Whether TikTok book recommendations are good or not, one thing is for sure: they are everywhere. I don’t have TikTok, and even I know what books are blowing up there. While this is nowhere a testament to the quality of TikTok books, I appreciate it whenever I discover new books. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of them. A mystery YA series full of puzzles, riddles and a treasure hunt feeling with an inheritance on the line. Title: The Inheritance Games Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: The Inheritance Games #1 Publication year: 2020 Length: 10 hours 45 minutes Genre: YA, Mystery, Puzzle, Drama, Romance Pace: Fast Story focus: Character & Plot Avery is living with her half-sister when she suddenly loses her ground. Her sister’s abusive boyfriend is back home again, and he kicked her out. Now living in her car, dreaming of a better life, and …
I was not planning on rewriting a review for We Were Liars by E Lockhart. I read this book five years ago, loved it, and obviously, I had to write a review and post it here on the blog. And now, as I finish reading that review, I have a question: what is that girl talking about? Memory is a funny thing. I could swear to you what I thought about We Were Liars before rereading it was the same thoughts I had when I finished it. Turns out, it wasn’t. And that is quite fitting for this book, where nothing is as it seems. I wasn’t planning on writing another review. I decided to reread it now to help me get out of a reading slump and to decide once and for all if the spoiler was actually a spoiler or a spoiler. Although, I feel like I can …
I was never planning on writing this review. I wasn’t even planning on watching the TV adaptation. Yet out of boredom, I clicked on the first episode. And then I watched one more. And another. And another. I already read and reviewed One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus, and while it’s a book that failed my expectation, I liked it. I was looking for a YA murder mystery, instead, I got a YA drama. Which was still fun. Luckily, the TV series was equal parts drama and mystery. The adaptation started faithful to the book. The characters are easy to like, and you want everything to work out in the end. Being familiar with the story made it easy to keep going. Although not much encouragement was needed because of how each episode is structured. Each one is a step closed to the truth, so I wanted to …
I adore the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown. Ever since I read The Da Vinci Code, I’ve been making my way through the series. Although, I’ve been reading it in the most out-of-order you could ever imagine. And that’s the beauty of this series. It doesn’t matter where you begin. With the last, Origin, in the middle, The Lost Symbol, or with the very first, Angels and Demons. Title: Angels and Demons Author: Dan Brown Series: Robert Langdon #1 Publication year: 2000 Length: 18 hours 28 minutes Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspence Pace: Fast Story focus: Plot Robert Langdon, a world-renowned symbology professor, is called to travel to Switzerland to help with the murder of a physicist. A strange symbol had been burned into the skin of the victim. A symbol Robert identifies as being part of a secret organisation: the Illuminati. The discovery takes Robert to Rome and the …
Have you ever rage quit a book? You know, getting so done with a book that you want to shut it as hard as you can or throw it away without minding if it gets damaged? Either way, I’ve read some books that I did not like, but most times, it’s always left with a meh feeling, so I just put them away to forget they ever existed. Although, Virgin by Sanghani Radhika left me outraged. I usually don’t write reviews about books I don’t enjoy, most often because I don’t have anything to say large enough to fill a post. But sometimes, some books just hit that little part in your brain that doesn’t shut up, and those words need to go somewhere. I wrote about After by Anna Todd, probably the only negative review I have here on the blog, and even that post isn’t all bad because …
Back in May, I decided one random day at 2 am to crochet flower pot coasters for Mother’s Day (celebrated on the first Sunday of May here in Portugal). I found it while casually browsing Pinterest and decided it was the right gift. I didn’t even know if I had any yarn I could use. But I was determined to make them myself. And this late-night decision marks the beginning of my crochet adventure. Ever since doing those coasters, I’ve learned a lot, made many mistakes and became slightly obsessed with crochet. After 2 months, I’ve been crocheting almost every day, and now that I took a little break to avoid burning myself out, I can’t stop thinking about it. I guess this means I’m a crocheter now. In this post, I’ll share everything I’ve done for the past couple of months, what I’ve learned, and even share patterns and …
The first time I read The Final Six by Alexandra Monir was back in 2020. I listened to the audiobook while working on a puzzle and really enjoyed it. Right after that, I listened to the sequel The Life Below, but I’m not going over it in this post. I enjoyed listening to this story so much that I had to buy a copy to have on my shelf. Last month, on a whim, I decided to go on a little space adventure and reread it. And now, I have the story fresh in my memory and ready to be reviewed. Title: The Final Six Author: Alexandra Monir Series: The Final Six #1 Publication year: 2018 Length: 7 hours 40 minutes Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery, Post-Apocalyptic, YA Pace: Fast Story focus: Character & Plot Earth is dying. Natural disasters are increasingly more frequent, taking lives wherever they hit. But there’s hope …
I have no words. You’re about to read a full review of This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada, but I want to state that I’m at a loss for words, even though I’m about to write a bunch of them. This is the biggest takeaway from this review. After I closed the book, I was speechless about what I’d read. And here is why. Title: This Mortal Coil Author: Emily Suvada Series: This Mortal Coil #1 Publication year: 2017 Length: 13 hours 26 minutes Genre: Sci-fi, Apocalyptic, YA, Adventure, Thriller Pace: Fast Story focus: Plot In the future, humanity has found a way to hack into their bodies. Everyone has a panel on their arms that camouflage their DNA with different genes, meaning they can have fangs or grow coloured nails by installing an app. This is achieved by a grown network of cables inside the body that carry nanites, …
Update 28th July: Ninten Talk is back at it again with a new ACNH challenge Rags to Richies. New ways to play the game are always welcome when trying to fight burnout. So check it out and let yourself be inspired by other ACNH players. More popular than the newest instalment of the Animal Crossing franchise is the Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH for short) burnout. If, like me, you have been playing the game since launch (or close to it), you probably know what I’m talking about. I mean… You probably found this post because you are trying to cure your burnout like the rest of us. So please join me as I try to ignite my passion for this game again. I’ve seen countless videos and read countless posts about “how to fix ACNH burnout”, and here you won’t find any mention of “decorating your island”. If that …
June marks one year of my Project TBR Zero, and I have to say that after a whole year, it’s been hard to keep focus and find meaning in this project. Not what I expected to write about since I’ve been so motivated throughout this project. And right on the final stretch. Since I didn’t finish my TBR, this is not the end of the project. But it does mark the end of a year focused on reading the books I own. And it’s also a reflection on how I’m feeling about it, how my reading was affected by it, and how much progress I made. Reading for me is a fun activity, a hobby, a recreation, a pastime, whatever you want to call it. It’s not work or a chore. It’s something I do because I enjoy doing it. And throughout this project, that feeling never changed. It just …
While I’m slowly but steadily getting out of my most recent reading slump, nothing like reviewing a book to remind myself why reading is so great. This time is Under the Heavens by Ruth Fox, a new sci-fi trilogy that came out last year with a lot of whales. Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to read this book for free. All the thoughts and opinions here are my own. Title: Under the Heavens Author: Ruth Fox Series: The Ark Trilogy #1 Publication year: 2022 Length: 11 hours 40 minutes Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera, YA Pace: Medium Story focus: Character & Plot Hannah Monksman is a caregiver for a group of whales being transported from Earth to their new home in New Eden. The book starts already on board the ship while Hannah is ending another of her social media live streams to update …
My bookshelves always bothered me for one reason: they are too deep. And lately, with the growth of my book collection, I found myself thinking of putting the books in double rows. Although which books will go in the back? They will be out of sight and hard to reach, so I need to think carefully about which one will be in the back. While scrolling through Pinterest, I saw an ad for a shelf riser for manga collections. And that was the answer I needed all along. A shelf riser, or as I prefer to call it, a shelf shelf is a structure to elevate the books that will be placed on the back row. So, I grabbed a pencil and paper and began to draw. I wanted something simple and cheap. Cardboard. Although for it to sustain such weight, it had to have a structure underneath that could …
