Always Me

Happy Saturday everyone!  I hope everyone's been doing well.  I've now completed 12 tasks for  Book Riot's 2024 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed in June required me to read a  YA book by a trans author   and book about drag or queer artistry.   I selected  Lost in the Never Woods  by Aiden Thomas  and  The Boy in the Red Dress  by Kristin Lambert  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Lost in the Never Woods  by Aiden Thomas  was one of my more anticipated reads of Book Riot's 2024 Read Harder Challenge.  I've really enjoyed all of the author's works and this one also sounded like it would be right up my alley.  Luckily, I can now say that this is a new contender for new favorite Peter Pan retelling!  I was hooked and I sped right through this.  While I enjoyed getting to know Wendy, I loved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Michael and John as well as the truth behind Peter and Never

                              On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice  ( Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books  is currently managing hosting duties), 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 one of my  Pride Month 2024  books,  Branded by the Pink Triangle  by Ken Setterington .  I already know I'll need tissues for this. Beginning:  On a cold snowy

      Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024.  There are a lot of great books in coming out in this time frame and the following books are the books that I really, really can't wait for.  Without further ado, here we go in order by release date: Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron - Release date: July 2nd, 2024 - I really enjoyed Cinderella is Dead and I'm looking forward to more YA fantasy from her. A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman - Release date: July 2nd, 2024 - I am very ready for this YA dark academia thriller! I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - Release date: July 16th, 2024 - Slashers usually aren't my thing, but I do really like this author's brand of horror. Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan - Release date: August 6th, 2024 - Doesn't this just sound cool? The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia

                    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 more recent favorites from one of my favorite voices,  Hozier . Give a listen to Too Sweet , Why Would You Be Loved , and Empire Now : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Mid-Year Book Freak Out of 2024 everyone!  I've been taking part in this since 2015 - if you like you can check out my previous posts from 2015 ,  2016 ,  2017 ,  2018 ,  2019 ,  2020 ,  2021 ,  2022 , and 2023 .  It's always great to see what everyone else has been reading and enjoying via this tag and I know I'll be adding a lot of books to my already out of control TBR.  By the way, this tag was originally created by  ReadLikeWildFire  and  Earl Grey Books . Without further ado, let's get to it: 1. Best book you've read so far in 2024. The Reformatory by Tananarive Due  - This is just outstanding - whether you're a horror fan or not.  It's especially terrifying to know that the Gracetown School for Boys is inspired by the very real Dozier School for Boys. 2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2024. Heartstopper: Volume Five (Heartstopper #5) by Alice Oseman  - This whole series has just been delightful and this is no d

                            On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice  ( Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books  is currently managing hosting duties), 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 one of my  Pride Month 2024  books,  The Jasmine Throne  ( The Burning Kingdoms  #1)   by Tasha Suri .  I've been putting this off for way too long.  I'm glad

    Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books on My Summer 2024 TBR.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: The Boy in the Red Dress  by Kristin Lambert  - This YA historical mystery sounds absolutely fascinating.  I'm reading this as part of the  Read Harder  challenge. Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer  by Margalit Fox  - This history book sounds absolutely fascinating.  This is one of my  Beat the Backslist  books. Drama  by Raina Telgemeier  - I've read other books from this author and I'm looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about here as well.  I'll be reading this for the  Read Harder  challenge. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect  ( Ernest Cunningham  #2) by Benjamin Stevenson  - I loved the first book in this series and I can

                  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 my favorite songs from The Little Mermaid (2023).  I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.  Both Halle Bailey as Ariel and Jonah Hauer-King as Eric (I'm really surprised to say that Eric is the highlight of this live action remake) have great voices.  Give a listen to Part of Your W