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DECEMBER RECAP // new year and new fave book, reaching 50 books & work-life update
Whoops sorry for disappearing off the planet for like a week, I swear there’s a reason. I’m not abandoning you again. I’m sure I’m not the only person who had a rough December. Like seriously wth?? I don’t even know. How did we SURVIVE?!?! Anyways, I’ve been crazy busy lately, working non-stop. Which we shall get to in a second BUT I don’t want to fall back into old habits and post this recap relatively on time. So here goes. Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman {★★★★½}: It had taken me wayyyy too long to read this second volume but I finally bought it. And this story never ceases to make me smile. It gets ALL THE HEART EYES. Truly. I just really love these characters. And I love the art style. I love Alice as a writer, I think she’s really good at what she does and is truly inspiring. And obviously, by my rating, I LOVED THIS BOOK. But my rating of the first volume, I felt, was half a star too high (I’d rate it the same as volume 2), as my only vice with this graphic novel series is that I sometimes can’t behind some of the…
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MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK RELEASES OF 2020 // hello new decade ft. pretty covers & queer books
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This post could’ve gone up earlier if I had planned it properly. But I’ve been busy so only managed to get it up in 2020. Oh well. Next year is such a weird year for book releases oh my. There are only really a ton of debuts, which is cool. But I also don’t know what to expect of them. So this could either be the best or worst year for new books? And I can’t find ANY December releases to put on here. Welp. Go publishing?? Enough rambling though, let us just get on with it. JANUARY Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen (7 January 2020): this cover is just WOW. And I honestly can’t gather much from the synopsis apart from travelling and underground clubs?? Either way, it is very intriguing. And definitely one I’d like to read asap. One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus (7 January 2020): tbh I don’t have high hopes for this one. But I have at least fairly enjoyed this author’s previous books so I hope this one is good. But we’re always nervous when sequels come out to what is supposedly standalone?? We’ll see how this…
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MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2019 // top 10 reads ft. some honourable mentions
Hi hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE. Yes, I do leave this to the final day of the year because you never know. I’ve seen one too many read a favourite of the year after they do this post and I don’t plan on making that mistake. I sound way too stern than I should be considering the post whoops. Anyways, I only say that since I did, in fact, read a favourite in the final week of the year. See, good planning. Anyways, I know we all say this but literally where did the year go?? Honestly, I had it in my hands and it just slipped through my fingers. It’s 2020 tomorrow?? Like what??* I’m going to uni next year like WHAT. It’s all a lot. Trying to keep myself together as we enter a new decade. *If you’re wondering where my anticipated release list is, well it’s coming, I just like to live on the edge okay. That meaning I’m terribly late and didn’t do much planning. It’ll be posted in a few days Anyways, without further ado let us just commence with the list. Let’s please pretend that I don’t talk about most of these all…
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THE TRIALS OF MORRIGAN CROW BY JESSICA TOWNSEND // spoiler-free book review: a whimsical story and lovely characters
I FINALLY READ THIS BOOK!! This book has been sitting on my shelf for ages and I just never read it? As goes for most of my books but let’s not talk about that. Anyways, here I am, ready to talk about this delight. let’s just get into it. Title: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Series: Nevermoor book #1 Author: Jessica Townsend Page count: 374 Date published: 31 October 2017 Genre: Middle-grade urban fantasy ✬ Synopsis: Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks–and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday. But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor. It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of…
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FIND ME BY ANDRÉ ACIMAN // spoiler-free book review: was a sequel necessary? ft. fave ships
And welcome to another episode of Ruby trying to keep up to date with book reviews and post them on time. Tis a fun time. Go me? Anywayssss… I FINALLY read Call Me By Your Name is this year, after ADORING the film and watching and crying over it 508287422 times. We already know I make bad choices. It’s fine. I’m fine. Moving on, let’s just get into this review!! Title: Find Me Series: Call Me By Your Name book #2 Author: André Aciman Page count: 260 Date published: 29 October 2019 Genre: Adult fiction ❀ Synopsis: In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami’s plans and changes his life forever. Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic. ❀ STAR RATING (3.5 out of 5 stars): ❀ Huge thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for sending an early finished copy of this book my way!…
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TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS BOOK TAG // yet another tag but there’s books ft. pretty fanart & recent reads
Here is my formal apology for doing like 5000 book tags recently. I’m just uncreative atm. But also MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE (to those who celebrate). Jk. ACTUALLY, I wanted to do at least ONE Christmas-y post because it’s my favourite season/holiday and since I don’t have like ANY book recs, I was just FORCED to do this one #sorrynotsorry I’m a boring, repetitive potato. This is not new information okay. Also, I first saw Cait do this tag so she’s the one to thank over here for always being the best!! It was originally created by Ashley though. Aka, yes I was not tagged, as per usual. Anyways, enough blabbering Ruby, let us just proceed with the questions. [Peep some festive trees, we only do this once a year HA] ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME: A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE The partridge stood alone in the pear tree. What is your favourite stand-alone? Eliza & Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia I do try not to be basic and repetitive but I CAN’T HELP IT. I couldn’t choose any other book. I apologise because I know I literally just talked about it in…
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WAYWARD SON BY RAINBOW ROWELL // book talk: did my most anticipated release live up? ft. road trips & even more wacky spells
Huh. I feel like I’m in a fever dream rn. The very first book I read this year was Carry On. It’d been sitting on my shelf FAR too long and I was literally speechless. The book took over my entire life, I non-stop talked about it everywhere, forced it on anybody who hadn’t read the book. I reread my favourite parts multiple times and I just,,, it was a lot. So to say the least, I was HIGHLY anticipating this book for like nine months. I probably thought about it every day. What do you mean it wasn’t a healthy obsession? I- Anyways, we have A LOT to talk about so let’s just get started! Title: Wayward Son Series: Simon Snow book #2 Author: Rainbow Rowell Page count: 356 Date published: 24 September 2019 Genre: Young Adult urban fantasy ✶ Synopsis: The story is supposed to be over. Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after… So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch? What he needs, according to his best friend,…
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BOOKS I WANT TO REREAD ASAP // ft. old favourites, wondering if opinions would change and series continuations
Hey hey hey people. This post has been sitting in drafts for aeons and it’s kind of ashaming. But that’s life for ya. I have to resist the urge to reread like ALL the books because otherwise, my TBR pile will murder me. And I’m still a youngin’ with a long life ahead of me so I think I should spend my time maybe not dying? Even though I kinda am already because the other books I read murder me anyway. You just can’t win tbh. Anyways, Idk if this post is dumb but I had a list of books in my mind that I wanted to reread and I thought why not do a whole blog post about them?? This post might be a failure, feel free to click out now. But um yeah let’s just get into this post?? PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS BY RICK RIORDAN This series was one of the first series I ever got into. I think I read them like 5 years ago? I even low-key really enjoyed the movies at first, until I read the books, and was like YEAH NOPE. But my siblings have been reading them and I just feel…
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A LONG OVERDUE BOOK HAUL // part 2 (march to october): ft. books i’ve bought, gifts & bargain books warehouse sale
Yeah so I decided this split this ridiculously long book haul into two parts because it was turning out to be a total disaster. If you missed part one you can click RIGHT HERE to read that first. That one was all about the books I received from publishers. In previous hauls, the books were just all over the place but this time I’ve divided this into sections to make it a bit easier a) for me to put together and b) so it’s not a hot mess ha. I’m trying people. Anyways, without further ado, let us just get into the books! If you have never heard of this and are new to my blog, then let me explain. I live in South Africa and Bargain Books (a local book store) hosts this massive sale in Cape Town and it’s like the best. I get invited to the early access sale every once and a while to take a peek at what’s available. And since February there have been three that I’ve been to. Head over to my Instagram for all the photos because there are a lot! ♥ March Movie Geek: A Geek’s Guide to the Movieverse by…
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A LONG OVERDUE BOOK HAUL // part 1 (march to october) ft. book mail from publishers
I have had this post sitting in drafts for aeons at this point. I think my last book haul was back in like February?? It is now December so you get my situation. Welp, I guess better late than never. Anyways, I think I’m going to start incorporating hauls into my recaps, it all depends. This may be my last haul but eh I change my mind all the time. It got a bit late and I didn’t manage to post this on time so I actually mentioned all the books I got in November in the recap already hehe. Also, I’m super lazy BUT I will sprinkle in some photos of these books that I posted on Instagram, which if you don’t follow me there, you should. I also do haul ALL books over on my stories so feel free to stalk me. In totally un-creepy way obviously *wink wink* Without further ado, let us just get into this. Skyward: The Story of Female Pilots in WWII by Sally Deng: This is actually a sort of children’s book that they gifted me when I was inquiring about the book below this one, and I was just like, you know, …
