
In this particular novel, there is a lot of heat between Severin and Laila. I place this on pages where I really “ship” the characters or feel the tension between them. Last but not least, my pink tabs are reserved for romance. This made me smile because without saying a single word, Laila does something for Zofia that she knows will ease her anxiety and adhere to how she likes things arranged. Only then did Laila remove the platter place it off to the side of a different counter and position it just so, with none of the corners hanging off the edges and arranged perpendicular to the wall. In the following passage, Laila (our mysterious dancer) does something kind for her friend Zofia (the autistic engineer). It’s for when my heart feels warm at different characters supporting one another and meshing really well. Purple highlights all of the friendship feels for me.

It’s a disgusting part of history that should never have occurred. I was just sad that human zoos used to be a thing. I know she wasn’t being deliberately racist. I am not calling out the author on this sentence. According to the newspapers, it contained “a Negro Village” with almost 400 Africans in their natural habitat.

For example, I did not like this passage: It was to be the largest attraction after the Gallery of Machines and the Eiffel Tower. These are particular useful when it comes to reviewing or critiquing the negative aspects of a book. If you see a red tab, it means I disliked this part of the story or something a character said. Who looks at a vase covered in bull testicles and says, ‘You. This particular quote made me giggle: Enrique shuddered. Yellow tabs are reserved for passages/dialogue that makes me laugh out loud. In this book, a quote that I tabbed was: ‘You are real, my girl, for you are loved.’ LOL They could be funny, deep, sad, beautiful etc. QUOTESīlue tabs are used for quotes that strike a chord with me. It just adds a fun, interactive element to the book. If you know my reading tastes, you know I love a story with illustrations/mixed-media. I loved the aspect and tabbed every single one. For example, there were lots of images/symbols in this book for the treasure-hunters to solve. When I use a green tab, I am highlighting plot points within the novel that I really appreciate/like. You can also re-read the book and enjoy your favourite passages and plot-points again seeing what has changed and what has remained the same. Well, if you’re a book reviewer like myself, it helps to have an easy reference guide. You may wonder why anyone would tab their books to begin with. Now onto how I tabbed this beautiful book (the cover is divine!) Firstly, I buy my tabs from a place in Australia called Officeworks. You can order the type I use here. In fact, it was so similar, I actually marked in the pages where I saw the parallels. Now don’t get me wrong, the language in this story is beautiful and the characters – in particular Zofia – were very likable, but it just felt like a watered-down version of Six of Crows that didn’t blow me away. I know I shouldn’t have compared the two but I just couldn’t help it. The Gilded Wolves just didn’t quite measure up. The reason for this was because I had just finished reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and they were way too similar. So this may be a super unpopular opinion…but I gave this book 3 stars. Together, they will go on the ultimate quest to obtain a sacred object in order to buy their own freedom. But when the all-powerful society seeks him out, he will need help from a band of experts.

It follows treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Severin Montagnet-Alarie desperate to reclaim his inheritance from The Order of Babel. If you’re interested in picking up a copy, please click here. This was the Books with Friends pick for March and as I recently finished it,I will share some of my spoiler-free thoughts about it as well. I will be using Th e Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi as an example. Today I am going to be sharing with you how I annotate/tab my books.
