I can’t believe today is already the last day of Pride month. I went to my first Pride parade ever and had a great time. I was very overwhelmed by the reality of it and I got emotional at how everyone was allowed to be themselves and proud of who they are. I know it was a privilege to be able to go and that there was even a parade and I don’t take it for granted. It made me grateful for the growing visibility of books written by queer others or featuring queer characters, that are as important as ever. So, without further ado, here are some of my favourite books with transgender representation where the characters also happen to be people of color.
I think Cemetery Boys is one of the first books with a trans character and also a trans author that I have ever read. I instantly fell in love with Yadriel and his chaotic ghost, the themes of belonging, loss and family and the healthy dose of culture and tradition present in the book.This was both a love letter to queer teenagers as well as Latinx culture. The story had so many different layers which made it as enjoyable as it was. It was action-packed, had solid plot and tackled important topics. I will always recommend it. This book wonderfully alternated between fun, sad, and emotional moments and it had a healthy dose of everything. I also would like to say that I get spooked very easily and that based on the synopsis I wouldn’t have gravitated towards this story but the author wrote this book wonderfully and I am so happy I gave it a chance. I cannot recommend this enough.
This is the customary “how is it December 31st already??” but…I still can’t believe how quickly time flies. This year was very weird, special, exciting and overwhelming but the best part is that I connected with so many people within the book community and I will always be grateful for that. So to anyone who has ever liked, commented or visited my little corner of the internet, thank you so much! I really appreciate you β€οΈ.
Since these blogmas posts are slowly turning into “favourite books of the year” posts, I thought I would share some of my favourite books containing some of my favourite tropes i.e the fake dating and marriage of convenience tropes!
I judge books by their covers. There, I said it. While it isn’t my only criterion for picking up a book, beautiful covers are a big factor into my choosing of a book! This is a little bit of a shorter post but I wanted to show you my favourite covers of books that I read in 2021 or that came out in 2021.
Hello lovelies! I am back with a review of a book that changed my life. Nothing more, nothing less!
Title: Always Only You(Bergman Brothers #2)
Author: Chloe Lise
Synopsis: Always Only You is an opposites-attract, forbidden love sports romance about a nerdy, late-blooming hockey star, and his tough cookie coworker who keeps both her soft side and her autism diagnosis* to herself. Complete with a meddling secretary, tantric yoga torture, and a scorching slow burn, this standalone is the second in a series of novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.
*This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.
5 stars: Persephone β Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. Persephone is my favourite goddess because she is full of contradictions β she represents both strength as queen of the underworld and a softness as a floral maiden. She teaches me how itβs okay to be both. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books Iβve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever.
You know that feeling when you finish a book and feel broken but whole at the same time? Where you feel like youβve stepped inside a dream and once it’s over you have to go back into your real life, deal with things and you fell very very sad about it? Well this was me after finishing this gem of a book. I cannot stress how in love with it I am; more accurately, I love this book as much as Frankie and Ren love each other, that means: a lot.
I read the first book in the Bergman Brothers series which was recommended to me by a lovely friend but she especially recommended this one to me. I absolutely adored the first one but this one made me swoon. I felt like I was going to faint because I just had too many mushy, βomg theyβre so cute I canβtβ feelings.
I absolutely love the grump/ sunshine trope and thereβs nothing better than pining in romance (in my humble and completely biased opinion) and this book delivers . I like the fact that Frankie (aka the heroine) was the grump and that Ren (male interest) was the sunshine. It was a nice change! It also helps that Ren loved her grumpy self and didnβt expect her to smile constantly, he really valued when that happened. He loved everything about her, the good and the bad and treated her wonderfully. He worshipped the ground she walked on, which should be the standard. Every cute moment they shared were the death of me and the intimate scenes they had were hot but they didnβt simply have sex (which is you know, pretty cool; good for them!) but they made love and it was beautiful. I wish I could list every moment that made me go *swoon* but the list would be never-ending; I will just say that I loved the not so ironic use of terms of endearment.
But most importantly I loved (and I mean “loved’ as in my βheart hurtβ) the representation and how accurate it was. Frankie is on the autism spectrum and she has rheumatoid arthritis which requires her to walk with a cane. And that didnβt take away or make her less than capable. I loved how she embraced it because these things didnβt define her; they just made her who she is. The most beautiful part was seeing her learning to love herself and letting others love her the way she deserved.
There were a lot of talks about disability with other characters which I think were very clever and honest. One moment that brought me to tears is when Frankie talked with another character who is also on the autism spectrum. Seeing autistic women understanding and helping each other was really what did it for me. Iβm also on the spectrum and seeing myself represented in such a validating and beautiful way was indescribable.Β I felt seen and loved. I am on the process of getting diagnosed and this book gave me the extra confidence to actually get things in motion and not anxiously waiting for things to happen. It reminded me that being in the spectrum is a wonderful and special thing and to celebrate everything that I am.
Then there were the little things that raised my expectations in a romantic partner ever higher which are really the bare minimum but which I value I guess? Renβs patience, love and care were UGH. So good. So good. I want that, please and thank you. He was very honest and loving and soft. Heβs also a redhead, an athlete and a Shakespeare nerd??? This is the man of my dreams. Honestly, the quotes about Shakespeare which were used in a brilliant way and at the perfect time took me out and I will never recover. They also briefly mentioned Kierkegaard and Jane Austen. Could this book have gotten any better? (No, it was perfection).
Always Only YouΒ is one of the best romance novels ever written. I cannot explain how seeing a woman on the spectrum with a disability being loved for who she is meant to me. Thank you Chloe Liese!
I hope that you’re all well. My sweet, dear February is behind us and it was the best month ever. I had a great quiet birthday and I read 8 books which I gave 4 or 5 stars to! So only amazing books! I also have three all-time favourites and read some of my most anticipated releases of the year so it was an overall success! I hope March continues to treat me well and I wish all of you a great (reading) month!
I have managed to read 8 books this month which is great for my reading goal; I’m now 14/70 with three books ahead of schedule. My favourite books were Legendborn, A Court of Silver Flames and Act Your Age, Eve Brown! All of these books made me ugly cry in a good an dbad way and I love them so much!
5 stars
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert β β β β β . This book holds a dear place in my heart for everything it represents in terms of representation. I have never been more drawn to a romance couple; Eve and Jacob, were *clenches fist* SO CUTE. I cried when I received an ARC for this book. I’m so so so happy.
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas β β β β β . I had neevr read this before can you believe it? I didn’t have time to reread the whole ACOTAR series so this book was a nice transition into ACOSF and a great way of remembering the dynamic between the Inner Circle.
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas β β β β β This book. This book. This book. Character development? Perfect. Female empowerment? Sublime. Love interest? To die for. I loved this.
Legendbornby Tracy Deonn. β β β β β I have never enjoyed reading a book this much in my entire life. Never. This is what dreams are my of. I can die happily, my dreams have been answered.
4 stars
The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert. β β β β .WOW a fun, cute and sexy romance! Talia Hibbert knows the way to my heart.
The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen β β β β . This was a satisfying and great conclusion to the story and i had a great time reading it!
Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert β β β β β . How refreshing this story was! A coming of age with a Black main character? Yes, please!
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas β β β β β . I read a dark! Kylo Ren fanfic once and my life has never been the same. Douglas is known for writing dark romances and I wanted to see what the hype was about. Worth it!
What to Read After Bridgerton byAnne @ The Lit Bitch. Let’s face it, after watching the TV show we all asked this question and Anne came up with a great list of books to read! A lifesaver.
So this is my birthday haul! I received many gift cards and of course I decided to spend that money in books! Since I’m going on a book buying ban, I’m hoping to read most of these in the following weeks!
Any book I should read first? Let me know!!
As I said, I had an amazing month! It wasn’t easy everyday and I started school again, but it was my birthday month and Black History month and Valentine’s Day (aka people celebrating romance novels) and I just felt so much love!! My (twin) sister and I both bought nice dresses to wear at home, we ate a delicious cake and we sang 22 by Taylor Swift the whole day! It was perfect. If you’re wondering what the white thing that’s under my dress, it’s a bad that is meant to cover my second degree burn! I tried curling my hair and this happened; I’m the clumsiest person ever. Bella Swan, who?
Processed with VSCO with c1 preset
Goals
Work on my WIP everyday. Now this is something I really struggled with this in February and I really hope I make a dent or even finish a first draft this month!
Not purchasing any book (except Act Your Age, Eve Brown)
Read at least 8 books this month
Finish Empire of Storms which I have been reading since december.
What did you do last month? What did you enjoy reading? Let me know in the comments!
I wanted to share my posts from last month on my January wrap-up but I completely forgot to do so. Instead of editing the January post I thought I would dedicate a post on my favourite posts and shoutout some bloggers who I genuinely like. The book community is lovely and I’m so happy to be a part of it with so many amazing bloggers and content out here; it always makes me thrive to do better.
Favourite posts from January
the orang-utan librarian wrote All the Positives with Negative Reviews! I thought the post was very insightful and eye-opening. There’s an endless debate about negative reviews and I hadn’t thought of all the benefits there were from reading/writing negative reviews so I really liked this post!
Phoenix @Books with Wings did her January Wrap up and it is one of the most unique Wrap-Ups ever! She does this wonderful thing where she gives awards to her favourite books or characters of the month and it is so original!
Meghan @Whimsically Meghan is the most supportive person ever! Even when I wasn’t a 100% involved in my blog and was trying to figure out how I would manage it, Meghan was always so nice and kind. She always commented on my posts and encouraged me and I am eternally grateful for her!
CHERELLEΒ @A BOLT OUT OF THE BOOK has one of the most beautiful blogs ever! Not only is her design stunning but she also has the best reviews and general content! I’m always looking forward to reading her posts.
erin @ Reading On A Star. I love how simple Erin’s blog is but everything falls into place and makes her content unique; I love her reviews, authors interviews and tags! I love all the books she talks about in her blog, and I also check out her blog for recommendations.
ahaana @ Windows to Worlds writes the most wonderful book reviews! I love the way they’re structured and how simple they are! They’re always nice to read and I really enjoy them!
SOFII @ A BOOK. A THOUGHT. pours so much into her blog and her content is so rich. I love interacting with her and she always puts a smile on my face. I cannot recommend her blog enough.
Rachelle Saint Louis@ Educated Negra. Rae is one of a kind. I love everything she does and I’m so grateful we’re actually friends. I love how she puts forth Black joy and shows Middle Grade books which is not a genre I read a lot of.
Noura @ THEPERKSOFBEINGNOURABLOG. She always reads the most amazing, inclusive books and I love all of her content! I especially like her weekly reading blogs because she always motivates me to read so much more!
LEYANIS @ THEBLOGGERANDTHEGEEK has it all! Her content is lovely, her blog is aesthetically pleasing and I just genuinely love all of her content! The fact that she’s a fellow aquarius makes it all better.
I found KRISTIN @ KRISTIN KRAVES BOOKS shares her favourite blog posts of the week and I thought that it was a lovely idea! So without further ado, I’m going to share some of my favourite posts of the week!
Cherelle has shared the 5 books she wants to squeeze in before 2020 ends. I love seeing people’s TBR and I love Cherelle’s list! She has so many interesting books on here and I can’t wait to read what she thinks about them π
Azrah wrote a post on how she annotates her books! I used to be very strict and stressed about keeping my books as pristine as ever but I’m slowly appropriating them and I think this post was very insightful.
Kirsten published a post where she shared her excitement for the new Shadow and Bone tv show teaser and I was so happy to see people felt as excited as I was!
I hope you are all well and safe. In times like these, I have never been more grateful for books and the escapism they offer. I thought I would share my “feel-good books”, that is to say, books that bring me comfort and warmth. Hope you will enjoy this list!
Long time no see! With the lockdown and confinement, I have a lot of time on my hands and I hope I’ll be able to be more active here. Yesterday I finished reading Winter by Marissa Meyer and it is the perfect opportunity to review the whole series!
If there is one thing you have to know about me is that I am a sucker for fairytale retellings; I would only read them if I could! This is why I loved this series so much. It was so well executed, smart, modern and even had a futuristic side to it. If you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend you do! And there are gorgeous new covers out so you should definitely check them out.
Anotherbookworm 