• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust | ARC Review

    27th September 2020
    Cover of Girl, Serpent, Thorn (Melissa Bashardoust)

    Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust, read by Nikki Massoud

    AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

    Content warnings: kidnap, torture, murder

    This is a breathtaking and artful retelling of Persian mythology and fairy tales. From the beginning of story, I fell in love with Bashardoust’s writing and Massoud’s narration.

    Yeki bood, yeki nabood. There was, and there was not a cursed, poisonous girl named Soraya (18, bi+). She was the young shah’s twin sister, but kept away from everyone because of her venomous veins, deadly upon touch. When the shah captured a div—parik Parvaneh, Soraya knew she owed herself to seek answers of her own curse from the prizoner. And then there was Azad, a young man who understood her, giving Soraya the unconditional acceptance and love she craved the most, despite her poison. As she learned that the only way to undo her curse was to put her family’s lives at risk, would Soraya exchange their safety—a family who were ashamed of her monstrous quality—for her own human self, or keep herself tucked away for the rest of eternity?

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Best Lines by Nicole Pyland

    25th September 2020
    Cover of The Best Lines (Nicole Pyland)

    The Best Lines (Chicago #1) by Nicole Pyland

    Dr. Eva Dash has just lost her job as a professor at her alma mater. That seems to leave her with no choice but to leave the city she considers home. When restaurant owner Ember Elliot shows up in Eva’s life, Eva is fascinated by this mysterious, former player. The preamble to their connection is a napkin note that leads to more notes. As both struggle with their unknown professional futures, what will become of their relationship?

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  • WLW Wednesday

    WLW Wednesday — 23 Sep 2020 (+ A Bit of Life Update)

    23rd September 2020

    WLW Wednesday is a bookish meme among bloggers who read sapphic books. Hosted by Sasha and Amber @ Sasha and Amber Read, we are encouraged share our recent wlw/sapphic reads every week or two.

    As promised, I am posting biweekly no matter how bad my reading progress is as long as I had read at least one sapphic book. Since I am somewhat struggling to settle down after moving halfway across the globe and also a ton of brand-new schoolwork, I spent probably a total four hours reading one school-assigned book and one hour on leisure read over the past ten days. Not a great time for me, but I’m hoping to read at least one book per week from now on. I know! Compared to me reading four books per week a few weeks ago, it pains me to say that school does not grant me the luxury of reading that much anymore. But I am going to allocate “reading” time on my planner everyday, and hopefully work on time management to read and review more!

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  • banner for #5OnMyTBR
    #5OnMyTBR

    #5OnMyTBR — Classics

    21st September 2020

    Hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook, #5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme where we talk about 5 books on our TBR on Mondays. You can learn more about it in E.’s original announcement or #5OnMyTBR page.

    This week’s prompt: Classics.

    I always buy more classics than I actually read, so probably one-fifth of my physical book collections are classics by now. Here are five classics that I already own and really need to read.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie | ARC Review

    20th September 2020
    Cover of While My Heart Beats

    While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie

    CW: war, off-page deaths of family

    This is a beautiful historical romance across classes set in WWI Great Britain and France.

    Ellie Winthrop is high-born, a feminist, and holds big dreams during a time women cannot even vote. Her mother is eager to marry her off at twenty-two, but Ellie enlists in Volunteer Aid Detachment. At the hospital, she meets Johanna Lennox, a working-class, twenty-four-year-old nurse with a no-nonsense attitude. As the pair gradually become friends, they can no longer resist their yearnings for each other’s bodies. But with Ellie’s mother pestering Ellie with marriage, Johanna wonders if she, being poorer and a woman, could ever be good enough for her.

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