Hi everyone – I hope quarantining is still going well! Personally, while I liked all the extra free time at first, I can’t wait for things to return to normal now that the new semester has started. Online university just isn’t my cup of tea… Still, I really like getting to spend more time with my family, and getting to sleep in a little bit longer since I don’t have to commute anymore is an added bonus 😉

Anyways, while I was watching a bit of YouTube to take a break from math homework, I came across this original tag by Princess of Paperback, and I thought it’d be really fun to try it here! So, without further ado, let’s get into the questions 🙂

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Laying in Bed – A book you could/have read in a day

I read books in one day all the time! Once I’m sucked into the story, you’re going to have a hard time separating me from it. Which can actually be a real problem when I’m supposed to be studying for my classes… However, if you’re looking for a good, quick read, I’d recommend Crossing Jordan by Adrian Fogelin. This is a middle-grade/YA contemporary about the friendship between two girls, Cass and Jemmie. The only problem – at least to their parents – is that Cass is white and Jemmie is African American. Cass’s dad doesn’t want his children associating with “a family like that”, and Jemmie’s mother doesn’t think it’s a good idea for her daughter to be spending time with “a bunch of racist bigots” who put up a new fence the minute they heard a Black family was moving in next door. This story tackles racism in one of the best ways I’ve ever seen in middle grade literature and has a cast of fully fleshed-out characters that will stick with you despite the book’s comparatively short length. I highly recommend it!

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Snacking – A guilty pleasure book

Ooh, I have a lot of these! Though, in all honesty, I don’t feel guilty about reading them at all, so maybe they don’t really count. Still, a recent favorite that I’d put in this category is Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners, an excellent hate-to-love romance following a girl who gets the chance to take her sick twin sister’s honeymoon trip together with the groom’s annoying brother.

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Netflix – A series you want to start

I probably shouldn’t be starting any new series right now. I am already overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have to do for university, and devoting time to a whole new series would probably be very counterproductive 😉 However, a series I plan on continuing is Money Heist. I started watching it with my sister because we are both trying to teach ourselves Spanish, and I’m hooked! I took a break from it about a month ago because so much other stuff came up and because I was sure “an uncomfortable reveal” was about to happen, but I definitely plan on getting back to it soon!

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Deep Clean – A book that’s been on your TBR for ages

I loved The Poppy War, so obviously I got the sequel, The Dragon Republic, pretty soon after it came out. However, I had so much on my plate in 2019 that I decided to save it until I had a huge chunk of time that I could devote to it (I knew that if I started, I’d probably want to read it pretty much in one sitting, but it has like 700 pages…). And I actually did pick it up recently, but the problem was that, while I enjoyed it, I also realized I’d forgotten a ton of details from the first book. So I decided to reread The Poppy War first, which means I now have two 600/700-page books to get through while also not neglecting uni, so it will probably still take me a while to get back to this 🙈

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Animal Crossing – A book you recently bought because of hype

I actually have a ton of classics left to read for my Staatsexamen (= an exam you have to take if you want to become a teacher in Germany, which I’m taking this summer), so I actually haven’t bought that many other books lately. However, the book that comes closest was probably Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. I planned on reading it eventually anyway because I’m Shadowhunters-trash, but all the hype surrounding it probably made me pick it up sooner than I otherwise would have! And, to be honest, the only reason I ever got into this series in the first place was all the hype surrounding it.

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Productivity – A book you learnt something from or that had an impact on you

I’m sorry (not) to be pushing this at you so much, but I just loved this so much that I have to spread the word! It’s about an adopted teenager searching for her birth mom and hit me in all the right places. I loved this, I cried, and I learned a ton about the US domestic adoption system on the way. I highly recommend this one! (Feel free to check out my spoiler-free review here.)

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Facetime – A book you were gifted

A friend of mine got me this for my birthday, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. However, I’m very excited to read it soon because while I don’t really know much about what it’s about, she said that it’s one of her favorite books ever. And since my friend usually has excellent taste in books, that’s good enough for me 🙂

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Self-Care – What is one thing you have done recently to look after yourself?

With all the work I have to do, it’s been easy to forget to take the time to relax, but I’ve been doing my best 🙂 To make sure I get something fun in each day, I actually started rewatching the Shadowhunters TV series, but this time in Russian. I started learning the language before I went to St. Petersburg last summer, and now I’m continuing to take classes at university. So I thought this would be a great way to practice my language skills while also doing something fun! If you have any other good Russian Netflix recommendations, let me know! It actually hasn’t been easy to find any that are available with Russian audio and subtitles…

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BONUS – Name a book coming out soon

The one I’m currently most anticipating is Suzanne Collins’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which comes out on May 19th. I know many people are skeptical about this being President Snow’s backstory, but I trust Suzanne Collins to have made this as awesome as the rest of her books. She’s never struck me as someone who particularly cares about money and fame, so I’m very hopeful that this won’t be another Cursed Child situation, but a book that will become a new favorite!

Also, I’m very much looking forward to Katie Wismer’s The Anti-Virginity Pact, which will be released on June 16th. I love Katie’s YouTube channel katesbookdate and also I beta-read the rough draft of this, which I thought showed a lot of promise! So I definitely want to support Katie by getting myself a copy and seeing what she did with the story, which follows a closeted atheist girl growing up in a Christian family. I highly recommend you check this book and her channel out 😉

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Anyway, that’s it for today! Feel free to let me know your answers to these questions down below! And if you have a blog yourself and would like to do this, consider yourself tagged and let me know that you did it so I can check out your answers 😉