Tag: book blogger

Adult, book tag, books

Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books5 Comments on Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition
Try A Chapter Tag – Popular Romance Edition

Doing a Try a Chapter challenge every now and then is a great way to narrow down your TBR. You’ll either get excited about the books you have to read, or at least you’ll realise they aren’t for you. I wanted to do another one but needed to figure out what theme to follow.

Then I noticed that I’ve been buying more romance books.

So, why not try the first chapters of a few popular ones I own?

The results of this challenge surprised me. So let’s get into the books!

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Reading

How To Be Kind To Yourself About Reading

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books16 Comments on How To Be Kind To Yourself About Reading
How To Be Kind To Yourself About Reading

My big goal this year is to be kinder to myself regarding reading. By the end of last year, I was pushing myself to read more and more to get my physical TBR to less than 100. I managed that, but it meant that I was reading so much all the time. Plus, there were a few review copies that I’d been sent that I needed to read, and it just got to be too much.

This year, I’m going easier on myself. I’m already ahead on review books, so I can space them out, and I’m doing this TBR basket where I’ve got a pile of books to pick from, but I can read them in any order.

I’m thinking a lot about ways I can be kinder to myself this year, so I wanted to share some of them with you.

Continue reading “How To Be Kind To Yourself About Reading” →
anticipated releases, books, Manga, Young Adult

My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February
My Anticipated Releases – Books I’ve Preordered in January & February

Ahh, preorders, what a great way to start the year. There are so many anticipated releases coming out this year. And though I can’t afford to preorder all of them, I have preordered a few in January and February.

So, I thought, why not share them with you guys? Add to your TBRs, haha. I won’t be posting regular lists of books I’m anticipating this year, as these posts take way too long. But I do want to take this opportunity to share some of the books and manga I’m excited about.

Starting with…

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Update

My Bookish Goals 2023

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books8 Comments on My Bookish Goals 2023
My Bookish Goals 2023

I obviously had to do another goals post this year, huh? At the end of last year, I reacted to my goals for 2022, and I was mostly successful! 

Keeping your goals in mind can definitely help you figure out what you want to do in the new year. So I’m setting some specifically bookish ones for this year.

I’ve done away with the genre-focused goals this year and anything too specific. I find that I often forget that I’m supposed to be picking up more of whatever. So, when I look back at the end of the year, it’s always very hit or miss. So I’ll be a little more open, and I’m going to be a little kinder to myself.

And that’s actually the goal we’re going to start with.

Continue reading “My Bookish Goals 2023” →
ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood
Book Review: The Agency for Scandal by Laura Wood

I took a bit of a break from my blog with the end of the year being so busy, but now we’re into January and have a new year of books ahead! I’m happy to start the year off with a post on a book I was so excited to read. I requested an ARC of this from Scholastic, but I didn’t think I’d be getting a copy. However, I was lucky enough to be sent an early finished copy after all, and this book is stunning. The cover art is pretty, and the spine?! I love it so much. It looks so cute sitting on my shelves.

I should probably stop gushing about the design now and actually tell you about the book! But wait until you see it~

This is actually my second time talking about this book on my blog. This was the first book I did a mini review on in my series Will I Like This Book? I was intrigued by the small sample, and I just knew I had to read on. We all know I’m not the biggest fan of historical fiction, but this is one that sparked my curiosity.

The Agency for Scandal follows eighteen-year-old Isobel, a young woman trying hard to hide from society that her family is penniless. She works with a women’s detective agency to right wrongs and digs up scandals about the powerful men who deserve to be bought down. What she doesn’t expect is that one day a case will tangle her up with the Duke she’s been nursing a crush on, who doesn’t seem to know she exists. 

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Update

Looking Back At My 2022 Bookish Goals

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Looking Back At My 2022 Bookish Goals
Looking Back At My 2022 Bookish Goals

We’re coming to the end of the year, so it’s time to start looking back to see if we did what we’d hoped. Admittedly, this sort of post is probably more fun as a video, but I like the idea of writing this. So I shall!

I’ll be honest… I’ve not actually achieved as many of these goals as I’d hoped. I’ll probably have to be a little more realistic with next year’s goals. Or, y’know, repeat some of the same goals and hope I actually do them this time, ha!

Seriously though, I’ve done a lot of reading this year, and it has changed up a bit. I’m definitely becoming more aware of the sorts of books I enjoy reading, and that’s good. I think I am DNFing a little less, and that’s always a good sign. But that’s not a goal I’d want to set, as DNFing is definitely a good thing. I just don’t want to be buying books that I don’t enjoy.

I’m not getting into that here though. So here were my goals for 2022 and whether I met them!

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Adult, book tag, books, Young Adult

Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books8 Comments on Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!
Spotify Wrapped Book Tag 2022!

2022 is almost over and we’ve had our Spotify Wrapped playlists! This is always a lot of fun, even when you do have a good idea of what you’re gonna get, ha! My playlists have started to change this year so it certainly has made this tag a little more difficult for me.

The idea of this challenge is to put your 2022 playlist on shuffle, and for the first five songs, you need to pick a book you read in 2022 that fits that song. It doesn’t have to be a perfect fit. You just have to explain why you chose that book for that song. Obviously, you will not have a book match for every song, so you can skip if you need to. But the idea is that you at least need to try, even if it is embarrassing. This was a lot of fun last year, and I’m excited to be doing it again. I hope you all will too!

If you want more examples or are just curious, you can find the original post here and the 2021 one too. And if you do this yourself, make sure you tag me somewhere so I can see!

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

Earlier this year I did a Will I Like This Book post on This Book Kills. It was a book that I was curious about, though I wasn’t hugely excited. But when I saw it available to review on NetGalley… Well, I just had to, didn’t I? I knew I wanted to read it for certain, and I wanted to see whether I was right about my opinions.

Jess Choudhary is a scholarship student at a well-esteemed boarding school and is under strict rules to behave herself. Jess always has, but one day when Hugh Henry Van Boren winds up dead, she receives a text message thanking her for the inspiration for how he was murdered. Jess knows she didn’t do it, but she also knows that if she wants to live, she needs to solve this mystery herself.

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Reading, Update

The Netgalley Shelf App Updated???

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on The Netgalley Shelf App Updated???
The Netgalley Shelf App Updated???

Yep, you read that right. The Netgalley Shelf app has been updated. You might have noticed it yourself, but after using it for a few days, I want to talk about it.

The Netgalley Shelf app is one that’s had plenty of complaints. I know many people have problems with the audio pausing – though I never had that issue – and the general accessibility wasn’t that great. Was it a helpful app before anyway? Yeah. I’d been reading e-books on it and requesting audiobooks for a reason.

But this recent update has made some steps forward in accessibility, and since Netgalley really need to take that further? So I thought, why not highlight the positives so those can be improved upon?

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Adult, books, Will I Like This Book?

Will I Like This Book? – A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Will I Like This Book? – A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid
Will I Like This Book? – A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid

Okay, so the title of this book isn’t very me, but when I saw Ava Reid, I knew I had to check this preview out. This is the final sample from my YALC selection, and it’s definitely one that I’m excited about, even though it’s coming out very late next year. Specifically, A Study in Drowning is coming out from Del Rey on 5th September 2023.

I can’t provide preorder links for this book yet as the book isn’t online yet. But I’ll definitely be shouting on social media for people to preorder this one when they can.

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