Hosted by Sam @ Thoughts on Tomes and Lainey @ gingerreadslainey.
May 22nd: Emerald Covers
— May’s birthstone is emerald so talk about those emerald covers. Not just green. EMERALD.
Alex
Hosted by thatartsyreadergirl.
May 21: Books That I Refuse to Let Anyone Touch (too special/valuable, perhaps?) (submitted by Savannah Grace @ Scattered Scribblings)
Since, I normally donate all the books I read and I’ll create a wish list of books that I wish I had. Having said that I do have two books that I always kept from the time I was gifted them.
This book is written by the Maltese Lgbtiqa+ community and I would never let it go.
This one is a weird one, I loved it.
Alex
This tag was crated by Salve of Cuckoo for Books please go check her out. So, here is the deal I haven’t watched any of The Avengers movies but my best friend Neville loves them so I’m this tag for him in a way.
This is the book that I read that had a transgender character, while trying to figure who I am.
This is set in the 60’s, so I guess it counts.
In my opinion, Maya Aziz is a powerful character that speaks up about hate and racism.
I want to see how the parents lived on, after what happened in this book.
Make more LGBTIQA+ in Harry Potter.
I just don’t get the hype.
Transgender characters coming out.
I felt that Puddin’ was better written from Dumplin’.
The soldiers that fight for their country.
It made year furious about the wars around the world.
Melody, has Cerebral Palsy which is never easy.
Ben De Backer grew a lot as a person.
The friendships in the band.
Kane and Elle.
Dax’s dad.
Some more characters with a special needs.
Alex
I can’t believe it; I read all my plan to be read list for readathin. I’ll share the challenges and the books I read for them. I also read I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver (review coming soon), Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens by Tanya Boteju which came out this month and as soon as, I got my hands on them I wanted to read them straight away.
Away, back to Readathin, here are the challenges and what I read for each one plus ratings.
CHALLENGES:
1. Read a book that you put on a pervious Readathin TBR, but didn’t get too. Soulswap (Twin Souls #1) by Arizona Tape, Laura Greenwood 
2. Read a Thin Book. Temptation by Design by Andrea Dalling
3. Read a book that’s been gifted to you or that you got from a subscription box. City Boy (Hot Off the Ice #1) by A.E. Wasp
4. Read a diverse book. Would it be Okay to Love You? (Would It Be Okay to Love You? #1) by Amy Tasukada
OR
When It’s Right (Mile High Romance #1)by Aria Grace
OR
Shane and Trey (Enemies to Lovers #1) by Anyta Sunday
OR
When I’m Weak (Mile High Romance #2) by Aria Grace
OR
Girls Love Girls by Liz Gavin
OR
The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden
OR
The Rules of Love (Rulebook #1) by Cara Malone
OR
Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan
OR
Dare To Love (Beautifully Broken #4) by Amanda Kaitlyn
OR
Merge Ahead by Tanya Chris
5. Read a book that is spring themed (cover, story, etc.)
A Hero Lies Within (Wounded Warriors #1) by Patrice Wilton
OR
Handle With Care (Wounded Warriors #2) by Patrice Wilton
OR
At First Sight (Wounded Warriors #3) by Patrice Wilton
I did join some sprints on Twitter, which was super fun, but time zones come in the way sadly.
Alex
This read is one, out of my comfort zones, so this might be a short book review. This book is about dragons and vampires. Here are my thoughts, Tate was in the closet, and she thought she had to stay there forever so that can please everyone around her by marrying her long-time boyfriend, Devon who wanted a family and kids even if it isn’t what Tate desired for her life. The situation caused Tate anxiety, and this unbearable headache started and fell in a haze like sleep.
When she woke up, she found herself in a different space with a different name and a female partner. Tate fell in love Sian just from her scent. On the other hand, Aria, Sian’s girlfriend fell in love with Devon, so in the end, both Tate and Aria found the right soulmate for them. I gave this book three stars out of five, and I might say that I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.
Alex
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Social functions weren’t really Max Saddler’s thing. In truth, she would have rather spent the next hour in a dentist’s chair, or riding public transportation, or better yet, she’d rather stay in her dorm and watch Netflix. But she promised her best friend, Mira, that she would try to be more social and make a few additional friends in grad school, and so here she was.
Tonight was her first official night of the program, not counting orientation and the day she came to the library just to wander around and familiarize herself with all of the classrooms, and her first class was scheduled to start in an hour and a half. First, though, there was the meeting that she swore to Mira she would attend.
(Goodreads in the caption)
Alex
I have many posts around the topic of hair and salons and the anxiety they cause me. However, after nearly three months without a haircut, it was starting to enable me even to wash my hands with my eyes open due to gender dysphoria, which causes me bruising from bumping into stuff with the chair which isn’t safe.
My closest friend noticed and asked me about it, and I told him the truth. He came up with a plan he’ll look for an accessible barber shop and book us both a haircut. When he told me that he did it, I tried to get out of going in every way possible, because I felt I didn’t deserve it (sometimes my mind is dumb I know) he told the barber that I’m a transgender male and that I use male pronouns which looking back it was a good idea. On the day, I was sick twice due to anxiety, but there was no way I would let down my best friend.
So I made my mum take me which wasn’t an excellent idea for two reasons, firstly, I’m 23, and I needed some space to keep myself together. Secondly, my mum misgenders me and uses the wrong pronouns which confuse people about which pronouns to use when talking to me. The barber saw me shaking, and surprisingly he knew what to do and calmed me down.
We figured out a style for me and as soon as he touched the clippers to my head my body relaxed. It felt so good to be doing something that creates fear with my best friend doing the same thing in the chair next to me. I did pay the same as a ‘normal’ guy would, I’m pointing out this because I heard that in some barber shops and salons a transgender guy has to pay more for a regular haircut.
Thank you, Adrian, for giving me what I needed to overcome my dysphoria. I’ll leave his info below, so if you are in Malta, go check him out, you won’t regret promise. I wasn’t paid to say all that, but he deserves it.
Alex
