The Anti-TBR Tag

We know what a TBR is (to be read). A lot of bookworms have TBRs long enough to last a lifetime. But one thing I’ve never heard of in all my years as an online bookworm is an anti-TBR. When I saw this tag (originally created by Nicole @ Nicole & Her Books on YouTube), I was intrigued.

Basically, the questions revolve around books/authors that you wouldn’t put in your TBR (hence the name). I’ve seen other people’s answers to these questions, and some of them are s p i c y.

(Hopefully I won’t get cancelled by the end of this.)

Let’s get into it!

Painting Books For the First Time?! (+ Sprayed Edges Tutorial)

I don’t know about you, but making any permanent markings on physical books feels very sacrilegious. Dog-earring pages, annotating directly in the book in pen, etc. makes my bookish heart howl in pain. However, there is this trend going around the book world that has peaked my interest. So, what is the trend, I hear you asking? Well, my dear friend, I have two words for you:

North Texas Teen Book Festival 2020 Recap | #NTTBF

Hello, world! I’m finally out of my cave after holing myself up to study for the midterm season! Although I’m not entirely done with testing just yet, I’ve decided to rejoin the land of the living to bring you this recap of one of my favorite events of the whole entire year: the North Texas Teen Book Festival!

In the past, I lived within relative driving distance to the convention center it is always held at, but now that I’ve moved, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend this year. When I saw that John Green was attending as one of the authors, I couldn’t say no. I’ve been a fan of his for years. First, it was discovering his YouTube channel that he hosts with his brother, Hank. Then, I fell in love with his books (I didn’t even know he was an author when I first stumbled across Vlogbrothers). Then I respected the heck out of him because he is one of the sole reasons I survived my high school classes with Crash Course. And more recently, I’ve been falling in love with the podcast that he does called Dear Hank & John.  Basically, I appreciate all the work he has done and continues do to. I booked a bus ticket to visit my parents back home and that was that.

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu | ARC Review

Title: The Kingdom of Back
Series: standalone
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books
Genre: young adult, historical, fantasy
Pages: 336
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads page

I was given an ARC in exchange for a review. This review are my thoughts, and there are no spoilers in this post.

Synopsis

Two siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.

Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish–to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age–her tyrannical father has made that much clear.

And as Nannerl’s hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true–but his help may cost her everything.

In her first work of historical fiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu spins a lush, lyrically-told story of music, magic, and the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

[ This synopsis is from Goodreads. ]

YA Paperback Giveaway! [CLOSED]

[EDIT: The winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Maggie D.!]

Hello earthlings!

I said a couple months ago in my four year blogiversary post that I would be doing a giveaway and today is that day! I know it’s a bit late, but it is happening! I don’t know why, but I have the urge to warn everyone that this giveaway is small.

I’ve never done a giveaway before, but hopefully I’ll make everything clear in this post.

September 2018 Wrap-Up

I’ll admit it. This past couple months I’ve been slacking on posts. It’s to the point that I’ve forgotten to do a wrap-up for… I don’t even know how many months I skipped. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I did a wrap up. It’s been that long.

This month, I decided I really needed to step up my post game and made a goal to post at least once a week. Because of that, I actually have enough posts to do a wrap up!

Wildcard by Marie Lu| Book Review

“Every problem has a solution. But after every solution, there’s a new problem to tackle, some new challenge to take on.”

Title: Wildcard
Series: Warcross, #2
Author: Marie Lu
Published: September 18, 2018
Genre: young adult, sci-fi
Pages: 352
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Goodreads page

This review contains spoilers from the past book in the series but no spoilers from this book itself!

YA Author Upcoming Release Compilation

If you’re anything like me, you are the last person to know about new releases and book news. I don’t have a lot of social media to keep up with the authors, and I don’t use the ones that I follow authors on that frequently. To be completely honest, it’s a lot to keep track of all the new releases and things that are going on so I decided to take some of my favorite and (I think) well-known YA authors and compile all their upcoming releases.

Some of the information I got off of posts on the authors’ social media or websites (which I’ll link in this post) and others I got off of Goodreads. I can’t guarantee that I will catch all the stories their working on but hopefully this will give you an overview of what to expect.

The authors I’m covering in this post are:

Cassandra Clare || Leigh Bardugo || Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff || Marie Lu
Sarah J. Maas || Tahereh Mafi|| Rainbow Rowell || Adam Silvera
Angie Thomas || Nicola Yoon

At the bottom of the post I put a timeline-ish thing that gives you an overall look on all the authors and what they’re releasing in case you don’t want to read through all the stuff I wrote.

Auto-Buy Authors

I like books. I like owning physical books, but because my wallet hates me when I splurge on books, I try to be very selective of which books I buy. But when certain authors release a new book, I’m like:

I have no self-control. I hope I’m not the only one who does this.

Warcross (Warcross, #1) by Marie Lu | Book Review

Title: Warcross
Series: Warcross, #1
Author: Marie Lu
Published: 09/12/17
Genre: YA, sci-fi
Pages: 368
My Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads page

There are no spoilers in this review.