2020: year in review

Image: Karolina Grabowska

five brilliant reads of 2020 ft. queer magical books (part two)

Image: cottonbro

five brilliant reads of 2020 ft. queer magical books (part one)

Image: cottonbro

writing news & bookish thoughts & gap year plans

Image: Alena

it’s good to be back ~ ft. the house in the cerulean sea

Image: Blank Space

I’ve been thinking this a lot lately since flying home over a month ago. Even now, we’re all finding peace and joy and anything else we need to keep going wherever we can. And I realized that is exactly why it’s time to return to this blog – to this small home I created online years ago.

To start off, I’m sharing my thoughts on a book that made my heart ache…

looking back on 2018

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

2018 was wonderful & scary & intense.

It was a year of coming to terms with the things I cannot change and trusting that whatever happens, I’ll be okay. It felt endless when I was in the midst of things but here we are now. I’m going to jump right in and share the things I did this year!

5 things book lovers struggle with

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

The last time I wrote a discussion post was approximately…two (?) years ago so bear with me. Today, I’m discussing some of the struggles I’ve experienced as a book lover. So sit down, grab a drink, get comfortable, and be prepared to (hopefully) relate. 

mini reviews for books i read last month

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Today, I’m back with mini reviews of Emergency Contact and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. As you can probably guess from the blog title, I’m falling behind on writing reviews! But the good news is that I am now 7 books ahead on my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Realizing that I have less than a month until college starts (at which point I won’t have much time to read) has been great motivation. Without further ado, here are the reviews (in bullet point format because why not!). 

let’s talk about love ~ a book that gave me ALL THE FEELS

Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: January 23 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Goodreads Blurb:
Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting–working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating–no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood

leah on the offbeat ~ a book that made me cry happy tears

Publisher:HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray
Release Date: April 24 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Rating: 5 stars
Goodreads Blurb:
Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.