Hello Fiction Dwellers!

Have are you all doing this July? I know it’s half way across July and I just recently wrote this post. For all the issues I was having in June it bled into July. After my birthday, my motivation and emotional stability went down hill. But I still experienced joy during the start of July as it was my birthday on the 5th. I am really grateful towards my family and friends that showed me a lot of love and support during my birthday. The biggest difference from last year’s birthday and this year’s is the friends I’ve made from Book Twitter. Throughout the tough times in 2020 I found some amazing people that I can talk to about my interest and supported me with blogging. You know who you are! Sasha, Raf, Ash, Michelle, Cube, Halla, Shannon, Azu, El, Jason, Hiba, Ashleigh, Madz, Karen, Bey and so many more. I wish I could name all of my moots on this post but it would be so long.

Books

Starting the month of June I managed to start it strong tackling multiple books at once both audiobook and ebooks. I also squeezed in a book tour into the month which I am proud of but it might be the thing that made me feel burnt out towards the end of June. Nonetheless, I achieved my goal of reading the books that I’ve set as my goal in May.

This Winter is a novella in Alice Oseman’s universe about the Charlie’s and Nick’s Christmas. Charlie just recently came home from the hospital has a fight with his mother about the issues he’s dealing with (normal teenager stuff). Tori has her hands full as she stands between Charlie and their parents covering for him against nosy relatives. Oliver, Charlie’s brother, just wants a fun holiday spending time with Charlie and Tori. This novella is short and sweet, packs a bit of drama and familial conflicts during the holidays.

❁ Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse ❁

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Release Date : October 13th 2020

Black Sun is the first book and highly acclaimed series debut, Between Earth and Sky, by Rebecca Roanhorse inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. I listened to the audiobook on a whim because I was in the mood to read it and I wanted something new. The story follows multiple perspectives with each character having their own agendas and coming from different backgrounds. Roanhorse’s writing style is impeccable from the world building, magic system, and the lovable well fleshed out characters. The political intrigue is heavy but easy to follow even with the multiple names being thrown in. Serapio and Xiala are my favorite characters following their perspectives is much more entertaining than the others. I don’t remember any of the others. The sad thing about audiobooks is I usually don’t remember much after listening and I have to think really hard to remember. So, I might reread the book to give a detailed and comprehensive review.

❁ Gearbreakers (Gearbreakers #1) by Zoe Hana Mikuta ❁

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Release Date : June 29th 2021

When two people from opposite sides of the war find each other with a common chaotic goal to destroy and wreck havoc. A half bionic Windup pilot with a dark past and a gearbreaker with a dangerous taste for adrenaline. Two unlikely enemies team up to bring down the gods and panic in gay a few times in this explosive YA scifi debut.

❁ Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid ❁

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Release Date : June 1st 2021

Malibu Rising is Taylor Jenkin Reid’s newest book that is released in early June that centers around the Riva family. To be specific children of Mick Riva, a character from Reid’s successful book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. In this book Reid explores the family and siblings dynamics that became the main theme of the whole story. The story follows four perspectives of the famous Riva siblings : Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Story wise I always love Reid’s writing style that has that journalistic quality with added personal and emotional tinge to it. I said it before since I was a child I love watching True Hollywood Story with Taylor Jenkins Reid producing books that have similar vibe to THS I have to immediately read it. The characters are all sound and well fleshed out but the character that became the center of the story for me is Nina Riva. Personally, I favor The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo over Malibu Rising even though in this story it is much more grounded than the former it didn’t have the same level of untouchable vulnerability in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Highly recommend!

❁ The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang ❁

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Release Date : February 19th 2019

Full review to come!

❁ 天官赐福 Heaven Official’s Blessing (The God-Pleasing Crown Prince – Book #2) by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù, 墨香铜臭 ❁

Chapter 58-88

Goodreads

Release Date : August 13th 2017 – September 11th 2017

The God-Pleasing Crown Prince is the second book of the Heaven Official’s Blessing series. There are 30 chapters to this book and I don’t want to say much about it for spoiler reasons. But I will describe this part of the series as chaos, pain, and sadness. Please watch happy cat videos after reading this. You might need a hug after. It mostly covers the Xie Lian’s earlier years before his first banishment. It looks like it’s an easy read with the small amount of chapters but it’s not easy.

❁ 天官赐福 Heaven Official’s Blessing (No Paths Are Bound – Book #3) by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù, 墨香铜臭 ❁

Chapter 89-180

Goodreads

Release Date : September 14th 2017 – December 15th 2017

After I speed run through The God-Pleasing Crown Prince I immediately read No Paths Are Bound, book 3 of the series. The pain I felt in The God-Pleasing Crown Prince needed to be over written with some heart warming Hua Cheng and Xie Lian moments. It did cure me of that dread I felt in book 2. In this book there are way more chapters than the previous two and yet I felt there wasn’t enough chapters. There are multiple arcs covering a whole bunch of characters and their back stories before they became gods. The schemes and conspiracies are heavily foreshadowed in the chapters somehow Xie Lian is meddling into everyone’s business because someone keeps asking him to do it which is very sus. Personally I don’t know when I will continue onto the fourth book because I’m not mentally ready to read it and because friends told me that book 4 is much more painful.

Manga/Anime

I think June is probably my best month for Anime because I watched two of the best sports anime with amazing character development. And it’s also the month when I started delving deep into manga’s that cover LGBTQIA+ topics. In that regard the animes I will be discussing is Run With the Wind and Haikyuu!! To The Top – Season 4 and the manga I’ve chosen is Blue Flag by Kaito.

❁ Run With the Wind / Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru [風が強く吹いている] by Shion Miura 三浦 しをん ❁

Book Published Date : 22 September 2006

Manga Adaptation : March 19, 2008 to December 18, 2009

Anime Release Date : October 2, 2018 to March 26, 2019

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“You asked me once what running is. You said you wanted to know what it is. The answer is you. It’s you.”

Run With the Wind is a 23 episodes anime series that broadcasted from October 2nd, 2018 until March 26th 2019 based of a Japanese novel by Shion Miura with the same title published in 2006. Prior to the release of the anime there were a few other adaptations such as a live action movie in 2009 and a manga adaptation by Sorata Unno that is published in Shueisha’s Weekly Seinen Manga in 2007, that moved in 2008 to Monthly Young Jump which ran until 2009. After I finished Haikyū!! To The Top! Season 4, I needed a new anime to watch that fits the vibe of sports with good found family aspects, heart warming character dynamics, and inspiring development. These qualities exist in any anime but I wanted something that is close to reality. I watched a couple of other sports anime before I decided on this anime but none of them actually got me interested. Until I finally decided to watch the first episode of Run With the Wind from then on I was hooked. People often say “You had me at, Hello” for me it’s “Hashiru no suki ka?” / “Do you like running?”.

In the anime the story starts off with young Haiji Kiyose on his way home from the public bath house, when he sees someone being chased by a store clerk. Suddenly interested in the strangers speed in running Haiji decides to pursue the stranger on his bike. That stranger is the main protagonist, Kakeru Kurahara, former star runner of Sendai Josei High School and newest resident of Chikusei-sou. When Haiji met Kakeru he was broke and had no where to go after losing all of his money at a mahjong parlor so he agreed. During Kakeru’s welcoming party into Chikusei-sou, Haiji announces that all ten of them, residents of Chikusei-sou, will compete in Hakone Ekiden-one of the most prominent university marathon relay races in Japan. Haiji also revealed that the place they are living in is the dorm for Kansei University’s track and field club so they are technically members of the club. Some of the residents are against the idea because of varying reasons from university, personal life, job hunting and the obvious reason that they are all rookies (with the exception of Haiji, Kakeru, and Nico senpai) that have zero experience in running a marathon let alone having the condition for it. Haiji kept on pestering them, using everything and anything to get them to run from threatening them to move out or following them around or classic persuasion and hyping it up. They all eventually joined and immediately starts training!

Now to our main characters Haiji Kiyose and Kakeru Kurahara. Haiji Kiyose is a fourth year and resident of room 101, an athlete that is recovering from an injury with hopes to run again after years of rehabilitating and gathering members for the track team. As an athlete Haiji was pushed to his limits to the point of hating the sport that he used to love as it is revealed in his back story. He took on the position as leader of the team, an important pillar and guide of the group. Haiji puts everyone’s needs first before himself.

Kakeru Kurahara is a first year and newest resident of room 103, he is the former ace of his high school team that have spiraled down after losing his bright future because of an incident that occurred in high school. Kakeru has grown to shun himself out of the sport seeing there is no future for him in running. Kakeru’s character arc is all the bad things he has ran away from finally caught up to him. Finding confidence in running and discovering a whole reason to run.

Haiji’s characterization in a way is parallel to Kakeru. Both being athletes there are similarities in their experiences. They both have their own reasons on why they left the sport. With Haiji it’s his injury and with Kakeru it’s his scandal. They both find closure in each other as they both find their own reasons to run, the moment they shared in the last episodes opened the flood gates for me.

Writing this review I thought long and hard on how I should write about the amazing found family aspect in Run With the Wind. There are ten characters in this anime, I’ve introduced the two main characters Haiji Kiyose and Kakeru Kurahara. I’ll try introducing the other eight characters while explaining a little bit about them because I’m not sure I can explain in detail without spoiling.

First, we have the twins Jota and Joji, resident of room 201. They are the trouble maker duo of the team, both are competitive, mischievous, and easily distracted. They are the only characters that are the same age as Kakeru being first years. Their arc overall is full of hilarious moments and quite significant in the last few episodes.

Second, Musa Kamara is a second year international student from Tanzania and resident of room 203. Musa has one of the most interesting arcs in the story, the way I view his arc is him doing things at his own pace and living his best life. He is such a sentimental character that thrives to do the best for his friends and loves making memories. One flaw about Musa is that he wouldn’t spill who Hana likes! COME ON SPILL IT! I NEED TO KNOW!

Third, Akane Kashiwazaki or Prince, second year student and resident of room 204. Prince is an otaku that loves reading, collecting, and stacking manga. I’ll say it straight away that Prince’s character arc is the best amongst the other side characters. He is the slowest and weakest out of ten of them, looking at him run already made me feel bad for him. BUT! Prince keeps on running no matter how much he hated it or despised it he kept on running for his friends and showed significant growth from the start all the way until the end. Prince’s commitment and drive is unrivaled!

Fourth, Youhei Sakaguchi or King, fourth year student and resident of room 205. He claims to be the king of trivia that’s why the other residents started adopting the nickname King (and also because he kept calling himself that). King is prideful but holds a lot insecurities within himself. He is shy and has a hard time opening himself up to others which lead to him being lonely most of the time. Personally, I didn’t like his arc but King’s desperation to find a job is something that I can wholly relate to because I know how hard it is to find a job and deal with the rejection of not getting it.

Fifth, Akihiro Hirata or Nico senpai, third year student and resident of room 105. Nico is the third member that has previous track experience in the team that quit the sport in high school. He is the oldest resident of Chikusei-sou that lived in the house even before any of them joined. Nico’s character arc was the shortest amongst the others and easily resolved. It is clear that his motivation in joining Haiji is to achieve the dream he didn’t think was possible. I am surprised that he is also a character that dealt with body issues being a smoker and a man with the not so ideal body type for running marathons. Nico’s arc proved that it isn’t too late to do what you want to do and it also showed that no matter what people say you should keep doing what you love.

Sixth, Yukihiko Iwakura or Yuki, fourth year student and resident of room 102. Yuki is your typical law student, he’s very straight forward, strategic, and detail oriented person. He likes clubbing, hitting on chicks, and boasting about how he passed the bar exam on his first try. Yuki is probably the member that opposed Haiji the most, rallying the other residents to go against Haiji but in the end after persistent pushes from Haiji he eventually joins the rest of the members to run. Yuki is a character that is ambitious and isn’t afraid to take risk as seen when he ran his leg of the marathon.

Seventh, Takashi Sugiyama or Shindou, third year student and resident of room 205. The hardest worker amongst the members of the team. Shindou single handedly promoted, raised money, and took care of promotions for the team. He created opportunities for the team to get funds and organized all the things that is essential to being a sports team. Shindou cherishes his family, friends, and loves being a part of the team. Best boy! I sobbed so much when I saw him run, I kid you not I had to pause it because it was so heart aching. You might think Kakeru is MVP but in fact it’s SHINDOU!

Run With the Wind is an anime that has many qualities about friendship, drive, discovery, and reconciliation. Yes, it is a sports anime about running but it is not just about running. The core of the story is the found family aspect shared between the residents of Chikusei-sou to achieve an impossible goal together. In Hakone Ekiden marathon needs ten members to finish the race, the Kansei university team has exactly of ten people if one of them quit they can’t participate at all. They all understood the stakes and consequences of joining the team. There is pressure that is present but it was never a pressure that felt suffocating. It is the pressure that offers a chance for the members to be part of something greater and in each character have the epiphany moment realizing this. They all have their own reasons to run which is explored throughout the story. The climax of the story is when Kakeru finally answered the reason why they are running. Togetherness and comradery became the power that pushed them forward. It is irreplaceable and forever will leave an imprint in each one of them that they were part of something incredible achieving the impossible.

❁ Haikyū!! To The Top! Season 4 [ハイキュー!!] by Haruichi Furudate, 古舘 春一 ❁

Manga Chapter : Chapter 207 – Chapter 292

Part 1 Anime Airing Date : January 10, 2020 – April 3, 2020

Part 2 Anime Airing Date : October 2, 2020 – December 18, 2020

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Haikyū!! To The Top! is the fourth season of a the beloved sports anime series by Haruichi Furudate. The manga recently ended in 2020 and the anime released in the middle of the pandemic resulting in the anime being split into two parts. The arc for season four picks up immediately after the third season continuing Hinata’s journey in advancing to Spring High or Harukō Barē with Karasuno represnting the Miyagi prefecture. The story is set at a bigger stage with more powerful contenders that are ready to become the last team standing on the court. It is also a chance to reunite with old friends and meeting new friends that share the same passion and love for the game. Before we get to Harukō Barē in the earlier episodes we get to see the coach of the team breaking the news of Kageyama being chosen to join the training camp in Tokyo with other hand picked promising U19 volleyball players in Japan and Tsukishima being chosen to join the training camp in Shiratorizawa. This event lead to Hinata feeling left behind as his teammates are acknowledged and advancing right before his eyes. Feeling Hinata had nothing to offer but his jumps and scoring abilities he embarks to find answers and grow as a player. It is clear Hinata is taking volleyball much more seriously than before. The events to come lead to the birth of a volleyball monster during Harukō Barē.

I’ve been waiting so long to watch this season and have been anticipating it ever since I started watching the first season. Mainly because there are a lot more characters introduced into the anime. One of them including my favorite, Atsumu Miya from Inarizaki High School representing the Hyogo prefecture. The difference between this season and the other previous seasons is Hinata’s growth as a player. Hinata is able to do a lot more things besides smashing the balls and jumping. He found a new obsession of receiving the ball and he fully displays his new found skills on the Harukō Barē court magnificently. Even though Hinata blundered a few times it was funny to watch. Kageyama also grown a little bit as he found a rival that challenges him as a setter and with increased awareness in his capabilities the freak duo of Karasuno ruled the Harukō stage.

The anime has a different look than the previous seasons adopting a style that is more similar to the manga. Aesthetically I loved it because it’s closer to Haruichi Furudate’s style but there are some questionable scenes that could’ve been polished up more. The volleyball action scenes are as explosive and high tension as before. The tension and the greatness of the amazing action scenes are thanks to the incredible music by Yuki Hayashi. The music adds a layer of awe to the story telling that proved essential to an anime as high tier as Haikyū!!. My personal favorite is the Monster’s Banquet, a song that is used during the match point scene. Karasuno’s match against Inarizaki Highschool is a pinnacle moment in manga as it is the start of Hinata’s climb to becoming a serious volleyball player. Seeing the panels coming to life in anime left a huge impression on me with all the beloved voice actors returning to their roles and new voice actors. The kansai-ben is probably the highlight in this season with the addition of the Miya twins. The thoughts I have for this season is beyond my expectations. I loved every moment in this season there are also character back stories as well and additional scenes besides Inarizaki and Karasuno involving Nekoma and Fukurodani that I find very interesting. While watching this season I suggest watching the OVA episodes as well where you can see Nekoma and Fukurodani’s match against other schools. I am definitely going to continue reading the manga so I can see what is in store for the next season.

❁ Blue Flag / Ao no Flag (青のフラッグ) Vol. 1 – Vol. 8 by Kaito ❁

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After reading so many Shōjo mangas I needed something else to break loop. Because it was getting repetitive to the point where I don’t bother reading and just skimming everything. To get out of my funk I decided to pick up Blue Flag or Ao no Flag by Kaito. I saw this manga floating around on my timeline mentioning that it has LGBTQIA+ themes in it and Shōnen Jump was the one that published it as well, so I decided to read it.

Blue Flag is a coming of age story that follows the main character Taichi Ichinose in his third year of highschool. During that year Taichi entangles himself in helping Futaba Kuze to break out of her shell and pursue her crush Toma Mita, the school’s star athlete and Taichi’s childhood friend. Coincidentally all three are in the same class as well. Little did they know this simple high school is about to get more complicated as Futaba’s best friend, Masumi Itachi and Touma Mita both seem to have special feelings towards their respective friends. While Taichi and Futaba starts falling for each other? A four way love story?? NANI???

In the first three volumes Kaito sensei established Blue Flag’s overall tone of a normal high school love story very well. But it will get interesting when Masuma entered the three way friendship between Taichi, Toma, and Futaba. On the surface level each character seems to have simple motivations and intentions but as you dive deep into their characterization readers will notice each one of them have their own perception and views about relationship and identity. Blue Flag explores a variety of themes revolving around relationships, love, homophobia, toxic masculinity, gender roles and gender expectations. It is a not a light hearted manga at all so be warned because there are some scenes that involve gas lighting, homophobia, violence, and forced public outing. Reading the manga I did feel uncomfortable towards some takes by some disgusting side character, but I’ll get to that later. I will focus on the four main characters involved in this web of complicated feelings; Taichi, Masuma, Touma, and Futaba (in order of the image above).

Taichi as a character views himself as invisible, average, and inferior. He constantly compares himself with guys the likes of Touma. Throughout their childhood Touma has always tried to extend his Touma is naturally popular, talented, and has a lot of friends so by Taichi’s views Touma is out of his league. For years since elementary school they have lived in their own bubble but now in the third year of high school they are put in the same class. Adding to that Futaba’s involvement in wanting to get close to Touma disrupting his lonely safe bubble. Taichi might have not realized it in the story but for a long time he has admired Touma and cherished their relationship. It’s because of his insecurity and tunnel vision view of Touma that made him not notice the ever growing tension between them. Long story short Taichi put Touma on a pedestal.

Masuma has a cold hearted and aloof exterior, viewing relationships as pragmatic. Though she seems uncaring towards others perception of her, she is very sensitive about how people view her. She is a whirlwind of insecurity, self hatred, and inner homophobia because of her strong feelings towards Futaba. There are many times when she projects or gets defensive about her feelings towards other characters, especially towards Touma. Every time I read her takes I don’t understand half of them because she deflects other people’s input on the matter of love. Masuma actively seeks other people’s opinion but resist and fights back with outrage. In some way she is a perfect depiction of someone that is confused about themselves. Though I don’t agree on some of her takes about coming out and the ideal relationship, she’s a good example of a character being in denial about her identity and sexuality.

Touma on the other hand wants to live a freely without the judgement and expectations. Being the gentle giant with natural talent and popularity he carries a lot of pain. The panel above of Touma covering his mouth represents his whole characterization in the series. Touma likes to hide his feelings, insecurities, and covers it all up with his smile. Besides Futaba he is pure in terms of his feelings and the way he interacts with people wanting to make everyone happy. Even after being force outed, suspended, and confronted by his brother he still chose to stay silent and only apprehending the real reason of all this mess his feelings for Taichi. Touma is comfortable with his state of being, catering to other’s without much thought and generally accepting towards his whole situation. What matters to him is Taichi’s happiness because in his eyes if Taichi is happy and he can be with him that’s all that matters. There isn’t a single self centered bone in Touma he is selfless to the core. I’m just glad Touma faced his fears and confronted his feelings head on even though it wasn’t the best timing.

Futaba is the third party that first tangled the estranged bond Taichi has with Touma. She propels the story and pushes Taichi to be familiar again with Touma. For so many years Taichi distanced himself from Touma because of Futaba’s alleged feelings made Taichi help her get close to his estranged best friend. In a way she is dragged into the web of complications unintentionally but what made it more complicated is when Touma’s friends starts getting involved not her involvement. Futaba carried the innocence, blind determination, and drive to better herself which inspired many characters to act. Her pure intentions of pursuing love and her journey in bettering herself is bittersweet, Futaba has feelings for Taichi knowing how Touma felt she still sees Touma as a friend, another person that loves Taichi as much as she does. Props for Futaba for being the only sane and emotionally stable one in the story.

My thoughts on Blue Flag / Ao No Flag is that relationships are hard and complicated. Feelings and judgmental views only complicates the situation because of the sheer vulnerability of opening yourself to someone. It is messy, uncomfortable, and scary but there is hope if you find the right people that will support you no matter what chose to do or chose to be, like what Seiya and his wife did for Touma. Because no matter what other people say it’s better to be unapologetically yourself and be true to who you are while having strong principles and views that you can carry everywhere that doesn’t harm others. Just like Mami Yagihara she has zero fucks to give and lives her life unapologetically. One thing that bugged me throughout reading this manga is the unaddressed homophobia and gas lighting, I wished that scene could be done better but it all comes down the author’s intent. I surely don’t know what their intent is so I’m taking it with a grain of salt. Do I recommend this manga? Yes, but please the trigger warnings before you do. It is not a normal high school love story, it is complex and carries a lot of heavy topics.

Blogging

In June I took a break from blogging to focus on reading more and mentally recover from the stress that has been accumulating. I did manage to post two blog posts, my May Wrap Up and a review of Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta for my participation in a blog tour hosted by Colored Pages Book Tours.

Bookish Content Creator Shout Out!

☾ Leo from Leosthetics made a post celebrating Pride Month of 2021 Queer New Releases Based of the Colors of the Gilbert Baker Pride Flag. Leo always has the best aesthetically pleasing layouts and I love reading this post, the list also includes some books I’ve read like Ace of Spades which I highly recommend for you guys to pick up!

☾ Jayati from It’s Just A Coffee Addicted Bibliophile recently posted a collaborative post titled “Why Queer Books Matter” with four other bloggers (Ari, Althea, Lori, Cossette) from the community with each picking one book that best represented them. Collaboration post are always fun to read especially if it’s a post talking about queer books that have meaning for different people from different walks of life. This post is such a good idea and seeing the recommendations with the explanations on why the book meant something to them is also fun to read. Jayati you did a good one here <3 Please follow the Jayati and everyone else as well!

☾ Kal from Reader Voracious posted a discussion post about A Reader’s Book Buying Process. What I love most about being a reader is buying books so when Kal made this post I was very intrigued reading through Kal’s process in buying books to expand her collection. It is informative and she shared some very good tips about unhauling, selective purchasing, and shared some of her library dreams.

☾ Arina from Book Wyrm’s Galaxy posted a list of book recommendations for the many subgenres in Sci-Fi. When I read through the post Arina wrote I was impressed because of the amount of thought that went into this post by dividing each section into a specific sub genre in science fiction and the many unfamiliar books she has mentioned. If you’re looking for something different or something specific in the science fiction genre please do check out her post!

☾ Sahi from My World of Books shared a post about her obsession with Chinese Dramas and thoughts on Nirvana and Fire. Something that I’ve recently gotten into is Chinese dramas! I am immediately attracted to this post because I would like to know what other Chinese dramas my mutuals are watching. I saw a few favorites such as Word of Honor and The Untamed (I need to watch this). If you’re a fan of C-Dramas please do read this post!

☾ Amanda from Bookish Brews posted a list of Diverse Climate Fiction books. In some ways this post by Amanda specifically focuses on a sci-fi sub genre of Climate Fiction and who knew that there are so many books set in a world that focuses on the climate. Amanda did a great job listing the recommendations and I personally recommend The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He, it is a stand alone that is though provoking and deeply emotional read.

☾ Belle from This Belle Reads Too posted a review of Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur. For the longest time I’ve wanted to read one of June Hur’s books reading Belle’s review for Forest of Stolen Girls only made me want to read the book. Hopefully I can get to it soon! Please do check out Belle’s post if you’re looking into reading the book!

☾ Katja from Life and Other Disasters shared a post researching if she and Tom Hiddleston are compatible readers. With the release of Loki on Disney+ I wanted to know what Tom Hiddleston atually reads. Katja made this post reading through the books that Tom likes and it is such a fun series she’s been doing that everyone should check out. I personally think she should read books that Rap Monster from BTS likes!

☾ Asra from Uncreative Asra posted her Mid Year Check In Tag 2021. Another list post done by Asra sharing some of her favorite reads in the first half of 2021 and a few disappointing reads. Of course a few books she’s anticipating and expect to finish by the end of the year. Please do check out her post and give her like+follow <3

☾ Shannon from Discovery Elysian posted her review of Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. Every time I see a review of books I love it just adds to my life span, Shannon my bestie wrote her review of Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, a book that blew my expectations in July. If you haven’t read the books please do and please leave a comment or like or follow Shannon, she is a wonderful book blogger with impeccable taste!

☾ Sumedha from The Wordy Habitat recently posted a discussion about Are Book Reviews Enough for Book Blogs? Sumedha never fails to make me think as a blogger. The post she wrote about whether book reviews are enough for book blogs is something that I’ve been thinking for a while. It is very insightful and nuanced, keep doing you gurl~ <3 Please follow her for blogging tips, discussions, and so much more!

July ?

Since it is already August I’ll just talk about July. For July I planned to read Heaven Official’s Blessing book 4, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and Iron Widow. In realization I read one of them The Traitor Baru Cormorant. I just finished it yesterday before posting this. I also managed to read other books, want to know what I read? Wait for the July Wrap Up.

What is your favorite read this month ? Any anime or manga recs for me? Let me know in the comments below! <3

Thank you for reading!

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