Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

For the month of July, I have brought back my unrealistic monthly TBR (LOL)! I have so many books I want to get to this summer, and this is about half of them! A lot of these books are new releases that I have high expectations for, and the other books I am just very excited to read!

The first book I plan to read this month is THERE, THERE by Tommy Orange. If you are unaware, over the past few weeks, hundreds of children have been found in mass graves outside of residential schools. Please read more information about this incredibly disgusting and tragic story here. In honour of the children and families that were impacted by Canadian residential schools, I plan on starting the month of July reading an indigenous work. I have heard of this book for quite a while, and recently picked it up on my first in-person bookstore visit since 2020! I am really looking forward to reading this story and learning more about Indigenous peoples.

The second book I plan on reading this month is HONEY GIRL by Morgan Rogers. This book was on my TBR for June, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to get around to it. I hope to read this book very early on into the month, as I am really excited to read it!

The third book I plan on reading this month is MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book is one of my most anticipated books of 2021, as I have read and loved two of TJR previous books. I don’t know much about this newest novel, but I believe it has a lot of summer elements and dramatic family drama! I cannot wait to read this one!

I then hope to read ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE by Alexis Hall. I read Alexis Hall’s previous book and quite enjoyed it, but I hope to enjoy this one even more! I know that this book revolves around a baking competition and a romance, which are two elements I often enjoy in stories! Thanks to HBG Canada for the finished copy!

The fifth book I hope to read this month is Carola Lovering’s newest thriller titled TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. As is the case with almost all of the thrillers I read, I hardly know anything about this book, but I do believe that is a twisty domestic thriller, which is right up my ally!

The second-last book I hope to read this month is MUSICAL CHAIRS by Amy Poeppel. I pre-ordered this book quite a while ago and had been planning to read it a few months ago, but I’m still very excited to read this one this month!

The final book I hope to read this month is THE MINDERS by John Marrs. Marrs is one of my favourite authors of all-time, and I am SO excited to read his newest novel! I really have no clue as to what this book is about, but I’m pretty sure it ties in with both THE ONE and THE PASSENGERS, which are two of my favourite books of all time!

These are all of the books I hope to read this month! Have you read any of these? What are you planning on reading this month?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

June is always one of my favourite months of the year, as it usually signifies the end of school and the beginning of summer! However, since I started University this past school year, my summer break technically started in the middle of April! That being said, June will always mark the start of ice cream trucks and outdoor evening strolls. June is also pride month, which is an incredibly important time to celebrate and discuss the members of the LGBTQ+ community. I always enjoy selecting novels that feature a diverse cast of characters that have differentiating sexualities, as it is important for me to learn from new perspectives and characters in June (and during all other months of the year, too!). May was a pretty uneventful reading month for me, so my May wrap-up will be featured at the end of this month.

The first book I plan on reading this month is ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston. McQuiston’s first novel, RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE took the book community by storm, and it was one of my favourite novels in 2019! I don’t know much about her newest book, but I have heard some fantastic praise about it. Right after this post goes up, I plan on reading it right away!

The second book I plan on reading this month is SATISFACTION GUARANTEED by Karelia Stetz-Waters. This book features a female-female romance, and has a lot of sex-positive themes in it. This book managed to fly under my radar, until it showed up on my door step thanks to HBG Canada! I cannot wait to read this one!

The next book I plan on reading is LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL by Elyssa Friedland. This book is one of my most anticipated books of the year, although I surprisingly haven’t read or heard that much buzz about it. The blurb on this book compares it to both Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which are two stories I absolutely love!

After that, I hope to read ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE by Alexis Hall. I read Hall’s 2020 release, BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, and quite enjoyed it, but I’m hoping to enjoy this one a lot more! Plus, this book revolves around a baking competition, and whenever food is featured in a book, I generally love it! Thanks to HBG Canada for sending me this finished copy!

The final book I plan on reading this month is HONEY GIRL by Morgan Rogers. I heard so many fantastic things when this book was released at the beginning of this year, but unfortunately, I never got around to reading it. I am SO exciting to read this book sometime this month, and hope it lives up to all of the hype!

Those are all of the books I plan on reading this month! Truth be told, I hope to read a lot more than these five books, but these five will be mandatory reading before I pick anything else! What are you planning on reading this month?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

I am so excited to return from my long blogging and reading break! During the first quarter of the year, I mostly only focused on my school work, as I had quite a bit more working during my second semester compared to my first semester. As of April 12, I completed my first year of university, and I am incredibly proud of myself and the work I submitted! I plan on sharing a post all about my first year of university as an English major, and that post should be out sometime within the next week!

Anyways, as I stated earlier, I took a long break from reading and was solely reading books that were required reading for English classes. Now, I am so excited to get through my this month’s TBR, which is a collection of most anticipated books that have come out recently, as well as some backlist titles!

The first book I plan to read this month is THEY NEVER LEARN by Layne Fargo. This book is the May selection for BooksandLala’s Late Night Book Club, which I have never participated in up until this month! I had never heard of this book until she announced that it was this month’s selection, however, after reading many reviews for it on Goodreads, I am very excited to start reading it! As you can probably tell by the reflective plastic protection, I picked this book up from my library.

The second book I plan on reading this month is another library book titled THE PISCES by Melissa Broder. Currently, my favourite book of the year is MILK FED, Melissa Broder’s 2021 release. You can read my review for that book here. This book is one of Broder’s backlist titles, which I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about. Because I love Broder’s writing style and odd themes, I am really intrigued by this novel and hope to read it very soon!

The third book I hope to read this month is THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by Rosie Danan. This book focuses on many themes to interest me, including body positivity, judaism, and of course, romance! This book was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I hope it lives up to all of the hype!

The fourth book I plan on reading this month is THE MINDERS by John Marrs. John Marrs is one of my favourite authors of all-time, and his newest book sounds incredibly intriguing! Words cannot express how excited I am to read Marrs’ 2021 release!

I then hope to read SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS by Sally Thorne. I read THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne earlier this year and loved it, and some have said that they enjoyed this one even more! I know next to nothing about the story that is written in this book, but I am still very excited to read it!

The sixth book I hope to read this month is TOKYO EVER AFTER by Emiko Jean. I received an ARC of this book from Raincoast Books last month, and I am really looking forward to reading this seemingly emotional and touching story.

Last but definitely not least, I hope to read EVERY BODY SHINES edited by Cassandra Newbould. This is an anthology that features stories that centre around plus-sized teenagers! Since this is a short story collection, I hope to read a few stories here and there throughout the month while reading other novels. I am SO excited to read these stories and jump into the lives of so many diverse, complex, and relatable characters! Thanks to Raincoast Books for sending me an ARC of this book!

Those are all of the books I hope to read this month! What are you planning on reading this May?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am really looking forward to 2021, and hope that this year is much better for all of us! January is almost always the month that I read the most books in, as I am the most motivated to read at the start of each year. That being said, I begin my second term of University during the second week of this month, so I am not exactly sure how much I will be able to read. This month, I have selected five books that I am really excited to read, and hope I will be able to get through all of them this month!

The first book I hope to read this month is MILK FED by Melissa Broder. For the past three years, my first book of the year has always been my least favourite book of the year, so I am hoping to end that streak by reading this novel! I am not exactly sure what this book entails, but I believe it centres around a plus-size religious Jewish women, which is so exciting to see. Needless to say, I am incredibly excited to begin this book today! Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for kindly sending me this ARC!

The second book I hope to read this month is LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam. One of my favourite Bookstagrammers, @Jordys.Book.Club, ranked this book as his #1 read of 2020, which means that I need to read it A.S.A.P.! I have heard some stellar things about this novel, and hope it lives up to all of the hype.

The third book I hope to read this month is BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman. Last year, I put a lot of my mystery/thriller novels on the back burner, including this book. I hope to make a sizeable dent in my personal thriller collection, and am starting it off by planning on reading this book! I have heard so many great things about this novel, and hope it lives up to all of the hype! I have also put off seeing the Netflix movie adaptation of this book until I read it, so I plan on watching it following the completion of my reading!

The fourth book I plan on reading this month is THE INHERITANCE GAMES by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I have been planning on reading this book for a while now, and am prioritizing to read it this month! Truthfully, I have not heard many things about this novel, so I am excited to go in it with fresh eyes. Thanks to HBG Canada for sending me a finished copy!

The final book I hope to complete this month is THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME by Robert Iger. Bob Iger was the former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and if you know me in real life, you may know that I am a ginormous Dis-nerd! I love everything Disney, so it is quite surprising that I have never fully read Iger’s memoir. I am really looking forward to reading this, and plan on continuing 2021 by reading one non-fiction book a month.

Those are all of the books I plan on reading this month! What are you starting off your 2021 reading with?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

I cannot believe I am sharing my final TBR of the year! I decided to combine my November and December TBR into one post, as I am not sure how much I will be able to read during the end of this month, as I will have exams and essays to take care of before doing any reading. However, I have the majority of December off, so I hope to be able to complete all of these unfinished books during those few weeks! Of course, I have some books on pre-order that I am ecstatic to read (*cough* Barack Obama’s memoir *cough*), but these are all of the books I already own that I hope to read before 2021!

The first book I hope to complete is BAD FEMINIST by Roxane Gay. As you can see by the book mark barely sticking out of my copy, I have already started this book and am about 60-pages through. November is well-known in the book community as “Non-Fiction November”, and while I have a few other non-fiction books that I have on order from A Different Booklist that I hope to read, I am definitely excited to finally read this one and see if it lives up to all of the hype!

The second book I hope to complete before the new year is GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL by Aimee Molloy. I have been interested in this novel since I heard about it at the beginning of the year, and have been hearing very mixed thoughts about it. Needless to say, I hope I love it!

The third book I hope to read is SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid. This book has been on my monthly TBRs since the summertime, but I have yet to actually pick it up and read it! I am hoping to complete this novel very, very soon!

I then hope to read BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman. Believe it or not, I have still not watched the Netflix adaptation of this novel, as I wanted to read the novel before I watched the movie. Luckily, it was available on Book Outlet, and is actually much shorter than I had originally anticipated!

From there, I hope to read YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN by Leah Johnson. I cannot remember the last time I read a YA contemporary novel, and I plan on picking this one up as I have heard nothing but great things about it!

Next, I hope to read THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin. A lot of people I follow on Instagram have named this book as there #1 thriller of the year, so I hope to love it as much as they did!

Heading into December, I hope to read ANXIOUS PEOPLE by Fredrik Backman. I purchased this book on it’s release day, as I was so excited to read it! Unfortunately, due to the lack of reading time I have had recently, I have not been able to read this one yet. I have heard some negative reviews about this one lately, but am hoping to love it in spite of those reviews.

From there, I hope to read IN A HOLIDAZE by Christina Lauren. I received this ARC from Simon & Schuster Canada in September, but am saving it for December to read and review since it is a book surrounding the holiday of Christmas! Luckily, I have read some fantastic reviews about this book, and hope it becomes my #1 Christina Lauren book thus far!

Continuing with recently published ARCs, I hope to complete EVEN IF WE BREAK by Marieke Nijkamp. I have read one Nijkamp book before, and I believe it was her 2014 or 2015 release! I remember enjoying it quite a bit, and hope to enjoy this one as well.

The second-last book I hope to complete before 2021 is THE WOMAN OUTSIDE MY DOOR by Rachel Ryan. This one intrigued me so much when I first heard of it, and am so thankful to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with an ARC!

The final book I hope to read is RAPTURE by Nick Nurse. Nick Nurse, the head coach of the 2019 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors, is a huge book lover, and I figured that after the championship, he would get around to writing a memoir! I am so thankful to HBG Canada for sending me a finished copy of this memoir, and I cannot wait to get to it!

Those are the final 11 books I hope to read before 2021! What are you hoping to read over the last two months of 2020?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

October is my second favourite month of the year, as I absolutely love watching old Disney halloween movies, enjoying the crisp autumn weather, and of course, reading all of the spooky thrillers my heart desires! As you may have noticed, I did not post a September wrap-up, because I only read three books over the past month. However, hopefully by jumping back into my favourite genre, I will be able to read all of the books on this months’ TBR!

The first book I plan on reading this month is THE SHINING by Stephen King! One of my pre-established reading goals for 2021 will be to start reading more horror novels, and what better way to test that goal out a few months early than to pick up a classic Stephen King novel?! I have never read any books written by King, but since Indigo chose him as their “Author Of The Month” – meaning all Stephen King novels are 25% off until October 31 – I decided to pick up both this novel and MISERY in hopes of loving his novels. If so, I plan on building a little King collection with some of his more well-known books in order to read them in 2021!

The second book I plan on reading this month is MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This book has been getting so much buzz recently, and since I typically love scary thrillers, I think I will really love this one! Plus, this cover is stunning!

The third book I plan on reading this month is THE WOMAN OUTSIDE MY DOOR by Rachel Ryan. This is a dark thriller scheduled to be released in November. Ryan is a debut author, so the fact that this book has already been getting some buzz must mean that it is fantastic! Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me this ARC, I cannot wait to get to it!

The fourth book I hope to read this month is THE END OF HER by Shari Lapena. I have read one Lapena novel in the past and enjoyed it, but I hope to like this one even better. My favourite sub-genre within thrillers is domestic thrillers, which I believe is the category that this book fits into, so hopefully that means I will love it!

The final book I hope to read this month is THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin. This is Goldin’s second novel, however, I have yet to read her first one solely because it does not interest me too much. However, this book peaked my interest quite a while ago, so I hope to enjoy it very much!

Those are all of the books I hope to read for the month of October! Compared to past TBRs, this one is definitely a lot shorter, but hopefully that means I will have a chance to get to each and every one of these novels! What are you planning on reading this month?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

I still cannot say if this year has been going by quickly or slowly, but I do know that this has been the wackiest and worst year ever, and I think we can all agree about that! This month, I am starting my first year of University, which I am incredibly excited for, even though my first year will be very different than literally every other freshman year in 100 years. But, hey, I’m part of history! Needless to say, I am not exactly sure how much reading I will be able to get done this month. Obviously my priority will be with school, but I will try my very hardest to read as much as possible.

The first book I plan on reading this month is Teammate by David Ross. If you know me in real life, you will know that my second passion besides books is baseball! I am a baseball fanatic, and because I always try to bring books into every aspect of my life, I started the MLB Book Club! While this book is not our September pick, I am still very excited to read it.

The second book I hope to read is When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole. Cole is an incredibly popular adult romance author, but when I saw that she was writing a thriller novel with some aspects of horror (I believe), I knew I needed to pick it up! This book has just been released, and I hope to read and review it for you very soon!

The third book I plan on reading is A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson. I have actually already started this novel, but I put it down a few days ago to take a little reading break. I hope to get back to it as soon as possible, as I have been enjoying it thus far!

From there, I hope to read Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid. This book has been getting loads of praise recently, which is why I decided to pick it up from Book Depository last month. I love this UK cover, and I hope this novel lives up to my highest expectations!

The fifth book I hope to complete this month is You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. I don’t think I have heard one negative thing about this novel, and since I found it in paperback on Book Depository, I knew I needed to pick it up! I definitely will be reading this book this month!

The second last book I hope to read this month is His & Hers by Alice Feeney. I have never read an Alice Feeney book before, but apparently according to many trusted reviewers, this is her best one yet!

The last book I will try my best to complete this month is You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria. I pre-ordered this book to arrive right on release day, but unfortunately I prioritized some of my ARCs, which lead me to spend no time reading this one. I really want to get to it this month, as I have heard some amazing things about it!

Those are all of the books I hope to read this month! I hope everyone who is going back to school, or has children or grandchildren returning to school (either in-person or online), will have a safe and successful return!

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

Since I had a fantastic reading month in the month of July, I have complied quite a large list of books I hope to get to this month! During the month of August, one of my favourite readathons is being held from August 3 to August 9. It is the “Read-EH-thon”, in which participants are tasked with reading books written by Canadian authors! Since I am Canadian, I will be participating, and my TBR for that readathon will be shared with you on August 3. So technically speaking, this TBR is for the last three weeks of the month.

The first book I hope to read this month is The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. I know a lot of people picked this book up because of their enjoyment for Goldins’ debut novel, but I pre-ordered this book purely because the synopsis of the story sounds so intriguing! This book revolves partially around a podcast, which is a trope I love to read in books, especially mystery/thriller novels. This book received very high praise from early readers, so I am incredibly excited to pick this one up – and I plan on doing so before the Read-EH-thon begins!

After the Read-EH-thon is finished, I hope to read When You Disappeared by John Marrs. I am slowly worrying that this book blog is going to become the equivalent of a fandom tumblr blog circa 2012, but that will only happen after I read all of John Marrs’ previous publications! I have read 3/6 of his novels, so this will be my fourth one and third of 2020. I have no idea as to what this novel is about, but I hope it is just as spectacular as the first three I have read!

From there, I plan on reading The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. I have yet to read any of Sally Thorne’s novels, but since I have heard fantastic things about this one and her 2021 release has peaked my interest, I am very excited to read this book!

I then hope to read Turtles All The Way Down by John Green. Up until just a few nights ago, I completely forgot that I owned this novel. I want to make an effort of reading John Green’s novels – both old and new – as I have most of them on my shelves unread. Since one of my favourite books of all time is The Fault In Our Stars, arguably John Greens most popular and successful novel, I am hoping that I enjoy this one even just a percentage of the amount that I enjoyed TFIOS!

Next, I plan to read The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. I was gifted this novel from my Mom’s workplace (it’s a long story), but I think I received an eARC of this one a long time ago. I am very interested in reading this novel, especially since I enjoyed Watching You by Lisa Jewell when I read it a long while ago.

Then I hope to read I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver. I have had this book on my Goodreads TBR since it came out, and since I just purchased a copy of this book in June, I hope to read it this month!

Next, I hope to read Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons From The Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. I am SO excited to read this one, and think that I will enjoy it an enormous amount!

The last two books I hope to read this month are ARCs! ARC August is a monthly readathon hosted by Octavia and Shelly at ReadSleepRepeat, in which you are encouraged to read all of your backlist unread ARCs! This month, I only have two that I plan on reading, which are The Lonely Fajita by Abigail Mann (thanks to HCC Frenzy for the ARC!) and The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon (thanks to HBG Canada for the ARC!). I am really excited to read both of these!

Those are all of the books I hope to read in the month of August! Have you read any of these books yet? Are any of them on your TBR list this month?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

Today marks the beginning of my fourth week of social distancing, which is absolutely wild. To be completely honest with you, it really doesn’t feel like I’ve been staying in my house for three straight weeks (minus one day when I went to do a quick Costco run). As I shared in my previous post, I have not been reading too much during this time, as I have been focusing on doing quick things that can keep me busy (watching movies, listening to music, watching BookTube videos, etc.). However, my main goal this month is to try to read four books (one each week), and I think I will be able to complete that goal. I am also starting online courses on Monday in order to finish out my school year, so at least this month I will have some educational things to do!

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The first book I hope to complete this month is YOU ARE NOT ALONE by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. I started reading this book several weeks ago and then fell into a little reading slump, so I am slowly but surely getting through this one now! I am enjoying it, but I can’t seem to remember which character has which backstory, but I have yet to find out if that will truly impact my reading experience. I am excited to finally finish this one, as i have heard that others enjoyed it more than AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, the other book I have read from them.

The next book I hope to complete is LITTLE UNIVERSES by Heather Demetrios. I read the first few chapters of this one the other day and I am really enjoying it so far. I am in the mood for a sad contemporary story, and from the way this book started off, I assume this book will be perfect for my current bookish mood. Thanks to Raincoast Books for the ARC!

I then hope to read THE BEST LAID PLANS by Cameron Lund. I feel like I have had this book on several TBRs over the past few months, but since it is officially releasing in April, I feel like it makes the most sense to sit down and read it this month! I have heard very good things about this book, and can’t wait to dive in! Thanks to Penguin Teen Canada for the ARC!

From there, I hope to read KADDISH.COM by Nathan Englander. I stumbled upon this book on Libby (a fantastic Library app), and was so glad to see that it was available to borrow right away. For those of you who don’t know, I am a proud Jew, and am always looking for books based on Judaism and it’s fundamentals. This book seems really, really intriguing, and I am excited to read it on my iPad, as I haven’t read an eBook for a very long time.

The last book I plan to read this month is ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey. I am reading this book for my AP English class, and since school is finally starting up for me again next week, I assume we will take a few days to finally finish this book. I am semi-enjoying it so far. I enjoyed the second part of the book much more than the first part, so I hope that trend continues as I complete the book.

Those are all of the books I hope to read and enjoy this month! Have you read any of these books? What are you planning on reading this month (comment the link to your April TBRs so I can read them!)?

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

I’m about 15 hours into 2020 and it is going very well so far! This month is going to be quite the journey, as I have several exams and projects to finish for my second last semester of high school. Thus, I don’t think I’ll have a lot of time to read this month. However, I have a few books picked out to read whenever I have some downtime this month!

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The first book I hope to read this month is THE WIVES by Tarryn Fisher. I first heard of this book from BooksandLala on YouTube, and I added it to my TBR when she first mentioned it back in the summer. When I went to Indigo yesterday, I found the book on sale for $15, and I couldn’t resist it! I am SO excited to start this one, and hope it is another crazy domestic thriller I will love!

The second book I hope to read this month is THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME by Bob Iger. I am an absolute Disney fanatic, and when I heard that the CEO of my all-time favourite company was coming out with a book, I couldn’t resist picking it up. This book was actually gifted to me by my parents of Hanukkah, so I have already read the prologue of the book. I’m very excited to read this one the whole way thru!

The last book I hope to read this month is THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne. I have had this novel on my shelves for over six months, and I have been craving a nice rom-com novel for the past few weeks. My Mom read this one quite a while ago and loved it, so I hope to love it as well!

Those are the three books I want to read this month! Obviously I hope to read more than just three novels, but those are the main three I’m going to try my hardest to complete. What are you planning on reading this month? Let me know in the comments! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Good Night Book Owls!