To go along with Blogtober, I’m also participating in this year’s Bookending Autumn as I’ve wanted to join the Bookending events for a while now but have never got the timing right (we’re just going to skip over the fact that I’m 20 days late). Bookending Autumn is organised by Sam and Clo with the rules being that you have to participate in either their twitter chats or post a minimum of three blog posts during the event, with prompts for each day to give you some optional inspiration.
The prompt I’m following today is:
Spicy Pumpkin Latte Book Tag
Rules:
- Link back to the original post
- Thank the person who tagged you
- Do the prompts below
- Tag some friends
- Most importantly – have fun!
I wasn’t tagged by anyone to do this post, however, I did discover the tag through Lauren @ Lala’s Book Reviews, so it seems fitting that my thanks go to her for this one!
Pumpkin Spice Latte: A book you didn’t think you’d love
I started out Emergency Contact not expecting much. I wanted to read a book by an Asian author featuring Asian characters and it fit the bill, besides, my library had it available on their online ebook system so that sealed the deal for me and I decided to pick it up.
The book ended up discussing mental health, had representation of atypical family dynamics and of working-class characters, which I feel slip under the radar a lot as YA can easily get caught up in a middle-class bubble sometimes.
Hot Apple Cider: A book that got you a bit hot under the collar
For this category, I’ve chosen Nevernight, as I’m pretty sure I recall there being a scene (or two) that fits. I don’t mind smut as long as I feel as though the authors haven’t t just thrown it in there for nothing and Nevernight didn’t come across that way so I was happy with that.
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate: A book that felt like a warm hug
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda comes up top when I need a comfort read. I bought it back in 2016 and I’ve read and re-read it countless times since then, as it’s such a heartwarming read for me – the characters are all cute (apart from Martin, of course) and the plot is incredibly sweet. What’s more that it’s just over 300 pages so it’s easy to pick up and finish in a short space of time.
Maple Pecan Latte: A book you enjoyed that was hard to get into
I’m generally quite a big fan of Patrick Ness and his work, but with Release I found it difficult to connect with the writing style and characters. This was probably down to the two separate narratives which dovetailed throughout; whilst I thought the first one, focusing on Adam, was interesting enough, the second I found quite confusing and arduous to plough through. Although the two did connect meaningfully at the end, the journey in getting there wasn’t as enjoyable as I would have liked.
London Fog: A vanilla character
In picking up A Curse So Dark and Lonely, I knew what I was getting myself in for – a trashy YA fantasy; funnily enough, that was exactly what I read. Overall, I didn’t find the reading experience to be that bad (but still not good enough to give it more than 3/5), however, I did have two fairly big issues with it. Number one, there was a love triangle between the three main characters – I mean come on, there’s already too many of those in YA and I cannot think of a single good one (apart from maybe in ACOTAR as it connects with the actual plot). Number two, I didn’t particularly like the protagonist, Harper – I thought she was generally bland and there was nothing original, or that likeable, in her character.
Whilst I understand that she was meant to provide Prince Rhen, the male lead, with a conscience and new outlook on his kingdom, she mostly came across as a petulant child, at least to me.
Hot Buttered Rum: A book that was velvety smooth to read
The Final Empire, honestly where do I begin. This book has so far been both the most pleasant reading experience and overall the best book I’ve read so far this year. I’ve been eyeing it up for several years now as it’s always caught my eye at Waterstones and it was everything and so much more than I thought it would be.
I’m not going to say anything more about it, in fear that I may spoil it for someone who hasn’t read it yet. If there’s one book you pick up from this list – make it The Final Empire.
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew: A character whose temperament is icy cold
Holland from the Shades of Magic series is the character which immediately came to mind here. What I love about him is that you can empathise with him. Throughout the books, you come to learn more about his past and how he came to his position in the first book and wow, if there’s any character who deserves to be showered with unadulterated love, it’s Holland one hundred per cent.
Salted Caramel Mocha: A book that you’re salty about
…And a Happy New Year? kind of bothered me, and by that I mean it rather annoyed me. What I appreciate about Bourne as an author is that she keeps it real – a number of her books focus on mental health, all the female leads are feminists and she’s not the one for completely cliché endings or stereotypes which unfortunately is what happened here (which I know is a good thing, but that doesn’t stop my frustration). In abandoning the common “happily ever after” “skipping into the sunset” ending, she understandably had to shake up the characters lives again – so I like to pretend this book doesn’t exist from time to time (because I am a sucker for a happy ending, especially in YA).
Honey Bee Latte: A character who is sweet
Whilst Simon Snow admittedly came to mind first, upon further thought Ebb fits this category better (though nicely they’re both from Carry On). Despite being incredibly powerful Ebb is so gentle and takes solace with her goats; I find her relationship with Simon with really endearing as she’s one of the characters he finds real comfort with – which for him especially is hard to find.
Gingerbread Latte: A character you’d take home for Christmas
I chose Kellen from Spellslinger, as he’s an absolute sweetheart. He’s got a decent enough head on his shoulders and considering all the hardship he’s been through, such as his family being complete arses to him (to put it mildly), he deserves a good Christmas and loving company for once.
If you like the look of this tag then I encourage you to give it a go as tags are always rather fun to do!
Also, if you want to learn more about Bookending Autumn 2019 then head over to Sam’s introduction post and maybe you can even squeeze in a few posts for it before October ends!
What a fun book tag! It seems like you aptly matched books to the different lattes. 🙂