Month: Jun 2019

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Question 1 – the best book read so far this year. (of course going to go for more than one)

Question 2 – what is the best sequel you have read this year

I havent read many novels sequels this year but this book right here Wow I Just loved this book so much.

Question 3 – what book do u want to read that you haven’t read yet

I really need to get this book, I can’t believe I haven’t yet I have been anticipating this book for a while but still not picked it up haha

Question 4 – what books are you anticipating for the rest of the year

I am so excited for all of these

Question 5 – what book was your biggest disappointment

sadly its got to be this book right here, I was so looking forward to reading this book but as I was reading this I just kept not wanting to Carry on every time picked it up and also I didn’t like one of the main characters at all.

Question 6 – your biggest surprise of the year

I had a incline I would like this but after I finished this book I was like wow I didn’t think I was gonna like it this much. I loved everything from the story, to the writing and the characters and even learning about the culture aswell.

Question 7 – your favourite new author

my favourite had got to be Casey Mcquiston like wow what a debut and im so excited for more books from this author to be released.

Question 8 – your new fictional crush

  • Alex Claremont-diaz – Red,White and Royal blue
  • Nathaniel – Sorcery of thorns
  • Nina – six of crows/crooked kingdom/King of scars

Question 9 – your new favourite characters

  • Silas – sorcery of thorns
  • olive – the unhoneymooners
  • Ethan – the unhoneymooners
  • jay – Patron saints of nothing
  • Emoni – with the fire on high

Question 10 – book that made you cry

wow this book right here there is one scene in this book where I just couldn’t stop crying because I just felt so much for these characters and I just wanted to hug them both and say its okay.

Question 11 – books that made you happy

this just made me smile from ear to ear the tropes in this book and the characters and just loved the romance in this book so much

Question 12 – the most beautiful book brought this year

This cover has the best cover of the year hands down

Question 13 – what books do u need to get to by the end of the years

wow now there is a lot/too many I need to get to but just going to say a few

  • Birthday – Meredith russo
  • The rest of the ToG series from Heir of fire
  • Finale – Stephanie Garber
  • strange the dreamer – Laini Taylor
  • I wish you all the best – Mason Deaver

There you have it my Mid year book freakout tag in blog form. hope you enjoyed.

I wanna be where you are by Kristina Forest

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Review below/spoiler warning

this book was such a cute and sweet summer story that I enjoyed and was really fast paced and I flew through it really quickly. I’ve got to say that the cover of this book is one of my faves of the year in my opinion I just love how bright and vibrant it is.

so lets talk about this book, this book follows Chloe pierce who’s dream is to become a ballet dancer so when the opportunity to go to a audition in D.C, she takes it in both of her hands and decides to chase after her dreams. But a problem with this is that her mother doesn’t know that’s she going and when Chloe said about the audition before she said she is not allowed to go. a opportunity arises though because Chloe’s mother is getting sent on holiday with her boyfriend Jean-Marc and its on the same week as the audition, so Chloe comes up with a plan for her best friend Reina to act like Reina’s mother so she can make out that Chloe with be living with Reina at their house for the week. 

Chloe’s mother believes the lie so she is off and on her way. the boy who lives across the road Eli, who Chloe hasn’t spoke to for a year because of a incident what happened between them two the year before askes Chloe to see if he can travel with her all the way to DC because its on the way to his dads house who he going to see for a few days, Chloe is very against it at first but because she doesn’t want to be late she just gives in (after some blackmail which is a little mhm) so then they are on their way, and of course because you can’t have a smooth sailing road tripping novel lots of many problems occur but on the way we get introduced to both their friends they haven’t seen for a while and also to Larissa, Eli’s sister who by far my fav character out of them all .

so anyways you probably might already be catching on to what happened between Chloe and Eli while on their roadtrip (I did quite like it to be honest) and overall it was an enjoyable read but the reason I  am giving it a 3 stars is because it wasn’t amazing and it definitely wasn’t bad it was just a good novel/in between and also for the first 50 or so pages I want feeling it at all but then it did get better. Finally I will definitely be checking out all Kristina’s new book when she brings more out.

With the fire on high by Elizabeth Acevedo

“I think you should write about the one that scares you most.Taking risks and making choices in spite of fear – it’s what makes our life story compelling”

This book was such a beautiful,important and compelling read that while your reading, you just get swept up into the life of such a amazing young woman called Emoni Santiago. 

Emoni Santiago at such a young age has had to make some decisions about many things in her life. Such as Emoni being a teenage mother and caring for her daughter who she just loves with every fibre of herself and would do anything for her. Emoni never knew her mother because sadly she died while giving birth to her,so she tries to connect to her mum through her recipes which she used to make and because Emoni’s passion is cooking and what she want to do for the rest of her life and So she can feel close to her mum through cooking. Her whole life she has been cared by her grandma who has always wanted to see the best for her granddaughter,and always tries to help with the baby so she Emoni hasn’t Got everything on her shoulders. Emoni isn’t with the baby’s father called Tyrone but we see them connect a little in this book when Tyrone has the baby on certain weekends.

Throughout this book we see Emoni embark on trying to go for her dreams which she has her ups and down with thinking about wether she can do it because she has a daughter now, and also trying to figure out if college is the best decision for her as she is set to leave school. Along the way she has such an amazing support system around who try and always push Emoni to do the thing that makes her happy which is cooking and becoming a chef. Which include Angelica her best friend, Malachi the love interest, her grandma and also her teachers Ms Fuentes and chef Ayden. 

The characters in the book I loved so much I just loved how most of them were really supportive for Emoni and just loved and cared for her, but as u guessed there were people in here that just wasn’t nice to Emoni such as Mrs Palmer,Tyrone’s mother who always has bad stuff to say about her and calling her horrible things, and also (even though she had a little redemption) pretty Lesley who was very jealous character at times. 

I loved the diversity in this book from colour and also sexuality which is always great to see in books especially even more with the side characters like that we are starting to use many more sexuality’s now which is a plus.

Overall this book was just a wonderful story that everyone needs to read and  so many books need to touch on more subjects like teenage pregnancy and so many more important subject matter aswel. This is one of my fav books of the year and also Elizabeth Acevedo is the queen Writer  and will always be seen  as a auto-buy author now .

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Patron saints of nothing -Randy Ribay

Arc provided for a honest review by netgalley

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Review below/spoiler warning

firstly want to say I got approved for an arc of this book by netgalley I exchange for review.

wow where do I start with this book it was an emotional, powerful and a  tear jerker of a book that follows the story of Jay a Filipino-American who was close with his cousin Jun who is from the Philippines and who they exchanged letters though when they were young t since they live across the world from each other until 4 years ago when Jun disappeared from home under unknown circumstances. this story also starts where Jay finds out from his family  that Jun has been killed in the streets in the Philippines due to being seen taking or giving out drugs. which is a law that was made by the latest president of the Philippines where if any of his secret army catch anyone with drugs or giving out drugs will get killed, which is such a tragic law that still happens to this day in the Philippines.

so Jay decides to travel to the Philippines to live with his aunts and uncles for a few days to try and learn more about what happens to his best friend/cousin ad to keep his memory alive for him. but when he gets to the Philippines and meets Jun’s family they don’t even talk about their son/brother and try and act like he wasn’t alive in the first place. as we go through the story we see lots of cracks begin to show and more information comes out of the woodworks and takes Jay on a journey throughout the whole of the Philippines which Mia who is Grace.Jun’s sisters friends who we get introduced to early on into the book and also Grace and they all try and find out the whole truth of what happened to Jun and once they do its so tragic and emotional. 

one thing I loved about this book was learning about the culture and the many significant places that are used/seen throughout this book and just the beautiful descriptions of the places the characters take throughout this story. especially in one part of the book Jay and Mia go into the poorer part of the Philippines and the way Randy describes the slums is just in a beautiful way.

another significant part I loved from this book is the characters and how diverse they were from his two Aunties who are in a relationship with each other which I nice surprise to see LGBTQ+ themes in this book and also loved that we had Filipino American characters and Filipino Chinese character which was Jays auntie Ines, who for me was one of my favourite characters excluding Jay because he was my ultimate favourite but just loved how loveable and caring she and Chato were with the all their family and friends.

one character  didn’t like even though I know your basically meant to not like him was Tato Maning who was just not a nice character and he was mainly horrible to all his family and all the people around him and I would say he was a very flawed character which I do love I shall say. even though he does have a turn around at the end I still couldn’t like him. and also Jays father I didn’t like at points because I just wanted him to just comfort his son and to help him out in many ways.

overall if you couldn’t tell but this book was a emotional story that on one page you could be smiling then the next its just pulls at your heartstrings and make you just feel so tearful. this is a important book that I feel needs to be read by everyone and if u want to know more about the Filipino culture and learning some interesting things about the laws over in the Philippines this is a book that has all that thrown in-between this beautiful story. 5/5 stars and anything Randy brings out I’m definitely going to be buying them all now.

This book gets released on Thursday 27 June in the uk

The tea dragon festival – Katie o neill

Arc approved by netgalley

“Just because something has no meaning to you, does not mean it has no value. You find it effortless because you love it, and that is why it is your gift”

Review /spoiler warning

First off want to give a big thank you for being approved for this egalley of the tea dragon festival. 

I have read all of Katie o Neill’s books before this and already I loved them all so much so when I went into this I had a little incline what this will be like but of course Katie raises the bar every time and always improves with every book she brings out. 

Like the rest of the books this story was just amazing it’s so light hearted,fun and so cute and it just makes me smile from ear to ear.

I loved the characters so much and I really enjoyed the journey they went on throughout this book and I loved the underlined message it has running through this book. My fav two characters were rinn and her companion that she meets on the way Aedhan who is a dragon. Their bond was so beautiful and loved how Rinn always made sure Aedhan was okay and welcome with open arms. What is special about Aedhan is that he can transform from dragon to human form which was cool to see. And love how he protected everyone around them when they were put in a little sticky situation. 

The illustrations in this book are just beautiful I just love how vibrant and bright every page u look at is. Like I said earlier just seeing all these colours makes u feel happy and puts u in a good mood. The diversity in colour is always amazing to see aswell from colour of skin to the not pointed out that much but sexuality. 

Overall this book was just a amazing read and one that u could definitely read and show to kids which is always a plus. If u couldn’t tell aswell this is a 5/5 star read. Super feel good

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A lesson in thorns

Goodreads synopsis below

“Once upon a time, six children stumbled upon a wild place hidden deep in the moors, shrouded by secrets and fog. There we played a game among the roses and the thorns that would change us forever, that would follow us the rest of our lives. A game that ended with a hard kiss in the rain and tattered flower petals fluttering from above…

And twelve years later, we’re back.  

The heir.
The dreamer.
The priest.
The genius.
The socialite.
The saint.

I’m not going to dream of a forgotten place covered in thorns every night.
I won’t be enchanted by Thornchapel and its glossy, glamorous people. I’m not going to fall in love or have my heart torn in two.

I’m not telling the truth. 

Because as this place slowly tightens its coil of secrets and thorns around us, as we uncover the knotted mysteries that grow here, the six of us begin to unravel into filthy, holy pleasure and pain.  Fulfilling the promise we once made as children in those whispering ruins, and awakening a fate that will either anoint us or leave us in ashes…”

Review below/spoiler warning

Wow what can I say about this book, this is what I would describe a smutty sexy dark romance novel about a group of friends that all come back to this Manor which is very special to them since childhood and also to all their parents, our main protagonist Poe throughout this book gets sent a letter with just one word in latin from thorncastle manor and is sent by her mother who  disappeared a long time ago and so once  she sees this letter it sends her down a spiral of leading her back to  the place where her mother was last seen/ a significant factor throughout the lives of all the 6 friends that all get sent back to the manor for a unknown reason that soon unravels as the novel goes on. 

this book definitely has a slower introduction into the steamy business but once it does wow it takes you on a wild ride of some of the smuttiest stuff I have read about so much action I think if I was reading this in public I would be blushing and going as red as a tomato.

this novel has BDSM, m/m, f/f and also m/m/f sex scenes throughout the book and just the diversity alone in the sexual orientations of the book is just amazing to see and yess to more scenes with two women and two males.

the characters in this book,I enjoyed some and some were just not my cup of tea such as my faves were definitely the main three (I would call them) Poe, Saint and Auden because I loved the sexual tension between these three throughout the book and some of the scenes they get up to. it was like Sierra was teasing us until we finally got there and it was just… The character the most that I was just wasn’t really connecting to/like that much in certain parts was Delphine, don’t get me wrong she has some interesting parts In this book but overall I jus thought she was unlikeable (in my opinion).

I did like learning about a little bit of each persons backstory about what happened before this point in each of their lives and was really cool to get a prologue of all the characters as teenagers and seeing how Thorncastle connected them all.  a trigger warning for you is that there is a section in this book that brings up the topic of abuse that happened to one of the characters which doesn’t get shown in this book but does get brought up In a conversation.

overall I very much enjoyed this book and so excited to know that there is a second book coming out soon so looking forward to carrying on this story with the  characters and what other information comes out of the woodworks. very intrigued.

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First blog post

Hi there, my name is chad I’m from the United Kingdom and I love all things books. This blog will consist of everything bookish (if u couldn’t tell). This blog I will be reviewing books and also once a week on the same day I will try and do a different bookish/sometimes not book related tags.

If ur were interested I do have a bookstagram account aswell called chaddyreadsbooks and if ur ever wanted to check it out here is a link to one of my recent posts.https://www.instagram.com/p/ByxMYNcAQWz/?igshid=oxhzppy18wgb

Im so happy to be joining the book blogger community And hopefully new you will enjoy my content