Coffee & Book Pairings Meme

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I’ve been seeing this fun meme floating around for a while now, most recently at So Many Books, so I thought I’d give it a go as well since coffee and books are basically two of my most favorite things in the whole world.

Image created at canva.com

Image created at canva.com

Black: A series that’s tough to get into but has hardcore fans.

I might be the only person on the planet who thinks this, but I’m going to go with George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series. I’ve read two of the books so far but have had the third sitting in my TBR pile for over a year now. It’s a love/hate thing with me. The story is amazing, but it just wears me out that every time I become attached to a character, they seem to almost immediately meet with a gruesome end. It’s emotionally draining

game of thrones


Peppermint Mocha: A book that gets more popular during the winter or a festive time of the year.

My peppermint mocha is book called The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. There’s something magical about this book and I think about it every time it snows.

snow child


Hot Chocolate: Favorite Children’s Book

Too many favorites to count – Charlotte’s Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to name a couple, but the one guaranteed to give me warm fuzzies just thinking about it is Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner. A. A. Milne’s characters, especially Eeyore, have remained sentimental favorites all my life.

Winnie the Pooh


Double shot of Espresso: A book that kept you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

I’m going to go with Bram Stoker Award winner Phoenix Island by John Dixon. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first picked up this book since it isn’t typically the type of book I read, but I was interested in it because a television show I liked at the time was based off of it. Boy, what a ride it turned out to be! An action-packed adrenaline rush from start to finish!

phoenix island


Starbucks: A book you see everywhere.

I don’t come across too many people who read in my daily life so I can only go by what my bookish friends online are reading and everyone seems to be talking about A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. I haven’t started this series yet but look forward to doing so soon.

court of mist and fury


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“Waiting On” Wednesday: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

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New WoW

“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.

This is my first time participating and I’m happy to report that the upcoming release I’m most eagerly anticipating is actually coming out next week!

Modern Lovers
By Emma Straub

Modern-Lovers-covera

Publication Date: May 31, 2016

From Amazon:

From the New York Times‒bestselling author of The Vacationers, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college— and what it means to finally grow up, well after adulthood has set in.

Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.
Back in the band’s heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.

Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.

This one just sounds like it’s going to be such a fun read and one that I can really relate to so I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy!

What books are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Question: What are your Must-Read YA novels?

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As much as I love to read, books designated as Young Adult (or YA) are ones that I’ve vastly neglected in recent years. Why? I don’t really have a good excuse other than my own misguided belief that as a person who is closer to “middle aged” than to young adulthood, I was just too old to be reading anything classified as YA. I’ve thankfully kicked that belief to the curb and am now embracing the more enlightened philosophy that regardless of how it’s labeled, if a story sounds like it might interest me, I’m damned well going to read it!

ya books

That said, what this post is about is me looking for a good starting point as I delve into YA. So far I’ve read a few books by John Green (Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars) and have loved them. I’ve also read the Divergent series and thought that was pretty good. Of course I adore the entire Harry Potter series and am currently very much enjoying Jennifer Niven’s ‘All The Bright Places’. What to read next though is the question, so I’d love to hear from my fellow readers as to what you would consider to be Must-Reads for anyone new to YA. What are your favorites?

Comment below and help me get started. Thanks in advance!

The A-Z of Books Tag

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Now that I have a few reviews under my belt, I decided it was time to mix it up a bit and add some non-review posts to my blog. I came across this cool A-B of Books tag on Pretty Purple Polka Dots and again on Rather Too Fond of Books and decided I’d like to give it a shot as well so here goes!


reading 

 

Author You’ve Read the Most Books From

Toni Morrison.  When I was in college, I took a seminar that was exclusively devoted to Morrison’s novel. I read all 6 that had been published at that time and have read at least 4 more since then.   (Runner up, which is pretty indicative of how varied my tastes in reading, is J.K. Rowling with the entire Harry Potter series.)

 

Best Sequel Ever

I don’t know if I can pick a ‘best ever’ but I did really enjoy The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second novel in Stieg Larrson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

 

Currently Reading

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman

 

Drink of Choice While Reading

Usually coffee, but occasionally a glass of wine when I read on weekends.

 

E-Reader or Physical Book

As much as I adore physical copies of books, I also love that with an e-reader because I can instantly download a new book any time of the day or night.

 

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated in High School

For some reason, only Harry Potter characters are popping into my head so I’m going to go with Ron Weasley. I do love redheads and he and I would have had a great time together snarking on Draco Malfoy and his goons.

ron weasley

 

Glad You Gave this Book a Chance

Emma Donaghue’s ‘The Room’.  I really struggled to get through the first 50 or so pages and almost gave up on the book because it was hard to follow the 5-year child narrator, but once I got used to the narration, this book quickly became one of my all-time favorites.

 

Hidden Gem Book

Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith.  I picked this book up mainly because I had heard it was set in my home state of Virginia. What an absolutely gorgeous piece of writing it turned out to be.  If you give this one a try, I guarantee you’ll fall in love with the character of Ivy Rose.

Fair and Tender Ladies

 

 

Important Moment in Your Reading Life

Reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ for the first time when I was in the 8th grade. That book turned me into the book addict that I am today.

 

Just Finished

‘The Girls’ by Emma Cline. It’s fabulous, by the way, my favorite book of 2016 so far.

 
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