5 Tropes I Like and 5 I Dislike

Hello readers!

This post was so much fun to write. Tropes are things that happen so much in book that become cliché. They normally get an eyeroll and a sigh, but some particular tropes are REALLY annoying, and others are actually… kind of fun?? So below are the bookish tropes I either can’t get enough of in my books and also the ones that make me want to throw the book through the window!

5 Tropes I Like

Tall, Dark and Handsome

I love the quiet, mysterious kind of love interest, who maybe doesn’t show much emotion but on the inside is burning with love for the main character. SO MUCH LOVE.

The Journey

Review: Shadowsong (Wintersong #2), by S. Jae-Jones

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Dark Fantasy, Retelling,

Goodreads / Amazon

I have received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Shadowsong is the second book of the Wintersong duology, and its tone is much darker than the first one. Here, after Elisabeth has escaped the Underground, we see how it goes six months later, as she has no news of her brother in Vienna and her grandmother goes madder and madder by the day. The death of her father is a big blow to the family, and leaves nothing but debt and pain to the family. Elisabeth cannot forget the Goblin King, her immortal lover, and there are signs everywhere that the barriers between the Underground and the world above are becoming thinner, which she hopes she can fix.

Review: The Falcon Flies Alone (Falcon Trilogy #1), by Gabrielle Mathieu

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads / Amazon

I have received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I have been in the mood lately to read fantasy, so this set quite nicely with my mood! Especially because it’s set in Switzerland and Germany, which makes it so much more appealing for me.

When Peppa wakes up, she’s naked on the top of a roof. She has an awful memory about a bloody attack and turning into a falcon – but surely that was a dream? When she becomes suspect of a terrible murder in a small Swiss village, Peppa must find courage and uncover secrets about her family and herself that ended into that gruesome murder.

5 Book Recommendation for each Hogwarts House #1

Hello!

So, I thought it would be very fun to recommend a few books for each Hogwarts house today! I myself belong to Ravenclaw, so it was a mental exercise not to put all my favorite books in that house. I had many ideas for each house, so I will do 5 recommendations today and 5 more another time, so this post is not super long!

Write in the comment section what is your house and which books you recommend for it!

Gryffindor

“You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart“

Fantasy

Anti-TBR #3: Popular books I am not going to read

Hello readers! Guess what!

On my last Anti-TBR posts, I said I wouldn’t read The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare and would probably not read Turtles All The Way down by John Green either. I have read Turtles and added Infernal Devices to my TBR. *sigh*

As usual, a clarification: this post doesn’t mean that these books are bad or that I think they suck. It’s just that I will probably not read them, for a reason or another, but don’t be upset if your favorite book is in this list.

The Hunger Games

I don’t think this book is bad at all – from what I heard, it’s actually pretty amazing and it was the book that started the YA dystopia wave with strong female main characters. Which is awesome! But I’ve seen the movies, was not terribly impressed and, by now, I’ve read so many dystopias that this one lost its shine a bit… maybe in the future if I have time to read it I will, it does look very good! I’m just not very interested at the moment.

Review: The Vegetarian, by Han Kang

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction

Goodreads / Skoob / Amazon

When I picked this book up, I expected a tale about a woman with mental illness, and how it affected her marriage and family – that is what I had read in the blurb. But The Vegetarian isn’t about that – it’s deeper and darker.

Yeong-hye is not exceptional in any way. She’s quiet, obedient, not specially pretty, and moves along her day being a dutiful wife. The novel being with the husband’s point of view, who is the first to witness Yeong-hye’s mental state deteriorating. It starts with a dream. After that, she cannot eat meat anymore, nor eggs or milk. At first, her husband tries to persuade her to stop the madness as she throws away all the meat in the fridge, but she won’t be persuaded. This act is taken as shocking and shameful by her husband and family. 

How Well Does Goodreads Know Me?

Hi readers!

So I saw this very fun meme at Fuzzy Bookworm, and I decided to do it too! The idea is to get 5 books that Goodreads recommends to me and then deciding if I will add them to my TBR or not! As a small twist to the meme, I will give Goodreads a grade from 1-5 of how good the recommendation was!

Goodreads says: Because you are currently reading Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1):

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Hummmm… I am not quite excited for another Richelle Mead book. I didn’t love Vampire Academy, and this seems to be in the same universe, so I will pass on it… (also, what is the connection to Crazy Rich Asians?)

Grade: 2

The Sunshine Blogger Award

Hello readers!

Sam @ Spines in a Line nominated me for this award literally 6 months ago (I’m so on schedule), thank you Sam!! I’m finally answering it! This is such a sweet award, and since it’s April and Summer is approaching, I thought it was a nice time to answer this!

Rules:

• Thank your nominator and link back to their blog
• Answer the 11 questions they asked you
• Tag 11 more bloggers and come up with 11 new questions to ask them!
• List the rules and show the award

ARC Review: Juliet Takes a Breath, by Gabby Rivera

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: Contemporary YA, LGBT+, Feminism

Goodreads  / Amazon

I have received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a positive surprise. I don’t know exactly what I expected from it, but it wasn’t this strong story, which left me open-mouthed at its freshness, its exploration of feminism and intersectionalism, its nonchalant gayness. I’m so here for it.

Juliet Takes a Breath is the story of Juliet, a girl from the Bronx who has just come out to her family just hours before leaving to Portland for an internship with the very famous author Harlowe Brisbane. Now she doesn’t know where she stands with her mom, and if she still accepts her. Also her girlfriend isn’t picking up her calls, and feminism is a big question mark.

The Sunday Snuggle W14/2018 #TheSundaySnuggle

Hello readers!

The Sunday Struggle will go on a break for 3 weeks after this one! The reason is that I will be on vacation and travelling, so I’ve scheduled other posts to go up on the next Sundays!

Join my 500 WordPress Followers Giveaway if you haven’t and get the chance to win books and goodies!

Riveted Lit has Nowhere Girls available to read until the end of the Month, so I got that this month and hope to finish reading before travelling:

Hello, yes, THE NOWHERE GIRLS is now up for free on rivetedlit and it's one of my favourite books so now you know what to do this monthhttps://t.co/uHB0Yi6oRX pic.twitter.com/MXZnr9oNlK

— Lia (@lost_in_a_story) April 2, 2018

I also bought this Audiobook because I’m obsessed with this series now:

Aaaaaaaaand I went bananas and rewarded myself for actually functioning like a person for an extended period of time with a bunch of books:

That’s The Italian Teacher, The City of Brass, Foolish Hearts and The Astonishing Color of After. These books are so beautiful I can’t even!! Also a cute owls-and-books themed notebook and a little owl bag.

I also created on Friday my first tag!!! Come read it and tag yourself if I haven’t tagged you!

Not many news this week, but I am quite proud of how I’ve generally been able to deal with my anxiety. Now that Spring here has arrived and it’s quite warm and sunny, my depression is quite gone. Unfortunately I think it’ll come back with the bad weather (if other factors don’t get to me first), but for now things are fine and that is what matters!