Reasons I Love Fantasy

Hello fantasy fans. And other bookworms alike. Today’s post is all about the reasons I love fantasy, my go to genre of choice. I’d say about 80% of what I read is fantasy and the other 20% is the random junk that gets published in my bookish sphere that I want to read due to hype.

This is for Top Ten Tuesday, you can find the other posts here and you can check out all my list posts here. Would love to hear from you guys in the comments: tell me your favourite genre, what you like, what you hate. Are you a fantasy bookworm? Do you agree with me? What’s your favourite type of cheese? Let me know in the comments section!

Dragons

1. Obviously my number reason for being a fantasy fan is the dragons. And the griffins, the green elephants and flying door mice or whatever else is in your world. I’ve always been a fan of animals and magical animals are just a one up on those.

Magic

2. Like Dragons, magic is just a cool embellishment to any world. The limitless possibilities and uniqueness a character has when they discover they have a magic power is great, they are no longer bound by the dull rules of physics that stops us all and it’s so fun to see where the author will take that. When you have magic you can just do anything no explanation required, just blame it on the magic.

Escapism

3. Fantasy is so far away from the mundane life of work, tea breaks and pasta for dinner that is really a chance to get away. Enter a new world. Explore a new horizon and not need to worry about getting up at 6am the next day for work.

Hiding a big Secret

4. One of the things that has always weirdly drawn me to fantasy was the hiding it. Like in the TV show Merlin: the funny scenes where Merlin was doing magic behind Arthur’s back and the silly excuses he came up with. You get that in literature too, with City of Bones, Percy Jackson and even Harry Potter showing the odd scene of young protagonists hiding their powers that they never fail to make me chuckle.

Often no Deeper Meaning

5. What I love about a lot of fantasy novels is that you can close the book and leave it. I’m not saying you won’t take anything from the novel but you’re less likely to stretch and challenge your world view. I read pretty diversely and have stumbled across some shocking stuff that has really altered my opinions but occasionally I will want a read that will literally have no bearings on my real life. Nothing I can recognise or ponder over, a whole new world that I can take a leave as I please, the implausibility of it making it a little silly.

The Fandom

6. A pure joy for any fantasy bookworm is discovering other fantasy bookworms. Full of opinions, alternate endings, radical discussion and a weird love of swords, the fantasy community both online and in person has always been my favourite place to hang out.

The Creativity of the World

7. Fantasies can be sent in the past, present, future, different worlds, realms, space, time and anywhere along the continuum. When you open a fantasy you can literally step into anywhere and see anything, using a cheesy line I think I stole from an ad for Play dough when I was a kid: the only limit is your imagination.

The Medieval Vibe

8. Most fantasies at some point will doff it’s hat to the medieval world that conjured the original set of magical rules. The past when people actually believed and feared wizards, witches and dragons. Maybe it’ll include a castle, or the odd cloak or go the full hog and feature thatched roofs and cobbled streets, either way I love seeing how different authors incorporate folklore and the past into the fantasy story they are writing.

The Unguessable Plots

9. When reading a romance you go through the whole plot knowing that the protagonist is going to end up with someone in the story. There are other twists: the love interest/protagonist could die, some drama might flare up, but really you roughly know what you’re in for. Same with crime. With fantasy you have no idea. The plot can literally be taken anywhere. Although a lot of YA has become quite stale and the plots a little too obvious there is still the option to surprise me.

The Relationships

x. I’ve read other genres with some really tight-knit friendships and heart warming families. And there is obviously a strength in dealing with the mundane together. But, and I paraphrase from Harry Potter, friends who fight trolls together stay together. I find that the whirlwind, near death, edge of your seat action of fantasy makes it easier for the writer to develop strong and meaningful relationships between characters quickly. If friends for life formed out of 30 pages in any genres I’d be skeptical but in fantasy I can kind of see it.

10 Book Titles that Would Make Great Band Names

Short post today because honestly, how much commentary can one add about book titles and band names? Anyway, here are the 10 books titles I think would make great band names.

This is for Top Ten Tuesday, you can find the other posts here and you can check out all my list posts here. Feel free to share any band name books, lists or other musings in the comments, I’d love to chat to you 🙂

Children of Blood and Bone

1. I get a kind of rock band feel from this one.

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Rebel of the Sands

2. Maybe more of one person than a band but I could see this fitting into a

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The Raven Boys

3. A boyband? Bit of a cheesy name though.

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The Belles

4. Possibly I’ve included this one because in Pitch Perfect they’re all in an acapella band called The Bellas, but this sort of works for a girl band? Or a rival acapella band.

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Stalking Jack the Ripper

5. I don’t know this is giving me edgy band vibes, I could see it working.

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Muse of Nightmares

6. Sequel to Strange the Dreamer and possibly a good rapper name. It could work given the word muse.

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Legendary

7. Learning more towards a garage band here where a group of teenagers think they’re better than they are but I can see the sequel to Caraval being a band name. Maybe even Finale too tbh. Funny story I had a friend who made a garage band and got to the giddy heights of playing on the radio.

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Poet X

8. Another rappers I’d say for this one.

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The Mercies

9. I’m thinking some kind of punk rock girl band here. Also The Deathless Girls also from Kiran Millwood Hargrave would make a similarly great girl band name.

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Uglies

X. Dystopian throwback, wouldn’t this make an edgy band name?

How I Did on my Winter TBR

So technically today’s post was meant to be on ‘Books I bought because [insert reason here]’ but I ran to a creative stopping point there. Authors I love? Done that. Because of hype? Done that. Cover buys? Done that, done that, done that. It was all starting to turn a tad stale. But, with my self isolation tbr just up I thought it would be a good chance to take a look back in time and see how I did on my winter tbr.

This post is vaguely a Top Ten Tuesday, you can find all the topics here, and you can find more of my bookish lists here.

A Heart so Fierce and Broken

1. The sequel to A Curse so Dark and Lonely has been topping my tbr for a while. I really was about to read this, dear reader, I was crawling to the top of the library waiting list, the novel only had to jump on a truck a few villages down and travel to my library paradise. It was so nearly in my clutches. And then, alas, a highly contagious deadly disease intercepted and the dear truck drivers, exceptional library workers, and crumpled paperback delivery service were sent to ground. Really, how inconvenient.

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Call Down the Hawk

2. Ah yes this one. Well I um, do own it. So I suppose I can’t entirely blame the library system and virus for this one. I guess it might have just slipped the net…?

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The Starless Sea

3. So I did start this one! I was bringing it to work each day, despite being a fat hardback, ensuring I brought a bookmark so no creased pages, smoothing down the cover and even dutifully checking my lunch Tupperware was leak proof. However, sadly, although the cover is pretty I just wasn’t that interested in the story. It’s got too much world building and random details, where’s the plot? Why don’t I understand half of what’s going on and why is there random interludes every couple pages that seemingly make no sense? It is suffering with a pacing problem I’m afraid so I put it on hold.

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Nocturna

4. I dragged this library book (oops sorry) all the way round the world when I went to visit my brother in Australia. I have fond memories of reading it while sunning myself on the run up to Christmas. You can expect a review up really soon because it’s all written but I am too afraid to put my little worlds into the world without a couple weeks of panic over them first.

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Priory of the Orange Tree

5. I’m reading this beast now! only 250 pages to go which is nearly another whole book so yay?

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Fangirl

6. Hahaha, will I ever read this?

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To Best the Boys

7. Oh gosh, do I even own this? Oh I do. I may have completely forgotten it’s existence until right now…

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Enchantee

8. Ah look another book on the list of ‘novels Hannah completely forgot she owns let alone planned to read once’. Maybe I need to check on my winter tbr more often.

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Slay

9. I am really excited for this one and hopefully I’ll finish up Priory soon so I can get to reading more of my physical books!

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The City of Brass

X. I actually read this one! I thought it was good, wasn’t a fan of the main romance but I loved the world it’s so unique! Also possibly a tad too much detail going on there for a first in a series. Look I even managed to post a review up for this one.

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Conclusion

Not so great. I read 2 of the books, am half way through 2 of the books and pretty well forgot about 4 of the books. Woops. Here to hoping I do better on my quratnine reads!

Let me know what you’re reading. What’s on your tbr? Do you have a list for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday? I’d love to check it out. I will hopefully have a review up this week because there is a massive backlog problem but tune in next Tuesday for another list post on the books I love but rarely talk about! Until then.

10 Things All Bookworms Do

Ah the bookworm. A creature that loves reading, can often be found in bed, is usually nocturnal, most commonly heard noise being the grumble of ‘just one more chapter’ as they prop tired eyes open and squint at tiny text in the dark. These common yet illusive creatures prefer solicitude and fiction to the hustle and bustle of life. Here is a list, for Top Ten Tuesday of 10 Things All Bookworms Do, let me know how many, out of ten you do in the comments section.

You can find last weeks Top Ten Tuesday, My Self Isolation Reading List here. Please share your links with me if you are taking part in the meme so I can check them out!

Seek Books Wherever you Are

1. Whether you’re out with your family, grandparents or best friends you will always gravitate towards the books. Maybe you’re in Tesco and meant to be buying a pint of milk, but somehow end up browsing the £2 paperback isle instead. You could be in a charity shop, flicking through dusty clothes. Yet before you leave you always visit that windowless part of the shop filled with crumpled paperbacks, spot the third in a series you loved as a kid and a handful of scruffy airport books with the 99p stamp peeling off in the corner. You never find anything, but you’ll always look. Maybe you’re hitting the high street with your friends, passing shop windows sporting manikins in slightly out of season clothes, the smell of coffee lingering from a cafe across the street. You spot a bookshop and you know regardless of who’s with you you’re going in.

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Take Out Far too Many Books from the Library

2. You can’t stop yourself. You know you won’t be able to finish all those books before the due date but they’re there. Now. You never get that. You pluck a couple of staples of the shelves, steal those new releases from a display, greedy eyes looking over the returns trolley as you make your way back to the counter and proceed to place a few reservations. It’s only when you get home and remember that the library actually want these books back that it dawns on you what you’ve done.

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Get Really Excited about a Book And Then Never Read it

3. We’ve all been there. It’s release day and you already have the book. You’ve preordered it, or maybe you were in the bookshop that day anyway, you put it to the top of the pile, it’s your next read you tell yourself. You soak up the hype, promise countless internet friends you’ll read it soon. Photo that pretty cover, tell the world how excited you are to see what happens next. To see those characters again. But you never find out. It gathers dust, joins the countless other forgotten reads. At some point in the distant future you’ll probably unhaul it and the tragic tale starts again.

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Take the Defacement of Books Personally

4. Why do book sellers hate us. Why do they slap stickers across our precious books that are impossible to peel off and form horrible sticky gooy circular marks that. And aren’t dust covers just the worse? How do they wiggle them in so tight, books come in so many different sizes yet my local library always manages to find a cover that fits so snuggly that it’s impossible to free that precious book for Bookstagram.

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Judge Other People’s Shelves

5. The book worm is a judgy creature. When a shelfie is posted up on social media bookworms have an impulse to zoom in, holding two fingers down and peer closely at the titles on offer. It’s the same when visiting someone’s house, if a bookworm passes a bookcase they will pause, eyes greedily taking in all those bent spines before continuing on their way. If your shelves meet the bookworms approval well done, you’ve unlocked a new level of friendship.

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Drool Over Those Pretty Book Boxes

6. That exclusive copy of a book, nicely packed with a fluffy fandom blanket and lots of pretty merch. It’s all so tempted, I spend hours drooling over unboxings. If I spent time reading rather than admiring prints, oggling at bookish candles, dreaming of fandom pins, well let’s just say I’d have completed my Goodreads Goal.

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Confuse the Lay People with Our Reading Habits

7. Everyday I come into work, unpack my lunch box, laptop and book from my bag and start the day. As the non readers of my office pass me by, sink into the chair opposite me or stand behind me with a steaming cup of tea for a quick natter, they will always spot the book. They will often be surprised that it’s not the same book as last week. They will sometimes remark that it’s a massive thing and what am I doing lugging it about. They’ll occasionally chat about the premise, ask what I like to read, mention the classic they read for A Level English all those years ago, or one of the three books they polished off last year. They will wonder off and I will remember that is only the internet that truly understands.

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Being Overprotective of Our Books

8. Every bookworm treats their precious hoard differently. Some bookworms prefer their books pristine, reading them carefully because a single dent to that pretty spine is like torture. I like my spines creased but my covers neat, so the book looks loved and read but is still shiny and new for Instagram. Some readers will scribble across pages, underline quotes they love, annotate margins. Some will fold down corners and then carefully fold them back up, some will just leave their places folded down. I even know bookworms who paint spines and fill the cover with their own art. The way each bookworm treats their stash is totally unique but one thing is unanimously clear: the books are an extension of a bookworms soul.

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Cover Buying

9. As I previously stated, the book worm is a judgy creature and we will judge our books as harshly as we judge each other shelfies. Covers have an unofficial teering system: the ones we love. We buy these ones, treasure them, line them up carefully on our shelves and take about 100 snaps of them for Instagram. Then there are the ones we’ll get out the library. The covers ok, nothing special, maybe you’ll wrestle the dust cover off for a quick photo shoot but no worries if you don’t. Finally there are the audiobooks. Because who even sees that cover. They are the books with those offensively bright covers, the violent reds or glowing greens that you only see for a few minutes as you tap the play button, drop your phone into your pocket and ignore forever more.

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Have a Hundred Books But Still Want More

X. We buy our stashes, we collect our library hordes, we tower books in stacks on windowsills and overflow book cases, we make neat tbr piles and plan lengthy reading lists. And then we scroll. We pop onto Twitter, we flick through Bookstagram, we hop onto each other blogs and we see more books. Ones we don’t yet own but know we’ll love, we follow the turmoil of the hype train until our stacks and piles and plans are just not good enough and at the end of the day the only thing any bookworm wants is to just own more books.

Self Isolation Reading List

By now we’re all getting the jist of pandemic life: stay inside. Don’t leave. Remain within the vincity of the four brick walls you call your home for the foreseeable future. We readers are ready for this. And, as such, I’ve made a self isolation reading list: the books I intend to polish off this spring.

This list is dubiously part of this weeks Top Ten Tuesday and you can find all my lists posts here.

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The Starless Sea

Erin Morgenstern

1. Once upon what feels like a very long time ago but was really just the end of February I picked up this swirly blue hardback I got for Christmas. The novel felt a tad slow and bit confusing at the time so I gently laid it aside a mere 100 pages in. With the isolation ahead I’m going to give it another go.

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Priory of The Orange Tree

Samantha Shannon

2. I’ve been reading this for about a week and a half now and 400 pages through. Am I nearly done? Oh no, I’ve barely started. This massive, orange tome will be keeping me plenty busy during isolation.

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Haven Fall

Sara Holland

3. Right before the libraries closed I popped in and grabbed this recent release, not realising that it will be my last library book for a while. I also ordered A Heart so Fierce and Broken and Queenie but, alas, it seems my reading of them has fallen victim to the virus and the closed and thoroughly missed libraries.

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Siege and Storm

Leigh Bardugo

4. I’ve just finished Shadow and Bone and, although a tad unoriginal it was good. Given I own all three of the novels and have been wanting to read them before the TV series is out this year, now seems as good a time as any to read the series.

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City of Girls

Elizabeth Gilbert

5. I’ve not had a great track record with historical fiction in the past but this one sounded really good when it popped up on my audiobook list. Given the lack of library I am currently grappling with, beggars can’t be choosers! It’s going straight on my Self Isolation Reading List.

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Fangirl

Rainbow Rowell

6. Has this novel not been on every tbr I’ve ever made?! Well here it is again! Making my Self Isolation Reading List. Maybe I’ll actually read it this time?

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Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Stuart Turton

7. I’m so close to the end, I know who did it and honestly don’t know what’s coming up in the last few chapter, but I’ve loved this murder mystery meets Groundhog day.

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The Mercies

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

8. This novel was splashed all over social media when it first came out pairing an exciting premise with a pretty cover. I wasn’t a massive fan of The Deathless Girls but I’m hoping I’ll like this author more when she tries her hand at adult fantasy.

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The Binding

Bridget Collins

9. I grabbed a pretty stained paged copy of this back in January and given I have many lonely months of isolation ahead I can finally read it.

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French Harry Potter

JK Rowling

X. They say people should look at new indoor hobbies in this time so I’m focussing on an old one: learning French. My goal for isolation is to finish reading my french edition of Harry Potter, maybe try a page a day or something?

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A Note From me A Bit About You

Don’t worry, this isn’t a sneaky 11th book, although I think it really could be with that fantastic title. This is a request for you to all fill my wordpress notifications with bookish cheer: tell me what you’re reading, what you’re planning on reading, whether you’ve read any of the books on my tbr and what you thought, share your lists with me, share what you had for breakfast, what you did yesterday. Please comment anything other than virus stuff. I need a break from all that.

And now the note from me:

For the last two weeks you may have noticed a distinct lack of me on the internet. You may have not and I will try not to be hurt given it’s all very apocalyptic out there. Between the stress and worry, tears and daily briefing from the Prime Minister, helping out those in isolation while still trying to social distance, finding no food in the shop while still worrying what we can put in the food bank it was all very overwhelming and my poor blog, which turned two at some point in all this, didn’t offer it’s usual escapism that I love it for. I’m slowly going to get back into it so stick with me.

I’m hoping to have four posts up this week: a review of Flatshare, this list, how I did on my last tbr and a post about my first week since the virus impacted my life. Stay tuned for them, stay safe and keep talking about books internet, because it makes happy when things get scary.

Authors I Love on Social Media

Social media gives us bookworms something history never has: the chance to grill our favourites. English teachers can no longer pose irritating questions about why Gatsby really throws his parties and the meaning behind Lizzie Bennetts trip to the Lake District. We can now just scroll through Twitter and receive all those little facts about our favourite reads coupled with what they had for breakfast and some randomer who accidentally tweeted something funny. It’s all wonderful.

So for Top Ten Tuesday here’s a list of fabulous authors I love following on social media. If you have any to add, agree with me or have your own list drop it in the comments section!

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Rick Riordan

1. Besides the fact that we get all the Percy Jackson tweets and constant snark about the movie Rick Riordan shares authors from his imprint meaning there’s a wealth of mythology and sass available to all!

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VE Schwab

2. I love her books so as an extension I enjoy her Twitter. Prepare for frantic writing tweets and gorgeous snaps of Edinburgh at twilight and maybe the odd book announcement. She also has a blog that she occasionally posts too and I love how real she is about the realities of being a big successful author.

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Samantha Shannon

3. Besides much book excitement over her upcoming releases Samantha Shannon has the most articulate Twitter rants of anyone I follow. Plus you don’t have to scroll far to find a tweet about dragons.

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Paper Fury

4. I may have not got round to reading A Thousand Perfect Notes yet but Caits account will always be a favourite of mine. Her snarky tweets and relatable bullet point lists never fail to make me laugh, although I do miss the days her tweets centred around reading instead of writing.

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Maggie Steifvater

5. Maggie Steifvaters Twitter is one of my favourites. From her hilarious rereads of her own books, with much snark and pointing out her own plot holes, to hilarious tales about how she accidentally posted a boob picture to social media to annoying suggestions at spoilers for her books this author is always a treat on my timeline.

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Lucy the Reader

6. Lucy is a book blogger, book tuber and now an author. She used to run UKYAChat which is why I followed her originally but I stuck around for the neat stacks of classics and cute hamster shots.

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Jason Panroth

7. Sadly this account has gone on a bit of a haitus, but back when it was running it was really cool. The author shares stories about ‘Rejected Princesses’ who were basically really cool women in history. He’s a writer and illustrator, his stories have now been made into books.

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Matt Haig

8. Author of How to Stop Time Matt goes into the historical people in his books and speaks openly about mental health calling people out and helping others feel seen.

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Angie Thomas

9. Not only does Angie get crazy excited over all thing book updates, which is so cute, but her Twitter is full of her hilarious everyday. I recommend everyone go see the video of her proofs of One the Come Up ice never seen anyone so excited!

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Karen McManus

X. Author of One of Us is Lying. We get all the updates on her books, she shares fanart and she’s so supportive during Pitmad because she pitched for it!

10 Book Shortenings only the Most Hardcore YA Bookworms Would Know

Books with long titles are such a faff. When one is Fangirling one cannot stop to type out all those words. But how well do you know your YA acronyms? Here are 10 YA book acronyms that I see all over the YA world, compiled into a neat little list for a slightly off topic Top Ten Tuesday. How many, out of ten, do you know/can work out? Let me know in the comments!

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TATBILB

1. The first time I saw this was on a Twitter game and I didn’t have a clue what it stood for. My only hint to you is that it’s been made into a very popular Netflix adaption. Can you work it out?

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HP

2. We all must know this one. I can just see that P being a lightning bolt. It’s on all the merch and appears on the title sequence of a good few of the movies too.

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ACSDAL

3. The first time I saw this acronym I got so confused, and honestly I still find it hard to spot. The sequel has just come out and the cover is blue, any ideas?

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TCP

4. Why is this one even shortened?! It’s so easy to say. Also it reminds me of an acronym we use in computer although as far as I know the novel is nothing to do with computers, do you know which one it is?

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ASDOM

5. I use this acronym all the time because I love the books. It sort of looks like a word and, just my computer brain here, it looks like some kind of ROM (Read Only Memory for those interested).

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COBAB

6. When I first saw this acronym used I thought it was an actual word, it looks like it could be. People are talking about it’s sequel COVAV, have you worked out what it is yet?

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ACOTAR

7. I haven’t read this novel but see the acronym everywhere. And I don’t blame people, that’s a pretty long title I’d definitely use the acronym too.

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OOUIL

8. This is a very difficult acronym, it’s something to do with the two Os, they really confused me at first. It’s a popular YA mystery book, do you know what it is?

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PJO

9. I’ve always used this acronym. Even before I was a blogger I somehow knew of this acronym. It’s a popular children’s series.

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TMI

X. You may know this one or the authors other series, TDI. I’m often getting confused between the two when chatting to other bloggers online.

10 Characters I’d Follow on Social Media

Ah social media, the wonderful internet world where many of us spend far too much time. But while we all know the internet is full of trolls, who do we think would really brighten up our online worlds? Here are ten book characters I’d follow on socials.

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Percy Jackson

1. Because how funny would his tweets be? And can we have an Instagram story for his battles?!

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Harry Potter

2. Just for the Hogwarts aesthetic he’d have going on on social media. And the odd story of a moving painting.

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Lizzie Bennett

Pride and Prejudice

3. I like to think she wouldn’t be one of those girls who only posts about her boyfriend. I feel she’d talk about her holidays in York and her sister and the odd Darcy selfie but not too many.

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Clary Fray

City of Bones

4. She could post her art and short videos of her sword fighting! Although, let’s face it, she is definitely one of those girls who’d only post about her boyfriend so we may just be treated to a lot of pictures of a confused and slightly moody Jace.

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Karou

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

5. Again, we can see her art! I’d love to see her crazy cartoons about Brimstones, and the Prague aesthetic with shots of the snow, the ghost tours and Poison would be amazing. Also Karou has a great eye for colour, her feed would be beautiful.

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Zachery Ezra Rawlings

The Starless Sea

6. I’d want pictures of his amazing adventure to the Starless Sea alongside captions of all the stories he keeps hearing. The dream.

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Noah

The Raven Cycle

7. I tried to think who in the Gangsey would actually update socials and came to the conclusion that Blue would find it mainstream, Gansey’s wouldn’t feel real would just be the rowing team and fancy parties, Ronan wouldn’t be bothered and Adam would probably have an unaesthetic study gram at best. That just leaves Noah who I could definitely imagine wistfully photoing his friends in all the magical places and the others not even realising. He would probably caption his posts with the truth and the internet would just not believe it.

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Marcella

Vicious

8. With Marcella’s hiding in plane sight thing she’d be all over the internet. Can you imagine her world domination tweets? And she’d post some really cool videos of her powers.

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Nahri

The City of Brass

9. Nahri is slightly too practical to be updating regularly but if she’d just start a travel gram in the City of Brass complete with sandy journey pics showing ancient fallen cities and scary lake creatures I’d definitely follow it.

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Bronwyn

One of Us is Lying

X. I’d just need the Yale updates. Shots of her and Maeve, Nate updates, maybe stories filling us in on Cooper and Addy. I also like to think she’d do a cracking dissertation that somehow incorporates the two Bayview murders.

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Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have it people of the internet, here are the people I would like to follow on the internet. Alas they aren’t quite real. Who’s on your list? Who would be on your list, if you didn’t take part? Do you agree with any of mine? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back later this week with a review and potentially a discussion post if I get it written this week!

My Opinion on Your Last 5 Star Read

There I was, all geared up to tell you all my last five star reads. I’d even started the post. Then I posed the question of everyone’s last five star read to Instagram and Twitter. Normally this is just me shouting into the void of social media but this time the void called back.

With an influx of replies I suddenly felt compelled to do something with them. So here I am rewriting the post. Sadly we went slightly over the 10 limit for Top Ten Tuesday but what can I say, you ask book Twitter for books and you get lots of replies. Here’s your last five star read, what I thought of them and if they’re on my tbr.

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First list: The Ones going on the TBR

• The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle – This has been on my tbr for ages, it sounds amazing! So glad it’s as good as I hoped.
• The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson – I feel like this one was once on my tbr and has just disappeared into the ether of books I’ve forgotten existed…
• ARC- The Familiar Dark – I’ll look out for this when it’s published!
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – Another novel that, at some point, I stuck on my tbr but don’t really remember why, what it’s about or even that it existed. Oops.
• Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom by Sylvia Plath. It’s one of those mini books from Faber, so effectively a short story. An excellent one. – Ooh I want to read more short stories! Just added to the tbr.
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (a reread because I love it) – I always wonder about Gillian Flynn novels, they sound good but also scary and I’m never sure if they’ll be my thing.
• Pretending by Holly Bourne!! – The amount of explanation marks in this one tells me it’s good. Holly Bourne is a big name in YA but I’ve never really read her stuff (please, read above for my comments on romance).
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved before 🥰 it was too cute – I loved the Netflix adaption! It’s so cheesy and so cute, and the fashion is just on point. I am not sure about the book because I tend to not enjoy romance but really want to know what happens next!
• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter – This sounds so good! Just added to the tbr.
• Tweet Cute by Emma Lord – I’ve seen this all over Bookstagram! Again, not a big romance reader so not sure it’s my thing, although I’m going to
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – This one has been teetering on the edge of my tbr for a while.
• Educated by Tara Westover – I really want to read this! So glad its a five star read!
• Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith – This looks so funny! I’ve not read the author before but he was on Twitter timeline a lot, possibly because
• The Sister’s grimm – I’d not heard of it but it sounds good!
• Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith – People clearly want me to read this one…
• Crossfire by Malorie Blackman, left me on the edge of my seat and begging for more. 5th book in the Naughts and Crosses series – I really like Noughts and Crosses but read it years ago and found it a bit childish for me. I don’t know that I want to pick up the rest of the series….
• Six of Crows Leigh Bardugo – Urg these have been on my tbr forever. Hoping to start Shadow and Bone next month!
• Truly Devious ✨ – On the TBR! And strangely enough one someone on Instagram said was a five star read too!
• Royals by Rachel Hawkins – I can’t tell if I’ve heard the title before or if I’m just thinking of a song…
• The Four Profound Weaves by RB Lemberg !! – The !! tell me it’s good but yet I’ve never heard of it.
• Daisy Jones and The Six! Literally just finished 😍– Urg this has been on my radar for so long, I should really get to reading it.
• Such a fun Age – I’ve seen this in the shops and it’s definitely teetering! Not sure it’s my thing.
• Heartstopper – Everyone seems to love these and I’m not even sure if they’re comics or novels. I’ll keep an eye out for them.
• daisy jones and the six – This one keeps haunting me! I’ll get to it soon.
• I have been reading so many mediocre books lately that I don’t even remember! I think it was “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” though. – Making an appearance again
• Red white & Royal Blue. – Again, romance is not my thing, although everyone seemed to love this novel.
• Where the crawdads sing by delia Owens – I have no idea what this is about but I really want to read it! Just because it’s everywhere.
• Just finished A Wicked king by Holly Black. I’d put off reading the series for so long but it is awesome!!!! – SAME. I am not sure if the series is just overhyped at this point tbh. I’ll try and give it a go.

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And the Ones I’ve Never Heard Of

• Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
• Ink in the Blood
• The Sisters Grimm by Menna Van Praag
• Fifty-fifty; steve Cavanagh (I did watch the TV show as a kid so half a point?)
• The Wolf of Oren-Yaro
• Ayesha at Last! – Not heard of this one!
• Five feet apart – Or this one.
• Skyward by Brandon Sanderson – Not heard of it…
• “If Cats Disappeared from the World” 🐱 Loved it so much! – I thought this was a Netflix movie? Maybe I made that up. Either way not sure it’s my sort of thing.
• Second Sister – Yeah, never heard of it.
• When I hit you by Meena Kanadasamy
• Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
• Things my Son needs to Know about the World it’s light and funny!
• Black Girl Unlimited🙌🏻
• The Silent Patient was my last 5 star read ❣️
• Get a Life Chloe Brown. Just finished it the other day and loved it
• Snow, Dog, Foot by Claudio Morandini (translated by J. Ockenden)
• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
• Melmoth by Sarah Perry
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
• The Winternight Trilogy 🌬🔥🍃❄️
• Malice by John Gwynne!
• Stone Cold Heart By Caz Frear
• Steel Crow Saga!
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman!
• Rage of Dragons
• Age of Death
• Foundryside
• Changeling
• The Wise Man’s Fear
• Make your own luck
• Don’t Think a Single Thought
• The Sky Is Mine
• Issue 4 of the dollhouse family
• The Hunt
• The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake
• The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev
• House of Earth and Blood!
• The Wives!
• Love Lettering
• Sadie, The Nowhere Girls and The Female of the Species. (I can’t tell if these are multiple books or not so just going to put them in one…)

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And Finally….. The Ones I’ve Actually Read!

• A Conjuring of Light– yesssss 100% a 5 star read for me too.
• One Of Us Is Next – 100% can recommend, I think I gave it 4 stars? I liked it but found the first one a bit more captivating. I think it took too long for people to clock there had actually been a murder which made the novel less tense.
• Muse of Nightmares – I have mixed feelings on this. I think Laini Taylor used rape to make character’s backstories sad way too much, because it is a serious crime that she just glossed over. And also found it very creepy at times. I’d give it 3 maybe even 2 stars looking back.
• Becoming by Michelle Obama – 100% agree this is definitely five stars. It’s so engaging and well written and will leave you with lots to think about.

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Mmmh yeah, giving my opinions on your five star reads may have failed slightly. It’s clear I need to just read more books.

Anyway, if your reply doesn’t appear on my list it may be because WordPress did crash earlier because my lists were a tad too massive and random ones were deleted. And if you answered me on Instagram I replied in my story instead.

What’s on your Top Ten Tuesday? Did you actually follow the prompt? What was your last five star read and have you read any of these? Would love to hear from you in the comments! I’ll be back later in the week with the review I have been meaning to put up for far too long.

10 YA Romances that were Just Uncomfortable

Ah Valentines day, a time when we all cringe as we enters shops filled with sickening cards and perfectly good chocolates stuffed into impractical heart shaped boxes because that personal touch of commercialism really does show love, doesn’t it?

Anyway with the joyous event approaching this Friday I’m going to be taking a curve ball from yuk and discussing some ships that I really didn’t like. The ones that really need to sink because come on why were they even together?!

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Katniss and Anyone

The Hunger Games

1. Come on Katniss was not in an emotional state for a relationship. Both Gale and Peeta’s priority seemed to be a date rather than her mental health which was definitely the priority. Wouldn’t Mockingjay have ended way better if Katniss learns to love herself and plants those primroses and then looks at the wind rustling in the trees, thinking of Rue and Prim, and is just happy that she helped bring about peace?

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Dimple and Rishi

When Dimple Met Rishi

2. This pairing, from When Dimple Met Rishi, were so toxic. Rishi was somewhat creepy towards Dimple in his monologues and Dimple was definitely abusive, laughing it off as the trope ‘she different to other girls’. No no no no no. No.

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Warden and Paige

The Bone Season

3. Um, shall we talk about the age difference? Or the power complex? He’s keeping her captive and is required to teach her to fight or she’ll be killed horribly as the apocalypse is nye. Oh and he’s super cagey and definitely manipulative she has no idea what’s going on in or outside her prison or even who Warden is but yes lets ship em. Why not.

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The Dragon and Agneiszka

Uprooted

4. We’re looking at a Warden and Paige situation here: The Dragon is all up in his tower, 100 years old, snatching girls and keeping them as maidens and one of these girls is clumsy Agneiszkia who spends her first few days there weeping, is constantly bullied and belittled by The Dragon but it’s all ok because they fall in love?? Um no?

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Clary and Jace

City of Bones

5. They lie to each, one of them is briefly possessed, they go behind each others backs, Jace isn’t a very nice character to start with and really their relationship is based of little else than teenage hormones. Also, shall we talk about the whole related thing?

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Karou and Akiva

Daughter of Smoke and Bones

6. Everything about this relationship was super uncomfortable. Daughter of Smoke and Bone focusses on Karou and her life in Prague while telling her past. Karou of the present a new person and leapt way too quickly back into Akiva’s arms, abandoning her friends and life in Prague for a man who claimed to be the love of her life. But, like, what about her life? He was obsessed and just loved her past self, he never bothered to know her new self.

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Tella and Anyone, Julian and Scarlet

Caraval

7. I’m bunging these couples together since they come from the same trilogy. Legend and Jacks were terrible suitors. Neither really loved Tella, they were both cruel to her and neither really stopped to you, get to know Tella at any point. It was, as they said, just obsession not love. At least Julian and Scarlet had some kind of history even if they were a very toxic couple by the end, and Scarlet’s playing of the field should not have been romanticised.

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Nahri and Dara

City of Brass

8. In City of Brass Dara abducts Nahri against her will and then he’s closed and doesn’t really explain anything then he goes off on a mission leaving her in a strange palace full of people who want her dead, then he hates her only friend and wants her isolated and then he tries to abduct her against her will again. And through all this we’re meant to, what, ship them? Cos it seems more like a hostage situation to me.

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Cassie and Anyone

The Fifth Wave

9. We’re talking Fifth Wave here and we’ve got another love triangles that just doesn’t quite work. Evan is meant to kill Cassie so stalks her for months and then falls in love with her and then continues to obsessively stalk her, reads her diary and changes her while she’s unconscious. Oh my gosh how cute. Ben is this guy Cassie had a crush on at school and now they’re literally the only two people left in the world they are considering their options and yeah, again, doesn’t make much of a ship. So yeah, let’s just see out the apocalypse single, shall we Cassie?

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Cal and Mare

Red Queen

X. Besides the fact that I really couldn’t stand Mare all book didn’t she seem to just mess everyone around? And wasn’t Cal just plain dishonest about everything. And then after all this lying the author was like ‘oh yeah, and this is your otp people’ despite it making no sense whatsoever.

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Let’s Compare Notes

So there you have it! Ten couples that I don’t think make any sense whatsoever. What are your thoughts? Anyone agree? Got a love related list? let me know in the comments!

I will have my review of City of Brass up this week, so you can truly see the depths of crazy Dara and Nahri’s relationship was, and on Friday you all get to meet another bookworm! Until then!