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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

Well, the 4+ star streak that I had going this month might be broken, but I am still having the best time devouring books like it’s my job 🤭

And I know finishing 9 books in a week is ridiculous, but see, the thing is that when a book is around 300pgs (which all these horror-ish books tend to be), I know I can binge it in a day so then my brain unfortunately takes it as a challenge and decides that that’s also what needs to happen and ehm… yeah, here we are 🫪

Honestly, I don’t even know why I am justifying myself, fuck that. Read whatever and however much your heart desires, no shame, have fun, live & let live, cheeeers 🫶

Anywayyy, I had some very big surprises this week, mostly in a good way ✨️

Let’s just get Wolves of War out of the way though… this is undoubtedly Gwynne’s most personal & refreshing work yet and I LOVE how his daughter’s legacy lives on through Halia, but I personally think it might work better as a love letter to his own family than as a particularly strong Slavic fantasy in its own right :')

Now, if there is one book you pick up on my recommendation, it should be Our Cut of Salt by @deenahlm It's not an easy read, but it’s a very poignant & important one (FREE Palestine!), and I think it showcases exactly why horror is such a powerful genre for exploring the tragedies of the real world, because sometimes the things that haunt us are not supernatural at all, and sometimes the real horror is what people are capable of doing to one another 🥲💔

I guess that’s actually a big theme of the week, because EDEN, Coffin Moon, The Butcher of Nazareth, Monstera, Adam, Mine, and even Carrie are all tragically human horror stories full of trauma & hurt as well, and I love them for that 🤌🖤

Luckily I had my ACOTAR re-read & Love is Blind silliness (shoutout to @kyras_reading for the wild chats) to balance out the darkness with some joy, although those things are actually also emotional rollercoasters, so there’s that 🫠

💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸? 𝗔𝗻𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀? 

#ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ
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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

Can someone please explain to me how I was walking around in shorts last week and then just slept with my heated blanket again for the first time last night?? Welcome to autumn in The Netherlands… 🥲

Fortunately, my 4+ star streak that I started the month with is still going strong, so I love that for me. Finished up a new all-time fave series with What the Ravens Sing (help, I have no new @jbensonink books to read anymore!! 🥹), Vengeful somehow went from 2.5 stars to 4.5 stars on reread (bc past Esmay was dumb) and I was pleasantly surprised with how Victorious wrapped up the series, devoured a new tragic gothic horror masterpiece by the one and only @scrimscribes who wrote my top book of last year, and read a grim delight of a novella! 🔥

Oh and also did a third read of ACOMAF and that honestly felt like coming home. Don’t know if I would give it 5 stars if I read it for the first time now, but blame nostalgia ✨️

Now, I keep forgetting to mention this, but you can always find all of my long, rambly reviews of my reads on Goodreads/The Storygraph in case you want more in-depth thoughts. I really should get better at crossposting my reviews here, or at least mini reviews, but I fear my lazy ass can’t quite find the motivation, oops 🫪

Anyway, I am absolutely devouring both my current reads (or are they devouring me?), and I have a feeling that @david.scott.hay.official and @john_gwynne_author are both going to hurt me by the end… and I love them for that 🖤

I have also been having the best time watching Love is Blind The Netherlands (and judging all these messy people together with @kyras_reading ), even though this season is honestly making me a bit ashamed to be Dutch at some points… what a shit show, in the best way 🫠

Well, I guess that is enough rambling again, mad respect for you if you read all of that. I hope you all have a lovely start to the new week, cheers! 🫶

💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄? 

#ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ #ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢʟɪꜰᴇ
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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

Look, the late summer vibes might still be going strong here (wdym I am tanning in my shorts & little top when it is OCTOBER?! 🫪), but I have fully embraced the darker autumn reading vibes and I am honestly living my best life 🤌

I mean, nothing below 4 stars is absolutely unheard of for my stingy ass, but I hope this trend continues all month (or all year pls) 🤞

The London Charismatics series by @jbensonink is filling The Bone Season-void in my heart, my re-reads of Vicious & Vengeful in prep for Victorious have been incredible, my first @chuck_wendig & @joshuawinning were a HUGE success and now I wanna read all of their works, and the new Dracula adaptation is one of the best things I have ever had the pleasure of listening to, what a performance, this casting ate 🤌🤌🤌

So yeah, life might be anything but perfect, but at least escapism is working like a charm for me, and I have some amazing music to drown out the noise in my head. Here’s to mood reading & watching my way through the days, it’s going to be a surprise for all of us what I get up to in this upcoming week but I have no doubt it’s going to be fun. All the love, babes, be kind to yourself & others 🤍🤍🤍

💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘁? 

#ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ᴡʜᴀᴛɪʀᴇᴀᴅ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ
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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

And that is the first week of September in the books already, oh how time flies. I am actually glad that summer is holding strong here and we are still in the 20 degrees Celcius range, because I still haven’t figured out how to romanticize autumn like you all do… 🫪

Anyway, it was another fun and eclectic week of reading, so my inner bookish omnivore is satisfied. To my huge surprise though, The Knave and the Moon ended up being the weakest book of the week for me, and my 3.5 stars is honestly already feeling quite generous. I am not yet sure if I will crosspost my loooong review here (lmk if you want that), but you can find it on my Goodreads and the @grimdark.magazine website if you want to know more… 👀

Fortunately the rest of the week was just banger after banger, with my re-read of Ninth House taking the absolute crown. Like, I don’t think 18yo Esmay who was still fully in her YA fantasy era was able to fully appreciate this book when I first read it, but I am happy to say that I adored it this time around. We love that character development for me hehehe 🥹✨️

Also absolutely pick up Fruit Fly btw, that queer literary satirical thriller is so so so worth all the hype it has gotten. The comps are Yellowface and A Little Life, which I kinda agree with but I honestly think it is even better than either of those, so there’s that 🤌

Well, I guess that is enough rambling again. My life has been just very chill and uneventful, but that is totally fine by me. I have enough bookish adventures to keep me entertained, you know? 🤭

Like, my current reads are consuming me mind, body, and spirit, so it’s really a miracle that I am even here sharing this weekly update at the moment… hope you appreciate the sacrifice I made to do so, now don’t mind me running back to my fictional faves 🤍

Cheers friends, all the love 🫶

💭 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲-𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲? 

#ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢʟɪꜰᴇ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ
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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

Okay so I was debating whether I should just skip this weekly update and do my August wrap-up instead since it’s the last day of the month, but I love this format too much so you’ll have to wait for the big monthly recap until my next post on Wednesday, I guess 👀

Now, it might seem like last week was finally a bit smaller and more reasonable for once… until you realise that the two Kindred’s Curse saga books together are over 1400 pages, so there’s that. It truly had me in a chokehold over the past few days despite the fact that I had more than a few criticisms, and I am definitely excited for Burn of the Everflame even though I might have burnt myself out a bit, oops 🫪

Also fun fact, I always start and finish all my books within the same month and refuse to carry stuff over, so that is why I tend to close my month out with shorter reads that I can read in a sitting if I have a day left at the end of the month… Anyone else like this?? 🫠

So yeah, perfect timing to read a little Raiders of the Arcana prequel novella that apparently has crossover connections to Benson’s The London Charismatics series that I am starting in September, love this for me ✨️🤍

Anyway, today my parents are coming home from a weekend trip in Germany that I treated them to as a little early birthday present for @gettinglost.ina.book (26 september, mark the date!), so I am excited to see them again… even though it was also bliss to be home alone with Snow (because my brother kept abandoning me for his friends) and have some great reading time and very loud house concert jam sessions… sorry neighbours 🤭

Well, I guess I have rambled on long enough again. How was your week? Is there anything you are scrambling to finish today before September rolls around tomorrow? Cheers babes, sending all the love & hugs! 🫶

#ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ᴡʜᴀᴛᴛʜɪꜱᴡᴇᴇᴋ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ
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• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 •

Okay so I had actually made a simpler version of my weekly update without all the mini rambles for each book with it because I was feeling lazy, but then my perfectionist overachiever brain couldn’t get happy with how it turned out so I deleted that and went back to this format after all… why am I like this??? 🫠

Anyway, I think my life motto at this point is ‘a book a day keeps reality away’ 💀

To be fair, it probably helps that I am reading a ton of ‘shorter’ horror, litfic and romance books because I am so not in the mood for big epic fantasy chunkers right now, but it’s still a surprise to me every time when I realise how much I have devoured 👀

Oh and helloooo, we got a new 5-star read this week!! Arrow of Fortune was just pure perfection to me, and I even slowed down my listening speed (hence why I only got through 2 audiobooks) because I did not want it to be over. Please do yourself a favour and start the Raiders of the Arcana series if you haven’t yet, this made my heart so happy!! 🥹🤌

Also, I just wanted to give a little shoutout to the buddy read of Stoner with @binding_agent @fictionfungiflora @howling_bookmark @id_ratherbe_at_pemberly & @sisterofthesonofares because that was one of my favourite reading experiences I have ever had and it made me realise why people love to buddy read so much!! 

I mean, I might have inhaled the book before anyone else even got started (I blame timezones… maybe?), but the respectful discussion we had afterwards despite almost everyone having the most diametrically opposing opinions were just so incredibly good. So yeah, my rating went from 4.25 to 4.5 only to end up at a solid 4 after all that reflection, and I have a feeling I won’t forget about this book anytime soon 🤍

Okay, that is probably enough rambling for now, the rest of the slides should speak for themselves. We’ll see if my current audiobook can get me back in the epic SFF mood or if my bookish omnivore brain keeps on rebelling … tune in next week to find out 🫶

💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸? 

#ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ #ʙᴏᴏᴋʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡꜱ #ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ᴡʜᴀᴛᴛʜɪꜱᴡᴇᴇᴋ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ
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💜 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 💜

Okay so I have been meaning to start doing weekly updates again for a while now because I read so much great stuff in a week that I just can’t keep up with posting about it, so I figured this was the best way to spotlight it all 🙌

And of course, because I can’t just keep things simple for once (🫠), I decided to also add the music I’ve had on repeat this week and the movies, shows & youtube/booktube videos I have been watching. 

Though, I watch SO much YT/booktube that I could fill multiple slides with it, so instead of doing that, I have chosen to just highlight a few of my favourite videos of the week that I most highly recommend you all check out as well if you need some joy & comfort in your life ✨️

Anyway, we’ll see how long I keep up with this. For now I really like this format and I am excited about the fact that I now won’t have to stress the entire weekend about ‘what to post on Monday??’, love that for me 🤭

OH and lastly I just wanted to share a little fun life update (for those who are still reading, you are a champ), because I just got my first car last Friday! I am a super anxious driver and I have barely gotten on the road since I got my license 4 years ago, so we decided to get me an automatic car instead of manual and it’s a life changer!!! So happy right now, I could cry 🥹🤍

Well, that is enough rambling for today. I would love for this to become our casual book besties weekly check-in sesh (can anyone come up with a fun unique name for it? my creative brain is failing me), so please let me know what you have been reading/watching/listening to, or let me know if you have any good news you wanna share! 🫶

Cheers loves, take care & happy reading!! 🥰

#ᴡʜᴀᴛᴛʜɪꜱᴡᴇᴇᴋ #ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ #ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ #ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛʟʏʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ #ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢʟɪꜰᴇ
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