All a bookworm wants for Christmas is…

Hello, be(e)loveds! ♥ I know that Christmas is still far away, but I think now it’s the right time to start thinking about presents for our dear bookworms; there are literally endless options. In this post, I wanted to help everyone that has no clue of them to find an ideal solution — believe me, it’s easy to find something cute and original. Besides, I’ll add the links to some of my favourite shops that could be handy also for any book enthusiast who needs some extra inspiration. I really hope you’ll enjoy reading my recommendations; so, without-further-ado, let’s get started!

My first piece of advice will be the most obvious too. It’s not a bad idea to get a book to an eager reader, right? It’s logical. However, the matter it’s tricky. Although it could be nice to discover new books, not everyone will appreciate a surprise; they maybe prefer a book that’s already on their TBR, instead of a title that they don’t know at all. But, do not panic! Nowadays, there are plenty of ways to find out their deepest heart desires; Goodreads, Amazon wishlists are all valid tools there to help you in the sneaky deed. And if nothing works, you could simply go with a gift card. It’s not as pretty or romantic, but at least you’ll be sure that your beloved one will be happy with it.

What’s another important tool for every reader? Yes, bookmarks! Well, to be fair, I often use whatever happens to be near me while I need to keep track of my reading progress, but let’s ignore this for now. There are so many kinds of bookmarks, wooden, magnetic, more classic ones…I’ll show you some of my favourite out there (the photos come from my Instagram feed unless otherwise specified).

Aren’t these original?! You should have a look at My Book Mark; they’re definitely among the best bookmarks you could ever ask for.

‘In the reads‘ is definitely insuperable when it comes to wooden bookmarks; the details are awesome. Lauren creates small masterpieces. As for magnetic bookmarks, you can find some amazing options especially on Etsy; but if I were you I’d check out Theia’s shop. I’d love to collect them all!

Moving on, another classic is scented candles; you can’t go wrong with them. They’re pretty, smell heavenly and nowadays are essential. Here it’s difficult to name just a few, but let’s try!

I’m sorry for the poor quality of the upload, but please, check out this UK based shop. RuthlessHeroines has an extensive collection; you’ll be able to pick something for your special bookworm.

If your beloved bookworm (or you) is a fan of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and mythology, I highly recommend MidnightFlameCo.

Again, poor quality, but the candles of CozyCornerCandle are addictive; Clarissa nails every single perfume!

Enamel pins are a huge trend currently, so I would consider to get one if you want to be original. Iron & Ink Design and ReadandWonder are stunning options.

And what’s better than to drink a hot beverage while reading in the upcoming winter nights? It is worth to think about gifting your beloved bookworm a lovely mug; why not have a look at the amazing creations of Miss Bohemia? She’s the sweetest, and her products have outstanding quality.

Readers bring books everywhere, even the most unlikely places; as a result, they need protection. Have you thought about buying your darling reader a book sleeve? They’re wonderful and extremely practical. Check out BookBestiesUK to for some jawdropping alternatives.

Last, but not least there are subscription boxes; it’s certainly a more expensive present, but if you feel like investing some money on it, you’ll gain bookworm friend everlasting affection. My absolute favourite? Illumicrate, for sure. They never stop to amaze me. Another popular one is Fairyloot, and it definitely deserves some consideration.

I still have some endless ideas, but I think that it’s all for today’s post. What’s the best bookish gift you received? I’ll be waiting for you in the comments below. Don’t forget to come and say ‘hi’ on Instagram; I’ll be more than happy to see you there too. Until the next adventure,

Lots of love,

Debora ♥

Hunting for books in EDINBURGH

Hello, be(e)loveds! ♥ How was your weekend? A couple of days ago, I visited Edinburgh, and now I can certainly declare that it is a fascinating city: magical and spooky at the same time. Another thing that I loved is the number of bookstores you could find behind every corner. In this post, I’m going to recommend my two favourites; now that the air is crispy, it gets dark early, there’s nothing better than to burrow in a bookstore; if you need some new places to discover, hopefully, this post will be handy for you. And please, feel free to suggest any other amazing bookstores you can think of in the comments. Let’s start!

The first bookshop I’m going to mention is Waterstones. I know, it’s a predictable one, and maybe most of you will have already visited it. But bear with me. In the shadow of Edinburgh’s castle, you will find one of an enormous bookstore: four stories of pure joy for every bookworm. Sheltering there to fight the frost was like a warm familiar hug. I would have stayed inside hours and hours. Whatever your passion is, in Waterstones you will find a ward dedicated to that theme with a vast selection of titles; it is also possible to find precious editions or beautiful gifts (merchandise, postcards, stationery..). So, yes, I highly suggest you step in there; but beware: you’ll fall under its spell, and it is extremely addictive.

And now, let’s talk about the ‘Armchair Books’ of Edinburgh. This tiny cosy bookstore will make your jaw drop; their website describes their place as a “very nearly alphabetised chaos”, and I think it’s quite accurate. ‘Armchair Books’ is packed with hidden treasures. It’s just awesome to roam around, gaping at this concentrate of books. Down the narrow corridors, there are piles of second-hand books; it’s up to you to locate the most special one to you. I adored their gigantic Harry Potter’s section, along with their professor Tolkien’s collection; I would have loved to buy literally every volume.

I’ve also visited ‘Edinburgh Books’, another bookstore that probably you will love if you are a second-hand books fan. To be completely honest, the atmosphere is not that friendly; however, it’s definitely worthwhile to have a look at their collection of Scottish books. Also, if you love postcards, then this is the right place for you; they have tons of them, and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide which ones to buy.

So, these were my recommendations for today; have you ever been there by chance? If not, which one would you like to visit first? I’ve been waiting for your comments below. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter if you want to be friends or have a chat. Until the next adventure,

Lots of love,

Debora ♥

The blog back from the dead

Hello, be(e)loveds! ♥ I’m so sorry if I went MIA in the past couple of months; I faced some major changes, and I needed some time to settle down. Today I just wanted to update you on my situation; I’d like also to tell you what you should expect from my blog from now on. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading my latest news. Before starting, allow me to thank you all for your support and being such an amazing community. Your comments, love and presence always make my day! But without-further-ado, let’s begin!

First of all, after a full month here, I can say that I love living in Scotland. It’s gorgeous, full of nature; it reminds me of home. I moved from Italy to take a master’s degree in publishing, and I couldn’t be happier. Honestly, I’m still doubtful; I’m scared of what the future will bring. However, for the first time, I feel like I found the right path for me. Every aspect of the publishing sector fascinates me. I’m learning so much. It would be amazing to enter this world, where people love books (I can guarantee that), and work extremely hard to gift us all those marvellous volumes we all cherish (or ebooks if you prefer). I’d love to talk more about these topics; do you have any particular curiosity?

Let’s talk about my plans for this blog now. I’m going to post at least twice a week, on Monday and Friday. The first one could be any content really: from book reviews, wrap ups, bookish discussions and similar. The latter will be a book tag because I love that kind of format and I usually have fun reading it (also for me they’re useful to find quick book recommendations). I’ll try to create even more contents, but I like to keep my word; so I can’t promise you more and then fail to fulfil my intent.

Please, let me know if you have any more questions; and please, tell me how you have been lately ♥And if you still don’t do it, follow me on Instagram; let’s talk about books. I can’t wait to hear back from you! Until the next adventure,

Lots of love,

Debora ♥

Are all the Middle Earth characters FLAT?

Hello my honeybees! Talking about professor Tolkien’s characters, I often hear people say that they are quite flat, with no moral shades. They are absolutely positive or negative without any doubt. And I couldn’t disagree more. There are many evidences that outline the complexity of lots of Middle Earth figures. In today’s article, I’d like to discuss about it with you ♥ This is just my opinion of course, I’ve still a lot to learn. I can’t wait to hear about yours.

Many characters experience an inside conflict, their morality swings, they are not always perfect; the most easy and striking example is Gollum who has an incredible moral complexity. He’s torn between his greedy personal interest and the pull to do some good to redeem himself; his duality melts together in a unique shady character. Is he evil because he tries to undermine Frodo’s mission? Can we forget easily that without him probably the Ring wouldn’t have even arrived to Mordor? These questions already witness how’s difficult to frame Gollum in one category only.

Another example, that is maybe less conspicuous, I’d like to talk about is Boromir. He should be our spotless knight; he’s the one who brings Gondor to many victories, so he’s an model of virtue and heroism. But then, he’s also a desperate man, who would do anything to save his people; that include trying to steal the Ring from Frodo, not excluding the use of violence. Is this a representation of a whole positive character?

There’s also a group of wise characters, with the most exceptional powers, who, trying to wield them for generate some good in their intention, turn out to be corrupted by the effort. In their twisted vision, these actions aren’t appalling, but necessary to the success of their “pious” ideas. In this case, I can’t not mention Saruman of Many Colours or Denethor II, Steward of Gondor (that I highly despise). Without any doubt, before the events of the war of the Ring, the latter ruled his country righteously, naturally with some normal flaws. He wants to use the Palantir to have the upper hand on the great Enemy, to gain information; in the end though, the vastness of Sauron’s might causes his mind to be consumed by fear.

Even among the Elves, considered infallible, the wisest and fairest of all beings, we can find some surprising example of complex morality; just think about Fëanor and Galadriel. She’s part of the exiles from the Immortal Lands who’s been offered forgiveness and to come back to Valinor. But by then, she’s got her own ambitions, she’s often described as a proud figure. As a result she refuses the Valars’ offer. Is it proper to consider her a completely pure character, with no faults? I don’t think so.

Looking at the global picture, no one of the Middle Earth populations is immune from weaknesses that add even more layers to the complexity of each character. The Elves are completely projected to the past; they worry to recreate an oasis of peace that should preserve things how they were in the old times. This approach toward time and life in general, is pointed out as wrong and dangerous by the professor himself. The Dwarves are driven by their greed, always looking for greater treasures; they try to push the natural limits, awakening in the process devastating forces, like the Balrog of Moria. And last but not least, there is the race of Men, considered the weakest, they fight each other, they are easily corrupted; that is demonstrated by the nine kings of men deceived by Sauron.

This articles doesn’t claim to be a complete analysis of the huge topic treated. There is so much more to say. But it seems to me that there are several evidences already that show us clearly how the general picture and the main characters are far from easily classified in a Manichean vision of good and evil. Of course, if we look at every single name in professor Tolkien’s books, we could find some figures only superficially treated. But that’s normal, I think; even in the magnificent work of Martin we could observe the same phenomenon. What I’d like to achive with my words is to make you curious and try to confute one of most popular assumptions about professor Tolkien’s writings. Let me know which are your thoughts on the comments below and if you’d like some more insights on Middle Earth.

Until the next adventure!

Lots of love,

Debora ♥

APRIL WRAP UP

Welcome to my April Wrap Up, my friends honeybees! Personally I really like this kind of format because it allows me to talk about all the books I’ve read during a certain period; even when I haven’t enough topics to write a complete review on each one of them. In this month, I tried also to read something out of my comfort zone, find out how it went! ♥

Let’s start off with a couple of books that are often compared to “Six of Crows” (that is one of my favourite books). But I should warn you; when it comes to both these titles I suggest you to forget about it, otherwise you’ll be highly disappointed. They are no “Six of Crows”, they’re different and have their unique voices. So, the first one I read is “The Gilded Wolves” by Roshani Chokshi.

This was one of my highly anticipated 2019 releases; I wrote a complete review on Goodreads because I think that this book’s been quite controversial. The main problem for me is again the comparison with Leigh Bardugo’s novel; I see why many could find some similarities, I did too. But this is something different. And overall, I enjoyed reading it very much. I appreciated the cast of characters especially. They are all diverse and suffered some kind of trauma; the author managed to get me attached to them and I want to follow their adventures. The world-building has definitely much potential, but it could be a little confusing at times. Maybe with some more room it could have been explored better. Anyway I’m intrigued and I can’t wait for its sequel to come out! Please, follow me on Goodreads to read the complete review.

The second book I’m going to show you is “Ace of Shade” by Amanda Foody, that has nothing in common with “Six of Crows”, except that it also features street gangs and casino settings.

The story is really entertaining and the magical system is fascinating: each person has two talents, from the manipulation of elements to calculus, that come from their family names. But it is more complex than that; families (and powers) are organized in a hierarchical order: some are extremely potent while others are discriminated. In my opinion, the characters aren’t so explored, especially the secondaries; my favourite is Enne, even if everyone hates her. She’s been bullied all her life, she’s being told that she wasn’t worth it; Enne works so hard and still no one notice her or her efforts. She’s being educated since she was a child to be a “proper lady” and for all these reasons I think it’s normal if at first she’s snobbish. I don’t even find her that annoying, but then she has an amazing development. Levi is another interesting character, he’s a black bisexual gang leader, but who remains a compassionate soul. The focus is on the main protagonists definitely and I appreciated that they share each information, like real partners. We get to know a lot about the politics of this fictional world and it’s great, but…in every aspect of the story I felt like we only touch the tip of the iceberg. The City of Sins is very well described, the author represents each locations effectively; overall the writing style is ok, nothing too remarkable. I recommend “Ace of Shades” if you’re looking for an easy fun entertaining reading; the story has got much potential and I’m going to try out the sequel for sure.

Another book I read this month is “Traitor to the Throne” by Alwyn Hamilton. What a ride it’s this series!

Here we witness the cleverness of the Sultan at work; we heard his name hundreds of times and finally, we really understand how dangerous he is. He nearly manages to make Amani, the female protagonist, doubt her loyalties. This second book is mainly focused on her, the other characters are not so present. The thing is the author is brilliant when it comes to build a breath-taking story, I literally couldn’t stop reading, but he’s never able to get me attached to the characters, except Amani and Jin. Talking about them, I would have loved to see them relate more, because they work so well together. Another interesting element of this book is that the author elaborate the main problems that follow a revolution and the different behaviours that it can elicit. It’s never that easy to change such complex situations, even if it would mean to improve them. There are always consequences and they could be unpleasant most of the time.

And now I’m going to talk about my very first attempt with a romance book; this genre is out of my comfort zone, even if I have really nothing against it. But “The Kiss Quotient” by Helen Hoang really pushed me to try and I have to say it didn’t disappoint me.

The plot is a little predictable, but it has its original elements, starting with the characters that I find absolutely lovely. Stella suffers from the Asperger syndrome, so she’s has huge relational problems. We follow her journey towards the awareness that it isn’t she who must change and strive to be “normal” for pleasing others; everyone should be accepted for who she/he really is. Michael, the male protagonist, has got his own struggles too. Burden with an heavy past, he has to find his true identity. I really like his character, he doesn’t represent the typical stereotype. Again, on my Goodreads account you can find some more thoughts of mine about this book; definitely I’ll try out some other romance titles.

Last but not least, I finished the last two installments published so far of the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard. I started off the month with “Sightwitch“, which is a novella actually.

First of all, the volume itself is gorgeous: it’s illustrated and it has deckled edges! Then I have to say that this book adds so many information about the main series that I also manage to make up some solid theories (I’m so proud that they were correct, haha). The author leaves so many hints that help to enrich our knowledge of her amazing fictional world. I really got involved with the characters adventures that takes place mainly in the Sightwitches’ convent. We got to know much about the history of the continent, but also about the characters that we see struggle in the present hit by war and tensions. I’m happy that Susan Dennard decided to share this with us.

And then, here we are with my favourite reading of the month: “Bloodwitch“.

I really can’t say more about this breath-taking book. It was a rollercoaster of emotion, it’s so intense. In the end, I was holding my breath all the time, like a real YA heroine, haha. I won’t say much about the actual story, I wouldn’t want to ruin your reading experience. The chemistry of each group of characters is awesome, as always; I think this is a distinctive trait of the series. The writing style is definitely improved and I can’t believe how complex the world of the Witchlands is; it’s an immense puzzle that we, readers, can form with each piece of information. The author has built it brilliantly. I highly recommend to pick up these books, because I’m pretty sure you’ll be captured!

This is all for my April Wrap Up; have you read these books already? What are your thoughts? And what was your favourite April reading? Let me know in the comments below, I’m so curious.

Have a wonderful day. Lots of love,

Debora ♥