I saw this tag post by Zezee with Books and decided to fill it out even though summer is on its way out it’s still pretty hot out there for a few more weeks and this looked like fun. The tag was originally created by Deanna, the Comfy Reader.
I had a really hard time thinking of a fantasy book that takes place in a tropical setting. And then I remembered The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo which takes place in Malaysia. I’ve talked about this book around here before and it’s because it’s one of my favorites. There’s also a drama adaptation now as well!
This has to be A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker. Written and published just in the Before times (pre-pandemic) this lite dystopian near future sci-fi focuses on music as a means to bring people together. Despite the cynical view of big corporations and government oversight, this book offers a lot of hope.
So instead of a book I’m just going to mention The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty. This series is secrets buried within secrets. It’s knee deep in secrets. And I’m allllll about those reveals because they make for such jaw dropping moments. Because of all the secrets this series was a wild ride and I enjoyed every minute of it.
The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney is a series that takes place on the coast of Spain and is all about sirens, selkies and other mythical water creatures. I never thought I’d ride the wave of the mermaid trend, and yet here we are. Love this one!
Pretty much any of Laurell K. Hamilton’s books at this point, only because I know they mostly don’t have a plot anymore and focus on the erotic elements but somehow I still want to read them for all the relationship drama? lol
I’m trying to think about a book I have that focuses on friendship and struggling because honestly a lot of the books I read turn towards romance and while friendship is an aspect of that it’s not quite what we’re looking for here. I’m going to say the Written in Red by Anne Bishop is a good book for this because it has a lot of found family elements and it’s about the main character becoming friends with The Others.
Well, since I read mostly fantasy most of the books I read take me on adventures LOL. But of course the best example of this for me is a classic — The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. I…like The Hobbit more than LotR? Oh no, was that the sound of my fantasy card being taken away? Whoops hahaha. 😉
I rarely regret reading books because most of the time, even if they were kind of ‘meh’ there’s usually something about them that I’ll have enjoyed. But recently I read The Betrothed by Kiera Cass and I feel like that was just a giant waste of time. Oh well.
Oh, time for a romance rec I guess. Last year I read Tweet Cute by Emma Lord. It’s a YA romance and all things light and cute while also exploring the themes that YA likes to explore (like self-discovery). In the fantasy realm I definitely recommend checking out Stephanie Burgis’ Harwood Spellbook series or Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr.
UGH DIE REGAL DIE. Never have I ever encountered a book with a character that was so completely annoying and frustrating that it made me physically chuck the book across the room in anger until I read The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Regal is the worst, the end.
And that’s a wrap for this tag! Not going to tag anyone but if it looks like something you’d be interested in, feel free to fill it out!
Way Too Fantasy 
Ahhhhh!!! The relationship drama thing is my guilty pleasure too. I mean the book could be crappy and cheesy but hey, sometimes THAT’S ALL YOU NEEED!! 🤣🤣
And The Ghost Bride sounds AWESOMEEE, Lisa!! ❤️😍😍 Have you reviewed it here yet? Have I missed it?
Exactly! Sometimes I’m like ‘bring on the cheese!’ because you just need a good popcorn read for entertainment now and then. 🙂
I love The Ghost Bride so much. I don’t think I have an official review for it because I read it before I changed my blog over to a review blog several years ago. It’s definitely a book I recommend checking out though. 🙂
EXACTLYYY!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ohh?! I AM EVEN MORE EXCITED TO READ The Ghost Bride now!! 😍😍😍
Hope you enjoy it!
I love seeing you mention A Song For a New Day. I wish more people would read it!
Me too, it’s such a fantastic book.
🤣🤣 yes! Die, Regal, die! He is annoying!
Glad you did the tag too 🙂
He is SOOOO annoying lol. Definitely a character you love to hate. 😉
Thanks, it was fun to fill out!
Don’t hate me, but I totally still need to read The Ghost Bride, even though I got it for Christmas and have been intending to read it since then. xD Have you read The Night Tiger by the same author? i read and loved that, which is why I asked for The Ghost Bride in the first place. 😀
Haha, no hate, I have a TON of great books in my TBR so…yeah, I get it lol. 🙂
I have! I liked The Ghost Bride more, but The Night Tiger was interesting as well, I liked the mythology in it.
I liked the mythology in The Night Tiger, too. I’m even more interested now that I know you liked The Ghost Bride more. Gonna have to try to bump that up my list and get to it soon. 😉
I hope you enjoy, looking forward to your thoughts then!
This tag is so so cute!! Ooh, I’ve heard so many good things about The Daevabad Trilogy, I definitely have to read it! Hahha, I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like The Betrothed. I read the Selection aaages ago, and figured that the Betrothed probably wasn’t for me, I’m happy to hear that I didn’t miss anything by not reading it.
Thanks, I had a lot of fun filling it out. 🙂 Definitely recommend The Daevabad Trilogy–love the series so much.
I read all The Selection books as well and I didn’t much care for the first few but I loved the last two in the series haha.
What a great seasonal tag. I should try this one out for some fun.
Lynn 😀
It was a lot of fun to fill out–I’d love to see your answers. 🙂