Tag: Books

Midyear Book Tag: 2025

Published on by Solace in ReadingLeave a comment

I have not posted in over a month, but I have read a lot of books! I am so grateful to have time this summer to read.

Best Books I’ve read so far

  • Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake: Blake does it again with her amusing yet emotional writing about a rich family that also has magic abilities.
  • The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart: This fantasy book is an epic tale of two sisters who end up in opposite sides of the world they thought they knew. I am so excited for the sequel.
  • If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin: This is a book about two young Black people in love. Tish is pregnant, and Fonny, the father, is falsely accused of a crime. Baldwin’s writing will instantly captivate you. I will definitely read more books by Baldwin in the future.

Best Sequel(S) I’ve read so far

  • The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi: This is my favorite book of The Ending Fire trilogy. Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa navigate a world divided by blood and they find themselves uncovering the history of the land that the elites of that world made up.
  • The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi: I was quite satisfied with the conclusion to The Ending Fire trilogy. Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa’s stories come to an end (or beginning?) in The Ending Fire.
  • Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland: Four Ruined Realms is an exciting sequel to Five Broken Blades, and the finale comes out this month.

New Release(S) I Haven’t Read yet, but want to

Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo: This is a standalone set in the same world as Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful (which in my opinion is the best retelling of The Great Gatsby). I am excited to see Nick’s story in this one!

biggest disappointment

I haven’t had any really big disappointments this year.

Biggest Surprise

Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake! It was much more funny at times than I expected.

Favorite author (debut or new to you)

Shalini Abeysekara! Her fantasy novel This Monster of Mine is a stunning fantasy with political intrigue and an amazing interesting legal system combined with magic that addresses the injustices of a world with extreme class differences.

The Most beautiful book you’ve bought or received this year

Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland: I love the design on the edges and the gold on the hardback.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

  • Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel: I recently bought a copy and it is going to be my next read once I finish my other reads. This book is about a woman’s life in the independence movement of an alternate history of India where the British are still in power during the 1960s.
  • Dawn of the Firebird by Sarah Mughal Rana: I’ve been following Rana’s writing journey since before her YA novel, Hope Ablaze (one of my favorite books of 2024). I cannot wait to read her epic fantasy novel about Khamilla Zahr-zad, a woman who must infiltrate her enemy’s secret academy to avenge her people.

Favorite book to movie/tv series adaptation you’ve seen this year

I have not seen any.

How has your reading been going this year?

My Thoughts on Heir by Sabaa Tahir

Published on by Solace in ReadingLeave a comment
Heir by Sabaa Tahir.

Heir by Sabaa Tahir is the start of a sequel series to An Ember in the Ashes (AEITA) which came out in 2015. I did not read AEITA until my first year of high school, and I still cannot believe it took me that long to read it. The series ended in my junior year of high school, and I did not want to leave the world Tahir created. When I found out Heir was coming out, I felt like I was back in high school. 

Tahir has managed to capture the feeling of the original series, one of fighting for hope, justice, and a better future while leading with love: Quil, with his love for his country, and Sirsha, with her love for a community. I think multiple perspectives can be a lot sometimes in a first book, but Tahir made me want to read all of them. Aiz is a character who I did not understand at first, but by the end of Heir I found myself wanting to know what is next for her so much. 

Quil is amazing. He is 20 years old and is in line to lead the Empire. I love how he is very strong and fierce, but is also shyer than Elias. Quil may be my favorite male character that Tahir has written. Also, I love reading books with royals in relationships that are made complicated by the family around them. This is also the first time the male main character has almost been my favorite in a book, which almost never happens for me.

I loved Sirsha – she is my favorite character of Heir. She is different from Laia and Helene; she has a carefree attitude that she uses to hide the fact that she does care about the people around her and yearns for people who will stay by her side. I love that she is not afraid to ask for what she wants in any relationship she has. 

Aiz was such a surprising character; I did not expect to see her story to go where it did. I think this shows how Tahir is such an amazing writer as I felt many different emotions toward her, including disappointment. At the same time, the side characters captured my attention more than Aiz. I appreciate that Tahir is able to make me understand the characters even though I do not agree with them. 

I would read a thousand books set in the world of Ember. Tahir has written a fantasy novel that I believe will become one of the classics of our time. Heir is an adventurous novel that uses the tropes of soul mates and the “chosen one” in new ways.

I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom by Shannon C.F. Rogers – My Thoughts

Published on by Solace in Reading1 Comment

I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom by Shannon C.F. Rogers is about Marisol Martin, a multiracial Filipino teenager, and her life after her mother’s death. Marisol is angry: angry at her mom, her former best friend, her dad for not understanding, and most significantly, herself. 

The way that Rogers writes about grief is so raw. Marisol wants to push away her emotions instead of voicing them – in the way that maybe by pushing those emotions away, she won’t need to accept that her mother is physically gone. She struggles with creating art in after. I related to Marisol’s deep desire to have complete control over her life, and her impulsive reactions when that won’t happen. Throughout I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom, Marisol’s anger causes her to isolate herself and pull back from building relationships with others because she doesn’t want things to change, especially with the biggest change in her family impacting all aspects of her life. In a way, I think Marisol’s anger is how she holds onto her mother, at least in part because Marisol describes herself as never having been best friends with her mom, so these fights, and this anger, remind her of a time when her mom was alive.

The plot of the story centers around Marisol’s personal relationships, and also with her relationship to herself. She questions if she is still Filipino even though her mother is gone. She questions if she is good enough, or if she should’ve tried harder to be a perfect daughter. All this combined made me feel like I was right in Marisol’s mind during this very stream-of-consciousness narrative.

Overall, I appreciate the message that it is ok to have regrets about the past. What is important is to know that there are people who are there for you and want to be there for you during grief. There isn’t one way to grieve, as Marisol, her brother, and father show. Roger’s debut is emotionally devastating while also maintaining hope and love throughout.

Book Information 

Title: I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom
Author: Shannon C.F. Rogers
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: July 11, 2023 
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Packed with voice, this is a powerful coming-of-age YA novel about a Filipina-American teen who tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother’s death.

Some girls call their mother their best friend. Marisol? She could never relate. She and her mom were forever locked in an argument with no beginning and no end.

But when her mother dies suddenly, Marisol is left with no one to fight against, haunted by all the things that she both said and didn’t say. And when Marisol sleeps with her best friend’s boyfriend—and then punches said best friend in the face—she’s left alone, with nothing but a burning anger.

And Marisol is determined to stay angry. After all, there’s a lot to be angry about. But as a new friendship begins to develop, Marisol reluctantly starts to open up to her, and to the possibility there’s something else on the other side of that anger—something more to who she is, and who she could be.

Book links:  
Goodreads
Storygraph
Blackwells
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop US
Other US retailers

Author Information

Shannon C.F. Rogers is a multiracial Filipino-American writer of young adult novels, short fiction, and plays. A former editor on Lunch Ticket, her work has appeared in Bodega Magazine and Newfound Journal as well as on stage with Tricklock Company and Lady Luck Productions. Shannon earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has served as an educator, after-school program director, and lost mitten finder at schools in Albuquerque, Chicago, and New York City. She is the author of I’d Rather Burn than Bloom. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Author Links: 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21941127.Shannon_C_F_Rogers
Website: https://www.shannoncfrogers.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannon.cf.rogers
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shannoncfrogers

Thank you to Colored Pages Blog Tours, Netgalley, and Fierce Reads for the advanced reader copy.