Always Me

          Happy Saturday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in September for the  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia , an additional challenge to  G. @ Book Roast 's  Magical Readathon .  You can see my full tbr  here .  Without further ado, check out my mini review below. ❋  ❋  ❋  League of Liars  ( The League of Liars  #1) by Astrid Scholte  is a solid YA fantasy mystery thriller, but it doesn't quite manage to live up to the premise.  It's been compared to Six of Crows so of course my expectations were fairly even though I read a lot of mixed reviews.  I would definitely consider this much more of a courtroom drama in a fantasy setting than a heist.  It's a little overlong and repetitive as well, but that said the world-building elements are pretty fascinating.  I see that there is a planned sequel on the horizon, but I don't think I'm interested in it enough to come back into this world. My review is also on Goodreads . Ar

  Happy Saturday everyone!  Today, I thought I'd share my reading plans for the month of October.  I plan on reading a bunch of spooky books all month throughout the month to get prepared for Halloween!  I don't know if I'll be able to read all of these, but I think I've got a great tbr anyway.  I also plan on checking out some cool movies for this year's round of Hooptober over on Letterboxd - you can check out my watchlist  here . Without further ado, let's get to the reading material: Blood Riders by Michael P. Spradlin  - I spotted this at a thrift store and I thought it sounded like a pretty cool steampunk horror western. Daphne by Josh Malerman - I've seen some mixed reviews for this, but I'd still like to try it given how much I liked Bird Box. Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano - This sounds really cool and just look at that cover design! Empire of the Vampire ( Empire of the Vampire #1) by Jay Kristoff - I've had this sitting on my shelf for w

  Happy Friday everyone and welcome to my eighth 2023 Popsugar Reading Challenge update with mini reviews!  In September, I read 2 books for a total of 46 books completed out of 50 books. for the  2023 Popsugar Reading Challenge . I've made some great progress!  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in September: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋ The Company Man  by Robert Jackson Bennett  is probably actually closer to a 3.5 than a 4 for me but I rounded up.  Even though this might be my least favorite of this author, I still enjoy having any chance to read his work because his style really jumps off the page.  I love his blend of old-school noir and steampunk.  I need to get caught up on all of Bennett's work. My review is also on Goodreads . ❋   ❋  The Pure Land  by Alan Spence  is based on the real life figure of Thomas Blake Glover.  He had an interesting life (given that he's linked to Madama Butterfly and Miss Saigon ), but with this novel I'm not sure if I was supposed

                On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Mythothon  books,  We Are Not From Here  by Jenny Torres Sanchez .  I've only heard great things about this and I'm really looking forward to it. Beginning:  When you live in a place like this, you are always planning your escape. 56:  A glow

  Happy Thursday everyone!  I hope everyone's been doing well.  I know I say something like this every month, but how is it the end of the month already?  Anyway, I've now competed eighteen tasks of  Book Riot's 2023 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed this month required me to r ead  a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover and a  YA book by an Indigenous author   and I selected  Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World  by Mark Kurlansky  and  Hunting by Stars  ( The Marrow Thieves  #2) by Cherie Dimaline  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋ Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World  by Mark Kurlansky  is a book that I just happened to spot at my local library and I knew I had to give it a try since I'm interested in microhistories.  Honestly, I wouldn't have expected a book about cod to be so interesting!  I was definitely the most interested in the history of the f

  Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Secondary/ Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book, but instead I decided to focus on Secondary Movie Characters Who Deserve Their Own Movie instead.  I did a similar list back in 2021 as well if you'd like to check that one out here as well.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: Haewonmak from Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) Lord Rollo from  Catherine Called Birdy (2022) Adam Warlock from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3  (2023) Inspector Tokura from High and Low (1963) Clopin from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Geoffrey Chaucer from A Knight's Tale (2001) Conductor 71 from A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Ardeth Bay from  The Mummy (1999) Abu from The Thief of Bagdad (1940) Simon from A Town Called Panic (2009) Have you seen any of these movies?  Who are some of your secondary characters?  As always

  Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. Happy Monday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting a couple of songs from  Hannah Jadagu .  I've just started hearing her on the radio quite a bit recently and I think I've got a new must listen to artist.  Give a listen to Lose and What You Did : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

                On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Mythothon  (and  Magical Readathon: Orilium - Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia ) books,  League of Liars  ( The League of Liars  #1) by Astrid Scholte .  This just looks so tempting, doesn't it! Beginning:  "Becoming a criminal is a

  Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books On My Fall 2023 TBR.  Without further ado, here are the books I'm looking forward to reading this October and December: Ace of Spades  by Faridah Abike-Iyimide Bella Poldark  ( The Poldark Saga  #12) by Winston Graham Bookshops & Bonedust ( Legends & Lattes #0) by Travis Baldree Catch-22  ( Catch-22  #1) by Joseph Heller Chaos Terminal ( The Midsolar Murders #2) by Mur Lafferty Deathless Divide  ( Dread Nation  #2) by Justina Ireland   Little Brother  ( Little Brother  #1) by Cory Doctorow Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime  by Candace Fleming Vampires of El Norte  by Isabel Canas Vengeance of the Pirate Queen ( Daughter of the Pirate Queen #3) by Tricia Levenseller What books are you looking forward to reading this Fall?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!