teatimelit

Let’s Talk: “Unlikeable” Female Characters

When I think of “unlikeable” characters, I think of characters who are morally corrupt, characters who are unable to admit their faults, and characters who do not take ownership of their actions. However, I’ve noticed that in the literature world, oftentimes, characters that are labeled as “unlikeable” are not morally corrupt characters. Instead, they’re characters who are flawed, multi-layered, maybe a little selfish, and sort of prickly until you get to know them. So I then started thinking about my favorite books with “unlikeable” characters. In doing so, I noticed that most of the time, those “unlikeable” characters were women.

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Let’s Talk: Reaching my 2021 Goodreads Goal

Hi, hello friends! I’m so excited to be back posting regularly – thank you so much for your patience during my leave of absence! With university now over, I can focus on my four loves: ice skating, animal crossing, content creation and, of course, reading! During my time off from posting, I managed to reach my Goodreads goal of 80 books! I’ve read some wonderful books during this time, so I thought it would be a lot of fun to showcase my top 5! Think of this as a mini end of year wrap up – but here’s hoping more books get read before the end of December! Without further adieu, and in no particular order, let’s go!

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Spotlight: 5 Reasons to Read the Kingdom of Cards Series

If you didn’t know, October is Filipino-American Heritage Month. As a Filipino-American myself, I always want to amplify the voices of other Filipino authors. Last year, I had posted a spotlight on Janella Angeles’ debut novel, Where Dreams Descend, and it just so happens that the sequel, When Night Breaks, was released earlier this month. I felt compelled to spotlight Janella’s fabulous work again, so I thought I’d list 5 reasons why you should read the Kingdom of Cards series!

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Review: Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach

Emergency Contact meets Moxie in this cheeky and searing novel that unpacks just how complicated new love can get…when you fall for your enemy.

Eliza Quan is the perfect candidate for editor in chief of her school paper. That is, until ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her. Suddenly her vast qualifications mean squat because inexperienced Len—who is tall, handsome, and male—just seems more like a leader.

When Eliza’s frustration spills out in a viral essay, she finds herself inspiring a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between those who believe she’s a gender equality champion and others who think she’s simply crying misogyny.

Amid this growing tension, the school asks Eliza and Len to work side by side to demonstrate civility. But as they get to know one another, Eliza feels increasingly trapped by a horrifying realization—she just might be falling for the face of the patriarchy himself.

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Book Recs: 10 Book Recommendations Based On Your Favorite Comfort Movie

Happy Saturday, friends! While we’re waiting to get our mosaic broken hearts re-shattered by Red (Taylor’s Version), and Adele’s 30, Caitlyn and I figured it would be fun to compile a little book recs post for y’all based on your favorite comfort movie! This is the first post in a series, so keep your eyes peeled for other future recommendations.  

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Let’s Talk: Rereading Childhood Favorites

When I started working on this post, Cossette asked me, “How did you get into reading?” and when I think about it, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. Literature was such a huge part of my childhood that in my mind, the two are intertwined. As a kid, I would constantly beg my mom to take me to the library or a bookstore whenever we had the time, and once she got me in there I never wanted to leave.

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Let’s Talk: Pairing Books & Tea

Hi, hello friends! I’m so excited to be bringing you this post today, in collaboration with lovely Luce from Coffee, Cups and Books! We’ve decided it would be a lot of fun to pair some of our favourite books with different tea flavours, and you can find her post here. Seeing as our blog name is teatimelit, I am incredibly excited to bring you this post today. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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Arc Review: Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows

A girl full of heart

A thief touched by darkness

A boy with a fiery temper

An unwitting servant of evil

The era of magic was once thought to be a myth, but after the Reemergence ushered forces both dark and light into the mundane world, it has since become a harsh reality. Now those affected by this strange power—a specialized group of Empowered called Jokers, known collectively as Cardplay—must protect their world from the darkness that threatens to consume it, all the while fighting for equality in a society clinging to normalcy.

But the Reemergence was only the beginning.

When another influx occurs on the seventh anniversary of that fateful event, an unfortunate encounter at ground zero lands Iori Ryone, a teenage boy in possession of a corrupt and legendary magic, in the care of recent Joker graduate Ellen Amelia Jane. From him, she learns the Reemergence may not have been the inevitable natural disaster it first seemed.

Someone is trying to tear down the barrier that separates the magical realms from the mundane. The question is, can Cardplay stop them before it’s too late?

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Interview with Brittany M. Willows, author of Bloody Spade

Hi, hello friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend, and are ready for another week of blog posts and reading. Today, I’m very incredibly excited to be interviewing Brittany M. Willows, author of Bloody Spade. A full review of Bloody Spade will be coming to the blog very soon, but continue reading to see what we chatted about!

A girl full of heart
A thief touched by darkness
A boy with a fiery temper
An unwitting servant of evil

The era of magic was once thought to be a myth, but after the Reemergence ushered forces both dark and light into the mundane world, it has since become a harsh reality. Now those affected by this strange power—a specialized group of Empowered called Jokers, known collectively as Cardplay—must protect their world from the darkness that threatens to consume it, all the while fighting for equality in a society clinging to normalcy.

But the Reemergence was only the beginning.

When another influx occurs on the seventh anniversary of that fateful event, an unfortunate encounter at ground zero lands Iori Ryone, a teenage boy in possession of a corrupt and legendary magic, in the care of recent Joker graduate Ellen Amelia Jane. From him, she learns the Reemergence may not have been the inevitable natural disaster it first seemed.

Someone is trying to tear down the barrier that separates the magical realms from the mundane. The question is, can Cardplay stop them before it’s too late?

Bloody Spade is the first installment in an urban fantasy duology that follows a cat-eared thief and a spirited girl as they try to navigate his wild magic, her hotheaded brother, a sinister plot, and the feelings they’re developing for each other.

Links for Bloody Spade: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | Indiebound

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Blog Tour & Review: Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World–and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something – her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou – a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history – Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent–and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart

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