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Top Ten Books On My Summer 2022 TBR | Top Ten Tuesday
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. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Every Tuesday the book community comes together to create a top ten list on a particular topic and we blog hop around and comment on each other’s posts.
This week we’re all sharing our summer TBR’s. Despite having been in a massive reading slump for the past three weeks, this list was surprisingly challenging to narrow down. I have a lot of books in mind for the summer, and I think my reading mojo is slowly returning, so I’m feeling super ambitious and I want to read ALL THE THINGS. Here are my top ten that I managed to pick out, though.
Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR
I’m a massive fan of Ruth Ware’s books. I have been ever since I did a reading challenge a few years ago and I read through her entire backlist in order to figure out which of Ruth Ware’s books is best. I settled on The Turn of the Key, but she has some really solid stories in there. I’m a little nervous about this one since it’s from a new publisher and it’s Ware’s longest book to date, but I have faith that I’m going to love it and it’s one of my most anticipated releases of the year!
2. The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
Fantasy readers are LOVING this self published book. I’m planning on reading it in July for the Indie Accords readalong. I don’t own many self pubbed books, but that’s something I would like to change going forward. This sounds like something I would adore. All my friends love it, and apparently it has one of my all time favourite tropes in it. I’ll definitely be reviewing it if I love it!
3. The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
I’m hoping to do a project on June Hur’s books in which I read through her entire backlist, and this is the one I’m most excited about. It’s an historical mystery about girls who go missing in the same forest in Korea, and someone is investigating. Something about it intrigues me!
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Top Ten Bookish Wishes | Top Ten Tuesday
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Top Ten Bookish Wishes | Top Ten Tuesday
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. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Every Tuesday the book community comes together to create a top ten list on a particular topic and we blog hop around and comment on each other’s posts.
This week we’re talking about the top ten books on our wishlists, or the top ten books we’re thinking of buying soon. I personally keep an Amazon wishlist of books that catch my eye, and I add to it a couple of times a week. I tend to search my local library catalogue first to see if the book is available, and if it isn’t I go ahead and add it to the wishlist. It’s really useful for keeping an eye out for deals.
My Top Ten Bookish Wishes
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
Why do I want this book? My first reason is that I love the cover. Secondly, it’s about two girls fighting on opposing sides of a war and then falling for each other. the reviews describe this one as stunning, and I want to know why!
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
Why do I want this book? I’ve had my eye on this one since it came out last year but unfortunately I haven’t prioritised it yet. This is about a woman trying to understand her past and her heritage as she travels to Cuba. It sounds slightly devastating, but luckily I enjoy a good cry.
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Top Ten Books On My Summer 2022 TBR | Top Ten Tuesday
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Private Label by Kelly Yang | Book Review
Private Label by Kelly Yang
Release Date: 31st May 2022 (US)
Publisher: Harper360/Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: Publisher
Rating: ★★★.5
GoodreadsSerene dreams of making couture dresses even more stunning than her mom’s, but for now she’s an intern at her mom’s fashion label. When her mom receives a sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, all that changes. Serene has to take over her mother’s business overnight, dealing with ruthless investors who do not think a seventeen-year-old can run a fashion empire, while trying to figure out what happened with her dad in Beijing. He left before she was born, and Serene wants to find him, even if it means going against her mom’s one request—never look back.
Lian Chen moved from China to Serene’s mostly white Southern California beach town a year ago. He doesn’t fit in at school, where kids mispronounce his name. His parents don’t care about what he wants to do—comedy—and push him toward going to MIT engineering early. Lian thinks there’s nothing to stick around for, until one day, he starts Chinese Club after school . . . and Serene walks in.
Worlds apart in the high school hierarchy, Serene and Lian soon find refuge in each other, falling in love as they navigate life-changing storms.
I don’t usually like to pick up books about cancer unless I’m really in the right headspace. Thankfully,
when I requested Private Label from Harper360 (thank you!), I was prepared to feel all the feels. I
anticipated this book being super emotional, heart wrenching, and also really cute (since it’s a YA
contemporary, after all).I thought Private Label was excellent. It was a really great mix of humorous, emotional, and girl bossy. While it’s told from two points of view, Serene’s and Lian’s, I feel like Serene was the real star
of the book. Both characters are dealing with a lot, don’t get me wrong. Lian is coping with bullying
and rcsm, as well as an overbearing mother. But Serene really shines through as she tries to handle
parts of her mother’s business while her mother goes through treatment for pancreatic cancer.I have to admit, I didn’t shed any actual tears reading Private Label, and that’s the reason I haven’t
rated the book higher. Tears = stars, in my mind. However, that’s not to say I didn’t feel anything
while reading the book. I’m not completely heartless. Reading about Serene’s relationship with her
mother was a wonderful experience, and I also really liked seeing Serene and Lian getting to know
one another. I don’t think there was a lot of chemistry there, but I appreciated their two storylines
intercepting and becoming joined.I would highly recommend checking out Private Label if YA contemporary is your thing. It’s the
perfect book to read in the summer if you want some emotions. -
Travel Plans for the Rest of 2022
I didn’t have much going on in the first half of 2022, mostly because I spent most of my spare money on a small but essential house renovation. At the time of writing this, the new porch is almost complete, and we’re about to make our final payment to the builder and electrician. It feels very freeing! So in order to take full advantage of the excitement, I started planning a couple of holidays and wanted to share my travel plans with you.
Wales, United Kingdom – July 2022
Admittedly, I haven’t actually booked this trip to Wales yet but I have carved out some space for it in my diary so it’s basically a sure thing. Quill and I went to Wales for the first time last year, and we fell in love. We stayed in Betws-y-Coed, which was the perfect spot for all the walking we wanted to do around Snowdonia National Park.
I’m not sure where we’re going to be staying this time around, but I’m thinking it’ll be slightly further south so we can visit different places. That said, if I manage to find the perfect accomodation in Snowdonia I’m not against staying there again!
Have you been to Wales before? Where would you recommend we visit?
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Welcome to Book Trek
Welcome to Book Trek! If you’re reading this post close to the time I published it, there’s a good chance you followed me from my previous blog, Books of Amber, or that you saw me post about it on Twitter. Thank you for coming!
I’ve been book blogging for over a decade. Yes, that does make me sound ancient, but I actually started blogging when I was a teenager, so it’s not as bad as it sounds! My previous book blog has gone through many, many changes since 2010, and I’ve really put it through its paces. As a result, Books of Amber started to deteriorate and become very clunky – both in terms of quality and usability!
Book Trek, is my new passion project. I’ve always wanted to incorporate my love of travel into my blog, but it never felt right until now. On this site, I’m planning on documenting my travels alongside sharing my love of reading. I imagine there will also be some lifestyle content here too, but only time will tell.
On Book Trek you will find travel diaries, book recommendations, lists of all kinds, and mostly importantly a love for literature and adventure! I hope this excites you. It certainly excites me. I’m looking forward to starting a new project after so many years doing the same thing, and I’m keen to get started!
