Angel Reads is back! I had a little scare there for the past 24 hours. But we are back online and ready to get back into the action. 

When I saw this book tag floating around, I knew that I needed to do it. The Six Book Tag was created by the fabulous Wilde Book Garden and Snow White Reader, over on YouTube. So go check them out. 

I don’t speak about this often but I am a massive musical theatre fan. It’s something that I’ve always loved going to, and this year I made it my mission to try and see what I wanted.  But I’m already thinking about next year. And guess what is coming to Melbourne!! That’s right Six! 

And Six brings together two of my favourite things; Musicals and History. Six, the musical follows Henry VIII’s six wives as they finally get to tell their story. Each wife tells us about their lives both before and with Henry VIII. And it’s all done through, pop and RnB music. It’s all a concert. If you haven’t checked it out yet please do! Anyway enough of this, here we go! 

#1 Ex-Wives: A female-centered retelling or reimagining: This one was easy for me. ‘The Conqueror’s Saga’ by Kiersten White has to be one of my favourite trilogies of all time. And one of the main reasons why I loved these books was it was a female Vlad the Impaler. I have so much praise for this series and it has everything that I love. Intense characters, a strong female protagonist and all the court intrigue. If you haven’t had the chance to pick this series up please do, because it’s fantastic. 

#2 No Way: A character with strong convictions whom you admire: This one has to go to Beatrix Hathaway from Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas. From the start of the series she always stood out. I loved that she didn’t really care what people thought of her. She loved animals and her way of thinking and she doesn’t let the time she lives stop her from doing things she loves. And this is highlighted in her book Love in the Afternoon. She is this free-spirit that just wants to be who she wants to be and doesn’t let anything, even love stop her. 

#3 Don’t Lose Ur Head: A character who makes terrible choices but you can’t help loving them or sympathizing with them: This one has to go to Emelina Flores from Ruined by Amy Tintera. While everything that she does has some sort of reasons. She makes a lot of terrible choices that not only affect her but so many others around her. Emelina thinks that she is doing the right thing most of the time, it just doesn’t always work out that way. But what I love is that it doesn’t stop her. She doesn’t let her bad choices stop her from saving her people and fighting the people she loves.

#4 Heart of Stone: A non-canon OTP or a canon one that didn’t get enough page time: This one was really hard for me, as I tend to gravitate towards books with a romance it in. But one that came to mind for me was Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. I adore these two together, but this is mainly to do with fanfiction. They had very little time together on the page as a couple. And I get there was a lot going on, but I do wish there was more. 

#5 Haus of Holbein: A female-authored work you read in translation: Sadly, I couldn’t think of anything of this. I’ve read a couple of male-written translations, but I can think of a female one. So the plan for 2020 is to read more books by female authors that have translated. 

#6 Get Down: A character you’d like to get down with…interpret how you will! Date, be friends with, party with, etc: This one was difficult for me to pick where I was going with it. But in the end, I went around the friend’s route. I would love to be friends with the gang from Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I don’t think I need to say too much about them, but gosh it would be a ride. You can check out my discussion with Ely and see how much I adored this book and being friends with Alex, Henry and the rest of the gang would be pretty damn amazing. 

#7 All You Wanna Do: A book that would have been much better without the romance OR a female character you feel was unfairly defined by her romantic relationships: As I said before, I love reading books with a romance. It’s something that always catches my attention in a book. So I found this one really hard, but I think that Ella Harper form The Royals series by Erin Watt is defined by the romance in every way. I don’t love this series – really at all. And one of those reasons was because I felt that Ella had no backbone. She did what everyone told her and lets her romantic feelings get in the way of everything that happens in the novel. 

#8 I Don’t Need Your Love: Share a seriously underrated female author: There are many authors that I could have put on this list, so many. But one of the first authors that came to mind is Ellie Marney. Ellie is a local Australia author who I have been reading for years and if you haven’t picked her up please do. She writes YA crime and romance. And they are just fantastic. There are many more things that I could say but just read her books. 

#9 Six: Tell us about one of your favorite bookish Girl Squads or female friendships: This one has to the Wallflowers from the Wallflowers Series by Lisa Kleypas. These girls have my heart and I want to be best friends with all of them. This group of friends is the group that everyone wants to be part of. They are there for each other, help each other, but also push each other. I loved seeing them all grow, find their love and find happiness. 

And that is it for this post! I had so much fun doing this tag and it really got me thinking. I’m tagging anyone that wants to do it, and let me know when you do, so I can check it out.