Resolutions for 2021, Here We Come

Want to know something odd? I'd never celebrated a New Year's Eve before last year. I'm not big on celebrations in general, with the sole exception of my kids' birthdays. In 2019 though, my husband and I decided to host a small party with our closest friends to celebrate the new decade incoming. It was a merry event, one that I enjoyed a lot. And then everything went to hell.

Flowers by Night – Lucy May Lennox

I'm really grateful for ARC sites, you know? They offer me a wide range of books tailored to my tastes - sometimes the algorithm goes boom, but we'll talk about that on a different post, yeah? - and they give me the opportunity to unheart little gems here and there. Plastic bead, plastic bead, shiny but still plastic bead-- oh hey, a pearl! Meet one of the aforementioned pearls, please.

Deadly Vows – Keri Arthur

My latest read has been Deadly Vows, the sixth installment of the Lizzie Grace series. I'm so accustomed to the world built by Keri Arthur that being back to Lizzie and Belle's cafe felt like visiting a couple of old friends. Before telling you about this visit, let me warn you --I should write a disclaimer about this somewhere on this blog-- that all the major spoilers for this book are hidden in white text, but some minor ones might be inferred anyway. Read at your own peril.

Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag

Hey, it is almost Christmas and I've been so busy decorating the house with my kids that I've just realized I've been neglecting the blog. A lot. Consider this my attempt at making up for not having uploaded any Christmassy content on time!

Witch, Cat, and Cobb – J. K. Pendragon

Witch, Cat and Cobb by J. K. Pendragon --I'm guessing it is a pen name, and now I'll be forever wondering what J. K. stands for-- is the story of princess Breanwynne, destined to marry someone she doesn't and would never be able to love. Faced with the prospect of spending her whole life stuck in an unhappy marriage, she decides to run away along with Fen, a talking cat with a big secret. Together, they run to the swamp where their real adventure begins.

Trick of the Spotlight – M. L. East

When I decided to read this book, I knew close to nothing about South Korea, with two exceptions: the movie Parasite and an undiscussed and unbiased love for kimchi. The small immersion in this foreign culture made me want to discover more, because the world M.L. East described is interesting AF. After finishing my read, I'm intrigued by this unique place and I want to read more about it, so please, if you have a book or a film to suggest, drop it in the comments.

Vaironian Tides – Octavia Atlas

Vaironian Tides (or Times, as my autocorrect likes to call it -.-) is the first ARC I scored on Booksirens, and therefore I had High Hopes© about it. Why? No idea. I've got to say that for the most part, VT lived up to them. Let's dig in.

A Wolf After My Own Heart – MaryJanice Davidson

MaryJanice Davidson is one of the reasons why I love vampires so much. Shaped by Tokimeki Tonight first and completely ruined captured by Buffy the Vampire Slayer next, a quick google search was all it took me to find her amazingly funny Undead series. The world was a dark place back then, one where Amazon didn't deliver American books on my front door, so I used to buy her novels on eBay, pay ridiculously high shipping fees, and then wait for a good month before being able to read them.

Reread Book Tag

As general rule, I don't reread books. I have this mental shelf, every story has its own place, its own label and synopsys, and that's pretty much it. Maybe I'd grab an old one if I needed a direct quote, or if New Book X was part of a series and the last installment dropped, uh, 84 years ago or something. But! Rules, exceptions, etc. I saw this book tag and it got me thinking. What wouldn't I mind picking up again, given the chance?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V. E. Schwab

Adeline LaRue is born in a small village in France at the end of the seventeenth century, where she grows up feeling that she's meant for more than living dying and being buried in the same place. She wants to be free, to be her own person, so when her family starts talking about marriage she is scared, and starts praying to the old gods. She is warned: no matter how desperate or dire, she must never pray to the gods that answer after dark. And yet she does, and this is how her real story begins.