TBR – Heart Full of Books

Last Chance TBR: Read Before 2018!

Published on December 2, 2017December 1, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books2 Comments

HAPPY BLOGMAS, EVERYONE!

We’re so happy to be working on lots of blog posts again, after a few inconsistent months of posting…(we were doing so well at the beginning of the year *sigh*) But we’re back on the blogging bandwagon and continuing with one of our favourite traditions!

Bee and I have set ourselves a few TBRs over the year that we’ve been very proud to have mostly stuck too. Over the summer, we picked a rainbow of books to read from our shelves (prioritising physical books we own rather than library books/e-books/uni reading/books for review for what felt like the first time in eons.) And it was a success. We read books that have been on our TBRs for over two years (sorry, Magnus Chase, no hard feelings).

So with a few successes under our belts, why not set ourselves a final challenge to get some books read before 2018 is upon us? It’s not like we have two 4,000 word essays to write and a dissertation to get on with. *distant screeching* To make it manageable, we’ve each picked TWO BOOKS, so what are they?

MADDIE’S CHOICE

Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
I bought this for myself in June and read the first chapter in a Try a Chapter video, which I absolutely loved. But, I picked up If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo instead and have completely forgotten about how much I loved the start of this one. In might be completely out of season, but ice cream in winter is fine by me!

Ash by Malinda Lo
It’s been donkeys years since I read a fairy tale retelling, it feels like, so I picked the first one that caught my eye. It’s based on Cinderella (ah, my favourite!) and it’s an f/f romance (am I dreaming about how good this sounds? this can’t be a real thing!) So, fingers crossed I love this as much as I love the concept.

BEE’S CHOICE

The Last Boy and Girl in the World by Siobhan Vivian
This book almost was going to be in my Top 5 to read in 2018, but why wait? I haven’t heard anything about it, but I picked it up when it was still a new release because Morgan Matson has blurbed it! It feel like it’s going to be something I really love, and I’m looking for another five star read to close out the year, so we’ll see!

Truth or Dare by Non Pratt
I’ve read all of her other books this year, so I need to close out this year by completing the set! I don’t think it’ll be as good as Unboxed which is one of the best books I read this year, and Maddie read it before YALC so I have her reading experience to adjust my expectations.

7 in 7 Readathon TBR!

Published on August 9, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

7 in 7 is a readathon that’s taking place from the 14th-21st August! The aim is, of course, to read 7 books in 7 days – mostly to keep your Goodreads challenge afloat in the summer so you’re not a panicky mess in December.

Bee and I are currently staying at our university house, so have access to about 2% of our books, so the choice is limited to say the least…unless we pick up our Kindles and get on top of all that NetGalley reading >___< Instead, we’ll use this as an opportunity to tick off a lot of the books on our summer reading list for university.

So, here’s what we plan on reading:

P O E T R Y C O L L E C T I O N S:
Measures of Expatriation by Vahni Capildeo
Sunshine by Melissa Lee-Houghton
Stranger, Baby by Emily Berry

C L A S S R E A D I N G:
M: The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
B: The Association of Small Bombs by Kara Mahajan

Y O U N G A D U L T
A Change is Gonna Come by BAME authors (short story collection)

All of that gives us the opportunity to pick up two random choice books that we might be feeling in the moment. So, although this is quite a boring TBR in terms of genuinely pleasurable reading, if we put it out on the Internet that we’re going to read this stuff for class, then we’re bound to do it! (Hopefully…)

There’s some cross over with this readathon and Tome Topple so I’ll be continuing to read Dragonfly in Amber and *fingers crossed* Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. I’m not enjoying the books all most at all because the relationship is so toxic but it’s for one of our university modules and is our lecturer’s obsession, so we can’t get away with not reading it!

We’ll probably still be reading Invictus by Ryan Graudin as well with our lovely BookTube20Somethings reading group: Carys, Kate and Lily.

Good luck to anyone else planning on participating, and we promise that we’ll try and keep a better schedule with blogging so that we don’t disappear for weeks on end! Happy reading!

Reading Double: TBR & Sprint Times

Published on June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

It’s almost time for our readathon to start! We’ve been planning and anticipating this for weeks, so it’s so exciting to think that tomorrow it’ll actually be happening. We’re so excited to share what we’re reading with everyone!

Bee and I have finally decided on what we’re each going to read, after having a few options lined up. With the readathon starting tomorrow and all, we just had to go with our hearts! We’ve both gone for two stand alones written by the same author, which also happen to be some of each other’s favourite books.

Bee will read…
‘Beautiful Broken Things’ & ‘A Quiet Kind of Thunder’ by Sara Barnard

Maddie will read…
‘This Song Will Save Your Life’ & ‘Tonight the Streets are Ours’ by Leila Sales

The best part is that both of our pairs work out at around the same word count, so we should be able to read at the same pace. Hopefully we like them as much as the other did!

On the readathon’s Twitter (@ReadingDouble), we’ll be hosting sprints throughout the day, all set to GMT. The schedule is as follows:

SATURDAY: 10am-12pm, 2-4pm, 8-9pm

SUNDAY: 10-11am, 3-5pm, 8-10pm

We hope you can join us for some of those times over the weekend, whether or not your taking part in the readathon, if you’re reading, we’d love to cheer you on!

Books We’re Taking on Holiday!

Published on May 28, 2017June 18, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

It’s going to be a holiday of tomes! Since we’re going to be spending 85% of this holiday reading, we decided that the physical books we took had to be over 400 pages, and preferably a book we both haven’t read (there are two exceptions, though!) I mean, isn’t that the best thing about going on holiday when your sister has the exact same bookish taste as you? Sharing books!

A lot of these books have been on our shelves unread for a seriously long time, and what better time to read them than practically stranding yourself on a desert island with them? Okay, so maybe substitute ‘stranding yourself’ with ‘going willingly’ and desert island with ‘really nice hotel.’ Continue reading “Books We’re Taking on Holiday!” →

Sequels I Need to Read!

Published on May 12, 2017May 12, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

Normally, I don’t do too badly with staying on top of series I have going, (I’m still behind on reading popular series in general, but that’s another issue!) but there are quite a few that have fallen to the wayside, and I need to rekindle my love for a series by reading the second book!

Continue reading “Sequels I Need to Read!” →

2017 TBR!

Published on January 23, 2017May 4, 2017 by Heart Full Of BooksLeave a comment

Waiting For The Right Moment To Read

Published on April 23, 2016May 4, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

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Every time a new book gets added to my TBR, I’m desperate to read it AT THAT SECOND. But, chances are, I’ve already got at least one book on the go and don’t want to divide my attention by reading it. Of course, if this is a book by Holly Smale, then I’ll pause whatever I’m doing (even if it’s sleep) and start reading straight away.

That’s an exception.

Most of the time, books on my TBR stay there for at least a month before I read them, because I’m waiting for the right time, and some may argue that there is no right time to read something. For me, there definitely is, and my example is: Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

I first picked this book up in 2008. I was 11. It was from my school’s library, and it was over 300 pages, which was longer than any book I was reading at that age. I started it immediately (because this was back in the days when I didn’t know that young adult fiction existed, let alone TBR piles).

I read 70 pages. I gave up.

This month, I only just finished it. Eight years later!! And, boy, am I glad I delayed reading it that long. Even when I was 11, I loved reading the ‘Acknowledgements’ pages of books. BUT, I accidentally flipped to the last page of the story instead, and spoiled the fates of Sephy and Callum forever. Over eight years, I’ve never been able to forget the ending, and I thought it was about time I found out how the characters got there.

It was a great book. Really, really great. Would I have understood how complexly it deals with race and terrorism eight years ago?

No.

I feel like, consciously or not, my 11-year-old self did my 18-year-old self a favour. It’s like she knew I won’t completely get it, so put it down because it was the wrong moment to read it. Now I’ve read it with a better understanding of the world and how unjust it is, I was able to better appreciate and love the book more.

So, I guess the moral of the story is, delay reading books for as long as you want. You never know, you might end up thanking yourself for it one day, because books have a tendency to have more impact if you read them when you’re actually ready for them!

Last Chance TBR

Published on December 1, 2015March 7, 2016 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

As December is upon us, this is our last chance to read any books that have been dangling on the end of our to-be-read list, hoping to be finished before the end of the year. In order to wipe the slate clean, and begin a new in 2016, above and below are the books we want to read this month! Some acclaimed stand alones, some series endings, beginnings and middles, contemporary, fantasy, dystopian. Fingers crossed we finish them all!

Reading Multiple Books at Once

Published on April 1, 2015May 4, 2017 by Heart Full Of Books11 Comments

I’ve always found myself to be the kind of reader that can’t help but read multiple books at once. It’s a habit I’ve always had and one I hope to break!

My most recent example of this ‘reading sin’ began when I started to read ‘Fractured’ by Teri Terry. (Note I write started and not finished…we’ll get to that later.) I really enjoyed ‘Slated’, the first book in the trilogy, and it has been over a year since I read it. When I saw the sequel in my local library, I knew I had to read it. Also, the ‘Slated’ trilogy was what I pulled out of The Series TBR Jar this month, so I had an obligation to read it!

I got 180 pages through, but then….

Continue reading “Reading Multiple Books at Once” →

15 for 15

Published on January 3, 2015March 7, 2016 by Heart Full Of Books3 Comments

There are so many amazing books that we would like to read this year, and prioritizing what we want to read has never been a strong point of ours! But we thought we would come up with a list of our 15 most anticipated reads, because, who knows, maybe a few of them will make it to our Top 15 of 2015 video at the end of the year!