I’M HAVING A BABY// blog hiatus.

That’s right, I’m having a little baby girl sometime in the next month! I can’t believe I get to meet her soon, so very excited and starting to get a bit impatient now haha (even though the due date isn’t until August 26th!).

Having a baby of course means that my blog will be on hiatus for the foreseeable future…I don’t even know if I’ll ever come back to blogging as this is the beginning of starting a family with my husband and well, I haven’t exactly been the most regular blogger in the last couple years anyway. Whatever the case, I’ve loved connecting with fellow bloggers and book lovers while writing about books on Thesepaper. It’s been so much fun!

All the best to you all and happy, happy reading.

Signing out (for now or forever),

Jasmine @ Thesepaperwords

My Favourite Reads In The Last Year

So, I haven’t written a post like this for awhile. In fact, I haven’t written many posts at all…there is a good reason for that and I will talk about in another post shortly (a post that will probably be my last in a long time).

I wanted to write a list-type post because there are just so many amazing books I’ve read in the last year or so that I haven’t talked about on my blog at all. I have been too lazy to write book reviews except for the few ARCs I have read and I’ve honestly just been enjoying the whole reading experience without having to pen down my thoughts about the books I’ve read. Sometimes it’s nice to just finish a really good book, think about it for awhile and tuck the experience away for safe keeping. That being said, I do think it’s time for me to gush about some of the books on here as I want everyone who hasn’t read them to read them! Note, I wrote about all my favourites LGBTQAI+ reads in my Pride Month Celebration Post so check it out!

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The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Yes, I finally read The Book Thief! If you’re crazy like I was and still haven’t read it, start reading now! It is such a moving and strange book. A story that really reflects on life and death, morality and violence, love and family. And it’s told from Death’s perspective, which I just found fascinating!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

If I had to choose a favourite book I’ve read this year, it would be The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I just can’t even with this book. It is so magical and perfect, the writing utterly breathtaking and the characters unforgettable. I had a proper book hangover after reading this that’s for sure.

A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

This is the perfect book to get cosy with, but trust me when I say this…make sure you have plenty of snacks on hand when you do (even if they aren’t cuban cuisine) as it will make you hungry. I adored the characters and the relationships in this book, it was just such a fluffy romance that also explored identity and taking chances.

Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter

Better Than The Movies is a YA romcom that would make a fantastic movie! It was a lot of fun and super, super swoony and cute.

Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher

Amelia Unabridged is quite an unusual book, which I loved. I loved how it explored so many themes like depression, death and grief, but also had a really hopeful side to it in the way it spoke about love, identity and writing. A great read for us aspiring writers!

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

A female-cantered fantasy novel with dragons? Well, there’s been a lot of hype about this book and I certainly feel like that is for a good reason. I don’t read a lot of adult fantasy so this was a challenging and rewarding reading experience for me. I loved the feminist angles in the story, it was so great to read a story led by so many powerful female characters! If you’re put off by the length of this book, don’t be. Just give it a go, it’s truly a unique and engaging fantasy adventure!

A Sky Beyond The Storm by Sabaa Tahir

Of course the finale to An Ember in the Ashes has to be on my list. It was a fantastic ending to a series I’ve really, really enjoyed and I just had such a great time reading this one over a few days in bed :).

Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

I actually didn’t expect this book to be as good as it was. I thought it would just be YA romcom I enjoyed and then forgot about. But no, Today Tonight Tomorrow is one of the best YA enemies-to-lovers books I’ve ever read. I loved both of the main characters and the whole concept of the senior’s game of Howl was so much fun! The romance plot has stayed with me since the last page and I think this is a book I’ll turn to when I need something fun and adorable to read.

A Darker Shade of Magic Trilogy by V.E. Schwab

Hells yeah, I absolutely loved this trilogy! The magic is something else, the story is fantastic and the characters even better. I will never get enough of Kell and Lila, not to mention Rhy, Holland and Alucard! The series was just an absolute rollercoaster adventure and I was right there for it on the edge of my seat, heart pumping. The perfect fantasy trilogy to escape into!!!

Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare

I love Cassandra Clare’s books and the first two books in The Last Hours were no exception! I honestly don’t know how I can wait for the last one in the trilogy! Cordelia is my favourite and I just want to see her get everything she deserves.

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Well, that’s it for my favourite reads this year! I hope you enjoyed my post and I especially hope you enjoy reading these books if I’ve inspired you to do so! Happy reading as always everyone ❤😊.

Jasmine @Thesepaperwords

Pride Month Celebration: Book Recs, My TBR For Pride Month AND Most Anticipated Book of the Year

It’s Pride Month! This is such an important time for the LGBTQAI+ community to celebrate together and with allies, to speak up and fight for LGBTQAI+ rights and to bring awareness to others. It’s also a great opportunity for a book blogger like me to recommend some of my favourite LGBTQAI+ books and to spend time reading more. As an ally and supporter of the LGBTQAI+ community, I think it is so important to continue learning about the experiences of people all over the world who are celebrating and struggling with their identities every day. I choose to do so by reading a LOT of LGBTQAI+ fiction, especially YA, and for this post I wanted to talk about some of my favourite reads that I feel are must-reads, create a little TBR of my own to read this month and do a little shout out for my most anticipated book of the year!!!

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LGBTQAI+ RECS

These six books are my favourite YA reads that focus on boy&boy love (I love so many more but had to drop some because it would literally take me days to write this post if I included all of them!).

We Contain Multitudes is a heavy, heart-warming and thought-provoking story about two boys Jonathan and Adam “Kurl” who fall in love when they become anonymous pen pals as part of their English class. As they get closer and eventually discover the other’s true identity, they struggle with severe homophobic bullying and dark family secrets that threaten everything good in their relationship. This book may be triggering for some people, as it does deal with some very dark themes and experiences. To me it is such a special book and I will never forget both boys.

Simon vs The Homosapiens Agenda (which I’m sure many of you have read already) is a much lighter coming-out story that also has the anonymous-pen-pals-become-lovers trope. Always a good choice for a hopeful and adorable romantic reading experience :).

Autoboyography tells the story of a bisexual teen Tanner who is dared by his best friend to enrol in the class elective where students have to write a whole book in a few months. In the class, he meets and falls for the class mentor, who also happens to be Mormon. I loved this book because not only does it include a really wonderful love story full of obstacles, it was also really educational and provided an interesting insight into writing and Mormon life. It’s also pretty heavy at times, but don’t let that stop you from giving it a read!

Ziggy, Stardust and Me is set in 1973, a time in history when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, and is about a boy called Jonathan who is forced by his doctor and alcoholic father to undergo conversion therapy. He is manipulated into believing that once he finishes his treatments, he will be “fixed.” In the meantime, he spends his time escaping into his imagination where Ziggy Stardust and his dead mother keep him company. When he meets Web, a American Indian boy who truly sees him, he is faced with learning to accept himself and who he is truly is. There is so much in this book and it really delves deep into racial and discriminatory issues of the times.

Darius The Great Deserves Better is of course the sequel to Darius The Great Is Not Okay, but it centres more on Darius’s sexuality and his romantic relationships. Darius is one of my all-time favourite YA characters and I just absolutely love these books. Just go read it, it will warm your heart and also really make you feel like some tea and Persian food.

Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe is hands down my favourite LGBTQAI+ book ever written. There is just no going past how incredible this book is. It fills me up with so much happiness. Ari and Dante are just the most adorable pair and I can’t even with them! The writing is wonderful and the story tender-hearted. I just love it so much. Read it please if you haven’t!!!

Here are my favourite gay adult books 😀 These all have some fairly graphic sex scenes, which may not be your cup of tea and neither is it mine, but the romances are so amazing and heart-warming!

Red, White and Royal Blue is simply a LGBTQAI+ MUST READ. A love story between the President’s son and the Prince of England, it is hilarious, extremely romantic, adorable and also heart-breaking at times. This book made me smile for weeks after reading it and I highly, highly recommend it if you want a story that will take you from laughter to tears and everything in between.

Boyfriend Material is another fantastic book set in London about two guys who are pretty much polar opposites. The main character Luc, son of rock star parents, spends the majority of the story adamant that he will not fall in love with Oliver, his fake-boyfriend (“hired” by Luc to strengthen his tainted public image) and everything Luc doesn’t want in a partner. But, oh, is Luc so wrong.

The Greek Creek series, starting with Wolfsong, is without a doubt one of my all-time favourite series. It’s basically about a bunch of gay werewolves and it is extremely awesome. Each book follows different characters in the Bennett family and I love every single couple in each book so much, I can’t even express how much. Just read them!!

These three amazing books focus on transgender characters, but are also representative of gay, lesbian and nonbinary identities.

Luna is about Liam and her sister, who secretly helps Liam become Luna in their basement before Luna bravely comes out into the real world. It is all about Liam’s transition becoming Luna and how her family struggles with that and also supports her to be her true self. I remember reading it in high school and it was one of the first times I really became aware of transgender identities. A very moving and important book.

The Passing Playbook is about Spencer, who enrols into a new school after he experienced severe bullying when he transitioned at his old school. In his new school, he joins the soccer team, which is one of his biggest passions, though at first he joins in secret because his parents are very protective. He ends up being benched at games because his birth certificate says “female,” and has to decide if he has the courage to fight for his rights, which would mean coming out as transgender not only to his team and the whole school, but the boy he’s falling in love with, who happens to be son to extremely Christian parents who see homosexuality as a sin. This is a fantastic book that explores the obstacles that get in the way of being your true self and I thoroughly recommend it!

Felix Ever After is definitely one of my favourite books I’ve read this year. Not only is it fantastically diverse in its representation of different sexualities and identities, it is lead by one of the best characters! Felix is just awesome and his journey throughout the book as he struggles with discrimination and bullying due to being transgender and also questions his identity and deals with his feelings for certain other characters just made for such a great reading experience. I also love his best friend Ezra and man, it’s just such a fantastic, moving story about love, acceptance and calling out on the haters.

Time for the girls to shine! I love each of these books so much, they are amazing!

Skylarks is a wonderful story about two girls who live very different lifestyles – Joni and her family struggle to get by and could lose their house while Annabel has everything money can buy. But when they get to know each other and ultimately fall in love, they both gain the perspective of each other’s lives and learn more from each other than either expected. Written with honesty and courage, this is a story about two girls finding themselves and finding love.

Love Is For Losers is about Phoebe, a girl who is determined she will never fall in love because falling in love is stupid. When she starts volunteering at her aunt’s thrift shop though, she meets Emma and discovers some things are out of her control. I really liked this book because Phoebe is such a unique, witty and flawed character – she is so determined to not to fall in love and accept who she is as an out and proud lesbian that she becomes wrapped up in herself and stops noticing the feelings and lives of others. One can learn a lot from Phoebe’s mistakes, that’s for sure!

Ramona Blue explores the fluidity of sexuality and identity through Ramona as she reconnects with her old childhood friend Freddie. Her whole life, she’s identified as a lesbian but when she develops feelings for Freddie, she has no idea if it’s a fluke or if she’s discovering herself all over again. Not only does this book explore sexuality and identity, it also deals with financial problems and family issues. Ramona and her family lost their home to Hurricane Katrina when she was younger and are now fighting to stay afloat just as her sister falls pregnant, which means a lot of drama! The story also delves into Freddie and Ramona’s shared passion for swimming and having the courage to work hard for your dreams. I love this book so much!

Let’s Talk About Love centres around asexuality. The main character Alice is biromantic asexual and, after being dumped by her girlfriend who decided sex was too important to her in a relationship, Alice swears off romance and dating for the rest of her life. Until she meets new co-worker Takumi who she unexpectedly connects with and develops swooooony feelings for. When they become closer, Alice has to decide if she can afford to risk their friendship and express her romantic feelings for him – feelings that might not be understood or shared. This book is more of an adult book than YA as it does deal with some more adult themes and the characters are in their early twenties. I absolutely loved it and thought it gives such a great insight into asexuality. Plus, Alice and Takumi’s relationship is just…well. All I can say is, go read this book!

Loveless is definitely one of my favourite reads in the last year. It’s about Georgia, who is confused about who she is and why she has never fallen in love, had the desire to kiss anyone or even had a crush before. Despite all of that, she loves romance and just thinks she hasn’t met the right person yet. Throughout her first year at university, as she watches strangers and friends fall in love and hook-up, she starts to hear about terms like asexuality and aromantic and becomes even more confused than ever before and is determined to fall in love for real…even if it means sacrificing one of her greatest friendships. Georgia’s journey of acceptance and self-love makes for such a great read. As Georgia explores her identity, she discovers the power of true friendship and platonic love. And well, I have to mention Pip and Rooney because they are just perfect and make me squeeeeee. Just to add as well, Alice Oseman is phenomenal and all her books are fantastic (you should definitely check out Radio Silence and Heartstopper, two of my other favourites).

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Pride Month TBR

Here are the books I plan to read for Pride Month. Cannot wait to read them!!

I am especially excited to read One Last Stop, which I have literally been counting down for and though I haven’t had a chance to start it I will do very soon!!, and I Wish You All The Best, which I’ve wanted to read for way too long.

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I cannot write this Pride Month Celebration Post without mentioning….

MY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

I just cannot wait. We get to spend more time with Ari and Dante!! It is amazing. I can’t even. October cannot get here soon enough!!!!!!

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I hope you enjoyed reading my Pride Month post. I had a lot of fun writing it today and really hope you get something out of reading it. Happy reading and even more importantly, HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. I hope June brings you happiness and please know that if you are struggling, there are so many people who you can reach out to in your time of need including myself.

All the best of wishes,

Jasmine @Thesepaperwords

ARC Review: The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons

~ I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks from the publishers for the opportunity!~

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The Passing Playbook is an extremely relevant, important and heart-warming book about a transgender teenager in Ohio. After experiencing severe bullying when he transitioned at his old school, Spencer enrols at a new school with the goal of keeping his head down and his true identity a secret so as to ensure his own safety and happiness. But when he joins the boys’ soccer team, he ends up benched for games because his birth certificate says “female.” Spencer has to decide if he has the courage to come out as transgender to fight for his rights and the rights of other transgender teens…which means also coming out to the boy he’s falling for. Spencer’s story and his dilemma in this situation is told with honesty and courage, giving a voice to people who have been mistreated just for being who they are meant to be.

I really enjoyed this book. Isaac Fitzsimons’ exploration of identity, bigotry, injustice and religion in the story are so well done and really shed light on so many sociocultural issues present in history and today. While the story largely focuses on transgender experiences and issues, it is highly diverse in its representation of other identities and sexualities, including non-binary. There is just so much in this book that I feel will really resonate with readers and also help educate those that know little about the LGBTQ+ community.

I love Spencer. He is a wonderful main character and I really enjoyed spending time with him throughout the story. His experiences transitioning at his old school are only lightly touched upon as the story focuses more on his relationships with his family, who fully support him though they struggle at times to let him be who he is because they want to protect him, his best friend Aiden who is also transgender, his passion for soccer and comradery with the soccer team, and of course, his blooming relationship with Justice Cortes, love interest and fellow soccer team member. Spencer’s interactions with the other characters in the story is a really important part of him finding the courage to be true to himself, his rights and his needs as an individual. It’s his relationship with Justice that most influences Spencer’s character development, as together they have to deal with pressures of Justice’s extremely Christian family and what it means for the soccer team when Spencer isn’t allowed to play.

This book is such a hopeful and wonderful story about fighting for transgender rights, for humanity, for acceptance and something much deeper and significant than mere “tolerance.” The story deals with many issues carefully while always staying true to the character’s journeys and the plot. I think it is definitely a book worth reading and highly recommend you pick it up when it hits shelves in June. If you’re at all like me, this book will make you smile, laugh and undoubtedly shed a few, or several, tears.

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Thanks for reading!

Jasmine @Thesepaperwords

ARC Review: The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther

~ I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks from the publishers for the opportunity!~

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The Summer of Broken Rules is just the YA book you’ll want to read if you’re after something fun and romantic with a touch of comedy and a lot of heart. The story follows Meredith during a summer at hers and her family’s favourite vacation spot Martha’s Vineyard. This summer, the whole extended family will be there for a cousin’s wedding and it’s the first time she and her family have been back there since Meredith’s sister died. When a surprise game of Assassin, the family’s traditional summer activity, is announced, Meredith finds herself determined to play and win like her sister would have before – and it certainly distracts her from thinking about her ex who broke up with her a couple weeks ago. She doesn’t expect to become close to one of the groomsmen who becomes her target, nor to feel herself (reluctantly) fall for him.

I really enjoyed this book because it gave me all those fun, tingling summer feels I love in a romantic comedy. The game of Assassin is thoroughly entertaining and I really loved seeing how it played out. Some of Meredith’s family are certainly competitive, which made for some really funny moments and interesting family dynamics. The way the game develops the relationship between Meredith and Wit, the groomsman, was exciting and often pretty dramatic. The whole summer vibe with the game in play was just a lot of fun and made for a really good character development and plot, which meant I was super keen to keep reading.

I also really enjoyed the characters. Meredith is a wonderful lead female character. I loved how she wanted to be known for everything she was, not just for her pretty face. There was a real depth to her character that I feel like a lot of people will relate to. The way the book explored her relationships with her ex, her sister, her friends and how she dealt with her grief was moving and true to life. I really engaged with Meredith as a character as she developed herself and came to terms with her past, what she wants and who she wants to be throughout the summer. Wit is a fantastic character, both as Meredith’s new love interest and as his own person. He is gives the story a really brightness and is just honestly adorable in every way and will definitely make you swoon right alongside Meredith. I loved seeing how the relationship developed between them throughout the story, it was lovely and everything I want in a romance. Meredith’s sister Claire, though we only meet her in flashbacks, was an integral part of the story and I really enjoyed how her character and her death was explored in the book.

This was a really fun read for me and it also had its heart-wrenching/warming moments too. I would definitely recommend picking it up when it hits the shelves next week in May. If you’ve enjoyed books like Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon, Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, and A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey, this is the book for you.

Thanks for reading! Love @ Thesepaperwords

ARC Review: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

~ I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks from the publishers for the opportunity!~

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Perfect On Paper is one of those books I could have read in one sitting. Had I been able to pause time and all my responsibilities, I would have stayed up all night reading this book. But there was a bonus to not being able to do that, as I then had something to look forward to reading when I got home from work! I am so grateful I got the opportunity to read the ARC of this book because it was such a fun read that made me smile – something we all need in our lives these days.

Perfect On Paper is about Darcy Phillips, a girl who runs a secret advice service through locker 89 at her school. Students leave her envelopes of letters and cash in exchange for relationship advice, which Darcy carefully researches before sending over via email. Darcy loves helping her peers with their relationship woes and she’s really good at it. However, she can’t seem to figure out her own relationship issues, such as whether her best friend Brooke loves her back and her own feelings relating to her bisexuality and society’s biphobia. When senior hottie Alexander Brougham catches her in the act of retrieving letters from the locker, he hires her help to get his ex-girlfriend back. She cannot stand him, especially when he blackmails her. She has to agree to help him in order to keep locker 89 a secret, because if she doesn’t, there’s a chance Brooke would find out something awful she did last year. But when Brooke falls for someone else and she gets to know Brougham… things get even more complicated.

I really, really enjoyed this book. First of all, the concept just screams a fun and exciting plot that dips and twists with each new development, and the story delivers this through and through. Darcy is a fun, smart and witty character. I really loved seeing her locker 89 relationship advice in action with the snippets of letters and her responses that are weaved throughout the novel. Her friendship with Brooke and her secret feelings for her are layered and fun to read, especially when Brooke’s love interest comes into the picture and Darcy’s meddling with Brooke’s relationships unfolds. A big part of the novel is Darcy trying to deal with her feelings for Brooke and ultimately messing things up and then trying to win her friend back. I loved that aspect of the story, as it really established the importance of female friendships and also explored unrequited love. Darcy’s relationships with her mum and her sister, who has just recently transitioned and changed her name to Ainsley, are also a great aspect of the novel, as it really explores how important family is and how, even for a character like Darcy who offers advice to her peers, also needs people to turn to when her life is spiralling out of control.

Now, honestly, the best thing about this book is Brougham. I won’t lie. I just thought he was the greatest and wanted to give him a big hug. The reason for that is partly because he’s Australian like me, but also because his character just developed so well throughout the novel as Darcy got to know him. At first, he seems like an arrogant, self-involved ass, but he is anything but, which Darcy soon discovers as they end up spending more time together. I absolutely loved how Darcy’s quest to get Brougham back with his ex developed in the story and of course, how Darcy and Brougham developed together as a duo and in response to the other. He shows a great interest in Darcy’s relationship theories and they have many discussions that were really interesting and make Darcy reflect on her knowledge and grow stronger as a result. And, well, there were just so many great scenes between the two of them that made me all squealy and happy inside.

Perfect on Paper is a great read and I really recommend it if you are looking for something fun, dramatic and insightful with wonderful, unforgettable characters, an exciting plot and just an overall feel-good vibe. Perfect On Paper comes out in March next year, so add it to your TBR and be on the look out!

Thanks for reading my review. Happy reading!

Jasmine @ Thesepaperwords

Blog Tour – Book Review. Foreshadow: Stories To Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA, edited by Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma

I was so excited when I was asked to be a part of the Blog Tour for Foreshadow, an incredible anthology of YA short stories by diverse and unknown writers. Foreshadow is edited by Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma, who share invaluable insights into writing and the craft of gifting readers with inspiring stories throughout the book. Each story is also introduced by many well known YA authors. The stories included in Foreshadow are rich and complex and all bring a voice into the world of stories that is entirely unique.

I have never been a big reader of short stories. While in the past I have enjoyed several literary short stories, I have always tended to read novels because I love how the reading experience allows me to spend a long time in the story and with the characters. In saying that, when I first heard about Foreshadow, I was immediately excited by the idea of reading a selection of YA short stories that also offered inspiring expertise on the craft of story making. As an aspiring writer, I do not write nearly as much as I would like to – life and writing blocks always get in the way. So I hoped that reading expert advice, insights, and also story prompts, from Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma, two authors I highly admire, would inspire me to pick up my pen and dabble in writing a short story (something I have never really tried before). While I haven’t yet had a chance to pick up that pen since finishing this book last night, my fingers are itching and I have many ideas floating in my head all thanks to this book. It was not only Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma’s words that inspired me, of course. It was also the incredible stories and the voices of their authors.

The diversity of the thirteen stories included in this book is thrilling. Each and every story has something different to say, with unique perspectives and original ideas that explode off the page. Some stories are set in reality, while others are set in fantasy worlds or re-imagined alternative realities. While of course there were some stories that didn’t speak to me as much as others, there was always something there in them. Something enticing, intriguing, strange, mind-boggling and altogether beautiful. For me, there are four stories that I absolutely adored and can’t stop thinking about: “Fools” by Gina Chen , “Solace” by Nora Elghazzawi, “Sweetmeats” by Linda Cheng, and “Break” by Sophie Meridien, each full of life, love and magic. So look out for those stories when you pick up this book! No doubt you will fall in love with the others as well. Plus, if you enjoy this anthology as much as I did, I have some good news for you. Each of these stories and many more like them are published on Foreshadow: A Serial YA Anthology, the online anthology for short stories that was first created by Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma and lead to this printed collection.

If you are a writer, an aspiring writer, a lover of YA fiction/books/short stories, you will thoroughly enjoy this immersive collection of stories and voices that celebrate the magic of story telling. I urge you to go pick up a copy now! 🙂

Happy reading as always,

Jasmine @ Thesepaperwords

The Last Five Books I Read Were Five Star Reads

I have had a fantastic couple months of reading which means, as the title of this post suggests, I’ve added five books to my favourite books of all time. Always great for a bookworm like me! Without further ado, here are the five books I read that blew me away and are 100% gold.

The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington

This is such a fantastic fantasy series. It blew my mind. Each book is utterly perfect and while the story has its peak moments and highlights, there was never a dull moment and I just loved every moment, every twist and turn. The story is so well-crafted, the characters are lovable and real and I truly loved the world in which the story takes place. If you want a fantasy series that is more adult than YA fantasies but is still about younger characters (17-20 year olds), has an astonishing storyline that is impossible to predict and will make your mind spin until the very last page, and characters that keep developing and who you will want to hug, this is the series for you! You will not be disappointed, trust me.

Loveless by Alice Oseman

I love Alice Oseman books and Loveless was no exception. This is such a wonderful and brave Own Voices book about asexuality. The story follows a girl called Georgia who desperately wants to fall in love but has never kissed anyone or even had a real crush on someone. In her first year at college, she is desperate to figure out who she really is and what the rest of her life looks like, even without romantic love. I loved this book because Georgia’s path towards learning who she is and how platonic love can be just as, or even more, important than romantic love, was inspiring, heartfelt and at times, hilarious. I loved Georgia and her friends, and especially wanted to give Rooney a big hug. This is just one of those deep and feel good stories and I cannot say enough how much I loved it.

Darius The Great Deserves Better

by Adib Khorram

What can I say about Darius? I just love him. He is without a doubt one of my favourite YA characters of all time. This book is the sequel to Darius The Great Is Not Okay, which is one of my favourite books, and I am so, so pleased to say that this book was just as good. I just want to give Darius a big hug and keep reading books about him and his life while drinking all the tea I can. I really, really hope there will be a third book because I desperately want to know what happens next to Darius and his family, Sohrab and a certain, special someone! This book is just like a big warm hug and I urge you to read it (after the first one of course if you haven’t read that either) ASAP!

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Thanks for reading my little post. I have been quiet on my blog lately but hopefully I can kick my butt into gear and write more bookish posts in the near future! I would love to hear from you if you have read these books or if you plan to in the future. Happy reading,

Jasmine @ Thesepaperwords

ARC Review: Breathless by Jennifer Niven

~ I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Massive thanks to the publishers for the opportunity!~

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There are some books out there that can really speak to you on a personal level. This book was just one of those books for me. The entire time I read this book I was swept away in a kind of nostalgic whirlwind of a story. A story that was honest, real, poignant, heartbreaking and felt like a true recollection of those moments that make up a life, those moments that touch us the most and make us realise we are alive, for good or for worse.

Breathless is about Claude and her experiences one summer before she is due to start her first year at college. One minute her mind’s full of road trip plans with her best friend and the possibility of having sex for the first time with the boy she likes and the next her whole world crumbles to pieces when her Dad tells her he’s leaving her Mum. In the aftermath of her life changing forever, Claude goes with her Mum to a remote island. There, while her Mum busies herself with writing, Claude tries desperately to stop herself from falling apart. She meets Jeremiah Crew, an infuriatingly charming boy her age who might be the only thing that can give her all she dreams of, at the risk of her heart completely breaking into a million more pieces.

One of the things that really made me love this book is the way Jennifer Niven’s writing captured moments in life at their rawest, saddest, fleeting and most beautiful. Claude’s life and her experiences as a teenager at a moment when her world is completely changing with her family breaking apart, not to mention when she is already on the cusp of a complete life change what with going to college, was something I could really relate to. My parents split up when I was little and then my parents and my step-parents on both sides split up at different times when I was older. So yeah, I really get how difficult it can be to grasp what that means and how it changes everything for everyone. Claude is also dealing with the possibility of losing her best friend, who has a new girlfriend and is going to college far away from Claude. Loss and change are such big, inevitable things in life and I just felt that Jennifer Niven did such a wonderful job putting the anxiety and fear we all feel about both into words.

I truly loved Jeremiah’s part of the story and how Claude’s relationship with him developed throughout the book. While it was undoubtedly heartbreaking, I came away from the book with the feeling that falling in love for the first time is such a beautiful, rewarding experience and also with a sense of hope. I loved Claude and Jeremiah’s adventures on the island and how all their moments together were all about enjoying the present and trying not to think about the ending. Which is impossible, obviously, but such is life and I could really relate to this aspect of their love story, as it was something I went through when I first met my now-husband (we were lucky enough to be in a later stage in life when we could decide to make those sacrifices and compromises that let us be together).

Claude experiences a lot of firsts with Jeremiah and yes, that does include her first experience of sex. I liked Claude’s personal opinions about the whole “losing your virginity” thing and feel like how the book depicts something we all go through one way or another was really relatable. There were times I forgot Claude and Jeremiah are only eighteen, though, as sometimes I felt they were voicing ideas about sex and exploring sex in a way I certainly didn’t until I was well into my twenties. That’s not at all a criticism about the book, though, as I completely agreed with all the sex-related discussions in the book and hope that more teens have these views and also have the courage to talk about them!

I loved the relationship between Claude and her Mum. While I would have loved more of their relationship, I loved what we did get, especially as they enjoyed exploring their family history on the island and taking the time to talk to each other about their real feelings, all secrets aside. Their relationship by the end of the book reminded me in some ways of how close I am to my Mum, which is something really special to me as she is my hero. One of my favourite things about this book was the fact that Claude’s Mum is a writer and that Claude dreams of being one. This is something I can completely relate to as I spent my teenage years filling notebooks and word documents with thoughts, poems and stories. Something I should be doing more of now in my adult life and definitely mean to! Claude’s relationship with her Dad was more complicated and while she spent much of the book feeling betrayed by him, I really enjoyed the depiction of their relationship because it was just so real and felt very much like how most teenagers would react in the same situation. I also loved Claude’s friendship with her bestie Saz and how the changes in their friendship due to being apart and becoming new people were explored. They were so cute and there for each other even when everything was changing. I would have loved to see more of their friendship, actually!

I honestly don’t know how to capture my feelings about this book and my reading experience beyond what I have already said. I just really loved it and found it so moving, refreshing and relatable. I would definitely recommend giving this book a try when it comes out as I really feel it has a little something for everyone, especially if you happen to be a teenager going through some big, inevitable changes in your life. It’s a book that made me remember moments in my own life, made me think about how much we should all treasure life and the people we love, and also made me want to find the energy to write again. Breathless is dreamy, inspiring, full of feeling and, in Claude and Jeremiah’s shoes, will take you on an adventure you never expected.

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I hope you enjoyed reading my review! I would love to hear your thoughts, especially if you have read this book or are planning to 😊

Happy reading and writing,

Jasmine @ Thesepaperwords

Book Review: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

 

Wow. What can I say other than I have devoured this book today and loved absolutely every moment of doing so. Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk About Love is simply a delight, an eye-opener and a shout out to nerds everywhere. I would like to mention here that this is not a YA (I thought it was). Turns out it’s more of New Adult and probably one of the best college-age novels I have personally read.

Let’s Talk About Love is about Alice, recently dumped by her girlfriend who couldn’t deal with the fact that Alice is asexual. It pretty much ruins Alice’s summer plans, which largely consisted of binging her favourite tv shows and eating her favourite snacks with her now ex-girlfriend and her best friends in between shifts at the library. Instead, Alice has to face the fact that she is probably never going to be able to date anyone who understands her and loves her for who she is, not to mention the worries she has about her own future. When she meets Takumi, the new employee at the library, Alice experiences a rush of feelings she never expected. They develop a special friendship, but as Alice’s feelings continue to develop… can she risk everything for a love that might not be returned?

First of all, Alice is a phenomenal character. She is unbelievably nerdy, a complete romantic like me and adorable in a way I really can’t describe. She had me laughing and crying. She was just the perfect main character and I wish she was real. Seeing the world through her eyes and her experiences was truly fascinating and eye-opening. I spent the whole book just hoping and wishing that all of Alice’s dreams would come true. The way I feel about the characters is always the most important thing to me when I read any book and so to me this book was perfect. While Alice’s family drove me a little insane with their instance to throw Alice into law school (something she didn’t want to do), and while I got a little fed up with the way Alice’s best friends treated her during their fight, I still loved them all and thought they were great and necessary parts of the story. It goes without saying that Takumi is a fantastic character, I loved him. I love his openness, his genuine heart, his love for cooking Alice food, the way he looks after his twin nieces and so many other things. He was just adorable and I loved his connection with Alice so much, it is literally everything I could ever ask for in a book that makes you squee (just like Alice does when she is overwhelmingly excited).

A big part of this novel is all about Alice’s identity, in terms of her being biromantic asexual, black, female and entirely unsure about what she wants to do with her life. While she’s happy with who she is, she struggles with the way the world sees her, especially the way no one, except her best friends, seems to understand her and the fact that she is asexual and what that means. Her relationships in the past have all led to her being dumped and when she meets Takumi and develops feelings for him, she has to decide if she can tell him the truth about who she is, knowing that might ruin her chances at ever finding love, something she longs for more than anything else. Before reading this book, I knew a little about asexuality, but now I understand it so much more. I am so thankful for this book in teaching me about it because I think it’s so important for everyone to understand others, to stand by them and to see that love is love. This book does an amazing job at telling a story about someone who is asexual and I think it will speak to so many people, whether they are bi, asexual or straight like myself.

I cannot say enough how much you should read this book right now. It is the perfect book to read during Pride Month! 🌈Also, by reading and talking about it, you can also support black authors, which is something I plan to do more often!✊🏻✊✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 Thank you so much Claire Kann for writing such a wonderful book that made me smile, taught me something important and will stay with me forever.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this review and that I maybe convinced you to read this book! I would love to hear your thoughts 😊

Happy reading and HAPPY PRIDE MONTH,

Jasmine @Thesepaperwords