Can’t Wait Wednesday – MISFIT IN LOVE by S. K. Ali
/24 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is MISFIT IN LOVE by S. K. Ali. I really loved the first book in this series so I’m very excited to get to spend more time with these characters in what sounds like the perfect summer read.
MISFIT IN LOVE by S. K. Ali
Publication Date: May 25, 2021 by Salaam Reads
From Goodreads:
In this fun and fresh sequel to Saints and Misfits, Janna hopes her brother’s wedding will be the perfect start to her own summer of love, but attractive new arrivals have her more confused than ever.
Janna Yusuf is so excited for the weekend: her brother Muhammad’s getting married, and she’s reuniting with her mom, whom she’s missed the whole summer. And Nuah’s arriving for the weekend too. Sweet, constant Nuah.
The last time she saw him, Janna wasn’t ready to reciprocate his feelings for her. But things are different now. She’s finished high school, ready for college…and ready for Nuah.
It’s time for Janna’s (carefully planned) summer of love to begin—starting right at the wedding.
But it wouldn’t be a wedding if everything went according to plan. Muhammad’s party choices aren’t in line with his fiancée’s taste at all, Janna’s dad is acting strange, and her mom is spending more time with an old friend (and maybe love interest?) than Janna.
And Nuah’s treating her differently. Just when things couldn’t get more complicated, two newcomers—the dreamy Haytham and brooding Layth—have Janna more confused than ever about what her misfit heart really wants. Janna’s summer of love is turning out to be super crowded and painfully unpredictable.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday – My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2021
/40 Comments/by Suzanne
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Resolutions/Hopes for 2021 (bookish or not!). Since I haven’t yet posted my list of goals for reading and blogging, I’m going that route this week. Some of these are new goals, while others are repeats of goals I had for 2020, either because I failed at them last year or because I did okay and want to continue to work on that same goal in the coming year.
(Edited to add – I will be striking through titles on this list as I read them in order to keep track of my progress).
My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2021
1) My number one goal this year is a repeat goal from 2020 and that is to read more of the books I own. I love ARCs of course, but I hate feeling like I’m neglecting books I’ve purchased. I actually did pretty good with this goal last year, reading 53 of the books I had physically sitting on my shelves. Where I didn’t do as well, however, were all of those ebooks I have sitting on my kindle. They were basically out of sight, out of mind since I had all of those physical books staring me in the face. To help better keep track of those ebooks, I have made myself a MASTER LIST of all of the books I own and want to read in 2021. I’m not taking part in any challenges this year but am setting a goal for myself of reading 60 books I already own.
2) This is also a repeat goal from 2020. I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book. I did pretty well at this in 2020; I think I only ended up participating in one tour where I didn’t already have the book and I really cut down on the number of tours I did overall. Hoping to stay on track in 2021.
3) This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues. In 2020, I had a list of 9 series I wanted to finish or get caught up in. I finished 2 series, got caught up in 2 others, and read one book in another. So yeah, not great. For this year, I have 8 series that I want to finish and 3 new ones sitting on my shelf that I want to start.
Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On:
The Nevernight Chronicle (1 book left)An Ember in the Ashes (2 books left)Arc of a Scythe (1 book left)- Red Winter (2 books left)
The Wrath and the Dawn (1 book left)Legacy of Orisha (ongoing series, but I’m one book behind)- Cursebreakers (1 book left)
The Mortal Instruments (3 books left)
Series I Want to Start:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone- City of Brass
- Legend
4) This is also a repeat goal from last year. I really want to work more on my Bookstagram account. Sometimes I post every day of the week, but then disappear for weeks at a time. I want to work on posting more consistently, taking better photos, and on interacting more on the platform.
5) I also want to get better when it comes to re-reading books I love. To keep it low pressure, I’m setting a personal goal of 1 re-read a month. Below are the books I’m hoping to re-read. Some are old favorites, while others are series books I need to re-read in order to facilitate goal #3 above.
- The Night Circus
To Kill a Mockingbird- Rebecca
Children of Blood and Bone- Red Winter
- The Chronicles of Narnia (7 books) – As of 12/24, I’ve re-read only the first book.
The Wrath and the Dawn
6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 85% or above in 2021. I did pretty good with this goal in 2020, definitely better than in prior years, so I’m hoping I can continue to not request more than I can reasonably keep up with.
7) In 2021, I really want to increase the amount of Nonfiction titles I read. Most years I only read maybe 1 or 2 nonfiction books. As with the re-reads, this year I’m setting a personal goal of 1 nonfiction book a month. Here’s a list of titles I’m hoping to read:
A Promised Land by Barack Obama- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
- My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala HarrisHidden Figures by Margot Lee ShetterlyHamilton by Ron Chernow (I started this in 2020 but haven’t finished it yet).- What Unites Us by Dan Rather
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
- D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
- A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
8) In 2021, I really want to work on being better organized. I’ve never been a super-organized person, but the pandemic and everything that has happened because of it (working from home, having my child at home for virtual schooling since last March, etc.) has really done a number on what few organizational skills I had, haha. I need to get back on track in terms of my work-life balance, and in terms of my blog (consistent posts, a more consistent schedule for blog hopping, etc.). It will be baby steps of course because I’m still working from home and we’re still short-staffed, and my child is still doing virtual school for the foreseeable future, but there will be some progress.
9) This year I really want to have some guest posting on my blog. One of my BFFs is also an avid reader and I’ve been talking to her about maybe doing some buddy reads/reviews with me or perhaps even sharing some reviews of her own. She reads a lot of mysteries and psychological thrillers so I think her recs would be a great addition since I haven’t been reading much in those areas of late.
10) Lastly, I’ve already mentioned that I’m not doing any challenges this year. That’s not strictly true. I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 150 books. I read 173 books in 2020 but some of that was due to the pandemic and politics and never wanting to turn on my TV. In hopes that 2021 won’t be a repeat, I’m sticking with the 150. It’s challenging but definitely doable, especially based on all of my reading goals above.
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Do you have any reading or blogging goals in mind for 2021?
Review: YOU HAVE A MATCH by Emma Lord
/18 Comments/by SuzannePublished by Wednesday Books on January 12, 2021
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Emma Lord’s new YA contemporary, You Have a Match, follows 16-year-old Abby Day. When Abby agrees to take a DNA test, alongside her two best friends, Connie and Leo, she thinks she’s just doing it for moral support because Leo is adopted and would like to know more about his biological family. What Abby doesn’t count on is that taking that simple little test will turn her entire life upside down when it connects her to an older sister named Savannah (“Savvy”) she never even knew existed.
Abby has no idea what to do with this information, but then Savvy reaches out to her and wants to meet. After an initial meeting where Abby ends up with more questions than answers, she agrees to meet up with Savvy at summer camp so they can really get to the bottom of why Abby’s parents gave up Savvy for adoption. Add Leo, who Abby has some awkward more-than-friends feelings for, to the mix because he also attends the same summer camp and you’ve got a recipe for an entertaining and cute read with lots of potential for emotions to run high.
The relationship between Abby and Savvy was the biggest highlight of the story for me. Abby is a born risk taker, who tends to act first and think about it later. She’s also a budding photographer who inherited her love of photography from her grandfather who passed away recently. Abby has been struggling a bit with her grief since his passing, both in her personal life and academically. In contrast, Savvy comes across as little Miss Perfect. She’s a social media influencer who focuses on healthy living. Her Instagram feed is filled with yoga, meditation, healthy eating, etc. Savvy wants everything in her life to be picture perfect so Abby’s act first, think later, rules are optional philosophy does not sit well with her.
These two are such polar opposites that it’s hard to believe that they could possibly be sisters, but I really loved watching their relationship progress the more time they spend together. There are plenty of bumps in the road as the two of them constantly butt heads over pretty much everything, but the relationship growth comes across as very authentic and I liked that both sisters learned a lot and grew as a result of the challenges they encountered and mistakes they made along the way.
I also loved the blend of family, friendships, sisterhood, and romance, along with the summer camp setting. In addition to the sibling relationship, there’s also the mystery of why Abby’s parents gave up Savvy for adoption and then promptly had Abby a year and a half later. Getting to the bottom of that mystery kept me turning the pages, as did wanting to see Abby sort through her feelings for Leo. Leo is such a sweetheart so I was 100% invested in Abby being brave enough to take a chance on him.
I really enjoyed reading You Have a Match. It’s a fun and quick read, but also just one of those stories that has a little something for everyone and that will leave you with a contented smile on your face.
About Emma Lord
Emma Lord is the author of TWEET CUTE and upcoming YOU HAVE A MATCH, and a digital media editor living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, a whole lot of love, and copious amounts of grilled cheese.