JM ( @JustReadJM) of @BookwormsUnitePH takes us on a #shelftour! Swipe through to check out his reads.

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My bookshelves are visual representations of my thoughts—scattered, and will forever be in a state of disarray. Kidding aside, I’ve spent countless hours trying to organize and rearrange these babies. Still ashamed to say I have more books than space to put them in.

I’ve been a reader for most of my life and it’s quite unfortunate that I am, at the moment, unable to show you all the books that I currently own. One of my bookish goals is to have wide set of shelves so I won’t have to double stack. So here’s to hoping I’ll achieve this soon.

My collection is mostly comprised of young adult titles with a good mix of some romance books. YA has been my go-to these past couple of years because there’s something so inexplicably invigorating about reading them.

From romance, to contemporaries, and to SFF (Sci-fi / Fantasy), I feel like I have the picks of the litter. The only genres that I don’t have most of are thrillers, mysteries, and historical fiction books mainly because I tend to read less of these.

The books that I chose to display front and center are some of my favorites. There, you’ll see books from multiple series like Percy Jackson and The Olympians (which happen to be the books that got me into reading), The Selection (because I’m trash for royal romance stories)—

—The Lunar Chronicles (also known as my favorite SFF series of all time), and so much more.

There’s also a dedicated space for #romanceclass books—though currently, it’s been mixed with traditionally published romance titles mainly because, as we’ve already established, I am in need of extra shelf space.

Oh, sorry, for those of you who don’t know, #romanceclass is a community of readers, writers, actors, and artists who gather to celebrate everyone’s love for romance.

They’re basically like they’re own publishing house! They produce romance stories in English, mostly set in the Philippines, and they always guarantee a happy ever after. Honestly, what’s not to love?

I also took a picture of my other shelf that mainly features LGBTQ+ novels. (Yes, I have four copies of Red, White & Royal Blue, the audiobook included. What about it?)

And I also have a bunch of digital books on my Kindle app which I mostly use to read review copies approved for me by publishers from Edelweiss and NetGalley.

I also took a picture of my TBR pile for Pride month. Since the annual parade is obviously cancelled thanks to Ms. Rona, I’m gonna dedicate the whole month of June to reading titles that feature LGBTQ+ characters.

Though if I’m being totally honest, I feel like I’m being overly ambitious about selecting four books because I actually haven’t been reading that much lately thanks to work, but we’ll see how it goes.

I’m the type of reader who doesn’t have a designated reading spot, unfortunately. My attention span is as big as a cookie crumb, and I tend to move a lot whenever I’m reading. But I’ve spent a lot of time reading in bed and on my commute to school and/or work.

What I love most about reading is the fact that it provides some sense of escape for people who have such harsh and challenging realities.

Personally, for me, when I’ve had bad experiences in the past, I tend to read books just so I’ll forget about the problems I might be facing at the time. Yes, it’s short-lived, but everyone deserves a break every now and then, right?

Also, I’m a very empathetic person, so whenever I feel moved about a specific book, I tend to cry a lot. (Toxic masculinity who?) And later on, I’ll realize that I’ve cried out my frustrations about life, and I’ll feel ready enough to take on new challenges.

Thanks for sharing your shelves with us, @JustReadJM!

Watch this space as more of our resident bookworms take us on their very own #shelftour, and check out the past ones on the blog http://bit.ly/shelftours