Indie bookstore appreciation day is this Saturday, April 25! What do you love about your local indie bookstore? I love my bookstore's curated displays and staff recommendations, I always leave with half a dozen books added to my tbr I wouldn't have otherwise found ✨

And heads up that libro.fm is having 🔗 a big sale on hundreds of audiobooks this week to celebrate indie bookstore day!

Okay Boundlings, tell me the strangest/unconventional/craziest place you’ve ever read!

Did you catch some side eye? Were you asked to please leave? I want to hear some stories! 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Fourth month of the year (if your calendar starts from jannuary) is almost done. So, how is it going for now? If you have a reading goal, how is it going (any reading goal, not just how many books to read)? What were the three best books of the year for now and why? Did you dnf any book? Are you excited for any upcoming release? Have you tried a new genre or new way to read? Any pagebound feature in program that you can't wait for? Plans on what to read in the next few months/over summer? I'll go first.

Reading goals: My first goal was to read 12 books, considering last year I had read 8 it seemed almost impossible for me at the beginning of the year. Instead, probably due to pagebound and its wounderful community as well, I already read 10. I changed the goal to 20, but if summer goes as well as I hope I might have to bump it up more. I'm afraid this month I won't be able to finish any book because of how busy I am (and I might not read much during may either), but that's how life goes.

Best books:

• First love by Lilly Dancyger (This has been phenomenal, my favourite read of the year so far. It almost made me cry, which for some people might not mean much, but I never cry for books/movies, I only cried while reading two books in my life, and this one came close to be the third, it's a big deal, believe me.)
• A thousand perfect notes by C G Drews (second book I read from them and they definitely are my favourite author. I preferred Don't let the forest in, but that's my favourite book ever, nothing could top that. A touching debut.)
• The decagon house murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (Not my style at all since it's very plot heavy. I would've preferred if the characters had been more developed, by it was so intriguing I couldn't stop reading. I'm surely going to get the other books.)

DNFs: I dnfed A little life by Yanagihara because I've been warned by a friend of mine it had grafic depictions of rape and that all the issues the protagonist goes through sound romanticised. It's definitely not for me. A bit sad and disappointed about it because everyone had recommended it. I also dnfed Dragonfall by L R Lam because it's not the time. I know I can enjoy it, but I'm going for something different. I want to start again another time.

Upcoming release: Can't wait for C G Drews to publish Scorpion deep. I fear I'll have to wait some months before reading it (like I did with You did nothing wrong, which came out in march and my mother gifted me recently) because preordering from my country is a hustle, but as soon as I can get my hands on it I'll devour it.

New genres: This year I tried romantasy for the first time. I read At the end of river Styx by Michelle Kulwicki (but I wouldn't say it's a romantasy, it doesn't focus on the romance almost at all and it feels pretty rushed), Where the dark stands still by A B Poranek (which was a nice surprise) and Tress of the emerald sea by Brandon Sanderson (my first ever Sanderson book). To be honest, aside from Where the dark stands still I don't think I would call the others romantasy, they rely on romance, but it isn't very central since there are few actually romantic scenes. I loved them, and, though I think I prefer fantasy with romance subplot, they really were good and had something to say. I don't get why so many people hate the genre.

Pagebound future features: I am patiently waiting for pagebound to drop monthly wrap ups. If there's something that apps do and I love is a wrap up. It gives me more motivation and I love to have a moment to watch back on what I accomplished/did during the month. This is why I'm doing this post to be honest.

Plans: I had planned to read some books this and the next month, but I fear school will stop me for a while, so let's go for summer. Now, these are the books I'd like to read, I may change my mind (I made a list of what I wanted to read from my tbr/buy at the start of the month and already changed three times a week my mind). I guess we'll know mid may, when I'll buy the books I don't have yet.

In june I'd like to read

• Hazelthorn by C G Drews
• Holy wrath by Victoria Mier
• Aristotle and Dante dive into the waters of the world by B A Saenz)
• The hunger games by Suzanne Collins

In july I'd like to read

• The sense of style by Steven Pinker
• The bermuda triangle by Charles Berlitz
• The way of kings by Brandon Sanderson
• A song of legends lost by M H Ayinde

In august I'd like to read

• Old wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner
• Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
• Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

In september (because yeah, i planned septemeber and october already, but I will stop at september for my keyboard's sake)

• The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• When among crows by Veronica Roth
• If we were villains by M L Rio

Some of these are so very famous and well loved, it's baffling I haven't read them yet.

So what about you?

Sorry for the very long post. I have a feeling, and a hope, the answers will be pretty long as well. Enjoy your reading!

This month has gone super duper fast and I've just realized I have 4 book club books to read and an ARC all due by the 30th

Some are chonky. I'm scared and I'm cooked.

The books:

• Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden (bookclub)

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown (bookclub)

• Tides of Memory by Laura Blake (ARC)

• Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli (bookclub)

• Distorted Horizon by L.R. Douglas (bookclub)

I'm going to have to double up my reading aren't I. Choose the shortest out of them all and smush them together. Or drop one? 👀

hey alll🫶🏻 how do you guys decide what your next read is gonna be? like do u plan ahead or do u just go through ur tbr and check what peeks your interest the most😭?

did a lil search and couldn’t see anything in the club for this so hopefully I haven’t missed it🥹

what are your comfort tv shows? i’m a big fan of a tv show but rarely watch new ones and most new ones that i start, i tend to not finish lol. i just rewatch the same ones again and again. comfort is joy for me✨

super interested if anyone else loves similar shows to me and if so, if our reading taste is aligned too!

my top shows are the vampire diaries, supernatural and brooklyn nine-nine. these are my go to rewatches and i feel like they all work well depending on what mood im in!! tvd is my firm favourite though and holds such a special place for me i think cause i watched it when i was a teenager?? (nearly 30 now though and watching it was a i post this lol)🧛

what are your comfort shows??

edit: spelling cause i can’t spell for shit

As a reader who loves to jump around through all the genres, I've had friends lately mention how they never know what's good or where to start with genres outside their usual reads.

So here I am, asking all of you, what are three books you'd highly recommend from your favorite genre(s)? They don't have to be the best "intro" books or the most popular, just ones you thoroughly enjoyed and want to share with the world!

Mine would be: Horror The Spirit Bares It's Teeth by Andrew Joseph White The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Romance Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

For those of you who annotate, what is your process? Do you write in the book itself, use sticky tabs, etc.

How do you decide what is important enough to annotate and what is your system? If you use a highlighter or colored sticky tabs, do you use different colors for different things, and what are your color codes? If you use pencil/pen, do you do anything in your notes on the page to make different things stick out or do you just underline important passages?

For me, I use colored sticky tabs, and each color has a meaning so I can easily flip back and find it. I try to not put too many in, because otherwise it defeats the purpose of being able to easily turn back and find things.

Red = Important detail that I absolutely believe will be important to the plot later, such as dialogue hinting towards a major plot point that could occur.

Pink= A detail that COULD be important but I also may just be reading too much into things (Get it, because pink is light red?)

Green = Introduction of a new character

Blue = Important worldbuilding, backstory, or other information

Yellow = Quotes I really like that stand out to me

For some unknown and simply idiotic reason i decided to have breakfast while reading this final chapter.