MidnighTS Book Tag (3AM Edition)

Look I know I am posting this months later but it was a crazy couple months and my blog was basically abandoned but I am here to post it now!

Here is the link to the original by Star is All Booked Up

The Great War – love that rises above even the hardest times

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is this song. Kenan and Salamah go through the most difficult situations and make it through together stronger than before.

Bigger Than The Whole Sky – a book that deals with grief

The Dead Romantics has such great discussions on grief and dealing with the death of a family member.

Paris – favourite escape

The Daevabad trilogy is the perfect book to escape into and it got me through the pandemic.

High Infidelity – love triangle 

I don’t usually like love triangles but I do love Will Tessa and Jem from the Infernal Devices because I just wanted them all to be happy.

Glitch – friends to lovers

Percy and Annabeth are my absolute fave friends to lovers! I loved how we got to see their relationship grow over the years!

Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve – a book you wish had a different ending/DNF

Most recently it was We Are All Birds of Uganda. This book bored me half to death and neither point of view character was at all interesting and then that ending was so sudden and weird like what was the point of the story. 

Dear Reader – a book that taught you something important

Invisible Women showed me just how deeply our society is built to favour men and disadvantage women. I highly recommend reading if you want to rage.

I know this is super late but at least I was finally able to post it! Do share your answers and tag Rameela who created this post!

Top 10 Tuesday – Series I’d Like to Start/Catch up on/Finish

There is so many books and never enough time to read them all especially when I also want to reread my favourite books so here are some that I really need to finish or start reading!

The Wolf of Oren Yaro trilogy – I loved the first book but I still haven’t gotten round to reading the rest

There Will Come a Darkness trilogy – I only need to read the last book but I just haven’t gotten round to it

A Curse So Dark And Lonely trilogy – Again, I just need to read the last book but I just haven’t picked it up

Jade City trilogy – Once again another book I adore but haven’t finished. Why am I like this?

A Magic Steeped in Poison – I was so excited to read this but I still haven’t even though I preordered it…oops

Redemptor – I loved Raybearer and even reread it to then read the sequel…but then I never did

Chain of Iron – In my head I’m telling myself I will read it closer the last book release date…I am a liar

The House With the Golden Door – I even met Elodie when the book released and I was so excited to read it but I still haven’t…I’m realising I have a problem

Mistborn trilogy – I read the first book a few years ago and absolutely loved it and then the size of the books intimidated me until I never picked them up

Heart of Iron – I love all of Ashley Poston’s books so I don’t even know why I haven’t picked this up yet even though I own the duology…I am a mess

Anyways this prompt has made me realise just how many sequels I need to read so I guess I should pick some of them up soon…I said like a liar

MidnighTS Book Tag – Part 1

So today I’m sharing my answers to the Midnights Book Tag created by Rameela! You can find her post here. Everyone is welcome to do the tag and remember to link Rameela’s post when you share!

Here are my answers:

Lavender Haze- a book you will always love and defend

The Daevabad trilogy – I will fight the whole damn world to protect Alizayd 

Maroon- a spicy book

Okay so I don’t really read spicy books but I did read and enjoy Love on the Brain which does have some spice!

Anti-Hero-unreliable narrator

Serapio from Black Sun because I want to trust him but can I really? His view is so limited because he did not grow up around his mother’s people so how can he truly know the truth of what is happening there as all he knows is what he has been told by his teachers who have their own agenda.

Snow of the Beach- an unexpected surprise

The Book Eaters is not my usual type of read but this story focuses on motherhood and I really loved it!

You’re on your own kid- a character that really needs a hug

Salama from As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow. Her and Kenan both deserve hugs because they have suffered and lost so much. 

Midnight rain- star-crossed lovers

Laila & Severin of course! Especially after finishing The Bronzed Beasts 

Question…?- grumpy x sunshine (or neurodivergent rep)

Alizayd & Nahri – my girl is always grumpy unless she’s conning someone or eating and Ali is somehow seeing the good even when everything is falling apart

Vigilante shit- favorite character out for revenge

Rin from The Poppy War – She will burn everything to the ground for her revenge

Bejeweled- strong character development

Rae from The Theft of Sunlight has some amazing development in the duology especially when it comes to accepting herself and letting herself love and be loved. 

Labyrinth- second chance romance

First Love, Take Two was amazing! The chemistry and tension was impeccable and there’s only one bed!

Karma- favorite full circle moments or parallels 

Nasir and Zafira are the perfect examples from their names having the same meaning to the parallels right from the first sentences from each of their point of views.

Sweet Nothing- favorite fluffy/cozy read

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is the epitome of cozy fantasy with an adorable romance and found family. 

Mastermind- perfect world building and storytelling

Let me introduce you all to Legendborn because that book has me in a chokehold. The story, the characters, the world building and pulling from history and just…it’s absolutely amazing!

I will share part 2 of her tag next week!

Nura & The Immortal Palace Blog Tour – Book Review

Thank you to ed.pr and walker books for having me on this blog tour! I will be sharing my review as part of the tour!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Nura has worked all her life in the mica mines, earning just enough to keep her family afloat – and enjoy the odd delicious gulab jamun from the market. Some day she’s going to find the Demon’s Tongue, a legendary treasure buried deep in the mines, and her family will never have to worry about money again.

But when a terrible accident buries her best friend below ground, Nura goes in search of him and passes over into the magical and terrible world of the jinn. Across a pink sea and under a purple sky, she finds her way to a palace, where great riches and a whole new life are on offer.

But it’s not long before Nura discovers this world to be as unfair as the real one, and that trickster jinns will always live up to their reputation…

This book was so wonderful and it was so great to see Pakistani culture and Muslim and Pakistani folklore in the story. From clothes to food everything was so familiar and I just loved it all. The descriptions of the food especially had me craving all of my favourites, especially gulab jamuns! I felt completely immersed in the world and just the small mentions of Ayat al Kursi and Eid celebrations it made my heart so happy!

If anyone says they work for passion or world peace and not the delicious food on their plate, they’re lying.

When I saw this story had jinns and set in Pakistan I knew I had to read it! It did not disappoint. We grow up with stories of jinns and how we each have our own Qareen that influences us to do some…not so great things and then I see how it’s so wonderfully woven into the story and how Nura and Faisal meet their Qareens and are tricked by them and then have to escape. It felt like my childhood stories come to life!

Not only is this story a magical adventure where a young girl is whisked off to the jinn world but through this there are discussions around child labour and exploitation of poor people which keeps the poor, poor and the rich get richer. I really loved how this is woven into the story without it being too heavy and it’s written in a way that young people can understand. I think these discussions are so important especially as it happens globally and so many people suffer as a result. How these people are pitted against each other so they don’t see who is truly causing their suffering.

The poor stay poor because the rich aren’t willing to spread their resources.

I loved the friendships in this book, between Nura and Faisal and how different they are to each other but how well they work together. How they deeply care for each other and go to great lengths to protect and help each other. It was also great to see how Nura slowly learns to work with others too that she initially finds difficult but as she learns she realises how everyone struggles in their own way.

I just loved Nura even though she was quite hot headed and always ready to fight, it felt real for a 12 year old who has had to grow up too quickly and been unfairly burdened by responsibilities that she shouldn’t have had to shoulder at such a young age. I loved how stubborn and resilient she was and yet it was also heart breaking to see her and the other children go through everything they had suffered and how it affected them.

I highly recommend everyone read this wonderful story!

Top 5 Wednesday – Heart Racing Reads

Here’s another top 5 Wednesday post for you all and today I will be sharing books that I read that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I just could not stop reading!

1 The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport – This book is a wild ride! I could not put it down once I started and was up far too late reading!

2 The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah – I absolutely devoured this book! It is non stop from the first page and I absolutely loved every single second!

3 A Darkness at the Door by Intisar Khanani – I just loved this book so much and could not stop reading once I started!

4 The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper – This book had me so stressed for the lives of these women especially as the stakes continued to get higher as the book progressed.

5 Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel – Knowing the story of Kaikeyi somewhat had me reading well into the night because I loved her in this and yet I knew it was not going to end well for her and I just had to continue reading to really know what happens.

I highly recommend all of these books, I read them all this year and every single one is a 5 star read!