Happy Monday Bibliofriends!

I hope you had a fun-filled weekend whether you were watching the Six Nations Rugby, celebrating Mother’s Day or just chilling with your favourite beverage and book! When the first signs of Spring are in the air, I get this in-built sense to go into clear-out mode and that has definitely been the case with some of my reads in the past few weeks. In an attempt to clear our a bit more bookshelf space, I’ve been ticking books off that have been sat on my shelves for far too long. Whilst putting together my blog post outline for the month, I stumbled across the perfect Spring Cleaning Book Tag over on 18 Cinema Lane to coincide with this and knew that I just had to do it!

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1. The Struggle of Getting Started – A book or book series you struggle to begin because of its size

One of my lifelong reading goals has always been to read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, along with the rest of the series. The sheer size of them initially prevents me from reaching out for these books, but also – as I’m such a mood reader, I know I’ll have to get my brain into ‘classics’ mode in order to properly focus on reading it.

2. Cleaning Out the Closet – A book or book series you want to unhaul

Being a Fairyloot and Illumicrate subscriber I have so many series on my shelves which I am yet to get started. A couple that have been majorly hyped up and that I’m hoping to get to this year are The Prison Healer series by Lynette Noni and the Kingdom of the Wicked series by Kerri Maniscalco.

3. Opening Windows and Letting Fresh Air In – A book that was refreshing

The People on Platform Five by Clare Pooley was a fantastically refreshing read. It’s such a feel-good story that leaves you with a positive feeling about the goodness of strangers and the forging of new friendships. I’m not much of a contemporary fiction fan but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both of Clare Pooley’s novels so far.

4. Washing Out the Sheets’ Stains – A book you wish you could re-write a certain scene in

I wouldn’t so much as rewrite, but perhaps remove a fair chunk of the smut scenes from A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas. I really don’t need to know about the hot, spurting of anything thank you very much!

5. Throwing Out Unnecessary Knick-Knacks – A book in a series you didn’t feel was necessary

It’s probably going to have to be one of the Mortal Instruments books by Cassandra Clare. I don’t really remember each individual book’s plot, but I feel like I’m sure there’s one part of it that could either be amalgamated or isn’t really a necessary part of the whole saga.

6. Polishing the Door Knobs – A book that had a clean finish

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – I had so many questions throughout reading this, but I feel like everything was wrapped up succinctly at the very end. It has an incredibly satisfying conclusion that I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

7. Reaching to Dust the Fan – A book that tried too hard to relay a certain message

I found a copy of Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist in a charity shop and purchased it due to all of the hype surrounding it and that it’s well-known as one of the best-selling books of all time. Having heard many, many things, I went into it thinking that it would be a groundbreaking story that would have me redefining my outlook on my entire life… but I think that was the killer. My expectations were way too high and the message being relayed about becoming your own Personal Legend just seemed to follow Santiago from failed mission to failed mission. I’m well aware that I’ve probably missed the central point of meaning within this whole text, but for me it just tried a little too hard and didn’t quite pull off what I had hoped to take away from it.

8. The Tiring, Yet Satisfying Finish of Spring Cleaning – A book series that was tiring, yet satisfying, to get through

Another potential unpopular opinion alert on the horizon… These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong is a series that I struggled to get through. I had high expectations for this duology however it didn’t quite hit the mark for my bookish brain. I think there was a lot going on between river monsters, rival gangs, romances, friendships, betrayals, etc… The satisfying element of it was that I absolutely loved the idea and premise of a 1920s Shanghai Romeo and Juliet retelling, and of course the hype following this series made me feel like I’d achieved something from completing it, but it wasn’t quite the enjoyable journey I had anticipated it to be.

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That’s a wrap on the Spring Cleaning Book Tag! What are your thoughts? Consider yourself tagged if you feel like participating in your own Spring Cleaning bookish fun! As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx