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Charlotte

@asourceoffiction

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Honest reviews and book chat ❤️📚
Chronicling my perimenopause journey - let's normalise talking about it 💪🏻
More self-care, less pressure 🐳

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ASOURCEOFFICTION IN 2025

Not resolutions, not even goals. Just things I've been thinking about to keep my love for this page and put less pressure on myself.

📚 Firstly, I thought about doing away with star ratings. But I've decided I like them, and I always love seeing my average ratings from Storygraph at the end of the year. I may not rate everything I read, but most fiction will still be rated. Swipe to check out my rating breakdown, which I've never written out before and has helped me no end! I might stop bothering with half stars but refuse to commit one way or another 😂

📚 Perhaps most importantly, I am going to remain a steadfastly part-time Bookstagrammer. Life is gonna life, and I'm desperately trying to reduce the amount of time I sit on my phone. So some weeks I'll post multiple times, others I'll disappear completely (except for the odd patch of stalking all you good people 😘).

📚 I've also decided I won't post every review on my grid. Some will just be mini reviews I'll put on a story, and I'll make a highlight of those so they're accessible. I still like reviewing everything I read, but sometimes it'll be nice to take the photo/posting/writing pressure off.

📚 All reviews reserve the right to be really long, really short, brilliantly written, utterly incoherent and entirely chaotic however I want!

📚 Finally, 2025 is the year that I'm quitting GoodReads. I've already stopped updating my reading on there and haven't set a goal. But every time I go to delete my account (and all my reading history), I get the anxiety 😬. At some point I'll work up the courage to do it and be a full time Storygraph girly. Who incidentally hates the word girly 😖

So that's me. At least for now. Making this page work for my life. Hope I can carry on the journey with you guys and continue procuring far too many books without reading enough of the ones I already own 😁❤️

#Bookstagrammer #BookstaPlans #MyBookstagramIn2025 #LoveReading #LoveBookstagram #StarRatingsExplained #Shelfie by @asourceoffiction

LIFE OUT OF ORDER
Audrey Niffenegger
⭐⭐⭐⭐🌟

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This book is so much bigger than The Time Traveler's Wife, in scale, story and world. But it would also be nothing without its predecessor. What was light magical realism has gone quite sci fi, with a touch of post-apocalyptic dystopia. But it's also brimming with love. I sat with these glorious characters for the best part of a month because I didn't want it to end, and when it did I was a little bereft for a while.

There's a LOT to get your head around in social, political, technological and temporal terms, and I'm thrilled that this is a book just calling out for a re-read. I was grateful when we were taken back to fill in some of the blanks leading to the events at the beginning of the book. Niffenegger's feelings on the current US government and climate change are abundantly clear, and fair play to her. It's rich, immersive and terrifying in how prescient it could be. But at its heart Life Out of Order is made by the characters. Henry still manages to be a part of Clare and Alba's lives, but this is Alba, Zach and Oliver's story and I loved every minute.

HUGE thanks to @vintagebooks for a proof copy of this amazing book, I couldn't believe how lucky I was. It comes out on the 13th October so pre-order your copy now!

#BookReview #AudreyNiffenegger #LifeOutOfOrder #GiftedBooks #FiveStarReads by @asourceoffiction

Part 4, showcasing books I've read and loved, and then for some inexplicable reason I got rid of them 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm not sure I've ever seen The Art of Fielding on Booksta. So the question is, have any of you read it? I got rid of it at a stupid time when I thought I needed fewer books rather than more bookshelves. Don't worry, I cured myself of that particular affliction.

Anyway, this book is absolutely beautiful. Obviously I can remember nothing specific about it (from the pre-book socials days so I didn't review it), but the vibe is there.

#LoveBooks #BookstagramReelSeries #BooksIWishIdKept #BookishRegrets #BookishReel by @asourceoffiction

SEPTEMBER WRAP-UP

Spent a lot of September working out what (if anything) I still want to post. I'm cutting back massively on reviews - they're all on Storygraph as usual, they just weren't bringing me joy on Insta. But when October rolled in I actually fancied making a wrap-up post. It's all vibes over here now! Here are my September ratings:

⭐⭐⭐⭐🌟
Reaper Man
We Chase Shadows (falling in love with these characters!)

⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Women of Troy
The Examiner
Emma M. Lion Vol. 1 (starting to see the hype)
The Cat Who Saved the Library
This Winter
Tiny Pieces of Enid

⭐⭐⭐.5
The King is Dead

Unrated 📚
The Comfort Book
A Hymn to Life (I couldn't rate it but my god the woman is incredible and it's such an important read 💪🏻)

We Chase Shadows was my stand-out, though I really enjoyed everything I read in September. Now the spooky books are out and they'll be doing all the heavy lifting in October!

#SeptemberWrapUp #MonthlyReadingWrapUp #SeptemberReads #LoveReading #WhatIRead by @asourceoffiction

Sometimes, the book titles tell their own story...

#BookishReel #StoryInBookTitles #BookstagramReels #WhoLivesInAHouseLikeThis by @asourceoffiction

BOOKS I WISH I HADN'T GOT RID OF

Took a break last week for Life, but I'm back showcasing books I've read and loved, and then for some inexplicable reason I got rid of them 🤷🏼‍♀️

The Beach is one I almost never see on Booksta. The film, in my humble opinion, is a pile of steaming dog ****, but the book is sublime. I read it YEARS ago, then because I didn't reread soon enough I got rid of it. I'm an idiot and I need to find another copy. Maybe this pretty one, since my old copy was an offensive film tie-in edition 🤢

Anyone else read/seen The Beach, and hated the film but loved the book?!

#LoveBooks #BookstagramReelSeries #BooksIWishIdKept #BookishRegrets #BookishReel by @asourceoffiction

Part 2 in my new series: books I regret getting rid of.

This week it's e by Matt Beaumont (and e2, but I didn't think to include that in the reel and I'm buggered if I'm going to re-record it 😂).

Technically this is cheating because I never actually owned these books. I borrowed them from a friend. But what's criminal is that it took me 18 years to buy them for myself. I know tech has moved way on - mostly in horrible ways - but these books are charming and utterly hilarious.

I also never see them on Booksta, so take my word for it and seek them out. You will laugh. Out loud. Possibly uncontrollably and embarrassingly.

#LoveBooks #BookstagramReelSeries #BooksIWishIdKept #BookishRegrets #BookishReel by @asourceoffiction

Trying a new series, showcasing books I've read and loved, and then for some inexplicable reason I got rid of them 🤷🏼‍♀️ huge thanks to @booksand_blossoms for inspiring the structure of these reels and letting me copy her unashamedly 😘

First up, Beartown. The eagle-eyed will notice I'm using a physical copy of the book in this reel about getting rid of books. I DID get rid of it, but regretted it so much I actually bought it again (that may be a theme in some of the upcoming books in this series). In fact, a couple of years ago I bought all of Fredrik Blackman's books. I even have My Friends in (signed) hardback and paperback. Won't be making that mistake again!

Let me know if you've ever donated, sold or given away a book that you had to buy again 😉

#LoveBooks #Beartown #BooksIWishIdKept #BookishRegrets #BookishReel by @asourceoffiction

HEARTSTOPPER

Was fitting to post my Heartstopper appreciation on the day the kids have finally gone back to school and I've finally been able to watch the film! I should have waited to take these pictures because I bought This Winter recently to complete my collection 😍

This series has my whole heart. It's utterly beautiful and so important. It should absolutely be required reading in secondary schools, and volume 6 is the perfect ending. I love Nick's development in this last volume in particular.

I suppose I'm sad there won't be any more of Nick and Charlie's story, but I already can't wait to revisit the series and the books (I re-watched the series before the film and re-read the books before volume 6, of course). I've laughed, I've cried, I've grinned like a loon. And I'll happily do it all over again, perhaps every summer ❤️

#Heartstopper #NickAndCharlie #SeriesReview #LoveHeartstopper #AliceOseman by @asourceoffiction

AUGUST WRAP UP

Finished a book this afternoon and there's no way I'll get through anymore so I'm astonishingly posting a wrap up on the last day of the month! 😱 Had a fantastic reading month, I'm glad I worked out how to read in the heat because of the number of days we were stuck in the house. I'm glad cooler weather seems to have hit, and it's been a lovely summer hols but I'm looking forward to getting life back on track in September ❤️

5🌟
The Trouble With Sister Francis (she's gone up half a star!)

4.5⭐
Moving Pictures
Soldier Sailor
The War of the Roses

4⭐
The Twyford Code
Confessions of a Curious Bookseller

3.5⭐
I'll Take the Fire
The Confession
My Husband's Wife

3⭐
Teddy Bears Never Die

Non-fiction (unrated) 📚
The Princess Diarist

DNF 🙅🏼‍♀️
All Fours

(AD - some PR products)

#AugustWrapUp #MonthlyReadingWrapUp #LoveReading #SummerReads #BookstagramWrapUp by @asourceoffiction

JULY REVIEW CATCH-UP

Before the end of August; I'll take that.

#BookReviews #BookstagramReviews #LastChanceToSee #WildDarkShore #OddThomas by @asourceoffiction

THE TROUBLE WITH SISTER FRANCIS
Matt Coyne @manversusbaby
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5

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Huge thank you to @headlinebooks for this advanced copy - I haven't read Frank and Red, but it's sitting tantalisingly on my shelf and I have heard only wonderful things. So when I was lucky enough to get a copy of Sister Francis I had to bump it right up the list!

What can I say except this book had me at ASS VIRGIN. I'm in.

As I read on it just got better. The early '80s setting is so nostalgic, the diary entries interspersed through the chapters were completely intriguing, and the characters are everything. I loved Richard, Reggie and Sister Francis (not forgetting Stan's hilarious mispronunciations), but Bennett stole the show for me. The four boys are completely different personalities, and I was so touched at the love they have for each other exactly as they are. Bennett doesn't need to say a lot or behave like the other boys; he's just accepted.

I did manage to work out some of the little surprises along the way, particularly in Sister Francis's story. But it was no less delightful for that, and the end was equally heartwarming and unexpected. This is one of those stories that made me want to cheer out loud and weep for joy, it's just the perfect summer read. And on that note, the book is out next Thursday, on 27th August, so go and enjoy it before the summer (finally) ends! ❤️

Also a nod to my new bookish pyjamas (thanks @clotalksbooks 😘), which it's too hot to wear but make a good photo backdrop 😂

#BookReview #ManVersusBaby #TheTroubleWithSisterFrancis #GiftedBooks #NewReleaseBooks by @asourceoffiction