Book Rec – Strong Female Characters

In order to celebrate International Women’s Day, I thought about putting together a list of my favorite female characters of all time. A huge pet peeve of mine was always the female characters, more often than not you have The Hero™ kicking ass and saving the day and his love interest is either there to support him, be saved, or even die in order to further his narrative. We also have the manic pixie girl, that I hate with burning rage.
Yes, we´ve had at some point a boom in stories with girls as main characters, well more like pseudo main characters, where she still completely useless just waiting to be saved by the love interest. and sometimes has to make the very hard decision of choosing between two equally attractive guys, and when I say equally attractive I mean they look basically the same, except one is blond and one is brunet or something. And she somehow still chooses the most toxic one (I am looking at you Twilight)
Ok I got carried away, my point is we have a plethora of very badly written female characters, but today we don´t talk about those. Today we talk about completely badass girls, that take no shit and get stuff done!

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Book Review – The Gilded Ones

Title:The Gilded Ones
Author: Namina Forna
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Genre: Fantasy | YA
Length: 414 pages
Published:  Feb 9th 2020
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Get the book here:
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Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.
But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.
Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.
Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself. 

Book Review and 15 Reactions While Reading Wench – Wench

Title: Wench
Author: Maxine Kaplan
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Genre: YA | Fantasy | Adventure
Length: 400 pages
Published:  Jan 19th 2021
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Get the book here:
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Synopsis:
A funny, fiercely feminist YA epic fantasy—following the adventures of a tavern wench
Tanya has worked at her tavern since she was able to see over the bar. She broke up her first fight at 11. By the time she was a teenager she knew everything about the place, and she could run it with her eyes closed. She’d never let anyone—whether it be a drunkard or a captain of the queen’s guard—take advantage of her. But when her guardian dies, she might lose it all: the bar, her home, her purpose in life. So she heads out on a quest to petition the queen to keep the tavern in her name—dodging unscrupulous guards, a band of thieves, and a powerful, enchanted feather that seems drawn to her. Fast-paced, magical, and unapologetically feminist, Wench is epic fantasy like you’ve never seen it before.
Cw: Some magic in the book involves self-harm.

Book Review and Playlist – A Wolf for a Spell

Title: A Wolf for a Spell
Author: Karah Sutton
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Genre: Middle Grade | Fantasy | Retelling
Length: 320 pages
Published:  Dec 1st 2020
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Get the book here:
Amazon B&N Indigo

Synopsis:
The Girl Who Drank the Moon meets Pax in this fantastical tale of a wolf who forms an unlikely alliance with Baba Yaga to save the forest from a wicked tsar.
Since she was a pup, Zima has been taught to fear humans—especially witches—but when her family is threatened, she has no choice but to seek help from the witch Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga never does magic for free, but it just so happens that she needs a wolf’s keen nose for a secret plan she’s brewing… Before Zima knows what’s happening, the witch has cast a switching spell and run off into the woods, while Zima is left behind in Baba Yaga’s hut—and Baba Yaga’s body!
Meanwhile, a young village girl named Nadya is also seeking the witch’s help, and when she meets Zima (in Baba Yaga’s form), they discover that they face a common enemy. With danger closing in, Zima must unite the wolves, the witches and the villagers against an evil that threatens them all.

Book Review – Cemetery Boys

Title:Cemetery Boys
Author: Aiden Thomas
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Genre: Paranormal | YA | Romance
Length: 352 pages
Published:  Sept 1st 2020
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Synopsis:
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

Transathon wrap-up

If you still don’t know what Transathon is, you can still pretty much figure out from the name! It’s a very awesome readathon that took place all through July and it’s focused on reading more books by trans and non-binary authors! There is also a Mini Transathon for Transgender Awareness Week. Go follow them on twitter @transathon and also you can find the amazing host, Ocean, on twitter @oceansofnovels and on their blog here.

Because I am a lazy piece of muffin, I never wrote my wrap-up for Transathon and while preparing for this week’s posts I realized that this is the perfect week for this. I present to you the amazing books I read over July as part of Transathon.

I am also hosting a giveaway on my Instagram as part of Transgender Awareness Week.

Book Review – The Camelot Betrayal

Title:The Camelot Betrayal
Author: Kiersten White
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Genre: Fantasy | YA | Retelling
Length: 384 pages
Published:  Nov 10th 2020
Goodreads link
Get the book here:
Amazon B&N BookDep Indigo Indiebound

Synopsis:
EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE IN CAMELOT: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom’s influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.
Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde, Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen’s knight, and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere–the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn’t belong. She never will.
When a rescue goes awry and results in the death of something precious, a devastated Guinevere returns to Camelot to find the greatest threat yet has arrived. Not in the form of the Dark Queen or an invading army, but in the form of the real Guinevere’s younger sister. Is her deception at an end? And who is she really deceiving–Camelot, or herself?

Top 10 deal-breaker tropes

Tropes, love them, or hate them they are overly present in any type of media out there. From the knight in shiny armor to the good old love triangle there is no way to escape them. Today I thought is only natural to present my take on tropes, and more specific bad tropes, the ones that I avoid in any books and can make me DNF faster than that crazy chicken running from the stupid coyote, you know the one.
While I admit, I added here some tropes that I can live with, and that can even be done well, most of them are either problematic or overly used. Spoiler alert, I am working on a list of bad tropes done well, so stay tuned.

Trigger Warning: mental health, sexual assault

Book Review – The Guinevere Deception

Title:The Guinevere Deception
Author: Kiersten White
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Genre: Fantasy | YA | Retelling
Length: 352 pages
Published:  Nove 5th 2019
Goodreads link

Synopsis:
Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.
To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.

October wrap-up & November TBR

I am always amazed by the people that manage to read like 20 books each month ( you are so cool, good job), but I’ve always been a slow reader, and for the last few years I’ve never managed to finish my Goodreads reading challenge. But no more, October was the month when, for the first time ever, I’ve completed my reading challenge.

Overall I’ve read a total of six books, two of which were ARCs that I got either from NetGalley or book tour.

Keeping in mind that this was also the month I stared nursing school I can say I am proud of myself for managing this many books. so let’s start this wrap up!