Throwback Thursday - Five Faves

Oooh, past me has reviewed some truly excellent books in May, so for today's Throwback Thursday post I decided to highlight five of my favorites. Going in chronological order, we begin with Dear Martin by Nic Stone, reviewed in 2018. This review was four stars, and I mentioned it was because I didn't think the letter-writing part of the book lent itself as well to an audio format. I'm happy to report that my Goodreads rating did indeed go up to five stars after reading the physical book. So good.

Next up is On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni, a rare non-fiction read for me. Abbas's story is just incredible, and my only gripe remains that I wish the book was longer. I want to know more about his journey!

Our last 2018 book is to this day one of the prettiest books I've ever read, The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross. It is well documented that I'll read anything with a pretty cover (or sprayed edges), and in this case the story was as beautiful as the cover. It's the first book in a duology, and I've been contemplating re-reading it recently...now that I've revisited my review, I feel like I have to do it.

Now, fast forwarding alllllll the way to the nightmare that was 2020, let's talk about one of the few good things to come out of it...excellent books. First up, Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee. This was actually published in 2019, so that sort of negates my "one of the few good things" point, but...I read it in 2020, so still counts. It's an amazing book about finding the courage to stand up for yourself and call out inappropriate behavior, AND Barbara Dee commented on my review, which still makes me swoon a little bit when I think about it. 

Our final revisited book was released in 2020, and it was very decidedly one of the few good things to come out of 2020 for me, particularly because I got to read an advanced copy. 😍 We're talking about The Cousins by Karen M. McManus, and I. LOVED. IT. This one is sitting on my To Be Read shelf as we speak, impatiently waiting to be read a second time, and I can't wait.

Throwback Thursday - 200th post!

Oh my god, it's my 200th post?! This kind of snuck up on me! Such a journey, from like two reviews in 2015 to this powerhouse of a blog. 🤣 It's also my sister and brother-in-law's anniversary, so double celebration!

On this most auspicious of days, I figured we could reminisce on some of my favorite books reviewed in April, starting with Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner and The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis from 2018. The first is a dystopian sci-fi adventure, book one of a duology, and the second is a super dark examination of rape culture and justice. Wildly different...equally excellent.

In 2019 my April was a bit lazy, but I still managed to review Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp, which really made me want more disabled rep in the books I read. Come on, publishers! Give us more!

April 2020 was a dark time, as we all know, so my reviews were a little lacking. It isn't a review, but since I'm sure many of us could use a little snuggle from our book friends, I'm going to revisit my "Books That Feel Like a Hug" list. If I were redoing the list now, there are a couple I would omit (looking at you, #6), but you can't go wrong with most of them. (Not going to lie, there are several I've been daydreaming about revisiting! Maybe this is the nudge I need.)

And now...here we are. April 2021. So many reviews to come. What literary horizons will the future lead us toward? I suppose there's only one way to find out...

Throwback Thursday - March 2019

I love reading (I don't know if you could tell), but one of the downsides to reading in high quantities is that sometimes I forget about some of the books I've read. Of course, that means that when a book pops back up on my radar I get to go "ohh yeah, that one was excellent!" and reminisce, so I guess it isn't all bad. My sister suggested I do some flashback posts to highlight older books I've read, so I thought I would start off with some 2019 nostalgia!

So...what was I reading the first week of March two years ago?

Half Lost is the final book in the Half Bad trilogy, which follows seventeen-year-old witch Nathan Byrn and a group of rebels trying to overthrow England's corrupt Council of White Witches. I thought it was a worthy ending for an amazing series. I gave it five stars, with a warning not to read it right before you have to attend a party (although that shouldn't be a problem right now!)

Ignite the Stars follows criminal mastermind Ia Cocha, scourge of the the Olympus Commonwealth, whom everyone assumes is a man (thanks, patriarchy). What will happen when seventeen-year-old female Ia is captured and her identity revealed? I gave this one three stars overall - it was really captivating for about the first half, then took a bit of a dip before the action picked back up. If I recall correctly, I read this one out loud with my husband, so in fairness if I had read it on my own and been able to read faster, I probably would have bumped it up to four stars.

It kind of tickles me that both books follow seventeen-year-olds at the head of a revolution. Somehow I did not put those pieces together when I was reading them!