I‘ve enjoyed Lauren‘s work previously and Dating You/Hating You doesn‘t disappoint. I really enjoyed how adult and solid the relationship between Evie and Carter becomes over the course of the two of them working together. It‘s an adult relationship, with a bit of fun and games thrown in.

This collection of essays took me a while to digest b/c of how true, how relevant & articulate these essays were on topics of race/racism & what it means to be a POC in today‘s world. I drew many parallels from the essays in this collection, some of them were hopeful & funny & others brought home the universality of being the of “other”. I highly recommend this collection if you‘re to enlighten yourself about race & racism, especially in the UK.

This book is essentially Rose Rico‘s backstory, which is why I chose to read the book. You get you learn about where Rose & her sister, Paige came from, how important the relationship between the sisters are, & how they came to join the Resistance. That‘s pretty much where my love of the book stops. I found the plot and pacing a little bit off. I wasn‘t as emotionally invested as I could be. TLDR, I loved learning about Rose & Paige & that‘s it.

Girls Burn Brighter is the perfect title for this novel. The two main characters of Poormina & Savitha form this friendship that grows and grows and becomes this unbreakable bond that defies everything. This novel is a tough read but I do recommend reading it. It‘s a beautiful novel about friendship, love, family, feminism, and fighting for one‘s worth in a world that seeks to squash that flame.

This is the third book in Nix‘s Chemistry Lessons series and it was a delight to read. It had everything that I love about romance novels, two equally compelling main characters, a great love story, and just enough angst to make angst-loving heart happy. Warning, you may also develop a craving for lavender-flavoured lattes after reading this novel.
Definitely check out this book and the series if you‘re looking for a solid romance novel.

This was my first time reading anything written by Phoebe Wang and I was struck by the imagery that Wang created in her prose. She plays with a number of different elements in her poetry that I found fascinating. The book is divided into 2 sections, one with shorter poems and the other with long-form poems. I recommend you check it out if you're looking to reading more poetry by WOC.

I really enjoyed reading this collection of essays and highly recommend you check out this book if you're looking for a diverse and intersectional look at feminism in the US or just want to be educated about intersectional feminism in general. The diversity of the writers and the topics in this collection is what makes this book stand out for me. Seeing all these different perspectives and learning more about them was really enlightening.

This book is nothing like I expected but so very much a Courtney Milan novel. Lydia and Jonas' relationship and how it begins is so out of the ordinary that it works, and I enjoyed reading. It wasn't my favourite book from the Brothers Sinister series but it was still 👌🏼

Gone Rogue is just as fun and entertaining as the Volume 1 of Wires and Nerves. Focusing this duology on Iko was just fantastic, I loved getting to know more about her and her origins. We got to see even more of the other characters for the Lunar Chronicles as well which was a delight. I'm sad to be finished with the Lunar Chronicles universe once again.

Wires & Nerve provides so much more depth to the Lunar Chronicles series & a wider look at the characters that populate it. I love that the story centres on Iko & how she sees the world & her journey through it. The story is engaging and it moves along quite quickly for a graphic novel that is 200+ pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already started on the sequel, Wires and Nerve: Gone Rogue.

I loved, loved this book. Watching Eve and Gabe fall for one another, face the world together, and get their happily ever after was just beautiful. The whole story and series comes together in this story and I highly, highly recommend it! Alisha Rai's entire Forbidden Hearts series is just utter brilliance. I'm so grateful to her for writing it.

The first three issues of #Monstress new "season" is out and WOW are they as amazing as they are breathtakingly gorgeous. Maika's journey continues to be fraught with death and mystery, and I'm loving it! It's so good! Definitely recommend this entire series if you haven't started yet.

I loved this book! I adored the Frederica "Free" Marshall. She completely embodied being a girl boss. She lets nothing & no one stand in her way & it was just so amazing to see. Edward Clark was Free's equal in every way. I loved seeing these two spar with one another. I loved seeing the two of them fall in love with one another. This was brilliant book and I 100% recommend it.

The prose contained within this small book is striking as it is beautiful and lyrical. There's magic contained within the pages because within it Ewing does more than just telling us a story. She draws the reader close and lets us into a part of her world, through her eyes, and it's a thundering experience. It's a small but mighty book that deserves to be savoured, which is how I read it. It gets a 100% recommendation from me.

The Heiress Effect is now my favourite book from The Brothers Sinister series. I absolutely fell in love with the characters of Jane and Oliver. Individually, seeing the two characters come into their own was absolutely brilliant. Seeing the two of them fall in love with each other was spectacular! I loved the whole thing start to finish. I 100% recommend this book and series if you're looking for kickass, feminist historical romances.

An excellent novella!

Sharp and true are the two words I would use to describe this collection of poems. Parker doesn't hold back. Her words are ever so lyrical as you read it that it soothes you as well it eviscerates you at the same time.

New day, new book!

You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get sometimes when you're reading a book and rooting like crazy for the main character? That's what I felt while reading this book. I was rooting for Jessica Tran the entire time, and it was awesome. The inclusivity and diversity that was in this book was just 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼! It was so good and I cannot wait to read the sequel which is already out!

Onto book #2 of the 2018! ☕️ 📚☕️📚☕️

This essay collection reads like diving into the mind of Durga Chew-Boss, and I loved it. Her insight to the world as a daughter, a daughter of immigrants, a first-generation Canadian woman really spoke to me. Especially this passage. She articulates almost perfectly the divides that a first-generation individual lives. It's a really fantastic book and I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎉

My bookish Instagram has officially launched! 🚀

I'm going to be posting 1 photo every single day of 2018, all 365 days. It's a challenge/idea that I've been thinking about doing for a while now and I'm so excited to start it. Come join me and follow me on IG @ civiilyreads and join along with #CiviilyReads365

I'm still going to be here on Litsy. This is my home base when it comes to books & I'll continue to post here.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas! I'm diving into this collection while Christmas dinner is being cooked and before the rush of family members arrive.

I definitely loved some of the short stories in this collection. I really connected to some, and saw my own history and experiences represented in them. Zhang brings to light in this collection the hardship and the trials and tribulations that comes with being immigrant and being the children of immigrants living in the US. It's definitely a difficult book to read in some instances but it's very real & raw.

I've got big plans for 2018, which include my new bookish Instagram account 'civiilyreads' (https://instagram.com/p/BcsNOnZlmik/). So come follow me and see what I get up to in 2018! 🎉🎉🎉

This is actually a review for Rebekah's newest book, Wrapped which dropped last night. It's really the perfect Christmas read and I read it in one night.

I do have a review of Sanctuary, which is another novel that I totally recommend. I pretty much recommend all of Rebekah's novel. They're all fantastic and inclusive.

This is a brilliant and thoughtful book on race, feminism, class, history and the intersectionality of it all. It's a book that voices a lot of the thoughts and feelings that people of colour and women of colour like me have and it does so in a very blistering and vital way. Everyone should read this book. Everyone!

I paused all my holds from the library over the course of my semester this fall and they're all now starting to roll in. This is the 1st of 7 of the books I put on hold. Excited to get started.

Finished my last final exam for this semester this morning so I can finally talk about how amazing this book is. I loved reading every single moment of this books. It's so good. So damn good! Sadia and Jackson are just 😍😍😍! I relate to Sadia so much as well, especially when it comes to scheduling everything to maintain a semblance of control. Alisha Rai knocked it out of the park again! YOU SHOULD GO READ THIS BOOK!

Starting this tonight! I love, love, love Alisha Rai and I can't wait to dig into this!

I love this book. I love the stories of love and hope and faith and belief that reside in it. I love the authors who wrote these stories in the face of disappointment and disbelief. I love that romance and reading romance will always be a form of resistance.
💯 recommend!

Starting this tonight! I'm so excited.

Just finished this fun short story. I'm a fan of the Sigma Force Series so it was fun to see what my two favourite characters have been up to since the last novel in the series. Totally looking forward to 'The Demon Crown' which is the next book in the series.

I do love good, solid romances with great characters & Susannah Nix writes just that in both "Remedial Rocket Science" and "Intermediate Thermodynamics" which are part of her Chemical Lessons series. Neither of them are in Litsy's archive but they are definitely worth checking out. I just finished "Intermediate Thermodynamics" which is book #2 in the series & I loved it. I related so much to the main heroine, Esther. ? recommend both!

Attending the 'On the road with Rupi' event tonight. I loved Milk and Honey and cannot wait to see her live! Also got my copy of 'the sun and her flowers'!
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Now reading.

I don't know what words I can use to fully describe the sweeping wave that is this book. It's a weight that sits upon you as you read, at times it's unflinching & others is soothes. It's past and present and future. It's beautiful and utterly haunting. It's about family & history & injustice. It's love and death, joy and pain. It's breathtaking. Jesmyn Ward's brilliance lights the pages aflame in this book. Everyone should read it!

Now reading!

I really didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I love it, It's so good! I loved the retelling of Diana's origin story & her entry into the World of Man. I loved the friendship that developed between Diana and Alia. I loved all the friendships that developed in this story. It had so many good twists and turns that kept me on my feet not knowing what would happen next. It's an empowering story. 💯 recommend.

Starting off my Sunday morning with this beauty!

One of the things I love about the Sigma novels is the mix of science & history & this fantastical element that is unique to the stories that Rollins is telling. Seventh Plague follows Gray & his team to the deserts of Egypt & the tundra of the Arctic in search of a cure to a dangerous new plague unleashed upon the world. While the story wasn't as twisty as other novels in the series, it was still a good end of summer read.

Finished this trio of sweet treats from Rebekah today. They are deliciously sweet with the right amount of steam to keep me happy and buttered up. Definitely recommend. I'm looking forward to the connected series that'll hopefully be making its debut soon.
🍬🍡🍭

The Sigma series by James Rollin is prime vacation reading material for me. I first discovered the series about 7 years ago when I picked up The Last Oracle book in the series on vacation & I've loved the series ever since. I love that Rollin combines history, science & that extra bit of adventure into his novels. My mini vacation is sadly over but I'm still really enjoying this book.

The third book I finished on my mini vacation to Montreal was the new trade of the Kate Bishop Hawkeye series and I really enjoyed it. I had picked up the first issue a while back and enjoyed it and the series has definitely lived up to that issue. This was my first introduction to Kate Bishop and I can't wait to read more.

Book 2 of vacation reading complete. Absolutely loved it! Nadia Pym is just this breath of fresh hair.

Book 1 of vacation reads complete! Lunella Lafayette is still one of my favourite marvel characters ever. Lunella learns another lesson about growing up, being a super hero, but more importantly about being who she is in this volume. So good!

Best book mail ever!!! I loved An Extraordinary Union and I'm so excited to start reading this.

This should be on everybody's reading list this year. One of the most powerful books in race relations in the US that I have read this year. It's really good. Seriously good. Everyone should read it.

Just received this arc in my inbox! Sanctuary is book #2 in the Beards and Bondage series and I have been eagerly awaiting its arrival. I loved the first book in the series. Rebekah Weatherspoon has quickly become one of my favourite romance authors over the past year. So excited to start reading this even though Litsy doesn't have it in its database yet.

(PS: The book drops next Tuesday for those of you interested in picking it up.)

Now reading.