March and April 2021 Wrap-Up

It’s been a crazy two months, and I’m ready for the semester to be over. I need to get back to writing my paper and finishing my video project so let’s just jump into things.

Reading is like potatoes, a short essay

I saw a TikTok recently of a person arguing that listening to audiobooks counts as reading. While I didn’t think much of it (since I agreed), something was nagging me at the back of my mind. I can only imagine that they made that TikTok because there are people in the book community who don’t consider audiobooks as a form of reading. Suddenly, while I was in the shower (where all the good ideas/thinking take place), I had a thought: reading is like potatoes, and here’s why.

The Brightest Night by Jennifer L. Armentrout | book review

✧ This (short) review is spoiler-free! ✧

“Never.”
“Never come for me.”
“Never look for me.”
“If you do, I will take everything from you.”

Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Brightest Night

Title: The Brightest Night
Series: Origin, #3
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: October 20, 2020
Publisher: Tor Teen
Category: young adult
Genre: fantasy, aliens, romance
Pages: 512
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
Goodreads page

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston | book review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

“History, huh? Bet we could make some.”

Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

Title: Red, White & Royal Blue
Series: standalone
Author: Casey McQuiston
Published: May 14, 2019
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 
Category: adult
Genre: contemporary, romance, LGBTQ+
Pages: 421
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Goodreads page

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Synopsis

A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas | book review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

Never again would she be weak. Never again would she be at someone’s mercy.

A Court of Silver Flames, Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Silver Flames
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Published: Feb. 16, 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Category: adult
Genre: fantasy, romance
Pages: 757
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Goodreads page

The Women’s History book tag

THE WOMEN’S HISTORY
BOOK TAG

Happy Women’s History month! I’m back from my impromptu break and feeling much better than before. I was having trouble thinking about what I wanted to post when the lovely Marta @ Of Waves and Pages tagged me to do this fun book tag! Marta’s the sweetest person on earth, so please give her blog and YouTube channel some love!

Rules:

• Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post.
• Link to the creator’s blog in your post
• Answer the questions below using only books written by women
• Feel free to use the same graphics
• Tag 8 others to take part in the tag

Heartstopper, Volume One by Alice Oseman | graphic novel review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

Title: Heartstopper, Volume One
Series: Heartstopper, #1
Author: Alice Oseman
Published: February 7, 2019
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Category: YA
Genre: contemporary, LGBTQ+
Pages: 288
My Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads page

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Synopsis

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]

January and February 2021 Wrap-Up (+ taking an unplanned break)

The first two months of 2021 have been… intense (to put it nicely). There was an attack on the White House, America got a new president, the spring semester for Zoom University started, racial violence against Asian Americans have skyrocketed, and the state I’m currently residing in experienced a huge black out due to an arctic blast where we were left with no electricity, heat, WiFi, and clean running water.

On the flip side, I got a lot of reading done, and I wrote more posts than I expected. However, I might need to put on the brakes to blogging for a bit, but I’ll get into that later.

The Selena Gomez Book Tag

The Selena Gomez Book Tag

Heya, internet world! While I don’t listen to a lot of Selena Gomez’s songs, I know she’s a super popular pop star with a massive following. When I saw that there was a book tag revolving around her songs, I was intrigued. Luckily enough, I was tagged by the lovely folks over at A Couple of Bees Read. Please go check them out and give them some love!

The Rules: 

• Thank the person who tagged you and leave a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the tag: Nehal @ Books and Words
• Answer the prompts.
• Tag at least 5 people.
• Just have fun!

It’s really cold outside (I’m doing alright)

Hello! I thought I’d quickly come on here (while I still have WiFi) to say that my family and I are doing okay. Texas right now is experiencing some really cold weather that we’re not used to, and pretty much the whole state is shut down. While a lot of people are experiencing trouble with their electricity and WiFi, my family has been very fortunate enough to have fairly consistent access to electricity. On the flip side, our WiFi has been spotty at best, which is why I’m trying to write and get this out ASAP.