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book review: end credits by patty lin
Rating: Genre: memoir synopsis. The only script you can really write in life is your own. What if achieving your professional dreams comes at too high a personal cost? That’s what screenwriter Patty Lin started to ask herself after years in the cutthroat TV industry. One minute she was a tourist, begging her way into…
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book review: where you see yourself by claire forrest
“They say you can’t be what you don’t see. Well, I just saw it.” Claire Forrest, Where You See Yourself Rating: Genre: young adult fiction Rep: disability (wheelchair user, cerebral palsy – based on author’s personal experiences) synopsis. The stunning debut that Nina LaCour called “beautiful” and “important.” Where You See Yourself combines an unforgettable coming-of-age tale,…
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days at the morisaki bookshop by satoshi yagisawa with eric ozawa (translator)
“It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our lives trying to find our way. It’s like that Santōka Taneda poem, the one that goes, ‘On and on, in and in, and still the blue-green mountains.” Rating:…
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book review: breathe and count back from ten by natalia sylvester
“people talk about pain like it’s measurable. they’ll ask me to put it on a scale from one to ten. but I’ve been pushing it away so long it’s like my barometer’s broken.” Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester Rating: Genre: young adult fiction Disability Rep: hip dysplasia, chronic pain synopsis. In…
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book review: how to write an autobiographical novel by alexander chee
“there’s a reason that whenever fascists come to power, the writers are among the first to go to jail.” How to Write An Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee Rating: Format: paperback & audiobook Page Count: 277 Genre: nonfiction memoir synopsis. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is the author’s manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and…
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book review: yellowface by r.f. kung
Rating: Format: audiobook Length: 8 hours, 39 minutes Genre: adult fiction synopsis. Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls,…
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sapphic book recommendations | sapphics of color
This post is about some of my favorite sapphic books that highlight authors & characters of color! This is the first part of a series I’m working on to raise awareness of sapphic books NOT focused on white, cis, “feminine,” able-bodied, women. 📖 ”are you like the girls in the book too? because i think i…
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book review: good talk by mira jacob
Rating: Format: physical book Page Count: 349 Release Date: 03.26.2019 Genre: graphic novel memoir synopsis. Mira Jacob’s touching, often humorous, and utterly unique graphic memoir takes readers on her journey as a first-generation American. At an increasingly fraught time for immigrants and their families, Good Talk delves into the difficult conversations about race, sex, love, and family…
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Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy, 1)
Rating: Format: Physical book Page Count: 358 Release Date: 06.05.2012 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy synopsis. Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of…
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Original Poem | Broken Wings
Broken Wings Never doing the right thing Because I keep forgetting That my wings Are broken Always convincing everyone it’s okay Because I keep thinking That not rising from the ashes Clashes with all the advances I’ve made I used to fly to forget What do I do now that these wings Will collect every…
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eARC Book Review: American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar
Rating: Format: Ebook Page Count: 368 Release Date: 3.09.2021 Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. American Betiya was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, and it definitely did not disappoint. It…
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Book Review: Ritu Weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar
Overview Ritu Weds Chandni was one of the most beautiful children’s books I’ve ever read. It was a heartbreaking yet inspiring story about a young person–not yet exposed to the hatred and bigotry of the world–defending her cousin’s happiness and “non-traditional” marriage to her girlfriend. It revealed a lot of the hatred present in the…
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YA Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by South Asian Authors To Look Forward to in 2021
South Asians are one of the most underrepresented communities in literature–especially in YA– so this is the third and final part in my series of guides for you to learn about the YA books by and about South Asians coming out in 2021. The main goal of this series is to not only highlight these…
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YA Contemporaries by South Asian Authors To Look Forward to in 2021
South Asians are one of the most underrepresented communities in literature–especially in YA– so this is the second part in my series of guides for you to learn about the YA books by and about South Asians coming out in 2021. The main goal of this series is to not only highlight these books, but…
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YA Romances by South Asian Authors To Look Forward To in 2021
I’m going to be doing something a bit different this year in terms of sharing books I’m excited for in 2021. I’ve always been a passionate advocate for diverse representation in YA, but it wasn’t until last year that I started advocated for my own community and voices that look and sound like me, as…
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South Asian Bookish Creators Launch / 1.1.2021
Happy New Year my loves! I hope you all rung in 2021 with lots of love and joy, and moreover I hope that this year is the full of happiness and good health for you and your loved ones. The announcement I’m making today, for my first post of this new year, is one I’ve…
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original poem // serial spinning
Serial Spinning Point my toes, forget all my woes. The world is a disappearing blur As I pirouette around, Unaware of the heartbreak I will incur Late at night As I feel devoid of light And even imagining becomes a fight Because it felt so right. Throw my body back in the air, eyes on…
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eARC Review: Admission by Julie Buxbaum
Rating: Format: Ebook Page Count: 304 Release Date: 12.1.2020 Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Synopsis From the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes an of-the-moment novel that…
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Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Book #0)
Overview (Spoiler Free!) So, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even get into this book, but I let you all decide if I was going to and since 90% of you wanted me to…here we are! I initially wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this prequel because it’s been so long since I…
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Gold House Book Club Launch 10/1/2020: Anchoring & Exploring Asian American Identity with Leading Writers and Scholars
Today, I am so excited to announce the launch of The Gold House Book Club, the first book club made with the intent of promoting the diversity and inclusion of Asian American literature in order to help Asian Americans better understand their identity and culture in today’s political and social climate. Its fantastic lineup has…
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My Summer 2020 TBR 🙂
Hello friends! Happy Summer Solstice! 🙂 It’s officially time for my summer TBR–I’ll hopefully be reading a lot more in the coming months than I was able to during the school year. There are so many books that I’m excited to get to, but I’ve picked out a selection of ones that are very high…
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Book Recommendations | 11 Books By African American Authors To Add To Your TBR
It’s taken a while for me to write this post. This country is *finally* waking up and realizing–to a more widespread extent–that something needs to be done about the inequality and injustice that so many people face every single day just because of the color of their skin, but it’s horrific what had to happen…
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YA Recommendations: Books with Asian American Leads
It’s time for another YA Recommendations post! This time, partially in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I’m going to be sharing my favorite YA novels that feature Asian American leads. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. As a first generation Indian-American, I didn’t grow up seeing a whole lot…
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YA Recommendations: Trilogies!
Hello again! I hope you’re having a wonderful day today 🙂 Today (after a long break), I’m back with another YA Recommendations post! I thought what better time to resume this series than now, when many of us are getting back into reading as a result of all the extra time alone and at home.…
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How to stay Healthy & Productive in Quarantine
Hello hello! I hope you’re doing well today, and are safe and healthy at home. Today I thought I’d do a bit of a different post and talk about what I’ve been doing recently to stay healthy and productive with everything going on. Much like most of you reading this, my life has gone in…
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eARC Review: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter & How Our Online Identities Affect Us
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Let me start off with saying I am SO excited to review this book. I picked it up knowing virtually nothing about it, and didn’t expect a…
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Book Review: Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (The Last Hours, Book #1)
Rating: <3 <3 <3 Pages: 582 Format: Physical book Release date: 3.4.2020 Overview (Spoiler-Free!) OKAY. Time to review my MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2020!! Honestly, my most anticipated book of 2019 and 2020, because 2019 is when it was supposed to come out initially. I’ve been waiting for more Will Herondale in my life ever…
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Original Poem | Safe Place
Hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far! It’s been a little crazy recently with the coronavirus outbreak, as most of you can relate I’m sure. My university switched over to all online classes, and I’m back at home attending classes from here, which is really nice but also making it a bit…
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Original Poem | A Lot of Reasons
hello! i hope you’re smiling right now – if you’re not – do it!! *smile* aww, look at you; you look beautiful! did you not smile? why not? do you have a lot of reasons for why you didn’t? too sad? rough day? rough week? rough year? rough life? we all have a lot of…
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Original Poem | Hope, Happiness, and a Certain Kind of Sadness
Hi! I hope you’re having an absolutely beautiful day today <3 Today has been an exciting day for me ~ I’m writing this in the middle of a hackathon (I needed a break since it’s been eight hours and there are still five left to go !). I’ve been wanting to do a hackathon for…
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eARC Review: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. If you’ve read my article When Dimple Met Rishi and Why it’s Important to See Yourself in the Books You Read, you’re already aware of how much…
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My Favorite Book to Movie Adaptations
Hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far. This was the first full week of my spring semester, and to be honest it was pretty rough and I’m really ready for the weekend. And there’s no better way to start off a weekend than a blog post 😉 (kidding, but also not). I…
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Book Review: Rebel by Marie Lu (Legend series, Book #4)
Rating: <3 <3 <3 Pages: 384 Format: Physical book Release date: 10.1.2019 Ah, time to review my most anticipated release of 2019, and the fourth book in my favorite YA dystopian/sci-fi series of all time. I vividly remember the day I found out Marie Lu was releasing a new addition to the series–almost seven years…
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Upcoming Reads: Winter Break TBR
Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful day so far 🙂 I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted something book-related, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I didn’t read a whole lot the past couple of months…
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Original Poem | Stars
Stars You gave me the stars When I was about to hide every part of me Away in little jars. You gave me a friend, When I was wondering What if this was the end. You gave me myself, When I believed There was nothing left to be For me Other than a leaf, Falling…
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Original Poem | You Will Always Be
My grandmother passed away earlier this week, and I wrote this poem for her, my mom, and everyone else whose lives she touched. I miss her so much, but I know she will always be with me, and in this week of giving thanks, I am more thankful than ever for my family. I hope…
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Original Poem | Pennies and Dimes
Hi! I hope you’re having an amazing day today, because you’re amazing <3 And if you aren’t having a good day, know that the good days are right around the corner! It’s been a crazy/stressful/overwhelming first semester of my sophomore year of college so far (which is why I’ve been so inconsistent with keeping up…
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YA Recs| Romance
Hello again! I hope you’re having a wonderful day today 🙂 It’s time for another YA Recommendations post! This time, I’m going to be sharing my favorite YA romance novels. Making this list, I realized that 1) I don’t read a whole lot of books that primarily focus on romance (although romance is pretty much…
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Original Poem | A Word on a Page
Hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful day so far 🙂 I’m going to be doing something very different from anything else I’ve done on this blog before–sharing a piece of original writing that’s not a review. Honestly, sharing my writing is something I’ve always wanted to do, but have always been scared of. I’ve…
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Life Update + Books I Brought With Me to College
Hello! I hope you’re having a fantastic day so far 🙂 I recently moved into my dorm for my second year of college, so I thought I would do a life update, along with a mini dorm bookshelf tour. Life Update (School, Blogging, and ATTENDING MY FIRST BOOK LAUNCH!): Now that school’s started, my life…
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YA Recs | Fantasy
Hello hello! I hope you’ve been having a magical day so far 😀 This week, I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite young adult fantasy novels. To be honest, fantasy hasn’t been my go-to genre for a while now, but I’ve definitely read quite a few amazing examples of it in the last…
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LITerary Locations| L.A. Edition
NEW SERIES! As you may or may not know, I was working in L.A. this summer, and I made it a priority to visit some bookish places (how could I not, really–those are the best places ;)) in my free time. I’m so excited to share some of my favorite spots with you all, and…
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ARC Review: There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool
eARC Book Review: There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool [Spoiler Free] Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Oh my goodness. THIS. BOOK. WAS. AMAZING. EXCEPTIONAL. EXTRAORDINARY. I don’t say that…
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Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon & Why it’s Important to See Yourself in the Books You Read
Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Hi! I hope you’re having a great day today! Before I get into the review, I’m going to start off by saying that this isn’t going to be like one of my normal book reviews. Instead of my regular what I liked/didn’t like sections, I wrote…
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Is it wrong to read to escape?
Are books an escape? Many answer yes to that question, and many others answer no. I’ve met a lot of people who study literature and think it’s stupid for an “intelligent mind” to consider literature an escape, and I’ve also met a lot of people who use it in that very way. So…are the people…
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2017 Books…Noted 🙂
All the books I read in 2017 (categorized by rating) – 37!Please note that these rating are not meant to be offensive in any way, shape, or form. My rating is NOT judging how good of a book that book it is; it’s just how much I PERSONALLY liked it, which factors in how much the…
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Keeping Track of Books… | iReadItNow App Review
An alternative to Goodreads…I used to hear people talking about having a list of the books they had read and always thinking I wish I had a list of all the books I had read. I expressed this desire to some people, and they said, “Well, why don’t you start now?” If you’re reading this, you may…
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Book Review: Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith [Spoiler Free!]
Rating: ☻☻☻☻☺ In short, Windfall is about a girl named Alice who one day decides to buy a lottery ticket as a birthday gift for her best friend Teddy, who she is secretly in love with. This gift turns out to be much more than she bargained for. It is one of the winning tickets of a multi-million…
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Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer [No Spoilers!]
Cress, the third installment of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (possible spoilers ahead for those who have not read Cinder and Scarlet), took me by surprise. I absolutely love the premise of this series as it fuses together science fiction and fantasy, my two favorite genres, (which are unfortunately not combined together often enough).…