Month: November 2018

Holiday Gift Guide: Slytherin Stories

Posted November 30, 2018 by Madalyn / 9 Comments

Hi, everyone! As I’m sure you all have noticed, the holiday season is upon us. I always try to do some sort of bookish holiday gift guide on the blog, and for this year’s, I decided to recommend books to each Hogwarts House that I feel fit the characteristics of that House. I’ve wanted to do a series of book recommendations based on Hogwarts Houses for a while, and what better time than now, when you can add these to your holiday wishlist? (This was partially inspired by Rachel @ Rec-It Rachel’s holiday gift guide this year, which I’ve been loving.) In case you missed the Ravenclaw gift guide earlier this week, you can read it here! Today, I’m recommending […]

keep calm & read on

Waiting on Wednesday: Again, But Better by Christine Riccio

Posted November 28, 2018 by Madalyn / 8 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday was created by Breaking the Spine, and is now hosted by Wishful Endings (as Can’t Wait Wednesday). It’s a feature where we show off one of our most anticipated upcoming book releases. Where we tend to add more books to your never-ending TBR. madalyn’s waiting on… why i’m waiting I have so enjoyed following Christine’s journey to publication on her YouTube channel. I can honestly say I’ve never been interested in reading a BookTuber’s book before, but the premise of Again, But Better is so up my alley. I mean, it’s YA contemporary set in college during a study abroad semester in London. And it’s being published by one of my favorite imprints, Wednesday Books. Very excited […]

keep calm & read on

Holiday Gift Guide: Ravenclaw Reads

Posted November 27, 2018 by Madalyn / 9 Comments

Hi, everyone! As I’m sure you all have noticed, the holiday season is upon us. I always try to do some sort of bookish holiday gift guide on the blog, and for this year’s, I decided to recommend books to each Hogwarts House that I feel fit the characteristics of that House. I’ve wanted to do a series of book recommendations based on Hogwarts Houses for a while, and what better time than now, when you can add these to your holiday wishlist? (This was partially inspired by Rachel @ Rec-It Rachel’s holiday gift guide this year, which I’ve been loving.) Today, we’re kicking things off with my recommendations for people in my House: Ravenclaw! (Well, I *think* it’s my […]

keep calm & read on

ARC Review: Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Posted November 23, 2018 by Madalyn / 6 Comments

As soon as I saw Love a la Mode, I was here for it. Two teens falling in love at cooking school in Paris? YES, PLEASE. I’m happy to say this one didn’t disappoint! I’ve been describing this as a more diverse, less problematic version of Anna and the French Kiss, but with endless delicious food descriptions. Basically, the perfect YA contemporary, tbh. In Love a la Mode, we follow two perspectives: there’s Rosie, an American from a small Ohio town who juggles her love of baking with taking care of her mom and siblings; then there’s Henry, a Chicago native who grew up in the kitchen of his father’s Korean restaurant. Both of them have been accepted to famous […]

keep calm & read on

Waiting on Wednesday: These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Posted November 21, 2018 by Madalyn / 8 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday was created by Breaking the Spine, and is now hosted by Wishful Endings (as Can’t Wait Wednesday). It’s a feature where we show off one of our most anticipated upcoming book releases. Where we tend to add more books to your never-ending TBR. madalyn’s waiting on… why i’m waiting Not only is this about witches, it’s about SAPPHIC WITCHES. And it’s a combo mystery and romance. I am beyond ready. Also, like, that cover. It’s incredible. What book are you waiting on this week?

keep calm & read on

End of the Year Book Tag (2018)

Posted November 19, 2018 by Madalyn / 14 Comments

Hi, everyone! Today I’m here to do the End of the Year Book Tag. This tag was created last year by Ariel Bissett, and it focuses on reading goals for the remainder of the year. Let’s get into it! tag questions Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish? Yes! I really need to finish We Were Eight Years in Power before the end of the year. I started it this month for Nonfiction November, but I’ve been slacking on reading it lately. It’s excellent, but it’s one of those books I want to make sure I give my full attention, and I just haven’t had the concentration to do that the past couple weeks. […]

keep calm & read on

Author Interview: Elizabeth Tammi, author of Outrun the Wind

Posted November 15, 2018 by Madalyn / 4 Comments

Hi, everyone! Today I’m here with an interview with debut author Elizabeth Tammi, author of Outrun the Wind, which comes out on the 27th of this month (and which, by the way, I really enjoyed! sapphic ladies in ancient Greece? YES.). We chatted about retellings, finding time to write in college, the process of being a debut author, and more. Enjoy! about the book the interview For those of our readers who aren’t familiar with Outrun the Wind, could you briefly tell us what your book is about? Sure! So, in short, Outrun the Wind is a YA sapphic reimagining of the story of Atalanta from Greek mythology. There’s also an escaped oracle, a deadly footrace, and plenty of other mythological mayhem involved, […]

keep calm & read on

Briggs Book Tag!

Posted November 12, 2018 by Madalyn / 23 Comments

Hi, everyone! I realized I haven’t done a tag on the blog in ages, and I have a backlog of tags I want to do sitting in my bookmarks bar. SO, today, I’m here to do the Briggs Book Tag! This tag caught my eye because of the unique format and the fact that it focuses on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, one of my favorite personality tests. This was created by Jaded Reader, and I originally saw it on my friend Rhiannon’s channel. If you’re not familiar, the Myers-Briggs is a hugely popular personality test. In this model, there are 16 personality types, and each personality type consists of four letters. As such, this tag is unique in that […]

keep calm & read on

Weekly Novel Rewind (40)

Posted November 10, 2018 by Madalyn / 18 Comments

Novel Rewind is our version of a weekly wrap-up post. We will be linking up to Stacking the Shelves and The Sunday Post. Life Updates Oh man, is it me, or did this week fly by? I didn’t have anything too exciting going on in my personal life, but uh, we had an election here in the US this week, and it was… interesting. I’m a huge political nerd, so I always follow elections closely, but they cause me a million times more anxiety after the shitshow that was November 8, 2016. I watched with some of my best friends (armed with lots of alcohol, chips, and salsa), which made the experience a lot more fun. Overall, it was a good […]

keep calm & read on

ARC Review: Mammoth by Jill Baguchinsky

Posted November 8, 2018 by Madalyn / 5 Comments

Content warnings: fatphobic thoughts; fatphobic comments; restriction of eating; unwanted sexual advances (kissing, touching); self-harm Oh, you guys. I have SUCH conflicting feelings about this one. On the one hand, fat rep, girls in STEM, summer internship, and a sweet romance! On the other… Mammoth didn’t necessarily execute all of those things well, imo. Let’s dig in! (Pun DEFINITELY intended.) In Mammoth, we follow our main character, Natalie, after she has landed her dream summer internship studying paleontology at the Central Texas Mammoth Site. Natalie runs a successful fashion/paleontology blog called Fossilista, where she documents her two greatest passions. However, behind the veneer she presents to her 60,000+ followers lies a girl full of insecurities. Honestly, let’s go ahead and […]

keep calm & read on