So because last week had a long weekend, we had a shorter working week this time. And yet I still don’t feel like I had a good rest. I feel like I might need a good vacation xD every little problem that comes up with anything at all is just so annoying! It’s like even if we run out of coffee milk it might produce a “let’s jump out the window” kind of reaction from me 😀 I think I REALLY need a vacation from all this. Thing is, my normal vacation time is around the end of April. So… still a whole month left! And then I have to plan it too. Why don’t things get done themselves??

Anyway, there is some happy news to share though! A lot of you must have seen my follow train yesterday, and if not, leave your link and I’ll follow you:

10 follows till 1k! 😱
LET’S HAVE A #bookblogger FOLLOW TRAIN!!! 🎉
🚂 leave your link
🚂 follow some bloggers
🚂 retweet
I’ll come back in the evening and follow everyone back!
💛💚💙💜

— Evelina | Avalinahsbooks (@AvalinahsBooks) March 16, 2019

But anyway, the happy news is that the blog train did help me reach 1k! FINALLY! Two and a half years later, I am finally at 1000 WordPress follows!!! 🎉🎉🎉 thank you so much everyone for following me back!!!

A WordPress badge congratulating me on getting 1000 follows

 ~ What I’ve Been Reading ~

Her Silhouette in Water is one of those books where the final moments either or make it, or break it. For me they absolutely made it. Up to the point of the resolution, I wasn’t quite sure about it – but the ending completely changes everything and might even blow your mind.

First of all, a lot of things have to be said about how the rep in this book! I can only judge from the outsider’s perspective (lol I haven’t even been to the US and we are a pretty homogenous society so things are different here), but I thought the Latinx characters being in center stage was awesome. Then there’s also the queer rep – the main character and two other women are all queer. In fact, they are the core characters and there’s basically no one else. And two of them are married. So, queer Latinx characters! And even aside from that, a lot of the book is about PTSD, anxiety and emotional trauma. So yes, I loved the rep.

But this book is about so much more. First of all, it’s about persecution and censorship. About the government getting into your affairs and regulating who’s safe and who is not. And who should be detained before they’ve really done anything. And the worst thing is, you don’t even know who’s telling the truth. Terrifying, no?

But even more than that, the book is about love. It’s about loving someone else, but more than that, it’s about loving yourself and forgiving yourself. We allow ourselves to feel so much guilt about things we’ve done – and even things we may have never done! This is the core of the book, and this is what made it for me. So I won’t expand – read it and find out for yourself 🙂 (Thanks to Tor.com for the free review copy and this hasn’t affected my review.)

[ Goodreads ]

~ What You’ve Been Talking About ~

There was an awesome post on Ivyclad Ideas last week – Classics Summed up in One Sentence! It was pretty hilarious xD

An oldie, but goodie at Lovely Audiobooks – are romance novels the white bread of literature?

There’s also a discussion on Open Pages about some great literary adaptations, mostly classical

If you like ranting about tropes in the comment section, knock yourself out – there’s a great post about annoying tropes on Paper Procrastinators

~ I Found Something Really Awesome ~

~ What I’ve Been Talking About ~

Last week, I posted reviews for two very magical books – Ewan Pendle and the Castle of Nightmares, book two in the Ewan Pendle series, and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, an absolutely stunning middle grade story of love, magic and lots of other things.

~ What I’ll Talk About Next Week~

Next week I will have another buddy read review! This time of a book I loved with all my heart, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. And there will be a short review for a magical and diverse short novelette – The Haunting of Tram Car 015.

~ What I’ve Been Hauling ~

Last week I got so neck deep into my Blue Door review copies that I had to buy part 4 (which wasn’t up for grabs) and find out what happens next. There is also a part 5, but I don’t know if I’ll grab it, cause the main story is wrapped up and the books are always full price, and I almost never buy them when they are. But I just had to know! It’s a really sweet series and I’ll be reviewing it soon!