Sensational Sophomores: Katya de Becerra’s Playlist and Aesthetic Inspired by Oasis

Sensational Sophomores is a periodic blog series highlighting authors who are releasing their second book. Today, I am honored to be welcoming Katya de Becerra, author of What the Woods Keep and the forthcoming Oasis (1/7/2020) as she shares her playlist and visual aesthetic for Oasis!

If you are an author interested in being featured in this series please click here to fill out the Google form.

clockwise starting with the background photo for Oasis title:
Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash
Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash  
Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash 
Photo by Sander Weeteling on Unsplash

Book Playlist: Sisters of Shadow and Light by Sara B. Larson

Title: Sisters of Shadow and Light
Series: Sisters of Shadow and Light
Author: Sara B. Larson
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 368

This post does contain affiliate links. I will receive a small amount from any purchases made through Book Depository at no extra cost to you.

From the acclaimed author of Defy, Sara B. Larson, Sisters of Shadow and Light is a timeless and fantastical tale of sisterly love and powerful magic

The night my sister was born, the stars died and were reborn in her eyes….

Zuhra and Inara have grown up in the Citadel of the Paladins, an abandoned fortress where legendary, magical warriors once lived before disappearing from the world—including their Paladin father the night Inara was born.

Shattering Stigmas: Taylor Swift and My Recovery from Self-Harm

Welcome to the last day of Shattering Stigmas! Since October 6 I’ve been highlighting voices from the book community on mental health. I co-hosted this event with Taylor from Stay on the Page, Shannon from It Starts at Midnight, and Amber from YA Indulgences so make sure to check their blogs out to see different content.

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Content Warnings: depression, anxiety, self-harm

I’ve been an anxious bean for as long as I can remember but it was when I was eight that my anxiety really started to manifest – though I didn’t understand it at the time. I couldn’t figure out why it seemed like all of my friends could play and carry on conversations so easily when I second-guessed my every move and had to practice sentences in my head before speaking them. It felt like everything I did was being judged and any time I walked away the people I left behind would start to whisper about me.

This is a lot for a young person to carry – especially when it isn’t recognized as anxiety by any adults in their life.

I guess you really did it this time
Left yourself in your war path
Lost your balance on a tightrope
Lost your mind trying to get it back

Taylor Swift’s Lover Book Tag [Original]

Lover has been on repeat since it’s release and I’m head over heels in love with it! I was planning on doing a post where I matched a book up with each song but it seemed like a million people were already doing that so I thought why not make a book tag instead?

Rules

• Know somebody who loves Taylor? Tag them! If you don’t know of anybody though, that’s okay too, you should still do the tag!
• There is a prompt for each song but don’t feel pressured to do them all!
• Link back to this post so Mari will get a notification that you did it and can come see your answers! Also because crediting creators is nice.
• Feel free to use any of the graphics or make your own if you want!

Hungry by H.A. Swain is one of my least favorite books. The premise is interesting but the execution was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. And what was that ending?! A dumpster fire.

The Jonas Brothers Book Tag

You shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that I’m about to match some books up to a few Jonas Brothers songs, but you should be surprised that it took me this long to do it. I’m incredibly excited for Happiness Begins, the new documentary on Amazon, and their upcoming memoir. To celebrate the Year of Jonas I thought it would be the perfect time to complete this tag created by Morrisa from Morr Books!

(If at any point you’re reading this and you think to yourself, “wow those words really don’t make sense” I apologize. I’ve been really stressed and anxious lately, I haven’t been sleeping much, and I just took NyQuil because I’m not feeling great. So who knows what I’m about to type!)

S.O.S. – a book or series that broke your heart

I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios – I read this right after it came out in February of 2015, and while I don’t remember everything that happened I do remember how emotional of a story it was. This is one I’m really looking forward to rereading soon so I can be broken all over again by Skylar and Josh.