Simone and Her Books

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  • Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree // Book Review

    Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree // Book Review

    “See you in the story past the story,” said Fern.

    It’s strange for someone with my level of anxiety to be okay with a book that doesn’t have that “uh oh” moment. You know, when the worst case scenario has come to fruition, the other shoe has finally dropped, and the bad news just gets worse. And while this book did have its little ups and downs, you don’t ever see the other shoe drop.

    Here’s more about Bookshops and Bonedust

    In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

    Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned.

    Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it.

    What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

    Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.

    Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    The second book in the Legends and Lattes series and I liked it more than the first. While it’s a prequel to Viv’s life as a cafe owner, it did a better job of putting together a fantasy story that satisfies the fantasy nerds and also the cozy vibes you’re hoping for. And wow, this book was cozy. It’s partly because this book appeals to the readers with Viv working at a small bookstore in a town where she’s recovering from a pretty nasty battle. The bookstore was everything you love about bookstores; messy books all over the place, an eccentric bookseller that’s hoping to find you the perfect read. There was even a bookstore dog!

    And as Viv recovers from her battle wounds and reads these books about epic battles and even more epic romances, you can see Viv change, grow, become someone more than just the battle-hardened orc who is only here for a quick stint before linking up with her crew and resuming her search for a necromancer name Varine. This introduction to Viv is exactly what I needed to understand her motivation to own a cafe in the first book. Why cozy after so many years of battling it out with whatever bounty she came across? Well, the answers are written on these pages and you can’t help but to push Viv to live the life that she wants.

    The characters were also so great in this one. I mentioned the bookseller and the cute dog (which was actually part dog, part griffin), but there was also the gnome who wanted to join Viv’s gang, the skeleton homunculus owned by the necromancer but hoping to be set free, the gate guards, the doctor, the lumberjack. Honestly, it was a plethora of fun characters that really made this world much bigger than it is. I had a hard time keeping track of what each character was, but that’s my own personal problem.

    I even loved the conflict. As in the case with all cozy-style stories, there has to be some conflict and this one was well put together. Instead of explaining everything right at the front, it was introduced slowly bringing a small amount of mystery to the story that made me happy to see play out. Of course, it’s very low stakes so whatever worries you may have about following along or the level of death, rest assured that it’ll be enough to get the blood going, but not enough to step away from the book.

    And as I read the end of the book with the tunes of The Velvet Underground playing in the background, I had a smile on my face. The courses of Viv’s life before she owned the coffee shop punctuated with “O Sweet Nuthin’” felt like the final scene of a movie, where there’s nothing but smiling faces that everyone got what they wanted and then some. Maybe some are a little more worse for wear and others walk away without what they truly want, but if that’s not a metaphor for life, I don’t know what is. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s perfect enough.

  • A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir // Book Review

    A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir // Book Review

    This was actually a reread for me, but when I was going through my notes, I realized I never wrote a review for this book. Since this is one of my favorite series, I thought it made sense to finally share what I think.

    More about A Torch Against the Night

    Now, in A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT, Elias and Laia are running for their lives.

    After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

    Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

    But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

    Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    There’s only a few sequels that I’ve read that I really enjoyed. Most of them struggle with “sequel syndrome” where it’s either filler or it doesn’t live up to the expectations of the first book. But somehow Sabaa Tahir is able to exceed expectations and bring to us a sequel to An Ember in the Ashes that blows the first book out of the water.

    The story picks up right where the last book left off. This time, we’re going for the prison break and Laia and Elias are determined to break Darin out of prison. Laia needs Elias’s help to get to Kauf prison and after saving him from a pretty bad fate, Elias is more than obliging. However, things go south quite quickly and the journey to Kauf prison is met with pretty much anything and everything going wrong for our intrepid characters.

    This story is definitely the one that changes everyone. Each character (specifically Elias, Laia, and Helene) are faced with circumstances beyond their control, conflicts that make them question themselves, and an enemy that redefines “ruthless.” I felt for each of these characters in one way or another. From losing friends and family to gaining new friends and family, this book is a rollercoaster of emotions and Sabaa Tahir does not care about your feelings.

    What I found the most interesting in this story is the introduction of magic. While there were small hints to it in the first book, this is the book where it comes out fully. Laia’s power to disappear, Helene’s power to heal, and the weird stuff that happens to Elias (no spoilers) all show up to create a world filled with the enchantment of any Middle Eastern tale. Djinns and efrits and worlds within our own create the lavish backdrop to the harsh existence of Roman-style military rule. I truly loved seeing the magic play out here and become a bigger part of the story.

    Of course, Sabaa Tahir can’t leave well enough alone and while you’re getting this prison break story, you’re also pushing forward in a story that can only lead to heartbreak. I thought I could bang out the last 50 pages of this book while I was cooking dinner and I ended up finishing the book while dinner held off for another hour. The rhythm of this story kept me interested until the very last page where Sabaa leaves you with the tiniest cliffhangers. You’ll definitely struggle not to pick up the next book after this one!

    Overall, I applaud Sabaa Tahir for creating such a ruthless world of magic and military might. This feels like just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come next and I can’t wait.

  • Bride by Ali Hazelwood // Book Review

    Bride by Ali Hazelwood // Book Review

    The newest queen of rom-coms released her first romantasy book and it’s filled with wolves, vampires, and so much more.

    Here’s more about Bride

    A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

    Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

    Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

    Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    I had no idea what the Omegaverse was before this book. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of fanfiction and I never got into those things when I was a kid, so I have no point of reference when it comes to Omegaverse except for what I was able to read on Wikipedia. From what I read, it’s definitely not for me. And there were parts of this book that just wasn’t for me, but as a person reading romantasy for the millionth time hoping to find what everyone else is talking about, this does the job. And if you’re a fan of Ali Hazelwood’s quirky sense of humor and her super smart female characters, then you’ll find all those great things in this new one as well.

    The story follows Misery, a vampire (spelled vampyre) who played “collateral” to maintain the Vampire/Human/Werewolf alliance that exists on super shaky ground. In exchange for her, there was some semblance of peace between the clans. But that’s over with. That was Misery’s past and now Misery is her own person with a job as a software engineer working among humans and hiding her identity. That is, until she’s called by her father to play collateral for the werewolf clan, but this time she needs to marry the werewolf Alpha, Lowe. All while this is happening, her best friend (and a human) disappears without a trace and through her investigation Misery finds out that Lowe’s clan is somehow involved, so this is sort of killing two birds with one stone if arranged marriages are your thing.

    I’ve come to the realization that it really comes down to the characters for me in these romances. I need to relate in one way or another, feel for them, and that emotional connection needs to be serious. And since my heart wretched for all the things that happened to Misery throughout this book, I’m pretty sure I got that connection. Being the castoff in the family must be rough and for someone like Misery who doesn’t even know how to be a “proper vampire,” who has no real family, only one friend, and being accepted into the family of her family’s worst enemy, there’s a lot of ripe angst and it’s definitely warranted. I loved Misery and in many ways I resonated a lot with her character. I might not be a vampire, but I know what it’s like to be an outcast and finding family among those who are willing to take her in.

    Lowe, on the other hand, was nice enough. Eh, he’s not my type as an “alpha” male with lots of muscles and werewolf tendencies, but he was nice enough. He might be an Alpha, but there was a lot of space for Misery to defy him and he gives her the space she deserves to decide if she likes his wolf-y ways. It makes it less territorial and “Tamlin”-esque if you know what I mean. He is definitely someone’s type.

    Overall, it’s definitely an interesting start to a new fantasy series. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed it and aside from a few things that were pulled from the Omegaverse that I could have done without, it’s definitely worth the read.

  • Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek // Book Review

    Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek // Book Review

    If you’re as obsessed with Miyazaki as I am, then this is the book for you. Thanks to McElderry Books for the gifted copy.

    Here’s more about Where the Dark Stands Still

    Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters. After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood – the Leszy – who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish.

    Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska soon discovers the sinister roots of their bargain. And if she wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    This is my kind of fantasy. Good writing. Good plot. Good characters. And it definitely felt like I was watching a version of Howl’s Moving Castle, but entirely different at the same time. That’s my favorite part about retellings; retell the story but make it your own. Many authors try and fail (IMHO), but Poranek is able to capture the essence of Miyazaki while putting her own spin on the world.

    Using the Polish woods as her background, Poranek creates a world that anyone with an imagination and love for the beauty of the earth can get lost in. I feel entranced by this story and the characters within it. From the not-cat to the boy who couldn’t speak to the various monsters and magical elements, this is a book to get lost in and I was happy to roam the woods of Driada even with the worry that something could possibly kill me. The mysterious trees with eyes. The monsters who will lull you into a false sense of security. And the demon who lives in a manor in the middle of the forest protecting the humans from all forms of magical beings.

    Similarly to Howl’s Moving Castle, the characters felt lifted right from that story. Liska is a magical girl who sets off into the woods to find a cure for her magic. Leszy is a demon who gave his heart to an old god and now must guard the Driada until he dies. And through their incongruent chemistry, they become the kinds of characters you root for and hope for the best. Liska is docile, but carries more magic in her finger than any other person. I loved the moral struggle she had with it. Being told her whole life that she’s a witch and that nothing good can come from her magic, you see Liska open up a lot throughout the story finding that her magic is a blessing and not a curse. Leszy, on the other hand was a more elusive character. I really wanted to understand him a bit more, but Poranek kept him close to the chest and we only get glimpses until the very end.

    Overall, a stunning a debut beautifully written even with some great quotes to walk away with. I will definitely be reading more from this author!

  • Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice to Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto // Book Review

    Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice to Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto // Book Review

    You know, I never considered myself a fan of cozy mysteries until I came across Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. If this is what most cozy mysteries feel like, then consider me sold.

    More about Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice to Murderers

    Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…
    Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

    Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

    But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

    Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    This was such a comforting read and yes, I’m laughing because it’s also about a mystery and a murder case. But it’s truly Vera who moves this story along; who finds a little bit of joy in the monotony of her middle-aged life and learns that family can come in all different shapes and sizes.

    What I loved most about this story is Vera herself. She has such a strong personality that draws people to her and while a few may go running for the hills, if you’re open to her, you’re not only rewarded with a great cup of tea, but a friendship that lasts forever. Vera struggles with her own family issues (her husband already passing and her son too busy to visit), but what this book portrays is that even the quirkiest mothers can open someone up with a simple gesture or a very straightforward opinion.

    This is also one of those books where it’s super tough to feel empathy for the victim. As the story unfolds and each character explains their connection to the deceased, a clearer picture is presented where maybe it wasn’t too bad that he unexpectedly died. It feels weird saying that since I don’t wish death on anyone, but maybe in this case the dude kind of deserved it.

    But the story is less about the murder and more about the people affected by the murder. While the police make a brief appearance throughout the story, this story is more about Vera Wong’s suspect list. From the victim’s wife, brother, and a few others who show up, this unassuming group of people end up finding themselves and finding each other. It’s kind of wild how the murder of a jerk can lead to a group of people to grow. It felt like i was reading an Agatha Christie novel where it turns out the killer is all of us in some way or another.

    Overall, such a fun one to read and another reason why I’m a huge fan of Jesse Q. Sutanto.

  • Good Material by Dolly Alderton // Book Review

    Good Material by Dolly Alderton // Book Review

    I started reading this one because my office book club chose it for March. I put the book on hold hoping that it would arrive before the end of March, but I was gifted a lucky copy and I ended up reading it before we even met for February’s book club. This is also my first book from Dolly Alderton. One of my coworkers raved about her work talking about this release months ago and how excited she was to get into it. She’s not wrong. It was a really funny and well-crafted story about a guy who is going through a breakup.

    Here’s more about the book

    Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can’t work out why she stopped.

    Now he is. . .

    Without a home

    Waiting for his stand-up career to take off

    Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn’t looking

    Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend’s side of the story…

    In this sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship, Dolly Alderton offers up a love story with two endings, demonstrating once again why she is one of the most exciting writers today, and the true voice of a generation.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    Ah, break ups. It’s a funny time between being in love with someone and then abruptly not in love with them anymore. The brain does funny things. The body does funny things and in Good Material, you realize that those funny things that you tend to do after break ups aren’t too far off from everyone else.

    Andy’s breakup from Jen is definitely filled with the hilarious mistakes he makes right off the bat. From eating a giant wedge of blue cheese right before bed in hopes of dreaming of his ex to the photos he takes of his bald spot to measure how badly it’s getting to living on a rickety house boat and then living with a septuagenarian who’s pen pals with Julian Assange, the escapades Andy goes through all seem like “good material” for his shaky comedic career.

    Dolly Alderton shows it all. From the late night drinks with friends who are too busy taking care of their families to go out, to the attempts at going to the gym and finding a rebound, Dolly Alderton throws all the break up spaghetti at the wall and a lot of it sticks. Which makes for an interesting read that anyone and everyone can relate to. While you may not be doing all the same things Andy does, you’re relating in some way. It’s funny how universal break ups can be and how they all do the same thing; leave you with a lot of questions and not many answers. All of this exhibited in Dolly’s work.

    And just when you think Andy has finally moved on from those events, Dolly Alderton hits you with something entirely different. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the end. In many ways, it was necessary. But at the same time, there’s that slight risk you take when writing an ending like that. What if you fail to show the reader that they had a reason for breaking up? What if the reason is too flimsy? If anything, it was an attempt to show that both Andy and Jen were victims of a relationship that went on for too long and neither are at fault for the end.

    Overall, I really liked this one. It was compelling and funny enough to keep you going and the weird quirks Andy endures will keep you entertained until the very end.

  • High Fidelity by Nick Hornby // Book Review

    I’ve been a huge fan of High Fidelity the movie since it came out. Every few months, my husband and I would get the jones to watch it again. It also helped that Rob was a huge fan of pop music, but the book revealed to me that he’s also a massive man child.

    Here’s more about the book

    Do you know your desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups?

    Rob does. He keeps a list, in fact. But Laura isn’t on it – even though she’s just become his latest ex. He’s got his life back, you see. He can just do what he wants when he wants: like listen to whatever music he likes, look up the girls that are on his list, and generally behaves as if Laura never mattered. But Rob finds he can’t move on. He’s stuck in a really deep groove – and it’s called Laura. Soon, Rob’s asking himself some big questions: about love, about life – and about why we choose to share ours with the people we do.

    Find it on Amazon | Find it on Bookshop.org

    My thoughts

    If you’re a fan of the movie, then you’ll love the book. It was almost like they were companions of each other. It’s obvious that the adaptation stayed true to the book. There were literal lines from the book pulled straight out to create the lines for the movie. It felt like seeing a book actually come to life and while you wish you can see this with more fantasy books and other highly adored fandoms, we get it for High Fidelity.

    But there’s obvious differences between the book and the movie. It was definitely tough to read this objectively especially since I knew the movie by heart and some of the moments would just have me think of the scenes, but like every other story by Nick Hornby, this is the story of a guy who only cared about one thing for a really long time; himself. It’s the story about how he had the woman of any man’s dreams and he squandered it because he got in his own damn way. And while you read about him rehashing on all of his older relationships and visiting them and his philosophies on life, love, and music, you start to wonder if his mother was right when she said “you meet a girl, you move in, she goes!”

    With these kinds of books, though, the reader is looking for something. They’re looking for resolution. Alright, Rob. Time to get your shit together and let’s grow up a little bit. And in the span of 350 pages, the author needs to prove why Rob is the protagonist, why he’s the character you need to root for, and why you should care.

    To be honest, it was tough. And yet, I really liked the book.

    I love when an author is able to write a character that makes you hate them. You want to see him succeed, but in so many ways he fails and it becomes more and more difficult to root for. Every time there’s a glimmer of hope that Rob will learn his lesson, he stumbles back. It’s more of a “two steps forward, one step back” sort of deal with Rob’s growth and while some will find that irritating, others will probably see that as an achievement. How have you not learned your lesson?

    That’s what compelled me to keep reading, too. I wanted to see if book Rob does what movie Rob does in the smallest way; grow. And while in the smallest amounts he does, there were still some points where I just couldn’t get behind him. His way of always blaming someone else. His constant need for attention by the opposite sex. His jealousy learning that Laura was with someone else. Even the way he wooed Marie LaSalle made me cringe. I found myself tsking at Rob and shaking my head at the book and just hoping that he would have the epiphany and realize what he’s doing is not conducive to getting Laura back…if he even wants her back.

    The final act of the book was the part that confused me the most. You see two people finally come back together (and if this is a spoiler, I’m sorry), but they are almost back together out of convenience. Laura basically puts her hands up and says “well, I’m too old to try so might as well settle” (in as many words). So the reader is then dangling between two possibilities; does it get better or do they just do this sad dance of relationship hell for the rest of their lives? Nick Hornby really leaves it to the reader to make their own conclusions on how this couple ends up and I am of two minds. At the end of the movie, I’m really hopeful. At the end of the book, I’m not too sure. It’s kind of funny because the two media are matched. They both have the same ending and the same plot and the same characters and everything. With the exception of a few aesthetic changes, they are pretty much the same, but somehow I’m left more depressed about humanity’s ability to love after reading the book than I am when I watched the movie.

    And I guess that’s the fault of the movie. They glamorize it and make you feel like this is going to be the time Rob gets his shit together and considers someone besides himself. You get that Hollywood ending where you walk out of the theater with a smile on your face and you think that maybe love isn’t so bad. But the book is another story. Like I mentioned, the book is like a companion piece to the movie. And because it’s the book, it dives further into Rob’s quirky nature that you don’t readily see in the movie and from the evidence, my opinion of Rob is completely changed. I liked movie Rob better than book Rob and I think I’ll stick with how the movie ends in my head.

    Overall, this book is just a testament to Nick Hornby’s abilities as an author. I truly applaud him for creating a character who made me want to reach into the book and shake until he got a grip while also made me feel empathetic for and hoping that he does get the girl in the end.

  • My January 2024 Hopefuls

    Now empowered with my new resolutions for this bookish year, I wanted to share with you a little TBR I put together. For the most part, I don’t want to be writing these TBRs every month. In fact, I plan on putting a little TBR together every few books I read because library holds come in too quickly and I want to make sure I get to them all before the return dates. On top of that, I hear so many great books that make me excited that a small list of possibly reads helps me feel a little more organized and a lot less overwhelmed.

    So this isn’t a TBR, per se, but it’s a list of books that I’ve been meaning to get to and hopefully get through in January. No pressure to follow the list with plenty of room for deviating, I’m sure I’ll fall off this wagon at one point or another. But here’s the books I plan on exploring this month:

    Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward – This is actually a new book that I’ve been dying to get to and my newly minted office book club decided to make it the first read of the year. I’m so excited. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Jesmyn Ward. I know I can count on her to write a prolific piece on the human connection, but also rip my heart out.

    Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang – I received the audiobook recommendation from a friend who said it’s really good on audio. What I didn’t imagine was a story about a chef who is living in a dystopian world where food is scarce and the climate crisis has reached its utter peak. When she gets a job for a wealthy entrepreneur cooking elaborate dinners for his investors with the food grown in underground labs on his land, the chef learns more about the world of post-apocalyptic politics, the ethics of growing food that’s been extinct for centuries, and whether or not she’ll be able to face the demons of her own past. It’s been incredible so far.

    Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica – This is another recommendation from my coworkers this time that really peaked my interest. It’s another dystopian story about what the world needs to do in order to feed its populations and this time instead of using labs to create extinct animals and plants, they’re just eating people. I’m thinking this is leaning towards the soylent green-level of dystopian and I’m here for it.

    The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – I saw a friend on bookstagram rave about this book and trusting her taste in books, I wanted to take a look. Luckily, I was able to grab the audiobook for it and it may be the second one I try this year. Am I turning into an audiobook person? Maybe. Audiobooks are pretty tough for me to read because I’m not an auditory person, but I want to be. I know it takes some effort, so I plan on taking it slowly and this might be the best possible way.

    Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross – Another newer book, but I couldn’t wait to read it. I was definitely one of the people who absolutely devoured Divine Rivals and couldn’t wait for book two. So here I am, about to dive into the second book and hoping that it will meet my expectations.

  • 2024 Reading Goals

    Hello 2024. Hello blog friends.

    I know it’s been quite a while since I wrote here. And honestly, I’m returning with a bit of trepidation only because it’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post (so I have no clue if I still “got it”) and I’ve burnt out so badly that I needed a year to recover returning wondering if this is all worth it.

    In the end, I decided to come back because I love being able to share my reads, my projects, my thoughts on the books I read and the things I do. I’m entering 2024 with a hopeful heart , but there are some things I’m getting rid of and some things I’m adding in. I guess you can call this my “ins and outs” list:

    1. I am only reading for myself: I spent a good chunk of my blogging life reading for publishers and keeping up with books that were coming out because I wanted to be on the pulse of the book world. But what it did was put a lot of added pressure to my life. I was reading books I didn’t even like just so I can mark it on my Netgalley or say that I read it. It wasn’t working for me and the task of writing a review for it became more of a chore than a delightful side hobby. So this year, I’ll be focusing on myself reading some books that I actually can’t wait for, but also reading my backlog that has now reached a fever point.
    2. I’m reading my backlist: I mentioned this in the first point, but all this reading what’s new has left a giant space for backlog books I didn’t get a chance to read. Every year, I make this big plan to read the backlist and it continues to be sidelined. So this is the year I read more of what I already own than the books that are coming out. Of course you’ll see some newer books, but for the most part, I want to focus on what I already own.
    3. Reading more translated fiction: One thing I did for myself last year was read more science fiction and fantasy from translated authors. These stories were incredible and something I want to continue to explore (from different countries) all throughout the year.
    4. DNF often. With reading my backlist and picking books my mood, I know I’m bound to come across a dud or two. So this year, I plan on giving up on books I don’t like right from the beginning. Maybe it’s a couple of pages or a couple of chapters, but I don’t want to catch myself reading something and halfway through realizing that I don’t care about the characters or where things are going. Time’s too short to waste on meh reads.

  • The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel // Book Review

    My first book of 2024. I went into this one with completely different expectations. I thought it’d be dystopian. I thought it would be sci-fi, but instead it was the best kind of literary; the kind that interweaves lives to show you how one singular event or a hotel can shape the lives of a ton of people who are touched by it.

    Here’s more about The Glass Hotel

    Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients’ accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.

    In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, the business of international shipping, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.

    My thoughts

    “Caiette was the first place he ever loved. There was nowhere else he wanted to go. Give me quiet, he thought, give me forests and ocean and no roads. Give me walks to the village through the woods in summer, give me the sound of wind in cedar branches, give me mist rising over the water, give me the view of green branches from my bathtub in the mornings. Give me a place with no people in it, because I will never fully trust another person again.”

    The story starts off with a young Vincent losing her mother to a drowning incident. The chapters are short, maybe only a sentence or two, but enough impact to see how it affects Vincent for the rest of her life. From the secluded woods of Vancouver to the bustling streets of Manhattan all shared through a Ponzi scheme that destroys countless lives, Emily St. John Mandel portrays a world so deeply interconnected with each other, to Vincent in some transient way; through degrees of separation.

    And each character lends a hand to the bigger story. Each component like puzzle pieces to reveal a bigger story line: the fall of a man from his Ponzi scheme gone wrong. I didn’t think I would be able to connect with characters in this scenario. I’ve luckily never fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme, but Emily St. John Mandel’s talent lies in the ability to make you connect with people you wouldn’t necessarily do in real life. Her portraits of these characters are stark, in their natural habitat, flaws and all and somehow you can’t help but to emphasize with them.

    In true Emily St. John Mandel style, it all comes together at the end. While there aren’t any sci-fi elements or magical going on, there’s this thread of ghostly behavior among the characters. People who have long gone arise in a haunting way like shadows in the past or truths that you can’t outrun that come back to haunt you in unpredictable ways. It’s slowly introduced throughout the story, but the final ending circles us back to the beginning in a poetic tribute to the character who started it all.

    I do wish there was more around the hotel itself. While it being the name of the novel, I thought it would have a deeper role in the lives of the characters. Maybe in a way? It was the starting point’ the place where it all began but it wasn’t he place where it ended. Maybe it was the place where the future held endless possibilities because it shows up again in fond memories. Like the beauty within nature draws you back. Its simplicity and seculsion from everything else in the world gives these character a purity they can never obtain on their own.