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.

[REVIEW] Dumplin'

title: Dumplin'
author: Julie Murphy
genre: young adult, contemporary
published: September 15, 2015 by Balzer + Bray
format: hardcover, 384 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

Self-proclaimed fat girl 

Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. 

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all. 

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Willowdean is definitely a protagonist worth rooting for!

The only book I read that deals with the fat-girl representation was Sugar and I absolutely LOVE that book. It's got great character development, the background story you'll expect from a book about a fat girl, and a really well developed romance which I LOVED! And it is one of my fave books.

I dive into Dumplin' somehow, thinking about that. Thinking that maybe they'll have similarities.

And ohmy, I was stand corrected.

[WEEKEND READS] where I stopped an oncoming slump

sucks that this series didn't work for me

Hello,

I haven't finished a book recently because I decided to continue reading IT by Stephen King. This big book is kind of taking me forever. Aside from that, I was reading The Queen of the Tearling which wasn't working very well for me so I decided to hold it off for now and pick up a different book - The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison 😊

So yeah, I'm happy that I was able to stop an oncoming reading slump. Light reads always save the day, I guess?

recent reads

The Last Star (the 5th Wave #3) | Rick Yancey
FINALLY! Yup, that's the first thing that came to me. I'm finally done with this series! First series I finished this year, ohmy. This series as a whole could have been interesting to be honest. I mean the whole concept was really amazing but the execution especially in this final book was just 'meh'. Also, Cassie gets a bit annoying every single moment in the book. orrr I just care less about her or something.. but yeah, I'm glad that I'm done with this!

Lost in the Beehive | Michele Young-Stone
This was a wonderful book. I loved this! I loved the main character! She's totally worth rooting for! This book basically dealt with the experience of Gloria Ricci, a lesbian in the utterly judgmental period of 1960s. Review to come!