Dragons and Tea Book Club | December Pick

dragons & tea

Hey, loves! We are finally on to the last pick of 2019! I can’t believe it! Me and Amy really wanted to pick a holiday book, and I was kind of craving a reread of my favorite holiday read from last year! 🎄

And we hope that you all will join us in our Goodreads Group, too! 🐉☕

But we also will be celebrating and talking with you all on Twitter and Instagram using the (hashtag) #DragonsAndTeaBookClub!


Our December pick is:

Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert 

 The Dates & Breakdown:
December 9th: Chapters 1 – 5
December 10th: Chapters 6 – 10
December 11th: Chapters 11 – 15
December 12th: Chapters 16 – 19
December 13th: Chapters 20 – 23

 Content and Trigger Warnings:
talk of cancer, talk of past domestic violence, talk of past child abuse, and talk of past statutory rape.


And if you’d like to be friends with me and Amy on any other platform:
🐉☕ MelanieBooktube | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads
🐉☕ AmyBooktube | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads

Dragons and Tea Book Club | August Pick

dragons & tea

Hey, loves! Are you all ready for the August pick for #DragonsAndTeaBookClub? This is the first time we are ever picking a book that hasn’t been released yet, but will in the month of reading it! The author is an author of color, and this book is a romance that stars a Black woman who has created a very successful dating app, and a Samoan man who is a retired football player who is now the current spokesperson for the app. Both characters are in their mid-thirties and I’ve heard that this is the perfect amount of steam and fade to black! August is also my birthday month, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to fall in love with this book with you all! 💗

And we hope that you all will join us in our Goodreads Group, too! 🐉☕

But we also will be celebrating and talking with you all on Twitter and Instagram using the (hashtag) #DragonsAndTeaBookClub!


But without further ado, our August pick is:

The Right Swipe (Modern Love #1) by Alisha Rai
(which releases on August 6th!)

The Dates & Breakdown:
August 19th: Chapters 1 -5
August 20th: Chapters 6 – 10
August 21st: Chapters 11 – 15
August 22nd: Chapters 16 – 20
August 23rd: Chapters 21 -25
August 24th: Chapters 26 – 30

Content and Trigger Warnings:
Sexual harassment, cyber bullying and harassment, domestic verbal abuse
(From Saniya’s short but amazing review that I love!)


And if you’d like to be friends with me and Amy on any other platform:
🐉☕ Melanie: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads
🐉☕ Amy: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads

 

Dragons & Tea Book Club | July Pick

dragons & tea

Hey, loves! Okay, today we are announcing our July pick for the #DragonsAndTeaBookClub! We picked an ownvoices Muslim story, all about love and the importance of being seen. This story is told in alternating points of view, through letters between two teens, while one of them is staying with family in Qatar for two weeks! Both main characters are PoC, one being Trini-Pakistani, and other being biracial (Chinese and white)! Also, one of these characters have Multiple Sclerosis, which is something that is very near and dear to my family’s heart. But this is also a story about Islamophobia, and how it can be quiet and it can be loud, but it is always so hurtful and hateful. 💗

And we hope that you all will join us in our Goodreads Group, too! 🐉☕

But we also will be celebrating and talking with you all on Twitter and Instagram using the (hashtag) #DragonsAndTeaBookClub!


But without further ado, our July pick is:

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali 

The Dates & Breakdown:
July 8th: (Pages 1 – 68) Zayneb Saturday March 9
Oddity: Unpredictable Creatures
July 9th: (Pages 69 – 134) Adam Tuesday March 12
Marvel: Strangers
July 10th: (Pages 135 – 207) Adam Sunday March 17
Marvel: Zayneb at the Perfect Place
July 11th: (Pages 208 – 276) Zayneb Tuesday Marc 19
Oddity… And Marvel: Plotters
July 12th: (Pages 277 – End)

Content and Trigger Warnings:
Islamophobia, racist micro-aggression, cultural appropriation, chronic illness, talk of family death, mention of rape, discussion of war and war victims.
(Thanks to Fadwa’s beautiful ownvoices review!)

 Other OwnVoices Reviews (that I love):
شيماء
Noura


And if you’d like to be friends with me and Amy on any other platform:
🐉☕ Melanie: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads
🐉☕ Amy: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads

 

Dragons & Tea Book Club | June Pick

dragons & tea

Hey, loves! Okay, today we are announcing our June pick for the #DragonsAndTeaBookClub! And most of you know that it is Pride Month, so we really wanted to pick a LGBTQIAP+ book this month! Also, my pan self might have been a little biased with the book we ended up choosing! But not only is the MC of this pick is pansexual, but she is also biracial (Ecuadorian), she is plus-sized, and she has anxiety. And she is discovering her feelings for her best friend, who is Korean and a lesbian. Also, the author is Chinese and queer. And this book just sounds like it is going to be everything I’ve ever wanted! I hope we fall in love with this hard-hitting YA contemporary, with a sapphic f/f romance, together! 💗

And we hope that you all will join us in our Goodreads Group, too! 🐉☕

But we also will be celebrating and talking with you all on Twitter and Instagram using the (hashtag) #DragonsAndTeaBookClub!


But without further ado, our June pick is:

➽ Final Draft by Riley Redgate 

 

The Dates & Breakdown:
June 10th: Chapters 1 – 5
June 11th: Chapters 6 – 9
June 12th: Chapters 10 – 13
June 13th: Chapters 14 – 17
June 14th: Chapters 18 – End

Content and Trigger Warnings:
Anxiety, internalized ableism, loss of someone
(From Elise’s amazing review!)


And if you’d like to be friends with me and Amy on any other platform:
🐉☕ Melanie: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads
🐉☕ Amy: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads

 

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Goodreads | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

“The best way to keep a secret is to make sure no one knows you’re keeping one.”

Last call at the Nightshade Lounge is a debut, ownvoices story, staring an Asian main character, who is forced to move back to her hometown after graduating college, and is in search for work, with or without her degree’s help. Her high school friend offers her a job as a bar hand, but she soon discovers an underground network comprised of magical cocktails made by bartenders who also keep the streets of Chicago safe from hidden monsters. And, friends, I really enjoyed this unique tale and captivating story.

I feel like I did enjoy this one more than most of the people I buddy read it with, but I was completely enthralled each time I went to pick this book up. I thought it was witty, and smart, and funny, and such a good balance of those three things.

And I loved the diverse cast! Bailey is a Chinese-American ivy league graduate. But this story also gives the reader a side character who is blind, a trans side character, Asian and Black side characters, and a sapphic side relationship. I really appreciated the author’s depiction of Bailey’s Asian family, too, because it was pretty relatable.

I also really loved how this was a New Adult novel, and it shows how badly we need stories in this age bracket, instead of just classifying college romances as them. And I loved how Bailey graduated college and then came back home to live with her parents while looking for a job with her degree, because that is such a reality for so many, but we are seriously lacking books with that representation. Coming back to your hometown after living and graduating in your college town for four(+) years is truly an experience that I think so many can relate to, and I think Bailey’s situation will truly resonate with so many. I mean, besides the whole magical cocktail bars and all that.

“Booze is universal, it brings people together, and a lot of times it results in the creation of more people. What could be more magical than something that does all that?”

Overall, I really did enjoy this and I can’t wait to see what Paul Krueger does next. Especially because his next book, Steel Crow Saga, looks like everything I’ve ever wanted in this life and the next. This was a short and unique tale that put a smile on my face throughout, and I’m so happy that I was able to read it. Also, the magical cocktail recipes throughout? I’m on a quest to make them all now.

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Content and Trigger Warnings for alcohol consumption, grey area cheating, and for racism (assuming all Asian cultures are the same, and this is always challenged).

This was the March pick for the Dragons and Tea Book Club! 🐉☕

 

Dragons & Tea Book Club | April Pick

dragons & tea

Hey, loves! Okay, today we are announcing our April pick for the #DragonsAndTeaBookClub! I’m extra excited about this pick, because the author has made it on my end of the year favorite books lists for both 2017 and 2018! Also, I just love the author with my whole heart and soul and I’m not sure what the world has done to deserve her, or her prose which is a tier above most everyone. But the book we picked is an ownvoices Latinx Magical Realism story, all about a Latina girl and an Italian-Pakistani trans boy falling in love with each other. 💗

And we hope that you all will join us in our Goodreads Group, too! 🐉☕

But we also will be celebrating and talking with you all on Twitter and Instagram using the (hashtag) #DragonsAndTeaBookClub!


But without further ado, our April pick is:

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

  

➽ The Dates & Breakdown:
April 8th: Page 1 – 56 – Bay of Trust
April 9th: Page 57 – 107 – Sea of Waves
April 10th: Page 108 – 156 – Sea of Tranquility 
April 11th: Page 157 – 217 – Bay of Dew
April 12th: Page 218 – END

Content and Trigger Warnings for:
Abusive parents, mention of death of a parent in the past, torture, blackmail, blood, & misgendering of trans characters (I’m assuming ALWAYS in a negative light!)
(From K’s Amazing Review!)


And if you’d like to be friends with me and Amy on any other platform:
🐉☕ Melanie: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads
🐉☕ Amy: BooktubeInstagram | Twitter | Goodreads