February Wrap Up (2023)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And it's the end of February, the month of love! 

At the start of the month, I was ready to do nothing but read, all month!

I had quite the ambitious TBR. 

But then, one thing after another happened, and next thing I knew, I was trying to read as much as I could, to make up for those few days. 

I read a total of 3 books this month. 

I hope you enjoy my Wrap Up. 

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin 

Going into this, I knew next to nothing about it. I knew it was about two characters making videogames together, and that was pretty much it. I knew there had to be more to it than that, because of how much everyone was raving about it, but that still doesn't mean that I was prepared for the emotional turmoil this book had in store for me. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a beautifully written tale about Sam and Sadie, creators of the world-renowned Ichigo, before during and after. There's so much packed in this book that I'm actually struggling to come up with the words in how to describe it. There's love, friendship, teamwork, falling out, poverty, addiction, heartbreak, and it's all written so well that I'm fighting the urge to pick the book up and start reading it again, from the start. No wonder it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. I just wish I'd read it before now so I could have voted for it too. 

2. Cold, by Mariko Tamaki 

Cold. I wanted to read this in February because March is when Spring officially starts. If I didn't get this read in February, Cold would have been stuck in my book bag until December 2023. 

Going into this (second time I've said that tonight, well done on the originality, Abigail) I was expecting a story about a girl that could talk to Todd, with a creepy/ haunting feel to it, and the two protagonists trying to figure out what happened to him. Not the case. Georgia can't hear ghosts, though she was trying to figure out what happened to Todd. Also the feel was different. It wasn't creepy, it was purely about Georgia and Todd trying to piece together what happened leading up to his death. Not what I was expecting, but I wasn't put off by that at all. In short, a simple murder mystery, that snuck up on me emotionally. Not a ground-breaking story, but I'm glad I read it. 

3. Grown Ups, by Marian Keyes 

This book took up most of my February. And honestly, I'm fine with that. Could I have maybe finished another book this month if I'd just put this down at some point? Most likely. But if I do that every time I attempt a large book, I'm never going to get to all the big books I want to get to this year. 

So this was my first Marian Keyes book. I'd read several books that had been blurbed by her over the years, but I'd never got around to reading anything she's written. Well I finally bit the bullet and asked for it for Christmas. 

Of course I loved it, as I very well expected to. You're reading from the POV of the wives of the Casey brothers, Cara, Nell and Jessie. The whole family are super close, go on a bunch of really expensive holidays together and are basically in each other's pockets. But everyone has their own baggage, they're all flawed, all capable of extremely questionable decisions, but I couldn't help but love each and every one of them. 

Except Liam, he's a dick. 

This was exactly what I needed from Marian Keyes to place a solid trust in her storytelling, and you best be sure that I'll be picking up another of her books very, very soon. 

Okay! Those are all the books I finished this month! It wasn't a whole lot, and definitely not as much as I wanted to read, but that's okay. March is another month after all. 

I hope you have a wonderful evening day, wherever you are, and I'll see you all soon with my March TBR (2023)!

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx

Unread books

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm here with my unread book list! (As of 18/02/2023.) 

I've accumilated a fair few books over the past couple months (some dating back all the way to September). 

Some of them are full series', others are the sequels in series', and then there are some standalones. So a huge mixture!

So, I'm doing this post because I want to see how many I actually own, and so I can stop myself from buying even more books (in theory)! 

Time to get my book bag out I guess :) 

I hope you enjoy this guys. 

1. The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1), by R. F. Kuang

2. The Dragon Republic (Poppy War #2), by R. F. Kuang

3. The Burning God (The Poppy War #3), by R.F. Kuang 

They've been on my "Want to Read" shelf for five years, I received them as a Valentine's Day present, and I am ready to dive in! 

I probably shouldn't be so excited to read a series that features that's about war and a bunch more very adult themes, like adictive in them, but I won't lie, the excitement is real with this series. 

From my understanding, half of The Poppy War follows Rin, a dark-skinned peasant girl from the South, as she navigates her way through the Nikara Empire, the most elite millitary school in Nikan, and the second half is when she is graduated, and sent off to experience the harsh realities of the third poppy war. 

That's all I know about it, but every single book has been an instant hit with epic fantasies, and I'm fully expecting this to be an all around five-star series for me. 

4. Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1), by Talia Hibbert 

5. Take A Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters #2), by Talia Hibbert 

6. Act Your Age, Eve Brown (The Brown Sisters #3), by Talia Hibbert 

Another series that's been on my "Want to Read" shelf for a really long time that I just never seem to have gotten to. 

Basically, all I know about these books is that they're cute cute cute cute cute and extremely entertaining. Each book focuses on one of the brown sisters, (who I really hope get along with eachother because I need more books with that). 

I'm thinking they're the perfect books for my trip to Malta in April, which even though that's far away, it'll give me a chance to get to the other books on this list! 

7. Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigators #2), by B.B. Alston 

Although it's been a while since I read the first book, Amari and the Night Brothers, the want to pick this up hasn't been extinguished and I'm fully expecting to pick this up in the next couple months. 

Amari and the Night Brothers was a favourite back in 2021, and it follows our protagonist as she navigates a magical school she knows nothing about, competing against kids that have had all their lives to prepare, keep up with the trials and tribulations of classes, all while trying to find out what happened to her brother Quinton, the golden boy of the Academy, whose mysterious vanished. 

The first book was explosive and imaginative, and I hold high standards for the sequel. 

8. Cytonic (Skyward #3), by Brandon Sanderson 

Now, I know technically this book came out in 2021, but I've been reading the paperbacks, so this copy wasn't actually released until about a year later. Still think I should have read it before now though. 

Cytonic is the third book in the Skyward series, so I can't disclose anything about the plot, because of spoilers, but this one is about a personal quest for Spensa, to find out more about what she is, a new threat to the Defiant Defence Forse, and how her identity can help defeat it. 

I'm thinking I might re-read the first and second books before picking this, so maybe I'll think about getting to it after some of the standalones listed here. 

9. The House of Fortune (The Miniaturist #2), by Jessie Burton 

I'm so glad I stumbled on this when I did, because I was about to donate The Miniaturist, the first book, because I honestly thought it was a standalone. Thank god I didn't! 

After reading the blurb, I'm not altogether sure what this book is about. I know it takes place eighteen years after the events of the first book, so I'm looking forward to reading about the current time period, and seeing some new and familiar characters. I will probably re-read The Miniaturist because I last read that at the start of 2019, but it'll be good to go back to this world and this time in history. 

(By the way, The Miniaturist starts when eighteen-year-old Nella arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam, to start her new life as the wife of a wealthy merchant. She's gifted a cabinet-sized replica of their home, to be furnished by a miniaturist, which seems to hold the people of the house's fate, based on what she does with them. Mysterious and intriguing book by the way.)

10. Looking Glass (The Chronicles of Alice #3), by Christina Henry 

So. When I saw this in my local Magazine Heaven a couple of months back, it was included as the third book in The Chronicles of Alice series. I purchased said book, and then I found out. It might count as the third book, but it's not a full one. It's four novellas, all rolled into one novel. 

Of course I'm going to read it. If there's another book to add to the two I've already finished and enjoyed, I won't turn it away. 

I just might not get to it, until I'm in the mood, which might be a while. 

Another book to add to my Christina Henry collection. 

11. Black Night Falling (The Circle Trilogy #3), by Teri Terry 

This book has been out since July, but I didn't actually get a copy until some months later. It's absolutely disgusting that I haven't got to this yet, but because of how long I've left it, I think a re-read of books 1 & 2 is in order. 

As much as I think I'm going to enjoy this, as much as I enjoy all of Teri Terry's books, the 2nd book in this series wasn't the instant 5 star I hoped it would be so honestly, I'm kind of hesitant, going into it. 

Most people are rating three or four stars, so fingers crossed I'll enjoy it as much as everyone else has. 

12. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens 

This book rose in popularity when news of the film was released. I don't know much about it, and that's kind of how I want to go into this book. I think it's about a girl that others refer to as The Marsh Girl, who has grown up in the jungle, isolated from the rest of the town, until she's forced to come and live there, to be a part of society. I know it's set in the 50s, that somebody dies, I'm not sure if she's accused too but, I do think I'll be pleasantly surprised with this. Definitely a five star contendor. 

13. The Book Eaters, by Sunyi Dean 

Again, I know very little about this book. I saw it for half price in a Waterstones (to buy a book to mark a place- yes I still do that). A quick read of the blurb, a glance to tell me that V.E. Schwab had blurbed the book, and a copy was MINE. 

This book sounds so interesting. It's about an old and grand clan of book eaters, and we follow Devon, a young woman within the clan. While her brothers grew up reading books about valor and adventure, the books she consumed were largely monitored: all she had to consume were fairytales and cautionary tales. When her son is born and she is presented with some dark and disturbing news: her son doesn't hunger for books, but for human minds... 

I have no idea what to expect from this book, and I have no idea when I'm gonna get to it. But I know that I will, and it'll be very soon because it's just so damn intriguing. 

I do also have the books that I've listed for my February TBR, which I won't go into detail about, but you can check out here.

Here's the list of what I have left to read from that post: 

1. Grown Ups, by Marian Keyes

2. As If On Cue, by Marisa Kanter

3. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily M. Danforth 

And that's my lot! The next thing I'll do after this post goes live is write down every book that I specifically want to read this year, so I can (hopefully) cross them out as I go! 

As always, feel free to comment your list of unread books in the comments below, if you want to keep track, it'll be interesting to see what you have to read! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon! 

Bye guys! 

-Abi xxxxx

February TBR (2023)

Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with my Fabruary TBR, in the month of love! 

I have a couple of romances to read this month, some small and some short, but one thing's for sure, I'll definitely have my work cut out for me if I want to finish all the books I'm setting out to read this month. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin 

I'm currently working my way through this at the moment and absolutely loving it! I love how this book feels like more than what it is. Like it doesn't feel like a 400 page book, it feels like a 500 page one. It's just amazing how in so few words, Gabriell Zevin packs one heck of a story. The way she tells the story, makes me want to read every word that's written and really take everything she's saying in, rather than just read the words. 

I'm just over the halfway point and although I'm probably in the thick of it by now, I still have no way which direction it'll take next. 

I can definitely see why it won the Best Fiction Award on Goodreads. 

2. Grown Ups, by Marian Keyes 

I've read several books that Marian Keyes has blurbed: books by Beth O' Leary, by Emily Henry, and My Dark Vanessa, but I've never actually read anything written by her. Well that changes now. I figured I'd go with one of her largest first, because I just, wanted to. 

Also, Grown Ups sounds bloody interesting. It has family drama, someone with a concussion spilling out secrets- that's all I need to know about this entertaining yet compelling book. Something tells me that I won't have anything to worry about when it comes to souring through this book. 

3. Cold, by Mariko Tamaki

The opening sentence was enough to put this short book on my Anticipated Releases post just last year, and when I spied it on the shelf last month, I nabbed it right up. I really want to get to this in February, because it February is basically the last winter month of the year (or at least it feels that way). 

The opening sentence for Cold is "A boy, a murder, a girl, a secret. A YA novel about a shocking crime, told by a boy who died- and a girl that wants to know why." 

This is a sweet 230 something page book, and one I'm hoping to sour through in a weekend. The print is large, so are the pages. I am ready. 

4. As If On Cue, by Marisa Kanter

The first proper romance book! And another of my anticipated releases as well! I'm so excited to pick this up you guys, like you have no idea. Kids from theatre and band, forced to work together to save their parts of the arts budget, when they can't stand the sight of eachother. Of course the hate to love trope is there, and so long as it's not instaneous, then I'm okay with it. 

I really hope I love this. 

5. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily M. Danforth 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Probably one of the book's I've had the longest. Before you ask, no, I haven't seen the film yet. I'm watching it after I read the book. 

I don't know when I first heard about this book, but when I did, I put it to the back of my mind as something to read when I was done with everything else. But then I heard another person raving about it. And another, and another and then when I saw it in the Gay's the word when I was travelling through London looking for books for my birthday, I took a chance on it. 

The print is tiny and the page count is large, but this is a prime example of what kind of book I want to be pursuing this year. So it's on the TBR for this month. 

This is about a girl, called Cameron Post, who is shipped off to her realitives, a heavily religious family, after her parents are killed, the very evening she was kissing a girl. That's all I know about it. Such a simple premise, yet I know there must be a lot more to it, because of the size of the book. Very much looking forward to delving into this humongous novel. 

Okay! Those are the books that I'm going to try and get to for the month of February! I highly doubt I will finish all of them, but I want to at least start them (and finish all but one I should say). 

As always, feel free to comment whatever it is that you're hoping to read this month, and we can chat about them below! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon!

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx

January Wrap Up (2023)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm here with my January Wrap Up (obviously since you've seen the title)! 

I always like doing January Wrap Ups because they're the only books there on the Goodreads Reading Challenge page. 

I read a total of 10 books this month, and even though 6 of them were graphic novels, I can't pretend I'm not proud of that. 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy it. 

1. Just Sayin': My Life in Words, by Malorie Blackman 

My favourite author of all time, writing an autobiography. This was just what I needed. A chance to see inside her head, to read about her as a person, and see how she comes up with such wonderfully, imaginative ideas and find out more about how she came to be the person she has become. 

Wonderfully poignant, honest, such a joy to read. I'm happy to say that my undoubtedly sky-high expectations were met. 

2. Where Am I Now?, by Mara Wilson 

I did it! I finally finished this! When I was packing to temporarily move out of home (half of my household had gone down with the dreaded lurgy) I grabbed my headphones with no hesitation. 

This book has been on my TBR for the longest time: I was intrigued to find out about Mara's take on one of my childhood films, Matilda, as well as reading about her relationship with Danny DeVito, who not only started in film, but also produced and directed too (and made sure that her Mum, who had cancer, got to see the film before she passed). This was so much more than what I was expecting of course. It dealt with body shaming, body issues, the shock of going from a regular child to a well-known star, thrust into the limelight, and that's just a few of the issues that are discussed in this novel. 

3. Life is Strange: Dust (Life is Strange Comics #1), by Emma Vieceli 

4. Life is Strange: Waves (Life is Strange Comics #2), by Emma Vieceli 

5. Life is Strange: Strings (Life is Strange Comics #3), by Emma Vieceli 

6. Life is Strange: Partners in Time: Tracks (Life is Strange Comics #4), by Emma Vieceli 

7. Life is Strange: Coming Home (Life is Strange Comics #5), by Emma Vieceli 

8. Life is Strange: Settling Dust (Life is Strange Comics #6), by Emma Vieceli 

Another send-off to a series I've been collecting volumes for, since the start of 2022. An extremely accurate interpretation of the videogames, they didn't feel any different from the characters I knew from before, but the plotline felt seperate. It didn't go off on an unrealstic tangent either. Nothing felt rushed, the artwork was gorgeous, and each graphic novel left me wanting the next one. 

Aside from that, there were cameo characters from the second and third games! 

All in all, a near perfect series. 

9. Scattered Showers, by Rainbow Rowell 

I was going to reach for Fangirl, after finishing the Life is Strange graphic novel series. But then I remembered this! Still Rainbow Rowell, but reading this was a chance to knock off a book from my unread pile! 

I'll be honest, I was a bit hesitant going into this, knowing that it was going to be a compilation of short stories. I thought it might be hard to get into them. But I was actually surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in the stories! 

And there was a Reagan story from Fangirl! I was so surprised and happy when I read that! I'd gotten my wish! 

Anyway, this is a quick and easy read that contemporary fans will 100% love, especially if they've read Rainbow Rowell before! 

10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson 

This was one of the essay novels we (my english group) discussed for my GCSE class when I was 15/16 years old. When I came across it in Grimsby the other month I just knew I had to re-read it. 

When I realised that it was actually The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and other stories I downloaded the audible copy soon after. 

Honestly, a very good listen. The narrator had a similar accent to the characters that were in the story, it was very easy to get pulled into, and it never felt too wordy, despite when it was written.

I do think this might have been the shorter version, and I'm quite tempted to try and find the full physical at some point. 

Okay! Those are all the books I read this month! I'm extremely happy with how this month has gone and I'm very much hoping for a just as successful one in February! 

I hope you have a wonderful day, feel free to comment as usual, and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeee! 

-Abi xxxx