Spicy Pumpkin Latte Book Tag | Bookending Autumn 2019

Hello, and how are you? I hope your week has been great so far! Today, I’ll be sharing with you my last #BEAutumn2019 post. You can learn more about BE Autumn, see the rules and the rest of October’s topics, and sign up over on Sam’s page @ Sam Fictionally.

You can also follow them @bookend_events for more updates!!

Today, I’m going to be doing the Spicy Pumpkin Latte Tag hosted by the amazing Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads.

Spicy Pumpkin Latte Book Tag: Autumn is when the beverage names at the local coffee shop start to look more like a harvest produce list than anything from a drinks menu. What better way to celebrate this oddity than to do an autumnal drinks book tag?!

I’ve never had a latte, or coffee for that matter, or any of the drinks listed below. I’m more of a black tea, juice, soda, or water kind of girl. But this still sounds super fun, so let’s get started!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte: A book you didn’t think you’d love

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows.

I really did not expect to love this as much as I did. When I read it, I wasn’t really a big fan of fantasy, however I loved it. The humor, the plot, the fantasy/paranormal aspects, it was all so awesome.

I loved, G, Jane, Edward (especially Edward), and all the other various characters. They were all hilarious and I love how the authors based it on history, and then changed it in such an amazing way! Humor + historical fiction (based on history) + fantasy = awesomeness!!!

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Hot Apple Cider: A book that got you a bit hot under the collar

A Spy in the House (The Agency Series) by Y. S. Lee

This isn’t really much? But it does get a little bit more…passionate in the later books 🙂

Anyways, this still has an awesome plot, and it’s set in the Victorian Era. It’s a great series. and I love Mary and her fierceness. She’s also a new and interesting character who is different and considered inferior in her time. She’s a pretty great detective and is really determined and brave.

The mysteries are pretty great, and I finished the whole series pretty quickly. Oh, and James is an absolute darling 💖 Absolutely, annoyingly, handsomely, a bit over protective, but also super kind, and definitely a perfect darling.

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Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate: A book that felt like a warm hug

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

I really loved this book for its representation, the great characters, the food, and the writing style. It was super heartwarming to read about Emoni’s struggles, how she overcame them, her family (Buela and Babygirl are the sweetest), and her awesome friends, especially Angelica.

I also really loved the way the book was written-it felt like I was in Emoni’s head and reading her words, not just being told a story in a more formal way. And let’s not forget the amazing food in this book. There are no words to describe the deliciousness of it all. It made me want to fly into the kitchen and whip up a mess lol.

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Maple Pecan Latte: A book you enjoyed that was hard to get into

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

It took me 19 days to finally get past the first 10%. It was slow. Like, really slow. The murder mystery is interesting, Kya’s life is interesting, the back story is interesting but wow, it is so so slow, and it was until around the last third-ish of the book that the pace began to pick up.

However, I still gave it 4 stars because this is supposed to be a slow read, that is heavy on the description of the Marsh, and of Kya’s life before the murder. The murder mystery was a pretty small aspect of the book compared to the rest of it. But I still enjoyed it. I pushed myself to finish it (and I did skim some of the description), and I’m pretty glad that I did, because I eventually liked Kya and all her friends, and it saved me from DNFing. The only reason that I picked it up, was because of the mystery and the odd characters, so it was disappointing to see that it wasn’t a major part of the story, but I ended up liking the characters and the coming-of-age aspect much more instead.

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London Fog: A vanilla character

Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This was such a disappointing book. Absolutely disappointing. I hated Claire. I hated Nix. The idea of the story was okay, but the execution was horrible. This was more like a horrible Disney princess movie with a dark boy who falls in love with a girl who has never been noticed. And this girl is the most annoying character ever.

As soon as Claire meets Nix, she falls in love with him because he’s the only one who has noticed her. Hello? He noticed you because he was supposed to kill you. But obviously that’s just a technicality that doesn’t matter. And then after that, all Claire can think about is her darling Nix, and her new super powers… It’s just a horrible book, and Claire is annoying and intolerable.

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Hot Buttered Rum: A book that was velvety smooth to read

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel

I don’t think this is really velvety smooth? But it’s an easy espionage story and I liked it. Nothing super amazing, but good enough that I’ve continued on with the series.

The ending does get intense, and the court drama and intrigue is very interesting, but I also feel like it was just meh, nothing super remarkable, but pretty nice to read. I don’t really like Peggy, I wish Olivia had a bigger role from the first book (she’d make a great spy), and the drama with Sophy Howe is maybe a bit much, but it’s also kind of hilarious to read.

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Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew: A character whose temperament is icy cold

The Great Lady Sarnai from Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

She’s cruel. Unbelievably so. It’s kind of interesting, while terrifying to read about at the same time. She has no sympathy or feelings for anyone (besides the guy she loved and whom she now can’t marry) and she terrorizes everyone wherever she goes.

But she’s also sad, lonely, being used as a peace pawn, and her way of life being discarded so that she can become a woman she doesn’t want to be. So it’s also kind of understandable. But then, her heart is obviously made of ice, because there was a certain point in the book where I though she might change, but instead she was absolutely brutal.

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Salted Caramel Mocha: A book that you’re salty about

Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

This book was a mess. An utter mess. Audrey Rose completely went off the rails in this one. She stopped trusting our dearest Cresswell, and trusted a self-confessed liar and con man. Think about that for a minute. Cresswell who has been with her through hell and back, Cresswell who’s never attempted to cage her, and has always respected and admired her, Cresswell who would probably walk across a volcano barefoot to save her life, was deemed not trustworthy enough to keep/properly react to the secret Audrey Rose was trying to keep with a LIAR.

This makes no sense, and honestly, if you want to read the full rant head right over here, because the above is only part of the tragedy that is this book. It’s definitely the most disappointing book from the series so far.

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Honey Bee Latte: A character who is sweet

Jude from The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

To be honest, JLB always manages to write amazing characters, the serious ones, the destructive/rule breaker ones, and the sweet-bring-a-smile-to-your-face kind of ones.

Jude is the latter. He is eternally optimistic and he always finds the good or bright side of things. I also love him because he was there for Kira, always supported her, and diffused situations spectacularly. He’s just a super sweet warm bun who cares more about others and about their feelings than for his own. And he forgives so easily and never holds a grudge against anyone.

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Gingerbread Latte: A character you’d take home for Christmas

I have no idea? I don’t celebrate Christmas, and honestly, I’m not sure if I want to bring any character home for any celebration because it would probably end up in a disaster. An absolute disaster. It’s either they are super fun but destructive, or they are the kind to just sit there glowering and being absolutely unreasonable (and possibly the ones who someone might decide to pick a fight with, and then I have to make sure they don’t end up dead). Neither is a very good option for a party…

Tagging

Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea | Kat @ Novels and Waffles | Evelyn @ Evelyn Reads | Jane @ Blogger Books | Charlotte @ Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads

*P.S. No pressure if you don’t want to do the tag!!

This was so much fun to do, and if you’d like to do the tag, go right ahead! Be sure to link back so I can see your answers as well!! See you guys tomorrow!