Down the TBR Hole #27

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Hello Hello! How are you?

It’s Friday and you all know what that means! It’s the TBR Purge, yay!! I honestly get so excited for these posts aha. I have had a very stressful week with university stuff and just problems with all aspects of life and I’m so ready for the weekend! I have my masters meeting next week, so I want to relax properly one final time before I have to get my student cap back on. I hope you’ve all had a good/better week than I have!

You know the drill if you haven’t ever read any of my Down the TBR Hole posts before but you want to find out why I started and what rules to follow to do your own TBR list purge on your Goodreads, head over to the first edition of this post to find out more!

I think I have done some removing this week as I finished last week at 3,851 books and today I have 3,851 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, I know it’s not a big difference, but every little helps. So today, that’s where I will be starting this purge at, and I’ll be looking at the next 20 books on my list, starting at #279! Wish me luck!

GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

In the Land of Tea and Ravens by R.K. Ryals

I had a quick look at the list for this week, and you’ll not be surprised to know that nearly every book is a book I have never heard about. So, starting with this one, I haven’t seen it before, but the cover is a bit weird and the title seems cool, so I will see what I think of the blurb. Hum… so… well, this sounds kind of weird if I’m honest, it sort of draws me in, but I don’t think it will be my cup of tea (pun intended) and I think I will kick this purge off with a remove.

REMOVE

Dead to Me by Mary McCoy

I don’t think I’ve heard of this one either, but it’s a YA mystery, so it gives me some kind of hope. Again, unfortunately, this doesn’t sound like something I would like, I like my mysteries to have actual murder mysteries and crime scenes and investigations so this is not really my thing. I also don’t like many books set in or about Hollywood for some reason so this is an easy choice.

REMOVE

The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman

Another one I don’t know, and already seeing YA contemporary is pushing me to remove it before I’ve even read the blurb. However, I think this is pulling me in as it is blurbed as similar to We Were Liars and if you know me, you know it’s one of my favourite books. Honestly, it sounds just like We Were Liars and I’m really not interested in reading a copy of it, so again, an easy choice.

REMOVE

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

I’m going to repeat myself for this whole post I’m afraid, so please forgive me and bear with me… *whispers* I haven’t seen or heard of this book before… I love historical fiction, but this does not appeal to me, nope, not my type of book.

REMOVE

Lock & Mori (#1) by Heather W. Petty

Ohh, a book I’ve heard about before, yay! OMG THIS BOOK!!!!! I had no idea it was a kind of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty retelling and this is so my thing. I love that it’s YA mystery and it kind of reminds me of the blurb of Lost Boy because of how things were before what we know of the two characters now, does that make sense? I absolutely want to read this book!

KEEP

The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett

And we’re back to a book I haven’t heard about before. It kind of sounds intriguing, and I do want to venture more into the science fiction genre, but it does sound a bit strange to me, and I’m not sure I would really enjoy it. It doesn’t seem to have an actual plot either and it’s quite vague, so I think I’m going to give this one a miss.

REMOVE

Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith

Another unknown book to me, this is really becoming a trend in these posts and I’m actually quite hopeful that most of this massive list is made up of these “unknown books”, so maybe when I’ve gone through them all, it won’t be such a massive scary number of books. Again, this is a weird kind of book and I don’t really fancy the blurb, so I’m going to let it go.

REMOVE

Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul

I don’t know what this book is about, again, oh dear, this is getting embarrassing. I do like stories with friendships, but only if they aren’t toxic ones, and that is what this one seems to be. I would probably have read this book when I was a teenager but it’s not the kind of book I lean towards now, so again, I’m going to get rid of it.

REMOVE

Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond

Again, this is the type of book that I would probably have read when I was younger, it’s not the kind of book that I currently read and I don’t think I would enjoy it anyway as it seems really vague and not very enjoyable if I’m honest. Another easy choice.

REMOVE

The Wanderers (#1) by Kate Ormand

Oh, some YA fantasy that I haven’t heard of before! I think the premise of this book is really interesting, but I honestly have to say that the blurb doesn’t appeal to me at all. It seems like it would be something I would like, but I don’t really fancy it, unfortunately. This is turning out to be a big remove week, I was hoping to find some good books, but apparently that’s not going to happen.

REMOVE

When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Stirling

Another YA fantasy that I haven’t heard about, ahah, this is a new thing apparently. I have no idea what this book is about… the synopsis suggests magic and botanical elements which is totally my kind of thing, but it also suggests some weird bits about the main character. The synopsis was kind of messy and vague and I don’t really want to read it now, see how important a good wording of the blurb is?

REMOVE

Drowning Is Inevitable by Shalanda Stanley

I don’t know how it’s possible that I’ve only heard of one book on this list so far, I suppose I was on one of my trigger-happy adding sessions because these are all unknown books to me. I don’t know what this book is really about if there is something I hate is really vague weird blurbs and this week is full of them. I don’t really like contemporary books where teenagers run away from home, it’s not my thing, so I’m going to get rid of this book.

REMOVE

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

Never heard of this YA fantasy before either and it actually sounds a lot like a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I’m glad to say that it sounds fairly good. It is still a bit vague and I’m not sure I’m going to love it, but I feel like it deserves a chance, so I’m going to give it a shot.

KEEP

PODs (#1) by Michelle K. Pickett

Ohhhh, another book I haven’t heard of, but this time it’s a YA science fiction, dystopia/zombie book and it is giving me vibes! I don’t usually read this type of science fiction, but I do love dystopia and I wanted to try a zombie book. It also sounds a bit like The 100 and I definitely think I should give this book a go!

KEEP

Moments of Reckoning by Savannah Stewart

Another book of the unknown kind aha! I don’t like this kind of book, I don’t really read new adult fiction and this sounds more on the romance side. I don’t read much romance and I can tell it’s really not a book for me, so another easy choice!

REMOVE

Interim by S. Walden

I’ve not heard of this book before or ever seen it anywhere. The blurb sounds kind of vague again, and it has a type of school shooting terrorist vibe that I don’t want to read at all, this is not my type of book, so I’m going to take it off the list. I’m surprised by just how many books are not at all my thing. I know there will be so many more, but at least I’ll stop adding books without checking the blurb first. Well, I hope I will.

REMOVE

Better by Carey Heywood

It’s another one of those unknown books again, this time we have a contemporary romance, which is again, not the kind of book I lean towards. I suppose I would have read this book when I was a teenager and I’m just not interested in this kind of synopsis anymore, I rarely read romance and when I do it’s a specific type.

REMOVE

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Bérubé

Thank goodness! A book I’ve heard of before, seen on IG and even heard someone speak about on BookTube. I didn’t realise it was YA horror, but since I’ve been getting braver, this doesn’t worry me as much. It does sound fairly good and interesting to me, but I don’t think I’m 100% ready for this book, I am going to take it off the list for now, and maybe add it again later. Do you have any YA horror recs for me that aren’t too terrifying?

REMOVE

Gray Wolf Island by Tracey Neithercott

Again, we have an unknown book, I wonder how many more of these there will be before I get a bunch of books I recognise. This one look really cool just from the cover and it’s a YA mystery. It sounds like it has some fantasy elements to it and that makes it really appealing to me, the blurb also sounds quite good and I do think I want to try this one, it sounds a bit like National Treasure or Indiana Jones so I want to try it out.

KEEP

Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff

To finish this week off, we have another unknown book which is a YA romance, already not my thing, and it’s set in high school, not my thing either aha. It sounds kind of strange to me as well and I know that it’s just not the kind of book I read and enjoy, so I’m going to remove it, ending this week on a high note.

REMOVE

Wow, I had so many unknown-to-me books on this list today, it’s a bit embarrassing, but at least these posts are helping me get through all the books and sort them. Out of the 20 books I looked through today, I managed to remove a total of 16 books, which is now my record for the TBR purge posts!

I was able to get my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf down to a total of 3,834 books, which I’m very proud of! I will be starting next week’s post at #283, I’ve been stuck on page 3 forever, but the numbers are slowly going down and I’m hopeful that I will get to the end of the list one day!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx