I know that not all of us have been readers since we were tiny humans. Not all of us were lucky enough to have that exposure! I was one of those fortunate enough to start reading very early, as my parents are both big readers. My friend Brooke (who I met on Bookstagram) is also someone who started reading early. To celebrate that, and the books we read as youngsters, she create a rereading challenge for 2023. It is called “23 and Me – The Books That Made Me.” It’s about rereading the books that were super formative for you! The information post from Brooke is below, along with the specific prompts.

One challenge that is very popular on bookstagram is the “12 book recommendations from 12 friends” challenge. I think the idea is to read one of those 12 for each month of the year. I wanted to do it this year, but I did it a little differently. Since you know that one of my goals is to reduce my physical TBR, I had my friends choose books from my physical TBR!

Thank you to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting/organizing Top Ten Tuesday!

It’s been a minute since I did a Top Ten Tuesday post! But I’m back now with this one, which is all about bookish goals for 2023. I don’t think I actually have ten, so I’m just going to stick with a few here haha. Also, I don’t want to overwhelm myself and try to “force” myself to do too many things. So for that reason as well I’m keeping the goals list short. Okay now let’s get into it!

Thank you so much to TorDotComPub for sending me an ARC for review. This does not affect my thoughts, all thoughts are my own honest opinions.

Before I start this review, I just want to make sure that if you are thinking of reading this you check out the trigger warnings. This book deals with some heavier subject matter than the others in the series. Some triggers include: gaslighting from a parent, grooming, death of a parent (specifically witnessing the death of a parent). Please do look up other ones if you are concerned. But as Seanan says in the forward, “Antsy runs” before anything can happen with her stepfather.

Happy holidays, book lovers! I’m so excited to talk to you about a recent December release: Where It Rains in Color by Denise Crittendon! I’m still making my way through this book, so all I can say is that the worldbuilding is quite unique and I look forward to reading more. Sci-fi mixed with Afrofuturism? Sign me up 👀

Here’s the synopsis:

Colonized by the descendants of Earth’s West African Dogon Tribe, the planet of Swazembi is a blazing, color-rich utopia and famous vacation center of the galaxy. No one is used to serious trouble in this idyllic, peace-loving world, least of all the Rare Indigo.

But Lileala’s perfect, pampered lifestyle is about to be shattered. The unthinkable happens and her glorious midnight skin becomes infected with a mysterious disease. Where her skin should glisten like diamonds mixed with coal, instead it scabs and scars. On top of that, she starts to hear voices in her head, and everything around her becomes confusing and frightening.

Lileala’s destiny, however, goes far beyond her beauty. While searching for a cure, she stumbles upon something much more valuable. A new power awakens inside her, and she realizes her whole life, and the galaxy with it, is about to change…

It has such a beautiful cover too!