Last year I read one of the books I was most excited to pick up. A story told differently. Illuminae by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff immediately went to my wish list once I discovered it was told through a collection of files, transcripts, emails, etc. And for some reason, I never got to review it. Fast forward to 2022, I finally bought Gemina, the second book in The Illuminae Files. But before I jump into it, first, I need to go back to the beginning, to where it all started. Illuminae Pages: 599 Genre: Sci-fi Publication: 2015 Goodreads | The Storygraph Synopsis: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the …

Everyone that has worked from home knows that as good as it sounds, it’s not always a walk on the beach. There are so many distractions, and it’s easy to lose a routine. And that is the state I’ve been in. I have a morning and nighttime routine that is more or less consistent, but during the day, it has been hard to create one. From pets to unplanned tasks, finding a balance isn’t easy. So, I’ve been looking for strategies and ways to accomplish my work while still being flexible enough to accommodate any unpredictable tasks that need to be done. From time blocking to so many other techniques I’ve found online, one stood out the most: deep work. This is a term created by Carl Newport about a deep state of focus. The idea is to reach a mental state of deep concentration to produce better quality work …

The Hunger Games. A series that doesn’t need any introduction. Some people read the books, others watched the movies, and many did both. I did none. I was aware of the basic story behind The Hunger Games: a bunch of kids put inside an arena to fight until death. Although I never wanted to watch any of the movies, I don’t know why, but I never did. Fast forward a few years, and here I am, a die-hard fan of Divergent and the dystopian genre. I knew it was a matter of time until I had to read The Hunger Games trilogy. There was no denying how important this series was for the genre, and it was (still is) so beloved. I had to read it. And this year, I finally archive that goal. Attention! The following review contains spoilers for all three books in The Hunger Games series. You …

After a particularly spectacular reading month back in June (you can read more about it in this post), I felt I could conquer the reading world. I saw how much I could accomplish if I dedicated the time to reading. And after finishing one book, the next thing I wanted to do was to finish another. So having read 9 books in June, almost double the amount of my best reading month ever, I was pumped! At that moment, I made a decision. I was going to read my entire TBR, both physical and digital. This decision was not motivated purely by an exceptional reading month. My first reading experiment of the year made me realise the books I buy are based on my mood. Although, I tend to feel guilty for prioritising a shiny new book over the ones collecting dust on my shelves. And if I avoid reading …

The best time of the year has come once again. The air is getting colder, and the days are shorter. The prime cosy time is upon us, and nothing like a chilling and dark mystery to rock you back to sleep. There is something delicious about reading murder mysteries and creepy stories in autumn. Maybe it’s the change to darker days or the association with Halloween. Either way, reading is always better when it’s colder outside and nothing like picking up a Ruth Ware to make the most out of it. Author: Ruth Ware Pages: 338 Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Drama, Horror First Publication: July 2015 Synopsis Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since the day Nora walked out of her old life and never looked back. Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen party arrives. A weekend in a remote cottage – the perfect opportunity …

I need to start by clarifying that reading is not a competition or that I think it should be. Reading is a hobby, a source of entertainment, therefore, should never be a competition. And in the golden age of online sharing, I know it can be hard to avoid comparing our reading with others, especially when some are capable of hitting double digits every month. But this post isn’t about reading more than other people. Every time I mention competition or competing, I’m talking about doing it against myself, challenging myself, and pushing myself as a reader, not comparing myself with others. Keep in mind this is purely an experiment to get even more enjoyment of reading. To be completely honest, I decided to make this post on a whim. I had a couple of ideas left for reading experiments to do this year when I came across a video …

Taking care of our planet matters to me more and more as time passes by. Slowly, I’m becoming more aware of how much we just use and throw away, and consequently, waste is becoming something that bothers me. Even throwing away onion peals or eggs shells is something that doesn’t sit right with me anymore. If it can be transformed, then I want to do it. While a compost bin still has some “questions of logistics” to be considered, I can start re-purpose other things. And the next item on the list of “things that have a short life span” comes water bottles. Yes, they can be recycled, although I’m still using them once and then throwing them away (to recycling). I want to give them a new life before they are shredded into tiny pieces to be reborn again. Then one day, while losing myself in the slow living …

And Then There Were None is not the first Agatha Christie book I read. Although it is the first one I completely fell in love with. It can be tricky to read her books. They were written a very long time ago, and she often uses references to the 30s lifestyle that is foreign to me. While reading it in a different century, some details can go over my head and doom the book as boring. At least, this has been my experience when reading Agatha Christie. But then, I picked up And Then There Were None. One of her standalone mystery novels. A story with multiple adaptations from movies, to mini-series, to a two-part episode of Family Guy. And I know I’ve seen a few more with different characters while maintaining the same plot, although, for the life of me, I can’t remember where. This is one of her …

The title is very self-explanatory. I decided to experiment for a month to track words instead of books. Yes, I’ve managed to complicate something so simple. Although, I have a good reason. I am a slow reader, as in I usually read at a speed of 180 words per minute. And my original idea for this experiment was to keep me motivated to read, possibly to read bigger books. Every time I look at a book with more than 400 pages, my first thought is how many weeks or even months it will take me to finish it. And that discourages me. So I was on the hunt for a way to allow me to fall in love with reading, no matter the size of the book. How the idea came to be One day in February, I found a YouTube video about reading 30 books in 30 days and, …

Some readers don’t care about tracking books and keeping tabs on everything they read. But I am not one of those. And I’m guessing you aren’t either. For that reason, I bring you three mobile apps you can use to track your everyday reading! I’ve been tracking my reading for a few years now. It started with Goodreads and has been getting more and more specific over time. What every reader wants to track can be a lot different. Maybe you just want to know how much time takes you to read each book. Or maybe you want to keep track of the genres you read most often. Or you just want a place where you can store all the quotes, thoughts and highlights while reading. No matter what you want, I’m going over the features, what I liked and didn’t like on each app, so you can see if …

Happy April Fools’ Day!! Despite today being a day you can’t trust anything people say, trust me, I’ll not be pulling any pranks on you. *wink* *wink* Now that I’ve taken all the jokes out of my system – probably not! – time to focus on the book I bring to you today: Edokko by Loren Greene. This is the second full-length novel in the Sakura+Maple series that brings Japan and Canada together. The story is a stand-alone, so don’t worry if you haven’t read anything else. So grab your passport, and let’s go to Japan! Author: Loren Greene Pages: 332 Genre: Contemporary YA Publication: 2021 Synopsis: Lily Jennings is Going. To. Japan. Sixteen and on top of the world, Lily’s BEYOND excited to be setting off for an entire year as an exchange student in Tokyo. Fashion and fun are foremost on her mind as she arrives ready to …