Tag: bookish

ARC Review of I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment
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I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Publication Date: May 30, 2017.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, and Romance.

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Selling points: Diverse story, adorable characters, and a unique twist to normal high school drama.

Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: Desi Lee knows how carburetors work. She learned CPR at the age of five. As a high school senior, she has never missed a day of school and has never had a B in her entire life. She’s for sure going to Stanford. But—she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation-magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi decides to tackle her flirting failures with the same zest she’s applied to everything else in her life. She finds her answer in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years—where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It’s a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her “K Drama Rules for True Love,” Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos—and boat rescues, love triangles, and fake car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.

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Thank you, Macmillan International, for my ARC of I Believe in a Thing Called Love. 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.

My actual rating for I Believe in a Thing Called Love is 3.5 planets rounded up to 4 planets. I Believe in a Thing Called Love is an adorable young adult rom-com story about a girl named Desi Lee. Desi is Korean American and excels at school but not so much at romance. After years of flailures (flirting failures) Desi, finally, starts to watch the k dramas her dad loves so much and uncovers the secret to how the couples always get their happy ending. “The K Drama Steps to True Love” is born and Desi is sure that if she follows the steps, her crush Luca will become her boyfriend and they’ll have their happily ever after. Desi and Luca have great chemistry and banter in this book, and you’ll be rooting for them until the very end. The ship is honestly just adorable.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #4 with Rachel Lynn Solomon

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Rachel Lynn Solomon. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Rachel, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

My debut novel, YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE, will be out next year from Simon Pulse! It’s a dual POV YA contemporary about twin sisters who receive opposite results from a genetic test for Huntington’s disease. It contains protagonists who are practicing Jews, a complex sister relationship, all-consuming first love, and a lot (I think!) of moral gray areas.

I love 70s music! My mom is a huge disco fan, so I grew up around that, but as a teen, I started getting into new wave. There’s something so exciting as a teen about discovering music for yourself, digging back through the decades to find what moves you. The Cure is my favorite band, I imagine because my angsty teenage heart related to their gloomy, poetic lyrics. I also listen to a lot of David Bowie, Blondie, and The Clash.

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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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Saturday Night Author Fever #3 with Shira Glassman

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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(gif source)*

This Saturday Night we welcome Shira Glassman. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Shira, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I’m a queer/bi Jewish violinist living in north central Florida. I’m best known for my fluffy queer fantasy series, but I also write f/f contemporary romance (usually equally fluffy) and the occasional SFF erotica.  I’m a gigantic nerd whose listening material is primarily classical music (and old-timey folk to fill in the cracks), so I’d have to think really hard about which pop songs I like even came from the 70’s to begin with! I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is the amazing soundtrack of Star Wars, and then the musical Sweeney Todd. Oh! I can say this. When we performed a medley of songs from Saturday Night Fever last year at the Mother’s Day concert, I thought it sounded really good with full orchestra because that kind of music already has a heavy string presence. That was pretty fun.

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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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Maria Hollis’ Lillac Town Birthday Games – General Quiz {Win Books!}

Olivia Chanel1 Comment

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Hi everyone and welcome to this exciting post I have for you today. Tomorrow, May 15, it’s Maria Hollis’ (the author the Lillac Town series) birthday and to celebrate this, Maria decided to host a few games on a few blogs, including mine, where you have a chance of winning ebooks of her books and just have lots of fun. Over on The Book Voyagers‘ blog, you can find out which character you are through a character quiz, find their blog post here. On Lisa The Bookworm’s blog, there is a game of word search and you can find that one here.

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You can find Maria Hollis’ books on Goodreads and Amazon. Find The Melody of You and Me on Goodreads here and Amazon here. Find The Paths We Choose on Goodreads here and Amazon here.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #2 with Marie Meyer

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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(gif source)*

This Saturday Night we welcome Marie Meyer. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Marie, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I am a middle school teacher by day and a romance author by night. I have a husband and two awesome daughters, whom I love spending time with. I love 70s music! I’m dating myself here, but spent a couple of years in that decade!

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Diversity Spotlight Thursday #2

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

diversityspotlighthursday1

Hi readers, and welcome to my second 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. It’s honestly just the best.

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#BroodyBFF Challenge 1: Once Upon a Time a Main Character and her Brooding YA Hero met …

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

Hey everyone, today I have a special blog post for you all. I was chosen to be a part of the #BroodyBFF street team to promote @BroodingYAHero and his upcoming novel, Brooding YA Hero’s Guide to Achieving Main Character Status so today I have a Broody McHottiepants blog post for you. Expect a lot more blog posts about him and his book in the future. Today I’m gonna tell you the story of how I met this brooding YA hero.

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Once upon a time, a young girl* met a broody boy in a faraway land where the birds are constantly tweeting and the sun is always shining. They call this land Twitterland. This girl would follow this broody boy everywhere and love all parts of him, even the more questionable ones.

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Book Playlist for How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Olivia Chanel1 Comment

Hey, galaxy travelers! Today I’m here with another book playlist for you guys and it’s one for the amazing book How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake. If you guys didn’t know this already, I’m in love with How to Make a Wish and if you want to you can read my review here. The story about Eva and Grace is one that will pull you in and it will make you feel a wide range of emotions from beginning to end. If you want to listen to my interpretation of How to Make a Wish you can do so through my playlist.

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