The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List

I have a serious condition that’s making me incapable of not adding books to my TBR (self-diagnosed).

When I die and my life flashes before my eyes, 30% of it will just be a sad montage of me mindlessly clicking the “Want to Read” button on Goodreads because the cover was either pretty, a friend posted a vaguely favorable status about it, or it was an unconscious decision since at this point, I keep finding books on my TBR that I have absolutely no recollection of adding. It’s fucking nuts.

Anyway, without further ado here are the most recent additions to my To-Read list!

Review: The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

SYNOPSIS:

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it’s not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it’s been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here’s your answer: we’ve all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School’s de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I’ve already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it’s not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice…

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RATING: ☆★

When I say “I don’t like drama”, what I really mean is “I don’t want to be involved in any drama of my own.” Reading a contemporary reclaiming of the story of Henry VIII and his wives (in this case, his high school girlfriends), on the other hand, seemed firmly inside my circles of interests…

I just wish The Dead Queens Club lived up to the self-indulgent version of it that I wrote in my head before it began to disappoint me.

Review: The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden

SYNOPSIS:

The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingalecontinues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

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RATING: ☆★☆★☆

I am unabashedly in love with this book.

The Girl in The Tower had me hooked, line and sinker. My heart filled with the remembered joy of giving yourself up to a book, the equivalent of a whispered “oh,” husky and astonished and awakened. The first book prodded at the edges of my mind, but it was this one that climbed inside, turned several circles, and settled in with a grunt. Hours slipped by unseen, as though a shimmering veil of reverie has been drawn over me. I didn’t even register the ending happening because the whole moment seemed to occur outside the scope of reality. And it was perfect.

Review: A Ladder to The Sky by John Boyle

SYNOPSIS:

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for success. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent – but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.
Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.
Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall…

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RATING: ☆★☆★☆

I, personally, love reading books and straddling that fine line between “loving the book” and “wishing you could unhinge your jaw and a swarm of locusts fly out of your mouth to attack the book.”

Top Ten Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To

No offense but some of us *looks pointedly at myself in mirror* really need to catch up on their TBR list instead of adding more books to it.

On the bright side, however, I’m probably going to die alone and miserable but at least I’ll find peace knowing that I will never run out of books to read!

So, here are the top ten books I *totally* planned on reading last year but that didn’t work out because [John Mulaney’s voice] you know, life?

Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1) by Roshani Chokshi

SYNOPSIS:

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

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RATING: ☆★☆★

I finished this book feeling the extreme weight of doing something remarkable for my older self to be nostalgic about, and also realizing, with stark clarity, that the one thing all different mythologies have in common: all gods just live for drama.

Top Ten Platonic Relationships in Books

The idea of platonic soulmates is so fucking amazing. Imagine finding someone who you feel  complete and in peace with without having to worry about losing them to messy romance. That is a warm luxury everyone deserves.

It’s really strange and sad that the only stories that seem worth reading or telling are stories about sexual romantic love. There’s this misconception that romantic love is the end goal of all forms of love. Every friend is a potential suitor instead of being friends….for the sake of friendship. And that isn’t true. The love one shares with a friend isn’t less valid, less real or less powerful than the love shared with a romantic partner. Platonic love isn’t a runner up to romantic love.

And that’s why I’m so grateful for books which let platonic love take the front seat for a change. So, without further ado, here are my top 10 platonic soulmates…

Review: Slayer (Slayer #1) by Kiersten White

SYNOPSIS:

Into every generation a Slayer is born…

Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.

Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.

Thanks to Buffy, the famous (and infamous) Slayer that Nina’s father died protecting, Nina is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever. Period.

As Nina hones her skills with her Watcher-in-training, Leo, there’s plenty to keep her occupied: a monster fighting ring, a demon who eats happiness, a shadowy figure that keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams…

But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

One thing is clear: Being Chosen is easy. Making choices is hard.

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RATING: ☆★☆★

You know when you’ve had a bad day but then you read a book for three uninterrupted hours and absorb the personalities and problems of fictional characters and suddenly you’re doing much better? YEAH SAME.

I loved this book but don’t ever talk to me about Buffy because I’ll either end up getting so over-excited I start knocking lamps over or I start sobbing hysterically!

Ft. King of Scars, Two Can Keep a Secret, The Dead Queens Club and many more!

Hello, friends!

I can name more books coming out this month that I’m excited for than I have friends. It’s sort of depressiong, really. But hey! At least, I’ll never run out of books to read! I’ll take small victories wherever I can find them.

My tbr list for this month consists mostly of January releases (because I will keep up with new releases this year even if it kills me goddammit!), two 2018 releases and two 2017 releases!

Let’s get into it!

Review: Verity by Colleen Hoover

SYNOPSIS:

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

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RATING: ☆★☆★☆

Me, rollerblading into my therapist’s office with sunglasses and a piña colada and dropping this book on the desk with a resounding thud: we need to discuss this!