Time to Judge and Shame Me // Top Ten Tuesday: #11

ttt

So I literally had NO answers for this week’s theme “Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed“. I think it’s incredibly interesting to see how people’s opinions change over time, but I am extremely stubborn and set in my ways (I blame it on being an Aries) and I honestly can not think of one single book I’ve changed my mind about. Well. For two months back in 2007 I was obsessed with Twilight, but that was over so quickly and I didn’t want to post a TTT with one book 😅. Instead I delved deep into past TTT topics (I scrolled down four or five topics) and found one!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

My Theme: Popular Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read Yet

Covers = Goodreads 

Honestly only choosing 10 was really hard because when you’ve been out of the reading scene for almost two years you tend to fall behind. I’ve only been reading regularly again for three months. I do plan on reading ALL of these eventually. Please go easy on me. On second thoughts if there’s a favourite of yours here just yell at me and I’ll probably get to it faster.

The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renée Ahdieh – I’m always up for diverse books, but a lot of people I trust have posted negative-ish reviews for this and whilst I rarely let reviews influence my decision to read or not read a book it does make me wary. I definitely want to read it soon though.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – I want the hardback of this book with the black pages SO badly. It’s like $26AUD on Book Depository, but if I love the book (I have an ebook) then I think I’m definitely going to buy it. This book sounds so interesting and one of the only reasons why I haven’t read it yet is because I haven’t read The Grisha Trilogy. I actually have a question! Can I read this and still be able to understand everything? And more importantly will I spoil anything in The Grisha Trilogy if I read this first?

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – Yeah. I haven’t finished The Hunger Games series. Why? Good question. I’ll get back to you. In all honestly though it’s a combination of being spoiled for the entire series (cheers, Tumblr 👍 this was before the movies were even a thing too so I don’t think it was wrong to have expected people to use spoiler warnings), reading slumps and distractions. I will finish it one day.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas Cinder by Marissa Meyer The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – This is one I’ve talked about a lot. I am super intimidated by high fantasies and long series. I didn’t enjoy ACOTAR so I’m worried I won’t enjoy this either. That said I am still definitely going to read it and the second book before I make up my mind whether I want to continue or not.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer – This is another one I’ve mentioned a few times. I am excited to get to this. Cinderella retelling mixed with cyborgs? Sign me up. I hope I love this series! I recently found out the last book is 800-ish pages though, which is absolutely terrifying.

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski – I didn’t even know this book was popular until the final one came out. I picked this up at Target like 2 years ago? It was half a cover buy, but it also sounded interesting. I never read it because of my reading slump and I actually forgot all about it until I started watching BookTube.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz – You all don’t need to shame me for this one, I’m doing that enough to myself. I can not believe I haven’t read this yet. It sounds so incredibly wonderful and I can’t wait to dive in!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab – Another one I’m really excited to read. I saw the cover for A Conjuring of Light this morning and it looked so beautiful.This is definitely going to be a part of my June TBR.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – I wasn’t actually planning on reading this until I started watching BookTube and Blogging. I honestly can’t resist a hyped book. I’m just too curious. I don’t even know too much about this book just that a lot of people love it and everyone is anticipating the sequel.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Please. Judge away. Historical fictions have always intimidated me. I really want to read this though because I love that it’s narrated by death and from things I’ve seen the writing is really beautiful. My sister who never reads has even read this and loved it. If she can do it, so can I!


Bonus: Popular Books/Authors That I Don’t Plan on Reading

• Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
• Anything written by Colleen Hoover
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (probably her other books too)
• Anna and the French Kiss series by Stephanie Perkins (I’m impatiently waiting for her proposed horror novel! I hope that’s still a thing that’s happening!)
• I also feel like I should mention that I’ve only read one Cassandra Clare book and I have no idea when/if I’ll read more.


Are there any popular books  or authors that you haven’t read or don’t plan on reading? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to leave a link to your own TTT so I can drop by!

I hope you’re all having a magical day xx


78 thoughts on “Time to Judge and Shame Me // Top Ten Tuesday: #11

  1. I love that you changed today’s topic, mainly because I have LOTS to say about the books you put there 😛
    I recently read The Wrath and the Dawn, I was kind of scared because of the hype and bad reviews, yet I found it very good! I hope you’ll read it soon, I would love to know if you like this one or not 🙂 It was kind of the same situation for Cinder, yet I loved it, so, READ IT. But yeah, that last 800 something pages book just scares me. I’m not here yet though, so…we can be scared together 😛
    Aristotle and Dante and ADSOM were both great books, definitely, so hm, READ THEM ? ❤
    Okay so I realize this is bascially me saying : READ THE BOOKS, so, sorry, ahah. ONE more thing (and not me saying read the books, I promise) : I have read ONE Cassandra Clare book as well, ONE, yay! I feel like everyone read her books. It makes me feel less alone, thank you 😛

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    1. Haha, yay! It’s really good to hear you enjoyed TW&TD! I definitely plan on reading all of them as soon as I can. Why hasn’t science figured out a way for us to actually read multiple books at once? It would make things so much easier 😂! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t read all the Cassanda Clare stuff!

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      1. The struggle is very real 😂 And The Book Thief was written by a German author, I live in Germany, so I feel a littleee bad it’s still on the tbr 😂 It’s the best to know we’re not alone with not having read such popular books.

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  2. I’ve only read two books on your list. The Book Thief is amazing! I couldn’t recommend it more, but you know how I feel about TWatD 😀 haha I’d still recommend reading both though! Cinder looks great – I can’t wait to read it too

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    1. I’m definitely excited to read The Book Thief! Just need to psych myself up because I have never read a historical fiction before, haha. I’m definitely gonna be interested to see how I feel about TW&TD, if I don’t like at least I know I’ll have someone who feels the same way 😅

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  3. I’ve only read the first book in the Grisha Trilogy and just started Six of Crows. While having read Smoke & Bone helps with the terminology, so far it really hasn’t impacted my ability to understand what’s happening. It’s in a totally different part of the Grisha universe with different characters.

    As for Throne of Glass, you may like it more. If Celaena was touched the way that Feyre was in ACOTAR, she’d either kill them (slowly) or torture them to the brink of death without killing them. FYI though, the first book in the series is a tad slower and focused more on the romance. Definitely not my favorite in the series. 😛 (isn’t that what you want to hear? Sorry!)

    I also really want to read TWATD, buuuut I’ve been putting it off. I’m scared that all the hype around it will let me down.

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    1. Ooh okay, that’s good to know! I do want to read The Grisha trilogy, I just think I’ll prefer Six of Crows so I want to get to that first, haha.

      Haha, I like her! It’s okay, I’ve heard from a lot of people that the first book is the worst of the series and it gets better so I’ll definitely be giving the second on (and maybe third) a chance. I try not to judge a series by the first book unless it’s something I really, really hate lmao.

      Saaame. I’ve heard tons of mixed reviews too.

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      1. I really like Six of Crows so far! It’s got a different vibe from Smoke & Bone.

        Celaena is such a badass. I love her. My favorite book in the series is probably Heir of Fire (book 3). That’s a good thing to do, though. I should probably do that as well…..lol

        I haven’t heard anything bad about TWATD…yet. I’ve somehow managed to avoid them. *insert cringing face emoji here*

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  4. Oh my heavens, please read The Winner’s Curse and the rest of the series. It’s one of my favorite series of all time!

    I haven’t read Six of Crows even though I hear nothing but good things about it. I read The Wrath and the Dawn but didn’t like it… It was a bit too overhyped for me. I haven’t started Cinder even though I own that book and the last one, “Winter.” Throne of Glass is really good, too, and the transformation of the series is great, too. I own An Ember in the Ashes but haven’t started that yet either. I picked up AaDDtSotU but returned it to the library without reading it. I might pick it up again later.

    I wasn’t impressed with A Darker Shade of Magic so I just haven’t even bothered picking up the sequel.

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    1. I definitely plan on getting to it soon! I think it’ll be in my June TBR 😊 It’s great to hear you enjoyed it so much!

      I’m nervous about TW&TD because I’ve heard so many mixed reviews, but then that also makes me more interested to get to it because I want to know how I’ll feel haha.

      Ooh it’s really interesting to hear that you didn’t ADSoM!

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  5. I’ve only read one thing from Colleen Hoover and I wasn’t too thrilled with it. I’m giving her a second chance though… we’ll see how that goes. I’ve also never read the Outlander series but I do have the first book and I plan on reading it (only because I loved the show) but I have a feeling I won’t finish the entire series. I think that might be my Memorial Weekend read.

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    1. I hope the next book you read is a more positive experience for you! I’m definitely not a romance reader so it’s why I know her books won’t be for me. Same as Outlander, the time travel aspect is cool but I don’t really do historical fiction either and I know there’ll be a lot of romance, haha. I hope you enjoy it though 😀

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  6. Oh I love all of these!
    I have not yet read A Darker Shade of Magic and Aristotle and Dante but they are both on my TBR top priority list! I actually just bough Aristotle and Dante today and I’m excited to start it soon 🙂
    The other books are all books I’ve read and loved, though if I had to choose only two to focus on I would say Six of Crows and Throne of Glass.
    I have not yet read Outlander but I still plan on reading it. Someday. Soonish.
    I read one Colleen Hoover book and had mixed feelings about it – so I want to give her books a second chance but I’m also not in a hurry to…

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    1. Ooh yay! I’m hopefully ordering both of them soon-ish. I have ebooks, but I can’t resist the pretty physical copies 😅 Six of Crows is definitely high up on my list! It sounds so great.

      The time travel element of Outlander and the setting sounds really interesting, but there’s definitely too much romance for me, haha. I hope you enjoy it though! And have better luck with your next Colleen Hoover book if you get to it.

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  7. LOL I feel you on this list. I need to read The Wrath and the Dawn. Some of the others I don’t really care about. But if I had to choose just one to recommend you to read, it would definitely be Cinder. And The Book Thief because let’s be honest, nobody can ever choose just one. 😉

    My TTT

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  8. I’ve only read two books on your list as well, Catching Fire – You need to get this series finished. It’s so good, I hate when people ruin the story-lines for others though, my friend revealed the ending of Allegiant for me before I even read Divergent now its just sat on my shelf unread.
    I have also read Cinder – I read this last year but I haven’t moved on to the other ones, I enjoyed it but I wasn’t as taken with it as everyone else. I think it got a little too hyped for me, but I should read the others to see 😀

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    1. Ahh, I know! I honestly feel like the only person in the world who hasn’t finished the series 😂 I just got so put off when I was spoiled because it was like this text post on tumblr and it had like everyone who died and the ending of the entire series. I’m like slowly forgetting almost everything though so hopefully I’ll be in the mood to read it soon. Oh man that sucks about Allegiant. I was fortunate enough to avoid spoilers and then I read it on release day. I guess if you wanna look at the positives you saved yourself a ton of pain and heartache because I don’t think I’ve ever cried as hard in my life as i did when I read that book 😂

      I think I’m going to start Cinder once I’ve finished some of my current reads! I’m hoping to enjoy it!

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  9. I didn’t even think about changing the topic – which is why I ended up only having 3 actual book series that I changed my opinion about and halfassed another 2 in order to get 5 😂

    Same when it comes to The Wrath and the Dawn – I honestly don’t even think I’m going to bother with this, because I’ve been informed by very credible sources that there are some things that happen in this book that would be absolute deal breakers for me.

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    1. Haha, your post was great though! I was just honestly too lazy to even really think of anything or get creative so I like looked 5 past topics down on the list and was like “good enough” lmao.

      Ahh, yikes!! I’ve always been wary of the premise. Like the MC hates the dude, but then suddenly she’s in love with him? Like that sounds fake but okay. I’m too curious for my own good and I already have an ebook of it so I will probably read it eventually and if I hate it then at least I can post an interesting review 😅

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  10. I change my mind a lot about ratings because I learn more about the books, the authors or about life in general that make me look at them differently, but I think that happens mostly with books I read as a teenager. It’s so funny that you’re so set on your opinions.
    Your popular books/authors you won’t be reading list is pretty much the same as mine, although I did pick the first Outlander book (hated it).

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    1. I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve only reread Harry Potter and Percy Jackson 😂 I am ridiculously stubborn, but if I ever did reread something that had a problematic issue in it that needed address as much as it would break my heart I would definitely acknowledged it haha.

      So glad I’m not alone!!! I like the location and time travel aspect of Outlander but I definitely don’t care for the romance or how huge the book is haha.

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  11. Oh man! Some of my favourites are on here!

    I’m SO GLAD you’re reading ADSOM, it’s brilliant, a really great read. Six of Crows is also fantastic! And no you don’t have to read The Grisha Trilogy to understand it, it’s set a few years after the events in those books, but it’s not brought up. HOWEVER, you should read The Grisha Trilogy anyway because it’s fantastic too! 😀

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  12. I read The Book Thief and the rest of the books are on my shelves waiting to be read when I finally have the time. I’m always so busy with review books that I don’t always have the chance to make time for everything I want to read, but I still buy the books. Great list.

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  13. It took me ages to finish The Hunger Games series as well, I read the first book but then put off the second and third for years, also I haven’t read An Ember in the Ashes either (glad I’m not the only one) I have a copy on my bookshelves I just haven’t gotten around to picking it up yet (which I feel really bad about, I need to get around to it soon, hopefully before the second book in the series is released).
    The others I have read and loved, part of me feels like you could have taken your picks this week from a list of my favourite books 😀 you have to read Cinder and A Darker Shade of Magic like ASAP though, they are two of my all-time favourite series and I really want to see what you think of them as well!
    I really loved your picks for this week (the fact that most of them are favourites of mine should tell you that though!)

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    1. That definitely makes me feel better, haha. I loved the first book so much I immediately purchased the second two, but then life/reading slumps got in the way and I haven’t been in the right mood to continue it.

      Glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t read An Ember in the Ashes, haha. Fingers crossed we can get to it in time for the sequel.

      Cinder and A Darker Shade of Magic are definitely next on my list! The fact that you love all these books makes me even more excited to get to them 😊

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      1. Well that’s good at least! I’m not even sure why I kept putting off reading the second and third books, I had them in my Kindle and just didn’t start them for ages! They’re really good books though so I can even blame that!
        I’m gonna try and get to An Ember in the Ashes before the sequel is released, we should make that our aim or something 😀
        Ahh I really hope you love them! They have some good reviews so they’re hopefully books you’ll love as well! D|

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        1. I think mine was also a lot to do with being spoiled. I was really resentful and like “what’s the point” haha. I can’t remember a lot the stuff now though so hopefully it won’t be as bad.

          Yes!!!

          I’m sure I’ll end up enjoying most of them!!

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          1. Oh yeah I hate being spoiled for books! It’s why a lot of the time I tend to avoid reviews until after I’ve finished reading something. Unless it’s a book I only pick up because of good reviews! They are both really good books, I think in spite of being spoiled you’ll still enjoy them!

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              1. Oh my god that really sucks! Like it’s not so bad in a review because you kind of expect spoilers sometimes, and most times the reviewers do warn you of spoilers so you’re aware, but I’d never think of seeing something like that on Twitter. Still hopefully the books will be good enough to make up for that 🙂

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                1. Right. And this was before the movies were even a thing so I don’t think it was wrong of me to presume that people would be decent enough to use spoiler warnings but apparently not haha. It’s okay though. Hopefully I’ll be in the mood for them soon.

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                  1. Oh really, that somehow makes it even worse because yeah you’d think there’d be some warning of spoilers somewhere (I think once a book becomes a film or TV show you have to kind of accept you’re going to see spoilers around)
                    Hopefully you’ll enjoy them when you do get around to them too!

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                    1. Right! I don’t mind so much when the series is huge and has been done with for quite a while like I’m willing to take most of that blame, but this was back in like 2011. So! But oh well, it’s happened now haha. Thanks Beth! It’d be good to try and finish them this year, I’ll see what happens 🙂

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                    2. Exactly, I don’t think seeing spoilers for the series now would be as big a deal because you’d expect it having the books been out for ages now and the movies being such a huge deal, but not in 2011 when the series was still new.
                      Hopefully you still enjoy the books though, and yeah hopefully you’ll get around to them this year as well!

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  14. Great list even if it wasn’t this weeks topic.
    I really do recommend the Winner’s crime! Its such a different and wonderfully written book!

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  15. I haven’t read any of these books either except for Hunger Games and Ari and Dante! There are just so many older books I haven’t read yet that I feel like I don’t have time for new releases (which tend to be the popular ones). I want to get around to lots of hyped up books some day tho! 😊

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  16. Whoaaa this is interesting! I’m with you on Six of Crows, A Darker Shade of Magic, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and The Book Thief. I already planned to read them but repeatedly end up distracted by some other books 😛 plus, it’s kind of hard for me to start with a historical fiction, I only ever read like… 5 books top 😦 Also on my list are The Darkest Mind by Alexandra Bracken and The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey. I’m so excited for TIS because the final book, The Last Star, is published and rumor has it was really good!

    ANYWAYYY, u should definitely read The Winner’s Curse and The Wrath and the Dawn they’re GOOD! TWC is awesome and sooo heartbreaking and I like books that make me cry lol TWATD is also very good, enchanting story, lovable characters. The final books of both series are already published too so you don’t need to wait to finish the whole series 😀 I would recommend Throne of Glass, but I’m not sure if you’re not into ACOTAR… I like ACOTAR so much more than I do TOG. But TOG series indeed get better each book, the second book COM was definitely a winner! and why don’t u plan on reading Anna and the French Kiss?? I personally realllly like it and I think it’s a nice book to read between your other TBR list since it’s light and a quick read 😀

    I’m also thinking to post my own list… Happy reading 🙂

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    1. I get distracted so easily too! I’ve never read a historical fiction before so I’m nervous about The Book Thief, haha. I definitely hope to get to all of these soon though!!

      Ooh I definitely recommend The Darkest Minds it’s one of my favourite series 😊 I also need to read The 5th Wave!

      I’m really excited to read both of them! It’s really good to hear you enjoyed them 😊

      I’m gonna give TOG a go and see what happens haha. I’m hoping to like it!!

      I’m just not a fan of contemporary romances 🙈 I definitely understand why so many people love it though!

      Yes! I’d love to see it if you do!

      Thanks so much ❤️

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      1. Hmm historical fiction could be boring so it’s kind of hard to start haha I knowww I’ve heard so many great reviews about The Darkest Minds! I’ll get to it as soon as I’m done with the other books on my TBR list lol
        The best things about ToG series for me are the fantasy elements and the badassery of the characters. The romance is a bit annoying though hahaha but the plot is great so I just enjoy it and not give too much thoughts on the romance. U’re welcome! 🙂

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        1. I’m mostly intimidated because I’m worried I won’t understand it 🙈 which is kind of funny because I love history and learning about it!

          Yay! I hope you loved it as much as I do 😊

          It has a great a concept! I want to love it!! Haha, I tend to ignore the romance in most things so hopefully it’ll be okay 😅

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  17. I’ve only read four of these. So many books come out each year I can’t keep up with them all. Plus I’ve sort of stopped reading YA. Every now and then I try a big name title like The Winner’s Curse and it ends up so predictable and tropey that I go back to classics and MG. And the love triangles. I need them to stop!

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    1. I can’t keep up either, haha. Plus I feel like I have so many older books to catch up on.

      The tropes and love triangles are definitely one of my least favourite aspects of YA. They can be seriously annoying.

      I definitely want to try and read more MG!

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  18. I just read the Wrath & the Dawn books. A little hard to get into especially because of the different culture and use of some words. But got hooked about halfway through. Just read The Lunar Chronicles and loved it despite hesitation. Ember in the Ashes is great as well. I just bought the Winners Curse, will let you know how it is. Such a cover buy.

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        1. Oh my god, riiiiiight! I’ve also been out of reading for like 2 years so I feel really behind haha. Like everyone talks about all these hyped up series and I haven’t read any of them 😅 And trying to catch up is so hard especially when all these series seem to have a huge number of books and like a million pages 😪

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            1. Haha, that sounds so good. I have never read an audiobook though and I don’t know if I’d be able to? I’m too worried I’d lose focus and miss the entire story. I want to try though,so I’m going to start with a story I’m really familiar with and see how it goes!

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              1. I can happen, If you let your mind wander onto a different subject then you can miss things, but the app has a button that lets you skip back 30 seconds so you can catch up again.
                It doesn’t happen often though, as it’s playing I sort of repeat the lines in my head, as though I am reading it and it keeps me focussed on the story.

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  19. I’m just going to say I can’t even with you and move on… LOL! Kidding! Seriously, please read TWATD, Cinder, and Throne of Glass. Oh and An Ember in the Ashes! I’ll leave you alone about authors you won’t read though because that’s totally understandable. I refuse to read any Dan Brown book. I’m sure there’s others, but I can’t think of them now. 😛

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    1. Hahahahaha!!! Totally understandable 😂😂 I am trying really hard to catch up on all the books I’ve missed. I think I’ll be reading Cinder once I’ve finished Smoke and Bone.

      I want to read one of his books just to see what it’s like but I also don’t because I really don’t think it’ll interest me.

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