Hello again!🤗 Today I was thinking about how excited I am to do a year wrap up when the year ends (obviously 🤣) and I want to ask you the same questions I asked my self, so here they go: 1- What's your favorite book of the year so far? 2- Which book/books you were so hyped for but ended up being a disappointment? 3- Which new author/authors you found out this year and feel in love with? 4- Which book/books you thought you would give 1 star but ended up giving 4/5 stars? 5- How close are you to complete your reading challenge (if you have one)? I hope everyone has a nice weekend and thank you for letting be your very curious book friend 🤣🫶

Hello y'all! I just wanted to create a post where we could all talk about our favorite local bookstores and gush over them! You can talk about why you love them, give out recommendations, etc. I'll start with saying that I love Powell's and Book with Pictures out here in Portland, OR. I specifically love the Powell's location in Downtown Portland because of how big it is (4 floors!!!) and how the bookstore is organized. I find it very easy to navigate and I always feel like I've done a full workout once I leave. I love Book with Pictures because it's a comic store that caters very specifically to queer, BIPOC, disabled and neurodivergent folks. It's queer and woman-owned and I just feel incredibly safe there as a trans hispanic person. Also, it's BEAUTIFUL inside! I haven't visited yet but I plan on visiting Parallel Worlds, too. It's a fantasy and sci-fi bookstore (and some horror I hear 👀) with used and new books. I'm hoping to visit this year for my birthday.

I mean time of day specifically, though you're welcome to respond with other time frames if you'd like! Personally, I like reading at night best. Reading right before bed is the best feeling ever. I love drifting off in the middle of the page; maybe I wake up to put my book away, or maybe I just end up falling asleep next to it. I sometimes end up losing my place or realize that I don't quite remember the last chapter that I read while half-asleep, but that's okay XD But then sometimes I end up reading for hours past a reasonable bedtime, and I sorely regret it in the morning haha. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's had this problem, but I sure wish I had more hours in the day to read! I know a lot of people try to read during their commutes, but I personally find myself feeling rushed/unfulfilled when I do this. But as a somewhat busy person myself, I find myself reading in little chunks like this throughout the day is often the ONLY way to keep up with my reading goal.

So I recently finished a book and it got me thinking about implicit biases quite a bit. When the protagonist of the books was described a bit later in the books, I flinched a little disappointed because I instinctively didn't like the way the protagonist looked which is to say that she was a larger and curvy woman and then I caught myself because why the fuck was I disappointed? Oh right because larger bodies have never been seen as protagonist material and since when you're a kid you've just been taught to be disappointed in larger bodies. I'm not large. I'm skinny and that allows me to be more privileged compared to other people because of how the society is structured and I still have body issues and I wish I was taught body neutrality at a younger age so I could see bodies as they were and not immediately try to gauge their worth because of how they look. This bias has been ingrained in me (by my own family) and if I didn't know that I was biased, I would have missed out on so many good books. It's not a bad thing to have biases. As a human being, you are bound to have some because of many factors. The question is if you try to move past them. If you actively try to fight them. Once you do, you're gonna open yourself to so many amazing media and literature! So for context, I recently finished Hemlock & Silver and I quite liked it! It could have been about a 100 pages shorter because I felt like there was some exposition but overall a solid book. And in case anyone is interested in what body neutrality is (which I find works better for me than body positivity because I can't be positive all the time); it's when you focus on what your body does for you instead of how it looks. You don't love your arms because they look a certain way, you love it because it allows you to hug your friend. Your love your belly because it allows you to eat and store delicious food and you love your legs because you can walk to your favourite gym. Things like that!

Reread 2025: still love it! Had forgotten how much of a slow burn things are with Kate and Curran but I’m digging it after reading a slew of insta-lust PNR over the past few years. Going to dig right into the second book asap.