meltotheany

[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ♡ Vampires Never Get Old ★★ this anthology was such a wonderful surprise! i do have a little bit of a soft spot for all siren-like characters, some of these short stories are truly masterpieces, and i am so thankful i had the joy to read them all. i think the deepwater van-dal by darcie little badger was my favorite, so let me go read elatsoe right away, because wow! but down below are my individual thoughts and feelings about all the stories in this anthology collection, with the trigger and content warnings i wrote down while reading! ━━♡ Storm Song by Rebecca Coffindaffer ★★ this is about a siren who needs to sing for a ritual to call down the storms, but this is ultimately a story about finding your own voice and your own power. and how some songs can be filled with anger, and that’s okay! i really liked what this was saying, and i loved the sapphic vibes too, but i just didn’t love this story overall. cw: violence, gun violence, blood, murder ━━♡ We’ll Always Have June by Julian Winters ★★★ a ten year old is saved from drowning by a merperson, and he has thought about him ever since. and then they meet again, this time on the beach, and make a deal that the merperson will teach him how to swim, and he will help teach him how to sing. and i really did like this present story, but i kept feeling a little weird that they first met when our mc was only ten cw: drowning ━━♡ The Story of a Knife by Gretchen Schreiber ★★★★★ this was so hauntingly, and so beautifully, written. the crafting of this story, and the atmosphere, actually took my breath away a little. but this is about a girl, wanting to break the legacy of all the women in her generation being stranded in a house, on a cliff, on an island, trying to cover the scars on their legs. the only time she was able to leave the island is when she had to go to the hospital for major surgeries on her legs. and then she talks to the boy from the sea, who leaves her wondering what her family really are and what the truth of each generation before her. cw: brief mention of parental abandonment, talk of child illness (involving many scars after), withholding medical information ━━♡ The Dark Calls by Preeti Chhibber ★★ this is a story about a merfamily, living a normal day to day life, that is… until our mc starts to hear a strange voice, calling her name. and then she meets a strange boy, with an eel tail, at a canyon she is not supposed to go to. i loved seeing the family and their cave in this, but the actual story just didn’t capture my attention for some reason, sadly. cw: anxiety, talk of panic attacks, blood ━━♡ Return to the Sea by Kalyn Bayron ★★★★ i really enjoyed this one. a mermaid and a new girl at school form a friendship, and maybe something more, while trying to help a turtle. i loved the way this author did mermaids, i also really loved picturing our mc swimming to catalina island for work. but i just really loved what this story had to say, and the start of this sapphic relationship really made my heart so very happy to read. i really do need to read more from kalyn bayron. cw: themes / discussion of racism + cultural appropriation, sick animal (turtle) ━━♡ The Deepwater Van-Dal by Darcie Little Badger ★★★★★ this was so so so good. this is a story about a girl who lost her father fifteen years ago while he was searching for the biggest of lost treasures. everyone thinks it was an accident on the water, but she finally learned the truth of what happened. and with the help of a vandal mermaid and the boat that was left behind, she figures out the truth – no matter how painful that truth is. this was a haunting, beautiful, masterpiece of a short story, discussing themes of what can make monsters and what can make people choose to use the word monster – both for themselves and others. cw: anxiety, insinuation of mass children death, sick child in past (that does make a fu...

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[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley i feel like before i can say anything about this book, i just have to let you all know that i was born and raised in michigan, even though i moved out west after college. but it is also important to know that michigan people love other michigan people! lol like, i am giggling while typing this, but it is also very true and i have never seen another state have this kind of instant comradery before. my family still lives about three hours away from the traverse city area, but i’ve been there so many times, especially during the summer. and this very long prologue of a review is just to say that emily henry really captured the magic of what is a michigan summer and it was absolutely perfect in my opinion. i’m also not sure a book has ever made me miss home as much as the setting of this book, and i just really wanted to emphasize how phenomenally done it was to me, and i would bet a lot of money she has lived there at some point in her life. okay the actual review – i think i can make a dot here: this book is, ironically enough, a story about one person trying to convince another person to build a home and life in a sleepy little michigan city. but let me not forget to type that these two people’s lives have crossed because both of their significant others have decided to leave them for each other! and our main character, after being dumped the morning after her fiance’s bachelor party, has nowhere to go because she picked up her life and moved it to where she thought she would finally set up roots. so she moves in with her ex’s new girlfriend’s ex (this feels so hard to type out lol), and each chapter starts with a countdown of how many days until a fundraiser at her work, at a local library, happens and then she will be able to leave. but maybe she can actually still set up those roots after the fundraiser, but in an even healthy and happier way (filled with some good healing along the way). “That’s what happens when your life partner leaves you for the nicest, sunniest, prettiest woman in the state of Michigan.” everyone is going to talk about this book on all platforms, so instead of me telling you more about this book, let me tell you some things i really loved about this story with some bullet points (besides the michigan bias, obviously): ➛ there is a very big difference between niceness and kindness and this book really shows that throughout. ➛ as you get older, making new friends can be way harder! and friendship breakups can be just as devastating as romantic breakups! but also, it can be really worth it to let people in, even after you’ve been hurt by doing so with others – maybe especially after that. “You can’t untell someone your secrets. You can’t unsay those delicate truths once you learn you can’t trust the person you handed them to.” ➛ this book also talks about some parental abuse that i honestly do not think i’ve ever read about before, and i know it is going to mean a lot to a lot of people. also the way that miles handles that trauma in the present day was something that really made me feel seen and meant more to me than i have words to put in a review here. “I need it to be okay. Because I need to be okay. As a kid, I just felt so fucking scared and powerless, all the time, and now, I just need to be okay.” ➛ and this is also just such a book about community, and carving out space and safety and love with the people who you trust and want to build a home with. especially when you’ve lived a life of not really having much stability, and the thought of it being taken away makes you scared to start to build it. ➛ libraries will always be the heart of cities, with some of the most powerful tools we have to amplify voices and create change. i am actually typing this up during national library week here, and i just can’t emphasize enough how important these buildings, these safe spaces filled with heart, and these librarians are. i would ge...

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#ARC #ARC Review #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #funny story #Funny Story by Emily Henry #meltotheany #michigan

[meltotheany]

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018! hello, friends! this month i realized that i have not done a top ten tuesday since january 2021! yes, 2021 lmao! i truly didn’t think it had been that long! so i went on the prompt page and saw that this week was a freebie week, where you can pick any past prompt, and i thought that that was pretty perfect for me, because i had been craving to do a little spring tbr anyways! 🌸🐰 🌷 ARCS TO READ ☆ An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson – february 13th ⤷ this sapphic dark academia is on this list, because i still have not read it. truly, i was so excited for it, but then early reviews kind of made me apprehensive, and now i’m two months behind with reviewing it! so hopefully i get to this one very soon! ☆ The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields – may 14th ⤷ i mean, just look at this cover! this is sapphic witches and then add in a cottage, in the woods, on a tiny isle… and that is really all i need to hear, ever. ☆ The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark – august 6th ⤷ okay, i know this has a summer date, but i already have an arc and there is no way i am going to be able to wait until the summer! necromancers, assassins, and a vow our mc isn’t supposed to remember, but does. i just know i am going to love this one. 🌼 SPRING RELEASES ☆ Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez – april 2nd ⤷ after falling so head over heels in love with Part of Your World last year, now i just want to read everything by abby! i think this one is about two people who think after they break up with someone, that ex will find their true love, so they come together and try to date each other… so that they can break up and find their trues. but something tells me, it’s not going to work out that way lol. ☆ The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo – april 9th ⤷ as you are reading this post, i will be reading this book! all i really know is that this is about immortality and desire with a fairytale historical backdrop and i am so ready to crack open this book immediately! ☆ Wild Love by Elsie Silver – april 9th ⤷ country 2023, and now country 2024 – i can’t believe! but truly no one does small town like elsie silver, and this start of a new spin off series follows the brother of willa (my fave character in chestnut springs) so i am really predicting to love this one. ☆ The Brides of High Hill (The Singing Hills Cycle, #5) by Nghi Vo – may 7th ⤷ cleric chih and their stories are some of my favorites of all time. each one always feels so different, but the storytelling always feels like coming back home and i cannot wait for this sixth installment. 🌻 BACKLIST BOOKS ☆ The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton ⤷ i’ve actually never read anything but this author before, but this murder mystery, set on an isolated island in a dystopian world where everyone has lost their memories, and only have a little over 100 hours to figure out who did it, sounded so good that i actually preordered a signed special edition. ☆ ASAP by Axie Oh ⤷ i really adored xoxo when i read it a couple years ago and i have a feeling i am going to adore this one just as much, if not more. this is a kpop romance, where we follow another character that we meet in book one! ☆ Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth, #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli ⤷ this one recently landed on my radar, because so many of my friends started raving about it. all i really know is that it is about a witch and a witch hunter, but truly the way everyone is five starring this just has me so curious that i know i need to pick it up this spring you know, it was actually harder than i thought to narrow it down to only ten, but i am truly so excited for all of these books! and it really felt really happy to do a top ten tuesday again, after so much time has passed without my realizing! and if you’re wondering why Funny Story by Emily Henry isn’t on this list, it is because i alread...

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[meltotheany]

hi hi friends! today i am bringing you a little bit of a different post, all about a readathon! but this is also a post that i put a lot of work into, recommending a lot of my favorite reads of all time, so even if you don’t plan on participating, i hope you are able to add a book or two to your tbrs! but this is a readathon that i’ve wanted to do for many years now, but this seems to be the first year that i really have the time and energy to invest in the fun and i am so, beyond words, excited! 🩷 this is a bingo board book challenge hosted by r/fantasy on reddit, where you read (and maybe expand your regular reading) with reading all things speculative! you can do a regular bingo line, you can do a full blackout of the entire board! there is a regular challenge each square and then an added element to make it a hard mode challenge, if so you do wish! there is also hero mode, which basically means you review everything you read on any and all bookish platforms – which i hope to hit as well! you can also substitute one square for any challenge of a past year (this readathon has been happening for a decade now), which i am just going to wait to see if i need to do that during the year, if i am getting stumped and slumped with any particular challenge! and lastly, you can only use one book per author! this is a year long readathon (from april 2024 until march 2025) where the goal is to read a book for each square of the bingo board! and below are all the links to help you find out everything about this reading challenge! and i would love to update throughout the year my progress! and yes, i have already started setting up a bullet journal spread because i have absolutely no chill ever when it comes to being excited for a reading challenge! Announcement April Fool’s Announcement Card Recommendations 10 Year Retrospective Recommendations List on Reddit okay, let me preface this with: all of my recommendations are for the hard mode (hm) extra challenge, because that’s how i plan to participate for the readathon! but also, nothing on this tbr of things i have not read is 100% set on my tbr! i just like to give myself options that i can easily see, but i really just want this to be a fun reading experience all year, without any pressure! i read around 75% sff each year regardless, so i think it will just be a lot of fun to see how my bingo board organically comes together (with me probably purposely reading at the end to actually complete the blackout)! and i am excited to push myself a little bit (maybe with some horror) out of my comfort zone, too! okay, let’s get into the actual bingo card and the actual challenges with some recommendations from me! 💖 1) First in a Series: Read the first book in a series. ━━HARD MODE: The series is more than three books long.  ♡ recommendations i’ve already read: The Singing Hills Cycle, The Stormlight Archive, Greatcoats ☆ recommendations that i might read: Hidden Legacy, The Faithful and the Fallen, The Sun Eater 2) Alliterative Title: Read a book where multiple words in the title begin with the same letter. For example, Legends and Lattes, A Storm of Swords, Children of Blood and Bone. ━━HARD MODE: The title has three words or more that start with the same letter.  ♡ recommendations i’ve already read: This is How You Lose the Time War ☆ recommendations that i might read: The Haunting of Hill House, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Saints of Storm and Sorrow 3) Under the Surface: Read a book where an important setting is either underground or underwater. ━━HARD MODE: At least half the book takes place underground or underwater.  ♡ recommendations i’ve already read: Our Wives Under the Sea, Into the Drowning Deep, The Abyss Surrounds Us, The Deep ☆ recommendations that i might read: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Neverwhere, Fathomfolk 4) Criminals: Read a book in which the main character is a criminal. This could be a thief, assassin, someone who commits mail fraud, etc. ━━HARD MODE: Features a heist.  ♡ recommendations i’ve...

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[meltotheany]

hi hi friends! i hope you’re doing well! today, i am giving you my quarter one wrap up for 2024 – filled with all the books i’ve read, a few favorites of those, and all the statistics of my reading these last three months! in january, february, and march i read 20 things! which i am happy about, but i do wish it was a little higher, since i do always like to hit 100 books read by the end of the year, but i was traveling a lot these last few months, and i have nothing really planned until july, so hopefully i am able to compensate a little with 30 books in my q2 post! but now i am getting way ahead of myself, and i don’t want to make this year feel like it is going even quicker than it already feels all on its own, so let’s do a little deep dive on these 20 books that i was able to read! ✨ Q1 STATISTICS  (thank you to brock at let’s read, for creating this spreadsheet that i have used for so many years!) i figured that i would show my favorite graph all on its own this time! plus, i think this really encompasses that i have been having a good reading quarter. maybe not the best, maybe i wish for more fives to come, but i really can’t complain too much when more than half of the things i’ve been reading have been four stars! and only one two star which is always a good feeling to see, too! 💕 i normally stick to just showing pie charts for my reading data, but i have been really loving visually seeing my data in this format too. i am very happy with reading over 8k pages over these three months! i also really like seeing that i reread three things, because incorporating rereading books has been something i’ve struggled with in my reading life for a while now. and i also just think it’s cool to see how many pages i’ve read via audio books, as well! (shout out to spotify, i do love you and those free 15 hours every month!) as always, fantasy is my most read genre, but i really have been craving and gravitating to a lot of romance this year so far (and a lot of fantasy romance – which i categorize by what the book feels most like to me between the two)! i’ve also been reading books from my personal library so much this year, which makes me feel good, because i love buying books knowing that i am excited to pick them up soon! i am a little surprised that penguin is my most read publishing house, and not macmillan, but we do love when the graphs are changing up sometimes! but that 5% hachette, probably just because of holly black, is very wild to see. i love seeing these charts and graphs, and they bring me so much happiness all by themselves, but i also love being able to kind of reassess my reading and how i’m doing each quarter because of them! besides really wanting to read 30 books in the second quarter, i would also like to start maybe prioritizing arcs a little more. i have been so good about doing at least mini reviews for everything i’ve read (yes, all twenty things have been reviewed), but i kind of miss reviewing things before they are officially published, too! 🤍 THREE FAVORITE READS OF Q1  (click title links for full reviews with detailed thoughts, feelings, and tw/cws!) ✨ The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez heartfelt galaxy brain that truly touched my very soul ✨ The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw maybe my favorite anthology of all time ✨ The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb the greatest tragedy i’ve read in many years Q1 BOOK HAUL  these are all the books that i’ve received since january 1st! well, i did buy other editions of the warm hands of ghosts and the prisoner’s throne, too! but the stack was getting a little too high, so i just added my favorite versions! a couple of these were gifts that i am very thankful for! and a few are arcs sent to me by publishers which i am also so very thankful for! (i have only read four of these though – so let me rectify that asap 😉 too!) okay friends, i think that’s everything! truly, i am so thankful for these last three months and i hope the rest of the ye...

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#2024 #Book Blog #Book Blogger #book charts #book graphs #book statistics #book stats #Goodreads #meltotheany #quarterly reading #reading statistics #reading stats

[meltotheany]

hi friends! happy spring and happy april! i hope you are doing well and being gentle with yourselves! i feel like i am a little all over the place with wrapping up march, getting my first quarterly post of 2024 ready, prepping for some kpop comebacks, and just getting back from a wonderful vacation! but first things first – i need to talk about the eight books i read in march! (spoiler alert – i feel like i was handing out four star ratings left, right, and center this month haha!) down below will be mini reviews, some with links to full reviews, with content and trigger warnings! ✨ ✨ Bride by Ali Hazelwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley “I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.” i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the early 2010s, reading all the paranormal romances known to man (or that our moms kept on their bookshelves). the nostalgia for books like riley jenson, black dagger brotherhood, kate daniels were so very felt. yet, this book completely stands on its own and is a really good book that i highly recommend. content warnings from the author (please use caution for potential spoilers): death of several people within the context of a war between different species (vampires, werewolves, and humans) is mentioned, several mentions of blood, kidnapping, mild violence, poisoning and attempted murder, attempted kidnapping/harming of a child (she is unharmed), death of a parent (off page in the past and off page in the present), explicit and graphic sexual content, knotting (the mmc’s apparatus is not quite human?), cursing and vulgar language other trigger + content warnings i found while reading (ali’s books really do have such good tws – i am always so thankful and impressed): missing friend, mention of sickness of child (she is fine), spider mentions, brief mention of death during childbirth, brief mention of loss of a partner in past, mention of vomit, parental abuse and neglect, and violence ❤️ full breakdown review HERE ✨ The Prisoner’s Throne (The Stolen Heir Duology, #2) by Holly Black ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1.) The Stolen Heir ★★★★ “I need no protestations of your feelings. Love can be lost, and I am done with losing.” let me just start this mini review with a big preface: you all know holly black is one of my favorite authors of all time, and her world of faerie is one of my favorite settings of all time, so just reading a new world by her, and being in this world again, was truly a joy to me and will be one of my favorite reading experiences of the year. in the first book in this spin off duology starring oak, we get to go on a quest line adventure alongside him and Suren, while they both are contemplating the person they want to be versus the person their birthright is trying to lead them to be. i really enjoyed it and could not wait for this second book, especially because we all know holly black loves a good cliffhanger ending. yet this second and final installment, despite picking up right where book one left off, felt so unlike the first book in this duology. i feel like a lot of people picked up the stolen heir wanting more of jude and cardan’s story, and were a little upset when they were given something completely different. and i almost feel like that sentiment was very heard, therefore this book feels way more like a continuation of jude and cardan’s story with oak struggling to be the main character alongside the plot that ultimately felt like a new set up for what is to come. and i don’t really know if this is a complaint or praise, b...

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#2024 #ana huang #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #book worm #carrisa broadbent #hafsah faizal #meltotheany #Reading Wrap Up #robin hobb #Sarah J Maas #Throne of Glass #Wrap Up #yona of the dawn

[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the early 2010s, reading all the paranormal romances known to man (or that our moms kept on their bookshelves). the nostalgia for books like riley jenson, black dagger brotherhood, kate daniels were so very felt. yet, this book completely stands on its own and is a really good book that i highly recommend. and this book had so many of my favorite paranormal romance trope sets – forbidden romance, bonded fated mates, and of course a marriage of convenience between our two main characters: ➛ misery – vampyre who has been living amongst humans her whole life, but finds herself as the key component in an alliance that will keep the peace with her people, while also having her own human inspired agenda for this forced arrangement. ➛ lowe – werewolf alpha who is still asserting his new dominance over his people, while also trying to assess who he can trust or not, while also being an amazing caretaker for his little sister. “I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.” and they had me truly rooting for them, unable to put this book down, after the very first scene of them together. but this also has a pretty big mystery plotline that took me by surprise, and also completely enthralled me. and ultimately this had such a big emphasis on found family and finding your own pack of people you love and trust unconditionally that i feel like i just ended up loving the entire cast of side characters too. let’s just embrace the bullet points and quickly talk about other things i really loved:➛ obviously vampires and werewolves➛ arranged marriage but forbidden romance➛ one bed scene(s)➛ the cutest little sibling ever➛ the sweetest brother and sister relationship x2➛ and also a really heartwarming found family / best friend relationship⤷ It was truly giving bryce and danika but better➛ a big appreciation of peanut butter➛ an amazing epilogue that will hopefully set up a book two in this world i will say that there was a very unnecessary and annoying third act conflict that just didn’t make sense to me (and made me side eye lowe a little), but i still really enjoyed this one and it was such a fast paced read that really tugged at my heartstrings in all the found family ways. i think i just really like ali hazlewood’s stories, and i always end up connecting with them on some level, and that just enhances my reading experience each and every time. i recommend this to all my romance friends, but i extra recommend it to all my pnr friends who want a little extra nostalgia on top of a really good story. lastly, and least importantly, if i ever dated anyone named misery, i feel like i would have to send hayley williams or paramore royalties. because the way misery business was living in my head rent free while reading this was actually insane. content warnings from the author (please use caution for potential spoilers): death of several people within the context of a war between different species (vampires, werewolves, and humans) is mentioned, several mentions of blood, kidnapping, mild violence, poisoning and attempted murder, attempted kidnapping/harming of a child (she is unharmed), death of a parent (off page in the past and off page in the present), explicit and graphic sexual content, knotting (the mmc’s apparatus is not quite human?), cursing and vulgar language other trigger + content warnings i found while reading (ali’s books really do have such good tws – ...

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#2024 #Ali Hazelwood #ARC #ARC Review #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #bride #meltotheany #Netgalley #Paranormal #paranormal romance #PNR #Romance #Signed Books #Vampires #werewolf

[meltotheany]

hi hi friends! i have been reviewing books, and posting them on this book blog, for nine years now – which honestly feels insane to type! but during those nine years, i have never done a post like this. yet, i really realize the importance of being transparent in content creating spaces, to help your peers and community as a whole. i know book blogging feels a little niche in 2024 sometimes, but you and your work should be celebrated and compensated when paid opportunities arise – whether it is sponsorships on youtube and bookstagram, or whether it is anticipated advanced reading copies of books and free tickets to book events based on your book blog content, hard work, and love of reading and reviewing! (all of these things i have been blessed enough to receive because of the book community and friends who have been transparent with me about their opportunities!) okay, that was a longwinded opener i was not intending for! but basically, i saw kal @ reader voracious create a post centered about book statistic transparency, and i really loved it! and i really saw the importance of doing it here on my book blog, so here i am, writing up my own post all about my numbers while navigating the book blogging space for eight years (since i am exempting my 2024 numbers since we are only three months in to the year!) before we get into all the stats, i do want to say that i am immensely privileged to have a place in the book community, and that i am able to cross post my reviews and content on different platforms (like goodreads, where i am a top reviewer with over 100k followers) and it really helps with my stats numbers here on my blog. i promise, no matter what your numbers look like, you and your content is valuable and irreplaceable, and so many readers are grateful for your posts (me, very much so)! please do not use my numbers as a baseline for what yours should be, i promise your numbers are perfect as they are, and i also promise they will continue to grow (which i will get into more with the beauty of evergreen book reviews)! 💖 okay, let’s start with the coolest graph of them all! this is all of my views, each month that i have been book blogging! it is very surreal to look at this myself. baby melanie in 2016 really was trying, and i am thankful for her hahaha! in 2017 my book blog starting gaining views because i was able to post 150 reviews and bookish content for 2016 and 2017! and with 300 review and posts under my belt, and with me gaining some popularity on goodreads, i really was able to enter 2018 ready to put in a whole lot of time and energy and work (and love)! after that, and thanks to having a whole lot of book reviews up, while also crosslinking my blog to other bookish platforms, i was able to (mostly) continue growing views and subscribers! and hopefully my experiences, and tips, in this blog post will help you guys continue to grow as well! also, i know this isn’t strictly a blogging tip post, but i feel like i always get the most traffic (on all platforms) at the end of the year and beginning of the year (december and january)! let me type out a mental note for myself to try to prepost a lot of bookish content for that time during the fall this year! a very quick overview, to show you what we are working with in this post all about my stats for 2023 – i wrote up 25 posts last year, with equaled out to 41k words in total! i received 716 likes and 263 comments (which i am so thankful for – truly, even you being here reading this post – thank you so very much, it really means the world to me)! 🩷 this chart really adds to the one above, because it shows my views and visitors for the year 2023! (yes, i don’t know why the likes are 14 less, but we will pretend not to see that!) but, this also lets you kind of see how 2023 went compared to some previous years. i know this doesn’t show 2018. but just believe me when i say that in 2018 was the year i was “the best” book blogger. i wrote 350 posts, it was the first year i broke 100k views (with 117k), and i had 55k visitors...

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hello friends! i am actually writing this wrap up as my trip to chicago is wrapping up as well! truly, this month was a very good month! not only did i finally get all my yearly medical check ups done (after not doing them for many years because of the pandemic), but i was able to travel back to the east coast for the first time in a little while (also because of the pandemic >.< but anyways)! i am notoriously a bad reader while on vacations, but i was also a bad reader while traveling for this trip because i got a brand new episode of d20 (fantasy high junior year) each plane ride! but i was still able to read six things before i left at the end of the month! while putting this wrap up together i realized that i actually wrote full reviews for four of the six books i read in february! i know i’ve been saying this for over a year now, but i still don’t want to put pressure on myself with reviewing, but this makes me really happy and makes me think i could be truly getting back to where i want to be with book community things! ✨ ✨ The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden ⭐⭐⭐⭐ “It was so much easier to hate a man than a system: vast, inhuman, bloodstained.” i was able to have the opportunity to buddy read this with katherine arden (and a bunch of amazing booksellers and book content creators!) and the amount of research and respect and heart that she put into this novel is so very felt, but i really was lucky enough to experience that so much deeper. i was speechless at how much she knew and how much she dug deeper to learn so many personal stories of families during this time. it allowed me to have an even deeper level of empathy and just taught me so much in regard to understanding what life was really like during this time period all around the world. and i am still speechless that i was about to buddy read this book with one of my favorite authors of all time! ❤️ full review, with trigger and content warnings, on the blog HERE ✨ House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐1.) House of Earth and Blood ★★★2.) House of Sky and Breath ★★★ i had a good time reading this. I really loved lidia and ruhn’s storylines and they really made the entire book for me. I am also still so very in love with hypaxia, and the things i would do to get her pov. speaking of, I felt a little bored at some povs in hofas – mostly ithian and tharion (i am so sorry to these men, i love them and feel so much empathy for them, but it is true). and bryce’s pov made me feel a range of emotions, that’s for sure, but most of the time it wasn’t the best emotions. ultimately, i think there were too many povs in this book and sometimes the switching between them felt very jarring and unbalanced. i also feel like there was just so much going on, which valid, but instead of it being information that we started to learn in the first two books, it felt like sjm was kind of just throwing out every plot she could think up. and i think this all made the pacing of this book a bit weird feeling. but i did love that baldur’s gate unexpected cursed dot storyline a lot. ❤️ full review, with a spoiler section and trigger and content warnings, on the blog HERE ✨ Faebound (Faebound, #1) by Saara El-Arifi ​ ⭐⭐⭐ this is such a hard book to rate and review, because i truly loved so much of it. the characters, the set up, the setting, the messages and themes, even the writing was so perfect for me. But the plot of this? oh, friends, i was just unable to be captivated by it. i really found myself a bit bored while reading, and while waiting for these things i loved to make a plot that i equally loved, but sadly it just never happened. this is a story about two elven sisters, one blessed with battle and one blessed with prophecy, and their journey discovering that the fae are real when they are banished from their elven homeland. we get to see the underground world of the fae, their bonded animal companions, a really cool tree of souls, and the different magic...

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Goodreads | Amazon US when i heard sapphic medusa reimagining with a dark academia setting, i knew i couldn’t resist reading this for too long. and this book is that! and i really loved the romance! and i will always love seeing women getting revenge and healing the way they want to heal against horrible acts committed against them!! but this is a dark book that really centers on sexual assault at this college, so please use caution and take care of yourselves while reading. (i would say just skip chapter 2 when the on page rape happens, but different assaults happen and are discussed throughout this entire story.) after chapter two, we get to see lex almost a year later, back at the university that did nothing to protect her and everything to protect her rapist, and she is ready to get that revenge that she deserves. she is also ready, with the help of her sister, to take revenge for people who feel voiceless and put fear in the men who walk around campus feeling untouchable after making people feel voiceless. but when a girl who is supposed to be part of lex’s personal revenge starts to feel like something she has always wanted, things get a little more complicated. i really liked the romance in this. going into this book, i was scared because i knew it had a revenge element, but i didn’t feel any weird power dynamics, there was no bullying towards one another, and i felt like both girls just truly liked each other from the very start. i also felt like luna’s journey in realizing she is bi was really thoughtfully done and realistic. and i also really respected and enjoyed lex’s portrayal for always knowing she is a lesbian. i know the salted pasta water is still crazy, but the sex scenes were actually extremely well done – maybe some of the best i’ve read. and i just really enjoyed watching this romance unfold. i just really respected what this book and story is, and i wish we got more books like this. i wish we got more empowering books about women getting revenge on the people who have committed these acts that our broken systems don’t accurately punish them for. And i also wish we got more books of just girls falling in love, girls discovering their sexuality, and girls having all different kinds of relationships – some quiet, some loud, some slow, some fast, some light, some heavy. (i feel like some of the comments i am seeing about the romance/sex in this book… you all are not saying this to the 500 m/m romances we get every year. i really appreciate this story and what it is doing for so many reasons, but also the reason the baseline fact that we need more sapphic stories of all kinds.) i also “enjoyed” (it feels weird to say that for this but…. i just think it’s an important conversation) seeing the discussion on how men/society can treat lesbians because the world cannot fathom someone not being attracted to men in some shape or form or way. How people will say you’re just confused, or you just haven’t had a good experience with a man yet, because it is impossible for some people to wrap their minds around their own unimportance (and their misogyny). i am pan, but i really respected that being shown in this book, because i sadly do think that is a reality for so many people who aren’t interested in men romantically or sexually and it should be talked about (and unlearned) more. overall, i just really am happy this book exists for many reasons. i loved the sapphic romance and seeing these two girls heal and realize that they deserve good and safe things, maybe even with the unconditional help and support from one another. and i also really respected what the author did with these darker themes and the helplessness people often feel. i’m not saying this was a perfect book by any means, but i am thankful for it and i really hope this author writes more sapphic romance in the future, because i will be preordering. trigger + content warnings: rape and sexual assault (on page, many different depictions, and talked about through the entirety of this book), not being bel...

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#2024 #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #Dark #dark academia #Giana Darling #LGBTQIAP+ #meltotheany #Romance #sapphic #Serpentine Valentine #Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling

[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ♡ this audiobook is free with my amazon membership this is maybe the best short story collection i have ever read to date. i was blown away by how many back to back five stars i was giving, and how each story felt so real and each story was so deeply felt by me. to me, this really is a collection about identity and connection and how we embrace, enhance, and find those things in so many life experiences. from church and sex, to motherhood and sisterhood, to our queerness and our connections, to how we were raised and our relationship to our families currently, to just every facet of life. i just loved this wholeheartedly and completely and i recommend so very much. (also, i really loved the short story fuckboy museum in the peach pit anthology by this author! and it made me want to read everything by them!) ━━♡ Eula ★★★★ “But maybe you should question the people who taught you this version of God. Because it’s not doing you any favors.” oh i really loved this, and such a great and strong start to this anthology. this short story follows two women in their 40s celebrating the y2k new year. they are both teachers, and both have shared a lot of their lives with each other, and this focuses on glimpses of the past ten years, where they have also been lovers, with very different thoughts on what a happy life should look like. tw/cw: mentions of infidelity ━━♡ Not-Daniel ★★★ this is a very short story that is showing a hook up between two people who are taking care of their mothers in a hospice center. this felt very real and very harrowing and there is really no words for a situation as cruel as this, but i also didn’t love reading it. tw/cw: hospice setting, cancer mentions, grief, anxiety, depression, mention of maybe infidelity ━━♡ Dear Sister ★★★★★ i really loved this. this is a letter being written by a sister to a sister she has never met before. it is in the midst of planning their fathers funeral, and she is detailing the events to this sister that she never knew. this was just the perfect balance of sad and heartwarming, and it just felt so very real to me. tw/cw: loss of a parent (stroke), mention of loss of a grandparent (heart attack), alzheimer mention, mention of abortion, grief, abandonment, brief mention of infidelity, unwanted touch, funeral setting ━━♡ Peach Cobbler ★★★★★ “…maybe I could make a cobbler that pleased God. And maybe that would please my mother.” a very powerful short story about a young girl growing up watching her mother have an affair with their pastor. and her learning to recreate the perfect peach cobbler, that her mother makes every monday, in the hopes that maybe her mother would see her and love her. i know i sound like a broken record, but truly all of these stories just feel so real and the sadness and hurt and loneliness are just so easily felt in so few pages. i also feel like i could truly taste the tartness, the sweetness, and the softness of this story on every page. tw/cw: infidelity, child abuse, abandonment, neglect, mention of sick aunt/sister, loss of a aunt/sister. ━━♡ Snowfall ★★★★★ two women, shoveling the snow from their northern home, being nostalgic for their southern upbringing. this has big themes surrounding the feelings of giving away the past you loved for a healthy future that allows you to live the life you deserve to live. i just like really loved this one wholeheartedly and so very completely. tw/cw: brief mention of infidelity in past, implied homophobia, homophobia in past from parent, abandonment ━━♡ How to Make Love to a Physicist ★★★★★ this story starts out at a conference, where we follow two people who meet for the first time and stay up talking late into the night. and then we get to see their journey after the conference is over. this is a really beautiful depiction of a relationship growing, and how other relationships in life can impact that (very ...

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The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden | ARC Review

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ARC provided by Del Rey – thank you so much !! “Her conviction, born of long days and longer nights, was that if the world contained magic at all, then it could not also contain their war.” the warm hands of ghosts is a story set during world war 1, following a combat nurse who has recently returned home after the hospital she was working at…

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#ARC Review #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #book tour #Historical #Historical Fantasy #Katherine Arden #LGBTQIAP+ #meltotheany #The Bear and the Nightingale #The Warm Hands of Ghosts #wwi

[meltotheany]

House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas | Review

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop 1.) House of Earth and Blood ★★★2.) House of Sky and Breath ★★★♡ all 5 HOFAS bonus chapters: tumblr + reddit this was a reading experience, friends! after my content and trigger warnings, i will do a spoiler section of my thoughts because at this point in the sjm universe / maasverse, and this being the third book in the crescent city series,…

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#ACOTAR #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #CC #Crescent City #Fantasy #House of Flame and Shadow #meltotheany #Romance #Sarah J. Maas #ToG

[meltotheany]

january reading wrap up | 2024

hello friends! january truly felt so long and so short simultaneously for me! but i hope 2024 is being kind and gentle to you all, and i hope it was also filled with some amazing reads! i finished 6 things in the month of january… but i am also in the middle of *gasp* 3 books! the three books in question are: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (66%), Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy, #2)…

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#2024 #Book Blog #book reviewew #book reviews #january 2024 #meltotheany #Mini Reviews #monthly reading #monthly reading wrap up #monthly wrap up

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Most Anticipated Releases | 2024

oh hello friends! it is time for one of my favorite posts – the top new releases of the year that i am looking forward to! last year, i was trying to not put too much pressure on myself, so i picked ten things! but this year, well… maybe i am still not trying to put too much pressure on myself hehe, so i picked twelve things! one a month, that’s cute, right? i have always been a new releases…

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#2024 #anticipated releases #ARCS #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Reviewer #meltotheany #robin hobb

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Favorite Non-Book Things | 2023

oh hello, friends! i almost forgot to do this post! so this is officially my last 2023 post here on my blog! here are ten things that i found and loved in 2023 that have nothing to do with reading (well, maybe number ten is a little bookish but we will pretend to not see the dot) !! also, i will have all products (that can be linked) linked in their titles if you are curious to know more! 🤍 ☆…

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[meltotheany]

My 2023 Reading Year in Review

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#2023 #Book Blogger #book graphs #Book Reviewer #book statistics #End of the year #favorite books #Goodreads #meltotheany #Year in Review