A Very Late February 2019 Wrap Up

Hi everyone! I’m sorry to be posting this so late, but I have been working non stop on my thesis since I’m really behind on it and, because of that, I haven’t had much time to blog.

Without further ado, here’s my february wrap up:

LIFE UPDATE

• February wasa pretty stressful month for me, I was planning two long trips and while I’m really excited to be going on those trips, all the things related to planning like buying tickets and making reservations made my anxiety get really bad. Also, I’m really behind on my thesis, so that didn’t help the situation with my anxiety.
• In February. I finished my internship and started my last month of classes, but beyond that not a lot happened.

WHAT I READ 

This year I’m participating in a few reading challenges, so I’ll be keeping track of that with some emojis!

                     🌸 =Reading Women Challenge 🌿= Catch Up on Classics                                    ⭐= Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-fi Challenge 🌻= Year of the Asian

 

The Wicked King by Holly Black (5 stars): Just know that I LOVED THIS! Read my full review to know more. – ⭐

Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth (3,6 stars): bittersweet, beautiful and touching story with an autistic main character. Check out my full review!

Hi Fi Fight Club # 2 by Carly Usdin (4,3 stars): I love the art and the color palet in this, also the story is endering and entertaining.

 

Baby Maker by P. Dangelico (3,6 stars):  This was fun, but not very memorable. I really like books where strangers make an arrangement to have a baby and end up falling in love, so I enjoyed that aspect of this, but that basic premise is almost all I remember about it.

Dirty Rowdy Things by Christina Lauren (3,4 stars): Fun and steamy, but also a bit frustrating.

Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren (3,4 stars): I think this was a case of my expectations being too high. I’m a huge fan of friends to lovers stories and this started in a very promising way but, when they actually got together it felt underwhelming.

 

Let’s Get Textual by Teagan Hunter (3,6 stars): This was hilarious, sexy and sweet. The love interest was so nice, which I loved, and the dynamic between the characters was highly entertaining, especially their text messages. Also, there’s a baby goat in this, what else do you need to know?!

The Friend Zone by Kristen Callihan (3,5 stars): The text messages in this were the best part, they felt like real messages between real people and the voices of both of the main characters were so well done. This was really angsty and it uses a trope at the end that I don’t like.

The Risk by Elle Kennedy (3,8 stars): This has fake dating, which is my favorite trope and it was well done. I do think that there was an unnecesary storyline with the main character’s past at the end, but that meant that there was a heartbreaking but beautiful father/daughter scene that I really appreciated.

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (4 stars): Really interesting, thought-provoking book. It explores race and class in a very complex and nuanced way.

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (4 stars): This is a book with an important message since it addresses islamophobia. I really enjoyed Maya’s story and her development thorughout the book, even if I felt meh about the romantic relationship. Also, I think the little inserts from random people’s povs didn’t work that well – 🌻

Black Enough by Various Authors (3,7 stars): As with every short story collection, there were some great stories and then there were also a lot of meh stories.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte (3,6 stars): Every character was a dislikeble character and most of them were terrible people, but I still found the story interesting and engaging.🌿

Blog Posts 

Here are some of my favorite blog posts I wrote in February:

• 9 Books with Autism Representation
• Diverse Books On My TBR with Less Than 500 Ratings on Goodreads
• 10 Cities that Books Made Me Want to Visit | Top Ten Tuesday
• Book Review: The Wicked King by Holly Black
• Book Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Have you read any of the books I mentioned? Did you enjoy them? Do you want to read any of them?

Add me on

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Latinx Book Club | Announcement + Our First Book Club Pick!

Hi everyone! If you follow me on Twitter or if you are a part of the bookish community on Twitter, you may have heard about the Latinx Book Club, which I am co-hosting with 5 lovely Latinx bloggers and booktubers. We started this project at the beginning of March and we already have over a 1000 followers on the Twitter account!!! The response has been amazing and I’m so happy to be a part of this project.

But let’s back up a little bit! The Latinx Book Club is – obviously a book club – meant to highlight and boost Latinx authors and Latinx books. Each month, we are voting to choose one book by a Latinx author that we will read together and then discuss it in a twitter chat. The books can be YA or Middle Grade and they can be from any genre. 

The other hosts of the book club are Cande (@Latinx Magic+ @iamrainbou), Jocelyn (@Yogi With a Book + @joceraptor ), Alicia (@A Kernel of Nonsense + @booknonsense), Dani (@ Metamorphoreader + Metamorphodani) and Carolina (@Santana Reads + @Santanareads)

You can find all the info for the book club on the Twitter and Instagram accounts. Also, if you are interested in finding out about Latinx books being release or great Latinx books with amazing rep, you should follow the twitter account!

About a week ago, we put up a poll on Twitter for people to vote and help us choose our April book pick and the results are in! We are so excited to read and talk about this book with everyone that decides to participate!

Without further ado, here is our first book club pick:

The Storm Runner is a Middle-Grade Fantasy book with a disabled Latinx main character and it’s full of Maya mythology. Also, it’s one of the Rick Riordan Presents books!

Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository |  

Trigger warnings: internalized ableism and use of ableist language

“Zane has always enjoyed exploring the dormant volcano near his home in New Mexico, even though hiking it is challenging. He’d much rather hang out there with his dog, Rosie, than go to middle school, where kids call him Sir Limps a Lot, McGimpster, or Uno — for his one good leg. What Zane doesn’t know is that the volcano is a gateway to another world and he is at the center of a powerful prophecy. 

A new girl at school, Brooks, informs him that he’s destined to release an evil god from the ancient Maya relic he is imprisoned in — unless she can find and remove it first. Together they return to the volcano, where all kinds of crazy happens. Brooks turns into a hawk, a demon attacks them in a cave, and Rosie gives her all while trying to protect Zane. When Zane decides to save his dog no matter the cost, he is thrust into an adventure full of surprising discoveries, dangerous secrets, and an all-out war between the gods, one of whom happens to be his father. To survive, Zane will have to become the Storm Runner. But how can he run when he can’t even walk well without a cane?

Feisty heroes, tricky gods, murderous demons, and spirited giants are just some of the pleasures that await in this fresh and funny take on Maya mythology, as rich and delicious as a mug of authentic hot chocolate.”

Are you joining the Latinx Book Club? Are you excited with out first book club pick? Have you read The Storm Runner before? 

Add me on

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Blog Tour: Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale (Review + Playlist)

The official banner for the blog tour was designed by the wonderful Mana, feel free to check out her amazing portfolio right here!

Hi everyone! Today, I bring you my review and playlist for Small Town Hearts as part of the blog tour for the book. I received an ARC from the author in exchange of an honest review. A big thank you to Lillie Vale for the ARC and to Lili from Utopia State of Mind for hosting the blog tour!

Title: Small Town Hearts

Author: Lillie Vale

Published by: Swoon Reads

Publishing date: March 19th 2019

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 336

Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy. 

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Trigger Warnings: manipulative friendship, mention of casual drug usage (weed, not shown on the page), alcohol consumption (on page) and alcohol abuse (a character drinks and parties to the point of dehydration and sleep-deprivation; two characters get wasted and are too drunk to fully consent to sex with each other).

Small Town Heart is an angsty book about love and friendship, but mainly about not holding so strongly to people that you don’t let them change and grow and that you don’t allow yourself to change and grow. The book is full of complex relationships and fascinating discussions about growing up.

The main character, Babe, is naïve, indecisive, scared of change and a pushover at the beginning of the book, but she develops as a character and I really enjoyed seeing that. She embraces the fact that people don’t always stay the same, they change, and she should be able to change to, she should be able to grow as a person. One thing that I abolutely loved about Babe and about this book is that she is unapologetically bisexual and eveyone accepts that, it’s normal, it’s not an issues and it’s fantastic.

The love interest, Levi, was sweet, honest and mature. I really liked him, and I didn’t quite understand why he put up with Babe being so indecisive for such a big portion of this book. Nonetheless, their relationship was thoughtful and sweet, and I enjoyed their scenes together.

Now, in terms of Babe’s best friends, Penny was a fascinating character to me because I hated her at the beginning, she was manipulative, insensitive and mean.  But as the book continues it’s evident that she is a more complex character, she makes some good points about change and about growing up that Babe needed to consider and accept. Nonetheless, that doesn’t excuse the way she behaved throughout the story and I liked the way this ended regarding her friendship with Babe. On the other hand, I don’t think there’s enough in this book about Chad to know him at all and the few scenes he has in this book made him look like an inconsiderate, pushover, oblivious guy.

I loved Babe’s coworker and friend, Lily and her boyfriend Lorcan. They are so cute and I really want a book about how everything started between them, because they are definitely one of my favorite part of the book.

The setting of this book is captivating, it’s this small seaside town, where everyone knows each other, where there are amazing sea food and desserts, beautiful landscapes, a sand castles competition and an awesome lighthouse where the main character lives. It honestly sounded like a magical place to live and it has a very big role in the story.

The plot gets a bit repetitive, the interactions between Babe and Levi always start cute and meaningful, but most of them end with Babe freaking out about Levi being a summer boy and getting weird and leaving, which I could understand at the beginning, but it kept happening again and again and it became a bit frustrating. Also, there is a point were the drama between Babe and Penny and Chad, got really repetitive as well.

Overall, Small Town Heart is a book for people who enjoy complicated firendships, sweet romances and books that have a bittersweet feel to them. 

The playlist has songs that remind me of Babe and her relationship with Levi, a song that reminds me of Penny and even a song that reminds me of Babe’s relationship with her ex-girlfriend. I hope you enjoy it!

Lillie Vale, upon discovering she could not be one of Santa’s elves or attend Hogwarts, decided to become a writer to create a little magic of her own. Enjoying the romantic and eerie in equal measure, she’s probably always writing a book where the main characters kiss or kill. Born in Mumbai, she has lived in many U.S. states, and now resides in an Indiana college town where the corn whispers and no one has a clue that she is actually the long-lost caps lock queen.

Small Town Hearts is her debut novel.

WEBSITE || GOODREADS || TWITTER || INSTAGRAM

FOLLOW THE REST OF THE BLOG TOUR FOR MORE CONTENT!

MARCH 11
Sprinkles of Dreams – guest post
Drizzle & Hurricane Books– interview
Eloise Writes – review + aesthetic
Flipping Through the Pages – review + creative
Annotated Paperbacks – creative

MARCH 12
Unputdownable Books – creative
Santana Reads – review + character aesthetics
Bookish in Texas – interview
Green Tea & Paperbacks – creative

MARCH 13
Bookish Wandress – review + a playlist
Bubbly Booknerd – creative
Bookmark Lit – review + creative
The Contented Reader – interview + review

Camillea Reads – review

MARCH 14
The Bookish Beagle – review + creative
Fannatality – review + creative
Syndneys.books – creative bookstagram
Word Wonders – review

Chasing Faerytales – review + creative

Utopia State of Mind – guest post

MARCH 15
Read by Tiffany – creative
Fangirl Fury – review + creative
Romie We Deserve Love – creative

Have you read this book? Are you excited to read it? Let me know in the comments!

Add me on

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Blog Tour: Graham’s Delicacies by Em Ali (Review + Playlist)

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be a part of the blog tour for an amazing book that I have been highly anticipating. Today, I’m bringing you a review of the book and a playlist  that I did based on it!

Title: Graham’s Delicacies

Author: Em Ali

Published by: Blue Latte House

Publishing date: March 5th 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 227

Saccharine:  Jen goes to work, agonizes over college, and looks forward to the stolen moments in the kitchen. There she can watch Emilie bake love into every morsel. Their delicate friendship takes a step towards a budding romance, but will Jen’s anxiety help them survive their first hurdle?

Delectable: James has never been kissed but he wants to be. Especially by his co-worker Sam, who he can’t talk to without turning into a little jerk. Sam is made of all the good stuff, but will James’ deepest insecurities allow him to kiss the boy?

Ravenous: Alex won’t let some foodie with a video camera bash their beloved bakery, even if it means to be petty. Except they’re nowhere ready for Yujin, the one who got away and is now romancing them. Will Alex’s pride let them see the gold heart the bashful king hides?

Goodreads | Amazon

I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange of an honest review

Trigger warnings: anxiety, mention of parental death, misgendering (challenged on page), alcohol and sexual content.

Graham’s Delicacies is the fluffy book of my dreams. If you are looking for diverse romance stories with low angst and so much cuteness that you’ll smile most of the time while reading them, Graham’s Delicacies is for you!

There are three queer love stories in this book: Saccharine, Delectable and Ravenous,  and they were all lovely and captivating.

Saccharine is about Jen (she/her), a Black bisexual women with anxiety, and Emilie (they/ their, but she/her for special people), a chubby and anxious nonbinary baker. They are really cute and soft together, but they also have sexy moments. Em’s a really shy character and seeing them be confident and take charge during sex was amazing. Also, I loved Em’s cats, they are named after their favorite Disney princesses! Basically, this story couldn’t get cuter even if it tried.

James and Sam are mentioned a lot in Saccharine, because Jen and Em can tell that they like each other even if they are oblivious to it. By the time the first story was over, I was really excited to finally see how everything played out with James and Sam and I was not disappointed with their story.

Delectable is definitely the story I liked the most in this book, mainly because the dynamic between Sam and James is my favorite. When they are together the atraction and tension is palpable, honestly, I can’t believe how oblivious they were. Also, the flirting in this story is on point, Sam and James have so much chemestry and they are playful but bashful and it’s really entertaining to read. This story shows glimpses of James family and it was amazing, his relationship with his younger siblings is adorable and I would love to read more about his relationship with his twin, Clara, since it’s a bit complicted.

Ravenous is the story of Alex, a nonbinary baker (they/them) and Yujin, a Korean foodie vlogger (he/his). It’s the story with the coolest concept, since the characters have a one night stand and then find each other again after Yujin gives Graham’s a bad review. While I really liked the concept, I had a problem with the way Alex behaves when they meet again, they act like a jerk and, while they apologize later on, what didn’t make sense to me is that Yujin keeps trying even when Alex is behaving that way. Nonetheless, this story redeem itself with some very domestic and adorables scenes between the character and a really sweet ending.

Lastly, I would like to mention that my main issue with this book is that it needs better editing, especially, when it comes to the excesive use of pronouns at some points in the book. There were other little mistakes with phrases and words that didn’t really bother me, but I did have an issue with the fact that sometimes there are so many pronouns in a paragraph that it’s hard to tell who they are refering to and that makes certain scenes confusing.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone looking for sweet, fluffy stories about POC and queer characters

Rating: 4 stars 

And finally, here’s the playlist I made imspired by this book,  I think the lyrics of the songs go well with the stories. I hope you enjoy it!

Have you read Graham’s Delicacies? Are you planning on reading it? What fluffy books would you recommend? 

Add me on

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Anticipated Book Releases of March 2019

Hi everyone! Today I’m talking about books coming out in March 2019 that I’m really excited about and that I can’t wait to read!

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Release date: March 1st 2019

In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear. Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Why I’m anticipating it? Honestly, I can’t wait to read this one because I have heard Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams talk about it non stop. Also, the main character is a Latino bisexual teen, which makes me even more excited to read it!

Graham’s Delicacies by Em Ali

Release date: March 5th 2019

Saccharine: Jen goes to work, agonizes over college, and looks forward to the stolen moments in the kitchen. There she can watch Emilie bake love into every morsel. Their delicate friendship takes a step towards a budding romance, but will Jen’s anxiety help them survive their first hurdle?

Delectable: James has never been kissed but he wants to be. Especially by his co-worker Sam, who he can’t talk to without turning into a little jerk. Sam is made of all the good stuff, but will James’ deepest insecurities allow him to kiss the boy?

Ravenous: Alex won’t let some foodie with a video camera bash their beloved bakery, even if it means to be petty. Except they’re nowhere ready for Yujin, the one who got away and is now romancing them. Will Alex’s pride let them see the gold heart the bashful king hides?

Why I’m anticipating it? After reading and loving Soft on Soft by Em Ali, I’m so happy to be part of the blog tour for Graham’s Delicacies. This is a collection of three short stories that are full of diversity. There’s Black, nonbinary, bisexual, fat, gay, Latinx, Korean and anxiety rep.

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera

Release date: March 5th 2019

At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets.

Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That roles brings with it violent throw downs and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but the sixteen-year-old grows weary of the life. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search for a mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles other crews and her own doubts, but the closer she gets to her goal, the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone— she cares about.

Nalah must do the unspeakable to get what she wants—a place to call home. But is a home just where you live? Or who you choose to protect?

Why I’m anticipating it? This was on of the first 2019 releases that I added to my tbr, this is a dystopian written by a latinx author, about latinx characters and with a Mad Max vibe…. what else could I ask for?!!

Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith

Release date: March 5th 2019

Having just been dumped by his girlfriend, British-born Hugo is still determined to take his last-hurrah-before-college train trip across the United States. One snag: the companion ticket is already booked under the name of his ex, Margaret Campbell. Nontransferable, no exceptions.

Enter the new Margaret C. (Mae for short), an aspiring filmmaker with big dreams. After finding Hugo’s spare ticket offer online, she’s convinced it’s the perfect opportunity to expand her horizons.

When the two meet, the attraction is undeniable, and both find more than they bargained for. As Mae pushes Hugo to explore his dreams for his future, he’ll encourage her to channel a new, vulnerable side of her art. But when life off the train threatens the bubble they’ve created for themselves, will they manage to keep their love on track?

Why I’m anticipating it? Honestly, tihis just sounds like the cute, fluffy contemporaries that I like to read when my anxiety is giving me a hard time and since lately that has been the case, I’m looking forward to having some new contemporaries to read!

Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale

Release date: March 19th 2019

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

Why I’m anticipating it? This sounds cute and it has a bisexual main characters, which I’m always excited about! I’m lucky enough to be participating in the blog tour organized by the lovely Lili @ Utopia State of Mind and I can’t wait to share my review and some other fun things with everyone!

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

Release date: March 19th 2019

Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends.

One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system.

Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more . . .

Why I’m anticipating it? This has a hate to love slow-burn f/f romance and I’m so ready for it! Also, there’s a polyamorous relationship between some of the secondary characters, which I can’t wait to read about!

What February book releases are you anticipating? Do you want to read any of the books I mentioned? Have you read any of them already? what did you think about them?

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10 Cities that Books Made Me Want to Visit | Top Ten Tuesday

Hi everyone! When I started blogging I participated in Top Ten Tuesday regulary and I loved the fact that it allowed me to interact with so many people from the community, because I miss that, I decided to start participating again!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018!

Today, the topic is places mentioned in books that I’d like to visit, so I decided to write about 10 cities that are the setting of some amazing books and that play such an important role in the story that after reading the books I can’t help but want to go visit them myself.

*If you click the title of the books, it will take you to the Goodreads page for the book

Without further ado, here are the 10 cities that books made me want to visit:

If The Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman-—> Manila, Philippines

Honestly, all the #romanceclass books I have read made me want to visit the Philippines, but If the Dress Fits is my favorite #romanceclass book and it’s the one that mentions more especific places from Manila like the Dangwa flower market and the Manila Metropolitan Theatre, as well as different types of food that sounded delicious.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan —–> Taipei, Taiwan

I really want to go to Taipei, and especifically, the food markets that are constantly mentioned in this book, I’m just so excited to try delicious food! Also, the observatory inside Taipei 101 sounds so cool, I really want to see the city from that height.

Darius the Great is not Okay by Adib Khorram —-> Yazd, Iran

Iran is the most recent addition to this list, I read Darius the Great is not Okay in January and I fell in love with the way Darius talked about Iran.  I would love to go to Yazd and see the Jameh Mosque, the Towers of Silence and the Atashkadeh.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan —-> Singapore

While reading Crazy Rich Asians, I couldn’t help but be incredibly intrigued about Singapore. I can’t wait to visit the food markets and the impressive buildings, especially the Marina Bay Sands and the gardens by the bay.

Idyllic village Oia (Ia) on Santorini island, Greece with famous church with blue domes. Click for more images: [url=http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&lightboxID=6413055][img]http://santoriniphoto.com/Template-Greek.jpg[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9724165][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9724165[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701552][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701552[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701515][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701515[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701504][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701504[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701472][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701472[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701450][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701450[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9701281][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9701281[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9697520][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9697520[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=2637803][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=2637803[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9751572][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9751572[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9749064][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9749064[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9728858][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9728858[/img][/url] [url=file_closeup.php?id=9728820][img]file_thumbview_approve.php?size=1&id=9728820[/img][/url]

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares —-> Santorini, Greece

I’ll confess that my desire to visit Greece is due to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and the movie, as well as to the Mamma Mia movies. But, even if the Mamma Mia made me want to go to Greece even more, it all started with Lena and her trip to Santorini in the first book of the series.

City of Ghost by Victoria Shwab —-> Edinburg, Scotland

There are so many European cities that I want to see and to be completely honest, Edinburgh wasn’t one of them until recently when I read City of Ghost. Now I can’t wait to go to the Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile and the Edinburgh Vaults! Also, I’m so excited by the fact that book 2 is taking place in Paris and especifically in The Paris Catacombs, which I have been to.

View of a small crescent beach hidden away among green hills and forests. Punta Islita Beach, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Long Way Down by Krista & Becca Ritchie —-> Costa Rica

Ryke and Daisy are my favorite couple in this series and they talk so many times about Costa Rica that it put this country at the top of my list. I’m not sure which city or region they were in, but I would love to go to Cahuita, which is supposed to be a place to relax and find peace.

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo – Los Angeles

I have wanted to go to L.A. for as long as I can remember, but the last few years, it had been slipping further and further donw the list of places I wanted to visit, until I read this book and it made me want  to go to L.A. so badly! As I said on my review this is a love letter to Los Angeles, there’s commentary on different neighborhoods, who primarily lives there, what type of activities are done and what types of food are sold in them. It simply made me feel excited about going to L.A. again.

Like Us  Series by Krista & Becca Ritchie – Philadelphia 

I already was interested in going to Philadelphia thanks to the original Addicted/Calloway Sister series, but if I’m being honest, the Like us series was the one that really made me want to go to Philly. It’s just that the bodyguards talk about their city with so much love that I can’t help but being curious!

The Bean

Knitting in the City Series by Penny Reid – Chicago, United States

I loved this series, I have already read like 10 books in this series between novels and novellas and I have spent so much time with the ladies of this knitting group that I can’t help but want to visit their city!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor – Prague, Czech Republic

I had never thought about visiting Prague before this book, but then I read this and soon after I met a dear friend who is from Czech Republic and so I knew the universe was telling me that I needed to visit this beautiful city. It’s being almost five years and I’m happy to say that I’m visiting my friend in April in Prague and I’m so excited!

What books do you want to visit because of a book or series? HAve you ever visited a city because I book was set in it? 

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Diverse Books On My TBR with Less Than 500 Ratings on Goodreads

Hi everyone! Today I’m bringing a post I’m really excited about. The other day I was think about how diverse books often times get less publicity than other books. Wheter it is because they are indie or self published or because they get a smaller publicity budget or because they have less support from the publishers or for any of a hundred other reasons, the truth is there’s tons of diverse books out there that could use all the help they can get publicity wise.

I have written a few post in the past about underrated books with small amount of ratings on Goodreads and those lists are full of diverse books, so I would recommend you check them out!

• Underrated YA Books (less than 1000 rating on Goodreads
• Underrated LGBTQIA+ Books
• Underrated Diverse Romances (Less than 200 ratings on Goodreads)
• Underrated 2018 Releases (less than 400 ratings on Goodreads)

But today I’m doing somethings a bit different! I went through my Goodreads tbr list and checked which of the diverse books I had in it had less than 500 ratings and were released before 2018 and today I want to talk about them!

Like Nobody’s Watching by Tara Frejas (58 ratings) 

The cover is SO CUTE! and it’s the reason I noticed this book in the first place, but then I read the synopsis and found out this books has fake dating, a main character that’s a soft guy and a big focus on family and I inmediately added it to my tbr. This is a #romanceclass book, like a lot of the other books on this list,  which means that it’s written by a Filipino author, it has Filipino main characters and it’s set in the Philippines.

 

Latin@ Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction and Fantasy (79 ratings) 

I discovered this book while writtin my 90 Book Recommendations for the Latinx Book Bingo and I have been meaning to read it ever since. As the title sugests, the stories in this book are written by latinx authors and they are about latinx characters.

 

Learning Curves by Ceillei Simkiss (94 ratings) 

This is a romance novella with a Fat Puerto Rican lesbian main character and an asexual panromantic main character with ADHD. I have heard the story is really cute and I’m excited to give it a chance. I actually got an arc of the sequel when I signed up for the authors newsletter, so I need to get to this one to be able to read and review that arc.

 

The Queen’s Game by Carla de Guzman (96 ratings)

This is the second #romanceclass book on this list and it’s one that has been on my tbr for a long time. Carla de Guzman is a Filipino author and the main characters in the book are Filipino as well. I love books with royalty and I’m even more excited for this particular story because it has POC who are royals.

 

Feels Like Summer by Six de los Reyes (116 ratings)

This has been on my tbr for the last two years and I really need to read it. Another #romanceclass book (can you tell I’m a fan?) set in the Philippines, it has Filipino main characters and a Filipino author. The main characters in this are a soft guy who is a musician,  and a woman working in STEM. It sound amazing!

 

All’s Fair in Blog and War by Chrissie Peria (159 ratings)

The main characters in this are travel bloggers, which sounds so cool! Another #romanceclass book set in the Philippines with Filipino main characters and written by a Filipino author. This has been on my tbr for two and a half years and I finally bought it thanks to Shelea @ Shut Up, Shelea, who pointed out in one of her posts that it was 0.99 on Amazon (still is if you want it!)

 

The Victoria in my Head by Janelle Milanes (286 ratings)

I read Analee in Real Life, Milanes’ latest book, recently and I loved it, so I’m excited to read her debut, which has been on my tbr for a long time. This book is a YA Contemporary with a Latinx main character, a shy teenager who dreams of being a rock star but  has paralyzing-stage-fright and overprotective Cuban parents … it sounds great and I can’t wait to finally read it!

 

Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa (400 ratings)

This has a Puerto Rican main character and it’s written by a Latinx author. This is a romance book about a personal trainer and an actor who fall in love, as a huge fan of romance books I can’t wait to read one where the main characters is Latinx.

 

Beginner’s Guide: Love & Other Chemicals Reactions by Six de los Reyes (418 ratings)

Another #romanceclass book and the second book on this list written by Six de los Reyes. I have heard great things about this author and I can’t believe that I haven’t read any of their books yet. This is set in the Philippines, it has Filipino characters and it’s by a Filipino author.

 

Do you want to read any of these books? Have you read any of them? What diverse books do you have on your tbr that have few ratings on Goodreads? 

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