Tag: The Sunshine Blogger Award (Take 4)

I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Thrice Read! I love their blog, so definitely go check it out when you get a chance! ❤

(Other takes are here if you’re curious: take one | take two | take three)

The Rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you by linking their blog.
• Answer the questions
• Nominate 11 blogs with 11 questions
• List the rules as well as display the Sunshine Award Logo on your post.

11 questions from Thrice Read: 

What is the best part about book blogging?
The book blogging community! I’ve made some really great friends that I would never have met if not for this website. Everyone is so nice and so supportive and so friendly and this whole community makes me so happy. 💕

What is the worst part about book blogging?
Currently? It’s so time-consuming! I want to read all of the books but also all of the blog posts and all of the reviews and like and comment on everything and it’s a lot. And that’s just here on WordPress! There’s also Goodreads and Twitter and keeping up with new releases and ARCs going up on Netgalley and Edelweiss! Plus I have a full-time job and sometimes I need to pretend to have a social life??

What is your most anticipated book of the year?
WHAT IF IT’S US. I will probably die when I finally get it in my hands.

Name a book you would recommend no matter the reader.
This is such a hard question! I don’t even know! Maybe something like Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates? I feel like almost everybody could get something out of reading it.

What book has made you the saddest?
Probably Me Before You? I don’t know. That’s the only book that I remember being a true mess after finishing.

About how many books are on your TBR at the moment?
In my mind, it’s neverending. On Goodreads, it’s 140 and my actual owned TBR is 123. There’s not a lot of overlap between the two since I mostly use GR for keeping track of books that I want to buy or check out from the library.

Are you on a book buying ban? If so, when will you start buying again?
I’m always on a book buying ban! I try so hard not to buy books because, see above, I literally own 123 books that I haven’t read. But then I’ll see something I want to read and next thing you know, I’m standing in line at the bookstore with my arms full of books. It’s a real problem.

What is your favorite genre?
I’m really into YA contemporaries right now!

If you could only have one book for the rest of your life, which would it be?
I can’t even possibly answer this question.

Thoughts on Harry Potter?
I loved Harry Potter when I was younger. I read all the books as they came out and then I re-read them (and re-read them and re-read them and re-read them…). I talked about them with my friends. I’ve seen all the movies and I had all the soundtracks. I even learned how to play all of the songs! I was 17 years old when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out and I used my brand new drivers license to take all of my friends to the midnight release party. I have zero desire to re-read these books as an adult. They’re magical and wonderful and I would love to share them with my nieces and nephew and any of my hypothetical future children, but that part of my reading life is done.

If you could kill a character from a book, who would it be?
Oh jeez. The first name that came to mind was Astrid Dane from V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series.

11 questions from me:

1. What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?
2. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
3. Do you use your local library?
4. What’s your favorite breakfast food?
5. Do you have any pets? Feel free to share photos if you do. ❤
6. Do you plan out what you’re going to read next or are you a mood reader?
7. Do you prefer to buy books at physical bookstores or online?
8. I’m always looking for new people to follow, so what are some of your favorite book blogs?
9. What’s your favorite tv show right now?
10. What’s your favorite trope?
11. What’s the last book that you recommended to someone?

I nominate: Bibi ☆ Sahi ☆ Chhavi ☆ Audrey ☆ Emily ☆ Rebecca ☆ Brittany ☆ Rachel

(I think this might be the closest I’ve ever gotten to the suggested 11 nominations, also, see actual footage of me trying to figure out who I haven’t already nominated below)

 

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ARC review (+ giveaway!): Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

First things first! Somehow, the bookish gods blessed me with TWO ARCs of Bring Me Their Hearts! Click through to the Rafflecopter for your chance to win one of them! (US only, sorry, international shipping is so expensive!!)

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
Source: ARC from publisher

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom from the woods they hide in. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly.

Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own, with one addendum; if she’s discovered infiltrating the court, Nightsinger will destroy her heart rather than see her tortured by the witch-hating nobles.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his darkly handsome side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, carefree, and out for his blood. The Prince’s honor has him quickly aiming for her throat.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all.

Winner takes the loser’s heart.

Literally.

I was so surprised and so excited when an actual physical ARC of Bring Me Their Hearts showed up on my front porch! I never get physical ARCs, so this pretty much made my life. I haven’t been reading a ton of YA fantasy lately, but it sounded really good and let’s be honest, the author’s name is also Sara with no H, so I felt an instant bond with her.

I think that my favorite thing about this book was the characters. I loved Zera, a strong and sassy heroine with a whole lot of opinions. When it comes to heroines, Zera is exactly what I like. I loved the friendships that she made throughout the book! Although she and Fione didn’t necessarily get along at the beginning, I loved how close they got as the book went on. And Malachite! What a great character. I loved Lady Y’shennria’s character development. And Lucien? Is he an actual perfect prince? I think he might be.

But there were also some things I didn’t like. I struggled with the pacing, which kind of felt all over the place to me. I felt like the language was also pretty modern for the time period that this book is supposed to be set in. There was one scene where Zera says something along the lines of, “Of all the garbage things I’ve said since I got here,” and it just felt so modern and so out of place. I also couldn’t get over the internal voice of Zera’s hunger, either, which for some reason TaLkeD liKe a TeEnaGe GirL fRoM 2004??

In the end, I feel kind of conflicted about this book. I liked the concept, I liked the characters, but there was just something in the execution that didn’t do it for me. You’ll probably enjoy it if you’re into light, fluffy YA fantasy. It has a really high average rating on Goodreads (4.22 stars as of the time I finished it), so the fact that I didn’t love it definitely puts me in the minority.

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Have you read Bring Me Their Hearts? What did you think?