[READING CHALLENGE] Beat the Backlist 2019

Hi,

I've been seeing this challenge around and I thought that it really won't hurt to join in the fun. I've been hoping to get through books that have been sitting on my shelf for YEARS now and this is, obviously, the perfect challenge for me.

For my tentative to-read-list, I decided to go with 10 physical books and 10 eARCs I have. The physical books are divided by adult and YA fiction. And the eARCs are divided by those I received in 2018 and those I received 2017 and earlier.

Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge is hosted by NovelKnight. I will try and participate on other challenges such as the weekly photo challenge. However, I will surly join the Hogwarts Mini Challenge under team Hufflepuff :)

Bookish Naughty Or Nice Tag

Hi,

I told myself that I won't be posting anything other than wrap-ups because life gets in the way. (although recently I'm being such a timely organized kid that all time is well spent?) But I went back to bloghopping and saw this really fun Christmas Tag by Jenniely @ A Page of Jenniely. I wasn't tagged, of course, I just thought that it's such a fun thing to do.

I'm going to do this with only 2018 in mind 😏

Received an ARC and not reviewed it ✓
Very guilty of this especially since I'm a very inconsistent reader, blogger, and reviewer. Although I do hope to review every single book I receive. Here's to being an active reviewer and blogger on 2019.

NOVEMBER WRAP UP (aka the month of book slump all over again)

Hi,

Unfortunately, blogging has dropped to the bottom of my to-do list as I'm doing a personal art project for practice. Thus, the lack of time for blogging and actually the scheduling posts I drafted in the past month.

Below are some of the letterings I made for practice, please tell me what you guys think about them. I've been thinking of setting up a paypal account and accepting commissions at some point. I want to do something I like outside of my work thus this came to mind.

  

I've also had a pretty dead-ish month in reading. I only realized it right now as I'm drafting this post. I was only able to read two books this November! TWO BOOKS! What is wrong with me? And here I thought I'm in a roll right after that fab read-a-thon month in October. I hope to pick up my pace soon. I've been picking up and not enjoying books.

In my attempt to read as much books as before, I'm joining Bekka @ Pretty Deadly Reviews's Bookish Bingo Winter 2018-2019 which runs from December 2018 to February 2019. I like that the prompts are petty vague so I can pick from a good list of books. This will also be my first Bookish Bingo ever :)

As for my work update, everything is good. Nothing special happening aside from getting some actual work and getting that feeling of importance after all these months.

books read

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot #1) by Agatha Christie | Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter #1) by Thomas Harris

OCTOBER WRAPUP (aka the month of read-a-thons)

Hi,

October was good (?). I think. I don't know. It didn't feel like a special month for me, to be honest. Reading-wise, it's been good. My reading pace is back 😊 I participated in two read-a-thons. It was supposed to be three but life happened.

Also, this post is also extremely late. But who cares? 😅

Work update: it's been good. It's not as bad as before but it also doesn't mean that I'm all good with my co-workers. Honestly, I'm still not very comfortable with them but at the very best, it's not as awkward as before (with the exception of certain people, of course). It's too difficult to be socially awkward. I honestly have NO IDEA how to talk to people like 80% of the time, I HAVE NO IDEA what to say to them or how to react to things they say (especially when I don't find the things they say funny or at the very least amusing. it's difficult to smile when you're not feeling it, yeah?).

On other news, I'm trying to get back to my blogging mood. I'm drafting reviews and other posts at the moment. I'll have everything scheduled by December 😉

books read

Perfect Blue: the Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Nathan A. Collins (Translator) | The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2) by J.K. Rowling | Red Rising: Sons of Ares by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin (Writer), Eli Powell (Illustrator) | A Pack of Blood and Lies (the Boulder Wolves #1) by Olivia Wildenstein | Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

SEPTEMBER WRAPUP (aka the month of #mibf2018)

books read + currently reading

Hi,

I have no idea if anyone is still reading my blog because I only do wrap-ups recently.

September was a very hectic month for me at work. There was so much stress mentally and I was not enjoying the company of my co-workers as much as my previous work place. They poke fun of my awkwardness, natural silence, and inability to make a decent conversation with them (because we absolutely have NOTHING in common). There are other things I'd love to rant about work but that will be annoying and already rant them all out to my best friend and my sister. So somehow I'm all good.

ANYWAY, I went to the 39th Manila International Book Fair for two days. I went on Friday, September 14, with my best friend. We went straight to Fully Booked which was fun with the two of us actually looking through classics together to grab new Wuthering Heights editions to add to our collections THEN going on separate ways as he looks through scifi books and thrillers while I go through generally everywhere, from YA to adult fiction to manga THEN meeting up later to pay for the said books together. We had late lunch and he ordered cakes because he knows I like them 😊

[WEEKEND READS] Hyped for #MIBF2018

currently reading

Hello,

It's September. Christmas season officially starts here in my place 🎄🎅

But what's really exciting this month is the Manila International Book Fair (#MIBF2018) which is the annual Book Fair held here in the Philippines. A fab event where book sellers, book publishers, and book readers come together to celebrate books and just grab all the books we've all been holding off. Also, some publishers and bookstores have 20% off!!!

#MIBF2018 is a 5-day event and I'll be attending on 2 of those days. I'm going on Friday with my book bestfriend because buying all the books on a weekday is the best choice for #MIBF because less people. lol. Also, we need reasons to hang out, okay? I'm also going on Saturday with my college friend just so we can hang because we need to catch up. I don't know about photos but I'll try to have them. Especially for Friday 💖

recent reads

Platinum End, vol 6 | Tsugumi Ohba (author); Takeshi Obata (illustrator)
This series is basically going downhill for me. I LOVE this duo but what the heck is happening to this story even. I honestly thought that it's going to be a psychological read like Death Note which is their first work together but then it started featuring more battles lately. And with all these heroes and villains look is not working out for me 😔

AUGUST WRAPUP (aka my birthday month which went by unnoticed)

we're back to this kind of bookish shots!

Hi,

As I mentioned before, I'm on a blogging slump. I'm not the most active reviewer/blogger out there but at this point, I'm never motivated to actually schedule reviews and generally post anything. at all. But I try to get these update posts every now and then 😅

Little life update corner right here, August was my Birthday Month. I didn't have any big birthday party or anything, as usual. Neither did I receive any books for my birthday which is sad af because usually I get a book or two. BUT I did get to spend my day on an out of town vacation with my family and the last Saturday of the month with my best friend and while I'm weirdly awkward, I still had a fantastic time. Also, we're seeing each other again on #MIBF (Manila International Book Fair) which is the biggest book fair in the Philippines. Super excited for it!

books read

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry | The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters | The Queen of the Tearling (the Queen of the Tearling #1) by Erika Johansen

I read How to Find Love in a Bookshop the moment I got it. It was a cute story although it wasn't something I was expecting. I was kind of hoping to read something cheesier maybe? But I do LOVE how it shows the impact of bookstores and booksellers to its customers 💖 The Cure for Dreaming, on the other hand was a really quick read for me. I LOVE Cat Winters' writing! I like the historical aspect of the novel as well as how it isn't doused with too much romance just enough to make me smile 😊 I finished The Queen of the Tearling last night. I started it a month or so ago. It had a rough and slow start for me. It's how fantasies go with me. I don't know why. I probably suck at getting into new worlds. However, around 60% or 70% of the book, things started picking up and I easily breezed through it.

[WEEKEND READS] where I barely read anything and miserably failed #breakyourTBRapart

Hello,

We all know I was bound to fail that read-a-thon because of work but I still want to try. And I did fail. But I'm continuing the book I was reading from the read-a-thon which is The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters. And I'm actually liking it. If only I have so much time and energy to get some reading.

Little life update corner -- my new job is still not completely working out for me. It's been a month and I'm still feeling unmotivated and not happy with my environment (could be the lack of readers or something, ohmy which is non-existing btw). so it's really a it's-not-you-it's-me case going on here 😔

after finishing this post, it feels and looks so dead. lol. i mean, i'm in a slump, what updates do i have anyway?

recent reads

n/a

this slump is getting so real. i hope it ends soon 😓

[WEEKEND READS] where I try to deal with #breakyourTBRapart read-a-thon

sticking to my messy table + shelf background until i get some time to take photos 😅

Hello,

As you probably know by now, I joined #breakyouTBRapart and while I'm busy, I'm just enjoying the read-a-thon and lowkey stalking other readers who joined. lol. But yeah, I finished one book already and I'm currently going through my second one.

Now for some life update. uhhh--- I'm already working for one month. Time runs fast, yeah? Anyway, I'm still in a blogging slump but I really, really want to have this post up even though I don't have much update reading-wise. I really feel that doing this is one way of motivating myself to get back and actually write reviews and whatnot.

recent reads

How to Find Love in a Bookshop | Veronica Henry
I wanted to LOVE this book because it's a book about a bookshop. And I have attached feelings for that setting because I used to work for my fave bookstore - I used to work as a book specialist (which sounds super cool, tbh. lol). Also, I always thought that finding romance in a bookshop is such a beautiful thing. I'm not a romanticist but I really just love the idea of it. I'm honestly wishing mine would happen in a bookshop though *cough* hi to my book bestfriend *cough* i hope he doesn't read this though. lol. However, this book partly disappointed me because it didn't really satisfy my expectation which is a let down. So my feelings for this book really falls into the it's-not-you-it's-me category. lol.
Hopefully I'll be able to have even a mini review for this.
Also, this is my first book for #breakyourTBRapart. I changed Mary Barton to this one since I bought them the same day and I wasn't able to finish it prior to the read-a-thon (excuses, i know. lol) 😅

#breakyourTBRapart 2018 Round 2! TBR

#breakyourTBRapart TBR!!

Hi,

As you may have noticed by now, I'm on a reading AND blogging slump. I haven't consistently posted reviews and whatnot. I haven't even read much books these past few weeks which really bums me out. I'm looking for read-a-thons to join so that I'll be challenged and motivated to read. And I found #BreakyourTBRapart over at twitter! YAY for this!

things about #breakyourTBRapart
- reading challenge runs from August 10th to August 16th
- I honestly have no idea who's hosting this so please let me know if by any chance you have an idea 😅
- you can follow their twitter account though!
- the annoucement post can be found here!!
- the reading challenges are:

1. Read the last book you purchased
2. Read a book that you've had on your TBR for quite a while
3. Read a book that has something to do with summer
4. Read a book with a character that is different from you (can be of race, religion, etc.)
5. Read a book published from the last three years (2018, 2017, 2016)
6. Read a book that has the letter 'N' in the title
7. Read 7 books!

JULY WRAPUP (aka the month of starting my new job)

only physical book i read last month. smh.

Hi,

I never posted anything on July. Crazy, I know. I've been preoccupied with work and because I have an hour and a half commute to and from work. I feel exhausted whenever I get back home thus I never get into a pretty good reviewing mood or get much reading done or actually sit down and open my laptop. What happened to my life even? Also, I just got home from a trip for work. It hasn't even been a month of working for me. I have mixed feelings about it tbh. Travel is fun, I know. But personal stuff got me. So it's not them, it's me 😞

BUT YEAH, onto this wrap up!

Because I recently started my job, I've been so exhausted with my commute as I mentioned. I also can't read much at work, unlike before. So I only finished these two books for July. But I also hauled 5 books? But we're cool since I just borrowed them from my best friend 😅 successful book buying month again for me. For August, I'll only be buying 1 or 2 books for my birthday. I have them reserved at my fave local bookstore. The people there are the best! 😊

books read

The Body Reader (Detective Jude Fontaine #1) by Anne Frasier | All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

I saw The Body Reader last year or so, I think, on goodreads. I got curious so I bought it with my Amazon GCs then for kindle. I read it early July and it was okay. Nothing special in it, tbh. It felt and read like the usual crime fiction featuring a detective with a baggage. Aren't we all used to that? (or was it just me). I'll try to have a review up at some point. All Our Wrong Todays was a book I've been hoping to read since it came out last year. I LOVE the idea of this book!! It's about Tom Barren who came from a 2016 that's too advance for us (aka 2016 with flying cars and food pills, wth even?) but because of some stupid decisions which may include a time machine, he got stuck on our version of 2016.

JUNE WRAPUP (aka the month of my successful book buying ban)

June Reads!

Hi,

June ended up being a fantastic reading month. The Queen of the Tearling almost put me on a slump but I'm so glad I stopped it early on. I'm also on a nice reviewing roll recently which is super great. I've drafted down two reviews already so I'm most likely good for the upcoming week 😊

Now for my job hunting update, remember that company who contacted me I mentioned last week? The one that I'm super nervous about that they might brush me off or something? THEY. FINALLY. CALLED. ME. JUST NOW. I'm IN! I'm going to have an orientation with them on Monday THEN I'll start mid-July! I'm both excited and nervous! But also very thankful! OMG!

books read

The Dirty Book Club started the month right for me. I LOVED IT! It still had that Lisi Harrison style of writing but with an adult protagonist! I cannot wait for her next work!! Thunderhead was said to be waaay better than Scythe but that was not the case for me. I loved Thunderhead but not as much as its prequel. The politics was pretty strong on this one and the ending was such a 2nd book cliffhanger style. UGH! Authority took me forever because it wasn't as exciting as Annihilation. The narration was quite boring and the ending was, also, such a 2nd book cliffhanger. *more frustration right here* The Vegetarian was really what I expected it to be. I was a bit baffled in the beginning but as I read more of it, I understand the story and get sucked into it. The Red Umbrella is one of those books that didn't immediately capture me but I ended up loving *rtc* I Found You left me a tad bit disappointed *rtc* Platinum End, vol5 wasn't any different than the previous volumes. It still wasn't as mind blowing as Ohba & Obata's previous series. Three Dark Crowns left me disappointed and I'm disappointed of myself. lol. Kendare Blake isn't for me.

[REVIEW] P.S. From Paris

title: P.S. from Paris
author: Marc Levy; Sam Taylor (translator)
genre: chick lit, romance
published: September 1, 2017 by AmazonCrossing
format: paperback, 288 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

From Marc Levy, the most-read French author alive today, comes a modern-day love story between a famous actress hiding in Paris and a bestselling writer lying to himself. They knew their friendship was going to be complicated, but love—and the City of Lights—just might find a way. 

On the big screen, Mia plays a woman in love. But in real life, she’s an actress in need of a break from her real-life philandering husband—the megastar who plays her romantic interest in the movies. So she heads across the English Channel to hide in Paris behind a new haircut, fake eyeglasses, and a waitressing job at her best friend’s restaurant. 

Paul is an American author hoping to recapture the fame of his first novel. When his best friend surreptitiously sets him up with Mia through a dating website, Paul and Mia’s relationship status is “complicated.” 

Even though everything about Paris seems to be nudging them together, the two lonely ex-pats resist, concocting increasingly far-fetched strategies to stay “just friends.” A feat easier said than done, as fate has other plans in store. Is true love waiting for them in a postscript?

Cute romance between an actress and an author!

Romance aren't my usual read that's why whenever I find myself involved in a romance novel, I get so excited! This one is clean and funny and cute romance between an actress escaping her lousy marriage and an author who's unusually selling well in South Korea.

[MINI REVIEWS] Literary/Historical Fiction Edition #1

title: Lost in the Beehive
author: Michele Young-Stone
genre: literary fiction, historical
published: April 10, 2018 by Simon & Schuster
format: paperback, 320 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

From the author of Above Us Only Sky and The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors, a touching new novel set in the 1960s about the power of friendship, love, and accepting your past in order to find a future. 

For nearly her entire life, Gloria Ricci has been followed by bees.  

They’re there when her mother loses twin children; when she first meets a neighborhood girl named Isabel, who brings out feelings in her that she knows she shouldn’t have; and when her parents, desperate to “help” her, bring her to the Belmont Institute, whose glossy brochures promise healing and peace. She tells no one, but their hum follows her as she struggles to survive against the Institute’s cold and damaging methods, as she meets an outspoken and unapologetic fellow patient named Sheffield Schoeffler, and as they run away, toward the freewheeling and accepting glow of 1960s Greenwich Village, where they create their own kind of family among the artists and wanderers who frequent the jazz bars and side streets.  

As Gloria tries to outrun her past, experiencing profound love—and loss—and encountering a host of unlikely characters, including her Uncle Eddie, a hard-drinking former boyfriend of her mother’s, to Madame Zelda, a Coney Island fortune teller, and Jacob, the man she eventually marries but whose dark side threatens to bring disaster, the bees remain. It’s only when she needs them most that Gloria discovers why they’re there.  

Moving from the suburbs of New Jersey to the streets of New York to the swamps of North Carolina and back again, Lost in the Beehive is a poignant novel about the moments that teach us, the places that shape us, and the people who change us.

[WEEKEND READS] where I finished 4 books in 1 week

currently reading

Hello,

This week was a crazy reading week for me. I haven't posted a blog post in a while but I got so absorbed in reading that I don't want to break this sudden craze I found myself into. I've actually finished 7 books this month and it feels amazing 😲

For my job hunting update, I was contacted by one of the companies I applied and was interviewed for. I submitted requirements and I'm currently waiting for their follow up on when I'll actually start. Despite this though, I'll still be applying to other companies because what if they just brush me off or something? LIKE. JUST. WHAT. IF? I suck at all these what-if situations... I panic easily... but yeah, I'll be applying to other companies and see where I land.

recent reads

The Vegetarian | Han Kang; Deborah Smith (translator)
I've been adding this to my to-read almost every month and I am so glad that I finally read it. It felt a bit complicated at first but as I read through, I started seeing through the story and I loved it. I'll have a review up soon! I really need to read more of these kinds of reads. I should pick up her other book, Human Acts, soon!

The Red Umbrella | Christina Diaz Gonzales; Kyla Garcia (narrator)
I got an audiobook of The Red Umbrella from last year's AUDIOFILE SYNC progam. I started listening to this last year and it wasn't exactly working for me until I went back to it recently and fell in love with the story. I've been thinking about why it didn't work out before and I think that it was the slow narration. I sped up my audiobook and I started getting through more interesting parts of the story. And I ended up loving it!

I Found You | Lisa Jewell
I started this one a week ago and I'm glad that I finally got around to finishing it. This is an intriguing mystery thriller. It follows Alice who found a man outside her place who lost his memories, and Lily whose husband is missing. It generally reads like the usual mystery thriller. I'll have a mini-review up one of these days.

Platinum End, vol. 5  | Tsugumi Ohba (author); Takeshi Obata (illustrator)
I can't seem to stop reading this series even though I have to admit that it isn't even that good. I keep comparing it to the duo's previous works and it really just can't match up to those which partly disappoints me but I still have high hopes for this series. ICYMI, this duo is the one responsible for the hit manga and anime of the same title, Death Note.