Winter Is Coming Book Tag ❄ Nostalgia & Special Snowflakes

Hello fellow bookworms ❄ I love doing festive/wintery Book Tags and was so excited that Ritz @ Living, Loving & Reading tagged me to do the Winter Is Coming Book Tag! Thank you so much for tagging me! Make sure to check out her lovely blog 💕 This Tag had so many fun questions and once again reminded me why I love winter and the festive season so much 🥰 The Tag was originally created by Katherine Barka and I have linked her video down below for you to check out!

I’m Tagging …

• Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense
• Ashley @ The Infinite Library
• Meeghan @ Meeghan reads
• Tasya @ The Literary Huntress
• … & anyone else who would like to do it ❄

Snowflake: Something beautiful and always different. Choose a book that stands out, that is different from all the other books you’ve read. ❄

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) ➽ I immediately thought of this book when I read this prompt, so I ended up going with it! I loved The Book Thief when I first read it and I definitely need to do a reread sometime 🥰 It’s a story about World War 2 and a young girl sent to live with a foster family. The special thing about this book is that  it’s actually narrated by Death, meaning that there is heavy foreshadowing and you cannot help but feel a sense of unease. I feel like you sometimes even forget who is the narrator, but then there will be a specific comment and you remember 😱

Snowman: It is always fun to make one with your family. Choose a book a whole family could read. ⛄

Frostheart (Jamie Littler) ➽ This is a cute Middle Grade fantasy adventure book, however, I think readers of all ages can definitely read it! I recommend this as a winter read, as the setting is very snowy and the world centered around the fact that there are monsters lurking beneath ice 👀 I really liked the worldbuilding, it was creative, unique and immersive. I also loved the illustrations throughout the story and the side characters like the Yeti Guardian and the young Navigator who becomes the main character’s best friend were all very lovable 💕

Christmas: Choose a book full of happiness that made you warm inside after reading it. 🎄

Winterhouse (Ben Guterson) ➽ I wanted to share one of my most recent reads, a MG mystery/contemporary Fantasy that I picked up because it’s very wintery! Winterhouse is set at a charming hotel in the snowy mountains that is full of riddles and fun. The main character is orphan Elizabeth who has no idea how she was sent to Winterhouse over the holidays but enjoys the found family she finds there. It was so heartwarming to see Elizabeth find a new home at the hotel and finally have friends that care about her 🥺 The book was just so incredibly cozy and I had a really good time reading it this winter! Makes me wish I could stay at a snowy hotel as well.

Santa Claus: He brings wonderful presents. Choose a book you’d like to get for Christmas. 🎅

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Jessica Townsend) ➽ I already talked about what books I want for Christmas in another Book Tag, so I decided to choose a different answer. This is a book that wasn’t on my wishlist because I hadn’t planned on getting it so soon! I read Nevermoor back in September and slowly fell in love with it, so I’m planning on reading Wundersmith this month, as I need to know how this series continues! I got myself a copy of the sequel, so I would love to have the third book Hollowpox as well. Because I don’t have it on my wishlist, I know that I won’t get it, but maybe with the Christmas money I can get a copy 👀

Snow Balling: It can be painful to be hit by a snowball. Choose a book that hurt, that made you feel some powerful emotion, like sadness, or anger. 🌨

The Gilded Wolves (Roshani Chokshi) ➽ Once again, a specific book came to my mind immediately! Technically, this would be the second book in the Gilded Wolves series – The Silvered Serpents. The first book ends on such a heartbreaking note, but the sequel causes even more hurt and pain, as you see the found family of the first book break under the strain of loss and grief. There’s also some anger toward one of the characters who starts lashing out and distrusting their friends, even though they are all in the same situation. I’m not emotionally ready for the third book, as it’s the big finale and I fear it’ll have a heartbreaking  ending 😭

Sledding: We all loved it when we were younger. Choose a book you loved when you were a child. 🛷

The Nostalgia really hits hard with these books ➽ I didn’t exactly read them as a child, I was a bit older, but it was still such a long time ago! Back then I was obsessed with Kerstin Gier’s books, but especially the Ruby Red Trilogy. I still have all the books and a soft spot for them (the movies are also great, I watched all of them with friends), even though they have some of the cliched tropes that were typical back in the day. I also have to mention Cornelia Funke, another German author that I like, who wrote the Inkheart books that I also loved to read. Another shoutout to Vampire Academy, another old favorite series that I actually reread this year and still liked 🥰

• Ruby Red Trilogy (Kerstin Gier)
• Inkheart Trilogy (Cornlia Funke)
• Vampire Academy Series (Richelle Mead)

Frostbite: Choose a book you were really disappointed in. 💔

Sadly, there are 3 recent disappointments I can share ➽ I didn’t hate these books – they were all 3 star reads – but I was expecting to love them a lot more, especially after all the hype they got. I loved Victoria Lee’s Fever King Duology, so I was disheartened to find out that A Lesson in Vengeance was incredibly slow with characters I didn’t care for, I expected so much more from it 😔 Same with Ace of Spades, I was so hyped for it and I feel like I’m one of the only people who thought it was only ‘meh’. I appreciate the themes it discussed, but the plot and thriller aspect felt a bit lackluster to me. The most recent disappointment is sadly The Bear and the Nightingale. I finally read it and while the atmosphere was great, the story felt more like a prologue and had way too much setups, with not enough payoff 🥺

 

• A Lesson in Vengeance (Victoria Lee)
• Ace of Spades (Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé)
• The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden)

Reindeer: Something dear to us. Choose a book of great sentimental value to you. 🦌

Red Queen Series (Victoria Aveyard) ➽ I quite like this prompt, as sentimental books don’t have to be the absolute best in technique. I don’t mention it often, but I’m very fond of the Red Queen series as it’s the first book series I read when I got back to reading after a years long slump! 💕 I vividly remember picking up the first book after I had done my final exams of high school and finally had some nerve to read again. It made for such a nice reading experience and I still have a soft spot for the story and characters though it’s technically not the best fantasy series out there!

Do you love winter? What book holds sentimental value to you? What books stands out to you and is unlike anything you’ve read before? ❄