So honestly I have a lot of books I need to review SO LET’S GO AND DO IT AND JUST REVIEW THEM OKAY.
there’s not much to say except there are no themes for these books, they are just?? books i want to review and talk to you about!!
The Epic Crush Of Genie Lo by F.C Yee
- well, that was the most freaking boring and confusing crap I’ve read in a while.
- i was SOOO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK BC CHINESE MYTHOLOGY!! IN A FANTASY NOVEL!!!
- this book is horribly downright boring
- i mean, how does anyone enjoy this? like, i couldn’t care less about the mythology stories i don’t know, the stories were kind of dumped on me and i just skimmed them because they just didn’t grab my attention…
- genie is so annoying. she literally gets pissed of for nothing. her first reaction to everything is to punch someone in the face OR she screams “shut up! shut up! shut up!”
- OH AND QUENTIN. i know 0 about apart from that HE IS SOOOOOOO GOOD LOOKING.
- the writing is so awkward guys. soooo awkward. the author tries to pull some realistic crap by putting “ughhhhh” in there and it just made everything seem tacky.
- i actually don’t give one crap about the plot. they have to fight daemons? cool, can you give me something more?
- every character was just a name to me
- scenes felt so random, chapters felt unfinished, . overall didn’t enjoy.
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thank you to Abraham books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
A Taxonomy of Love by Rachel Allen
- Can you hear those vague squeals from the other end of the world? THAT ME
- I actually liked…a CUTE CONTEMPORARY WHO AM I??
- This is about a boy with Tourettes called Spencer who loves insects and animals and helping everyone out and is so dorky and smol and ruins so much yet you still love him.
- I LOVE HOPE SHE’S SO FREAKING BAD-ASS AND DOESN’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. (Did I mention she reads Laini Taylor’s books?)
- ALSO SISTERS!! IN BOOKS!! Jamie and Hope have such a realistic sibling relationship, I LOVE!! They do everything together and squeal and talk and have sibling fights and tell each other everything and just #GOALS.
- That cover which is just darn gorgeous.
- the way it handled grief so well and at the same time funny and swoony. Perfect balance.
- And I want friends like Spencer’s because they watch movies together and watch the stars and I am jealous okay?
- basically, it’s not ‘ASDFGHJKL’ it’s ‘asdfghjkl’ my feelings right now are just hey can i coddle this book?
- SO CUTE. READ IT. CUTE. NESS.
thank you to Abraham books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
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Saints and Misfits by S.K Ali
- I didn’t like it. (even tho the author personally sent me a signed copy)
- THE BOOK HAS NO ACTUAL LITERAL POINT. Most of it is Janna going COMPLETELY crazy over forehead boy (Jeremy). Anyways, that is the only thing our character thinks about and WOW, it’s SO boring listening to her ramble about him and his forehead!! AND THE ROMANCE HAS NO CONCLUSION.
- Things happen and are never mentioned again! I don’t even know who half the characters are and where they came from. I don’t understand the point of literally anything in this book WHAT IM SO CONFUSED.
- I had problems with the whole sexual assault thing too. Janna stands up to Faruq, who has sexually assaulted her, and calls him an “oozing slime fest”. HONESTLY? This whole scene seemed so ridiculous and crazy and it seemed like sexual assault was being made fun of. Everything about this scene was eye-roll worthy and unrealistic.
- Janna was A N N O Y I N G. In fact, I don’t think I liked ONE CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK.
- Janna also judges a friend when she finds out the friend has only just started wearing the hijab. LIKE YOU HATE PEOPLE FOR HAVING EXPECTATIONS FOR YOU AS A MUSLIM GIRL AND YET YOU HAVE SO MANY YOURSELF!! hypocrite or what.
- BORING
- but i love the cover!! muslim hijab teen!! pretty!!
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thank you to the author for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Blake
- I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK BC EVERYONE RATED IT FIVE STARS
- i just don’t get how i didn’t like this?? and i am so sad and disappointed. 😦
- i’m not taking away from the rawness and empowering and important messages of this book. in fact, i appreciated this book tackled rape and feminism. but i finished this book just feeling very…hollow. the book had no impact on me. at. all.
- i think the problem with girl made of stars is that it had too much emotion for me that i just became numb. every scene is hard-hitting, powerful, despairing, full of anguish and pain. i need some sort of balance. if everything is so emotional and heartbreaking, i’m not going to feel anything.
- i’m NOT saying there’s anything wrong with the book being really heavy. personally, though, i couldn’t attach myself to the story. everyone and everything felt broken and sad and drab to the point where there was no point??
- the writing was wonderful, it was raw and beautiful and it didn’t shy away from the truth.
- i didn’t really enjoy this book. i felt nothing. i felt the book was just one big message and there was nothing behind it. i was kind of just reading, waiting for something to hit me, waiting for something to happen but nothing ever…GOT me.
- lots of good discussions about music and feminism and consent and rape and sexual assault, amazing!!
🌟🌟
thank you to HMH teen for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- I really enjoyed this book and hardly found myself bored. I heard this book was about fairytales and so that was exciting!!
- I loved learning about The Hazel Wood, SO MUCH FUN!! however, I think I enjoyed the normal-real-life scenes better. I feel like we got SO SUCKED into the Hinterland, when we came out of it, I just felt so muddled
- So the idea of the Hinterland was good but we were thrust into it and I felt so overwhelmed. It was dark and creepy and good but I’m just so not sure about a lot of things.
- Really good, but I left the book feeling SO DRAINED HONESTLY.
- There’s no romance but small hints at one to be honest? Like the author sets one up but nothing ever happens. The ending was SAAAAAD for me, I was so sad dude.
- The plot twist was…meh I guessed it. Wish it was a LITTLE LESS PREDICTABLE
- Also, a messy scene where Alice is arguing with the police and then Finch tries to tell her that’s she so privileged as a white person because if it was him, he would be screwed but she ignores him :///
🌟🌟🌟.5
thank you to penguin random house for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christio
- This book has 1) a pretty cover 2) hate-to-love romance and 3) evil sirens who seduce boys and kill them with their voices.
- We have Lira, a siren, daughter of the Sea Queen, who disobeys her mother and as a punishment, she is turned into a human!! She can only turn BACK into a siren if she steals Prince Elian’s heart.
- This is where Prince Elian of Midas comes in. He rescues Lira from the bottom of the ocean and takes her on board the ship. But he’s a siren hunter.
- Elian is a sweet cinnamon roll, he wants to appear all brave and such but he’s really just soft and polite on the inside. SOFT. PIRATES. Ahhhhhhh. Elian also has amazing friends. I mean, TORIK WAS HILARIOUS I’M HOWLING!!
- Lira was a very cut-throat and kick-ass and I LIKED THAT. She kind of reminded me of Lila Bard from A Darker Shade of Magic and as you can tell, I LOVE GIRL PIRATES SERIOUSLY GIMME ALL OF THEM PLEASE AND THANKS.
- Ohhh it was a good romance BECAUSE hate-to-love WHICH IS ONE OF MY FAVE TROPES EVER!!! I really Liked Lira and Elian as friends and then I wasn’t really shipping the romance?!! Also it took over so much towards the end.
- OKAY BUT EVIL SIRENS AND HATE TO LOVE ROMANCE AND BLOOD AND MURDER AND GORE AND THE OCEAN AND PIRATES AND HEARTS AND BETRAYAL?!?! Of course, I loved it. 1000% my type of book!!!
thank you to hot key books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.
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OMGG I have never heard of A Taxonomy of Love before and I WANT TO READ IT SO MUCH!!! I also want to give The Hazel Wood a go too 🙂 Also your sass when it comes to boring books is my favourite thing?? Is that bad? THANK YOU FOR THIS!
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ELM I MISSED YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE AMAZING AHHHH. I’m going to cry seeing this comment, Idk why but I just remembered how fabulous you are?!??! Im so glad you enjoy my sass haha!! I LOVE BEING SALTY
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I LOVEEEE IT!!!! OMGGG ILSA I HAVE MISSED YOU!!!!! I haven’t been on WP in SO long but I love to read your blog ❤
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I MISSED YOU SO MUCH AHHHH. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ I FEEL LIKE AN OLD FRIEND AND IM SEEING YOU AFTER YEARS AND WE ARE FINALLY RE UNITING
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Okay, now I need to pick up A Taxonomy of Love! So, thank you for that! Haha! But I hope the next book you pick up is five star worthy, love! Happy reading! 💗xx
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ITS SO CUTE AND WORTH THE READ. and I mean, I ENJOYED a contemporary, surely that means its good?! Thank you, I haven’t been having that good reads lately ah.
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Great post! I loved To Kill a Kingdom! The Hate-to-love romance was adorable! ❤
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I did like them a lot as friends, but the book was amazing overall.
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To Kill A Kingdom was amaaaazing! I’m sorry that you didn’t like Girl Made of Stars though — I was pretty excited to read it. Maybe I will, though, because I like it when authors rip my heart out. Great post!
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I think EVERYONE LOVES Gmos apart from me. I actually re-read it yesterday and liked it a lot better but I still have problems with it!? Thanks!!
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ahh I’m so excited to read To Kill a Kingdom!! (still haven’t gotten a copy yet sighh what am I doing with my life )): )
also I’m sad to see that you didn’t enjoy Girl Made of Stars, I’ve heard such wonderful things about it. I have that problem with certain books too—if everything is **oozing** emotion and angst to the point where the entire book becomes one huge crying sesh, I just don’t feel as touched by the book as I would like? or maybe my soul is too dead and cold to appreciate emotional books idK :”)
and omg!! The Hazel Wood!! I was also left a little disappointed by the ending. it would have been nice to see Alice hold onto a lasting friendship with someone of her own age ;_;
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I think you’ll like TKAK!! Well, at least I hope you do. Some people found it boring but I think most people adored it (me included). YESSS, that’s exactly what GMOS IS *oozing* emotion I don’t feel anything?! Haha, maybe we are just heartless tho lmao.
YESSSS, that ending!! The Hazel wood was good!!
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I think I’ll love it too!!! most of the reviews I’ve read so far are pretty positive and like… a killer siren and dashing prince?? hype hype hype
also I’m so excited for The Hazel Woods sequel ❤
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Hahahaha, your reviews are the best, Ilsa 😂. Most of these books are still on my TBR 🙈. A Taxonomy of Love and To Kill a Kingdom are definitely being bumped up though! Fluffy contemporaries are very dear to my heart and the enemies to lovers trope has been growing on me 😏.
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Thank you Belle!! Enemies to lovers is AMAZING!! Have you read The Cruel Prince? It has enemies to lovers and ITS SO GOOD.
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I haven’t heard of it before, but it sounds like something I would like!
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I just started To Kill A Kingdom, I’m so glad you loved it!
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Yay, it’s so enjoyable!!
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Oh I’m so sorry there are so many disappointing reads here, makes me sooooo sad 😦 I’m really glad you enjoyed A Taxonomy of Love though, you know me and my contemporaries haha, I can’t wait to read that one, it sounds lovely. AND YES I AM SO VERY HAPPY YOU LOVED TO KILL A KINGDOM, this book was FANTASTIC I LOVED IT SO MUCH! ❤
Lovely reviews! ❤ ❤
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Yeahhh, especially bc a lot of these I WAS DYING TO READ (ahem saints and misfits) and then ended up being garbage 😦 taxonomy is cute and amazing!!! I KNOW TKAK IS SO GOOD I LOVE IT.
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A Taxonomy of Love sounds cute!! maybe I’ll read it someday!
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Yay! It’s super, tho i can’t remember a thing about it now XD
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I hadn’t heard of A Taxonomy of Love, but I love fluffy contemporaries so I guess I’ll have to give it a go 😛 To Kill a Kingdom sounds AMAZING and you completely convinced me that I need this ASAP. Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy so many of these though! Hopefully all of your next reads will be amazing 🙂 Great reviews!
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YAYY!! I hope you enjoy it when and if you get round to it, it’s such a fun read tho I can’t remember anything that happened in it OOPS?! Thanks Michelle!
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I’m so sad to see you were disappointed by Girl Made of Stars! I’ve seen everyone gush about it so much, which is why I’ve made it my next read, but I guess I’ll lower my expectations for it now. But ahhh, I’m super excited that you enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom, and YES TO LOVING THE HATE-TO-LOVE TROPE (even though you didn’t ship them as much as a couple, rip).
Lovely reviews, Ilsa! ❤
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I know, everyone LOVES GMOS and im just here like…HUM. I reread it yesterday tho to see if my thoughts would change and THEY DID but not dramatically?! I think you’ll love it tho bc everyone else did and I’m just the odd one out. YESSSS TKAK IS GOOD READ IT. Thank you Lily!!
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I’m halfway through GMOS, and I’m enjoying it, but it hasn’t blown me away so far? But a friend of mine (who doesn’t usually cry) said that the second part made her sob, so we’ll see. I’m glad you enjoyed it more the second time around, though! 🙂
And ahh I liked TKAK a lot, which is a surprise, bc I hardly ever like hyped books? SO YES, I AGREE, IT’S VERY GOOD.
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Wait are we talking about the ultimate stan of GMOS May bc she told me it made her cyr too ahah.
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Yes!! She told me she was, and I quote, “swimming in tears”, haha.
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SWIMMING IN TEARS –> ahahahha. she disowned me when i told her i 2 starred it. 🙂
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How dare she, expose her. /jk. /or am I. 🙃
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Ah-hahahahah! Someone has a lot of feelings regarding those books. 😂 I have to admit besides Hazelwood and To Kill a Kingdom I hadn’t heard of any of those books. It’s sad that you didn’t like The epic crush of Genie Lo because Chinese mythology sounds soooo good. I wish there were more books like that.
Lovely and funny short reviews! 😀
M
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ahem. not me?! im toooootally calm and am not salty. at. all. but seriously, i’m so sad i didn’t like so many of these books bc i was so excited to read thme?!?! Thank you M!!
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I like this layout that you did! I would def love to see more of this! 🙂
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thank you, i’ll have to do these more often haha ❤
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HAHA I got so angry when I was reading your Genie Lo thoughts but then you raved over A Taxonomy of Love and I quickly forgave you. I just adore that book so much ❤
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im sorry but genie lo was soooo bad, imo. A YESS TAXONOMY WAS SO CUTE WHY IS IT NOT HYPED MORE!?
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Okay EEEP A Taxonomy of Love looks actually adorable?!? I need to read it soon, thank you for reviewing it and all these other books. 🙂
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I KNOW!! It is such a cute contemporary ahhh.
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we literally have so many opposite opinions of books wow
also GENIE LO WAS FANTASTIC BYE
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GENIE LO WAS TRASH.
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RURDE
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I REALLY WANT TO READ THE HAZEL WOOD!!!! And ooh A Taxonomy of Love sounds so good! I read To kill a kingdom and I really like it!
I haven’t read/ heard of any of the other books but I really want to try Girl Made of Stars!! Thanks for posting this! I loved your reviews! They were just🤯 (AMAZING AGGGHH). Loved how you wrote them! So funny and unique!
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I hope you enjoy The Hazel Wood when you read it!! It’s a bit of a wild book. TKAK was awesome, so glad we both enjoyed it!! Thanks so much for your comment,pleased you enjoyed the post1!
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Thanks! It was really awesome!! No problem and I loved it! ❤️🙂
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I sometimes like fluffy contemporaries, but they have to be REALLY good. And the most disappointing book I’ve read recently was The Sound by Sarah Alderson. I was expecting it to be a really good murder mystery, but all it ended up being was the trashiest romance teen drama ever. D: UGH. It was so annoying. 😦
But I also just finished A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro which is a retelling of Sherlock Holmes but the min characters are his and Watson’s teenage descendants and it was pretty good. I loved the characters. 🙂
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Fluffy contemporaries usually don’t work for me but if they ARE really good, I do enjoy them!! ahh I’m sorry that The Sound was disappointing. I haven’t heard of it but it always sucks when you think you’ll enjoy a book and then…you don’t. OMG I WANNA READ A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE SO BAD!!! Ahhh, i’ve heard AMAZING things.
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I’m so sad you didn’t like The Epic Crush of Genie Lo and Saints and Misfits! Both are on my TBR, and I even have a review copy of Genie. I’ve heard lovely things about both, but I’m definitely NOT into boring books or problematic ones. I’m torn! On the other hand, I’m so glad you enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom!!! I ADORED Elian so much!! ♥
– Aimee @ Aimee, Always
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i don’t think genie lo or saints and misfits are “problematic” but they definitely didn’t work for me (Also the fact that no one noticed anything odd with saints and misfits?!) I hope you enjoy them, maybe!? I found Genie Lo super boring but a lot of people enjoyed it!! ELIAN IS SUCH A SOFT PIRATE AHH.
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You’re mini reviews are just so entertaining! I’m sad to see you were bored in Genie Lo, I loved that book because of entertainment value 😂 Can’t win them all.
I haven’t read most of these but I still had tonnes of fun with this post!
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Ahh thank you!! That means a lot. I’m glad someone enjoyed Genie Lo ahah.
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Aw, I loved these reviews!!! I’ve fallen behind on writing reviews for all the books I’ve been reading lately, so it’s cool to see how other bloggers consolidate all their reviews in one post but still keep it detailed and useful. If you were interested in reading a book with a Muslim MC, I highly suggest That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim! I really enjoyed reading it because I think the author tackled friendships, first loves, and family roots really well and gave the MC so much space to grow!!!
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THank you so much! I love doing mini reviews because I can talk about so many books in one post and it makes the comment section super exciting!! THANK YOU FOR THE REC, i am super happy and will check it out!!!
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Aw I love mini reviews and the Hazel Wood sounds amazingggg! Lovely post Hun x
Grace Louise || http://www.gracelouiseofficial.blogspot.co.uk/
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Thank you so much Grace xx
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Oh oh agreed about Taxonomy of Love! IT WAS SO CUTE. I thought I wouldn’t particularly like it because of the sport aspect (i hate sports 😂I am so bad at them) but it was adorable and wholesome and I loved it so much. The bit in the middle when Spencer’s stepmom is just THERE for him when he’s in the manic depression episode with his meds. ❤️💔That’s the kind of parents I wish we saw more !!!
And I’m glad you liked the Hazelwood because I need to read that (shh I needed to read it like yesterday😂I am slack). And LOVED To Kill A Kingdom!! Highlight of my year! 😍Lira was so unapologetically stabby and I am here for this.
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i normally HATE cute contemps but Taxonomy was really unique and cool? YES I LOVE HOW HIS MUM WAS JUST SO SUPPORTIVE AND KIND!!! More nice families in YA i agree. TKAK was greaaat so stabby and fun.
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Ah I just can’t wait to read To Kill A Kingdom!! Love this post ❤ ❤
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yayy!! hope you enjoy TKAK when you read it
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[…] going to be writing in a bullet point list because I really like that format! Inspiration credit to Ilsa whose bullet point reviews are absolute goals. Like how?!?! […]
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HI I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND UH. I. AM. OBSESSED??? YOUR BLOG IS SO PRETTY AND I LOVE THE WAY YOU WRITE AND I HOPE IM NOT SOUNDING CREEPY BUT I JUST REALLY LIKE YOUR BLOG AND YOUR CONTENT!!!
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UH HI THIS COMMENT IS ANYTHING BUT CREEPY AND I AM SMILING SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!!! I’m so glad you love my blog ahhh that means everything to me ❤ I TRY MY BEST
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