The Dimsum Tag!

The Dim Sum Book Tag was made by Joey @ Thoughts and Afterthoughts & Jenna @ Reading With Jenna. Dim sum is a style of Chinese cuisine whereby food is served in small (tapas-like) portions and is common during yum cha (which literally means: drinking tea). This tag is inspired by good company and good eats.

Thank you to all the lovely people who nominated me! I’m finally doing it :3.  I can’t remember who tagged me *cries*.

Here are some rules to devour this tag:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.
• Devour dim sum and answer the tag questions.
• Tag five others to join your round table for some dim sum fun.
• Food coma.

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Tea:
A book that started off hot but quickly turned cold.

Atlanta by Ally Condie

 

God this book is the perfect one for this category.  You can read my review here.  The first chapter was so perfectly done and then it just fell flat.

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Chiu Chow Dumpling:
A book that features elements of land and sea.

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Clarke

This book is about a young girl named Ananna of the Tamarau who abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. As a result, they send an assassin after her but magic plays a role and nothing ends up how it should.

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Rice Noodle Roll:
A favourite multilayered character you’ve read (i.e. Traits? Skills? Morally ambiguous?).

Aaron Warner Andersen(-son?)
Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi

Aaron, oh Aaron.  #swoon.  If you guys haven’t read this series you most definitely should.  I have reviews for all three books on my blog: Shatter Me, Unravel Me, and Ignite Me.  Aaron is such an interestingly diverse and multifaceted character.  Throughout each book we gain inside knowledge as to why he does what he does.  It’s a beautiful development.

 

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Shrimp Dumpling:
A book with a transparent blurb that gives the story away.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge.

Sigh, this book was pretty disappointing for me.  I was really hoping for something like ACOTAR by SJM but ended up really weirded out and confused.  I wrote a blog post about it here.  The synopsis is pretty much the entire book summed up.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

 

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Steamed BBQ Pork Buns:
A book that is fluffy on the outside but packs a punch of flavour (e.g. Message? Depth? Controversy?).

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

What looks like another typical YA fantasy ends up having much more depth than would be expected by incorporating civil rights issues into the plot.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-old Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

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Chicken Feet:
A book with divided opinions.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

 

Is this even a question?  I don’t even feel like I need to explain this.  There’s two sides to this book: those who think it’s rape propagation and those who don’t.  I’m on the side that says it’s not rape.  Sorry guys.  I kind of want to make a blog discussion on why I don’t think this.  Would you like to read something like that?

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Lotus-Wrapped Sticky Rice:
A book you’ve received/given that was nicely packaged.

For Christmas, my good college friend/petite croissant Sofia gave me the 20th anniversary edition of The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.  It’s beautiful.  A white hardback with gold embossing, a stunning dust jacket, and a slip case to finish it off.  So so so so pretty.

 

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Egg Custard Tart:
A book that uses simple ingredients and clichés but executes it perfectly.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

This is a cute YA contemporary about first love, high school, and family.  It’s such a simple and easy book, but it’s done so well.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

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Mango Pudding with Evaporated Milk:
Any book recommendation and beverage/snack that’s a winning combination.

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel with strawberries and cream.

I think you’d have to read the book to understand.. But if Bishop could have given this as a surprise to Ivy she would have been the happiest woman on Earth.

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Fried Sesame Balls:
A book cover with embossed text/design you just love to run your fingers over.

Poop guys, I really don’t have any idea for this.  I don’t usually read physical books.

 

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Dim Sum Steam Cart:
The type of carrying bag you use to bring books around.

I only read on my iPad if I’m going somewhere!

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I Tag…

Paige @ The Wild Readers

Paige @ The Paige-Turner

Kevin @ Bookevin

Trust in the Words

Nazahet @ Read Diverse Books