Women’s History Book Tag

Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little corner of the internet. Today I’m bringing you the Women’s History Book Tag, which is originally by Margaret at The Weird Zeal, whose answers to the prompts you can find here. I read Mayurakshi’s version of the post when The Write Reads shared it as a post of the day recently, and you can find her post here. I wasn’t tagged by anyone but tagged myself in after seeing it shared because it just looked like it was right up my street.

Rules

• Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post.
• Link to the creator’s blog in your post
• Answer the questions below using only books written by women
• Feel free to use the same graphics
• Tag 8 others to take part in the tag

The first character that sprung to mind when reading this description was Ada from Dangerous Remedy and the sequel Monstrous Design. These historical fiction books with a dash of fantasy feature the Battalion of the Dead as they fight against the French Revolution, and get sucked into a situation that leads them down a path they couldn’t have predicted.

Within these books, Ada is intelligent beyond what is generally tolerated in a woman at this point in time, and spends the time she can sharing her wisdom with the woman she loves, Cam, and anyone else who will genuinely listen, rather than dismissing her for acting out of turn. She’s brilliant, and I think she and this Ada would have got on very well!

The Testaments, long awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, won the Booker Prize when it was released in 2019. Just like all of Atwood’s books, these are powerful novels, ready to send messages of strength for when we’re at breaking point, and rage when we need it to fuel us. I couldn’t get into the TV series – but then I don’t watch much TV – however I will always think both these books deserve every bit of hype they get.

Sophia from Cinderella Is Dead is one of my favourite fictional rebels. Living in a world where there’s very little choice for teenage girls or women and their lives are utterly controlled, when she decides to fight against the system, and meets Erin who helps her do it, they manage to change the whole world around them. It’s an utterly brilliant book, dealing with multiple issues, and never baulking from them, either as a book, or as the characters.

I’m going to pick Poppy from the From Blood and Ash series. Throughout the three books we’ve had access to (From Blood and Ash #1, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire #2, The Crown of Gilded Bones #3) and the snippets released as spoilers of book four, Poppy has grown from someone who was already breaking the rules slightly to smashing them into pieces and writing “return to sender” on them. I’ve been so proud watching her character growth, and I love how much of a rebel she is. She was never designed to live in a box. She’s a powerful woman, and a powerful warrior who is only getting stronger.

The Infinity Files by S. M. Wilson. I don’t read many books set in space is the honest truth, but this one really stuck with me when I read it for a blog tour earlier this year. I’ll be reading the next book in the series and it did make me reconsider my own assumptions about sci-fi a bit, thinking it wasn’t a genre I could connect to, when I really enjoyed this book.

As a queer woman I read a lot of books about other queer women, so it’s difficult to choose, but one of the most recent I’ve read is Not My Problem. This contemporary, sapphic young adult romance novel is a realistic enemies to lovers, which is one of my favourite tropes. I’m so here for enemies to lovers, I’ve realised over the years. Here’s the synopsis:

“Aideen has plenty of problems she can’t fix. Her best (and only) friend is pulling away. Her mother’s drinking problem is a constant concern. She’s even running out of outlandish diseases to fake so she can skip PE.

But when Aideen stumbles on her nemesis, overachiever Meabh Kowalski, in the midst of a full-blown meltdown, she sees a problem that—unlike her own disaster of a life—seems refreshingly easy to solve. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurriculars. Aideen volunteers to help. By pushing Meabh down the stairs.

Problem? Solved. Meabh’s sprained ankle is the perfect excuse to ditch her overwhelming schedule. But when another student learns about their little scheme and brings Aideen another “client” who needs her “help,” it kicks off a semester of traded favors, ill-advised hijinks, and an unexpected chance at love. Fixing other people’s problems won’t fix her own, but it might be the push she needs to start.“

I’m going to fall back on one of my favourite books here, and go for A Court of Wings and Ruin. Feyre’s growth as a character from book one to book three is huge, but the change in her position is too. She is strong and absolute in her determination to use her position for one of good.

Among the Beasts and Briars doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as it should do! I only discovered it when we were arranging to a readalong as part of a book bloggers group. Prior to that I didn’t even know it existed, and considering how much I enjoyed it and have recommended it since, that seems almost criminal. It’s a beautiful book, and it really does deserve more appreciation.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Initially this was a cover buy for me, because the cover is absolutely stunning, but once I’d started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s an absolutely breathtaking book, a story full of a young woman realising her own power, and her own worth, and finding her place in a world that doesn’t seem to want her. It honestly is stunning. I want to read it all over again thinking about it!

There are so many amazing women I could pick who inspire me, and have inspired me over the course of my life. I’m going to pick Hatshepsut however, and the book I’m going to pick to go alongside her is one I think she would appreiciate. Known to have a keen mind, I think she would have enjoyed Truly Devious as much as I did.

This might not seem like the automatic pick for a book that inspires me but I’ve picked it for a selection of reasons. Stevie, the main character, has to fight against her anxiety to make it through each day at school, and I know how hard that is from person experience. She also defies her parents because she is so sure of herself, and knows when to watch her step with the sharks circling. Throughout the course of the series (Truly Devious #1, The Vanishing Stair #2, The Hand on the Wall #3) she has to overcome so much and it makes me feel proud enough of her I could be a personal friend!

So there we are. I think this might be one of my favourite book tags so far! I tag anyone who wants to be tagged, because I think this is an important tag to do. Be sure to come back again soon for more daily posts.