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February: First Date Book Tag
Hey guys, so this is a pretty old tag [dating back to 2016] but with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I figured I would dust it off and have a go at answering these questions myself. I first came across this on the Booktube channel Alex’s Fiction Addiction so if you want to see more of this, you should check it out there. The original tag was made by Kate’s Book Date 😀 In addition to this, if there’s some kind of amusing [and probably awkward] backstory I can supply to my choices, I will add it to my explanation of why I chose the books on this list Question…
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Books and Series I DNF’d
It’s unfortunate, but every now and then a book or series comes along that you’re either just not in the mood to read, or you really can’t bring yourself to finish. I hate it when that happens, and my list of DNF’d [Did Not Finished] is mercifully short, but there’s always a few. So here are mine. As ever, please don’t take offence at any of my opinions about these books. I know some of them are beloved in the YA community, and it’s always a bit of a shame when you hear someone hasn’t enjoyed a book you adore, but they’re my own opinions so please be kind! …
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Batman: Nightwalker Book Review
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu From Goodreads: Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy. The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list. One by one, the city’s elites are being executed as their mansions’ security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family’s fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises and all the tech gadgetry his heart could ever desire. But after a run-in with the police, he’s forced to do community service at…
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Moxie Book Review
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu Vivian Carter wants to fight back. She’s tired of her stupid small-town school in Texas valuing football over everything else. She’s tired of the boys telling girls to ‘go make me a sandwich.’ She’s tired of the dress-code checks which only target the girls [and totally ignore the misogynistic t-shirts guys on the football team can wear] and she’s tired of hallway harrassment being brushed under the carpet. One night, when she spies her once-rebellious mother’s Riot Grrrrrlll zines, Viv realizes she’s found the perfect weapon to fight back with. She leaves her feminist zine in the bathrooms, hoping it will help her let off steam. However, with…
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The Diviners Book Review
The Diviners by Libba Bray Evie O’Neill is too boisterous and wild to be contained by her boring old hometown. Following a crazy night of drinking, she is exiled to live with her Uncle Will, who runs a museum of the occult in New York. It feels like the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to meet up with her old pal Mabel, not to mention the speakeasies, the Ziegfeld girls and the never ending parties spilling out across the city. 1926 in New York is a dream come true. At least, it appears that way at first. But it seems like life in the city that never sleeps might not…
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The Hazel Wood Book Review
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert From Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.” Alice has long steered clear…
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The Sacrifice Box Book Review
From Goodreads: Sep, Arkle, Mack, Lamb and Hadley: five friends thrown together one hot, sultry summer. When they discover an ancient stone box hidden in the forest, they decide to each make a sacrifice: something special to them, committed to the box for ever. And they make a pact: they will never return to the box at night; they’ll never visit it alone; and they’ll never take back their offerings. Four years later, the gang have drifted apart. Then a series of strange and terrifying events take place, and Sep and his friends understand that one of them has broken the pact. As their sacrifices haunt them with increased…
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The Cruel Prince Book Review
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black From Goodreads: Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially…
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Orphan Monster Spy Review
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen A lonely orphan with a dangerous secret. Not just another blonde-haired, blue-eyed little monster. Trapped inside a world full of lies, when does a schoolgirl become a spy. Set against the high-tension, pressure-cooker backdrop of Germany in the late 1930’s, Orphan Monster Spy follows Sarah, a young Jewish girl, who is forced to flee following the brutal death of her mother as they try to escape persecution. Trained in the art of the theatre by her mother, Sarah is cunning and quick, sly and intelligent. And she soon attracts the attention of a British spy. Her mission is simple, but it will turn her into the thing she…
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Forest of a Thousand Lanterns Book Review
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao Goodreads synopsis: An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny. Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future.…