Instagram story viewer> @bibliolair> Posts

Nicole’s Book Lair

@bibliolair

2.6K

followers

2107

following

Welcome to my lair where I talk about books 📚🎧
Historical fiction girlie ⚔
Dabbles in other genres 🔍
Favorite 📌
AI 🚫
Wife 💍
Mom 💝
LDS 🙏🏼
Ravenclaw 🐦‍⬛

POSTS STORIES REELS

"... love should be stronger than hate or there is no future for us." -Vianne Mauriac

76 years ago today, the Nazi concentration camps were liberated and the holocaust finally ended. Can you believe it? It wasn't that long ago so alot of the survivors are still alive to this day and are probably traumatized. My heart goes out to all the victims, all the Jews and those who helped them. Never forget. To remember this day, I want to share the book that started my love for Historical Fiction and learning about World War II especially the Holocaust. It also happened to be my favorite book!

The Nightingale was set in France during the Nazi occupation and follows two sisters who fought the war in their own different ways. It was so detailed that I felt like I was there. I felt their pain, torture, loss, all the horrible things they experienced and I cried with them. This was the 3rd book that made me ugly cry but unlike others, I never have gotten over this book that's why I still talk about it to this day. The voice actor of the audiobook did an outstanding job with narrating and changing accents. She really brought the book to life. I highly recommend this masterpiece! 10/5💫

Special thanks to @heatherrific.hair for this painting. It was actually a paint by numbers canvas that she colored in and framed to give to me as a present. 💜 by @bibliolair

“She is desperate to show him that she’s still that girl in the small room, only locked inside a more hideous cage”. SenLinYu

Help! If you think Alchemised is dark, Underbelly is darker! 😭 Underbelly is SenLinYu’s short story featured in Grimdark Magazine Issue #48, set in the world of Alchemised during and after the war. It tells us more about the Chimeras created by Bennet! Ugh! It’s so disturbing but also so sad! Of course, I still want to read more SenLinYu! I don’t read dark stories except if it’s written by Sen. 😬 3/5⭐️

Shout out to @kindleunlimitedbooks because I was able to “purchase” this magazine for free. I signed up for a free trial. Grateful I got to do that because I didn’t read the whole magazine, just this part and it’s very short.

This post is also featuring my brother’s beautiful cat, the most beautiful model! Haha

#Underbelly #SenLinYu #Alchemised #ShortStory by @bibliolair

I’m surprisingly on a romance streak. But maybe this does not count because it’s historical? Historical romance to be exact. Behind Five Willows is basically Pride and Prejudice set in 1792 Korea/Joseon Dynasty when fictional novels are banned and a marriage law was in place were unwed women over the marrying age is forced in arranged marriage with men over marrying age as well. It’s always interesting to learn about history, other cultures and races and also makes me more grateful to be born in this day and age as a woman. Always grateful for the women of the past who fought for our rights to work, vote and choose who we marry. 3.5/5 ⭐️ for this book.

#BehindFiveWillows #JuneHur #HistoricalRomance #JoseonDynasty #KoreanDrama by @bibliolair

“She is gorgeous… But, like, what does that mean, really? Unless my goal is just to sit and stare at her like someone would stare at an ocean or a mountain range, pretty is just a visual”. Wesley Bennett

A few months ago, I asked for recommendations of good romance novels that has no spice since everything is spicy nowadays and a cousin of mine recommended Better Than The Movies. I was prepared to be disappointed because I don’t usually pick up romcoms or just plain romance (it has to be mixed with another genre like historical or suspense or even fantasy) but dang, this duology surprised me! It reminded me of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before but better. I didn’t enjoy the TATBILB books as much as I did the movies, Peter was better in the movies than the book in my opinion. 😬

In the 1st book, Better Than The Movies, we follow Liz unwillingly go through her last year in High School until her childhood neighbor and crush moved back and she plots to get close to him, through another childhood neighbor. I wouldn’t tell you the trope because it will give the story away. Once you start reading it, it’s predictable but still a cute story. The only thing I would tell you about the 2nd book, Nothing Like The Movies, is that Liz is in college. That’s it. Haha.

There are a ton of pop culture references in both books, I posted my favorite one here. The only thing I do not like with these books was the taking the Lord’s name in vain. There are more G words than F words, which I prefer to using God’s name as a curse word or expression. Overall, I enjoyed this duology and the voice actors. Looking forward to more books written by this author. 4/5 ⭐️

#BetterThanTheMovies #NothingLikeTheMovies #LynnPainter #RomCom #BookReview by @bibliolair

A few months ago, a friend of mine found out that my favorite author of all time was coming to town to be interviewed about her latest book, The Women. Of course I invited myself and told her I wanted to go with her. So we bought the tickets that included a signed copy of The Women even if we already read it coz why not! I brought my own copy of my favorite book of all time, The Nightingale, written by this same amazing author in the off chance that we could take a picture with her. Of course we didn’t because it’s not a meet and greet. 😭 We had so much fun hearing her talk about her books and how she started writing. To all my aspiring author friends, Kristin Hannah said to “just start”. I’m so grateful she did just that and years later everyone is getting into historical fiction, including myself! I’ve read and listened to 8 out of 30 of her books already and plan to reading all of them. She’s just the best! We love you, @kristinhannahauthor! 🫶

#KristinHannah #FavoriteAuthor #TheNightingale #FavoriteBook #TheWomen by @bibliolair

“Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget. Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books. Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives or to find strength in a very long one”. V.E. Schwab

I created this account 6 years ago and everyone on bookstagram was raving about this book so I added it to my wishlist and it was gifted to me. I wanted the hype to die down before reading it and the time had finally come. I thought this was the most beautiful book cover I have ever seen, unfortunately, not the best book I have ever read. I had very high expectations as this is a lot of people’s favorite book and/or 5 star read. I can see why but it’s just not for me.

Addie LaRue was cursed to live forever but no one can remember her so it’s like she’s living in a time loop, except she can escape the places and the people if she wants. I absolutely hate stories like Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow and even 50 First Dates where every day is the same as the last, that’s what this book feels like. It also alternates between her in the past and her in the present because remember, she’s immortal. But I did not enjoy that like I normally do in historical fiction, her past was just not interesting to me. I had to borrow the audiobook so I can finish this book fast! I didn’t want to DNF it because I want to give it a chance and understand the hype. It got good when she met someone important and then fell flat again. I really want to love this book like everyone else did but I could not. I’m sorry. 3/5⭐️

#TheInvisibleLifeOfAddieLaRue #VESchwab #AddieLaRue #BookReview #UnpopularOpinion by @bibliolair

I knew this book was going to mess me up from the 1st chapter and it did! I think my favorite thing about reading historical fiction is the mystery - what would happen to them at the end? Every chapter is a mystery and I had to close the book each time to get a brain break. I learned so much about the female pilots during world war 2, the SOE and a little bit about the Dior siblings. I appreciate all the research the historical fiction authors do to give us amazing books like this. I don’t usually see romance in world war 2 so this was unexpected and also beautifully written. Just a heads up that there are a couple of spice scenes. They were detailed but only happened a couple of times so it’s ok. It was a long time coming for those 2 but how dare the couple of the present time compare themselves to them? Absolutely not! Lol!

P.S. The Dior cologne is my brother’s. I’m a Chanel parfum girl.

#TheParisSecret #NatashaLester #SkyePenrose #NicholasCrawford #HistoricalFiction by @bibliolair

I’ve been wanting to make this post since I found out that people (including myself) wanted to DNF this book before we got to part 2 where everything in part 1 starts to makes sense - until someone had to tell us to keep going. So if none of these dark themes bother you as much and no one has told you to keep going yet, I will be that person. Don’t miss out on this masterpiece. Thank you, @senlinyuwrites. Please write more. 🙏

#Alchemised #SenLinYu #DarkFantasy #BookReview #BiblioLair by @bibliolair

3 years ago, my sister-in-law recommended this book and because I always enjoy her book recommendations, I listened to it. I didn’t know where the story was heading until the twist happened. I loooove books with a good twist/reveal so I enjoyed this book, just never had the chance to make a review on it. Today, we watched the movie together and cried. Full circle. It’s like we didn’t read the book. It’s so rare to have a movie just as a good as the book. The actors did such a great job bringing the characters to life, especially Sally Fields. I highly recommend! 4/5 ⭐️

#RemarkablyBrightCreatures #ShelbyVanPelt #BookReview #MovieReview #AudiobookReview by @bibliolair

“‘Unrealistic not to be angry, to never get angry or upset. It’s a matter of degree.’ Alyss’ anger informed her, but it didn’t ruler her.” Frank Beddor

Happy Mother’s Day! My husband got me this sweet water bottle! He messaged the person who he ordered it from to add “Destiny Is All” from our favorite TV show, The Last Kingdom; and “Basgiath” from the book I’m currently obsessing over, Fourth Wing. I know, I’m late to the party and haven’t made a review yet.

The Looking Glass Wars is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland where Alice is a princess from Wonderland who came to our world to escape an attack on their kingdom. I was struggling in the beginning because it was her 7th birthday and thought it was going to be a kid’s book, which it technically is, but it got better especially when she arrived to our world and saw her grew up and ready to return to Wonderland. Idk why but our world was more interesting than Wonderland because when she went back, it got slow for me again so I won’t be reading the rest of the series. Haha. 3/5 ⭐️

Question: Who has read this book? I need someone to talk to especially Chapter 55 because what?!

#TheLookingGlassWars #FrankBeddor #AliceInWonderland #BookReview #Fantasy by @bibliolair

“Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind… In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe”. Dumbledore

I decided to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child after watching the play so I deleted my last post to make a review of this book in addition to Beyond the Wand.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about Cursed Child from big Potter fans I know so I never considered reading or watching it, until we found out that Tom Felton is reprising his role as Draco Malfoy. Thanks to him, my dream of going to New York and watching a broadway show came true.

I was told not to read the book if I were planning on watching the play so that I will be thoroughly surprised, and I was. Pure magic on the stage. Everyone did amazing especially @aidanmclose, who played Draco’s son. We were lucky to meet him along with other casts including Tom after the show. We saw Tom up close twice but didn’t really get to interact with him. We did get a picture the first night we waited for him, though.

Upon reading the book, I realized I missed some details of the play and now I wanna watch it again. I just hope I was made of money. Lol

I did listen to Tom Felton’s memoir called Beyond the Wand before our trip and I enjoyed listening to him narrating/reading his book. He told us how he started acting, the movies he was a part of, the world of Harry Potter of course and life after that. You get to know him on a deeper level and just want to give him a big hug. I highly recommend reading, nay, listening to his book and of course, watch the play while he’s there. 5/5 ⭐️

#HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild #BeyondTheWand #TomFelton #DracoMalfoy NewYork by @bibliolair