It’s my 30th birthday this weekend so thought what better way to blog then to post the birthday book tag
BIRTHDAY CAKE
a book with a plot that seems cliche but you adore it anyway
I feel like all romantic books are cliche and I’m not really one for romance books so I will go with one of the few I like.
Bookish and the beast
this is a beauty and the beast retelling with a geeky twist, but it really was more then that Ashley does a great job with the once upon a con series to make this fairy tales work in the modern times and I feel this one is her best for that.
the other thing I like is the Easter eggs not just to the Disney film but to other books as well one of my favourite scenes in the book involves a towel which Vance uses to dry his hair little did I know until I read another little book, that not only did his hair tarn ginger In my opinion like the beast hair but also Rosie ruin the towel like Sophie does in howls moving castle which also caused howl hair to change colour.
Rosie Thorne—a young woman feeling stuck. She’s stuck on her college application essays, stuck in her small town, and stuck on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met back at ExcelsiCon. But most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when she and her dad sold it to pay off hospital bills.
Then there’s Vance Reigns—he’s been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember, with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. Vance’s world comes crashing down when a tabloid scandal catches up to him and he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never think to look: Small Town USA. At least the house he’s stuck in has a library. Too bad he doesn’t read.
When their paths collide and a rare book is destroyed, Rosie must work to repay the debt. But while most superfans would jump at the chance to be anywhere near Starfield’s handsome hunk, Rosie would rather be anywhere but. Vance is a jerk, she can’t stand him, and the feeling is mutual. But as this pair of opposites begrudgingly gets closer and their careful masks come off, they may just find there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening up their hearts.
PARTY GUESTS
your most anticipated book release this year
there are a few books out this year that I’m excited about and luckily I don’t have to wait to long for two of them
It’s the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory.
She only knows three things for certain:
1. She has a splitting headache.
2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.
And oh yeah…
3. People keep trying to kill her.
She doesn’t know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there’s only one explanation: obviously. . . she’s a spy!
Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she’s not. She’s a spy’s identical twin sister.
Too bad the only person who knows she’s not the woman they’re looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear.
That’s easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught. Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they’re lying their way across Europe—dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister’s name.
But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can’t remember or the mysterious man she can’t let herself forget…
out August 2023
Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.
6 July 2023
Emry Merlin should be living her best life as a wizard’s apprentice. Now that she no longer has to pretend to be her brother to study magic, she and Prince Arthur are closer than ever. Except King Uther has warned her to stay away from his son, and Emry’s magic is growing more unpredictable by the day.
Meanwhile, Arthur’s prophesied future as the One True King is closing in. And as his wedding to Princess Guinevere draws nearer, he discovers she’s hiding a shocking secret. When Emry learns that the only hope to fix her increasingly dangerous magic is an eccentric Parisian alchemist, Arthur has his own reasons for accompanying her to French court, and for befriending an infamous crowd of young nobles.
But it’s going to take a lot more than a depressed gargoyle, some obscenely tight trousers, and a deadly sports match to keep our young heroes from their destiny. Can these reluctant royals and wayward wizards set aside their drama and save their kingdom, or is Camelot doomed?
21 March 2023
There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring. Yet this time it is not from Sulis Minerva that trouble starts. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister the right-handed bookseller Vivien and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.
The map takes the trio to a place separated from the world, maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an Ancient Sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Portland Stone. But this is only the beginning, as the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer of awesome powers.
If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.
23 March
BIRTHDAY PRESENTS
a book that surprised you with how much you loved it
84 Charing Cross
not only is this not a fantasy but it’s also non fiction but I really enjoyed it.
this is the true story of Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messers Marks and co sellers of rare and secondhead books as they correspond though letters as Helene try’s to find the books that she’s after. This book search soon forms friendships between Helene and the many workers of 84 Charing Cross road.
THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG
a book that certainly deserved all the hype it got
Legends and lattes
I’m going with this one just because I’m on my second listen on my way to London and it is amazing.
High fantasy, low stakes – with a double-shot of coffee.
After decades of adventuring, Viv the orc barbarian is finally hanging up her sword for good. Now she sets her sights on a new dream – for she plans to open the first coffee shop in the city of Thune. Even though no one there knows what coffee actually is.
If Viv wants to put the past behind her, she can’t go it alone. And help might arrive from unexpected quarters. Yet old rivals and new stand in the way of success. And Thune’s shady underbelly could make it all too easy for Viv to take up the blade once more.
But the true reward of the uncharted path is the travellers you meet along the way. Whether bound by ancient magic, delicious pastries or a freshly brewed cup, they may become something deeper than Viv ever could have imagined.
HAPPY MUSIC
a book with some very beautiful and truly memorable quotes
Strange the dreamer
I think this is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read and it has some lovely quotes
“The library knows its mind,” old Master Hyrrokkin told him, leading him back up the secret stairs. “When it steals a boy, we let it keep him.”
That was his dream, daring and magnificent: to go there, half across the world, and solve the mysteries for himself. It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?
“He read while he walked. He read while he ate. The other librarians suspected he somehow read while he slept, or perhaps didn’t sleep at all.”
and that are just a few
The dream chooses the dreamer.
Since he was five years old, Lazlo Strange has been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to go in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself – in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep to cut it off from the world? What did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do many more mysteries – including the blue-skinned goddess who visits Lazlo’s dreams …
GETTING OLDER
a book that you read a long time ago, but you think that you would appreciate it more if you read it as a more mature reader
The hobbit
when I was younger I was only able to read the first chapter or so before I put it down
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End.
But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey `there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…
SWEET BIRTHDAY MEMORIES
a book that kept you incredibly happy during a sad or demanding period of your life
This is a pretty hard question I’m not going to lie and seems very personal for a book tag but I will try to answer.
The shadowhunter series
this books got me though college and some of the ups and down of adulthood I’ve got many friends who reads them as well.
and that is that I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed my birthday.