My Favorite Bookish Shops That Make GREAT Gifts!

Posted in Uncategorized by pucksandpaperbacks

I’ve been wanting to do a post dedicated to some of my favorite online bookish shops that I’ve purchased from! If you have a birthday coming up for a book lover in your life or you want to treat yo’ self. I hope this list can help you! Feel free to share your favorite shops with me, too!

These are all my photos that I’ve taken.

Disclaimer: This are all my recommendations, I’m not a rep or anything! I just want to recommend these small businesses!

**These are only shops that I have purchased from!**

The MacBath

They make literary soaps and other bath items made from goats milk. I found out about this shop from my Book Boyfriend Box in December when I received a Pride & Prejudice soap and I loved it so much that I bought the Hamilton soap just a few months ago!

These come in many literary themes such as Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and more classics! These are definitely something I would give as a gift because they’re useful and anyone who is a fan of literature like these, will appreciate these!

Wick and Fable

Soy candles and organic tea inspired by your favorite books and fandoms. These include Gilmore Girls, Outlander, Six of Crows and Harry Potter plus much more. I’ve only gotten this candle from them but I will highly recommend it. But, I’ve gotten the tea in subscription boxes and it’s just loose tea.

I’m a huge fan of Gilmore Girls and I love the smell of this candle. It smells just like it’s described: Roasted coffee, mocha and brown sugar.

NerdyGrlDesigns

If you’re looking for a bookmark, I highly recommend NerdyGrlDesign. They have regular bookmarks, magnetic bookmarks and stickers! Mostly their design is watercolor and that’s what makes it stand out. The magnetic bookmarks are very sturdy and they don’t bend the paper. I’ve gotten two bookmarks from this business and I’ll keep buying more!

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Bookworm Boutique

This shop contains bookish and fandom designs for all things! I especially love my mug from this company, I got it through RedBubble but now BB is only on Society6. I love their designs, they’re very cute and the sayings are very #relatable! I highly recommend this shop for any gift such as a tote bag, mug, throw pillow, or even a phone case!

These are just a few shops that I’ve ordered from that I wanted to shout out, in case you’re in need of a new bookish/fandom related shop! Let me know what your favorite shop is that I didn’t mention!

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19Jun2017

READ O RAMA Round 7 Wrap Up

Posted in Readathon, Wrap Up by pucksandpaperbacks

Read O Rama was successful again!! Thank you to everyone who participated in reading with us, and the Twitter sprints! I had a blast and got some reading done myself. Unfortuantely, I was going to update throughout the week and my computer decided to start having issues and it had to be fixed. Never fear, I’m back and I’m going to show you what I read.

+ click the titles to go to my Goodreads review.

1. Coffee Boy by Alex Chant (89 pages)

#ownvoices, less than 150 pages

2. How To Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (328 pages) five stars

#ownvoices challenge, book with water on the cover

3. This One Summer by Markio Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki (319 pages) five stars

graphic novel, water on the cover

4. The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle ( 200 pages read, finished Sunday *after the readathon)

RAMA in the Title.

TOTAL PAGES: 936 pages

Overall, I would say I had a successful week of reading!! Now, I continue on to my reading for Emojiathon.

13Jun2017

READ O RAMA Days 1 & 2 Updates

Posted in Readathon by pucksandpaperbacks

Better late than never, the first day of read-o-rama is almost over! I’ve plugged this readathon my channel but I wanted to promote it here too! This year, I’ve been hosting Read O Rama, a readathon created by Chloe @ Brunette Bibliophile, co-hosted by Elizabeth @ The Owlery along with myself and April Sarah.

This readathon is running from June 11th to the 17th. You can still join us, if you’d like! But, we’ll be back before the year is over, too.

DAY 1:

80 % read of Coffee Boy by Austin Chant

Books read: 0

DAY 2:

Finished Coffee Boy by Austin Chant (89 pages)

Started How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (37 pages read)

Books read: 1

TOTAL PAGES: 126

Coffee Boy by Austin Chant – a short review

This is a short story following a transgender boy, Kieran starting an internship in politics that he was recommended for by a professor of his, Marcus. Coffee Boy explores Kieran’s sexuality and how he is perceived by others and it does not sugar coat the struggles those who are transgender deal with on a daily basis such as being misgendered. Coffee Boy ALSO includes a bisexual character and includes bisexuality in general. I would’ve rated this 5 stars, however I had to skim the last few pages because the sex scenes were in depth and graphic, which I was not expecting! :O Just personally, I couldn’t read those scenes. Coffee Boy has great rep and I loved seeing a story of a transgender boy in the workplace and going into adulthood (he’s 23 y.o.) versus Young Adult, which I’m used to.

I can’t express enough how great the LGBTQIA+ representation was and I LOOOVED the mention of pins to indicate sexuality or that Kieran wears a pronoun pin. I loved how real this story was and I highly recommend.

11Jun2017

READ O RAMA TBR & Updates

Posted in Readathon by pucksandpaperbacks

This readathon is running from June 11th to the 17th. You can still join us, if you’d like! But, we’ll be back before the year is over, too.

** since June is Pride Month, I wanted to read more LGBTQIA+ books. I tried to center most of my TBR around #ownvoices books from LGBTQIA+ authors as best as I could!

challenges + my tbr:

Read 7 books

Read a book with RAMA in the title or author Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman

A Book with water on the cover How To Make A Wish by Ashley Blake

A *short* book with 150 pages or less Coffee Boy by Alex Chant

Read a graphic novel This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki

A book you have been anticipating or been meaning to read (open up to my TBR)

A book that is #ownvoices Coffee Boy by Alex Chant // how to make a wish by ashley herring blake

A book released in the summer of any year The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle June 7th 2016

I will be trying my best to open this platform up for my reading updates!

Stay tuned and happy reading.

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7Jun2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten LGBTQIA+ Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR!

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by pucksandpaperbacks

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Today’s topic: 10 Books From X Genre That I’ve Recently Added To My TBR List — I want to know what books have piqued your interest lately from whatever genre you choose!

In honor of June being Pride Month, here are the top ten LGBTQIA+ books I’ve recently added to my TBR and some I hope to read this month.

1. Over You by Amy Reed (bisexual mc)

2. Top Ten by Katie Cotugno – follows a bisexual mc (got this ARC at Bookcon!)

3. Queer there and Everywhere: 22 People Who Changed the World
by Sarah Prager – This first-ever LGBTQ history book for young adults will appeal to fans of fun, empowering pop-culture books like Rad American Women A-Z and Notorious RBG.

4. Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow middle grade lgbtqia+ coming of age.

5. How To Make a Wish by Ashley Blake – bisexual mc & own voices!! – I just bought this from The Strand Bookstore while in NYC last weekend!.

6. Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman – I received this duology from the publisher and I’m ecstatic to get into it! Set in the summer of 1972, it follows a girl who is discovering that she likes girls.

7. Coffee Boy by Austin Chant – I already have this on my TBR for the month and I’m excited to read this own voices book about a transgender boy.

8. Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde – has been getting so much hype recently that I couldn’t resist adding it to my TBR list. I know this follows a f/f love story (between a character with my name?? so I’m destined to read it, I guess.) Also follows a girl who has autism spectrum disorder and anxiety.

9. History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera – I still have not read any of Adam Silvera’s work please shun me. But, I do want to pick up his recent release because I’ve heard so much praise for it!

10. It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misa Sugiura – This book sounds like it’s more of a coming of age/coming out story of a girl who has her first crush on a girl. I’ve never read this perspective before, so I’m interested to see how it turns out!

Happy Pride Month!

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1Jun2017

May Wrap Up| 2017

Posted in Wrap Up by pucksandpaperbacks

It’s June already…?? This year is going by so quick! I had a pretty good reading month for May and I’m excited to share the books I read with you all! As for TBRs, I’ll be joining Emojiathon for Twitter sprints again and Read o Rama is happening in June, too!

I finished my re-read of PS I STILL LOVE YOU. I really loved this sequel the first time and it was very refreshing to read because I didn’t remember much of it! This helped me go into Always and Forever, Lara Jean. I have a spoiler review on it and it made me sob for hours and days and weeks, ugh. It was such a perfect closure to this series that I love SO DAMN MUCH. Most definitely my favorite read of the month, hands down.

review: Always and Forever, Lara Jean (spoilers)

BUDDY READS

I did two buddy reads with different people this month. I read Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith with my friend, Chloe in the beginning of the month. I have a review on Goodreads and plan to write one soon here. This book was okay but I say that about every J.E.S. book, so nothing out of the ordinary. 3.5/5 Stars

My last read of the month was for Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson for #MonthofMatson hosted by Maureen Keavy on Booktube. I have a review (click the title) of this book and I really had an issue with the toxic friendship between Emily and Sloane. Also, Emily was a love/hate character for me. I really liked the playlists and the idea of the list and the things done on them. 4/5 stars

Overall, pretty good buddy reading!

I was sent Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman through Net Galley thanks to Sourcefire books. I have a full review on it, I gave it 3 stars. It’s a good summer, diverse read and I liked it. As for a debut novel, the characters were written well and I liked the setting. Also a sports theme of surfing and skateboarding was introduced. Definitely made me crave the beach!! 3/5 stars

I think I had a pretty solid reading month. What was your favorite read from May?

31May2017

Growin’ Up Book Tag

Posted in Book Tag by pucksandpaperbacks

This past month I turned 23 and I’ve been feeling nostalgic. I found this tag and I’m in love with it.

Creator: Possibly Literate on YouTube.

Pre-school: It’s okay to admit it, you’re just in it for the pictures. What’s your favorite illustrated book?

Kindergarten: NAP TIME! What’s a book that put you to sleep?

I don’t really get bored of books too easily. I can’t think of a book off the top of my head that put me to sleep.

Elementary School: Recess and story time and jungle gyms–SO MUCH FUN. What’s a book or series that’s just plain fun?

Middle School: The awkward and embarrassing years… What’s a book or series that you’re embarrassed you used to be a huge fan of?

I don’t think there’s any certain book or series that I’m embarrassed of! I embrace my passion for all the books I like! There was a book I was obsessed with in middle school because I thought it would cure all of my breakups haha!

High School: The popular girl, the jock, the nerd, the loner–these are all stereotypes, but people are more than they appear!! Who is a character that you initially wrote off as a trope/stereotype but grew to love?

Sawyer is definitely a love/hate character in this book. He’s the ultimate bad boy who runs away from his problems. But, I grew to like him and his decisions toward the end.