up of June releases. Anyway, just a reminder that these round ups are primarily YA/MG. I try to be as thorough as possible so if I miss something or if a book I’ve included has bad rep, please let me know!
Any of these on your TBR? What are you most looking forward to diving into??
This recommendation list is partially inspired by recent events and also something I’ve wanted to do for a while. It is definitely the bare-minimum (probably not even that, tbh) and we all need to be supporting our Muslim-identifying authors, friends and foe. So here is a list of some wonderful books/authors you should have on your TBRs and should be supporting!! It is by no means a thorough list and a much much MUCH better resource would be the Hijabi Librarians blog.
1. Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed
2. Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
3. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
4. Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
5. Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan
6. Furthermore by…
That Thing We Call a Heart was one of my favorite books of 2017 so obviously, when I heard about Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, I was ecstatic and ready to dive in. This review is particularly hard because even though, overall, I definitely enjoyed Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, there were times when I felt let down by some of the things the characters said.
I am grappling for words as I attempt to describe my feelings because I want to be respectful and clear that these experiences aren’t invalid but one of the biggest dichotomy in the book is how Mariam is raised vs how her friends are raised. Mariam grew up in a household that wasn’t religious or super connected to their cultural roots and her mom was super…
Save the Date is neither unpredictable nor does it really break any moulds. It is exactly what you would expect it to be and it is fucking amazing. If you, like me, are a connoisseur of rom-coms & chick-flicks and are upset by how few are being made lately, this book is what you deserve.
Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this week, her family home is being sold, and her brother who she nor her parents have spoken to in almost two years is gonna be coming back for the wedding. To add to the stress, Charlie’s long-time crush and her are feeling the sparks which makes things awkward because a certain brother is crashing with her crush instead of with the fam. Charlie just wants…
I think we are all aware the world is a pile of crap and yet this past week, it seems like all of that is escalating. From refugees running away from human traffickers being turned away by Italy to prove a point to incredibly young children being separated from their parents after escaping unimaginable horrors, the world truly sucks. Sometimes it can be incredibly overwhelming when many of us sit in the protection of our own homes feeling like we are unable to do anything. There is always something you can do though. Whether it is calling your representatives (no matter how shitty they are) or donating your time/money.
Authors Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz put together the “Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages” campaign. Donations will…
I think when it comes to fiction, the general consensus seems to be that literary fiction is better than commercial fiction. I am not sure why publishing and the world seems to hold literary fiction as ‘quality’ fiction and commercial fiction as ‘cheap and redundant’ but it seems like another way to dismiss women and especially women of color because commercial fiction tends to be written more by those groups than not. Take my words with a grain of salt as I have no real stats backing up this claim but I have spent a lot of time observing and making note of the differences. Most bestsellers tend to be commercial fiction and a lot of books with a cult following tend to be commercial fiction, so why is…
At the end of every year, I like to go through and look at all of my reading stats just to get an idea of what went on in that year for my reading-wise and also because I love statistics. Last year was honestly one of the best bookish-years for me in terms of ratings. In 2017, I may not have read a lot of five star books (I think that numbed capped out at 12 out of the 230 books I read), but my average rating was 3.9. So I read a WHOLE lot of 4 star books last year and LOVED what I was reading. That is a significant improvement over average ratings from previous years and yet, I am still not reading a lot of five…
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