Spring Cleaning Book Tag

Hey all! It's been a while since I've done a book tag and I thought it was well overdue. As it's spring  where I am and a lot of us are stuck inside our homes, I figured this book tag was quite fitting. There's a total of 8 questions (but I was unable to find the original creator's video for it). Let's just dive in! 

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1. The Struggle to Get Started

a book or series you struggle to begin because of its size

There are a ton of books and series that I could choose for this prompt, but I'm going to go with The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I love Samantha's Bone Season series and I've heard nothing but amazing things about this other fantasy of hers, but I'm so scared. On one hand, I love big books. On the other hand, they terrify me. I'm just so intimidated by the sheer mass of this book even though it actually has less pages than some books I've read before. One day I will get to it (maybe via ebook though).

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2. Cleaning Out the Closet

a book or series you want to unhaul

I actually want to do a big unhaul because I like to do one at least once a year, but with most of my books in storage I can't do that at the moment. However, Crave by Tracy Wolff is one that I am ready to get rid of. I both received and read this book in April and...I hated it. I could rant for at least an hour about all the things I thought weren't done well in this book (or you could read my review here). Overall, it was a disappointing book that I'm going to be donating or selling very soon.

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3. Opening the Window and Letting Fresh Air In

a book that was refreshing

This pick can actually be very cliche and contains a lot of YA contemporary tropes in it, but I'm still going to choose She's With Me by Jessica Cunsolo. The reason I chose it is because, when I read it this year, I had been reading a lot of high fantasy or slave narratives or other denser reads. A light-hearted contemporary that still dealt with difficult issues and real-life problems was quite a breath of fresh air.

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4. Washing out the Sheets

a scene you wish you could rewrite

I honestly couldn't think of a specific scene for this prompt, so I'll go with the broad answer of "any scene where one of my favorite characters dies." There are definitely a few books I can think of where I would like to go back and change a death just for my own person love.

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5. Throwing out Unnecessary Knick-Knacks

a book in a series you didn’t think was necessary

My pick for this one is The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson. I do want to say, though, that I can't actually remember anything that happened in this book. All I remember is being thoroughly bored. I want to do a reread of the first book and this one so that I can finally finish out the trilogy, but as for right now all my experiences with this book have been of boredom.

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6. Polishing Doorknobs

a book that had a clean finish

There are definitely a lot that I could have picked for this one but I'm going to go with Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. There were a lot of different subplots and different storylines so the fact that it all was resolved neatly at the end makes me very happy. I also just love the ending, so that could be a reason why I think it qualifies for this prompt.

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7. Reaching to Dust the Fan

a book that tried too hard to relay a certain message

I'm going to go with Forgiven are the Starry-Eyed by Christine Doré Miller for this one. I read this last year and it just wasn't good. I will say that I appreciate the fact that the author tried to tackle a difficult topic and I wouldn't say that they tried "too hard" in relaying a message about it. However, I do think that the topic wasn't handled as well as it could have been. I have an entire review here if you'd like to know more of my thoughts. It was quite disappointing to have a book tackle dating abuse in a way that fell short.

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8. The Tiring Yet Satisfying Finish

a series that was tiring but satisfying to get through

I had to pick The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare for this one. I love the story and the characters but I really struggled to finish this trilogy. The first book was amazing--I fell in love and I was so excited for what was going to come next. And then the second book happened and I was so incredibly disappointed. I was bored, I was rolling my eyes, and I wasn't connecting with the main storyline. The third book brought it back a little bit but still felt very long at times. Overall, it was very satisfying when I finally finished the last chapters because I did like the ending but my experience with this trilogy was mostly just me being bored.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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February 2019 Book Haul!

Okay, so I got more books that I expected this month. Like...a lot more. But it's okay because I'm either excited to read them or they were ones I had to pick up for my classes this semester. In total, I got eleven books in February but I'm hoping that number goes down in March. I think it will since I'm not planning on getting any March releases and I just have a couple school books to get. Let's just dive straight in!

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The first two books I got were from the January Beacon Book Box which arrived a little bit into February. The first book was an advanced copy of A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein and the second was Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer. I've heard good things about these books from people who've read them and they definitely sound like books 13 year old me would love.

The next book I got was a UK hardcover of Windwitch by Susan Dennard. I started reading the Witchlands series a couple months ago and I fell in love. I'd gotten a UK hardcover of the first book in a subscription box and I realized that I wanted my editions to match, so I scoured the internet for someone who was selling the out-of-print hardcover of Windwitch for a reasonable price. Luckily, I found one and it came in very good condition! It's so beautiful on my shelf, too.

Then I was sent a copy of Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows by J.M. Bergen by Book Publicity Services. This is a middle grade novel that I wasn't sure about but then I read the synopsis and figured that it was right up my alley. It deals with fantasy and bookshops and so much more. I'll be reading and reviewing this book in March and I'm super excited!

The next book I got was The Cerulean by Amy Ewing from the February Beacon Book Box. I've heard a lot of people talking about this book and it was on my radar for the past few months so I'm pretty excited to read it! I'm not quite sure what it's about but the cover is definitely gorgeous.

Next, I received one of my preorders of Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard that I ordered from the Good Choice Reading virtual signing. I was super excited for this because I absolutely loved Bloodwitch when I read the arc and I really wanted a signed book from Susan. Plus, there was a gorgeous art print and a set of pins that were thrown in with our orders that I was not expecting but absolutely love!

The next book I have was a spur-of-the-moment buy, which I've been trying to avoid lately but couldn't help myself on this one. It's the 10th anniversary edition of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Not only have I heard many people raving about this series over the past few years but I saw a little quote snippet and knew that I had to read it! This edition was actually one of the cheapest I found and it's so gorgeous.

Then I picked up Sula by Toni Morrison and this was for my Women Writing Women literature class. We're currently reading it and it's interesting and definitely not something I'd usually read. There's been some...interesting scenes in the book so far and I definitely appreciate Toni Morrison's creativity for being able to write something so different.

I also picked up a copy of Macbeth for my English Literature course. I actually read this for the first time in high school but I didn't understand it really. I also realized that the literature courses I took in high school were more about just discussing the basics of what happened and who the characters were versus actually analyzing the themes in the play.

Next, I grabbed a copy of I Hate You, Don't Leave Me by Jerold J. Kreisman, MD, and Hal Straus. I'm always seeking to try and understand different mental illnesses and I'd heard that this is a book that a lot of psychologists recommend to those with borderline personality disorder and those who have friends or family with it.

The last book I picked up in February was The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, which is a book I've been super excited about since it was announced. Of course, now that it's actually here I am super intimidated by how big it is, but I'm excited to read it nonetheless. I've heard so many people raving about how good this book was and I just know that anything with fantasy and dragons is right up my alley!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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