The Pancake Book Tag – Tag Thursday

It is Thursday!! I am so excited, as it is only one more day till the weekend!!! Anyways, time for another book tag my friends! I was tagged by the lovely Kat @ Novels and Waffles to do The Pancake Book Tag. Please do yourself a favor, and check out her absolutely gorgeous blog!!

Let’s get started.

The Rules:

  • Link back to the original creator in your post (Becky @ Blogs of a Bookaholic)
  • Feel free to use any of Becky’s wonderful pancake graphics in your post, or create your own!
  • Tag 5 other people at the end of your post, and let them know you’ve tagged them. 

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens


This book has a lot of elegant descriptions and prose and I loved it. The descriptions were plenty and the scenery was described eloquently!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo


Nobody can beat Kaz’s wit and sharpness. He is very calculating, very gloomy, very dark, and is not a guy you want to mess with. He is also super composed, and smart, and I love him so much.

Sammy Keyes and The Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen


If I had the time, I’d probably re-read all 18 books in this series in one day. I really loved Sammy and all her friends and always had a good laugh while reading her books. Definitely a comforting read that I’ll be re-reading for hopefully many years to come.

I don’t think any book has given me a book hangover?

The Wicked King by Holly Black


I was happy that this book was better. I was excited for Cardan and Jude. I was nervous as the story unfolded. And I was shocked, then in denial by that surprising ending. A lot of different feelings were going through me while reading this book.

Ahahaha, can I put a whole bunch of books? Morally grey characters and anti-heroes are my best friends, so this question has multiple answers.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: Kaz Brekker and literally all the other MC’s in this book | The Wicked King by Holly Black: Cardan Greenbriar and Jude Duarte | Vicious by V.E. Schwab: Victor Vale | A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee: James Easton

And I’m going to stop here lol

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins


I was super confused through-out this mystery. A character dies, and we aren’t told if it was suicide or murder, so I was constantly switching back and forth between Theory A in which the character was murdered or Theory B in which it was a suicide. The ending finally explained everything but I was overall underwhelmed and confused by this book.

Hmm, I don’t know for this one. Usually it’s either I love the two characters together, or I don’t like them together at all. So no, I don’t think I’ve come across such a romantic pairing.

First of all, I am completely with Kat and Becky about not liking peanut butter. I really don’t. I had a PB sandwich once (no jam) and was sick all night. So no PB thank you!!

Watching You by Lisa Jewell


Now for a character I found revolting. That honor goes to Tom Fitzgerald. He and his son, and pretty much all the men in this book were repulsive. I still enjoyed it, but they were all nasty and horrible guys.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus


This book has some amazing diverse characters. There are Asian characters, gay/bisexual characters, and one of the MC’s is also supposedly part Latina.

Tagging/Nominating:

Kay @ Hammock of Books | Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads | Mel @ Mel To The Any | Xandra @ Starry Sky Books | Connie @ Connie Reads | and YOU (if you’d like to do it!)

P.S. No pressure. If you don’t want to do the tag. That’s absolutely fine. If you’ve already done it, please share the link so I can check it out! Also, if you’d like me to stop bombarding you with tags, just let me know 🙂

That’s the end of Tag Thursday! Thank you so much Kat for tagging me!! Have you done The Pancake Book Tag? Who are some character that are super sharp and witty in your opinion? Have you read any of these book? If, so what did you think of them? Let’s chat in the comments below!

Monthly Wrap-Up: April 2019

Hi friends! I hope you are having a fantastic Saturday! Today, I’m going to share with you my Monthly Wrap-Up for April 2019.

April has been a great month for me in terms of reading. I’m still ahead on my Goodreads goal, I managed to read a lot more books, and I’ve been catching up with my book tags! I also didn’t take any hiatuses, so that’s also very good! Let’s break everything down!

Books:

Covers are from Goodreads

This month was pretty good for me reading wise. I managed to finish 9 books, which is roughly two books a week which I think is pretty good. Click on the titles to visit my reviews.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell // ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A great mystery with twisted characters and a satisfying end.

Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco // ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: An engaging historical mystery with great characters, and an intriguing, yet predictable plot.

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins // ★★★☆☆ One sentence summary: A confusing, yet interesting book with a satisfying ending.

I Found You by Lisa Jewell // ★★★★★ One sentence summary: An intriguing mystery with a slow build-up and a great, yet predictable, ending.

No Exit by Taylor Adams // ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: An action-packed thriller with a determined, and courageous main character.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi // ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A cute contemporary romance with an important message.

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green // ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A painful yet amazing read with a great main character. (Review to Come)

I also had, sadly, one DNF. Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore. I wasn’t in the mood for it, so I DNF’d. However, I may try to read this some other time.

Total Number of Books Read This Month: 9
Did Not Finish: 1

Tags:

Only two. I did a third one yesterday, but alas, it was already May 2nd. However I’ll sneak it on here anyway…

The Bookish Adventure Tag (Thank you so much Umairah!)

Mystery Blogger Award (Thank you so much Meeghan!)

The Liebster Award (Thank you so much Umairah!)

Great Posts From Around the Blog-O-Sphere:

How To Request ARCs From Publishers, Tips To Succeed & Basic Etiquette – A Guide by Jenn @ Jenniely

let’s whisper // DO YOU GENUINELY LOVE THE CONTENT YOU’RE CREATING AND CONSUMING? by Ilsa @ A Whisper of Ink

#NewBloggersWelcome! Edition #10 + End of Hiatus!!! by Evelina @ Avalinahs Books

Review + Recipe: The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth + Chicken Parm Recipe! by Christina @ Recipe and a Read

Anything Else?

An announcement. Tomorrow’s post is going to be the last one that I’m doing for a while. May is going to be very packed for me, and I’m going to be taking a month long hiatus, starting from tomorrow, till June 10th. On June 10th, I’ll resume my normal blogging schedule! I might still visit blogs and answer comments so feel free to continue sharing!

I did my first discussion post in a looooonnngggg time (I know this discussion was posted on May 3rd aka yesterday, but I had to include it lol). This is my second one ever, and after the amazing positive feedback, I’ve decided to come out of my shell and do more of these! You can check that post out here.

I also reached 100 followers yesterday!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! I’m so happy, thank you all so much, and be sure to check out my mini letter to you guys here ❤❤

That’s A Wrap!

So, April was a lot better for me compared to February and March. I got some more reading done, didn’t take any breaks, and kept up with my blogging schedule (mostly). I think I did more blog hopping as well. Once I’m back from my hiatus, I plan on discovering more new blogs, doing more discussions and interesting posts (because I know doing the same thing every week is boring and that you might be tired of this cause I honestly am), and definitely doing a lot more reading.

And that’s it for this wrap-up! Thank you guys so much for reading, and for helping me reach 100 followers! I’m glad that this was an awesome month, and I’m sad that I can’t be here for May. However, I do hope you have a great month, and I can’t wait to catch up once I’m back!

How was April for you? Did you get as much reading as you wanted done? Anything you’d like to share? Let’s chat in the comments below!

WWW Wednesday #17

Hey friends and welcome to WWW Wednesday! I hope you’re having a fantastic day! WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

What I Just Finished:

All covers are from Goodreads unless stated otherwise

I finished Into The Water last week and was a little stumped about how to rate it. Through-out the story I was really confused, but the ending was great. I eventually gave it 3 out of 5 stars. You can read my review here.

I finished The Restaurant Critic’s Wife over the weekend and I am so glad I read it. Reading about Lila’s adventures as a new mother of two while being the wife of a very anonymous restaurant critic was hilarious and a breath of fresh air for me.

What I’m Currently Reading:

I’m almost 30% in to I Found You and I’m loving it so far. I have a few theories about how the stories ties together, but we’ll see!

What I Plan to Read Next:

My library copy has come through, so next, I shall be reading Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore! I have read a lot of amazing reviews that praised this book, so I really hope I enjoy this one.

That’s it for this Wednesday! What are you reading? Do you have any thoughts on any books that I’m reading, just finished, or want to read next? Let’s chat in the comments below! (Be sure to link to your WWW’s!)

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins – Review

It’s Monday guys! I hope you are having a fantastic start to your week. Today, I’m reviewing Into The Water by Paula Hawkins. This was a confusing, twisted, and messed up book. I thought there were too many characters and that the plot was messy, but the ending was great and explained a lot of things.

Book: Into The Water

Author: Paula Hawkins

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Summary: In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .


Quote: “Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.”

*Jules. Usually, the first character that is introduced in any book is the character that I grow to trust, support, and feel the most for, even if they are bad (minus those in which we read from the killer’s perspective first!). Jules was that character in this book and even though she wasn’t a great character, I was her biggest champion and felt defensive of her whenever people judged her without knowing what she was really like. She also provided a lot of insight into the other side of Nel when they were both kids and what happened for their relationship to deteriorate so badly. She, unfortunately, was the only character that I liked in this book.

*Dark. For some reason, I like really dark themed books, but not anything too heavy. I like books with messed up characters, terrible secrets coming to light, pasts coming back to haunt characters, morally grey characters, etc. This book was very full of secrets, terrible pasts, and messed up characters. It was one of the reasons why I still enjoyed the book.

*Ending. The ending made so much sense and I understood everything that was going on. It explained the twisted up plot and characters and was not very shocking (except for one part) but it was still good.


Quote: “The things I want to remember I can’t, and the things I try so hard to forget just keep coming.”

*What is going on here? I was confused throughout this story until the end, and even then there were times when I was utterly lost. The plot was so complex and it would have really helped to know whether Nel had committed suicide or had been murdered. Just when I’d decided that maybe she’d committed suicide, somebody would pop up and tell us something new which would make me erase my theory. The same happened when I thought that she might have been murdered.

*Too many characters. Someone else mentioned that they felt very sorry for anyone who happened to listen to an audio-book of this, and I agree. There were waaayyy too many POVs going on. It was hard to keep track of how each person fits into the story. Every time I started a new chapter, I had to go back to check who and when this person was narrating. It was frustrating and added to my confusion.

*Slow. The first around 50 to 60% was slow. Nothing was happening, we were getting background information, getting introduced to the many characters, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I put it down for a day, and then picked it up and forced myself to finish it. The last third was thankfully a lot more quick paced and was more of a thriller than the rest of the book.


Quote: “Anything was possible. When you hear hooves you look for horses, but you can’t discount zebras.”

In the end, I was kind of relieved to finish this, and to find out what exactly was going on and who was responsible. It was a confusing, yet interesting read, and I would recommend it, but with the warnings mentioned above. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!

One sentence summary: A confusing, yet interesting book with a satisfying ending.

Overall, 3 stars.

★★★☆☆

Have you read Into The Water? What did you think? I’ve been contemplating giving The Girl On The Train a second chance. Do you think it’s worth it? Let’s chat in the comments below!

WWW Wednesday #16

Hello and welcome to WWW Wednesday! I hope you’re having a fantastic day! WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

What I Just Finished:

All covers are from Goodreads unless stated otherwise

Last week, I finished Watching You and really enjoyed it! You can find my review here. I also finished Stalking Jack The Ripper over the weekend, and I also enjoyed it! My review will be up on Friday!

What I’m Currently Reading:

I borrowed Into The Water two days ago. I started it, but put it aside. So far, it’s okay, but I’m not really into it.

What I Plan to Read Next:

I totally forgot that I wanted to read The Restaurant Critic’s Wife, but that’s what I plan on getting to next! My library copy of I Found You has also come in, and since I really enjoyed Watching You, I’m excited to start this!

That’s it for this Wednesday! What are you reading? Do you have any thoughts on any books that I’m reading, just finished, or want to read next? Let’s chat in the comments below! (Be sure to link to your WWW’s!)