Should You Join Book Twitter? // the pros and cons of book twitter based on my first impressions

Twitter scares me. 

But first, what is Twitter and Book Twitter?

i bet we were all real curious about that stock price too 😯💸.

Book Twitter is an expansive micro-community within Twitter composed of book junkies—from authors, publishers, book-related media companies to formal and casual readers like librarians, bloggers, booktubers, and instagrammers.

If you’re anything like me, you may have your reasons for not joining Book Twitter.

The Women’s History Book Tag // fantastic women-authored stories (and beyoncé?)

Women loving women loving women.

We love it.

beyoncé would be happy :’)

Caitlin from Caitlin Althea recently tagged me to do this Women’s History Book Tag created by Margaret from Weird Zeal! (Thank you for tagging me, Caitlin!) If you don’t know Caitlin, you should hop on over to her blog because she is a literal rock-star 💃.

I Used To Hate Writing, Now I Love It // a brief history and the unexpected comforts of the process

I didn’t start out an adversary to writing. 

During what I now consider the pinnacle of my writing prowess, aka the third grade, my classmates regarded me as a deft and literate comrade. I distinctly remember their tiny, gawking faces when I would be the first one to hand in our in-class essays, and then watching them form again when the teacher would read my work out loud. For once in my short-lived academic career, I felt like I was excelling compared to my peers.

I was a young J.K. Rowling in the making. I was a genius! 

I was in third grade 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

Book Review: Frankly In Love by David Yoon // a hilariously heart-warming story about fake-dating and cultural limbo

Title: Frankly In Love

Author: David Yoon

Published: September 10, 2019

Pages: 432

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book Depository / Goodreads

First generation Korean American high school senior Frank Li had never had a girlfriend.

A total nerd, he spent his sweet, suburban Californian days studying for advanced placement tests, playing dungeons and dragons with his equally geeky friends, and helping his dad at their grocery store on the weekends. When a girl finally revealed that she liked him, Frank Li frankly couldn’t be any happier—except for one thing: his traditional Korean parents would never approve of his relationship with someone who wasn’t Korean.

Rather than be open with his parents and make them see reason, Frank pretended to date his fellow Korean American family friend, Joy Song, while he hid his European American girlfriend, and Joy hid her Chinese American boyfriend from her parents. What ensued was not a cliche contemporary about fake dating, but a complicated story of love, family, and identity.

Book Review: The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke // east berlin, untold stories, and magic balloons

Title: The Girl with the Red Balloon

Author: Katherine Locke

Published: September 1, 2017

Pages: 256

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book Depository / Goodreads

Ellie grew up hearing the stories of the magical red balloon that saved her late grandfather from a German WWII concentration camp.

When she took a school trip all the way to Berlin from the USA, Ellie expected to practice her German while she finally explored Germany—a country her grandfather never forgave for all his heartache. Instead, her life turned on its axis after she noticed and latched onto a floating, red balloon reminiscent of the ones from her grandfather’s tales. In a blink of an eye, she was flung back and trapped in 1988 East Berlin where the past, present, and future were fantastically more entangled than anyone knew.

A Project of Sorts // i made a youtube channel, but let’s call it a project

Hi there 😁!

I made a Youtube channel!

I’m calling it a project (official name still to come—or not lol) because that’s essentially all it is for now. It also makes me feel more comfortable putting myself on open season if I call it that 😅. 

Appreciating Author’s Notes // why I like them, their affect on ratings, and when should they be read

A little moment of appreciation for Author’s Notes.

Of everything that goes into book publications, book covers seem to get the bulk of exposure. They receive constant praise for their beautiful art, are chided for misrepresenting their story’s content (1|2), and may be judged for any other detail bookworms can pick at. That’s what they get for being all out in the open—easy targets 😈🎯.

In comparison, there’s very little buzz about the Author’s Notes section in books.

where is the buzz?

Behind the book covers, tucked safely before or after the main story, author’s notes exist inconspicuously and don’t drive book sales for obvious reasons. However, even once readers finish a book, author’s notes are rarely referenced asides from the quick nod in a book review or the infrequent discussion they inspire.

Maybe there’s truly not much to say about them, which is fine, but it’s also a bit of a shame considering the thought authors put into writing them and determining where they fit according to the format of a book.

So, here’s my official Author’sNotesAppreciationPost✔️ where I consolidate all the reasons I like Author’s Notes, discuss how they affect book ratings, and question when they should be read. Let them not be in vain 💃🏽!