Meet the Bookworm: Alex

At the start of 2020 I sent a couple of bookish questions to some bloggers and bookstagrammers who have been crazy enough to fill them out. In this series you’ll get to read their answers, admire their favourite reads and share their favourite stories. If you want to join the series just drop a comment below!

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Name
Alex

Blog
Spells and Spaceships

Twitter Handle
@blogspells

What sort of things do you like to read? Any favourite books?
I review SFF, which stands for Science Fiction & Fantasy. I like the adventure and escape that these genres provide, aswell as being a bit of a secret geek myself, these genres appeal to that side of me! One of my all time all time favourites is classic in the fantasy genre, The Lord of The Rings. Over the last couple of months I’ve read a couple of brilliant self published books, Kingshold by D. P. Woolliscroft and The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson.

What got you interested in books? Any particular books or people?
I always loved books as a kid, my parents probably starting off that love by reading to me as a child. The first time I can remember being in love with a book or series though was Harry Potter. I was I think 7 yrs old when the first book was released, and after reading the first couple, I dropped everything and read each new release constantly from the day of release until I’d finished it. I have a lot of love for these books!

Was there ever a point where you found yourself reading less? Why? Do you have any tips for getting out of a reading slump?
Yeah, most definitely. I used to read a lot of history books as well as fantasy (and more recently science fiction) – I went to University and the hobby I used to love became a full time part of my education where I couldn’t simply sit back and enjoy a book; I had to take notes, analyse the information, compare to other books and race to take them out of the library or buy them permanently myself. Reading the books as a researcher rather than as a hobby and an interest really knocked away that enjoyment for a while afterwards. I’m a definite mood reader and being forced to read a lot of books and in a way that I didn’t enjoy just put me off for a while. I started reading more fantasy again, and went for less serious or in depth books to rediscover that ‘reading for fun’ feeling. My advice if in a slump would be to read a different genre to the one you have been doing. Sometimes I mix it up with a general non fiction such as the brilliant Sapiens and Homo Deus books.

Has interacting with bookworms online changed your reading at all? Do you think it’s for the better?
Yes definitely. I’m exposed to and recommended loads more books than I’d find myself just through looking at Amazon and Goodreads. Some of these have been self published with only a small number of reviews (or in some cases none) that have came highly recommended from other bookworms. This is essential both for helping new authors and for finding hidden gems! It’s changed my reading in that I feel I read more and am spurred on to finish a book so I can talk about it with others, and to try the next intriguing read. Without this community I’d probably read less.

What advice would you give your younger self? Do you have any advice for budding bookworms out there?
It would be not to wait til I’m almost 30 to redevelop a reading passion! I read around a book every week to two weeks now, and it sort of feels like a journey of discovery, there are so many amazing books I greedily want to read as many as I can. There’s still so many I’m desperate to read on my TBR. My advice would be not to read too many short or long books; mix it up a bit. Try and read different styles of story or sub genre. If you’re unsure about starting a big series you can always read the first book and come back to the series at a later time.

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Thanks Alex for filling out the questions and joining my blog! Are you are Lord of the Rings fan too? If you did a humanities subject at university, did you find it difficult to read for fun and study books at the same time?

Another bookworm will be featuring on my blog so stay tuned for that, otherwise we have the usual Top Ten Tuesday coming up next week. You can check out all the other lovely bookworms I’ve met here. If you fancy joining the series let me know in the comments and I’d love to feature you!

Characters who would have Driven my Boarding Mistress Mad

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about characters we’d be friends with. Which got me thinking about friends. Which got me thinking about school. Which got me totally off topic and, long story short, here we are.

I went to all girls Catholic boarding school. This included the joys of form prayers after lunch, many masses and warm croissants every morning, the messy haired bad boys that made up teenage YA being how I envisioned the entire male population. Teenage me was the definition of sheltered.

But how would some of our favourite fictional characters do being couped up there… Here’s a list of 10 fictional females that would have caused a pretty big stir at all girls school. And I’d have wanted to befriend all of them.

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Blue

The Raven Boys

1 I can just imagine the boarding mistress having a great time insisting Blue take the bottle tops of her pleated school-issued tartan skirt every morning.

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Izzy

The Exact Opposite of Okay

2 Funny, feminist and full of sass, snarky Izzy would have been brilliant in my school. And she’d ask some fabulously awkward questions in our Catholic led sex ed lessons.

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Lira

To Kill a Kingdom

3 I’m pretty sure stealing hearts would be frowned upon. And she may have to be banned from singing at mass because of the whole siren thing… Don’t want any deadly renditions of Amazing Grace or anything.

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Harper

A Curse so Dark and Lonely

4 She can impersonate queen, weild a crowbar and throw daggers but can she iron the pleats into her skirt?

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Thalia

Percy Jackson

5 Can you imagine Thalia’s dry wit, quick humour and insistence she carries her bow to lessons? At least they can trust her not to sneak any men into the dorms being a hunter of Artemis and all.

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Tavia

Into the Crooked Places

6 I’m currently reading the arc I won of Alexandra Christo’s upcoming release and absoloutely love Tavia. She’s all burnt magic and morals in the gritty streets she’s forced to live in. While her hearts in the right place it’s possible my teachers wouldn’t enjoy her snark. Or tendency for the illegal.

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Shazad

Rebel of the Sands

7 Not only is she great with those twin swords but will most definitely help you overthrow any malicous sultans. I just don’t see her sitting still during prep though…

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Tella

Caraval

8 Wild, unruly and full of fight Tella would be such a laugh in class and definitely be best dressed at summer mass.

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Lila Bard

A Darker Shade of Magic

9 The boarding mistress would most definitely have her hands full with Lila, her knife game is on point. Pun fully intended.

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Sarai

Strange the Dreamer

X We weren’t allowed out after six but nobody said we couldn’t throw up moths and unleash them on the city after six…

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So there you have it! Ten characters I think would have been great at all girls Catholic boarding school. Any you’d like to add to the list? Have a list of your own, that might actually be on topic? Chuck it in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you.

Also, for accountability, stay tuned tomorrow because I will be posting my review of The Handmaid’s Tale Audiobook and a rundown of my YALC book haul on Friday.

Totally Didn’t Book Tag

This is possibly my favourite tag yet, the sass is just on point. Prepare for all the shade, and thanks a lot to Leisha for the tag!

The Totally Didn’t Book Tag

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Totally Didn’t Need A Sequel

The Hunger Games

Going to go Controversial here and say The Hunger Games. I know, I know everyone loves them, and the films are great but did really need two more books of Katniss going slightly mad, a very squeezed in their love triangle and the ending that just destroyed everyone?! If you ask me I was totally happy leaving the people Panem being miserable.

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Totally Didn’t Need More than One POV

A Conjuring of Light

Because, let’s face it, did we really care what Holland was thinking?

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Totally Didn’t Need To Change the Cover Art Mid Way Through the Series

Legendary UK Paperback

Um, why was this orange? And what was with the sandcastle? How did they go from the amazing Caravel paperback to that?! Grim.

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Totally Didn’t Need A Love

City of Bones

Does anything need a love triangle? I mean, does any book really need two men basing their entire self worth on a woman who is indecisive and would be a much stronger female character if she remained single.

Buuut City of Bones. Now that took the cake. The love triangle was more of a line and the girl still leads them both on. Despite only actually liking on guy and settling for messing around her best friend. Great romancing Clary.

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Totally Didn’t Need This Book in the Series

The Dream Thieves

I know, I know, everyone loves Ronan, but what was the point in this book? We could have explained Ronan’s power in a chapter. They just kept making problems for themselves, got no closer to their Welsh King and completely ignored the big betrayal at the end of the last book. And why was Gansey so focussed on his rowing team?

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Totally Didn’t Need A Cliff Hanger

Children of Blood and Bone

That ending was just. Really confusing. But so good. And when is the next one out???

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Totally Didn’t Need That Much Hype

Throne of Glass

Is anyone surprised my answer here? I think we all know which hyped book most disappointed me.

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Totally Didn’t Need A ‘For Fans of x’ Sticker on the Cover

To Kill A Kingdom

This is literally never needed. Especially when they say the author is the next JK Rowling, um hello, no pressure but here’s a standard you can never live up to. Also how is To Kill a Kingdom at all like Throne of Glass? For one thing, one was actually good.

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Totally Didn’t Deserve My Time

Red Queen

Not only did the premise feel super overdone, and Mare was a carbon copy of Katniss, but why did all the girls hate each other? Why were the boys built up to be strong leaders who give advice and only want to get the job done while the girls attend tea parties and gossip and are just super catty and useless. It was like reading Mean Girls but without the realisation that women should build each other up at the end.

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So there you have it! A list of sass and shade that I had far too much fun writing. I’m actually going to do the tagging part of this post over on Twitter, but if you want to add all this sass to your blog then consider yourself tagged. I’ll be back on Tuesday with another Top Ten Tuesday list post, all about my auto buy authors so stay tuned for that.

Books that should be a Movie… Pretty Please?

Books into films is always a precarious one. Will it be Harry Potter, where we’ll flock in our masses to the studio tour, rewatch the films at any given opportunity and laugh rather than cringe at the slight book to film inaccuracies? Or will we get that adaptation that doesn’t even resemble the books, where the characters aren’t recognisable and all the joy has been bleached out for dramatic effect? *cough* Percy *cough cough* Jackson.

All I’m saying is film adaptations are a tight rope, a balancing act. And if some massive producer gets hold of this Top Ten Tuesday list full of books we want to see as movies, I am not responsible for any plot changing, character looking completely different films that may follow. That said, if we get a sensational hit then I’ll take nothing less than 50%.

1. A Darker Shade of Magic

Honestly most of this is just me wanting to see Kells cloak. And the red Thames. A Red Thames people 😍

2. To Kill a Kingdom

Pirates? Syrens? Princes? What more can you want. And that final battle with the sea queen would just work perfectly on the big screen.

3. Children of Blood and Bone

I’m sort of imaging Ice Age meets Lord of The Rings with this one. Lots of unusual fluffy creatures but also some deadly questing thrown in there.

4. Asking for It

Genuinely serious one here. I just finished this novel and the message is just too important to not hit the big screen.

5. Caravel

Ok, I might not be able to visit Caravel or sample the amazing cider but surely seeing all the glamour unfold in a cinema is somewhat close? And Scarlets dress would be amazing on a film.

6. The Night Circus

We can all buy stripy scarfs to match the film! It can have a proper following like the circus did! I’m imagining this people and it’ll be amazing.

7. Circe

Not only is this an excellent book with a fab plot, but I bet it would be a low budget film. You’d only need a handful of actors and just one set really. I’m envisioning this as one of those films with a narrator at the beginning of scenes, but possibly that’s because I read the Audiobook 🤔

8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Just those vivid descriptions of Prague and the mysterious undertones, ah what a fan film this would be. The book is so enchanting.

9. The Raven Boys

Oh come on, this would make an excellent film. You could use one of those fancy country house schools as the set and have actors that look about 25 pretend to be 16 which will of course make the youth of today feel they look too immature. See, I know what they do.

10. Skulduggery Pleasant

I haven’t yet worked out the best way to bring to life a talking skeleton, but I’m thinking with a lot of CGI this could work. If they did the Lion King they can definitely manage Skulduggery.

Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have it! A list of books that would make exceptional films. And, bizarrely, this topic couldn’t be more topical because I’m going to the Harry Potter studios this weekend with my boyfriend! A very generous Christmas gift 🎁

But back to this list. Anyone else agree? Disagree? Have a list yourself? Would love to hear from you in the comments section!

STEM Representation in Literature

Media is full of negative conations about women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)- they can only do biology, men are better, the STEM character is the least attractive and clearly undatable. I struggle to find female STEM role models in media, and finding positive female STEM role models? Yeah, nearly impossible.

For my A Level years I went to a single sex school. It was the first year my school ran computing A Level and I was the only pupil doing it. I was super worried I’d be the first and last to do the subject, that there’d be no interest once I left. I ran coding classes for different levels: two in the senior school, one in the junior school, slowly and surely getting more girls into the computing room at lunch. You wouldn’t believe my joy when a girl in a younger year at school messaged me on Facebook a few years ago saying she’d taken computer science at the same university I had. That there’d been three doing computing A Level in her year. I couldn’t believe I’d actually made a difference.

But can the literature change the gender imbalance in computing? I’d say yes, it definitely did for me. My first real role model was probably Violet Baudelaire. Orphan, inventer and heroine of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Before I could even tie my shoelaces I was trying to tie my bob haircut up with string, to no avail, like her. In my eyes she was the epitome of cool: she used wacky inventions to save the day, she was the one her brother turned to when they were in a tight spot, she was everything ten year old me wanted to be.

Wanting to be an inventor like Violet changed my career path. I got an old excise book and drew pictures of inventions I planned to make one day. I tried to become a computer guru and became semi established with this title in year seven. I remember one particularly taxing ask by my aging English teacher: to get a digital version of a picture a girl had printed out for homework up on the projector. Sadly my ICT skills didn’t stretch to plucking search terms out of students’ heads and I failed to produce the image, a few Google Image searches later. Nevertheless, it will be no surprise to any of my teachers that I became a computer scientist. It always appeared to be on the cards.

Until it didn’t. At fourteen I went to a new school and suddenly computing wasn’t a subject. We learnt about Word and PowerPoint and ‘cool’ subjects became Art and History. It wasn’t just school that changed for me- it was media too. Violet was stuck in my past and my role models became Katniss and Tris. Computer science was restricted to The Big Bang Theory where it was ridiculed, because what kid wants to grow up to be like Leonard, at best? It didn’t look like the future, or the way to solve problems, it became another reason to laugh at the sad nerd in the corner.

I still had a love of engineering, a gutteral sense that it was for me, but I’ve no doubt I wouldn’t have questioned my decision, my place and right to take the subject, if I’d still been reading about Violet, kicking Olaf’s butt and saving her siblings with her mad inventions. And I wouldn’t have even consider computing if it wasn’t for characters like her. The interest she drummed in me meant my dad offered to teach me how to write my first computer program when he saw me reading a massive copy of “Programming for Dummies” that I’d gotten out the library.

Katniss and Tris, they taught a teenage me that women can do anything. But does literature tell kids that they can be anything?

Literature definitely has before. Take Hermione from Harry Potter. How many girls grew up under her fantastic influence, showing young women that brains is a form of strength. Characters that confront rather than conform to negative stereotypes can make a big difference. Or at least, they did for me.

I know not every novel can be about a female engineer, and wouldn’t want them all to be. If a debut is about a lawyer, or a warrior, or a writer or even a frog, then that’s fine. But there could be some small changes. A character gets advice from a wizened old professor at one point? Why can’t they be a woman. There’s a side character who happens to be in STEM? Make them strong. Attractive. Not that nerd with glasses and low self esteem. And there should never be demeaning and derogatory jokes about women in STEM (and yes, I have genuinely seen this in modern literature). Five minutes of laughter isn’t worth the terrible stereotype being instilled in young audiences.

I don’t have any statistics on whether media makes a difference to young people’s career paths. I don’t know how to magically change the public’s perception of women in STEM, I don’t even know if it’ll ever be a social norm for women to take STEM subjects. But I can’t help that think that maybe, just maybe, making it a fictional social norm could be a good place to start?

How Many of these 30 Words do you Know?

Hello hello. I’m back, with quite an unsual post today- it’s all about the makings of books: words. I’ve been jotting down all the words I don’t understand from novels in the hope of someday understanding them and have decided that, for at least a few of these words, that day has come! So here is a small subset of my list of words that I’ve picked up:

1. Sumptuous- Expensive looking
2. Illusory- Based on an illusion
3. Colonnade- Row of evenly spaced columns
4. Epiphytes- A plant that grows on other plants but is not a parasite
5. Kinesis- Motion
6. Brocades– A rich woven fabric
7. Carapace- The shell of a tortoise
8. Iridescent- Luminous colours
9. Indomitable- Impossible to defeat
10. Balustrade- Railing supported by balusters
11. Insipid– Lacking flavour
12. Gaudy- Something someone gets to look expensive, but isn’t
13. Auger- A tool for boring holes in wood
14. Oculus- Round, eye like opening (e.g. circular window)
15. Fresco- Wall painting found in Rome done while the plaster was still wet (derives from ‘fresh’)
16. Drove- Animal herd being driven by something
17. Ululated- Howl or wail expressed as a sign of grief
18. Credulity- Believing something is real or true too quickly
19. Sloughing- Shed or remove a layer of dead skin
20. Affront- An action or remark that causes offense
21. Palpable– Feeling so intense it feels almost real
22. Chafe– Rash from rubbing
23. Animus– Hostility
24. Cloistered- Kept away from the outside world
25. Entablature– The upper part of a classic building, supported by columns
26. Paramours– A lover, often a married person
27. Anathema– Something or someone that is vigorously disliked
28. Rictus– A fixed grin
29. Siphoned– a tool that changes the path of a liquid
30. Fervent– Displaying an intense passion

Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have it! 30 new words, for me anyway (although my historian boyfriend knew quite a few!). How many, out of 30, did you know? Did you learn anything? Let me know in the comments!

Greek Myths Book Tag

I got tagged in the Greek Gods Book Tag by Literary Leisha! As I was a huge Percy Jackson as a kid and a lover of Greek myths (I played a grainy computer game on a Windows XP computer many years ago, when Windows XP was a thing still, that had some appalling graphics of Zeus destroying your Greek city), I couldn’t have been tagged in anything more perfect. I mean books and myths, sounds pretty good to me.
ZEUS: KING OF THE GODS – MY FAVOURITE BOOK

Cruel cruel question. Thought this might actually be fun. It changes daily, but I’m really enjoying Strange the Dreamer currently so possibly that…
HERA: QUEEN OF THE GODS – A BADASS FEMALE CHARACTER

Lila Bard! That magic wielding, pirate of a protagonist, and one of my favourite female characters ever.
JANUS: GOD OF BEGINNINGS – MY FAVOURITE DEBUT(S)

So many good debuts! Children of Blood and Bone, Caravel, Ace of Shades, To Kill a Kingdom. I could go on…
ATHENA: GODDESS OF WISDOM – MY FAVORITE NONFICTION BOOK

I don’t actually read much non fiction! Probably The Railway Man.
APHRODITE: GODDESS OF LOVE – A BOOK I ADORE AND RECOMMEND EVERYONE READ

To Kill a Kingdom. I will sing this books praises for ever.
HADES: GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD – AN EVIL BOOK I WISH DIDN’T EXIST

The Fandom. I mean what even was that?
POSEIDON: GOD OF THE SEA & EARTHQUAKES – A BEAUTIFUL & GROUND-BREAKING BOOK

The Hate U Give really showed me a world I didn’t appreciate enough was real and expanded my horizons.
APOLLO: GOD OF THE ARTS – A BEAUTIFUL BOOK COVER

Strange the Dreamer 😍 I’m currently reading it, and it’s already featured in many of my Instagram posts, it’s so pretty.
HYPNOS: GOD OF SLEEP – A BOOK SO BORING I ALMOST FELL ASLEEP

Alex and Eliza. Yuck. And such a drag.
HERMES: MESSENGER OF THE GODS – A BOOK I SPED THROUGH

The Raven Boys- I sped through it, after waiting in a queue for hours to get my copy signed by Maggie Stiefvater.

My Tags:

🏛️ Elysa

🏛️ Books Untold

🏛️ Between Folded Pages

🏛️ Functionally Fictional

🏛️ Fantastic Book Dragon

And anyone else who fancies doing the tag! Grew up on Percy Jackson like me? Enjoy raving about pretty books or fun covers, or just have a strong opinion on my answers? Feel free to do the tag or leave a comment!

Gilmore Girls Challenge Episode One

As you may or may not know a list was recently released with all the books ever mentioned in a show called Gilmore Girls. This started the challenge among bookworms to see how many books they’d read that one of the show’s protagonists, Rory Gilmore a huge bookworm, had also read.

Anyway, this list got me thinking: what if I tried to tick of every book? It’s a huge lists (I think there’s over 300 books) including War and Peace, aka the biggest novel I’ve ever seen, so this is near impossible. But I’ve been trying to read a classic novel every month this year and struggling to pick which ones so I thought I’d just let the show guide my choices, without really ever intending on actually ticking them all off.

There are 339 books referenced in Gilmore Girls (according to BuzzFeed, I don’t know where the original list is). If I read 1 a month it’ll take me 28 years. I stand little chance of still doing this challenge when I’m 47. But like I say I’m going to roughly let it guide my novel reading.

I rewatched Episode One last weekend (while happily soaking in the bath, which is the best way to watch any TV show) and have made a list of all the books they mentioned, so here we go! (Also I should add I’m only going to read the ones Rory actually reads, the 339 was all the books mentioned in the show, although I don’t know what the difference in number actually is).

1. Hukleburry Fin

This is Rory’s English classes book that they’re studying. Rory is an A* student so we can be pretty confident she’s done the required reading.

I read Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain as a kid and found it a little scary (he witnesses a murder and then gets threatened to keep quiet – pretty traumatic to read when you’re 9), but hopefully my 22 year old self can manage this one, about Tom’s best friend Huckleberry.

2. Moby Dick

Honestly, thought this was a type of pudding. Actually, that might Spotted Dick. Either way Rory mentions having read this novel in episode one so I’m thinking of giving it a go. In March (yes, don’t worry about this being at all quick).

3. Madame Bovary

I had the spelling of this so wrong when I jotted it down while watching the episode. It took me a lot of googling to wrangle a novel from my note and then I cross referenced it to the actual list (this is on there so I think I’m right).

I’ve never heard of this novel before and it’s originally in French so have no idea what to expect. But hey I was expecting some curve balls in this!

Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have this impossible challenge. Have you seen the list? How many have you read? Have you read any of the ones listed above? Would love to hear your opinion in the comments section!

Sunshine Blogger Award

Hello! Hope you’re having a good day, mine has been very chilled so far, which is always nice! Although I did manage to burn soup yesterday (a meal mostly made of water…) So that was quite impressive! And difficult to clean up this morning…

Anyway, on with the tag! Have I done this tag before? I’m not sure but the questions are all new so I thought I’d give it a go! Firstly a big thanks to Keri for tagging me- these are always fun to do! And here is her post!

RULES

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
4. List the rules.

My Answers

What’s your favorite book to recommend?

Depends on what I’ve just read! At the moment I’m thrusting To Kill a Kingdom and A Darker Shade of Magic on anyone who will listen!

If you were forced to try out a new type of blog post (e.g. a new format or topic), what would it be about?

I’d like to try podcasts! I really enjoy listening to them and feel I have a face for radio! But I’m way to shy to ever try sadly.

If you had to dye your hair a color from the rainbow, what color would you pick?

Oh I’d love to dye my hair but have never actually done it. Probably red, but also maybe blue! I feel that’s just because I’m currently reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone though 🤔

Who’s an auto-buy author of yours?

At the moment? VE Schwab, Alexandra Christo, Angie Thomas, Tomi Adeyemi, I could go on. Although I will caveat this with I will check out the blurb before buying 😝

Your all-time favourite snack?

How do I pick just one???! Probably Nachos and cheese, or pizza. Or just anything with melted cheese really.

Current obsession? (e.g. movie, song, TV show, book)

Upstart Crow! It’s nerdy and all the jokes require an in depth knowledge of Shakespeare’s work and Network Rail but it’s hilarious!!

Tell us a little bit about your blogging routine?

I blog on the train in the morning and after work, but I sort of lack any official routine… Oops.

Tea or coffee and what’s your favourite kind?

Tea, my friend got me some chocolate black tea and that’s my favourite at the moment. Also thank you for recognising that not all tea is the same 😜

What’s your favourite day of the week?

Saturday! I get to see friends and go on trips and get up late and go to bed late and dinner always includes pudding.

If someone handed you a giftcard to a bookstore right now, what book would you buy with it?

So very hard to choose! Probably The Cruel Prince since I’ve been promising many bloggers I’ll read it 😬

What’s a goal of yours for 2019? (bookish, blogging-wise, other, it doesn’t matter)

To get to 600 followers! Hint hint nudge nudge 😝

My Questions

1. What is your current read?
2. How many books have you read this year so far?
3. What’s your favourite read of 2018?
4. What’s your most anticipated read of 2019?
5. Do you read with music or read silently?
6. Long books or short books?
7. What’s your favourite spot to read?
8. What’s your favourite type of cake?
9. Do you pronounce scones as ‘skuns’ or ‘scowns’?
10. Favourite mythical creature?
11. What would be your dream job?

My tags

(Don’t feel you have to do it haha!)

Norrie

Leslie

Cerys

Aline

Brittany

Emma

Lili

Ava

Jo

Jess

The Nerd Sponge

And anyone reading this who wants to answer my daft questions, feel free!

10 Upcoming Releases I’m on the Fence About

Good morning and happy Tuesday! Having just had a three day weekend- Friday was a snow day, Saturday some old friends from school came to visit and we had a snowball fight and a lot of cake, and finally Sunday involved more snowy walks and sticking in the warmth with my boyfriend- I’m feeling pretty well rested! And ready to start this post which is again on 2019 releases (anyone else feel we’ve done quite a few upcoming releases lists lately?).

Anyway, on with the list! Sorry I slightly overran, I’m on the fence about quite a few!!

1. Dead Queen’s Club

This was released last week but I feel it should still count? I’m not sure if I’ll read it or not since it sounds a bit romance heavy (I mean it’s Henry the Eighth he was all about his women!) But I really like the concept of a history retelling!

2. The Boy Who stole Houses

Much like CG Drew’s other novel, I am unsure if I’ll tackle this book. I love her blog, Instagram and Twitter and of course want to support her as an author but her books always sound a bit too dark for me 🤔

3. We Hunt the Flames

Everyone is chatting about this novel on Twitter, which has got me thinking I should read it, but it’s not one I’m really excited for so it is sitting a little in the drop zone.

4. Paper and Hearts Society

Like Cait, I am following this blogger turned author and again feel I should support a fellow book blogger. But I just don’t know if this book is my sort of thing?

5. A Girl Called Shameless

I did enjoy Laura Steven’s The Exact Opposite of Okay, but more for the point than the writing and am not totally sure if I’ll pick up her sequel. I’ll make the decision after seeing a few reviews!

6. The Night Country

Second in the series after The Hazel Wood, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be picking up it’s sequel. I rated it five stars when I first read it but looking back I have to admit it wasn’t that good.

7. Priory of the Orange Tree

I’m leaning towards no on this one (sorry Samantha Shannon!). It’s just I don’t want to be consumed by this mammoth novel for months on end! I like a break from a certain writing style and story every, ya know, 500 pages.

8. King of Scars

All depends if I get round to the rest of the series soon, although I’ve heard great things!

9. The Wicked King

Again, I need to actually read The Cruel Prince before committing to it’s sequel.

10. Gilded Wolves

Everyone is talking about this novel but I don’t have much inclination to read it for some reason? I don’t know why, I’m a little on the fence with it.

11. The Tirants Tomb

It’s the fourth Trials of Apollo and I really don’t know if I’ll finish this series, the third book felt a bit meh and I think I’ve finally out grown Rick Riordan.

12. Chain of Gold

I told my friend who’s a recent and massive Cassandra Clare fan that I’d give this a read but first I have to read The Infernal Devices and I just don’t know if I want to go down a Shadowhunter wormhole again, there are too many books for me to keep up!

Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have it! 10, ok maybe 11, novels I can’t make decisions about. Is anyone surprised this list overran given how indecisive I am? I doubt it!