Can you believe it’s already July? If anything, it’s almost August to be honest, so this tag has been a long time coming. I missed doing tags like this, and I kept seeing posts to remind me to do it. It took me FOREVER to finally get it together. I am not setting this up ahead of time, in fact I’m just writing this as I go. So let’s get it on!

I’m using Lindsey’s post for the prompts, so thank you to Lindsey! This tag is created by ReadLikeWildfire and Ely Jayne

If I did this earlier in the month, my answer would be totally different! But since I finished this book a couple of days ago, I can’t get enough of it. I truly, truly wish that I read this as soon as I had the chance, but I also adored being able to listen to the audiobook throughout the days. There’s just something about a really great narrator that can bring a story to life just with their voice.

I talked about this before but this was freaking AMAZING! I want to say this is the only sequel that I read this year but I may actually be wrong. At any rate, THIS is the sequel that I can’t stop talking about. I can’t believe I still have to wait for the third and final book, but I am so glad that I’ve been able to read both of these as early copies. So, so humbled that I had that opportunity. Even if I don’t get the chance to read the third one early, you best believe that I’m going to support the crap out of it always.

I got this book as soon as I could but I still haven’t been able to read it. It’s just too beautiful and I feel like I’ve been putting this on a pedestal where I can’t touch it until I’m worthy enough to read it. I think because upon reading what it’s about and what others have said about it, I know it’s going to be amazing and I need to be in the right mindset to fully take this in the way it should be.

I adore Katie Zhao so much and when I found out that she was writing a YA novel, I freaked out in the best way. It comes out next month – so fast! – and I can’t wait to read this! I love Zhao’s writing and her personality and just her as a person and I can’t wait to keep supporting as much as I can.

I read this one once before a few years ago, and I remember loving it so much. I reread it this year and I couldn’t believe how much stuff was in here that just would not fly today. I get that this is a dated book, so it is pretty good for its time, but wow. So I guess this would be my biggest disappointment because after reading this in a new light, I feel ashamed for what I thought was amazing back then.

This one definitely surprised me because I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get through it. I didn’t think I would because I thought it would be too scary and freak me out to the point that I couldn’t handle it. So imagine my surprise when I did end up finishing it, found that I actually enjoyed it, and wanted to share that on my blog. So while this one wasn’t too scary – which worked for me – it was creepy in the best way.

Gosh this book just touched my heart so damn much. I wasn’t expecting to actually fall in love with this story and feel so in tune with a lot of what Charlie was going through. I was so impressed and emotional that I did, and I was so happy to finally read this. Thank you Crystal Maldonado for writing this beautiful story and I can’t wait to read more of your work!

Oh my gosh! Can I just say that I would love to be Guillermo Lozano’s forever girl? My gosh I was so impressed with him and couldn’t believe how mature he was growing up to be and how respectful he was. I know, being respectful to girls is the bare minimum, but it was the way that he made sure the girls and women in his life were taken care of and treated properly by others. I was so enamored by him and his behavior, and I truly feel like he did a great job redeeming himself after his past mistakes. He has certainly grown up into a great man.

I have so many favorite characters from the books that I’ve read this year, but I’m going to have to go with Dani on this one. She reminded me of what Buffy was in the beginning, where she wanted to have a life outside of slaying. But Dani was just such an amazing character on her own, and I love her for her tenacity and bravery. I love her for her sarcasm and her loyalty. She was just so great. Not perfect, but really great.

I started it thinking how could a mother abandon her child so suddenly and at the end just felt so sorry for this family. There’s always underlying reasons for everything, and this book really proved that. Seeing Daniel trying to come to terms with his new life, and slowly and surely hiding his Chinese identity to fit in with his white family and classmates… to seeing Polly do everything that she could to give herself a better life than she was supposed to life. Ugh it was just so heartbreaking and I loved going through this journey.

It wasn’t the typical happy ending that one would think, but I really enjoyed how it ends. I enjoyed the entire book honestly, and Goo is definitely one of my all time favorite authors! All of Goo’s books make me happy towards the end, and sometimes throughout it as well. Of course there is the drama that needs to happen and that doesn’t always make me happy because I don’t think that it should, but all in all I love everything.

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This isn’t a movie but it was a show that I finally checked out this year. I only watched the first couple of episodes but I could say that I enjoyed it a lot more than the book. I actually found the book to be just okay, but after watching the show it makes me kind of want to try to read it again? We’ll see though, since I’m not sure if I really do want to reread this, but it’s a possibility.

I’m trying to pick a different book each time so I’m not only talking about the same few books. I think I did that last year or something, and I do know I do stuff similar to that on a lot of other tags. This way it can show that I actually did read some other stuff besides those few! I really did love my review for this one though because this book just moved me so much. I enjoyed this experience and I was so happy to be able to read this.

The review is HERE if you so desire to check it out.

I bought this for myself very, very recently and I think this looks absolutely beautiful. Green is my favorite color and this dress on this woman is absolutely amazing. Everything about this woman and this cover screams elegant, and I love seeing Black women on covers for historical fiction that aren’t slave related.

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There’s always so many books to read and while I don’t know if I will get to all of them this year but it’s a huge goal for me! There are so many good books still on my shelves that I need to read in general – this will always happen, not gonna lie. Here’s at least four that I know I want to read before the end of the year as a personal goal.

I feel like everyone did this already so if you haven’t, consider yourself tagged! I’m one of the late ones that should have done this like at the very beginning of July but alas… It’s so fun to see everyone’s posts! You should look around and see everyone’s posts to see if anyone has some of the same answers as you, or even just to see if there are any new books that you may have missed!

I hope everyone is having a great day also! We’re almost done with the week, so hang in there.