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Caryn

@iam.caryn

10.3K

followers

240

following

📍ON, Canada
I love audiobooks, cozy gaming and Taylor Swift’s discography.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

❓QOTD: How long have you been on #Bookstagram and how would you summarize your account in 3 words? Mine are floral, vibrant, and fangirl 🌸🌈📚
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I’ve been holding onto the #HowMyInstaHasChanged trend by @agalsgottaread for aaggeesss now as I knew it would align perfectly with Emily’s Booksta Haven reaching its 8th Anniversary 🥳
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I started this space to gush about my favourite reads—and it’s grown into a joyful corner of florals, book boyfriends, fandom spirals, and all the bookish goodies 🙈 I’ve found incredible stories, supported small shops, and connected with creators who make this community feel like home. Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or joined later, thank you for being part of this journey.
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📚 My Bookstagram Journey
2017 — Unique Angles + Home Decor
2018 — Florals Take Over
2019 — Fantasy Reads + Merch!
2020 — Open Book Flatlays
2021 — Book Cover Flatlays
2022 — T-shirt Series + Romance Reads
2023 — Reels Join the Party
2024 — @canva Discover = Guides
2025 — More Canva Projects + Planner Spreads

🌟 Favourite Booksta Friends
@thevickivolumes
@onsamsbookshelf
@pretty_little_library
@iam.caryn
@fromjuliereads
@emblazed.words
@booktalkwithrae
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🌟 Artists / Shops I Adore
@libraryofthenight
@littleinklingsdesign
@prettylittlestudios
@theogwhimsicalartist
@alicianicolestudio_
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🌟 Creators Who I Love
@betweenpagesandfriends
@live_1000_lives
@shakespeareandme
@creativemindscoffeegrinds
@ashleythebookisbetter
@bubblewrapmeinbooks
@peruseproject
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Bookstaversary • Bookstagrammer • Romance Bookstagram • Romance Bookstagrammer • Fantasy Bookstagram • Fantasy Bookstagrammer

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❓QOTD: How long have you been on #Bookstagram and how would you summarize your account in 3 words? Mine are floral, vibrant, and fangirl 🌸🌈📚
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Seven years ago, I started this account as a creative outlet to gush about my favourite reads with fellow bookworms. Little did I know it would be a constant source of joy or that my weakness would not only be buying new books but also the bookmarks, art prints, and bookish dolls to match 🙈
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Along the way, I’ve discovered incredible books, fallen in love with countless book boyfriends, and fangirled over so many series. I’ve also been lucky enough to rep for some exceptional small businesses, and have connected with so many amazing creators. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or joined along the way, THANK YOU for being part of this journey. Your comments, DMs, and love for my content bring me endless happiness.
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🌟 Favourite Booksta Friends
@theglambookworm
@onsamsbookshelf
@pretty_little_library
@iam.caryn
@fromjuliereads
@emblazed.words
@extraordinarystardust
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🌟 Shops I Adore
@libraryofthenight
@prettylittlestudios
@marquisdusoleil
@littleinklingsdesign
@whimsicalillustration
@erindeckercreative
@blissfullybookishtees
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🌟 Creators Who I Love
@peachyqueencosplay
@betweenpagesandfriends
@shakespeareandme
@thereallifebookreviewer
@live_1000_lives
@creativemindscoffeegrinds
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#Bookstaversary #Bookstagrammer #BookCommunity #RomanceReader #Romantasy #FlatlayForever #RomanceBookstagram #RomanceBookstagrammer #FantasyBookstagram #FantasyBookLover #PlannersGonnaPlan #PlannerSpreads #BookReel #BookReelsOfInstagram

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🏷️ TBR TAG 🏷️ QOTD: What’s a book that’s been on your TBR for a while? 🔖
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🏷️ What was the last book you read?
—I finished The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler. It’s a speculative fiction, sci-fi novella with a philosophical theme as it discusses the extinction of mammoths and the horror poachers have toward endangered animals.
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🏷️ What is your current read?
—I’m currently re-reading The Diviners by Libba Bray for the seventh time! It’s my comfort read and I read the series every year, so might as well get the books started now!
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🏷️ What is your next read?
—I think I’m gonna read The Stolen Apocalypse which is the prequel novella for Empire of Shadows by @jbensonink
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🏷️ What area do you read the most?
—Either my car because of audiobooks or my reading chair in my room for physical books
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Thank you @buffiepark for the tag! 🐰🩷
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👼🏻 The Nephelim wax melt is from @WickWishCandleCo and smells of bergamot, muguet blossoms, & powdery musk. || Code: READ10 👼🏻
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—TAGS—
#TheMortalInstruments #CassandraClare #CassieClare #CityOfBones #ClockworkPrincess #MortalInstruments #TheInfernalDevices #InfernalDevices #WickWish #BooksAndCandles #WickWishCandleCo #SimonTeen #MargaretKMcElderryBooks #Shadowhunters #Shadowhunter #TheDarkArtifices #TheLastHours #TheTBRtag #TBRtag

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QOTD: What are three current things you are loving? 💚
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I haven’t done a tag in so long so thank you @thedearlydiary for tagging me in the Three Current Things tags a while back! I took a screenshot of it so I wouldn’t forget, and here we are! 🙌🏻
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📖 3 favorite books of the year (so far):
—Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
—That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally
—The Cursed Princess Club by LambCat
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✨ 3 facts about myself:
—me and my best friend have the same birthday and we’ve celebrated together so far for 3 years straight
—I will never say no to an iced coffee, I might just have to get it decaf if I’ve already had one
—I own 11 copies of my my favorite book, The Diviners, 2 in different languages (so far), and including the rest of the series & their editions, I have 19 books in total
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📚 3 top anticipated books:
—Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
—My Salty Mary by @ladyjanies
—The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
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🎼 3 favorite current songs:
—Fresh Out the Slammer by Taylor Swift
—Good Luck, Babe by Chappell Roan
—Work by Ateez
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I tagged some people in the post, but if you want to join in as well, TAG YOU’RE IT! 👐🏻
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This is one of the pictures I saved from my TTPD themed posts that I wanted to post in color vs. black & white! The way the mint contrasts the deck as it’s growing through the floorboards was to perfect not to use for a picture on my feed.
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—TAGS—
#EveryHeartADoorway #WaywardChildren #SeananMcGuire #ReadingInTheWeb #WaywardChildrenSeries #TorBooks #LGBTQbooks #LGBTbooks #BooksInNature #QueerBooks #TorPublishing #TorDotCom #Goodreads #GoodreadsWithAView • Book Recommendations • Bookstagram • Book Aesthetic • Beautiful Books • Book Hygge

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On Wednesdays, we want to feature you! Today's post is by @iam.caryn. Make sure to follow our featured bookstagrammers for more bookish pics!⁠
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Want to be featured? DM us your fave picture starring one (or more) of our books and you could be one of our Feature Wednesdays posts!⁠
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ID: Vampire Academy face up with the rest of the series stacked spine up to the right of the book with blue and pink flowers at the top and bottom⁠
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#bookstagram #books #bookworm #bookaddict #amreading #booklove #booklover #currentlyreading #yabooks #yabookstagram #MustRead #RecommendedReads #FeatureWednesday #VampireAcademy #RichelleMead

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Q: what is a book you have told yourself you MUST read before the end of the year? 📖

I was tagged by the lovely @chloereadds to participate in the #tenbeforetheend challenge, and I honestly found it so fun sorting through my books only to realise there are so many I DESPERATELY want to read this year. Here are 10 books I want to read before the end of 2023:

1. Scythe, Neal Shusterman
2. Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
3. Serpent & Dove, Shelby Mahurin
4. Blood & Honey, Shelby Mahurin
5. God & Monsters, Shelby Mahurin
6. Circe, Madeline Miller
7. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
8. Girls With Sharp Sticks, Suzanne Young
9. Crooked Kingdom, Leigh Bardugo
10. King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo
 Most of these are part of different series that have been on my TBR for a while now and I really really want to get to them. We’ll see if I can get through the 10 before the end of the year! Tagged some people who might want to participate 🌼🤍
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#bookstagram #books #booklover #book #bookworm #bookstagrammer #reading #bookish #bookaddict #booknerd #bibliophile #instabook #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #b #read #bookaholic #booksbooksbooks #bookphotography #bookshelf #booklove #love #bookreview #bookcommunity #bookblogger #booklovers #reader #igreads #bookrecommendations

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On Wednesdays, we want to feature you! Today's post is by @iam.caryn. Make sure to follow our featured bookstagrammers for more bookish pics!
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Want to be featured? DM us your fave picture starring one (or more) of our books and you could be one of our Feature Wednesdays posts!
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ID: A tablet displaying the audiobook of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute on top of open books. There are red and white floral pieces above, below, and to the right of the tablet.
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#bookstagram #books #bookworm #bookaddict #amreading #booklove #booklover #currentlyreading #yabooks #yabookstagram #yaromance #yaromcom #audiobook #audiophile #MustRead #RecommendedReads #HighlySuspicousAndUnfairlyCute #TaliaHibbert #FeatureWednesday

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Criticism can hurt, am I right?

Before we discuss, just gonna shout out @iam.caryn for this gorgeous photos of my TLOTS!😍

I wonder what the world would be like if everything we did was subject to review?

Let’s imagine you spend three months knitting a complex adult sweater, and when it’s finished you’re required to post that sweater online for reviews. Now since most of the reviewers will not be knitters themselves, what response do you think you’ll get? My guess is that some people will think your craftsmanship was exquisite but you didn’t get the colour right, while others might love the colour but say your cable design was off, and still others might love most of the design but not like the texture.

This is the inevitable nature of reviews, right?

People’s likes and dislikes are entirely subjective, and taste varies wildly from person to person.

When I released my debut novel, The Maiden Ship in 2020, it was my first real experience of being reviewed. I was shocked at first, but quickly learned not to take it to heart. In hopes of providing some encouragement to debut authors out there, I wanted to share a few of the contrasts within my first ever reviews: one reader thought my main character’s pinnacle development moment came too abruptly while another thought he took forever to get there. Another said my writing was not poetic enough while another called it too flowery. And while some loved that my novel maintained a male POV (point of view) throughout, some criticized by saying that a woman should not be writing in a male POV. These contrasts prove the subjectivity of reviews.

Honestly, it’s impossible to be hurt by these, none are objective, they’re all based on personal bias and taste. I cannot take it to heart. That’s not to say that constructive criticism from knowledgeable professionals should be ignored, not at all, but when it comes to the average online review, you need to take them all with a grain of salt. And NEVER, EVER let them discourage you, SIMPLY KEEP WRITING!

Captions are limited in space so obviously all the nuances of this conversation do get missed. I’d love to discuss further, so pls leave a comment!

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💖🎶 “You're my, my, my, my… Lover” 🎶💖
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QOTD 1): What’s your favorite song off of Lover?
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QOTD 2): What’s your favorite romance book (or a book with your favorite romance)?
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I got inspired and decided to host another round #BooksTaylorsVersion for February! This month is inspired by Lover & I’m so excited to deep dive into this album again for my posts! 💞
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If you been following me for any amount for time, you might know I always love incorporating Taylor Swift & her music in my posts whenever I can. How I wanted to use this specific tag was to make it a place to recommend books that match a song or specific lyric by pairing the two together, while also being able connect with fellow Swifties! I am also happy to have @iam.caryn as my co-host this round again & I’m so thankful for her input, suggestions, & friendship! ✨
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I love having photo challenges that are open to interpretation but here are the two types of challenges we made:
—In the first slide is the song titles or lyrics. I personally plan on drawing inspiration from these with what books I post, and plan on matching a book with each specific song/lyric.
—The last slide is a classic list with a specific prompt per day if you want something with a more direct idea to follow or if that’s just how you would like to join in without being a Swiftie.
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💘 In the end, I just want this to be a tag that you can add to whenever & however. If you are reading a book & it reminds you of a song from Taylor, this is a tag you can use for us all to see your recommendation. 💘
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AOTD 1): Top 3— Afterglow, I Think He Knows, Daylight
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AOTD 2): The Bromance Bookclub, Second First Impressions, & A Curious Beginning
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—TAGS—
#BookstagramPhotoChallenge #Swiftie #TheSwiftieTag #BookTok #Bookstagram #PhotoChallenge #FebruaryPhotoChallenge #Taylurking #TaylorsVersion #FromTheVault #Swifties #LoverTaylorSwift #BooksAndMusic #BooksTaylorsVersion #TheErasTour #TaylorSwiftEras #TSTheErasTour #LoverAlbum

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~ 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 #𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨? ~

I did! and it was The Dark Verse Series by RuNxy 🫢

~ 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 ~ #𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙬𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙮

Dark Verse Series
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The characters in the dark verse series are all so endearing because of everything, you fall in love with each and every character and what they have gone through, like literally you feel for them even if it’s just a book and this series has #allthefeels
😁😁😟😟😅😅😅😭😭🙃🙃😆😆🫢🫢🫢😳😳😳😳💃💃💃😻😻😻😻🎊🎊🎊

I mean seriously where was I when this series came out 😅 @authorrunyx
RuNyx’s writing is so unique and it just has you enthralled from the first page to the last 💃

While the dark verse series is still ongoing, I can state that we are nearing its conclusion. I can't help but feel a bit sad that I #bingeread this series in just a few days and that EVERYTHING WILL BE CONCLUDED IN THE FINAL BOOK!!!

The Dark Verse series is a must-read if you enjoy dark romance, intrigue, emotionally complex characters, and love stories 😻😁

Before you start this series check trigger warnings, the author does that, warns you about certain stuff in the books.
( I do sometimes skip those parts) What mostly interested me was the plot and how everything unravels and how each character is connected somehow and I can’t wait for THE SYNDICATER!!! @thebookvoyagers

Today is Day 11 of #bookwolfjan23 and me being me I missed Day 10
So without further ado I tried to recreate @emilyintheweb and @iam.caryn
You definitely check out their accounts it’s aesthetically stunning 😍

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀

#myfictionalmusings
#allthebooksjan23
#courtofreadingjan23

#bookporn #ilovebooks #readmorebooks #amomentofwhimsypresets
#saynabreadsbooks#bookaesthetic #sabookstagrammers #bookstagramza #bookstagramsouthafrica #bookworm #southafrica #romancestagram #runyx
#thepredator #thereaper #theemperor #thefinisher #theannihilator #darkverse #ireadromance #thedarkverseseries #darkromance

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Day 11 of #bookwolfjan23 hosted by @bookwolftams. Today's inspiration is @iam.caryn, who has the coziest feed. Swipe to see her original.

I picked this series up last year, and I devoured it! They are redoing the covers for the anniversary, but I prefer the old covers to the new.

Do you prefer to read long series in one go, or do you need to space it out?
I need to know what happens next, so I can't usually stop a series halfway through.

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"Your life is mine as mine is yours."

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐠

☠️Book Review☠️

She is the immortal assassin better known as Lady Fortune. After finishing her last mission, she is summoned by her handler to go undercover with none other than Orion Hong as a newly wed couple. With the Japanese trying to infiltrate Shanghai, they need to find the person responsible for the spike in chemical killings and what is exactly in those syringes but who can they really trust.

This book started out slow, not that it hindered me because 'hell' an immortal assassin, she didn't need weapons just poison! Rosalind Lang's character was, (there's no other word for it) badass! The plot twists were (mouth hanging on the floor literally). This story rich with history, a little touch of romance that leaves you with too much questions was oh so good!

Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you so much to the team @jonathanballpublishers for this amazing read. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Day 11 of #bookwolfjan23 this post is also inspired by @iam.caryn (please Swipe for the original post).

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