Mini Book Reviews: Two Fluffy, Summer Romances—except not quite

Ahh, summer.

It’s the season for short, fluffy romances you can indulge in while being b u r n t a l i v e by the sun. Ahh.

I haven’t read too many romances this summer, or this entire year for that matter. In fact, the two novels I’m about the review in this post are the only books I’ve read from the genre in the past few months. Maybe I’m growing old and bitter, or maybe it’s just the mood reader in me kicking in ~~(may-haps both?)~~.

I think what I like more than summer romances now though are books that are marketed as such, but actually place more emphasis on other plot-lines. That’s what these two stories have in common and why I enjoyed them. So, here are two fluffy, (sort-of) summer romance reviews:

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Non-Bookish Favorites of 2019 (Part One) // from internet links to trips!

I’m in a reading slump.

This time it’s not because I’m not interested in reading or haven’t been able to start a good book (I’ve actually been reading Feed by Mira Grant on and off for the past two weeks, and I really like it so far!). Lately, I’ve been more interested in other hobbies and life things ~~(cause binge-watching TV shows is totally a hobby)~~.

¡FUN GAME! take a shot every time you read “bookish” 🥂 in this post!!

Since I haven’t been in the bookish mindset, I thought it would be fun to share some of the non-bookish things I’ve been enjoying this year. If you’re like, “ᴛʜɪs ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ sɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ғᴏʀ, ʙᴇʟʟᴇ—ɪ ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴏᴄʀᴇ, ɪʀʀᴇɢᴜʟᴀʀʟʏ–sᴄʜᴇᴅᴜʟᴇᴅ ʙᴏᴏᴋɪsʜ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ sᴄʀᴏʟʟ ᴘᴀsᴛ!,” then let me redirect you to My Favorite Books of 2019 (Part 1) post ~~(also, friend, that was so aggressive and unnecessary~~ 😭).

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Book Review: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier // two stars for fantasy and time travel

Title: Ruby Red

Author: Kerstin Gier

Published: May 10, 2011

Pages: 324

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Ruby Red is the first book in the Edelstein series. It follows sixteen year-old Gwyneth who unexpectedly replaces her cousin Charlotte in a secret time travel society when it’s discovered that she has the female time traveling gene, not Charlotte. After being kept out of the loop of the society’s mysteries all her life, Gwyneth has to learn what the rules are of time traveling and her duties as a time traveler. She’s not alone in learning as she has Gideon, the obnoxious male equivalent of Gywenth from another family, to help her learn the ropes of time travel.

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My Favorite Books of 2019 (Part 1)

Happy Fourth of July to all my U.S.A. readers!

We’re well past this year’s halfway mark, and with that, I’m happy to announce that I’m actually ahead of my Goodreads Reading Challenge of reading fifty books in 2019. This time last year I was flailing around, trying to catch up with my annual reading goal by hosting a personal Post-Mid Year Freak out Read-a-thon. It seems that the same strategy I usually employ to catch up on my reading goal—picking shorter books and reading contemporary fluff—helped put me ahead of schedule. Ultimately though, it was the huge chunks of time I’ve had being in the waiting since I graduated combined with a streak of great book recommendations that allowed me to stay on top of the challenge.

It’s time to pay it forward by highlighting the best of the great book recommendations that I read. Here are my favorite books of 2019 (so far):

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Why I Have Never Requested An ARC

**One of the perks of being a book blogger is that it *automatically puts you in the running to receive an ARC, or advanced readers copy.**

ARCs are “almost-complete” versions of books that publishers send to reviewers to promote the title and gain feedback. This practice isn’t only advantageous to the publishers as the book reviewers literally get FREE books to read (and review) ahead of everyone else. It’s certainly one way to set your book blog apart (although ARC reviews aren’t incredibly uncommon in the blogosphere).

Here’s where I retract my earlier wording. Being a book blogger doesn’t “automatically” put you in the running to receive an ARC. At least when you first start out, you have to put in the time and work to request the title from a publisher which can be done through multiple avenues.

While the idea of receiving a free book is certainly enticing, I still haven’t requested an ARC after three years of blogging for these reasons:

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The Versatile Blogger Award

This is different.

Pun intended.

I haven’t been nominated for an award since The Sunshine Blogger Award, so thank you Hannah from But First, Fiction for nominating me! It took a while, but I finally got around to doing this post 😁.

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5 Books That Would Make Good Video Games

**Book to movie adaptations are cool and everything, but what about book to video game adaptations?**

Even cooler. Imagine running, jumping, and interacting with the characters you read about on a paperback. Sure, you aren’t physically doing all those things—it’s your thumbs on the game controller doing the bulk of the action. But, being able to see and hear a world you could only conjure in your head, even if it’s only from a device, is an enterprise worth marveling. Here are five books I think would make good ~~(if not great)~~ video games:

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Is Your Blog A Secret?

Only a few of my closest friends and family know about my book blog.

I don’t go out of my way to hide it from people—I’ll admit to having one if someone asks—but it’s also something I don’t advertise. It’s not that I’m ashamed of it, I just prefer to keep it on the DL. I’ve narrowed my reasons for keeping my blog a ~leetle~ secret down to two, quick points that maybe you can relate to:

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Mini Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur // never thought I would read this book

Title: Milk and Honey

Author: Rupi Kaur

Published: November 4, 2014

Pages: 204

Genre: Poetry, Feminism, Nonfiction

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look

**Bestsellers usually make their way on to my TBR, unless they’re from certain genres I steer away from, like poetry.**

I’ve never been able to stomach poetry. Maybe I’m not good with my emotions, too judgmental, or just don’t understand it, but a lot of poetry tends to make me feel uncomfortable. My impression of poetry has been skewed by poems in Tumblr posts and Instagram captions that always seemed more cringey than “𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓹”. So, even though everyone under the sun had already read Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, I never had any intention of reading 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐬.

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Book Review: Wildcard by Marie Lu // an anticlimactic end

Title: Wildcard

Author: Marie Lu

Published: September 18, 2018

Pages: 352

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo’s new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she’s always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.
Determined to put a stop to Hideo’s grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone’s put a bounty on Emika’s head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn’t all that he seems–and his protection comes at a price.
Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

Let’s get right into it: this book was disappointing.

Wildcard was the much-anticipated, second book in the Warcross duology by Marie Lu. It bums me out that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would because I was so blown away by the first book, Warcross. The technology, asian american representation, and eventual shocking plot twist in Warcross had me itching for Wildcard’s release. Needless to say, I had high expectations—and that’s my fault.