2020/08/30

BOOK HAUL:
AUGUST

S P O N S O R E D  :  O N E  B O O K  S E N T  B Y  P U B L I S H E R
I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Who else is ready for fall? I'm ready and have been ready for weeks now! I can't wait for it to get cooler and to pull out all my sweaters and scarves. It's been unusually hot here in Oslo in August and I'm totally over it.

August has been an odd month; I haven't been doing much and I haven't gone out that much (other than to go to work) because of a flare up of the corona virus. Because I live in a big city we're obviously more vulnerable in these situations so I've just been trying to stay low and get on with it.

I've gotten a wonderful stack of books this month though and I'm ready to really get into that autumn reading mood and get into these!














( a f f i l i a t e  l i n k s  +  b o o k s  m a r k e d  *  s e n t  b y  p u b l i s h e r )

I hope you're all doing all right and are all staying as safe as possible!
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2020/08/29

UPCOMING RELEASES:
SEPTEMBER

It's September; the autumn of books is upon us and we've got some great new books coming out this month!

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
15th
I mean, how can anyone ignore this absolutely fantastic cover? This is contemporary YA with a bit of mystery and the story starts off with a girl who wakes up with blood on her hands and no memory of what has happened... sounds mysterious!

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
1st
You may remember Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi which came out a few years ago and loads of people read and loved (including me). Now, Gyasi is coming out with a new book and I had to include it; it's a contemporary novel about a Ghanaian family living in Alabama and I'm sure it's going to be amazing.

Home Stretch by Graham Norton
30th
A new novel from Norton! I've read his two previous books and really enjoyed both of them; this one is set in 1987 in a small Irish community and the story is about what happens to this community when a car accident takes place and kills three people. 

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
1st
This is a thriller and it sounds like it focuses mainly on these people who live in a neighbourhood that keeps changing and turns out to be more dangerous than anyone realised. It seems like this explores gentrification quite a lot, which is something I think is very interesting.

One By One by Ruth Ware
8th
A new release from Ruth Ware is coming our way and I'm excited! It's about these people who go on a corporate retreat to this beautiful, rustic mountain chalet and then they get stuck there because they get snowed in... and it turns out it's not entirely safe. 
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2020/08/28

2020/08/27

2020/08/26

BOOK REVIEW:
THE VANISHING HALF BY BRIT BENNETT

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: The Vanishing Half
Author: Brit Bennett
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 352
Rating: 5/5


Summary:
Two identical girl twins grow up in a small Southern black community and runs away at the age of sixteen, and end up living very different lives; one having a dark child with a black man and the other passing for white in an affluent neighbourhood in California.


Review:
This book has been everywhere for the past couple of months and the hype has been high, and for once, I feel like the book actually lived up to it.

There are a lot of things going on in this book and a lot of themes it explores, and sometimes when you read a book with so many things in it, it feels overwhelming or like there wasn't enough room for everything, but this somehow manages to take in all of it and still have it be a readable, fascinating and eye-opening novel that treats its themes and characters with great care.

I think it's really interesting how we get to meet these twins and then as we go along, we eventually meet both of their daughters. I loved reading about all of them and seeing their inner dialogue and struggles, and I think seeing this story from all of these different perspectives suited the book really well. It's a well written story with beautifully crafted characters.

It's really difficult to summarise this book in any sort of substantial way, but overall, I think this is an excellent novel about race, family, identity and belonging and I would highly, highly recommend it.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2020/08/25

PENGUIN ORANGE COLLECTION:
THE SNOW LEOPARD

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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The beautifully designed The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen!
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2020/08/24

BOOK REVIEW:
MIRACLE CREEK BY ANGIE KIM

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: Miracle Creek
Author: Angie Kim
Published: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 354
Rating: 3/5


Summary:
In a small town in Virginia, a group of people brought together by being a part of a special treatment centre come together at a trial a year after an explosion happens at the centre, a tragedy that very clearly was not an accident.


Review:
This is a book I was very excited to read because it seemed like the perfect book for me, and in the end, it was good but not as great as I had hoped it would be.

I loved getting to know our characters in here and I like how we read the story from all of these different perspectives and we get to see how the different characters think, feel and we slowly peel back the layers to see what they're all hiding. They're complicated and sometimes unlikeable, but so fascinating to read about. I like the setting and I like a lot of themes, especially the exploration of culture and being an immigrant in America; I think those parts were so well written and really interesting.

I think this book is too long though and it honestly felt like a bit of a slog to get through; most of the book takes place in the courtroom and I wonder if it would've been more engaging we had a bit less of that, although I don't really know. There was just something about the way this is written that made me progressively lose more and more interest, and I had to push myself to pick this book up. You know that thing when you're reading and you start flipping pages to see how far you've got left before the chapter ends? I did that a lot with this.

There is a bit of a mystery element in here as well, although the focus is very much on the characters, and I think if you're looking for a suspenseful and exciting book, this isn't it; it's a character driven story with the mystery taking the backseat.

So overall, this had a lot of interesting themes and I liked getting to know the characters, but it just dragged out too much for me and ended up being kind of boring.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2020/08/23

2020/08/22

BOOK REVIEW:
OBVIOUSLY BY AKILAH HUGHES

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: Obviously: Stories From My Timeline
Author: Akilah Hughes
Published: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 288
Rating: 3/5


Summary:
This is the coming of age memoir of writer, comedian and YouTuber Akilah Hughes.


Review:
So, Akilah was one of the first people I subscribed to when I first started really getting into and watching YouTube and I think she's amazing, so when I realised she had come out with this book, I had to read it.

I think reading about peoples experience of growing up is always interesting, and I like a lot of the themes and topics the author brings up in here. The chapters in the book are like vignettes from her life and some of them are funny, some are sad, but all feel very human, down to earth and genuine.

It did feel, however, that a lot in here was a little surface level and I kept wanting it to dig deeper and explore more, but then the chapter would end and we would just move on. Because of that, I don't really know if this would be all that interesting of a read for people who are not familiar with this author from social media; I think my interest in this book and my enjoyment of it very much comes from just liking her from other things I've seen and I don't know if this is the kind of book that transcends that.

To be honest, if I didn't like this author so much, I'd probably give this two stars, but I've bumped it up to three just because I like the author and I think she's funny.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2020/08/21

2020/08/20

2020/08/19

BOOK REVIEW:
THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES BY GRADY HENDRIX

S P O N S O R E D  :  B O O K  S E N T  F O R  F R E E  B Y  B O O K  D E P O S I T O R Y
I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Author: Grady Hendrix
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 404
Rating: 4/5


Summary:
Set in the suburbs of Charleston in the 90's, a group of women gather for their book club where they love discussing true crime ends up having to protect the community when a mysterious stranger moves into the neighbourhood and turns out to be a blood-sucking creature.


Review:
This was a highly entertaining book and I flew through it.

I really love the time period this is set in and the setting is a combination of two of my favorite things; the South and the suburbs. I really love the backdrop of this community and I feel like it suits the story really well. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in here, especially the women of the book club, even if they're not equally well developed.

I thought this was really easy to read and easy to get into. Although I'm not generally a huge reader of horror, I did really like the horror scenes in here; they were gruesome, dark and detailed and really creeped me out. There's also a bit of dark humor scattered in here that I very much enjoyed.

I do think, like I mentioned, some of the characters are a little one dimensional and I think there's a bit in the middle of the book where it starts to drag out a little bit. There are a lot of themes in this book that are touched on and we do get some family intrigue with the characters, but the main focus of the story really is the plot with the vampire (which isn't a bad thing necessarily).

Overall though, I just had a great time reading this; it was the perfect amount of scary and creepy and just incredibly entertaining.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2020/08/18

2020/08/17

BOOK REVIEW:
A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA BY ISABEL ALLENDE

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: A Long Petal of the Sea
Author: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor (translator), Amanda Hopkinson (translator)
Published: 2019
Language: English (translated from Spanish)
Pages: 336
Rating: 5/5


Summary:
In the late 1930's, civil war grips Spain and a young widow and her brother in law flee the country along with hundreds of thousands of others.


Review:
This was an excellent book and I loved it.

From the first chapter, I was hooked on this; I loved meeting the characters and getting to know them and I felt like they were so well written and interesting and they felt like real people. Seeing them on their journeys was heart-wrenching, heartwarming and I was sad to let them go when I finished this book.

I think the historical aspects of this book are also excellent and I felt like we got such a good sense of what it was like for these people to move from one place to the next and try to grapple with where you're from and where your home is. The book really transports you back in time and to these different places, it almost feels like you're walking among them.

I really enjoyed the writing in here as well, it's easy to read but has some really beautiful parts and I especially loved the bit of poetry we get in here and the appearance of Pablo Neruda, I thought that was really interesting.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent story exploring love, family and all that war does to people, and it's one of my favorite books I've read this year and one of the best historical fiction novels I think I've ever read. Would absolutely recommend.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2020/08/16

2020/08/15

BOOK REVIEW:
HOW TO BE ALONE BY CHIDERA EGGERUE

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
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Title: What A Time To Be Alone
Author: Chidera Eggerue
Published: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 192
Rating: 2/5


Summary:
In this book, the online sensation "The Slumflower" aka Chidera Eggerue shares thoughts on self-worth, being your authentic self and loving and celebrating yourself.


Review:
This was an interesting and somewhat inspirational read, but I do wonder if maybe this is better for slightly younger readers.

I do like a lot of things about this book; first of all, it's beautiful, the design of the pages and the colors are vibrant and fun, and it gets you excited to turn the page. I really like the Igbo Nigerian quotes that are scattered throughout here, and I think overall the message of this book is great; it touches on a lot of important and interesting topics.

For me though, it felt a little simple. I'm not really the kind of person who goes for inspirational quotes and this is filled with them. I would've loved to go more in depth and see discussions on the different topics; I felt like we spent a lot of time talking about what one should do instead of how to actually do it. I also would've loved it if it got a bit more personal, as I follow this author on social media and would've loved to get to know her and her experiences better.

I think I just expected more from this and maybe I'm just not quite the target audience, which is why it ended up just being kind of OK for me. I do think the author is fantastic though and this is a great read if what you're looking for is to pep yourself up a bit.
You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

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