Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten book characters whose job I want, but I couldn’t think of any so I think Top Ten this or that.

10. Hardcover or softcover: Hardcover.

9. Dog-ear or bookmark: Bookmark.

8. Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers: Enemies to lovers.

7. Love triangle or misfit family: Misfit family.

6. High fantasy or urban fantasy: High Fantasy.

5. Contemporary fluff or contemporary angst: Contemporary angst.

4. Sci-Fi or Dystopian: Sci-Fi.

3. E-Book or Audiobook: E-Book

2. Movie adaptation or TV adaptation: Movie.

1. Standalones or Series: Series.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten books that made me laugh out loud.

10. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow – Laura Taylor Namey

9. You Have A Match – Emma Lord

8. I’ll Be The One – Lyla Lee

7. The Tourist Attraction – Sarah Morgenthaler

6. The Perfect Escape – Suzanne Park

5. By the Book – Amanda Sellet

4. Aurora Rising – Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

3. When Dimple Met Rishi – Sandhya Menon

2. Tweet Cute – Emma Lord

1. The Bromance Book Club – Lyssa Kay Adams

Review: Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Concrete Rose 

From Goodreads: If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.
Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.
Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.
When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man. 

Review:

I have loved both books from Angie Thomas and this one fits right in with the first two. A prequel to The Hate U Give, it was easy to see its influence all over this prequel. Maverick Carter was a presence in THUG and when it was announced he would be getting his own backstory book, I was excited. Going from seeing Big Mav as an adult who’d already been through so much in THUG to him being a teenager at the low end of the gang was a little weird at first, but it also worked. I liked seeing how the events of his past affected who he grew up to be in THUG.

I thought Maverick was a very relatable character. He would mess up a lot but his heart was usually in the right place. Thankfully he had plenty of people willing to call him out when he was acting like a punk. I especially loved the relationship between Maverick and his mother, who was doing her best to keep the roof over their heads after her husband/Maverick’s father went to jail. Seeing him with baby Seven, struggling to know how to care for his son but trying so hard and loving him so much was great, and it was nice to see the good representation of a young, black man stepping up for his child(when media seems to always portray the opposite).

I really enjoyed going back to Garden Heights. Angie Thomas has a way to make the neighborhood feel like a character with a personality of its own. It’s also always fun to see the little nods to other books that Angie works in. The supporting characters shined without taking the focus away from Maverick and his journey. It would be a toss-up between Maverick’s mother and his cousin Andre as my favourite supporting character.

I don’t know what Angie Thomas has planned for her next book, but I know I will be buying it.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten purple, yellow, and/or green covers for Mardi Gras.

10. Incarnate – Jodi Meadows

9. I’ll Be The One – Lyla Lee

8. With You All The Way – Cynthia Hand

7. The Inheritance Games – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

6. Aurora Rising – Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

5. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A Brown

4. Havenfall – Sara Holland

3. Lost in the Never Woods – Aiden Thomas

2. Sisters of Sword and Song – Rebecca Ross

1. Skyhunter – Marie Lu

2021 Book Resolutions

Being a month and a half-ish into 2021, and not really having done much to change my reading habits, I am deciding to hold myself accountable. I’m still working and reading my reading goals but all the other stuff I had planned to be better at this year…oops. My main resolutions to start with will be reviewing again and getting my Edelweiss and Netgalley ratios back up to where they should be.

Short update, but an update nonetheless.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten new to me authors in 2020. I included debuts too to make it to 10.

10. Sarah Morgenthaler

9. Aiden Thomas

8. Lyla Lee

7. Kacen Callender

6. Roseanne A Brown

5. Hayley Krischer

4. Lyssa Kay Adams

3. Liz Wiemer

2. Taylor Jenkins Reid

1. Jenn Bennett

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten books I meant to read in 2020. I was trying to clear up a lot of past series where I only read the first book or two so there’s still a lot I missed.

10. Silence – Becca Fitzpatrick

9. Torment – Lauren Kate

8. Incarnate – Jodi Meadows

7. Rift – Andrea Cremer

6. Enshadowed – Kelly Creagh

5. Tiger’s Quest – Colleen Houck

4. Girl of Nightmares – Kendare Blake

3. In A Handful of Dust – Mindy McGinnis

2. Illiminae – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

1. Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten resolutions/goals for 2021.

10. Review more. It’s been way too long since I had a reviewing schedule.

9. Read 150 books. Usually I aim for more but I have been avoiding some thicker books to make sure I keep to my reading schedule. Hopefully setting my book goal lower will allow me to pick up the massive reads.

8. Use E-books and Audio Books more. I’m running out of room and the library isn’t an option, at least right now so I’ve been buying so many new releases.

7. Participate in a read-a-thon.

6. Exercise more while listening to the audio books I plan to get.

5. Re-organize my bookshelves, theme tbd.

4. Make a reading corner in my bedroom.

3. Watch some adaptations I missed(like Mismatched on Netflix, which is an adaptation of When Dimple Met Rishi)

2. Have a saving money strategy by only buying books when I can afford to also put half of the amount of the purchase in my savings account.

1. Buy new comfy reading clothes that don’t have holes in them.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten books I’m looking forward to in the first half of 2021. I did 12 cause 2 per month.

12. A Vow So Bold and Deadly – Brigid Kemmerer

11.  Cast in Firelight – Dana Swift

10. The Project – Courtney Summers

9. The Initial Insult – Mindy McGinnis

8. Lost in the Never Woods – Aiden Thomas

7. With You All the Way – Cynthia Hand

6. The Cost of Knowing – Brittney Morris

5. The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks – Makenzi Lee

4. Realm Breaker – Victoria Aveyard

3. Blade of Secrets – Tricia Levenseller

2. One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston

1. An Emotion of Great Delight – Tahereh Mafi

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish, and has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. This week is Top Ten books from 2020.

10.

9. Cemetery Boys – Aiden Thomas

8. Felix Ever After – Kacen Callender

7. I’ll Be The One – Lyla Lee

6. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A Brown

5. The Assignment – Liz Wiemer

4. The Shadows Between Us – Tricia Levenseller

3. All Your Twisted Secrets – Diana Urban

2. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson

1. Break the Fall – Jennifer Iacopelli