It’s Fall!! 😀
This past weekend was the first time I felt a hint of cold since the fall season started and although I’m happy this means I’ll now have to wear boots, I’m not looking forward to the increasingly cold days that are forthcoming. But I am happy that the leaves will soon be turning and I’ll need to snuggle into the MANY scarves I have. 😊 I love dressing for fall.
I also love pumpkin spice lattes (sans expresso), which is surprising because I typically don’t like such drinks, but I enjoy drinking it when someone makes it puurfectly (meaning sweet) for me. I’ve yet to get myself a pumpkin spice latte, but I sure will shortly after posting this.
It’s been a while since I doubled up on a tag, but I had these two pumpkin spice latte tags in my queue and am too impatient to wait any longer to share them.
Spicy Pumpkin Latte Book Tag
I found this over on A Fictional Bookworm. It was created by Meeghan Reads.
Pumpkin Spice Latte: A book you didn’t think you’d love
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
It’s a satire about a young Black man who gets a job in sales at a startup in NYC and is the only person of color there. It’s a great read, although it made me both angry and frustrating at times. It is an uncomfortable read, and I was surprised I liked it because the synopsis made me think I wouldn’t. I don’t like anything to do with sales or Wall Street.
Hot Apple Cider: A book that got you a bit hot under the collar
I Roved Out in Search of Truth & Love by Alexis Flower
Certainly this high fantasy erotic webcomic that I highly recommend. It’s about an elf trying to avoid going on an epic quest. If you’re interested, you can read the webcomic here.
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate: A book that felt like a warm hug
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Minalima edition) by J.K. Rowling
I’m currently reading this and it certainly feels like a warm hug revisiting this story again, especially via this edition of the book. Minalima includes fantastic illustrations throughout, and I love the pop ups too. I actually think I enjoy reading this edition more than the huge illustrated books, although those are beautiful as well.
Maple Pecan Latte: A book you enjoyed that was hard to get into
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This one was a difficult start for me. It was so slow-going, and I wasn’t interested in the characters. But one night, I don’t know what happened, but I got hooked and was unable to put the book down. I stayed up all night reading.
London Fog: A vanilla character
Aiden from Black Witch Magic by Mila Nicks
Somehow, I always manage to confuse myself whenever I see the phrase “vanilla character.” It’s probably because I don’t like the term, but I guess Aiden from Black Witch Magic would fit the description. Nothing interesting seems to have happened to him until he met Selene Blackstone, a young Black woman who’s descended from witches and who’s apparently cursed.
Hot Buttered Rum: A book that was velvety smooth to read
Before I get to my answer — WHERE can I get some hot buttered rum?? These three words together sounds delicious to me. I want some.
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown
I think such a delectable category requires a book about delectable meals as its answer. Cinnamon and Gunpowder is historical fiction set in the 1800s about a renowned chef who’s kidnapped by the pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot and made to cook her exquisite meals every Sunday in exchange for his life. This story went down smoothly from start to finish. It’s one of the best books I read this year.
Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew: A character whose temperament is icy cold
Jon Snow from A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
My first answer was Ned Stark, but I think Jon is much icier than him.
Salted Caramel Mocha: A book that you’re salty about
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
It will always be this one. It’s been a while that I’ve read a book that has frustrated me so much that I don’t like it. However, it makes for great book club discussions, so it’s a good read for that. It’s a thriller, I guess, about a young Black woman working at a book publishing company. If I recall correctly, she’s the only Black woman working there until another Black girl is hired and then weird things begin happening.
Honey Bee Latte: A character who is sweet
Greta from The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kay O’Neill (illus.)
I like all the characters, but I like Greta, the budding master blacksmith, a little more. The Tea Dragon books are LGBT-positive middle grade fantasy graphic novels about a society of people who care for miniature dragons that grow tea leaves from their horns. I love them all! 😊
Gingerbread Latte: A character you’d take home for Christmas
Chamomile tea dragon
Since I still have tea dragons on my mind, I wouldn’t mind having Chamomile as my pet and getting to take them home with me for Christmas! Plus, apparently Chamomile matches my zodiac sign. (You can find out which tea dragon matches your sign here.)
Pumpkin Spice Latte Book Tag
This one I found on Kristin Kraves Books. It was created by booktuber the Book Pusher.
Pumpkin Spice Latte ➽ A book everyone likes to hate on but is delicious
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Probably the Robert Langdon books. I enjoy them, and many others do, but there also many who don’t for various reasons. I enjoy reading them and find them entertaining. I started the third book, The Lost Symbol, earlier this year but wasn’t in the mood for it, so I’ve been on a break from it since then. I intend to return to it and complete it before year end… hopefully.
“Fall is my favorite season.” ➽ A cliché you can’t get enough of
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
…Although I always do.
A trope I like and can’t get enough of is the chosen one story. I have a weak spot for them.
Sweater Weather to T-Shirt Weather ➽ A book you thought was one thing but was completely different by the end
Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb
I went with a fantasy trilogy instead — Soldier Son, which begins with the book Shaman’s Crossing. It’s about Nevare, who’s the second son in his family, meaning he will become a soldier. But fate or “the magic” or whatever has something else in store for him. Loved the first book, but the second and third weren’t as enjoyable, unfortunately.
“Spoops” ➽ Do you have a spooky book on your TBR?
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey
I do, but will I get to them before the end of the year? That’s the question.
Tarot Reading ➽ A five-star prediction
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
I really want to read this in November, and I do think it will be a 5-star read for me.
Sephora Sage + Crystal Set ➽ A book that meant well but missed the mark by a landslide
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
It’s YA fantasy about a girl who joins a nunnery in service to Death and is trained to be an assassin. That premise sounds SO good, but it the story didn’t convince me about the assassin bit at all.
Somehow I can’t nest my reply to your reply properly above, but, yes, I completely agree that the marketing for TOBG was misleading. And, normally, I’d be all for the fact that they were careful to cover even a hint of a spoiler, but I think they could have kept it spoiler-free and still helped to guide readers expectations. Plus…it’s a debut! That kind of hype must be a huge pressure on young writers, eh? I’ve only read a couple of chapters in Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book so far (I can renew it, so others are taking priority) but it’s smart and funny, about a novelist on tour. The blurb hints that things are going to get other-worldly, without spoiling anything…
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I looked up Hell of a Book and ended up adding it to my tbr. It does sound interesting.
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Black Buck was so smart and so clever and sometimes just LOL entertaining. (Even when it shouldn’t have been.) I also really loved Killers of the Flower Moon, which gives a whole new angle to contemplate. Buuuut, I also really appreciated the strange and unsettling direction that The Other Black Girl took, because it took me quite off-guard. (Although, simply because I love workplace novels, I would have been content with it having just stayed at that pitch too, which I’m guessing maybe you would have preferred?)
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Yep, I think it would have been stronger if it had stuck with being a workplace novel only because the other part of it wasn’t fully developed.
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It felt very abrupt, but I think she meant it to feel like that (although I’d like to see how it might have been handled differently if this had been her third or fourth novel). It raises an interesting idea though, that often the people with whom we believe we are aligned don’t necessarily have the same ideas and expectations of belonging or power or success or [insert other vague word that avoids spoiler territory=heheh] after all. Have you read Hell of a Book? I can’t remember if you’ve mentioned that one…
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That’s a good point that some of the faults may be because it is a first book. Although I did not like the book, I would try whatever she publishes next. I could see what she was going for in the Other Black Girl, but some of the choices didn’t work for me. And I also think I was disappointed because of what the marketing for it made me expect. It was just a bad reading experience, unfortunately.
Hell of a Book sounds familiar. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but I’ll look it up. Have you read it?
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Funny you mention the Robert Langdon books. I’ve also read about many folks hating on them and it had me wondering if I’d missed something and just didn’t realize how terrible they are, because I really enjoyed the first two. Granted, I haven’t yet tried any others, but I do hope to one day.
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Lol! From what some folks have said, some of the facts in the books are incorrect (that’s what they said; I don’t know for sure) and that’s why some don’t like it.
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Ma’am I’m not sure you have enough pumpkin spice latte there.
Also huzzah for webcomic recs.
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Lol! Haha! Not enough at all.
The artwork is great! The plot isn’t the strongest but I’m entertained.
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I’ve never had a pumpkin spice latte. I really want to try one to see what the hype is about. It sucks that you didn’t like Grave Mercy. I was supposed to read that book this month, but I was busier than I expected and didn’t get to it.
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I only love it when it’s made well. I hate when it’s too bitter because of the espresso, but that’s just me. Hope you get to try it 😊
Aww, well maybe next month you get to try Grave Mercy and have better luck with it.
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Also, this is my go-to hot buttered rum recipe 😉
https://www.thespruceeats.com/hot-buttered-rum-recipe-759309
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Ahh!! Thank you!! I gotta try it!! 😁
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Oh yay!! It’s been so long since anyone did my tag, I had totally forgotten about it!! Hope you had fun 💕
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I did! 😊
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That was a fun one: as usual, I’m deeply impressed by your ability to find books for all the categories! I like gingerbread lattes but not the pumpkin ones, however we probably do it wrong over here!!
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Ooh I’d like to try a gingerbread one too.
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