Two Books, One Stone Book Tag

I saw this tag yesterday on Acqua’s blog @ Acquadimore Books and I had so much fun that I knew I had to do it immediately. Do checkout her blog because it’s full of amazing bookish content and she is a joy to interact with.

This tag was originally created by Shawn The Book Maniac. 

And now, let’s get started … !!!!

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1. The second-last book you read

This final book in Annabeth Alberts Frozen Hearts trilogy turned out to be much more interesting to read than it’s predecessors, and I was very impressed by the little insight we got into the daily lives of rangers who work through the harsh winters of Alaska to support the tourists.

2. The second book from the top of your TBR

This is the second most recently added book to my Goodreads TBR despite the fact that I haven’t read Empire of Sand yet. Hopefully I’ll get to it in September.

3. Two 2-star reads

Both these books were ARCs and turned out to be disappointing (for me). I definitely had wrong expectations when it came to American Royals, and it was too late to realize that the book wasn’t for me. In the case of Things You Save in a Fire, I felt that the book didn’t live up to it’s promises about giving us the story of a woman making it in a man’s profession nor did it do a good job of handling the issue of long lasting effects of trauma.

However, both these books have amazing reviews, so if you find the premise interesting, do check them out and don’t let me stop you.

4. Two great books by the same author

The beginning books of their respective series, both City of Stairs and Foundryside are some of the most unique fantasy novels I have ever read with spectacular world building. I will always highly recommend both of them.

5. Two bails or two books you wish you’d bailed on or two books you hated

I DNF a lot of books but I don’t keep track of them, so I can’t remember which ones I have bailed on. But The Seduction Expert is one book I wish I had bailed on, but I pushed through because it was an ARC.

6. Two favorite reads so far this year

As I always keep talking about the same favorite reads of the year, I wanted to mention these two which usually get lost in the milieu.

Watch Us Rise is an amazing YA contemporary which discusses themes of intersectional feminism, fatphobia and microaggressions very well, and I highly recommend it.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a surprise favorite because I never read classics anymore, but I just wanted to try Christie this year. And wow is she a brilliant writer…!!!

7. Two new favorite BookTubers

My viewing of booktube has considerably reduced this year, but I discovered Justine and Merphy and they are both so amazing. I could listen to them talking about books for hours.

8. A book you’ve read twice

I’ve actually lost count of how many times I’ve read Red, White and Royal Blue. It’s so adorable and I tend to reach out for it whenever I need some happiness and laughter in my life.

9. Two fabulous quotes from books you’ve read recently

I’m currently reading Dispatches by Baradwaj Rangan and I was particularly impressed by this line…

“Art is an open medium. Everyone is welcome and everyone is a stranger. No two people can ever have the same opinion about any work of art… it takes courage, therefore, to be a critic.”

The other recent read which was full of thought provoking themes was The Forest of Enchantments. And the below line left me stunned for a moment because it has taken me a long time realize this…

“I knew now that love – no matter how deep – wasn’t enough to transform another person: how they thought, what they believed. At best, we could only change ourselves.”

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I Tag:

Bookish Rantings

Bookish Luna

Sun And Chai

Anyone else who found this tag fun and wants to do it too 🙂