A lifelong reader of all things YA and books with heartfelt moments that punch you with all the feels. Currently expanding my reading interests to encompass anything that makes me feel deep and resonate with the characters
I know a lot of posts like to focus on the BEST of the best reads we’ve had in the year as a way of reflection, but I don’t want to only focus on that. Don’t worry, I will do one of those posts soon, but for this one at least, I want to look back at books I unexpectedly LOVED and those I also unexpectedly didn’t.
The “hit” books may not have fallen into the BEST books I read, but they definitely were memorable and deservedly gets the attention. Likewise, the “miss” books I don’t quite hate, but these may be an unpopular opinion or worthy of discussion.
I’m sure this one is by no means a surprise, but I rather enjoyed this Romeo & Juliet retelling with an Asian spin. The characters were delightfully complex and the mysterious ailment impacting the city of Shanghai in the early 1900s surely drove me straight through the book as fast as I could get through it.
Merry almost Christmas! I can almost feel it in the air and I’m so excited, even though I can hardly believe it’s been another year and we’re back to this season again.
I wanted to do another fun tag of sorts as Christmas draws nearer. I got this fun book tag over from Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm and thought it’d be fun to try it out myself.
Let’s see what obscure titles I can bring out, shall we?
Father Christmas: Name a book you received as a child that you treasure to this day
I grew up with a lot of classic series which I’ve raved about elsewhere (like A LOT) on this blog, including Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables and Redwall. So today, I’m choosing to go with something different. You never see me advertising this here, but when I was a kid, I loved reading mangas. I bought volumes at the bookstore and tried to get the whole series split between my best friend and me.
One such series we loved together was Dream Saga. It was the perfect blend of romantic, epic in its world building, and wonderfully illustrated. I love looking at them on my shelves to this day (unfortunately only half the volumes as my ex-best friend has the other ones but the memories still hold).
The Ghost of Christmas Past: Is there a book or series you like to revisit each year at Christmas time?
Honestly, I’m not much of a planner when it comes to reading. I’m very much a mood reader and I read whatever floats my fancy at the particular moment (and what comes through from my library). So I guess the answer is no? But maybe I will start up a tradition one year. Like Christmas Shopaholic, perhaps?
Christmas Tree: Name a series that reaches new heights with every entry
Oh boy. Series can either really go downhill from the first book or at least stay en par with it. Rarely do I find a series that only gets better with time. But one series does stick out off the top of my head, and that’s definitely the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. I devoured all 6 books in one week – it just kept getting better and better. Action-packed, the super slooowwww burn romance over the course of all the books, and beautiful world building had me flipping and flipping those pages.
Friends and Family: Name a book with fantastic characters
I loved Meg Cabot throughout my pre-teen years. Her books got me THROUGH those years, let’s be honest. But my favourite series from her is still the Mediator series because of the wonderful cast of characters. It’s got a snarky protagonist, a hot and forbidden (impossible?) romance with – well – a ghost (like the cutest cinnamon roll guy you can think of!), and plenty of bad guy ghost butt to kick. What’s not to love?
Decorations: Name a book with a gorgeous cover you would proudly display on your shelves
I adore simplistic things, whether that be in jewellery or book covers. For that reason, it’s why I want to collect the whole Love & box set and display all 3 books side by side. I adore the colours and simple illustration that is just very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Christmas Cards: Name a book that carries a great message
I will have to go with one of my favourite Christian authors, Lysa Terkeurst. Right at the time Forgiving What You Can’t Forget came out, I went through a huge ordeal with a bunch of people who deeply hurt me all together. I struggled so hard with the betrayal and figuring out how these people, individuals I considered friends, could do that to me and think they were right. I learned a lot about forgiveness – which isn’t the same as reconciliation – and what it meant to forgive in the face of such pain that cannot be forgotten or brushed aside.
Ice and Snow: Name a book that you were hoping to love but which ultimately left you feeling cold
I’ve been so happy seeing so many Asian authors put out books these recent years with plenty of Asian representation, and I always want to love them all. However, it sucks doubly hard when I absolutely can’t continue a book because it emotionally hurt to read another page. I rarely DNF a book, but I had to for this one. I don’t think I’ll write a review here but I hated the protagonist, I hated the love triangle (I normally barely tolerate them but this was by far the worst one I’ve read yet), and I don’t like overused stereotypes that may not actually represent us as a people as a whole.
Christmas Lunch: Name a book that was big and intimidating but oh so worth it in the end
Definitely not obscure by any means, but I will have to trot out my favourite book of all time at 678 pages, The Host. I remember thinking it was such a thick book to get through when I first read it, but honestly, after the 200 page mark, it just got so much better and I was so deeply invested.
Minced Pies: Name a book you found sweet and satisfying
Counting Down With You was a wonderful debut that came out this year that I hope you didn’t sleep on. The love interest was such a sweet guy wrapped up in a tough exterior, but he bought our girl BOOKS for presents. For no reason sometimes! That’s a guy you want to keep in your life. Their romance was heartwarming as they faced the odds against them being together.
Presents: What book do you wish you could give everyone to read?
Can I say The Host again? Just kidding.
I rarely heard about this series when it was being released, but my favourite of Katie McGarry’s Thunder Road series is Walk the Edge which features an opposites attract kind of love story filled with character growth and hot bad boys on motorcycles. I mean, those two things balance each other out so well, am I right? Just wanted to put this out there again that this book (and series) exist!
Spread the Festive Cheer: Tag some friends to help spread the festive bookish love
If you’re reading this, please tag yourselves. I never want to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to, but I’d love to see what your answers would be if you choose to try it out.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas and the end of the year. 2021 has both flown by and crawled through all at the same time. Ah, time, what a fickle thing it is depending on our circumstances.
With that said, a lot of my plans for the holidays have been unfortunately cancelled to continue hunkering down from the pandemic. The public health scientist in me understands it but can still be a little bummed at doing less than I had anticipated.
Nonetheless, I am looking forward to some rest and spending more intentional time with my family. Not sure if they will be getting anything for me, even though it’s both Christmas AND my upcoming birthday. Does anyone else hate having a birthday close to Christmas and only ever getting one present growing up while everyone else got two? No? Just me?
Since I know people will not be getting me books for Christmas/my birthday even though I have a ton of books on my wishlist each year, here is what I wish would be coming this year in the form of book mail.
1. The Mortal Instruments complete 6-book paperback box set
It’s #1 on my wishlist (aka the oldest on my list) probably because it’s one hefty present to gift, but I LOVE the way all the spines connect on this box set with each character getting a spine. I may have read all of these books before, but I never bought a single one so it’s the perfect collection to purchase. Here’s to wondering if this will be the year someone gifts this to me.
2. Any Karen M. McManus book to be honest
I absolutely adore her mystery writing since the very first book when it came out. And with each book she puts out, I keep warily waiting for one to not satisfy but I’ve yet to find a book from her like that. And oddly enough, I’ve never purchased any of her books so now is the perfect time to start collecting, including her latest novel, You’ll Be the Death of Me!
3. Beloved contemporaries from authors I love
I don’t always enjoy every contemporary written, but I have come to respect what contemporaries are released by Kasie West and Wibbroka (Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka). I particularly loved certain books they each put out that I keep rereading from the library, so it is definitely time I get a copy of my own so I can read it any time I like.
4. Dark academia is in
I didn’t know what this even was for the longest time but I can see the allure with releases that came out last year like Ninth House and A Deadly Education. I want to branch out my genres more and these definitely pique my interest with plenty of allure and excellent pacing.
5. Stalking Jack the Ripper complete series box set
Another box set on the list but this is because it’s always cheaper to buy together than separately, right? Plus, I don’t own a single one of this series either but I fell in love with Thomas and Audrey Rose on their investigations wherever they went. And the hardcovers box set is selling out so I’m super nervous I may miss my chance soon.
6. My favourite book of the year
I read enough in a year that sometimes it’s hard to choose just one favourite out of the bunch, but this year there was definitely one outstanding winner among the rest, and this went to The Rose Code. I gobbled up this historical WWII standalone about female code breakers and what happened to them post-war. Simultaneously thrilling and filled with interesting facts, I couldn’t put it down and I really can’t wait to get my hands on my own copy to share with others.
7. Poetry love, anyone?
When I worked at the bookstore, I developed an interest into poetry, a genre I never touched prior to that time. I could see why people connected with certain popular poetry collections such as Rupi Kaur, r.h. Sin, and Atticus. Personally, I’m tryin to make my way through collecting all of Atticus’ work at the moment and I can’t wait to display them all together on my shelf.
8. The travelling Love & Collection box set
I just found out today the hardcover box set sold out completely. I suppose the paperback box set is still very nice, but I loved “travelling” during the pandemic through the lens of this series and the beautiful stories of love and family that each brought to the table. Likewise, I think they’d look pretty amazing on my shelf, but mostly I just want to be able to pick it up whenever I need a dose of travelling escapism (I’m assuming I’ll need more for next year too).
So those are some of the big titles and box sets I *hope* to see come through my mail this Christmas. A girl can hope, right?
I wish you all a restful and wonderful holiday season! We could all use some joy to reflect on to end off this tumultuous year.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (review)
Down the Rabbit Hole 