The Julie and the Phantoms Book Tag! | ft. lots of throwbacks and some diverse anticipated reads

Helloooo!

I was supposed to post this three days ago so I’d have made four posts in January but that didn’t happen 👀 Anyway, I’m really grateful for the support everyone has given me for my previous post, and I’m ready to finally post another book tag after a very long time.

This tag is special, because it’s an original tag from my friend Lais, who’s an amazing blogger whose work you need to check out ASAP! If you want to do this tag, please credit her and link back to her post!!

Julie is the main character in JATP and her style and singing voice are both unbelievably amazing. On a similar note, another recent character that I’ve loved reading about is Liz from You Should See Me in a Crown, a short and sweet contemporary that I read a couple weeks ago.

They actually remind me of each other a lot, with their spunk, caring for their families a lot, and musical talent.

I love both of these characters! I also related to both of them a lot, and it was so fun to follow their stories. Speaking of which, I NEED a season 2 of JATP!

I’m going to have to steal Lais’s answer for this one because it’s honestly perfect for the prompt. Lais, are you sure you didn’t write this question with Magnus in mind?

Anyway, it’s not much of a spoiler, but Magnus dies in the first book, within the first five pages. That’s basically the set up for the rest of the book, so it’s not a big deal to mention it here (I think).

This series, like all other Rick Riordan series, owns my heart and I thoroughly love it.

This isn’t fair! PJO basically introduced me to reading too 😭 but what actually introduced me to contemporary YA novels was:

Everything Everything was one of the first contemporaries I read before I started blogging, and to be honest, I really liked it.

I have a feeling that if I reread it I won’t like it as much. Just a feeling, but it’s because I’ve outgrown this sort of novel. It just doesn’t appeal to me anymore, I guess.

I remember getting the DVD from our library and making everyone go upstairs while I watched it on our TV because I didn’t want my parents there 😂

Gosh, I love this book so much! I hope that when you think of me you think of the Kyoshi duology and I also hope you go and read it ASAP 👀

These books are SO good and I could talk about it forever but instead I’m going to link you to my September wrap-up, where I ranted about this series a little bit more in depth. Enjoy!

I hope that people know me as that girl who loves Avatar: The Last Airbender and in extension that girl who loves Avatar Kyoshi!

I swear to God, Percy fits in EVERY category!! Lais, you’re making this too hard for me to choose something other than Percy Jackson!

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a very feel-good, heartwarming book and this book is pretty much my emotional support BOOK.

All the characters are so sweet and the found family trope is the best I’ve read recently. I love the way the book made me smile AND cry, and tbh Linus and Arthur are my emotional support couple.

Also, Lucy is my emotional support child and Zoe is my emotional support big sister.

This question is way too fun, but I’m going to have trouble finding a book to match it lol.

I haven’t read this book but just based on the cover of These Violent Delights, THIS would be my villain aesthetic.

I want to be a very cool, romantic and tragic villain who gave up everything for love and followed the path to murder (?) all because of a love lost to unjust “heroes”. I’ll be sophisticated and scary, and basically Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azula may not be a morally “good” character (although I would argue that she was just mislead), but she sure is written amazingly.

P.S. I really want to read TVD! Remind me to read it!

THIS BOOK!!! Remember when everyone was crazy about it? I read it a couple months after the hype but it definitely measured up. It was laugh out loud hilarious and I loved Alex and Henry’s banter.

Despite it involving politics, it surprisingly wasn’t bad on that aspect either! In fact, it had a lot of really great commentary especially because it’s in an alternate timeline where instead of Trump being our president in 2020, it was President Claremont, Alex’s mother.

In the words of beloved Reggie from JATP: tell your friends!!

Okay, that was the perfect segway to the next prompt!!

To be honest, I have no idea if people have been talking about Rise To The Sun a lot or very little- but I do know that I haven’t seen much talk about it despite the fact that You Should See Me in a Crown was wildly popular and this is by the same author!

Also, look at the cover!! It’s gorgeous!

I’m really excited that it’s about two Black LGBT+ girls and, like YSSMIAC, it involves music as a subtheme, which I am really excited for!! It’s supposed to come out in the summer.

I’m having a tough time thinking of a book that fits this prompt- I’m going to settle on Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, which is about two sisters separated by distance and a lot of secrets who find each other after a long time.

I don’t want to give away the plot, but I’m also not sure if this counts as a twist on the long-lost family trope, but the author didn’t write it the same way as I’m used to. Probably because it’s in prose and it’s about two Black Latina girls, which obviously makes the experience different.

 

Firstly, The Song of Achilles is a BEAUTIFUL book and it made me sob- a lot. Don’t read it without an expectation that you will cry. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to fall in love with beautiful writing and a tragically unfair love story.

Secondly, Achilles and Patroclus sure took their sweet time getting together 😂 they met as young teens and became best friends. It took years and years until they accepted their feelings for each other.

Does it count if I say Liz from YSSMIAC and Julie from JATP? I already mentioned them and JATP isn’t even a book…

   

Carmen from We Set the Dark on Fire and Minal from Star Daughter would probably get along wonderfully- they’re both spunky queer women of color with a great sense of humor and wonderful sarcasm.

It’s kind of funny because the prompt is “a book you didn’t think you’d be able to finish” and my answer is a book that I actually didn’t finish. Finale is the, well, finale of Caraval, and while I really enjoyed the first two books (I don’t know if I would like them now, though) I didn’t really care for this book. Maybe I was busy and forgot to finish it, but it didn’t capture my interest like the first two books did.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like the series very much if I reread it- thinking back, the love interest of the MC, Julian, was very much a “bad boy” and would annoy me to no end now.

Thank you so much Lais for tagging me!! I’m not tagging anybody but feel free to do it if you’ve watched the show or if you just like the prompts.

Have a wonderful day, y’all!