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Rena

@bookaquarius

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probably an Earthseed🪐.
📖: Several things, plus 5 other things

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some books I’ve added to my TBR recently 📚 I cannot believe there is a horror novel in this stack… if it wasn’t for me trying to join a book club I don’t know if it ever would have chosen it!

#bookstagram #bookhaul #bookrecs #tbrpile by @bookaquarius

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14 days ago

Currently reading Red City by Marie Lu. Will I ever stop starting unfinished, new series before I finish whatever else I’m in the middle of? Probably not. It’s just too enticing to see what else is out there.

#bookstagram #bookish #currentlyreadi̇ng #redcity #fantasybooks by @bookaquarius

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a month ago

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2 months ago

Over the weekend I finished reading A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett. It was another fun and weird mystery exploring a new section the bizarre empire Ana and Din serve. There was family drama, there were family feuds, there was Din blatantly disregarding a direct order, and there were murders! As this series explores more and more regions within the empire, more criticism and discontent among the people become exposed and more layers are added to Din and Ana’s perspective on what they do. I’m really enjoying this series!

#bookreview #atradeofblood #fantasyreads by @bookaquarius

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2 months ago

Had the best weekend seeing my friends AND I finished a book 🙂‍↔️ The Last Contract of Isako was a fun mystery set on a planet established and then abandoned by Earth (?) and follows a near-retired swordswoman named Isako as she fulfills her final contract and questions whether the code she’s followed all her life is actually leading her to worthy ends. I enjoyed it a lot and even liked the ending which felt so bleakly realistic even though this is a story set in a society with such a different reality than what I know.

#thelastcontractofisako #fantasybooks #bookreview by @bookaquarius

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2 months ago

367 pages later and I’m officially giving up. I should get to count this towards my reading goal at this point. I may not have finished it but that’s bc this book is too damn long!! And for what???? Cringy dialogue; under baked characters; no setting development; poor world building; copy pasta characters (give me five minutes and a password reset and I could pull 10 of the male protagonist off Wattpad); clothes so 2012 they were practically an anachronism in a book published in the 2020s; boring (egregious considering it literally started with a kidnapping); 360 pages into this book and not even a kiss—mind you, it’s not a true slow burn, they both want each other, we’re just sitting here waiting for no reason; main girl an idiot but somehow has a major revelation after zero build up; investigation in the criminal underworld and it’s just a bunch of d*uche bag men seeing each other for meetings and gripping the handles of weapons; the main guy carries a gun??? Bitch this is a world with vampires, werewolves, witches, and magic and you need a gun??????? I’m sick to my stomach actually I need to stop here.

DNF at 50% because somehow these characters have more people to have meetings with before the next random character shows up to dump the other half of the information needed to cobble a coherent plot together.

#bookreview #fantasybooks #fantasyromancebooks #bookstagram by @bookaquarius

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4 months ago

Idk what possessed me to decide this is the year I become a mystery reader.. I’m still a bit confused about how that happened. Nonetheless! I finished reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles — a whodunnit mystery novel set in an English countryside manor where famous detective Poirot has to solve the murder of the lady of the house before all her money and estate gets willed to the wrong person (and possibly her killer). It was an easy read and fun to follow along the mystery. Kind of shocking how a book published in 1920-something contains a lot of similar dialogues/culture that we still see today, but also, it may as well be from 1000 years ago. Casual mention of blackface counter: 1. Otherwise, an easy and engaging mystery that didn’t require me to do anything but ride along and make some guesses.

Now that I’ve started two mystery series I have become bold enough to develop preferences. The narrator and sidekick to the investigator in this series (Hastings) is essentially useless other than carrying the bags and being there so Poirot can think out loud to a person instead of thin air. I much prefer a sidekick who actually helps investigate and draw conclusions (Din from The Tainted Cup). Hastings just seems to be fumbling along at this point, but maybe that will change…

#bookstagram #bookreview #agathachristie #themysteriousaffairatstyles #bookish My left hand holds the corner of The Mysterious Affair at Styles while it lays on a fluffy white blanket next to a mug of coffee. by @bookaquarius

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4 months ago

I recently finished In the Dreamhouse and it was a beautiful memoir that told the story of past abusive relationship between the author and a woman she was with for many years. The author’s notes at the end explain that this book also attempts to create a starting point for future writers and scholars who attempt to unearth historical knowledge and stories about domestic abuse in WLW relationships. Machado wove in what limited accounts she could find into this memoir in addition to telling her own story, and approached the whole idea of what a memoir is very creatively. It was like the story of this part of her life and looking at the cultural context and looking into the past all at once. It was somber and harrowing and hopeful too. If you’re looking for a pick me up to add to your TBR to celebrate Pride, this probably isn’t it, but if it could be cathartic to you or you’re interested in understanding more about how domestic abuse can look—this is a very impactful read.

#bookstagram #bookreviews #inthedreamhouse #lgbtqbooks #nonfiction A copy of In the Dreamhouse lays at an angle on a white blanket. A cup of iced coffee is off to the side of the book. by @bookaquarius

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4 months ago

I finished book 2 in the Ana and Din Mystery series 🕵🏽‍♀️ Similar to the first book, I found all the weird stuff they get up to is very fun and engaging to read! And something about each installment being its own self contained mystery is very satisfying and made it easy for me to commit to yet another series. I will be tuned in for book 3 coming out later this summer 🙂‍↔️ My left hand touches the bottom corner of a copy of a drop of corruption. The book lays on a white fluffy blanket. by @bookaquarius

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5 months ago

I finished The Tainted Cup yesterday on a long drive and I had such a good time reading this. It was fun and intriguing and despite the gross nature of the murder it felt like a fun light read lol.

It’s a murder mystery taking place in a world with the looming threat of leviathans, magically altered people who get operations to enhance their strength/intellect/appearance/etc., and lots of poisons, corruption, and other lurking dangers. I enjoyed the dynamic between the eccentric detective Ana and her assistant Din. They’re both intelligent and witty, and very capable detectives. I think some readers will probably dislike that a lot of the mystery is explained after the fact when Ana has revelations after reading the material Din obtains for her. It makes it so the reader is shielded from certain reveals until they are explained by her and I think they could be done with a little more finesse so readers can experience the mystery unfolding in real time while Din investigates rather than having it recited. Nonetheless, I liked being with Din while he investigated and encountered all sorts of odd people. His magically created ability to remember everything he experiences or hears made it make sense that he and Ana could be such good investigators. It was easy to get into and was fun to read so I had a great time!

#thetaintedcup #fantasybooks #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram My left hand is holding up a copy of the tainted cup. The background has green foliage and a white fence that creates the edge of the outdoor gazebo I’m standing on. by @bookaquarius

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5 months ago

I finished reading Silvercloak and it is the start to a series with a lot of potential but still had some issues to iron out in this first installment. I would give it 3.5⭐️ for pure entertainment & for fun elements like a magic system based on refilling your abilities through pain or pleasure.

Things I liked: 1) The magic system was based on wands and magical incantations which is very fun. 2) In the end, everyone is really down to k*ll each other and double cross in order to get what they want which set up a very messy sequel. 3) The main character is like comically unable to avoid acting on pure impulse—despite constantly espousing her incredible ability to think things through—which leads to a lot of drama.

Things I would have liked to see changed: 1) The sex scene in the dungeon… womp womp. So gross, so not believable. 2) Alleged queer normative world but your relationship with a women being so disposable to the point where the male love interest could m*rder her in front of you and you’d be hand wringing over why you are so intrigued by him within a page.. like oh??? 3) I would have paid any character $100 to explain one single clear motivation for why the bad guys act the way they do. The one explanation that was eventually, painstakingly given at the end was so shallow. 4)Why is there like one random made up word for 🍆 getting used but everything else is in plain English lmao. We could have skipped that. Plus it’s like a letter off from a common English colloquialism so what are we doing? A copy of silver cloak lays on a white blanket next to a mug of hot chocolate. by @bookaquarius

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5 months ago

I gave it 129 pages (all of part I) and still feel unsure about it, so for now I’m going to categorize this as a DNF. I may come back to it one day because I think it has potential, but I can’t waste what precious little reading energy I have these days on books that make me irritated when I pick them up 😭. I was sick of the MC reminding me she was playing a role as part of a con every time she spoke. Girl we KNOW we were there as this plot was introduced. My left hand is in frame holding up a copy of The Library of Amorlin in front of a bed of flowers. by @bookaquarius

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6 months ago