Taylor Swift Lover Book Tag

Taylor Swift’s Lover is the perfect album for Valentine’s Day, so it makes for the perfect book tag for Blogentine’s Day! This book tag was created by Nish and Ngoc.

• I Forgot That You Existed: A book that you want to forget you ever read

I don’t necessarily wish that I could forget this book, but a recent book which I didn’t like was Ice Breaker by Hannah Grace. I initially was interested in this book because of the cover and a lot of positive reviews which I saw on TikTok. However, for me, the plot of the book felt very disjointed with unmemorable characters. I also found that the synopsis of this book didn’t necessarily match the contents inside. Overall, it was a very disappointing and unenjoyable read for me.

• Cruel Summer: A book that you turn to when things get tough

If I’m ever in a reading slump, I usually pick up one of the books from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I really love the characters in that series, so it is definitely one of my comfort reads!

• The Man: Favorite female protagonist

A female protagonist who I enjoyed recently was Maria from Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade. While I wasn’t extremely impressed with the book itself, I really liked Maria as a main character. Maria was outgoing, positive, and always stood up for herself. Throughout the book, Maria dealt with awful producers who attempted to shame her for her body and tried to make her change her body, but Maria always stood her ground.

• The Archer: A book with good mental health representation

As I mentioned earlier, Ice Breaker wasn’t one of my favorite reads, but there was one aspect which I did appreciate in the book. In Ice Breaker, the female main character is constantly criticized for her weight. While the text doesn’t explicitly state that she has an eating disorder, she does have a very unhealthy relationship with food. I think this book brought up a huge issue in women’s sports where women who excel at their sport are often criticized for their appearance, despite needing to eat healthily and maintain muscle in order to perform well in their sport.

• I Think He Knows: Favorite fictional crush

One love interest who stood out to me this past year was Daniel from Part of Your World by Abby Jiminez. Daniel was a patient and kind love interest who supported the female lead in becoming more independent. This was one of my favorite books of 2022 and the healthy relationship featured in this book was a huge factor in that decision.

• Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince: Favorite angsty romance

One angsty romance which I read recently was Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. The miscommunication trope plays a large role in novels by Ali Hazelwood which causes a lot of angst to appear throughout her novels.

• Paper Rings: A book with an ugly cover that you absolutely adored

I’m actually not a huge fan of this series, but one series which I think needs an update for covers is the Off-Campus series. This series was published several years ago and it looks like it is still stuck there. Since this series has gained a lot of popularity in recent years due to TikTok, I think it would be a good idea to update the covers.

• Cornelia Street: A book or series you never want(ed) to end

One book that I never wanted to end was A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams. This was an unexpected five star read for me. I was a huge fan of the romance in this book and I loved the main couple featured. The Bromance Book Club books aren’t usually my favorite, but this book makes me want to read whatever Lyssa Kay Adams writes next!

• Death by A Thousand Cuts: A book or series that deserved a better ending

This is an oldie, but it is one that has stuck with me for years after reading. The Divergent series definitely went downhill for me after the first book and the ending of Allegiant just destroyed everything else that I liked about this book. While I appreciate Veronica Roth tried to write an ending that would stand out in a sea of YA dystopian at the same time, I dislike when an end of a series makes the rest of the series seem pointless. Unfortunately, that is how I felt at the end of the Divergent series after I finished reading it.

• London Boy: Your favorite British male protagonist

Although the Bridgerton books often have insufferable male love interests, I do enjoy how they change their characters to be less toxic in the show. Jonathan Bailey played an excellent Anthony Bridgerton in the show and it made me interested in watching other television shows and movies where he appears because he was such a strong actor for the role.

• Soon You’ll Get Better: A book that your heart will never recover from

I don’t typically read books that make me sad, but I wasn’t expecting Love & Other Words to be as emotional as it turned out to be. However, that was one aspect of Love & Other Words which I thought made it stand out for me.

• You Need to Calm Down: A book with a powerful message

Recently, I have been rereading the Lore Olympus series through the published book versions. One aspect of Lore Olympus which I really appreciate is how it tackles difficult subject matter in a thoughtful way. Additionally, I have always appreciated that Rachel Smythe gives warnings to this content at the beginning of the book in order to be mindful of readers who pick up her book.

• Afterglow: A book you want to give a second chance

It’s not that I want to give this book a second chance, but I do want to give this duology a chance for redemption after the first book. Recently, I read The Stolen Heir by Holly Black which is a duology taking place several years after The Cruel Prince series that follows Oak, Jude’s brother, and Lady Soren from The Court of Teeth. I had high expectations going into The Stolen Heir because I loved The Cruel Prince series so much. While The Stolen Heir wasn’t the worst book that I’ve ever read, it didn’t have the same magic as the original trilogy for me. That being said, I do plan to read the next book in the duology and I hope it is a little stronger than the first book.

• Me!: Best character development

One of my favorite character developments in a book is Manon from Throne of Glass. Due to her upbringing, Manon suppresses her emotions and doesn’t believe that she could ever love another person. A lot of pressure is placed on Manon to follow very rigid rules and orders, as there is a swift and brutal consequence for disobedience, so she will typically follows the rules set by her grandmother as opposed to her own heart. However, throughout the series, Manon slowly opens up to other people and begins to make her own choices, often due to her love for other people.

• It’s Nice to Have a Friend: Fave friends-to-lovers story

This isn’t necessarily my favorite friends-to-lovers romance, but I was impressed with how Love & Other Words was able to build such a successful friends-to-lovers romance through flashbacks. Typically, I am not a huge fan of dual timeline books. While I did have some other aspects of this book which I didn’t enjoy, I did think the scenes that readers get to see of the development of the relationship in book really reinforces that the main characters are soulmates, which is what I like to see in a romance book.

• Daylight: If you could read one book or series again and again, what would it be

If I could read one series again and again it would have to be A Court of Thorns and Roses. Like I mentioned earlier, I love the world and the character inside, so I could read it again and again without being bored.

Advertisement

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a Goodreads Award nominated book which follows Persephone “Percy” Fraser when she ventures back to a small lake town where she spent her summers in order to attend the funeral of a family friend. There, she encounters Sam, the family friend’s son, who she developed a friendship and romantic relationship with during the summers of her childhood, but she has spoken to in twelve years. Every Summer After is a dual POV book, which focuses on one weekend in the present day as well as across several years in the past.

I put Every Summer After on my TBR after seeing many positive reviews about this book online. However, I also saw online that this book contained many similarities to another book on my TBR, Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren. As a result, I wanted to read these books within a short time frame so I would be able to see the similarities and differences. I will discuss these similarities and differences more in depth in a future post. That being said, like other readers, I noticed several strong similarities in plot, tropes, and even conversations between the characters.

As for my reading experience specifically with Every Summer After, I did enjoy this book. However, I think I may have enjoyed it more if I didn’t see all the hype before I read it. Going into Every Summer After, I expected this book to be a five star read. Ultimately, I rated Every Summer After as four stars, but as I continue to think about my reading experience, I fluctuate between 3.5 stars and 5 stars. While I did enjoy several aspects of this book, there were several moments and plot points which hindered my reading experience.

One aspect of Every Summer After that I thought was well-executed was the dual timelines. I’m typically not a huge fan of dual timelines because they can throw off the pacing of the novel. While I did have some issues with pacing more towards the end of the novel, these issues didn’t necessarily come from the dual timeline aspect of the story. I thought Fortune did a good job of selecting scenes that gave us an idea of who the characters were at each stage of their lives and each scene was cut off at a good stopping point.

Like I mentioned, however, I did have some issues with pacing mostly at the end of this novel. As I was reading, I thought the story would culminate at the funeral. However, once readers reach this book part of the story, there is still one third of the book left. What happens at the story is heavily foreshadowed throughout the rest of the book. It seemed like this part of the story was really dragged out and moved much slower than the middle part of the book. Then, there is a huge reveal which is quickly wrapped up and readers get an epilogue of a year later in the story. As a result, the pacing of the last act of the novel felt very inconsistent.

Speaking of the end of the novel, there is a major plot point which annoyed me. I won’t give away any spoilers, but it felt really inconsistent considering the development of the characters. This plot point wasn’t surprising considering the hints sprinkled throughout the story, but it was still frustrating. There are so many directions that the plot could have taken which would have been more true to the characters and the twist felt like a quick way to some last minute drama. It also irritated that this big event which caused the characters not to speak for twelve years seemed to easily be solved and led to a quick resolution.

While I did enjoy parts of Every Summer After, I did enjoy it as much as I had expected to enjoy it. Like I mentioned before, I originally rated this book four stars, but I find myself fluctuating between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Reading Journal: January 2023

This year, I decided to create a reading journal in order to be a little more creative with how I track my reading progress throughout the year. In January, I posted some of my set-up pages which I included at the beginning of my journal in order to give an overview of my year. Every month, I plan to give updates on what my pages look like for the month.

Below, I have included my video from TikTok where I showed all of the pages which I created in January:

@beautyandthebeanboots

my january book journal pages ☃️ #booktok #books #bookjournal #journalideas #goodnotes

♬ Cool Kids (our sped up version) – Echosmith

January Overview

Every month, I would like to do a monthly overview where I track different statistics, list books on my TBR, and document other important information (such as new releases). For January, I did a blue, mint green, and purple color scheme to go with the cold temperatures in January. While I really liked my calendar, next month, I plan to put a larger difference between the colors in the key so it is easier to differentiate how much I read in a day. One of my goals this year is to check more books out of the library, so I created a graph to document my progress.

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

I had so much fun creating my first book spread! The cover of at first, I was going to stick with my January theme colors throughout the month, but I decided that I liked it much better when I leaned into the colors on the cover of the book. The American Roommate Experiment is pink and blue, so those were the colors that I utilized. That being said, in later spreads, I started to include a song that I associate with the book, which I didn’t do for The American Roommate Experiment. I thought it would be fun to make a playlist at the end of the year. Even though it isn’t documented on the page, I plan to use Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren

With Love & Other Words, I started to develop some consistency. For each book spread. I want to include a synopsis, statistics, a review, and likes/dislikes. I feel like these mini-reviews and lists help me when writing longer reviews for my blog. With this spread, I decided to start including a song with the book. This song, like many others this month, is by Taylor Swift. My goal in February is to include more artists for my end-of-the-year playlist.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Ship Wrecked was one of my easier to spreads to complete. After finishing the first two layouts, I had a pretty good idea of the pattern I wanted to follow with Ship Wrecked. I also liked how the cover of Ship Wrecked brought in a different color palette than my previous two designs.

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

The Stolen Heir is probably one of my favorite spreads of the month. On this page, I started to experiment with more textures and different layouts. I also liked how this page had a different color scheme than many of my other spreads, which tend to be more colorful. For this page, it was hard to narrow down which quotes I wanted to use since Holly Black often has several stand-out quotes in her works.

Lore Olympus, Volume One by Rachel Smythe

My Lore Olympus spread is definitely my favorite for January. Like with The Stolen Heir, I started to experiment with a different layout and including more embellishments. I liked adding a flower theme because I thought it was a nice nod to Persephone, the main protagonist of the series.

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Every Summer After was one of the hardest layouts for me to make this month! I had to keep moving around different parts of the layout until I came up with one that I liked. I was very excited to find pierogi clip art on Etsy to reference the restaurant in the book.

How do you document your reading progress?

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren Review

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren follows Macy Sorenson, whose father buys a cabin in the woods after her mother’s death. There, Macy meets Elliot Petropoulos and their relationship slowly develops from a friendship bonded over books to something more. However, one night changes everything, and it isn’t until eleven years and an engagement later that the two meet again.

I was on the fence about reading Love & Other Words. On one hand, I have heard amazing reviews for Love & Other Words and have seen that many Christina Lauren fans regard it as one of their favorites by the author duo. On the other hand, I have encountered several misses from this pair recently, including Something Wilder, which I did not finish last year. While I did overall enjoy Love & Other Words, I did not quite love it as much as I expected.

One aspect of Love & Other Words that I enjoyed was the dual timeline. This story takes place in present day, but also gives flashbacks to different parts of the relationship between Macy and Elliot. Sometimes, I am not a huge fans of dual timelines because they can disrupt the pace of the story if not executed well. However, I do think Christina Lauren did a good job of including scenes which showed the progression of Macy and Elliot’s relationship. In a romance novel, I want to believe that the love interests are meant to be together, and by the end of the novel, I did see Macy and Elliot as soulmates.

Additionally, I appreciated the emotional impact of this story and the emphasis on family throughout the novel. What happens to Macy’s family is tragic, but there is so much love readers see in such a short amount of time. Macy also has sort of a found family through Elliot, who still love and care for her after time passes. In the past, I have read books by this author which lean more lighthearted, so I didn’t necessarily anticipate all of the emotional moments throughout this novel. That being said, I think the emotional aspect of this novel was very well executed.

On the other hand, this created a lack on tension in the novel. At the beginning of the story, both Macy and Elliot are in relationships. While Elliot quickly ends his relationship, Macy stays engaged. However, Macy’s partner has a very flippant view of the situation. It seemed that he didn’t really care what Macy chose. Besides the major event which originally caused their split, this was the only other major obstacle which kept them apart. Even though the author’s tried to create parallels between Macy’s situation with her partner’s past to make his lack of concern seem understandable, it resulted it in a weak portion of the plot.

Another aspect of the novel which hindered my enjoyment was the ending of the novel. Throughout the story, it hints at a major event which triggered the demise of Macy and Elliot’s relationship. It was a shocking reveal, despite clues sprinkled throughout the story, so I do give kudos to Christen Lauren for planning that aspect of the story. On the other hand, the authors drop a massive emotional event onto readers… just to end the story with a quick resolution that doesn’t match the weight of what they just read. It was hard for me to believe that situation which resulted in eleven years of separation could easily be resolved with one conversation. This created an incredibly disappointing end to the story for me.

Overall, Love & Other Words had some aspects that I enjoyed and appreciated. However, there were some aspects of the novel which I found to be weak. I give this book three and a half out of five stars.

February TBR

One month down, eleven to go!

First, let’s see if I finished my January TBR. Here were the books that I wanted to read in January (any books with reviews will be linked to the book’s title):

• The Stolen Heir by Holly Black
• Lore Olympus, Volume One by Rachel Smythe
• Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren

During January, I managed to read all of the books on my TBR! Overall, my reading experiences with my January TBR books were positive. I rated The Stolen Heir as three stars, Lore Olympus as four stars, and Love & Other Words as 3.5 stars. Out of the three, Lore Olympus was my favorite.

Now onto my picks for February:

• Lore Olympus, Volume Two by Rachel Smythe

I really enjoyed reading Lore Olympus Volume One in January so I hope to continue reading the series in February. It is my goal to read at least three graphic novels in 2023, so this will keep track of my goal. I have previously read most of this series on WebToon, where it was originally published, but I don’t remember all of the details. I am hoping this volume has more interactions between Persephone and Hades compared to the first volume.

• Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

I’m not a huge Tessa Bailey fan. However, this seems like it could be a fun, quick read for the time around Valentine’s Day. This book will be the first book in a new duology by Tessa Bailey. It doesn’t surprise me that she is releasing a new duology after the success of It Happened One Summer. That duology was only average for me, so I’m hoping that I will like this duology better than her previous one. Secretly Yours appears to be an opposites attract/childhood friends romance which takes place at a vineyard.

• The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren*

I received an e-ARC of The True Love Experiment via NetGalley. Even though this book won’t be released until May, I like to read books that I receive on NetGalley quickly in order to keep my review rating high on the website. I am also excited to read this in January during the premiere of The Bachelor. I’m not too invested in the current Bachelor season so far, but the synopsis of this book has a similar feel as it focuses on a filmmaker who casts a romance author as the new lead for a reality dating show.

What books do you plan to read in February?

*ARC was obtained via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade Review

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade is the third book in the Spoiler Alert series, which follows various cast members of a popular fantasy television show throughout the filming of the series. This book focuses on Maria and Peter, two cast members who play love interests and must film together on a remote island after a hookup. Throughout the years of filming, Maria and Peter develop feelings for each other, but question a relationship due to their pasts.

Overall, I haven’t been a huge fan of the Spoiler Alert series. While I typically enjoy the characters which Olivia Dade writes, I am not a huge fan of her writing style. Often, I find the books in this series to not be well-paced, which causes the story to drag. Additionally, I typically find many scenes and conversations to be repetitive, which stops the story from moving forward. Unfortunately, I had many similar issues with Ship Wrecked, the third installment of the series.

One aspect of Ship Wrecked which I enjoyed were the two main characters, Maria and Peter. I enjoyed that Maria always stayed true to herself and would not compromise her morals just to move forward in Hollywood. I appreciated that Maria has a bright, extroverted, optimistic, and confident personality which made her stand out from other characters in the same genre. Additionally, I enjoyed Peter as a male lead character. In romance book, it annoys me when the male characters are “too perfect” with their words and actions. At first, I found Peter very unlikable from his early interactions with Maria and his unwillingness to back her up in order to suit his own needs. While his actions aren’t excusable, it allows his character to undergo a lot of growth throughout the novel.

That being said, I do have mixed feelings towards the relationship between Maria and Peter. On one hand, I enjoyed that many of the disagreements and bumps in the road of their relationship were realistic. The two love interests in this book have two very different views of the world. Based on experiences in their pasts, they have insecurities which appear periodically throughout their relationships. On the other hand, I found these issues to be resolved a little too quickly at the end of the novel. Maria and Peter eventually understand the other person’s perspective at the end of the novel and agree to a compromise in order to keep their careers and their relationship. While I like Maria and Peter and saw them take action to maintain their relationship, I felt like each character made too much sacrifice from what they personally wanted in life to keep their relationship. Even though I was told that these characters would be together forever and ever, I found it hard to believe that they wouldn’t start to resent each other later in life.

A part of this book which frustrated me was the pacing and structure in this novel as well as the series as a whole. This book takes place during the six years of filming for the series and then right before the final season airs. The beginning of this book was stronger than the end of the book for me. When the book reached the current time, the story started to drag with many repetitive scenes and conversations where Maria and Peter speculated about their future careers and relationship with each other. Plot-wise, there wasn’t much moving the story forward, which caused the story to drag, only to end with a very rushed and unsatisfying conclusion to the relationship which I previously mentioned. Additionally, while I did enjoy the beginning of the book more than the end, I felt like it could have been shortened to only feature important scenes which gave readers a better understanding of their relationship.

Some of these issues could have been resolved if written in a different story structure. I feel like the pacing of this story could have been improved if written in the present day with the beginning of the novel appearing as flashbacks throughout the story. As a whole, I’ve had issues with the timeline of this series. Typically, contemporary companion series follow a very linear timeline where once one story ends, the next picks up where the last one left off. However, this isn’t the case with the Spoiler Alert series. In this series, all of the novels occur at the same time, so they will occur at the same time as many major plot points from previous book. For example, part of Ship Wrecked occurs before any of the events in Spoiler Alert, the first book in the series, but then has parts of the novel take place during a major plot point which happens in All the Feels, the second book of the series. As a reader, this made it difficult for me to keep track of what point I was at in the timeline of the overall series, not just in the book that I was currently reading.

While I liked the characters of the book, I did not enjoy this book as a whole. The second half was particularly difficult for me to get through because I felt like nothing was propelling me to the end. I give Ship Wrecked two and a half out of five stars.

January 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

This month, I started off the year strong by reading the most books that I have read in a month in quite awhile. This month, I focused on reading one new release, as well as some other books which have been on my TBR. Overall, I would describe my reading month as average. While I didn’t have any one star books, I didn’t have any five star books either. Additionally, I found some books that I was really excited to read were too hyped up for me before I read them. Below, I included some of my monthly reading statistics:

Books Read: 6

Number of Pages Read: 2,222 pages

Average Rating: 3 stars

Now, onto the books! Any book with a review will be linked to the book’s title.

• The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

I was not a huge fan of the debut book by Elena Armas, The Spanish Love Deception, but I hoped to see a decrease in the amount of cringeworthy scenes and dialogue in comparison to the author’s first book. Unfortunately, many of the aspects which I did not enjoy from the first book which I read by Elena Armas also appeared in The American Roommate Experiment. I found the characters to be inconsistent, the plot to be repetitive, and the dialogue to be incredibly cringeworthy. I have The American Roommate Experiment 2.5 out of 5 stars.

• Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren

While Christina Lauren can be hit-or-miss for me, I went into Love & Other Words with high expectations because this book is extremely popular. While there were some elements that this story that I enjoyed, such as the dual timeline, the ending brought down my rating. At the end of the book, there is a major plot point which occurs, but then the story ends too quickly to process the emotional impact of that reveal. Since this event caused the two love interests to stop speaking for around a decade, I think this aspect of the plot needed more of a resolution. I gave Love & Other Words 3.5 out of 5 stars.

• Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

I want to love books by Olivia Dade, but they often fall flat for me. Unfortunately, my experience with Ship Wrecked as similar to my experiences reading the first two books in the Spoiler Alert series. While I did enjoy the characters in this novel, particularly Maria, the female protagonist, there were several aspects which I did not enjoy. The pacing of this novel is off and would have benefitted from a different structure, such as a dual timeline, to keep up the energy throughout the story. Additionally, while I liked the characters, I didn’t fully believe in their relationship, which I need to be in order to enjoy a romance book. I gave Ship Wrecked 2.5 out of 5 stars.

• The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

I was a huge fan of The Cruel Prince series, so I was hopeful to enjoy The Stolen Heir. However, I was also wary because sometimes series continuation books can lack the magic of the original series. I think The Stolen Heir has the potential to have an interesting conclusion in the second book of the duology, but the first book wasn’t interesting enough on its own. The Cruel Prince is a character-driven story which focuses on court politics. Additionally, it possesses many twists and turns. The Stolen Heir, on the other hand, was primarily adventure-driven with one predictable twist at the end of the story. While it was a decent book, it didn’t live up to the original series for me. I gave The Stolen Heir 3 out of 5 stars.

• Lore Olympus, Volume One by Rachel Smythe

I’m a huge fan of the Lore Olympus series so I enjoyed re-reading the first 25 episodes which are featured in the first published book of the series. For me, the major standout for Lore Olympus is the beautiful artwork which uses color beautifully. That being said, the story itself featured in the first book feels incomplete as it ends with many unfinished plot points. I give Lore Olympus, Volume One four out of five stars.

• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

I was eager to read Every Summer After as I recently read Love & Other Words which often draw many comparisons from readers. Plot-wise and story structure-wise, I did find Every Summer After and Love & Other Words to have striking similarities, which I will detail in an upcoming Battle of the Books post. That being said, I did enjoy the realistic characters in Every Summer After as well as the writing style. However, I found the beginning to move slowly and I wasn’t a huge fan of the twist at the end of the novel, as it seemed very inconsistent with the characters inside the novel, despite the heavy foreshadowing. I give Every Summer After four out of five stars.

Favorite Book: Every Summer After

Least Favorite Book: The American Roommate Experiment / Ship Wrecked

What was the best book that you read in January?

Lore Olympus, Vol. 1 Review

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe is a graphic novel series which gives a modern update to Greek Mythology, particularly the love story between Persephone and Hades. In Volume One, Persephone leaves the mortal realm for city life, despite her mother’s protests. At her first party, Persephone immediately catches the attention of Hades. While excited to live on her own and explore her new world, Persephone quickly learns that not everyone is kind.

I first read Lore Olympus on WebToon, where is was originally published. One day when I was walking through Target, I couldn’t believe to see the series in print form! I have always loved the artwork of Lore Olympus, so I knew I had to purchase physical copies of the series. Volume One of the printed series contains the first 25 episodes of the series in addition to a bonus scene. As a result, most of this book was a reread for me. That being said, I enjoyed Lore Olympus just as much as I enjoyed it the first time that I read it and look forward to rereading the series in their book forms.

One of the best aspects of Lore Olympus is the artwork, particularly Rachel Smythe’s use of color. Each character has a color which they are typically drawn in, so it makes it easy to keep track of the large track of characters. Also, the colors used for each character really embodies the mood of the character and where they frequently appear. Consequently, the artwork shown throughout the book is colorful and expressive. Rachel Smythe also portrays different events throughout the book in a thoughtful and considerate way. At the beginning of the novel, Smythe gives a content warning, as there are some triggering situations which occur throughout the series. I believe her artwork concerning these situations are handled with care.

Another aspect which I enjoyed in this book were the characters and tropes. Persephone and Hades have a grumpy/sunshine relationship, so if you enjoy that trope, you will enjoy many of their interactions in this book. Persephone, the narrator of the story, is a likable character who has the potential to show a lot of character growth throughout the series. That being said, I wish I could have seen more interactions between Persephone and Hades in this volume, as their interactions are limited to the beginning of this volume.

If I had to nitpick this graphic novel, I would say the story ends quickly within this book and it was more of a set-up for the entire series than a complete story on its own. There is a major event which happens at the end of this novel, and while I know it is resolved later in the series, this may be off-putting to new readers of the series, as it is a very traumatic event. Additionally, there were some plot lines, like with Psyche, which I wish were swapped out for sections with more focus on Persephone or Hades. I understand that this sets up for later story lines, but it leaves a lot of loose ends for the first installment.

Overall, I highly recommend the Lore Olympus series. All of the published versions of this series are on my to-read list for the year, and so far, this has been my favorite book of the year. I give this book four out of five stars.

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black Review

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black is the first part of a new duology in the Folk of the Air series which takes place years after the events in the original trilogy. This novel focuses on Lady Suren, who escaped the Court of the Teeth after her family lost the Battle of the Serpent. Now, Lady Suren lives as Wren, hiding away in the mortal world. When she is chased by a storm hag, Prince Oak comes to Wren’s rescue and recruits her on a mission to save his father and to destroy her mother.

I was excited, but nervous for the release of The Stolen Heir. While I loved the original Folk of the Air trilogy, I am always skeptical of new releases in the same world as they may not live up to the other books in the series. Although The Stolen Heir did have some successful moments throughout the book, it did miss the mark in several areas for me.

In The Cruel Prince trilogy, I enjoyed the many twists and turns driven by the characters and politics of their court. However, I found this area to be lacking in The Stolen Heir. I found that this novel takes more of an adventure-based approach which results in most of the novel being event-driven as opposed to character-driven. While there are some strategical elements throughout the book, readers are mostly kept in the dark as Wren, the main character, is not directly involved in most of the scheming compared to Jude, who narrated the original trilogy. The Stolen Heir lacks many of the twists and turns which made The Cruel Prince so fun to read. I predicted the major plot twist of this book fairly early on in the story, so the reveal at the end wasn’t as surprising for me. While the end does promise an interesting premise in the second book of this duology, it wasn’t entirely worth what I put into reading for me.

Another aspect which made The Cruel Prince so successful were the dynamic characters. Often times, Jude and Cardan weren’t necessarily likable, but they were very true to their characters and this was very clear in their words and actions. In The Stolen Heir, many of the characters remained flat throughout most of the novel. The choices they made weren’t extremely dynamic and didn’t raise the stakes as much as I would have wanted. Throughout the novel, I felt like I was being told who these characters were instead of being shown through their words and actions. For example, readers are told by many characters frequently throughout the novel that Oak is extremely charming and manipulative, but I don’t see it to the level that I have seen it previously in this series. Ultimately, Wren and Oak came across as watered down characters of other characters which readers have previously seen in this series.

That being said, there were some aspects of The Stolen Heir which I enjoyed. In the original series, readers spend most of their time in Elfhame. While other places and people are mentioned, they aren’t fully explored. In The Stolen Heir, readers learn a lot more about the fae world, including different monsters and courts. Another reason why I’m such a fan of the Folk of the Air series is that I typically enjoy Holly Black’s writing. I think she often does a great job of selecting precise words which clearly describe ideas and places. At the same time, I don’t think the writing as smooth in The Stolen Heir. Sometimes, it felt like there were strong quotes surrounded by weaker writing in order to have a memorable line.

Overall, The Stolen Heir was a decent book with potential. Unfortunately, most of this book felt like a set-up to me for the next book in the series and lacked many of the elements which I enjoyed from the original trilogy. I give The Stolen Heir three out of five stars.

My 2023 Reading Journal: Set-Up

Recently on TikTok, I have seen a lot of videos of people on BookTok creating reading journals. Personally, written journals have always been difficult for me because you really have to commit to a layout once you start writing or gluing onto a page. However, I wanted to track my reading in a way that allowed me to be a little more creative rather than just stats on Goodreads and StoryGraph. As a result, I decided that I wanted to make my own reading journal using the GoodNotes app on my iPad.

Typically, I have used GoodNotes to write down ideas. I wasn’t super familiar with all of the tools and I wasn’t sure how people created such beautiful notebook pages. Before I started my digital reading journal, I watched many TikToks to see example book journals that people created digitally and on paper. Also, I watched videos on different tools in GoodNotes.

Finally, I decided to buy a few different digital supplies on Etsy to make it easier to layout my pages. While there are several digital book journal templates on Etsy, I wanted a little more freedom to make my own layouts. I will include links to all of the resources which I have used to create my reading journal at the end of my post.

Below, I have included a slideshow with some of my “set-up” pages for 2023.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Cover Page

When I was first creating my journal, I was deciding between two different themes. I decided to go with a bright, modern preppy theme. I created the cover for my journal using Stoney Clover-esque letters, which is clip art from Teachers Pay Teachers which I bought earlier in the year to use for my classroom. The binding on the side is a free image from Canva. The jean background is a free image from Pixabay. The Smiley Face Clip art was one of my purchases from Etsy. All of the images feature a pink background, which does not appear on my Goodnote (I uploaded the images to Canva to get a more rectangular image to post to my TikTok).

My Year in Books

The first page of my reading journal is a “My Year in Books” bookshelf. This was a popular design which I noticed when browsing TikTok for inspiration. On my bookshelf, I included 36 books, as this is my yearly reading goal. I figure that since my reading journal is digital, I can always copy and add a new page if I read more than 36 books. In addition to drawing the books, I added clip art of funs objects.

Goals

The next page of my reading journal is my goals page. All of these goals are taken from my Reading Goals for 2023 blog post. This page took awhile for me to figure out a layout that I liked. All of the images on this page are taken from different purchases which I made on Etsy. As you can see, I have started to fill out some of the sections which reflect my reading for the year so far. I like that this is a page that I will constantly be revising all year long.

24 Books to Read Before 2024

This page was inspired by my blog post, 24 Books to Read Before 2024. This page was also difficult for me to plan out. Since it was a list, I wanted to find a way to make it more visually interesting. I decided to separate the books into different categories and give each category a different color of the rainbow. I’m hoping this list will motivate me to read the books on my list.

Book Ratings of 2023

A page for book ratings was another popular design which I saw on TikTok. When creating this page, I made a “sample” page which I will be able to duplicate as I read more books. This way, I will have a template as I continue to read, rather than continuously make the page from scratch. I like the Book Ratings page, as it gives me a quick overview of my feelings towards books which I have read in 2023.

Overall, I am happy with my reading journal so far. Recently, I have been wanting to be more creative and this journal has provided the perfect outlet. If you would like to keep up with my reading journal throughout the year, I will keep making monthly posts to document my progress. Additionally, I will post about my reading journal on my BookTok, BeautyandtheBeanBoots.

Do you have a reading journal? How do you like to keep track of your reading?

What I Use for My Reading Journal:

• GoodNotes App
• Chenille Varsity Patch Letters
• Pastel Digital Stickers
• Premium Essential Stickers
• Sticky Notes Digital Sticker Book
• Alphabet Stickers
• Smiley Face Patch Stickers
• Functional Planner Stickers
• Font Bundle