Heaven Is a Book

Cecile / 15y / she/her / books obsessed Book reviews, recommendations and just me ranting about books :)

[cecilereads]

About me :)

Name: Iza

Age: 16y

Birthday: 17th of May (Taurus)

MBTI type: INFJ

Hobbies: watching movies, reading, writing, crocheting and going on walks.

FAVOURITES:

Color: coral pink, olive green and royal blue

Singer-songwriter: Girl in Red

Book: The Song of Achilles

Season: Summer or Autumn

Holiday: Christmas

Food: Sushi and Mexican food

Drink: Cherry Cola, Ice coffee and Tea

[cecilereads]

Hi I’m searching for a penpal

Someone between 15-18 years old, that loves to write about books, movies/series and just yap about their life. Bonus points if you like to scrap book and make a whole art project from it :) (bc i certainly will and spoil with little gifts :)

A little bit about me:

My name is Iza, I am 16y female and live in the Netherlands. I love cats, books and series/movies. Loves to go on walks and to go to the gym. I like those themed pen pal letters and want to send it with candy, crystals, stickers and other cute gifts :)

If you are interested; my account on globalpenfriends.com -> Iza.444

[cecilereads]

25 sapphic books + summary <3

1. She Gets the Girl - Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Molly’s hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all.

2. Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

Lily comes across an ad for the titular Telegraph Club in the newspaper and then discovers that one of her classmates, Kath, has been to the nightclub

3. The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

Queen Sabran the Ninth's power in Inys is tenuous; she has yet to produce an heir to the throne and the Nameless One threatens to awaken again. Ead Duryan is an outsider from the South who acts as a lady-in-waiting and protector to Sabran, but is loyal to the secret mage society of the Priory, which has its own view of the history of Cleolind, the Mother, and Sir Galian, the Deceiver. Meanwhile, Lord Arteloth Beck, close friend of Sabran, is banished from Inys on a futile quest by those who seek to weaken the queen.

4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

An old Hollywood actor Evelyn Hugo is determined to secure an A-List spot in the industry by doing whatever it takes to get there. While attempting to complete her rise to stardom, she marries seven husbands and outlives them all.

5. This is How You Lose The Time War - Max Gladstone

Red and Blue are change agents who work for rival time traveling agencies–Blue for the Garden, a vast organic consciousness. Red works for the Agency, a Technotopia. While traveling to different “strands” of history and time to change history, they start to write each other letters…

6. I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston

High school senior Chloe Green seeks to uncover why Shara Wheeler, the most popular girl in school, vanished on prom night soon after kissing Chloe.

7. We Are Okay - Nina Lacour

Marin lost her mother when she was 3 in a surfing accident. Her grandfather raised her and she grew up near that same beach in San Francisco. After her grandfather dies, Marin leaves for New York without talking to anyone or retrieving any of their possessions from their house. For months, she refuses to respond to or contact anyone from California. When Mabel comes for a visit after 4 months of silence, it’s time for them to reconnect with each other again.

8. One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

9. The Falling in Love Montage - Ciara Smyth

A chance encounter at an end-of-term house party will change Saoirse's life in more ways than she could have ever imagined.

10. She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan

Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

11. Cinderella is Dead - Kalynn Bayron

Set in the town Mersailles, where every girl lives in fear of the day she is chosen by the King to attend the ball, it follows a girl who is determined to destroy the cruel rules she's been forced to follow called Sophia.

12. This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron

A teenager explores her magical connections to greenery and gods. Briseis Greene is a Black high schooler with magical powers that she hides from most people save her adoptive mothers, Thandie and Angie. She has an innate connection to plants and is even able to grow them from seeds using just her mind and hands.

13. Everything Leads to You - Nina Lacour

Finding an old letter written by a recently deceased movie star, Emi and Charlotte become swept up in the mystery of his life. The letter leads them to Ava, who lives in a shelter for teens. Emi is drawn to this talented and beautiful girl who could help Emi get over her ex-girlfriend and first true love.

14. Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen

A girl who can capture someone's essence in a painting struggles with finding her own. Atlanta senior Codi and her friends, Maritza and JaKory, are restless and feel like they've missed out on the full teenage experience—living boldly and taking risks.

15. She Drives Me Crazy - Kelly Quindlen

After an embarrassing loss to her ex-girlfriend in their first basketball game of the season, seventeen-year-old Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, Irene Abraham, head cheerleader for the Fighting Reindeer.

16. Something To Talk About - Meryl Wilsner

A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance. Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple.

17. Who I Was With Her - Nita Tynda

17-year old Corinne her girlfriend, Maggie, suddenly dies in a car accident. But because both girls were still in the closet, nobody knew that they were in a relationship. We follow Corinne as she tries to deal with this loss while nobody knows what Maggie meant to her.

18. Sweet and Bitter Magic - Adrienne Tooley

A witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.

19. Crier’s War - Nina Varela

Ayla is a human servant of the Automae—a race of artificial humans that have become the ruling class. After her family is murdered by Automae, Ayla plans to kill the sovereign's daughter, Lady Crier.

20. Malice - Heather Walter

Alyce is a Grace, a group of magical girls who create potions and charms for all paying customers of the kingdom. But she is not like the other Graces. They call her the Dark Grace and she is feared for her dark magic. Princess Aurora is kind, gracious, and pure, and she is destined to be the future queen of Briar. When Alyce and Aurora meet, the unlikeliest of relationships begins to flourish.

21. Written in The Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass…

22. Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner

Cassie Klein and Erin Bennett meet at a bar and have a casual one-night stand. It's fine until the next morning when Cassie goes to breakfast with her best friend, Parker, only to realize they're meeting Parker's mom, Erin, the same Erin from the previous night.

23. Just Might Work - Katia Rose

As a self-proclaimed ‘cosmically guided matchmaker,’ she’s played every card in the deck trying to set Dane up with the perfect match she’s found. The problem? The ‘perfect’ match is Evangeline Hudson. Dane and Evangeline rent rooms in Dane’s eccentric aunt’s house, but that’s where their similarities end. Dane is a drifter who freewheels from one odd job to the next, and Evangeline is an overachieving undergrad with a ten year plan so detailed it reads like an autobiography.

24. Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan

Morgan, an elite track athlete, is forced to transfer high schools late in her senior year after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic school's code of conduct. There, she meets Ruby, who has two hobbies: tinkering with her baby blue 1970 Ford Torino and competing in local beauty pageants, the latter to live out the dreams of her overbearing mother.

25. Read Between The Lines - Rachel Lacey

Rosie Taft is living her best life. She owns and operates her late mother’s independent bookstore in New York. Books are her life, and one of her true joys is finding just the right book for each of her patrons. She’s created quite a little community revolving around book clubs and author signings. The only thing missing from her life is a partner who will sweep her off her feet like the ones in the romance novels she loves reading.

[cecilereads]

Isaacs reading list in Heartstopper

Season 1

Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert

Naruto vol. 72 - Masashi Kishimoto

Quantum Mechanics - Leonard Susskind & Art Friedman

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson

Proud - Gareth Thomas

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman

Gender Explorers - Juno Roche

The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

There is no Planet B - Mike Berners-Lee

Season 2

Ace of Spades - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays - Oscar Wilde

Booklovers - Emily Henry

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We Are Okay - Nina Lacour

The Outsider - Albert Camus

Birthday - Meredith Russo

The Awakening - Kate Choppin

Crush - Richard Siken

Boy Erased - Garrard Conley

The Swimming Pool Library - Alan Hollinghurst

I Love This Part - Tillie Walden

We Have Always Been Here - Samra Habib

Summer Bird Blue - Akemi Dawn Bowman

Ace - Angela Chen

[cecilereads]

BOOK REVIEW: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

This book was definitely something.

First I want to warn that this book may be triggering to some people, as it contains bits of (sexual) abuse and drug use.

The book was written in the perspective of an introverted and observant child named Charlie, who writes letters to his friend, which by ‘friend’ I think he means us readers. The whole book consists of letters written by the main character Charlie, where he writes about his high school experience as a freshman, his first love, first sexual experiences, loss, pain, and feeling isolated.

I am a big introvert, and reading this gave me a new kind of comfort. I relate to him on so many levels and it is just crazy to me how well he can describe certain feelings in this book, like how it feels like to have finally friends, and feeling infinite.

There is a small bit of queer representation by the side characters, but mostly angst, knowing that it takes place in the early 1990’s.

I haven’t watched the film yet, but I definitely would watch that movie.

So, I definitely recommend this book for introverts who sometimes thinks too much at once.

“We accept the love we think we deserve”

Rating:

Worldbuilding: 9/10

Characters: 8.9/10

Writing: 8.5/10

Plot: 7/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

overall: 8.2/10

[cecilereads]

“He is half of my soul, as the poets say”

-Achilles, The Song of Achilles

[cecilereads]

NEWS FOR ALL A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER FANS

It is official: BBC is developing a series based on the good girls guide to murder book series from Holly Jackson.

Holly Jackson: “I am beyond thrilled that A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has found its perfect home with Moonage Pictures and the BBC. It is a privilege to be working alongside such a talented and creative team who are as invested in the characters and story as I am.

I can’t wait to introduce Pip and Ravi to a whole new audience, and to welcome back readers who have missed our partners in crime.”

With:

Emma Myers as Pippa Fitz-Amobi

Zain Iqbal as Ravi Singh

[cecilereads]

My TBR list

The Perks of Being a Wallflower -Stephen Chbosky

The Fault in our Stars -John Green

Turtles All the Way Down -John Green

Dead Poets Society -Nancy H Kleinbaum

Girl in Pieces -Kathleen Glasgow

Circe -Madeline Miller

The Picture of Dorian Gray -Oscar Wilde

The Sun and the Star -Rick Riordan

The Collector -John Fowles

Ugly Love -Colleen Hoover

Reminders of Him -Colleen Hoover

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo -Taylor Jenkins

The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton

A Single man -Christopher Isherwood

Things We Never Got Over - Lucy Score

Throttled (diai 1) - Lauren Asher

Collided (diai 2) - Lauren Asher

Wrecked (diai 3) - Lauren Asher

Redeemed (diai 4) - Lauren Asher

Seven Days in June - Tia Williams

Ex Talk - Rachel Lynn Solomon

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

The Cruel Prince (tfota 1) - Holly Black

The Wicked King (tfota 2) - Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing (tfota 3) - Holly Black

The King of Elfhame (tfota 4) - Holly Black

The Lost Sisters (tfota 5) - Holly Black

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

One of Us is Lying (oouil 1) - Karen M McManus

One of Us is Next (oouil 2) - Karen M McManus

One of Us is Back (oouil 3) - Karen M McManus

Two Can Keep a Secret - Karen M McManus

Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

Six of Crows (soc 1) - Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom - (soc 2) - Leigh Bardugo

Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

The Cousins - Karen M McManus

The Fine Print - Lauren Asher

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

She Gets the Girl - Rachael Lippincott

The Summer I Turned Pretty (tsitp 1) - Jenny Han

It’s Not Summer Without You (tsitp 2) - Jenny Han

We’ll Always Have Summer (tsitp 3) - Jenny Han

Something To Talk About - Meryl Wilsner

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner

[cecilereads]

BOOK REVIEW: The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon

I have never read a book from Samantha Shannon before, but it have been on my tbr list for AGES.

I am really proud that I finally finished this book, because I am not a fast reader, but this book took longer than it should have. I had a pretty hard time really getting in the story and understanding the different perspectives, and the last 100 pages were a bit tiring.

But, it is beautifully written. There’s a lot of effort and detail in this fictional world, with the different kingdoms and religions. The way that this story weaves its way through the book, with the different main characters crossing their paths, really fascinates me.

I also like that there are feminine warriors, knights and rulers in this story, as well as a good queer representation. I LOVE Sabran and Ead together, and also Niclays and Jannart, though they definitely deserved more ‘screentime’.

It’s nice that it doesn’t end with a huge cliffhanger, so you don’t necessarily need to read the second book.

So, I love the way this book is written, the worldbuilding is very good, but the story was a bit too long and complicated for me, as a slow reader. I do really recommend this book for everyone who loves queer fantasy.

Rating:

Worldbuilding: 9/10

Characters: 8.8/10

Writing: 9/10

Plot: 8/10

Enjoyment: 7.5/10

overall: 8.5/10