Category: bookish

Diversity Spotlight Thursday #4 Enemies to Lovers Edition

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

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Hi readers out there in the galaxy, welcome to my fourth Diversity Spotlight Thursday post. I haven’t done a post like this in a while but I’m so excited to be back. This meme was created by Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks and the point of the meme is to every Thursday feature three books that follow these points,

  1. A diverse book you have read and enjoyed.
  2. A diverse book that has already been released but you have not read.
  3. A diverse book that has not yet been released.

If you are interested in joining the meme, you can read the rules and see more of how the meme works here.

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My August in Books {#arcaugust, books read, and book purchases}

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi everyone in the galaxy! Another month has passed and it’s been a really good one. During August I’ve read a lot of books (to be fair a lot of them were short but who cares, it was still a lot for me) and I’ve also bought a few more books than I usually do. I bought a couple of paperbacks for the first time in months (instead of just ebooks) so I’m very excited about those, both to read and to share them with you guys.

Books Read in August

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Twelve Diverse Books Flying Under the Radar

Olivia Chanel13 Comments

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Hi everyone, welcome to my new blog post with a few diverse books I love but feel are underrated and are flying under the radar among book circles. In this blog post, I have 12 diverse books that I’ve read and loved, that also have less than 50 reviews on Amazon. Moreover, some of the books also have less than 100 ratings on Goodreads. I have marked these books with a star (✯). These 12 books are in need of some love, and I hope you’ll find a new gem to read and review among these.

The first four books that I definitely feel need more loving are,

 

  • Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw (✯). Goodreads & Amazon link. This book is about a fat bisexual woman of color who also happens to be a werebear and a fashionista. The ship is really cute, and I love how they play scrabble together.
  • Fragile Chaos by Amber R. Duell (✯). Goodreads & Amazon link. Fragile Chaos is about the god of war and his sacrificial bride. This ship is on fire, there is serious chemistry, and I love the entire world with the gods and goddesses.
  • The Little Queen by Meia Geddes (✯). Goodreads & Amazon link. This is a novella written in the style of a fairytale about a young queen who goes on adventures to learn about herself and on her journey falls in love with another young girl.
  • The Paths We Choose by Maria Hollis. Goodreads & Amazon link. This book is a new adult story about two girls in a no strings attached relationship who fall in love and find out that there is something more between them.

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How To Read More On a Budget ✯ A Guest Post by Maria Hollis

Olivia Chanel3 Comments

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Not everyone can buy thousands of books every year to read or can easily access a library where you can find these books available for everyone. It can be quite upsetting to see your friends reading all the cool stories while you just stare at their Goodreads status wondering if you’ll ever be able to read that one book you are waiting eagerly for. People probably see how much I read in a year and think that it’s impossible for them to read even half of what I read, but that’s not entirely true. So I’m here to try to help other readers who may live in this same budget situation. Trust me, I know how it is when you can’t find anywhere the books you want. When I was a teen we didn’t have all these ebooks options out there for us so I feel like maybe the options aren’t as clear for everyone else who is in need.

Because there are options! And I’m going to share how I get to read as much as I do now.

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Everything You Need To Know About Reading Contemporary Poetry (with 40+ Recommendations)

Olivia Chanel13 Comments

Hi, galaxy travelers and book readers! Today is all about poetry, contemporary poetry to be exact. Have you been wanting to read poetry, especially contemporary poetry, but have no idea where to start or what books to read? Look no further, I’m here to help. Let’s start with the definition of poetry if you’re a newcomer to the subject.

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language — such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre — to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning (Wikipedia).

First of all, here are some quick facts that are good to remember about poetry. The thing about poetry is that it’s an art form you can consume in any way you like. There are poetry collections about love, about nature, self-growth and so much more. There are long poems, short poems, poems written in the form of a sonnet, haiku or in free verse. The possibilities when it comes to poetry are endless. What I personally love about poetry is the fact that I find them easy to read and that the really great ones have both inspired me and made me take a deeper look at myself and my life to relate to what is being said on the page. That’s why I prefer contemporary poetry over older poetry because it feels that much easier to relate to. Because of this, I have a couple of contemporary poetry collection recommendations for you all.

To make it easier to navigate the recommendations I’ve marked the books written by LGBTQIA+ authors with (❃) and authors of color with (⬖). I have marked my personal favorites with (♕) and the free ones are marked with (ツ).

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The first six poetry collections I have to recommend you are,

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BLOG TOUR Why I Loathe Sterling Lane (Review, Giveaway + Guest Post)

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment
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Hi, readers and welcome to my blog post for the Why I Loathe Sterling Lane blog tour. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to share my review with you guys. Also, don’t miss a guest post by the author Ingrid Paulson in which she shares five rules to create the perfect prank. There’s also a giveaway, don’t miss it.

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Why I Loathe Sterling Lane by Ingrid Paulson

Publication Date: June 6, 2017.

Publisher: Entangled: Teen.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, and Romance.

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Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

Synopsis: Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy—academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s Sterling’s fault, and to protect her brother, she vows to take him down. As she exposes his endless school violations, he keeps striking back, framing her for his own infractions. Worst of all, he’s charmed the administration into thinking he’s harmless, and only Harper sees him for the troublemaker he absolutely is.

As she breaks rule after precious rule in her battle of wits against Sterling and tension between them hits a boiling point, she’s horrified to discover that perhaps the two of them aren’t so different. And maybe she doesn’t entirely hate him after all. Teaming up with Sterling to save her brother might be the only way to keep from breaking the most important rule—protecting Cole.

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Thank you, Entangled Teen, for my advanced review copy of Why I Loathe Sterling Lane. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Why I Loathe Sterling Lane is a book that really surprised me. I did not expect to feel as invested in this book and the main characters as I was. However, it did take me a while to get there. Why I Loathe Sterling Lane is about Harper, her twin brother Cole, and Sterling, the new guy at their boarding school. Harper and Sterling are opposites and quickly become rivals, constantly trying to up one on the other through masterful pranks. Things get pretty wild. However, despite this, they decide to cooperate to help Cole get out of the trouble he’s gotten himself into. I really liked Why I Loathe Sterling Lane a lot because it brought something new. The way the book is structured is unique because the chapters aren’t named chapter 1, chapter 2, etc. but instead, the chapter headings are reasons why Harper loathes Sterling. They really make you anticipate every time a new chapter begins. It was awesome.

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What To Read Summer of 2017 {Diverse Books Releasing In June, July & August 2017}

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

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Hey there, bookish people! Can you feel the summer vibes in the air? I certainly can. June is unofficially the beginning of summer here in Sweden and you know what’s just the best part about that? All of the free time, lovely weather and the big stack of amazing books you can *finally* devour. To celebrate all of this I thought I would write a blog post with all of the diverse books releasing this summer, in other words, all of the books releasing in June, July and August. There are so many of them and a lot of them are very anticipated reads for me. Do you have a book you’re dying to read this summer?

I’ve tried putting all of the diverse books I could find in this post, however, if I missed one please let me know so I can add it. The plan is to continuously update this post with any releases I might have missed. This summer is long and filled with so many diverse book releases. I can’t wait to read them all. In this list diverse books includes books with marginalized characters and books by marginalized authors, some who may not have diverse characters in their books.

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The Six Most Beautiful Books I Own

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

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Hey, galaxy travelers! Today I have a bit of a different post for you all. I had an idea a while back that I really wanted to make gifs out of my favorite books and this week I finally did it. The gifs could definitely be better but I still like the way they look (because you know, they could have been worse). I really love the book covers of these six books and their interior looks as well. There is something very amazing about a book that pulls at your heartstrings due to its beauty. A lot of these books I haven’t read but that just means I have so many great reads ahead of me.

1. Something in Between by Melissa De La Cruz

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Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Something in Between by Melissa De La Cruz is a book high on my summer to be read list. Not only is this book really beautiful, it comes highly recommended, has a Filipino main character, is #ownvoices and is supposed to have amazing romance.

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Diversity Spotlight Thursday #3

Olivia Chanel1 Comment

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Hi readers, and welcome to my third week of Diversity Spotlight Thursday that was created by Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks. The point of the meme is to every Thursday feature three books that follow these points,

  1. A diverse book you have read and enjoyed.
  2. A diverse book that has already been released but you have not read.
  3. A diverse book that has not yet been released.

If you are interested in joining the meme, you can read the rules and see more of how the meme works here.

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WELCOME TO YOUR NEW GIRL GANG {ft. books, music, movies, and tv series}

Olivia Chanel9 Comments

Welcome book galaxy travelers! Today is all about those girl gangs, strong women who support each other and deal with their ups and downs together. The other day I was listening to one of my favorite songs ever called Girl Gang and got the brilliant idea for this blog posts. In this blog post, there will be awesome girl power music, books that feature amazing female friendships and movies and tv series that show you the most amazing girl gangs you have ever seen. I really hope you’ll enjoy all of my recommendations.

I want to thank my very close friends Diep and Sue for helping me with the book recommendations. I would like to think we are our very own Girl Gang (we have a name and everything, the only thing missing is the matching jackets, to be honest). I love you girls, thank you for everything. If you haven’t already, you really need to check these two out. Sue can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and on Hollywood News Source. Diep can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Now onto the Girl Gang recommendations.

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