Books. Cats. Nonsense.
It may be cold, windy, rainy, and unpleasant outside, but it's Friday! Thank goodness. Life has been so hectic lately, but I've still managed to sit down and read, as well as get some things scheduled in here. That hasn't left much room for free time though, oh well.
So if you read my review of The Cruel Prince last year, you may recall that I was not hugely impressed. Fae books don’t often work for me, and while I liked The Cruel Prince more than the other fae books I've read, I thought it was a great, big mess of a book with a great ending. Despite this, I still wanted to read The Wicked King. You guys, I’m so glad I gave this book a chance! If you liked the insane ending of The Cruel Prince, you’re going to love this book because it keeps that same energy going.
Happy Friday! This week has had lots of ups and downs, and I’m so glad it is Friday. It has been a great week for books, in contrast to the first few weeks of the year when I was really struggling to finish things and didn’t love the books I had read. I participated in our second instalment if the Off the Grid readathon and managed to read most of the TBR I set for myself! In addition, the TBR I set was amazing because they’re all 4.5-5 star reads.
Happy Friday! It has been a roller coaster of a week and while I’ve been reading loads, I didn’t manage to finish anything (I shall explain in a moment). Things might get a little erratic here on the blog as Scottish Fiance and I get all of the planning wrapped up for our wedding (just over four weeks to go!) and chase down RSVPs, but try not to miss me too much!
One week until Christmas! ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS! I feel like the holidays can’t come quickly enough. Also, how is it still so busy? It is truly a mystery. Despite my absolute love of the holidays, I feel like I haven’t been Christmassy enough this year. Perhaps that will change next week! Now on to this week in books!
I rarely read contemporary YA -- in fact, I have only read five contemporary YA books this year -- but somtimes one really catches my eye. This was the case with A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Tahereh Mafi’s semi-autobiographical novel of life as an American Muslim teen one year after 9/11. Having read and loved books like The Hate U Give and I Am Thunder, I know that my interest in contemporary YA tends to lean toward books that deal with social issues and let you walk in another person’s shoes.
I was so excited to hear that Empress of All Seasons was being published in the UK -- an all-girl contest to win the hand of the emperor’s son set in a Japanese-inspired world? Sign me up. I tumbled into the story right away and really enjoyed it -- it features strong feminist themes, trope inversion, and some incredibly badass women.
