I had no idea this book existed until the day I listened to it.
I found Suspicious Minds by chance while I scrolled through available audiobooks on my Libby app. The cover captured my attention first with its unmistakable Stranger Things title design, and then I read the blurb.
Pancakes are too… doughy, and they let syrup slide off the side of them like they’re not even trying. But waffles, waffles are crispy and soft, and they hold syrup close in dozens of tiny embraces because they know a happy meal takes work.
Waffles are deserving of a full book tag in their name.
Jenna from Bookmark Your Thoughts tagged me in this Waffle Book Tag over a month ago, so I thought it was high time to do it, especially with the holidays and all the sweet treat temptations rolling in.
(Thank you, Jenna! Jenna is awesome and you all should check her blog out!)
I’m excited for you all to feast your eyes on the adorable graphics made by Novels & Waffles, so let’s start:
Well, it’s not so much that I was resisting them than I didn’t have ✨ free ✨ access to them. However, I’m finally living somewhere where I have access to a public library and its audiobooks, and what.a.GAMECHANGER.
Never take your libraries for granted!
While it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, I’d say it’s pretty close to it. Here are the pros and cons of audiobooks according to a recent convert:
For the past four years, I studied in a country in Asia where public libraries were virtually nonexistent and university libraries didn’t carry recreational books. I’m originally from the United States, and before I moved, I was fortunate enough to never have to spend money on books; I always had access to a school or city library. It was jolting relocating to place where I didn’t have that luxury and made me realize how much reading is a privilege. I still found ways to read, whether it was buying books online or in bookstores or borrowing from friends, but I missed the ease of having a library with a greater selection of free stories.
You know what would have really been helpful to have? Libby.
Goodreads Description: Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family’s blessing to pursue the career he’s always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny’s lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can’t stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.
When Danny digs deeper into his parents’ past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed facade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.
If someone ever asked me what it was like growing up as a first-generation Asian American in the San Francisco Bay Area, I would hand them this book.
At its surface, Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert was a story about high school senior, Danny Cheng, uncovering a family secret. But, peel it back, and the book had so many more layers.
Once upon a time, a *lonely middle schooler randomly plucked The Graveyard Book off the shelves of her school library. It was by an author named Neil Gaiman, the same man who wrote the scariest movie she had seen in her pubescent life, Coraline. The girl was temporarily transported to a cemetery in England where she fell in love with the ghosts, witches, and other mystical creatures who walked the grounds. The book became one of her most beloved memories.
For years, she told herself that she would visit further stories by the man who penned her favorite quote, “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Finally, after a few years shy of a decade, she clicked play on an audiobook by the author in discussion and was once again immersed into a fantastical story that begun this time in… Florida.
*Lonely middle schooler was totally not me. I had level 10 people skills by the age of eleven that did not include hiding in the library during lunch 😬.
Genres, their definitions, and how their interpretations vary across bookworms have been discussed exhaustively in the bookish community.
I admit, it was never a conversation I joined in much because I did not have many thoughts about the subject. To me, a genre was self-explanatory—a science fiction book was a make-believe story about something ~ sciencey ~ and a fantasy book had magic or dragons or knights so it was… fantastical.
Ash Princess is the first book in its title series following Princess Theodosia.
Ten years before the start of the story, Theodosia’s mother, The Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes by the Kaiser—and her kingdom fell to the tyrant. For a decade, while her people were slaughtered and enslaved, Theodosia lived as a prisoner in her own palace, beaten and looked down upon by the Kaiser and his court. But after a traumatizing event, Theodosia’s heart is set aflame with vengeance for her mother and kingdom.
It appears the book blogging community has reached a general consensus that book reviews don’t gain as much views as other content.
I can attest to that, but it doesn’t stop me from writing them. I still find book reviews fun to create because it gives me a chance to form opinions on books I read and hopefully start discussions about them with others. I also find myself part of the audience that still reads and actively seeks book reviews. But, why?
Belle Can Read 