Month: April 2021

discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – What Makes You Pick Up a Book?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

APRIL 16: WHAT MAKES YOU PICK UP A BOOK? (SUGGESTED BY RAFAELA @ THE PORTUGUESE BIBLIOPHILE)

Prompts: What makes you pick up certain books? Is a pretty cover enough? Do you check for good reviews? Is the synopsis important? Do you look for diversity or #ownvoices? Do you look for any checkboxes? Do you have autobuy authors?

Welcome to another week here at LTB! I love this topic, there are definitely many different reasons that make me pick up a book, but I know for certain that it follows a pattern (even if I don’t want to admit it!)

I think I mentioned it previously, but pretty covers is a big one. Even if I don’t judge a book by its cover, inevitably it’s the first thing I see, and the first step to drawing me in. Realistically, who is going to pick up each book off the shelf and read the synopsis before making a decision? I know myself, and I usually reach only to pick up books that seem to call out to me. Alternatively, a good title is also good enough to attract my attention, usually. Of course, before actually reading the book, I also read the synopsis to make sure the title/cover aligns with what kind of book I think it will be, and whether it will interest me overall or not.

If it’s a book online that I’m researching, then reviews do also come into play. Although, I do find that in general reviews aren’t always the most helpful unless it’s fairly unanimous. If some enjoyed it while others didn’t…then how am I supposed to know which category I fall under? Or worse, the egregious “I loved everything about it!!!! 2/5” reviews. What does that even mean?! Please tell me someone knows what I mean when I say those reviews haha.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk Bookish – What Makes You Pick Up a Book?” →
3 star, adult

Review: The Language of the Flowers by K. Pigeon

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

After plunging into a lake, Lan wakes up in the body of a girl thousands of years in the future. Yet, she never forgot her promise to him.

Across space-time, “he” has the same appearance as “him”, but “he” is no longer human, and “he”… is no longer “him”.

They say love in this lifetime is a repaying of debt from the previous one.

When the rain falls and the meadows burgeon with blossoms blue as the sky, who still remembers the language of the flower, and who cannot let go?

Thanks to Asian bookish creators, I received a copy (with some special additional epilogues!) from the author in exchange for a honest review.

My overall impression is that I liked it. It was nothing mind-blowing, and there were a couple of things that I think I personally would have changed or made different. But overall it was a pretty good story, and I think I would commend the author on the world building, as I felt that was its greatest strength.

The romance itself was also acceptable. Perhaps the male lead was a tad too controlling and possessive for my liking, but nothing too egregious. As the story went on, I definitely cheered more and more for their relationship. That being said though, the timing and progression of their relationship felt weird. One moment they were at odds, and the next they couldn’t resist each other. It just felt a little bit sudden for my tastes.

The beginning was also a relatively slow start for me. Yes, building fantasy worlds take time, but the introduction of characters in this novel happens in a weird(?) way. The main character, Elizabeth (Lan), will meet a character, and then half-way as they talk, instead of using pronouns, the character will suddenly be replaced by a name (even though they never introduced themselves). This happens several times, so I imagine it is intentional, but it is a little bit strange, and I always wonder if suddenly a new character popped in or if I missed their introduction. Or maybe this is normal in some novels? It was strange for me.

Continue reading “Review: The Language of the Flowers by K. Pigeon” →
4.5 star, YA

ARC Review: Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

A reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy.
How do you make one month last a lifetime?

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to?

**Counting Down with You comes out May 4, 2021**

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this copy in exchange for an honest review

I will first say that I do not know too much about Bangladeshi people and culture except the stories I hear from a good friend of mine in grad school. What I do know is that with every culture, there are hardships and this resonated with me in so many ways. Counting Down with You was the emotional rollercoaster romance story centred around a protagonist I could root for and empathize with at the same time in her struggles to fight for herself. This own-voices story was everything I didn’t know I needed in 2021, and I am ecstatic to have found it.

Karina, nicknamed by her family as Myra, has just waved her parents off for a 1-month stay with relatives in their home country of Bangladesh. While they are gone, she finds the sudden freedom from the harsh restrictions her parents have placed on her with regards to school and social life. Normally, she had a curfew to be back from school – yes, not a night-out curfew but to come home directly from school unless she was in the Pre-Med Society meeting. Even tutoring was frowned upon unless it was for something related to STEM. So English, you can kiss that goodbye. As is already obvious, Karina struggled with the sciences and maths while English was her true passion. The premise of this story draws Karina into the path of bad-boy Ace whom she has to tutor in English at the request of her favourite teacher.

Continue reading “ARC Review: Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan” →