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— book recs bestie

@lyrical.writings

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» asian-american author + booksta 🇵🇭🇨🇳
» cr: grishaverse
» official artist: @miss.myrissa
» NO AI 🙅🏻‍♀️
» fantasy/horror/contemporary/romance recs

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— write avec moi : intro ✨

Welcome to my new series, everyone!! I post so much about reading that I’d like to switch things up and post more about my writing! I need to hold myself accountable and actually work on the series I keep hyping up to you guys. 😵‍💫 Hopefully, sharing my writing adventures with you will motivate me more!

As always, my comments are an open space. You can promote your works, comment about what kind of posts you’d like to see more of, ask me about my WIP, or even just say hello! 💕 Thank you all for the support!!

#bookstagram #writing #indieauthor #fantasybooks #romantasy by @lyrical.writings

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7 days ago

— october TBR reveal

Hi everyone! Wanted to do something a little different today since spooky season has begun! Ten books for the tenth month of the year. 😌 In high school, I read mostly all of Stephen King’s books, so I need to branch out a little more in the horror space. But I wanted to switch things up and add more than just horror in my October TBR.

Have you read any of these? If so, what do you think?

#bookstagram #halloween #bookrecs #booktok #bookish by @lyrical.writings

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16 days ago

— claimed by the serpent: a sneak peek

Hi everyone! ✨I wanted to do something different today and share a snippet of the story I’m working on! It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling with magic and action-packed adventures.

This isn’t the first chapter (this is chapter three!), but I thought this did a good job capturing when the story takes off. I may post an additional snippet so you can learn more about Esme Laurent, the FMC.

The highlighted comments are from my friends who have read this and wanted to react. This is still my first draft, and I wanted to show what this story looks like at its rawest, unedited form. I like to be vulnerable and open with my writing process.

There’s so much in the series I wish I could tell you about, but I need to motivate myself to actually write it out first. Part of why I posted this was to see if people would actually be interested in reading this story so I have a reason to keep writing! Truth be told, I’m not in it for the money and would make the book free if I could. I just want to tell a story and hope that people will have some emotional impact from it. ❤️

Is Claimed by the Serpent something you’d read? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the snippet!

Also @miss.myrissa is the official artist for all of my content and she’s already made amazing art for this story.

#claimedbytheserpent #fantasyromance #romantasy #bookstagram #bookrecs by @lyrical.writings

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2 months ago

— library stack update

Happy Friday everyone!! Wanted to share my library stack with you all. My bad for infodumping on that intro slide but I am also using my library stack posts as an excuse to make you guys hear my life updates too! 💀

I usually don’t have the chance to shout my friends out on my posts, but I am incredibly excited to meet @miss.myrissa and spend the week with her in person! She’s not only an amazing artist but an incredible friend. If you haven’t followed her or her doll stop motion account @frankieslefteye already, you should! I am so excited to kick your butt at rhythm games next week 🗣️ AND I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR PRESENTS LMAO! But seriously I hope I can repay you for all of the great things you have brought into my life like your friendship, your art, and our amazing calls every week, it means the world to me. You are such an amazing and talented person and I will keep reminding you of that 🫶🏻

I’m also dedicating this to another person I’m so excited to meet, MY POOKIE @rayy_ruell !!! QUEEN/BABES/THE KING JULIEN TO MY MORT/THE LIGHTNING MCQUEEN TO MY MATER (OR ARE YOU MATER)/THE RYLAND GRACE TO MY ROCKY!! ONE OF THE MOST POSITIVE AND SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE AND I’M SO THANKFUL FOR YOU! I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR GIFTS AND I CAN’T WAIT TO GIVE YOU A BIG HUG IN PERSON 🥹YOUR VOICE MESSAGES ARE ALWAYS SO FUN TO LISTEN TO AND I LOVE TALKING RYAN GOSLING WITH YOU

Last but not least, Miss Send Me This Post - @dreamer.here.awake ! My Stephen King/horror bestie! You are one of the funniest people I’ve met on this app and I hope you survive the three other nights at Freddy’s. I love the late night talks we’ve been having lately and I’m so excited to go antique shopping with you. You are also such a talented artist and when you make Edith content again, I will be SEATED. I’ve been holding onto your gifts for a while now and I seriously hope you enjoy AAAAAAHHH. ALSO CONGRATS AGAIN ON TALKING TO ZHONG XINA!

Okay, shoutouts aside, let me know what you guys think of my picks and which I should read first.

#bookstagram #booktok #bookish #bookrecs #divinerivals by @lyrical.writings

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14 hours ago

The groupchat picked their fav book boos 👀🩷👻

Who is your fav?

Also peep @sadieslittlelibrary s husband he is off limits and off campus tonight 😉 by @lyrical.writings

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a day ago

— bookish actors: ben barnes

Hi everyone! I’m doing a new series where I cover actors that have several book adaptations in their filmography. I have a bit of a film background since I used to review movies before making this account.

I wanted to highlight the talented @benbarnes not only because I recently started Shadow and Bone, but because he also got married recently! 🥳

Have you seen any of these?

#benbarnes #benbarnesedit #shadowandboneedit #shadowandbone #thepunisher by @lyrical.writings

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2 days ago

Pick a Show/Movie get a book rec from the group chat!
#bookstagram #bookinfluencer #spookyseason #octobertbr #bookrecs by @lyrical.writings

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2 days ago

— the lives of saints ; leigh bardugo

Don’t make the same mistake I made when I read this book. After finishing Siege and Storm, I wanted a lighter read before reading the end of the trilogy. I saw that Bardugo had two other Shadow and Bone companion novels, Lives of Saints and Language of Thorns. Since this was a collection of stories about past saints in the Grishaverse, I decided to give this a read. The very end contains spoilers for the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but the rest doesn’t.

This book is incredibly underrated. Lives of Saints feels like a collection of fairy tales that you would read as a kid. I was pleasantly surprised with how many of the stories I enjoyed. Bardugo sprinkles variety in the myths in this collection. Sankt Maradi centers around a love story. There are stories where saints fight demons, clockwork battalions exist to serve, and a saint extracts her own blood to heal the sick. My favorite of the bunch was the story of Sankt Valentin, the patron saint of snake charmers. In his story, a bride dies early and a mysterious serpent haunts her grave, preventing anyone from visiting her. As the story unfolds, dark secrets are revealed to the bride’s mother. It was a hauntingly beautiful ghost story and I was impressed that Bardugo hooked me with such a short tale.

I also enjoyed the Easter eggs that related to the bigger Grishaverse, such as Sankta Vasilka becoming the first Firebird. Sankt Nikolai was cool to learn about, as I noticed parallels between him and Nikolai from the Shadow and Bone series.

I also loved the illustrations. They’re vibrant, colorful, and beautiful, while maintaining a classical and historical vibe.

#shadowandbone #grishaverse #bookstagram #bookish #bookish by @lyrical.writings

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3 days ago

— siege and storm ; leigh bardugo

After finishing Shadow and Bone, I was immediately addicted to the Grishaverse and jumped straight into the second book. I’ve noticed people tend to have mixed feelings about how they rank the trilogy. To be honest, I’m not sure which book I prefer between this and the first book because they both have their strengths and weaknesses. That being said, they’re still both great books.

What does Siege and Storm do better than Shadow and Bone? Siege and Storm enhances the world-building of the Grishaverse by adding more to the mythology. In Shadow and Bone, we learned about Morozova’s stag and the great power that came from whoever wielded its antlers. Siege and Storm introduces two new amplifiers, the Ice Dragon and the Firebird. I absolutely loved the action in the scene where the Ice Dragon was introduced, and it was one of my favorite parts of the book. I also loved Alina’s arc here, as she slowly becomes more confident in herself. As for her dynamic with Mal, I found it to be subversive of most fantasy stories because he takes on the damsel in distress archetype. The Darkling constantly uses Mal as a hostage to manipulate Alina or get her to do what he wants, whereas most stories would have the female love interest be taken captive for the male hero. But at the same time, Mal isn’t completely useless and helps Alina find the power amplifiers.

On the flip side, there were a couple of aspects of Siege and Storm that didn’t surpass its predecessor. I loved the first and final acts of the novel, but wasn’t the biggest fan of the middle piece. Nikolai is an interesting character, but I wasn’t a fan of the drama between him, Alina, Mal, and Zoya. I get that a key part of Alina’s arc is that so many men want to use her because they treat her as a tool or weapon to be used since she’s the Sun Summoner, but it felt a bit repetitive because we saw a lot of that through her and the Darkling already. I was a bit bummed out that we didn’t see as much of the Darkling as we did in the first book.

Overall, Siege and Storm was a great read and I’m excited to see how the trilogy ends.

#shadowandbone #grishaverse #bookrecs #bookstagram by @lyrical.writings

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4 days ago

Book Boos we would let trick us 😉🎃👻

Its spooky season! Which book boyfriend would you let trick you? Let us know 😍🎃

#bookboyfriend #spookyseason👻 #booktok #bookcollab #bookrecs by @lyrical.writings

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4 days ago

— last / current / next

Hi lovelies! ✨ Wanted to do something different today and post my first collab! What better person to do it with than my irl bestie, @grachae_fajae ? Grace got back into reading pretty recently and I try to do a lot of buddy reads with her, so expect more collab content from us in the future! As you can see, we have our next buddy read planned already! 😛

Say something nice to Grace in the comments because she really is one of the sweetest and funniest people I know. ❤️ Every day I feel insanely lucky to have a great friend like her in my life.

#bookstagram #bookish #caraval #shadowandbone #bookrecs by @lyrical.writings

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5 days ago

— shadow and bone ; leigh bardugo

Shadow and Bone is a fantastic start to the Grishaverse. From the moment I began this book, I was so hooked that I had to finish all 355 pages in one sitting.

The book follows Alina Starkov, an orphan who soon discovers that she is a Grisha, which is this universe’s equivalent of a magic user. She is brought to the Darkling, where she is taught by him and other Grisha soldiers to better control her magic. There isn’t much else I can say without giving the plot away.

I’m a sucker for good world-building and I found this to be one of Bardugo’s strengths. There is mysterious lore surrounding the Darkling regarding his past and who he truly is. We also see a glimpse of the world’s politics, which I’m sure will be expanded on in the next two books. The Eastern European aesthetic was also refreshing and unique compared to most fantasy media which is heavily Western European.

Alina is such a likable protagonist. You could argue that she’s an example of the chosen one trope through her initial discovery as the Sun Summoner, but she doesn’t feel like a Mary Sue at all. She struggles with her magic and constantly has low self-esteem. Having grown up as an orphan, she feels dirtier and less pretty than the Grisha she’s constantly surrounded by during her training. I also loved the slow burn romance between her and her best friend, Mal.

The first installation of the Grishaverse definitely lives up to the hype, and I am dying to see how this story concludes.

#shadowandbone #benbarnes #bookrecs #bookstagram #darkling by @lyrical.writings

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6 days ago