Tag: Black Book Blogger

Book Reviews

From Twinkle with Love, Sandhya Menon

India

— Short Story —

Twinkle Mehra has wanted to be a filmmaker since she was a little girl. She is constantly writing in her journal to famous female filmmakers in hopes of channeling their creative energy and overall bad assery as a women in film. At her school there is an annual showcase where students can create something and present it to their  fellow students at the end of the year. When a classmate of hers, Sahil Roy, and asks her if she would like to make a film for the showcase of course she says yes. Through out her entire time in high school she has always been one of the unseen people and she thinks by doing this she can become seen through out school. Maybe she can even be noticed by Sahil’s twin brother, Neil, who is the most popular boy in school. During her time working on the film she starts to make actual friends, and also starts to receive secret admirer emails from someone with the initial, N. She is certain that it’s Neil Roy who has decided to finally talk to her, and gets herself in a love triangle of sorts. The questions becomes, is being a director of her own film, too much for Twinkle to deal with?

— My Thoughts —

I liked the book. I didn’t love it. Some of the things that Twinkle goes through and says, is honestly downright silly and mean. She becomes so self centered with herself that she does not notice the people directly in front of her, and because of that she ruins a lot of relationships that she is just forming. I would say that it’s how any high school girl acts when she is trying to find herself, but that would not be true. All in all it’s not my favorite. I felt like if you changed the names of the characters you wouldn’t even be able to tell that there are brown people in the book. It could be From Rebecca with Love and it would still feel the same, and I think that’s one reason I really don’t like it.  I break down my thoughts a little bit more in my video. What did you think of From Twinkle with Love? Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India
Bookish, Unboxings

July 2018 Owlcrate Unboxing

India

It’s time for another unboxing of my favorite YA Book Box. July’s theme was Strange and Unusual, and it definitely featured some strange and unusual things. I think this was one of the first boxes that I didn’t actually love. It was just filled with some “meh” things. Art prints, stickers, and a small keychain. To me the best part was the special edition cover of My Plain Jane. I think that the cover was awesome! I now actually have 3 copies of this book and I feel like it’s a sign to read it. Everything is listed out below, and at the bottom you can find my unboxing of all of the items! I posted some pictures of the items on my Instagram, so make sure to check it out!

  • My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton (signed, exclusive OwlCrate Edition)
  • Raven Boys-inspired Wallet (designed by Reverie & Ink)
  • Stranger Things POP Keychain (Funko)
  • Miss Peregrine’s-inspired Felt Pennant Flag (designed by Risa Rodil)
  • Ouija Mystifying Mints (Boston America Corp)
  • Skull Push pins (OwlCrate Original)
  • Luna Lovegood-inspired Vinyl Sticker (designed by TJ Lubrano)
  • Whale Art Print (designed by Aun-Juli Riddle)
  • Exclusive OwlCrate “Skull” Button
  • Exclusive My Plain Jane Author Letter & Thornfield Hall Craft Diorama.

What do you think of this box? Any items you really liked? Have you read My Plain Jane? Feel free to subscribe to my channel where I tend to put these things out a little more consistently. I’m trying I promise! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

Bookish

How To Bookstagram | DIY Background

India

EEEEEEEEE I’m really excited to do this!! A how to guide!! I never thought I would be in a position to make a how to guide for anything. Well, I’m pretty sure that I’m still not, but I’m going to pretend that I am! I stumbled onto something like this from some photography people that I follow on Youtube, and I was like I feel like I can do this for bookstagram pictures as well. Then BAM! I found myself in Joann’s, dragging Eric through the aisles so that he could hold all the bolts of fabric that I was going to have to choose from. Unfortunately I did not take pictures in between each step, but I did make a video of the whole thing that will be linked here and you can watch it down below.

I used two of my backgrounds to make this picture

Here are a list of things that you’re going to need to make your new, amazing, aesthetic – that’s such a hot word right now, say it slowly aaaeeesssstttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhetic- , cool background.

  1. Canvas size of your choosing – I chose 24″ x 48″ and I explain why in the video
  2. Fabric that fulfills your aesthetic pleasure in a yard and a quarter, I believe
  3. Either spray glue OR a staple gun – obviously spray glue is cheaper, but the staple gun is faster
  4. Scissors

 

If you’re using fabric with lines, remember to keep them straight!

And that’s it! It’s that easy and then you have an awesome portable background that you can use for your bookstagramming/instagramming pleasure. I absolutely love mine and it has been seen in a lot of pictures so far. I’m thinking about venturing into more colorful options next.

Choosing the right background can add extra depth and texture

I don’t know how many parts this “How To Guide” is going to be, but each aspect is going to have its own video, so that you can focus on just the parts that you want to know about. I do not claim to be a bookstagram expert. I don’t have that many followers, and my aesthetic is not aestheticy, but I know I learned some things from watching other people’s videos. I learned some things from trial and error and would like to share what I’ve learned, so you can be the next top bookstagrammer and get all of the book deals. Just don’t forget about me on the way up!

When you want to focus on something specific use plain backgrounds

If you have any questions please ask them in the comments. If you have any suggestions on some videos also let me know! You can see how I use the backgrounds in my more recent instagram pictures, so make sure to follow me there! Until next time,

Keep turning the Pages

India

Bookish, Unboxings

May 2018 Owlcrate Unboxing

India

Another month, another wonderfully curated Owlcrate Box. The May Owlcrate box featured amazing female characters in their “Fight Like a Girl” box. Some of these women make you want to go out and be stronger, smarter, and more fierce than ever before and the items weren’t bad either! If you want to see my full unboxing you can view it here, or look down below to watch me unbox everything. There are also pictures of everything on my instagram account here! Let’s get started with these items!

 

  1. We are all book nerds here and we understand the importance of the library, and no one understood the importance of the library more than our unsung hero Hermoine Granger, she is represented in this box with an enamel pin made by Out of Print and it says “When in Doubt Go to the Library”
  2. Indigo Eleven was able to capture both the beauty and the strength of our favorite female leads in the Wrath and the Dawn and Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh with a beautiful double sided tassel bookmark
  3. Once again we were given a gorgeous wall hanging created by Evie Bookish to represent Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses
  4. Sometimes after taking on the responsibility of bringing a whole culture back you sometimes feel like you need a relaxing bath. “Whipped up Wonderful” made a bath bomb inspired by Zélie in Children of Blood and Bone and it is gorgeous!
  5. We also got an art print made by artist Mélanie Bourgeois representing our very own Wraith, INej from Six of Crows
  6. Can you believe we got TWO books this month?! Our surprise book this month was Catching Stars by Cayla Keenan and is a young adult fantasy novel and is an exclusive edition from “Oftomes Publishing”

 

Our book for this month is Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. It sounds like it’s more on the realm of historical fiction, vikings, fighting, family life and all of that. Of course the cover is an exclusive cover and is also a signed edition with a letter from the author.

What did you think of the items in the box? This theme was one of my favorites, but none of the items are my absolute favorite of all time, but I did love getting two books this month. Let me know what you thought down below, until next time,

Keep turning the Pages

India

Book Reviews

The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton

India

– Short Story –

What if you lived in a world where everyone looked the same. Grey in color, straw like hair, and red eyes. Now what if there were people who could change you to look just like you wanted to look. In however you wanted to look. That is exactly the point of The Belles. They control beauty. The Belles were a gift given to the world after a lovers quarrel from the Sky and from Beauty went wrong, and the people of the world were left ugly. Beauty granted the world The Belles in order to help change the appearances of people to create more beauty in the world, and to make people beautiful.
It is time for this generation of Belles to present themselves to the world, with all of that they have learned in their secluded schooling. It is time for them to present themselves to the royal family and for one of them to become the Favorite. Whomever is chosen as the Favorite will discover the dark side of court and what it’s like to be constantly trying to make someone beautiful who doesn’t believe they’re beautiful.

– My Thoughts – 

Keep reading the book!! I put this book down for a couple of months and then finally finished it when it started to gather such great reviews. I was like “Noooo this book can’t be any good, it’s supposed to be fantasy, but there’s all of this flowery and beauty stuff. Whhhhyyyy” Let me just say I was wrong, it definitely gets better. There are still some flowery parts in the book that get on my nerves, but that’s why I don’t like contemporary. I definitely think that you should give this book a whirl if you stopped reading it, or if you were hesitant to pick it up. Let me know what you think down in the comments! My review that I put on my Booktube channel is also embedded below. Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India