Day: July 22, 2018

Tag: The Supporter Award

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I was so honored to be nominated for The Supporter Award by Hamad @ The Book Prescription! Thank you so much for creating this award and for making me one of the first nominees! I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to know Hamad over the last couple months and if you’re not following him, you’re really missing out! ❤

Rules:

  • Thank the blogger(s) that nominated you and link back to their post.
  • Answer the 4 “First” questions.
  • Come up with 4 new “First” questions or just use the same ones from your nomination.
  • Nominate your first follower who is still active and interacting with you.
  • Nominate up to 4 other bloggers
  • Make sure to link back to the original post by The book prescription so I can see all your answers!
  • Feel free to add the badge to your blog

The 4 “First” Questions:

1- First memory of a story.

I think my first memory of a story is my grandma reading me little Golden Books before bed. I grew up with a single mother who worked crazy hours, so I ended up spending a lot of time with my grandma. I’d often spend the night at her house and she was so good about reading me a million books before I went to bed. Even as a toddler, I was insatiable when it came to books.

2- First book you bought with your own money.

That’s a really good question! Growing up, everybody knew that I loved books, so I was pretty well-stocked without having to buy any. I do remember walking with my best friend to the Bookworld on Main Street all the time, though. I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I’m pretty sure that the first book I ever bought myself was Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen.

3- First book that made you cry.

I really rarely cry while I’m reading. I can probably count the books that have made me cry on one hand. The first one that I remember was The Fault in Our Stars, but I think that also had a lot to do with what was going on in my life while I was reading it. I’m pretty sure I also cried at a certain part in Harry Potter, but I honestly don’t remember it.

4- First book that you didn’t finish.

I’ve always had trouble DNFing, even before I knew that’s what it was called! The first book I remember DNFing is Lolita, which I’ve tried to read at least five times over the course of my life. It’s one of those books that I should probably try reading again as an adult to see if my feelings have changed.

My First supporter:

I just checked and my first follower ever was Kate @ The Backwards Bookshelf! Thanks for sticking around since the beginning!

My Other Nominees

Thank you all for being so supportive of me and my blog! ❤

 

Book review: Running With Lions by Julian Winters

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Running With Lions by Julian Winters
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: June 7, 2018
Source: Purchased at BookCon!
Bloomington High School Lions’ star goalie, Sebastian Hughes, should be excited about his senior year: His teammates are amazing and he’s got a coach who doesn’t ask anyone to hide their sexuality. But when his estranged childhood best friend Emir Shah shows up to summer training camp, Sebastian realizes the team’s success may end up in the hands of the one guy who hates him. Determined to reconnect with Emir for the sake of the Lions, he sets out to regain Emir’s trust. But to Sebastian’s surprise, sweaty days on the pitch, wandering the town’s streets, and bonding on the weekends sparks more than just friendship between them.

So, basically, I’ve been counting down the minutes until this was released ever since I first saw it pop up on a list of Becky Albertalli’s diverse YA recommendations. I also saw early reviews and was denied for it on Netgalley (still crying, honestly) but it’s all good because I bought it at BookCon! Ahead of publication, even!

While I was at BookCon, I met Julian Winters. He’s the only author I actually interacted with there, and he was so nice. He personalized my book for me, we had a little conversation about how I’m Sara with no H, and he told me to tag him in my review if I love it and just throw away the book if I hate it. I’m not throwing away the book, Julian. It was so cute.

I’ll be honest, it took me a minute to adjust to the writing style. I’m not really used to third person present tense narration, but it’s okay. I got used to it. And, honestly, this is what a YA sports romance should be like. None of the petty arguments and random physical altercations that plagued my last attempt at the genre. I’m not a big sports person (much to the dismay of every elderly man that tries to talk about the Green Bay Packers with me), but I’m like 99% sure this is how a team is supposed to function. These kids make such a great team. Even the conflict (Emir not quite fitting in) feels really realistic and I thought the whole thing was just very well-done.

The romance itself was super cute, and I guess we can safely say that I have a thing for friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romances, because I almost always enjoy them. Sebastian and Emir were so cute together (how many times can I say cute in one review??) and I was rooting for them the whole time. I loved how accepting the whole team was and how much they stood up for each other.

The last thing I want to say is that I loved all the music references! The team is always listening to some kind of good music, be it Fall Out Boy or The 1975 or fun. There are also a couple Taylor Swift references, and if that’s not the way to my heart, I don’t even know what is.

I would definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a cute (there’s that word again!) M/M YA romance.

Goodreads summer reading challenge: sports-a-holic

Have you read Running With Lions? Is it on your TBR?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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