Showing posts with label to be read. Show all posts
Showing posts with label to be read. Show all posts

17 Nov 2022

We Can(ada) Read: Friends of Word on the Street Read-a-Thon TBR + Donation Link!

17 November 0 Comments

We Can(ada) Read is by Canadians for EVERYONE to learn more about some amazing Canadian authors!

About the Event

This year The Word On The Street team is celebrating Giving Tuesday by hosting its first-ever Friends of WOTS Read-A-Thon! 

The Word On the Street has always believed that stories connect us and that is exactly what they aim to do. Participants will raise funds that will go directly to provide the foundational and ongoing support we’ll need to champion reading and writing in Canada this year! 

You can donate to my campaign here: https://www.canadahelps.org/me/nHZAEvWq

What I'll Be Reading

About The Word on the Street Toronto

The Word On The Street Toronto is an annual celebration of storytelling, ideas and imagination, hosting Canada’s largest FREE book and magazine festival, and promoting great books by Canadian and Indigenous authors year-round. Since 1990, WOTS Toronto has animated the city's streets and celebrated the stories that connect us with diverse and inclusive programming while championing literacy for readers of all ages. To learn more, visit their website.

When's the last time you participated in a Read-A-Thon?

3 Jan 2020

#Discussion: 2020 Reading Goals

03 January 0 Comments

Check out my 2019 Wrap up to learn more!

Last year didn't quite go as planned in terms of reading. I thought I would have more time than I did but so much of my life changed in the second half of the year! This year I want to be more purposeful and intentful with what I read - not just grabbing any book to fill a quota of what needs to be read because I have to reach my goal. 

I've been doing a lot of reflecting on what I want out of my blog and my future life. I want to have fun features and be mindful of the books I read, love, and promote to my audience. In the same breath, I want to monetize in a smarter and more efficient way. I want to make sure the partnerships I'm entering into are beneficial for me, and you as my audience.

Reading Goals


  1. Read 10 books
  2. Read as much diverse fiction as possible
  3. Read more f/f romance novels
  4. Read more poetry
  5. Read more graphic novels and comics

Blogging Goals

  1. Foster paid partnerships to showcase the value of book bloggers
  2. Create two new features that highlight books I adore
  3. Post as often as I feel comfortable with
  4. Expand into other areas of interest for me (video games, podcasts, home design, cooking, etc.)
  5. Be more mindful of who my audience is and what they want to read
And that may change over the course of the year and that's totally okay! I just hope you're willing to come along with me.

What are some of your reading goals this year?

28 Jun 2019

#Discussion: Long Weekend TBR!

28 June 1 Comments

Long Weekend TBR!

I'm still behind on my Goodreads challenge and just haven't had the spoons to read after I come home from work. But I have a long weekend coming up and I am planning on getting at least five books read! I'm going to hopefully knock out a couple of the books I listed in My Next Five Reads but I also know I want to get to a few others based on my mood.
Long weekend TBR banner

THE DRAGONS OF NOVA

Author: Elise Kova
Series: Loom Saga #2
Source: Purchased from TBD
Publisher: Keymaster Press
Publication Date: July 11, 2017

Read my Review of THE ALCHEMISTS OF LOOM!


Summary:
Cvareh returns home to his sky world of Nova with the genius crafter Arianna as his temperamental guest. The mercurial inventor possesses all the Xin family needs to turn the tides of a centuries-old power struggle, but the secrets she harbors must be earned with trust -- hard to come by for Ari, especially when it comes to Dragons. On Nova, Ari finds herself closer to exacting vengeance against the traitor who killed everything -- and everyone – she once loved. But before Ari can complete her campaign of revenge, the Crimson Court exposes her shadowed past and reveals something even more dangerous sparking between her and Cvareh.

While Nova is embroiled in blood sport and political games, the rebels on Loom prepare for an all-out assault on their Dragon oppressors. Florence unexpectedly finds herself at the forefront of change, as her unique blend of skills -- and quick-shooting accuracy -- makes her a force to be reckoned with. For the future of her world, she vows vengeance against the Dragons.

Before the rebellion can rise, though, the Guilds must fall.
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WE HUNT THE FLAME

Author: Hafsah Faizal
Series: Sands of Arawiya #1
Source: Indigo Book Box
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: May 14, 2019

Summary:
People lived because she killed.
People died because he lived.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. 

Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, We Hunt the Flame is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.
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THE REST OF THE STORY

Author: Sarah Dessen
Series: N/A
Source: Indigo Book Box
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: June 4, 2019

Summary:
Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.

When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.

Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.

For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?
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What books are on your TBR?

10 Jun 2019

#Discussion: My Next Five Reads

10 June 0 Comments

My Next Five Reads

Yikes y'all. I went from being 14 books ahead of my Goodreads challenge to being 2 books behind. These last few months have been so hectic in terms of work and other responsibilities. Although I'm not really complaining because I know how important it is for me to do the work I'm doing, but it does make me sad that I haven't been able to read as much. So I am committing myself to these five books...
My Next Five Reads banner

SORCERY OF THORNS

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson coverAuthor: Margaret Rogerson
Series: N/A
Source: Indigo
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: June 4, 2019

Summary:
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
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What I'm Excited For...

This is the Indigo Staff Pick of the Month for June, so thank you to Indigo for sending it my way! I am looking forward to seeing the magic and libraries and everything else! I have heard such good things about this one and I want to get to it ASAP.

THESE WITCHES DON'T BURN

Author: Isabel Sterling
Series: These Witches Don't Burn #1
Source: ARC via Publisher
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: May 28, 2019

Summary:
Hannah's a witch, but not the kind you're thinking of. She's the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she's ever caught using it in front of a Reg (read: non-witch), she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. 

But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica.

While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.
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What I'm Excited For...

A mix of everything I want in a book, I cannot wait to start reading this one! Plus, Isabel made it sound amazing in my interview with her so I can't wait to check it out.

WILDER GIRLS

Author: Rory Power
Series: N/A
Source: ARC via Publisher
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 9, 2019

Summary:
It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
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What I'm Excited For...

The plot of this one has intrigued me from day one (aka the day I read the summary) so I am super excited to pick it up! There are a list of trigger warnings on the author's website so please take care while reading.

KINGSBANE

Author: Claire Legrand
Series: Empirium #2
Source: ARC via Publisher
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: May 21, 2019

Summary:
In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Furyborn, two queens, separated by a thousand years, connected by secrets and lies, must continue their fight amid deadly plots and unthinkable betrayals that will test their strength—and their hearts.

Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Meanwhile, to help her prince and love Audric protect Celdaria, Rielle must spy on the angel Corien—but his promises of freedom and power may prove too tempting to resist.

Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity's long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana's power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother's power, or rejecting it forever.
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What I'm Excited For...

I absolutely loved FURYBORN and everything about it so I was super excited for the sequel. I should have picked this one up a while ago but I just never got to it before release day so now I am going to read it ASAP! I don't want to be too far behind or be spoiled.


AREA X: THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY

Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Series: Southern Reach #1-3
Source: Borrowed from my boyfriend
Publisher: FSG Originals
Publication Date: November 18, 2014

Summary:
Annihilation is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, Authority is the second, and Acceptance is the third.

Area X—a remote and lush terrain—has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.

After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach—the secret agency that monitors these expeditions—is in disarray. In Authority, John Rodriguez, aka “Control,” is the team’s newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that.

It is winter in Area X in Acceptance. A new team embarks across the border on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown—navigating new terrain and new challenges—the threat to the outside world becomes more daunting. The mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound—or terrifying.
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What I'm Excited For...

My boyfriend gave this to me to borrow and read because he wants to discuss it after I finish reading (so cute) so I am working my way through this one. It is the complete trilogy of work so I will have three books done in one!


What books are on your TBR?

28 Nov 2017

#SapphicAThon TBR + #Interview with JULIA EMBER, author of THE SEAFARER'S KISS!

28 November 0 Comments
Hey guys! I am so glad to be back in the blogging world and I will have a bit of free time at the end of December so I am going to participate in #SapphicAThon! It is a readathon where the feature is f/f relationships being the centre of the book. It runs from December 14th to December 28th so you can ask for some of these books for Christmas and have time to read them after! You can learn more by reading the original post which has recommendations for each of the challenge categories.

My plan is to try and fill up the whole card using a different book for each category, but we shall see how much progress I make. Below are the challenge categories and what I plan to read for each of them with buy links!

Also, as a special treat, there is an interview with Julia Ember who is the author of THE SEAFARER'S KISS, one of the books I'm reading for the readathon! Learn more about her books, writing process, and more in the interview below!




Bisexual MC

QUEENS OF GEEK

Author: Jen Wilde
Series: N/A
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: March 14, 2017

Summary:
Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.


Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.

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SFF F/F

THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS

Author: Emily Skrutskie
Series: The Abyss Surrounds Us #2
Source: eARC via Publisher
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: April 18, 2017

Summary:
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart. 

But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect?


Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?

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