Best of: March 2020

In March, I made an effort to read through my ARCs. And I think I did alright with that. I read all those I had at the start of the month (plus a few that I was approved for during the month), and now I’m left with only 3 unread ARCs, and one currently reading one.

Now all I need to do is catch up on reviewing them (hahahaha).

I also kind of went on a few romance binges throughout the month so that’s why my total books count is maybe a little inflated.

Total books: 51

Novels: 41
Novellas: 9
Poetry: 1

All the Books I Read for #FFFeb 2020

Last month was #FFFeb, so for my wrapup post I’m going to do something a little different. Instead of giving you my favourite reads, I’ll give you all my reads (plus ratings).

Yeah, fun, I know.

So, let’s get started.

Total books: 30

Novels: 24
Novellas: 1
Poetry: 1
Graphic novels: 4

WTRIYL: Six of Crows

I am back with a post that does not involve any sort of book review, TBR, or monthly round-up! (Yeah, I’m surprised too.) Today I’m reccing books that you should read if you liked Six of Crows.

First though, you might spot a really obvious miss on this post (The Gilded Wolves). That’s because my first instinct is always to rec that book for this, so I tried not to to mix things up a little.

Of course, you should read it anyway whatever, but. Yeah.

Enjoy!

Best of: January 2020

New year, new me, because I have, shockingly, succeeded in completing my TBR for the month! I know, I am as surprised as you are. But it happened. I ticked off every book I had on it, got ahead on my ARCs in time for F/F Feb – I was organised. (Bets on how long that’ll last?)

Anyway. Of the 42 books I read in January, these 15 were my favourites.

Total books: 42

Novels: 31
Novellas: 5
Poetry: 3
Non-fiction: 2
Graphic novels: 1

Best of: December 2019

At the beginning of December, I’d read 326 books. This was something like a handful short of my 2018 total, some 20-odd short of my 2016 total, and about 70 short of my 2017 total. So, not entirely seriously, I was like hey what if I tried to beat my 2017 total. And obviously that then became hey what if I tried to hit 400 books for the year.

And then it became less of a joke.

Note to self: if you decide to try read 400 books next year, don’t choose to do it with one month left, 74 books short.

Total books: 75

Novels: 27
Novellas: 47
Poetry: 1

F/F* February

*and other such sapphicness.

You’ll probably (definitely) have seen me tweeting about this, if you follow me on twitter (@darashirazi, etc etc). Basically, I wanted to challenge myself to read only f/f (or otherwise sapphic) books for the whole of February. Well, that kind of spiralled a little, and now it’s sort of a challenge for everyone! The only rules being you read all (or upwards of half, if you want to be more realistic) sapphic books in the month. As many as you can.

And the most important rule of all? You tweet (or blog) about the books you’re reading, using the hashtag #FFFeb.

I’ve also set a series of challenges to be completed or not, depending on if you want to:

1. because February is also Black History Month, combine reading sapphic books and books by Black authors
2. read a book set outside of North America
3. read a book with a lesbian mc & li
4. read a book with a bi mc
5. read a book with a pan mc
6. read a book with a polyamorous romance
7. read a book without a romance
8. read a book by an author you’ve never tried before
9. read an ownvoices book

And because I know it’s a little daunting finding f/f books when you have nowhere to start, let alone ones which fall into categories, I’ve compiled an enormous rec list for you all!

Best of: November 2019

November was a weird month reading-wise for me because I look back and I’m like, yeah it was kind of shit, because I read a lot of meh books (or those are the ones that stand out), but then I went to do this and included almost half the total books I read so. I seem to have swung wildly between shit/mediocre and really good/amazing. One day I’ll manage a wholly positive month I’m sure.

Total: 30 books

Novels: 18
Novellas: 11
Non-fiction: 1

Best of: October 2019

You know when you write a post and then just completely forget to post it for an entire month? Well, that’s what’s happened here, so bear with, because you’re about to get two wrap-up posts in quick succession.

Anyway. I don’t remember a whole lot about what I read in October (lol), so let’s just get this out of the way.

Total: 23 books

Novels: 16
Novellas: 4
Short story collections: 2
Anthologies: 1

Five for Friday: Hate to Love, But Make it F/F

We all know just how good a trope hate to love is. Hell, it’s up there as one of my favourites. But you know what makes any trope a million times better? When it’s f/f.

So here are five of the best f/f hate to love books I’ve read. Yeah, there are some more popular ones in here too because turns out I haven’t read that many I’ve actually liked. Hopefully, all those 2020 and 2021 f/f releases will give me something good.

Disclaimer: no, I haven’t yet read Crier’s War. Yes, I have read Her Royal Highness. No, you do not need to tell me about either of them.

Best of: September 2019

September was a slow month for me reading-wise (damn those two weeks where I had to write up my research project), so I read less than half the number of books I read in August. But, it was mostly a month of good books, for once. I think I only rated one book less than three stars, which means that I have quite a few books I really enjoyed as a fraction of ones I read.

So, let’s go.

Total: 22 books (and three were rereads)

Novels: 20
Novellas: 1
Poetry: 1