Abigail wants to read

5/5 Stars *MAJOR SPOILER WARNING* This is the second book in The Poppy War series and the series follows Rin who against all odds gets accepted into the most prestigious military school in the country and while there learns more about herself and her country than she ever knew possible.  I read The Poppy War last year and fell in love and I didn't think that it could be topped at all, but this book proved me so wrong. I loved every last second of it and both couldn't put it down but also didn't want to finish it too soon as I wanted to savor every last second of the book.                                                 Watching Rin trying to maneuver through life after the ending of the first book and being thrust into being a commander even though she has never been one before, dealing with her opium addiction and her grief for Atlas was difficult but incredibly written. every page was necessary and important to the plot and the characters which I find quite surprising for

 As it is a short month I will only be adding 4 books on next month's TBR and fingers crossed I can get to all of them. 1) The Burning God by R.F.Kuang In the aftermath of the Third Poppy War, shaman and warrior Rin are on the run: haunted by the atrocity she committed to end the war, addicted to opium, and hiding from the murderous commands of her vengeful god, the fiery Phoenix. Her only reason for living is to get revenge on the traitorous Empress who sold out Nikan to their enemies. 2) A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister's life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. But she knows that danger lurks on all sides: Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor's volatility to grow her own power--regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path. 3) Unsolved Deaths by Charles Phillips  This is as it sa

 4.5/5 Stars Darcy is a no-nonsense stick in the mud who doesn't think true love exists anymore and Ellie is a happy-go-lucky astrologer who believes in soulmates. After a disastrous first date, Darcy and Ellie don't think that they will ever see each other again but when Darcy's well-meaning brother tries to get involved Darcy lies and says that the date went well which leads to the fake dating to try to get their families off their backs.  This book was the perfect mixture of steamy and adorable. Darcy and Ellie had instant chemistry that was everywhere on the pages however it wasn't instalovey which I was grateful for as I feel like instalove can ruin a good romance. The hard-headed Darcy and the easy-going were the perfect matches as they brought out the best in each other. However, there was one part that I didn't like which made it 4.5, not 5 and that's the fact that at times it felt like Ellie felt she was superior to Darcy, for example with the astrology

5/5 Stars This is the story of Malala Yousafzai who is an activist for the rights of girls to go to school. In 2012 was shot in the head by the Taliban just because she wanted to go to school.  I don't usually review non-fiction books as it's not the genre I usually read but this book was absolutely brilliant and one everyone should read. And while it was difficult reading about what Malala went through just so she and other girls could go to school it was a wonderful read.

If you don't know I am an aspiring author and have been writing my first novel for the past few months. I have written short stories before especially when I was in school and would always carry a notebook or some scrap paper with me to write a story if I think of one. However, I stopped writing these stories when I went to college and when I started my apprenticeship as I wasn't inspired anymore to do any writing which sucked as writing a book was one of my dreams as a kid. Then around August last year, I felt inspired again to write came up with a first line and a plot for a book that I finally feel could be something great witch I haven't felt in years. I didn't write that much at the start as I was busy with work and I attempted NaNoWriMo last year but only wrote around 6000 words overall. One of my writing goals for 2022 is to finish my first draft and start my second draft.  This is quite a short writing post as I don't have much to say so far about my book or

 4/5 Stars *spoilers for the first book* This is the second book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. The series follows Karou who is prone to disappearing on mysterious errands and is able to speak multiple languages, some not even human. She has a lot of questions about her life, enter beautiful stranger Akiva who may have the answers. I liked this book a lot more than the first one in the series. It was less romance heavy and more action-heavy which I preferred as I wasn't into the whole instalove romance from the first one. The end of the first book where Karou finds out everything that happened to her in her past life was amazingly written in this book and knowing more about her as a person and her past made me like her more than I did in the first one. 

 3.75/5 Stars 1905. A year after ‘the affair’ in Dinas Powys, Thomas Bexley has become a drunkard and recluse, haunted by terrible visions of the dead. But when news of a spate of extraordinary kidnappings reaches him, Thomas is shocked to learn that his dear friend and former mentor, Professor Elijah Hawthorn, is the lead suspect. For the first 200 pages of this book, I was unsure about it as I didn't vibe with Thomas or did I vibe with Beatrice who I found kind of annoying. Because of this, it took me so long to even care about the plot and what was happening, I was about to DNF when the plot twist happened and I fell in love with the second half of the book. The plot twist was unexpected and came out of know where which I love in books. There is a part of the plot where you are unsure if you should trust the main character or not and I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was happening. Overall while I didn't like the first half and it took me too long to lik

 A few weeks ago I wrote about my favorite childhood books and my favorite book series. I now want to share with you all my favorite standalone books from now. 1) The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G Parry This book follows Rob and his younger brother Charley who has the magical ability to bring book characters to life.  2) The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa With his crooked tail--a sign of good fortune--and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. This follows a man and his feline companion as they travel across the country to find someone to take in Nana. 3) Heartless by Marissa Myer This book is about the queen of hearts before she was the queen and before she lost her heart.  4) The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danford Cameron Post is living a normal life until the girl she has been seeing outs her to her family and her religious family sends her to conversion therapy in hopes to 'heal' her.  5) Froz

 4/5 Stars Ada has always been unusual. Her parents prayed her into existence, but something must have gone awry. Their troubled child begins to develop separate selves and is prone to fits of anger and violence.   This is one of if not the most unique books I have ever read. I didn't even know what was going on until the end and even then I still didn't fully understand it. However, the writing was phenomenal and the story was beautiful, the main character Ada isn't entirely the main character so I don't feel like I know that much about her but I still loved her and was rooting for her throughout.

 4/5 Stars This is the first four books in R.L.Stines Fear Street series, The New Girl where Cory falls for new girl Anna only to find out that she is missing possibly dead. The Surprise Party where Meg wants to hold a surprise party for her friend whose brother died in mysterious circumstances a year before but someone doesn't want it to happen. The Overnight where a group of friends stays overnight by themselves on Fear Island on this island bad things happen to the group that haunts them. Missing where siblings Mark and Cara are left alone at home and when their parents don't arrive home when they said they would they start to think something more sinister is at stake. Out of these four, The New Girl was definitely my favorite. While I hated how obsessed Cory was with Anna I did feel dread throughout the book especially when Cory went to visit Annas family house and was told that she was dead. I didn't expect the plot twist at all at the end and thought it was incredibly

 Every year I try to make a list of goals that I want to fulfill throughout the year, I always have two lists, a list with personal goals that are usually very boring and a list that has all the bookish goals that I would love to fulfill next year. 1) Reach 10,000 followers on Instagram and reach 5,000 views on my Blog. I've added these two in the same one as I feel like they are the same in some ways. Next year I would really love to continue to grow my book blog and my bookstagram. I'm loving doing them so much and would love to reach more people and share my love for books. 2) Do more reading challenges Last year I didn't do any reading challenges and I definitely feel like I missed out so this year I will be doing a few reading challenges. These are including the buzzwordathon that is hosted by Booksandlala. The January pages challenge 2022, The Read your Shelves (and piles) 2022, and The Diversify your Shelves all from The Storygraph. 3) Read more books in translation

5/5 Stars  Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One to have ever been Chosen. He is unable to control his magic and often 'goes off' which results in him burning his surrounding often however he is expected to save the world of mages. This is one of my all-time favorite books and I reread it around Christmas time every year along with A Christmas Carol. It gives me all the feels and includes some of my favorite tropes including found family, enemies to lovers, and a boarding school. I read this in a day or two every time as even though I know exactly what is about to happen I'm excited to read what happens next in the book. It also features one of my OTPs in Baz and Simon and a cute romance between a vampire and the world's greatest mage. watching their relationship grow from enemies who were forced to be roommates at 11 to soulmates is always amazing to read and being in Baz's head as we watch him pine over an oblivious Simon is always funny. While not an entirely origin

 3/5 Stars When Jo divorces her husband Simon she is forced to move in with her friend Tabitha. While living there she starts to be haunted and stalked by The Assistants the AI designed to make her life easier but they do anything but. After the first page makes fun of people who identify as something other than straight, gay, or bisexual, and then the following 15 or so pages follow Jo as she sets up an online dating profile that adds nothing to the plot I could tell that the book won't be for me. I did give this 3 stars as the premise was amazing and I felt the suspense towards the climax at the end. However, the characters were some of the most annoying and frustrating people I have ever read about. They weren't interesting at all and at times I felt like they almost deserved what was happening to them. I think the only people who would enjoy this book is if you enjoy annoying characters.