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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Characters Whose Job I Wish I Had

March 1, 2021 11 Comments
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader. This week’s topic is Characters Whose Job I Wish I Had. Honestly, when I read I often get a lot of career envy – I have a pretty cool job (I’m a software engineer and get to work on software that you may have used before), but it’s always cool to read about other careers.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Books That Made Me Laugh

February 22, 2021 12 Comments
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader. This week’s topic is Books That Made Me Laugh Out Loud. I don’t read a ton of comedy based books, but here are a few that definitely made me chuckle.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Mardi Gras Edition

February 15, 2021 16 Comments
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader. This week’s topic is Purple, Yellow, and/or Green Book Covers (in honor of Mardi Gras)! I love this topic as I’m a very cover driven reader – so this was right up my alley.

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Top Ten Tuesday

My Favorite Romance Novels

February 8, 2021 17 Comments
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader. This week’s topic is a Valentine’s Day/Love Freebie. Naturally, romance novels came to mind with this topic. I’m going to make a list of some of my favorite romance novels in no particular order!

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Books Written Before I Was Born

February 1, 2021 10 Comments
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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Artsy Reader. This week’s topic is Books Written Before I Was Born. Honestly, it was tricky for me to find ten books for this topic – I’m very much a current reader and don’t tend to explore books more than a few years old. Here are a few books older than me that I’ve enjoyed.

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What's up? I'm Anna, a passionate reader and reviewer of a multitude of genres. I've been reviewing books since 2010, and I've had the chance to work with tons of amazing authors, publishers and other bloggers. When I'm not reading, I'm either working, traveling, or binge watching reality TV shows.

Enjoy, Anna

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What was your favorite romance book of 2020? 
 
Thank you to @berkleyromance for this gifted copy.  
 
The Roommate by Rosie Danan was definitely one of my favorites of 2020. 
 
Review: 
Last year, The Roommate by Rosie Danan was one of my favorite romance reads - it was cute, chemistry driven and oh-so sexy. Naturally, when I found out that there would be a companion book focusing on the bad ass Naomi, I slammed the request button on Netgalley for The Intimacy Experiment. 
 
Naomi was one of my favorite characters from The Roommate - she was a total badass who clearly had hidden depths. She used her tough as nails exterior as a way to shield herself from the judgement of the world. Her character arc throughout this book was phenomenal: I loved getting to see her learn to open up to other people (especially with Clara, I love a good female friendship). I also really loved the storyline about her finding her faith and figuring out how it fit into her life - it was authentic and really poignant. 
 
I think I might like Naomi and Ethan as a couple even more than I loved Clara and Josh. Right off the bat, Naomi and Ethan had sparks flying - well before either one of them had acknowledged their attraction to the other. They complimented each other exceedingly well - Ethan’s soft approach to life (he’s a total cinnamon roll softy) was complimentary to Naomi’s hard as a rock exterior. Their romance was definitely a slow burn, but it was worth it to get to see Ethan finally make his way past Naomi’s walls.  
 
Y’all. The banter. Oh my god. I knew from The Roommate how well Naomi could verbally spar, but I really loved getting to read her banter with Ethan. She tried to fluster him constantly and I was shocked at how well Ethan could volley quips back at her.  
 
The Intimacy Experiment is an excellent follow up to last year’s The Roommate: it maintains the same sex positive attitude and fast pace and impossible-not-to-love characters. Naomi and Ethan are one of my new favorite romance couples - their chemistry was amazing and organic and they were just too cute. 
 
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🖤🪐 FOLLOW TRAIN 🪐🖤 Hello lovelies, I' 🖤🪐 FOLLOW TRAIN 🪐🖤

Hello lovelies, I've teamed up with @raccontidalabastro  for this follow train, so let's meet new people and have fun. 

Rules:

🪐 Must be following ALL hosts
@raccontidalabastro 
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(Comments are locked for non-followers).

🪐 Don't follow to unfollow, it is rude and we'll be checking;
 
🪐 LIKE and SAVE this post;

🪐 Comment "DONE" and tag 3 bookish friends;

🪐 Follow everyone in the comments section (only if you are comfortable with their contents);

🪐 Hosts are exempt from follow backs ( meaning we're hosting, not participating). 

🪐 This post will be archived in 24 hours, so please make sure you're catching up on follows! 

🪐 Public bookstagram accounts only. 

We hope you enjoy this follow train and meet some great new people! 🪐🖤 
#bookishfollowtrain #bookishfollowloop #bookstagramfollowtrain #bookstagramfollowloop
Have you read the entire bibliography of any autho Have you read the entire bibliography of any authors? Who? 
 
If you've been following me for a while, you know that I adore Christina Lauren's books. I've been on a mission for a while to read all of their books, and I recently hit a big milestone: I finished all of their adult standalone books! Next up I'm going to start working on their adult series - I'm particularly excited to read Beautiful Bastard.  
 
Also - I am counting down until the release of The Soulmate Equation - the early reviews have been so great!  
 
#aesthetic #aestheticallypleasing #bookstagram #books2021 #bookrecommendations #lovestory #romanticcomedy  #theunhoneymooners #christinalauren #joshandhazelsguidetonotdating #bookstack #contemporaryromance #romancenovels #romancebooks  
 #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendation #bookrecs #contemporarybooks #sexybooks #readmorebooks #bookstagrammer #bookobsessed #booklover #bookcommunity #readingtime #ireadromance #quickread #allthefeels
Do you bake at all?    I bake lots - mostly co Do you bake at all? 
 
I bake lots - mostly cookies (thanks @readaholic19 for sharing your cookie recipe). Thanks to @readforeverpub for the gifted copy.  
 
Review: 
In the wise, wise words of Oprah, “I love bread!”. I’m also a huge fan of romance novels - put both of them together (and add a cooking reality show), and you have Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron.  
 
Farah Heron had a great way of infusing comedy into every scene - there were several times when I laughed out loud (which I don’t often do while reading). She also had a real knack for building chemistry between Reena and Nadim - even though Reena did not want to like Nadim (due to her parents arranging their marriage) they were clearly very attracted to each other and had some serious sparks flying. 
 
One of my gripes with this book was the ending - it felt a bit rushed - like the couple skipped over a whole bunch of steps in their relationship. While the two definitely had a lot of chemistry and sexual tension, it just didn’t make sense to me for them to get so serious so quickly. I wish the last part of the book had been a bit more organic. 
 
I loved Reena - she was a strong female character who was struggling with hating her career, being stifled by her family’s constant interference (especially in her love life), and wanting to follow her baking dreams. Throughout the book one of her key areas of growth was in learning to let the people around her in - in the beginning her walls were so high up she couldn’t see the good intentions of the people around her.  
 
As the story progressed, Nadim slowly helped her crumble her walls, and by the end of the book Reena was not only more open, she was also brave enough to pursue her dreams and be open about her life to her parents. There were also strong themes of Reena trying to figure out how she fit into her culture - how she could be herself while also being a part of her community. 
 
This is the perfect rom-com for anyone who loves love stories and has been baking bread during quarantine. Nadim and Reena’s chemistry was amazing and I loved the themes of learning how to find your own way while still being a part of your community. 
 
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How many books did you read in February?    I How many books did you read in February? 
 
I read 16 - some are pictures here, and some were Netgalley copies. I got to do a few buddy reads (the entire ACOTAR series and Serpent & Dove). My February was also more diverse in terms of genres than January - I read a good mix of fantasy, romance and non-fiction. March is going to be a lot of Netgalley books and gifted copies for me - and I can't wait! 
 
NetGalley Books I Read: 
Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 
Love at First by Kate Clayborn 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 
Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
 
Physical Books: 
Shipped by Angie Hockman 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin 🌟🌟🌟 
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren 🌟🌟 
Trial by Fire by Scott James 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall 🌟🌟🌟🌟  
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas 🌟🌟🌟 
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas 🌟🌟 
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas 🌟 
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas 🌟🌟 
 
 #readingwrapup #booksofinstagram #februarywrapup #instareads #booklover #readersofinstagram #instareader #bookish #bookpile #instabooks #bookstack #booky #februaryreadingwrapup #booksbooksbooks #acosf #acowar #acotar #sarahjmaas #acomaf #ChristinaLauren #RebeccaSerle #InFiveYears #fantasybooks #romancebooks #romantasy #acourtofmistandfury #acourtofthornsandroses #acourtofwingsandruin #acourtoffrostandstarlight #acourtofsilverflames
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