All Antonia Bernardin Blog posts

Welcome to the place for endless scrolling

If you don’t care about the categories and just want to scroll through my posts newest to oldest, this is the place!

Not in Love

The 63rd book I read this year was Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. This is her latest book and, according to the foreword written in the book, it’s a little different from her previous Steminist books. This book is a little darker and grittier, it also has a bit more spice.
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L Jensen

My 62nd read of this year was A Fate Inked in Blood by Daniel L Jensen, the author of The Bridge Kingdom Series, which I absolutely loved.
In Deeper Waters

The 61st book I read this year was In Deeper waters by F.T.Lukens, a book that I found through my ‘hurt character’ rec list
The Raven Cycle

The Raven Cycle series, comprised of: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue and The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, made up books number 52, 54, 56 and 59 of this year’s total reads
Current TBR – September 24

Interested in my upcoming reads? Here’s a little glimpse into what I plan to read soon and what you can expect to see on the blog shortly after!
August reading wrap-up

Since Storygraph has got this awesome new feature making monthly summary graphics, I thought I’d cannibalise so I could share with you a wrap-up of everything I’ve read this month.
Weather Girl

My 58th read of the year was Weather Girl by Rachel Lyn Solomon. I recently read her other book, The Ex Talk, which I really enjoyed so I bought a couple more of her books to try.
My Boss is the Devil

The 57th book I read this year was My Boss is the Devil by Ben Schenkman, this was the July-August buddy read on my podcast, The Lazy Book Lovers podcast.
All the Leigh Bardugo books I’ve read – a review

Here’s a compilation of my reviews of Leigh Bardugo’s various books, I will update this post as I read more of her books but as a big fan of this author, I thought it’d be smart to pop them all in one place!
New booktok ‘hot take’: the debate around spicy books

There are more than a few videos kicking around the Booktok, book tube and maybe bookstagram sphere where people are getting on their high horses and booktok ‘ruining’ publishing and bashing the increased demand for spicy books. Here’s my thoughts…
The downfall of the night princess – The Prompt Project

The Prompt Project’ are posts that are essentially a way for me to exercise my creative muscles, without all the pressure that comes from writing my WIP for example. Today’s prompt is: “Wait… So this whole time, you weren’t under my mind control?”
Raybearer

The 55th book I read this year was Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, the first book in the Raybearer series. This has been sat on my bookshelf for way too long, so I’m glad I finally got round to reading it.
10 books with summery vibes

This is a rec list for books that give me the feeling of summer, rather than books for reading by the beach
Bitten by surprise

The 53rd book I read this year was Bitten by Surprise by Lizzy Gayle. This was an indie book series I found through my podcast: Lazy Book Lovers Podcast and I thought I’d give it a go.
Permission to read whatever you like

What’s the secret to reading more? Here’s a rant going you permission to read whatever you feel like reading
Recovering from burnout – 7 practical tips from someone figuring it out

I’ve been trying to figure out how to stop getting burnt out, so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned on the way
Amethyst Kingdom

The 49th book I read this year was Amethyst Kingdom, the final book in the Five Crowns Of Okrith series by A.K Mulford. I am an unabashed fan of A K Mulford fyi, so this is a very biased review.
A Pho Love Story

My 48th book of the year was A Pho Love Story by Loan Le, a cute little YA romance set against competing Vietnamese family restaurants.
Zodiac Academy series complete review – including novellas

Since reading the first 7 in one go, I have gone on to read and review the various novellas too, so I thought it would helpful to chuck them all in one place.
Exercising without a weightless goal part 4

This is a recurring post, which is a yearly reflection on exercising again post-injury, with a completely different mind set to what had fuelled my desire to go to the gym before and how different it felt
A review of all the books in the Twisted series by Ana Huang

I read this series by Ana Huang last year and despite some of the stuff that happens in it being completely wild and requiring a fair bit of suspension of disbelief… I still have no regrets! I get a fair few visits to those reviews, so I thought it might be helpful to compile them…
Bride to the Fiend Prince

The 47th book I read this year read #BridetotheFiendPrince by #RebeccaFKenney, which are standalone books. part of the #DarkRulers series This one of those books that’s just a fun read, if you don’t read too criticality.
Love and Other Words

The 46th book I read this year was Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. I recently read their other book Twice in a Blue Moon, which I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to this as this one was Booktok’s darling for a while.
Rhapsodic

My 45th book of the year was Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa, this one has been on my TBR for a while because it appears on a tonne of rec lists.
Easy Tiger

My 44th read of the year was Easy Tiger by Ali K Mulford, the second book in the Prickle Island Zoo series.
Reading, writing and life check in – 6 months into 2024

This post is part of series of quarterly check-ins, with a little bit about life, a little writing, and a little bit of reading stats
Lazy curly girl method for 2A/2B hair

I am part of that camp of people who joined Tiktok, ended up on curly girl method Tiktok, starting doing it because I was trying to repair my hair from years of too much heat and was shocked to discover I had a curl pattern when I took care of my hair like curly hair.
In the dream house

My 43rd book of the year was In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, a memoir about an abusive relationship the author was in with a same sex partner.
Truths about traveling – behind the beautiful pictures

I did the whole travelling there a few years ago and while it was an incredible privilege full of once in a lifetime experiences, there some things that I never hear being talked about online. This isn’t necessarily, like, pros and cons, more like, little realities you might face.
20 Main character gets injured/sick and love interest takes care of them trope recs

Okay, so this is an incredibly specific trope but you’ll definitely find it in a lot of fantasy and romance. Subtly different from the ‘Who did this to you?’ trope, this list just about the angsty, tender moment where the love interest is helping take of an injury, or when the character is sick.
A Thorn Among Roses

The 42nd book I read this year was A Thorn Among Roses by Hayley Anderton, I read this as part of my podcasts (Lazy Book Lovers Podcast) May-June buddy read, where we choose an indie author’s book to read together and then discuss on the podcast. This book is a sapphic retelling of beauty and…
Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management for Mortals

My 41st read of the year was Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. This was recommended by one of my favourite book tubers: Lexi aka Newlynova and as someone who struggles with both time-management and burnout, I thought this would be a good book for me to try. I’ve never…
A River of Golden Bones

The 40th book I read this year was A River of Golden Bones by A.K. Mulford, a new series by an author I am unabashedly a huge fan of, you will have heard me talk about her other books: The Five Crowns of Okrith and The Prickle Island zoo romance series.
You are not supposed to have it altogether – a rant

This is mostly a book blog but sometimes I talk about things that have been on my mind. I have recently been trying to address years of being in a cycle of burnout but it’s so hard around full time work and I have concluded that we aren’t meant to have everything together.
The Hating Game

My 38th read of the year was The Hating game by Sally Thorne, another booktok favourite, which has been turned into a movie too.
A Tempest of Tea

The 37th book I read this year was A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal, a new booktok favourite by the author of We Hunt the Flame.
The Ex Talk

The 36th book I read this year was The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Soloman.
The Light That Blinds Us

The 34th book I read this year was The Light That Blinds Us by Anthony Theo Darcy. He is a booktokker turned author whose videos I have always really enjoyed.
Bride

The 34th book I read this year was Bride by Ali Hazelwood, whose most well known for her Steminist romance books but this is a fantasy romance book!
Happy Place

The 33rd book I read this year was Happy Place by Emily Henry. I read this during my absolute nightmare flight on my way to go on holiday, so it definitely helped remind me to think of my happy place whilst trapped on a plane for 5.5 hours.
Twice in a blue moon

My 32nd book of the year was Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren, the author of the well known ‘The Unhoneymooners’.
Ice planet barbarians

My 31st book of the year was Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon, first book in the Ice Planet Barbarians series. If you are in the booktok/bootube/bookstagram sphere… you know what this book is about, I am very late to the hype but I needed a short audio book and thought, why not?
Two Necromancers, a Dwarf Kingdom, and a Sky City

My 30th book of the year was Two Necromancers, a Dwarf Kingdom, and a Sky City by L.G Estrella, the 4th book in the Un-conventional heroes series.
Trial of the Sun Queen

My 29th read of the year was Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J Tuli, the first book in the Artefacts of Ouranos series. This read was part of my podcast’s first buddy read. I was actually in a bit of a reading slump and this book kicked me out of it!
What Lies Beyond the Veil

My 28th read of the year was What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L Woods, the first book in the Of Flesh and Bone series. This book appears on a lot of book trope rec lists, so does it live up to the hype?
30 ‘Nightmare trope’ book rec list

Anybody else absolutely melt into a little puddle at any book with the ‘cuddled during a nightmare’ trope? Just me? I don’t care if it’s overplayed, I don’t care if it’s cheesy. I.NEED.IT.
All the Emily Henry books I have read – a review

Some of the other review compilations I’ve done seem to be getting a lot of visitors, which lead me to thinking they are quite helpful? So I thought I’d do another one for an author I’ve read a few of: Emily Henry.
5 things your bookworm wants you to not ask about

If there’s a book nerd in your life that you love, or live with, here are the questions they’d rather you didn’t ask. I’m doing my civic duty as a bookworm with a blog by telling you what they won’t.
Live and Let Lionel – Zodiac Academy 8.6

My 26th read of the year was Live and Let Lionel – Zodiac Academy by Susanne Valenti and Caroline Peckham, this book is a compilation of novellas set throughout the timeline of the series.
The new booktok ‘hot-take’ : booktok has turned publishing into ‘fast fashion’ – a rant

So, one of the topics that was doing the rounds on Tiktok recently was that because of booktok and reader’s appetites for huge tbr’s, large consumption and books written for tropes, publishing has become it’s own version of fast fashion: trope filled, poorly edited books churned out quickly. I thought, as a big reader who…