Tag: bookstagram

General Bookish

My Favorite Reading Accessories

Cayla

We’re book babes, we love getting cozy and reading, especially when we have things to make that experience better. So…I’ve compiled a list of my favorite accessories to go with reading.

Amazon Kindle (I mean, duh.)

Photo by Adrienne Andersen on Pexels.com

Personally, I prefer the Oasis, but I think they must be doing a sneaky update behind the scenes at Amazon, since it’s currently unavailable. My second choice, though, is the Kindle Scribe, but it is fairly pricey. However, my favorite thing about it is that you can write and annotate your books. It also has a notebook option, which as someone with ADHD, being able to take notes on the Scribe rather than my iPad keeps me from going down a rabbit hole on the internet.

The best bang for your buck Kindle is just the plain old kindle, but the Kindle Paperwhite is the most popular from what I’ve seen on Bookstagram. I get it, I’m a lover of physical books too. I like having my shelf trophies, but it’s so nice to just toss my Oasis into my purse or diaper bag and go. Plus, there’s literally hundreds of thousands, if not more, books at your fingertips––just a click away. Speaking of clicks, that leads me to my next fave.

A Page Turner

The page turner lets you prop your kindle up, or use one of my other favorite accessories, and tuck your hands away under the blanket or grab onto your cup of tea or glass of wine and just tap a button on a remote to turn the page.

Lefties unite, no more stretching your thumb to hit just the right spot on your kindle screen to flip forward, No more aching thumb after a long reading session.

Kindle Holder

This one you have options. For me, I don’t have a bedside table, so the ones with a clamp don’t work for me, I have to use a kindle stand that has a foot to set on the ground or tuck between the mattress and the bed frame. Like this one!

Is it bougie? Sure! But how nice is it to not have to hold your arm up for ages when you’re reading or having to find the perfect pillow and position to prop your arm up?

A Blanket–specifically an electric blanket

I am a big fan of being warm and cozy. Despite it creeping closer toward summer, I am still using my electric blanket in the evenings while I read. This one from Amazon has six settings and is the perfect size to curl up with in my chair at night. It heats up so quickly and stays on for quite a long time. Bonus, it comes in nine colors!

A Coffee Mug

Photo by Stephen Andrews on Pexels.com

Is this one necessary? No, but well…are any of these actually necessary? I mean, to make things a little easier and more luxurious, yes. I love my heated coffee cup. This one is useful outside of reading too. I have a toddler that I’m always chasing around and next thing you know that coffee I made two hours ago has been forgotten. My heated coffee cup keeps it nice and toasty.

Bringing it back to reading, I love when my tea is still warm after I’ve finished that super intense chapter that makes me forget that I’m even in the real world.

That’s it for now! Hope you guys have a stellar day!

Editing

Why it’s important to hire out for editing

Cayla

It can be so easy to say editing is a luxury or proofreading doesn’t really matter, especially when your project isn’t some massive thing like a 200,000 word manuscript. However—I’m about to age myself here—let’s throw it back to that meme that went around Facebook. Actually, let me just drop one below.

Our brains a literally wired to fix mistakes, and we don’t even realize we’ve done it. We skip over double words, glance over typos, and rearrange sentences that are out of whack. This is especially true in our own writing because we know what we were intending to say. Due to this, it’s almost as if we’re blind to mistakes.

In addition to this, have you ever stared at a word long enough it doesn’t even look like a real word anymore. I’ll throw it back to when I had to write a word one hundred times if I misspelled it in school—wait y’all didn’t have to do that?

It may not be your forte.

And that’s okay! The nuances of the English language are complicated at best and nonsensical at worst. Your forte is your niche, so why try to shove a square peg in a round hole? You should be focused on your work, your creativity, your website, or whatever your project is rather than trying to force yourself to do a task that isn’t what you enjoy or feel perfect doing

Having a fresh set of eyes can pick up more mistakes.

Someone who has had no interaction with that particular project can pick up typos, mistakes, forgotten commas easier than someone who has been married to the project for weeks, months, or years. You glance over the to that should be too. Maybe a pesky comma sneaks through unnoticed or an em dash has an extra space or no space. It’s kind of like walking into a house you’re going to buy. The people who are selling the house didn’t notice that their photo wall is off center, but you, seeing the house for the time, notice it right off the bat. It’s like a neon sign. An editor or proofreader is like that home buyer, seeing those neon signs that are easy to miss when you’re the one living in the home.

Time! Time is such a limited resource.

As a writer, project coordinator, business owner, you have so much on your plate. Your time is stretched thin across all the things you have to do. You feel like you have to let things go just to make sure you meet deadlines or accomplish the other tasks on your list. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

I get it! It’s easy to become married to your project and feel like you can do it all, but why not share the burden? Commas, em dashes, typos, and structure are editors’ jam. Let us handle that while you do your thing.

Feel free to send me a message about your project and let’s chat!

Cayla

ARC Reviews, Book Reviews

Book Review: Just This Once – Lena Hendrix

Cayla

I love all of Lena’s main male characters. Whip King was no different. I had the distinct pleasure of being sent this book as an ARC, and let me tell you, I was so thrilled to get my grubby paws on it.

I have been dying for the King’s side of the feud and more of their back story. This initial dive into their nuances left me wanting so much more. I cannot wait for this series to continue. As always with interconnected series and standalones, we get glimpses of other characters we’ve met before. Seeing Whip’s relationship with Lee in the fire house and the secret soft spot they all seem to have for Duke.

Back to Just This Once.

Hendrix gives us a spicy, sweet, cocktail with a piercing bite to it. Yes. Piercing is emphasized right there. One of my favorite things about Lena and her writing is her ability to give me just enough spice without compromising her incredible plots. Plus, she writes a killer feud that I’ve been hooked on finding more about for what six books now?

If you haven’t picked this one up yet, it’s available on KU—Here!

Happy reading, bookworms!

Editing

Welcome Back!

Cayla

It’s been awhile…

Staind

Did you sing that in your head too? If you did, you are my people. I’ve been active on my bookstagram, but sometimes life has a way of speeding up and getting in the way of things, you know? Since the last time I posted on here, I’ve had a son, left my job with the college I worked with, launched my freelance editing business, signed on with an indie publisher as a copy editor, and moved to a new state!

Exhausted reading that? Hey, me too. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last couple years. I’m so excited to start offering more editing services, especially to the indie author community. That is my main love. There are many stories ready to be told, and I’m just here to help those stories along.

Reading, writing, annotating, and editing have been my passion for so long, and I just want to say I’m grateful that I have this opportunity to make those loves my job.

Until next time, bookworms!

Cayla

Uncategorized

On Wednesdays We Read Pink

Cayla

It’s been a hot minute hasn’t it? It’s Wednesday, so I’m sharing a quick stack of pink books. I’ve read three out of five of these, which I feel like is actually not bad considering my TBR is endless.

California Holiday – Kate Cann
I actually read this book for the first time way back in high school. God bless, the fact that I can say ‘way back in high school’ makes me feel ancient. A UK girl has just finished school and is taking a quick gap year. She sets out to be a live in nanny in the States, but things end up being a bit different than she planned.

I loved this book in high school, but it didn’t quite hit the same as a 27 year old when I read it again last year.

Tropes: Foreign holiday, nanny, fleeing from boss

The Dare – Elle Kennedy
I finished this book last week actually and loved every minute of it. Conor and Taylor were perfect. The sorority aspect, while it had some issues, made me think of my own experiences sometimes. Fake dating also gets me every time. I know where it’s going to end up, but gah, it still makes me so happy when they start actually falling for each other.

Conor was freakin adorable in all of his attempts to woo T. Taylor’s mom was interesting, and I 100% did not see her boyfriend coming at all. Sports romances in the fall hit different. It doesn’t even matter what the sport is….(Football is still my fave). I can’t wait to read the rest of Briar U since I read this one, book 4, first.

Tropes: Fake dating, he falls first, sports romance, hockey romance, friends to lovers (kinda), slow burn

Once Upon a Broken Heart – Stephanie Garber
We have reached the first of this stack that I haven’t read yet, which is comical because I actually own two copies of this book and have the second book on order. Whoops!

I have been reluctant to read this one because I wasn’t a fan of Caraval. Well, it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t a fan of it, but the whole thing felt like a fever dream that wasn’t really fleshed out. I just couldn’t really get into it, and that’s fine! I know there’s plenty of people that loved Caraval. However, because of this, I just haven’t wanted to jump on the OUABH train.

The Duke and I – Julia Quinn
We all know the storyline for this one from the Netflix show Bridgerton. That is absolutely the reason I picked up this series. I bought these special editions before I’d even read the books. I loved Daphne and Simon’s story, a lot of it was raw and emotional, but they also had such a cute courtship.

The Bridgerton world is one of my favorite historical romance worlds. It doesn’t quite live up to my love of WWII romances, but it’s almost there.

Tropes: Fake dating, reluctant MMC, historical romance, forced marriage,

Romancing Mr Bridgerton – Julia Quinn
The last book in our stack and the second of the books I’ve not read yet. I’m looking forward to this one, and I ought to read it before the next season comes out. I feel like this one will be a cozy winter read for some reason.

What about you? What are your favorite pink books on your selves?

ARC Reviews, Book Reviews

Review: Double Dog Dare

Cayla

A solid 3.5 sports romance. This book had a lot of things that worked for it and a few things that weren’t so great.

To start, I absolutely love that the cover of this book was not just a shirtless man. The addition of the dog in the photo makes it super appealing plus he actually looks like he’s having fun?

I also liked that the FMC had an unusual hobby/career path. You don’t see a lot of books with a cellist as the main character. She was on the hot mess express for most of the book, which was endearing most of the time but obnoxious at others.

The MMC was great. He seemed mature and well adjusted, which is sometimes a rare find in this genre. I loved his love for Monty. His dares at the beginning of the book were also a big highlight for me. I wish that there had been more dares throughout the book ….seeing that the title has the word dare in it. Plus the word dog….we only ever met two dogs and on some level they weren’t really that big of a part of the plot.

My favorite part of this whole book though was the social life of the senior citizens. They were the stars of this book. I loved meddling Mrs. H.

The things that didn’t work so well for me were things like the poorly translated French. I promise you there’s a world of people who would love to help you translate things instead of going it on your own if you’ve never taken French or don’t speak it. I also don’t really know how it helped the plot…so there’s that.

The chemistry between Luke and Summer was there but it was like a warm pot rather than a scorching read. In the beginning, I kinda thought she was going to end up with Antonio because they seemed to have more in common and better chemistry.

Another thing I struggled with was that while it was a sports romance….the sport didn’t seem to play that big of a part.

I also struggled because every once in a while, someone would call the dog Lillie when her name is Milli and I don’t know if that was intentional…I’m assuming not because I doubt that Summer would forget her own grandmothers dogs name.

Lastly, the characters, while somewhat developed, still fell a little flat. What was Luke’s favorite meal, what pet peeves does he have? We know he likes dogs and dares and football and dislikes his dad but beyond that? No idea.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Reviews, Book Reviews

Review: The Dead Romantics | Ashley Poston

Cayla

3.5⭐️/5

You know, despite being titled The Dead Romantics, I didn’t expect the love interest to be a ghost. This book gave me everything I wanted: small town, handsome main male, a disaster ghostwriting main female, banter with sibling. Yet. Yes, yet. I wasn’t sold.

This book was heavy. Another thing I wasn’t ready for was the main plot device being the father’s death. Every page. You never move beyond it because every. Single. Page it’s mentioned. I’m a sap when it comes to the mortality of my family, but this family…..I didn’t really feel or see the close bonds I was told about after the patriarch of the family died. The mom’s response to her husbands death was also a bit out of character in my opinion.

Ben seemed flat to me. She didn’t get along with him, then she’s kissing him in a back alley, and then she’s annoyed because his ghost is following her….next thing you know, “I love you don’t go.” -_- I didn’t feel the pining the love the angst. I just didn’t feel.

This is marketed as adult romance but it has the flowery prose of an old 1900s classic or even older. I love the classics but this was no pride and prejudice. Lastly, the twist. I saw the twist coming from the first time we met benji.

Oh wait. One more. Heather. Her redemption was sooooooooo flip of a switch. Regina George mean girl one night and she gets a talking to from Florence and the next morning “omg I’m so sorry I am a horrible person”

Enough complaints. The idea behind this was fun. Neat. Family has a funeral home, daughter can see ghosts, the ghostwriter bit, romance is dead. I liked the bed and breakfast. Dana was an interesting character (minus the fact that the author used the wrong pronouns for their own character at one point.), I wanted more backstory on Rose, I wished Benji could have gone and haunted Lee or sabotaged his release of his book.

As for spice 🌶 one lowly pepper. My friend. You had options here that could have been worthy of many peppers…as Florence would say, you watched the opportunity sail by you like a ship.

Book Reviews

Review: City of Bones Cassandra Clare

Cayla

I have been waffling between a three and a four star on this book. It wasn’t necessarily the most well written book, the most interesting book, or exciting. I’m also not sold on the plot, but what I am sold on is the characters and their relationships.

The world that this is set in is actually fairly interesting with the use of the stele and runes. The supernatural creatures that are in the book aren’t unique by any means, but the Shadowhunter take on nephilim is fairly creative.

Clary is fifteen, and I am hoping that she continues to not act that age. I have gotten to the age where I really don’t want to read about people that are early to mid teen range…..maybe because I need some spice in my life. I thought Clary was a little too okay with magic after having grown up with her mother beating into her head that there is no such thing, but maybe Luke saying that her artistic mind had more to do with her seeing things that aren’t there helped a little.

Our villain was just kind of meh. He didn’t really instill terror. I feel like he definitely should have since he was advocating basically genocide and segregation and all that, but he was just kind of like Disney villain level of scary? I didn’t feel there was enough build up to warrant any level of fear or concern on the reader’s part for the villain. Which is why I was low key frustrated that Jace went from being very outspoken, aggressive, kind of assholish to a passive, take information at face value character in his final scene with Valentine?????

What I, and other bookstagrammers that I’ve talked to, really found that Clare did well in this book was the level of attention to the little things within the character development and the relationships between the characters. It was the little things that I enjoyed through this books. The little interactions between Jace and Clary, or Simon, Isabelle, and Alec. Even adding in Lucian and Alaric (brb why am I crying over a side character we met like three times?).

I really liked the relationship between Clary and Luke. I will admit that I hated that I knew he was just being protective when he told Clary off originally. I am really hoping that their paternal relationship continues as we try to save Jocelyn, but even if she wakes up, I hope that this relationship continues to flourish.

Book Reviews

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom duology

Cayla

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this set in the Grishaverse. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed my time so far in the Grishaverse, but this set and I had a hard time seeing eye to eye.

I wanted it to live up to the hype so badly, especially so because I really enjoyed the Shadow & Bone trilogy, even the cursed second book that suffered from second book syndrome.

I actually really liked the Oceans 11 vibe that LB was going for in SoC. I thought the heist aspect was actually pretty interesting. One of my hesitations for diving in whole heartedly was that the characters seemed like they should be mid-twenties instead of teenagers. I really and truly can’t see them being in their teens with how they act.

I also felt like some of the descriptions and inner monologues felt clinical rather than emotional or described by the POV we were reading. Which, I hated how much we jumped from POV to POV. Really and truly, in CK, it felt like we saw the same bit of time over and over again because we saw it from multiple POVs. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing of backstories, particularly Kaz.

Speaking of Kaz, (I will get flamed for this I know) I didn’t like him. From what I saw on Booksta, I thought there was going to be some great love story between him and Inej. That awkward moment when I felt like Inej had more chemistry with Jesper or Matthias than Kaz. He was also all bark and very little bite. With all of his threats he made to people, he only carried out a seldom few. On top of that, I found it hard to believe that he was the most ruthless in Ketterdam as a teenager.

Inej was a queen. Nina was great, but her whole fabrication of the lie surrounding why she got Matthias sent to prison annoyed me. I also literally do not remember a description of her including being overweight. Somewhere I remember it being said she was curvy, but I see fan art all over the place where she is overweight. Jesper, I liked him. Sharpshooter, farm boy, secret Grisha. I liked him. He actually seemed relatable to a teenager because he was impulsive when it came to gambling and still had the foolhardy sense to go into shootouts without much fear which relates back to that teenage ideology that “it won’t happen to me.”

Don’t crucify me, I loved baby Wylan……but I forgot he was there a lot. Matthias. I loved him. While I liked Nina and liked the idea of Helnik…..I liked the idea of Inej and Matthias more. The fact that I can see Matthias with someone other than who LB planned is a problem. If she was writing with their end ship in mind, then I shouldn’t be able to say that Matthias and Inej would actually make a better couple than Nina and Matthias.

I say this because they seem like they would have more in common, better chemistry, and a better understanding of each other. the Helnik ship seems to stem from some sense of duty that they have for each other rather than actual chemistry.

….I will get major flames for this, but I almost feel like the book will be better as the Netflix show than the book. The narration style just didn’t do it for me. Also, if they follow the plot and kill my boy Matthias, I will have words.

Book Reviews

Post Blood and Honey Feels

Cayla
  1. Madame Labelle annoyed me to high heaven.
    I said what I said. I get that she is trying to protect her son, but he didn’t know that you were more than the owner of a brothel until five minutes ago, you cannot expect him to have some familial relationship in that time, and he had a relationship with Lou before you. Her constant need to try and undermine his relationship with Lou was exhausting.
  2. I need more about the Blood Witch Coven and the Loup Garou.
    Their history sounds interesting. I want to know more about Coco and her ties to the leadership of the Blood Witch Coven. She’s a princess, so I want to know about what her life is going to be like once La Voisin dies….if she ever dies because of the whole heart eating thing.

    As for the Loup Garou, their culture is probably super interesting. What are their laws like? Do they have some tie to the moon? Can they always shift? I need answers.
  3. Lou and Reid’s relationship. It pained my heart.
    They were just kind of on different wavelengths it felt like. They worked so well together in the first book, but in this book they were each doing their own thing and not really focusing on making progress in their relationship. I really just wanted them to communicate with each other!

    Madame Labelle did her part in trying to create doubt with Reid in regard to Lou. Like shouldn’t she want her son to be happy, shouldn’t she want to help Lou overcome her spiral? Lou had a tendency to martyr herself and once things started to go downhill at all, she sabotaged as much as she could and would say nasty things. Like I just want you guys to love eachother.
  4. Celie and Jean Luc!?!? What
    You loveeeeeeeeed Reid, but you hooked up with his ‘brother!?’ You also may have done so prior to Reid ending things? I cannot handle this. Jean Luc you’re supposed to have loved Reid with your whole being because he was basically your dang twin growing up, but you turned your back on him and slept with Celie because you were basically jealous of what Reid had. Ugh. Drama.

    And thennnnnnn. After Lou saves her she gets all up on her high horse that Lou stole Reid and when she sees Reid she tries to hug and curl up with him. Helloooooooo Jean Luc is in the room too!?
  5. My baby, Ansel.
    I am distraught. Literally distraught. I think in my commentary about Serpent and Dove I literally said I would die if anything happened to poor baby Ansel.

    That was so unnecessary!! He needed to be important, but not that important!

Anyways, I wish that Reid had explored his magic a little more. I am also interested to see how the twins’ magic works since it does not seem that they sacrifice anything for the magic to work, same with Reid. It just sort of happens. It also feels like they do not use patterns to work their magic.

This book didn’t quite succumb to the Second Book Syndrome curse, but it was almost there. It felt as though they kind of wandered around to see new places and people while Reid and Lou argued. I missed Coco and Beau’s comedic relief. Which, coming to that. The love triangle that was never necessary…..ugh. It was almost a freakin’ love square at one point because of Coco’s childhood love. bah.

Anyways, none of my annoyances will prevent me from reading Gods & Monsters, but for now, I’m onto From Blood and Ash.

See you after the next chapter, bookworms,

Cayla