This year has been top-notch when it comes to reading. I’m yet to read a book I don’t give 5 stars. One of those honoured is The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. Published over a decade ago, this book was a surprise. I didn’t have many expectations to enjoy the story hence the title: Designated Ugly Fat Friend. We are in 2023, and a book about how every group has a fat and ugly friend probably won’t go down easy. I was expecting an early 2000’s ugly duck story. Although, I was wrong. Title: The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend Author: Kody Keplinger Series: Hamilton High #1 Publication year: 2010 Length: 7 hours and 30 minutes Genre: Ya, Romance Pace: Fast Story focus: Character Bianca doesn’t want any boy drama in her life. Cynical by nature, she is not looking for a boyfriend, unlike her friends. She prefers staying home instead …

The Dark Matter series by Teri Terry is one of my favourites. I’ve already reviewed the first book on the blog, and as I said there, I had to read the rest. And now here we are. I’ve finished it. I have all my answers, especially to questions I had no idea I had. The best way to describe this series is to imagine an iceberg. Contagion is just the tip, and the story is so much bigger. So much, incredibly bigger. To recap where I left the story – you can read the full review here. A little girl, Callie, has gone missing. Her brother, Kai, is desperately trying to find her. Shay has possibly seen her abduction. While Kai and Shay unite forces to try and find answers for the disappearing, a highly contagious disease breaks out close to home. From here, they go on an unplanned dangerous …

With a movie adaptation coming out, Fredrik Backman is probably a name you are familiar with or at least heard of. The author of A Man Called Ove, Anxious People, Bear Town… I’d heard a lot about Backman before I decided to read one of his books. I thought he wasn’t an author for me. His books always sounded too slow for my enjoyment. I’m a girl who likes action. Give me something fast and plot-driven, and I’m here for it! I don’t know why I decided to have my first introduction to Backman with My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – apart from being on sale. Yet, I’m so glad I did! Title: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry Author: Fredrik Backman Publication year: 2013 Length: 11 hours Genre: Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Humour Pace: Medium Story focus: Character The story follows an ALMOST …

I’m so excited to finally do an update on Project TBR Zero! I’ve spent the entire month of January counting the days to write this post. I want to look back and see my progress. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here is the first post where I introduced the challenge. My quest is to finish every single book I own. So welcome back to the second quarter update of Project TBR Zero. The Second Quarter October For a quick recap of where my reading was standing in September, I had 81 books in my TBR. As I said at the end of the last post, I was in a reading slump. And I carried that feeling until the new year. It didn’t stop me from reading, but I wasn’t overly excited about what I was reading. Not even a reread of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and …

For the first time, I’m reviewing a book I don’t recommend. I can’t stress this enough. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. This review is purely written to express my feelings and opinions about this book. It is not an incentive for you to pick it up. So don’t read this book. Please don’t read it. Unless you are prepared to deal with the story inside. Title: A Little Life Author: Hanya Yanagihara Publication year: 2015 Length: 32 hours 51 minutes Genre: Literary Fiction Pace: Slow Story focus: Character A Little Life is about a life not so little. We follow a group of friends fresh out of college in New York: Jude, Malcolm, Willem, and JB. The story dives into the private life of each character, the relationship between them, and general life changes. It’s a book about growing up as adults. Although, the story reaches a point where Jude …

Last week, I posted about all the 49 books I read and how my reading year went. Although I kept out my rating for all those books to now do a little world cup/tournament bracket/let’s find my favourite book of 2022 by comparing them against each other. This “game” has been going around the online book communities and looks fun. Also, I’m curious to see how the results compare to the rating I gave to each book. So, I went to my reading spreadsheet and grabbed the title of my top 16 books. All of them are 4 stars or above. I needed a multiplier of 2 for the brackets to work perfectly, and I’m not doing 32 books (mostly because there is no point in going so far back). The order of the books is completely random and doesn’t reflect the rating I gave. Without further ado, let the …

In 2022, I read 62 books. Although, I actually didn’t. I only read 49 books out of the 52 I was aiming for. But then, where do 13 books come from? Thin air? Ghosts? They actually come from everything I read last year. I’m just counting them differently. Last May, I published a post where I tried for a month to track how many words I was reading instead of pages or books. The main reason was how much pressure I felt to finish books and keep on track with my Goodreads challenge. I found tracking by reading progress through books alone wasn’t fair. Not all books are made the same, so why should they be quantified the same? And so it began my word-tracking adventure. At the time, I really enjoyed the experience and was renovating my motivation to read. So, I kept doing it for the rest of …

Happy New Year! After my unplanned hiatus in December is time to get back into blogging again. And since I’m still catching up with all the book reviews I never got to do last year, this one comes at a special time. One year ago, I got introduced to the Project Nemesis series by Brendan Reichs. It was part of my first reading experiment, and I had no idea the journey it would put me through. I wasn’t even supposed to finish the series. Although I never had a reading experience like this, hence I’m writing this post. The Project Nemesis by Brendan Reichs is a three-book post-apocalyptic YA series. The story is told from two points of view, Min and Noah, which share something awful. Since their 8th birthday, and every couple of years, they are brutally murdered and come back alive the next day as if nothing has …

Last week, I reviewed a book I picked up on a whim without knowing much about it. One of those books that grab your attention without many reasons. And today, I bring to you another one of those books. Although the experience was different this time. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was the best surprise of this year and the series I’m most excited to read. Author: Holly Jackson Pages: 433 Genre: Murder Mystery, Cosy Mistery, YA Publication: 2019 Synopsis: The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets …

You know those books you want to read, you buy them, but in the process, you never get to learn what the story is about? Do you know the ones? Well, One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus is one of those books for me. I don’t even remember the first time I saw this book. It was years ago! I knew it was a YA murder mystery, and that was enough to put it on my wishlist. It took me a while to finally read it (as usual), but now that I did, the story was… unexpected. Author: Karen M McManus Pages: 360 Genre: Mystery, Drama Publication: 2017 Synopsis: On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.Cooper, the athlete, is …

When I decided to buy Deep Work by Carl Newport, I had no idea the journey it would put me through. I was reading about a different approach to work, a change of perspective when what I found on those pages motivated me to experiment with different schedules. And today is finally the time to look back on the first experiment: the Rhythmic schedule. As this is considered the easiest deep work philosophy to archive, I started my journey with it. After all, I only need to work every day at the same time for 90 minutes. Sounds simple enough. Honestly, it wasn’t that easy, but it taught me a lot more about my work, myself and how much I can accomplish. Rhythmic schedule rules My deep work sessions are to work on blog posts, so I can somewhat compare each philosophy using the same project. Although I also what …